A/N: Here is the next installment. I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you think.
Chapter 5
I sat atop Appa for three days before my massive headache allowed me to move. I guess my head had enough abuse and decided to incapacitate me for a few days. Though I suppose having your head bounce off a stone wall will do that to you. As nice as those three days of doing nothing had been I was getting restless and tired of eating nothing but fruits and nuts. Katara's mothering was also starting to get annoying. Don't get me wrong it warms my heart that she took after mom in that sweet caring way, but I'm too old to be coddled like a small child.
"Sokka, you shouldn't be moving around so much. You need to be in bed." Katara chastised.
"For crying out loud Katara lay off will you I'm not a cripple. If my head wasn't feeling good enough I wouldn't be moving around so much. Besides I haven't bathed since we left home. I feel gross, I smell bad, and my hair is a tangled mess and crusted in dried blood." I said as I dug through my pack looking for fresh clothes.
Katara leaned closer to me and sniffed. Her nose wrinkled and she made a sour face when she smelled me.
"Oh Sokka, you smell worse than that time you fell in that tub of rotten seaweed and fish guts."
I shuttered at the memory before responding. "I didn't fall, I was pushed. And I don't smell that bad." Katara responded by rolling her eyes and muttering a "whatever."
"I'm going down to the river keep the peeping tom away. I don't want him seeing anymore than he already has." I commanded.
"It was an accident last time, and besides you should have had a shirt on." She retorted.
"I was in my own house and he should have knocked. Regardless, I don't want him accidently walking up on me when I'm naked. Just keep him away from the river, or flying for that matter, until I return. Okay."
"Alright, just hurry up will you."
The river was cold and refreshing. I never thought taking a bath in an ice cold river could feel so good. Of course after the week I've had I shouldn't be so surprised. After soaking for a few minutes I started scrubbing the dirt and sweat and blood off my body. There were still a few places that were tender to the touch. My left arm was healing nicely but it was still scabbed over in places and the jagged scar tissue was sensitive to touch. My entire chest was purple and that yellowish color from the bruise I got from Aang and it hurt to wash.
It felt so nice to finally get to wash the blood and grim out of my chocolate brown locks. I hated having my hair a snarled mess. It was so bad that I had to cut the leather strap that was holding my ponytail. I ran my fingers through my hair as I let the river's current wash the grim and stress of the last few days down steam.
I felt like a new woman now that I was clean and relaxed. I let the river wash away all my pain at least for now. I returned to our camp with a spring in my step.
"Katara, I'm back." I said with a smile on my face.
"Wow Sokka, I haven't seen you with your hair not tied back in years." She said
"Hehe. Yeah, I kind of had to cut my hair tie out my hair was so matted." I replied sheepishly. I grab a few strands of loose hair self-consciously and twist it in my fingers.
Katara gave me a warm smile and said. "I brought a few extras. Here, let me do your hair for you."
"Um, okay." I say meekly.
I mentally kick myself for being weak. I have always felt inferior to Katara when it comes to beauty, but that doesn't mean I need to act so shy about Katara doing my hair. It's just hair for crying out loud.
Katara rummages in her bag and pulls out a blue leather strip and a whale tooth comb and motions me to sit in front of her. I complied and sat myself in front of her with my back to her. She begins running the comb through my hair and instantly I relaxed. I enjoyed the sensation of Katara's gentle combing and it made my mind wonder to a time when I was younger.
I remember being a little girl, maybe six or seven. I had just had an evening bath and just got finished getting dressed for bed.
"Mommy, mommy, look what I made you." My little self shrieked as I ran to her and showed her a crude leather and bead hair tie.
"Oh it's beautiful sweetheart." She cooed and put me in her lap.
"Gran-gran helped me make it. She said it would make you the most beautiful woman in the whole tribe." I said gleefully
"Well then, let's put it in your hair."
"But mommy I made it for you." I whined.
"I know dear. It will only make me the most beautiful woman in the tribe if it was worn first by the most beautiful girl in the tribe."
I smiled ear to ear at her words and buried my face in her chest as I gave her the biggest hug I could. Mom returned the hug with equal zeal and chuckled happily at me. She pulled me from her and turned me in her lap so my back was to her and she began combing my hair. Her gently running her fingers and comb through my hair was my most favorite time spent with her. She combed my chocolate tresses to one side and wrapped the tie half way down. The leather tie covered about four inches of my hair. My hair hung out the bottom of the tie about two inches and it rested over the front of my right shoulder.
Tears were streaming down my face at the memory as Katara put my hair in the same style mom did during that memory.
"Sokka, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Katara asked when she noticed my tears.
"Nothing." I said as I wiped my eyes. "I was just remembering when mom used to do this for me after bath time when I was a little girl." I said through sniffles with a light smile across my face.
"I miss mom too." Katara said quietly.
Our little bonding moment was interrupted by Aang. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Oh nothing." I said quickly as I tried to hide the fact I was crying.
"I was just doing Sokka's hair." Katara responded.
"So what are we going to do today?" Aang asked.
"Um continue traveling to the North Pole like we're supposed to." I said like it was obvious.
"Well, we've been traveling for three days straight. I thought we could take a little bit of a break." Aang retorted.
"Fine. I'm going hunting. We haven't had any real food since you burned it up as wood." I huffed.
"Sokka are you sure that's a good idea? You hit your head pretty hard and you barely started moving around this morning." Katara said in a worried tone.
"Katara, I'm fine and I'll feel even better with some meat in me." I said a bit sterner than I meant to.
I sighed before speaking in a kinder tone. "Listen Katara, I know you're just worried about me but I'm fine. Besides, we need to make sure we have enough food for a while. We never know when we'll run into a time where food is scarce. Best to be prepared."
Katara didn't say anything but I could see the concern on her face.
"I'll be fine Katara trust me." I said as comforting as I could and gave her a light squeeze before I went to get my bow.
I located a set of tracks within minutes of entering the forest and I started tracking the animal. The tracks led further into the forest up a small game trail. After following the tracks along the game trail for a while I knew by how fresh they were that I was getting close. I felt a light breeze on my face and I smiled knowing I was downwind of my prey. I got my bow ready and crouched low as I stalked my prey. After a few silent minutes I spotted the a large stag. He was a beautiful creature with large antlers. I would honor the spirits for the gift after I felled the buck. I silently crept closer to get a clearer shot. I used his own tracks to silently trek through the snow. Once in position I pulled the string back and took aim. As I drew back I felt an unnatural wind at my back. The gust carried my sent towards the buck and alerting him of my presence. I internally groaned knowing it was Aang when I felt the wind. If that wasn't bad enough he had the audacity to disrupt me even further. I watched my food run off into the forest when I heard him speak up.
"Hey Sokka how's it going?" He asked in mock glee.
I knew his arrival was not an accident. He had already expressed his disapproval of killing even for food and his presence was to hinder me from my kill.
"What are you doing here Aang?" I asked barely withholding my anger.
"Well you were gone a long time and I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He said, obviously a lie.
He wasn't a very good liar he got to guilty and it was written all over his face. I decided to call him out on it.
"Drop the act Aang you're not fooling anyone." I said angrily. "You obviously wanted to ruin my hunt."
"Sokka, all life is..." I cut him off with a growl while throwing my hands up.
"Whatever." I shouted and marched down the trail towards our camp site.
When we got back to camp I just climbed on Appa and testily stored my gear. Katara raised an eyebrow at me but I just ignored her. I wasn't in the mood to deal with her at the moment. Thankfully she caught on and left me alone. I wasn't so far in my own brooding little world that I didn't hear Katara ask Aang why I was so upset. I heard him tell her I had bad luck on my hunt. 'Yeah, bad luck named Aang. The boy has been a constant thorn in my side since we found him in the ice.' I thought to myself.
"Let's get out of here. We've wasted enough time." I said hotly.
Katara, for once, agreed with me and was able to convince Aang who looked like he was about to protest. Aang begrudgingly agreed and mentioned something about wanting to ride elephant koi fish. Within a few short minutes we were packed up and soaring in the sky.
The boredom of flying dulled my anger and truth be told I was never very good at staying mad for very long. I didn't enjoy the feeling and it was a waste of time and energy to hold on to. I found myself occupying my time by sharpening my boomerang with a whetstone.
Hours of flying had passed and I had sharpened my boomerang, all my arrowheads and my hunting knife. I even managed to get Katara to sew a hole in one of my two pair of pants.
"Aang do you even know where you're going?" I asked while studying his map.
"Well, I know it's by water." He said sheepishly.
I looked over the edge of the saddle and noticed nothing but water. "Well looks like we're getting close." I said sarcastically. He responded with a guilty laugh.
o0o0o0o0o0o
We landed on a sandy beach in the early afternoon, much to my annoyance.
"We just started flying this morning. Don't you think we should be getting a little more flying in?" I asked
"But Appa's tired already aren't ya boy?" Aang said. When Appa didn't respond right away he elbowed the beast "Aren't ya boy" He said trying to convince Appa to agree with him. The furry beast gave a fake yawn in response.
I rolled my eyes and huffed. There was no way I was going to win this one. Suddenly a giant koi fish popped out of the water.
Aang pointed out to the water and said "That's why we're here, to ride the elephant-koi. Katara you gotta watch me."
Aang began disrobing right in front of us. I was shocked at first but recovered and quickly covered Katara's eyes. She was my baby sister and I was going to protect her anyway I could, and that included her innocence. Thankfully he only stripped down to his skivvies and jumped in the water.
Once Aang was far enough out into the water that I wasn't worried Katara was going to see more than she needed, I removed my hand from her eyes. By this time Aang had caught up to the giant fish and latched himself onto the dorsal fin and started surfing on the massive koi.
"He looks pretty good out there." Katara said between whoops and hollers of encouragement.
I would never admit it out loud but I was impressed with the boy's skills and bravery. "Are you kidding me the fish is doing all the work."
Katara became distracted by Appa getting into something and left me to make sure Appa didn't hurt himself. From this distance I could still see his face drop when he saw Katara run off. The boy was smitten by my sister and let me just say I'm not happy about it.
I was pulled from my thoughts when I saw an enormous shadow in the water making its way toward Aang. My heart rate shot up as I started fear what that thing was and the danger Aang was now in. I began to wave my arms to try to get his attention. Katara noticed and rushed to my side.
"What's wrong?" She asked
"Aang's in trouble! There's something in the water!" I shouted.
We both started yelling and waving at him to get him to get out of the water. He must not have been able to hear us because he just smiled and waved at us. The fish he was riding abruptly stopped and flung him off. Aang sailed through the Air a good twenty feet before landing in the water. My stomach dropped when I saw a massive fin jut out of the water right next to Aang. The airbender notice a sudden shadow being cast over him. I heard him yell in panic and he used his airbending to propel himself out of the water and run along the surface. The giant sea creature followed after him and was gaining. I was to occupied with fear that I didn't notice Aang reach the beach and continue running at high speed right at me. He rammed into me, knocking the wind out of me. He hit me so hard that my feet were taken out from under me and I went flying back. my back and injured head collided with a tree.
I came to in total darkness and it took me a while to get my bearings. My fuzzy mind began to clear and I realized that I was blindfolded and tied to something.
"You three have some explaining to do." Came an old man's voice
"And if you don't answer all our questions we'll throw you back in the water to the Unagi." A young woman's voice continued.
My confusion at waking up blindfolded and bound followed by threats made me lose my temper and I hastily shouted. "Show yourselves cowards." I admit not my smartest move.
My blindfold was yanked off my head and I winced as pain shot through the back of my head.
In front of me was a girl about my age. She was in a green dress and black armor over her chest. She had her face painted white with red on around her eyes and brow and she wore an ornate head band. Behind her were several other young women dressed just like her and they also wore the same face paint.
"Who are you and where are the men who captured us?" I questioned testily.
"There were no men, we ambushed you, now tell us who are you and what are you doing here?" she questioned shaking her fist.
I couldn't believe it. Aang a powerful airbender allowed himself to be captured by a bunch of girls in dresses. I once again let my anger get the better of my rational thinking and I shouted. "I can't believe it Aang you let us get captured by a bunch of girls."
The woman grabbed the front of my parka and yanked me a little closer to her. "A bunch of girls huh? The Unagi is going to eat well tonight." She said with a sneer and shook me violently.
"Don't hurt my sister, she's an idiot sometimes." Katara insulted me, strangely in my defense.
The girl pushed me roughly and the back of my head hit the pole we were tied to and once again I was out cold.
I woke up in a soft bed, under warm covers. This was definitely not how I expected to wake up after what I remembered before waking up. I sat up in bed and instantly regretted it. My head pounded something fierce. I reached up and tried to massage my temples only find my head was once again wrapped in a bandage. Yesterday's events must have caused the back of my head to start bleeding again.
Once my head cleared a little and I was just left with a dull ache, I slowly got out of bed. I stood barefoot on the cold wood floor for a moment, not trusting myself to walk quite yet. I was woozy and I expected it to be lingering effects of the recent trauma my poor head had received lately. Once the room's spinning slowed I gingerly began to walk out of the small room I was in and into a large open room with a large table in the middle. I figured the room to be a dining hall or banquet hall of some sort. The table was filled with various pastries, the smell reached my nose and my stomach grumbled its yearning. Katara and Aang were seated at the table and Momo was under the table with a pile of pastries he had already acquired.
Katara must have heard my stomach growl because she snapped her head in my direction. When her eyes landed on me she smiled fiercely.
"Sokka you're awake!" She shouted happily and she patted the seat next to her, wordlessly inviting me to sit next to her. I smiled at her but stayed rooted in place still not trusting myself with walking.
"Come on Sokka you must be hungry." Aang said in his usually cheery voice that got on my nerves.
Katara noticed the doubt I had about walking and silently walked to my side and wrapped her arm around mine to help me keep steady. Katara was many things stubborn chief among them, but she was always a caring person and she seemed to have unnatural senses when it came to people needing help. I'm surprised Gran-gran hadn't made her an apprentice healer along with Hannah. I leaned into Katara slightly and allowed her to lead me to the table.
"What happened after I..." I trailed off and pointed to my head to finish my sentence for me.
"We were accused of being Fire Nation spy's and the village leader, Oyaji, was going to have the Kyoshi warriors throw us to the Unagi. Aang admitted he was the Avatar after he found out the island was named after Avatar Kyoshi. They didn't believe him at first but he showed them some airbending. After he showed them some airbending we were released and we've been treated as honored guests. They even treated your head wound and Oyaji apologized profusely. They even threw a feast for us last night." Katara told me.
"Who are the Kyoshi warriors?" I questioned.
"They are the ones who ambushed and tied us up. Suki is their leader she is the one who..." She trailed off.
"The one who slammed my head into the pole we were tied to." I finished for her.
"Yeah, that one. She's actually really nice. She is just trying to protect their island. They've stayed out of the war so far and they want to keep it that way. So she's a little wary of strangers and a little over protective."
"A little, ya think?" I said sarcastically.
"Well you did egg her on." She retorted.
"What did you expect. I woke up blindfolded and tied down and with a splitting headache thanks to air-boy over there." I replied bitterly. "And don't think I forgot about your insult." I huffed. I knew she did it to try to protect me and maybe I did let my temper get the best of me but I am no idiot.
After breakfast, which I had to admit was delicious, I walked around the village. It seemed getting food in my stomach helped clear dizziness and get my legs back under me. I came across a large wood building that was off by itself nestled against a hill and the forest. I heard what sounded like the stammering of feet moving in unison. I crept toward the building and climbed a tree that was directly in front of the open doorway. Inside were the Kyoshi warriors going through a series of kata's lead by Suki. As I watched on for a few minutes I noticed how skilled they all looked, especially Suki. She moved with precision and grace that I had to admit I was envious of. She appeared to have the warrior's skill that my dad craved me to have. I swallowed my bitterness down and decided to get a closer look.
I leaned against the open doorway and watched them go through a few more Kata's before Suki noticed me.
"Sorry" I muttered. "I didn't mean to interrupt your training."
"Sorry about yesterday, we didn't know you were friend with the Avatar." Suki said.
I reached back and gently touched the back of my head. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to dismiss your skills as a warrior. I was confused and angry about waking up in the situation I did."
I got down on my knees. "I noticed your skills and I humbly ask if you would allow me to train with you?"
"We normally don't teach outsiders but if it will help the Avatar, I guess I could train you. But you have to follow all of our traditions, and I mean all of them."
The next thing I knew I was wearing the full Kyoshi warrior uniform and sitting on a stool while Suki painted my face.
"How did you get these?" Suki asked as she brushed her fingers over the scabs below my left eye and on my bottom lip.
"The Fire Nation attacked my village, looking for the Avatar. I tried defending my village but I failed. I fought against their leader and he beat me. I saw my friend Karra get ran though with a spear. I shot the men that attacked her with my bow and when Aang gave himself up to save the village I was taken with them. He gave me this" I said pointing to my lip. "When I fought him and this." I pointed to my eye. "When he took me aboard his ship." I neglected to tell her that it was Aang that caused my cheek to be cut open and my head injury to be his fault as well. The world put their hope in the Avatar and I couldn't cast my doubts to Suki.
"What about this?" She said gently touching the back of my head.
I touched my head and looked at her. "It was there before you..." I trailed off. "Let's chalk that one up to wrong place wrong time." I said with a dismissive chuckle.
Suki continued to apply the face paint being careful around my wounds. Once she was done she led me to the center of the dojo and began instructing me in the basic stances and movements. After she was satisfied with my progress she went over basic kata's both offensive and defensive. Suki was a gentle and patient teacher and it was obvious to me why she was the leader of the Kyoshi warriors. She taught me through most of the day. I was clumsy and uncoordinated through most of the day but she told me that she saw potential in me that she has never seen before. I wasn't sure if I believed her or if she was just trying build up my spirit.
We sat down and had lunch at one point in our training. I don't know why but I felt I could trust her the same way I trust Karra and I told her as much. So I told her about my life in the south pole. I told her the custom of the first born and the disappointment my father held for me. I told her about my mother and my jealousy of Katara's beauty. She listened respectfully and earnestly but gave no advice nor made any comforts.
We broke our training in the early evening before the sun began to touch the horizon. She invited me to dine with her and her warriors and I gladly accepted but informed her I should spend some time with my sister as she tended to be motherly and worry.
"Sokka where have you been? I've been worried sick." Katara scolded. I rolled my eyes and chuckled internally.
"Don't worry Katara, I've been perfectly safe." I said.
She glared and looked me over expecting me to have some new wound for her to fuss over. She came to my face and noticed some smudges of face paint that I missed. "What is that all over your face?" She barked as she examined my face closer.
"Nothing you need to worry about. Now get your mitts off." I said as I gently slapped her hands away from my face. Her face became red as she scowled at me. She began to stammer off incoherent and unfinished torrents of 'how dare I's' and 'I can't believe you' and eventually I ignored her completely.
I sat down on the bed I slept in the night before and took off the wrapping on my left arm. Some of the blocking I did with my forearm hurt worse than they normally should and I was worried some of my scars could have reopened. To my relief nothing reopen, the raw skin of the fresh scars were still tender, however, and the cause of the excess pain.
Katara barged into the room with and angry scowl and every intent of giving me a tongue lashing but as soon as she saw the exposed scars I was examining I noticed her features immediately soften. She sat down on the bed next to me and took my arm and traced the scars delicately with her fingers. "This is why I worry about you Sokka." She said softly as her eyes met mine. "You've always gone headlong into situations to protect and provide and come out marked more often than not." She said now tracing the 'marks' that now adorned my face.
"I have to, you know that. My role, my responsibility is to...I have to keep my promise to dad."
"That doesn't mean I have to stop worrying."
I conceded, she had a point and there was no reason to argue with her. I let her rewrap my arm and I told her about my day. I told her of going to see the Kyoshi warriors and offering my apologies. Katara was pleasantly surprised by that and hugged me and praised me like some five year old girl. I pushed her off me and continued to tell her about training with Suki. I told her about the uniform and the face paint. I told her the silk thread and gold insignia they wore represented bravery and honor. Katara knew me well enough that I ate those words up and she let me know with jests and mockery. I smiled at her despite it all.
"Suki invited me to eat dinner with her and her warriors, you could come along if you like." I told her sincerely.
"I would but I don't want to leave Aang to eat alone." She said somewhat sadly.
"For some reason I don't think that's going to be a problem." I told her. After seeing all the little girls fawning over him earlier. I'd be surprised if he comes back for dinner at all. At her sad silence I continued. "Are you sure? I bet you'll have fun. Just this morning you were telling me how great you think Suki is."
I arrived back at the dojo to find there was a large round table in the middle of the large room. Suki waved me in but it took me a moment to recognize her without the face paint. I studied her for second or two and then her auburn hair gave her away.
"Sorry, it took me a while to recognize you without the face paint." I said sheepishly while rubbing the back of my neck.
"It's okay Sokka, we're used to it." She said with a chuckle. Dinner's almost ready. Here why don't you come sit by me." She continued on as she led me to the table.
I sat down next to Suki and smiled warmly at her and offered her my thanks. She returned the smile and began introducing me to her fellow warriors.
Dinner with the Kyoshi Warriors was a pleasant event. We shared stories and laughs and talked of what it is to be a warrior. I explained my culture to them and told them about becoming a hunter and the thrill I got out of providing for my tribe. Kasami, Suki's best warrior and second in command was very curious about hunting. She seemed to be most intrigued about the use of bow and spear.
"Sokka, tell us what it's like hunting with a bow." Kasami nearly begged.
"There is nothing like it. The bow is powerful and clean and when used properly provides a merciful and instant death. A good hunter can fell their prey before they know they've been hit." I said proudly.
"Tell us a story of one of your hunts." Kasami beamed and many of the other girls joined in urging me to tell a story.
"Okay okay." I said with raised hands in surrender. "I'll tell you about the time Karra and I brought down a lion-seal. It must have been three months ago when it was still in the dark season." I took a swig of snow-berry juice and settled more comfortably in my chair. Hunting had been difficult this year. It was a particularly cold winter and the game was more scarce. Karra and I set out on the ice over the ocean. We found fresh holes in the ice used by seals for hunting. We laid bait out near the holes to attract the seal and set up blinds to hide us from sight. It look almost a day before we saw anything. At first it was just small seal that were too small to be worth our trip so we continued to wait. Eventually a few leopard-seals showed up. I smiled under my mask when one of the larger ones got within range. I silently drew my bow back and took aim. Just before I loosed my arrow a massive lion-seal burst thru the ice right." I slammed my hand on the table causing half the girls to jump and shriek in surprise. The best reaction was from Kasami who was hanging on every word I said. I waited until everyone calmed down and got quiet again.
"What happened next?" Suki asked finally
"I nearly wet myself is what happened. I shrieked in surprise just like Akemi over here did." I said pointing to the youngest warrior. The ten year old girl blushed fiercely and adamantly denied it. "My scream unfortunately got the attention of the lion-seal. He roared loudly at me and shook his large mane threateningly at me. As frightened as I was taking down a lion-seal was a prized catch that would feed our village for a month. So I drew back the bow string and shot him. My arrow did nothing but anger the massive beast. He let out deafening roar and charged me. I dove out of the way just before he collided with me. I was just a hair to slow and he managed to catch my leg with his clawed flipper." I pulled up my right pant leg and showed them a scar that ran from just below my knee to a couple inches above my ankle on the outside portion of my calf. "The massive seal turned on me and was mere feet from me. He raised up on his back flippers and prepared to smash me into the ice when out of nowhere Karra came rushing in and quick as a flash shot the beast right through his gaping mouth. He toppled over sideways and was dead before he hit the ground." I finished my story with over the top dramatic animation that I started, with flailing arms and dying gurgles. My animated story telling brought as much laughter as it did excitement.
"Oh come on you guys can't honestly believe this story. She's obviously exaggerating." Yuki, one of Suki's older warriors said incredulously.
"What, was the scar on my leg not evidence enough? If you want I can show you that shot is possible. If Karra made that shot I definitely can. I'm the best shot in my whole village." I retorted hotly.
"Best shot. In your whole village." Suki mocked. She obviously not believing my boasting. "Maybe you'd like to give us a demonstration."
"You don't believe me? Alright I'll give you a demonstration and maybe even a lesson, but only if you let me train with you tomorrow."
"Deal." Suki said and we shook hands.
Dinner wrapped up shortly after our bargain was struck and I found myself walking back in the dark with my thoughts. My thoughts drifted to my tribe, my family. I wondered how they would survive without me there and Karra badly wounded. My heart sank with these thoughts, especially Karra. After I saw her wound and how much blood she lost I feared never getting to see her again. Katara reassured me that the worst past and Gran-gran said she would make it but her words never stopped the pain in my heart and the fear that I would never see her again.
I huff at myself. I've never been the brooding and moping type and I'm angered at myself for letting it happen. I've always been able to insert a sarcastic comment or some bombastic statement to lighten the mood or deflect the tension. Lately I've been unable to do so. I've been in such an angered or saddened state that even trying humor leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
I slipped back into the place we'd been given and I found Katara peacefully asleep. I envied her and her innocence just then. Oh to be naive to the horrors of the world would be a nice. There is no way for Katara to remain innocent for long. She's been pulled into this war and there is only so much an older sister can do to protect her baby sister.
I smiled sadly at her sleeping form before I made my way to my bed and gave myself up to my nightmares.
I woke to the smell of fresh cooked food. My stomach growled fiercely. Who am I to withhold my stomach when a delicious medley is mere feet away. I happily obliged my hunger and quickly readied myself and waltzed into the dining hall.
"Good morning Sokka." Katara said cheerily.
"Wow Sokka you're up early." Aang piped in.
I smiled at Katara and sat next to her and pointedly ignored Aang.
"Morning Katara, how was dinner last night? Did you...?" I asked. Katara frowned briefly and shook her head. "I'm sorry." I said and gave her forearm a light squeeze.
We ate in relative silence the rest of the meal. I excused myself and went and retrieve my bow.
I arrived at the dojo and found Suki and a couple of other girls in the back room putting on their uniform and applying their face paint.
"Good Sokka you're here. Now let's hurry up and get your face painted and into a uniform." Suki said as she dragged me over to a stool and started putting the face paint on my face.
A few minutes later we were all gathered in the main room of the dojo going through basic stretches and warm ups. I was new to all of this so I just imitated what the other girls were doing. Once Suki was satisfied that everybody was sufficiently stretched out and warmed up she called us to attention. Once again I just followed what the other girls did.
"Now before we get started we need to take care of the little deal we made last night with Sokka. She is going to show us why she's the best shot in her whole village." Suki said sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes and made my way to the front of the girls. I was going to show them a thing or two about underestimating me.
"Alright we're going to have to take this outside. I don't think it would be a good idea to shoot this in here." I said as I held up my bow and quiver of arrow.
I picked up a melon on my way over and I already had it set up on a little stand. I even poked a couple of branches in it to make it look kind of like a deer.
"Okay, so over there is our prey." I said as I pointed to the melon. and we're going to come over here and stock it." I said as I led them into the trees a little. "You want to make sure you are sufficiently hidden from your prey and it is imperative that you stay down wind." I explained. "Sometimes you don't have the luxury of setting up a blind and waiting out your target. Sometimes you have to stalk your target, being careful to not make a sound." I continued on as I demonstrated how to stalk. I was crouched low and taking careful steps to avoid any sticks or crunching snow. "Once you've stocked your prey you have to get close enough with a clear line of sight so your arrow can fly unhindered." I moved slightly in the trees where a clearing in the branches were. I was at least a hundred paces from the melon, it was a good enough distance to show off but close enough that I was confident I could hit the melon with one shot. "Now you want to check the wind before you shoot so you know how to adjust your shot. Once you do that all you have to do is take a deep breath, draw the string back, take aim, slowly let your breath out and fire." I spoke each step as I did them. I let the arrow fly and watched it hit the center of the melon and split it in half. "And that ladies is how you hunt a melon-deer." I said with a cheeky grin.
"Wow Sokka, I'm impressed. I thought you were just bragging." Suki said in surprise.
"The livelihood of my entire tribe relied on me bringing in food. Now who's up for a lesson. It's part of the deal after all." I said
I spent the better part of the morning teaching the Kyoshi warriors how to hold a bow properly, how to draw the string back, and aim. Some of the girls had some potential. I was unsurprised that Suki had the most natural talent. That girl could do anything it seemed. After the bow lesson we went back to their training. I stayed in back and tried to imitate all the other girls as best I could. Suki would come around and correct my form from time to time but in general I did alright.
After we sat down and had lunch the warriors were released to do various other things. The older girls were sent to man posts or patrol, while the younger girls were either sent back to their barracks or tasked with cleaning.
"So all these girls are orphans?" I asked.
"Were orphans, but yes. When they come here they become family so we no longer consider them orphans." Suki corrected. "Now I'm going to teach you how to use the fan."
After a couple of hours of training I accidently threw a fan out the door and hit a tree causing the snow in the branches to fall off.
"It's not about strength, use your opponents force against them." Suki said after with a laugh.
"That sounds a lot like what my Gran-gran used to tell us about waterbending. My whole culture is based on being adaptable and flowing with situations. We would never survive in the frozen tundra if we couldn't adapt." I told her.
"I see, so that's why you were able to pick things up so quick." Suki mused out loud.
"Your style is very different than what I learned in the water tribe but some of the ideas are the same. My dad used to always say 'deflect and redirect.' Of course I was never really good at it. I was always more of a roll with the punches kind of gal. It hurts less that way."
"Girls come quick! Fire Nation soldiers have landed on shore!" Oyaji shouted as he burst into the dojo.
I grabbed my bow and slung it across my back and tied the quiver to the obi and followed Suki towards the village. Suki had already rallied the other warriors when I finally caught up to her. Kasami explained that she was on patrol near the beach when she saw the ship land.
"I hid in the trees and to assess the threat. There were at least two dozen soldiers and most of them were on mounted komodo-rhinos and close to half of them are firebenders." Kasami explained.
"Good work Kasami. Listen ladies we're going to break up into two teams and ambush from the building tops. I'll take team A and Kasami will take team B. Kasami I want you and your team to go to the buildings on the right and I'll take my team on the left. Nobody move until I give the signal. I want you to move in quiet and hit them hard and fast. You've all been training for this. I know you can do it. Watch each other's backs. Now let's go protect our village." Suki commanded
"What about me? Where do you want me?" I asked her.
"Sokka I want you to follow stay on ground level and keep an eye out." She told me.
"If you're planning on an ambush I can sneak into a position between the buildings where both teams can see me and I can you the signal when the enemy gets into the kill zone." Suki looked like she was surprised by what I said. "Hey, I may not be a good warrior but I do know how to set traps. Why do you think I'm so good at hunting?" I said.
"That'll work. Alright Kasami when you get in position watch for Sokka to give the signal. Keep your team out of sight until then." Suki said and nodded to Kasami.
I slipped silently on the back side of the buildings on the left side of the road. The Fire Nation troops were just making their way to the village and nearing the kill zone. I moved in between two buildings where I could be seen by Kasami's team across the street and Suki's team above me. My heart leapt into my throat when I saw the leader of the soldiers was the boy who attacked my village, who I learned from Aang was Zuko the banished prince. I clenched my fists in anger at seeing him but I kept composed enough to carry out the plan.
When the last of the troops made reached the ambush site I looked on the roof across the street and made eye contact with Kasami then looked up to see Suki and gave the signal. The Kyoshi warriors jumped off the buildings and in a flash they had knocked half the rhino riders off their mounts. The highly coordinated attack left the Fire Nation soldiers shocked and confused which gave the warriors the advantage. That advantage quickly vanished as the shock wore off and the soldiers began to fight back.
After Suki took down three Soldiers she took off towards Zuko, who was still on his mount. She leapt at him to try and take him down but before she reached him he swung his mount and the beast hit her with his tail. She hit the ground hard and slid several feet. I could see she was hurt as she was struggling to get up. Zuko turned his beast back towards her and shot a fire blast at her. I jumped between her and the blast and dispersed the flame with my fan. He and I glared at one another for a moment. Neither of us making a move. I distracted him long enough that a Kyoshi warrior leapt off a building and tackled him to the ground.
I turned to check on Suki who was just getting to her feet with a grimace. She was holding the side the rhino hit. "Suki, are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah I'm fine." She replied through clenched teeth.
"I know him. He's the one that attacked my village." I told her.
"Then let's take care of him." She said with a determined look on her face.
Zuko managed to push the warrior off of him when Suki and I arrived. When we surrounded him he spun around on the ground whipping his legs around and blasting fire from his feet at us. Suki was thrown into a pillar holding up an awning, the other warrior was thrown through a glass window. I managed to jump over the flames but Zuko was already on his feet and he grabbed me and slammed me into the wall. He had me pinned to the wall as he glared daggers at me.
"Wait a minute I know those eyes. You're that water peasant who escaped my ship with the Avatar." He said shouted.
"I see you make it a habit of coming to innocent little villages to burn them down." I said as I pulled a fan out of my obi and jabbed it in his exposed side. He released his hold of me just enough that I could spin out of his grip. He turned and swung a flaming fist at me. I parried the blow and punched him in his midsection but his leather armor absorbed most of the blow. He returned with a barrage of flaming fists. I was on the defensive but the training with the Kyoshi warriors was paying off as I parried or dodged all of his attacks. After a wild haymaker I deflected I distanced myself a couple of steps from him. This was a mistake because it gave him room to firebend at me. He sent wave of flames at me from a kick he sent my way. I dodged the flames but had to back track even further from him. I saw him give an evil smirk before he launched a massive fire blast that sent me through the wall and into a burning house. The leather chest armor of the Kyoshi warrior uniform I was wearing mostly protected me from the blast and the crash but it had caught fire. I quickly pulled loose the binding that kept it in place and pulled it off and threw it away from me. I rolled onto my back and patted out the flames on my sleeve. I heard a cracking noise and looked up to the ceiling just in time to see trusses give way. I rolled on my stomach to avoid one piece and I tried to scramble to the door but another large flaming piece of wood came crashing down on the back of my thighs pinning me to the ground. I let out a shriek of pain from the impact. When I tried to get out I couldn't. I was trapped and couldn't get free. I felt the searing heat of the red hot wood burning through the fabric of my clothes. I screamed in pain as I felt the skin on the back of my thighs burn where the wooden beam trapped me.
Somebody must have heard my screams because I saw a flash of green rush in through the door.
"Oh my spirits Sokka is that you?" I heard Suki's voice shout.
"Yes!" I shrieked. "I'm trapped!"
"Hold on. I'm going to get you out."
"Hurry!"
Suki pulled out her katana and wedged it under the beam for leverage and lifted the beam enough that I could crawl out. Once I was free she dropped the beam and quickly snuffed out the my flaming clothes.
"Hurry up we need to get out of here." Suki shouted as she helped me to my feet.
Suki had to practically drag me out of the burning house. The pain in my right leg, which took the worst of the burns, was so fierce that each step took my breath away and nearly made my knees buckle. We exited the back door of the house and she laid me down on my stomach. I could hear Suki cutting away the material of my dress and trousers but the only thing registering in my mind was the agonizing pain. Once Suki got everything cut away from my burns, she took snow from a drift behind the house and put in on my burns. The cold snow cooled the pain to a more manageable level. I let out a shuttered breath and tried to regain my senses.
Suki helped me roll over and had me sit so the back of my legs were in the snow.
"There how's that?" Suki asked me once she got me situated.
"B-better. Thank you." I managed to say. The pain was still intense but the cold snow had dulled it some. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out deeply a few times to get my mind under control. "What's going on out there?" I finally said.
"I'm not going to lie, things are pretty bad out there. A lot of the village is on fire and we're out numbered, but my girls are holding their own. The Avatar was fighting the leader last I checked.
"Zuko, that bastard." I practically growled.
Suki looked at me confused for a second before she put things together in her mind. "Is he the one who attacked your village?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes and he's the cause of all this." I said as I pointed all around.
"Hey Sokka do you think you'll be okay for a few. I need to check on what's going on." Suki said after a few seconds of silence. I nodded to her and took off towards the chaos.
"How are your burns? Do you think you can walk?" Suki said as she came back a few minutes later.
"Yeah, I think I can manage. Though I'm no good in a fight right now." I replied.
"Don't worry about that. We're getting you out of here."
"What do you mean where is there to go?" I asked gesturing to all the fire.
"I saw Katara. She said Aang went to get Appa. This Zuko boy is chasing the Avatar if you leave he'll follow you." She replied
"What about you? What about your village?" I asked, worried about their safety.
"Don't worry about us we'll be fine." She said.
Appa landed with Aang and Katara just behind us. "There here, you need to get out of here." She told me.
I wrapped her in a hug and said "Thank you... for everything."
"You welcome." She said sincerely. "Now go, we'll hold them off."
I turned and hobbled over to Appa and climbed up his tail. Katara helped me get in the saddle and we took off. I looked over the edge of the saddle and saw the carnage. Most of the buildings were damaged and on fire and there were bodies strewn about the streets. True to her word Suki and her Kyoshi warriors were covering our retreat. Once The soldiers saw Appa flying away they began to retreat back to their ship. The pain in my burns was the only think that was keeping me grounded and letting my anger boil over.
"What are you doing?!" I heard Katara shout.
I peeled my eyes off the village and saw Aang dive into the water. A few seconds later he burst out of the water holding on the Unagi's two long whiskers'. He got control of the Unagi and the sea serpent spewed water out of its mouth and put out the fires in the village. Appa circled around and when we got close to the Unagi, Aang jumped off the beast and Appa caught him in midair.
"I know that was reckless and stupid." Aang said when he got back in the saddle.
"Yes, it was." Katara replied sternly and then wrapped him in a fierce hug.
I laid down on my stomach to keep my burns exposed to the cool air. My mind was so focused on the pain that I wasn't even paying attention to Katara and Aang. My body was trembling from the pain and I started whimpering.
"Sokka your burned." Katara said after a gasp and she rushed over to me.
"I hadn't noticed." I said with a pained laugh.
"This is no time to joke." Katara scolded. "What do you keep getting yourself into?"
"I think the universe hates me." I responded. "Now can you hurry up and treat me? I'm kind of in a lot of pain here."
"It's a good thing Gran-gran gave us some burn cream." She said as she rummaged through our packs. "Ah, here it is. I need you to hold still because this is really going to hurt at first." Katara warned me.
I screamed out when she first applied the cream. It stung something fierce but after just a few seconds the pain of my burns dulled to a low throb. I let out a shaky breath and tried to find a more comfortable spot on my stomach. I laid there on my stomach well past nightfall. I tried to sleep but the dull throbbing from my burns and the day's events had my head buzzing. After listening to Katara low rhythmic breathing for what seemed like hours I was finally able to drift off to the nothingness of slumber.