Chapter 11: Reckless
In the wee hours of the night, Sokka tossed and turned against the pelts on the ground, careful to avoid making too much noise since Piandao was fast asleep beside him. The tribesman, too wrapped up in thoughts to sleep, suddenly spotted a shadow slowly inching across the hallway. He turned to see Yue trying to make her way to the kitchen as quietly as she could in her condition. Rather than using the wheelchair that the swordsmen managed to secure, she was on her feet, holding onto doors and walls for support. She hadn't made it halfway before she froze and winced from the pain.
"Yue?" Sokka scrambled up, rushing over to her, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah…"
"You're not using the chair."
"I can walk a little bit," she said. "I thought it would be better to be active whenever I can."
"You need to rest your leg, too," he said, helping her to a seat, "Did you want something to eat?"
"No, I just…I was just—" the growl in her stomach refuted her claims to the contrary.
"You should've just asked me," he handed her some water, "Give me five minutes. I'll heat everything up real quick."
"It's just the noodles. I don't mind—"
"They don't taste good if they're cold," he persisted.
"I'll heat them up, then. You go sleep—"
"It's fine, really." And he worked quickly to heat up the food in the ice box, happy to be of some kind of help.
"I'm sorry," she told him, "I wasn't trying to wake you up."
"No need for apologies. I wasn't asleep anyway," he said sweetly.
"It must be inconvenient for you to sleep on the floor."
"No, it's not that. I'm used to the floor." With a sigh, "I just have a lot on my mind."
Within moments, he had gathered an ample serving of heated kelp noodles into a bowl, grabbing some chopsticks, a container of spice sauce, and plenty more water. "There we go," he placed them in front of her, "The dumplings are still a bit cold, but they're almost done—"
"No, it's fine, that's not necessary—"
"It's no problem, really! You haven't eaten much at all these few days." He then grabbed a prune-lemon from the ice box, slicing the lemon in half and offering her half, "You know, if you add a pinch of this and a nice helping of spice sauce to those noodles, it'll taste really good. Plain kelp noodles are boring; I can't eat 'em without spice sauce and a lot of prune-lemon."
Yue looked at him for a moment, specks of moisture swimming in her eyes. She turned away, blinking them back.
"Did I say something…?"
"No, no…" Clearing her throat, "My father was the same way. He loved this combination, too."
She felt a hand on hers and saw the gentle look in his eyes, but again she refused eye contact, instead taking to garnishing an ample amount of spice sauce and lemon-prune in her noodles. She ate them quickly, not at all minding the spiciness. He felt bad when the noodles ran out, having noted how she ate them with newfound relish, but she appreciated the dumplings as well, giving into her pangs of hunger.
They were suddenly caught off guard, however, by the sound of rapping at the door. Yue stopped midchew, her heart stopping. Sokka cast a sharp look at the door in the throes of an adrenalin rush, his thoughts echoing hers. Was it Hahn? Piandao, who was now awake, offered to get the door, knowing that in the event it was Hahn, Sokka would certainly flip. He first went over to the window, looking out and seeing that it wasn't Hahn; rather, it was a woman in glimmering furs, eclipsed by the dark.
"It's a lady," Piandao said, clarifying before Sokka could ask, "And no, it's not Hahn's mother."
"I'll go see what that's about," Sokka told Yue before heading out of the kitchen, "You keep eating."
When the swordmaster opened the door, the woman, donning sharp earrings and a sharper attitude, said brusquely, "I need to see Yue Atsanik."
"Can't it wait 'till morning?" Sokka frowned.
Rolling her eyes, she shoved both of them out of her way, calling above their protests, "Yue Atsanik, are you there?" And following the torchlight that was coming from the kitchen, she found her way inside with Piandao and Sokka rushing after her.
Yue stood up from her chair, surprised to see the tribeswoman. "You're… Kura Khazdi…"
"Do you know her, Yue?" Piandao asked.
"Yes, genius," Kura snapped before eyeing Yue impatiently, "I need to speak with you about something extremely important. Is there a place where we can talk in private?"
Yue gestured to her room, "Come on in."
"You can eat first, then talk," Sokka told Yue, "She can wait—"
"There's no time, this is important," Kura hissed, earning a glare from the tribesman.
"I'll be back," Yue said, putting her dumplings down, "Don't wait up for me. Go to sleep."
Worry churned in the pit of his stomach as he noticed the visitor pull out some scrolls from her coat pocket on their way to Yue's room. He was about to holler something in protest before Piandao stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head.
"She's gonna get her to sign more stuff—!"
"Patience, Sokka," Piandao insisted. "We'll figure it out without causing a scene."
"But how? She's not gonna tell us! Every time I try to approach her about this, she's telling me to get lost—"
"I will ask around tomorrow," the swordmaster assured. "I need to drop off some documents at Zhao's estate anyway. I will see what information I can gather. The main thing is that she needs to be safe."
"Why did you want to see me?"
Kura broke her attention away from the herbal serums situated on the bedside table, crossing one leg over the other and keeping her hands folded in her lap, "Because Zhao was being an idiot when he made you sign off on those capacity documents so soon." Another moment later, "Well, he didn't know about our demands, so I guess he's not entirely at fault, but if we wait any longer for your signatures, it's going to be detrimental for us down the road."
"Demands?"
"We have several scrolls that you need to sign," Kura said, pulling out four parchment scrolls from her coat pockets. "Just some updates on your little arrangement with Hahn." She placed them on the bed in front of the grieving tribeswoman along with a quill and a tiny ink container, but she did not expect Yue to immediately reach for the ink and quill, unfurl the documents at the speed with which she did, and quickly mark her signatures on each without reading them.
"Woah, woah," Kura raised her eyebrows, "How can you be so reckless? You're not going to read over them? You're not going to comprehend what you're agreeing to?"
Yue held in a dry chuckle, "Would it make a difference?"
"I guess not," Kura mused, leaning back in her pelt chair, "But you signed them all as 'Yue Atsanik.' Some of those documents need to be signed after your marriage, so the 'Atsanik' part should ideally be 'Mimik'—"
"I was born an Atsanik, and I will die an Atsanik," Yue said simply. "Marriage would never affect that."
"It's not something a proper tribeswoman would say, but I quite like it." With a tiny hint of a smirk, "Though I feel like you should still know what you signed yourself up for. Just so there won't be any surprises or sudden movements."
Yue didn't protest.
"Let's see…" Kura reached for the first unfurled scroll, "This document is a sworn oath that says you are aware that you are infertile and that you consent to Hahn taking on another wife for the continuation of his lineage."
Yue gave her a blank stare, "Um…what are you talking about…? I'm not infertile. Not that I know of, anyway…"
Ignoring her question, "This scroll here," pointing to the second scroll, "is a sworn oath that states that you agree to never be able to adopt children at any point in the future. This scroll," pointing to the third parchment, "says that you are waiving all rights and claims pertaining to a portion of Hahn's estate. And this last scroll here is the only document that's not going to be submitted to a Water Tribe tribunal. It just says that you agree to a sterilization procedure the morning of your marriage. It's for the healing institution. They're very particular about these kinds of things, you see."
Yue gawked at the documents and then at Kura, utterly confused, "I'm sorry, what…?"
"You're agreeing to be sterilized," Kura explained. "So you won't have children."
Feeling a defensive tug at the core of her being, "I-I don't…I don't understand…"
"Allow me to provide some context," Kura leaned back in her chair. "The fact of the matter is that Hahn and I were engaged way before you were involved in this. And we still remain engaged."
Yue widened her eyes, pointing out after a moment of observation, "You're not wearing a necklace."
"I only do when I need to," Kura clarified, responding to the tribeswoman's guilty look, "Don't mistake the situation. There's no need for you to feel bad about this. That beast doesn't know and will never know what love is, and no woman can ever love him. I'm being completely honest with you when I say I don't care who he fucks on the side. My heart is very clearly intact as we speak, and petty jealousy is far from my mind. It was an open relationship from the start. Well, he thinks it's just him who's allowed to bed other people, but I myself have been adventurous without his knowledge."
Folding her arms with that preamble, "The truth was that our families were pleased with the possibility of our alliance. It was a way to end their childish business rivalry. Hahn didn't protest because I had riches, and I didn't protest for the same exact reason. My only goal out of marrying him is depleting him of his assets and taking them under my wing…if we're being very candid with each other for a minute. And the best way I can do that is to have children with him. Or, at least, children while I'm married to him so I can say they're his. So as you can deduce, a marriage is very ideal for my intentions." Looking up at her, "But when he saw you at that wedding, and he lost his shit."
She explained that Hahn had plans to approach Yue the moment he saw her, but Arnook had been next to Yue at the time, so the tribesman had resorted to Zhao. He had told Zhao that he absolutely had to have Yue, and it got to the point where the tribesman would whisper Yue's name even as he was having relations with other women.
"He literally refers to you as the 'jewel of his bedspread,'" Kura said. "I think you can understand the extent of his lust."
Yue gulped, bearing an immeasurable weight of discomfort.
"Of course, Hahn wasn't interested in marrying you. He's not legally invested in you as much as he's invested in my assets. All he wanted was a couple of nights with you. And if you had agreed to be a willing mistress, it wouldn't have been so complicated. But just a few weeks ago, Zhao got back to us saying that you were, I quote, 'refusing to be touched unless there was a marriage.' And it drove Hahn insane. The prospect of keeping someone like you to himself forever was something he instantly cherished, but he wasn't going to let me go. And the main problem with this is Water Tribe law. Plural marriages are blatantly illegal thanks to our Tui-to-La and La-to-Tui cultural yakshit."
They had come to a compromise, though, Kura explained further. There was a very, very narrow loophole in the law: a tribesman can never be married to more than one woman at once unless two things happen. One: the first wife must give her permission for her husband to marry again. And two: the reason for the second marriage has to be the first wife's infertility.
"And as you can probably infer from our document here, the plan is for you to take the status of his first wife. If you submit to the tribunal that you're infertile and give your consent for our marriage, I can be his 'main' wife, if you will. As in, the wife who will bear his children and mingle her assets with his and likewise inherit from his estate. Of course, the law is sympathetic to infertile first wives and would ultimately demand the husband to give her something, which would inevitably impact what my children and I would receive, so it's very necessary that I have you waive your claims to his estate entirely. And as far as the prohibition on adoption goes, it's imperative that you don't adopt because Water Tribe law recognizes adopted children the same way it recognizes naturally-born children. This is especially true when infertile women are adopting. Were you to adopt, that child would receive the same inheritance rights. I'm sure you can understand by now that I don't want any of your spawn — biological or not— getting in my way and my future children's way."
Yue remained frozen, trying to process everything that was hitting her.
"Everyone else is very happy with this decision," Kura went on. "Hahn is completely on board with this idea. He's excited about getting to keep you, and he's been worried that pregnancy will ruin your immaculate figure anyway. My parents don't have any problems with this provided I take the steps to remain financially secure, which I'm doing as we speak. Your parents are obviously not alive to object. Hahn's mother was unsure since this is essentially defrauding the law, but did you know she easily agreed to this after her explosive meeting with you? She must really hate you."
With every one of Kura's words, Yue felt as if she couldn't breathe, her fingers shakily brushing against her father's diary beneath her pillow. His last written words still glimmered before her: My only hope now is to return to her as her child and give her the same happiness that she has given me.
"I don't see why sterilization is a must," Yue choked out. "I signed the forms. I don't want to have children with Hahn anyway. I will be very careful from my end and take all steps necessary." Looking up at Kura, "And there's no guarantee that Hahn will cling to me forever. If this is all loveless, how long will desire for the flesh sustain a marriage? He will have to get bored of me one day. And the law does recognize annulments. What's to say he won't find another wealthy woman and seek to move forward with her? The law permits a second wife for infertility reasons but never any more than that. He will have to annul me at least then…"
"Oh Yue," shaking her head, "I hope you don't cultivate hopes and dreams of escaping Hahn one day so you can live your own life and have children with someone you love or something. Hahn never shares his women. If he's done with you, he's not letting anyone else have you. You can interpret that however you want."
"And you're confident that he's not going to treat you like that? Why put yourself through this risk?"
"Because I'm not giving him the chance to do anything to me. My family has more power and influence than he will ever have, and it's going to take but seconds for me to throw him in the streets and let him rot once I'm in the lawful position of inheriting his estate. But all of this aside... I still think sterilization will give you greater peace. As you correctly seem to understand, Hahn's having his fun with you however he wants, and it would be completely your responsibility to never get pregnant. And if those family planning herbs of yours fail and you do end up pregnant, he will have that thing snuffed out of you the moment it takes root. He would have no regard for unborn life." Looking to Yue, "Being raped on a consistent basis, forced to take his seed. And on top of that, the possibility of failing herbs and accidental pregnancies, having forced abortions every time…That's all very vicious on a woman. I figured it would spare you some suffering if you get sterilized so you don't have to go through all of that suffering."
Yue clung to the sheets, tears slipping profusely down her face. Kura spoke nothing of the tribeswoman's grief, continuing on, "I won't lie, this benefits me, too. I know you won't protest waiving your rights to his estate. I mean, you did let your father's manor crumble and gave your bride price away to a couple of peasant families, so you're obviously not interested in money. But when it comes to children, I can't take any chances. From what I hear, you're very fond of children. And I know it, Yue, you will buckle and want your own. If Hahn ever gets around to losing interest in your body, he might reach a point where he wouldn't care if you want to carry his seed…or at least, seed that you claim is his. But that's not going to bode well for my children and their inheritance rights. Besides, you can't support a child in your financial state. You're not getting another copper piece from Hahn, and you gave up everything you have. It would be an arduous burden for you anyway."
Yue leaned against her windowsill. She choked out a voiceless cry, overwhelmed by many different emotions at once.
"And, of course, there is the fact that you insulted his mother over a peasant's child," Kura said. "And I need to do what I can to appeal to that bitch. At least, until our marriage is over. Believe it or not, it was this sterilization scroll that really got her on board." She flitted her eyes to the bereft woman, "I want you to know that I don't hate you, Yue. It's nothing personal. If you still had your status, we could've been like sisters, even. But the circumstances are such, and I'm only human. I'm entitled to protect myself and my interests. I can understand that sterilization is a life-changing procedure, and I can understand it would devastate someone like you. I would absolutely hate to be in your place, and to this moment, I give thanks to the Spirits for not making me dumb enough to give up everything I have and be forced to give up being a mother altogether. So I'll be nice about this and put the procedure off until the morning of the wedding. Whatever day that'll be."
"That's quite merciful of you."
Kura rolled her eyes. "I'm not out to get you or anything, Yue, believe me. You want my honest advice? Do yourself a favor and run away when you still can. Find yourself someone nice and have kids with him. You got the money you needed for those peasants, and there's talk that you shipped the money off. Why keep playing the game when you can quit before you lose? Go live your life Hahn-free, I don't care!"
Yue stared out of the window, "If the moon decides to abandon its orbit, what will happen to all life as we know it? The planet would rot." Shaking her head, "I'm in no position to run. I have people I need to protect."
"If you behave yourself and practice obedience," Zhao had hissed in her ear, "The people in those factories will live happy lives with their compensations. Compensations authorized by the benevolent, the gracious, the Spirit-sent Arnook Atsanik who could never do them any wrong in this life and all lives after. But if you mess this up in any manner… those peasants will receive their compensations, but they won't be alive to enjoy them. All because Yue Atsanik chose to live her life selfishly. The South will be paved with the ashes of its men, women, children, herbs and rat-pigs, viper-flies, sparrow-penguins, and what have you…and those ashes will spread out across the tundra in the shape of your name."
"You have no family," Kura pointed out. "Who else are you trying to protect? Those peasants?"
Looking up with crimson eyes, "Innocent lives deserving of happiness."
"How pathetic."
"I may be pathetic, but don't forget that it's my compliance, my signature that's sustaining your little ecosystem here. If anything, I feel like a queen whose subjects are eating out of the palm of her hand to keep themselves from rotting away."
Kura's smirk dissipated into a frown. "Whatever helps you cope." With an impatient huff, "There's nothing else I can do if you want to throw yourself under the sleigh, Mighty Queen of Sacrifice, but make sure you go through with the procedure if you want to go through with this marriage."
Yue said nothing, finding it difficult to even nod to the statement. Kura, meanwhile, couldn't resist the smirk that slithered back onto her lips at the woman's broken form. "If it makes you feel better, you're obviously hotter than me. Hahn is a mutt; he might lick my boots for his treats, but he's still your lapdog."
"Don't be ridiculous. Dogs are loyal, for one."
"You're not wrong," came the dry chuckle. "Some further advice. Future cowife to future cowife. Prepare yourself before your first night with him. Hahn isn't kind to virgins. Truth to be told, I wouldn't have made it through our first time as easily if I hadn't taken a cock or two beforehand. So be adventurous with men in the meantime. You won't get a chance to have consensual sex once you tie the knot. It's not like any man would turn you down. You have two handsome hunks in this household at your service."
Yue felt nauseated by the statement.
"Well, I hear Piandao's the more honorable one," Kura mused, "He basically stepped into the role of another dad to you. But you can take your chances with the other guy. He's obsessed about guarding your body for whatever reason."
Staring blankly out of the window, "That would be cheating."
"You're worried about cheating when you're about to marry a monster?" Kura burst into a laugh, "Oh Yue, how naive. Loyalty isn't a thing anymore, honey. It's long been dead. So enjoy your last days of freedom. Make them last."
"That is not how my father raised me. I would never do something he would consider to be dishonorable."
"Hmph. You're fooling no one, Yue," Kura spat. "Just because you want a marriage before you lie with him doesn't make you any less of a whore. You literally sold yourself to him for life for seventy million gold pieces. You're a whore with a chain— a fancy, jewel-studded chain that people call a betrothal necklace. That's all there is to it, and a ceremony of forehead drawings isn't going to change that fact or the fact that even if the law sees you as his first wife, society will see you as a concubine." The visitor then stood up from her pelt chair, "Well, I should be going now. I did my duty and warned you, so don't expect anything else from me."
"Don't worry," Yue said, neither moving away from the windowsill nor turning around to look at her, "I don't expect anything from anyone anymore."
"That's a good mindset to be in for someone of your…condition."
Yue, who found that she was still holding the sterilization scroll from examining it earlier, shakily held it out to her, "Don't forget this."
And as Kura reached for the scroll, the pristine seashell atop her platinum ring got caught between the wooden beads of Yue's bracelet. Kura yanked her hand away from Yue with more force than was probably necessary, almost as if she was recoiling from a porcu-skunk. The impact snapped Yue's bracelet in half, and the wooden beads tumbled out of the window and into the pond below in vastly different directions. Yue stared in horror as the last remnants of her mother disappeared beneath the ripple of the water.
"My bad," Kura simply shrugged, taking the scrolls with her as she left the woman to sob.
The conversation lasted for so long that Sokka and Piandao cooked more kelp noodles in the meantime and prepared more spice sauce so that Yue could properly eat afterwards. They also made other dishes, such as two different kinds of soups and some vegetable broth for her speedy recovery. They both worked hard to make sure the meal was perfect, relying on several torches given the consuming darkness at two hours past midnight, but they were silent the entire time, mutely wondering what other horrors were happening behind their backs.
As if the uncomfortable silence wasn't enough, they were racked with further guilt upon receiving a message from the Avatar, who had currently departed from the Northern Air Temple and was already well on his way to the Earth Kingdom. Sokka had believed Aang had written to them, but surprisingly the letter was addressed to Yue; Aang wrote to inform her of the funds that were now in his care to be delivered to the South, and he thanked her for the luxurious gifts that she had sent for him and Katara.
"I feel like absolute yakshit," Sokka sighed, his fears only increasing as time dragged on. "Why is it taking so long? What do you think they're talking about? Who the hell is Kura Whats-her-face?"
"Whoever she is, she does not seem to be the consoling type," Piandao furrowed his eyebrows. "I wouldn't call her a friend."
Their musings came to an end when the door finally opened. Sokka's glare remained intact as he saw the woman slip the scrolls back into her coat pocket, saunting her way out with a satisfied look on her face.
"If arrogance had a face, it would be that," Sokka muttered.
Piandao grabbed the tray of soups, nudging Sokka, "Let it go for now. Let's take her meal up to her room."
Sokka held the tray of noodles and spice sauce and followed Piandao to Yue's room. She was turned away from them, her head resting on a pillow that she kept on the windowsill.
"Yue," Piandao asked carefully, "Are you alright?"
She lifted her head, responding with a nod but still not facing them.
"We made some more kelp noodles," Sokka said hopefully. "They turned out good. We made some extra spice sauce, too."
"We also have some broth and two different varieties of five-flavor soup," Piandao said.
"Oh…" her voice barely a raspy whisper, "You didn't have to do all that."
"It's no trouble at all. You said you liked them, right?"
"I don't want them anymore," she mumbled. "I'm sorry for causing you both trouble. I'll eat them tomorrow."
"It's no trouble, Yue, but you haven't been eating well," Piandao frowned.
Shaking her head, "I'm not hungry anymore."
Sokka went up to her with the noodles anyway, quickly paling when he saw her. She looked as if she was haunted. Her face was stained with dried tears, fresh ones welling up in her eyes. The pillow in which she had buried her face was damp. She cast the pillow aside and turned away from him, keeping her face hidden.
"Yue, what's wrong?" Sokka asked worriedly.
"Nothing."
"Did that woman say something to upset you—?"
"No, no. The spice sauce has been making my eyes water, that's all," she said, her fingers quivering, "Go to sleep."
"Yue, please, tell us what's wrong. We're here to help—!" but Sokka was stopped by Piandao, who shook his head. Yue remained quiet, resting her head on the windowsill again, staring bitterly at the stars.
They begrudgingly retreated with the untouched food. Sokka exchanged a look of mute worry with the swordmaster, both grave from the very real possibility that something was definitely very wrong. And there was no way they would know about it through her, at least. Yet, in those few moments of observation, Sokka had picked up on the fact that her right wrist was empty, that her mother's bracelet was nowhere in sight— only its remnant thread hanging helplessly by the windowsill.
She was not sure when she had dozed off, but she woke up to sniffles and wails that were not hers. She could faintly hear the trickling of water and trapped coughs and wheezes. Piandao's voice, which was much more calm and collected in comparison, still seemed to be weighed down by burden. "Sokka, please, son. You need to keep warm."
Curious, Yue dropped into her chair and wheeled herself out of her room. She did not expect to see Sokka propped up against warm blankets on the floor, his cold, damp tunic tossed aside. The young man shivered and trembled as he buried himself facedown on the pelts and quaked with sobs. Piandao, who was trying to dab a warm rag over the tribesman, found it difficult when Sokka kept refusing to be helped, brushing the older man's hand away.
"Sokka, don't be so stubborn," Piandao sighed before spotting Yue from the corner of his eye. He approached her, greeted by a worried, "What's wrong? How is he?"
"He's very cold to touch," Piandao looked back at his student, "He can't seem to get warm. Spirits, I don't know what in Agni's name made him go swimming around in the tundra for hours last night."
"What?"
"And it doesn't help that his grandmother passed."
Yue softened her eyes, fixing her gaze on the bereft tribesman. "I'm really close to my Gran Gran. After my mom and dad passed, she raised me and my sister. I just…I don't wanna lose her, you know?"
"We got the message a few hours ago," Piandao told her. "She supposedly passed while we were still on our way here. The message didn't reach us until now."
"I'm so sorry. I understand he was very close to her."
"She lived a fulfilling life, and it was her time. There's nothing else that can be done about this. And he knows that." Piandao let out a broken breath, "I was afraid of how he was going to react, but…He was the one who said she's not going to be in any pain anymore… Though it's still going to take him a while."
"Of course, I completely understand," Yue said, not helping a frown of disapproval, "I just can't understand why you didn't come get me when he's been suffering like this—"
"He insisted I didn't bother you. You're badly hurt, and the last thing we would want to do is make things inconvenient for you—"
"There's no inconvenience in this. I'm a healer. Unless you prefer bending healers to nonbending ones—"
"It's not like that, Yue, I promise you," Piandao said. "We know you're still grieving and…"
"Well aren't we all?"
He sighed, "It's alright. Don't worry about him. I'll take care of him—"
"We need to monitor his breathing," she wheeled herself over to Sokka. To her great alarm, the tribesman was barely conscious now.
"Sokka?" Yue called out to him, receiving no response other than wheezes and shivers, tears occasionally streaming down his face. She felt his hand and face, paling, "Spirits, he's cold."
"Sokka!" Piandao tried to shake him awake, but Yue discouraged the move.
"Sudden movements will only make things worse," she said, looking around. "The ground is too cold, and these blankets won't be enough. He needs to sleep on a bed. And it's not warm enough out here. Can you bring him over to the bedroom?"
Piandao secured the tribesman against the warm sheets beside the roaring fire of Yue's room. Yue worked quickly to retrieve a medicine vial from her bag, handing it to Piandao, "Can you mix half of this serum in some water? It'll help with his breathing."
Piandao wasted no time complying as Yue fetched for some warmer, weightier blankets and towels. Several hours and two doses of the serum later, Yue noted that the tribesman's breathing had slightly improved but not so much his comatose condition.
"Why isn't he waking up yet?" Piandao winced.
"He will," Yue felt his wrist, "His pulse is slowly getting better. Just give him some time."
The swordmaster was not satisfied with the answer. Holding back the specks of moisture brewing in his eyes, fraught with a terror that Yue never thought she'd see in someone like him, "Mother Kanna is gone. Katara and this boy are all I have left. Great Spirits, save my son…"
Yue thought for another moment before being stuck with an idea, "Master, I know one other place where we can take him. I promise you, he'll feel better much more quickly."
Come back to me quickly, my brave warrior.
Sokka was trembling from sorrow but no longer the cold. He was surprisingly hot, covered in perspiration as he found himself sitting in the middle of the Southern tundra, too overwhelmed by consuming loneliness to move. His tears plinked against the snow.
Stay with me, my brave warrior.
He wasn't sure how long he sat in the snow like that, but he suddenly found his surroundings blurring, shifting, changing beyond his comprehension. Someone seemed to have grabbed his arm and tugged him back, and he subsequently found himself falling into the icy water, deeper and deeper into Spirits-knew-where and continuing to sweat despite the shard-like waves on his skin. And when he came to, keeping his eyes closed, barely separated from the remnants of his dream, he felt his surroundings instinctually and was surprised to say that the environment around him was… warm. Pleasant. He could hear the rippling of water nearby, and he felt a steaming rag dab at his forehead and another, cooler rag brush away his sweat. He could hear Piandao's voice quite close to him, and as he became more conscious of his environment, he realized that the top half of his body was not lying on the warm, soft grass that cushioned his legs — wait a minute, grass? In the North? — but that he was leaning against someone's shoulder.
"You've been working tirelessly," Piandao said, his arm around his student, "I'll watch him now. He's sweating; that's a good sign, right?"
"Yes, but he still needs supervision until he wakes up," Yue said. A soft hand then brushed over his chest, smearing a type of gel-like substance over his skin. The substance emitted soothing, lavender-scented vapors that seemed to lift the pressure in his chest even further as if liberating him from some type of shackle. He freely let out a previously obstructed breath, trying to step out of the lingering haze of his dream, but he was again pulled back into the Southern tundra. He was not alone this time; Kya was with him, his sobbing form holding her tightly. She held him close to her, brushing his hair, "My baby, my baby." And as Kya's form melted away, Gran Gran took her place, placing a kiss on his forehead. "My brave warrior…"
But that persistent hand was back, pulling him as soon as Gran Gran vanished, and he found himself falling again, this time staring at the starry sky as he fell. He swore he could hear his mother's and grandmother's laughter ringing among the stars—
"I think his feet can be warmer, though."
Piandao's hand moved away from Sokka's forehead, and he took to rubbing the tribesman's feet one at a time to induce a bit of heat from the friction. In the meantime, Sokka found that he was now leaning against a much softer warmth of flesh that was holding him up— the warmth of a comforting bosom as that soft hand from earlier returned, holding his head up so he wouldn't hurt his neck. He coughed from the pungent vapors, his eyes fluttering open.
"Sokka!" Piandao said, relieved.
"Can you bring the last dose?" Yue asked Piandao, and the swordmaster nodded, rushing to retrieve the rest of the serum. Sokka's vision cleared slowly, another tear slipping down his cheek. Yue continued to hold onto him, thumbing the tear away. "You'll be alright," she said gently. "Stay with me, okay?"
He nodded, closing his eyes again. Stay with me.
"Too bad there's no serum for stupidity," Piandao glared at his student. "What on earth made you go swimming in the middle of the night? Did you not once think about the consequences? Sokka, you're a tribesman, you should know about this more than I do!"
Sokka quietly sipped his medicine, worn down but still surprised to see his master unhinged.
"Mother Kanna's last wish was for me to keep you safe… And you're over here making reckless decisions. She might not be with us anymore, but I value my word to her, Sokka."
The tribesman cast his gaze down, gulping down the lump in his throat. Noting his discomfort, Yue turned to Piandao, "The medicine's really bitter. Do you mind bringing him some warm yak milk, Master? It'll help with the aftertaste."
Piandao nodded, retreating to the kitchen. Yue reached out to feel Sokka's face and hands, "Can you breathe okay?"
He nodded.
"Why did you have to do that, Sokka?" she frowned. "How did you think a stunt like this in the North of all places was a good idea?"
Sokka said nothing, simply grabbing his drenched tunic from the couch and reaching inside its pocket.
"Master Piandao was worried the worst would happen to you. Why were you so careless? What could be so important that you'd—?" she trailed off as he held his hand out to her. Atop his palm rested her mother's bracelet. The lost beads were now neatly strung together as if they had never been pitted apart in the first place.
Yue gawked from him to the bracelet and back to him, frozen from surprise, but he placed the bracelet in her hand. She absently ran her fingers over the wooden beads; the pattern of the little printed animals was the same as it had always been, indicating he really did go to great lengths to find all the beads. She swallowed a sob, looking at him incredulously, but he merely gave a shrug. "I just wanted to see you happy."