Teaser: They all had a duty, and this was his, whether he liked it or not.
A/N: A big thanks to our faithful reviewers, you keep me motivated to keep posting and pushing myself to write at times when I struggle to focus. Thanks especially to Queen22 for leaving us comments at every chapter over at Ao3. You are amazing. And it was super fun to be able to see your thoughts as you read through the story a second fun reading everyone:)
Chapter 23 Libertas et Equalitas
Zuko had not slept well. The nightmare had shaken him up pretty bad, but Bato's words had almost been worse. Walking away had been easy, he'd been able to clear out his head pretty well too, but though Bato said nothing, didn't even move when he returned. His words came crashing right back as soon as Zuko had slipped back into the sleeping bag.
He'd fiddled with the pocket he still hadn't opened, welcoming the distraction as he tried to think of something else. It took a long time to fall back asleep, and by the time of sunrise, he didn't feel overly rested, though still marginally better than he had two days before.
With the first rays of sunlight, he got dressed and left the tent. From afar, he greeted Napatki, the new night guard, and went to get some water before meditating. What he hadn't foreseen was for Napatki to come over and make small talk.
"You're up early." he'd said.
Way to state the obvious.
"So?" Zuko took another swig.
The guy started asking questions about firebenders and it soon, and rather clumsily, shifted to the dao, which Zuko had strapped to his back.
"May I see them?"
"No. What do you want?"
"I'm bored, so entertain me."
At this point, Zuko walked off to his usual spot for meditation in a huff, some people... Much to his dismay, Napatki followed and sat down next to him.
"So, you were at the South Pole?" he awkwardly asked.
Zuko didn't even grace that with an answer, just a stare.
The young man was quiet for a while, Zuko sensed that he was working up the courage for something: "Did you raid, was anyone hurt?"
Zuko softened a little, he'd intended to just try focusing on himself, but he couldn't ignore this. "We weren't there to raid, we were looking for the Avatar." Zuko chose his next words carefully. "No one was hurt. He stepped forward and we left."
"But you know where they are, and so might others."
"The only one 'higher up'" derision laced his words, before he continued, "who knew roughly where we'd been, died in the Siege of the North, and he was much too arrogant to pass on the information. And I doubt he had exact coordinates, either."
"Huh, I hope you're right.
"The Southern Water Tribe hasn't been a priority in the war for several years."
"Thank La for that." The young man said, and Zuko hoped that he'd calmed the guy's worries for now, so he could have some quiet time. The guy was too close, Zuko wasn't comfortable just drawing up a flame in such proximity. He started to centre himself to prepare instead.
"Sooo," Napatki was now saying. "You probably spent quite some time with Katara."
Zuko barely held back, rolling his eyes… Of course…
"What's she like?"
"If you're interested in her, you should talk to her yourself."
The young man blushed, but didn't deny: "I just want to have an idea how to go about it."
"I'm not sure how I can help you there."
"Just tell me what she likes and dislikes… please."
Zuko sighed. "In your mind, what are good traits in a woman?" he asked instead.
"Kind, loving, caring. Good with kids and housework. I dunno."
"What about fighting?"
"What do you mean?"
"Katara is headstrong, she likes to be independent, and she wants to be recognized as a warrior, as well as a woman."
Napatki looked at him, flabbergasted enough not to reply.
"This is why you should talk to her yourself. It's not my place to talk about her wishes."
"What can I do for her to notice me, though?"
"Urgh," Zuko groaned. "Talk. To. Her. I've said it like three times. Maybe offer help with whatever chores she's doing. Happy? Probably not what you wanted to hear. Just maybe try not to be as obvious about it as when you asked me."
Napatki turned red again but caught himself once more.
"You're surprisingly chill about this."
"Katara can take care of herself. Now, I'd like to meditate, if you please?!"
"Ugh, sure, sorry." Napatki slinked off like a scolded child.
00000
"Zuko, may I talk to you for a moment?" Hakoda had spent quite a bit of time thinking late into the night, he had not rested well, either, too much had been going through his head. He didn't even know where to start. Sokka had talked about leaving, and though Hakoda had not dared to think about it, he was right, it was a matter of days, so he'd better start tackling all things related to that now.
Some time had passed and Zuko had moved onto other tasks he'd been assigned to do. So immersed was he that the voice broke his reverie. Zuko lowered the axe he'd been chopping wood with. "Uh, sure?" He put the tool down and grabbed a waterskin to take a swig, then looked at Hakoda, waiting.
"Let's go down to the shore." He could imagine that Zuko wanted to go back into the yurt about as much as he did, they'd spent far too much time in there lately. Once they'd gotten a decent distance between them and the tents, he stopped, looking out at the ocean. The boy's eyes didn't leave him, however, his gaze carefully guarded.
"I have a request for you on behalf of my daughter: It's only a matter of days until you all leave, and you'll be there and I can't be, so I would like you to teach her hand-to-hand combat and self-defence."
"Why? She's a Master Waterbender," Zuko asked, looking at him testingly.
It wasn't a no.
"I can't help but worry about her. You all have a target on your back, and you're all young and inexperienced. I want to give her the best chances to prevent anything from happening to her. To put it plainly, I don't want what happened to you to happen to her."
The Prince swallowed and looked away, obviously uncomfortable.
"I… why are you asking me that?"
"Because you know hand-to-hand combat, you know what could happen, and you showed that you care. I heard from Nukilik how you talked to Katara about her behaviour when confronting me and why."
"Ugh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten involved."
"I appreciate the concern, and really, your advice was sound, while what she did wasn't wrong in our culture, your suggestion was a more sensible approach and it seems she has taken it to heart."
"Oh…" Zuko looked at him in surprise before deflecting his gaze again. He seemed conflicted, far away.
"I'm willing to negotiate if there's something you want that I can fulfil in turn."
"Uh no," The Prince said defensively. "I don't want it to be like that."
"So you'll do it?"
The man-boy looked up again, bearing that horrid scar on his face in the early morning sun. "Chief Hakoda, it would mean that I get physically close to your daughter, It means that I may hit her. Are you sure you don't have any issues with me doing that?"
"She's right, we left the women of the tribe defenceless, it cost me my wife's life. So yes, I think Katara can take a few hits if it helps her learn to protect herself better overall, and I trust you not to hurt her unneeded."
"I wouldn't."
"I know that now. But you do see why I want you to teach her, right?"
Zuko pressed his lips to a thin line and nodded. "Yes, and I'd rather have her know how to defend herself without relying on waterbending alone. But I think for me to teach her while we're still here may not be well received, I… I can take over once we leave, but I think you should start the lessons while she's still here, she needs her father more, not me."
00000
Katara was still miffed about having had to relocate from the yurt into a girls' tent. The fact that it had been done because the war meetings took place there, was a sore spot, so when her father expressed his wish to eat breakfast with her, she was intending to use that time to remind him. But first, she gave it a bit of time, just enjoying that he was there with her. He was asking about her training in the north. She ended up explaining how it felt to draw qi and how it was important to move fluently, that ice made for very good daggers, and could be transformed in a split second. At one point, the conversation died down again and Katara decided to ask now, setting out to speak just a split second before her dad. He quieted down again, giving her room to speak.
"Dad, when will you let Toph and me into the war meetings?"
"Katara," Hakoda said, lifting his hands in a pacifying gesture, which did anything but pacify Katara. "I haven't had a chance to address it with the Tribe yet."
"Oh, don't even go there," Katara said, tone biting. "I waited, I gave you enough time to address it. Sokka told me some stuff about the plans and for the first time since we arrived here, mentioned leaving. I won't sit around waiting for you to get it together any longer."
Hakoda knew, rising to her temper would get them nowhere, she was headstrong like her mother, and had a bit of a temper, also like her. It was very different from how Kya had been, and very much the same on some level. In a way, he was proud of Katara, though he certainly did not like the tone she was using to talk to him at the moment.
"I understand." He said, keeping his voice even. "Let's talk about it."
"I am," Katara said, voice still raised.
"Look, I'm not downplaying your position, you're right, it's time for you to get involved, you did well trying to address it with me first, and I'm sorry I failed you, I'm doing the best I can to coordinate all that is going on and it's not easy. Our men look to me for guidance, they need clear and decisive leadership. Bringing you girls in may confuse them, it may also be seen as me trying overly much to bring my family into power. We can't afford those kinds of distractions, and with how much has been going on, it's really hard to keep track of everything."
"This has nothing to do with me being your daughter, and everything to do with me being a woman, if I was your son, it would not be an issue to anyone for me to be in there."
Hakoda suppressed a grimace. It was true, and she was right, it was not fair to her as a woman.
"Two of the Avatar's teachers are women, and yes, we are young, but maybe that is a much-needed breath of icy air. And so what if we're young? So is the Avatar, so is Sokka, we've been in this together all the way."
"It's going to cause a ripple to include you now, you have to let me handle the talking through that."
"I don't think that's gonna work, I think to be heard, I need to speak."
"How would you go about it?"
"If I can get them to see us as an asset, they might overlook that I'm a woman, and while that's not ideal, it will be a first step, better than being excluded just by being a woman alone."
"Fine, but if I tell you to let me take over, you need to let me."
"Okay. I'll try, and let Toph know too."
Hakoda just nodded his head and tried collecting his thoughts. He'd known this was coming, and the talk could have gone worse. He'd thought long and hard about it after the conversation with Zuko. He'd already decided that he'd try to get Katara what she wanted, he just hadn't quite known how to accomplish it, it scared him to have his daughter in there, but at the same time, he was kind of glad that he didn't have to figure out how to explain it to his men in an attempt to convince them. He'd probably just nudge things along and do damage control. It left him with the second subject he'd wanted to talk to Katara about.
"Now that that's cleared up to the best we can right now,, there's something else I wanted to talk about. I want you to learn Hand-to-Hand combat."
Katara's gaze changed in an instant: "What, why?" she said, almost accusatory.
"Because you're right, you should be given the skills on how to defend yourself."
"I went to the North so I could learn waterbending. I did, I'm considered a master at it. This is thoughtful and nice, but a little late."
"What if you don't have your bending, what if you don't have water? You never know. You may not always have your friends with you either. You're affiliated with the Avatar, which I don't blame him for, but it makes you a target."
"I really don't see how this is necessary. I never go anywhere without water, I fought hard to get taught, and this feels like throwing that effort in the dirt. Have some trust in my skills.."
Hakoda was still caught up in Katara's unexpected reaction. He'd thought she'd be thrilled. " "I'm not doubting your skills," he told her firmly, not rising to the bait. He hadn't been prepared, but what to say came easy to him now.
"Zuko's a strong bender, isn't he?"
"What's that gotta do with it?" she quickly shot back, almost rushed.
"You healed him from torture. He is a strong bender, and it still happened to him, I don't want anything like that to happen to you. I thought you wanted to be treated the same as your brother. So let me teach this to you too."
"Zuko was alone, I won't be."
"Katara, once you're down, it takes very little time to do a lot of harm. I'm worried, I'm worried about having you out there in the big wide world, and no adult in your life. You'll leave again soon. So I arranged for Zuko to continue your training once you leave."
"You did what?"
"Zuko agreed to teach you."
"And you just did that, without even talking to me?"
"We're at war, you never know what's going to happen, this may be the last time I can give you something on the way, I don't want to hold you back, you did so much already, so I want you to have options to keep yourself safe. I'm not taking no for an answer on this." Hakoda said, his raised tone final.
Katara didn't reply, just huffed, seemingly displeased. It wasn't what Hakoda had thought this would end up in, but he'd stand by his decision, he internally defused.
00000
The men were staring at Toph and Katara, some disgruntled, some in mild curiosity, most of them displeased. Katara had braced herself for this, had talked to Toph about it too, discussed their arguments and how to formulate them. Toph mentioned that she was glad that the Water Tribe didn't seem so formal.
Now, they stood in the middle of the yurt, Katara's brother a comforting presence behind her back, Aang and Zuko both next to him. Hakoda opened the meeting, by introducing them.
"Katara and Toph Bei Fong will join the meetings from this point onwards as the Avatar's teachers, as they will accompany Avatar Aang on his part of the mission."
"This is a men's only meeting. Hakoda, what are you thinking, bringing your daughter and a little girl in here."
"I thought much the same at first, but they are involved, and we can't change that fact, my daughter would like to explain why she and Toph are here in her own words."
Katara's throat went dry. This was her chance.
"So yes,Toph and I are here to give insight on how to utilise bending in the war plans. We're also here because we're Avatar Aang's teachers and we'll be his backup team when he confronts the Fire Lord. We're going to be there right alongside him, so we should be involved in planning that."
"So you think, just because you learned waterbending, you understand how to do war councils. And no offence, but that little girl is blind. So she's good with some bending, and the Avatar thought she's the right one to teach him, but you both have no clue about strategizing, and neither does the Avatar. You're all children." Siimaktuk argued, then yelped in pain. Katara guessed Toph had taken that one a bit personally.
Katara took voice again, voice strong. "That little girl is the Earth Rumble Six Champion: despite being blind, despite being a girl, despite facing men thrice her age or more. Her fighting style is all about strategy, manoeuvring people and placing hits."
"Fighting a war is more than a one-on-one fight." Siimaktuk countered.
"We know that. We witnessed the Siege of the North. We were there when it all went down. We were there to see the aftermath. We were there when the Northern Water Tribe used eighty-year-old Fire Nation armour in an attempt to subterfuge. Those were men, and they didn't want to listen to a bunch of children who had seen the world. A lot of people died, on both sides, and the women had to clean up while also tending to the men's injuries. This war affects everyone."
"The Northern Water Tribe has isolated themselves, of course, they wouldn't know how to properly do war. They're a bunch of cowards, and only the Avatar's power has saved them."
At this, Aang spoke up, quietly noting: "It was La, not me. I was too weak and it took me over, wreaked havoc and killed the Fire Soldiers for the vanity of Admiral Zhao. Without Katara standing in the way of the Fire Nation, we might not even be here."
"I had to travel across the whole world to find a teacher for my waterbending." Katara continued. "And then the Northern Water Tribe refused to teach me combative waterbending, because I am a woman… I had to fight to get the education I had travelled for months to get. And you know why I wanted to learn it?" She paused for effect. "Because when the Fire Nation came last, my mother, your chieftess, did not know anything about how to defend herself, the only thing she could do was take my place. After you men left, we only had two elderly, frail men, and Sokka. Well. The first winter took Sarri and Paani, and we women struggled to keep everyone alive because we didn't know how to hunt for Buffalo-yak; because we had never been out to catch whale-squid and the like. Sokka hadn't been on his first big hunt yet, so he didn't know either, he, too, was still a child. We didn't know how to do the men's work, because you never let us, as it wasn't proper. But our survival suddenly depended on it, so we figured it out… and we had to do it on our own. We kept the future of our tribe alive while you men left us to fight the bigger war. But what about the bigger war when the future of the tribe, the children, may not survive because the women were left to their own devices without being taught the skills that you men had done."
There was an awkward silence in the room.
"Of course, the women would have been blamed. And then we'd be expected to go back to the old ways and comply with the men's wishes and demands, because in your eyes, we clearly needed the men. But what is the tribe without the children… and we did keep them alive as best as we could. You fought your battles, and moved on, we stayed and bore the consequences of your decisions, fighting our battles at home. So yes, I think we have a right to have a say."
"You're in over your head," Aniu exclaimed.
"Aren't we all?" Katara retorted. 'Sokka's only a year and six moons older than I am, and Aang and I both went ice dodging with him. Bato oversaw the rites, they were improvised, but Bato allowed us to pass. We have managed on our own for months."
"What do Sokka and the Avatar think of this matter?" Tulimak redirected, then promptly yowled in pain.
"Yeh, of course, ask the boys instead of facing the facts." Toph stepped forward, arms crossed. "What? Can't face the fact that a woman has solid arguments? Then ask Sokka for his opinion, just because he's got something between his legs? What do you take us, women, for?"
"Watch your tone girl," Tulimak warned, offended.
"Or what? Do you need another demonstration that I can single you out from afar perfectly fine, and guess what, you don't even need to be in my 'line of sight', " she threatened, her sightless eyes turning cold, staring right at Tulimak.
Katara gently put a hand on Toph's shoulder, then looked Tulimak square into the eye. "I wouldn't challenge Toph if I were you. And it frustrates me to no end that you think it's okay to try to make this man-to-man again when that's exactly why we're here. Face it, if I had been Hakoda's son instead of his daughter, I'd have been welcomed into this meeting with open arms. So just drop the act. We women have a mind too, we can think for ourselves. We have ideas, opinions. You are trusting us with the children, the literal future of the tribe, but you want to keep all political control to yourself? You'll be up for a rough awakening when you return home."
There was silence in the room, and that's when Sokka, having gotten agitated, took his chance to speak up before any other man could say something stupid.
"I'm not speaking on behalf of my sister, but to say that I do support her in this. She essentially is our quartermaster, and she has gone up and beyond to ensure that our little travelling group is doing alright. She always makes sure that Aang has a vegetarian meal, in respect of his beliefs, no matter how difficult travelling has been, she's always ensured this. Furthermore, besides cooking and cleaning, she has also been teaching the Avatar. She planned and orchestrated a prison break to free a village worth of earthbenders on an on-water prison rig. She can totally take on the lead if she needs to, but she only does so if necessary. And she has grown into a formidable warrior that has seen battle. I think having her here, sharing her perspective would help our war effort a lot."
Now Aang had gathered his courage to say something too, and continued when Sokka was done: "Katara's an amazing teacher and she knows waterbending much better than I do. Toph too, she sees with her earthbending. We met her at Earth Rumble Six and the crazy thing was, everyone was so bulky and their moves were flashy, and we thought for sure, she had no chance, but she was amazingly unspectacular but super effective. Very minimalistic and precise. Her earthbending is unique, and I have no doubt in my mind that she's the best earthbender out there, so we definitely should get her opinion on things."
The men had calmed down a little at this point, it was obvious that they respected the boy's speaking up a whole lot more than the girls. Bato shared his view on things next:
"I've been observing everyone in the group over the last couple of days and I do have to say that those two girls are outstandingly talented. I've witnessed them both practice bending and we definitely should be including a perspective on how to utilise bending in our war plans. If we don't, we will just assume things and that's usually a recipe for disaster.
Furthermore, Katara has been helping around all around, she didn't have to, but she did anyway, it's thanks to her that you did not have to do laundry the past week. It's thanks to her that we had a couple of really amazing meals. She caught fish for us; she helped dry any water leak issues when it rained. She's been really productive, just like any other member here. She's also kept up with training Aang, and I've heard she's an amazing healer and even fixed a bunch of your injuries.
Toph, having just started training Aang, has been intensely focused on improving his earthbending and spent hours each day doing that and from what I've seen, she's doing a formidable job on this. Her blindness doesn't hold her back at all. She also comes from a high-standing family, and though she doesn't know how to do too many camp chores, she definitely knows politics because of her upbringing. We'd be stupid if we didn't utilise the knowledge that is right here at our disposal and willingly given."
At this, the men broke out in quiet murmuring again, and the tone of it had lost a bit of the bite. Hakoda gave it a few minutes before announcing his decision.
"To me, the good points outweigh the arguments against it. We'd be stupid to not use the resources that we have just because it comes in the form of a woman. Welcome to the meeting, Katara and Toph Bei Fong."
00000
Zuko stepped forward to explain the map that he and Juoksa had finished this morning. He was tired of the Tribe's men's unnecessary jabs at the Fire Nation's new writing system. It wasn't their fault that it wasn't taught outside of the Fire Nation, but they would do well to be a bit open-minded instead of just talking down on it. It was annoying.
Zuko had already started duplicating the tourist map outline again when he realised that he'd forgotten about the com-towers, which had meant taking back the map and adding another symbol to the list. The end result overall was crowded. He was pretty sure that he had missed a few com towers, but he was confident that he'd gotten most of the important ones. Having used the network for the last three years certainly helped.
Juoksa held up the finished version and Zuko started pointing at things. Technically, the map was pretty self-explanatory, especially since Juoksa had written the labels in the Water Tribe's alphabet, but right now there was only one map, so Zuko gave them an overview. After that, the men divided into the same groups as the previous day.
Hakoda directed Katara to the group discussing naval matters, Toph went to those who discussed travel by land. Zuko himself went back to drawing the next sets of requested blueprints.
00000
"Oh, yeh I've been there… well a hundred years ago, there are wide land strips covered with forests, especially around the chain of volcanoes on the western side of the main island," Aang exclaimed.
Bato had the unfinished copy of Zuko's new map at hand, the main island was pretty filled in, so it was useful enough. "Using the woods as a cover would be useful and give us resources too. But it looks like there's less forest surrounding the Capital City. I still stand by my point that there should be at least two routes with two groups. And potentially, those groups should be split up further, so travelling is more inconspicuous, and supplies more easily manageable. And then we need a base camp to gather our forces."
"I still think that will make us easy to pick off." Thyrnir reheated an argument that must have been from the day before.
"If we are a larger group of people, we'll be much easier lt to pick out, and then they'll send a troop of people to confront us. If we're planning on playing a long game for preparation and work around their large-scale defences, this is the better solution, and it gives us the element of surprise."
"Are you really trusting messenger hawks as a way to keep in touch?"
"From what I know, messenger hawks can locate people, though I have no idea how they do it. And in the Fire Nation, they'd be very inconspicuous. As long as we're not outing the birds as anything other than Fire Nation, I don't see a problem, and Sokka had a really good idea yesterday, if we code our messages into some fiery love letters, even if they get intercepted, no one will think anything of it."
"And how do you want to write it? Earth Kingdom script? Totally not conspicuous."
Toph had been listening in on their discussions, and so far she'd been ignored like some statue in the corner. Since they were working with a map, it was also hard for her to quite get what they were talking about. But she'd hoped that she'd be answering questions and advising, and at this rate, they'd just be tolerating her in the room as a decoration. It wouldn't do.
"Let's leave the details for another time. So yes, I think a route through the forest would work well. We need an estimate on travel time though. And an idea on how we're going to scavenge for food, shelter and supplies."
She waited until Kavrak had finished speaking: "Earthbenders should easily be able to create long-term hidden shelters along your travel routes," she spoke up.
"Yeh, Aang immediately agreed. "That way you could travel very lightly. And you'd even have a way to store supplies along the routes."
"Well, all the earthbending I've seen so far has been fairly obvious." Tulimak pointed out.
"Well, yeah, kinda. I mean, I can move things pretty inconspicuously, but your average earthbender may not have that environmental awareness. They might leave tracks especially if they uproot plants. But then again, so does any group of travellers." Toph pointed out.
"So the average earthbender may just uproot an entire path worth of plants for good measure and then throw it back in when being through?"
"Is that really what you think the average earthbender would do? I'm not saying they're stupid, just that they don't have the same finesse as I do."
"Yeh, they tend to stomp and be loud and ugh. I don't trust it." Thyrnir huffed.
"Actually, the average earthbender will be more gentle and calm when just walking normally, because we do have the ability to displace the ground, and if they pay attention, even an average earthbender can feel vibrations through the ground, they just can't place them so they ignore it, but many try to not stomp when not bending for that reason."
"Well, they're certainly loud when they drink," spat Thyrnir in a ditch attempt to save the argument.
Toph didn't even grace it with a reply, instead focused on the matter at hand. "You do want earthbender scouts in the frontline, as they should be able to build stable hideouts in most cases. It depends on the terrain and surroundings, but hideouts shouldn't be built right next to a trail anyway. So with enough distance and covering it from the outside, it should be okay."
"A decent earthbender can also cover foot tracks reasonably well, or even make it seem like it was an animal passing through. They just can't change any damage done to plant life and such."
"No matter who you are, you should try not to harm the life surrounding you."
Tulimak ignored that comment, instead returning the focus to the subject at hand.
"So, Avatar Aang, which areas are you familiar with?"
00000
On the other side of the yurt, the debate was just as intense. Katara had listened in on them upon Hakoda's suggestion, as they were the group discussing naval aspects and she wanted to understand what they were discussing before adding her thoughts.
"So there was a barricade before the Fire Nation when you went to Crescent Island?!. How long did that take you?"
"Yes, there was a barricade. To Crescent Island, it's about a day's travel from Senlin Village in the Earth Kingdom." Sokka replied.
"Zuko followed you with his ship. He could keep up with it?"
"Yes, but he didn't have the type of ship you see nowadays, his ship was a smaller model."
"Were you ever in it?"
"No, but Aang was. But I don't think knowing about that is gonna help you much, his ship was the only one with that model that I've seen around, and I don't know what happened to it, but I haven't seen it since before the Siege of the North."
"That's fair. So, anyway. So if we're coming from the east, closest to the Earth Kingdom, looking at that distance for reference, it's going to take us at least eight days to get to the capital by ship. Probably longer." Aniu said. "And I think it would be better if we came from the back or from north or south, just not along the string of islands, as there's gonna be more naval activity around there."
"By the looks of Zuko's map. There's a naval base at the east side of the main island, too." Sokka said.
"What do we know about the currents and wind surrounding that area?" Siimaktuk asked, changing the subject.
Turned out, they knew the rough ocean currents surrounding the isles, but not how they affected the isles themselves. Same with the wind. Katara didn't have much to contribute there, either. They went on talking about possible routes to approach the Fire Nation undetected.
"So, we have a military base here, and here, I think going between islands is out as the only way we could approach Caldera City, would be through those gates. The backside of the island has less protection, but by the looks of the map, there's a lot of difficult terrain and mountains." Anju pointed out.
"I'm still for hijacking a Fire Nation battleship," Siimaktuk said.
That was when Katara finally decided to say something. "Maybe we should talk about who else to recruit for our mission and see what skills they may add to our forces, instead of talking in circles."
"Yeah," Sokka said, "Katara's right. And so was Zuko, we can't run a Fire Nation ship. Where would we get the coal from, and anyway, those ships have commanders that have to report back to someone, if we're going to send people to land in small groups, we're going to be playing a long game, a Fire Nation ship would draw a lot of attention if it followed its own course."
"Ugh, those are good points," Aniu admitted.
"So, I think with our own ships, the problem is that you can see them from afar. If we could get around that somehow, it would be great." Katara said.
"And what do you want us to do? Row a canoe down to the Fire Nation? You got no idea about anything."
"Siimaktuk." Bato warned, "We're all on the same boat here, we're not here to fight."
"Waterbending doesn't require sails. And we can move ships quite well this way."
"So, you're telling us to get those coward slush sluggers to help us? They holed themselves up for the last 80 years, they're not gonna come out now. And also, we don't want them to. I'm sure they'd think they're better than us for having the ability to waterbend."
"The Northern Water Tribe aren't the only waterbenders left." Katara's voice was steady. "There are people in the Foggy Swamp, they're a bit eccentric, but they're good people, and they'd probably help us, what do you think Sokka?"
Katara looked over to her brother, who was touching his chin, in thought. "I was just thinking that if we don't want to be seen, we should figure out a way to stay underwater. Not for the whole distance, I mean, but maybe to go to land. I need to get in contact with the mechanist. If he can make war balloons that fly, I'm sure he can figure out how to make a boat that can dive temporarily. Hmm, maybe I'll be able to figure out something too, but he could help for sure."
"A war balloon that flies?" Siimaktuk asked with big eyes.
"Yeh, but that's not gonna help us right now, so let's stay on topic," Sokka said.
"We'd also need to pick up all our allies and get them to those drop-off points. If we travel in small groups, our fleet also wouldn't get overcrowded, so that would be good." Katara pointed out.
"Yeh, and we'd probably need some place to store the diving boat when we aren't using it, but I see that there are quite a few small islands surrounding the mainland, I'm sure we'll be able to find something."
00000
Things seemed to be going well, but after a couple of hours, and when Zuko informed him, that he had completed the requested blueprints to the best of his ability. He called for a break. Zuko suggested showing them how to capture hawks, as he'd apparently seen some wild ones flying just along the cliffs. Hakoda hadn't paid much attention to those birds, only the seagulls and nesting birds on the cliffside itself, as they were a source of food.
Somehow, Zuko managed to talk him into leading a group of three of his men, to teach them how to capture birds alive. He still couldn't quite believe that he did trust Zuko enough to let him do that, but Hakoda had long since realised that Zuko could have fought, or snuck his way out of camp whenever he wanted. Since he hadn't run off up till now, Hakoda was willing to take a leap and trust Zuko that he wasn't going to lead his men away to kill them off one by one.
Instead, he looked over the maps that Zuko and Juoksa had created together.
00000
The siblings had gathered with Toph and Aang. Those with eyesight were watching Zuko's group walking up the small path on the cliffside from afar. For Toph, it was getting too far to keep track of, and just like the others, she couldn't help but worry.
"Would someone be so kind and tell me what's going on?" Sokka requested, finally breaking the silence.
They awkwardly turned to him. "I can tell something is going on, but we're not going to get anywhere with it if you keep me out of it. And since it seems to have to do with Zuko storming off yesterday, I think it probably is a matter for the whole group. So it would really help if someone let me in on what's going on." he pressed.
Toph finally moved, and in an uncharacteristically weak voice tried to gather her thoughts. "I… I tried to apologise to Zuko yesterday, and. Ugh, tell him that he doesn't owe me a life debt, turns out, there were some massive misunderstandings between him and us. He drew his own conclusions out of how we treated him, I should have known, but I really hadn't seen it coming. I was so blind." She fidgeted.
"You did nothing wrong, Toph." Katara reassured, "but we do need to talk about it. We need to find a way to make amends to him."
"So, what conclusions did he draw?" Sokka asked, still not quite getting the full picture.
"Well, one was that he owed me, well, us, a life debt."
"Flying hog monkeys," Aang exclaimed. "Zuko even explained this to us after we visited Diptam. He said that she took him for a debt slave. I thought that he had just gone along with it because we had told him to not draw attention. I never even considered that he actually believed any of it."
Toph shook her head. "Neither did I. Though if I remember right, he argued that in a way it was true, I guess we just weren't ready to listen. But yeh, it was obvious that he was trying to pay us back by doing chores and helping out. He volunteered a lot, and I know you Sokka, and Aang, were very happy to shove those chores off to him. Then, when I tried to tell him that he had saved all our lives at the library, he disagreed. And when we told him that he didn't deserve what happened to him, he argued that he did a lot of bad things. We refuted his claims. I think it broke something in him."
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.
"He said, he could have left, he repeated it over and over and then said that he put up with so much of our shit while he could have just left. That was right before he stomped away and did whatever he did down at the beach. He was super upset."
"Oh. Well. I don't think we would have just let him leave."
"No, we definitely didn't treat him like he was allowed to leave. The problem with it is, that when I told him that he doesn't owe us, I basically refused to acknowledge his efforts of helping us to repay something, and reduced him to a prisoner. I rescued him, I didn't do so to keep him a prisoner. And I hadn't wanted him to leave initially because he was in such bad shape, I was worried that he'd get captured again, or die in a ditch alone because he was too weak to fend for himself." Toph admitted.
"I see. I'm sorry. I guess I'm partially to blame for that." Sokka mused, sheepish. "I did treat him like a prisoner till after the library. Because of that, he had no reason, after we discovered his identity, to believe we were keeping him around because we didn't want him to die. And admittedly, I was thinking, keep our enemy close. I didn't care about his well-being, I thought he was going to try something."
"The saddest thing about this, Sokka, is that he respects you for how you treated him. Because how you treated him was the only thing that made sense to him." Toph said. "I should have realised it, but we were all so ignorant. We didn't even think that far." Toph's voice was weak and brittle from shame.
"Toph, it wasn't your fault," Aang repeated. "But you're right, we were ignorant. We never even questioned the situation, but also, we really had no reason to. He never mentioned anything about leaving."
Katara picked up where Aang left off: "I think he knew he was too weak to leave on his own. He could barely walk any sort of distance, he was sick and had no energy reserves at all. He had nothing. And then we found out who he was."
"So what do we do?"
"I don't know. He is helping us now. I guess he's on our side now, but he feels stuck here anyway. We took away his choice. I feel so bad about that now." Toph said.
"I think we all feel bad about it, but at the same time, I'm glad to have him on board, it's a game changer, and in the end, he wants the same thing as us. He wants peace," pointed Katara out.
"I think we should give him a choice. After we leave here, I mean." Aang said.
"I guess you're right," Toph said quietly. "But I don't want him to go."
"That's not for us to decide. Zuko deserves to be free. It was wrong to keep him as a prisoner in the first place."
Sokka wasn't quite ready to sign that statement, but Zuko certainly hadn't deserved how they had treated him. He stayed quiet to keep the peace.
00000
Zuko breathed in the fresh, foresty, scent that surrounded them. Nukilik, a hunter named Kavrak, and Juoksa, had come with. He'd told them roughly about how this was going to work, and really that they didn't need to be four people. But Hakoda had insisted. Kavrak was carrying containers with fish guts in a basket to put in the bird once they caught it. Nukilik had some firewood, Juoksa a net and shovel, and Zuko had taken a couple of logs with him to secure the net.
He had already spotted the hawk circling above them, so he searched for a spot with a bit of space and started to dig a little ditch. Once he was done, he put some visibly red meat into the ditch, then he instructed the men to spread the net and secure it with the logs, cover up the excess of the net and make sure it wouldn't move.
He piled up the firewood, added a bit of meat to get the smell up in the air, and with a flick of his wrist, set it on fire. He pointedly ignored the stares of Kavrak and Juoksa. Then he ordered the men to retreat behind some cover and pointed out that all there was left to do was to wait for the bird to smell the smoke and meat in the air, see the bait, and take a dive for it.
"Once you have captured it, you cover his eyes with this," he held out a bit of fabric that he had improvised into a bird hood " put it into the basket and make sure to cover it securely. Then set up the trap again. If you're lucky, another hawk will fall for it. So, who'd like to stay?"
Kavrak volunteered. "I can, you're just going to go back down?"
"This may take a couple of hours, I don't see why we all should stay up here, as said, it's just a waiting game at this point."
Zuko turned to go and the other two followed him quickly.
"I thought for sure that you'd want to stay away for a bit and air out your head or something, you argued to be part of this, instead of just explaining it. You wanted to get away from camp," Nukilik said after a few minutes.
"War plans don't make themselves," Zuko replied curtly. Yeh, he'd have loved to stay out here: Anything but return to camp. Nukilik was right, he'd arranged this so he could get away for a little while, but they all had a duty, and this was his, whether he liked it or not.
"You know quite a bit about this, I didn't expect a Prince to have this much practical knowledge," Juoksa said, trying to keep the conversation going.
Zuko shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted a hawk after I was banished. My Uncle explained to me how to catch one. So I caught one and kept it, taught it to be my personal messenger hawk, and just to have him hang out with me when I went on land too. He died a bit over half a year ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Juoksa quietly said.
The rest of the walk back to camp was done in silence. Zuko was glad.
00000
They had had a decent break, Zuko had gotten to eat and train a bit on the beach once more, after returning from trap-making. But then the meeting continued.
The groups each presented what they had been discussing. The idea on the naval side was to bring people close to the Fire Nation's shores, possibly from the backside of the island that Caldera City was on, and drop them off in boats that had the ability to dive, so they could cover the last distance undetected. Zuko had never heard of any boats for underwater usage, so he was doubtful, but that didn't mean that it wasn't possible. He just wondered how long it would take them to develop those.
Beyond that big question mark, the idea was that they would cross the land on foot, and build shelters along the way for other groups, to store materials and such. It seemed like a decent system. They hadn't decided on where exactly to gather their forces yet, however.
Zuko was questioned about the Western Fleet and which routes it took, to which he replied what he knew about it.
The second group presented possible landing points. There were about four spots that they had deemed realistic, not too close to any villages, and not too far away from Caldera city. Zuko did point out what he knew about the terrain, which ruled out at least one, and pointed out the proximity to the Western Naval Base on another.
At last, Hakoda requested him to explain the new blueprints. Zuko swallowed and stepped up. He let Juoksa hold up the map for everyone to see. It was a map of Furninkazan, Caldera City. and its surroundings, including the landing bay.
Zuko had even drawn some rough contour lines to give them a better sense of topography.
"So, the Capital is divided into several districts. The Harbor City and surroundings at the foot of the crater, and the Royal City in the crater. These lines here are footpaths, they're all rather small. The official route to the city is to the front only. The path, as you see, zig-zags up the hillside, and for good reason: It's steep.
Along the bay is the Royal Plaza, surrounded by cliffs with bunkers at their bases, where they keep tanks at the ready. Those cliffs are literal cliffs, they go pretty much straight down, and there are archers and catapults stationed up there. About twelve Empire-Class Fire Nation war ships fit into the harbor, if I remember right. That here, just northwest outside of the city, is the royal prison…."
He went back to pointing into the city itself. "Furninkazan is for the Fire Nation Elite. Around the Caldera are watchtowers with battlements every hundred yards, same with the pathway up. To enter, you need to go through the main gate which essentially is a small tunnel. I remember the main road, but I can't draw every single house, just the important buildings. Buildings are taller than elsewhere in the Fire Nation because space is limited within the crater. The street system is like a spiderweb, the main road is wider. We got lakes, the Fire Sage temple, here. At this side the market area and workshops, they are close together. The nobility lives more to the other side, the royal academies are situated there as well, and at the very centre, is the Palace.."
He grabbed the second blueprint he'd worked on this morning.
"This is the Palace. The Palace gates are here, guards are spread out strategically. On the walls, there are Yuyan archers stationed. Here are the sleeping quarters of the servants and this building is for the military stationed at the palace. This is the Throne Room, war meetings are held here as well. And these are the Royal Quarters. This here used to be my room, this one's Azula's, here the Fire Lady's quarters, and these are the Fire Lord's quarters and his study." He strategically went through all the important locations. "We have Royal Gardens, and at the backside, there's a Hawkery. So, yeah, that's about it."
The room was quiet having been flooded with so much information. Sokka started the conversation anew.
"So, we could approach the city via footpaths, but we'd be starkly visible. But I guess we'll be visible wherever. Why did you draw the edges of the caldera bumpy like that?"
"Those are cliffs, they tower over the city like big claws, for lack of better words."
"So an earthbender could make them drop onto the city?" Siimaktuk exclaimed. "Useful."
"Absolutely not." Zuko turned to the man. "You're going to cause mass destruction, and unless you can hit the palace directly, which you won't because it's in the centre. You're only going to harm the civilians like that. I'm not letting you do that."
Siimaktuk and Thyrnir laughed at that exclamation, but a sharp gaze by Hakoda shut them up promptly.
"We need these streets intact for a quick infiltration, we're not going to get to the palace in time if we don't see anything in the dust it creates and end up stumbling over rubble."
"Apropros, Zuko, do you think we can infiltrate the city beforehand? Well, maybe not we specifically. But potentially someone with lighter skin and such, to blend in..."
"Uh, you're definitely going to be noticed in the Capital. You might have a chance in surrounding villages, though. But yeh, I don't think you could pull off an infiltration in the Capital, simply because there are so many social rules that you got to mind, in addition to standing out because you look foreign."
"Too bad, that would have been interesting and helpful."
"So, are there lookouts on the edge of the caldera?"
"Yeah, as said, there are watchtowers every hundred yards, they're manned."
"But you could just go up there at night and have earthbenders conceal you in the ground until you're ready, that should work, right, Toph?" Aang asked.
"Would probably displace the plantlife a bit, but if we knew where the lookouts are posted, we may be able to keep that out of sight. But I think it also depends on the plant life and how easily visible the flanks of the volcano are as a whole."
"They're pretty flat and mostly just covered with grass and small shrubbery, not really anything to conceal yourself with. I also just don't know exactly where the watchtowers are placed, I just know that they're a hundred yards apart. And I don't know how visible those structures are from afar, they might just be a slit in a stone in some places." Zuko answered the unspoken question.
"If we have some earthbenders on board, they could just create a tunnel to the caldera floor through the wall. Shouldn't be as visible from above." Toph said. "Plus less climbing. Of course, it depends on how far sunken the crater is, and how stable the stone. But yeh, you could probably create a tunnel into it. That way, we could attack from an angle they're probably not expecting, and probably have the surprise on our side.."
"Sounds like a plan. But do be careful, the earthbending would need to be very careful. The Caldera is rightfully named, it is still a volcano. It is presumed extinct, but we still check to see for any signs of her waking. Coupled with fragile rock, it will be a challenge" Zuko cautioned.
Toph cracked her knuckles, "I love a good challenge", as Zuko smiled briefly, before schooling himself.
"Hey, Zuko, besides the lake and such, does the city and palace have any decent water sources? Especially in the palace?" Katara took over.
"Uh, let me think. There are sewers and some fountains. There's a little turtle duck pond in the Royal Gardens part too." he said the last part with a pained expression.
Uninterested in water that he couldn't do anything with, Tulimak changed the subject. "So, we'll need to protect ourselves from arrows, right? Heard that those Yuyan Archers are pretty damn good."
"They are the best." Zuko simply said.
"We could probably make and bring catapults. How flammable is the palace?"
"Not very much, too many firebenders live there. We tend to steer away from using wood for reasons…" Zuko replied... "I'm sure it's a bit different in the countryside."
"Ah, too bad. Would have loved to see the fire spread."
"We don't let fires spread. We put them out before they get big." Zuko replied; something was off about this whole discussion.
Hakoda decided to step in, there were reasons they weren't sharing every detail with the Prince, this was getting too close for comfort. "So catapults, rams, we'll have waterbenders and earthbenders. Ideally, we'd find a way to stop the Yuyan Archers. Zuko, you also said that everyone knows basic self-defence. Is that right? What about weapon wielding?"
"Yes, basic hand-to-hand combat is standard knowledge. But why are you asking me about that? You should be thinking more about how to combat firebending. And yeh, water is decent, as are thick walls. But this city is full of benders, good ones at that. Earthbenders may destabilise their surroundings, and the water supply is limited. If it evaporates, it not only may it hurt you in the process, it may also be lost to the air, and get out of reach. And fire also eats up the air, if you get trapped in it, you'll be in trouble."
"Thanks for the heads-up, but we know how dangerous fire is." Thynir deadpanned
"We'll look into how to possibly create something to protect us with the materials we'll have at the ready," Bato said appeasingly.
"Let's take a break," Hakoda announced finally. Seeing that the mood was heating up.
So the people scattered outside and Zuko stepped out, breathing in the ocean air gladly.
Some three hours had passed since they had entered the yurt and he was exhausted.
00000
Zuko had just refilled his waterskin when Aang bounced into his personal space.
"Hey Zuko, what happened to the old Fire Nation script? I can't read the new one at all. And I was struggling with the old one already, why did they change it?"
"Let's go over to the logs so we can sit down." Zuko was tired, but Aang's question was fair, and Aang knowing this, may help, and it would distract him from how to handle the group. Toph, who was nearby, joined them.
"So, I'll start from the beginning: The old Fire Nation script was an adaption from the Earth Kingdom script, but since our languages differ quite a bit, it wasn't really working out for us. See, The Earth Kingdom script works perfectly for Trade language and Earth Kingdom court speech, but not ideal for Water Tribe languages, nor for my mother tongue. The grammatical structure is fundamentally different, so we adapted the script."
Zuko drew a bunch of characters into the ground. "The problem was that we had recycled characters by their corresponding sound in trade language, instead of by their meaning." He voiced the examples he'd written on the ground. "But despite not being compatible with each other, the characters meaning and their phonetics, both systems were used. Sometimes side by side. As an example: For accounting, the Earth Kingdom script is perfect, but it wasn't able to capture and represent our language, so the letter accompanying it was written in the old Fire Nation script. It only made sense if you imagined the sounds of the characters, and ignored their meaning. "
"So that's why the Fire Nation Poems always seemed like total gibberish to me," Toph exclaimed loudly, very pleased with herself.
"Yeh, they were written in the old Fire Nation script as well. But yes, they were a hassle to write and confusing, so Sozin ordered to improve it. He empowered and promoted our language, made us proud of it. Today's syllabary is made of simplified characters with fewer strokes, so it's more concise and faster to write as well. And it lets us combine it with Earth Kingdom characters to clarify further." Zuko explained, drawing the new version of characters next to his examples of the old ones. "It's different in the military, however: Everything is just written with the new script, so no one can read any message in parts because of the Earth Kingdom characters. It presents other difficulties, but is safer if intercepted."
"Oh. That's interesting. Sounds messy though. So, can people still read the old Fire Nation script?" Aang said.
"It's still used in some place names as well as names in general. And I of course learned it because I have to be able to read historical reports, but I don't think it's taught much anymore to the general population."
"Can you teach me the new one?"
"Ugh, I guess I can, but if I'm already doing this, let's see if anyone else is interested. It would help if someone from the Tribe knew it as well, for one, to fit in when in the Fire Nation, and to at least attempt to read anything they may manage to intercept."
In the end, Sokka, as well as Juoksa and Bato joined them. And Toph just kinda sat next to them as Zuko drew the symbols into the sand in an effort to teach. He'd have to write this out on paper as well, but if he could get them to understand the principle, and learn the alphabetical order, they would be able to reconstruct it from a chart just fine.
At one point, Kavrak walked up to them, not one, but two birds richer, presenting them with a proud smile. Zuko went to help him take care of the birds, a small smile of his own on his face.
He went to bed exhausted that day.
00000
Napatki didn't bother him when he went to meditate early in the morning this time.
When Zuko was done, he saw him awkwardly helping Katara in the cooking area. Zuko got his share of food and picked a quiet place.
Way too soon, everyone was ready for another meeting.
Having slept over it a night, had stirred some thoughts and new enthusiasm. New ideas were coming up. Surround the palace. Take care of lookouts around Caldera before the attack. Use mist as a cover for Yuyan Archers. All kinds of ideas were floating around.
There also were a lot of one on one discussions disrupting the plenum today. Two people were discussing possible spots for a base camp, holding Zuko's first map in hand. Zuko joined the conversation, giving input, trying to remember a word, when he looked up, to see their dumbfounded expressions.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"You… speak Water Tribe," Aniu exclaimed. "And pretty good at that. Ugh, so you were understanding everything we said the whole time."
Oops, Zuko had given himself away.
"Where did you learn?" Tulimak asked.
Zuko explained that he'd learned with old texts and Uncle's help.
They both looked at him strangely and were quiet after that, caught up in the idea of just how dangerous and learned the Prince and the Dragon of the West were.
Zuko turned back to the main discussion and was once again baffled at the blatant omission of discussing firebending attacks. It had caught his attention the day before already, but it struck him as really strange that they were talking as if it didn't exist. Zuko knew they damn well knew whose home they were planning to invade.
It made him wonder what he was missing.
At another ignorant comment, he finally exploded, slightly. "You can't just waltz into the palace with your weapons drawn and think that people are just going to let you in without a fight. There's going to be ground troops stationed within the palace, Fire Bending elite ground troops."
"Yeh, so? They won't have their bending." Siimaktuk said offhandedly, before his face fell in realisation, and Zuko finally connected the dots in his mind.
"The Day of Black Sun. That's your plan."
.
A/N:
Ystävä:
So, how do I start? Some friends have bugged me to get tumblr and I finally caved. Come find me on there, the name's y-s-t-v, and I have no clue what I'm doing.
Writing Katara's part, I was not prepared. It sent me down a lane of self-discovery of how I stand towards the subject of feminism and also a bit down history lane and how blindsided I had been, just knowing my own country's history on the subject, but not of any other. I guess I really just never had had to think about it before, which just further shows how privileged we are nowadays.
Having Zuko explain the writing system and reform was very fun. As some of you may have guessed already, I did base it on the history of the Japanese writing system. They really did have a writing system that used Chinese hanzhi for their sounds instead of meanings around 650CE, called Man'yōgana, it was used as a basis to create the simplified syllabaries(Hiragana & Katakana) that we know today. It was the women's alphabet, as they often were denied higher education, and it also made it possible to represent the japanese sounds, which lead to it often being used in japanese poetry.
ML8991:
Uh oh, the cat is out the bag, and well, it is going to be hard to get it under control. But yeh, we are coming towards the conclusion of these long talks, and it was fun to explore a lot of elements here in the downtime. Having an approach into dating culture with Napatki trying to see how to woo Katara, miserably as it turns out, but still, that was fun, and not expected I imagine. Further, finally we get the girls involved. It was great to have the chance to show that Toph and Katara are truly assets, and not just clever for their bending prowess, they deserved to be there on their own merits, and it shows.
As you may have gathered, our plan to The Day of Black Sun is quite different to canon, but not ignoring what canon has given us. It simply doesn't make much sense, we found as we were writing, to try and hedge bets on such a small time frame, and not do anything around that, so we have set the scene for the actors to take a more proactive role in the weeks leading up to the battle itself. Otherwise, the hawkery scene has its nod to the pilot, as well as gives us a fun downtime moment that isn't stuck in the beach. So I hope you guys enjoyed that as well, with it giving us also the perspective of the Gaang on how to now handle Zuko, as they know they've done wrong, now to figure out how to fix it.
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Looking forward to reading all of your thoughts in the comments :) Otherwise, till next time.