Chapter 3: The Prince's Plight

"Stop right there!"

"Get 'em!"

"My fish!"

A pair of tribesmen with several large seal-skin sacks and even larger stomachs raced across the sheets of snow as the shrill voices of a few warriors echoed from twenty feet behind them. Gaining on the duo was a club that almost whacked their heads, but they barely avoided it and kept up their pace. They kept dodging through various objects thrown in their direction, and once they reached the forest, they zigzagged through the bare trees until they took a turn for the mountainside.

"They're headed towards the mountains!" one of the warriors yelled.

But the thieves were faster and knew of a shortcut. Contrary to the warriors' expectations, the duo took a sharp left and approached a frozen riverbed. They swiftly glided onto the fragile ice sheet, and by the time they crossed it, the voices of the men grew distant. The thieves slowed down their pace once they reached the edge of the mountain.

"You think they'll still follow us?" one of them panted.

"Nah," answered the other as he reached into a separate sack of equipment and pulled out two pairs of moccasins with whale-tooth spikes. "My guess is, they're trying to find another path around the mountain. We just need to make it across that ridge up top before they get to us," he yanked of his current shoes, "and we can take the route home. Ahusaq, keep your eyes open."

And with that, they slipped on the moccasins and trailed up the nearest ledge they could find. Heaving gargantuan breaths, they dragged themselves across the wide but monstrous slope, relying on the spikes to prevent a life-ending slip downward. The sacks of meat and fish put quite a toll on their backs, but they relied on their weight to keep them propped up. When they reached a ledge that presented a much more narrow slope, one of the thieves pulled out some rope from the equipment bag and thrust it upward in attempts to lasso it to a sturdy protrusion of rock.

"Narong, do you see them?"

"No."

"Then why do I still feel like we're being followed?"

To answer their question, a sudden sharp, vibrant trill of a flute greeted them from the top of the mountain and stopped them in their tracks. They nearly lost their grip on the rope from the suddenness of it.

"What was that?"

The lilting of the flute continued. For a moment, the tune was calm and settled, but then it took an eerie turn. It seemed to taunt them every time they took a step forward, almost as if passing an encrypted message: I know what you're up to.

"Maybe we should get out of here," suggested Ahusaq, the more timid one of the two. "Let's just take the old route."

"If we go back down, we'll be caught."

"I think we'll be caught either way." The said thief looked up and suddenly saw smoke radiating from the top. "See? Something's going on. Would you rather slip from up here and die or go for another run and have a chance at life?"

It didn't take long for them to start trailing back down from there. So far, the warriors weren't in sight, so they thought the escape would be fairly possible if more caution was executed, but they nearly had a heart attack when a thunderous boom erupted nearby, causing a bunch of snow-glazed rocks to break off from the nearest ledge and block their anticipated pathway down. They barely dodged them and tumbled over to the next safest ledge.

"AAH!"

"Oof!"

From there, they slid down a group of rocks with their seal-skin bags tumbling behind them. They reached the ground and dropped near the riverbed with the bags plopping on top of them. The flute music began to tease them again, and when they shot their heads up, they were greeted by more smoke. Lots of it swirling from the shore on the other end of the frozen river. It seemed as if someone was there judging by the sound of footsteps which simultaneously brought the smoke closer.

"Who's there?" Narong called out.

From the smoky clouds rose the silhouette of a figure with a promising build. Some sort of cloak or cape rippled from the figure's shoulders, and a low growl pierced the air, interrupting the flute.

"It's a spirit…!" Ahusaq exclaimed. "It's La!"

A rumble of laughter boomed forth, segwaying into a deep voice. "So you're not naive humans after all."

"He's not La," Narong scoffed. "He's just an imposter playing dress-up— aaah!" One of the men ducked and pulled his fellow thief down with him as something emerged from the smoke and flew in their direction. It missed them, and they felt relieved, but by the time they bobbed their heads back up, whatever was aimed at them came swinging back with full force and knocked them from behind. They yelled and landed facedown on the ice again.

"First the Kaskan Coastline, then Métiqan Village, then Innunat, and now here," the voice went on. "You're quite adventurous."

That certainly caught them off guard. There was no way this man (if he was one) could've followed them through all of these places at a faster rate they were escaping. They could've sworn they weren't being followed up until half an hour back. And that, too, in the basking dust of twilight. Even if the man had been following them, how could he be on top of the mountain one minute and on the other side of the river the next when it took them nearly ten minute to reach down?

"H-How do you know all of this?" Narong stammered.

The smoke increased. "You fools. I am La, the All-Seeing Eye. I'm in every drop of water, every flake of snow. I am the ocean, the protector of the Water Tribe. I am the wolf, the bestower of all resources. You think I haven't been counting your mistakes?" The figure stomped his way towards them, causing the ice to quiver and form tiny cracks.

"Is it...it it really La?" Narong asked, confused. The best of his skepticism fled when he saw through the smoke that it wasn't wolf-shaped head gear he was looking at but an actual head of a wolf on top of a looming figure. A clawed paw came into view, holding a giant club.

"OH MY SPIRITS, IT'S ACTUALLY LA!" Narong scampered backward.

"We're so sorry, Mr. Ocean Spirit!" Ahusaq burst.

"You have snatched food away from the innocent! Do you know what the penalty is for such a crime?"

"No! Get away!" Narong yelled.

"Please, spare us!"

"When I grab hold of you both, you will rot in the deepest parts of the sea!" the voice roared. And immediately, something struck the ice even further. It splintered much faster than before, and very quickly, the cracks began to spread towards the area they were standing in.

"No! No, please!"

"Will you ever steal again?!" La thundered.

"NO!

"Never!"

"Filthy humans! I will know if you ever lay hands on something that's not yours!"

"We will never steal again, we swear to You, Great Ocean Spirit!"

"Then begone before I swallow you whole! And don't even think about looking back!"

They bowed repeatedly, banging their heads against the ice before darting towards the shore, leaving the seal-skin sacks behind on the mountain ledges. They screamed and muttered random chants invoking La's mercy as the cracks caught up to them and the ice completely gave way. They flailed in the freezing water for a few seconds before another growl from the direction of the spirit struck them back into their senses.

"If I ever see you moping around these parts, I will rip you apart and drink your blood!"

They kept screaming and swimming and eventually fleeing back the way they originally came. Once they were fully out of sight, the figure jumped into the water, shivering his way to the other side. Soon enough, he stepped out and yanked the fake pelt off of his head, revealing his warrior's wolf tail. Along with the flute, the smoke bombs, and his valuable boomerang that he held in his hands, he stuffed the pelt and the wolf-glove in his satchel and climbed his way up to where the bags of food were laying around. He swung them over his shoulders and smirked in the direction of the thieves' escape. "Suckers."

It took a ten minute search through the forest and an excruciating overuse of his searing back before a voice finally called out, "Sokka! Thank the Spirits!" It was a tribesman who'd been trailing down a different path that wound around the mountain. Behind him were the rest of the warriors from before. With sighs of relief, they darted towards him.

"Thank the Spirits? I did all the work here!"

The warriors chuckled as they grabbed hold of him and helped the bags down from his back carefully. Sokka groaned with relief as the weight on his back lifted with one bag at a time, even if at a tantalizingly slow pace. "Now I know how buffalo yaks feel like."

"Man, that was fast," a tribesman said. "Where'd you even come from? How'd you get 'em back so quickly?"

"A genius has his ways," Sokka grinned.

"If it wasn't for you, we would've gone home starving," said the leader of the warriors' group, Isuq. "You came just at the nick of time. What are you doing here anyway? We thought you were going to Innunat today."

"I did go, but...oh, hey, guys, be sure to leave the bag with the blue stripe, that's mine."

"So those idiots stole your fish, too?"

"About an hour ago on my way back," Sokka grunted with impatience and set the rest of the bags down in the snow before them. "I've been tracking them ever since."

Each warrior sieved through the bags and picked out the one which belonged to him. They couldn't help noticing, however, that Sokka's hunting bag was the bulkiest, easily holding plenty of fish and meats of several kinds.

"Look at you," Isuq said, impressed. "Watcha got in there, Sokka?" He peeked inside. "Woah, that's a big Arctic hen. It's been ages!"

"All for Kohana," the prince's voice softened a bit. "It's his big day tomorrow."

"Isn't that sweet?"

"Yep, now let's head on back before our stuff gets stolen again."

"But you're here with us," Isuq said. "We don't have much to worry about."

"Well if anything happen, I'm not getting your stuff back this time. How many mountains do you expect me to climb in one day?"

"You up for some freeze-dried cucumberquats, Socks?"

Sokka felt as if his stomach would grow arms and grab hold of the pack of cucumberquats and feed itself without a second's delay, but the part of him that craved taste and flavor made him shake his head. "I'm good, Masahn."

"Are you sure? You've been workin' pretty hard."

"I'll save em' for later." For another night in the event that he found himself completely stranded and starving or something. "Besides, who needs those with all this game?" He gestured to the huge sack on his back. "It's a record, I tell you. I've never caught so much in a three hour span! If I eat these cucumberquats now, I won't have enough room in me for the meat!"

"But you always have room for more food," Isuq said. "You have a bigger appetite than a lion turtle does."

"And you'll go hungry again by the time we reach the village. Besides, it'll take a while for that meat to cook."

"Maybe, but I need to relish the food that's going in my mouth today." Sokka licked his lips. "I worked so hard for all this." He breathed in the aroma that taunted him from his bag. "Mmmhmmm, I can already taste the squid. Seaweed rolls dipped in fish sauce, the five-flavor soup, the sea crab noodles...Oh, man, it's been far too long!"

Before long, the others were drooling, too, their cucumberquats becoming poor substitutes to their fantasies.

"Easy there, buddy, you're making it worse for the rest of us," Masahn said.

"Say, Sokka," another warrior suggested. "You wouldn't mind if we traded a couple of our fish for a few of your delectable—"

"No can do, men," he said. "I need to rub all of this in my folks' faces. They think I eat more fish than I can catch, but tonight, I'll show them who's boss! I'll show them this work of art!" He sighed. "It's also been a long time since we had a feast in the igloo. It would be nice if we had one for Kohana's birthday."

"Suit yourself, my friend."

They continued to trek through the treacherous terrain, conversing about the trip they had in store one minute and engaged in everyday banter the next. There was so much to look forward to; the trip they had in store the day after tomorrow was going to be a long one. They were headed to Ba Sing Se for an audience with the Earth King, for Spirits' sake!

"Technically, my dad should be on his list of world leaders to meet up with for the annual Global Conferences," Sokka mused.

"I hear Chief Arnook of the North stopped attending those over ten years ago," a warrior said.

"Good-for-nothing Northerners, don't remind me about them."

"I'm just saying, there's no one to represent the Water Tribe. Hopefully when you meet with the Earth King, he'll put you and your dad on the list."

"I hear people in Ba Sing Se aren't as inviting as the other Earth Kingdom residents," another warrior chimed in. "One of my friends visited the Upper Ring once. Some locals ended up driving him out and calling the Water Tribe a 'nation of savages.'"

"Your friend should've shoved a few smoke bombs down their throats," the prince huffed. "With this trip, we'll show them. It's about time those stuck-ups stopped treating us like the scum of the earth."

"We owe the possibility of that trip to you. If you sent a message to the Earth King, we wouldn't have had anything to look forward to."

"We also wouldn't have been able to go on that trip if we lost our hunting bags," Masahn added. "Thanks to you for that, as well."

Because throughout the entire fifteen-mile walk back to their village, that was the unspoken despondency regarding what could've happened had they lost their hard work's worth of food. These men had families of their own. They wouldn't be able to leave for the trip if their wives and children had nothing to eat.

"I don't know how much longer this will last," Isuq sighed. "We can't keep disappearing for weeks and months on end. It's getting harder for us to stay away from our folks. My mother-in-law's trying to make my wife go stay with her in Chingan 'cause I'm never home."

"I haven't even spent a single day with my kids," Masahn followed. "I don't want things to get to the point where they don't recognize me anymore."

"Apparently, my daughter took her first steps last week. Chimali was so excited when she told me," another man beamed with a trace of disappointment. "But I wasn't there when it actually happened. I don't want them to think of me as always being absent."

"Okay, guys, don't start," Sokka said. "Look, as soon as we can arrange some sort of trading agreement with the Earth King, you guys can cuddle with your folks as long as you want."

"It's not wrong to feel that way, Socks. You'd know if you were married."

"Pssh. You married men are getting older by the second. Sappy and unrealistically optimistic. I'm forever a youth."

"Oh really, Mr. Sour Single?"

"Let's just keep it easy on him, guys," Isuq said. "Poor guy's just jealous he doesn't have a lady to give him a satisfying back massage."

"Gran Gran's herbs will have to do, eh?"

"Or maybe Master Pakku can set him straight with a water whip."

They all snickered as Sokka raised his eyebrows, unamused. "Haha."

"In all serious, Sokka, why don't you consider taking the leap of faith this year? Find Katara a nice match, too," Isuq said. "Think about your parents. Can't you see it in their eyes? They want you and Katara to get settled down. If you ask me, it should've happened a long time ago. Tradition says to get married at age sixteen. Eighteen at the latest. You're twenty three. If you keep this up, you'll be twice as old as a Water Tribe girl of marrying age."

Sure, settling down and popping out babies according to blind tradition will definitely help the situation here. But he didn't say it out loud. Marriage made these men quite sensitive. "Let's just get home first, shall we?"

And so they trudged along, drooling over what the ladies in their households would serve them. It was in the dead of the night that Sokka and the warriors made it to the outskirts of the village. While his buddies bid him goodnight and took the paths to their respective homes, he wandered through the snow-capped hills until he reached the path that led to his igloo. He was ecstatic, his chest swelling from so much pride in himself.

"Just imagine the looks on their faces when I show them this luxury!" he rambled to himself as he imitated the voices of his family family members. "'Oh Sokka, you're the best brother we ever had! Oh Sokka, we're so proud to have you as our son. Sokka, my boy, you got the stuff! Sokka, you're the best hunter the Water Tribe has ever had! Sokka, you're the bomb!' Ha!"

Gentle moonlight spilled over him in heaps, lighting up the darkened tribe and making everything glisten around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted one such glittering spectacle: a small icy hut in the far distance reflecting off moonbeams in his direction. In front of the hut were a three young children waving their arms at a man who was approaching them.

Sokka knew that man. He was part of the division of Water Tribe traders who were set to leave for Ba Sing Se with him in two days. The prince was about to call out to him in greeting when he saw the look of pure dejection on the man's face. A woman had stepped out to greet him, her hands resting on her heavily swollen belly. Her smile dwindled as she noted the disappointment in her husband's eyes and the nearly empty hunting bag which held but a few fish to last the children for the night. The children took the fish and raced inside, but the man and woman were cast by disheartenment, feeling the imminent burden of starvation.

Sokka sighed and took a look at his own sack of meats. He was pretty certain his stomach had started eating itself, and sleep was hitting him in the face like a train, making the possibility of going out to hunt again a greater problem, but he shook it all away, feeling a tug against his heart. "Fine, but I'm still keeping the Arctic hen."

"Sokka's coming," Pakku noted from the doorway upon spotting his grandson trudging along the snow. Seconds later, the old master was joined by his wife. They shared a concerned look when they saw that Sokka wasn't returning with his usual hunting bag. He only had his satchel with him, and he was holding onto a rather large skinned Arctic hen, but judging by the soft look on his face, they felt he wasn't too bothered with whatever happened, so they didn't feel the need to bombard him with questions just yet.

Well, questions about the food, at least, because Kanna straight up demanded him, "Where have you been? We were so worried you weren't back yet."

"Your father and I were about to come looking for you," Pakku said. "Everything alright?"

"It's been a long day, that's all." He stepped inside and handed Kanna the meat. "Quick, Gran, hide this before Kohana sees it."

"No use hiding it when you two know every inch of the kitchen."

"Is he asleep?"

"He should be."

Hakoda, who had his injured leg sprawled out over a pelt, and Kya, who had been massaging his foot with seaweed extract, looked up at their son and breathed out relieved sighs. They too, however, noticed that he didn't carry the usual seal-skin with him.

"Sweetie, you're back."

"What took you so long, son?"

"It was a long walk home," he said, wincing as he flopped over a set of pelts.

"Where'd you even go?" Katara asked.

"Innanut."

"Innanut?" they all exclaimed.

"That's twenty miles away, son," Pakku took a seat next to him.

"It's the only other place that's not as fished out as the other villages," Sokka shrugged. "You guys eat yet?"

"We were waiting on you. There's nothing in the igloo," Pakku said.

"I thought we still had some fish left."

"Well, Chunta stopped by…"

"Ugh," Sokka facepalmed. "Don't tell me you gave the rest of the fish in the house to that good-for-nothing psuedoshaman!"

"We thought you'd be back sooner with the fish," Katara said. "Clearly you didn't bring much to the table."

He groaned and reached into his satchel. He pulled out a small bag of fish and handed it to Katara. "That should be enough for right now, right?"

"You've been gone the entire day and caught only six...nine...thirteen fish?" Katara counted.

"It was all I got, okay?"

"Were you off playing boomerang again?"

"Alright, you two, don't start," Kya said. "Katara, your brother worked hard for this. Give him a break."

"I'll get started on the fish," Kanna took the bag and headed off to the kitchen.

"What happened, Sokka?" Hakoda asked. "Were you not feeling well today?"

"It's not that. A few idiots came along and stole the seal-skin sack when I was on my way back here."

"Oh Tui and La!"

"I couldn't find them anywhere. That's why I was late. I went back and caught as many as I could for tonight. Just in case."

"All the way back to Innanut?" Kya asked.

"No, just Goorin. Ten minutes away."

"This is exactly why you should've taken me with you," Katara said. "Maybe if I'd been there, I would've had your back. I even asked you if I could go with you, but what did you say? 'Woman, keep your magic water away from me. Stay in the kitchen and be prepared to cook up a feast!' Well where's the feast now?"

"If you came with me, you would've scared away the few fish that were left with your bending," he retorted.

"You're going to be gone for almost a month this time. This won't be enough to last us."

"I know that, Katara. I still have tomorrow."

"You promised Kohana you wouldn't miss his birthday—"

"I'm not. I'm gonna leave in an hour or so and come back before he wakes up."

"So you're not going to sleep?"

"I'll be fine! Sheesh, can't a guy get some appreciation for once?"

"Sokka..."

The warrior's annoyance softened when he saw his little brother. "Hey, buddy!" He held his arms out as Kohana waddled sleepily into his arms. "I thought you were still asleep," the prince said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"I heard you come in. Hurry up and eat so we can play Spirits and Robbers..."

"Spirits and Robbers, huh?" he laughed. "Funny story actually. You wanna hear it?"

"After we play. I wanna be La this time."

"Maybe you should be the Sleepy Spirit instead, sport. Katara can be the evil witch."

"Yeah, and Sokka can be the smelly pentapus monster," she sneered at her flustered brother.

"Please please please guys?" Kohana whined. "I've been waiting all day..."

The adults watched the trio bicker and play around, keeping in mind that had everything turned out well in the first place, Katara and Sokka would've had families of their own, complete with children Kohana's age. The predictions from Chunta had lifted their spirits so easily despite their efforts to resist his sweet talk. Convincing Katara wouldn't be too much of a problem, but Sokka, on the other hand, had always been the more persistent one. Eventually, Kya and Hakoda shared knowing looks and turned to Pakku, who nodded and cleared his throat.

"It's bedtime, Kohana," he said.

"Just five more minutes, Gramps, please?"

"You three can play all day tomorrow, okay? Go on now. Katara, go tuck him in, dear."

Once it was just Sokka and them, Kya began the much-anticipated conversation of the evening. "Sokka, Chunta brought good news with him this time."

"Did he predict another sibling for me, by any chance?"

"No, not this time," Hakoda said. "We're going to anticipate becoming in-laws very soon."

"Katara's getting married off?" he deliberately raised his voice to taunt his sister. "Finally, we'll have some peace of mind in the house— aah!" He barely dodged a snowball that was aimed in his direction from Kohana's room.

"You better watch it, you idiot!"

"Alright, that's enough," Pakku said. "Sokka, pay attention."

Kya gave her son a patient look. "Chunta was saying something about a perfect match for you."

"Mom—"

"Just hear us out," Hakoda said. "Look, son, you were born on a really special day. The girl he mentioned was born on a special day, too. Both of you were born on the year of the Wolf Moon, the year of the Spirits. That's a very sacred time that no child is ever born into, and on top of that, you were born on the Day of La at midnight on the solstice. That has to say something, right?" Of course, they never told their son of the incompatibility of his birth chart with anyone else's but often stressed that his bride should be someone special.

"Here we go," Sokka sighed. "It was just a coincidence that I was born in what you think are 'sacred times.' It actually doesn't matter. And you guys know that half the things Chunta says are way out of line, right? Come on, you think this is the time for me to get hitched? We barely have enough food to last us for—"

"Sokka, we know you put this off for a good reason," Hakoda said. "But if you delay any more, it's going to be difficult down the road. You're twenty three."

"You're saying it like I'm in my fifties or something."

"At the rate you're going, you sound like you'd be the type to put off your marriage until then," Pakku frowned. "Look, Chunta went ahead and compared your birth chart with that girl's. He said it was a perfect match."

"And where is this girl exactly?"

"The exact whereabouts aren't known, but Chunta suspects she's a Northerner—"

At that, Sokka stood up with a frustrated look. "The sister tribe? What makes you think I'd marry a Northerner?"

Of course, this was expected. "You certainly have grandparents who are Northern," Kanna chimed in from the next room. "If you hate Northerners so much, you might as well renounce me and Pakku."

"That's different!"

"Sokka, it's not right to think of it that way," Hakoda said. "We're all one tribe."

"It's useless to keep thinking that, Dad," Sokka said, glaring out of the nearest window. "I sent out so many requests over the past eight years, and we haven't heard back from them. Forget my efforts. You guys have been trying to contact them for the past thirty years. We even had a large portion of our warriors take up the journey to the North, and they didn't return to this day!"

"We don't know what's going on with them to jump to conclusions like that," Kya said.

"Even if that's true, they didn't take the time to at least tell us what's messed up about them. They don't care about us. They never will. We're on our own now. We can't rely on them for anything. And it doesn't matter what my freaking birth chart has to say. If I absolutely have to make babies with anyone, it better not be with a Northerner."

"Just because the government's messed up doesn't mean every Northerner is—"

"It still doesn't matter. Look, guys, I don't even want to think about things like marriage, okay? I was never planning on commitment, let alone with a Northerner. This isn't the right time, and I'm not even in the right mindset for that sort of thing."

"I was in the same mindset as you are right now when I was sixteen," Hakoda said. "Things had already gotten worse at that point. But if I hadn't chosen to get married to the love of my life, you and Katara and Kohana wouldn't even exist. This is something that's difficult for everyone, Sokka. Sixteen years is young, I'm not denying it. But the point of having a companion is to figure things out together."

Sokka shook his head, his thoughts flying to the family he saw earlier. He remembered how difficult it had been for them to handle the mere thought of starvation, and in all honesty, whether he actually cared or not about Northern influences and whatnot, his main concern was the fear of not being able to adequately provide. The South was not in good shape, and even if his family members were so desperate to abide by age-old impractical tradition that claimed marriage was an integral part of life, he wasn't going to fall for it if it endorsed overpopulation, poverty, and food struggles. Why drag someone else into the mess they were already in? Why would he think of bringing children into the world when there was the possibility of them starving every day so long as their economy was in shambles?

"Every man needs a woman, Sokka," Pakku said. "Just like how La needs Tui."

"Those fairytales might be good on paper, but practically speaking, they're worthless. Tui and La are just tools made up by some prehistoric caveman who was trying to get his people to multiply."

"That's enough, young man," Kya frowned and stood up. "Not another word against the Spirits. Saying Tui and La don't exist is equivalent to saying your father and I don't exist."

"Mom, that's not what I—!"

"Do as you wish," she said. "No one here's forcing you to follow tradition. It's not like we want you to be happy with a loving companion to call yours. It's not like we want to be grandparents or anything." She stormed her way out of the room, brushing at her tears as she left.

"Mom!"

"Kya, dear," Hakoda called. "Kya!"

"So it's my fault for being responsible?" Sokka exclaimed. "Come on!"

Hakoda shook his head at Sokka. He pulled himself up with Pakku's support and went after the chieftess in efforts to calm her down.

"Doesn't he understand we only want what's best for him?" the chieftess's words rang loud and clear from where she was. "How can he be so heartless and insensitive?"

"I'm not heartless, I'm just…" Sokka trailed off, deciding against further arguments.

"Why can't you think about us for once?" Kanna said as she stepped in with the freshly cooked fish. "You think we're stupid to suggest marriage in a time like this? If you'd been a lazy bum who did nothing to help out, you think we would've wanted you to get married? We're telling you this because we trust you're responsible enough for it. You're doing so much to establish trading partners. We trust that by the time you get settled, things will look up. We're confident that you can do this."

But as always, he flailed in his insecurities and ignored the fish that sat waiting for his attention. "You never know for sure, Gran." He grabbed his satchel and hurried out.

"Sokka!" Pakku called after him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Hunting." Because he couldn't stand another moment here. He stepped out into the open and swallowed down his hunger, glancing up at the bright, beautiful, benevolent moon in the sky. If you're up there, and if you're real, food is all I ask for. He glanced back at the igloo. At least for their sake.