The night was late but not silent. In the Water Tribe, Hakoda was training a different rotation of warriors. Bato's group was at home, subtly keeping watch to be sure that Zhao and all the other soldiers stayed away from the storehouse. As long as they did, the trainees were safe and though "safe" is not what any of the tribesmen would have considered their people while the Fire Nation resided there, anything helped.
"This needs to be sharper," Hakoda instructed, inspecting a new spear being made.
The warrior took the note and began making the needed adjustments. Moving on from him, the chief looked at the other weapons which were being made. They were good even if he doubted there were enough.
"Do you know when we'll be ready, Chief?" he was asked.
Hakoda paused, trying to think of an answer to this. He was not sure he had one.
"Once we're ready, I'll know, but I'm not sure when that will be yet."
It was all he could offer. Things like that required reason and instincts. Would they ever truly be ready to fend off troops while their weapons were in short supply? Most likely not, but they could be as ready as possible.
"They forced out another family," someone mentioned. "An older couple has to live in a small shelter now until those soldier scum decide they're done making new buildings."
"It's not just them. Some cousins of mine were kicked out earlier today."
As Hakoda heard them talking, he felt his anger increasing. His people risked dying in the cold and he was stuck just having them make weapons and train. A lot of good that training would do them when their food was inevitably limited so that the soldiers could eat instead of them. He needed to prepare for that and had. The storehouse had hidden compartments which would easily go unnoticed by outsiders. In them, more food was kept. The same could be said for some areas outside of the village. That was a benefit of snow and ice–they could keep food fresh for a while. Even if the soldiers thought they were taking everything from the people, they would still survive. The chief just wished that they could thrive as well.
"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" someone asked, snapping Hakoda out of his deep concentration.
"For now, try to seem non-confrontational. It won't help us to act like we want to fight. They'll be more surprised if they assume we've given up hope." He paused as a sickening but potentially helpful thought occurred to him. "Don't make eye contact with them. If they see you with your heads down, they'll assume your spirits are just as low."
"We've never bowed to anyone before."
"We're not bowing, we're deceiving. They already feel superior. It won't take much convincing to make them believe we agree with them. We don't have to, but it could let them put their guard down."
Despite not enjoying the sound of his plan, the others nodded and continued making more weapons. As this transpired, Azula was walking down the hallway. She stopped when she reached a door, then knocked.
"It's me," she said.
"Come in," came the calm response.
Azula entered and smiled at her father. He returned the expression for her, but there was a tiredness in his eyes which troubled the girl.
"What's going on?"
Ozai looked down at the world map and glared. "My plan is taking too long."
"I can offer some excitement until it does. I've got some news."
This piqued the man's interest. "What have you discovered?"
"Zuzu's got a pet."
It hardly took two moments for the prince to understand her meaning. When he did, his eyes flashed furiously.
"That little traitor," he hissed.
Azula smiled at his rage. "I thought the same, but I wonder if nothing should happen just yet."
Lifting an eyebrow, he regarded her curiously. "You, of all people, want me to show your brother mercy?"
"I wish you wouldn't call him that," the princess said, grimacing. "It's not that I want him to be shown mercy, but he can help us."
"How? Nothing he has ever done has helped us."
"Not yet, but he is lulling those animals into a false sense of security. It could be more fun to break their spirits if they first think that they have hope."
Ozai stroked his beard. "I've heard from the soldiers that the former chief openly opposed an admiral. Those barbarians are proud of their savagery and lack the intelligence needed to understand that they've been conquered. Perhaps these direct methods are futile. They should be discouraged already, but if they cannot grasp that, feeding into their stupidity could be useful."
"So, you like my idea?"
"I do. For the time being, I'll allow Zuko to continue with his ventures into the tribe." He paused, considering something. "Do you know who this person is?"
"Not yet, but I can."
"Good. Find out the next time he goes."
"I'll do that. He's probably on his way already."
With a nod of his head, the father sent her out to begin her observation. Azula was right that Zuko had already left, but he did so with hesitation.
"I can't just stop," he thought. "She'll tell Dad if I do, but if I go, I could just make things worse for everyone. Of course, a bored Azula is an extra dangerous one, so maybe they'd be better off if I just go after all."
Sighing, he decided to just risk it and go. He made his way to the agreed upon location and waited a short time before Sokka arrived. The boy had a determined look on his face.
"Hey," he said, voice almost tense.
"Is something wrong?" Zuko asked him.
"No, but I've got a different question for you than normal. You said that you know how to sword fight…could you teach me?"
An ensuing silence made Sokka worry that he had pushed his luck too much and crossed a line. Zuko just looked at him, thoughts racing in his mind.
"If Dad finds out I've actually helped him," he thought, "there's no coming back from that, but I don't think there's any coming back from any of this. The fact that I've been here at all is enough for me to be an enemy in his eyes. If he thinks Sokka doesn't hate me, that already puts him in danger too. At least if I teach him how to use a sword, he'll be a bit of a harder target to hit. He even would have been easy for me to kill, so I know Dad or Azula wouldn't get a hair out of place."
"It was a dumb question," Sokka said, losing his nerve. "Forget I asked."
"No, it wasn't dumb. I'll teach you starting tomorrow."
Sokka's eyes widened and then he grinned. "Thanks!"
"You're welcome." Zuko stopped briefly. "Is that why you were upset with your dad? He wouldn't teach you how to fight?"
Realizing it was probably pointless to pretend otherwise, the boy nodded. "Yeah. It's frustrating. I can't do anything but sit, watch, and hope nothing happens to anyone I care about. At least if I can fight, I'll be able to do something."
Something occurred to Sokka and even though he wanted to ignore it, it kept bothering him. Still, he tried to keep it inside and succeeded for a little bit.
"They're probably planning a revolt soon," Zuko mentioned, not really expecting an answer.
Sokka paled when he said this.
"I didn't see or hear anything, but if your dad's anything like you, I can't imagine he'd be fine just bowing to someone who came and tried to take over."
This made the Water Tribe boy feel slightly better. "You don't seem upset about that possibility."
"Because I'm not. Why shouldn't you fight for your home? Most leaders of the Fire Nation are cruel. I wouldn't want to have my home taken over by them either." Zuko's face became sadder. "As fun as these talks have been, we have to be realistic. This is war. That means people are going to get hurt and worse. I don't want that to be any of you, but I also don't want that to be the innocent Fire Nation citizens back home. There are plenty who haven't done anything to hurt people from other nations and are as innocent in this war as anybody else."
"I wouldn't want them to get hurt either."
"But you're probably alone in that," Zuko said, sighing. "I bet your dad and everyone else here would want to get rid of anyone in the Fire Nation and it's because so many of us have acted horribly. They make everyone look bad."
Sokka wanted to disagree, but he knew he would be lying if he did. Instead, he chose to ask another question.
"What's a future you'd want to have?"
The red-wearing boy thought about this. "Just one where people didn't have to be afraid so much I guess. I don't know the specifics. I haven't thought much about it. What about you?"
"Well, now my plan of taking over the world seems a bit in poor taste…"
After a moment, Zuko heard the joking tone, but he did not laugh with the other boy. Sokka noticed and tilted his head at him.
"You've got to loosen up some, Pal."
"'Pal?'"
It came out faster than Sokka could stop himself. "I-it's just something we say here."
"Oh. Well, what would you want from the future?"
"What you said sounds pretty nice, but I'd also like for the nations to intermingle some. I've actually enjoyed learning about the Fire Nation. If I wasn't worried about a soldier arresting and/or killing me, I'd want to travel there one day just to get more ash banana bread. But seriously, it would be pretty great if all the nations could come together." His expression turned sullen. "I guess that it would just be the three nations, though."
"It's too bad we can't go back in time and stop the attack before it even happens."
Sokka smirked. "Yeah, I can see us now–Sokka and Zuko, defenders of the Air Temples. I'd give us a solid five minutes before we got killed."
"Well, I didn't teach you any sword fighting yet, so five for me and two for you."
A laugh came out of the shorter boy. "So you do have a sense of humor."
Zuko had a small smile on his face, but it faded when he saw the worried look on Sokka's face. There was that thought he had coming back again.
"What if they find out about you training me? What would happen to you?"
Looking at the snow, the prince answered. "I don't think it would be any worse for me than it would be for the fact that we're talking in the first place. You don't have to worry."
"But hypothetically if I did…would they kill you for something like this or would you get a pass since you're a kid?"
Zuko had a strong feeling he knew the truth, but his answer was different. "I don't actually know. This would be the first time a situation like this came up."
"Well, I hope that no one finds out then."
The older boy just nodded, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in his stomach. He was right to be nervous because just far enough away to not be noticed was his sister. Her amber eyes were locked on Sokka and she stayed just long enough to get a good mental image of him when she closed her eyes. Then, she returned home and went to find her father. She described what she saw and a small, sinister smile spread across his face.
"Well done. It's always better to know as much as we can about our enemies." He turned away from her to put up some belongings. "I will be gone until the evening after tomorrow."
"Where are you going?"
"I received information that your uncle will be in a small tea shop near Ba Sing Se. He doesn't know that I'm coming, but he and I need to talk."
"Do you have to go? Can't you send him a letter?"
"No, he would just dismiss it. I need to see him in-person. With the siege going the way it is, I doubt he'll have time to come visit us any time soon."
Azula rolled her eyes. "And yet he's wasting time at a tea shop."
Her father nodded. "Let this be a lesson to you: don't have foolish quirks. He has many and his love of tea is one of them. It makes him predictable. I doubt he wants to see me, but he's provided me with what I need to know to make this happen."
"I can ensure that the soldiers will be productive while you're gone."
"I have no doubt about that. I trust this mission is in good hands being with you."
Ozai took his possessions and left to board a different vessel. It was smaller but faster and he had no intention of being around his brother any longer than necessary to accomplish his goal. He gave a small smile to Azula who waved goodbye to him. It would be odd to be away from him, but it filled her with confidence that he had such faith in her. Well, she supposed it only made sense that he did. She had never done anything to prove unworthy of that faith and she would not. Azula was the good twin and cherished being that. One day, they would lead together and she was going to be prepared for that day.
