Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

249. Chapter 249: Broken Apart 2

A/N:

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

THIS WAS A DOUBLE UPDATE!

PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER (248) BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THIS CHAPTER!

---

Broken Apart

2

He gasped the name that lingered, ever-present, on his mind. Those three syllables seemed to jolt his soul back into the body that hosted it, forcing him back into corporeality, into a reality he hadn't been ready to face at all… a reality that, going by how clouded his mind and thoughts were, he still wasn't remotely ready to face.

His eyes had opened, though… and he raised his gaze at a ceiling of some unknown abode. He shivered, frowning in utter confusion as he struggled to make sense of his bearings, his current location… it was a dark place, but a weak light shone upon the walls of the spherical, domed roof, enough light that he could sense the curves of the building's structure. His gaze focused gradually until he recognized that what gave the ceiling such a dark color was, in fact, a set of furs distributed neatly over the building's walls to help maintain warmth within an igloo…

An igloo?

The realization sent a pang of pain shooting through his bloodstream, causing him to shiver in place, eager to push himself up with arms that weighed too heavily to let him move at all: the truth behind his current circumstances battered against him, but he shrugged it off in a panic, rejecting all the reasons why he would wake up in an igloo again. This wasn't where he was supposed to be… it wasn't. He couldn't stay here. He had to go. He had to…

He turned on the wooden floor, still struggling to find enough strength to move when every inch of his body was shot with overwhelming pain… and he froze in place upon gazing directly into the large, violet eyes of a dark-haired, round-faced child.

He didn't dare move another inch, not under the persistent surveillance of the baby – there was no way she was even half a year old, judging by her size, yet he didn't dare move while she watched him. She seemed perfectly placid and calm, lying on her tummy, eyes never leaving his own… and he could only swallow dryly as, yet again, he found himself wondering where on earth was he… and why this small, innocent child would be right beside him. Who was she? Where were her parents?

That second question caused him to glance away from the baby, to detail the rest of the strange location he had no recollection of having visited of his own volition: a normal, perfectly ordinary igloo, with a hearth at its center, two rooms at either end of the building, decorative furs on every wall, twin dao swords and golden fans pinned to one of them, sets of furniture where the family that resided in this home would keep all their essential living items…

He frowned suddenly before glancing at the weapons one more time. His weak heart, which had seemed ready to stop working anytime soon, suddenly sped up as an unexpected realization dawned upon him… a realization soon confirmed by a childish, innocent gasp coming from the direction of the ajar igloo door.

A slightly older child stood there: a child with auburn hair, and glowing golden eyes – he could barely breathe upon glimpsing that hue once again…

A child who suddenly screamed like a demon was chasing her as she raced out of the igloo without a single intelligible word, dropping the cookie she had been trying to sneak while nobody had been watching.

"D-don't…" he cringed, the sudden noise causing him to shrink in place, newly appreciative of the silence that had reigned in the house before the older child had seen him…

The scream did much more damage than he had expected it to: the powerful ringing apparently had bothered the baby beside him… and now the smaller child's face reddened as she began to wail in a most heartfelt, dramatic manner, tears pouring down her cheeks as in a hurry, just as much of a hurry as her sister – at least, he assumed they were sisters – had been on upon leaving the house.

"N-no, no, don't cry…" he grimaced, reaching for the girl with unsteady hands.

He had only just touched the small baby's shoulder with a fingertip when another voice joined the cacophony of noise that rebounded all across the igloo… this time, a familiar voice, yet one he hadn't heard in long enough that he had damn near forgotten what it sounded like.

"Mari, for goodness's sake, why did you scream like that? You made your sister cry again! I've told you to…!"

He turned again, towards the sound of that female voice… one that matched the only person he had ever known who would wield those golden fans in combat. His eyes were wide with uncertainty at the sight of an adult silhouette by the igloo's door at last… the mother of these children, who seemed to have frozen at the threshold of her own home when her violet eyes met his blue ones.

"S… Sokka," she called him, and he nearly flinched away from the sound of his own name.

It seemed the last thing he'd needed to hear before he couldn't block away the truth any further. Before his mind, painful and forceful, caused him to flinch as thoughts and reason were unleashed inside him: he knew exactly who he was gazing at, he knew these were her children… and he knew exactly where he was, even if he didn't want to accept it. Even if the implications of finding himself inside an igloo meant that everything had happened exactly as she had intended it…

"Sokka, you're awake! You… oh, Sokka, it's me," the woman by the door spoke, stepping closer to him… smiling, though he had no idea why she'd smile at all. He nearly flinched away from her instead, wanting to deflect her attention, to shrink in place, to pretend he hadn't woken up at all and escape all scrutiny as soon as he had a chance… "It's me, Suki. You're safe here, okay? You don't have to worry… we've helped you out. You'll be okay… and so will you, Zi, goodness. No need to cry like that, Mari was just being silly…"

Suki smiled as she reached for her daughter, collecting her in her arms and soothing her as best she could, though Zi only continued to pout tragically against her mother's chest. Suki offered Sokka an apologetic grin, though that she continued to smile did nothing to calm Sokka's ever-growing anxiety.

"Mari?" Suki called, glancing at the door again: the small girl by it shot a wary glance at Sokka yet again, and Suki chuckled before shaking her head. "Stop trembling like that and go get Kat-Kat! Tell her he's awake!"

That she'd have permission to leave seemed to thrill the little girl: frankly, Sokka preferred it if she left as well. If anything, he envied her because he couldn't find the strength to follow. Still… if she was gone for now, all the better. So much better. Those eyes, those golden eyes… he couldn't bear glance at them, it felt as though his chest would be split open with an axe when he did…

"Take it easy, okay?" Suki said, with a reassuring smile as Sokka swallowed hard, drawing his eyes across the igloo once again. "I guess you must be confused by all of this, but you're at my igloo… well, mine and Zuko's. He's the one that found you…"

"Found me?" Sokka repeated – the huskiness of his voice startled Suki, but she didn't let it deter her.

"You were… lying at the settlement's docks, seems like?" Suki said. The word shot a dreadful pang of pain through Sokka, and he flinched as Suki leaned closer, setting Zi down once more. "Sokka… are you okay? Did something hurt? If it did…"

"N-no… I'm… I'm fine," he said, lowering his head, doing his best to keep Suki from seeing the overwhelming, heart-shattering emotions that had overtaken him…

He didn't want to think of it, of that blurry final glimpse, of that last chance to hold her, to kiss her, to make promises they might not be able to keep… he didn't want to think of it at all, and yet he wanted to do nothing but cling to every thought and memory of her. Everything that might still make her real… everything that might convince him that this wasn't. That he would wake up again, soon enough, to find her in his arms once more…

If only this weren't an unknown igloo, he might have lost himself to panic, fearing that the past years might have been nothing but a dream, a desperate man's delusion as he sought release and relief from a life spent locked away from the world, in the very heart of the South Pole… but he would have had to be hallucinating this place, these people, for that to be the case. Suki, her daughters, and no doubt, Zuko…

Zuko. Sokka's fists tightened at the very thought of him… at the memory of one of her last requests, one of the very last teasing jokes they had shared. He was here… Zuko was here, and she wasn't. Why? Why couldn't she have just stayed…? All the reasons why this was the right choice, the better outcome, seemed to elude him completely now… he feared he'd forget them all over time, growing convinced that this was, in fact, the worst decision instead…

"Katara's coming, okay? Whatever you need, she'll help you, I'm sure she will."

Suki's continued reassurances brought a frown to Sokka's face. He managed to raise his head with uncertainty, to meet her eyes again as those words sank in.

Katara… Katara.

His sister knew he was here.

"Katara…?" he said, uneasy.

"She treated you as best she could yesterday," Suki said, biting her lip. "You might have taken much longer to wake up if she hadn't…"

"How long…?" Sokka asked, frowning. "How long have I been here? How many days has it been…?"

"A little under a day since Zuko brought you… Sokka?" Suki answered, frowning when the dark expression on Sokka's face gained an even darker tinge: he lowered his head once more, but not before she could see the pain that had crossed his features this time. "Sokka, are you…?"

"Sokka! Sokka!"

The shrieks could be heard a good five seconds before the woman responsible for them reached the igloo's door. Suki forgot about her questions then, smiling instead as she wrapped her arms around her daughter again, gazing at her home's entrance… where a desperate Katara had only just crossed the threshold, eyes wider than Suki recalled seeing them before.

Despite himself, despite his ongoing, ever-surging misery, Sokka's heart was stirred by a less unpleasant emotion at last upon recognizing his stressed, anxious and affectionate sister. It hadn't been that long since they had last met… but it suddenly felt like a lifetime since their last reunion. Against his better judgment, regardless of how difficult it was to do it, Sokka managed to offer his sister a pained, dishonest smile… that she answered with a gasp of joyful, grateful disbelief, as well as a spree of decidedly honest tears.

"Sokka!" she called again, before rushing hastily across the igloo's wooden floor.

She gave him no chance to warn her to be careful, to tell her to mind his wounds, for she had thrown her arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly he lost his breath for a moment. He gasped, but he smiled sadly again, patting Katara's back gently, without the enthusiasm he had displayed during their reencounter in Whaletail Island. Katara didn't seem to mind, however – clearly, she was more than enthusiastic enough for the both of them.

"Oh, Sokka, you're back… you're back, you're awake, you…!" Katara exclaimed, pressing her face to his shoulder before pulling away, cupping his face in her hands: his awkward smile contrasted powerfully against her blissful, tearful one. "How are you feeling? Do you feel your body, every finger and toe? You were out in the cold in… in some ridiculously light get-up, Sokka, Dad had to help change you into your old clothes…"

"M-my… huh" Sokka said, swallowing hard: he hadn't even noticed he was wearing anything other than his usual, sleeveless attire. "D-Dad… he helped? W-where is…?"

"He'll be along soon, I hope," Katara said, smiling warmly. "Mari came to fetch me just now, when he and I were telling everyone else that you're back. He'll be here any moment, for sure."

Sokka nodded weakly, uncertain of what to say: he had feared this moment for years. He had tried to imagine what he'd say, how he'd apologize, what he'd do… now, faced with meeting his father again, he was at a loss. His emotional heart seemed not to know what to do, whether to rejoice in their reunion or dread it… and the second option was winning, even when he should have known better. But to this day, his father was the man he most admired… and something told him all the pride Hakoda might claim to feel for him would fade away once he understood Sokka's circumstances fully.

"Do you need something to eat? You always do…" Katara said, with a weak grin, as Suki shifted behind her.

"I can warm up some soup, if you think that's okay…" Suki suggested, and Katara nodded promptly.

"Sorry for imposing on you guys like this…" she said, with an apologetic grin that Suki dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"No apologies needed, Katara, please," she laughed. "Whatever I can do for your family, I'll do it without thinking twice of it. It's the least any of us could do for you guys."

"Thank you," Katara smiled, nodding towards Suki before focusing on her brother again: Suki made her way to the kitchen area of the igloo with Zi in her arms, and Sokka eyed the child with a wary frown as the baby's violet eyes remained set on him. "Ah… that's Zi, if you don't know yet. Guess you two weren't properly introduced?"

"She was… staring at me, when I woke up," Sokka said, swallowing dryly. Katara laughed and nodded, patting his shoulder gently.

"Yeah, she loves staring at people insistently," she said. "Always does it with everyone. You'll get used to it, don't worry…"

Her words compelled him to tighten a fist again: he didn't want to get used to anything. No… not in these circumstances, not in these conditions, not in this way…

"Does anything hurt?" Katara asked, raising a hand to Sokka's forehead. "Hmm, your temperature's probably a bit higher than it should be, I guess I'll try to cool you off with my bending if it gets worse, as long as you're okay with that."

"You don't have to…" Sokka whispered, almost shyly, and Katara laughed.

"Maybe I don't, but I will do it, because you're my goof of a big brother" she said, smiling as she clasped his face in her hands again. "I… I don't know how you wound up here at all, Sokka, but… I'm so happy you're here, and even happier that you woke up when you did. I was afraid for a while that the healing I did wouldn't have been enough, but… but you're here, with us. You're safe, at home… and no one will hurt you again, not while we have a say upon the matter."

Her words, poised to soothe his fears, achieved no such purpose: they weren't safe, Sokka knew they weren't… and if everyone tried to fight to defend him, he would be devastated even if the enemies didn't so much as touch a hair from his head. His people were in danger… that was the real reason why he'd accepted this arrangement. He needed to warn them. He had to tell them so they could begin the preparations, the defensive measures…

"Katara, I…" he started, but he stopped talking when his sister's eyes grew tearful once again. "Katara?"

"I… I'm sorry, Sokka," she said, with a soft laugh that, yet again, warmed his heart when he hadn't expected it to ever be thawed anew. "I'm being crazy, and I'm talking too much, but I'm just… I'm just so glad you woke up. I missed you so much…"

Sokka's chest tightened: oh, he knew the grief that dwelled in his heart clouded his judgment and his thoughts easily… but seeing Katara conveying her heartfelt thoughts and words had triggered back his brotherly instincts and impulses, buried deep underneath his dire longing for everything he'd lost lately, everything he might never reclaim.

It was strange to experience one positive feeling in the depths of so many negative, unpleasant ones he couldn't seem to shake off… but obeying said feeling, said impulses, Sokka shoved himself up fully to a sitting position before wrapping his own arms around Katara, pressing his face to her shoulder as she whimpered, sobbing quietly in his arms as well.

"Y-you're back… you're home now, Sokka…" she managed to say, between sobs. Sokka didn't respond through anything but the tightening of his arms, as well as a few tears of his own.

Suki had stoked the fire in the igloo's hearth, but she couldn't take her eyes off the siblings as she waited for the leftover brew from breakfast to bubble and simmer… much as Zi couldn't, ever observing the world she scarcely understood with her large eyes. Suki pressed a soft kiss to her daughter's head before glancing at the door: her firstborn stood right at the threshold of the igloo, with Gruff lapping at her fingers – there was no sign of the cookie Mari had dropped anymore, no doubt having been snatched off by the clever canine who still sought to collect every crumb off the little girl's hands.

"Planning on standing there all day, Mari?" Suki asked, with a teasing grin: her daughter flinched, glancing at her with wide eyes and reddening cheeks.

"Mommy…" she mumbled quietly as Suki laughed, stretching an arm towards her, beckoning the child to run into her embrace for comfort and shelter.

"It's alright, sweetheart. He's not going to hurt you," Suki said, sweeping Mari against her chest, right beside Zi. "Everything's okay. We'll look after him for a bit, is all… there's nothing to be scared of, alright?"

"Okay…" Mari said, though she still seemed much too daunted by the large man Katara was embracing to look at him.

"Let's get some more food ready, dear," Suki said, kissing the top of her daughter's head.

Distracting her daughter with small tasks had always proven to be an effective way to contain Mari's whimsical behavior. It was hard to say whether she feared Sokka over how large he was or because he was a total stranger, but it was entirely possible that there would be no rational explanation for it: to this day she would stick her tongue out at Kino on sight, disliking him for no apparent reason and making no attempts to conceal the animosity she felt towards the former soldier. Thus, rather than letting Mari's unpredictable reactions interrupt the moment the siblings shared, Suki asked her to help her sort through some seaweed they had left, so they could offer Sokka something more substantial than reheated broth for food.

He had asked for nothing, though… he had spoken of next to nothing so far. At first, Suki had chalked it down to being too shaken up by his near-death experience… but as she cast another glance at the man, glimpsing the twin trails of tears down his cheeks, spilling on Katara's parka, she found he still had kept his silence with his sister, something she'd never have expected from the Sokka she had last seen in the Fire Nation. Moreover… the tears in his eyes were charged with much darker emotions than Katara's own.

She had no time to ponder the meaning of all the subtle, yet alarming messages Sokka's behavior conveyed: another shadow crossed the threshold of the igloo, belonging to another large man, yet one Mari had no qualms with.

A man whose blue eyes glistened with tears as well, even before he glimpsed his two children locked in a tight embrace as they were.

Hakoda stood in place for a long, suspended moment. The knot in his throat tightened, threatening to release with his own outpour of relentless emotion… for his son had woken up. Mari's unintelligible screams earlier had taken the whole tribe by surprise: Katara had stopped all her explanations to the villagers at once before sprinting down towards the child, down the street. Fearful that whatever had happened might be bad news, Hakoda had held back at first, a chilling panic flooring him until he fought it off, knowing it was possible nothing bad had happened… knowing it was possible it'd be good news, instead, no matter if the child's screams had sounded like the whole opposite thing.

Yet he hadn't heard Katara screaming in heartbroken outrage, as she surely would have if her efforts to save her brother had gone to waste. No urgent voices had reached him as he stepped closer to the igloo… Suki hadn't leapt out of the house to reveal the worst had happened, either. Hope had sprung within his chest for that, as Aang held him upright by clasping his shoulder…

They glimpsed Suki and her daughters through the igloo's open door: the tranquility of the Kyoshi Warrior had reassured Hakoda almost instantly, though Aang had squeezed his shoulder nonetheless, urging him to head inside the igloo and check on his children. That Hakoda would glance at the Avatar for silent support, needing the encouragement of one so much younger than himself, could have felt out of place… but the soulful young man beside him carried far more wisdom in his heart than many seemed to realize. He knew and understood loss deeply: what wouldn't he give to regain so much of what had been ripped away from him forcefully through a violent war that never should have happened…?

Hakoda, however, had a chance to see his son once again. A chance to protect him, to embrace him, to laugh alongside him after having spent years dreading Sokka was lost to them for good. It wasn't ideal, he had wished to see his son strong and willful rather than hurt as he had been… but it was his son all the same. There was no point in wasting any time hesitating when he had longed to reunite with Sokka after six years, if not longer already.

Now he stood at the igloo's threshold, paralyzed by what still felt unreal… by the unexpected return of his beloved son who had yet to raise his eyes to see him.

Suki and Aang lingered in place, watching the stunned Hakoda, uncertain of how to encourage him… but their involvement wasn't necessary once Sokka opened his tearful, blurry eyes to recognize a tall shape by the igloo's entrance.

He jumped in Katara's arms, almost pulling away, despite she held him too tightly for him to put any meaningful distance between them. Even so, Katara's hold relented at Sokka's sudden reaction: one glance at him told her the source of his sudden distress stood by the igloo's doorway… and she couldn't help but offer her father a heartfelt smile as Hakoda trembled in place, chest heaving with each powerful breath he released.

"S-Sokka…" he said, with a shred of a voice. Sokka lowered his gaze quickly, wiping his eyes with his bare hand, struggling to see properly when he had cried so much in his sister's arms…

But when he gazed up through still blurry eyes, he saw the strong, defined features of the man he had modeled himself after, for most his childhood and teenage years. The man he had defied, recklessly, so long ago… the man whose example he had wished to follow before learning he could craft a path for himself and learn to navigate life on his own terms.

Even after everything he had learned, however, his heart burned with overpowering emotions upon recognizing his father, even if he sported more graying hair and a few more wrinkles than Sokka recalled. Those eyes, however, were kind and warm… so much kinder than the last time he had gazed upon them, when he had willfully stormed out of their igloo to lead his men into a battle that none of them had been ready to face.

Even now, he expected that kindly expression to shift… he expected Hakoda to speak sternly, to scold him, to ask him what kind of man would have been as irresponsible and reckless as he had been. Even now he shivered in place, with Katara's arms still around his body, feeling as bereft of safe harbor as a lone, lost wolf cub in the middle of a snowstorm…

Hakoda stepped forward: the first step was unsteady, but the second was firmer, followed by a powerful third that could have seen him breaking into a sprint, had they been elsewhere than in a small igloo. With just those three strides, he already stood by the hearth, right in front of his son…

And just so, he knelt quickly, caring nothing for how the impact against the bamboo might hurt his knees before sweeping Sokka into the strongest bear hug he possibly could give him.

Of course, he had always known this was a possibility. He had always known the best-case scenario might happen… always. Katara had told him as much, back in Whaletail Island… just as a certain someone had always encouraged him to face his family, to meet his father, to discover if he was right or wrong about his fears and beliefs while always offering him a place to belong, a home to return t, if his tribe believed him well past redemption.

He was shaken by a new, potent sob: he pressed his face to his father's shoulder, shaking violently as he cried anew. The familiar warmth of Hakoda's affectionate hugs should have eased his heart… but right now it felt as though it was bleeding him out, instead. If he had been crying quite powerfully with Katara already, it scarcely compared to the outpour of emotion triggered by his father's presence and wordless reassurances, by the knowledge and certainty that the man he most admired, whose approval he had craved all along, had loved him profoundly, unconditionally, regardless of his mistakes.

He felt like a child again, cradled in his parent's arms, held gently as he cried… yet Hakoda's own tears poured down across his face as well, sobs shaking him deeply as he clutched Sokka, as though to never let him go. After all those years of fearing the worst, of dreading his mistake, his carelessness, might have proven him unworthy of his tribe, of his father's love… today he had woken to find himself in this small igloo, welcomed, cared for, missed and loved by the family that had been his entire world until halfway through the twenty-first year of his life.

The grief in his soul hadn't dwindled: it was the main source of his tears, after all. But for a moment, just for a moment, his miserable thoughts were silenced by the power of his sudden, surging gratitude. He'd had a chance to return to his family. He'd had a chance to confirm they still loved him deeply and wanted him home, regardless of his mistakes. That opportunity… she had granted it to him. She had chosen to offer it to him, at the great cost at which it had come. She had encouraged him to return to his family… she had offered to bring him to them countless times until she finally had done it, and fool he was, he had rejected every offer until there had been no other choice. Always afraid of what he had no need to fear… always scared that those he had loved would deem him too corrupt, too rotten, too touched by the Fire Nation to be part of their community anymore. All those fears had been unfounded: otherwise, how would his father embrace him so affectionately, sobbing quietly against the son he could barely believe had returned home?

"My boy…" Hakoda gasped, and the sound of his voice only spurred Sokka's tears onwards. "My son… you're home now."

Katara could only watch them with tearful eyes and a tender smile – Suki wasn't better off either, and as much as she wanted to focus on the meal she was preparing, witnessing the reunion between the small, broken family had touched her heart all the same. They had been through so much… nobody even knew what Sokka had been through to wind up here right now, to begin with. But Hakoda stretched an arm out to Katara, encouraging her to join their embrace too – which she followed fit with, wrapping her arms around her brother and father as they wept together – and for a moment, the reasons behind his return barely mattered to Hakoda and Katara anymore: after years of grieving, of hopelessness and anguish, their fractured family had been brought together again, at last.

---

Tall, towering peaks slowly drifted behind the Royal Barge as it powered north. The mountain range that had once hosted the Air Nomads had been far too inhospitable for Fire Nation occupation forces to march into those territories and assimilate them into their power and control for good. Wild flora grew in those islands, untamed, unconcerned with worldly events, proving not even the Fire Nation's worst crimes could subdue nature or subject it to their control and demands. Some things had, indeed, defeated the Fire Nation in the past… they now offered a glimmer of hope that the Fire Nation might be stopped in the future as well.

Highly ranked soldiers wishing for their nation's defeat would seem unnatural, out of place… but the once-Royal Guards, then Imperial Guards, and now wanted criminals, had held their personal values well above the Fire Lord's demands. They regretted none of it so far… but they knew, just as well, that the future awaiting them couldn't be promising as long as Ozai remained in command of the Fire Nation.

Silence had reigned in the Barge for the past day. The men would trade words quietly, even those working in the loud engine room would feel most uninclined to raise their voices above the machines unless there was no other choice. Those in the bridge, waiting for their shifts in the kitchen or the engine room, remained utterly silent on the most part, too.

Exhaustion finally seemed to take its toll on Rui Shi today: he sat on a chair by a corner of the bridge. Tai Wei handled the helm of the ship as expertly as he had so far, sailing past the Air Nomads' islands while overcoming the powerful currents in the area. Fei Li and Haoren sat together by the map in which they tracked their progress so far: one glance at it indicated they were drawing close to Whaletail Island, the sole Air Nomad island the Fire Nation had occupied.

"Do we have the fuel to head further east?" Haoren asked Tai Wei, softly. "The navy will come after us immediately If we're seen by Whaletail Island's patrols."

"I know. I'm not sure what's the best route to take anymore, though… also because I have no idea where we're really going," Tai Wei sighed, glancing over his shoulder at Rui Shi. "Have you… managed to learn what our actual destination will be?"

Rui Shi swallowed hard, averting his gaze from his fellow soldier. He knew a potential answer to that question… the likeliest answer, too, unless the Princess had changed her mind sometime through the night, which she probably hadn't. He didn't expect her to give much thought to anything else while plagued by profound anguish and heartbreak.

"It's probably impossible to ask her right now, though," said Fei Li, grimacing.

"She has friends in the Colonies, though, doesn't she?" Haoren asked. "People who would gladly take her in. Hopefully they'd agree to take us in too, but still…"

"It's too great a risk," Rui Shi said, surprising the others. "There's… there's no telling if anyone she trusts will choose to protect her over serving the Fire Lord. Wherever she might run away to… his forces will follow, for sure."

"Then what is the plan? I know she's in no shape for talking, but it's still the Princess…" said Tai Wei, sighing. "I have a hard time believing she didn't figure out a strategy from the get-go."

"She did," Rui Shi confirmed, softly: all three men within the bridge were startled by his response. "I don't know all the details in full myself, but…"

"What is it?" Fei Li asked, frowning. "The sooner we know, the better use we can make of our resources, right?"

Rui Shi wished to agree, to encourage them to work towards implementing the Princess's likely plan as soon as possible. But he knew, deep in his heart, that once they heard what he knew Azula's plan entailed, none of his fellow guards would want to follow through with it.

He thought to ask for a little time… to ask them to let him check on Azula once more. He had done as much many times by now, always bringing her tea or food, anything to offer her nourishment and comfort… but she would find neither thing in his gestures. She responded to nothing. She was withdrawn in herself, whether conscious or not, and as much as he had tried to speak to her, to get through to her, he hadn't succeeded, not even once. Part of him dreaded that she would linger in this strange state of numbness for good… and if she did it would be up to them to protect her, although he had no doubts they'd fail to do so once the bulk of Ozai's forces caught up with them. If she did come back to herself, though… she would likely tell her guards the very words Rui Shi was struggling to utter, under the scrutiny of the other three. His unwillingness to share his thoughts only made matters worse, he knew so…

"You're not seriously trying to say that we've come all this way for nothing, are you?" Tai Wei asked, frowning heavily. "I… I agreed, entirely, to help save Sokka. I have no problem with having come as far as we have to make sure he could survive. But if there's nothing else going forward, that just means…"

"There's something else, Tai Wei, but… it's most likely not what you hope it is," Rui Shi confessed at last, raising his eyes to glance at them. "I'm not fully certain of what the Princess's full plans may be… but I do know she intends to break off from the rest of us and turn herself in to the Fire Lord."

Tense silence settled in the bridge: Fei Li's jaw dropped with outrage and all three sets of eyes widened as they glared at Rui Shi in accusing, utter disbelief. He gritted his teeth: well, if he could be the one to face their fury at the Princess's plan, it would certainly be better than for them to unleash their rejection of this strategy on her…

"That's bullshit," said Tai Wei, breathless. "That's…! Why would she do something like this? And how the blazes would she expect us to go our separate ways? Is she going to climb on her dragon and leave, or something? Why would she do this? We're her men, we've betrayed the Fire Lord because we believe in her…!"

"She has only just left behind the man she loves more than anything in this world," Rui Shi said, through gritted teeth: Tai Wei's tirade slowed to a halt as Rui Shi's tense words hit him squarely in the gut. "If she had the strength to separate from someone she intended to spend her life with… is it truly that shocking, Tai Wei? Is it that hard to fathom?"

"I… I figured she was trying to protect him from whatever came next," Tai Wei said, shaking his head. "That we'd…"

"Charge into battle, ten men and a royal, against the Fire Lord's entire army?" Rui Shi asked, raising his eyebrows. "He has probably already strengthened his grip around everyone who might offer the Princess any support. If she attempted to start an outright civil war, Tai Wei, we wouldn't last two weeks before the Fire Lord kills us all, captures her, and subjects her to whatever indignities he dares for betraying and opposing him as she has."

"He will do that anyway if she turns herself in!" Fei Li exclaimed, throwing his hands up in disbelieving indignation. "Our job is to protect her! Our job is to make sure she'll be safe at all costs! We… we finally did our jobs the right way this time. We fought as hard as we could. We gave her the support she needed… and now you're telling us we can't do that job ever again? That she wants us to abandon her to her fate? That's so wrong, Rui Shi! You can't agree with this…!"

"I didn't say I agreed with it. Fundamentally… I couldn't be more disheartened, more furious, about everything that's happened by the Fire Lord's doing," Rui Shi hissed, furrowing his brow. "But I can see why she's doing this. I can understand it. I… I have faced her most unreasonable orders and demands, and I have protested and fought against them while ultimately forced to follow through with them, every time. Too often, I failed to see the sense in those orders, whether because of how outlandish they were or because I lacked a full understanding of what she intended to achieve. In the end, however… she has never led us astray. She has given her best to protect us in her own way… and that's what enabled us to protect her now, in turn. That's the sole reason why we weren't executed immediately for not giving away their relationship to the Fire Lord.

"We won't ever protect her again if we refuse to let her go. We will be caught… we will be killed. Every sacrifice we've made to protect them will go to waste. It's difficult to face it, to accept it… but it's fundamentally no different from what Sokka had to accept. He didn't protest anymore. He could tell just how hard this was for her… and he could see the sense in her choices just as well. He will live, however… and that means there's hope that one day he'll be able to reach out for the Princess again and fight for her, just as he's done it for all these years. Just so… the only way we'll ever be able to serve the Princess again, to fight for her, is if we accept our fate as Sokka accepted his own. If we… if we allow the Princess to make the hard decisions that she must, even if we despise that she ever had to make such choices at all. If we stay with her… we'll condemn her, ourselves, even Sokka, to the Fire Lord's wrath."

"And if we don't, we condemn her alone?" Haoren asked, his voice strained with unusual emotion. "I… I'd sooner go down with her. I understand if you'd rather not, Rui Shi, you have a lot to live for, some of us just don't, but…"

"You'd subject the Princess to witnessing your execution?" Rui Shi asked, bluntly: Haoren froze in place. "You'd subject her to further pain, guilt and grief, rather than give her hope that we'd survive, and the relief of not burdening her conscience with our deaths? Even if we escaped to the Earth Kingdom with her, we would likely be killed by soldiers who would surely track us down to find her. Anyone who gives her any shelter would be deemed a traitor by the Fire Lord for working against him. I don't want to turn her in to her wretched father, if I could avoid doing so, I wouldn't hesitate…! But none of the alternatives I can think of would be any better for her. Ultimately…"

"Ultimately, she's trapped?" Fei Li asked, with a trembling voice. "D-doesn't matter what happens next… there's no hope for her to overcome this without sacrificing herself?"

"If you can find a feasible, working plan, with the resources we have within reach, please volunteer it," Rui Shi said, breathing out as he rose to his feet. "I will be most grateful for it, I assure you of that. But if you can't…"

"Then… this is all there is for us to do? Really?" Fei Li said, his hands trembling. "Is this really all her guards can do for her? In the end… are we really this damn useless?"

"Like I said… maybe an opportunity will arise in the future," Rui Shi said, shutting his eyes tightly. "Maybe… maybe we'll find a way to reach her again, to save her from what she's been condemned to endure. But there's no future for us to defend if we don't accept what needs to be done. It's difficult, it's painful, and it feels wrong on all accounts… so did leaving Sokka down south when he wanted nothing but to fight for the Princess and continue defending her as best as he could. If he was strong enough to face it… we'd do a disservice to him, and the Princess as well, by acting like fools who… who cannot follow orders, after all these years."

His words tasted like bile, and Rui Shi feared he'd regret them one day. For now, however, he clung to his resolve, to what few certainties still existed in this unsteady situation: just like Sokka, they'd be more use to Azula alive than dead even if they were thousands of miles away from her. Perhaps they could find other dissenters of Ozai's regime and, with a stronger force backing them, return to Azula's side while helping her regain everything she had already lost and everything else she was slated to lose still upon returning to the Capital…

The lack of resistance from the others could have felt like a triumph for Rui Shi, but it didn't: he raised his eyes just in time for Haoren and Fei Li to gasp and jump to their feet, for Tai Wei to forget the helm for a moment, all their eyes distracted by something past the threshold that led into the bridge.

Sitting at a corner as he had been, Rui Shi had to step closer to gaze through that threshold properly… once he did, he discovered, to his surprise, relief and chagrin simultaneously, that there was an explanation for their sudden loss for words.

How she had climbed off a bed she had refused to leave for around twenty-four hours, Rui Shi had no idea. How she had reclaimed control over her own body, and potentially focused anew on the plan she had to put into action at all costs, he didn't know either. Yet there she stood… the Princess, unkempt and disheveled, her hair in careless disarray, her face paler than he recalled seeing it, her stance shrunken and unstable.

"Princess," he gasped, swallowing hard as he stepped back, allowing her passage inside the bridge if she sought it.

She couldn't seem to recall how to speak any words. She only stood there, matted hair falling over her features in such careless disarray she scarcely resembled herself. She trembled as she took another step forward: it was still too cold for her to choose to walk barefooted, yet that was exactly what she did right now, startling and horrifying her many guards upon glimpsing her vulnerable feet.

"Princess…" Fei Li said, swallowing hard. "H-how are you feeling? Is there anything we can…?"

He seemed to stumble with his own thoughts while trying to convey that final word. Even so, Azula seemed to know exactly how she intended to answer his question, even if she had to clear her throat halfheartedly before doing as much.

"The emergency skiff," she managed to vocalize, and even her voice seemed too broken, too frayed, to use properly. Rui Shi clenched his fists at her answer… at her most uncharacteristically chaotic aspect, too. "Take it. All of you. The hot-air balloon, too. Take them… like Rui Shi's telling you. That's… what you can do for me."

She had overheard their conversation, then, and who knew how much of it. Fei Li gritted his teeth and lowered his head, tears springing from his eyes as an overpowering denial took hold of him. Tai Wei snarled as well, as Haoren shook his head, stepping forward.

"I understand what Rui Shi's trying to say. I do, but…" Haoren started, gazing at Azula with heartfelt compassion. "How can we call ourselves your guards if we leave you to face the worst of dangers by yourself?"

"How, huh…?" Azula whispered, blinking slowly. "I guess… you wouldn't. Not anymore."

Her earnest answer seemed to break the hearts of the men that stood watching her. There was no sign of the usual mirth or malice she'd frequently coat her words in: she didn't want to push them away any more than they'd wanted to leave. She couldn't seem to look them in the eye, either.

"It's either… die as my guards or survive as renegades of my father's rule," Azula whispered. "He won't have it easy… hunting you down. Not if you're careful. There are places, people, who would welcome anyone who stands against the Fire Lord… I can't say I know where, but they exist. You'd just… have to find them, even if it'll take time. Whether you wish to go against the Fire Nation or not… you should be safe from my father with people who only intend to oppose him."

"We don't care so much about what we'll do, or where we'll go, as we care about you, Princess," said Tai Wei, bitterly. "You tell us to either die as guards or live as renegades… and you expect us to choose the second possibility?"

"You wouldn't be my guards for another day after we were captured, anyway," Azula said, softly. "My father would never allow you to survive for any longer than that. Does that sound like the reward I should offer to the men who have… who have served me, suffered for me, turned their backs on everything for me? Do you really think that's fair to any of you, Tai Wei?"

Finally, she dared raise her eyes, and the guards seemed to shrink under her miserable gaze. She trembled still, clasping the wall with a hand as she struggled to stabilize herself again.

"You took action… you saved me, all of you," Azula said, earnestly, bleeding her heart out with every word. "I'd have… I'd have lost everything by now if it weren't for you and your loyalty towards me. I didn't order you to do any of what you did… you did it on your own. So… my final order to all of you, as your Princess, is to protect your own lives. To fight for your survival just as hard as you fought for mine. My father… he will try to break me, I know he will. He will only have it easier if he can find you… if he can punish me through torturing or executing any of you. I can't swear I won't be broken by any other means… but I know that, if you're out of his reach, that's less leverage he can use against me. More than that… your lives are valuable to me. They always have been. Whatever loyalty may mean to any of you… I cannot say I'd feel worthy of your long years of service if I caused any of you to die for me, no matter if you're ready to sacrifice your lives. You're all… the best guards anyone could have asked for. None of you could ever deserve dying in vain… and that's what would happen if you stay on this ship now. So please… I beg you. If you're willing to die for me… please, be just as willing to live for me, if you would do one last thing for me at all."

Her broken voice finally softened into silence. Tension lingered in the bridge, however, as every horrified guard gazed at her in chagrin… unable to articulate thoughts anymore as the Princess's petition dawned upon them.

Rui Shi breathed deeply as he stepped towards her. The Princess averted her gaze from his: it had taken every shred of her willpower to do this. This was but the beginning of her grief: she had forced herself out of bed, down the stairs and to the bridge to convey her new orders after having eaten nothing for the past day, likely nursing a dreadful headache caused by the countless tears she had shed. She stood where she did, trembling, intending to give her orders as many times as it might be needed until they were heeded… even if she appeared weaker, and far more lost, than she ever had been before.

"For all these years…" Rui Shi spoke, doing his best to keep his voice firm and steady. "For as long as I've served you, I have struggled to understand many of your commands. I have been at a loss, caught between duty and my instincts as your protector, uncertain of which to follow. I've pondered what does loyalty mean, at the end of the day: is it a matter of protecting you at all costs… or of understanding what you needed of us, and following your every order without question?"

Azula shrank in place: her hair hung carelessly at either side of her face. Inevitably, Rui Shi reasoned that Sokka was the one who had fixed it for her over the past weeks… that she had lost all motivation and drive to do so herself since he was gone. He gritted his teeth, fists tightened as he lowered his head in a meaningful bow.

"I've chosen to follow your orders… to trust your judgment, even in circumstances in which I dreaded that would be the wrong choice," Rui Shi continued. "Whenever abiding by your commands made sense, I always grew to understand the reasoning behind those orders later on. This time… it is no different. As your guards, our duty is to protect you: as your men, our duty is to follow your orders. Perhaps… the best way to protect you is by following your orders?"

Azula swallowed hard: her grip on the doorframe grew more unsteady yet, and Rui Shi gritted his teeth as he raised a hand to her disorderly hair.

"I'd… I'd rather stay with you. I'd rather help you, see to it that you can move forward," he said, softly, cupping her face delicately. Azula's trembling only worsened despite he served as a source of stability… what he always had represented for her, in his own way. "Leaving you like this… it's wrong on just about any possible level. So… can we, perhaps, make a deal of a sort, Princess? You'll… you'll eat. You'll drink water, properly. You'll dress for the harsh weather we have to endure down here. You'll take care of yourself… so that you'll be as strong as possible to stand up to whatever dangers you may face when we're gone. Once you have… we'll take our leave, as you want us to."

"Rui Shi…" Azula managed to utter his name, almost pleadingly… almost begging him not to force her to do this.

"We can't throw away our lives, we don't deserve to die in vain, is what you said…" Rui Shi whispered. "Neither did he, and that's why we've come as far as we have."

She shuddered now, causing Rui Shi to clasp her uninjured shoulder with his free hand: he had known it might happen when he spoke the words, but his last sentence had reduced the Princess to tears, yet again.

"Neither do you, Princess. On any capacity," Rui Shi said, raising her head towards his own delicately. Azula shuddered still, unwilling to open eyes she had shut tightly to retain the tears, even if they escaped her eyelids just as well. "I… will trust your judgment. I will do as you ask. I will wait for the day I can act… for the day we can come for you. All I ask in return, as payment… is the certainty that you'll make your best efforts to survive and endure until we can do so. Please."

She hadn't expected an answer of the sort, an answer she wanted to reject immediately, instinctively: how was she to know if he'd ever have a chance to save her, to help her, in the future? Any attempts to reach her might just result in violence, unbridled and chaotic… and she might lose her men to that, for good this time. Being told to stay alive, to endure… it was painful, too. It was what she needed to do, she knew as much… but she would likely fall into an abyss of misery as soon as her father found her again. She didn't know if she had the strength inside her heart to gather herself and face whatever dreadful tomorrow awaited her with proper dignity.

But if this was what it would take… if this was the only way she'd persuade her men, so be it.

A small nod, almost imperceptible, then a stronger one, after she sensed no reaction from her men. Her affirmative response, however, found Rui Shi sighing in relief… and he reeled her into his arms gently: her trembling was paired with sobs now, sobs filled with regret and overpowering sorrow.

Where the guards might have continued to fight back, now they relented, their hearts breaking at the sight of their weakened, helpless Princess, once a beacon of unyielding, terrifying and admirable strength. Where they had disagreed with Rui Shi before, now it seemed their lots had been cast: the heartbreak of their Princess proved far too persuasive to disregard, much as the case had been for a desperate Gladiator.

She had sacrificed too much… suffered for too long to suffer any further. Perhaps their duty did extend beyond following orders… but for now, the only way to ease the burdens of her mind, if not those of her heart, was by complying with her request. By agreeing to do as she had asked them to… perhaps for the very last time.

They would convey the orders to their fellow guards down in the engine room, eventually. It wouldn't be any easier to convince them than it was to convince themselves… for even Rui Shi had doubts: Azula had no shortage of doubts and fears of her own. But as the man she had come to rely on as a brother held her in his arms, the Princess's certainty that this was the right way forward only surged and strengthened. She had already torn her heart asunder for good when she had said goodbye to the man she loved… saying goodbye to valuable friends, who deserved better than death, better than the lives of renegades she was condemning them to, would sting as a heap of salt poured on her painfully open wound.

But as painful as it would be, it needed to be done… and at haste, as well. The sooner the guards were on their way to safety, the better: there was no telling when Ozai's forces would catch up with the Barge… and Azula intended to ensure her ship was fully empty, barring herself and Xin Long, by the time they did. That was why she had forced herself out of a bed she had never wanted to leave again… why she had forced herself to speak when all she wanted was to shrink in place and allow others to make choices for her, for she could scarcely find the willpower to make them herself anymore.

It needed to be done. It needed to be done. The words toiled and turned within her mind over and over as she buried her face in Rui Shi's embrace, longing to put a stop to the overpowering, ever-growing grief inside her. Yes, it needed to be done…

One day, she guessed, she might learn how to believe those words… more importantly, how to live with them. But for now, she only knew how to cry as her heart resented and punished her for her choices. As she spiraled fast and mercilessly into a dark future, an ever-sprawling, encroaching nightmare…

---

Mouthfuls of hot soup sank slowly through his system: the familiar jolts of his strained stomach, delighted over any sign of nourishment, offered Sokka very little satisfaction nonetheless. The taste of the meal sent him back to his childhood, to many similar soups that had seemed absolute feasts for his young, inexperienced self. This one was delicious, flavored with the local meats he hadn't enjoyed in over half a decade… yet even as his body warmed and his emotions calmed down his heart continued to ache, finding no lasting comfort in a nostalgic meal or in the arms that still embraced him, or the hands that held his own.

He had barely spoken so far: his father, it seemed, was just as uncertain over what to say as he was. Hakoda, however, had chosen to sit in silence with an arm around Sokka's shoulders as his son ate at an unusually slow rhythm. Katara sat at Sokka's other side, frequently reaching for Sokka's hand whenever he set down the soup bowl, then encouraging him to take another sip of the brew once she believed he'd waited long enough between each swig.

"I'm glad your old parka was always that big, though," Katara smiled, patting her brother's forearm gently, clad in the sky-blue outerwear he had favored in his younger years. "It's still a bit on the tight side, sadly… but I guess we can patch it up to suit your size later? Or maybe we can find you another one, Dad probably has a few parkas of his own he hasn't used too often, right?"

"Of course," Hakoda said, smiling a little.

"Then we can make other, bigger clothes for you later," Katara decided, smiling at Sokka. "Might take us a while, but bear with us until then…"

"I… had some clothes of my own," Sokka managed to mumble, despite barely wanting to speak at all. That he dared do so right now startled Katara most joyfully. "My… my stuff. Did anyone…?"

"Zuko did, yeah," Katara said, nodding. "He went with the others to pick up those bags, we've put them in our igloo for now… we can take you there after you're done eating, if you're up for it."

Sokka nodded again before reaching for his soup bowl. Katara's fragile smile dwindled as he drained more of the bowl's contents: his question regarding his bags meant he was fully aware of what he had brought with him, didn't it? He had been, then, conscious or partly conscious through whatever ordeals had brought him here. This knowledge only muddled matters even further… and her uncertainty regarding asking what had befallen him worsened for it. Not yet… she should wait until he decided to volunteer the information. Pressing him for answers when he was in such delicate shape might just worsen Sokka's mood and health.

Instead, she should focus on the here and now… on Sokka's presence, his return and everything good that would come of it. The best thing any of them could do was help him put aside thoughts of whatever suffering he'd been through in the past and encourage him to find peace in his home and tribe once more.

"I can do my best to heal you again if anything still hurts," Katara said. "Maybe another round would do you good, I don't know if I got to everything the first time around…"

"Heal me?" Sokka repeated: even now, setting down his bowl slowly, with warm broth pouring down his throat, he sounded choked up whenever he spoke. Katara did her best to ignore that. "You've said that before, but… what do you mean, exactly?"

"Oh, uh… well, I kind of discovered I could heal with waterbending a few years ago," Katara admitted, with an awkward smile: Sokka's eyes widened, one of his eyebrows rose in perplexity. "I'm obviously no expert, but I've done my best to heal anyone who's wounded, or ill, through it. Basically, if I focus on the water and on mending a wound, the water begins to glow. With that, I get to mend tissues slowly, though I don't really know how the mechanics of it work in full detail, but…"

"Chi," Sokka said, simply. Katara stopped talking abruptly as Sokka's eyes shifted towards the fireplace. "Whatever you're doing… it probably smooths the flow of chi and allows you to treat injuries or illness by it. Once the chi flows properly… you'll have healed your patient, I guess."

"U-uh… well, that makes sense," Katara smiled, shrugging. "I probably have been doing that unconsciously so far, then."

Sokka nodded before returning to his soup. Hakoda smiled affectionately at him, rubbing his shoulder gently: whatever the explanation for his son's knowledge about chi might be, he couldn't help but feel pride upon learning new things from Sokka.

"If you know more about it than I do, I guess you could help me figure out how it works then," Katara suggested, biting her lip. "So yeah, let me know if anything's still hurting, alright? And if you need anything, really. I guess you'll be wanting a haircut, huh? Your hair's gotten pretty long since…"

"No."

The first word he spoke with strength, with certainty, froze Katara on the spot. Even Hakoda was surprised by the blunt and immediate delivery, by the sudden tension he felt on Sokka's shoulders as he lowered the bowl just a little, just to speak the word, before taking another sip of soup.

For a moment, Hakoda dreaded Katara might press the issue: she seldom let go of whatever bothered her, and she certainly was always bothered when her brother's behavior towards her was disrespectful in any sense. Yet there was something different and unique to the way he'd spoken just now. It suggested that, unbeknownst to her, the one incurring in as good as a crime by speaking those words had been Katara herself.

"Alright, then. If you don't want to, that's fine," Katara said, smiling awkwardly and glancing at her father. "Suits Dad nicely to have longer hair, nothing wrong with it."

Sokka didn't say anything else: as usual, anything he said, or didn't say, seemed to pose a thousand mysteries that, at this point, Katara grew genuinely unsure she wanted to unravel anymore. Hakoda, as well, appeared a little apprehensive, but he patted his son's shoulder gently all the same.

"Almost done there, are you?" Hakoda asked, as Sokka lowered the bowl, revealing only a small amount of liquid was left at the bottom. "If you want more…"

"Suki made enough for as many bowls as you might need," said Katara, smiling a little. "I mean, as big as you are, I have no idea when your last meal was, so… it's probably better if you eat some more."

Sokka sighed but nodded: he finished what was left of the bowl before reaching for the cooking pot that lingered above the igloo's fire. Katara snatched the bowl from his hands, though, and took to pouring him more soup herself. Sokka swallowed hard, lips tight as Katara returned to him, and he nodded again in her direction.

"Thanks," he whispered. Katara smiled more earnestly now.

"No need to thank me, it's Suki's soup," she laughed. "You can eat something else later too, if you want. I'm sure Gran-Gran's cooking up a storm if someone's told her you're awake yet…"

"Gran-Gran's…" Sokka said: again, his frozen heart seemed to thaw over the longing of seeing family members he hadn't had the chance to meet for a long time. "Is it okay if she cooks that much? Last I knew, things in the Tribe weren't, well…"

"We've handled ourselves much better this year," Hakoda explained. "Hunts have been more successful too. You know how it is, some years are bountiful, others are rife with shortages… fortunately, we've been blessed with plenty of resources this time around. Enough to throw you a feast tonight, if you're up for it…"

"A feast…?" Sokka repeated, glancing at his father with uncertainty: Hakoda smiled positively at him, and Sokka shrank in place. "I don't know if… if everyone ought to go out of their way like that just for me…"

"I'm sorry to say it's not up to you to decide something like that," Katara said, chuckling softly. "You've been missed, Sokka. Everyone's happy to welcome you home and cook all your favorite dishes…"

She only paused at those words after uttering them: were they still his favorite dishes? Memories of the ridiculous amounts and variety of food he had ordered for her, Aang, Kino and Zuko in Whaletail Island brought that into question. After everything that had happened, it seemed every minute exchange between them brought Katara to ponder if she still knew her brother as well as she thought she did… a most unsettling sensation, for she hadn't even doubted, not once, that he'd still be the same goofball she'd known and loved all her life when she had met him last year.

"If you guys are sure," Sokka said, biting his lip, brushing the bowl with his thumbs. "Leftovers won't go to waste anyhow, they never do in the tribe…"

"That's right," Katara smiled again, unsure if Sokka had noticed her sudden hesitancy. "So it's nothing to worry about, if anything, it's been too long since we last had any sort of celebrations in the tribe. That you're here with us, safe and sound, is the best cause we could ask for."

Sokka closed his eyes at those words. It should be the best cause, perhaps… if the circumstances were any different. If his return didn't signify danger for his people as he knew it did. He ought to speak up now, to tell them what had happened, to warn them that the Fire Lord was bound to retaliate… but finding the strength to do as much proved far more difficult than he anticipated. However troubled he was, saying or doing anything that might erase the smiles on his father and sister's faces didn't sit well with him at all.

Sokka opened his eyes and glanced at the igloo's entrance upon hearing noise drifting from that direction: Suki and her daughters had stepped out for a moment, with their faithful dog at her heels, to inform the tribe of the developments. She returned inside now, smiling reassuringly at him, with Zi nestled perfectly within a sling against her chest, and Mari hugging her leg while shooting wary glances at Sokka. Despite knowing he'd do best to speak with the young girl to make sure she understood he was no fearsome monster of any quality, Sokka didn't want to meet her gaze just yet. No, not those golden eyes, not for now…

"Zuko's not back yet," Suki said, with a sad smile. "Guess he and Kino will be pretty happy when they hear Sokka's awake, though."

"They'll be back safely soon enough," Hakoda nodded. "I doubt either of them wants to be away for very long, under the circumstances."

Sokka didn't speak at all until his eyes settled on the full soup bowl again. He glanced at Suki almost apologetically before raising the bowl.

"I, uh… had a second serving just now. If that's okay…" he said. Suki laughed softly and nodded.

"It's for you, Sokka, no need to worry," she said. "Have as much soup as you need, and stay as long as you like, too, never mind if Gruff is a grump at you… or if Mari is one, too."

"I'm not a grump…" Mari pouted, hugging her mother's leg tighter as Suki laughed and leaned down to hold her.

"If you're afraid because he's a stranger, well, maybe he doesn't have to be one much longer, okay?" Suki spoke to her daughter, urging her to look at the man who couldn't seem to gaze at her. "That's Sokka, and he's Kat-Kat's big brother, like I told you before. Sokka, this is my firstborn, Mari."

Sokka nodded in acknowledgment, glancing at the girl almost remorsefully: she shrank in place again, hiding behind Suki when his attention was on her.

"Oh, it's going to be a while before she stops being afraid, I guess…" Suki sighed, smiling apologetically at Sokka. "This small one is Zi, Mari's little sister."

Sokka gritted his teeth as the child's violet eyes fell upon him again: she was no longer crying, though there was some lingering redness on her cheeks, the evidence of her previous emotional outburst. She was the picture of innocence, altogether…

"Hi, Zi," Sokka whispered softly, with a half-hearted grin. "It's… it's nice to meet you."

"Ah, see? He's nice to Zi because she's not scared!" Suki smiled back at Mari, who pouted behind her. "If you speak to Sokka yourself I'm sure you won't be so scared anymore…"

"I'm not… not scared," Mari mumbled. Despite himself, Sokka smiled still as he ventured another glance at the child.

"Guess she takes after her father," he whispered.

"Oh, she does," Katara confirmed, amused. "Though Gruff is even worse than her in that respect. At least Mari gets along with me…"

"Why wouldn't she?" Sokka asked, and Katara chuckled.

"Because Zuko and I, uh, well… you know how that goes already," Katara chuckled, shaking her head. "Gruff, though, he dislikes everyone his master dislikes, out of principle or something. So, you know, if you want to pet him, try to get along better with Zuko from now on…?"

"Heh. I… I'll try, I guess?" Sokka said, biting his lip: even the thought of animal partners who defended their humans fiercely brought unwanted thoughts, painful memories, to his aching mind and heart.

Almost as an answer to his miserable thoughts, a sudden, deep and dangerous roar, someplace nearby, shook the igloo… too deep, however, to belong to a familiar dragon.

Sokka nearly leapt to his feet, eyes wide as he grew alert immediately: that no one else would find it alarming confused him, however. Even Mari, scared of Sokka as she was, appeared to find the beastly roar completely irrelevant and not something to be worried about in the least.

"What the hell was that?" Sokka asked, glancing at his sister and father warily, eyes shifting from one to the other immediately.

"U-uh… damn," Katara smiled awkwardly, as Hakoda squeezed Sokka's shoulder reassuringly.

"It's just Appa, no need to worry. He always groans like that when Aang checks on him…" Hakoda said, reassuringly: that his son would glance at him with utter perplexity upon hearing those names only confused Hakoda just as much. "The sky bison? Wait… didn't you tell him about Appa at all, Katara? I thought…"

"I, uh, didn't…" Katara admitted. What Sokka identified as uncharacteristic shyness, Hakoda instantly recognized as guilt, instead.

"And you didn't tell me you hadn't told him…?" Hakoda said, as Katara sighed.

"Well, Dad, you know things are complicated and we've been pretty set on keeping Aang's presence and identity quiet, right?" Katara said, with a shrug. "I just thought we'd be better off keeping this to ourselves, for safety's sake… it's not like I didn't trust you, Sokka, of course I do! But…"

"Trust me with what?" Sokka asked, blinking blankly. "You guys adopted a… a sky bison? How did you even come across a sky bison? Are they really that easy to find…?"

"I wouldn't say easy, no… took over a hundred years to find them, and it could have taken longer yet," Katara said, swallowing hard.

"A hundred years?" Sokka repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Well, for what it's worth, you don't look a day over twenty-five, Katara…"

"Don't be… I didn't mean I've been looking for a sky bison personally for that long!" Katara laughed, shaking her head: he'd made a joke. Oh, he'd made a joke. What a damn relief that was… "It's… oh, it's hard to explain, and you're probably going to be pretty annoyed that I didn't tell you everything back in Whaletail Island, Sokka, but… we really did need to protect the secret as best we could. Even just being overheard in that tavern or by anyone at the docks…"

"Uh… okay?" Sokka said, blinking blankly. "I'm not particularly upset about a secret I don't understand yet… though it sounds weirder and weirder by the second."

"Well, alright. I'll just… tell you the truth. Better to do it fast," Katara said, biting her lip as she gazed at Sokka, hope gleaming in her blue eyes. "You… you remember Kuzon, don't you? Our other friend…"

"The tall one," Sokka nodded. "The one who asked if… if I had anything to say to you guys. I remember him."

"Well… we told you he was a soldier who defected from the Fire Nation army," Katara said, biting her lip. "That wasn't entirely true… not for him, anyway. It is what happened with Kino, but we just… made it seem like the two of them had joined the tribe at the same time, when that wasn't the case."

"He's… not a soldier," Sokka concluded, nodding in Katara's direction. "I admit… something about that story didn't feel all that believable."

"Heh. You think?" Katara smiled awkwardly. "Pretty sure it's way more believable than reality will be…"

"How so?" Sokka blinked blankly, as Katara breathed deeply and bit her lip.

"Years ago… even before I knew you'd survived, back when we'd still fight with the soldiers in the settlement whenever they attacked, I went to train on my own one day and, while trying to improve my control over ice, I… I shattered a lot more ice than I intended to. A strange pillar of light shot up to the sky when I did… and once it faded away, I glanced inside that hole of ice to find a sky bison, and… and an Air Nomad."

Sokka's cautious confusion shifted to full-blown astonishment: Katara couldn't hold his gaze as she gathered her thoughts for the rest of the explanation.

"I got them out of there and brought them to the tribe," Katara said. "The Air Nomad… he was in really bad shape, kind of like you were. But when he woke up, and I told him how I'd found him, he seemed to be desperate to get back to the war, to save his people, and… and I realized he'd been frozen alive for well over a hundred years in the depths of an iceberg embedded in our polar casket."

"That's… that's crazy talk," Sokka said, shaking his head. "There's no way someone can… someone can survive being frozen after a hundred years. Did you heal him with your bending somehow, or…?"

"No, I didn't know how to do that yet," Katara said, grimacing. "But the thing is, Sokka, he… he's not just any random someone. Aang is… special. Very special. He… he's a bender, you see."

"That… yeah, I remember, he bent fire when I…"

When he had asked the strange man if he was some sort of Air Nomad, actually.

A sudden shiver rushed through his body as Sokka's eyes drifted to the flickering fireplace again: Kuzon's nervousness over Sokka's casual teasing had only made Sokka warier of the man, up until he raised a hand to bend fire at request. Confirming that his friend hadn't been a bender, and wasn't touching him at the time, had proven it was no indirect bending incident, which had convinced Sokka that he hadn't been lying at all… but Katara's explanations reiterated repeatedly that he was an Air Nomad. He had lied. His claims that he was from the Fire Nation had been poised to protect himself… his firebending display had achieved that, just as well.

But who on earth had heard of a firebending Air Nomad?

"K-Katara…?" Sokka said, glancing at her with uncertain, ever surging fear and dread. Katara grimaced, shrinking in place. "He's a firebender. I saw him bending fire, I know it wasn't indirect bending… he did that himself. So… either I saw things that just weren't there, or you're telling me he's both an airbender, and a firebender?"

"And… a waterbender, too," Katara whispered, quietly. "Surely an earthbender as well… though he hasn't learned that, yet."

She hadn't dismissed his realization. She had confirmed it, rather, by expanding on his question… by making him face a possibility he couldn't believe he was being told about right now. No way. No way. There was no way…

"The truth is, he was here, training in the Water Tribe, when Sozin's Comet first appeared," Katara said, bitterly. "He learned a lot of waterbending, he probably would have moved on to earthbending soon afterwards… but when he was on his way home to help his people in the war, he was caught in a storm. His powers, somehow, saw to it that him and Appa would be preserved in the ice… that they'd stay alive, regardless of being frozen. He was really miserable once he learned the truth, nearly tore down our igloo in this crazy bending frenzy where he lost control of himself… but then we had a chance to talk. He explained everything, and… and he confessed he was the Avatar."

Sokka was grateful he hadn't been holding the soup bowl upon hearing those words. He would have likely spilled it all over Suki's flooring, and he had already inconvenienced her enough to add to her workload in her home…

Oh, but it wasn't fair. He hadn't known… he hadn't made sense of the situation through what few clues they'd dropped in Whaletail Island. How could he? Katara was right… it was much easier to believe the man was just a Fire Nation soldier than to ever suspect he could be an Air Nomad… and more than that, the Avatar himself. The Avatar who had vanished for over a hundred years… it was him. The entity tasked with protecting balance and preserving the harmony in their world… the being with the most bending power across the physical and spiritual planes alike.

For all this time… that Avatar had been here, hiding with his family. It meant, yes, that he would likely protect them well… just as it meant he hadn't been fighting the Fire Nation as most people had expected the Avatar would, if he still lived on in their world at all. If only that hadn't been the case, maybe none of this would be happening. If this Aang had done his duty…

Oh, but who was he kidding: he knew the Avatar alone would not reform their world significantly. Just upon remembering the tall man with the headband, so good-natured even in his mistakes, Sokka's chest ached upon the mere thought of casting someone like him off to battle in the name of a world that wouldn't see him as anything but a hero whose life wasn't more important than their own, or a villain that needed to be defeated at haste. He had no right to judge the Avatar for not taking action… not if he didn't have a proper plan to set in motion to defeat the Fire Lord, either.

But curses, if he'd known he was here… if he had, maybe she would have stayed. Maybe she would have believed they stood a chance with the Avatar on their side. It was a single factor, one that might not have changed her mind, for all he knew… but it would have given her pause, for sure. She would have pondered the possibilities, at least… she might have even allowed him to craft a plan or two, strategies through which they could defend the Tribe and then strike back at the Fire Lord…

If only he'd known. If only Katara had told him, all along.

"Sokka, I… I'm sorry," she said, beside him, touching his arm hesitantly: she nearly recoiled when she felt him trembling, but he didn't reject her yet. If he shoved her off and yelled at her next, she'd probably break under the pressure of this situation as well, tell him exactly why she hadn't wanted him to know, the true reason… "I know we should've told you, but…"

"But… you had to protect the secret," he finished for her: bitterness coated his words, and Katara flinched.

"Sokka…"

"He… he's the Avatar," Sokka said, gritting his teeth before shaking his head. "The… the fucking Fire Lord has no idea he's alive. If I'd found out… maybe someone else would have too, eventually. If he knew… he'd stop at nothing to kill him, even if it takes burning the whole world to ashes. You… you made the right choice."

"Sokka…" Katara said, as he breathed deeply, trembling still as he struggled to calm down.

"I'm surprised… yeah, I… I wish I'd known," he admitted, nodding. "But I… can't pretend I could've kept it quiet forever. He was… he was the second waterbender all along, then. I asked you about that, but… then we changed the subject, and you didn't tell me anything about him in the end. It was… it was the Avatar. You found the Avatar, Katara…"

"I'm sorry still, Sokka…" Katara said, gritting her teeth before pressing her forehead to his shoulder, right next to her father's hand: Hakoda, despite wanting to intervene, hadn't dared so far. "I do trust you, of course I do, but…"

"It's fine, I said…" Sokka whispered, closing his eyes. "I get it. I'm not… not mad at you. Really."

"You… you mean that?" Katara asked, glancing at him warily. "You… you do understand?"

Sokka sighed and shrugged a little: the desolation in his eyes shot through her heart, but she couldn't say a word against that resigned, disappointed expression on her brother's face.

"How could I not?" he whispered.

He, as well, had kept a secret for years. He had mistakenly, stupidly, become careless and failed to protect it properly when it mattered most. How could he blame anyone else for not making the foolish mistakes he had? How could he expect to inflict Ozai's wrath upon anyone else when he had damn near died to it, himself…? When his chest ached just to think that the love of his life was sailing miles away, intending to take all that wrath for herself and to shield the rest of the world from its destructive reach?

It wasn't Katara's fault. It wasn't Aang's fault, either. That his damn heart would resent them selfishly for staying hidden as they had was further folly, a display of pointless immaturity he intended to shake off as soon as possible, immediately, he hoped… even if it hurt so badly right now, it would have to stop hurting eventually. It wasn't their fault: it was Ozai's fault. Nobody should need the Avatar to solve all their problems… nobody should be forced to bear with the world's many struggles on their own, the way Aang would if he attempted to follow the example of his predecessors. No damn Fire Lord deserved to lay waste upon the world, not over pukeworthy ideologies, and certainly not over a volatile, unjustified outrage upon discovering his daughter had loved someone who loved her in return…

He breathed a few times, slowly, stilling himself before raising his hand to clasp Katara's: she shivered, and he pressed his head gently against hers.

"He… taught you a lot of waterbending, then?" he asked, his voice strained yet again. "The healing… was it him too?"

"N-no, he… he had no idea how to do it," Katara said. Sokka, despite himself, smiled a little.

"So that's… something you learned all on your own? That's… that's really cool, Katara."

"You think so?" Katara asked, her voice small as she seemed to be in the verge of tears… and Sokka snorted a soft laugh before shaking his head.

"Just… I wish you'd learned you could do it sometime before I got a fishhook stuck in my thumb, is all," he said, smiling sadly at her as he raised his hand in her direction, showing her the scar across his thumb.

"Sokka…" Katara huffed before laughing again, hugging him tighter now. Sokka patted her shoulder gently, closing his eyes as he wished he could shake off that damn unsettling feeling that, if he'd been privy to this information all along, so much, or at least, some things, could have turned out rather differently.

It was too late now, though. Too late to do anything but accept their reality… too late to be frustrated and displeased that he couldn't keep her with him for a little longer, or for good. He'd have to carry that sorrow deep inside him for as long as he lived, no matter how many things could have turned out differently indeed…

"You'll like Aang," Hakoda said, smiling gently. "I mean, you've already met him, under another name, as I understand, but still… he's a good man."

"I bet," Sokka said, nodding weakly. "If you think so… he's got to be one."

Hakoda grinned, wrapping his son's shoulders gently with an arm… and his daughter too, reaching out to embrace her fully. To think he had feared these two would fight, that Sokka might lose his mind to outrage over not being deemed worth of such a serious secret… but he had been understanding, instead. He had offered his sister a small laugh… a little relief when she had dreaded she'd disappointed him. He had changed in countless ways, Hakoda realized… he had grown into a splendid man, without a doubt, even if none of them could truly imagine the circumstances that had brought him here.

Sokka hoped more soup would help appease his aching heart: perhaps his stomach ached too, but his emotional pain still seemed to supersede everything else, especially all of which he'd only just discovered. He drained his bowl for the second time, just as slowly as before, acutely aware of all the attention upon him: Suki hadn't intervened at all in the conversation once it had versed around the Avatar, a fact that Sokka couldn't help but find slightly curious. She seemed preoccupied with the children at the time, however, so he glanced at his father for an answer.

"Guess… keeping the secret's also why you guys decided to keep Zuko around?" he asked. "Did he find out somehow? I… have trouble imagining Katara accepting him here, no matter how helpless he and Suki might have been…"

"Suki wasn't that helpless, for a woman with morning sickness," Katara chuckled. "But… yeah. Suki was in no condition to travel, but if they'd never found out about Aang, we would have probably tried to send them off to Kyoshi Island, it's where they wanted to go at first."

"Still, I'd like to think they've been happy here, to a fault," Hakoda smiled at Suki, who grinned back upon being addressed. "Them, Aang and Kino… they've certainly been quite the unexpected additions to the tribe over the past years but they've adapted fairly well to living here. Aang didn't need to adapt much, though, he'd already been living here for about six or seven years before being frozen…"

"Must have been a difficult change anyway…" Sokka whispered, biting his lip. "I… I've visited an Air Temple. Their way of life must have been nothing like anything we can imagine…"

"Yeah… Aang took me to the Southern Air Temple, once," Katara said, with a weak smile. "Their buildings are beautiful."

"Yeah," Sokka nodded, and Katara grinned.

"I think he's made himself a nice home here, nonetheless. He lives with Kino in an igloo right across this one: you can probably drop by to visit them whenever you want."

"Huh. They built it themselves?" Sokka asked, and Katara chuckled.

"More like Aang built it with his bending, to prove a point to Zuko or something," she said, with a shrug. "It took him about a month or two to make this one a fully functional living space, whereas Aang finished a full dome in less than an hour…"

"Must be one heck of a bender, then," Sokka said.

"Definitely," Katara nodded. "You'll see for yourself soon. You should finish your soup first, we can take you to Appa's little hideout after, if you want…"

"I think I should go see Gran-Gran first," Sokka said. Katara smiled back and nodded.

"Whatever you want, big brother," she said, wrapping an arm around his waist as she finally relaxed.

No, the mysteries weren't solved, not even a little bit… but his agreeable reaction to the truth of Aang's identity had been such a profound relief that Katara could only believe that everything would turn out just fine. He was Sokka, no matter how strange his behavior might be: her brother, the same goofball who always taunted her about how annoying her bending skills were. He had grown in more ways than she could imagine… but it was still Sokka.

He didn't take too long to finish his last bowl of soup: he scarcely had registered his hunger, but the meal succeeded at replenishing the energy he had lacked earlier. His father and Katara sat by him the whole time, whether encouraging him with talk of what awaited him outside – it seemed the whole village had conveyed their wishes that Sokka would recover soon, as well as their hopes to see him once he was healthy enough to leave the igloo. Knowing he'd be welcomed and celebrated as some returning war hero didn't sit particularly well with him, but he lacked the strength to tell the truth yet. He wasn't sure if it would be a cruelty to explain everything, robbing the tribe from the joyful occasion of his awaited return… but he also knew he wouldn't be able to live as the hero he didn't believe himself to be for longer than a day, if he endured even that.

"Alright… ready to go?" Katara asked softly, smiling as Sokka set down the empty bowl at last.

Sokka breathed deeply, closing his eyes: words, spoken in a voice he had engraved in his memory forevermore, returned to his mind, words she had said on a bright, beautiful day when they had been free to love each other without consequences: "They'll welcome you gladly when you return, you know? Even if they can't throw you a huge feast, I'm sure they'll try to celebrate, somehow. You're everyone's hero back there, and you'll be even more of a hero once our siblings and their friends tell your tribe about the amazing things you've done, and the brilliant warrior you've become…"

How he wished she could be here, to be welcomed home along with him. How he wished she could see it… he could imagine her tender, proud and gentle smile as she encouraged him to go forward, to accept the love he had constantly rejected, ever convinced he hadn't done enough to earn it. She had sacrificed so much to bring him home… to give him a chance to live out his days with his people, safe and far away from the darkness and dangers in the Fire Nation. He wanted to face those dangers and darkness with her, even now… but he couldn't turn his back on the final gift she had given him, either. No matter how heavy his heart might be, no matter how difficult it was to gather his resolve, facing his tribe would be the only way to stay true to her wishes, to honor her efforts to fight for him, to defend his right to live in peace, even at such steep cost to herself.

"I'm ready," he said: even if his tone didn't convey much conviction, Katara still believed him. She rose to her feet, offering her hand to Sokka as Hakoda encouraged him to take it.

"Let's go, then," Hakoda smiled, nudging Sokka gently with his hand until his son finally complied.

"Ah, you'll be off, then?" Suki said, though she was startled when Gruff, beside her, started grunting in Sokka's direction, now that he was standing up. "Gruff! None of that nonsense, he's already leaving! Oh, this dog…"

"Just hold him down until we're out of here," Katara smiled at Suki and her daughters. "Thanks for all your help, Mari, dear."

"Kat-Kat's leaving too?" Mari asked, her large, hopeful eyes nearly begging her to stay instead. Katara laughed and nodded.

"Just for a bit, dear. I'll see you again very soon," she said, winking at Mari before turning to Sokka again. "Does anything hurt?"

Unwilling to give his sister a genuine answer – his main ailment wasn't something her waterbending healing could fix – Sokka merely shrugged.

"Nothing that won't get fixed unless I move around," he said, taking in a sharp breath.

He started on his way to the door, and Gruff's wild, fearful barking resulted in Suki pulling him back so he wouldn't pounce on the warrior somehow. Sokka only ignored him, offering Suki a small wave once he reached the open igloo door.

"Thanks for everything," he said, softly. Suki grinned and nodded.

"Anytime. I know Gruff and Mari aren't being all that hospitable, but you're welcome to visit anytime you like," she said. Sokka smiled back weakly and nodded.

"That's good to know," he whispered. He hadn't fully processed until then that, ultimately, Suki was family too by now, through her marriage to Zuko… not that she would know that yet, but it was the truth, nonetheless.

A light breeze brushed against him, drifting through his hair, caressing his face. He glanced out at the pale winter of the Southern Water Tribe, his heart racing as he recognized the scenery, despite being keenly aware of how much had changed in the small village ever since he had seen it last…

He took that first step into the snow, letting the cold permeate him again, much as it had engulfed and nearly killed him a day ago. This time he wouldn't be quite so ready to give up his life as he succumbed to his own misery… oh, she would be so mad if she knew of what he'd nearly done. He couldn't quite believe he was grateful to Zuko for saving him, most of all when the pain in his chest was nowhere close to receding… but it would be one less weight on her shoulders, at least. Had she returned to look for him, only to discover he had frozen himself to death longing for her… oh, she would never forgive him, and she might just lose herself to grief the same way he had. He couldn't be so careless anymore: he'd do his best to live a life that would make her proud, somehow…

Lanterns lit up the whole Tribe, as they ever did during the dark period. A layer of clouds swirling above them hid away the stars, so all the light that shone in the depths of this everlasting night was human made, limited and fleeting as it might be. Thus, for a moment, Sokka, Katara and Hakoda stood right outside Zuko and Suki's igloo without attracting any attention, for no one had noticed them yet.

"That's Kino and Aang's igloo, see?" Katara nudged Sokka, pointing at the igloo right across Zuko and Suki's own. "The ones in this area of the town are the newest, in general…"

Sokka nodded, letting his eyes drift across the village gradually: he couldn't see much, but he could tell, regardless, that the tribe had grown in size since he had last been here. There were many igloos and tents he had no memory of, the walls seemed to be further away than he remembered – having two waterbenders meant it would be fairly easy to expand the Tribe's territory by pushing out the walls when the village needed to grow any larger. Even though it seemed a bigger town than the one he'd carried in his memories, it still felt small… and it was just as familiar as it was foreign because of all those changes.

"And all the way over there… is Appa's little hut," Katara said, smiling awkwardly as she pointed out one of the largest structures in the village: Sokka raised his eyebrows as he took it in.

"No wonder his roars are so loud if he needs a house that size," he said.

Katara laughed, and she would have answered him if the village hadn't been shaken suddenly by their presence: people down the street gasped and stopped to stare at them, others rushed off, likely to tell someone else that Sokka was awake. But the first to run towards them, however, were faces Sokka only remembered in far more youthful and childish countenances, rather than in the two strong men that rushed in his direction.

"Sokka! Sokka, you're up!" Kattan gasped, a wild grin crossing his face as he raced down the snowy streets.

"You're awake! Sokka…!" Haka exclaimed at the same time, their voices overlapping and bringing an unexpectedly genuine smile to Sokka's face.

The two men stopped before their great leader: even now, Sokka towered over them, though not by as much height as he remembered. Each of them clasped one of Sokka's arms, gazing at him in tearful wonderment as they willfully restrained themselves from leaping to embrace their hero and leader.

"Haka and Kattan…" Sokka smiled, shaking his head. "I can barely tell it's the two of you. Guess you just went on ahead and grew up while I wasn't watching, eh?"

"What?! Look at yourself, Sokka!" Haka gasped, smiling in amazement.

"We've all grown lots, you included!" Kattan laughed, leaning closer until he froze and glanced at Katara warily. "C-can we… is it okay if we hug him…?"

"Be careful not to knock him to the ground and I'll allow it," Katara said, with a weak grin.

The two young men beamed brightly and lunged to squeeze Sokka tightly, pressing their faces to his shoulders as Sokka gasped, laughing softly while patting their backs gently.

"You two…" he chuckled, shaking his head: for years he had struggled to get either of them interested in a warrior's life. By their teenage years, their initial rejection of his teachings had turned to admiration… but he couldn't help but remember their starting point anyway, reflecting on how far their village's warriors had come, despite everything.

"Welcome home, Sokka," Kattan smiled into his parka.

"We're going to throw you the biggest feast you ever saw," Haka decided, prompting Sokka to smile as he patted their shoulders. "I mean it!"

"Well, I'll be damn lucky for that," he said. He'd witnessed massive, unimaginable feasts in his years abroad… yet most of them hadn't been held for his sake. Perhaps it wouldn't be, materially, the greatest feast… but the enthusiasm and genuine affection of his tribal friends and family would likely make it beautiful and grand, all the same.

"Now, then… Sokka should get going to our igloo as soon as possible, okay?" Katara said, smiling sadly at the other two. "You're welcome to come along as well, though…"

"Sure thing!" Haka grinned: Katara couldn't remember the last time the frequently moody young man had been quite so cheerful.

The two men talked excitedly as Katara and Hakoda took to guiding Sokka through the Tribe: they retold the story of how they'd helped Zuko collect Sokka and take him to his igloo, how confused they all were, and how fortunate too that Zuko had found him when he had. Sokka's guilt swirled further upon hearing about how he'd been saved, but every new street they crossed meant more faces would smile and wave at him, more greetings, even applause, some cheering, until most the Tribe seemed to have gathered to celebrate his return indeed: it was impossible to hear or discern any words by then, but Sokka did his best to smile graciously, moved by their enthusiasm, though his heartache wouldn't recede at all for it.

Finally, they reached the center of the town. Followed by his father and sister, Sokka stepped up to the igloo he had called home for the longest period of his life, shaken up by the feelings surging inside him. Yes, some of it had changed – no doubt, whatever Aang had shattered in the emotional outburst Katara mentioned had been patched up since then – but it was, ultimately, his childhood home, the place where he'd grown up. His chest tightened, finding strange, powerful emotions on the rise upon returning to his father's beautiful, masterfully crafted igloo.

"Come on, now, what are you waiting for?" Katara laughed, making for the door and pushing it open before glancing inside the igloo. "Gran-Gran?! Gran-Gran, he's here!"

Sokka breathed deeply, exchanging an uncertain glance with his father, who only offered him that unconditional, genuine smile again. Sokka grinned back weakly before ducking inside the igloo at last, his heart racing.

The blissful laughter of his grandmother reached him as soon as he crossed that threshold. His heart pumped blood faster yet as his longing to see her, to hold her, took over his senses. He sped down the stairs quickly, and once he reached the open, common space of the igloo, his eyes fell upon the old lady who stood by the fire, where she had been preparing a concoction of some sort: the house smelled of freshly cooked meals, but also of his father, of his sister, of his grandmother. All those scents he had given up on taking in again while he languished, waiting for death, in the Amateur Arena, hit him back at full force. This was his home… this had been his home. Despite his certainty on the contrary during his bitter teenage and young adult years, he had belonged here. He had a place here.

"Sokka… oh, Sokka, come here and let me have a look at you," Kanna's voice reached him: Sokka's chest tightened as he offered a tearful grin to his grandmother.

With powerful strides, he stepped closer to her, leaning down so she could take his face in her hands, cupping his cheeks. Tears scurried down their eyes as Sokka laughed softly, gazing into the eyes of the grandmother who had raised him and Katara by herself for a time, the woman who had embodied a beacon of strength and goodness in his life ever since he was born.

"Gran-Gran," he sobbed softly, taking her wrinkled, soft hands in his own. "Hell, just look at you…"

"Oh, now, I'm a sack of saggy old bones…"

"You're beautiful," Sokka laughed, prompting Kanna to laugh as well. "You're… you look just like you did the last time I saw you. Haven't aged at all since then, I swear…"

"Oh, please, only because I'm already so old that I can't age any further…!" Kanna declared, amused: Sokka snorted and laughed, wrapping her in an impulsive embrace as he held her closely.

Kanna returned the hug while laughing and crying at the same time: Hakoda and Katara watched them with gentle smiles, an arm around each other as their small, loving family was fully reunited once again. It had been but a hopeless dream for a long time… and yet it had happened at last, and it was as blissful as both of them had known it would be.

Rumor of noise outside the igloo was most expected, for a lot of the Tribe would still want to catch another glimpse of Sokka: someone, however, managed to make it through the cluster of people, climbing down the staircase slowly, quietly, in hopes of not being noticed. His onyx eyes took in the people within the igloo, but more than anything, they sought Katara in particular.

She gasped upon noticing him, and the blissful smile on her face told Aang everything was okay. He smiled back and relaxed a little, nodding in her direction as he thought to back off, after having confirmed all was fine – nervous and anxious, he had taken to feeding Appa and talking to him, conveying his fears to his large friend, as he always felt better after sharing his woes with him. But the worst of such fears, what they'd do if Sokka's condition worsened, clearly had been out of place: Mari hadn't explained anything in the least, merely panicking badly and prompting Katara to rush off at haste, knowing something had happened with Sokka. There had been nothing to do but speculate until they finally could confirm whether Sokka was okay or not.

His leaving smile, however, was answered by a shake of Katara's head: she reached out with a hand and clasped Aang's wrist. He shook his head quickly, just as well: this wasn't a scene he should have intruded upon, but his worry for her and her family had been too powerful to ignore. Still, Katara pulled him closer, and Aang near stumbled on the wooden floor, making far more noise than he had intended to.

Even so, Sokka and Kanna didn't stop embracing. Whatever the noise had been, it seemed not to matter at all, not while they held each other this way. Hakoda, however, glanced at his daughter and her close friend with raised eyebrows, and Katara smiled at Aang before turning to her father.

"It's… probably better that they're properly reacquainted already, right?" she said. Hakoda laughed softly and shrugged.

"I suppose it is," he grinned.

Aang would need to wait before he caught Sokka's attention, though: he had only pulled away from his grandmother to kneel before her, so now Kanna gazed down at him, still cradling his face in her hands.

"Oh, you're even more handsome nowadays, my boy," she laughed softly. "You sure take after both your parents…"

"Dad takes after you too," Sokka said, pressing his brow to his grandmother's. "I… I'm so glad I could see you again, Gran-Gran."

"And I'm thrilled to see you too, my child…" she said, pressing a soft kiss to his brow… and then noticing there was one more person inside the igloo, besides the members of her family.

She smiled at Aang before patting Sokka's back gently. When that didn't prove enough for Sokka to notice anything had changed within the igloo, Kanna laughed quietly.

"Looks like everyone needs some of your time, my handsome grandson…" she said. Sokka groaned softly, but he dared glance over his shoulder at last…

To find the same face he'd seen back in Whaletail Island… the tall man with the headband who had asked questions without any right to. The man who had raced off so fast, faster than anyone he'd ever seen running before, with no explanation. The one who had seemed inexplicably silly and mysterious, who had earned his respect through the strange honesty Sokka had recognized in him… something that seemed even stranger now, truthfully, for he had been lying to Sokka constantly, back in Whaletail Island.

He finally could understand the purpose of the headband: a blue triangle upon his forehead seemed the very tip of an arrow, a tattoo that disappeared underneath the wild black hair that grew over his head. That same innocent honesty from Whaletail Island was present in him now: it was hard to believe that someone so young would have been expected to bear the whole weight of the world on those lanky shoulders.

"S-Sokka…" the Avatar spoke, and Sokka could only scoff as he rose to his feet, puzzled by the man's reverent tone.

"I'm not sure the Avatar should be looking at me with that much admiration," he said: Aang froze, paling as he glanced at Katara questioningly: she only responded with a guilty grin.

"I…! I'm sorry, I guess Katara told you everything now?" Aang said, fidgeting as he stepped closer to Sokka. "I didn't wish to lie, not to you, but…"

"I get it. I get it, Kuzon… or rather, Aang, not Kuzon, right?" Sokka said, with a weak smile of his own. "You've… you've helped my sister in more ways than I can imagine yet, haven't you? And you've become part of the Tribe as well. Whatever you had to do to keep yourself and everyone here safe… I understand it."

"You… hell, you're incredible," Aang said, prompting Sokka to shake his head.

"Why would the Avatar find me incredible…?" he said, but to his surprise, Aang smiled, ready to answer:

"Because people's worth… it isn't just about their bending, or what their skills may be, or whatever they may be capable of," Aang said. "With everything I know of you, if I ever get to be half as strong, brave and smart as you are…"

"Woah, now, you're barely getting to know me as it is…" Sokka smiled awkwardly, but Aang shook his head.

"I've heard about you from the moment Katara released me from the iceberg," he said. "I've looked up to you for a long time… I dreamt of helping her find her way to you again. But you've come to us, instead… and I can't wait to truly know the man Katara has always treasured as much as she treasures you."

Sokka's throat tightened again, his eyes shifting away from Aang's: if only they knew the full truth, would any of the Tribe's members still see him in this way, in such a kind light? Or was he, again, being a fool for not giving them all the credit they were due? Would they understand his struggles, much as he understood theirs…?

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand on his elbow: Kanna had clasped his right arm, and Aang's as well, urging them wordlessly to greet each other respectfully in the Water Tribe's tradition.

Sokka's hand wrapped around Aang's forearm first, but it was Aang who smiled brightly, positively, his eyes, full of life, staring into Sokka's heartbroken own.

"It's… it's an honor to truly meet you, Sokka," Aang said, to Kanna's delight. For now, Sokka heaved out his troubling concerns with a sigh before smiling as well.

"It's an honor to meet you too, Avatar Aang."