Hiding My Masked Affection

spockjasperzukowriting

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

3

"I- I just...you..." Sokka stammered, frowning in confusion. "I've missed something, haven't I?

My fingers wormed their way around my mothers necklace, which was still strung memorably around my neck.

Aang self-consciously smiled, eyeing me. "We can talk in the rickshaw. There are tons of questions to be asked and answered."

"I have millions," Sokka answered, still staring blankly at Aang, moving forward. Aang offered to take a bag from me, which I obliged him happily, following as he led me by the arm to the station. There, he quickly flagged down a rickshaw, drawing the eyes of people in the crowd. Whispers soon filled the gaps in silence, among them words whispered about the Avatar.

The driver placed our bags in the back, Aang reminding him to be careful and delicate with the contents after giving me a funny look when one of them rung like struck china. I smiled guiltily. "Gran Gran sent with us wedding gifts," I explained, Aang's eyes softening knowingly as he helped me into the rickshaw. "Sokka almost talked her out of it, but she...she had faith he would not have married out of impulse." He had to have reasons: so I would have to bite back feelings of betrayal and celebrate, belatedly, their marriage.

Sokka sat with weary shoulders beside me, jolting as the rickshaw pulled forward through the crowded streets of the Southern Markets. He parted the curtain in the doorway and watched the passage of the outside suspiciously, deciphering the deep conspiracy of thought and messages in the Fire Nation people.

"Where's Appa?" he finally asked.

Aang's eyes twinkled. "He's off getting pampered at the cleaner's." He sat a little straighter when he caught me gazing at him.

The quiet dragged for a little too long and I cleared my throat. "Well...I guess we're all thinking it. Why are you picking us up, and not dad and..."

"Suiya," Aang completed after the pause, eyebrow raised.

I nodded, leaning forward with palms pressed against the seat.

Aang dipped his head understandingly, voice dulcet. "I was all ready here, negotiating peace treaties between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, when I met Hakoda at a council session, escorting Suiya while she was supporting her father. He looked so similar to you that I walked over and struck up a conversation. When he found out I knew you and Katara, we became quick friends."

Sokka raised an eyebrow.
"He told me that you were coming," Aang explained respectfully. "And so now I'm picking you up while they make the final preparations on... a little surprise for both of you," he added.

My heart clenched, beating in my chest. "Oh."

Sokka didn't answer, staring into the streets.

"So, what did I miss?" Aang asked, delving into a new conversation eagerly.

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"What happened while I was gone," he clarified, smiling politely. "You both look different. And act different."

I bit my lip uneasily. "Aang... Don't take it personally, but we're not exactly thrilled to be the Fire Nation."

His grey eyes flickered understandingly.

I shifted, crossing my legs. "We're just a little confused and hurt right now."

Aang's expression relaxed. "It's okay, Katara, I understand," he assured, voice calm and warm. "I think I know how you feel. I felt the exact same way when I realized that my people were gone, and that I was all the world had left. Like nothing would be the same, and I was betrayed."

I relaxed my clenched hands, knowing that at least Aang hadn't completely transformed without me knowing what had happened.

I smiled timidly. "What happened after you left the South Pole?"

Aang seemed mollified for a moment, eyes distancing as he recounted. "After I escaped from Zuko, the man who apprehended me, I knew that waterbending was my next priority in bending. But I couldn't take that duty seriously- I was still a child. Instead of going north to learn bending, I spent my time exploring the Earth Kingdom. I went home again, and that's when I realized how truly alone I was." His smile faltered, and he started again after a pause. "I didn't take your warning seriously, Katara, that the world was really in war. So instead I visited Kyoshi Island to ride the Elephant Koi. It was there on Kyoshi that I learned what importance I really had to the world, and how it was my duty as the Avatar to uphold balance. It seemed everywhere I walked I gave people hope."

I listened intently, taking in every detail and trying to picture it in my head, while Sokka just stared lazily out through the see-through red curtains of the rickshaw, a distant expression on his face.

"I was chased by various Fire Nation ships to the North Pole, where I was told of Sozin's Comet and the ultimate goal I had to complete, and that was to master all of the elements in order to defeat Ozai in time."

He soon began to ramble on continuously, but kept a flare in his voice as he described his difficulties learning earthbending from his young master, Toph, and how he managed to perfect his waterbending with the scrolls he was given. Zuko, a former enemy, rose to become his firebending master, joining the revolution and turning against his father for the good of the Fire Nation. Lingering on the details of Zuko's personal transformation from the damaged boy to Fire Nation royalty. When the war was ended by the downfall of Ozai as a bender and the Phoenix King, Aang was a fully realized Avatar, Toph was servicing a metalbending school, and Zuko became the new Fire Lord.

I blinked, the motion halting beneath me as Aang's story ended. "Wow, we really did miss a lot..." I murmured quietly.

Sokka nudged me quietly. "We're here," he explained when I rubbed my arm.

Aang grinned and nodded, holding the door open for me as I stepped from the rickshaw, flinching at the unexpectedly bright sun. The ridges of the volcanic crater struck the air like the edges of broken glass, breaking the sunlight into rays of light and shadow. The houses were cleaner here, without the faint stench of soot and grime along stone. The thought in their design was blatant, the curvature of the roofs reflecting the light and patterning the reds and whites of the stone in geometrical shapes. The streets were quiet, save for the few grandly dressed people with servants following obediently. The stark elegance of the city muted comments from both Sokka and I.

"It's different from the Southern Water Tribe," Aang admitted, helping Sokka carry bags from the rickshaw. He met my gaze. "It'll take adjustment, but I think that you'd grow to like it."

Sokka concentrated sceptically, servants rushing and opening the metal gates to a manor with spires that curled down into the shape of a long-petaled flower. The leader of the attendees gracefully took bags from Sokka and divided the ones from Aang amongst his followers, giving me a polite smile in the process. My stomach twisted and I glanced at Sokka with a look admitting how unpleasant this could become very quickly.

Aang rested his staff across his shoulders and strode to my side, nodding through the gates and towards the house. "What do you think?"

I gazed in the direction of the house and halted; the mansion, enclosed with towering, smooth stone walls with solid borders, spread out across an acre of land, lush gardens twisting and flowering against a fountain and a small gazebo, a pebbled pathway winding through the green. The slanted roof tiles dipped in rich angles, with fine imprints of characters upon them, lined with gold. The roof riles were slanted down at a curved, royal angle, with fine imprints of characters on them, lined with gold. The metal of the gates twisted and bloomed like the garden itself, and the bright sunlight shattered to highlight a wrapping veranda and multiple stories.

Sokka took a moment, biting his lip, mustering courage as he looked down to me with a knowing look.

Aang shifted. "The architecture is very Fire Nation, and the house has been kept up well."

"Suiya's family must be very wealthy," I mused.

Aang nodded. "Her father is a high-ranking councilman and her mother is a cousin to the Fire Lord's mother. Suiya's a senator, so she has inherited the house from her father, who inherited it from the generations before. The house is older than the war itself."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Impressive."

Sokka walked in first, cautiously striding on the path that divided streams of grass and organized patches of flowers, lilies bordering the pathway that split in opposite directions. The bubbling fountain moved quietly while orange and red Koi fish swam lazily in sapphire waters. Farther into the garden tall trees stood in bloom, the gazebo effectively shaded in the forest of blue and gold, built with a mahogany, sturdy wood.

Aang led me down the central path, following Sokka's lead and pointing to various flowers while explaining their meanings. His boyish grin couldn't have lifted my heavy heart.

Sokka scanned the porch with a critical eye, though I secretly knew he had never seen anything like it. We both hadn't. The architecture didn't make immediate sense to us— place was too rich as compared to the modest tents of home. I ascended my first flight of stairs to reach the porch, Aang at my side, Sokka reviewing the estate momentarily before admitting, "Well, it's different than how I pictured the place. Dad said big but not huge."

"It's great!" I gushed, filling in what threatened to be an awkward silence.

Aang walked up to the huge double-doors that ran a long length to the ceiling. He gestured towards them, looking at us and said, "Are you ready to see your parents?"

"Parent," Sokka grumbled. I pinched his arm and smiled for the both of us.

"Yes, we're ready," I surmised, throwing Sokka a pointed look. Sokka quietly fumed, holding his arm before nodding towards Aang.

"Yeah, great," he managed.

Aang raised an eyebrow, but sealed his lips and disappeared inside, opening the door after a pause to let us through.

The shade of the inside took us in and I blinked, hues dancing in my vision as I made out the candle, sun-lit darkness of the entry room, spanning in every direction to lead to a central stairwell delving through the centre, circling up into the higher stories while red fabric fell down across the tiles in curtains and tapestries, the cold air sinking in from the stone walls and hollowed ceiling. Corridors branched from the main hall, lined with ceremonial Water Tribe regalia and Fire Nations totems of the like, the mix of scarlet and blue colours and smells colliding and nearly dizzying both Sokka and I, taking in the living room that sat to our left while the dining hall rose on a higher level to our right. Silver weapons hung low on the walls while drapes of gold and white floated in a slowly moving drift of air.

The servants vanished with our bags to the higher stories while others came and permitted the three of us to remove our shoes and relinquish our knapsacks, increasingly considerate when Sokka shot them hard looks. Aang nodded to both of us, setting his staff on the low, wooden table in the living room.

"I'll fetch Hakoda and Suiya," he announced, leaving with a rhythmic lope in his step, disappearing towards the rooms behind the stairwell.

Sokka and I looked at each other, sharing a moment of uncomprehending silence.

Sokka moved in a moment of uneasiness and gushed, "Katara. Something's wrong. This isn't right. Everyone's acting strangely, especially Aang."

I held his shoulder and forced him still. "Sokka, shush, you're overreacting. It's paranoia speaking."'

"Except that it isn't paranoia, Katara. This isn't right!"

I shut my eyes and stood close to his side when Aang appeared again. "I know, Sokka..." I whispered. "I know."

Aang strode proudly, trailed by a tall, lanky man donning navy blue colours, his hair tied back while his steps sounded with the rustle of snowboots, a ceremonial dagger strapped to his side. His eyes weren't his eyes—they were Sokka's, calm and stark blue, his broad shoulders evening down into gripping muscles while the aura of confidence he bore in his posture said Chief. By comparison, the woman at his side was unlike his stature- modest and timid-looking, with small shoulders and a thin neck, wavy, curled hair tucked into a dark, draping bun fastened with a jade pin. Her sash around her crimson robes accented her small waist and hips while royal, golden embroidery added texture to the fabric, hardening thick hems. Her sallow, slanted cheeks gave way below surprisingly fiery, violet eyes, deep and rich despite such a submissive demeanour at the side of my father.

When she met my gaze, her grip on Hakoda tightened while her thin, red lips pulled in a hopeful smile.

The chill returned and my hands quivered. Not mom.

Aang stood to the side, leaving an appropriate space between us.

Suiya grinned wider at us, her eyes twinkling with happy surprise. "Hello Sokka and Katara," she greeted, nodding to each one of us as she said our names. My chest went hollow and my throat felt tight, suddenly making it hard to breath and formulate a response. My palms felt wet and a powerful feeling of nausea took hold. My grip on Sokka reflexively tightened, everyone nearly avoiding each other's gaze.

Her words seemed rehearsed, said to perfectly yet awkwardly. "My name is Suiya. I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time," she continued.

I forced myself to look her in the eye, releasing Sokka to keep my hands straight at my sides. My stomach lurched and I paled, disgusted. Memories of my mother's own smile, the special, love-filled one that she wore when at my father side, came rushing into my mind. I bit back tears, promising myself I could do this correctly. Sokka's wide eyes glanced down to me. He couldn't do this either. It had seemed so much easier when left to the imagination. But the reality came crashing down.

"It's so nice to meet you at last," I acknowledged, voice cracking. "I wish I could express how happy we are that you found dad." I hiccuped and turned away in embarrassment. No, I can't do it.

Sokka stiffened, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists. He kept his gaze averted the floor, refusing to look up to our father and step-mother.

Suiya tried to smile, but kept a guilty expression while she sank into my father's side, trying to find comfort in his presence. She was too fake- she nearly couldn't do this either. All of her experience with acting for politicians didn't prepare her for this, either. My chest burned in guilt, but I couldn't face her. I couldn't replace mom with her. I knew that now.

Dad held out his arms to us, grinning past his moistening eyes. "You've grown up so much," he breathed, searching our faces for something familiar as he stared intently. Aang shuffled to the side, trying to occupy himself with something else.

My brother nodded, shutting his eyes and swallowing harshly. "Yeah, you missed that phase," he replied curtly.

I grimaced, knowing that if I didn't act soon, my chance at a new life would crumble upon itself. Without thinking, I rushed forward and threw myself in my father's outstretched arms, burying myself in the arms I forced away from Suiya. No, dad was mine.

Hot, wet tears streamed down my cheeks and I hid my face in his shirt. He smelt for Water Tribe traditional male-perfumes and spices, and I choked on the familiar scents of home. "I've missed you so much!" I cried, letting him hold me as tight as I gripped onto him.

He leaned down to kiss my forehead, and I pulled back as he knelt down, cupping my cheeks. "I've never truly left you," he promised, reading my eyes like a book. He gazed momentarily past my shoulder at Sokka, before returning his sight to me. "You look so much like your mother," he whispering, squeezing my upper-arms and bringing me into his embrace again.

I peered over my father's shoulder at Suiya. She looked immensely uncomfortable, shifting her weight on her feet and trying to think of who to look at: Aang, me, her new husband, or her introverted step-son.

I shut my eyes and tried to lose myself in dad's familiar touch, the scents and memories of home, and a prayer that it would be all right.

Someone cleared their throat unexpectedly. "We...er..." Suiya shrank under Sokka's betrayed expression.

"W-we have homecoming gifts for you," Suiya finished, managing another smile. She was better at his than any of us. I opened my eyes, pulling away from father's arms reluctantly and standing, trying to keep my cheeks from fading a shade of pink. Sokka appeared at my side and dad stood up, looking down at us proudly.

Suiya turned around and began to walk gracefully down a hallway. Aang trailed behind us as I walked behind dad with Sokka at my side. I took the opportunity to grab Sokka's arm and bring him close enough for me to whisper in his ear, "Please, Sokka, help me do this by doing it yourself."

Sokka glowered, almost hopeless. "Yeah, well, trying," he forced between gritted teeth, a look of revulsion taking hold when he looked upon Suiya. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"No," I demanded in a hushed voice. "Save it for later, we're not done yet. Come on."

"So dad leaves us, marries into the enemy, doesn't even go to the docks and have the decency to greet us, and we're still going to give it a go," he stated disbelievingly. He snorted. "I've walked into a nightmare."

Suiya turned into a room the branched off of the blood-red hallway. The room was bright yellow, with warm patterns of blue inlaid in the paint. The room was three times the size of the entrance hallway we had previously been in, with many pictures decorating the walls and the curtains gently swaying in the light breeze seeping through the open window. The window provided a scenic view of the entrancing garden, and made up the majority of the wall farthest away from us. Several neatly arranged tables scattered the room, as if this was a private meeting room, one central, long, lowered table slicing cutting the room down the middle. Unfamiliarly shaped, wrapped objects sat on the table, a long, oddly shaped column of red silk standing closely by.

Aang took the space by my side while Sokka hid closer to the wall, feet crossed nervously, a frowned fixed on his face as he folded his arms and gave us an anxious eyebrow.

"As you know," dad began, standing next to the table and taking on his lecture-voice, "I have been travelling around the world in search of an opportunity of ending the war. During this time, I collected things, in thought of you both." He gestured to the table. "They're from all over, including this nation and our sister tribe in the north."

My eyes widened, Aang grinning proudly. Hakoda picked from the collection several cylindrically shaped gifts, closed in blue and white satin, with purple bows holding the stitching together. He held it out to me, his eyes glistening. "Katara, these were given to me when I visited the north. I trust you'll find great uses for them."

My heart began thumping against my chest as I shakily took the object and slowly unravelled the pooling cloth. Three sets of eyes bore into me as I fumbled with the knots before they slipped in unison and fell in a heap to the floor. In my hands were three ancient but conditioned scrolls. The tops were carved of tiger-seal bone and repeated the word "balance" over and over in many different Water Tribe dialects. I slowly opened one of them, lips parting when I read the title: "Form and Energy Transfer of Northern Waterbending."

"Waterbending scrolls!" I exclaimed, pulling them up to my chest and giving dad a stunned look. "I...I can train now! I have something to go by..."

Sokka lowered his eyebrow, surprised looks crossing his face quickly.

Dad smiled heroically while Aang blushed, Suiya standing a little straighter—the first appeasement had gone well.

"I could also teach you a few moves that Master Pakku taught me. Those scrolls work better when you have someone to help interpret them for you," Aang offered.

I smiled earnestly at him. "I'd love you to."

Dad reached back to the table, picking up an oblong shaped gift and extending it towards Sokka.

Sokka eyed it suspiciously. "What's this?"

"A gift from the Fire Nation, as an apology for occupying any soldier in your tribe with our pathetic war, and away from teaching you to fight," Suiya answered cautiously.

Sokka blinked, his expression going blank. He pushed himself off of the wall and stared suspiciously at Suiya. "You think... the war was... pathetic?" he tested, eyebrows knitting.

Suiya bowed her head. "My father was an advocate against the war for the longest of times, but in order to avoid banishment he was forced quiet. My family has given thousands in support of rehabilitation efforts to restore lost culture and balance. Part of these efforts are going to you."

Sokka slowly took the gift from our father's open hand and tugged the silk off it. In his hands was a sheathed black sword the ran a long length out of the side of his clasped fingers. The hilt was gold laced with silver, with Water Tribe and Fire Nation symbols engraved into the design. He slowly unsheathed it, the ends of his mouth tugging slightly into a concentrating frown as the sword balanced in his grip. The metal was an obsidian black, and gleamed a dark sheen of light that bounced off in different directions. Sokka held his composure and slipped it back into his case.

"The war is over," he dismissed, holding it off to the side. "Fighting should be irrelevant. Why give us these now?"

Hakoda moved quickly. "It's a right of passage for your both to learn to fight."

"Yes," Sokka cut-in. "To fight. Not just to defend ourselves, but to do damage. That's different."

Aang frowned. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't strengthen your talents. There's more to learning swordmanship and bending than just fighting."

Sokka wasn't convinced, slightly grim as Suiya advanced on the other gifts. She held a small blue and white vile of water that dangled from a carefully made silver chain. In her other hand, a white, shimmering pendant that played and broke the rays of sunlight in gossamer hues, markings reflected from the surface onto the walls.

"For you, Katara, two additional things for your neck," Suiya explained, passing them over through my father. "Water from the Spirit Oasis in the Northern Water Tribe, as collected by Aang, and a moonstone that will bond with you and accelerate your physicality. Both have special properties to both protect you from harm and to heal others. The moonstone glows at night, and can only be found on the bottom of te ocean in the waters nears the Eastern Earth Kingdom, and is worn only by Water Tribe royalty. Once it touches your skin, it will always belong to you and give you power in your bending. Others of its kind have been known to save people from near-death experiences. They cycle on from owner to owner only through death. Both are yours to keep."

My father carefully placed both pendants in my trembling hands, and the moment the moonstone touched my skin the glistening silver aura strengthened, and the world suddenly felt clearer, more defined, and new sounds bloomed in my ears and new smells entered my nose. He lifted the chain of the vile around my neck, letting it hang down my chest.

Hakoda then turned to Sokka, who was shyly admiring the gleam that his sword could give off. "And to protect my son, I have these two things." He walked over to the column-like mount beside the table and stripped the drape to the floor, revealing a poised suit of Water Tribe armour. Sokka's jaw dropped and he gasped. "You- it- why- eh-" he stammered.

Dad smiled. "Traditional Water Tribe armour. It's strictly Southern, but made with metal from the Air Nomads." He chuckled, "Wouldn't want my son wearing nothing but the best in training and combat."

He reached in and drew out a small capsule of purple liquid hidden in a pocket by the neck; an injector.

"This is a poison that you can give your enemy if you are disarmed. It'll knock them out in thirty seconds, and kill them in sixty. I hope you'll never have to use this." He tossed it over to Sokka, who, thanks to his fast reflexes, caught it without failure.

Sokka eyed our father. "Why are you giving this to us? What kind of trouble to you expect us to get into around here?"

Aang's breathing quickened, and Suiya suddenly looked like she'd rather be in one million other rooms other than this one.

Dad took in a deep breath. "There are... people, in this world who still hate the Fire Nation. There are people who still hate the Earth, Water, and Air Nations. There are people who would... hurt you, because of your affiliation with both Fire and Water Nations, and the Avatar. I want you to be prepared. The end of war does not automatically bring peace to every quarrel made."

Aang's breathing cracked, his eyes becoming downcast as he avoided my questioning gaze. "Who would hurt children?" I asked.

Aang clenched his fists. "The same people who are still after me, Katara."

Sokka suddenly looked menacing. "Who?" he demanded.

Aang grimaced. "The Azkai."