Here is the first part of the update... a nice build-up chapter with some sweet stuffs and maybe a little friction. A huge battle starts next chapter... i promise. I'm still working on the wrinkles of the rest. It's pretty big... little over 20 thousand words right now (counting this part) and not done, but i need to get this right... it's a delicate scene. Anyway. I'll be as quick as i can while still staying awesome.
-jade
P.S. I stuck that smug bastard in the coffin. Leave me in the grave yard will you... I'll show him.... -suddenly notices an umbrella drink beside the computer- Oh crap.
WHOOT! We just rolled over two hundred thousand words!
never thought I'd get this far... couldn't have done it without Richard though. Oh, and although updates come very randomly, it will never be abandoned.
Written and read best in 1/2 format
Sokka: Master of the Black Sword
Author: The Jade Knight
Co-Author: Richard Caine
-The Resistance Saga-
Chapter 20
Poised on a Blade
-Sokka
I turned my wrists over a few times, inspecting the chains of Spells that I had put there for any mistakes. I went over the formulas one last time before I pulled my crimson wrist …. thingies on to cover up the glowing green writing. I don't want to draw too much attention at the Festival before I'm ready, and having glowing glyphs all over my forearms might do it. I checked the glyphs on my ankles, and even looked down the front of my shirt at the circles of them on my chest one last time.
One of the more limiting things about what Piando had taught me was that true Spirit Shaping spells took time to create. I'd begged off a little earlier to go prepare for this afternoon. What I was planning would take time and energy; along with writing long sequences of text in glowing green fire. That bit always seemed to put people off for some reason.
"There is nothing and never will be anything, I went there to break it off as cleanly as possible without hurting her. She will always be my friend, but nothing more."
"Alright," Toph took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. "I know you've just figured out I like you too, and we haven't really gone into anything. But if you're with me, you're with me; no one else. I don't want to put you off by sounding too … possessive or something, but that's how I feel."
I smiled widely as I stretched out my still back and looked around the empty room Piando had let me use for my preparations. "I was pretty sure that's how you felt, even before this. And that's how I feel about all of this too. I never could have even tried to talk to you without ending whatever was left with Suki. That's why I went and talked to her first like I did."
I bent down and touched the last chain of Glyphs I had sketched out on the floor. It glowed to readiness, curling up the wall, until the whole thing was charged. Then I raised one edge of it and connected it to my stomach, just under the dozen other lines already there. It tickled a little as it slithers all around my chest, but it was quickly affixed and ready to be activated. I dusted off my legs and made sure all my glowy bits were hidden. If what the memories Piando gave me were anything to go by, there would come a time when I would be able to create all these chains and more in only the blink of an eye. And not only that, but I could be able to call up and bind Spirits with a flick of the wrist; but until that day would come I would have to use these long Glyph chains to manage. Meh, it could be a lot worse.
I could just be stuck with the usual taunts that used to be my standard fare. Although one should never underestimate the power of the taunt...
"I'm with you and that's not going to change, but I would like you to at least try to be civil around Suki," I asked carefully.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I would be very unhappy if she was somehow crushed in a landslide or something," I joked. "I'm not asking you to be friends with her, but play nice. Please?"
"I'm hurt," she said mockingly. "I'll have you know that my father is nobility and I was brought up to be a proper lady in all kinds of political situations."
I stood there for a few seconds, thinking about what that could mean. "That actually makes me more nervous."
She cackled mischievously, making my heart leap again. "It should. But you don't have to worry; as long as the girl keeps it strictly friendly I can deal. But I will tell you now if she starts something I will end it. I just got you to myself. I'm not going to let some girl take you away."
"Fair enough," I agreed, grinning, but the smile quickly started to slip from my face. "Uh, Toph, about all this stuff I'm preparing." I raised my wrists.
"I was beginning to wonder." She smirked, rolling her hand. "You talk to Katara and Aang for maybe two minutes, and then we both lock ourselves in here and you start writing all over the walls with that hand fire of yours."
"Spirit Fire."
"Yeah, finger fire. Anyways, I was saying I was planning on making you tell me before we left in case it was another one of these stupid ideas you have. You know the ones; where you run off like a moron and I have to come and save your sorry ass."
I laughed good-heartedly. "Am I really that predictable?"
My little Warrior Toph got a very dark look on her face the second I opened my mouth to reply. "Look, I am not some little china doll you have to protect."
Oh, damn. Stupid Sokka; use that brain of yours. "I know, and I never meant anything like that."
"I know you know, but you still seem to forget. I'll agree that you're not the same guy you were a few months ago, but you're not invincible either. I'm still really mad at how far you went back in the Oasis. You could have been killed."
"But, Yasuragi was-"
"I know she was going to level us all! Don't you think I know that?" she shouted, backing me up against the wall. "I could feel how powerful she was, everything around her was trembling with power I never even knew Twinkletoes could call up, but then you went and decided that you had to do it all alone!"
I was starting to get a sick feeling. "I didn't-"
"Shut up and listen! We all came pretty damn close to dying there, but you could have done things a lot differently. So you're this big Incarna. Whoopty do! You can still die can't you! Can't you?"
"Yes," I said quietly.
"And you sure as hell ain't all powerful, not even Aang is, but you're supposed to be smart. And not just normal smart, you're supposed to be this Yang thing, as smart as Yasuragi is powerful, right? So where the hell was the thinking there? Where was all this 'shadow in the night' crap? Huh? All I saw was one idiot pushing himself so far he couldn't even stand after."
"What was I supposed to do? Let you all die?" I shouted back.
"Of course not! But you could have thought! You could have made a plan where we all gang up on her. Gods Snoozles, you yourself said we all had to depend on each other, and then you go and throw yourself at that psycho like some kind of crazed lunatic? Where was the thinking in that?"
"I-I- ," I stammered, all my anger deflating. She's right; I could have come up with a better plan, any plan. All I did was try to hit Yasuragi harder and harder. I could never win against her like that, it was some kind of crazy fluke that I did. If Aang hadn't been trying with everything he had to lock her down inside his mind...
"I'm sorry."
"You damn well almost were!" Toph continued to glare at me in her own way until I felt about as tall as an ant.
"I wasn't thinking." I felt horrible, she was right; she was almost always right dammit. There were a hundred ways I could have handled that better. Hell, I don't think there were many ways I could have handled it worse; except for the dying thing of course. "I'm sorry; I promise I'll never do anything like that again."
"Good, now stop feeling sorry for yourself."
That was it? We're moving on? I know Toph was never one to dwell on things, but I would have expected her to yell at me for at least a little while longer. Then I looked again. I saw her shoulders sag slightly in relief; I saw her clenched fists loosen, and most importantly I saw her breath a silent sigh. There was something else going on here that I had missed.
From somewhere inside me, the wolf slapped me up the back of the head and threw a few random memories at me. I watched an amazing fire bender battle her way through ranks of enemies to rescue someone important to her; and once she got back to safe ground, she just held the brown haired girls' hand gently and wouldn't meet her eyes. I saw a man do the same, but again when he was in front of the one important to him, he didn't grab a hold of them, or shout or anything else you'd expect someone to do when they were scared.
I don't think I had ever seen Toph genuinely frightened. I had seen her under strain, or startled, but never afraid. I suddenly felt even worse. I think I understood now. My Little Warrior Toph was one of a kind, and no one would ever be able to change her.
I reach forward slowly, and gently hugged Toph to me. She didn't look at me, and she never uncrossed her arms, but I felt her relax. "I'm sorry I was so dumb."
"Better be," she mumbled, still trying to glare, but her heart wasn't in it anymore. I just stood there for a time, enjoying having Toph so close. I felt her shift slightly, and move in a little closer, even though her arms were still crossed in fading anger.
Someone opened the door and we immediately pulled apart. I quickly turned to see who it was, my hand already resting on one of the more powerful Spirit chains, but I took my finger off the metaphysical trigger when I recognized one of the Gel-Hassad who worked in the parlour. He looked at both of us and I could see the amusement in his eyes.
"Yes?" I asked pointedly.
"Master Piando would like to speak to you as soon as you are done in here. He says that the Pathway you requested is completed."
"Oh?" I said excitedly. The Pathways to the Airships, great! "Tell him we'll be there soon,"
"I shall," he said, and winked before closing the door again.
"The hell was that about?" Toph suddenly started to laugh. "What?"
"Five minutes after we talk to Katara and Aang and you tell her we are going to start seeing each other we both run off to a storage room and lock the door, what do you think she thought?"
My face started to burn. "But I told her that I was going to be throwing around a lot of Spirit Fire, and since you're the only one with uh, a natural resistance to it because of you parents, you were the only one that could be in here."
"And I agreed because I wanted to talk to you about that Suki girl, but even I knew it looked bad." She said suggestively.
"I-I- I wasn't thinking that!"
"Why not?" She asked, indignantly.
"No I didn't – not that I don't – it's not – Argh!" I growled as I watched her expression straining to stay still. "You're playing with me!"
"'Course," she replied. I wanted to say something smart, or retort in an equally devastating manner, but I couldn't think of anything and the round automatically went to her. "Boo-yah! I am awesome and don't you ever forget it."
"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled. "So what does any of this have to do with Katara?"
"I watched that messenger guy go to her first, and she sent him over here to make sure no one was being taken advantage of." The wicked grin that spread over her face told me who would have been taking advantage of whom. Suddenly I felt like a little mouse that just saw an attacking raptor.
I cleared my throat and tried not to blush too hard. "Okay, moving on."
"You were just going to tell me what you're gearing up for," Toph said, leaving no room for discussion on the subject. "I don't know much about any of this Spirit Shaper stuff, but I have to guess you're not just putting a few precautionary measures on yourself."
"No," I agreed. I gripped my wrist, the Glyphs hot beneath my fingers. "This – This is going to be one of those fights you were talking about."
"Where your first impulse is to rush off alone?" She looked about ready to deck me if I said yes. "Look, just because I can't seem to keep up with you in a fair fight right now doesn't mean I can't knock anyone on their ass. And if you even try to say I'm too weak I will walk out of this room and we'll be over before we even start."
"No," I said firmly. "It's quite the opposite actually."
I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to get my thoughts together. "I've been – well, seeing would be a pretty good word I suppose. There's – argh." I wiped my hand down my face and walked in a slow circle around the room. "You're confusing and – it's not just to me. The Incarna bits inside me are sensing things that don't add up."
"Lost me, try again."
I continued to walk in a slow lazy circle, trying to get the feelings and thoughts I had over the last day or so together. "Okay, let's try it this way. One of the things I can do is craft a prophecy."
"I thought you said you hated them?"
"I do, and I'm pretty sure I do it a different way than say, Aunt Wu does. But I have to trust them." I stopped pacing. "Alright this is going to sound really weird but I need you to try to understand it.
"I'll try," she said, dropping into one of the chairs in the corners.
"I'm just a man, and the Incana is immortal and very powerful. Once the human part of the entity dies, the immortal part passes on, with all the knowledge to the next carrier. We are two very separate yet joined individuals that come together to create the Incarna that people see. One theory says that I was born with it like Aang, another says that I pass it on, more of a hand to hand thing."
"Got that part."
"I'm just mortal, so there are things that the Wolf must interpret and translate so that I can understand them, just as there are things that are too mortal for it to understand that I must translate for him. We together make a bridge connecting the spirit realm and the mortal realm, kinda like Aang but different. Prophecy is one of the things he understands, that he tells me about. But the thing is, it's me that brings the knowledge for them."
"Losing me again," she said.
I growled again at my own inability to understand. I decided to take another approach to this, and I told her the same prophecy I had told Aang.
"Mistress of Metal?" she asked, sounding very doubtful.
"Yeah, And from what I can gather, the reason I know all that is – um," I tailed off nervously. I looked at her closely, well, this could really change how she sees me. "Even right now I'm getting feelings. Little things really; I get the feeling to reach out, a second before a cup falls. I get the feeling to go through the left door because I know someone is about to come through the right one. It's nothing precise and it's nothing I can control, but I think the prophecies I make are like those feelings, but after the Wolf looks at them and sends them back to me clearer and defined."
Deathly silence fills the room, and I can easily hear the people in the Parlour talking and eating. Toph just sits there for a long time, just watching me in her own way.
"What are you trying to say?"
Always the easy questions. "I guess I'm trying to say that as my connection with the Wolf gets stronger these feelings will too, not very much stronger though. I would never be able to handle too much, simply because I'm mortal. But – well – I suppose the easiest way to put it would be that my subconscious is slowly beginning to spread out through time."
More silence met me. This time it was even longer and deeper, if that was possible.
"I'm still going to be me, but – I suppose coming into such close contact with something as potent and powerful as the Incarna Spirit-"
"How powerful?" she asked suddenly.
I swallowed hard. "Do you remember me talking about how the opposites of the four elements were Void, Pattern, Fate and Dream? Well, I'm starting to get the feeling that the Incarna Spirit – the Wolf is made up of a portion of those concepts. With those I can move in more directions than most people, kind of like how the Gel-Hassad can slip into another plane and access their Archive. It doesn't exist anywhere on this world, its elsewhere, and they have to go there. I think I'm kind of the same, but more. I can move backwards through time under the right circumstances, as well at stepping into the realms of the dead and the gods."
"How can you be sure you will eventually be able to move through time?" she asked curiously.
"Remember how I said I've looked at a possible future? Well, I'm starting to have daydreams or, more just memories of moving very far back. I can remember people fighting, and for some reason, one of the most vivid … daydreams of is me, meeting a man. We're somewhere very far away from here. He's sitting all alone before a fire, and he has a … companion. An animal of some sort, but it's alive, not a spirit like the Wolf. He knows he's going to die the next day, but he also knows it's for a good cause. He saves an entire race with his death. I asked the Wolf about it and I got the feeling that going back to get advice and forgotten knowledge from people long dead is not unheard of for a fully powered Incarna, it's just not used very often."
"And you think what you're seeing is ..."
"These abilities beginning to form? Yes, I do."
She went quiet again, letting it all sink in. "And the Prophecy?"
"That's the strange part," I admitted. "Okay, there's this old myth that the Incarna has a prophecy for everyone; something that everyone should heed if they are so lucky to receive one, because they always come true."
"That must be a bit of an ego boost," she said grinning again.
"A little," I admitted. "Makes me feel all important."
Toph snorted and gave me a look that said to keep my head deflated.
"Anyway," I said loudly.
"So you think this Arckon is the guy I knew and we have to fight him?" Toph asked, getting right to the point, like usual.
"Yes," I said slowly. "How'd you know?"
"Aang, he was almost too happy to spill every secret he had when Katara got her scary face going when she thought he blabbed to you."
"Ahh." I watched her carefully. "Are you going to be okay with that?"
"It'll be … difficult, but I can deal."
I was going to say more, but I didn't want to sound like I didn't think she could handle it. "Okay, so Myths say that I'm supposed to have a Prophecy for everyone, but that only half true. There will probably be quite a few times when I'll have a forewarning for someone, but it won't be about them. Like I said, my subconscious is slowly starting to spread out in time."
"You can only make prophesy's about things you'll be there for," Toph said, finally getting it.
"Yes!" I cheered. "It's because there not prophesies per se. It's more like, vague feelings and thoughts – daydreams really, that I have. At least that's my excuse for why they're so vague."
"That one didn't sound so vague to me, and what does any of this have to do with me being confusing."
I looked at her, my little Warrior Toph. Damn, how do you say something like this? Especially when you barely understand it yourself? "Well, I have a second prophecy for you."
"Lucky me?" she asked quizzically. "Well, let's hear it."
I cocked an eyebrow at her, and got an impatient foot tap in return. Alright, you asked. I closed my eyes and reached out for the wolf. At first I felt nothing but my own heartbeat, but them something reached back, and it came.
It was like a pouring rainstorm beating on a mighty mountain side. I smelled the sweet dew, and grass crushed under the feet of grazing animals. The heat from the magma buried deep in the earth formed a body in my mind's eye. It was tall and powerful, glowing a searing scarlet against my eyes. Tundra grass formed flowing locked of hair while two diamonds floated up from the molten rock and focused on me. She spoke, and my mouth passed on her words.
"She decedents down through the levels, breaking down any walls that stand before her. The demons swarm and clash against her, but she will not be stopped until she reaches the deepest pit. Two beyond the dead lays the object of her fury."
I coughed, smoke spewing from my mouth as I fell to my knees. I gasped for air and forced it down into my lungs, even as it felt like it was freezing me. Toph was by my side by then, and she reached out to touch me; to make sure I was alright, but the heat coming off my body in waves made her pause.
"Damn," I coughed, trying to get the smoky taste out of my mouth. "Don't want to do that again."
"What the fuck was that!" Toph shouted. She grabbed me and helped me up and into a chair. I rubbed my eyes hard until I left like I could force them open, and when I did I felt like the air in the room was a hundred degrees too cold.
"Ah damn, don't ever let me piss you off," I groaned and dropped my head back into my hands.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just – ow."
"What was that?"
"That," I said, finally managing to sit up straight again, "was you, very angry at someone. And if that was just a fraction of you mad, I don't ever want to be front and center."
"'How was that me?" she asked sharply. I was feeling a lot better now, what I had been hit with was just a memory of anger, so it didn't do any real damage. I reached up and took her hand in mine, giving her a reassuring squeeze.
"That's the confusing part," I admitted roughly. "I had told you that these Prophesy's came from the subconscious me, well, this one didn't. It came from you. I saw some, fury altered version of your Earth Spark tell me those words, and I just spewed them out." I twisted my neck to one side, and then the other, trying to will some new life into myself.
"How would I do that?" At least she seemed to be calming down now. I suppose I wouldn't like to see her just collapse and start spewing smoke and heat either.
"There are a few very powerful Spirit Shapings that could accomplish that. What you would have to do would be create a thought, not even really words – words wouldn't make the trip, it would have to be feelings. Then once it gets to my side, or time or whatever, the wolf reassembles it all and I get that."
"Why do I have to keep asking all these questions, can't you just explain it all?"
I grinned at her and got a playful smack for my troubles. "Okay, okay. Whatever it was you were clearly angry and trying to get to the realm of the gods. And before you ask, yes I know what that's supposed to be. Okay, the nine levels 101, picture this, under this reality is another one. Tens of thousands of years ago they called it the Twilight, or the Gloom, depending on your translations. Anyway, the Incarnai and People like them could walk in these other version of reality. The first is pretty boring and sterile, and the second has three moons for some reason, and so on."
"The seventh level is where it gets interesting. The archive was moved there a really long time ago. The seventh real is also the neutral realm, separating the realm of the dead – the eighth level – and the realm of the gods – the ninth level. It sounds strange, but once you understand that null space is spherical it-" I looked over to her and saw she wasn't clear on the little intricacies of null space.
"Forget that, but trust me. Seven is between eight and nine, okay? Now, there are two ways to get through the levels. The first is to punch through all of them with pure power. A few Incarnai have gone all the way down to the eighth that way, but no Incarna has ever had the power to reach the ninth level that way. Next is the form of mediation that the Gel-Hassad have developed. It's better in some ways because anyone, no matter their power level can reach the seventh level. So, whatever pissed you off is hiding down at the bottom of the world."
"Why do I need to know all of this anyway?"
"It all has to do the first Prophecy that Aang told you, and what I'm preparing for now. Basically, I had a talk with Arckon's Spark, and from what I gathered, I can't take him on head first; and I don't have anywhere near the control I need to take him out sneaky like. So, well I guess I'm asking you to come and save my ass when the time comes."
Toph looked at me, and I could almost feel the energies rolling over me as she watched me. "You're not going to be an idiot?"
"Nope," I quipped, and pulled her closer to me. "Toph, would you please join me for a good fight?"
"Smooth talker," she snorted, but she couldn't quiet fight down a little blush. "So do you have a plan?"
"Yeah, and uh – I'm going to have to let him take you away at first," I said carefully. I didn't want her to think that I was abandoning her, or anything else that might make her as mad as I had just felt. I never wanted to piss her off that badly. Bloody hell, if I ever found out she was getting that mad I would run screaming in the other direction like Genzou the fire-tard herself was after me.
"I know, I sort of gathered that from what Aang, but I sure as hell ain't going without a fight," she said, her voice dangerous and quiet. "So what's the plan?"
"Pretty much what it says in the Prophecy," I replied. Gods I hate prophecies. "He thinks along the lines of the Monks that trained Aang, basically that I am a horrible twisted person who needs to be stopped at all costs."
"But what about all that Yin to Yang crap, can't you just tell him that?"
"I wish I could, but he's heard it all before, only the version he heard said that I'm the necessary evil that balances the good of the Avatar. Sure there is some leeway when it comes to the Jenkotsu and that ideology. Some argue that Evil and Good are too black and white, but not too many of my predecessors lasted long enough to prove that wrong. It probably didn't help that the ones that did evade Yasuragi and her Jenkotu exterminators were evil bastards that were everything they thought and worse."
Toph leaned back against the wall ad chewed her lip, thinking. I let her go, she needed to understand the situation entirely if she was going to tap into the power she had sleeping inside her.
"What if I try to talk to him?"
"I don't think that would work either."
"Why not?"
"It's because the bastards who came before me had no feelings for anyone or anything that got in their way. There are many magics that are best lost in time because they were so terrible; ways to strip a person of their mind and soul and use their body as a puppet. Ways to force someone's will on hundreds and make them do anything he wanted. I have quite a few memories of other Incarnai fighting these Jenkotsu's, and they never believed a word anyone would say about them, fearing that they were being controlled by something like that, or worse. And sometimes they were proven right."
"So, what, there's nothing that any of us can say that will make him not want to kill you?" she asked, annoyed at the whole situation.
"Maybe, but I keep getting the feeling that there's something we're supposed to help him with. His Spark told me something about his lack of trust in people. He had an experience a few years ago that broke something inside of him and now he has no faith in people, or the Resistance of Ba Sing Se. Nothing. He refuses to admit it to anyone, least of all himself, but he needs to be given something to believe in. Look, this war is a hundred years old, for all of us but Aang it's the way it's always been. But for him, he's tired of fighting, tired of killing, tired of seeing people die. He just wants it all over, but his vows and sense of honour won't let him give up, and all that inner torment is tearing him apart."
"And what are we supposed to do about it?" she asked. "Don't get me wrong, if it's really Arckon, then I own him a lot. He was my only friend before you guys. But if he's as dangerous as you say, why are you putting your neck under his knife to help with a problem some spirit thing told you about. What if it's wrong? Or he kills you before he realizes whatever he needs to know?"
"That's why I got you," I said confidently. "Look, I have to do this. He's hurt, and a part of him asked me to help. I can't just turn my back on him – no this isn't some Incarna thing, this is a Me thing. I can't just ignore someone who asked for my help."
"Great, make me out to be the monster," she pouted, crossing her arms.
"I didn't mean that," I sputtered quickly, but then sighed when I noticed her lips quirk up. "Har Har."
"You're just too easy." She shrugged. "So what am I supposed to do?"
"We'll you're going to have to access all of you power."
"Thanks captain obvious." She rolled her eyes. "And how am I supposed to do that."
"With this," I said, reaching out to touch the Hassad Yavim armband that she still wore.
"I-I was just – I mean it was useful. Shut up." Toph turned away from me and blushed a bright red. I can see why she likes to tease me; it's a lot of fun.
"Okay," I said suggestively, only to see her blush deepen. She turned to me and took a swipe. I dodged away.
"Alright I give," I laughed.
"Jerk."
"A little," I admitted. "Can you do that thing where you turn it into different shapes?"
She growled at me one more time, and then with a flick of her hand, the arm band unwound and slithered down into her palm, then she crushed it between her fingers pulled apart, revealing a little face that wobbled its chin. Next there was a star, and then a key.
"Alright, hold that one." The key floated weightlessly between her hands as I watched. "Have you ever noticed that you Earthbend differently than the other benders?"
"Yeah, but that's just because I can't see anything that isn't touching the ground somehow."
"Really?" I questioned. "Every other Earthbender I have ever seen has only used the earth by manipulating kinetic energy – physical force. For instance, they stomp down and a piece of stone flies up. Then they kick it in the direction they want. You on the other hand, just gesture and stone moves. The only other benders I have ever so something even close to that were Boomie and those Earth-Kingdom guards with the weird stone hands they threw at people." I flexed my hands at her to prove my point.
"And even then they threw the rocks around. I have never seen anyone able to hold a stone in midair like you can. I looked back through all the memories I have of the Incarna, and I'm not saying I have even a hundredth of them, but there is nothing like it in any of the memories I do have."
"So, I can make rocks float. What's so useful about that?"
"So, that's what you have to focus on and use. You are manipulating something else, something that only a few masters have ever managed to get close to." She looked at me doubtfully. I just smiled at her, and slowly slipped my hands between hers and the floating key. "Can you still see the key?"
Her forehead creased slightly as she considered something entirely new. I watched the little flickers of realizations and curiosities cross her face, until she began to understand what I was getting at. "I can see it, and your hands."
"Exactly," I said softly. "But neither is touching the ground."
-Arckon-
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near we must make our enemy believe we are far away; when we are far away we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
An ancient master whose name and works had been lost to the ravages of time had once said these eternal truths, and such truths had been preserved across the great divide of time. My father had said that all of these things may seem obvious and easy for even the dullest minds to grasp; but they are not. War is an art; a black art, but still in its core, an art.
"Arc, look! It's so cute!" Suki cooed as she cuddled a little blue stuffed Bunny-Kitten in a bright pink dress.
I looked at the prize she had won at the ball toss game and managed a sincere half-smile. Most of my thoughts were on what I was to do in the event that this 'Sokka' showed up and was, in fact, the Incarna. I had only accompanied Suki to get a closer look at this man. I was honestly surprised that I was having a nice time. Suki was such a bright person when away from all of the stresses of the Resistance it was hard not to.
"Are you going to name it?"
"Why do you say that? It's usually just children that name their stuffed animals."
"I see," I said.
"And her name is Sasku," Suki said with a sly little grin. I chuckled quietly as I followed after her. We had about an hour before she was meant to meet up with this 'Sokka' person, and I had managed to subtly nudge her around the entire rim of the parade grounds and I think I had a pretty good idea of the terrain and civilian population. There were a lot of people around here, but there was more than enough strong stone beneath us to take care of that. Hell, there was even enough for me to pull out my ace if things got tight.
Not too long now.
Suki took my arm in hers and lead me off to another game. I got a few stares and I noticed more than a few people staring with their mouths open like morons at my scars and the pretty girl leading me around. Those kinds of people always aggravated me. Yes I look like something the Spirits spit back out, but show a little respect. I'm not here for your entertainment.
Suki stopped at another game; something involving ballons and a small bow and arrow set. I was just watching her win herself another cute stuffed thing when I noticed a little boy, no older than four watching me. He noticed I saw him, and looked up at his mother quickly – she was talking to someone else and didn't notice – before he turned his interest back to me. Yes, it could be said he was starting at me just like the idiot behind me at the water balloon game, but the little guy wasn't doing it like that inconsiderate man – not caring about how the subject of his interest might feel about being stared at. He was a little boy who was still discovering the world, and I was something new and strange.
I painfully remembered a few little cousins that were the same way.
I smiled gently at him and he smiled back, waving with his little hand.
"Making a friend?" Suki asked from beside me.
"Somewhat," I replied, noticing the addition to her little collection, which I was also asked to carry. Whatever she said next slipped by me as something just on the outside of my awareness caught my attention.
Four people were closing in on our position fast, and one of them just scanned me in a very familiar way.
-Sokka-
We had been wandering around the parade grounds for almost an hour now, checking out escape plans and how many people were here and such. We had chosen a good spot in the middle of the grounds for the confrontation and were just making our way over there. There were still a lot of people around, and that might hold off a big surprise attack.
"Whoa," Toph gasped.
"What is it?" I asked quietly, not breaking my stride.
"We just got looked at," she mumbled. We all stopped, letting the crowd break around us like a river.
"What's that mean?" asked Aang, looking around nervously.
"It means he finally understood what I was talking about. It means that all those hours of training together weren't a waste. And it also means that this Arckon is the same one I knew. He is pretty much the only person in the world aside from Aang that knows how I 'see', and he was trying to learn it two years ago."
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