"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," Katara complains under the guise of criticism. Not really disguised, though.
"That doesn't make any sense. We already came through this way," Sokka considers his parchment. He did indeed make little markers for every ten steps he took, and whether he felt like we were moving up or down.
"We don't need a map. We just need love," Chong proclaims and gestures to Aang, "The little guy knows it."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map, also," Avatar Diplomatic demurs.
Sokka walks a few paces, "There's something strange here."
He considers the wall, his map and then looks at us to announce, "There is only one explanation. The tunnels are changing."
Dun-dun-duuuun.
Oh, right. Some kind of huge natural earthbender-mole-creatures that also taught Toph how to bend because she's also blind live here. That makes sense, about as much as my thumbnail's worth, but… no. My thumbnail is very useful. So. More like my little finger's nail's worth. Now, if only we could ask the moles to see us out safely.
Chong is panicking, Aang valiantly tries to believe in the power of love and Sokka is making a face that I think means he's figuring out a plan.
"It must be the curse," Chong intones wandering in a circle, changing directions and holding his cheeks. "I knew we shouldn'a come down here."
"Right. If only we listened to you," Sokka snaps, gesturing with the torch. We're on the third one already. Well. Whether we can find our way outside or not doesn't really depend on the torches. If the moles are already changing our tunnels without us noticing, less light, so less stimuli might make us more focused on what we need to hear, rather than seeing.
"Everyone quiet. Listen!" Katara hisses. Ah. It's like she read my mind.
It sounds vaguely threatening. But right now, everything sounds vaguely threatening to my ears.
The wolfbat that sweeps in looks… not threatening. More like an experiment gone wrong. I'm getting strong Resident Evil shivers. Nonetheless, Sokka seems to think it's something to be burnt alive and tries to skewer it with the torch.
He hits it. But he also lets it go and it lands on one of Appa's feet.
There's no stopping a panicked flying bison.
The ceiling comes down on us. Oh shit.
Then, a strong gust of wind from Aang knocks us all out of the way and he tackles Katara to the ground. Nice save there, Avatar.
Phew.
Sokka immediately begins to dig.
"Yeah, it's no use. We're separated," then Chong says something that once again reminds me how observant this guy is, "At least you have us, heh-he."
"Nooo!" Sokka wails and is promptly buried beneath a pile of smaller rocks.
I laugh at him and pull him out by his ankles, which he struggles against. He's quite strong. He looks miserable until he sees my face. "Hey, Kaito. I thought you were with Aang and Katara."
I shrug. "You need to be more aware of your surroundings, Sokka," I lecture and stroke my chin. He looks fine. No bleeding and probably not a concussion. Not, that I would have any idea how to diagnose that. So there's no point in checking him over for injuries. Maybe I should've spent more time with Yugoda.
It gets a grin out of him. He draws himself up. It looks endearing so I pat his head and earn a weird look, which he then shakes off. "Alright! The wolfbat! It must've come from somewhere! It needs to eat. So how…?"
"We follow the draft," I say and unscrew my water skin.
"What…?" Sokka questions, then, as I bend some of the water into mist that shimmers in the light of the torch, his eyes light up in understanding. "Oh! Brilliant."
We have to wait a few moments, but the mist finally drifts towards one of the tunnels. To save water, I bend it back into my water skin. We repeat the process every hundred paces, in case the tunnels have changed again.
At some point, Chong makes the suggestion to amplify our plan with a love song. Sokka's expression is hilariously sour and pleased at the same time.
"Ah, Sokka, for someone who believes in curses, not to believe in love is kind of…" Moku finally says, once they've finished the song. It's taken him a while to figure that out.
Sokka bristles, but doesn't answer.
I sling a placating arm across his shoulders. "Oh, Sokka does believe in lurve, doesn't he?" I wink at him. "After all, his girlfriend's the moon now."
"Oh, so romantic," Lily sighs and Shuika nods. Even though it's not. It's really fucking not.
Sokka's face reddens, even as he frowns at my insensitivity.
Ah, we can't all be a caring sister, or an empathic Avatar. Besides, Sokka needs to talk about this with someone. The nomads will at least make a song of it.
"Yes, very. You see, she was the princess of the Northern Watertribe and forced into an arranged marriage out of a duty to her people. When the Fire Nation lay siege to the city and their commander managed to kill the Moon Spirit Tui, the princess who was blessed by that same spirit as an infant gave her life to resurrect it. And so, the Avatar was able to save the city and drive out the Fire Nation. Now, whenever the moon shines down on us, it is actually the princess who touches upon our souls."
"Oh," Lily breathes, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
"I'm sorry, Sokka," Moku says, shifting suspiciously to hide his eyes beneath the brim of his hat. The two women take him aside to talk about his feelings.
"Why did you lie?" Sokka hisses in my ear once he's escaped them.
"Huh?"
"Hahn. She wasn't forced into the betrothal."
I pat his back and withdraw my arm, "She might as well have been."
It's true. When you're sixteen you still want to please your parents to an extent. And Yue had always been very sensitive to what was expected of her as a princess. As the future leader. It was what everyone told her to do, from the time she was a little girl. Marry, lead the tribe, do the right thing, give us heirs.
He is silent after that. It's only after we've lit the other torch we have that he speaks again.
"You… you do that deliberately, don't you?"
"Hm?"
He gestures, "The riling people up. Telling Aang that he's not as much of a monster as you are. Lording your control of bending over Katara's head. Telling them about Yue so that I'd have someone to talk about it to. You do it all on purpose."
"Nah. I just go with what feels right," I wave him off.
But he's on a roll. "And that day Yue came chasing after you to warrior training! You led her straight to Hahn!"
"Coincidence, Sokka. I knew Hahn would delay her and so I could get away."
"Yeah right. Like you couldn't have outrun her two streets from the palace," he scoffs.
"Oops?"
That startles a laugh out of him. "Yeah, oops. What else have you done that I haven't noticed?"
"Nothing to do with you, Sokka. Man, you're pretty smart. The other two never would've noticed," I compliment him.
He narrows his eyes suspiciously, "You're redirecting the conversation. Why?"
Ah, maybe I was too obvious. Should I be giving out more compliments to make throwing him off seem more regular? But I'm really not the type for it. Too much hassle.
I shrug.
"Nothing to do with me, you say? Okay, I'll believe that. You led Yue to Hahn so she'd tell him how she felt. You reveal your bending abilities so matter-of-factly that Katara thinks you're making fun of her and she tries harder to catch up. You told Aang… you told Aang that because he's never killed anyone you're scarier than he could ever be, Avatar or not," Sokka's eyes widen in realisation. Urgh. I did not want a psych-evaluation when I went about making their lives easier. Or harder, in Katara's case. With her, Sokka is giving me far too much credit. It's just fun to rile her up.
"You think you're scarier than the Avatar in the Avatar State," Sokka whispers.
"Sokka. I beheaded Admiral Zhao with a swipe of my hand. You might want to be very careful what you say next," I say, smiling. I can see it creeps him out.
But Sokka is not Katara's brother for nothing. He steps closer instead of turning tail.
"So you don't care that you're scary. You like making people uncomfortable. What is it, then? Why mention Zhao specifically?" he searches my face as if it's going to be written out on my cheek in tiny script, "Hahn," he finally breathes and I know he catches the flinch of my eyes. "You blame yourself for Hahn's death."
What the fuck?
How the fuck did he just deduce that from nothing? Did he search my stuff and find Pakku's note? Why would he be looking through my pack? Do I want to find out?
"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have thought the fight was over with Zhao dead. Hahn paid for that mistake."
"…that mistake. You think you made more that night. What is it? Who else…? Yue. You think you're responsible for her, too."
I narrow my eyes. "What do you want, Sokka?"
"It was your first time in a fight-"
"Not true."
...
Don't forget to throw some power stones :)
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