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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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The Return to the South Pole

There were islands in between the South Pole and the Earth Kingdom.

Many of them were uninhabited depending on how warm or cold the air was. A few were populated. Hao, a man who had recently married into the South Pole, was from one of these islands. He was a nice man. Helpful and earnest. He always volunteered to go trading with what little the South Pole had to offer and was more than happy to learn about the harsh way of life those at the South Pole lived.

It was because of how nice Hao and his family had been not only to those at the South Pole but the negotiations for the wedding and after that Sokka thought to venture to Hao’s island first.

In their self imposed exile they had ventured to the bird tower with the sole thought to put as much distance between themselves and the South Pole. The bird tower had a bath and a fire, both things that were useful when finding somewhere to lay their heads down at night.

But the bird tower also brought Koh.

He hadn’t shown his face. But all Sokka could think as he lay there that first night was that Lolo was no longer with them. They were alone here at the tower, and every minute noise reminded Sokka of that fact.

So they moved.

Sokka thought people would help. People usually attracted spirits and, if they were lucky, maybe they knew Zuko from the spirit world and would help them out a little.

So Hao’s island was first.

It was a small place situated in warmer waters. It was summer for them which meant Sokka didn’t need his coat even if he did keep his warmer clothes on. Hao was in the South Pole but his family was well acquainted enough with Sokka to give him, Korra and Zuko a bed for the night.

The day after they helped Sokka look for a place of his own. Maybe a trade he could work. They seemed happy when he said he was proficient at fishing and hunting. While they were close enough to import meat from the Earth Kingdom, the idea of someone fetching fresh food was something a lot of people would apparently pay handsomely for.

Really, everything went well. People were friendly, a few parents made plans with Zuko to have a playdate with Korra, even offered to watch her while Zuko and Sokka went to work if that was what they needed. They welcomed the new help with open arms.

Then the spirits came.

The islanders seemed to hold the same system those at the South Pole did. As night fell, everyone stayed indoors. Fires were lit to ward them off from coming inside. If any correspondences needed to be made they were put off until morning.

Sokka expected it to be like those at the South Pole. Not Bug eye, or Lolo as Zuko still called it. But the other thing that had snatched three of their people. It wasn’t. The spirits here seemed more mischievous than evil. They seemed to delight in destroying the man made stuff in their path. The signs on shops or hand planted bushes they pulled up and threw away. They seemed to like making noise as well, their loud hoots and howls keeping Sokka up all night.

They woke Korra too and no amount of stories about Aang or half remembered songs from Zuko would make her go to sleep again. They resigned themselves to an early morning walk as soon as the sun rose both Sokka and Zuko hiding their yawns as they did their best to tire Korra out so she would at least nap the bad mood she’d been put in away.

They’d barely ventured down the street when one of those spirits appeared. It was about knee height, hunched and loping as it walked out of an alley into broad daylight. It didn’t seem to fade in and out, its form solid and animal enough that Sokka didn’t think it was malevolent at all. Zuko still lit his hand up in warning as they passed.

It was that which inevitably got them kicked off the island.

Hao hadn’t known Zuko was a firebender. Hao’s family hadn't known either. As soon as they did no amount of promises from Sokka had them changing their minds. They were back on their boat and sailing away by noon.

Sokka knew Zuko tried to keep his firebending a secret after that. It was like he was proving to himself that he could be on his own, that if Sokka left him there was another place in this world that would have him. But the spirits were present on every island they visited and not all of them were as kind as those on the first.

Zuko didn’t firebend just to keep the spirits away either. Sometimes it was to help Korra when she got out of control. Now their little turtleduck knew she could produce fire she did so as often as she could. Sokka had hoped her first burn would curb her enthusiasm but if anything it just made her all the more determined to figure her firebending out.

It was impressive to watch her, Korra was an extremely intelligent three year old when she wanted to be. Sokka just wished that intelligence spread beyond her bending abilities. But he couldn’t blame a three year old for being excited about her bending. He could blame a bunch of adults for calling her names and kicking them off their island as soon as they saw her water tribe colouring was just a facade.

They didn’t want a firebender amongst them. Not even if she was a baby. So on they went until they could travel no more.

It was turn back or go forward into the Earth Kingdom.

They turned back.

Sokka ventured to the neighbouring island only once more before he took everyone back to the bird tower. He found the birdkeeper who, honestly was not doing a good job of making sure messages got passed along, and informed him he would have company if he decided to stay the night the next time he checked on the birds.

Zuko and Sokka both made some changes to the bird tower as soon as they returned. They set up a sort of alarm. They couldn’t do anything about the arches at the top but they could rig the main entrance. They hung a pelt to act as a door. They ventured to the fire nation ship after and fetched broken metal and rope to make bells. They did this with both tunnels, sending Korra backwards and forwards to make sure they worked.

They kept the fire lit only through the day and the evening, dousing it before bed. While Sokka didn’t like it, Zuko had a point that the less they saw of Koh the less they would react to him. It was emotion that allowed him to steal a face.

While they didn’t want to scare Korra they did have to tell her there might be a monster lurking around. Sokka was glad when Korra decided to hide between the two of them after that. If Sokka managed to keep her little face from being stolen he would and gladly accepted the little kicks and squirms that sometimes woke him through the night if it meant she was still alive.

They split up their duties once they’d finished rigging the tower. One of them would fish or hunt light game while the other would stay at the tower and tend to the birds. Cooking was something both of them figured out. While Sokka was good at making stews, Zuko could barbeque meat like nothing Sokka had ever tasted before. He was practically salivating when it was Zuko’s turn to cook.

They took turns with Korra depending on what kind of mood she was in.

If she was grumpier than usual, sad or otherwise asking for her mom it was a Zuko day. Any other mood and they flipped a bone for her, an S inscribed on one side for Sokka and a Z for Zuko.

Firebending was done in the mornings away from the birds. There was a small iceberg not far from the island that Zuko would take her to, the two of them waking with the sun and practicing until Sokka eventually stumbled out of the tower to start his own day.

It was a routine.

Peaceful.

No spirits seemed to want to come here if they weren’t Koh. When Sokka asked, Zuko said Aang didn’t have to keep them away. They weren’t mad at Zuko. Sokka either, and with Zuko being known to the spirit world they were happy enough to keep their distance from him at the tower.

“No news about Koh though,” Zuko said. “I don’t know if he’s in his cave and I don’t want to look.”

Sokka never asked him to. Or asked him to ask Aang. He didn’t want to do that to either of his friends.

The days passed with the Light Nights growing nearer and nearer. Sokka could see the beginnings of it in Zuko. The extra flare to his fire. The way he wouldn’t tire as easily as he might have any other day. Korra did but Korra was a baby who’d only just discovered her firebending. Even Zuko agreed she wouldn’t be attuned to the world just yet.

Or maybe at all.

“Do you think your thing with the sun is because of your spirit stuff?” Sokka wondered.

Zuko frowned. “I don’t know,” he said after a while.

It was worth thinking about.

If Zuko was more spiritually inclined that would definitely make sense as to why he was so attuned to the sun. Sokka had been mulling it over for a while, his mind comparing Zuko and Katara together. He’d thought, maybe because Katara had grown up in the South Pole her body had forced itself to work in extreme day and night like normal but, even as a child Katara hadn’t exhibited the extremities Zuko did when it came to his health. Katara had been the same year round. Maybe a little more powerful at night but that was it.

Theoretically, the same should apply for Zuko. He certainly was capable of bending day and night but long absences of both, maybe less exposure or, Sokka didn’t know but it kind of made sense that someone with more spirituality to them would have some interesting side effects when it came to their bending.

Zuko definitely thought it was a possibility. He supposed both of them would see as Korra got older as well.

Regardless, as the Light Nights neared Sokka did his best to tire Zuko out so he would get a decent night’s sleep. He even had Korra help him, the two of them conspiring when it was his turn to have her for the day.

Eventually they settled on the easiest solution.

“Dancing?” Zuko asked.

Sokka shrugged. “You’ve been here two years now, it’s about time you joined in a celebration. And since that’s not for another few nights Korra and I thought it might be fun to teach you some Water Tribe dances. Just so you don’t feel like an idiot.”

Zuko gave him a dark look, “Naturally.”

Sokka grinned back. “Naturally.

Korra ambled over before Zuko could come up with an excuse. She was already pulling on his hands, her knees bending in her own little dance. Sokka was happy to see Zuko was just as weak to her whims here as he was to everything else that came with her.

“Fine.”

Sokka taught him the steps to The Tiger Seal and the Arctic Hippo. Korra started spinning and stomping her feet as soon as Sokka started singing,

Unfortunately for Zuko Sokka could be really stubborn when he put his mind to it. Add to that Korra who started dancing as soon as Sokka started a Water Tribe song and Zuko only managed to hold out for so long.

Sokka showed him the steps to ‘The Tiger Seal and the Arctic Hippo’. It was a Northern Water Tribe song Gran Gran had taught him. Sokka, of course, hadn’t realised it was from the North Pole until he’d gone there with Aang. They’d played it at the welcome feast, Yue telling him later she was surprised he even knew the lyrics.

The whole song was about two lovers from opposite sides of the world. The girl thought it was true love and went to follow him home only to find he’d taken another woman as his wife. It wasn’t a happy song, nor did it paint the South Pole in a good light. But the tune was upbeat and catchy and mom had always sang it whenever she was mad at dad.

It took three rounds for Zuko to actually smile while he danced. Mainly because Korra seemed to be having such a good time. She insisted Zuko spin her at least three times every time the spinning part came up and wouldn’t let them continue until Zuko had spun too.

Zuko in turn eventually taught them an old fire nation song. He didn’t quite remember the dance for it but that was okay, the Water Tribe were good at making things up on the spot and Sokka and Korra were happy to fill in the blanks.

It made Sokka wonder what other songs they had in the Fire Nation, what their own celebrations were like. He asked when Korra was asleep, unsurprised to hear, “My father isn’t a fan of the arts.” He’d all but outlawed dancing in the Fire Nation capital.

“Your dad sucks Zuko.”

“He does.”

Zuko said his mother and grandfather had been fond of the arts. His uncle too. His mother used to be an actress before she met her monster husband. It was what had endeared her to Azulon in times the family would be together. Often Azulon would accompany Zuko’s family when a new play was shown.

“I remember my dad would try and talk politics in the middle of them. Grandfather forced him to sit next to Azula after that.”

So even Ozai’s dad thought he sucked sometimes too.

It was vindicating.

Korra insisted on dancing every night after that. If she didn’t get her twirls in she wouldn’t go to bed. The Light Nights didn’t help. Korra was too young to remember them last year which meant when it got late and the sun was still out she didn’t think it was late at all. It made for a few arguments.

It was during one of those arguments Sokka heard a distant voice call, “Hello!” the familiarity alone having him run to the tunnel.

“Gran Gran!”

She’d hitched a ride with Hao, the man venturing home for the Light Nights. Sokka wondered what he would be like the next time they met. No doubt his family would tell him if the South Pole hadn’t by now about the two firebenders he’d been living with. Sokka pushed that aside for now as he ran to hug Gran Gran.

“I’m sorry for leaving,” He should have told her.

She waved him off, “It was for the best.” She handed her sack over, “I packed some seal jerky for you.” He cheered, eating it quickly as they walked up so he wouldn’t have to share. “How’s Korra?”

“Good.” He slung her sack over his shoulder. “She was a bit confused at first but she calmed down after a few days.”

Gran Gran nodded, then filled him in on what happened at home. They weren’t murderous anymore. They were also dearly missing Sokka and Zuko’s presence in the village. They were plenty capable of hunting and fishing themselves but Bug eye had left as soon as they did, the village visited by a few unsavoury spirits in the night. Sokka hadn’t seen Bug eye around. Maybe he had gone back to the spirit world. Maybe Aang had told him to punish the South Pole for trying to murder an innocent little kid.

“What about Korra?”

On that Gran Gran wasn’t too sure. “Ahguta refuses to house her anymore,” which Sokka had expected. He wasn’t going to give Korra back to her anyway. Not when she had been the one to suggest sending Korra off into the wild. “I said I would take her but quite a few people were worried about what would happen if she lost control of her bending.”

Sokka figured as much. “We can’t go North Gran Gran.” He’d had that conversation with Zuko almost as soon as they’d come here. “If someone sees Zuko they’ll tell his father. He’ll be captured and tortured for information and Korra killed before that.” Zuko had literally become a fugitive. Sokka hadn’t realised how deep in trouble Zuko was until he told Sokka what happened after his Agni Kai. About Zhao and the assasination attempt on his life. The fact he’d literally stolen the Avatar from Zhao, more than once too. Zhao was a member of the military, Zuko was a banished prince. By Zuko defying Zhao he’d placed a target on his back almost as big as Aang’s. That wasn't even factoring in the Aang of it all. It wasn’t a secret he’d last been seen with the Avatar.

“You shouldn’t have to go North at all,” Gran Gran promised. “But we may have to make some adjustments when we get home.”

Sokka could live with adjustments.

Gran Gran was a welcome sight to more than just Sokka. She gave Korra a hug almost as long as Sokka’s, her withered hands keeping Korra still long enough to get a good look at her. “She does look well,” was high praise. She turned her attention to Zuko, “You don’t.”

Zuko frowned at her. “Korra’s been a menace.”

Gran Gran laughed and then did some kind of magic as she had Korra in her bed and asleep in the next hour. She hugged Zuko as soon as she was done, the man seeming to beg Sokka for help as he struggled where to put his hands. Sokka held in a laugh.

“You need to sleep,” she told Zuko when she let him go. “It’s not long until the sun doesn’t set. I should have come weeks ago,” she started muttering about tinctures and herbs. Zuko looked over her head, ‘are we going back?’ he seemed to ask. Sokka nodded. Zuko nodded back, his shoulders dropping as he answered Gran Gran’s questions about his wellbeing.

Despite Gran Gran coming to drag them home she insisted on drawing it out for a while longer. “I want those herbs,” she said, but made no move to go get them that next day. Instead, she searched the bird’s nests herself, Sokka keeping the ladder still as he begged her to let him go up instead. She waved him off. It looked like Sokka wasn’t the only one desperate for news now.

But no news was to be had. Gran Gran still insisted on waiting the entire day. The next she sent Sokka on his own to the nearest island. He had a list and with Korra’s pearls to trade with the herbs she wanted thankfully available. He got a good price for them as well. Sokka thought it was suspicious up until the point the vendor told him to apologise to Zuko on their behalf.

“Please don’t send more.”

Sokka almost rolled his eyes. Did they think he had a secret fire nation navy in his pocket?

He sailed back as soon as he could.

Gran Gran was showing Zuko how to tie a tighter wolftail when he got back, the poor firebender wincing as his hair was pulled by one woman at his back and another in his lap. “Herbs,” Sokka announced. Gran Gran made him take over, Sokka’s hands much gentler than the rough pull he knew Gran Gran’s was as he did a double twist before tying Zuko’s hair back up. “If you use the rough part of the ribbon it stays in longer.”

“Thank you,” Zuko said, head pulling down as Korra, with her own comb, tried to mimic Gran Gran.

Sokka removed it before she scalped him, picking her up to tire her out the rest of the evening.

Gran Gran made stew from some of the fish Zuko caught yesterday. She had Zuko guard it as she crushed the herbs up, making a sort of tea she told Zuko to heat up before bed. “We’ll head back tomorrow,” she said. “After everyone has slept for more than two hours.”

No one argued. Instead Sokka packed away most of their things, his mind once again wandering to what was going to happen to Korra when they got back.

They had their dance, and once Korra was asleep Sokka finally remembered to tell her about Pakku. She was surprised to hear he remembered her.

“Remembered you?” Sokka snorted. “Gran Gran I don't know what you did to that man but you definitely made a lasting impression.” He watched her cheeks colour.

She told him a little about her life in the North Pole. About making the decision to leave. “It wasn't easy. But there wasn't much happiness for me there anymore.” Her parents died when she was young, her brother had a family of his own. Gran Gran had loved Pakku but she wasn't happy. The only thing was Pakku refused to leave. He had been granted an opportunity by the chief at the time to build a new school. Pakku wanted to put down roots and Gran Gran hadn't been ready.

So she left.

She took a boat and a friend and she left. She went to the Fire Nation and because she had skipped the bending gene they had paid her no mind. She hadn't made any friends. Even during Zuko's grandfather's reign the Fire Nation was a militant place to live.

The Earth Kingdom she found a real love for. She met a few people she could call friends, all of them old and dead by now. It was while she was at Kyoshi Island that she met Grandpa. He was trading seal skin for silk. They only had a single conversation before Gran Gran knew he was the one for her. She followed him back to the South Pole, the two of them having dad after a few years.

Sokka didn't remember Grandpa too well. He remembered a kind smile and a sense of humour that had dad doubling over. Grandpa had died fighting off the polar bear dogs. Sokka wasn't sure how old he had been. He knew Katara didn't remember him.

“Do you think you would ever see him again? If you could?” Zuko asked.

Gran Gran thought about it. “I think I would. I owe him an explanation, and I really would like to know if he found happiness.” Sokka thought back to the waterbending school. No mention of children or a wife. Just a school and Pakku latching onto the necklace he'd made for Gran Gran all those years ago.

“You should write to him,” Sokka said. “It might not get to him but I doubt the fire nation is going to be interested in a soppy reunion.”

Gran Gran tutted at him but Sokka saw her looking longingly at the birds the next morning.

Sokka ended up having to load both Korra and Zuko into the boat when the herbs worked a little too well. Gran Gran knew her way around so he let her navigate as he tried to find a wind.

Korra woke for breakfast. She almost upset the boat as she ran over to Gran Gran, Sokka clutching the sides as it steadied itself. He really wished Kayla was having a horrible time right now, missing his old boat terribly.

With Gran Gran on board they couldn't stay in the boat all night. Zuko and Sokka took watch instead, Zuko begging her to let his insomnia be useful this once as they slept on an iceberg.

They didn't get a standing ovation when they returned home. They did see Bug eye climb out of the water, his big amphibian body really proving he wasn't the same spirit as the one who'd attacked the village as he hopped to his shady nook next to the wall in broad daylight. Sokka quickly felt very thankful he hadn't tried to attack this spirit. His naps in the shade looked to be just that, naps. Not hiding and waiting for nightfall.

Zuko kept Korra on his hip as soon as they scaled the wall. He looked ready to run, eyes scanning the women around them as their presence was known.

They greeted Gran Gran. Sokka was spared a hello too. But whatever friendliness they had once held for Zuko seemed well and truly gone as they did their best to pretend he didn't exist.

“You said something about changes Gran Gran?”

Sokka and Zuko would be moving. Zuko because he could control Korra's bending. Sokka because he could control Zuko. Or, that's what Sokka told people. In reality Zuko controlled himself and Sokka merely stood there and pretended it was all a part of his plan.

They weren't moving to the dome. The dome was needed as a healing hall after all and Sokka felt like this was very much like when he had first brought Zuko to the village.

Instead, the two firebender's would be staying in their igloo only until their new one had been built. One outside of the wall.

“Are they joking?”

This was effectively banishment.

But they weren't joking. In fact, they had already half built an igloo for him. It lay about a mile from the village. Sokka was welcome to come and go as he pleased but the other two would have to be monitored the entire time. Gran Gran wouldn't be moving either. She was too old, they said, too frail to have the danger of two firebender's around her at all times.

Sokka felt like screaming.

He thought Zuko would be angry too but, “If it means Korra's okay I'm fine with it.”

Gran Gran knocked Zuko out before he could say anything else idiotic. She was determined to get him sleeping at least once a day through the Light Nights. As tired as Sokka was, he didn't join Zuko in their igloo. Instead he left Gran Gran to help Korra and went to go see their new home.

It was pitiful. More a dug out hole than the start of an igloo. It would do nothing against predators or spirits and Sokka had half a mind to go back and yell at whoever had thought to start one this way.

But he didn't. If this really was where he had to sleep then so be it but Sokka was building it his way. Starting with that furnace Zuko dragged from the ship. The village didn't deserve it anymore. He made more of a firepit than the engine it had once been. It funnelled up, Sokka making note of the height as he worked out how big he wanted his new home to be.

When Zuko woke Sokka was running on barely any sleep and a whole lot of determination, his hands making a circular trench in the snow.

Zuko fetched a shovel, the two of them making ice bricks as soon as they had their furnace in place. It took almost the entire day. Sokka had napped twice, rebuilt a wall four times, made the trench deeper and almost forgot to carve a door but they did it.

Sokka had Zuko pack snow into the bricks as he went to fetch their things. He wanted a wall. But a wall could wait until tomorrow. For now he grabbed two spears and a barrel from the stores. If they were exiling him he was taking what he needed. Their pelts were next alongside Gran Gran’s bath. “The baby needs it more than me,” she said, helping him carry it to his new home. “Besides, Hao’s trading me his family's old one when he comes back in a few weeks.” So not really helping him out, more like getting rid of junk.

He was still grateful.

More than she knew since Gran Gran was the only person who gave him anything useful. No one lent him any spare clothes for Korra. Apparently Ila was pregnant so she would be needing them and if not her then one of the other girls who were husband seeking. They didn't share their toys either, the ones Senna had made now spread out amongst the village children.

Sokka stole a pelt and one of Katara’s forgotten shirts, his work clumsy as he did his best to make something Korra could wear when her clothes needed washing.

He saw Bug eye circling the igloo when he returned. Korra was watching him with narrowed eyes from the trench, her face brightening when she saw him.

Sokka felt himself smile back.

He could do this. For her he could.

So he lay their things along the walls and floors of their home. He made a bed and checked the fire pit wouldn’t burn the entire igloo down. He set his spears along the door and rigged an alarm in case a spirit came wandering too close. He gave Korra her dinner, the two of them singing The Penguin Otter’s Ball until she fell asleep in his lap.

He put her to bed with Zuko and after he doused the fire he joined them himself.

It might not be what he was used to but normal changed all the time. If he had to be part of a village of three for the time being then fine, he would do it. He was happy to do it he realised, as Korra nestled into his side.

End

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Masterlist | Ko-fi

#the avatar and the moon #atla #zukka #avatar

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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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So book 2 is done. Kind of. There were going to be 8 chapters but I think chapter 8 works better as a short story.

I know book 2 seems shorter than book 1 and it is but it's kind of just how i broke it up in order to manage the entire workload of this beast of a project. If anything, it's all 1 book that I'll eventually get around to making into a comic but for now it's broken up like this.

The short stories will span from the end of book 2 until the beginning of the main story which will likely not be out for a while. For those of you who don't want to read the novel and want to wait for the comic I wish you luck on your long journey. For those of you who are impatient and want to read book 2 it's under the novel part of my masterlist.

Thank you to anyone who reads it. I'm having a lot of fun making this thing even if it is long and I appreciate any feedback you guys have.

#the avatar and the moon #atla

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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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Sokka had a thousand questions when they woke up. A lot of them had to do with Aang. How he was. What he looked like in the spirit world. Questions he had asked before but just needed Zuko to answer again. He couldn’t stop thinking about his friend. His other questions had to do with Koh. Zuko didn’t know a lot about him. The first time he had ever seen the spirit was last night and, like Sokka thought, he was like a giant centipede. Hundreds of legs that anchored themselves on an armoured body.

Zuko told him about the cave. “It felt grey, if that makes sense. Like all the colour had been stripped. I don’t think it’s Koh’s doing but I do think he chose to live there for a reason.” The creatures around Koh’s cave were like the birds they had found this morning: faceless. That wasn’t even the worst part. These creatures in Zuko’s dreams were spirits but the creatures in their world were living. While the spirits could exist, did exist, without their faces, the creatures in their world couldn’t.

“I don’t…” Zuko sighed, the two of them clambering onto their ship as fast as possible. Sokka raised the sail as Zuko pulled their maps out, whatever he had to say taking until they were on the seas before he said, “I don’t want you to know but I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Sokka carefully made his way to the middle of the boat, his hand resting on Zuko’s. “Tell me.” No more secrets they’d agreed this morning. Although, the spirits thing hadn’t really been a secret. Zuko hadn’t even known if what he was seeing was real or just guilt trying to make him feel better by showing him Aang living on after his death.

Zuko glanced up only briefly before his gaze was drawn back to his hands. “Aang said something once. I asked him, stupidly, if he had suffered. I wanted to- I don’t know,” he sighed. “But he said the face,” he made a motion to his own, “was quick. Then he was scared but only for a second. He said it was dark and- but he could hear me. I… I was talking to him before-” Zuko cleared his throat. “I think he suffocated.”

Sokka wished Zuko had never told him.

He didn’t know why he thought Sokka would want to know that but then, as the hours slipped by and the day grew darker Sokka could see the fear on Zuko’s face.

Suffocation.

“Can he kill you in there?” Sokka asked as they bunked down for the night. “In your dreams?”

Zuko swallowed heavily. “I don’t know.”

Fuck.

They huddled less for warmth that night than to shield their faces from the dark. Sokka hoped that Koh couldn’t swim across the ocean to eat them but he didn’t have to. He’d made his way from the boat to the bird tower. He could move across the water somehow. Sokka woke with every sound. He wasn’t the only one.

Despite Koh being out there they didn’t see him again on their way back. Still, Sokka didn’t feel safe until he saw the village. Bug eye too was a welcome sight after the horror that was the face stealer. He was smaller than usual, nestled in the shadows of the wall as he waited for night to fall.

“Do you know what his deal is?” Sokka asked.

It took Zuko a moment to locate the spirit. “That’s Lolo.”

“Lolo?” Sokka repeated.

He saw Zuko’s cheeks colouring. “I’m sure he has a proper name but that’s what I called him. He was some kind of frog creature. He’s not the same one that attacked the village.” Sokka tried to place just how young Zuko had been when he decided to name said frog creature.

“How do you know? That it’s not the same spirit?”

Zuko shrugged. Another great mystery he didn’t know anything about. Zuko was both the most and least curious person Sokka had ever met. “I do know that Aang told it to keep Koh out. Not all the spirits out here are angry at us.”

“Then why aren’t they normal?” It didn’t look like a frog creature. Well, not what Sokka would imagine a frog creature to look like. It definitely had big eyes. Maybe the crouched body as well.

“I didn’t say they weren’t angry, they're just not angry at us.”

Ah.

They were met with a wall of women as soon as they climbed over. One such tiny woman seemed to have recovered from her fever, her nose bright red as she smashed her face into Zuko’s coat. “She’s been asking after you,” Ahguta said.

Zuko smiled gently, saying a very sappy hello to Korra as Sokka was swamped with people asking for their letters.

Gran Gran’s was after the letter distribution. Zuko had gone ahead and told on him which meant Gran Gran had a bed waiting as she ground up some foul smelling herbs. “Tattle,” Sokka accused stripping out of his coat.

Zuko sent him a sharp grin, handing another shirt to Korra, she toddled off to put it in the wash pile.

The herb paste stung and Gran Gran wouldn’t let him up until he told her every excruciating detail on how it happened. Zuko and him had agreed to tell everyone about the face stealer, maybe about Zuko’s dreams too but Aang they would keep quiet about. Sokka prayed Aang didn’t show up here.

He’d asked Zuko what they talked about when he did see Aang in the spirit world, it turned out Zuko mainly grovelled as Aang asked how Sokka was. Not Katara which Sokka found odd. But if Aang knew Katara was away from home then maybe he had no reason to ask Zuko about her.

Gran Gran didn’t like the sound of this new spirit in any case. “Will it leave like the others?” She asked. Was it afraid of fire she meant?

The answer was no. Koh was an ancient spirit who, while he liked to live in a cave, did so because he enjoyed it. The cave had a lot of hiding places for him. Places he could scuttle his giant insect like body across while he waited for people and animals to be drawn to him. Zuko had said he took the interesting people. An avatar and a man who could dream himself into the spirit world were definitely interesting people.

“So we need to be nice to Buggy,” Sokka finished. “Apparently he’s helping us.”

Gran Gran handed him a clean shirt. “Have you heard from the Avatar at all? Are you certain he can’t help us?”

Sokka caught Zuko’s eye. “This is world wide Kanna,” Zuko eventually said. “A lot more people are worse off than us.”

Sokka nodded, maybe a little too enthusiastically. “Besides, you have me. And Zuko. We’re help enough Gran Gran.”

She didn’t look convinced but she did drop it.

Sokka asked later if Zuko meant what he’d said about it being world wide. Zuko said he wasn’t sure but it didn’t make sense for it to be localised. If anything, the spirits should be attacking those at the North Pole. If they were here, on the other side of the world, then they had to be elsewhere too.

Gran Gran put Sokka on bedrest for a few days to see if his back got infected. He used his time to sleep and write to Suki. He knew he probably wouldn’t get a response back but he still had hope. Besides, if it wasn’t localised, maybe Suki could get word to his dad that they needed help at home.

When his probation was over Sokka was quickly put back into his routine. He fished, he hunted, he washed and built the wall. Same old same old.

On nights Sokka sometimes found himself listening to Zuko sleep. He didn't sleep talk much, for which Sokka was disappointed. But he did sometimes have a tell when he was having spirit dreams. Mainly he looked like someone had said something stupid to him. His face would twist and he'd let out a small huff, his sleep a little more restless after that. Sokka asked him after those nights what he'd dreamed of. Zuko remembered more just as he was waking and after the first few times he didn't tell Sokka to go away.

“I met a very tall woman,” Zuko murmured one morning. “She told me Suki was too good for you.”

Ouch.

“Some fox thing asked me if I wanted a tea party,” was another morning's dream. Sokka was pleased to hear Zuko had indeed attended and behaved himself. Partly because it was hilarious. Mostly because if Zuko managed to keep some spirits happy maybe they wouldn’t come to their world and seek revenge.

Sokka's favourites were about Aang. It turned out Aang did spend most of his time in the spirit world. He was faceless when he wasn't with Zuko, hence seeking him out every time he was there. Usually Aang just wanted to talk, the idea a novelty to him now.

“That bison licked me,” Zuko shuddered as he woke that morning.

Sokka grinned. “Does he still smell?”

According to Zuko's face he wasn't sure but was leaning towards yes.

Zuko stretched, rolling his shoulders when he was done. “Sparring?”

Sokka groaned and allowed himself to be dragged out of bed and to the training field.

They worked on the dao in between half a conversation. I didn’t happen often but sometimes Zuko had things Aang wanted Sokka to know, using Zuko as a sort of inbetween. Sokka hated to admit he did the same. Today Aang wanted Sokka to know that he was stupid to turn down a bunch of ladies wanting to kiss him.

“You did not tell him about that!” Sokka screeched.

Zuko’s mouth ticked up. “I didn’t go into detail if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Sokka screeched louder.

“You’re making it up,” Sokka decided after Zuko corrected his form. “You have to be. Aang was a complete romantic. There’s no way he would have been okay with me wanting to kiss a married woman.” And Sokka had a moment to mourn that Zuko kept it clean because Aang would never be old enough to hear about illicit details. His friend was forever going to be twelve.

“Actually,” Zuko said, and Sokka really hated that tone of his, it always spelled bad news. “Air nomads were known for their… free lifestyles. They valued love and commitment but they also weren’t opposed to,” Zuko looked to be fighting a smirk, “Group enjoyment.”

Sokka felt his face heat up. “You’re making this up.”

Except Zuko wasn’t. He’d researched Aang relentlessly for three years before they met. He knew more about airbender culture than possibly anyone alive right now. Maybe Aang would have told Sokka he was being an idiot for not wanting to sleep with Lena.

He tried not to think about it, channelling his frustration into getting a few hits on Zuko. He got two before another distraction showed herself. Their little turtle duck still had some breakfast in her fist that Sokka stole as he nudged her towards Zuko, the meat not even starting to fill the neverending hole that seemed to be his hunger. He pulled his hood up, building himself a snow hill before sitting, his eyes vaguely watching Korra and Zuko as he steadfastly tried not to think about Aang.

Zuko showed Korra a few more firebending moves, letting a small fire flicker from his palms as he did so. Korra clapped and let Zuko put her in position, her little feet following Zuko’s closely. He corrected her a few times but by the hour mark Korra had it down.

“Show me then,” Sokka called over.

Korra looked back at Zuko who nodded.

She ran over, Zuko starting on something complicated as Korra shuffled into her first move. She was very good for a two, almost three year old. She reminded him a lot of Katara if he was being honest. Sokka wondered if the moon had still been here if she-

“Bah!”

His heart pounded, the world going still as the heat faded from the air. He looked at where Korra was standing, her own face startled as she looked at her raised hand. Zuko appeared from somewhere to lower it.

“Was that you?” Sokka asked.

Zuko's voice shook as he said, “No.”

They looked at Korra. Korra who, now she'd not been told off, excitedly told Zuko, “Fi! Fiiii!” Her hands raised towards him.

Sokka caught Zuko's eye. “Maybe it didn't happen.” He'd not been sleeping a lot, what with spirits and Zuko and the Light Nights.

“Maybe.”

They looked at Korra again. Sokka stood. He either said it or they risked an accident later. “Make her do it again.”

Zuko closed his eyes as he knelt. He put Korra in front of him, his voice low as he told her to steady her breathing and put her hand out.

“You feel that little warmth in your stomach?” He flattened her fingers, “You're going to push it out of your hand. Just like before.” He held his own hand out next to hers, “Just like this.” His own lit up with a controlled flare. Korra reached to touch it, Zuko used his other hand to put hers back out. He told her how to do it again, then again until a tiny flame was lit in her own hand, Korra giggling when she saw it.

Sokka closed his eyes.

He felt Zuko stand, a hand on his wrist. “What do we do?”

Sokka didn't know. He honestly didn't know. One firebender was bad enough but two? And a baby firebender at that. “We need-” he didn't know what they needed. “Maybe a village meeting?”

He didn't need to look at Zuko to know the dread he was feeling was shared.

They called the meeting anyway. They had to. It wasn't fair to keep something like this from them.

They didn't believe Sokka at first. “She's Hantu’s,” was the biggest argument.

Except, the more people thought about it the more small things were admitted. Like the fact Korra had come early. Like the fact Zuko and his crew had been there weeks before. Zuko couldn't vouch for all of his crew being good people. His uncle was the one who had hired them, Zuko had barely spoken to them except to give orders.

“Could it be recessive?” Zuko asked. Sokka saw more than one dark look be given to him. It felt like it was last year again, Zuko's presence questioned more than once when Sokka tried to figure out what to do about this.

“It's not recessive,” one of the elders said. “Senna and Hantu’s family have been here for generations.” And by even asking it Zuko was one step closer from being asked to leave the meeting. “No. It had to have been one of your people.”

Sokka saw Zuko's lip curl but he held his tongue.

Sokka cleared his throat. “Look, it doesn't matter whose she is, what matters is that she can firebend.”

“Exactly,” Aghuta said. “Which is why we should send her to the fire nation.”

“WHAT!” He wasn't the only one to say it, but Sokka was surprised that he was part of a minority. “She's a child. A baby even.” She wasn't even three.

“She's a firebender.” Like that ended the argument.

“She's one of us,” Gran Gran said. “She was born here, she's being raised here, just because her father might not be Hantu does not mean Senna wasn't her mother. She belongs here!”

The argument devolved from there. First came the calls to send Korra away. Then came the calls of leaving her to die in the wild. Literally sending a child into the wild on her own. The last call was to just kill her now and be done with it.

“Are you serious?”

But they were. Korra was everything they despised. A firebender in water tribe clothing. She wasn't harmless now and she wouldn't be when she was older. What happened when she sought out others like her? What happened when they turned her and she led them here? Korra could be the South Pole’s undoing.

“And what about Zuko?” Sokka said, “He's been here for two years now. He's hurt no one! We can't just kill a child because she's a firebender. It's not right. It's not-”

“That firebender shouldn't be here either Sokka,” Aghuta said. Which started an argument about killing Zuko.

Gran Gran sent Zuko out before the threats became action.

Sokka stayed only an hour longer before he too had to leave. He couldn't take it. The tensions were too high and only getting higher. Nothing good would come from staying there right now.

He went to Aghuta's igloo, only Korra wasn't there. Zuko wasn't in his place either. Or his stuff.

Sokka checked the entire village before scaling the wall. One of the boats was moving.

He ran faster than he thought possible, “Wait!” He reached the bank, the boat wasn't too far yet. “Zuko!”

“I'm not letting you take her!” His dao was in his hand, Korra sitting near their packed sacks. “She’s a child!”

“I know!” Sokka said. “I know Zuko but you can’t take her either. She- please come back! You know you won’t get far in that thing on your own.” Which was true but Zuko still didn’t turn around. “I’m not going to let them hurt her. I promise.”

“She’s a child,” Zuko said.

“I know.” Screw it. Zuko wasn’t coming back. Sokka wouldn’t have come back either. He couldn’t just let them leave however. He just- he couldn’t. “At least let me come with you. I’ll follow you anyway.”

Zuko huffed but he must have known the truth of it. Both of them were tied together now and they knew it sothe boat stayed in place long enough for Sokka to grab his overnight stuff. They rigged the boat up, sailing within an hour. When Zuko didn’t seem to have a destination in mind Sokka made the decision for him, setting them North to the birds. At least there they knew there was a fire waiting.

*************************

End of Book 2

The next instalment will be short stories following on from this and to the start of the main story. They will be linked from the Masterpost when I've finished writing them.

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#the avatar and the moon #atla #avatar

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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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Ila and Hao were married with an agreement that they would nest in the Southern Water Tribe for half the year and his home island for the other half. They were young enough that Hao’s family came with him for that first half year, Sokka not the only person excitedly waiting at the bank as he saw the Earth Kingdom’s boat float into view.

Hao’s family were a little more accustomed to the way of life so far South than any other island further in. That being they blended in extremely well. Sokka even heard Hao’s father and older brother be asked for their services beyond that of hunting which made Sokka breathe a sigh of relief.

They had connections to the Earth Kingdom that the South didn’t have as well, imports of metal and wood coming every other week as they found something to help fix up around the village.

The present problem was the coal burner Zuko had brought back from the ship. He’d disassembled it easily enough but putting it back together remained to be seen. Mainly that was Sokka’s fault. He couldn’t help it, he kept having ideas on how they could improve it to help the village which put off building it because Sokka wanted to make sure it would actually work before they invested time into something that could very well burn the entire village down.

“I spy potential inbreeding,” Zuko said one morning.

Sokka followed his gaze to where Hao’s older brother was talking to one of Ila’s friends. “She’s not related to Ila.”

“No,” Zuko agreed. “But give it a few generations and no new blood and there’s bound to be some cross contamination.”

Sokka rolled his eyes but Zuko might not have been wrong. Maybe they did need to widen their horizons a bit. At least when it came to the younger kids. Sokka himself was firmly staying away from any propositions that came his way.

“Where’s your turtleduck?” He’d heard Zuko call her that once and hadn’t been able to call her anything else since.

“She has a fever so she’s spending the day at Kanna’s.” Along with half the village as whatever this thing was went through everyone. “She wasn’t very happy when I told her she couldn’t come look at the fish with us.”

“Poor thing.”

They loaded the small fishing boat with their overnight gear. Sokka wanted to check the bird tower again and after all the missing letters last time Gran Gran had happily let him go. It would be a lot slower getting there in their boat but the nights were light enough these days that Sokka didn’t feel too unsafe travelling so far out of the village. He had Zuko anyway, and a spear, and his boomerang, and those dao blades. Maybe some small knives as well.

“What’s the plan?” Zuko asked.

Sokka had been debating going onshore to sleep but, “I think we’ll stick with the boat. But we are going to be following that trail I saw last time. I just know there’s game somewhere that way,” he pointed vaguely left. He’d spied some polar bear dogs the last time he’d sailed that way and was desperate to follow it. Polar bear dogs rarely wandered without purpose.

They rigged and set sail their boat slowly chugging along the ice strewn water as they headed north towards the bird tower.

It was a lot more involved on a smaller boat. They had to row when the wind died and steer carefully when it picked up, the boat jolting sometimes so far one way he thought they might capsize. It was a rough journey but they made it to the bird tower much faster than they had done last time. Sokka thanked the lighter night for that.

Speaking of Light Nights, “Gran Gran’s thinking about getting you more knockout herbs.” They weren’t for a good month, maybe two yet, but they were coming. “Is that something you want or…”

Zuko tossed his sack over, Sokka setting it down before steadying the boat, Zuko hopping out after a moment. “I’m not going through that again so yes, please.”

“You were quite bad.”

Zuko didn’t deny it.

They scoured the shelves, the sun brighter at this time of year which meant Sokka only needed Zuko for the lower shelves. Zuko collected the letters he found into a spare sack as Sokka fought tooth and nail with every bird present. Some of them managed to get through his gloves. One of them even caught his nose.

“Is it bad?” He'd seen the drops of blood as he'd crawled back to the ladder. He could feel it dripping down his nose, his lip, even his chin.

Zuko even winced when Sokka put his feet back on the snow. He held Sokka’s head still, his hands warm even through his gloves as his fingers slowly pulled at the skin on his nose. “It doesn't look deep.” He still turned Sokka’s face this way and that for a few seconds before pulling him into the other room.

They washed and dressed it. Then, once Sokka wasn’t going to bleed out, they ran out for snow when the pair of them remembered there was a bath here. Zuko melted the snow as Sokka read some of the letters.

“Still none from my dad,” urgh. Why was he like this? Katara hadn't written either. He started reading through the other letters for any mention of them.

“You don't think they're being intercepted do you?” Zuko asked, emptying another bucket of snow into the tub.

“Now I do,” Sokka tried to think of some of the letters people had said were off. Not that someone else had written it but that it felt like they were missing something another letter might have explained. “Do you really think the Fire Nation would bother with my dad?”

Zuko looked at him like he was stupid. “Your army might be small but it's still an army Sokka. It's still people fighting against my dad. He's watching them.”

That made Sokka feel slightly better. If he was writing home and Sokka just wasn't getting them then yeah, okay, he could accept that. That didn't mean he still didn't look for mention of his family in the other letters.

The bath filled up, and with the fire blaring Sokka watched Sokka tug his coat and undershirt off. He really had packed his muscle back on. He was still wiry in places but his arms looked stronger than they had a year ago. His chest had filled out quite nicely too, Sokka's eyes lingering on the taut muscle as Zuko shucked his boots and bottoms.

He grabbed another letter, ignoring the satisfied sigh Zuko let out as he chased the chill away. Sokka would get his turn soon.

Maybe longer than he thought as Zuko's warm hand woke him to take his own bath. Sokka rubbed the sleep out of his eyes but even then he was tired enough he merely rinsed off or face drowning as the warm water threatened to send him to sleep again. They really needed to get here early enough for Sokka to appreciate a good long bath. Or maybe he needed to just kick Zuko out faster.

He curled up next to Zuko as soon as he was out, his feet burrowing between Zuko's warm thighs as he plastered himself to Zuko's back.

He woke slowly to Zuko's shoulder knocking gently into his face. The room was still dark, the fire still going at Sokka's back. He watched the light dance on Zuko's skin as a low grunt accompanied another shoulder jerk. A shake really. Sokka watched it move again, debating whether it was coming close enough to his head to move.

Zuko gave a low groan. Then another, his shoulder jerking twice quickly. Sokka felt his face flush as he heard another groan.

It wasn’t like it had never happened before. Never when they had been sleeping like this. Sokka slowly leaned away, knowing he would like his privacy if he’d thought to take advantage of some… feelings.

He heard Zuko gasp, his shoulder moving forward, the skin pulled strangely. Almost… almost like something was pulling on-

Zuko screamed. One short loud sound that had Sokka jerking up and back and-

He screamed himself.

Aang.

Aang was here.

He had a hand over Zuko's mouth, the other to his own faceless form. Sokka covered his mouth, short sob like screeches escaping him.

He backed up until he hit ice, the cold jolting him to his feet. Zuko stayed frozen, half lying on the floor as Aang, or whatever that thing was, made a claw motion to Zuko's face.

Sokka dove forward but Aang didn't touch him. Instead Zuko nodded, grabbing Sokka when he was close enough. “Thank you,” Zuko said before taking their pelts and moving them to the corner. His hands were fast, voice faster as he pushed Sokka down. “Don't move. Don't do anything. You're going to hear something over you but don't react. If you move your face an inch Koh’s going to kill you.” Then Sokka found himself buried in Zuko's chest, his nose squashed uncomfortably until he moved near Zuko's arm.

He tried to jerk back but Zuko was a lot stronger, putting way more hours in on his training than Sokka did.

He held Sokka's legs with his own, his voice low as he told Sokka to keep still. “Don't move Sokka please.”

Then Sokka heard it. Clack clack clack. The same noise as in the ship. Like metal tapping on ice.

It started above them. The birds screeched and flew, their wings flapping as something moved through their nests. Clak, clak, clak. Sokka heard different rhythms tapped out onto the ice. Big. Small. Thin. Thick. Sokka tried counting them but he couldn’t. There were too many small sounds in between the bigger ones. Sokka tried to imagine what kind of creature had so many legs.

It stopped for a moment, soft thumps hitting the ground. Sokka knew the birds were dead.

He thought of Senna. He thought of Aang, their faces stripped and bodies still.

It came into their room, its feet seeming to scatter up the walls and onto the ceiling, circling them before he felt something land next to his leg.

He didn't move. He barely breathed, his body frozen to Zuko's chest.

“Zuko?” He heard. It wasn't Sokka speaking. He felt Zuko shake. The voice came again, “Zuko,” it was different now, a man's when it had been a woman's. “That's your name isn't it? It's nice to finally see the man who's been skulking about my cave.”

Zuko's arms held strong as Sokka jerked. He felt something touch his side, something long and prickly. It moved to Sokka's back, pressing down. He felt it pierce skin. Sokka forced himself not to move even as his throat let out a gasp.

It sank. Sokka squeezed his eyes shut. He could hear it breathing above him, feel the puffs of air as it leaned down. It let out a hum that seemed to vibrate the world around them. Or maybe that was because his foot was lodged in Sokka’s back.

Sokka felt ters leak from his eyes, his mouth salivating as something needed to be let out of him.

Then it was gone, the knife, leg, whatever, slowly dragging itself from his back. “Maybe next time,” it said, its voice changing again. Aang. That was Aang!

Zuko held on for what felt like an age. An age of tears fighting through Sokka's closed lids until he let out a scream as Zuko let go.

He kneeled, his hands reaching for his back. It came away wet. Zuko covered it quickly, his hand warm and strong as he tried to stem the bleeding. “It's not big,” Zuko promised, his own voice sounded wet. “I'm sorry.” Zuko kept one hand on Sokka’s back, the other reaching for a glove he put in its place as soon as he grabbed it. The glove hurt more than Zuko’s hand, Sokka forcing back another scream as he felt skin split.

Sokka pried his eyes open, the room around them looking empty. “Is it gone?” Blurry but empty.

“Yeah.” His hand pressed harder, his other coming to Sokka's stomach to keep him still. “I'm sorry. Aang’s been trying to keep him away.”

Something wasn't right here. “Aang?”

Zuko turned the glove over.

“Zuko!”

“I'll explain,” he snapped back. “Just not while you're bleeding.” Which, after another press that had Sokka winded, he agreed with.

It didn't need stitches but it did take a while for the bleeding to stop. Zuko cleaned and dressed it before making Sokka lie on his front. He heard the bath splash as Zuko cleaned his hands, the footsteps, the hesitation and then he was there, his face maudlin as he refused to look at Sokka.

“What was that thing?” Sokka asked as Zuko seemed to struggle with where to start.

“A spirit,” he said.

“You said it was called Koh.” Sokka had caught that much.

Zuko nodded. “He lives in a cave in the spirit world. He calls people to him. Interesting people.” Zuko didn't specify what kind of interesting. “Aang said he went to ask him about the moon spirit.”

A lot of things fell into place. “That thing killed him.” It wasn't even a question. It had sounded like Aang. But Sokka remembered seeing a giant body. Long. Insect like.

“It takes people's faces.”

Sokka felt sick. Senna. Aang. He’d heard a woman as well as Aang. It had used Aang’s voice. Had that been Senna too? It didn’t sound like her.

“It wears them,” Zuko said, his wet eyes empty as he looked at his hands. “He wants mine.”

Sokka sat up. It hurt but it was better than lying there feeling like his body was about to fall apart. “I don't-” he heard himself keen. “Why? How? Zuko what is going on?”

He still wouldn't look up. “I used to have these dreams when I was younger. I was in a meadow. Sometimes these creatures would come and see me. Sometimes this old guy did too. He took me for a dragon ride once.”

“Okay?” Those sounded like perfectly normal dreams to Sokka.

“They changed when Aang died,” Zuko admitted. “I was still there but,” he sighed, “But Aang was there. He didn't- he couldn't talk at first. I had to think of a face for him.”

Sokka felt sick “The spirit world.” Was that possible? “Zuko, are you saying you dream about the spirit world?”

He shrugged. Sokka rubbed at his neck. This was insane!

But it wasn't impossible. Aang said some people were just spiritually connected to the spirit world. Yue had been. Some of the fire sages had been too. But Zuko? Why Zuko?

It did make sense however. Those things he'd said. About the lights, about what Sokka might see. About being punished.

“It said you'd been next to its cave.”

Zuko nodded. “Aang showed me it when his lemur thing ran off.”

Momo. Sokka pulled on the back of his neck again. “Was Appa there too?” He had to know. He could still hear Appa. The noise he had made in the distance. Sokka had been the only one to hear it. Katara had been screaming, Zuko begging for help and one low sound from outside the cave. Appa had been dead by the time they had checked. Sokka still didn’t know why.

“The bison?” Zuko asked, then thought about it. “Not then. But I think I’ve seen it around. Some dreams I remember better than others. I think I’ve woken up thinking something licked me if that helps.” It kind of did.

They were together. All of them. Maybe not whole but they were together. Sokka swallowed heavily, needing to know, “Does he hate me?”

Zuko frowned at him, “Why would he hate you?”

They both knew damn well why. “We left him there.”

Zuko shook his head, kneeling now too. He pulled Sokka’s hands from his neck, “If he was going to hate anyone it would have been me, you know that.” He squeezed gently, “He’s worried about you,” broke something in Sokka, his vision blurring as he remembered Aang’s faceless body. He wrapped his arms around Zuko’s neck, hugging wasn’t something they did outside of sleep but he needed it. “Sokka he loves you.”

He didn’t know how long he sat here, half in Zuko’s lap, his face buried in Zuko’s shoulder. All he did know was that Zuko didn’t push him off, just rubbed his back, avoiding the place he’d been punctured as Sokka cried.

He wondered where Aang was now. Where he went when he wasn’t following that thing around. Sokka hoped it was somewhere nice. Maybe that meadow Zuko dreamed about. Sokka really hoped he wasn’t stuck here.

Exhaustion stopped more questions from being asked. If he was honest, as soon as the tears stopped Sokka barely had enough energy to lie down, Zuko doing most of the work as they set their nest back up. He kept Sokka on his side when his front was too uncomfortable. Sokka wanted to be able to scout the room. So instead Zuko slotted his head next to Sokka’s, his chest keeping Sokka from rolling back while he did his best to keep his stomach away from Sokka’s back.

He was warm and tired but still Sokka found himself waking every time Zuko shifted behind him. He couldn’t help thinking he would wake to see Aang again.

Some part of him hoped he would.

Another part of him just wished Aang was at peace.

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#the avatar and the moon #atla #avatar #zukka

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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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The months passed.

The days finally settled long enough for an overnight hunt, the new boat they’d built withstanding the weight of an arctic hippo. The spirits didn’t leave but no one else was taken. They seemed to have settled in, adhering to the unspoken peace treaty in that they wouldn’t bother the village if the village didn’t give them reason to.

Bug eye became an almost guardian of sorts. Sokka didn’t trust him for a moment but if Bug eye was there that usually meant there were no other spirits around. Sokka had seen Bug eye even chase off the wolf like spirit. So while it was still creepy to go out on a night and see a massive eye looking at him, Sokka treated it just like he would any other wild animal and went about his life.

His life that now involved marriage.

Not Sokka personally, although Gran Gran had been hinting at him to settle down. Instead, as the oldest man left in the village, Sokka was now chief negotiator in Hao and Ila’s relationship.

“Sokka, tell her she isn’t moving.”

“Sokka, could you please tell my mother it’s none of her business whether I move or not.”

“Do you think you could ask how many children she wants?”

Sokka’s head was thoroughly aching. “I wish I’d never sent them.” Yes, good for them for finding love and all that but why? Why did he have to be involved?

“If you hadn’t sent them Ila would also be in the lineup for your wife,” Zuko pointed out. “Speaking of, your Gran wants to know if you want her to set you up on a date anytime soon.”

Sokka hit his arm out, Zuko evading easily with a small laugh. Sokka wished he could laugh about it. “I don’t want to get married.” Not to any of the girls here anyway. He’d known them since they were babies. It was like dating Katara. Eugh.

“Tell your Gran that then.”

But Sokka couldn’t. He was eighteen now, his birthday flying past at some point in the last few weeks. Gran Gran kept talking about responsibility and taking on his father’s role and producing the next generation so the Southern Water Tribe wouldn’t die out and- it was bordering on too much. In fact, it was too much. “Maybe I could run away.”

“You had your chance to run away when your dad was here,” Zuko reminded him. “You chose to stay.”

Sokka groaned again, not wanting to admit that Zuko was right.

He’d chosen this life over war. Maybe it was his duty to get married.

“Just tell her you’re focusing on the village for now,” Zuko suggested. “Or, I don’t know, you’re hoping to find someone further afield to stop crossing bloodlines or something.”

Bloodlines? “We’re not inbred.”

Zuko gave a disbelieving hum.

Sokka kicked him for it, his foot actually making contact this time. He lowered his elbows from his eyes, the dark ceiling of their igloo not much different. He tried to think about it. Marrying. Children. He couldn’t picture it. Not with any of the girls here no matter how hard he tried.

Then there was the matter of Zuko. What would happen to him when Sokka married? Softened the rest of the village might be to Zuko now that didn’t mean his wife would want to share an igloo with him. Then again, Zuko had kind of grown into his looks, maybe sharing an igloo with him would be a bonus.

He looked to his left, Zuko’s eyes glowing slightly like two candles in the darkness. He wondered again if Zuko could see anything more than he could in the shadows. Some kind of firebender perk or whatever. “What would you do?” He wondered.

“Depends.”

Sokka gave it two whole minutes before prompting, “On?” Like he knew Zuko wanted.

Zuko snorted. “On whether we’re talking about me being you or me being me back home.”

Oh. “Both?” He was kind of curious now.

There was a shuffle, Zuko’s eyes fixing downward as he turned on his side. “If I was me, I’d marry. I’m the firstborn son and politically I need to secure my position as fast as possible. Meaning heirs and estates and… that’s if I was home though.” He let out a low sigh. “But if I were you I wouldn’t marry.”

Which was what Sokka wanted to hear yet, “Why?”

He felt Zuko shrug next to him, “It’s not needed. Yes you’re young and you should be looking for a wife but we need everyone we can get if you want this place to still be here next year. Marriage means pregnancy, which means someone’s not going to be able to pull their weight. Then the child’s born and they need to look after the child. That’s if it lives. If there were more people it wouldn’t be a problem but even I know hunting accidents happen. Lots of things happen that we don’t want. We’ve lost too many people for more to be put at risk.”

Sokka couldn’t believe how much sense that made. “Where was this answer five minutes ago?”

Zuko laughed. “You didn’t ask.”

“Yes I did!”

He laughed harder. Sokka ignored him, his mind settled now he actually had an answer he could give Gran Gran to get her off his back.

Only Gran Gran that was. Eighteen seemed to be opening up a lot of doors for him.

Doors that had Zuko doubled over as he laughed at Sokka’s pain. “It’s not funny.” It was a little funny but Sokka wasn’t going to admit that.

They’d actually managed to secure the boat for themselves today. Mainly so Sokka could take it out and mend it when it started leaking. Zuko was here to warm the tar they’d bought from one of the Earth Kingdom islands. Also to laugh at Sokka.

“She actually asked to lend you?” Zuko barked.

It was a crude way of putting it but, “Basically yes.” It turned out more than one person had been writing away about the lack of penetrating objects that could be found in the South Pole. While dad hadn’t written, at all, the other men had no problem allowing their wives to borrow Sokka. There were specific circumstances for said borrowing, circumstances that were described that morning as Lena asked for a word before he went to meet Zuko. “What do I do?”

Zuko could barely force his words out, and gave up after a while. When he calmed down enough to make conversation all he did was ask to see the letter Lena had given Sokka as proof her husband was okay with using Sokka’s services.

“You’re not seeing it.” He hid it deep in his coat but Zuko tried to find it anyway.

Somehow he got it, wheezing every other line he read. “This doesn’t sound too bad,” he offered when he was finished. “Fun for you anyway.” He handed the letter over, Sokka putting it away so deep in his coat he could pretend it didn’t exist.

“I’m not doing it.”

“Why?”

Sokka gave him an incredulous look. “Why?”

Zuko shrugged. “You probably only have a few weeks before they stop asking.” A few weeks sounded torturously long. “You’re really not going to do it?”

Sokka didn’t know what part of this Zuko wasn’t getting, “Why would I want to? They’re married- I- no!” He didn’t think he would be able to look Lena or her husband in the face again. Besides, if he said yes to Lena then the others who Lena had also mentioned wanting to ask him would take that as the go ahead as well. “Why can’t they just use each other?” If Zuko was right then their husbands were.

Zuko snorted, “Oh they are.”

Sokka felt his neck crack from how fast he’d turned around. “What do you mean they are?”

Zuko arched his brow, “You haven’t heard them?”

Sokka might have but he didn’t think that was what they were doing when he passed their igloos. “Then why do they want me?”

Zuko was definitely fighting laughter as he said, “Did you even read the letter?”

“Yes I read the letter!”

“They er… want you for what they don’t have,” he nodded downwards.

Sokka could feel his cheats heating. “Then why don’t they ask you?”

Zuko pointed to himself, “Firebender. Also,” he gave Sokka a long look, “You’re kind of looking a lot like your dad these days.”

“Stop talking,” Sokka covered his ears, “Stop talking Zuko.” He heard muffled laughter. “I can’t believe you think my dad is hot. You’re disgusting.”

Zuko laughed harder.

He did think about it later. Just a little. He caught his reflection in one of the water buckets, his eyes looking over where his dad might be. He could see a little in jaw, maybe his eyes. Mostly Sokka just saw himself.

He handed Lena her letter back with a firm no. “It’s nothing against you or anything I just- I don’t feel comfortable.”

She understood, telling him to find her if he changed his mind. “You’re a young man Sokka, there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun.”

Sokka walked as fast as he could away from the conversation.

Korra, thankfully, stopped any more conversations like that happening around him. She’d found where Zuko had hidden himself and was now helping him shuck oysters, putting the shells in a pile when he handed them to her. “-like that?” he heard Zuko ask.

“Like what?” Sokka sat himself down, pulling lightly on Korra’s wolftail. She tried to pull his back.

Zuko grabbed it when Korra couldn’t, the girl laughing as Sokka squawked. “I was telling Korra I’d make her a bracelet if she picked out her favourite colours.” It looked like they’d found a few pearls when Sokka peered past the piles Korra had made.

“We could probably trade with some of them.”

Zuko hummed, “After Korra’s chosen her favourites.”

Sokka didn’t argue. He’d learned after Zuko had taken his pick of bones to make her knife that Zuko wouldn’t be swayed when it came to giving Korra gifts. Zuko felt like she deserved some happiness in her little life. He also didn’t like how little she owned anymore. It reminded Sokka that everything Zuko owned was borrowed too. It might be his now but before it had been dad’s coat, Sokka’s hair ribbon, Bato’s boots. Zuko had been born into luxury with possessions that were his from the moment they were bought. So Korra would be getting that bracelet.

Sokka helped when he saw Zuko was out of his depth. He had a bit more practice making jewelry thanks to mom and dad. Then, when it inevitably fell off one too many times as Korra ran all over the village, he helped Zuko make them into beads and did what he’d been dying to do for weeks now and force Zuko to sit still.

“Don’t cut it,” Zuko warned.

“I’m not,” Sokka promised, using the bone comb to get out all the tangles in Zuko’s hair. He was gentle when he got to his scarred side, forgetting now his hair had grown in just how far it had stretched over his face. “How did you get this anyway?” He figured they knew each other now it was okay for him to ask. “Did you fall or something?”

Zuko made a small grunt, “No. Erm…” he shifted where he sat for a second, Sokka waiting until he settled before combing his hair back again. “I did something stupid when I was younger.”

Ah. “Been there.” He twisted the hair in his hand slightly, tightening it enough to hold half in a wolftail. He let the rest fall back to Zuko’s neck before turning to his other visitor. “Come here bug.”

Korra came over, she plonked herself in Sokka’s lap, the beads she’d picked up making small clacking noises as she made them jump. Using Zuko as an example had her sitting still as Sokka untied her hair and let it fall in a soft brown wave.

“Pick a bead would you?” he asked Zuko. Korra let him choose even if she did follow it with her eyes, Sokka forcing her head forward when she tried to look too far back. “What stupid thing did the Prince of the Fire Nation do then?”

Zuko made a face. “My father invited me to one of his war meetings,” Already a horrible start. Sometimes Zuko and the Fire Lord didn’t actually connect in his head anymore. Sokka focused back on the story. “I spoke up against him. Well, one of his generals but it was him anyway. His meeting or whatever.”

Sokka hummed. The only war meeting he’d gone to was the one Arnook held. It had been intense to put it mildly and overall useless considering they were here. “So, what? You decided to prank the General and got burned?”

There was a terse silence then, “No. I…” he winced slightly, “There’s this ceremony in Fire Nation culture. If someone’s wronged you, you can challenge them to a duel. It’s called an Agni Kai. It’s primarily for firebenders.”

Sokka was starting to get a horrible feeling in his gut. “So you challenged the general?” He guessed.

“Yeah.” Zuko didn’t sound proud of it. Then, “My father turned up though. Like I said, it was his meeting so I disrespected him, not the general.”

“...okay?” Sokka saw the burn in the lantern light. The way it splayed out. He’d always thought it was how the fire had connected but they kind of looked like-

“I tried to ask my father to call it off, I didn’t want to fight him but apparently that’s more disrespectful than not fighting so,” Zuko motioned to his scar.

There were probably appropriate words to say. More appropriate than, “Oh.” But the horror had welled up enough inside him that all he could really see was the handprint that had been forever etched onto Zuko’s face.

“My father banished me the next day. Said I wasn’t to come home without the Avatar.”

“That’s messed up,” Fell out of Sokka’s mouth. It was beyond messed up. Dad had only ever raised his hand to teach Sokka to fight. Outside of that dad just- no parent he’d been around would have done that. Not to their own kid. It was so bad as well. A hit, fine. Sokka healed from a hit. Dad had insisted he know how one felt so he wouldn’t freeze up if the Fire Nation came back. He needed Sokka to squirm away, to run to his sister and take her somewhere safe. But to burn someone?

Zuko hadn’t even fought back.

Sokka didn’t know what to do with that.

Zuko hummed low in his throat. He gave a short laugh, “It’s funny. I always knew he didn’t like me. He used to tell me I was lucky to be born. But I still thought he loved me. Even after this,” he motioned up. “I… my Uncle used to try and convince me to come back with him to his home. He has a place in the mountains where he used to vacation with my cousin. He told me the Avatar wasn’t likely to be found if he hadn’t been already. I thought… I thought he was just trying to turn me against my father.”

“And now?” Sokka asked.

Zuko shrugged, “If Aang hadn’t appeared- I was never meant to find him.”

Sokka heard himself snort, “Yeah your luck is insane.”

Zuko smiled. “I kind of wish, some days, I had the chance to actually bring Aang to my father. Not to kill him or anything,” he promised, and maybe that was how Zuko felt now but Sokka didn’t believe he wouldn’t have tried to kill him when they had first met. Then again, all Aang had said was that Zuko had tied him up. He hadn’t tried to execute him on sight. In fact, he’d told his crew to use non lethal methods to capture the Avatar. “I just- I was so close. I did the impossible and, I don’t know. I think I would have liked to see the look in his eyes. I know there wouldn’t have been love. Now I do anyway. But, I’m not,” He sighed, “I don’t know.”

Sokka finished with Korra’s wolftail. “He would have hated you.”

Zuko gave him a sharp smile. “Exactly.”

He would have hated Zuko for doing what he couldn’t. Also for the fact that, likely, capturing the Avatar would have elevated Zuko so high in the court’s opinion that the Fire Lord couldn’t hope to banish his son for a second time without some kind of retribution. Maybe even a civil war if Zuko had managed to play the game right.

He started the tiny braid in Korra’s hair. “Do you think you’ll go looking for them? The Avatar?” It was what Sokka had been afraid of in those early days. That he’d wake and Zuko would be gone, the boat would be gone and Sokka would be a day late in warning the Northern Water Tribe to hide every newborn.

But, “No,” Zuko said. “I don’t want anything to do with him anymore. My father or the Avatar. I’ll keep quiet and when they’re older and they’re ready, I hope they take my father down. He deserves it for what he’s done to the world.”

“He does.” He tied Korra’s braid off, the pink pearl bouncing gently onto her cheek. “All done.”

Korra hopped up, showing her pearls to Zuko again now that she was free. Sokka watched him smile and count them out with her.

He really hoped Zuko would keep to his word.

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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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Chapter 4

It took three weeks before the village was back to normal.

A new normal but a normal all the same. The sun didn’t take the spirits away. If anything, it invited more. But the fire seemed to keep them away as much as the shadow spirits. For now anyway.

People had started buddying up, sharing resources when the idea of squeezing into the dome again became too much for some. New homes were being built everyday, the women seeking the protection of sturdy walls over the tents they had lived in for so long now. It was harder without a waterbender in the village but not impossible. They used the wall as a base, packing snow around and over into their own igloos. The pelts that once were tents were now used as a base, small parts sacrificed each night in front of their doorways to keep the spirits away.

It was certainly warmer, the snow insulating them better than the tents did. But, again, it took a long time to build and not all of them remained upright. Not at first. It took Sokka a lot of trial and error to replicate some of the craftsmanship the dome had on his own home. Even longer to get it to stop melting whenever Zuko got a bit too hot at night.

Sokka found himself in charge of a small hunting party, teaching them what dad had taught him as a child about how to hunt large game. Lena took care of fishing with her own small party, bringing some of the kids on board with her. The complaints Sokka thought he would hear were absent. Sure, people were a little hesitant about filling in jobs that would usually go to the men but it had been years now, the men weren’t coming back anytime soon and they knew that. Whatever little bubble they had lived in where they thought they could exist on small game and fish was well and truly gone now. If they wanted to live, really live and not just survive like they had been, then they needed to change the village. They needed to change how things were run, how it worked and that meant everyone pulling their weight on everything.

Sokka found himself washing clothes and cooking just as much as he was hunting. The only person who was given special treatment was Zuko and only because he knew more about how fire worked than anyone there. He could make a pelt last hours instead of burning up into embers within a minute. He knew the right kind of kindling they needed, how much fuel would be used and what would be best to keep close at hand for quick ignition. So while it was special treatment that special treatment only extended to swapping out washing duties for fire storage.

The point was that they used everything at their disposal now. Even the children were given jobs, the younger ones learning knots and rope making while the older ones, if they were capable, were split into different hunting parties to learn how to keep themselves alive.

No one spoke about leaving.

They did think about those who had more than they would like. .

Yura led the expedition to retrieve Senna. They left with sleds and returned with crates. Senna wasn’t with them. “The polar bear dogs probably got her,” Yura explained. “We saw tracks, recent ones too. I think they’re hanging around, seeing if we leave any more bodies for them.”

Sokka spared a thought to Korra. At least the girl was young enough she likely wouldn’t pine for her mother as much as one of the older kids would. Aghuta had plenty of room for her as well, Korra blending in with her other kids well enough. But even Sokka had to take a moment when he heard Korra ask for her mom, her eyes looking at the face of every woman she saw before Aghata distracted her.

She wasn’t the only orphan but she was the youngest. Their village had been severely depleted. Enough so Sokka held a meeting to ask about long term plans. While he knew no one wanted to leave they couldn’t survive like this for long. “We need to establish connections with the Earth Kingdom again. We need wood or metal, something to help us build sturdier structures to live in. To make boats” They needed a lot more than wood and metal but that was high on their priority list. Sokka yearned for his stolen northern water tribe boat like he’d never yearned for anything before. He hoped Kayla was happy with it, wherever she was.

People were in agreement. Especially when a fever went around the village. They needed herbs. Needles to mend clothes. Thread to make clothes or at least undergarments. They, most of all, needed people. He knew no one would come live with them, the outlying islands happy with their in between but some of the girls were of age and Sokka didn’t like the eyes he’d been starting to get from them.

He really hoped there were some of age young men on those islands. Ones maybe willing to relocate if not add to the population of the Southern Water Tribe.

Some of the mothers thought the same since they insisted on some of their daughters accompanying Yura on her voyage north.

“There really aren’t that many boys,” he heard Zuko murmur, the two of them watching Yura leave with their last good boat.

“I think the oldest is twelve.” Think because he wasn’t too sure about dates for some of those kids. Time wasn’t really a thing here. Either it was light, dark or counting towards light and dark. It was nothing like the seasons Zuko had told him the fire nation got in some regions. Twelve was a good guess anyway. Maybe thirteen. “But yeah, not many boys.” Including Sokka and Zuko there were around seven men in total in the Southern Water Tribe.

The girls boarded, their excited chatter reaching the small hill Sokka and Zuko were sat on. He saw them wave to the people on the bank, one of them catching Sokka further up, her hand waving that little bit more excitedly until he heard Zuko snort. Sokka nudged his shoulder.

“You know the only reason they’re desperate to get those girls married is because of me right?” Zuko mused.

Sokka frowned. “What do you mean?”

Zuko pursed his lips, “Well there’s you and- hmm, right, the twelve year old.” And Zuko Sokka realised. Zuko was almost nineteen now. Nineteen, single and not bad to look at. Sokka could admit he’d grown into his looks. He suited longer hair and his face had filled in sharp and angular where it had been gaunt and sickly. Sokka could also attest that his shoulders were quite nice as well. He’d been begging Zuko for weeks to help him get his own arms that muscular but when it came to actually following through he found he’d rather sit on the sides and catch a few more minutes of sleep than whatever fancy move Zuko swore helped build muscle.

“Does it bother you?” Sokka wondered. “That they’d rather take their kids to another island?”

Zuko laughed. “No.” Suddenly Sokka really wondered what Zuko thought of them. He was a prince and, well, they weren’t princesses. Maybe it was laughable to him the idea that any of those girls could even hope to catch a prince’s eye. “They’d probably kill our children,” knocked that idea away.

“What makes you say that?” Sokka demanded.

Zuko gave him a long look, “It’s more likely they’ll be a firebender if I’m the only bender in the relationship.”

Oh.

“What did you think I meant?”

Sokka shook his head.

He saw Zuko frown but he didn’t press, the two instead watching the boat leave before standing to get back to their chores for the day.

It was nice having Zuko back to full strength. Sokka had gotten a little worried near the end of the Dark Days about Zuko’s temperature but he’d woken well enough if a little groggy. The sleep talking hadn’t helped. More than once Sokka felt his heart stop as he heard Zuko say Aang’s name.

He knew Zuko got nightmares. But the last thing Sokka needed was Zuko blowing their secret because he couldn’t control his mouth. Sokka had never been happier to move back into his own space. Only he was there to hear Zuko talk now.

Sokka did his best to push all thoughts of Aang behind as he did a sweep of the village. He was making targets today. He wanted people to work on their aim a little more before taking them hunting overnight. He made large and small targets as Zuko checked the coal stores. He was on the list to go on the next fuel haul. Sokka knew he was itching to look through the ship properly, maybe take apart some of the engines to see if he could rebuild them here. Sokka would have gladly joined him had this been any other year, any other time in his life.

As for right now, if Sokka never saw that ship again he’d be happy.

“How are things looking?” Sokka called.

Zuko made a face. “I'd know more if people stopped taking some for their personal stash.” He said a good weeks worth anyway. “But we need a more long term solution. The coal won't last forever.” Even if there was a lot, the fire nation needing a lot of fuel to get from one side of the world to another, they were still running out.

“I'm trying to get people as fit as I can,” Sokka said. “But even then we need a good boat. I don't know if you've seen an arctic hippo Zuko but they're huge. We need something that can fit and not sink when we load one in.”

“What about trading with the earth kingdom? They have to have coal.”

They probably did with the number of earth bender prisons the fire nation had put people in. Sokka kept that to himself as he thought about it anyway. “The only thing is we don't have a lot to trade with. A lot of what we offer they can get themselves or better.” Food? They had their own animals to hunt? Clothes? They didn't need the animal pelts Water Tribe wore, their temperatures never reaching that low. Coal had to be expensive too. Sokka didn't even know how much oil would be. Maybe wood would be a help but it ran the risk of freezing and then becoming too wet to use. “We just need to hunt. It's worked for this long for us. If things get worse…” and Sokka prayed they didn't. “Then maybe it is time for us to think about relocating. “

He handed Zuko a spear, the two of them testing the targets. At least until a small bone landed a little way from his boot. Sokka didn't have to look far to see Korra glaring at her bone, the distance not to her satisfaction.

She waddled over to get it, looking back at Sokka before throwing again, then again until she put the bone in the target herself. It was very cute.

Sokka fetched his and Zuko's spears, wondering if a two year old could even understand things like safety as he pried Korra’s out too, taking it back with him like it too was a spear. “Where's Aghuta then?” He asked Korra. He didn't see her anywhere but it was quite common for the kids to be lumped together when someone was needed for one chore or another.

Sokka thought he heard small voices near the wall.

He handed Zuko and Korra their respective weapons, staying her hand as he let Zuko throw first.

“Stand like this,” he showed her, moving her little foot forward.

“Is she not too young?” Zuko asked.

Sokka shook his head. “Maybe for proper weapons but my dad taught me how to throw a toy spear around her age. If you can walk you can throw and if you can throw you may as well be useful.” He put weapons training and sailing on his list of things to teach the younger kids.. “Pull your arm back more,” he pulled her arm back for her, Korra at least waiting for him to tell her, “Go!” Before throwing.

It landed a longer distance away. Pretty good for nothing more than a bone.

He steered her to Zuko, “Keep her from wandering off.” Then, when Korra was making nonsense conversation with Zuko, Sokka threw his own spear.

They did that until someone came looking for Korra.

“People really aren't keeping a good eye on her,” Zuko said, watching her leave. It was kind of sweet how much the two had imprinted on each other.

Sokka collected their stuff. “What makes you say that?” Zuko gestured to the small bone turned spear. Sokka rolled his eyes. “You never heard the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a kid’?”

Zuko gave him a deadpan look. “I'm not that sheltered.” He held his hands out, Sokka dropping the spears into them as he grabbed the bucket of charcoal he'd been using for paint. “And if it does take a village this one isn't doing a good job. She follows us, you know.”

Sokka knew that a little. He’d seen Korra sprint to Zuko as soon as she saw him. He always gave her a hug as well before sending her back to wherever she’d spawned from.. “Follows us where?” He asked anyway since Sokka had a feeling Zuko wasn’t saying this for nothing.

Zuko nodded to the wall. “She likes my firebending I think.” Or she just liked Zuko. She hadn't asked him to firebend once while they were throwing after all.

Sokka kept that to himself. “I'll talk with the other moms. Inside the wall I don't have a problem with her wandering. But if she is getting out…” the night of the first spirit attack came to mind. If Zuko hadn't stopped to help Korra who knew where she might be now. “I'll talk to them.”

Except talking did little to nothing. Korra turned out to be a stubborn slippery little eel who happily wandered off when no one was looking to seek Zuko out. It was Zuko too. More than once Sokka had seen him carry Korra back inside the village, her little face delighted by whatever he was saying to her.

It was both cute and worrisome.

Eventually Sokka decided to just give in.

Most mornings now he woke to Zuko dragging him out of bed and, once he'd woken up a little more, he went to Aghuta's and stole Korra. She was happy enough to sit and watch as Zuko did his firebending forms. It was nice to have someone to talk with as well, even if Korra couldn't offer much conversation just yet. What Korra loved more was when Zuko included her.

She wasn't allowed to spar with the dao like Sokka. But Zuko happily showed her some basic firebending forms and sword stances. Sokka even saw him take some extra bones to carve into a small dull knife for Korra to practice with.

He was good with her.

Patient in a way he wasn’t with Sokka. It kind of made Sokka feel for the guy. Sure, it might have been because Zuko was trapped here that he was even capable of showing kindness like that. But there had to be potential for it. It made Sokka think about Aang, The way he would tell them to leave Zuko be. The way he talked first and fought later. Like he knew Zuko hadn’t been a lost cause.

It made Sokka wonder what life would have been like for Zuko if he hadn’t been exiled. Nineteen was old enough to be married in the fire nation. Zuko would probably have kids by now. Sokka wondered if Zuko wou;d have held the same patience with them as he did with Korra. Was it because Zuko was here that he was even capable of being like this? Or would he have raised his kids with a gentle hand regardless? Sokka wondered what those kids would have been like. Then he remembered that Zuko was the Fire Lord’s son.

Maybe it was a good thing the fire nation didn’t have any next generation heirs yet.

“Good job Korra,” Zuko said a few feet away. Sokka watched him smile as Korra did her small happy dance before showing off her new kick again. Another, “Good job,” waited for her.

Sokka didn’t even try and fight his smile.

Maybe it didn’t matter what that other life would have been like. It wasn’t like it existed. What did was this life and in this life Zuko was a single nineteen year old man with a toddler doing her best to kick his shin.

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jasminedragonart · 9 days ago

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I am LOVING the novelization of TAATM but oh my gods I was shaking with fear the whole time I read through chapter 3. and y'know I've been wondering what exactly happened to Aang and now I kind of wish I didn't know TTATT Koh got him on my gods. I nearly screamed when Sokka got grabbed on the ship but when I realized it was Aang's spirit I just about cried in relief. Aang helped him !!!! GODS. he was trying to help, trying to warn them. poor Senna.

oh and the first time Korra was mentioned— I think last chapter ? maybe it was chapter 1— I had to put my phone down and cry a little bit. I knew for a while that you'd said Aang was gone but that made it more real, y'know ?

and with the Southern Lights— I'm thinking Sokka and Zuko were both right about whether it was a good or bad thing. I think the Lights were because of Aang coming to the area, but he unfortunately also brought other, less benevolent spirits with him. am I right ?

you don't have to actually confirm if you don't want to I'm just. I just have SO many feelings about everything so far in the novelization. I'm given to understand that you still plan to make it a comic later, but you've got other stuff going on right now that's in the way of that— but I think that the novelization is SO good and I'm very grateful that you're sharing this story with us another way so that we can still enjoy it in the meantime. whenever you get to the comic version I will still be very excited about that too because I really like the way you do facial expressions, it feels very true to the characters and the emotions they're having.

sorry for writing a whole damned essay lmao tldr novelization GOOD very excited for more I love this AU so much

thank you so much for this. I'm glad people are liking the novel version of book 2.

I'm trying not to post a lot in between chapters because it's a pain to scroll and find them to link them up to everything else when I post them but just know I do read and am itching to reply to any feedback you guys have on this.

The southern lights thing I can kind of see having some happy connotations. It wasn't my intention but I'm glad that it's interpreted different ways. And yeah, Koh is responsible for Aang.

I won't say anything more since I do need to push more chapters out, I'm trying to rewrite them before I post alongside get the short stories that tie into the end of book 2 ready. I will warn that book 2 won't be ending as complete as book 1 but it is intentional since it's technically the beginning of a bigger arc.

But again, thank you so much for reading and I hope you like what's coming next.

#Inbox #inbox asks #Inbox is open

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jasminedragonart · 11 days ago

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Chapter 3

Sokka didn’t know if they were stupid or smart for staying. It was all too easy to leave the place that was being attacked but to survive actually leaving? While Sokka hated Kayla with every fiber of his being right now he couldn’t help but hope she was okay. That Oska was at the very least.

She hadn’t broken anything. That didn’t mean Sokka wasn’t hurt. He was under infection watch for four days after Gran Gran bandaged his head, the gash from going down and hitting the ice barrels knocking him dizzy. His chest hurt too. Again, nothing broken but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a walking bruise. He mostly lay next to Zuko in those few days. Mainly because Sokka looked pathetic enough Zuko took pity on him and lay his warmer than usual hands on Sokka’s bruises. The heat actually helped.

Time was hard to tell really during the Dark Days, usually Sokka worked it out by how hungry he was. With nothing to break up the monotony of the day that was usually all the time. The women put him on babysitting duty when he was feeling better. After their second day in confinement everyone had started venturing out again. They didn’t stay in their homes, the dome unanimously deemed safer than a flimsy tent but they did venture out for supplies. Food, extra pelts and the like.

It was when Sokka was outside, his own turn to grab something from the stores for them to eat when he felt Zuko’s hand grab his coat. His grip was tight, his body still, his eyes glowing as they looked at something over Sokka’s shoulder.

He turned his head slowly. There wasn’t much to see. They had dimmed the fires around the village, doing their best to conserve what little they had that wasn’t destroyed or taken by the others. The only ones that burned bright were those outside the dome, Zuko seeing to them personally every hour or so. Maybe that was why Sokka didn’t see it at first. His eyes drew themselves to the fire, glancing almost instantly over the light that hid behind the dome.

Because it was hiding.

Its body lay outside the wall, its bulk mostly concealed save its eyes that peeked around the dome to watch the two humans it had found.

Sokka felt his breath catch, his heart start to pound as he thought about what they should do. Zuko thought faster, his hand flaring bright in warning as he slowly backed the two of them towards the stores. “Be quick,” he murmured, letting go of Sokka’s arm.

Sokka tried. He stuffed as much as he could into his sack. He even piled fish into his coat, up his sleeves and in his hood. He dragged a vat of fat and filled the bucket he’d brought with him. The spirit hadn’t moved when he eventually walked outside.

“Do we run?” Sokka whispered.

Zuko’s eye narrowed slightly. “We’ll die faster if we do.”

Walking it was.

They did so carefully, Zuko’s hand glowing brighter the closer they got to the dome. Sokka watched the fires burst around the dome too, one of them making the spirit jump. Zuko did it again, then again until they were safe inside the tunnel.

No one was happy when Sokka told them the news.

“Can you not chase it off?” They asked Zuko.

“It’ll only come back angrier.”

They couldn’t move out of the dome either, the small hope some people had been holding onto shattered as they accepted they would be spending an extended period of time together here. Sokka wished that was the extent of their worries.

It was fine at first. Their biggest problem were the close quarters. The dome was big but not that big and, loathe as Sokka was to know about it, he could tell the exact day the women grew that little bit more aggravated with each other. It didn’t help he had to do his share of laundry, Gran Gran muttering about what he would do when he found himself a wife as he scrubbed another blood stain from someone’s clothes.

He thought of Suki. He didn’t think Suki would let him wash her blood stains. Katara yes but his sister was evil like that. But Suki? Beautiful Suki? So long as he washed his own clothes she wouldn’t have to ask for them to share a load between them. Equality and all that.

At least he thought that was how it went. Zuko was none the wiser. But then, Zuko was a prince. He probably hadn’t done laundry himself until he was dragged here. Speaking of, “You couldn’t dry while I wash could you?”

Zuko said no. If only because he was on babysitting duty, his hands full of a clingy Korra who had barely left Zuko’s side since they were trapped in here.

So yes, the washing was bad. The fights were bad. But ultimately they were small in comparison to what awaited them a week later.

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Lena demanded.

Zuko set the bucket he’d been carrying down. “I mean, they took whatever we had left.” The fat. The fat they had done their best to collect. Sokka had hunted down so many seals but it paled in comparison to what dad used to bring in. Zuko and him were only two people however and two people couldn’t take down and bring back anything bigger than a seal.

“But there should still be some left,” Lena barked. “We barely have any fires. Where has it all gone?”

The answer was the fires. Lena was right that they had barely any but the fires they did have needed to be lit at all times. Not to mention, “I… I needed to scare it off more than once. It takes fuel Lena. It was by the tunnel last time.”

Lena knew that which was why she yelled but did nothing more. She was just frustrated. They all were. Only now there was a definitive countdown until they were going to be left in the dark with the monsters that hid within it. It wasn’t just the monsters either. Without the fire how would they eat? How would they drink their water? For a tribe dedicated to water they needed fire more than any other nation out there and while Zuko was looking marginally better than last year he was only one man. He couldn’t protect them and keep them alive at the same time.

“We need to hunt,” Gran Gran said. “It’s the only way we can get more fuel.”

She was right but no one wanted to volunteer. It wasn’t a simple fishing trip they could dig an ice hole for and come back later. They needed to go onto the boats and hunt. “Do we all go?” someone asked.

Sokka looked around as everyone else did. There weren’t many of them left but, “We don’t know how many boats were taken,” he realised.

Someone swore.

“If I ever see Kayla’s face again I’m going to carve it from her skull,” Lena muttered. Murmurs of agreement went up.

They needed to scout, they also needed a hunting party once everyone realised it was just cruel to bring the children. “Maybe Kanna can stay with them,” Senna said. “If we leave her with the fat and take the firebender the children should be fine until we come back.”

“And if we don’t come back?” Lena asked. “I’d rather leave the firebender here. You’d keep them safe wouldn’t you?” she pressed.

Zuko nodded and at least Sokka could thank the spirits for doing one thing in softening Zuko to the village. After that first night Senna had no problem letting little Korra follow after Zuko. With Korra came Anhah and pretty soon Zuko had a rota in place for whose kids he would be watching that day. Most of them just liked to leech the warmth off him but quite a few liked some of the plays Zuko tried to teach them.

So yeah, they had no problem with Zuko looking after their kids now and Sokka too would feel better knowing they were going to be okay. But leaving Zuko meant taking the fat.

“We need something else to burn,” Yura said.

“The pelts?” Someone suggested.

“The tents?” another.

It seemed everyone agreed they would rebuild as soon as the sun was up but for now the whole village would burn if it meant they would live another night. Sokka listened as they made a list, made a plan on how to bring these things in without using too much fuel.

Then it dawned on him. “The ship.”

He felt a number of eyes land on him. “We can’t burn the ship,” Lena said. “We need it.”

Sokka shook his head, “Not ours.” He thought about it for a moment longer before turning to Zuko, “The fire navy ship.” The one they had gone to for Momo’s goodbye. Sokka remembered crates of fuel, coal, oil, wood. Not all of it was usable but some of it had been. The only problem they had was finding something to make it catch on the snow. “If we can go there we won’t have to hunt at all.” It was less risk for everyone. No long stints away with no promise of game. They could be there and back within the day.

He saw more than one person remember its existence, a spark of hope igniting in everyone. The plans changed. Sure, they still needed to fetch those things from the village for the fires here but the rest of the resources went into planning how to bring the fuel from the fire navy ship.

Zuko led people one by one, their arms laden with everything they could carry until he was slumped, tired, against the tunnel wall. Gran Gran gave him a tincture and sent him to rest but thankfully he’d managed to last long enough that they had enough to start preparing for their expedition.

Not all of them needed to go. It was stupid for them all to go. They drew lots instead, Gran Gran overseeing all of it. Apparently this was what they did when Sokka had left last time, the losers forced to hunt while the winners stayed at the village. This time was different. People wanted to go. They wanted to be that helping hand that might mean another few days of survival. They also didn’t want to see their children’s faces if no one came back.

Sokka put his name forward. If only because he knew where the booby traps were in the ship. Zuko tried to go too but, “We need you to look after the kids.” and Zuko, tired as he was, simply accepted it.

They ripped pelts into smaller strips, tying them together to make rope when their own was either too far to get to or used for something else. They tied them to the sleds, packing the rest for bandages or spare rope should they need it. Sokka let Gran Gran fuss over his mostly healed bruises, her fingers pressing gently on his stomach. It hurt but not as much as it had done. He could make it there and back.

They had Zuko melt snow for their water skins, collecting extra for those staying behind. Food was divided between them along with weapons. Sokka strapped his boomerang to his back, one of Zuko's swords to his waist. The women wrapped their spears, knives tucking themselves away in belts and boots.

Eventually they were ready.

“We’ll stay in a diamond,” Lena said. “Everyone keep your lanterns lit and spears to your sides. If you're not ready to throw, stay in the middle, you'll be carrying most of the load back.”

Sokka nodded, his stomach covered by a makeshift rope tied to a sled. He gave Gran Gran a hug, her whispers of being careful making him swallow heavily. He looked at Zuko. “Look after the kids. Please?”

“I will,” Zuko promised and Sokka really hoped Zuko would. “Be careful,” he tacked on. “I-” his face twisted before he said, “there might be more in the dark. Don't trust anything out there.”

“Like what?”

Zuko looked away. “Just be careful,” he said, and then Lena was calling him away, the rest of the pack closing ranks.

Sokka took his place, his head turning for one last look at Zuko's face. His hair that hung a little too long. His borrowed coat as his own dried a little further in the dome. Those hands, uncovered now and being taken by Korra who clung to the warmth that was no doubt there.

Mainly Sokka looked at Zuko's eyes. The gold that glowed that little too bright as they looked back knowingly.

Something foul settled in Sokka's stomach.

Unfortunately it was too late. They were moving, the torches burning bright and the lanterns brighter.

They scaled the wall one by one, Sokka's heart pounding as he saw the beady eye of the spirit looking from their left. His feet touched snow, the sled coming down with him, he hurried back in line.

They walked slowly. The spirit followed just as slow, keeping pace but never drawing near. Sokka hated it. He knew the thing was angry, that humans had caused this to happen but he still hated it.

He hadn't caused this. Why did he have to be punished when it wasn't his fault? Hadn't he suffered enough?

They came upon the boats, Sokka letting loose a curse as he saw his and Zuko's boat gone. They ended up loading into a smaller boat, its sides worn and mended harshly but it held. They kept their formation as they readied to sail, Sokka untying himself and unfurling the small sail. The spirit watched from the snow bank.

The sail caught wind, Lena pushing off with a spear. The spirit still watched. The boat drew away, the village with its dwindling lights now a speck on the horizon and the spirit with its bug eyes and large curved body disappearing into darkness.

Sokka swore he could still feel eyes on him.

He wasn't the only one. “It didn't kill us,” Yura said.

“No,” Lena murmured, her eyes still on where the bank would be. “Makes you wonder what else is out here.”

Sokka shivered.

They navigated with a lantern poised ahead. All eyes were on the water, calls for ice or animals going up when seen. None came for spirits.

The minutes seemed to stretch. Sokka had never felt three hours go as slow as they did. Then the call came up for land. Sokka felt the boat slow before they hit it. Well before. Lena told them to tie back in. “Whatever break we had on water might not be true on land.”

Sokka double knotted the sled.

Lena walked onto the snow first. She kept her lantern high, her breath clouding around her as she searched the bank for danger. Sokka watched that small light turn back and forth with only centimetres in front of her lit. He kept his breath low, his ears strained as Lena called them onto land.

All too soon the heavy pants and drag of a sled was all he heard. He knew Lena was relying on memory more than directions now. All of them had sought out the ship as a kid despite many generations saying not to. Beyond the valley and next to the mountains.

The valley came, Sokka's feet dipping down as he lost the light a moment. As soon as he felt the upslope he knew it was time to start looking.

It was hard to see colour in complete darkness. Seeing black was impossible. Sokka felt more than looked, his feet keeping close to any source of light as his hands reached out for where the boat might be.

It took an age for them to find it, the call coming up a ways down from where Sokka had been searching. He scurried over, Lena looking along until she found the rung of a ladder. “Keep the sleds down here,” she ordered then ushered Sokka over.

He was first to climb, the lantern in his left hand and arm hooking over the rungs with his right. He almost fell when he reached the top, his hand swinging wildly until he clung to the lip of the ship. He hoisted his leg over, finding his footing before calling down for Lena.

She and another came, the two of them deciding on a system to pass down the goods as Sokka carefully inched open the rusted door to the lower deck.

Zuko and him had disabled a good few of the booby traps the last time they were here but a few remained active due to the cold freezing them too much for Zuko to destroy. One of them was a half deployed coloured explosive powder shell. Sokka found it inches from his head, ducking under and around as he ventured down.

The stairs creaked under his feet, the rail breaking more than once in his hand. Sokka kept the lantern low, his feet careful as he walked through the ice eaten steps.

The fuel was in the engine room and the cargo. Both were at the bottom of the ship. It felt like an age to get onto the first deck, his legs aching from how tense he was. The next seemed even longer, and not for the first time Sokka longed for the sun.

He set the lantern down as he reached the cargo door, his hands twisting the metal handle until it turned enough to loosen open. It creaked with a long low groan interspersed with small clicks. Sokka let it fall to its natural state, waiting for the clicks to stop before venturing forward.

Crates of coal awaited his greedy hands. Sokka nudged a few with his foot before deeming them too heavy to carry. He started emptying the smallest crate he could find, filling the sack by his side as he lifted the crate every now and then to see if he could carry it safely up.

Click. Click. The coal fell. Click.

Clickclickclickclick.

Sokka was yanked down, a hand covering his mouth. He felt his heart in his throat as something dark scuttled towards his lantern. It lingered overhead, Sokka seeing nothing more than an armour like body before it raced away, its gigantium shadow swallowing the door before clicking up the stairs it came from.

The thing around his mouth loosened. It dropped slithering around his shoulders and to his chest. Another joined it, Sokka fighting back nausea to look down and-

They were hands. Small child sized hands. They were clasped together, the arms hugging Sokka as tight as they could.

He shut his eyes, a sob heaving out of his chest. Another came, Sokka fighting the hands holding him until he saw it. Just for a second he saw him.

He screamed. It came bursting out of him. Months of guilt and grief coalescing into sound he couldn't control.

“Sokka!” Called through the shadows. “Sokka?”

Lena.

Sokka couldn't answer. He wanted him back. He wanted him back!

He was dragged up, Lena taking over as Yura led him back above deck. Sokka felt his body shake, his voice keen as he tried to get control of himself. He couldn't- he couldn't do this here.

People needed him.

He purposefully walked into a wall, the jolt helping him ground himself. He found that place of silence in his head. The one that told him they needed coal. Fuel. The voice that made him live when he didn't want to. It forced him to flex his fingers, wipe his eyes.

He was a warrior.

He'd fought losing battles before, and this wasn't a loss. Not unless he gave up.

So he didn't.

“I'll hand down,” he choked out.

“Are you sure?” Yura asked.

He nodded. “I'm sorry. I thought- I can do this.”

It took a moment but Yura eventually let him go. He took the rope from her, tying it into a loose noose as Yura went down for the first crate. He tied it when it was near, looping the rope around two gaps in the railing before slowly lowering the crate down.

He did that for the next four, Yura saying the rest would need to be carried. Sokka rubbed his rope tired hands as Yura left to start bringing the sacks up when he saw him again.

He felt sick. His body frozen as he saw Aang. He was a little more see through than Sokka remembered but that was his same build. Same arrow tattoos that had held him below. Same head slowly shaking no from a skull with no face.

Sokka felt bile pool in his throat as he heard a click behind him. Aang disappeared but the clicking didn't. Sokka didn't know what to do.

What did Aang mean no?

Eventually he did nothing. He just stood there as frozen as he had been when he saw Aang. The clicking left, disappearing somewhere behind him.

Yura came back up, Lena behind her as someone screamed below. More joined after a moment. Lena yelled, “Below!” Tossing the sacks over as she started climbing. Yura followed, her lantern cast low to help Lena see. Sokka grabbed his own, his eyes searching one last time on deck before he climbed onto the rungs.

The fire was waving when Sokka touched the snow. Every woman had something lit in front of them, their voices high as calls for a monster went up. That and “Senna’s dead!”

When Sokka cast his light he saw the feet lying a few feet away. The body was still here, not taken. Prone on the snow, Sokka's breath caught as he saw the smooth skin where a face should be.

“We need to leave,” he choked out.

Everyone agreed.

He retied his sled, the weight barely registering as he pushed himself out of this valley and towards the boat.

They left Senna. They had to. Sokka promised to see if he could find her when the sun rose, bury her properly, but until then he had to get home.

They were less careful back to the boat. They stayed more in a line than a diamond, fear hurrying them on. Sokka kept his ear peeled for clicks. Then wondered if he even needed to. Was the clicking the creature or how it moved on the metal of the ship?

He hurried faster, his hands the first to start untying the ship when he reached it. He searched it countless times on the water, his lantern sweeping every shadow it could. They had to stop and check nearby bergs for landmarks home, even Lena losing her sense of direction as noises penetrated the endless darkness.

They found home by the small glow of a spirit. It looked to be running along the bank before going up a hill. Sokka wondered what it meant that more were here as he unloaded his sled and goods. He took his boomerang off his back. Useless it might be but it could also buy some time depending on the reaction of the spirit. His feet slogged through the snow, his legs burning as he climbed up and up until his lantern hit a wall of black. He didn’t see any sign of the spirit. No glow over the top of the wall or form running alongside it. Nor did the others around him.

Lena looked over first, her face stern when she said she only saw the fires around the dome. That didn’t mean there wasn’t danger.

They climbed over as slowly as they did before, the crates and sacks lowered as silently as they could make it. It took everything in him not to sprint to the dome. Instead he kept his hand poised, his boomerang ready to throw as he held his lantern down each and every dark crevice he came across.

Even in the tunnel he kept moving slow, only relaxing when he heard the chatter of those left before. He did run then, bursting into the dome ahead of anyone else, noises of surprise starting up before calls for loved ones followed. Sokka found himself crushed into a hug he happily returned, Gran Gran’s hair tickling his nose. “You’re back, you’re back,” he heard her murmur. It felt like years since he’d seen her instead of hours, his eyes squeezing shut as he fought just a little bit longer to be okay.

He pulled back, wiping the stray tears that had escaped. His voice wobbled as he asked, “Where’s Zuko?”

Gran Gran’s face darkened. “Sleeping,” she said.

Ah.

“He lay down almost as soon as you left. I don’t think he’s well Sokka.”

Probably not. Sokka ventured over anyway, fighting through Korra’s grouchy hands as she tried to keep him away to shake Zuko’s shoulder. It took a while but he eventually woke. His skin was warmer than usual, beads of sweat across his brow and neck but he was awake, his golden eyes sharp as they focused in on Sokka.

“You’re back,” he said.

“I’m back,” Sokka nodded.

They didn’t hug. Sokka hadn’t expected them to. Instead he wet a rag and put it on the back of Zuko’s neck, the cloth hissing as soon as it touched skin. He was a little wobbly when he stood but Zuko was determined to see how much they’d brought from the ship.

It was enough to keep them going. He didn’t say until the sun rose again but Sokka could feel the determination from everyone to make these stretch as best they could.

They swapped the oil for coal, Gran Gran and the others agreeing to do the majority of their cooking in the morning, dry everything out and do their best to mix the melted snow with wine that didn’t freeze as fast.

People didn’t sleep separate. In fact, there was a rota for the kids on who got to sleep near Zuko, more than one of them coming down with a fever from a night in the cold.

Energy was conserved so their food wouldn’t dwindle as fast as their oil had. Instead, Sokka found himself chief storyteller, reciting his adventures with Aang and making Zuko act some of their better fights out when the kids grew bored enough to spark mischief. He taught Zuko a few songs that lifted the spirits of those around them for a while, Gran Gran remembering more and more from her youth the longer they sat there in darkness.

Then, one morning, Sokka woke to light on his face. It was warm but not burning, his eyes opening to actually see the other side of the dome.

He sat up, noting the lack of people inside and ran to join them. The sun was up.

He closed his eyes, his head hanging back as he breathed in the outdoors once more.

MASTERLIST | Ko-Fi

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#the avatar and the moon #avatar the last airbender #atla #avatar #zukka

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jasminedragonart · 12 days ago

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Chapter 2

The village was abuzz with activity. Sokka couldn't move more than three paces without one kid or another getting underfoot or something large swinging dangerously close to his head.

Spirits were high, neighbours talking over each other as they made plans that lasted way into the night. Songs were sung in some parts of the village. Sokka heard three different variations of the Tiger Seal and the Arctic Hippo, Gran Gran leading the one near the dome. The smell of cooking meat and wine grew stronger the closer Sokka got to the bonfire being built. Three separate fires were already ablaze, and while Sokka wanted to be happy for them, all he could think about was the few supplies they had to last them through the Dark Days.

He reached the back wall where his own tent lay. Zuko's sack was already in the dome. Most of their stuff was in the dome actually, the two of them now merely kicking up snow around them to see if they had left anything that might be useful.

"Is that the last of it?" Sokka asked as Zuko finished his own circuit, two spare shirts and a boot recovered from the snow. They really needed to start stripping when they got inside the tent and not just near it.

"I think so," Zuko said, scuffing the snow. He shrugged.

"You want to hope so," Sokka warned him. "I'm not risking life and limb just because you forgot your pillow."

Zuko rolled his eyes, Sokka catching the low, "Like there's pillows here."

He kicked out with his foot, Zuko dodging easily. Spirits really were high since as soon as Sokka kicked out again Zuko took off, his voice calling Sokka slow as he ran along the inner wall. Sokka chased him, his body cheering as it always did when he did something like this with Zuko. All the other boys had left when Sokka was young and Katara would just freeze him in place rather than chase him. Zuko was a challenge. A speed he hadn't yet reached. A movement he hadn't yet mastered.

He was fun.

Sometimes.

He slowed down enough for Sokka to almost grab his coat as they neared the dome. Sokka bent over to catch his breath as Zuko dumped the last of their stuff inside, his own breathing more laboured than it would have been a few weeks ago.

Gran Gran appeared out of nowhere to baby him, Zuko's tincture already made up and waiting for him inside. Sokka grinned as Zuko's eyes begged for help.

No way was Sokka getting involved.

He straightened up, wiping the sweat from his brow just as he heard "Sokka?" call from behind him.

Oska, little guy that he was, looked to have been trying to chase Sokka for a while. His cheeks were red as he doubled over, holding up a hand for Sokka to wait. "You okay Oska?"

Oska looked okay enough. Seven though he might be Oska was a force of nature. It felt like every other day Gran Gran was being called out to take a look at him. Last time it had been because he'd gotten his hand caught in a fishing hook. Sokka had not envied the stitches he'd gotten that day, knowing just how painful removing a hook was.

Oska finally straightened up, pushing his hair off his face as he asked, "Are you staying here tonight?"

"Unfortunately yes." He was almost eighteen, well past the cusp of being able to drink and dance like the rest of the adults in the village. But, well, Sokka really didn't want to find himself too drunk to stop another lynching so Gran Gran would be doing the drinking in his place tonight. "Why? What's wrong?"

He saw Oska look off to the side. The side where his mother was passing around a waterskin with her friends. Well, wineskin.

Kayla was one of the more... outspoken village members.

By that Sokka meant she still checked Zuko in the shoulder whenever he got too close to her. At this point Sokka was tempted to tell Zuko to check her back but considering she had been one of the ringleaders last year she would definitely be the first to call for Zuko being offered to the spirits.

He had a sudden wonder as to what Oska had been doing last year. What all the kids had been doing when their mom's had turned murderous.

He looked Oska back over. The fidgeting hands, the worried brows. "Last year was pretty scary huh?"

Oska gave a small nod.

Sokka sighed, not believing he was actually doing this. "If you ask your mom I'm sure she wouldn't mind you staying here tonight. Zuko's not that scary and-"

Oska was already running off, his little voice telling Kayla Sokka had said yes. Kayla said she would be over a little after sunset.

Sokka couldn't help feeling a little played.

He went inside to tell Zuko about their guest anyway.

They set up the dome, Sokka putting away Gran Gran’s more dangerous things while Zuko got his corner comfortable. Gran Gran came by just as Sokka made the fire, the big cooking pot already full of snow. “How drunk are you?” Sokka asked.

Gran Gran made a little motion with her fingers.

Sokka shook his head, knowing for a fact she was way drunker than that. “You boys will be fine won’t you?”

“Of course Kanna,” Zuko promised. “You go enjoy yourself,” and hopefully keep the women from forming another mob.

She lingered for dinner anyway, Sokka doing his best to cook the fish he’d brought from the stores. It wasn’t to Gran Gran’s standards but it was better than nothing, the three of them heading outside as soon as the call went up.

The sun set as slowly as it ever did, the light slowly draining from the village around them. The bonfire was blazing by now, the sound of merriment picking up as the excitement for the first Dark Night set in.

“Sokka!” came from his left.

“Hey Lena.” He spared a smile for little, “Ahnah. What brings you two to the dome?”

The answer had Sokka clutching little Ahnah’s hand as Lena went to join her friends by the fire. He didn’t like what had just happened. Not at all. Especially not when it happened again. Then again. “I thought you said it was only Oska,” Zuko murmured, his own hands full as kids, who didn’t know what a firebender was yet, swung from his arms.

“It was.” Except, maybe he should have actually talked to Oska’s mom since Sokka had the entire village’s kids by sundown. It wasn’t like he could give them back either, their mom’s well and truly drunk now and, well, “At least they won’t kill us if we have their kids right?”

Zuko made an uneasy noise, the two of them taking the kids inside.

There were twelve of them altogether, the youngest being Korra who, “Nope, nope nope,” he steered her away from the fire. He set Zuko on her. Then on four more when they turned out to be small terrors too.

An hour in and maybe Sokka should have just let their mothers lynch them.

Bedtime didn’t seem to be a concept the older kids remembered. Whenever Sokka announced it was time to sleep they just gave him a dark look, ran off and told him bedtime didn’t exist on the Dark Days. But bedtime did exist and Sokka could feel his own creeping up on him as the exhausted toddlers started expressing their confusion about their routines being disrupted.

Zuko looked just as out of his depth as Sokka felt and by hour two even he was ready to let the mom’s in. “Right. Okay,” Sokka said, trying to think of a plan or a strategy or something that- “Killit I swear if you so much as touch Ahnahta again I will put you in time out.” Except they knew time out didn’t work. The kids currently in time out were climbing Zuko like a wall. “Okay we need- we need something.”

“What?” Zuko demanded.

Sokka didn’t know and with every passing minute he could feel the last threads of his sanity slipping away from him.

They admitted defeat after another hour. Most of the kids were crying by this point, their tired and sad feelings infecting the others. Sokka was almost crying himself, his head slumped against a wall as he watched Zuko stand in the middle of the room, his hands on his hips, eyes blank as his soul was sucked out of him.

Hour four and Sokka couldn’t take it anymore. “We have to do something.” Did Gran Gran have any more of those knock out herbs?

“What?”

“I don’t know.” Maybe make a sacrifice to the spirits? Oska would be a good candidate for that.

“Then stop saying we need to do something. You’ve been saying that for hours. Hours Sokka! If you don’t have anything then just-”

“I had something it’s just they’re-”

“No you don’t, you don’t Sokka and I’m-”

“Immune to it!”

The yelling set the kids off again, Zuko groaning this time as he slid down the wall. “I don’t understand. How did you deal with this when it was the Avatar’s bedtime?”

Sokka sent him a dark look. “Okay, one, Aang wasn’t a toddler. And two-” Fuck. “I actually maybe have a plan.”

Urgh.

He gathered the kids up, forcing Zuko to hold some of the more clingy crying ones as he put on his best smile and asked, “Okay, which one of you wants to hear the story about how the Avatar saved a village from a volcano?"

Aang hadn't been a toddler but he was a preteen. Still a kid. While he wasn't as clingy as these guys even Aang yawned when it was late at night and a story was being told.

Sokka watched it work here as well as, ten minutes in the kids had stopped crying. He felt like screaming, wishing he'd thought of it sooner. He didn't, but he came close. Instead he told the kids about the absolutely ridiculous and not at all right fortune teller who was bamboozling an entire village into ignoring an active volcano.

Aunt Woo couldn't stretch out a story if her life depended on it and Sokka couldn't use her to stretch out his own either which meant he quickly found himself telling the kids about the other adventures he had with Aang. The trial of Kyoshi Island was a pretty fun one.

He tried to tell stories that wouldn't give the kids nightmares. The lighthearted trips at the river with Appa splashing his big paws about. That time Sokka tried to hunt Momo and in penance Aang had made him carry Momo around like a baby for a week. He really missed that fuzzy guy.

By the fifth story the kids were almost all asleep. Those who weren't happily let Sokka lead them to their pelts, their small hands rubbing their eyes. The dark took care of the rest, nursing them off into their dreams.

The only one, when Sokka did a final count, who was still awake as the one stubbornly keeping her eyes open on Zuko's lap.

"You should be asleep," he told her.

Korra gave him a short glare, her tired eyes drifting back to Zuko's hand after a moment. He had it lit up for her, the fire dancing in purposeful patterns. Sokka knew Zuko was trying to make it into a dragon. He'd heard about people who could make shapes with their fire when he'd been travelling with his uncle and now, with nothing else to do but exist, he was adamant about figuring it out.

"I tried to put her down," Zuko said quietly. "But she isn't very fond of the dark. At least, I think that's what she was saying."

"Well she needs to go to sleep." She was the last one. As soon as she went down Sokka himself could go to sleep. Didn't Zuko understand that?

Zuko gave him a hopeful look. "One more story?"

Sokka groaned. "I'm all story-ed out Zuko." He couldn't think of any more appropriate ones. If Zuko wanted inappropriate ones he had plenty of those. Most of them involving Zuko chasing them across the world.

Zuko rolled his eyes, shuffling slightly, his hand dimming as he set Korra properly across his stomach. "Don't tell your mom," he warned her.

Sokka didn't think she heard, her hands grabbing towards Zuko's unlit one, small, "Fi, fi," falling from her mouth. Zuko lit his hand almost as soon as he heard her, Korra settling once she saw it.

"Okay," Zuko said. "This one is called Love Amongst Dragons..."

It was a fun story. Not very toddler appropriate but Sokka definitely appreciated the intricate twists and turns the story made. Zuko even made special effects, his fingers twining like a dragon flying or a brief blare of fire for when the firebender would attack. It had Korra eventually falling asleep anyway, Zuko rolling her onto her pelt before she woke up again.

The two of them didn’t even try and take their coats off, falling into bed and into sleep until the kids eventually woke up.

Gran Gran was back to hand the first of the kids over. The rest Sokka saw to himself when Gran Gran announced she would be going back to bed. Every mother that came told him the same story about last night. That while Sokka and Zuko had been suffering, the entire village had been host to the Southern Lights.

They’d appeared again.

“This has to be good,” Sokka said again. Zuko still didn’t look convinced.

Sokka kept an eye out anyway as he introduced Zuko to his plan to survive the Dark Days. While Sokka wanted to do his usual, check on the wall, the stores, do some fishing if need be, he also had a few other things he wanted to implement this year.

Namely, “Step one, baths.” Zuko was to have at least one cold bath a day. Hopefully it would keep his temperature down if he wasn’t overheated. “Step two, Gran Gran’s tinctures.” He had no say in that step. Gran Gran would force potions down Zuko’s throat no matter what so Sokka put them into his routine. “Step three, firebending.”

The issue with last year was that Sokka hadn’t been all for Zuko firebending. He didn’t realise that maybe it was integral to survival for a firebender to let out what was burning away inside of him. The village turned a blind eye so long as it wasn’t inside the village walls. So while Sokka didn’t like it, he did his best to navigate the two of them outside of the village and to a spot within running distance of the wall so Zuko could firebend.

“Step four, a regular night's sleep.”

Sometimes lack of sleep made someone ill. Hence the Light Nights. So Sokka was adamant about keeping Zuko as regular as possible. No oversleeping, no undersleeping, just sleeping. Zuko didn’t seem to enjoy that last step. He didn’t seem to like any of the steps. Even the firebending seemed too hard after four days of no sun.

Sokka eventually had to concede that Gran Gran was right. “I really do think you’re connected to the sun.”

Zuko let out an agreeing groan, his eyes threatening to close again. Sokka nudged him until he sat up, day five looking to be just as miserable as day four.

“Come on,” Sokka got his shoulder under Zuko’s, the two of them standing, albeit a little wobbly. They dressed and left their tent. “Try and make it as big as you can,” Sokka said when they reached their training field. He kept an ear out for predators, hoping that the fire on display would keep them away.

Zuko nodded, steeling his shoulders as he fell into his practiced forms. The fire came and with it a little more life in Zuko. Fire could survive in the darkness, Sokka knew that, he just needed to figure out how to feed Zuko enough of whatever he needed to in order to get through this.

He drew his hood over his head, keeping his spear ready to throw. He knew by now Zuko would tell him when he had enough. Usually by complaining loudly at him. Sokka would sometimes bully him into a few more minutes, just to make sure that the fire was well and truly flowing before letting them walk back.

Tonight that call never came. Instead, Sokka heard one long sharp screech echo into the air. His head turned towards the faint fire lights of the village. The snow crunched as Zuko walked up beside him, both of them watching the shadows of the wall.

“Was that-”

“Shhh.”

More screaming came after a second, Sokka taking off with Zuko by his side.

Somehow, and Sokka didn’t know how since Zuko had longer legs, Sokka reached the village first. Hopping over the wall Sokka saw people running everywhere. A tent was on fire, kids were screaming and there, in the centre, was a great ball of light made structure jerking in and out of focus. One second it was some round like creature and the next it was a blur of shapes that swiped up the nearest people to it. Sokka grabbed a lantern, his feet moving as he tried to remember how Aang had dealt with Hei Bei. Except, Sokka had been in the spirit world when Aang had dealt with Hei Bei. He only heard a brief recap from Katara about how Aang had stopped it.

He slowed before he ran into it, tossing his lantern towards the spirit’s form. It shied away before the lantern could make contact, its feet sticking to the shadows.

Sokka lunged towards a torch, a lantern, anything, but most were being taken up by the women around him as they helped their kids and each other get out of the village.

A ball of fire flew past his head before he could run further away. Another followed, Zuko sending a wall of fire up so big and so bright Sokka had to look away. When he did look back, the spirit was gone, and with it whoever it had taken.

Sokka could feel panic building as he saw everyone head to the wall. He had to stop them. He had to- he- “Where were you?” He heard himself say. “I heard you beside me and then-”

Zuko pointed to where a small Korra was crouched. “She followed us out.”

Oh.

She was crying, her hands clutching her knee. She must have fallen trying to run after them. “Okay.” He had to think. “Okay, take her inside. I’m going to get Gran Gran and snow and- just- please go inside.”

Zuko glanced around, “What if it comes back?”

That was what Sokka was afraid of. “Just get inside. I’ll yell if I need you.”

Zuko nodded, going over to where he’d hidden Korra. Sokka ran after the rest of the village. It took some time they didn’t have to convince them to go back. Even more to get them to come to the dome instead of to their tents.

Sokka had Zuko help Gran Gran set up a space in the corner for the injured, Senna grabbing Korra as soon as she saw her. Sokka bit back his comments about that and instead fought through the noise to call for attention. “Who’s missing?” He needed to know first.

Everyone did a headcount, asking for their neighbours and their kids before Sokka had a number.

Three of them were missing.

Three.

That was far too many for a village this small.

None of them were kids but some of them had kids, their pinched faces looking at Sokka like he knew how to get their mother’s back.

“What was that thing?” He heard someone ask. “I’ve never seen something like that before.”

Murmurings of agreement joined.

Unfortunately, “I know what it is,” Sokka said. “I saw one when I was travelling with the Avatar. It’s a spirit. An angry spirit.” A terrifying thing. “They- it’s- has anyone done something? Think really hard. Have you disturbed something you shouldn’t? Ate something you shouldn’t? Spirits can get angry over stupid things.” and the worst thing was they didn’t care who they punished so long as someone else was suffering.

Everyone thought but no one could come up with an answer. Their days had been as mundane as any other. They did their washing with the same snow, they cooked with the same water. No one had dug anything up, no one had summoned the spirit knowingly. Unless someone was lying, this spirit was at their village unprovoked.

“Can we kill it?” Kirima asked.

Sokka shook his head. A murmur of dissent started up but it was true. They couldn’t kill a spirit. They were from the world human spirits wandered to when they died. They lived in death everyday. So no, they couldn’t kill a spirit. “The only way to solve this is to right what’s been wronged.” But if they didn’t have a wrong to right they couldn’t do anything.

“What about fire?” Puja asked. “It left as soon as the firebender hit it.”

Which was true. “It must be a shadow spirit,” and that was Zuko there. “My uncle said there were spirits for everything. A spirit who can’t exist in light I think would come to where it was constantly dark.” And they had another twenty four days of darkness ahead of them. Zuko locked eyes with Sokka, “Fire might help.”

“It might,” he admitted. “But we’re effectively under siege if that’s the case. We don’t have enough resources for everyone to have a light constantly.”

More murmurs started up. Talks about buddying up met arguments about the thing being gone now. Some people wanted to leave entirely, others asked how without killing those of them left behind. Eventually Sokka was wading through a yelling match, his brain stuck on the lights in the sky.

His eyes found Zuko. “You thought it was a warning, didn’t you?”

Zuko didn’t even try and deny it. “The lights appearing after a year of nothing?” He shrugged, “It didn’t feel right.”

There was something he wasn’t saying. Something missing. “Your uncle didn’t know a way to kill a spirit did he?”

Zuko sighed, sitting next to him, “You were right about them not dying. Even the moon spirit isn’t completely dead. The moon is the moon but the host is gone and for that we’re being punished.”

Sokka latched onto that. “Punished?”

“No waterbenders,” Zuko reminded him.

Oh.

He stretched his legs out, pulling his hood up so he could lay his head back. “That thing’s coming back.”

He felt Zuko looking at him. No doubt both those golden eyes would be narrowed at him. “What makes you think that?”

Sokka gestured around them. “It knows we’re here.”

They scared it off. But if this thing was adamant about punishing humans it wouldn’t leave the first settlement it found. If anything, Zuko’s firebending had likely angered it. They needed a plan and they needed it fast.

What plan that was Sokka couldn’t think of it.

The meeting ran longer than anyone liked. People ended up on different sides of the dome and not even Gran Gran could get them to talking civilly to each other. Eventually she told Sokka to let them go. “You can’t keep them here.”

They were adults and it wasn’t right so no, Sokka couldn’t technically keep them there.

He could stop them from taking their supplies.

“I caught it for the village, we need it for the village.”

They didn’t listen. Sokka didn’t think they would. He ended up on the ground, his scalp hurting along with his stomach as Kayla gave him another kick to keep him down. They took what they liked and more, fear really making monsters out of anyone as the call went up people were raiding the stores.

He wasn’t the only one bloody by the end of it, Gran Gran’s rising voice doing nothing to stop the women walking towards the wall, their load significantly lessened but still more than Sokka wanted to watch leave.

Something foul was rolling around his mouth, Sokka spitting it onto the ground as he stumbled towards Gran Gran. “I tried.”

She herded him back inside.

*************************************

Masterlist | Ko-Fi

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

#the avatar and the moon #atla #avatar the last airbender #zukka

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jasminedragonart · 12 days ago

Text

Chapter 1

The days were growing shorter.

Already, Sokka could see the shadows swallowing the sunlight. They had only been fishing for a few hours, most of that checking the nets and traps they had set up the day before. It wasn't like they hadn't made an early start either. With Zuko rising almost as soon as the sun did both of them had agreed to forgo any kind of training, sparring, practice or weapon sharpening to get on the seas as fast as possible. He looked at their catch. It wasn't bad. The nets would surely catch more tomorrow. But Sokka still couldn't help feel like it wasn't enough as he called it a day and turned their boat around.

They divided the catch as soon as they docked. Most of it Sokka handed to Zuko, the firebender under strict instructions to take it to the stores. Sokka didn't have any hope of it staying there. Already he had seen most of this past week's catch taken by the rest of the village. They always had some excuse of hungry children or preparing for the feast next week but Sokka thought if they wanted more why they didn't go and hunt for it themselves.

It was an argument he'd had with Gran Gran more than once. The women didn't want to upset the delicate balance they had in the village and Sokka had the best boat. Why not let the two strong men go out and hunt while they looked after the actual village?

He slung his own sack onto his shoulder, the two of them parting ways as they climbed over the wall into the village. Sokka watched Zuko to make sure he made it to the stores uninterrupted before walking to the dome.

The air warmed as soon as he hit the tunnel. Something rich and salty was cooking in the pot. Sokka couldn't say what but the usual smell of cooking meat or prune stew seemed to be absent.

"Gran Gran," he called, setting his sack near her chopping table. There were a number of herbs laid out, the names and qualities Sokka not sure on as he watched Gran Gran shuffle from one of the other tunnels.

"Sokka." She pulled him into a hug as soon as she was near. He hugged back. He knew he had just seen her that morning but he couldn't help but let his hands linger. She felt so frail these days. Or maybe that was him. "You're back," she said. Early was unsaid but Sokka heard it anyway. It wasn't uncommon for him to fish past sunset. Dangerous yes but he'd done it once or twice in the past few weeks. "How were the seas?"

"Pretty good." He nudged the sack over to her. "We caught a nice haul anyway."

"Make sure to put some in the stores."

"Already done," after years of complaining at him Sokka actually was one step ahead of her today. "The rest is for you. For us," since while Sokka did live away from home now his and Zuko's tent wasn't really big enough for them to do more than sleep. Besides, Gran Gran liked cooking for them, she liked the gossip Zuko seemed to collect now everyone merely pretended he wasn't there.

Gran Gran took the sack, setting it by the dried meat and sea plants Sokka had brought up for her yesterday. Whatever was cooking didn't seem to be dinner.

"Did er," she handed him a knife. "Did anything come for me while we were gone?" A fish was set in front of him.

"If you're asking if your sister has written she hasn't. Your father either." And it sounded like Sokka wasn't the only one worried about that. But, unlike Sokka, Gran Gran was used to pushing through worrying thoughts as she said, "But I'm sure they're fine. We have to remember they are at war."

"I know." But it was the war Sokka was worried about. He was starting to feel bad now about how little he wrote when he'd been adventuring with Aang. At least now Sokka had Gran Gran but before? Gran Gran had literally been alone here, the last of her family venturing off into lands unknown with enemies unknown. "I know. It's just... it's been seven months." It was a long time with no news. Especially since Katara had been so good about writing those first couple of weeks. "They should have written by now."

Gran Gran took his arms, her grip strong as she tried to convince both of them, "They're fine."

He wished he could believe her.

She gave him another brief hug then, when Sokka finished chopping whatever needed chopping she sent him towards the tunnel again. "Go fetch your firebender for me." She wandered to her cauldron, the flames flickering around the bubbling tincture as she poured it into a clean bowl. "I'm fixing his sleeping patterns if it's the last thing I do."

Ah. "He's sleeping fine Gran Gran." A bit longer than normal but Sokka had made a point of checking his temperature before he fell asleep. He didn't seem overly warm just yet merely tired. But that could be due to the long days they were having.

"Right now he is," Gran Gran said. "But come the dark days..." she shook her head. "That's probably why he was ill last year you know."

Right. "We don't know it has to do with the sun." Gran Gran's big theory. And sure, there was some supporting evidence to agree with it. Yes, Zuko admitted firebenders felt more energised through the day. Yes Zuko seemed to startle awake at the first ray of sunshine hitting the world. Yes...

Okay there was more evidence for than against now that he thought about it. Just to drive it home Gran Gran asked "Remember the Light Nights?"

Which Sokka did.

Vividly.

If a constantly tired Zuko had been bad, a constantly tired but insomniac Zuko was unbearable. It had started off fine enough. Sure, he had a bit of extra energy here and there. A few more hours he wanted to dedicate to training or begging for a few hours or privacy to take care of pressing needs. Then the firebending started to get a little more impressive than normal. Sokka was talking about huge plumes of fire that hurt to look at.

Then they got bigger. And bigger. And bigger again until Sokka was surprised there weren't rescue ships coming to see if they needed assistance.

Zuko had grown steadily warmer when they were in enclosed spaces as well. It became too hot to sleep beside him, Sokka stripped to his smalls as he perched as far to the opening of their tent as he could get. There had been a Zuko sized hole come some mornings, the ice around them melting until they had a small trench as Zuko tossed and turned and fought with every fibre of his being to fall asleep.

With no sleep came the teeth chattering. Zuko never felt warm despite radiating heat. Then the hallucinations started. If Sokka had a soft spot before the Light Nights he definitely had one after them. There was just something about listening to Zuko beg for his mom to come back, for his dad to let him come home that Sokka felt in his soul.

Gran Gran had broke the fourteenth day. She'd sent Sokka off to the Earth Kingdom after calming Zuko down with tea. He wasn't asleep but he was as close as he had ever gotten. Sokka traded pearls, shells and dyes for herbs. It took a few days for Gran Gran to find the right recipe. Days of Zuko lashing out and begging for forgiveness before Gran Gran finally got him to sleep.

Sokka still wasn't sure if the Light Nights or Dark Days had been worse to live through.

"I'll go get him," Sokka decided.

"Good boy."

The tinctures became a regular thing again. Every morning and night Zuko would be summoned to the dome and given a bowl of something foul smelling and goopy. Sokka felt ill just looking at it, he couldn't imagine swallowing it.

"Is it even doing anything?" Sokka asked as he dumped his extra pair of clothes onto their boat.

He watched Zuko attempt to swallow four times before actually doing so, his face stuck in a grimace as he fought not to bring it back up. "I don't think so," he said eventually. "She's made more for me too."

A full four waterskins Gran Gran expected to be empty by the time they made it home. Sokka wondered if there were more hidden in Zuko's overnight sack. Gran Gran was definitely the kind of person to make extras for Zuko's extras.

"Just dump it out," Sokka said. If it wasn't doing anything there was no point forcing someone to take it. "I'll tell her to try something else when we get back." It wasn't like she was coming with them.

They set the boat up, falling into their usual pattern as they tied their valuables down and unravelled the sails. Sokka took one last look at home before turning to the three old maps he'd found, one of them covered in amendments dad had made before he left. He steered the boat northwards, praying to Aang that there would be a kind wind as they moved into the ice filled waters.

It was peaceful for a while. Zuko had sailed long enough with Sokka for them to both know the sounds of the boat. A crunch along the side meant adjusting their direction, one man on the steer and the other moving the sail. They counted the birds when they saw them, Sokka's ears pricking when Zuko thought he saw a messenger bird.

Zuko set the net up along the side, Sokka making a note when he saw a few seals lounging on a berg. 'Potential nest?' He was always looking for new places to hunt. Sometimes if they went to the same places the animals grew wise to them, a lot of them hiding or moving which wasted time Sokka could have just spent going to a new spot and hunting game there.

He heard the boat creak to his left, Zuko peering over his shoulder. Sokka watched him narrow his eye, wondering if he could work out from the maps alone where they were going.

It turned out no, "Where are we going?"

"Hunting," Sokka said, making a few more adjustments to the parts of the map they had passed.

"Where are we actually going?" Zuko leaned over further.

Sokka let him look. "Hunting.

"Sokka," he saw Zuko's singular brow raised when he looked.

"Urgh fine," Sokka slid the map over. "We are going hunting." He hadn't been lying about that. The net along the side also counted as hunting. "But we're only hunting things we find on our way back."

"From?" Zuko pressed.

He sighed, "It's been months. Katara should have wrote by now." Sokka pointed to the small island that lay just before outlying islands of the Earth Kingdom. It was a lot further away in reality but the maps needed to be scaled to fit everything on. "There's an island about a day and a half from here where the messenger birds live." That was on a good day. On a day like this? So close to the Dark Days? Sokka was hoping they would make it by tomorrow but they would need to push themselves. "I want to go see if something might have gotten lost there."

"Ah." Zuko didn't look angry. Instead he pulled the maps closer to himself, his eyes undoubtedly picking up the discrepancies Sokka was amending. "Do they lose letters often?"

Sokka thought about it. "Sometimes?" There were a few reasons why it might happen. Sometimes they fell off on their way over, sometimes they were taken by someone else. Sometimes the bird was hunted and the letter lost that way and, right now, "The birds don't come to the South Pole in the Dark Days," something about their instincts screaming at them to turn around and fly to warmer pastures. "Sometimes they dump their letters and fly north. Don't worry, we won't be there long."

"I'm not," Zuko said absently.

He took one of the maps, both of them marking new landmarks and interesting animals. The problem with living in the South Pole was that the land moved. Icebergs could exist and then not within hours. Places floated depending on the density of the land. Sometimes the warm air in summer would melt an island, sometimes the cold in the winter would make one. It really changed as soon as they noted it down but that wasn't a bad thing. Some things did stand the test of time, small landmarks that dad or Grandpa had made when they decided to venture north themselves.

Eventually, this close to the sun resting, the day left them sooner than they liked. They pushed through as long as possible, Sokka holding on to every scrap of light he could. They even lit the lanterns, Zuko's firebending illuminating meters ahead but it could only guide them so far.

It was the crunch of ice hitting the boat, the scrape long and loud that had Sokka wincing so hard he knew they had to call it a night. They packed down together, both of them tied in the entire time. They didn't go below deck. It would be more warmer than on deck but the two of them had learned quickly that their boat sometimes hosted visitors if it was stationary for too long. The sound of a polar bear dog nosing at the hatch leading below had Sokka adamant to chase them off before they even got near the boat.

They lay close to the mast, Zuko's back warm against his own. Sokka probably should have dragged a pelt out from below deck but the less layers he had to fight through to scare off a nosy seal the better. He still burrowed as tight as he could in his coat, his hands forcing themselves in his hood and under his cheek. Then around his nose when that felt cold enough to fall off.

He heard a sigh behind him. "I'm sure they're fine."

Sokka did his best to stop wriggling. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

He felt Zuko shift against his back, "It's fine. I don't like sleeping lately anyway."

That was a horrible thought. "Nightmares?"

"Nightmares aren't the right word."

Which surprised him. He'd thrown in the lesser of two evils but, now that he thought about it, being trapped in a nightmare, the ones Zuko had as well, for days on end... yeah. Sokka too would be scared of going to sleep. "Gran Gran's gonna help. I promise. It's not gonna be like last year."

"I'm already tired Sokka."

Sokka closed his eyes. "I know." Zuko had been a little slower these last few weeks. Slower again today. "Tell me if it gets worse okay? We'll turn around."

"I will."

Sokka pretended not to hear the lie.

Sokka shuffled, then wriggled when he could feel a gap somewhere in his coat. Peering around his shoulder he saw Zuko's fluffy hood. No doubt it was warmer than Sokka's right now. All of his coat was probably warmer. "Hey, if I shuffle closer do you think you could warm my feet up?"

The barked "No!" was a lot more energetic than Sokka had been expecting.

He bit back a laugh. "I'm shuffling."

"Do not!"

He did, plastering himself to Zuko's back. Urgh, it was already so much better. He dug his feet out of his coat, slotting them between Zuko's thighs.

"Get those things away from me!"

Sokka laughed, and while Zuko did struggle for a while he eventually let Sokka leech some heat off him. Enough to catch a few hours of sleep anyway.

They woke with the sun, Zuko's internal body clock jerking him awake as soon as the sun rose beyond the horizon. They jumped on the deck as soon as they stood, both to wake themselves up and to dislodge some of the icicles that had formed while they slept.

After that, it was another race against the sun, Sokka tying things off as Zuko raised the anchor.

They caught some fish as well as some oysters, Zuko shucking them as midday hit. By evening, they had pushed the boat as hard as they could, and while the air was notably warmer, it took them a few hours more before they came across the island that housed the birds.

"There," Sokka steered them past another berg, the tower coming into view.

"Does someone live there?" Zuko called over.

Sokka hummed, "No," Well, "Kind of?" He banked the boat left, the scrape of ice only just brushing against the boat. "There's an island not far from here, they usually send someone to check on the birds." They stayed overnight but Sokka was pretty sure they didn't live there. Sokka knew he wouldn't. It was bad enough staying in the South Pole through the Dark Days but alone? No thank you.

"Will someone be here now?" Zuko asked. He'd started tying off most of the boat. It would definitely be dark by the time they docked.

"No," Sokka was pretty sure about that. "I don't think they check on the birds through the Dark Days," one because it would be too dangerous. Another because the birds would fly off if they needed something. The bird keeper mainly checked on them due to predators around nesting season. "They'll probably come in the next few days."

It was definitely dark by the time they made it to the island. Both of their lanterns were lit as they searched for something to tie the boat to. A block of frozen over wood someone from the Earth Kingdom had installed was eventually found near the back of the island. They grabbed their packs before heading inland.

The tower like structure was made up of ice. It was waterbender made and had only one entrance for someone human sized. Birds on the other hand had their choice of archways that dotted around the top of the tower. Many of them were covered in droppings.

The noise was deafening when they got inside, the birds squawking and flapping their wings at the intruders. The smell was almost too much, Sokka needing a moment outside before he ventured back in.

Eugh.

"Could you light your hand up?"

"Sure."

Some of the birds flinched, others merely ruffled a few feathers before settling back into their nests. There were several stories full of nests. How many there were Sokka wasn't sure, he'd have to count in the morning. For now, he listened to the crunch of small bones under his boot and cast his lantern about for any sign of a letter.

Small rodents scuttled under his feet and then something softer. "Aha!"

Letters.

Lots of them.

Sokka gathered up as many of them he could find, stuffing them in his pack, his pockets, everywhere as he asked, "Zuko can you go through and see if you can find the living space. There should be a fire somewhere," he pointed to the other human sized arch.

"Sure." Sokka rifled through a few nests before calling it a day. Especially when he heard, "There's a bath!"

They negotiated for the bath, Zuko claiming that him going in first would warm it up for Sokka. Sokka... reluctantly agreed with that. So the two of them worked fast piling the tub with snow that Zuko melted then heated.

Sokka settled down in front of the fire, warm enough to shed his coat as he picked up the first letter.

Time passed, the tepid water Zuko had heated up now holding an enticing steam. The firebender himself looked like he was in there for the long haul, his neck arched back and arms splayed, small sighs escaping his throat every few minutes.

"Found anything yet?" Zuko asked just as Sokka was about to kick him out.

"No." He'd long abandoned reading them. The ones he'd found were for the women back home, their husbands and sons at least having the decency to write when they promised to. All of them spoke of mundane things. A new port they had explored, a new prison they had found but had no concrete plans to break into yet. It was what Sokka had heard from the village for months.

If dad had plans he wasn't sharing them with the others. If he was, they weren't writing about them. Most worrying of all was no mention of Katara. The last real news he had about his sister was a letter Hantu wrote to his wife. He only mentioned Katara in passing. Said something about how he hoped she was alright. Sokka had only speculated when he first heard it but the more letters he read with nothing about her in the more he knew she had separated from the crew.

Still, "There might be more letters in the higher nests." But that was a tomorrow job. Right now, he eyed up Zuko. "Happy?"

"Very," Zuko let out a little groan to accompany it, his shoulders rolling as he settled in further. "I like your Gran but it's nice not having to bathe in front of her."

"I know. That's why I'm going in after you," hint hint.

Zuko drew his bath out for a while longer. In the end Sokka did have to kick him out and was extremely glad he did. The water was insanely warm, instantly relaxing muscles he didn't even know were tense. If it weren't for Zuko Sokka was sure he would have fallen asleep there.

But he didn't. Instead he curled himself up on the pelts Zuko set up for them, his skin immediately missing the encompassing warmth it had just been pried from. He plastered himself to Zuko's back, his own to the fire as he gave in to sleep.

He woke a few hours later to the fire lowered but not extinguished. He heard a short groan beside him. A twitch. Sokka waited for another one, listening to the pitch.

Nightmare.

He sat, his hand rubbing circles in Zuko's arm like mom used to do for him, learning from experience it was bad to wake a frightened firebender.

He rubbed his eyes, gazing distantly across the room, then did it again as something made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He smacked Zuko's arm," Zuko."

There was light.

"Zuko."

There shouldn't be light.

"Zuko!" He thumped Zuko that time, grabbing his boomerang as he walked to the first arch. He listened carefully, but only the shuffle of the birds met his ears.

He moved carefully to the entrance, his feet growing cold on the packed snow. Thankfully he was used to it and kept his movements slow as he crouched, peeking his head around the corner.

Bright light assaulted his eyes. It took a moment to realise what he was seeing. As soon as he did Sokka was yelling for Zuko again. "Get out here!" He heard footsteps as Sokka walked out, his eyes pinned to the sky. "Are you seeing this?" It couldn't just be him right?

He felt Zuko stop by his side, heard the small gasp as he saw what Sokka did.

"It's the Southern Lights." He felt a grin splitting his face, "It's the Southern Lights!" He hadn't seen them since before he left home. They weren't a nightly thing by any stretch but they weren't uncommon to see. Sokka had wondered if the moon had stopped them from appearing but, well, here they were. "This is a good sign." He watched the blues and greens dance around the stars. Actual stars! Pink joined in. Then purple, vague animals shapes chasing each other in the sky. "It has to be right?" He looked at Zuko, "It has to mean something?"

Except Zuko didn't seem to share his joy. He wasn't even fully outside, his body half shielded by the arch, his eyes large and fearful as they looked above them.

"Zuko?"

Zuko finally looked away, his eyes glowing as they sometimes did in the dim light. Like the fire inside him was trying to escape any way it could. They reminded Sokka of when Aang would slip into the Avatar state sometimes. Inhuman. "...maybe," Zuko said. He walked inside not long after.

Sokka watched him go, staying until his feet threatened to fall off before he too retreated inside.

They caught a few more hours sleep. Enough to pretend they were well rested as Sokka did a proper sweep of the coops. He went floor by floor, nest by best hands grasping the old rickety wooden ladder the bird keeper used to reach inside. It wasn't an easy task, Sokka did indeed get pecked more than once but eventually they had every letter addressed to the South Pole.

They retreated to the boat to read them, Sokka passing half to Zuko as they started the boat back home. Eventually even Sokka had to admit defeat. “I can’t believe we searched that place top to bottom and the only letters we’ve found were ones I really don’t want to read again.” He tossed his last letter into his open sack, tying it up tight and sending it below deck with the rest of their stuff.

“You guys really don’t skimp out on details.”

Sokka felt a smirk draw on his face, “What can I say, us water tribe peasants are a passionate bunch.” Maybe too passionate in parts. He didn’t need to know about the threesome Lena was planning for when the men got back.

He walked back to the steer, glancing over the map as Zuko said, “That one from your dad took me by surprise.”

Sokka looked at him, “I thought you didn’t find one from my dad.”

Zuko shrugged, “Not one you’d want to read.”

Wh- “You had better be lying Zuko!” He dove below deck, grabbing as many letters as he could. He didn’t skip over the details this time, looking for any mention of his dad’s name as he heard Zuko cackling above.

Eventually, as the sky darkened and Sokka had reread every letter twice Zuko admitted, “I made it up.”

But by then the damage had been done, “I don’t believe you.” His dad had needs. He was a man. Who’s to say he didn’t write a letter. Who’s to say Zuko wasn’t hiding it just to spare his feelings.

Zuko took the letter he was reading away, stuffing it into his pack, “Your dad hasn’t wrote any letters,” he promised. Then, the ass, “That we’ve found anyway,” he muttered beneath his breath.

Sokka dug the letters back out.

It took a lot of soul searching, and a brief breakdown before Sokka was back on the top deck watching Zuko pack down for the evening. “You know what, I’ve thought about it and,” he couldn’t believe he was saying this, “it’s okay if my dad wrote a letter. He loved my mom but I guess it’s been years and he has a right to be happy if he finds it.”

He waited but Zuko didn’t magically procure a letter. Maybe dad really hadn’t written one.

It calmed Sokka down enough for him to tie a rope off anyway. “I mean, everyone back home is pretty coupled up,” save a few of the girls but they had only recently turned sixteen. Dad’s flirting was pretty weak too. Sokka hoped it was anyway. “Besides, Bato would have told me if someone was trying to make moves on my dad.” Laugh loudly about it was more accurate.

“Unless it is Bato,” shattered any hope he had left. “My cousin told me a lot of soldiers buddy up on campaign. They never admit to it for obvious reasons but it happens.” Sokka felt something inside him shatter. Dad’s words of sharing a bunk with fifteen other men came to mind. Surely they wouldn’t- they- no. This was dad. Dad was a ladies man. He heard Zuko clear his throat, “But, I mean, that’s probably just a fire nation thing. It’s probably different here.”

“Yeah.” Cultural differences. That was it. Dad was definitely not having the time of his life in a fifteen man orgy right now. Definitely not. “Definitely a fire nation thing.”

He went to go tie more things down so he wouldn’t have to think about it further.

Then he did think about it further. His eyes kept flitting back to Zuko. If it was that common in the fire nation, did that mean, “Would you ever?” He could have probably had a bit more tact than that.

He turned to see Zuko fiddling with a few of the maps, his own side of the boat completely packed down. Eventually he said, “I’m already a disgrace to my family. One more thing isn’t going to make a difference.”

“Really though?” Slipped out. “With another guy?”

Zuko shrugged, his cheeks definitely more rosy than they had been as he admitted, “I spent three years on a navy vessel,” which did not bode well since Sokka’s dad was also on a navy vessel. It might not be as grand as the fire nation’s navy but it was definitely the navy. “Now I’m an eighteen year old prisoner of war. Men are… an option I’m not above trying.” Sokka hadn’t even known they were an option. “Especially since everyone else around here wants to burn me alive.”

Which, when posed that way, maybe Zuko had a point in steering clear of the fairer sex. “I guess.”

He finished packing down his side of the ship, unbidden images of what men might do to each other filtering into his head every now and then. He didn’t know how to feel about it. He grabbed their dinner from the sack, sharing out the dried meat as he watched the sun set.

“Do you really think Bato is sleeping with my dad?”

Sokka had expected a ‘no’ or even a consoling word or two about how much his dad loved his family. Things a decent person would have said. Especially considering the more Sokka thought about it the more he remembered that if those men weren’t interested in each other the only woman on board was his sister. But no. Instead what slipped out of Zuko’s mouth was an absent, “I would.” That had him fully going red before laughing as Sokka had his third breakdown of the day.

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MASTERLIST | Ko-Fi

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#the avatar and the moon #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #zukka

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