~A~

Father Doesn't Always Know Best

~A~

A light step warned the man sitting on the deck of the ship watching the night sky idly that someone was approaching, and Hakoda looked up to see his son nearing him. He smiled a little, actually glad to be pulled out of his morose and painful thoughts, and by such a welcome distraction, no less.

"Hey, son," he greeted softly, watching with sad pride as the young boy he'd left behind morphed into a teenaged warrior in front of his eyes. He'd missed so much, and once again he questioned whether he'd chosen the right course after the murder of his beloved Kya by leaving to fight the Fire Nation. Had it really been the best thing for him to leave his two young children behind?

But then again, the war was slowly being lost and so were their people, and as Chief it was his duty to do not just what was best for his children, but his tribe as a whole. The Fire Nation had already degraded the Southern Water Tribe to almost beggar status, all the waterbenders dead and gone but his own daughter. It obviously hadn't done them any good to try to stay out of the war, and he wondered now what his own father would have thought of his policy of noninterference in an attempt to keep the Fire Nation away from their people.

It obviously hadn't worked, but as Hakoda once again looked at his son he realized that fathers were merely people too, and they didn't always know what the right path was. They could only make the best decision open to them at the time and hope for a favorable outcome.

"Hey, dad," Sokka replied softly with a small smile in his father's direction.

"Have you perhaps come up with any further brilliant plans while you were... eating?" the older man asked after a moment, still amused at the sheer amount of food the boy could put away.

Sokka shrugged as he sat down. "Hey, I'm still growing - I need the food. As for the planning, I can't really go too far until we know if Aang's gonna make it." His expression saddened then, and Hakoda was once again made aware of the bonds that his children now had to the young avatar.

"As determined as your sister is to see him healed, I don't think you should worry about that," Hakoda said with a kind smile, gripping his shoulder comfortingly. "She's become something else again, hasn't she?"

The younger warrior nodded, inhaling deeply and letting it out slowly. "Yeah... she has. And you haven't even seen anything yet," he added with a small grin and a rueful shake of his head.

Hakoda's brow rose as he looked at his son in question, allowing his hand to drop from the boy's shoulder. He leaned against the hull of the ship and draped his arm over his upraised knee. "Really?"

Gaze going far away for a few, Sokka eventually nodded at his dad. "Seriously. She could probably kick all our rears right back to the South Pole with her waterbending-" he shot a playful glare at his dad, "-but don't you ever tell her I said that."

A chuckle greeted that 'threat', but Hakoda sobered after a moment and glanced at his son uncertainly, surprising Sokka. "Well, she managed to bring the avatar back to life, so I have to believe she'll be able to bring him back to consciousness, as well." He hesitated, and then asked, "Is it just me, or does she seem to be a little more invested in his care than just as a... friend?"

At that question Sokka rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's not just you. But don't mention such a thing to her, because she'll look at you like you've lost your mind and tear a few strips off your hide if you do."

"Ah... she's in the denial stage, then," his father nodded, his expression understanding as he reminisced a little on the ups and downs of love.

"That's putting it mildly."

"And what about the avatar?" Hakoda asked after a moment, wanting to get a better feel for the dynamics between the group of teens. "How does he react to her?"

Sokka laughed, waving a hand at his father with amusement. "Oh, Aang's so head over heels for her he practically combusts every time she's around." His expression sobered, then. "He's family already, but you should get used to the idea that eventually he really is going to be family."

So I'm going to have the avatar as a son-in-law someday, am I? "Are you sure? Perhaps it's just something that will fade away-"

"Nope," Sokka said, holding up a hand to stop his dad. "I've played dumb to the whole thing all this time so as not to interfere with things too much, but I'm not stupid. Those two... I don't know," he shook his head, looking out over the bow of the ship as he thought back to all their adventures so far. "There was an instant bond the moment she broke him out of that iceberg. I've never seen anything like it. It took a little while for me to warm up to him, since I was so suspicious of everything, but... I love Aang, too. Like I said, he's family now. But the way Katara loves him... well, that's a different story." Then he got a sour look on his face that had his father cocking a brow at him in question. "But the thought of all the... the oogies to come once Katara gets over her 'he's just a friend' kick... I don't even want to think about that," he finished with a disgusted shudder, startling a low laugh out of his father.

"Well," Hakoda eventually replied dryly, "it seems I really have missed a lot. I'm sorry for that," he added with a penetrating look at his son. "I wonder if I made the right decision in leaving almost every day."

"Ever figured out the answer?"

"No," the older warrior sighed finally, shaking his head. "I think that sometimes there really isn't a right or wrong answer, just different paths and the consequences of those paths. I was insane with grief over your mother, and I finally decided that my father's and grandfather's policy of non-interference in the war obviously wasn't doing our tribe any good, so I chose the opposite path, and... here we are." He paused, then said, "You don't seem to be angry at my decision to go," in a leading way, hoping to get his son's thoughts on what he had done – if he thought his father had followed the best path.

Sokka was silent for a while, laying back on the deck with his head on his arms as he stared up at the sky with a furrowed brow. After a time he finally said, "You did what you had to, dad. I understand, because I'd have probably done the same thing. I wanted to come with you, you know that... but in the end I think you chose rightly to leave me behind. We can only work with the situation we find ourselves in, after all. And we've all done that. Maybe... maybe all these decisions are finally bringing us to a place where we can defeat the Fire Nation once and for all."

Hakoda nodded, glad his son really wasn't upset with him for the choice he'd made in the wake of his wife's murder. "Katara's angry at me, though."

"She'll get over it."

"Will she?"

Sokka huffed a laugh. "Yeah. She tends to hold grudges, but she loves you and she'll eventually figure it out. Besides, deep down she knows why you left and understands it just like I do. It's more like she's really angry at the situation that caused you to leave, but you're the one she's kinda blaming that part of it on because she's confused and sad... and you're there to blame, if you know what I mean."

His father looked him over with a small, sad smile. "You know her really well, don't you?"

"Well, it's not like there was anyone left anywhere near our ages back home to talk to, so it was always just us. So yeah, I know her pretty well, it's only natural," Sokka shrugged casually.

"Hm."

It fell silent after that for a little while, the two just enjoying the peaceful moment and each others company, and Hakoda reflected that his son was growing into a fine man... and his daughter into a powerful, beautiful young woman that he wished he knew. This war has taken so much from all of us, he thought painfully as his wife's face flashed in front of his eyes.

"I'm sorry for missing so much."

The young man looked over at his father as his apology disturbed the peace between them. "Hey, don't worry about it, dad. Life happens... and dads are people, too. Just because you have kids doesn't mean you suddenly know everything."

The rest of the people on the deck were a little startled at the loud laughter coming from the Chief so suddenly as he shook his head with rueful agreement.

"Yes, I'm certainly no prophet from the mountaintop, but hopefully we'll all figure this thing out and maybe once it's all done we can get back to just living our lives. I'd love a chance to get to know the people that my children have become – and the young avatar, as well."

Sokka grinned at his dad. "Well, you may as well get used to calling Aang by his name then, because sooner or later he's going to be calling you dad. And maybe..." he trailed off with a rather goofy smile on his face, then finished, "maybe there'll be a Kyoshi Warrior that'll call you that someday, too."

Hakoda blinked in surprise. "You've got a girl? And she's a... warrior?" he asked dubiously, knowing his son's past ideas on females and fighting.

That goofy smile widened. "Yeah," he said firmly, "I've got a girl, and she's a heck of a fighter. And hopefully you'll get a chance to meet her soon, too."

Hakoda grinned at his son. "Then I'll look forward to meeting this young lady. She have a name?"

"Suki. She's the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors."

"I never thought my son would ever take an interest in a female warrior," he chuckled, and Sokka did, too.

"Yeah, well Suki kicked me around enough when we first met for me to get the message, and with Katara becoming a waterbending master... well, I learned to get passed my old prejudices prett-tty quick."

"I can only imagine," the Chief said, privately wishing he'd been there to see that fight. Just another thing he'd missed, but with the way things had turned out, with his children finding and releasing the missing avatar, perhaps he could finally make peace with his decision to leave the South Pole to help the Earth Kingdom in the war.

If he hadn't, it was very possible the young man currently laying below decks in a coma would still be lost to the world in a cage of ice, and Hakoda had the feeling that somehow that young boy would end up saving them all...

Especially if his daughter had anything to say about it.

He relaxed and tilted his head back against the hull, letting all the heavy thoughts go and simply enjoying the rare moment of peace and the presence of one of his children.

It was a simple pleasure, and one he'd missed a great deal.