Ello there!

Not much to say this time. Chapter seventeen was delayed slightly due to a plot problem that has since worked itself out. I have 18 and 19 with Richard right now, and expect them back soon. I'm working on 20 and its going good.

-Man in the Jade Armor

-

Hi guys, hope you enjoyed Valentine's Day...or Single's Awareness Day, as some know it as. As you can probably have noticed, the updates for the chapters recently haven't been as frequent- never fear, Kitty will take care of the Jade Night and Richard...


Enjoy the chapter! More Sokka fun-ness is on its way.

~Kitty
*Meow*

-

The Jade knight looks over at Richard. "She's going to take care of us?' … The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Hn," says Richard taking another sip of his umbrella drink.

"What the hell is that anyway … and why are you always drinking it." Jade's visor dips in suspicion. "You not drunk all the time are you?" Richard just sighs and looks out over the newly build battlement, at the small crowd of people beginning to congregate in eagerness for another update … or barring that; a lynching.

"I think I want to see what in that," Jade says reaching for the glass.

Richard raises an eyebrow.

Minutes later Kitty comes back up to meet with the two authors, holding her red correction stylus of doom and sees only Richard standing there, still sipping his drink with its little flower-design umbrella.

"Where'd the Knight go?" she asks.

"He got caught up in something."

Kitty looks at Richard for a time. "Is that a bad pun?"

"Could be," he admitted. Kitty looked around the battlement for the Knight, seeing as he had a tendency to fall apart sometimes … or fall down an elevator shaft onto a sword with 'update already' painted on it. He was ever so clumsy.

All she finds a single green finger trying to inch its way away from where Richard was standing. And across its width were dozens of little holes, each the perfect match to a drink umbrella stick.

stranger yet, the holes all seemed to match up to spell; 'Croatoan."

-


Sokka: Master of the Black Sword

Author: The Jade Knight

Co-Author: Richard Caine

Beta: Kitty (A.K.A. kathykatinahat)


-The Resistance Saga-

Chapter 17

-

The Story of Arckon

Brothers

-

"General Arckon, the Green Dagger representatives are waiting for you in conference room two," said the messenger standing before me.

"Good, please tell them that I will be with them shortly," I said smoothly as I expertly threaded the buttons on my shirt one-handed. I rolled up the right sleeve, folding it over itself repeatedly until it was at my shoulder, and pinned it into place. I looked myself over in the mirror and nodded.

First impressions were a very important thing, but in a secret war within a city sometimes it was the second impression that was more important. They expected to see both of Red's generals; then that is just what they would get. There was a reason that no one knew they were the same man. I turned away and crossed over to the door that had closed only a moment before and left my room.

I walked briskly down the hall, polished boots clicking purposefully. The best way to be two people at once is to split their mannerisms, movements and speech patterns as much as you can. I turned a corner and passed a small group of people going the other way. A few of the polite ones pointedly looked away from my scars as they passed; some of the rude ones stared openly. Let them stare; this was the face that had seen more of this war then they should ever hope to. Let them stare, and know that every plan and skirmish I oversaw would be looked at with a veteran's eye, even if I was younger then most of my soldiers.

I pushed open the oaken doors and marched into the room with conviction, not faltering in the slightest.

"Good morning," I said curtly to the three figures in the room. They turned to me and since I had reviewed their personnel manifest extensively – as well as other sources of information – I immediately knew who they were.

Lieutenant Heida was one of the two junior officers in the squad and the unofficial second. When Aikuchi was absent, or even just busy with something else, she spoke with his voice and nobody hesitated to comply. She was fractionally taller than me and wore no make-up aside from black around her eyes – more of an intimidation tactic than a beautifying feature. She wore the standard Earth Kingdom ensemble with the Fire-Nation symbol on both shoulders and over the left breast plate. On one hip she wore a long thin sword; akin to but not quite a rapier – it was built a little heavier so it could take more punishment - and on her other hip sat the customary green-hilted dagger. She favored a graceful but deadly fighting style and was one of the most aggressive fighters in the group.

Next to her and leaning up against the long redwood table was Sergeant Lee. He was a quiet man who had been with the squad since that bloody day they had earned their name. Very little was known about him and to hear him speak was a rare thing, but he was a genius fighter and a fiercely loyal comrade. He never wore the issued armor– purportedly saying they slowed him down. He preferred light cloth to the heavy reinforced leather. He looked up as I entered the room and rested both of his hands on the hilts of his duals. I nodded once to him and he returned it.

Finally was a Corporal by the name of Sen. He was a huge man, strong arms over a large gut; but he looked tough. He was relatively insignificant aside from his appearance. He had joined the force fairly recently, according to Jin's records, and had had an uneventful career before that, aside from a short temper and an absurd number of bar fights. His test scores and course runs were satisfactory and he was a fierce fighter with his axe. I looked over the three of them quickly and knew that this was going to be a difficult meeting; especially with a walking disciplinary infraction like Sen.

"Boy, go get your General. We don't have time to be sitting around here talking to some cripple while there's a war going on," ordered Corporal Sen, his loud voice booming off the polished wood walls.

"I am General Arckon. Please, if you will take your seats we can begin," I said, ignoring the Corporal.

"What?" exclaimed Sen, disgusted. "This child cripple is their great General?" He laughed mockingly.

"You have my assurances of my identity, Lieutenant," I continued, refusing to make eye contact with the man making a fool of himself. "I would like us to first-"

"This resistance is a joke if they appoint this little gimp as their General," insisted Corporeal Sen. "I even heard that their other General is some skinny little kid who always wears a mask and their leader is some little girl."

"Corporal Sen," I said stiffly, turning my eye to him for the first time since entering the room. "I assure you our leader is more than competent, the Iron Titan lives up to his name, and every scar you see and do not see on me was earned in this war."

"Oh, I'm sure everything is fine and dandy," he chuckled darkly. "That is until you have to do anything requiring depth perception."

"My depth perception is fine. Using a complicated system of shadows, markers and landmarks I can match any person with both eyes in any contest."

"I'm sure," he said offhand, already turning his back on me. "Sir, this place is a joke. Let's move on and let these children continue to play in this war." Lieutenant Heida, who had been watching me the entire thing, took a moment before answering. Apparently a moment was too long for the Corporal. "Oh, c'mon Sir, just look at this gimp. He couldn't fight a small child let alone help lead a resistance moment. He would get killed in the first real battle. I have no idea how these kids have managed to last this long, playing this game of theirs."

"There is no game," I said simply. He didn't seem to like that. His face got really sour when his face turned back to me. "I have fought more battles and seen more war then everyone in your squad together."

"Those are big words for a little cripple," he sneered down at me as his face turned red. "Let's see if you can back them up."

I had been expecting this since the moment I entered. Apparently the Lieutenant had also seen it coming. She had most likely chosen this man to accompany her as a test of my fighting skills; to see if the 'kids' had it in them. She knew he would blow up and attack me and she wanted to see the result.

I ducked easily beneath a large fist and slid slightly on my right heel, coming up behind him just as he realized I wasn't under his knuckles. I gripped the wrist that flew past my face and wrenched it back. A biting cold crept into my hand as I ground down with fingers that could shatter steel.

He was a Gel-Hassad.

Interesting.

I twisted his arm just slightly, adjusting for the different physiology, and locked his shoulder. My left foot came up and pressed into the back of his neck just as he fell to his knees. With a little jerk of my wrist I pulled a spike of earth up through the hard wood floor and brought it to rest just under his jaw bone, right in the weak spot of his natural plating. It took him a few breaths to realize exactly what had happened, but he eventually caught on. Glancing back at the other two I saw the Lieutenant resting a hand on Lee's shoulder to stop him from interfering.

"Impressive," she said, nodding slightly. "Now can you please release him?"

I let go of Sen's arm and bent the spike back into the ground. I walked around him and stomped on the floor boards, making sure he saw the nails straighten and pull back into the wood. I turned my back on the man and walked up to the other two. Stopping a respectful distance away I held myself stiffly and considered them. "I hope you learned what you expected to."

"I did," said the Lieutenant. I nodded and held out a friendly hand. She looked at it thoughtfully for a moment before reaching out and taking it. The slightly stilted way she clasped my hand, and the deceptively bony feel, told me she was also a Gel-Hassad. I heard Corporeal Sen pick himself up off the ground behind me as I took Lee's hand. I felt nothing. He was full-blooded human. Hmm.

"When can we expect the other General?" asked Heida. She and Lee held themselves slightly differently now; they were taking me seriously. Good.

"He should be along shortly. Please, let us take our seats." I received a nod and we sat, joined a moment later by Sen. I let my arm rest on the wooden rest of the chair. Making sure my hand was below the level of the table and effectively blocked from sight, I reached out silently with a few finger movements and touched my armor, pulling it up.

Metallic footsteps started to echo into the room from the hall. The doors opened, a gleaming silver hand on the door knob. It took a little concentration to control that much steel and iron; usually I had my own body to help guide it. And I usually had more then a few fingers to control it all with, but I think considering the circumstances the armor moved quite well. I had been a little worried it would seem too doll-like without me inside it, but the Green Daggers' inexperience with me worked in my benefit.

With a few more minute movements I forced the armor to speak. Even when I was inside the armor I could not speak through it. It had no mouth and thus verbal speak was rendered useless through the metal. But sound is just vibrations in the air; if I vibrated the metal at the right frequencies and tones I could make a faux voice that sounded nothing like my own.

"Gentlemen and lady," greeted the empty armor with a slight bowing of the head. I then directed it to stand behind my chair so we could begin.

Now that it was situated, it didn't take too much effort to control the armor, so I could take a moment to think about the soldiers before me. Two of them were Gel-Hassad, so it stood to reason that more were within their ranks. What did this mean for them? Just who were the Green Daggers loyal to?

And could we trust them?

-

-Sokka-

-

The sun was starting its walk across the sky when Piando and I stepped back into the street, leaving the Resistance behind us. The golden light glittered off the morning dew on every surface like a million jewels. It was really very pretty. The city was still just waking up, but even now a few people were passing us, going about their business. I took a deep breath of the morning air, tasting the night's dew on my tongue.

"May I ask how it went?" asked Piando, his arms crossed behind him as he walked.

I didn't answer right away, letting my thoughts settle. A small child ran past laughing as his mother chased him telling him to slow down before he fell. I could answer Piando-sensei's question many ways. Some of them better then others. "It went ... better then I feared."

"That is good," he responded, still walking serenely. A shop owner propped open his door as we passed and waved cheerfully to us.

"Yeah," I said as I waved back.

We walked along in peaceful silence for a while. We were just passing a bakery, the smells of fresh bread wafting out when I continued. "I told her some things; I had to."

"I see?" he said softly; there was not accusation in his voice, but the question rang clear. His hands moved slightly inside the sleeves of his robes and a tingling ran down my spine. I looked sideways at Piando and he caught my eye. He had just thrown up a privacy shield, and from the pride in his eyes I assumed it was a test as well.

Normally when Piando-Sensei was proud of something I had done it was a great thing. But right now I had other things weighing down my mind. "She would have been hurt for a long time after if I didn't say anything, especially when she asked me if there was another woman."

"And you couldn't lie to her," he replied as if he didn't need an answer.

"No, I couldn't, and she took it as the worst. She looked so," I paused for a moment, trying to put the look on her face into words. It was just so pained, so hurt. "So, crushed," I said, as a small knot formed in my stomach. "She would have hated for a long time; cursing herself for being blind, or cursing me for hurting her. I would have taken years of her life from her as she hated me. I had to make her see that I was doing it because I could never make her happy."

"I trust that you made the right decision."

I hadn't realized that's what I needed to hear until he said it. I had placed Suki in great danger just by knowing her, let alone what I told her and hinted at. I guess I just needed someone to tell me that I hadn't made a mistake. "Thank you," I said, the iron bands around my chest loosening. I felt a small smile fall on my face as a little of the worry I had for Suki faded. We walked on in silence for a little while.

Piando's eyes had smiled in that way they do when I had thanked him, and in a little flicker of realization I knew that although there was a huge age gap between us, we really were friends. The Gel-Hassad people only allowed their true selves out around their own kind and people that they trusted with their very lives. Hell, most Hassads who married never told them the truth. They feared rejection at the very least; or at the worst, violence. The mere fact that Piando was allowing himself to let his heritage show, even in something as small as a smile said great things about his faith in me.

"Piando-sensei?"

"Sokka, you do not have to add the honorific," he said, pleasantly nodding to a woman who seemed to know him.

"I know, it just feels weird to say your name without it."

"I see," he chuckled. "We shall have to work on that."

"Yeah, I suppose we will," I replied. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me why you trust me so much. I know I'm your student and the Incarna and everything. But you seem to put the same trust in me that you would someone you have known your whole life."

Sometimes, not very often, a Gel-Hassad gets the urge to actually smile, lips and everything, even though it pains them. It may be because they have tried to blend in with humans for so long or it could be something deeper. But either way, when a Hassad actually feels smiling, it's unable to not smile. It looks very different from the masks they use to hide. It brings a brilliant happiness along with an edging of discomfort to their eyes. It even looks different, smaller and more sincere. When Piando smiled at me as I asked that simple question, I suddenly knew the answer wasn't nearly as simple as I had thought.

"It is because I have known you nearly my whole life," he answered as though it was nothing.

"Um, come again?" I asked, not sure I heard him right.

"I met you the first time two hundred years ago."

For a long second I thought on that, trying to see where he was going with this. "Oh, you mean you knew the last Incarna? I seem to remember she lived about two hundred years ago." Suddenly something clicked. "Wait, what do you mean two hundred years ago?"

"The People have a longer lifespan then humans; we believe it is because we were created from the old ones and their lifespan is still unknown to us; we have many texts that place their lifespan at over a thousand years."

As he spoke all of those memories floating around started to come together. "So, The People live to be a little over three hundred years old?"

"Give or take," he said nodding. "The oldest Gel-Hassad I have personally known was three hundred and seventy three when he passed. He was the last Chooser of the Slain and he passed only a short time ago.

"How old are you?" I asked. "Oh, sorry. Unless you don't want to tell me."

Piando laughed good-heartedly and waved away my last question. "I am two hundred and fifty seven years old; about past my middle age."

"Wow, you are a lot older then me," I thought aloud. "Okay, now what was this stuff about you knowing me two hundred years ago?"

"What do you know about the Archive?"

I let my eyes un-focus as a huge amount of information made itself known inside my little head – it hurt. "The Archive is the largest repository of One and Hassad information in the world. It is the hub of knowledge for those of the blood and ... it exists deep inside the neutral zone of the spirit world; almost inside its own pocket dimension. Because it is in the spirit world, where time has a pitiful grasp at the best of times, it can exist in several time realities at once." I jerked my head back a little and shook it to try to get some order up there again. "So, wait, no way. Are you trying to tell me that you met met two hundred years ago inside one of those clashes of time?"

"Indeed," said Piando, his voice obviously controlled. "I was there, two hundred years ago when Vashti Ghin, with the help of her times of the Slain, twisted the path of the world so that the spirit would go to a human who had the qualities vitally needed for the future."

I was a little blown back by that and we walked on in silence as I thought about all of that. Someone – this Vashti Ghin; the last Incarna before me, had selected me. That damned white wolf was hounding me because someone stuck him on me. But why? If Piando-sensei knew this person she must have had a good heart; I couldn't see him helping someone who had ill intentions.

"Why did I get it anyway? I mean, not that I don't mind the world in my hands and all that, or all of the psychos after me including this Master guy-" I stopped speaking abruptly. When I had mentioned the Master Piando-sensei had gotten a look in his eyes that I had never seen before other then in the memories of Gel-Hassad. It was anger and hate. He knew the Master in a personal sense.

"So you know of him," said Piando, in a very quiet voice.

"Yeah," I admitted, not sure how to take this new side of Piando. I had seen him disappointed a few times in my memories of learning the Shapings, but I had never seen him this disturbed. "He hurt Yue," I finished, opening up my own reasons.

"And that's why Vashti sent the spirit to you," he said softly, the anger of that damned name draining away.

I frowned deeply. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"The… Master is a madman, a twisted person who bends the world for reasons no man can guess. Two hundred years ago he put every resource he had into hunting down Vashti; hundreds died resisting him, and still more helped him. I was with her, along with the Chooser; the only one of the Ghanim who had not fallen to we had to worry about more him. Avatar Yasuragi had taken over the body of Kiyoshi weeks before and both of them worked together to try to kill Lady Ghin. It was a time of peace for the world, but around the Incarna there was only fear and bloodshed."

"She couldn't stop it, she was only one woman and they were so many," I said stopping in my own footsteps as a few broken recollections rolled over me. "Genzou and Mouretsu; they were fighting over her just like they are with me."

"You spoke of them before," he said slowly, also standing motionless next to me, "but Vashti never confided them in me. She mustn't have wanted to worry me about them. She was much like you in that way."

"You were important to her," I said more then questioned, receiving another honest smile in return.

"Yes," he said softly. "But those days are in the past. We must focus on the now, lest the future elude us."

"I suppose," I conceded, knowing he didn't want to talk about it right now.

"Sokka," he continued. From the sudden change in his voice it seemed like the subject of Vashti would not be brought up again soon. "Do you know what you look like within the archive?"

"No?" I replied slowly, as Piando took a few steps forward. I followed him and soon we were on our way back again. For a whole block we walked in silence as Piando gathered his thoughts. Somehow I knew that the answer was very complicated, and said nothing as he tried to put it into words.

"From the first moment that you touch the Void your essence, or what some might call soul or spirit, explodes outward, instantaneously moving beyond the realm of mortal. You are not the Incarna, nor can you harness the energies properly yet for many months – in normal cases," he added with a slightly amused tone. "But like the Avatar is the Avatar from birth, you are the Incarna from the moment of your first immersion into the spirit realm."

"Alright, I follow that," I answered. "I remember Aang telling me that most Avatars don't begin their training until the monks announce who they are on their sixteenth birthday. So it makes sense that I would be the Incarna almost from the start. At least I had a good number of years before I went all frosty." I winced slightly, recalling the fight I had with Senchi.

"On a small side note," Piando said in a tone of voice I didn't like, "there is very little, even in the Archive, about how an Incarna gains their powers. But in a few of the old stories it is said that the scions are born with their guiding spirits."

That brought me to a full stop again. "Say what now?"

"But they are only stories," Piando said, continuing on without me. I felt myself pass outside the shield when he got a few feet from me and it snapped me out of it. I jogged to catch up to him and felt the shield pull back around me.

"But I never met the damned wolf before the time with Genzou," I pleaded as the feeling of danger from heavy dropping objects and little gray cats came over me.

"I do not doubt that. I am simply giving you all of the knowledge at my disposal, like any good teacher should."

"Okay," I said, nervously looking behind myself. "And how much faith do you put in these stories?"

"Not a lot," he admitted, and I almost breathed a sight of relief. "Although if I thought them nothing I would not have told you." Oh, brilliant. I just know this is going to somehow come back to bit me right in the backside.

"Excellent, only one problem; I have never seen or even heard of the white wolf before all this started."

"That is a problem, but the stories are everywhere and too consistent for there not to be some facts hidden within their meanings."

I just sighed again and followed. Another thought to add to the mounting pile. I hoped it wouldn't all fall to crap. "Alright, I'll keep it in mind. Now back to you meeting me two hundred years ago."

"Because your spirit immediately goes from just being a regular human soul to the essence of the Incarna you do not appear as yourself in within the Archive as everyone else does." Piando spoke softly even though we were inside of the shield. I guessed this was very important. "In the Archive, everyone exists only as spirits, allowing them to meet with people thousands of kilometers away without having to get in their physical bodies. Normally it is something no one even thinks about as it is the norm. But there still exist many people who lived around the time Vashti was the scion, but few who met with her in the Archive.

"As the scion of the Incarna you are too complicated to have a simple form as we do. Your spirit punches through so many dimensions when it first touches the spirit realm. It learns and experiences so many things in those few moments that it becomes something too big to ever be depicted as a simple image of its body ever again except to others like it. So, when you enter the Archive you could look down at yourself and see your body as you do now, but everyone else will only see what you are rather then who you are."

"What do you mean by 'what I am?'"

"We see you in the sense of what kind of person you are. When I first met you it was a frightening and enlightening experience. The man I saw standing before me was fiercely loyal to his friends and a fiend to any who would threaten them. He was gentle and confused, but at the same time strong and possessing a will that could bend steel." I almost felt a blush rising at the compliments. I'd always liked to think I was like that, but I couldn't help the prideful grin as he spoke. "Sadly that is all I can tell you about that chapter of my life right now."

"Why?" I asked, my little glow fading slightly.

"Because you must experience it yourself to truly understand. I could tell you what to believe; but knowing and believing are two very different things."

"You're talking like I'm going to meet you and Vashti soon," I said carefully, getting the feeling that I was walking on thin ice over deep water.

"I hope you can join me for lunch at the Lotus Garden today," he replied, still walking. I nodded slightly and couldn't help the feeling of fearful excitement filling me. If this meant what I thought it did, I just might get a few answers.

-

Piando and I parted company when we got the back to the parlor. He said he had some preparations he had to do for our lunch meeting and wandered off, leaving me alone with all the old guys playing Pai Sho. It was only about ten minutes later and I was picking at the bowl of peanuts on the bar when I felt someone coming up behind me. I turned around and was met with a sight that set heavily on my chest. I could help but think 'finally' even as I felt like I was losing a little of the closeness with my sister.

Katara looked beautiful. I suppose she always did; I just didn't want to admit it. I sighed for the hundredth time that day and managed a sincere smile at her. She had a deep look on her face that spoke of danger should I cross her, but it also held of a shard of fear. She was afraid I'd say no, and Aang was just the kind of guy that would work on. I have no doubt that the only reason they were standing in front of me was because of Aang. Katara would have just told him it was stupid, but he was a lot like me.

And speaking of Aang, he looked pretty green. I just stood there for a moment, letting him stew.

"Morning," I said pleasantly, hoping my grin looked just a little carnivorous. Aang paled a little more and Katara looked about ready to hit me. I'd say I pulled it off. "Need something?"

"Y-yeah," stuttered Aang. "I was h-hoping I could t-talk to you?"

"Well go ahead then," I said simply, hiding my grin in my cup of jasmine tea. This stuff was really good. I could really get into drinking it more.

"W-w-well, I was h-hoping to talk, you know, with just you?" he said uncertainly, flustered with my misunderstanding. Katara just glowered at me.

"Come again?" I asked, fighting hard to keep the smile down.

"Sokka, you're being an idiot again," huffed Katara, clearly having enough. Aang must have had a hard time convincing her to let him ask for permission before they moved forward with anything. Damn, I would have loved to play with him a little more.

"Alright, let me just get a fresh cup of tea and we'll grab a table." I turned back to the bartender and he was already pouring me another cup. "You want something Aang?"

"No, I'm fine." He looked so nervous now it was funny. His hands shook a little as he wiped them on his pants as secretly as he could. He actually looked like just the thought of eating anything made him want to throw up.

I gave in. This was really starting to get to him. "Alright Aang," I said trading in my empty cup for a steamy new one. "Let's go." I let him lead me away to a corner table and sat down across from him, just catching the sight of Katara away by Toph out of the side of my eye.

"So, uh. I asked to talk to you because... umm, what I mean is..." muttered Aang, stumbling over himself. Around us the bubbling of conversation hummed dully mixed with the clicking of tiles and cups.

"Calm down Aang," I said kindly, letting a gentle smile show. "I know why you wanted to talk to me."

"You do?" he squeaked, looking like he expected that I might jump up and eat him.

"Yeah, and there's a few things I wanted to talk to you about before I gave you my permission." He looked torn between amazement, terror and the urge to faint back into his chair in relief.

"Yeah, but don't think I'm done torturing you," I finished smirking. Can't leave him thinking he has it too easy. I might be thinking clearer and understanding what's important, but I was still Katara's brother and I intended to act the role.

"So Toph was right, you were just messing with me."

"Yeah, kinda hard not to see you care about each other," I said, taking another sip of my tea. "But I still want to make sure she is taken care of."

"Of course I will," he said, the colour coming back into his face. I leaned back into my chair, the old wood creaking loudly. I knew what I would have done if he had brought this up before now, and with what I knew now...

"You know what I would have said if you had asked me this even a week ago?" I asked him as I gulped back the rest of my tea, hoping it would calm me. He shook his head. "I would have made you promise me that you would take care of her, helping her in anything she wanted to be and protecting her with your life if you needed to."

Aang started to shift uncomfortably in his chair once more. He thought I didn't notice. It was a very subtle movement, one that most people would overlook. But I understood; after all, we were brothers.

"Even now a part of me thinks that this is acceptable."

"Sokka," started Aang, but he trailed off unsure how to continue.

"This is hard for you, isn't it?" I asked, meeting his eyes. My voice was calm and calculated; a stark difference from the amused tone and jokes I had used only moments ago. "Retrying to explain something to me that no man could even begin to understand. If it was anyone else you would make the promise without a second's hesitation, and mean it in a way. But you know that eventually I will figure out exactly what you meant when you made that promise and be angry with you; maybe even my permission. Am I right?"

"Yes," he said, unable to meet my eyes. His hands fidgeted nervously on the table top as a passing waiter took my cup away. He was still trying to find someway to make me understand him, but no regular human could.

"How much of what my sister loves is Aang and how much is an act?" I asked bluntly, going right for the vein. He didn't start or even look surprised at the question. He was obviously expecting it.

"I am – I'm," he let out a ragged breath and leaned back, some of the goofy ignorance I had come to expect from him was missing from his eyes, but he still seemed to be Aang. He ran a hand through his messy hair. I knew it had become a habit of his as he wasn't used to it yet. "I'm not like you."

"I know," I conceded. "But that's not what I'm asking."

"Yeah," he muttered, meeting my eyes again. "I am Aang, but I am also Roku, Kiyoshi, and even Yasuragi to a point. But it's not as simple as that. I am my own man as well as them. I don't get memories like you do, sometimes I get flashes or feeling about something, like – like."

"Like you know you've done this before and the outcome will achieve nothing. You know that route it is pointless."

"No," he said suddenly, raising his hands defensively. "It's not like that. Well, it is a little but not compositely. I sometimes get feelings, really vague feelings about things, but it doesn't force me to do anything."

"Knowing and believing are two very different things," I said, echoing Piando.

"Exactly," agreed Aang. "It's like I almost remember that doing something is not going to solve anything, but it's just a feeling. I could act on it if I wanted too."

So like me, only without all of the details of the past lives. "Alright, but is it Aang or the Avatar that loves Katara?"

"I do!" he said with a passion that made me cock an eyebrow. "I am the Avatar, but I was Aang long before I knew or even started leaning all this stuff. I may get a little knowledge now and again, but other then that and the four elements thing I am Aang. The Avatar is just something I was stuck with, like royalty. It's something that's very important, to me and the world but it isn't makes me… er, me? I will learn how to be it to the best of my ability and if need be I will put Aang away at times. But it is me that loves Katara- the Avatar is just the spirit of power that makes all of the Avatars strong and gives them a huge roll in the world. And – and – "

He ran out of steam and just stood there staring though me for a long moment as a grin slipped across my face.

"Oh, you clever bastard," he whispered, and I couldn't help but laugh. "But how could you possibly know?"

"What?" I asked, still chuckling. "That you are constantly asking yourself if you're yourself or the Avatar, who loves and who just is? Crap like that?" I received a nod. "Aang, who are you talking too? I've been asking myself the same questions for a while now. And after talking with La I thought you needed this."

"Yeah, I guess I kinda did," he said. "But, now what?"

I rolled the tea cup around my hands for a moment, going over what I knew. There were many things that both of us knew but could not bare to say out loud yet. We were to be two beings of nearly unmatched power; gods among men. And most sane men would never be able to understand what we were or what we had to do in times of crisis. And right now we were both still too human.

"I'm going to ask you for a promise," I said, letting the unsaid into my voice. "I need you to promise me that Katara will be the most important person in Aang's life. That Aang will protect and support her in anyway she needs, whether she knows she needs it or not."

His eyes hardened as I spoke, not in anger or anything like that, but understanding. He knew. He felt it too. The parlor seemed to go completely silent for a long time, and the unspoken went from the depths of nightmares to reality when each of us admitted it to the other. The unreal became real between the Avatar and the Incarna as two men forged a promise.

"I promise," said Aang, the Avatar missing.

"Then I give you my permission," I said, the Incarna missing from my own voice.

The noise of the parlor came rushing back as the glasses that seemed to hang in the air move on toward open mouths. Pai Sho tiles that hovered in the air finally clicked down. The tea cup three tables over that had fallen finally shattered on the floor, signaling the unbreakable vow forged between two halves of one.

"Well, that was weird," cracked Aang, breaking the weight of the moment. I felt a sudden snapping sensation as I came back together and placed my cup upside down on the table.

"Yeah," I admitted. We both knew what had just happened. We were two parts of one, the yin and yang and any promises made between us were ironclad and the price for betrayal was a steep one. As a rule we don't make promises to one another without seriously thinking them through. This was one of those occasions.

"You talked with the oceans?" he asked, trying to clean the air.

"Yup," I grinned easily, putting most of what we had just left unspoken behind me. There would be time for that later. "And I found out he was an old Avatar, but I think you guessed that already?"

"Mostly," he admitted sheepishly. "Get any other great revelations while you were there?"

"Yes," I said. "I figured out why you have been really quiet around me for a while now. We've barely talked for weeks and even when we do its strained."

"Oh ... that," he said guiltily.

"You've been getting nightmares for a while too, sent to you from Yasuragi who -- I assume, sensed that I was getting close to touching the Void."

"Sorry, it's just that they were so real. I tried not to let them bother me, I really did."

"It's fine," I said, waving it off. "I was getting really nervous around you for a while there too. Let's just both say we were being stupid and move on huh?" I reached across the table and held out my hand.

Aang laughed a little. "Okay," he said, taking my hand and giving it a small shake. Nothing really changed between us, but I suddenly felt like I could breathe a lot easier. "Anyway, what have you been up to today? We all got up and you were already gone. We asked a couple people and they said that you had gotten up at like four in the morning and went off somewhere with Piando."

"Yeah, about that," I chuckled rubbing the back of my head. "I may have just gotten more power. Apparently I was dreamwalking all night and I met up with Suki."

"Oh," Aang said a little too quickly, and he began to fidget nervously again. "So what happened?"

"What? No surprise that I walked through peoples dreams?" I asked, trying to act hurt.

"Oh my gods!" gasped Aang mockingly, brining up both hands to his face.

"Smartass," I grumbled, throwing a bunched up napkin at him.

"Better then being a dumbass!"

"Don't make me bind you to the ceiling fan."

"Oh no, someone save me from the scary Incarna-man!" he cried in a squeaky little voice. "He's gonna bind me to a ceiling fan – wait, you can do that?"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I walk into a someone's dream I haven't met in months, and you're fine with it. But the second I threaten to bind you to the fan you get all disbelieving?"

"Hey, you the one with strange voidy powers no one really remembers!" He pointed at me accusingly. "You can't blame me for not getting all the little details!"

"But you thought it was perfectly normal for me to walk through dreams?"

"Well, yeah!" he said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Really, one of your power thingamajigs is called dream, so it kind makes sense that you'd have control over them."

"I suppose."

"Alright, you met Suki and then what?"

"Things went like they usually do around me. I ended up talking with Suki and then Yue and La for a while; they gave me some more insight into the Master, as he calls himself. He only gets stranger and more scary by the way."

"Nice, sounds like fun ahead."

"Quite," I sighed. "After that fiasco in which I remembered another one of my past lives, mind you, I woke up and came down stairs. I talked a bit with Piando. Yelled a bit. Had some tea. Then I went to meet up with the Resistance movement under the pretense of joining grandmaster Haiyahi for a meeting. I found Suki, just like I wanted too and had a great chat.

"So Suki's here too?" asked Aang, sounding distracted. He had gotten awful quiet when I started talking about her.

"Yeah, apparently she's part of the resistance here. Not sure exactly what she does but she seems to fit in pretty well. She seems to have a few good friends ... and there's a disguise involved, so I'm thinking she may be doing some sort of infiltration."

"Hmm." His eyes darted over to the door that Katara and Toph had disappeared into before we sat down. He did it so quick that I wasn't sure even he knew he did it, but I caught it. I just had no idea what it was supposed to mean.

"What's up?" he asked me a moment later, startling me out of my thoughts.

"I was wondering what was up with you?" I said honestly. He fidgeted a little when I said that, making me even more suspicious. Alright, I was really getting the feeling that I was missing something again. I didn't like it and it seemed like it was happening more often lately.

"Oh, nothing really important," he lied, forcing what he thought was a grin on his face. It didn't work. "So, anything else happen?"

"Yeah."

"Important?" he prompted.

"Very," I sighed. I really didn't want to get into this. Some part of me hoped that if I ignored it for long enough it would go away. Huh, worked so well with everything else. "I think I found one of the Jenkotsu."

I watched his face as it flicked with a few different emotions. First there was confusion as he tried to remember who they were. Then there was a little bit of hope as he realized that there might be someone else to help him with the burden of the world. And finally there was horror as he remembered what I had said about them. "Are they on our side or … the Master's?" he asked, trying out the name of our newest enemy.

"I don't know," I said honestly as I calmly waved over a waiter and ordered another cup of tea for myself and one for Aang too. He would need something to help calm his nerves in a minute.

"How did you meet them? Did they attack you?"

"Nothing like that," I said waving away his fears, but failing from the looks of it. "I – uh felt him and then, kinda looked at him with the void," I said, still a little uncomfortable with how to explain some of my abilities. "I didn't try anything or even try to get a better look at him. I'm not strong enough yet to take one of them on. I think."

"Okay," he said, considering it. "Well do we at least know what he looks like?"

"Suki called him Arc and the Escort guy called him General Arckon. He's about seventeen or eighteen with long brown hair. He has pretty bad scarring all down the right side of his face," I said, touching my own to make the point. "He's also missing his right arm."

Aang went quiet for a moment, no doubt searching his memory for such a person. He seemed to come up empty and with a description like that he would have been bound to make an impression if he had ever come across this 'Arc'.

"I know how he got his scars," I said softly just as the waiter returned with our tea. I took mine and thanked him while Aang waited impatiently for me to continue. "It's a powerful Waterbender technique that was developed a few thousand years ago by the Water Henkotsu and passed down ever since, apparently."

"What's it do?" he asked me, his tea held forgotten in limp hands.

I leaned back into my chair, the old wood creaking loudly. "It's kind of like blood bending, only a little more unrefined. It might be what blood bending was developed from." I couldn't see that crazy old woman being the Water Henkotsu, at least not this generation's… but maybe she was of the line? "Most every water bender, with the right amount of experience and training is to be able to draw the warmth out of water to freeze it. But to put heat into it takes something else entirely."

I took a sip of my tea, relishing the hot liquid. "They target specific points on a person's body with a single touch, establishing an invisible link with the cells that they had contact with. Then they would push heat in the form of energy along the thread into the person's body, causing the tissue to heat up until it reaches a critical point. Then the person's flesh would literally explode from within."

"Oh, gods," groaned a green Aang. "That sounds like a horrible way to go."

"It is," I said solemnly. It took an instant before comprehension dawned on Aang's face. I had lived many lives before this one, and not all of them had ended peacefully.

"So only a Jenkotsu or Henkotsu could manage this?"

"No," I said honestly. "Any water bender could, it just takes a little something extra. But on average – yes, most of the people who learn this possess a spark of one kind or another." I raised my tea cup again. "To the best of my knowledge anyway; you're the bending expert."

We sat in silence for a time after that. Aang was trying to get a grasp on all of this and I was enjoying a moments rest. I drank some more tea and watched a Pai Sho game two tables over. I had only just started picking up the rules but it looked like a game I would like to learn.

"So, if it was the Water Jenkotsu that scarred him like that, does that mean he's against the Master and was trying to stop them, or...?" Aang, ever the optimist.

"Or was it the Water Jenkotsu that was trying to stop him from serving the Master?" I finished. "Truthfully, there's no way we could know. We're just going to have to play it cool until he attacks me this afternoon."

"What!" Aang shouted, startling the entire parlor. I looked around and smiled when everyone turned back to their games and pretended nothing had happened. Then I took a lesson from Piando-sensei and drew half-dozen little glyphs on the table in tiny green flames and activated a privacy spell.

Aang's eyes bounced back and forth between my face and looking aghast at the glyphs as they quickly disappeared and looked amazing. I'm sure if it was any other time he would have been hounding me with questions, but luckily for me the impending attempt on my life seem to take the front gate.

"Attack you! When? Who told you? Are you sure!" I waiting politely until he stopped machine gunning questions at me – it was a bit of a wait.

"I know because as I was talking to Suki, which wasn't working by the way, I was begging for some way to tell her what she needed to know without telling her things that would endanger her. When I did that I sort of saw, sort of heard that he would attack me this afternoon at the festival the Fire-Nation is having. New Ozai day or whatever it's called – something about unity in the new city or crap."

"But-" Aang seemed to be torn. "What do we do?"

"We do whatever we normally would and when he attacks me this afternoon-"

"We have to do something!" screamed Aang, his eyes almost firing out of his skull. I was really glad I put up the privacy spell now.

"He's going to attack me later this afternoon, and I don't think we can avoid it. Put it off? Maybe. But it's inevitable."

"How can you possibly know all this?" he asked in a regular voice again. He flopped back into his chair.

"I told you I heard it when I was talking to Suki."

"But you said yourself you can't take a Jenkotsu on your own." Now we had traded in 'freaking out Aang' for 'concerned – must save the world, Aang'.

"I can't," I stated plainly. "But I won't have to."

"Got that right!" he said forcefully. "I'm gonna be there."

"No you won't. The first thing he will do is restrain you three."

"I'll get out." I almost had to applaud his spirit there; he looked like he could almost chew steel saying that.

"No, only one of you will get out," I said. I was really starting to surprise myself with how calmly I was taking all of this. I suppose that you really can get used to anything. "And it won't be you."

"Well, who then? Will you be okay?" I looked up at my brother in everything but blood – this time – and had to smile at him. Aang, all five and a half feet of him, looked about ready to charge right into the Fire Lord's palace. He stood there, meaning every word. The morning light came in through the window making him almost glow. All he needed was a white scarf or a flapping coat to complete the hero look.

"Don't worry Aang, I'll be fine." My face cracked in a sincere smile. "I'll be in good hands." My brow pulled down a little. If I had interpreted it right. "Literally – I think."

"Alright," he said, satisfied for the time being. "Are you going to tell me what you saw though?"

I sighed and put both of my elbows on the table, pressing my eyes into the palms of my hands. I took a deep breath, trying to quiet my mind. It had been so fleeting the first time I wasn't sure if I could remember it all. But the instant I closed my eyes there it all was. Every feeling and every impression just as clear as it had been when I had first gotten it; almost like it had been waiting for me.

"The Earthen Angel comes to bring his fist down upon the Gray Ghost. The being of one close to him pushes him further down the path of misunderstanding, and fear for the people force him to raise his armour. As the sun descends of the day of fire, iron and void meet in violence. The allies of the Gray Ghost are being held for protection they don't need, but when the fight tilts one is freed and the world sees for the first time the might of the Mistress of Metal."

I sat still while the feeling fell away again. I felt a little shaky after that and reached for my tea cup, hoping that a drink would help. I gulped down the rest of it and put the empty cup upside down on the table next to the other one. I shook myself, casting off the sleepiness I felt and popped my neck. Across from me Aang's mouth was wide open – as were his eyes. "What?"

"You just made a prophecy."

"I did not!" I shouted sharply. "Like hell am I anything like that damn dirty floor mat!"

"But, you said things ... that would happen later," he babbled. Apparently he was beyond blinking also. It was starting to weird me out.

"I just repeated what I felt," I said firmly, trying to make him see I had done nothing special.

"Prophecies are made by weird old ladies who charge way too much and get it wrong half the time."

"But you said yourself that Aunt Wu was real," he protested.

"I agreed that she seemed real, yeah. But I am nothing like her and I'd thank you to remember it." I could talk about some crazy one-armed guy coming after me later today like nothing. But accusations about me making prophesies really got under my wolf-tail. I glanced at the clock ticking away on the counter by the bar. It was almost ten now.

"Aang, I have to meet someone else for another difficult talk before lunch so could we please just drop the prophecy thing?"

He looked like he wanted to argue about it more, but he finally let up. "I guess."

"Great," I said shortly. I got up out of my chair and disassembled the privacy spell with a wave of my hand. "I've got to think for a little before I climb into the jaws of the beast again."

And with that I left the parlor.


-This chapter has been Beta-approved :)-

Alright, as you can see we're getting closer to something :)


Jade Knight - Richard Caine - Kitty

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