"Aang, why are we backtracking?" Katara asked, looking at the map she had taken from her brother. She wanted to see where the Avatar was headed.
"Shouldn't we be hurrying to the North Pole? You know, for training and stuff?" Sokka pointed out as he sharpened his metal boomerang.
He preferred to use his spear but had become quite good with the boomerang and club. For this trip, he had decided to bring his entire set of weapons.
He was now giving the metal boomerang in his hand proper maintenance, sharpening its sharp edges, a suitable weapon for hunting. He did so with great attention but couldn't help but follow his sister's conversation and offer his opinion.
Ever since they met the panda spirit who befriended Katara, Aang had left behind the sadness he had carried since going to the Air Temple. Although their time together was brief, lasting only a couple of days, they made the most of it.
For one thing, they started spreading the news that the Avatar was traveling the world. Why? Simple: to prepare people mentally. Although it was already known that the Avatar had returned, knowing he was roaming the world again was different.
Aang decided to train with the spirit. What better teacher than a powerful spirit beast? Sokka insisted that Aang learn from the panda, and judging by the bruises on his body, he had accomplished that.
Katara, on the other hand, briefly became the guardian of the forest. She helped water the sprouts growing in the ash-filled ground and used Waterbending to clear fungus and parasites from some trees.
She seemed to have had a strange realization while doing these tasks, but kept quiet about it. Also, for the first time in her life, Sokka saw Katara take an interest in chi-driven martial arts, albeit for strange purposes.
"Some time ago, we flew over an island. Do you remember? After we left the temple, I found it interesting. I had heard of that island before. It was created by one of my past lives, Avatar Kyoshi," Aang answered, addressing his friends' doubts. Katara looked at her older brother with a raised eyebrow.
"We know it; it's relatively close to the South Pole. We've been to that island, but Sokka has been there more often than I've. He knows it better than I do." Katara rolled up the map in her hand and spoke in a playful tone, making Aang's ears flap.
"Right! Didn't you tell me that a friend of Sokka's is a Kyoshi warrior? Tell me about it!" Guided by the omnipotent spirit of gossip, Aang approached Katara and sat down next to her.
Although they were flying on Appa's back, the bison's fur made it quite comfortable, so except for a slight breeze, it was hardly any different from being on the ground.
Katara blushed a bit when she felt Aang's body temperature, but she calmed down quickly, eager to continue gossiping with him. Sokka, on the other hand, gripped the whetstone more tightly, as if preparing to throw her boomerang at something or someone.
"Did I tell you about Yue? Yes, that girl who briefly dated Sokka but then broke his heart. Our trips to the North Pole were always by water; we barely landed on land.
Except on Kyoshi Island. We always stopped there and met the island warriors. In his grief, Sokka joked cruelly that women should be in the kitchen, not fighting. Guess what happened," Katara began to tell the painful story of her older brother with barely contained laughter.
"I'll tell you what happened," Sokka interrupted, blowing the scum off the sharp edge of his boomerang. The sunlight reflected off the boomerang as Sokka raised it into the air and observed his weapon. With a voice charged with strange emotion, he spoke.
"I got my ass kicked. I got such a horrible beating that I couldn't get up for days. Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, could be said to have inherited all the martial arts knowledge of the Avatar they honor.
After Yue rejected me, I said stupid things and paid dearly for it. But, for the first time, my stupidity served a purpose other than getting me into trouble; it made Suki talk to me.
I had met her before, but we never interacted directly. Why would I? I was a bit over the moon when I was younger, but not now. We talked and started training. I think I like her," Sokka said without any hint of embarrassment or reproach, as if it were a matter of course.
Katara, however, looked at him with some astonishment. She was used to her brother's stupidities and nonsense, though she admittedly got a good laugh out of his witticisms. He constantly teased her.
But now, she was seeing a different side of her brother. This wasn't the funny Sokka who was always looking to get a laugh out of her, or the guardian Sokka who was capable of using his weapons to protect her. This was a more mature Sokka.
"And does she like you?" asked Aang, immersed in the story Sokka had told. His question brought a smile to the brunette's face before he shook his head.
"I don't know, you know? The Kyoshi Warriors are an all-female group. What do you think happens in a group like that? At least Suki genuinely laughs at my jokes. I couldn't tell you if she feels the same way about me," Sokka replied. He carefully put his boomerang away, then lay on his back and looked up at the cloud-covered sky.
"Wouldn't it be better to ask her to find out? You can't assume she likes girls!" Katara exclaimed, her face red with embarrassment. She clearly understood her brother's subtle comment.
"Huh? Same-sex relationships were common among the Air Nomads. I'm not surprised that the Kyoshi Warriors have something similar." Aang shook his shoulders, remembering a bit of his past.
"Every culture has people like that. It's normal. But I just don't want to distract her with my feelings. She volunteered in war zones. Though she didn't fight, she witnessed the destruction in the Earth Kingdom. How could I bother her with my emotions?" Sokka asked quietly before closing her eyes.
"However, with the current peace, I suppose I can try. But I want to do more than that," said the boy before opening his eyes wide, exuding an impulse similar to that of a hunter about to hunt.
"I want to do it big! I want to hunt Unagi!" Sokka's sister screamed and came over to him, holding his arm.
"Are you out of your mind!? A girl doesn't deserve you hunting such a monster!" Katara started shaking her older brother's body, but he looked at her with solemn blue eyes.
"What's an Unagi?" asked Aang, curious about Katara's reaction and Sokka's determination.
"Unagi is a gigantic eel. What little has been seen of it can reach great heights. It's a powerful being, though I don't know how it would compare to the legendary Kraken," Sokka replied calmly, ignoring Katara's exasperated look.
Even Momo stopped rummaging through the bags of food and joined the others in looking at Sokka as if he had gone mad. Katara, tired of being ignored, smacked her brother upside the head.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. She realized that she had probably misunderstood her brother. His desire to hunt was different from what she thought. It wasn't for a girl; it was something else, and she wanted to know what it was.
"I figured that if I'm going to be encouraged to propose to Suki, then I might as well try something too. I've wanted to leave my mark on the story. I don't want to just be 'Hakoda's son.'
"So, if I hunt Unagi, I won't make a name for myself?" Sokka asked. While anyone who barely knew him might think he was doing it for the fame and recognition, Katara and the Avatar knew better.
Sokka had been strongly encouraged by Shisui and his group. Although he had been a pirate, he wasn't one because he never plundered cities or attacked innocents; he was more of a sailor.
But then he met Mai and Ty Lee! They were two girls just like him, with no elemental power, yet incredibly strong. They could take on benders with no problem.
He had trained hard. Still, he hadn't left a mark on the world. Now that he had plucked up the courage to declare himself, why not try something momentous?
"Sokka, didn't you say you had a secret technique you wanted to use against Zhao? You can try it on that being!" Aang encouraged the boy, who smiled.
"Yeah, what better test subject than a giant monster?" Sokka was eager to demonstrate the technique he had devised.
He would use it against the Fire Nation bastard when he got the chance!
...
Kyoshi Island had never seen war. Perhaps it was because the Avatar herself created it with that name. Ever since she demonstrated her power by splitting off a portion of the Earth Kingdom to make it her own, the island had been considered neutral territory.
No matter how much conflict there was in those 100 years, no ship dared to fire on or land armed soldiers on the island. If they had, they would have encountered a formidable group of female warriors.
One of those warrior women, fully dressed and made up, strolled through the marketplace of the island's only village. She smiled at the prosperity of her land.
Similar to the South Pole, people wearing different clothing to indicate their affiliation could be found here. Whether you were from the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, or the Water Tribes, you could walk around freely without receiving negative looks or out-of-place comments.
She even saw an older gentleman selling high-quality cabbages at a good price. Many people bought his products. The warrior felt that this day couldn't get any better; everything was peaceful...
Until a huge shadow covered her.
Suddenly, in front of the entire village, a flying bison, a creature thought to be extinct, landed at the entrance, shaking the earth so hard that the vibration was felt everywhere.
The warrior lost her peace of mind, so she brought her hand to her waist and grabbed one of the new additions to the Kyoshi Warriors' equipment: a flare gun.
She fired it into the air to warn her companions before running toward the village entrance, propelling her body with chi. To the eyes of normal people, her figure was just a barely distinguishable green blur.
"Could it be the Avatar that has been advertised so much? We saw him fly over days ago! Why has he turned?" the girl muttered, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Soon, she was joined by her sisters.
The group of girls soon appeared in front of the Flying Bison and instantly recognized the trio in front of the huge creature: They were the sibling pair, the son and daughter of the leader Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe.
They already knew what they looked like, so they quickly passed the bald man with blue arrows running down his limbs and forehead. Behind the women, the crowd began to gather, and someone with a keen eye pointed ahead.
"IT'S THE AVATAR!" he shouted. That made the crowd get excited.
"THE AVATAR? HOW CUTE HE IS!" shouted a woman out of nowhere.
"IT'S HIM! IT'S REAL! "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" one person shouted as he started hyperventilating and spitting white drool from his mouth, eventually falling unconscious on the ground.
"By Kyoshi, what madness has the Avatar caused?" one of the warriors muttered as she watched people grow louder and louder because of the Avatar.
This ruckus was worse than when the Fire Nation stranger came to visit years ago!
------------
AN: Happy Pride Month! You should know that Avatar is a pretty 'inclusive' franchise. For example, Kyoshi had a girlfriend from the Fire Nation, which is why there are references to Kyoshi warriors having girl-on-girl relationships.
TheAnPlayer2 gave me a tip: Promote my original stories every 5 chapters. So, read my original novels: Steam and Heart, and Witch's Adventure. You may or may not like them, but give them a chance. c: