Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Good yield today, eh, Gramps?” 

“It sure is, Sakari. Oh, careful, you’re about to lose that one!” 

Sakari looks at the crab trap she’s just pulled up and, sure enough, there’s one just clinging onto the outside about to fall off. She hastily scoops him up with a mitten-covered hand and places him with the rest before tipping the entire lot out into the huge tub on the deck of the boat, near-filled with the crabs they’ve already pulled up this morning. 

“How many more traps do we have to pull up, Amaruq?” asks Massak, an old friend of Gramps’, as he adjusts the sails. 

“Just two more. Don’t you worry, Massak, I see the swell picking up. We’ll be done soon.” 

“Don’t make me sound like some worry-wart, I’ve gotten stuck out in these waters before.”

Gramps turns to Sakari with a look of playful irritation. “Such a worry-wart.”

Sakari sniggers as she throws the trap back out into the water, very used to the bickering between these two. When they get to the last marker buoy, she grabs the rope and goes to pull the trap out but it won’t budge, clearly stuck on something. She tries to yank it free for a while but to no avail. She glances back at the two men on the boat to make sure that they’re not looking, but they’re clearly pre-occupied with an argument so she leans back over the boat’s edge, dips a hand in the icy water and focuses on shifting the water, hoping to dislodge the trap from whatever its caught on. The rope shifts, and sure enough when she tugs on it, the trap pulls free. 

“You alright, Sakari?” 

The girl startles, convinced for a second that Massak saw her waterbending, and she braces herself for the worst. Her waterbending has already forced her family to leave one home, she can’t do it again. But the look on Massak’s face is amusement and she realises that she’s just leant over at a very awkward angle.  

“It was just caught on something for a second,” she explains as she straightens up. She quickly empties the trap out, sets in back in the water and then they’re heading back to the shore. 

Sakari loves being a part of the Northern Water Tribe, but it’s not without its faults. Namely, women not being allowed to waterbend. Or fight. She finds it particularly frustrating given how vulnerable Sakari feels her little family is. With her Dad having disappeared out at war 7 years ago, it’s just been her, Gramps, and her mother, Sesi, ever since. And she loves them to bits but sometimes it terrifies her. She still remembers clear as day how it felt to almost lose them too. 

There’s a stranger in their home. “You betrayed him! He’s the reason you even have shelter and you stabbed him in the back!” 
Gramps holds his head high. “He is facing the consequences of his own actions, son.”  
“And what about the consequences of yours?! Did you think about that?!” 

Sakari takes a series of deep breaths as she packs away some of the gear into the shed. It’s fine, they’re safe, they’re far, far away from all of that. 

A hand claps her on the shoulder and she flinches, whirling around to look at Massak who just laughs heartily. “Sorry, Sakari, didn’t mean to startle you. Would you mind putting these away for me?” 

She forces out a laugh and takes the ropes from him. “Sure thing.” 

It’s been years, she reminds herself. Calm down. 

“Are you excited about going back to the healing hut?” Sesi asks when Sakari joins her in making lunch. “Those kids love having you as a tutor.” 

Sakari just gives a noncommittal shrug. “It’s frustrating. I feel like I could be doing more. I’m fifteen, I’ve been practising healing for years and there’s nothing the healers think there’s left to teach me. But I feel like there’s so much more to learn.” 

“Like?” 

“Like… fighting.” 

“Sakari,” Sesi sighs. “I know it’s frustrating, but that’s just the way things are.” 

“It’s stupid, mom! I’m just as capable as any boy.” 

“I know you are, sweetie,” she says, placing a gently hand on the girl’s cheek. “But you know the rules, it’s forbidden for us to use our waterbending for fighting.” 

Sakari avoids her eye, wondering if it would be a good time to admit she’s been trying to teach herself waterbending forms in secret (although she suspects Gramps knows). Probably not, she decides quickly. 

Why does it matter that she’s a girl? Why aren't girls allowed to at least learn waterbending to protect themselves? Why would it make such a difference if she was a boy? If she looked like a boy? 

The idea hits her like a bolt of lightning, already half formed within a mere few seconds of coming to her. If she looked like a boy. 

If she’s being completely honest, Sakari does consider just sneaking off in the middle of the night without telling anyone. But she really doesn’t want to do that to her family, particularly her mother. She respects the woman too much, and the trust between them is something that makes their relationship so strong. Besides, she knows Sesi will be supportive – she thinks the rules are ridiculous too. So, although it’s tempting, primarily on the basis of not having to do the whole ‘goodbye’ thing, Sakari does not disappear into the night. Instead, she approaches her mother as the woman is preparing their dinner, offering to help in the most casual voice she can muster. 

“So, um, I have a plan,” she begins, causing Sesi to raise an eyebrow at her. 

“Uh huh?” 

“I want to learn proper waterbending. I need to. So, I figured I could pretend to be a guy -and obviously I can’t learn here in the village because everyone in Kuk’uq knows everyone- but I could go to the city and learn from a master there!” 

Her mother stares at her for a moment in which Sakari severely misinterprets this as shock over what a great plan it is. “No, Sakari!” she finally manages, and Sakari’s heart plummets. “It’s forbidden, and they’ll catch you! I’m not letting you do anything of the sort!” 

Her next words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. “I’m- I’m not asking, Mom.” 

“I don’t care! You’re not doing that!” 

“You say it’s sexist and you say that I’m capable but now that I actually have a plan you refuse to let me do it? It’s hypocritical! Or do you actually just doubt my abilities?” 

“Of course I don’t doubt you, sweetheart. It’s not about that.” 

“Then what is it about?” 

“I don’t want you to get hurt!” 

“That doesn’t make any sense, if I learn to waterbend then I can protect myself from getting hurt.” 

“No, I won’t let you,” she shakes her head stubbornly. “Do you have any idea what they’ll do to you if they find out?” 

“I don’t care, mom!” 

“I do! Your father left and never came back and I’m not letting that happen to you too!” 

Sakari falters, the tears in her mother’s eyes instantly taking the wind out of her sails and causing her own eyes to fill with tears. “Mom…” 

“I can’t lose you too, don’t you see that?” 

“I’m sorry,” she murmurs, hugging her tightly. “I’m sorry, Mom, I didn’t think…” 

“I’m sorry it has to be this way. I support you, I do, but I can’t let you do something like that.” 

“Okay,” Sakari acquiesces, avoiding her mother’s eye, as if that’ll do anything to ease the guilt of what she is going to do. 

As she walks out, she passes Gramps stoking the fire outside and realises with mild panic that he had most certainly heard all of that. From the corner of her eye, she can see him looking at her but she can’t bring herself to make eye contact with him and instead keeps walking. 

Sakari spends the next day formulating the details of her plan and trying to act more enthusiastic about tutoring the healing students without being too suspicious. And when she says she’s tired and going to bed early, she tries not to think too hard about the look Gramps gives her. 

Quietly as possible, she packs what she needs to from her room, the full gravity of what she is about to do only now truly setting in. She doesn’t know how long she’ll be gone for and her heart aches at the thought, doubt seeping stickily into her mind. Is this what she really wants? But there’s no way she can learn waterbending here in Kuk’uq and she figures that if she has to leave home, then she may as well go big and go to the capital - Agna Qel’a. 

As she reaches for her bag under her bed, her eyes land on her father’s old spear and hesitates only a fraction of a second before grabbing it firmly by the handle. And then she grips her dagger and takes a deep breath, before lifting it to her hair and hacking it off at the shoulder. 

Sakari waits quite some time after she hears her mother and Gramps go to bed before climbing out of bed and collecting her things. However, as she creeps into the dark kitchen, the quiet clearing of a throat almost makes her jump out of her skin and her eyes dart to Gramps standing in the doorway of his room. She freezes in panic, trying to formulate some kind of lie to explain what she was doing, but then he raises a silent finger to his lips and moves to the kitchen. She watches in shock as he gathers food, wraps it in fabric and offers the package out to her. Tears form in her eyes as she takes it and pulls him into a tight hug, and when they pull away his fingers move to her hair, eyeing the choppy cut in mild amusement. 

Gramps gestures for her to sit down and takes a small blade to her hair, gently cutting away the jagged ends of the strands and wordlessly showing her how to tie the top half up to mirror his usual look. He offers her a firm nod and a sad smile, and Sakari can’t help but throw her arms around him again. 

“I love you,” she whispers, and he squeezes slightly. 

“I love you too, my dear. You go prove them wrong.” 

Chapter Text

It’s unusual for a waterbender to start training as late in life as Sakari is, but Master Pakku doesn’t question the (somewhat truthful) backstory she gives: a boy from a tiny eastern village who has had to help his mother and grandfather run the village’s crab fishery until some of the other children in the village were old enough to take over, so now he’s finally come to learn. And thus, ‘Kavik’ is born.

She’s placed in a complex of huts for rural students and told to be ready every morning at sunrise. The students she starts training with are surprisingly welcoming and, having taught herself a fair few forms, she gets the basics down in no time. However, she’s still very behind where she should be for her age and strives to catch up to the others, even if it’s not the most reasonable goal.

“You should take a break,” one of Pakku’s older students advises her one day as she stays back to practice long after the lesson has finished. “You’re working yourself too hard.”

Sakari drops her stance in what she hopes is a masculine manner, eyes darting between him and his friend. She’s seen them both around before, they’re a couple of years older than her and Pakku seems to hold them in high regard.

“I only started a month ago,” she says shaking her head, her voice deep. “I’ve got so much to catch up on.”

“Ok, well, first of all, you’re not going to catch up by doing the same forms over and over again,” the other one steps forward, tilting his head slightly. “You’ve clearly mastered that one, and others, I’m sure.”

“I’ve mastered all the ones he’s taught me so far, but I’m not his only student, he can’t dedicate all his time to me.”

The two share a look before looking back at her. “We can catch you up,” the first one offers. “We can teach you extra stuff outside his lessons, you’ll be caught up in no time. I’m Anik, by the way. This is Tuktu.”

“Kavik,” she introduces with a small bow of her head. “And you’d really do that?”

Tuktu nods. “Meet here tomorrow at sundown. We can go over what Pakku teaches you in the morning and go from there.”

A thrum of excitement rolls through her, but she tries to stay calm, instead offering a small grateful smile.

“Thank you, I won’t let you down.”

So, Sakari starts training daily with Anik and Tuktu, and she finds it refreshing to feel like she’s actually getting somewhere, to be learning new forms at a much faster rate. Pakku is particularly impressed with her progress, and when she explains that she’s being tutored by Anik and Tuktu, he gives a sharp nod, and she doesn’t miss the way the corner of his mouth quirks up. And when he tells her he’s moving her up a class, she fights back a grin.

She’s not sure exactly when it happens, but at some point, and rather quickly, Anik and Tuktu become her friends. And when Anik hooks his arm around her neck and playfully rubs his knuckles on her head for lobbing a snowball at his head meanwhile Tuktu just rolls his eyes in exasperation, she’s very aware of the warmth in her chest.

Maybe it’s the fact that she’s set her expectations really high, or maybe she’s just grown cocky, but when they move from general water manipulation to proper fighting forms and she hits a slump, Sakari does not take it well at all. It’s infuriating because she knows that she’s capable of it yet she finds herself hesitating. She knows it’s a mental game, an invisible barrier she needs to find a way past. But she doesn’t know how to break it down.

Anik and Tuktu clearly don’t understand what’s going on, why she’s suddenly lost her momentum when she’s been doing great the last few weeks, but they try to. They try the forms step by step, they make up situations about fire nation invaders for her to attack, they try to make her angry. But every time the moment comes to actually strike, she keeps faltering.

Pakku, of course, is a little less gentle.

“You’re weak,” he growls when she hesitates yet again. “How can you expect to fight a fire nation soldier when you can’t even attack a dummy made of ice? It’s pathetic!”

Sakari clenches her jaw, the shame burning hot on her cheeks.

“You’re better than this, Kavik - you’re holding back. Why?” he demands.

“I don’t know.” A lie.

Pakku shakes his head, “I’ll make a man out of you.”

“Kavik, stop,” Tuktu says gently, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her practicing. “You’re in your head, you need a break.”

“Yeah, let’s give today a miss,” Anik agrees before she can argue. “How about we go sledding instead?”

“That’s not exactly what I-“

“Sound good, Kavik?”

Sakari cracks a grin and nods. “Yeah, sounds good.”

While training with Pakku used to be exciting, now it just brings Sakari a heavy sense of dread and irritation. She’s desperate to prove herself. She knows she can do this, and she so badly wants Pakku’s admiration. Not to mention the other students must think she’s pathetic. It is pathetic.

“You won’t attack a dummy?” the master finally snaps one day, clearly having lost his patience. He sends the dummy flying back with a flick of his arm and stands where it had just been. “Maybe you’ll attack me.”

“Master-!“ Sakari cuts herself off as she dodges an ice disk the man just shot at her and stares at him in shock.

“Fight back!”

He launches attack after attack, slowly inching toward her, and Sakari instinctively moves to dodge them all.

“FIGHT!”

She blocks each and every strike until she can’t keep up and he manages to knock her harshly to the ground with a rush of water. When she looks up, Pakku is standing over her, about to launch a sharp icicle straight at her throat. All rationale escaping her and acting on pure instinct, Sakari throws her hands up and sends a surge of water at him with all the force she can muster. The man goes flying back and lands on the ice hard. She scrambles to her feet and rushes over to him as he sits up in a daze.

“Shit, shit, shit, I’m so sorry-“

But Pakku chuckles as she pulls him to his feet and claps a hand roughly on her shoulder. “I knew you had it in you. We have to work on your control, though.” 

She stares at him in bewilderment. What the fuck?

After that incident, it’s like Sakari has finally broken through that invisible barrier, and she excels at a rapid rate. Even Pakku can’t hide his pride.

It’s been about five months since she left home when Pakku makes a comment about her being on her way to make a great water warrior, and her mind jumps to her father’s spear. She thinks of the warrior training program and drops her stance to turn to her master.

“Could I? Do warrior training, I mean.”

Pakku frowns. “So soon?”

“I want to learn how to use weapons.”

“You haven’t been bending for long. I know you’ve advanced incredibly fast, but you’ve still got a lot to learn.”

“I know, but I think undertaking warrior training at the same time as my waterbending could really help me grow as a soldier. And my dad was a warrior,” she blurts out when he still looks unsure. “I’ve- I’ve got his old spear. I guess I… I don’t know.”

“I see,” the master says with a nod, and contemplates for a moment. “I can’t see why not… It’ll certainly help with your discipline. Just make sure you don’t overwork yourself, otherwise you won’t be useful to anyone.”

She grins and gives a quick bow. “Thank you, Master!”

So, Sakari starts to split her time between waterbending and warrior training, while still doing extra training with Anik and Tuktu. It’s a lot, but she is loving it. And although she only has to cut back her waterbending a little to make time for warrior training, it doesn’t stop Anik and Tuktu from giving her crap for it.

“Abandoning us, huh, Kavik?”

“I think he’s just being a show-off. You striving to be the youngest water warrior in the North Pole or something?”

“Oh, shut up,” Sakari rolls her eyes.

“I know right, next he’ll be telling us he’s off to master healing too,” Anik declares dramatically, and she can’t help the snort that escapes her at that. “Will you ever be satisfied?”

“Not until I master all four elements,” she jokes.

“The Avatar? You’ve finally returned!”

“Wow, I can’t believe it,” Tuktu plays along with a grin.

“Yeah, bow down to me, peasants.”

“Isn’t the Avatar meant to be all about peace?”

“Not this one, dipshits. Bow.”

“You’ve gotten really cocky, you know that?”

“I do, thanks Anik.”

“Hey, my name’s Hahn,” one of the warriors-in-training introduces at her first session, offering his hand. “You must be the newbie. A waterbender, I hear?”

Sakari shakes his hand firmly. “Yeah, I’m Kavik. I’ve been training with Master Pakku, but I want to learn how to handle weapons.”

Hahn gives her a once-over and nods. “That’s cool. Don’t go getting a big head though. Being a waterbender doesn’t automatically make you good with weapons.”

Sakari pulls a face. “Yeah, I know, that’s why I’m-“

“You’ve got your own weapon?” he interrupts, nodding his head toward her spear. Her eye twitches.

“Yeah, this was my dad’s.”

“Neat!” he exclaims and grabs it out of her hand to examine it, swinging it around a bit.

She clenches her jaw and refrains from snatching it back, knowing she needs to make a good impression. When their trainer walks into the room, Hahn hands the weapon back, gives her a friendly nudge and says, “Stick with me and you’ll be fine.”

If she’s being honest, Hahn seems a bit annoying, but he does seem to know his stuff and she really can’t be picky about her friends here. She needs people on her side. So, she offers him a tight smile and a nod, and a small part of her wonders if she’s making a terrible mistake. But then she looks back at the spear in her hand, thumb tracing over the carvings, and takes a deep breath.

“How long has it been since you cut your hair, Kavik?” Anik asks one day, and Sakari freezes.

Although she had been initially stressed about how her disguise would hold up, she hasn’t run into any trouble yet. At least not in regard to anyone suspecting anything. (The pain from having her chest bound most of every day is another issue. Fortunately, puberty hasn’t made her particularly ‘robust’ in that area, so it doesn’t take a great deal of pressure to hide that aspect of her body. Still, the relief of taking off her binding each night is unparalleled.)

“You’re going to start looking like a girl soon,” he jokes, and she realises in a panic that perhaps she’s grown too comfortable. “Should we style it with some loopies?”

Fortunately, her sprung expression is apparently misconstrued as sheepishness, because Tuktu asks with a raised eyebrow, “Have you cut it at all since you arrived here? When was that, like eight months ago?”

She feels her cheeks grow warm. “No… my- my mom usually cuts it.” Both boys snigger and she hits them roughly on the arm. “Shut up!”

Anik wraps an arm around her shoulder. “Kavik, my dude, you need only ask.”

So that’s how she ends up sitting across from Tuktu meanwhile Anik uses a blade to chop at her hair.

“So… didn’t your dad teach you stuff like this?” Tuktu asks her.

“Um, well… he left to go fight when I was only eight, and uh, never came back. Didn’t get a whole lot of time.”

A heavy silence falls over the room, and Anik lowers his hands. “What happened to him?”  

“We don’t have a clue… there’s rumours that they stopped taking prisoners a few years ago, but I’ve also heard that’s only for waterbenders and he was a non-bender. Though, no one's heard from anyone in the fleet, and there’s been teams sent to try and find them, but… nothing. I know he’s most likely… not coming back, but because no one knows what happened, it’s…” She clears her throat. “It’s just hard… especially on mom.”

“Well, wherever he is… he’d be proud of you, man,” Tuktu says. “Seriously. You’ve worked so hard and learnt so much in such a short span of time. You’re a very skilled warrior.”

“And you’re not an asshole!”

Sakari shakes her head in amusement, mouth curling up into a smile. “Thanks, guys.”

Sakari quickly realises that her initial assessment of Hahn was not entirely accurate: he’s very annoying, and generally a douchebag. But the boy has kind of just thrust his friendship upon her and she doesn’t really have much of a choice. Besides, she’s starting to learn to simply tune out his voice.

They’re training in the courtyard with the rest of the warriors, and Chief Arnook has decided to pay them a visit. While his presence seems to make some of them nervous, others (Hahn) clearly see it as an opportunity to try and impress him.

She feels the extra force Hahn uses as they duel with wooden scimitars, and she sees his eyes darting over at the man every few minutes. Not to mention the way he emphasises his grunts to try and catch his attention. She’s not sure whether to pity the guy or respect his drive. Naturally, he has to go and ruin that.

“Hey, Kavik, check it out,” he grins, lowering his weapon and nodding his head to the side.

Sakari follows his gaze and spots Princess Yue walking towards the chief. When she glances back at him, he’s ogling shamelessly, and she rolls her eyes when he lifts a hand to adjust his hair. And sure, regardless of the fact that beauty is subjective, Yue is objectively gorgeous. However-

“Ow!” Hahn yelps when she strikes him in the hip, but he simply returns it with a laugh and a retaliatory attack.

“I’m not sure the chief would appreciate you checking out his daughter.”

The boy shoots another glance at the white-haired girl, lip curling. “I’m gonna marry her.”

Sakari has to stifle a laugh. “Uh, okay. That seems a little… optimistic.” 

“The chief likes me, plus he and my dad are in good standings. I think I could charm him into betrothing her to me.”

His lack of even the slightest consideration of Yue’s own thoughts on the matter makes her insides stir. Betrothal. There’s no doubt that in Sakari’s mind that if she hadn’t left home, she’d be engaged - possibly even married - by this point, and the thought makes her slightly dizzy.

“I’d basically be royalty,” Hahn continues, and she stares at him for a moment in disbelief.

“Have you ever actually talked to her?”

“No, why?”

The legitimate confusion in his voice makes her want to throw her head onto the end of her scimitar.

Hahn seems to make an even stronger effort to show off for the rest of the training session - a few times, to his detriment. In his attempts to look stronger and like a better fighter, he compromises his control over his strength, and at one point, manages to smack himself in the face when Sakari blocks an attack. As he takes a moment to cradle his nose, she can’t help but roll her eyes again. However, her gaze lands on Yue in the distance, who’s staring right back at her and holds a gloved hand over her mouth as she giggles.

Sakari hastily averts her eyes, cheeks pink.

“Swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon,” Sakari murmurs as she goes through her waterbending movements.

She closes her eyes and takes a moment to focus; she feels the level of control she holds, feels how the water moves with just a twitch of her finger, feels the strength in her stance. The realisation of how far she’s come, the progress she’s made, sinks in abruptly and she stands a little straighter. Her lips curl into a proud smirk.

“Starting without us?” Anik calls as he and Tuktu walk into the courtyard.

She shoots them a grin. “Just getting warmed up.”

“Ready to get your ass kicked?” 

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

Tuktu laughs and gives her a light punch on the shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see.”

Anik is the first to face Sakari and the pair stare off for a while as they circle, waiting to see who’ll make the first move. He strikes first with a water whip and she’s quick to block it and send a counterattack his way, starting a fierce back-and-forth of water and ice, almost like a strange choreography. The duel lasts for some time, but eventually Sakari manages to knock him down and freeze his hands to the ground. His chest rises and falls rapidly as he catches his breath for a moment before he props himself up and chuckles.

“You know, I liked you better when you weren’t as good at this.”

Sakari snorts and helps him to his feet before turning to Tuktu. “You game?”

The boy rolls his eyes. “Don’t get bigheaded, Kavik, it won’t end well.”

About ten minutes later, Tuktu manages to send her crashing to the ground, and he smirks. “I told you-“

But he’s cut off when Sakari aims a water whip at his ankles, yanks him to the ground and scrambles up to pin him down. “Sorry,” she pants as he groans and lets his head fall back to the ground. “What were you saying?”

“You’re the worst.”

As the trio walk out of the courtyard, they pass Yue, who gives a friendly wave to Sakari, which the girl returns. Of course, Anik doesn’t even have the decency to wait until the Princess is out of earshot before letting out a high pitched, “ooooh!”

Sakari elbows him hard in the side. “Will you shut up? She just waved for spirit’s sake.”

“I saw you guys talking the other day.”

“So? We talk,” she replies incredulously, gesturing between them. “We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, but she’s a girl,” Tuktu grins. “Have you ever had a girlfriend before?”

Sakari groans and buries her face in her hands.

“No need to be embarrassed, man. We can teach you everything you need to know.”

At this, Tuktu scrunches up his face, “Anik, I don’t think you’re exactly one to-“

“Shush. Now, Kavik, what you’re going to want to do-“

“Guys, seriously, it’s not like that. We’ve spoken, like, twice, it’s not a big deal.”

“Alright, bro, whatever you say.”

In warrior training, Sakari relishes in the difference she can feel in her strength, in the finesse of her form, and the precision of her movements.

She doesn’t exactly want to credit Hahn with the progress she’s made, but the desire to spite him has certainly been a contributing factor. Which is why she doesn’t mind too much when the boy is the sorest loser she’s ever met or makes condescending remarks - it fuels her spite. And she’s a firm believer than one can do anything with the power of spite.

Sakari is sharpening weapons in the armoury with a group of warriors when it happens.

“…I got a look at her when she was bathing, she had no idea,” she hears one of the others, Kasuuq, say to his friend with a laugh.

She drops her spear, head whipping around to look at him. She’s ignored a lot since she began training, but she can’t ignore this. “What did you just say?”

Kasuuq only grins wider. “This girl I’m trying to court - I got a peek at her when she was bathing.” He gives a low whistle.

“What is wrong with you?” she spits. “How do you think she’d feel if she knew?”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

“Girls aren’t objects for you to ogle at. You’re disgusting.”

“Oh, get a grip, Kavik, what are you, twelve?” he snarls back with a roll of his eyes. Sakari returns the gesture, turning back around to keep sharpening her weapon.

“Someone’s sensitive,” his friend sneers at her, a few of the others laughing.

“Yeah, why don’t you go to the healing huts, you pansy?”

“You know,” she begins calmly, “I think you’re all just jealous that I’m better at fighting and at respecting women.”

She hears Kasuuq take a few steps toward her, but she doesn’t look up. That is, until he mockingly asks, “do you think women should be able to fight too?” She shoots him a scathing look but manages to hold her tongue. She wants to go off, to put him in his place and tell him what she really thinks. But she really can’t, she’s on thin ice already.

Naturally, that doesn’t stop Kasuuq and his friends from continuing to pester and mock her. She tries to tune them out and focus on the task at hand, but she can feel her patience rapidly draining. Just as she feels like she’s about to snap-

“Hey!” their general shouts, having reappeared in the armoury. “Pull yourselves together and get back to work. Kasuuq, I expect better from you.”

When she glances back at Kasuuq, he’s already glowering at her, and when she looks over at Hahn, the boy just averts his gaze.

She wishes Anik and Tuktu were here.

The rest of the day is tense, but they leave Sakari alone. However, as she heads toward her hut that evening, she comes to an abrupt halt when she hears footsteps behind her. She spins around to glare at Kasuuq and three of his friends.

“Can I help you?” she asks coolly, eyes tracking them as they form a semi-circle around her.

“I’m not quite sure you understand your place, Kavik.”

“Oh really?”

“The chief might like you, but that doesn’t give you the right to disrespect and embarrass me.”

“That was all your work, man,” she shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant as she calculates - they’re clearly here to pick a fight and she’s certainly outnumbered. Not to mention the fact that they’re slowly closing in on her. She tries to form a plan of defence in her mind, but she’s coming up short.

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he sneers, cracking his knuckles. “I don’t know who you think you are, but-“

Just as Kasuuq roughly grabs the front of her tunic, the clearing of a throat from behind him cuts him off, and everyone turns to see Hahn standing there with his arms crossed. Kasuuq hastily lets go and takes a step back, and for once, Sakari is grateful for Hahn’s ‘connections’.

“What are you doing?” Hahn asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Minding our business.”

Hahn shakes his head with a roll of his eyes. “Get out of here.”

There’s a moment of hesitation, but Kasuuq and his friend reluctantly stalk off.

“You good?” Hahn asks after a few seconds of silence.

“Yeah… thanks.” 

Boys will be boys, Sakari thinks fondly as Tuktu and Anik are pushed at an alarming speed around the shallow whirlpool she’s created in the middle of the courtyard. It was Anik’s idea, of course, and now he and Tuktu are giggling as they’re pulled around and around at the circling gesture of her hands.

“Alright, alright,” Tuktu manages through his laughter, struggling to stand up in the makeshift pool. “Your turn, Kavik, I’ll do the-“ he cuts himself off with a vague hand motion. However, as he goes to step out, his foot catches on the lip and he flails with a severe lack of grace before faceplanting on the ground.

Sakari snorts and doubles over with laughter as the older boy groans dramatically, meanwhile Anik is still being spun around as the water slows, positively cackling.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Master Pakku stands there watching them, arms folded, and the three quickly attempt to compose themselves, although the sound of Anik struggling to clamber out of the moving water behind her is making it very hard not to burst into laughter again. But the older man just sighs and shakes his head with no real heat to it.

“Kavik, may I speak with you for a moment?”

Sakari quickly nods and follows the master out of the courtyard, mind racing to figure out what he could want. He doesn’t know, does he? He can’t. Besides, he looks way too calm if that’s what this is about.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but a brother and sister from the Southern Water Tribe have arrived in the city.” He pauses, a hint of a smile on his face. “With the Avatar.”

“So, he’s really back? I thought those were just rumours.”

“Not anymore. Chief Arnook is hosting a feast tonight, both in their honour and to celebrate the princess’s birthday, and he’s asked me to do a performance with a couple of students. I was wondering if you would consider participating. Aningan’s already agreed.”

“With all due respect, Master, why didn’t you ask Anik and Tuktu?”

Pakku opens his mouth to answer, but at that moment, a giant snowball goes rolling past them. It takes Sakari a moment to realise that Anik is inside it, and they hear a distant shout of ‘sorry!’ from Tuktu. The master sighs again, closing his eyes for a moment, and the corner of Sakari’s lips twitch.

“Yeah, okay. What kind of performance?”

“Just some water manipulation moves to entertain the guests.”

“So… like a dance?”

He responds with a deep scowl and she grins.

“Just messing with you, Master. I’m in.” It’s a dance.

Pakku rolls his eyes exasperatedly but claps a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get to work, then.”

Sakari struggles to hide her delight.

Chapter Text

“That’s the Avatar?”

Sakari sniggers as Aningan stares at the bald tattooed boy across the square.

“I don’t know what I was expecting, but he is not it,” the older boy shakes his head.

Her attention, however, is on the Southern Tribe siblings - or more accurately, why they’re both so attractive. Are all Southern tribespeople like that? Because if so, she’s a little bitter about that.

“He looks sweet,” Yue says sincerely. “Besides, I think it’s wonderful to meet people from our sister tribe.”

“How long do you think they’ll be here for?” Sakari asks.

“I’m not sure… I believe the Avatar will be training with Master Pakku, so I imagine a few weeks at least. I think the water tribe boy will be doing warrior training, will you make sure he feels welcome, Kavik?”

“Of course.”

“The Avatar looks very… chipper,” Aningan begins “I feel like someone needs to warn him that Pakku is, uh… not.”

A laugh bubbles out of Sakari. “Yeah… poor kid doesn’t know what he’s in for.”

Even Yue can’t hide her amusement but, diplomatic as always, she simply shakes her head, a smile on her face. “I better go, I think the feast is about to begin. I look forward to seeing your performance, though.” She gives a short, gracious bow of her head, which the two waterbenders return, before heading towards her father.

“Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe. And they have brought with them, someone very special, someone many have believed disappeared from the world until now… the Avatar!”

Applause and cheers break out amongst the crowd at Chief Arnook’s words.

“We also celebrate my daughter’s sixteenth birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age!”

Sakari’s stomach churns. Hahn had informed her just yesterday that the Chief had agreed to give him Yue’s hand in marriage. She’s less than a year away from being seventeen and the thought of being married now is overwhelming. Not to mention poor Yue, who doesn’t have any say in the matter.

“Thank you, Father,” Yue replies, stepping forward. “May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times!”

“Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!”

Sakari gets into the appropriate stance and looks to Pakku, who gives her and Aningan a sharp nod. The drumbeat starts, and they begin to move.

As Sakari is stretching the following morning before training, she spots the southern tribe boy arriving, looking slightly apprehensive. She straightens up and gives him a small wave when they make eye contact, prompting him to approach her.

“Hey, you’re the Southern Tribe guy, right? I’m Kavik,” she introduces, holding her hand out.

“Oh, hey! You did the water-thingy at the feast, didn’t you? Yue mentioned you,” he replied, shaking it firmly. “I’m Sokka.”

“How are you liking the city so far?”

She’s not sure what exactly she’s expecting him to say, but she’s certainly not anticipating his dreamy sigh of, “it’s incredible.”

“Yeah?”

“I mean,” Sokka clears his throat, scratching the back of his neck, “it’s cool. Nice… nice buildings.”

She snorts. “Okay. Come on, let me show you around and give you a rundown of what to expect.”

Sokka quickly proves himself to be both a capable warrior and a legitimately nice guy. He and Sakari bond fast, and she learns a lot about him as they train. She learns he’s 15, that his dad is at war, that he’s had the safety of his village on his shoulders as the ‘man of the village’, and that he’s a meat enthusiast. He talks about his sister, Katara, and their travels so far with the Avatar - Aang. He asks her about her family and her past, and she tells him about her mother and grandfather, about her father’s disappearance, and the village of Kuk’uq.

“Must have been a shock coming here after growing up in such a small village,” Sokka says as they’re finishing up. “Sure was for me.”

“I didn’t actually grow up in Kuk’uq,” Sakari answers, “I used to live in another city - Okauyak - it’s a bit smaller than Agna Qel’a but still pretty impressive. We moved to Kuk’uq when I was nine.”

“Why was that?”

And yeah, she really should have seen that question coming. “Uh, my mother heard they had no healers there and wanted to help out. There’s a lot of ex-soldiers who live there and have chronic problems with injuries and whatnot.”

“That’s really cool. Do you miss Okauyak?”

“Honestly, yeah. The small village life can be…”

“Super boring?”

She grins, “yeah. Precisely.” A pause. “So… Katara-“

However, she’s interrupted by Sokka’s soft groan of “ugh, not you too,” and after a moment of confusion, she realises what he’s thinking.

“Oh, no, I’m not-“ she begins awkwardly, only to cut herself off when the boy packing up his gear beside them, Anuun, stops to insert himself into the conversation.

“Oh, the Southern Tribe girl? She’s definitely easy on the eyes,” he says with a sleazy smirk.

In unison, Sakari and Sokka both let out a noise of disgust and reply,

“That’s my sister!”   “Shut the fuck up, Anuun.”

Immediately realising his contribution was not welcome, Anuun hastily backs away, returning to his own devices. Sakari feels Sokka’s eyes on her.

“So… what is your deal with my sister?”

“I’m just curious about her waterbending,” she clarifies quickly. “Here, girls are only allowed to use it to heal, which is stupid. And I thought there weren’t any benders left in the Southern Tribe?”

Sokka visibly relaxes and nods. “She’s the last.”

“How has she learnt?”

“Self-taught.”

“Wow… that’s really impressive.”

Sokka smiles at that, his tone proud as he says, “Yeah… it is.”

“Kavik!” She turns as Hahn walks up to them after spending the morning with the chief and Yue making preparations for the wedding. He jerks his head toward Sokka. “Who’s the new guy?”

“This is Sokka, from the Southern Tribe. Sokka, this is-”

“I’m Hahn,” he cuts her off. “I kinda run this place. Don’t feel bad if you’re behind, I know the Southern Tribe is pretty poor or whatever. I can’t imagine the training programs are that great over there.”

Sokka’s eyes narrow and Sakari takes a moment to process that he had really just said that. “Actually, Hahn, Sokka’s a great fighter.”

“Mm, we’ll see about that. Anyway, I’ll catch you later,” he says, and merely offers Sokka a nod before walking off.

“I’m… I’m very sorry about that,” she coughs, incredibly embarrassed by the interaction. Sokka just shakes his head.

“No offence, dude, but… are you seriously friends with that guy?”

“Uh, well, he kind of decided we were. And I guess I never really… bonded with anyone, so,” she gives a shrug.

Sokka snorts, “Okay.”

“I promise most people here aren’t like him. He’s… a special case. But there’s a lot of really nice people, like Princess Yue.”

At this, Sokka’s face lights up, lips pulling into a dopey smile. “Yeah, I met her last night… she’s amazing.”

He’s not subtle - at all - and at Sakari’s amused grin, his cheeks grow pink. She wonders if she should tell him about her engagement, but she quickly comes to the conclusion that she doesn’t have the heart to.

“I wanna learn now!”

“I know, little man, but you’re going to have to wait a couple years.”

“Whyyyy?”

Tuktu’s cousin, Nilak, is a sweet kid but he’s exhausting and he’s managed to corner Sakari outside the main council chamber. In retrospect, she will realise that there’s probably a gentler way to deal with a four-year-old who’s adamant that he’s ready to start warrior training. But instead, she grips her spear and holds it out to him. He reaches eagerly for it, gripping it tight in his tiny hands, however, as soon as she lets go, the weapon drops, the weight too heavy for the boy.

To his credit, Nilak is a trooper and keeps trying to gain control of it, but eventually Sakari takes pity on him and takes it back, crouching down to his height. “You’ve just got to build up a bit of muscle, bud.”

“Can’t I just use a mini spear?”

And honestly, the kid’s got a point. But just as she’s trying to figure out how to respond to that, the sound of yelling from within the main hall catches her attention. She straightens up in confusion and seconds later, sees Katara storming out, closely followed by Sokka and Aang.

“Are you crazy, Katara? You’re not gonna win this fight!”

Fight?

“I know! I don’t care!” she replies, anger palpable.

“You don’t have to do this for me, I can find another teacher,” Aang tries.

“I’m not doing it for you! Someone needs to slap some sense into that guy!”

Just as Sakari is wondering who needs sense slapped into them, Pakku walks out and it hits her suddenly. Oh no.

“So, you decided to show up?” Katara says bitterly, only for Pakku to move straight past her. “Aren’t you going to fight?”

“Go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong,” the master replies calmly, still walking away.

Sakari clenches her jaw, trying to ignore the physical prick of pain she feels at the comment. So, she’ll admit that when Katara creates a water whip and strikes Pakku in the back of the head making the man come to a halt, she feels a sense of satisfaction.

“Fine. You want to learn to fight so bad? Study closely!” He bends two streams of water from the nearby pools and sends them both at Katara as she leaps towards him, causing her to fall back. He joins the streams together, creating a ring of water that circles them both, blocking them from the view of onlookers. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you!”

The ring breaks as Katara manages to redirect the water, however the stream heads straight at Sokka and knocks him back. Pakku forms a wall of ice, which Katara slides up and lands on the post at the base of the stairs. He melts the ice and directs the full blast at her, however, Katara freezes her feet down and manages to direct the water away.

“You can’t knock me down!” she shouts, and the crowd cheers. Sakari can’t help but stare at them, a strange uncomfortable feeling in her chest.

“Go Katara!” Aang yells.

Katara charges at Pakku, who draws up a wall of ice, which she quickly liquefies. She tries to land a number of blows, but he dodges all of them before whipping water and throwing her into a pool. She’s quick to resurface though and forms a small pillar of ice that she uses to send a series of ice discs at Pakku. He deflects most of them with his hands, however, one only narrowly misses his face. Katara sends a stream of water at him, but he uses it to create an even larger stream and directs it back at her full force, sending her back several feet. She quickly jumps to her feet and brings the two giant pillars of ice behind him crashing down, but Pakku turns them into a dusty mist of snow.

“Well, I’m impressed. You are an excellent waterbender.”

“But you still won’t teach me, will you?”

“No.”

Katara sends a rolling wave of ice at Pakku, who merely raises himself on an ice pillar. He proceeds to liquefy the pillar, charging straight at Katara, who sends a powerful stream of water his way. Pakku avoids the attack, instead managing to freeze Katara's stream of water and sliding along it. He surges past her and strikes her, causing her to fall roughly to the ground as the necklace she was wearing lands a few meters away. Pakku bends a tower of water from a pool and manipulates the stream over Katara’s head. He deftly freezes the water into several ice shards, which he sends down at her, trapping her in the flurry of frozen daggers. There are several gasps of horror and Katara struggles, trying to pull free meanwhile Pakku casually walks away.

“This fight is over.”

“Come back here, I’m not finished yet!”

“Yes, you are,” Pakku insists, but stops suddenly as he sees the necklace. “This is my necklace…”

“Not it’s not, it’s mine! Give it back!”

“I made this sixty years ago for the love of my life… For Kanna…”

The ice melts and Katara straightens, staring at Pakku in shock. “My Gran Gran was supposed to marry you?”

“Oh, shit,” Sakari breathes and suddenly realises that, at some point, like the rest of the small crowd, she’s moved closer to the fight.

Pakku stares at the necklace in his hands. “I carved this necklace for your grandmother when we got engaged. I thought we would have a long, happy life together. I loved her.”

“But she didn’t love you, did she? It was an arranged marriage. Gran Gran wouldn’t let your tribe’s stupid customs run her life. That’s why she left. It must have taken a lot of courage.”

At this, Princess Yue runs away in tears and Sokka follows her a few moments later.

“Kavik, I need to pee,” Nilak pipes up then. Sakari realises with a start that she’s completely forgotten the boy was there and she’s amazed at how utterly unfazed by what just happened the kid is. Even if he doesn’t understand the politics, it was an epic duel. “Like… right now.”

“Okay, okay, let’s go then, you little rascal,” she says, forcing playfulness into her voice as she takes the boy’s hand and starts to lead him away.

She can’t help but throw a look over her shoulder at the group at the base of the staircase, mind racing. What now? What would happen to Katara?

The answer to that question, Sakari discovers the following morning, is get accepted as Pakku’s student. Which is great, and huge, but also… she can’t help but feel slightly bitter about the whole thing. She’s been pretending to be a boy for a year now, the whole time terrified about what would happen if she were discovered, and she hasn’t seen her family since she left. So, the fact that Katara can rock up, get her ass beat in a duel with Pakku but then get accepted by him because he was in love with her grandmother? It doesn’t feel great.

And she hates that she feels this way, she knows she should be happy - overjoyed, even. But the jealousy is sticky and she can’t shake it off so easily. Especially when Pakku calls off group training in favour of giving Aang and Katara a private lesson.

She knows she should be pleased that Pakku has agreed to teach a girl - it really is fantastic, and her first thought is that she doesn’t have to hide anymore, but she quickly realises it’s not that simple. It’s so much more complicated than that. Even if Pakku would accept other girls as students, Sakari isn’t just a girl. She’s a girl who has been lying to everyone for a year, a girl who has become one of the greatest warriors in her division, a girl who has gained the trust of many people - including Pakku and Chief Arnook - all on a lie. And what would Anik and Tuktu think?

So, no, Sakari can’t reveal herself, she has to keep up the act. And although she’s been handling it okay up until this point, now the thought causes a heavy ache in her chest.

Sokka is heartbroken after finding out that Yue engaged and Sakari wonders if she should have given the guy a heads up after all. She feels for both of them, but particularly Yue - the thought of being married to Hahn is upsetting, especially since the guy clearly doesn’t give a crap about her, only his own status. So, she tries to take Sokka’s mind off the whole thing, and although it may not be entirely successful, the pair do establish a friendship over the next few days. However, she comes across a slight problem when Sokka takes his hair out one day after an intense training session and gives it a small shake. She knew the guy was attractive, but something about the sight is a little mesmerising and she loses her train of thought. She recovers quickly, but there’s a sense of awkwardness inside her that lingers.

Sakari also meets Katara and Aang in waterbending training. But watching a girl waterbend is definitely not something she’s used to, and she has to be mindful not to stare so that she doesn’t come off as a creep. They’re both very friendly from the moment they formally meet each other, and this only increases when they realise that she’s friends with Sokka, but the more Sakari watches Aang, the more uneasy she becomes. It was bad enough to hear that the Avatar is a twelve-year-old kid, but actually seeing him, witnessing his fiercely youthful, playful nature is jarring. It truly sinks in that he is just a kid, yet he has the responsibility of ending the war and bringing peace to the world all on his tiny shoulders. But he seems very relaxed, and if she’s being honest, Sakari doesn’t know whether to be reassured or concerned by that.

Over the next couple of weeks, she gets to know Katara and Aang and grows closer to Sokka, who’s been moping to say the least. He throws himself into warrior training, but she can tell he’s hurting.

“Sokka, just because she’s engaged doesn’t mean you can’t spend any time with her or see her at all,” she tells him one day. “Friends is better than nothing, right?”

“I don’t know… seems kind of shifty,” he replies, but she can see he’s considering it.

“Come on, what’s wrong with just…. going for a walk or something? You can still get to know each other.”

His tongue runs over his teeth as he thinks it over, nodding slowly. His face brightens, lips pulling into a grin, and he points a finger at her. “Kavik, you’re a genius.”

It takes over a week for Sokka to track Yue down because she’s been avoiding him, but when he does, she agrees to join him for a walk the following day and when he tells Sakari the good news, he pulls her in for a very boyish hug, clapping her roughly on the back.

“Thanks, man,” he says as they separate, and her face grows warm at the gratitude.

“It’s just a walk and I don’t want you to get your hopes up, but… show her a really good time and maybe she’ll realise she’d be way happier with you.” ‘Than Hahn’ almost leaves her mouth, but she manages to stop herself in time. Finding out who Yue was engaged to would rub a whole lot of salt in the wound and she really doesn’t want to do that.

Sokka grins. “I’ll try.”

“It doesn’t really sit right with me,” Tuktu says, and Sakari realises she’s zoned out of their conversation. “A girl coming in, disrespecting our customs and then getting to learn waterbending?” She feels her heart sink horribly. “It’s not right. It’s forbidden, and it always has been.”

“I mean… the mere fact that something’s always been a certain way isn’t always a reason to keep it that way.”

Tuktu gives her a weird look. “you think girls should be able to waterbend?”

She tries to tread carefully. “I… don’t really see why not.”

“Waterbending requires strength, determination, courage… and women are too emotional.”

His words sting, and for a moment she doesn’t know what to say, not when she considers him to be one of her best friends.

“Tuktu, you accidentally caused a mini avalanche just because that turtle-seal kept getting away from you,” Anik snorts. “That’s not a strong argument.”

Tuktu simply scowls and although he opens his mouth to respond, his eyes are drawn up to the sky, whatever he was thinking clearly forgotten. Anik and Sakari turn to follow his gaze and Sakari feels her blood run cold.

Sinister thick, dark clouds approach and it looks as though it is snowing except the flakes are a dirty grey colour and the canal is turning murky…then the ashy smell hits her. It’s not snow - it’s soot.

Then the warning drum starts beating.

“The day we have feared for so long has arrived,” Chief Arnook declares, and Sakari wishes Anik and Tuktu were with her.

On their way to the citadel, the trio had run into Pakku, who requested for her two friends to head down to the boats with the majority of the waterbenders but had told her to report to the chief. They hadn’t had time to question the man before he was rushing past them. Anik and Tuktu had offered her reassuring smiles, and the latter clapped her on the shoulder. “See you later, Kavik,” he’d said - and to her surprise, she’d believed him.

“The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe, but they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits. Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us! I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission.”

She realises this must be why Pakku sent her here, for whatever this mission is.

“Count me in!” a familiar voice calls, and she looks across at Sokka, who is on his feet.

“Be warned, many of you will not return,” Chief Arnook continues as she and several others rise, and her stomach churns. “Come forward to receive my mark, if you accept the task.”

When Sakari comes to stand in front of the man, bowing slightly so he can give her the mark, he gives her a nod and says, “wait at the wall for further instruction.”

It’s eery, how calm and quiet it is. Sakari stands with the rest of the warriors at the wall of the city, looking out at the ocean, the only indicator of an incoming intruder being the black speck on the horizon. It slowly grows bigger - closer, and the restlessness among the warriors grows.

“Yue said she doesn’t want to see me anymore,” Sokka says suddenly, and Aang, Katara and Sakari glance over at him. He’s still staring out at the ocean and he shakes his head slightly, a bitter huff of laughter escaping him as he turns to meet Sakari’s eye. “You were right, you know. It worked. She said that she likes me too much… that it’s too confusing to be around me.”

She swallows. “That means you’ve got a chance, though, right?”

Sokka looks back out at the approaching Fire Nation ship - one of, presumably, many. “I think I might have missed it.”

Sakari feels the heaviness in her chest grow and she thinks of her own life, thinks of her missed chances. She hasn’t seen her Mom or Gramps in over a year, she never found out what happened to her Dad, she never earned the title of Master, never got to tell her best friends or her master who she really is. She hasn’t heard anyone call her by her real name in over a year. She suddenly considers telling Sokka, Katara and Aang right now, so if she doesn’t come out of this alive then at least someone knows.

She opens her mouth, but she finds she just… can’t. And she decides that she’s just going to have to be okay with dying as Kavik. She hopes her dad - wherever he is - is proud of her. She hopes he’d admire what she's done, not be ashamed of it.

“No, you haven’t,” Sakari finally says. “You’re a great warrior. You’re going to make it through and you’re going to make her realise she deserves to happy.”

The boy stands a little straighter and nods, swallowing hard. “Yeah… Yeah, I’ll do that.”

She’s spent years wanting revenge on the Fire Nation for her father, it’s the whole reason for faking her identity so she can learn to fight. And now she’s finally about to face them, and she’s angry and ready, but she’s also terrified.

And she really regrets not getting the chance to hug her mother goodbye.

A tiny glow in the distance catches her eye, and it only takes a second for her to realise that the thing soaring towards them is a fireball, and her eyes widen. She doesn’t even have the time to form some kind of defence before the fireball slams into the wall, the force sending both ice and warriors flying back, off the wall and crashing down to the ground. She immediately scrambles to her feet, entire body throbbing, and her eyes land on Sokka a short distance away.

“KATARA!” he yells, looking desperately around at the piles of snow. There’s a grunt as a pile of snow a few yards away is aggressively bent away, revealing the girl and Sokka pulls her to feet before looking in her direction.

“You alright, Kavik?”

She nods, “you?”

“Yeah.”

They redirect their attention to helping the men around them, Katara and Sakari using their waterbending to shift the icy rubble around to free those trapped underneath. The sun is beginning to set, and Sakari can feel her power growing ever-so-slightly stronger.

“Warriors!” the chief’s voice calls from a distance as darkness falls. “Those with my mark, gather at the southern armoury!”

“Will you be alright?” Sokka asks Katara, who fondly rolls her eyes.

“I’ll be fine, Sokka. Stay safe, you two.”

The two warriors hurriedly make their way into the city, however, as they’re approaching the armoury, Chief Arnook spots them. “Kavik!”

She comes to a halt and exchanges a confused look with Sokka.

“I’ll meet you inside, son,” Arnook says to Sokka as he approaches, and the boy looks a little hesitant but just gives a respectful nod and walks off. “Kavik, I’ve got something important I need you to do.”

“Anything.”

“You’re a very capable waterbender and warrior, and I know Princess Yue considers you a friend. You’re someone I trust and I know she trusts you too. I’d like for you to guard her. I don’t know how this battle is going to end but I need to know she’ll be safe.”

“Of course,” she nods. She’s not exactly sure what her thought process is for the next thing she says, or if there’s one at all. She supposes that, even in a time like this (especially in a time like this) she can’t let her friend miss his chance. So, she blurts out, “Sokka should help. He’s a great fighter and… you can’t be too careful, right?”

“I was actually considering that,” he hums thoughtfully. “You go find Yue, she’s in the palace. I’ll send Sokka once I’ve spoken with him.”

“Yes, Chief.”

Aang isn’t doing too well when Sakari finds them. He’s taken out numerous Fire Navy ships, but apparently that’s barely made a dent in their fleet and although the Fire Nation seems to have put their attack on hold while night is upon them, Aang’s at a loss of what to do when it resumes. They try to cheer him up but it’s to little avail, and they’re all very aware that their time to figure it out is finite.

After a while, Aang comes up with a plan to go to the Spirit World to seek the wisdom of the spirits, to which Yue tells them she has an idea and leads them out of the palace without another word.

“So, is this the way to the Spirit World?” Aang asks as they approach a small round wooden door in a deep alcove sometime later.

“No,” Yue laughs, “You’ll have to get there on your own. But I can take you to the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole.”

She opens the door and as Sakari walks inside, her mouth falls open at the sight. It opens into a massive trench with a small, verdant garden surrounded by water, with a wooden arch, a pond in the centre and a rushing waterfall behind it. Sakari is pretty sure she’s never seen this much of the colour green in her entire life.

Aang races forward to roll around on the ground as his lemur, Momo, races around excitedly. “I never thought I’d miss grass this much!”
“It’s so warm in here, how is that possible?” Katara asks as they follow, and Sakari only then realises that she’s sweating in her thick furs. She hastily pulls off her coat, as do Yue and Katara.
“It’s the centre of all spiritual energy in our land.”
“You’re right, Yue,” Aang speaks up, walking around, “I can feel… something. It’s so… tranquil.” He comes to stand under the arch and sits cross-legged, fists coming together in front of his torso as he closes his eyes.

Sakari starts to slowly pace around the pond, not really sure what else to do with herself.

“Why is he sitting like that?” Yue asks Katara after a few moments.

“He’s meditating - trying to cross over into the spiritual world. It takes all his concentration.”

“Is there any way we can help?”

At this, Aang turns around irritatedly. “How about some quiet?! Come on, guys, I can hear every word you’re saying!”

The two girls exchange guilty expressions and Sakari can’t help but huff out a laugh. The next couple of minutes pass in a tense silence until Aang’s eyes and the arrow tattoos on his head and hands start glowing. A wave of uneasiness rolls over her and she glances around anxiously.

“Is he okay?” Yue frowned.

“He’s crossing over into the spiritual world. He’ll be fine as long as we don’t move his body. That’s his way back to the physical world.”

“Maybe we should get some help?”

“No, he’s my friend,” Katara insists. “I’m perfectly capable of protecting him.”

“Uh, I wouldn’t-“

“Well, aren’t you a big girl now?” a husky voice speaks up and the Southern waterbender’s eyes widen.

“-jinx it,” Sakari finishes flatly, turning around to look at a teenage boy, who is bald except for the ponytail at the top of his head. A burn scar covers a large portion of the right side of his face, and he’s sporting some fresh bruises and cuts. From Katara’s reaction and from what Sokka’s told her, she gathers that this must be Prince Zuko.

Shit.

Chapter Text

The appearance of Prince Zuko in the Spirit Oasis causes all three girls to freeze.

“No…” Katara breathes.

“Yes,” the boy growls, storming toward them. “Hand him over and I won’t have to hurt you.”

Yue starts to rush off and Sakari swears under her breath before moving to follow her, but the princess holds out an arm to stop her. “No, Kavik, I know what my father said, but Katara needs you more. I’ll go find some help.”

Sakari really doesn’t want to disobey the chief but Yue really does have a point, and she’s forced to make a split-second decision. She nods firmly. “Go find Sokka.”

As Yue runs off, Sakari turns back around and bends a large wave of water straight at Zuko, blocking the string of fire he was about to send in Katara’s direction and pushing him flat on his back.

“Who are you?!” he spits, rising to his feet.

“My name’s Kavik. Thanks for asking.”

As he draws his arms back to launch another attack, Katara is faster and pelts him with a blast of water that knocks him completely off his feet and makes him land hard on the ground.

“I see you’ve learned a new trick, but I didn’t come this far to lose to you!”

As Zuko’s getting to his feet again, Sakari bends a water whip at his ankle that pulls him back down again. He lets out a furious yell and shoots a powerful fireball at Sakari that she dodges at the last minute and retaliates with flurry of ice, which pushes him further backwards and freezes his feet down. Sakari rushes back to double check on Aang meanwhile Katara encircles the prince in a giant ball of water that she then freezes.

Aang’s tattoos and eyes are still glowing and his breathing is regular and he hasn’t been moved at all so she sighs in relief.

“You little peasant, you’ve found a master, haven’t you?” Zuko growls, voice muffled by the ice. The ball of ice suddenly starts to glow a bright orange and only a few second later it burst open in a fiery blast and the boy leaps out, immediately sending a strong fireball at Katara.

Sakari throws a wave of water to deflect it, quickly advancing on Zuko again as he grows closer. It starts a back and forth, Katara and Sakari working together to block his attacks. Sakari forms a tornado of water that surrounds Zuko before constricting and freezing. She hears the prince let out an angry growl and when his hands start glowing orange again, she knows this isn’t going to last long. She bends it back into water and starts spinning the water around again, the prince with it. As a hand swipes furiously through the water, Katara jumps to help her hold the form.

“What are we going to do? We can’t hold this forever!” Sakari yells.

“I’ll hold him, you get Aang out of here!”

She gives a curt nod and gives Katara a moment to take full control of the water before dropping her hands and running to gently scoop Aang up. She carries him across the bridge, heading toward the exit. She can’t help but pause to look back when she hears Zuko’s shout and Katara’s gasp and she sees the water tornado collapsing and Katara dropping to the ground to dodge a blast of fire. She stands there for a moment wondering whether she should keep going or go back to help her. However, her question is answered when Katara jumps back up and bends a massive wave of water at him that pushes him up the cliff before freezing it solid, his head falling forwards in defeat.

Katara lets out a breath and turns to Sakari, tired but proud smile on her face and Sakari takes the opportunity to lower Aang back to the ground. “Kid’s heavier than he looks,” she pants, stretching her spine back. Sunlight hits her face. “Good job, by the way.”

“Thanks,” she grins, putting her hands on her hips.

Sakari looks back down at Aang. “Should we put him-?” Movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention and Sakari sees Zuko falling from his ice prison, steam surrounding him as he lands and swings his arms back ready to launch an attack in one swift movement.

“KATARA!” she shouts, forgetting to deepen her voice. However, she doesn’t need to warn the girl because at the same time, Zuko lets out an angry roar. Fire erupts from his fists and although Katara throws water up to block it, the force sends her flying back and hitting the wooden arch, knocking her unconscious.

“You rise with the moon, I rise with the sun,” Zuko says, eyes boring into hers but darting to Aang, who she’s grabbed protectively by the shoulder.

“Poetic,” she replies scathingly, before bending a stream of water that picks Aang up and gently deposits him far behind her, placing as much distance as she can between the Avatar and Zuko. His scowl deepens.

They’re in a standstill for a moment, both seemingly waiting for the other to make a move. She’s taken by surprise when Zuko just bolts forward in an attempt to get around her - and honestly, she’s so expectant of a firebending attack that it almost works - but she quickly bends a wave of water that shoves him back.

“Oh no you don’t.”

It begins a duel, and Sakari manages to drive him back near the arch.

“I don’t need to hurt you if you hand over the Avatar. But I’m getting impatient.”

“Wait… so if I just let you take off with him, you’ll leave me alone?”

Zuko blinks in surprise, hands dropping slightly as he stares at her like he can’t believe his luck. “Uh… yeah?”

“Not happening,” she says shortly, and uses his moment of lowered guard to send a blast of water at him.

When he gets back up, he glares furiously at her and lets out a growl as he sends a thin but fast stream of fire at her. While it would be easy to dodge, Sakari opts to block it with water, however, she underestimates how much water she needs to shield herself and gasps in pain as some exposed skin on her forearm near her elbow gets burnt. Zuko’s eyes dart over to Aang and -seizing his opportunity- making a dive past Sakari and sprinting towards Aang.

“No!” she yells, bending the water to lift herself up and drop her onto the walkway in front of Zuko, stopping him in his tracks.

“Just give up already!”

“You give up!” she shoots back, aware that she sounds like a petulant child. “You can try and get around me all you want, but even if you do, I’m not letting you take him. The only way you can get to him is through me, but good luck with that.”

Zuko lets out a huff through his nose and his eyes narrow. “Fine.”

He strikes again, triggering yet another back and forth of water and fire, the intensity of their duel causing steam to rise above them. After a few minutes of fierce fighting, as Zuko draws his arms back to attack again, Sakari bends a water whip at one of his ankles and pulls. His body turns and he falls back, flailing as he tries to catch himself with his other foot. The blast of fire that was clearly meant for her instead hits the icy cliff face, but from where he’s landed on the ground, he hastily sends another at her head that she ducks with ease.

Zuko gets to his feet, immediately continuing the fight, but it’s not long before they both pause, a strange sound from above them getting their attention. They both look up, and Sakari sees large slabs of ice and slurry sliding down the cliff right above where Zuko had accidentally struck with fire. While Zuko leaps backwards to avoid being crushed, she throws her hands up to redirect it.

The only problem -which Sakari doesn’t realise until it’s too late- is that it’s not just ice that’s plummeting toward her, but rock as well. So, although she bends the slurry into water and lands it in the ravine, and although this slows the fall, she doesn’t have time to move out of the way before a large chunk of rock crashes hard into her right shoulder. She collapses to her knees with a cry, the pain dizzying and she tries to swallow a sob as she tries to move her arm but finds the pain is too strong. She sucks in deep breaths through her teeth and desperately tries to think of a plan as she glances across at Zuko, who’s expression is unreadable as he looks between her and Aang again.

She can’t fight him off if she’s trying to heal herself but if she doesn’t heal herself then she’ll barely be able to fight him anyway. She bends a portion of water to her shoulder, hissing in pain and trying to concentrate on healing the damaged muscle and possibly (probably) bone. But Zuko - apparently realising the opportunity - dives past her and runs toward Aang.

She swears and pulls the water away from her shoulder, instead throwing a one-handed attack at him and scrambling to her feet, but she’s so used to using both arms and he deflects it easily. Zuko grabs Aang by the back of his collar and she desperately tries to use both arms to strike again, but the pain in her shoulder makes her falter and the water drops pathetically. She forms more attacks with just her left arm, but while they’re stronger than the first, Zuko still blocks them with ease as he lifts Aang over his shoulder and starts to walk away.

“NO!” she yells, trying to go between healing her shoulder and trying to go after him, but quickly figuring out that it’s making both jobs harder. She tries to buy herself some time to heal. “Why are you doing this?!”

Surprisingly, Zuko does actually pause. Then, in a voice so quiet, Sakari suspects she’s not actually meant to hear it, “I don’t have a choice.”

When he keeps walking, she clambers after him figuring that, even if she can’t really attack him yet, she can at least follow him so they don’t lose Aang.

But Zuko clearly isn’t stupid and turns to face her, holding a hand out defensively. “I assure you; it’ll be a lot better for you if you don’t follow me.”

“Yeah? How do you figure that?”

He doesn’t answer, but his eyes glance over at the cliff face beside them and pauses for a fraction of a second before redirecting his hand to the wall of ice next to her and blasting fire at it. He continues melting away the ice on the cliff face as he walks slowly backwards , putting more space between them. Sakari knows she has seconds to react, and she knows her options are to either stay put and bend the debris - this time hopefully with the rock, to make a dive for Zuko and Aang, or to make a dive backwards. But the distance between her and Zuko is too great now and if she moves towards them, she won’t make it, and with her injured shoulder she doesn’t trust her ability to bend an even greater amount of falling material.

So, as the ice and rock comes sliding down the side of the cliff, Sakari realises she has no choice but to leap back, jaw clenching at the jostling of her arm. She stares hopelessly at the mini avalanche, and as soon as it’s clear she tries to one-handedly swipe the snow away and clambers over the ice, struggling to see through the snowy mist that’s risen in the air. It becomes clear to her that Zuko had continued blasting the cliff wall for some time, will the heaped piles of ice and rock continuing for quite a distance, and by the time she’s made it to the other side, both Zuko and Aang are gone without a trace.

Sakari drops to her knees, shoulder slumping. “No…”

With a start, she remembers Katara and hurries back to the girl.

“Katara,” she croaks, gently shaking the girl’s shoulder, but she doesn’t stir.

So, she waits.

She’s so lost in thought, replaying the fight over and over, that she has no idea how much time has passed when Katara suddenly startles awake as Appa’s shadow approaches.

“Kavik! Where’s Aang?!” she demands, looking frantically around.

She shakes her head, unable to meet her eye. “I’m so sorry, Katara. He- I couldn’t-“

But Katara is already on her feet desperately shouting the boy’s name, and it only deepens Sakari’s feeling of failure.

“What happened?!” Sokka calls as Appa lands with him and Yue in the Oasis. “Where’s Zuko?”

“He took Aang! He took him right out from under me,” Katara responds miserably.

Sakari shakes her head. “It was my fault. I- I had him and then-“ she goes to gesture vaguely with her injured arm and quickly regrets it as the pain causes her to suck in a sharp breath.

“Kavik?” Yue frowns in concern. Sakari wishes she deserved it. She doesn’t want to sit in her failure, her guilt. She just needs to fix this.

“I’m fine, I can heal myself. But we need to find Aang. They disappeared in that general direction, so let’s go.”

Katara looks devastated and Sakari avoids looking at her so she doesn’t have to feel worse than she already does. Then Momo (who Sakari hadn’t even realised had disappeared) chitters sadly and it breaks her heart all over again.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” she murmurs, giving him a small stroke on his head.

“Zuko can’t have gotten far, we’ll find him,” Sokka offers optimistically. “Aang’s gonna be fine.”

After grabbing her coat, Sakari climbs onto Appa’s saddle with the rest of the group, with Sokka’s help since one of her arms was useless. If it weren’t for the current circumstances, she’d be a lot more excited about getting to ride a giant sky bison but her heart really isn’t in it at the moment. Momo doesn’t move to follow them, and Katara tells him to wait there in case Aang comes back. Unlikely, she thinks.

“Yip yip!” Sokka says, and suddenly the giant sky bison takes off carrying them up out of the gorge, where a blizzard is raging.

Once they reach a steady altitude, Sakari takes some water from her water skin and holds it to her shoulder, only realising her mistake when she makes eye contact with Katara, who’s watching in confusion.

“I didn’t know you were a healer… I thought only women learn healing.”

“Uh… generally, yes. I just thought it would be useful… got my mom to teach me the basics,” she lies.

“Here, allow me,” the younger girl insists and shifts forward to take over, frowning when she gets control of the water. “Oh wow, that’s- what happened?”

“Well… turns out Zuko can bend earth too,” she jokes weakly as she uses her good arm to heal the burn on her forearm. “He went to shoot fire at me at the same time I tripped him up and he ended up blasting the cliff face instead… caused a mini avalanche that I thought I could bend away but turned out there was rock in there too and I didn’t realise ’til it was too late. At least it didn’t hit my head, I guess.”

They fall into silence, and the burn on her arm fades until it looks as though nothing had ever happened. Sakari feels her body relax as the pain in her shoulder slowly dissipates and she moves her arm around experimentally to find that -although it hurts- she can move it.

“That’ll do,” she says after a few moments, reaching to pull on her coat, only mildly concerned that her entire body feels numb. Being in a blizzard without a coat will do that. “Thanks.”

“It’s not fully healed yet, though.”

“It’s healed enough.”

Katara looks like she wants to argue but doesn’t, instead turning to look over Appa’s saddle for Aang.

“Don’t worry, Prince Zuko can’t be getting too far in this weather,” Yue assures them.

“I’m not worried they’ll get away in the blizzard,” Katara says. “I’m worried that they won’t.”

“They’re not gonna die in this blizzard,” Sokka replies darkly from where he sits at Appa’s reins. “We know that Zuko never gives up. They’ll survive and we’ll find them.”

A few moments later, a bright light streaks across the sky and Katara’s face brightens. “Look! That’s gotta be Aang! Yip yip!”

Sokka turns Appa and they fly toward where the light landed and as they approach, they see the Zuko holding Aang by the shoulders, the Avatar bound tightly in rope. He drops the younger boy to the ground as they land and Katara drops down beside Appa.

“Here for a rematch?” he asks, raising his arms in front of him, gaze darting up to Sakari and then her shoulder.
“Trust me, Zuko, it’s not going to be much of a match.” Although he goes to strike, in one swift move Katara lifts him high into the air in a tower of ice before dropping it back down again, rendering the prince unconscious as Sokka frees Aang.
“Hey, this is some quality rope-“
“We need to get to the oasis!” Aang interrupts, rushing to his feet. “The spirits are in trouble!”

The three of them climb back onto Appa, but Sakari stares at Zuko, or more specifically, his abysmal lack of layers. If they leave him, there is no doubt that he won’t survive. And as terrible as he is, the thought of leaving a teenager out in a blizzard to die makes her stomach churn.

“We can’t leave him,” she speaks up.

“Sure, we can,” Sokka says. “Let’s go.”

“No,” Aang shakes his head. “If we leave him, he’ll die.”

“Yeah, this makes a lot of sense,” Sokka remarks sarcastically as Aang goes and gets Zuko, placing his unconscious body in the middle of Appa’s saddle. “Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us.”

Obviously, Sakari doesn’t know what they’ve been through, but just after her one fight with Zuko, she’s not sure that that’s true. It’s strange, seeing the boy up close. She wonders where his other injuries came from - they look at least a couple weeks old - but the scar on his face has evidently been there for a long time. It’s clearly a burn, so she figures it must have been some kind of training incident. He’s a prince after all, he can’t have too many enemies in the Fire Nation that would intentionally do that to their prince. His outfit is dismally unfit for the arctic which means either this trip was unplanned or if he’s just stupid.

Her whole life, the Fire Nation has -in her mind- been this one big evil entity, and it’s only now, as she’s staring at Prince Zuko, that she realises she’d forgotten that they’re individuals, forgotten that the nation is made up of people, each with lives just as complex as her own. These people must believe they’re doing the right thing, Sakari knows that logically, but she struggles to fathom how. And she’s not sure that understanding would change anything, anyway.

Aang tells them about what he found out in the Spirit World, that someone was planning to kill Tui and La but the spirits lived in a mortal form - as the two koi fish in the pond in the Spirit Oasis.

They’re nearly back at the oasis when the moon and sky abruptly turn blood-red and Yue lets out a groan, head falling into her hands.

“Are you okay?” Sokka asks.

“I feel faint.”

“I feel it too,” Aang winces. “The moon spirit is in trouble.”

“I owe the moon spirit my life,” Yue says quietly.

Sokka scoots forward slightly. “What do you mean?”

“When I was born, I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born as if I was asleep, my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could. They told my mother and father I was going to die. My father pleaded with the spirits to save me. That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me Yue… For the moon.”

The rest of the journey passes in tense silence. As they fly down into the Spirit Oasis, they see a Fire Nation admiral and a small group of soldiers, the former of which is furiously yelling as Momo latches onto his face. They don’t notice when Appa lands and Aang, Katara, Sokka and Sakari drop to the ground, but Momo finally leaps off the man, soaring through the air and coming to land on Aang’s outstretched arm. Now they have their attention, the group of kids prepare to fight and the soldiers ready their weapons.

“Don’t bother,” the admiral sneers at them, holding up a small sack and raising his hand to it threateningly.

They all immediately drop their stances, Aang’s glider dropping to the ground as he holds his hands up placatingly. “Zhao, don’t!”

“It's my destiny, to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe.”

“Destroying the moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world!”

A noise from behind Sakari catches her attention and she whips around and makes eye contact with Zuko, dropping down beside Appa. He freezes and stares back at her wide-eyed, as if waiting for her to do something. But in that moment, she doesn’t see an enemy, she isn’t looking at the Prince of the Fire Nation. All she sees is a boy.

“He is right, Zhao,” a gravelly voice speaks up, and Sakari turns her back to Zuko without a word to look at the hooded figure instead.

“General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?”

The newcomer lowers their hood to reveal an elderly man, who stares coldly at Zhao. “I'm no traitor, Zhao, the Fire Nation needs the moon, too. We all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you ten-fold!” The man raises his arms threateningly, his expression changing into one of pure fury. “Let it go, now!”

Zhao holds his gaze for a moment but lowers the sack to the pond and lets the fish out. There’s a brief moment in which the sky returns to normal, but then Zhao raises his arm and strikes the koi fish with a slash of fire. It lights up the oasis momentarily, but as the flames dissipate, the moon fades from sight and world around them turns a chilling shade of grey. Immediately, General Iroh advances on Zhao, launching attack after attack, and taking down his soldiers in a matter of seconds meanwhile the cowardly admiral disappears.

They rush toward the pond where La circles their fatally wounded counterpart. Iroh scoops Tui's limp body up, devastation written all over his face.

“There’s no hope now,” Yue laments, “It’s over.”

“No,” Aang says, his voice deep and distorted as the tattoo of an arrow on his head glows. “It’s not over.”

The young airbender walks into the pond and stands in the middle of it for a few seconds. All of a sudden, he drops below the surface and the water lights up. A vibrant blue glow appears in the water surrounding the garden, and it grows steadily outwards as the water begins to move, flowing towards the opening of the gorge and rising up to form some kind of giant amphibious-like creature. Aang is suspending in the glowing ball in its chest, and as the boy holds his arms out, so does the creature, and they begin to descend down into the city.

The group redirect their attention to the fish in Iroh’s hands, and he lowers it back into the water, yet its body remains lifeless.

“It’s too late, it’s dead,” Katara breathes and the melancholy ache in Sakari’s chest tightens.

She looks at her hands. Without the moon, she can’t waterbend - no one can. And without waterbenders, what chance did they stand against the Fire Nation? What would happen now? What are the Fire Nation’s plans? To kill them all? Take prisoners?

“You have been touched by the moon spirit!” Iroh’s voice cuts through her panic, and she realises he’s looking at Yue. “Some if its life is in you.”

Sakari realises straight away what the man is insinuating and straightens up. “Wait, no-“

“Yes, you’re right. It gave me life, maybe I can give it back.”

“No! You don’t have to do that!” Sokka objects, standing up and grabbing Yue’s hand. 

“It’s my duty,” the princess says softly, and Sakari swallows. Yue isn’t just the princess of her tribe; she is her friend. But she’s also stubborn and Sakari knows she’s not going to let up.

Sokka isn’t so ready to give in. “I won’t let you! Your father told me to protect you!”

“I have to do this,” Yue says determinedly, and pulls her hand from Sokka’s.

She places her hands onto Tui’s body and closes her eyes as the fish glows bright white for a few seconds. The glow fades and Yue’s body slumps backward, Sokka diving forward to catch her in his arms. “No!” he croaks, a hand coming up to cup her face. “She’s gone… she’s gone.”

Sakari clenches her jaw trying her hardest to not cry, but as Sokka hugs her limp body, the lump in her throat swells and she has to blink away tears. Moments later, her body fades and Sokka stares at his empty arms in shock. But as Tui glows again, Iroh drops the koi fish back in the water and it swims around, its glow lighting up the entire pond as a ball of energy rises up and forms an image of Yue.

She floats towards Sokka, hands coming to cup his face. “Goodbye, Sokka. I’ll always be with you.” She places a kiss on his lips before fading away again. The moon appears in the sky, all the colour in the world returning with it.

“Sokka…” Sakari begins helplessly. She has no idea how to comfort the boy, no idea what she could say to make this better. She places a hand on his shoulder, and he responds by turning around and pulling her into a firm hug and she hesitantly pats him on the back. When they separate, Katara wraps her arms around her grieving brother and Sakari turns to give the siblings some semblance of privacy.

“Those that are loved and remembered are never truly gone,” Iroh offers sympathetically. “Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.”

Sakari has to remind herself that the General isn’t actually responsible for Yue’s fate. And given that he had fought people from his own nation to protect the ocean and moon spirits, she knows he is certainly not their enemy. She meets his gaze and is a little taken aback by the kindness in his eyes. “Thank you,” she murmurs, but the words feel strange in her mouth after what’s just happened. When Iroh bids them farewell, Sakari can pinpoint the moment Katara realises that Zuko has vanished, but the girl just sighs and turns back to comfortingly rubbing Sokka’s shoulder.

They know they can’t hide out in the Spirit Oasis forever, and there’s also the matter of telling everyone else - Chief Arnook, in particular - what had happened. So Sokka composes himself unnervingly fast and the three of them head back toward the city. However, as Sakari thoughtlessly reaches to open the wooden door they had come through and the dull throb in her shoulder flares into a burst of pain, she inhales sharply and retracts her arm again.

“You should go to the healing huts so they can heal you properly,” Katara frowns.

But Sakari knows that if goes to the healing huts, they’ll want her to take off her tunic so they can actually get to the injury, and she knows if that happens… well. They’re going to notice a couple things. “It’s fine, I can-“

“It’s not fine, Kavik. Stop being stubborn. They can heal you better than I can and considering you can only use one arm, definitely better than you can. I’ll march you there myself if I have to.”

She could argue, she’s sure she could come up with something if she thought about it hard enough. But it would be suspicious. And honestly? At this point she’s so utterly tired, tired of the pretending, tired of the discomfort in her throat from constantly putting on a deep voice, tired of being so on edge. She almost wants the excuse. What will be, will be.

I guess this is it, she thinks grimly. “Fine.”

Chapter Text

Sakari walks to the healing huts alone, feeling very much as though she is walking to her death sentence. One of the healers sits her down and asks her to take off her tunic, and Sakari’s heart thuds anxiously when the healer’s eyes jump straight to the sarashi around her chest, which is visibly not flat. The older woman stares for a moment, eyes darting between the fabric, the muscly yet feminine build of her shoulders and arms, and Sakari’s face. It seems to take her a moment to understand the situation, and her eyes widen even more as she backs away slowly.

“S-Sedna!” she stammers to the other healer in the small hut. “Take over, I-I’ll be back. Wait here, dear. ”

Sakari lets her head fall back against the wall as the woman rushes out and wonders if she’s made a mistake. What would actually happen to her? She realises idly that not knowing this is probably a significant oversight on her part, but she finds that she doesn’t have the energy to care too much anyway.

Sedna is clearly alarmed when she realises what’s happening, but just gives Sakari a kind smile and begins to heal her. She doesn’t ask any questions and Sakari sighs in relief as the cool water soothes her shoulder, the pain and the dark purple bruise fading.

It’s about half an hour later, once Sedna’s finished healing her and she’s put all her layers back on, that she finally hears noise outside and Pakku walks in, closely followed by the older healer.

“So, it’s true,” the master says bitterly when he sees her. “You’re a girl.”

“Yes,” Sakari replies quietly in her natural voice. She’d almost forgotten what she sounded like and her voice feels strange in her throat.

“I can’t believe this! You’ve made a mockery of me, all of your peers, and our entire culture. You’re a disgrace.”

She clenches her jaw and stands up, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “You taught Katara! Why am I any different?”

“Because I trusted you! Because she didn’t lie to me!”

“I didn’t want to lie, I didn’t want to pretend to be someone else, but I didn’t get the choice! I had to!”

“You didn’t have to do anything,” he says coldly. “Your family should be ashamed of you. You’ve brought dishonour on them.”

Sakari shrinks back and stares at him, his words stinging sharply in her chest. How dare he? Her lip trembles but she swallows harshly and spits, “Fuck you.”

Pakku doesn’t look that fazed and simply shakes his head. “You’re no longer welcome as my student. And you’re lucky I don’t do worse!”

With that, he turns on his heel and storms back out, and Sakari slumps back down in her seat, head falling back against the wall, tears burning her eyes. She wants to just curl up into a ball, but she doesn’t get the opportunity because she hears more people approaching and Aang, Katara and Sokka walk in.

“Hey, Kavik!” Aang greets cheerfully, before gesturing behind him and asking, “What’s his problem?”

Katara frowns when she catches Sakari’s expression. “What happened?”

She lets out a heavy sigh. “He found out that I’m a girl who pretended to be a guy so I could learn waterbending.”

There’s a ringing silence as the three of them stare at her, mouths falling open.

“My real name is Sakari,” she adds.

“Sorry, I’m just- I have to process,” Sokka breaks the silence. “That is badass.”

“Thanks,” she snorts weakly.

“Wait, so… are you into my sister?”

There are two exclamations of, “What?"

“Uh, no,” Sakari sniggers, before glancing at the girl, “no offence.”

Katara just laughs, “None taken.”

“Damn, I was just starting to root for you.”

“Hang on,” she frowns, ignoring her brother’s comment, “I’m still confused about why he’s so angry. I thought he was…”

“He knew who you were from the beginning… I lied to him… for over a year. He’s a crusty old man, but I still…”

The proud look on his face. ’I knew you had it in you.’

The firm hand clapping her on the shoulder. ‘Good job, son,’

The delight when he asks her to perform at the feast with him.

She lets out a sigh. “He said I’m no longer welcome as his student.”

“He’ll come around,” Aang says optimistically, and Sokka nods.

“Yeah, he’ll get over it.”

“Yeah… maybe.”

“How’s your arm?” Katara asks.

“Great, actually.”

As her gaze lands on Sakari’s shoulder, her eyebrows knit together in thought. “Wait, if you’re a girl, then doesn’t that mean you were taught healing?”

“Yeah, I’ve been healing for most of my life.” A smirk pulls at her lips as she gets to her feet again. “I’m rather good at it. Though definitely not so good with only one arm… which I guess is maybe something I should practice.”

The group walk out of the hut and start heading towards the citadel.

“So, what are you gonna do now?” Aang asks Sakari, and the girl gives a small shrug.

“I don’t really know… Now that Pakku knows, he’ll undoubtedly tell the chief and it’ll spread from there and I don’t really think people around here will be particularly fond of me once they know. Maybe it’s time I-“

“Sakari?”

Sakari stops short. It’s been so long since she’s actually heard someone say her name, and she knows that voice better than any other. Her head snaps up to where the voice came from and stares.

“Mom?”

Sakari stares at her mother for a moment in shock, but as the woman starts rushing towards her, she runs forward to meet her halfway. She launches herself into her mother’s arms, the two embracing tightly. One of Sesi’s hands comes up to run her fingers through her daughter’s hair while her other arm remains tight around her back, holding her close. Tears sting Sakari’s eyes as she clutches onto her mother, grip tightening when she hears a sob escape the woman.

Eventually, Sesi pulls back so she can cup Sakari’s face and look at her properly, tears brimming her eyes. “Oh, baby, I’ve missed you so much,” she cries.

“I’m so sorry, Mom.” 

“It’s okay… I understand why you did it.”

“I thought you’d be really mad.”

“I was,” the woman laughs, wiping her eyes. “I was, but only because I was worried about you. And I was angry at myself for putting you in that position, that you felt you had to sneak off. And the whole time not knowing… and then we got word of the Fire Nation coming and we came as soon as we heard-“

“We?”

“Your grandfather is here too. I knew the city would need all the healers they could get and he was adamant about coming with me, so he’s helping round up anyone injured. What have-“ she stops suddenly when her eyes drift over Sakari’s shoulder at the Sokka, Katara and Aang standing a short distance away, talking amongst themselves, and takes a step back. “Oh! S-sorry, I shouldn’t be- I don’t want to-“

“It’s okay, they know,” Sakari assures her. “Actually… so will everyone else soon. I had to get healed and… I couldn’t really hide it anymore. So, my master found out… he wasn’t impressed… yelled at me and everything… but it was mainly because I lied to him. He’s actually been teaching a girl from the Southern tribe the last few weeks, so I think things are starting to change, but uh, he’s still really pissed.”

“I’m sorry, honey.”

“It’s okay,” she shrugs, eyes tearing up again. “I’m- I’m tired. So tired of it all, it’s a bit of a relief. Like I can breathe again. Figuratively and literally, I’m not going to miss having to constantly squash my boobs.”

Sesi laughs again and draws her in for another hug. “So, you’ve been learning waterbending, huh?”

“Yeah… I’m actually pretty good at it. And I did warrior training, too!”

“What did you have to get healed for?”

“I fought the Prince of the Fire Nation and we were right next to a cliff and ended up causing a heap of ice to fall down, but a big bit of rock hit me on the shoulder.”

Sesi stares at her blankly. “You- You fought the Prince of the Fire Nation?”

“Yeah, surprised me too,” she says sheepishly.

Her mother shakes her head with a smile. “I’m so proud of you, Sakari.”

“Sakari?” two familiar voices repeat in unison, and her stomach drops as she turns her head to look at Anik and Tuktu, who are looking between her and Sesi in confusion.

Oh shit.

“Hey, guys…” she begins awkwardly, their eyes widening at her natural voice. “My name’s actually Sakari… not Kavik… I’ve been pretending to be a guy so I could learn to fight.”

Anik’s jaw drops. “You’re shitting me.”

Sakari averts her gaze.

“I… don’t know what to say. I can’t believe- We’ve known you for like a year, I had no idea.”

She lets out a breath. “I’m sorry for lying to you.”

“It’s alright, I get why you did it. I’m just… still wrapping my head around it.”

She looks over at Tuktu who’s been silent the whole time and notes the uncomfortable expression on his face. He avoids meeting her gaze, and she only just catches the betrayal in his eyes. “I’m… glad you’re okay,” he says stiffly, and Sakari tries not to let the hurt show on her face.

“Does Pakku know?” Anik asks after an awkward cough.

“Yeah… just found out, actually.”

“And he’s… not cool with it?”

She scoffs. “You could say that. Disowned me as his student and all.”

“I’m- I’m sure he’ll come around, probably just feels like a total idiot. I sure do. Who would’ve thought that the best waterbender in the North Pole could be a girl?” She looks pointedly at him and he smiles sheepishly. “Oh, right… you probably did.”

“I’m gonna go,” Tuktu mutters and walks off without another word. Anik winces and shoots her an apologetic look.

“He probably just needs time to process.”

“Don’t- it’s fine,” she shakes her head, trying to keep her voice steady.

He looks over at Sesi and offers his arm. “Hi, I’m Anik. Ka- uh, Sakari’s friend.”

“Sesi,” the woman introduces with an amused smile, gripping his forearm. “Her mother.”

“I’ll, uh, I’ll see you later, yeah?” Sakari says.

Anik nods. “Yeah, see you later. Oh, uh, by the way… good for you. It’s amazing what you did. Arguably stupid, but… impressive.”

A small smile pulls at her lips. “Thanks, Anik.”

As he walks away, Sesi rubs Sakari’s arm comfortingly. “People just aren’t used to it, but they’ll understand in time.”
She nods numbly.
“I better go now, lots of people to heal, but I’m so glad I found you and once things have settled a bit we need to sit down and you can tell me everything, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I love you, and I’m so proud of you,” she says, embracing her daughter again.
“I love you too, Mom.”

And as Sesi reluctantly walks away, Sakari feels like an enormous weight has been lifted off her chest.

“K- Sakari, you alright?” Aang’s voice pipes up.

She turns around, lips pulling into a smile, and nods. She can’t quite shake the hurt that clutches at her heart at Tuktu’s response, but Anik’s quick acceptance and her mother’s warm embrace outweigh it. “Yeah! Mom said my Gramps is here too, helping out… I’m so excited to see him again, it’s been over a year. Just have to find him first.”

At this, Aang’s eyes light up. “We’ll help you find him! Won’t we, guys?” he adds, turning back to Sokka and Katara, who nod.

“Yeah, of course, what does he look like?” Sokka asks.

“Uh… like an old man version of me?”

He squints at her, as if trying to visualise it, then nods. “Alright, let’s go.”

It doesn’t take them long to locate the man, and when Aang (who’s been pointing out every single old person he sees) finally points him out, his arm is around the back of a limping warrior whose arm is slung over the older man’s shoulders for support as they walk toward the healing huts. She stops dead, grin forming on her face. Gramps’ eyes land on her and he, too, stops in his tracks, entire expression lifting.

As he calls over someone else to takeover assisting the warrior, Katara puts her hand on her shoulder and says, “We’ll go see what we can do to help around the city. Take your time.” She gives her a reassuring smile and leads the other two away.

Sakari looks back at Gramps, who’s just made sure the warrior is supported by the new guy and is now staring at her in amazement. She runs towards him and throws herself into his awaiting, open arms. “Oh, Gramps, I missed you so much!” she exclaims tearfully.

“I missed you too!”

“I just ran into Mom and she said you were here so I came looking for you!”

“You’re alright? You’re not injured at all?” he asks, pushing her back so he can look her over for injuries.

“Uh, not anymore.”

He raises an eyebrow at her.

“I hurt my shoulder and had to get it healed. It’s fine now. But, uh, now it’s out… that I’m a girl, I mean.”

His eyes widen. “What are they going to do? Do we need to get out of here?”

“No, no, it’s fine,” she quickly assures him. “My waterbending master renounced me as his student and I’ll probably be shunned by a lot of people but that’s it. Master Pakku’s actually been training a girl from the Southern Tribe; he’s mainly just pissed about me lying. Not that he would have taught me if I hadn’t lied but… anyway. I learnt so much… don’t even need the old grump anymore.”

Gramps lets out a laugh and pulls her in for another hug. “You never cease to amaze me, you know that?”

As with her mother, Sakari knows that there’s a lot of work do and they can’t talk for too long. But she’s okay with that because she knows they’ll have time to catch up properly later. So, after their brief reunion, she tracks down Aang, Sokka and Katara and joins them in helping to locate injured warriors, rebuilding the damage and reuniting families that were separated in the panic of the battle.

Sakari’s heart aches as she takes in the aftermath. This city has been her home for the last year, and Agna Qel’a has always been viewed by the tribe -and the rest of the world- as impenetrable, indestructible. She can almost physically feel the damage in the tribe’s collective hope. Sure, they might have won the battle, but the Fire Nation had shown them all that they weren’t as safe as they had all thought, and it was beyond unsettling.

The clean-up effort is put on pause as night falls, and Sakari takes the opportunity to find her mother and grandfather again and the three catch up in depth. Sakari updates them on her training, the friends she’s made, how Pakku asked her to perform at the feast and everything that unfolded once that warning drum started beating. In turn, they update her on what’s been happening back at Kuk’uq (which admittedly, isn’t a whole lot). And although Sakari had intended to go back to her hut for the night, they talk for so long that she ends up falling asleep with her head in Sesi’s lap, the woman’s fingers running through her hair.

A funeral for Yue and all the fallen warriors is held in the citadel, and there isn’t a person in Agna Qel’a who doesn’t attend. The heavy sense of melancholy and loss is suffocating, and Sakari feels completely helpless, especially when Sokka hides his face to wipe at his tears.

When Chief Arnook approaches her, Sakari really doesn’t know what to expect, and although she doesn’t want to, she apologises for her deception with a graceful bow of her head. But he doesn’t yell at her, he doesn’t call her a disgrace, doesn’t even seem at all displeased. Just tired, incredibly tired, and a deep sadness resides in his eyes.

“Thank you,” he says, and her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Thank you for protecting my daughter… and for being her friend. I know Yue wasn’t particularly happy about marrying Hahn, and I thought I was doing the right thing – by this city, the tribe - but… I realise now I wasn’t, and it would seem our tribe’s customs are due for a re-evaluation. The lengths you went to are a testament to that. I knew the day would come when she would have to leave us, and I thought I would be ready, but I don’t think a person can ever be ready to lose their child. I’m just grateful she had people like you and Sokka.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Sakari admitted. “Thank you for saying that. And getting to be Yue’s friend was a blessing. I love this tribe and our culture, but… I do think some of our customs could use some… consideration. And if most people don’t want them to change, fine, but I’d at least like them to listen, to discuss.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. And I’d love for you to be a prominent part of those discussions.”

“I’m not so sure people would want to listen to me. Not now.”

“And that would stop you?” he asks with a smile, raising an eyebrow.

Sakari smiles sheepishly. “I suppose not.”

The next few days pass in a busy blur of continuing the clean-up effort, and as they slowly begin to restore the city, Sakari can feel the community’s spirits starting to lift too. She doesn’t bother hiding anymore, so when she talks to new people, she can see their confusion at the mismatch between her feminine voice and still masculine appearance, but they don’t say anything. Priorities, she supposes.

Meanwhile, those that knew her as Kavik and have since heard the truth generally avoid her and opt for simply shooting her judgemental and contemptible looks. She tries to ignore it, but she can’t help but feel hurt by it all. (You’d think a Fire Nation siege would put gender roles into perspective, but apparently not.) Among these people are many of the waterbenders she’s been training with, which makes her living situation uncomfortable to say the least. Many of the other rural students in the complex don’t put in any effort to hide their displeasure (or at times, plain hostility) at her presence and it’s hard to not feel hurt that her peers are so quick to turn their backs on her. And she can’t even stay with her family because, given how many people have been displaced and the large number of people from outside the city who came to help, they’re crammed in a tiny temporary hut and there isn’t room.

When Aang hears about this, he immediately offers for her to stay in their tent with them instead (“It’s huge, we’ve got plenty of space”) and she gratefully accepts.

Her Mom and Gramps go with her to help gather all her things (granted, she doesn’t have a lot and doesn’t really need the help, physically. She appreciates their presence and support though.) As they approach her hut, she wonders if their presence alone is what’s making all the boys avoid even looking at her until she sees Gramps glaring coldly at them all. She suppresses a smile.

Although she doesn’t have a lot of possessions in her hut, she’s managed to scatter them impressively around the place and it takes some time to gather it all. As she’s finishing putting it all in her bag, she hears footsteps outside her hut and turns around as Pakku steps inside. The man glances warily at her mother and grandfather who are staring at him with their arms crossed, before his gaze lands on Sakari and her bag. She waits for him to say something first.

“You’re leaving,” he observes, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

Sakari resists a scoff. “I don’t exactly feel welcome here anymore. Besides, I’m not a student anymore, so…”

The master glances back outside and his lips press into something of a grimace.

“I’m staying with Aang, Sokka and Katara,” she continues, trying to make the point that they hadn’t turned their backs on her without outright saying it.

It works if the uncomfortable expression on Pakku’s face is any indication, and she feels a petty sense of satisfaction. “Good… good…” There’s an awkward pause and Sakari’s about to ask him why he’s here when he clears his throat. “I, uh… I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay,” she says flatly, gesturing for him to continue.

“Kavik, I- wait, that’s not… what did you say your real name is?” he asks with an embarrassed cough.

“Sakari.”

“Sakari, right. I came to say that I’ve had a lot of time to think things over and I think that I perhaps reacted a bit harshly at the time. I think a lot of my anger stemmed from the blow to my pride at the fact that you were able to… fool me for so long. I… I understand why you did what you did and, if anything, your determination to achieve your goals could almost be considered… admirable. It was not fair of me to react like I did and say the things I said and I… I would like to say that I’m… that I… am apologetic,” he finishes, as though it physically pains him. He looks to her mother and grandfather then and says, “You’ve raised an amazing warrior and waterbender.”

Sakari presses her lips together, thinking his words over. A part of her is overjoyed that the man she looks up to seems to finally have come to his senses, that the legendary master is apologising (sort of), but another part of her is still too hurt that he was so quick to drop her. “I appreciate you saying all of that,” she finally says diplomatically, and she can tell that Pakku had been expecting a much more enthusiastic reaction, but this only increases her desire to give him the cold shoulder.

Realising that this is all Sakari is going to say, Pakku clears his throat and continues, “I would be honoured to have you back as my student again.”

“I don’t know…” she says, and she’s pleased at the fact he seems taken aback by the response. He recovers quickly, however, and gives a curt nod.

“Just… think about it. Take your time.”

That night in the tent, Sakari tells Aang, Sokka and Katara about what Pakku had said.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Aang asks hopefully.

“I don’t know,” she groans. “Well, yes, it is, but I don’t know if that’s actually what I want. It was, but now… now I’m not sure about my place here. I don’t want to go back to Kuk’uq, not after everything I’ve done here, not now that I know what I’m capable of. I’m made for more than what Kuk’uq has to offer, but… I feel so out of place here now. And a lot of people are pissed off at me for lying and… I can’t say I blame them. I feel like- like I lost myself a bit in everything, like I forgot where the line between Sakari and Kavik was… Also, if I’m being completely honest, a part of me just wants to spite Pakku,” she admits, and Sokka snorts. “I guess I just… don’t really know what my path from this point onwards looks like.” 

“You could come with us,” Katara suggests.

“What?”

“Yeah, you can help me teach Aang waterbending and we could really use your skills. Plus, I’d love to hone my healing skills with your help. Master Pakku’s taking some tribe members down to the South pole to help rebuild the tribe, so we’ll sail with them for a while, then when we’re closer to the Earth Kingdom, we’ll leave on Appa for Omashu to find Aang an earthbending teacher.”

Sakari takes a moment to process Katara’s words. The idea of leaving the North Pole, of joining the Avatar in his journey to master all the elements, of travelling the world and actually making a difference - it sends a thrill through her body, heart racing excitedly. Her next thought is of her family, of what they would say to the idea, of how much she would miss them. But something about the idea just feels so right.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Sokka nods. “If we’re going to take down the Fire Nation, we’ll need as many hands as we can get. And you’ve shown that yours are very capable.”

Sakari doesn’t know if it’s something in the expression on her face or something about the way she’s carrying herself, but Sesi seems to immediately know something is up when she approaches her and Gramps.

“Mom… Gramps…” she speaks up hesitantly, and glances back at Katara who’s hovering nearby and offers a reassuring nod.

Sesi follows her gaze and smiles sadly at Sakari, tears brimming her eyes. “Time to start your next adventure?”

She dismisses her shock and just nods, her own eyes glistening too. “We’ll be leaving in a few days. Well… they’re leaving in a few days… If you don’t want me to go, I won’t.”

A crease forms between her mother’s eyebrows. “Do you want to go?”

“Yeah… I really do.”

“Then you should go,” Sesi murmurs, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m so proud of you, baby. I’m sorry for holding you back.”

Sakari wipes at the stray tears that trickle down her cheeks, shaking her head adamantly. “You’ve never held me back, Mom. Never.” She grabs one of her mother’s hands and one of her grandfather’s hands as she looks between them fondly. “You’re the reason I’m the person I am today, both of you are.”

Gramps squeezes her hand. “Your Dad… wherever he is… he’s incredibly proud of you, my dear. I know it.”

Maybe I’ll find him, Sakari thinks, but doesn’t dare say it out loud. She can’t bear to bring her mother false hope, especially when there isn’t a shred of evidence that he’s even alive.

Naturally, the next couple of days are hectic with more cleaning up to do, packing up her belongings and assisting those impacted by the battle. On the day that they’re due to leave, Sakari is organising the transport of food onto the ship. After sending a load of seal meat to the docks she heads towards the sea prune farm, however, to her great misfortune, she runs into Hahn.

“Hey, Kavik!” he calls, approaching her with an arrogant grin. “Oh wait, that’s not your name, is it?”

Sakari just rolls her eyes and moves to walk past him, but he follows her.

“This is exactly why women aren’t allowed to fight, you know. You have no respect for the art. And to lie to so many people for so long-“

“Hahn,” she said sharply, cutting him off, “you seem to be under the impression that I give a flying fuck about what you have to say on the matter.”

He scowls deeply. “I’d mind what you say to me if I were you.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

His jaw clenches as he tries to think of a response.

“Exactly. Now get lost.”

With a slight flick of her wrist, she melts the very top layer of ice in front of Hahn so when he steps to continue following her, he slips and falls on his ass instead. She hears him shouting insults at her, but it simply puts a smile on her face.

As she makes her way back to the docks, she sees Anik there going through all the barrels waiting to be loaded. Although she’s briefly seen both boys since they found out the truth, she hasn’t actually spoken to either of them and she has no idea where she stands with them. But then Anik spots her and shoots her a friendly smile, waving her over. She makes an effort to keep her returning smile contained, relief threatening to turn it to a stupid grin.

“Hey…” she says as she comes to stand in front of him.

“Sakari,” Anik replies brightly, and a sense of joy fills her, especially when he opens his arms for a hug, and she laughs at the boyish clap on her back. “I hear you’re going off with the Avatar.”

“Yeah… I… I don’t really know where my place is anymore, but… it sure doesn’t feel like here.”

The older boy offers her a sympathetic smile. “I understand. It sure sounds exciting.”

“I’m really glad you’re here,” Sakari says, “I wanted to say goodbye before I left but-“

“Goodbye? Not yet, my friend. We’re going with Pakku to the South Pole.”

She doesn’t need to ask who ‘we’ includes. “Where’s Tuktu?”

“He’s loading some gear.”

“Is he still…”

Anik grimaces. “Don’t take it personally.”

“It’s a bit hard not to,” Sakari frowns.

“He’s being an idiot, but it won't last. C’mon, help me load these barrels.”

As they silently start shifting the barrels, Sakari isn’t really sure what to say to the older boy.

“So Pakku got over it then?” he asks.

“Yeah… even sort of apologised.”

“Sort of?”

“Look, I don’t think that man has ever sincerely said ‘I’m sorry’ in his life.”

Anik snorts, “you’ve got a point.”

Once everything is loaded into the boat, it’s time to say goodbye. About half the city is already there ready to see the Avatar off, with more people still arriving. Sesi and Gramps manage to weave their way through the crowd to get to Sakari, who throws herself at them both and squeezes them as tight as she can, briefly doubting if she should go ahead with this.

“I love you both… so much,” she breathes, eyes welling with tears.

“I love you too, darling,” Sesi murmurs in response, eyes sad but her smile encouraging. “Stay strong… stay safe.”

“I love you, my dear. Go stick it to everyone here, show ‘em what you’re made of.”

Sakari grins. “I will, Gramps. I’ll write to you when I can.”

And after another chorus of ‘I love you’s, Sakari reluctantly walks away from them and boards the boat, where she’s immediately bombarded by Aang’s excited rambling about their journey ahead while Sokka and Katara bicker in the background.

Strangely, it soothes the ache in her chest.

Chapter Text

While Sakari had hoped that Anik would be right and that Tuktu’s standoffishness wouldn’t last, the boy certainly tries his hardest to avoid her. Well, as much as one can avoid someone when they’re both on the same ship. Tuktu only acknowledges her where absolutely necessary and although he’s respectful, never mean, he treats her like she’s merely an acquaintance, like he barely knows her. And after everything they’ve done together, after everything she’s shared with him, after considering him her brother – it fucking hurts.

It makes her think about how things would be if she hadn’t outed herself. She’s sure that her, Tuktu, and Anik would be doing something stupid, they’d be duelling relentlessly, and probably making more whirlpools and Anik-sized snowballs. Maybe they’d even be teasing her about girls. But instead, their effortless dynamic as a trio has come to a grinding halt with Sakari and Tuktu struggling through tense and awkward interactions meanwhile Anik tries to play peacekeeper. Not that Sakari doesn’t want peace – she wants nothing more than to go back to the way things were before. But Tuktu is obstinate, apparently certain he wants nothing to do with her anymore and each day Sakari finds the feeling growing more and more mutual.

A part of her regrets saying anything at all. Would Aang, Sokka, and Katara still have invited her to come with them if she hadn’t? It was the alienation she felt from her own people as a result of telling the truth that had prompted them to make the offer. But maybe this is a terrible idea anyway – picking up and leaving home in favour of travelling with the Avatar? What is she thinking? She’s spent so much of her time as Kavik just missing her family and at the first opportunity, she’s just taken off on them again?

Life as Kavik hadn’t been too bad – actually, no, scratch that, she’d been positively miserable near the end. But the dull ache in her chest and the sting every time Tuktu avoids her gaze now isn’t great either. She supposes at least she can be herself, that the gigantic weight that had been constantly residing on her chest slowly suffocating her isn’t there anymore. And Aang, Katara, and Sokka have embraced her in her entirety, their friendship offering comfort in light of Tuktu’s rejection.

On the third night, Sakari is in the mess hall for dinner when -looking at her feet rather than where she’s going- she collides with another body. An apology is already halfway out her lips when she looks up and- of course it’s Tuktu.

“Sorry,” she blurts again. “Wasn’t watching where I was-“

“It’s fine,” he mutters and goes to move past her but in a moment of involuntary desperation, she grabs him lightly by the forearm.

“Tuktu, please… please talk to me.”

He just clenches his jaw and looks past her. “I don’t have anything to say to you.” Sakari stares after him as he walks away, eyes watering and a sharp sting in her chest.

As she approaches the table that Aang, Katara, and Sokka are seated at, they’re all staring at her with varying degrees of pity and she swallows down her humiliation. Aang gestures for her to sit beside him, linking his arm through hers as she does. “I’m sorry, Sakari.”

“Are you alright?” Katara asks softly.

Sakari just hums.

“He probably just needs more time,” Aang offers optimistically.

Sokka scoffs. “I say screw him. You’ve given him plenty of time.”

“I think I actually agree with you on that one,” Katara says, shooting a scathing look over her shoulder at where Tuktu is now sitting. “If he’s going to act like that then he’s not worth it.”

And they do have a point, but it’s not that simple. Sakari considers Tuktu her family, and the fact that he’s suddenly turned his back on her doesn’t mean she can just switch that off in an instant, even if she is seething about it. It’s just left her with an open wound. But she doesn’t know how to explain it, nor does she have the energy, so she just nods. Her gaze drifts then and she spots Tuktu across the hall. His expression is guilty as his eyes flit between her and her new friends, but as soon as their eyes meet, he averts his gaze.

Sakari clenches her jaw.

To her surprise, Tuktu’s behaviour does actually become slightly warmer after that, though things are still weird between them. He doesn’t talk to her, but he at least meets her eye, even offering something of a smile at times. She figures it’s his way of apologising without actually apologising, but that just pisses her off, especially given that even Pakku has been making an effort to be nice.

 “I never actually asked,” Pakku says the morning after the Tuktu incident as he and Sakari look out upon the ocean. “What was the reason for it all?”

She looks across at him with a raised eyebrow. “To learn waterbending.”

The man rolls his eyes and shoots her a look of mock contempt. “I gathered as much. But why were you so insistent on learning waterbending?”

“I wanted to feel… capable,” she says after a moment.

“Of?”

“Protecting myself… my family. Especially after Dad… I’d always seen him as untouchable and so when he didn’t come back, I suddenly felt like Mom, Gramps, and I were really vulnerable. I wanted to feel strong… in control.”

Pakku is quiet for a few seconds. “I really am sorry for the way I treated you after I found out you were… you.”

Sakari’s lip curls. “It’s not lost on me that you’re apologising after hearing my sob story.”

“That’s not why I’m- and I already apologised!” he says defensively, scowling when he catches the amused look on her face. “I just… wanted to say it again.”

“I appreciate that,” she grins, nudging his elbow lightly with her own. “Thanks, Master Pakku.”

Sakari isn’t really sure what to do with her hair anymore. While just throwing it up in a wolf tail or tying it all up is probably the most practical at the length it is currently, she wants to do something… different. She didn’t look overly feminine before she left home, but after looking like a boy for so long and now being in this androgynous limbo… she has the strong desire now to feel feminine.

This is all she can think about as she watches Katara carefully weave her hair into braids later in the morning. She only realises that she’s staring when Katara meets her gaze in the mirror with a kind smile. “What’s troubling you?”

“I… I miss feeling… pretty,” Sakari admits, cheeks heating at the confession. The words sound stupid as soon as they come out of her mouth.

Katara, however, doesn’t seem to think so. She turns around immediately, eyes soft with understanding. “To be clear, you are very pretty. But I can imagine that having to look like a guy for so long might disrupt your self-image.”

“Do you think- I mean, I never really did much with my hair even before -don’t even know how to do the loopy thing- but…”

“Do you want me to do your hair? I can teach you?” 

Sakari lets out a heavy breath, bashful smile growing. “Please?”

“There,” Katara announces, placing the last pin in Sakari’s hair and turning her to the mirror. “How’s that?”

Sakari takes in her reflection, warmth blooming in her chest at the fact that -for the first time in a very long time- her reflection actually feels like her. She raises a hand to touch the braids – different to Katara’s but a similar style – and moves her head about experimentally. “I really, really love it. Thank you, Katara, I really can’t express how happy this makes me.”

“You look beautiful,” the younger girl beams.

And Sakari finds herself holding her head a little higher.

“Honestly, the only way to really practice healing is on actual injuries. But it is important to get the basic principles down first anyway,” Sakari instructs as her and Katara sit on the deck across from each other, the latter eager to develop her healing abilities. “Most waterbenders can do basic healing at will, but with a lot of practice and finesse, you can become a lot more efficient so your healing is faster, more effective and it becomes less draining for you. Most of the time, open wounds will still leave a scar but a lot of healing masters are able to heal even severe injuries without a trace. The way to get to that point is to work on connecting with the water, feeling with the water, seeing with the water.”

To demonstrate, Sakari lifts a blob of water from the bucket in between them with one hand and holds it to her other hand. “If I had some kind of wound or internal injury in my hand, it would generally be enough to just concentrate on the desire to heal the injury and it would slowly heal. But if you want to be efficient, you need to – this sounds really stupid but it’s the best way to describe it – ‘become one’ with the water. Like it’s an extension of yourself, another sensory organ.” She closes her eyes and concentrates. “You can use the water to see and feel what’s going on… feel each and every bone… tendon… muscle… vein…”

She opens her eyes and sees Katara with her eyes closed, frowning in concentration as she examines her own hand.

“And you can do that all over. It’s good to do regularly, it’s like a meditation. Then when you come across an actual injury to heal, you’re very in-tune with the body, you’re very aware of what’s right and wrong. Obviously, that’s generally obvious for gashes and other open wounds but in the case that you’re not sure if a bone’s broken or a muscle’s torn… you want to be very familiar with how everything’s supposed to feel. Make sense?”

“Yeah… It feels… strange,” Katara murmurs.

“Yeah, suddenly becoming very aware of all your bones is a weird experience. But in terms of practicing actually healing injuries, we’re pretty much just going to have to wait until someone injures themselves. Although going off Anik’s history, I’m sure we won’t have to wait long.”

At that moment, Sokka emerges from below deck and approaches them.

“Sokka!” Sakari grins, beckoning him over. “Want to take one for the team?”

The boy shrugs and nods, as Katara puts a hand on her mouth to hide her amusement. “Sure, what do you need?”

“Brilliant, can you break your arm for us?”

He jolts back and shrieks, “No! What?!”

“It’ll be healed in no time! We just need some real injuries to practice healing on!”

“No!”

“So much for being a team player, Sokka.”

“I hate you.”

On the day they’re due to leave, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Sakari spend the morning gathering everything they need and saying farewell to everyone else on the boat. Well, almost everyone. Pakku, Anik, and a couple other tribe members come to the deck to see them off but… Tuktu is nowhere to be seen and Sakari’s heart sinks. He’ll be here any second, she’s sure.

Once all their gear is packed on Appa’s saddle, Pakku beckons Katara over and holds out a small flask. “Katara, I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis. The water has unique properties. Don’t lose it.”

The girl accepts the gift and gives him a swift hug. “Thank you, Master Pakku.”

As she moves away, Pakku then turns to Sakari, who grins at him. “A necklace, that’s cute.”

“Amulet,” he corrects irritatedly.

“Necklace.”

“Amulet.”

“It’s a pendant that goes around the neck, it’s a necklace.”

The corners of the man’s mouth curl in fond amusement. “You’re insufferable.”

“I try.”

“I have something for you too,” he says, and pulls out a scroll. “This is a rare waterbending scroll for Water Warriors. It teaches you how to combine waterbending and military training.”

“I… thank you,” Sakari beams and pulls the master in for a reluctant hug.

As Aang approaches Master Pakku, Sakari walks over to Anik, eyes darting around the deck for any sign of Tuktu as she does. When her gaze lands back on Anik, he gives her a sad smile. “I tried.”

“Ah, screw him,” she says dismissively, forcing a smile. But when she pulls him in for a hug, she can tell by the little squeeze he gives her that he’s seen through it. “Can you tell him I said goodbye?” she whispers over his shoulder.

“Of course,” he murmurs, before pulling away and clapping her on the shoulder. “Good luck with everything. And stay safe.”

“You too.”

“Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here,” Pakku tells them once they’re all seated on Appa. “General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There, you will be safe to begin your earthbending training with King Bumi.”

“Yip yip!” Aang exclaims, and Sakari’s stomach gives a jolt as they rise in the air and begin soaring across the sky.

When the group arrive at General Fong’s base in the Earth Kingdom, they’re met with a very warm welcome, including a brief fireworks display. After being shown to their room, the four are lead to a spacious discussion room to talk with General Fong. However, not long at all into the discussion, Fong claims that Aang is ready to face the Fire Lord given the power he possesses when in the Avatar State. When Aang tries to tell him that he has no control over the Avatar State, the General simply tells Aang that he will help him figure out how to get into it, and then he can face the Fire Lord. Frustrated at how blatantly he is ignoring their concerns, they all stand up to leave.

“No, nothing’s decided!” Katara scowls. “We already have a plan. Aang’s pursing his destiny his way.”

“Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on. May I show you something?” Fong asks Aang and gestures to the window. “That’s the infirmary, and those soldiers are the lucky ones. They came back. Every day, the Fire Nation takes lives. People are dying, Aang! You could end it now. Think about it.”

And Sakari can see the doubt on Aang’s face, the guilt. So, it’s no surprise when he announces that night that he’s agreed to Fong’s proposal, but it doesn’t make the churning unease in her stomach any less severe.

“Aang, no!” Katara objects, sitting up on her bed. “This is not the right way!”

“Why not?” Sokka asks. “Remember when he took out the Fire Navy? He was incredible!”

“There’s a right way to do this. Practice, study, and discipline!”

“Or just glow it up and stop that Fire Lord.”

Katara huffs and turns to look at her. “Sakari, what do you think?”

Her eyes widen slightly, suddenly feeling very put on the spot. “Well… Fong’s plan makes me… kinda uneasy. It seems too good to be true.”

“Or maybe it’s too good not to be true,” Sokka replies, making Sakari scrunch her face up in her confusion while Katara rolls her eyes.

Sakari sighs and tries again. “It just seems like what Fong wants to do isn’t… it’s not what ‘The Avatar’ is meant to be about. It’s a shortcut.”

“Maybe, but the circumstances are pretty dire right now. What’s more important, Aang doing things the ‘right way’ or stopping the Fire Lord before more people die?”

Sakari’s gaze moves to Aang who looks far too weary for someone his age, and he meets her eye with a resigned expression. “It’s gotta be worth a try, right?”

Katara gets to her feet and throws her hands up in frustration. “If you two meatheads want to throw away everything we’ve worked for, fine, go ahead and glow it up!”

“Katara, I’m just being realistic!” Aang calls after her as she walks out. “I don’t have time to do this the right way!” His shoulders slump and he looks to his feet, expression crestfallen.

Sakari hastily moves to his side and puts an arm around his back. “We’ll figure it out, Aang. Together. Let’s just see how tomorrow goes and go from there, how about that?”

“You said you don’t think it’s a good idea,” he replied, a hint of accusation in his tone.

“It doesn’t mean I’m right. If you think this is the way to do it, then we’ll support you.”

Aang shoots her a pointed look.

“Katara will get over it,” Sokka says nonchalantly. “C’mon, like you said, it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t feel right then we go back to the original plan.”

The boy lets out a heavy sigh. “Okay.”

“How about you get some sleep?” Sakari suggests. “Sounds like you’re going to have a big day tomorrow.”

The corners of Aang’s lips curl. “Sure thing, Mom.”

She rolls her eyes and lightly elbows the kid as Sokka snorts. “You’re a pest.”

The next day is spent trying all sorts of methods of triggering the Avatar State – stimulating teas, shock, ceremonial clothing – but none of it works, and it’s clear that Aang is getting frustrated. As the sun approaches the horizon, they decide to leave it for the day and get some rest. Dinner is brought to them and they eat in silence, everyone a little weary from the day – particularly Aang.

When Aang excuses himself to get some fresh air and Katara follows him out shortly after, Sakari and Sokka just exchange a look.

“Do you think this is going to work?” Sokka asks after a moment of silence.

“No,” Sakari replies heavily. “I wish Fong hadn’t guilted him into this. It’s not Aang’s fault that people are dying, but people act like it is because the Avatar is supposed to end this war. And now he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders because people expect him to save it. And I get he’s the Avatar, but he’s also a twelve year old kid, for fuck’s sake.”

“He has a lot more responsibility than he should,” Sokka agrees. “I thought we’d be able to help more but times like this I feel really helpless. I thought if this Avatar State shortcut worked, then maybe it would make things easier for him but I have a feeling that’s not going to be the case.”

When morning comes around, Aang has changed his mind about trying to bring on the Avatar State, though Katara’s bed is empty by the time Aang is telling Sakari this. Apparently, she hadn’t wanted to watch Aang put himself through trying to force himself into the Avatar state so she’d left early this morning. As soon as they’re finished their breakfast, they make their way to meet with Fong and explain the situation.

“You sure I can’t change your mind?” the General asks.

“I'm sure. I can only reach the Avatar State when I'm in genuine danger.”

“I see. I was afraid you’d say that.” The next second, General Fong is flinging a boulder at Aang, sending the kid flying back, out the tower window and to the courtyard below.

Sokka and Sakari both cry out and lunge towards him but are held back by Fong’s men.

“Men!” Fong shouts. “Attack the Avatar!”

“What the FUCK?!” Sakari yells, trying to yank free as Fong leaps out of the window Aang had fallen through, landing in the courtyard with a loud thud. Once she manages to pull an arm free, she draws water out of her waterskin and pelts it at the two men holding her back just as Sokka manages to swing his legs forward and slam them back in the shins of his captors. They run to the window to see Aang surrounded by Fong’s men, all of whom are attacking him, despite his refusal to fight back.

“Come on,” Sokka says, grabbing her sleeve and dragging her down the stairs. As they reach the courtyard, Katara is rushing towards them, evidently having heard all the commotion.

“What’s going on?!”

“The general’s gone crazy! He’s trying to force Aang into the Avatar state!”

“I won’t fight you!” Aang repeats.

“That makes one of us,” Sakari spits, hurling a water whip at a line of soldiers. She turns then to the General, who has his back to her. She bends the water into a club of solid ice and winds her arm back ready to swing, only for a small boulder to strike her in the ribs, knocking her back. She growls and prepares to launch an attack on the man that had struck her, but before she can, he’s bended the earth around her arms and legs, keeping her pinned.

A shout from Katara causes her to look over at the younger girl, who has been sucked into the ground by Fong, submerged into the earth to her knees. When Aang launches an airbending attack at him in an attempt to get the general to free her, she only sinks further in. Sakari furiously tries to wiggle free, but to no avail, and she can hear Sokka yelling for Katara.

“You could save her if you were in the Avatar state,” Fong taunts.

Aang falls to his knees, pleading desperately, “You don’t need to do this!”

“Apparently, I do.”

Katara is plunged completely below the earth, Aang’s last second dive for her proving fruitless. When he turns his head, his eyes and tattoos are glowing. With a swipe of his hand, Fong is thrown back, and he rises into the air, a tornado below him.

“Avatar Aang! Can you hear me?! Your friend is safe!” Fong shouts and pulls Katara up from the ground. “It was just a trick to trigger to Avatar State! And it worked!”

Sakari can only describe what happens next as a cataclysm, large chunks of earth lifting from the ground in a wave of demolition that rolls through the courtyard, sending Fond and his men flying. The ripple frees Sakari’s limbs, somehow not harming her in the process, and she stares at Aang, who appears to be come back to himself before falling to his hands and knees. As Katara rushes over to him, Sokka pulls Sakari to her feet and onto the ostrich horse he’s riding.

“I’m sorry, Katara. I hope you never have to see me like that ever again,” Aang says miserably.

“Ha! Are you joking?” Fong scoffs. “That was almost perfect! We just need to find a way to control you when you’re like that!”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“I guess we’ll figure it out on the way to the Fire Nation-“ he’s cut off as Sokka rides up and clubs him over the head, knocking him out.

Sakari laughs. “Nice.”

The next morning, they’ve set up camp in the wild, now heading towards Omashu to find Aang’s old friend King Bumi. All of them are staring intently at the pot of jook cooking on the fire as the early morning sun starts to rise into the sky.

“How much longer?” Sokka asks yet again, earning an annoyed sigh from Katara.

“Will you quit asking that?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, we’ve noticed.”

Aang and Sakari exchange an amused look as silence falls over the group once more.

“You know, General Fong may have been a lunatic, but at least the food there was good.”

As Katara shoots her brother a sharp glare, Sakari raises her eyebrows at him. “Is Katara that critical of your cooking?”

“I don’t cook.”

“…at all?”

“I don’t need to, we’ve got Katara.”

“Does Katara also do all your washing?” Sakari asks mockingly, only to be met with silence as Aang and Sokka glanced sheepishly at each other.

“Oh for-“ she takes a breath. “Okay, that’s it – you’re both going to pick up some slack.”

“But Katara’s better at it, especially cooking,” Sokka reasons.

“Have you ever tried cooking?”

“…I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“Because you can’t expect to get good at things if you don’t try. I get why things are the way they are in the villages, but guess what, Sokka? We’re all in the same position here so the work will be distributed accordingly. You’re going to cook tonight.”

“But I don’t know how!”

“I’ll teach you.”

He lets out a very heavy sigh.

To Sokka’s credit, when she’s guiding him through preparing the ingredients and throwing them in a pot for that night’s dinner, he actually doesn’t complain that much. With the exception of an occasional sarcastic or snide remark, he’s a relatively attentive student.

“If it’s bad, it’s Sakari’s fault,” Sokka disclaims cheekily as everyone tucks into dinner. “Unless it’s good, then it was all me.”

Aside from the slightly overcooked vegetables and too much salt, it’s a decent meal, and Sokka looks quite pleased with himself.

The next day, they come across a group of nomads who tell them of a shortcut to Omashu through the mountain. They opt to take to the skies instead over concerns of Appa being uncomfortable underground, however, after only a few minutes in the sky, they’re being fired upon by the Fire Nation, so they quickly catch up with the nomads again and head for the secret tunnel. It isn’t until they’re there that Chong elects to tell them it’s actually a labyrinth. One that can only be figured out by ‘trusting love’, according to some curse, but the looming presence of the Fire Nation leaves them no choice but to go ahead. Once they’re inside, there’s a loud cracking and rumbling as the entrance collapses – likely the work of the Fire Nation – and Appa shifts in distress.

When a wolfbat sparks panic in the group and poor Appa gets flicked with hot cinders from the torch, he rears up and knocks into the cave wall, triggering a cave-in that cuts Appa, Katara, and Aang off from the rest of the group. It leaves Sakari, Sokka, and Momo with the nomads which Sokka does not seem at all pleased about. The next couple of hours pass very slowly, and rather uneventfully. That is, until a group of wolfbats appear, only hanging around momentarily before flying off with impressive speed. Just as Sokka guesses they’re flying away from something, there’s a thunderous rumbling and bits of rock are scattered everywhere as two giant badgermoles appear. The one closest to Sokka takes a swipe at him. Sakari immediately draws water out of her waterskin ready to attack, but as Sokka scrambles back out of the way, his hand knocks a lute that one of the nomads had dropped in their panic. The resulting strum causes the badgermole to pause and cock its head. When he picks up the instrument and gives it a few experimental strums, the creature seems to calm further.

So, the group bursts into a hasty song, placating the creatures. To Sakari’s immense surprise, when Chong -in song form- asks them to lead them to the exit, they even lower themselves to allow the group to climb onto their back and guide them through the mountain. When they burst through the final section of rock and come out onto the cliff landing, Aang, Katara, and Appa are already there, much to everyone’s relief. However, their victory is short-lived, because as they reach the crest of the hill overlooking Omashu, they quickly discover that the city is now occupied by the Fire Nation.

Their stint in the city is short, but perhaps not as short as they would have liked, because once they’ve made their escape with the entire Earth Kingdom resistance, they realise they have somehow acquired a Fire Nation baby. Aang hadn’t even been able to locate King Bumi. A scroll delivered by a messenger hawk lets them know that the baby is actually the son of the governor, who is under the impression that they’ve kidnapped the boy and wants to trade him for King Bumi. The next thing they know, they’re heading back into the city.

Things go quite horribly wrong quite quickly. The three Fire Nation girls who meet them for the trade pull out at the last second and chaos ensues. King Bumi, suspended in a metal cage, begins to be transported away, but Aang makes a leap towards him. However, as he takes off with his glider, the hat that had been covering his head falls off revealing his tattoos, and the girl who seems to be the leader of the three chases after him.

The remaining two subsequently charge at Sakari, Katara, and Sokka. Sakari and Katara engage the two girls while Sokka takes the opportunity to get the baby out of harm’s way. Things seem to be going well for the waterbenders until the Broody Girl distracts them enough that the Bouncy Girl lands a series of harsh jabs on Katara before Sakari manages to create a spear of ice and drive her back. But they quickly realise that the younger girl can no longer waterbend and exchange a panicked look. Sakari places herself protectively in front of Katara, eyes flitting between the Fire Nation girls as she assesses what to do next.

They move even further apart such that they’re approaching her from almost opposite directions making it difficult to keep watch of both of them. Bouncy Girl suddenly makes a dive toward them, but as Sakari conjures a scimitar from waterbending to ward her off, a glint out of the corner of her eye makes her falter and she swivels around as Broody Girl throws three small disk-like blades. Her attempt to push herself and Katara out of their path ends up being too late, with one of the blades landing deep in the back of her right shoulder. She crumples to the ground in pain, too in shock to defend herself when Bouncy Girl jabs her too and flips away in a manner of seconds.

Broody Girl then draws a sai, lips curling into a smirk as she seemingly decides which of the two Water Tribe girls to aim it at. But before she can throw it, a boomerang whizzes through the air and knocks the knife out of her hand. Appa and Sokka land between them, Appa adding a hefty thump of his tail, the force of which sends both Fire Nation girls flying back.

They hastily make their escape, Katara having to help Sakari onto Appa’s saddle, a stream of swear words coming out of the latter girl’s mouth with every movement.

“Just in time, huh?” Sokka remarks.

“I beg to differ,” she shoots back scathingly.

“Well, aren’t you ungrateful?”

“You’re right, I was only stabbed.” Sakari cranes her neck to look at the blade still embedded in her muscle and reaches back to pull it out.

“No, don’t-!” “I wouldn’t-“

 As soon as the knife is out of her body, what was a trickle of blood becomes a steady stream and she feels herself go a bit woozy.

“Why would you just rip it out?!” Sokka shrieks as Katara grabs a clean cloth and presses it to the wound. Sakari lets out another grunt of pain.

“It was hurting!”

“And it’s not now?”

“How about I stab you with this, Sokka?”  

He theatrically holds his hands up. “Geez, woman, no need for violence.”

It’s only once they’ve found and picked up Aang that there’s a collective sense of relief in the group. The poor boy is very alarmed at the sight of Sakari, but she gives a dismissive wave and gestures for him to steer Appa.

“I’m okay, I just got stabbed.”

“You’re really gonna milk that for all it’s worth, huh?” Sokka taunts, sitting across from her.

“I got stabbed, dude.”

“Wait, you got stabbed? You hadn’t mentioned that.”

“Oh, quit it, you two,” Katara rolls her eyes, digging through their medical supplies. “Okay, sit still, Sakari. I still can’t waterbend so I’m going to have to do this manually. Hold this for a second.”

Sakari grabs the cloth that the girl had been using to stifle the blood flow from the wound, but the moment her eyes register just how much blood is on it, dark red and glistening, she feels herself go even more lightheaded. Black spots start to swirl into her vision and-

“Yoohoo!”

Sakari blinks, brain fog clearing as she registers three pairs of eyes (one accompanied by a pair of big floppy ears) looking down at her. Sokka’s waving his hand in front of her face, and she smacks it away irritatedly and sits up slowly. Momo sits on her legs, chittering inquisitively.

“You passed out on me,” the boy notes, and no shit. Her thoughts must show on her face because he elaborates then. “No, literally on me. Head-butted my shoulder on the way down.”

She grimaces. “My bad. I don’t do well with blood.”

“No wonder you didn’t want to be a healer,” Katara notes with an amused smile.

“It may have been a contributing factor.”

“Are you okay, Sakari?” Aang asks from his seat on Appa’s head. 

“Yep. Fine now, thanks, Aang. So… where to next?”

Chapter Text

Sakari supposes she shouldn’t be surprised when they end up stranded in the creepy swamp they’d elected not to investigate. They have no idea where Appa and Momo are, and their surroundings are dark, damp, and outright weird. Hours pass and darkness and fog set in as night falls. It’s apparent that neither Appa nor Momo can hear them so they (reluctantly) decide to make camp for the night. Paranoid and empty-handed, the four of them have to sleep in a huddle, backs to backs. It’s oddly comforting, the rhythm of their breathing and heartbeats against her back, and it allows her to fall asleep despite her unease.

Naturally, things go from bad to worse.

They all wake up screaming as vines wrap firmly around each of them and yank them all in different directions. Sakari has no sense of how far she’s been dragged when she finally manages to break herself free. She doesn’t even have a sense of which direction she came from, and the feeling of utter isolation rapidly sinks in. She doesn’t know if she’s better off just staying where she is or just picking a direction and seeing what she can find. Of all the ways to go, starving to death alone in a massive swamp is not one of her favourites.

Just staying where she is isn’t going to do anything, she decides. Whether or not it does anything, she at least wants to feel productive. The foliage is so thick she can’t even figure out where the sun is, so orienting herself in space isn’t an option. So, she picks a random direction and starts walking.

Logically, she shouldn’t draw attention to herself in case there are any vicious animals out there, but the silence is grating on her nerves so she tries to soothe herself by singing. She starts to go through every lullaby, tune, and shanty she can remember.

She’s halfway through her fifth song, an old Northern Tribe lullaby, when her ears pick up on something. She immediately shuts up, but she’s met with silence once more. When she resumes her singing, she hears the noise again, and it doesn’t take her long to realise that the sound is someone singing along with her. She starts singing louder, letting the voice guide her through the swamp. As she gets closer, she can tell it’s a man’s voice, strangely familiar and presumably an ally if they know the song. She clambers excitedly over a large mound and her eyes land on a man a few yards away. His dark blue eyes and fond smile are recognisable at once, and her hesitation only lasts a second before she’s sprinting for him.

“DAD!”

Her foot catches on a rock and she crashes to the ground. Uncaring, she looks back up at him, only to find that he’s vanished. She gets to her feet and looks frantically around, tears forming in her eyes.

“Dad? Dad!”

Once again alone, but now also hurt and heartbroken, a sob escapes her. She sits on the damp ground with her head in her hands and lets herself cry until-

“Shut up!” a furious voice says, and Sakari flinches back and stares in horror at the visage of the young Water Tribe man before her. Irniq. His blue-grey eyes pierce hers and he tilts his head. “You’ve torn my family apart.”

Breaking free of her fear-invoked paralysis, she bolts, barely taking note of where she’s going, just knowing that she needs to get away from him. As she bursts through a clearing, there’s a flurry of colour and noise and she trips over again. Only this time, she’s tripped over a person.

“Aang!” she cries out, and then registers Sokka and Katara there too, also sprawled on the ground. Aang, being the closest, ends up having to take the brunt of her relief to see her friends again as she wraps her arms around him in a tight squeeze. The boy gives a small (wheezy) laugh and hugs her back.

“It’s good to see you too, Sakari.”

“What have you guys been doing? I’ve been looking all over for you!” Sokka exclaims as they all stand up.

“Well, I’ve been wandering around looking for you!” Katara replies.

Aang looks sheepish. “I was chasing some girl.”

“What girl?”

“I don’t know. I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress.”

“Well, there must be a tea party and we just didn’t get our invitations,” Sokka says sarcastically.

“I thought I saw Mom,” Katara admits.

“Look, we were just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us.”

“You saw something too?” Katara asks him in surprise.

Sokka looks away for a moment. “I thought I saw Yue. But that doesn’t prove anything.”

They all look expectantly at Sakari. Sokka manages to (at least partially) read her hesitation.

“You saw your Dad, didn’t you?”

She just looks down at her feet, clenching her jaw in an attempt to stop herself from crying again. If Sokka and Katara both saw people who are dead, what does that mean for her father? And what did the appearance of Irniq mean? She only briefly considers telling them about it before deciding that that is a terrible idea. 

“It’s all a bunch of nonsense. I think about Yue all the time. Katara, you miss Mom a lot and of course Sakari misses her Dad. It’s all just in our minds. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“What about me?” Aang asks. “I didn’t know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here.”

“Okay… so where’s here? The middle of the swamp?” Katara says unsurely.

Aang looks around, his gaze resting on an enormous tree. “Yeah, the centre… it’s the heart of the swamp. It’s been calling us here. I knew it.”

“It’s just a tree,” Sokka dismisses. “It can’t call anyone. For the last time, there’s nothing after us and there’s nothing magical happening here.”

And then a massive seaweed monster jumps out of the water and begins to attack them with its vines. After a while, they realise that there is actually a person inside the monster, bending the vines. With a slice, Katara manages to cut through the mask on its face and the entire top half of it falls off, but it keeps attacking.

“Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?” Aang demands.

“Wait!” a voice from inside the monster says, and the vines fall away to reveal a man in nothing but a leaf loincloth. “I didn’t call you here.”

“We were flying over and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land.”

“He’s the Avatar, stuff like that happens to us a lot,” Sokka explains.

“The Avatar? Come with me.”

The man, Huu, leads them to the top of the giant tree Aang had been looking at earlier, and reveals himself to be a protector of the swamp. When Sokka uses this to negate any mysticalness of the swamp, Huu insists that the swamp is indeed mystical. He proceeds to explain how the whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles, like one big organism.

“But what did our visions mean?” Katara asks, and Sakari feels her heart quicken.

“In the swamp, we see visions of people we’ve lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they’re not. We’re still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death.”

“But what about my vision?” Aang asks. “It was someone I had never met.”

“You’re the Avatar, you tell me.”

Aang thinks about this. “Time is an illusion… so… it’s someone I will meet.

Huu nods, and Sakari’s mind races. If the visions can be indicative of the future, that could mean that her Dad is alive. When she glances at Sokka, he’s already looking at her, but his expression is doubtful.

He quickly looks away and stands up. “Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo.”

So, Aang uses Avatar Magic Or Something to lead them to Appa and Momo, the former of which is being captured by some other swamp residents who turn out to be waterbenders. When they’re finally back up in the air, Katara and Aang are sitting up at Appa’s head while Sokka and Sakari are in the saddle. Sakari is fiddling with a blob of water, bending it into various little sculptures of ice. She can’t stop thinking about what Huu had said, and what it could possibly mean for her Dad. It may not be proof that he’s dead but it’s also not proof that he’s alive. She knows the vision of Irniq isn’t something in the future, rather a sick twist of her memory. But it feels like the vision of her Dad means something more than that.

“You don’t think he’s alive, do you?” she asks quietly, and Sokka pauses in sharpening his boomerang.

He lets out a sigh, choosing his words carefully. “I’m just… not sure you should get your hopes up.”

No, she thinks, I guess I shouldn’t.

When Sokka describes Chin Village as “by far, the worst village, they’ve ever been to” after the utterly insane Avatar Day debacle, Sakari has to agree, and it’s a huge relief when they finally leave the place. Their next stop in search of an earthbending teacher for Aang is Gaoling, a large town within a mountain range.

To their luck, they haven’t been there for long when they come across a man handing out flyers for an earthbending academy. It even had a coupon for a free first lesson on the back. So Sokka, Katara, and Sakari wait out the front while Aang has his first earthbending lesson. However, when he comes out a while later, he’s beating sand out of his ear and shaking his head, saying he’s not the one.

They hear a couple of the other students talking about some kind of earthbending tournament as they walk past, but when Aang asks where this tournament is, one of the boys gives a very rude response.

“I’ll take care of this,” Katara assures Aang, and starts to chase after the two boys. “Hey, strong guys! Wait up!”

Sakari makes a noise of disgust. “There are few things I hate more than fuelling men’s egos. Even if it is just to get information out of them.”

It’s not long before Katara is back. “You ready to find an earthbending teacher?” she grins. “Because we’re going to Earth Rumble Six!”

“How’d you get them to tell you?” Aang asks.

“Oh… a girl has her ways.”

“Violence, I hope,” Sakari mutters, mouth falling open when Katara just shoots her a wink.

The premise of the tournament is very simple – use earthbending to knock the other person out of the ring first. The first round is The Boulder versus the Hippo. The match is rough and brutal, with The Boulder quickly earning victory over his opponent. Sakari has witnessed far too many testosterone fests to give a single fuck about two men trying to club each other about. However, her attention is caught when Xin Fu announces the next contestant as The Blind Bandit, and a small girl with black hair steps out.

“That’s the girl from my vision in the swamp!” Aang exclaims.

The battle is admittedly impressive, and it ends with the Blind Bandit powerfully ejecting The Boulder from the ring with a series of stalagmites. She’s crowned the winner and still-reigning champion of the tournament.

“How did she do that?” Katara asks in amazement.

A smile forms on Aang’s face. “She waited… and listened.”

“To make things a little more interesting, I’m offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!” Xin Fu declares and is met with silence. “What? No one dares to face her?”

When Aang declares that he will and enters the ring, Sakari just sighs.

“Do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here?” The Blind Bandit taunts.

“I don’t really want to fight you. I want to talk to you!”

“Boo! No talking!” Sokka calls, earning a harsh slap on the arm from Katara.

The Blind Bandit sends a shockwave through the ring with her foot, causing rock to launch Aang into the air. He lands with his usual airbender grace and the girl makes a face.

“Somebody’s a little light on his feet! What’s your fighting name, the Fancy Dancer? Where’d you go?”

“Please, wait!” Aang tries again.

“There you are!”

She launches a large rock at him, and in his attempt to block it with airbending, he accidentally sends her flying back and out of the ring. There are gasps of shock throughout the crowd before everyone starts cheering and the Blind Bandit walks away.  Aang chases after her, but she uses her earthbending to conjure a doorway that she quickly reseals, stopping them from following her.

Having no idea where the girl had got to, they decide that a good place to start looking would be back at the earthbending academy. They come across those two boys from the day before again, and -through yet another difficult interaction- find out that there’s some mega rich family called the Beifongs, whose symbol is a flying boar, a creature Aang had seen alongside the Blind Bandit in his swamp vision.

The Beifong estate is very easy to find, and also huge. The front gate has a huge crest of a flying boar above it, and two guards out the front. Aang confirms that the creature is indeed the same one as the one from his vision, so of course the next logical course of action is to sneak over the wall surrounding the estate. They don’t make it far before the ground beneath them lifts up suddenly, launching them all into the air before falling back down.

“What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?!” a familiar voice demands. It’s the Blind Bandit, only now she’s wearing a fancy white dress.

“How did you know it was me?” Aang asks.

“Don’t answer to Twinkle Toes, it’s not manly!” Sokka objects.

Katara scoffs, “You’re the one whose bag matches his belt.”

“How did you find me?”

“Well, a crazy king told me I had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth. And then I had a vision in a magic swamp, and-“

“What Aang is trying to say is, he’s the Avatar,” Katara interrupts. “And if he doesn’t master earthbending soon, he won’t be able to defeat the Fire Lord.”

“Not my problem. Now, get out of here or I’ll call the guards.”

“Look,” Sokka says, “we all have to do our part to win this war, and yours is to teach Aang earthbending.”

The Blind Bandit smirks before putting on a high distressed voice and shouting, “Guards! Guards help!”

They make a run for it. 

So, they opt for the less sneaky route of going through the front door. Aang’s status as The Avatar gets them invited for dinner by Lao and Poppy Beifong, who they all quickly realise are under the impression that their daughter, Toph, is completely helpless. Sakari does not think Aang is being at all subtle when he suggests that Toph is probably good enough at earthbending to teach ‘someone else’, and neither does Toph if the seemingly spontaneous yelp of pain he gives is any indication. The girl’s expression is completely innocent, though. Apparently Toph is still ‘learning the basics’ and will probably never become a true master because of her blindness. Sakari has to cough to mask her laughter.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s better than you think she is,” Aang tries, and suddenly his face lands in his soup. He  wipes it off and then sneezes so powerfully it sends food flying at the entire Beifong family.

Toph stands up angrily. “What’s your problem?!”

“What’s your problem?!” Aang snaps back.

Poppy lets out an awkward laugh. “Well, shall we move to the living room for dessert then?”

Sakari is absolutely bewildered.

Despite the incredibly awkward dinner, Poppy and Lao put the group up in a guest room for the night. As they’re getting ready for bed, Toph appears in the doorway and Aang screeches and assumes a defensive stance.

“Relax. Look, I’m sorry about dinner. Let’s call a truce, okay?” she offers. “Can we talk?”

Sakari knows she hasn’t been a particularly… engaged member of the group the last couple of days. She’s been so in her head about her swamp vision, particularly now that Aang has met the girl from his. So, she supposes she shouldn’t be surprised when Katara asks her if she’s okay once it’s just the two girls and Sokka left in the room.

“Yeah, I’m okay… I guess I’m just… still trying to figure out what my vision meant,” she admits. When the siblings both keep looking expectantly at her, she continues. “I don’t want to assume Dad’s not coming back if he’s actually out there somewhere and I could be doing something about it, but if I let myself think that he’s still alive and he’s not… I don’t think I could survive that disappointment.”

“Sakari…” Katara begins softly, “There’s nothing we can do that will help the situation and there’s no advice we can give. But no matter what happens, we’re here for you and we’ll get you through.”

“Yeah, and if there’s ever anything we can do to cheer you up, even if it’s just like… watching me injure myself, we can arrange that,” Sokka adds.

She lets out a laugh and nods. “Thanks guys.”

A short while later, there’s a strange commotion from the yard. Uneasy, the three Water Tribe kids go out to investigate, joined by a handful of guards, and Lao and Poppy soon after. Aang and Toph are nowhere to be seen. A note left behind reads: If you want to see your daughter again, bring five hundred gold pieces to the arena, and it’s signed Xin Fu and The Boulder. Why Toph and (presumably) Aang were taken by those two, Sakari has no clue. The ‘why’ makes no difference, anyway. They’ve messed with her friends and they’re not going to like what comes next.

When they get to the arena, Aang and Toph are suspended from the ceiling in metal cages. The money is handed over and Toph is released, but Xin Fu and The Boulder have every intention of handing Aang over to the Fire Nation, and before they can even think about taking the two on, a whole bunch of other earthbenders appear, making them severely outnumbered.

“Toph!” Katara calls after the retreating figures of Toph, Lao, and Master Yu. “There’s too many of them. We need an earthbender. We need you!”

Lao snaps. “My daughter is blind! She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She cannot help you!”

That does the trick. Toph lets go of the man’s hand and walks back to join them, demanding that they let Aang go. While they get ready to fight, the girl insists on taking them all on her own – and she does. Especially Xin Fu, she really kicks his ass. Needless to say, Lao is in a bit of shock.

Unfortunately, Lao takes the wrong message from the whole thing, claiming she’s had too much freedom and ordering for her to be guarded twenty four hours a day, ‘for her own good’. Sakari’s heart breaks for the poor girl and she stands up ready to try and reason with the man when he orders them all out. They are no longer welcome there.

Later that night, they’re packed up and about to leave when Toph comes running up to them, panting.

“Toph, what are you doing here?” Aang asks, his glum mood immediately lifted.

“My dad changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world.”

They exchange knowing looks.

“Well, we’d better get out of here, before your dad changes his mind again,” Sokka suggests, and Toph grins.

Of course, she has to launch Aang into a tree to get even and demands the champion belt back. Though Sokka unthinkingly throws it down to her and it hits her on the head.

“Sorry,” he winces.

Sakari suspects their group dynamic is about to get a whole lot weirder.

“- and I almost died.”

“You’re so full of shit.”

“Excuse you, Sokka, I am a beacon of truth.” 

“Is that so, Kavik?”

Sakari huffs. “Oh, shut up, that’s different.”

“Kavik?” Toph asks curiously.

The Gaang have stopped by a river to give them all a chance to eat lunch, stretch their legs, and let Appa rest, and in the meantime, they’ve been catching Toph up on some of their most recent adventures.

“While you explain that, I’m going to go wash some clothes in the river just over the hill,” Sokka says, getting to his feet. “They’re getting very stinky.”

Sakari just rolls her eyes and proceeds to recount to Toph how she had pretended to be a boy in order to learn waterbending. The girl responds with a rough enthusiasm that Sakari is quickly learning to expect from her, dramatically accusing her of being a humbug. Sakari just laughs, knowing that out of everyone else, Toph certainly has the best understanding of what it’s actually like, having to pretend to be someone else in order to fight.

It’s not until she goes to change her socks that Sakari realises she’s running low on ones she hasn’t sweat through. She glances at the hill Sokka had walked over wondering if she should follow him, but what if…

I’ll just wait, she decides.

It’s not long later that Sokka comes back over the hill, wet clothes in hand, so she gets to her feet.

“Do you have the soap? I’ve gotta wash my socks.”

“Yeah, here you go. Wait, were you waiting for me? You should have come found me.”

Sakari brushes it off with a laugh, “Oh, I thought you might want to be alone.”

He just looks confused. “Washing my tunic?”

“Well… I wasn’t sure if that’s what you were actually doing.”

This doesn’t appear to clarify anything.

“What else would I be going?”

And Spirits, she’s dug herself a hole, hasn’t she? She feels her face grow hot. “I- I thought maybe you needed some… alone time.”

“Wh- Sakari!”

“What?!” she responds defensively, “I did train with no one but teenage boys for a year, I know far too much.”

Sokka rubs his hands over his face and laughs, “Okay, for the record, that’s not what I was doing. But I appreciate your respect for my privacy nonetheless.”

“You’re welcome,” she snorts.

Tensions rise between Toph and Katara that night as they’re setting up. Sakari overhears Toph raise her voice and glances up to see Katara stalk off. A short while later, Katara goes back up to Toph, but after a very brief interaction, returns to the fire looking to be in an even sourer mood. Sakari tentatively asks if the girl is alright but just gets a grunt in reply and opts to let the situation resolve itself.

They’re all awoken in the middle of the night by Toph alerting them that something is coming, and they decide to move on to a new campsite to be safe. As they fly off on Appa, they catch a glimpse at a giant metal machine and exchange uneasy glances.

They fly for a couple hours, struggling through their sleepiness, until they’ve covered enough ground and find a new place to sleep. Everyone just wants to sleep, but unfortunately, they have to unload first. Almost immediately, Katara and Toph get into it again. It escalates to yelling, and then suddenly Toph has bent a tent of rock around her, though this doesn’t stop Katara, who walks back and forth around the tent, still shouting. Aang tries to intervene but his contribution is not appreciated.

When everyone is finally settled for the night, Sakari lets out a heavy sigh, ready to get some rest when-

“The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can’t see them, Toph.”

Her jaw drops, but she doesn’t have any time to verbally react before Toph retaliates with an earthbending attack that sends Katara flying.

They’re in the air again soon after that, exhaustedly looking back at the column of smoke on the horizon that indicated the machine’s approach again. They don’t know who it is, why they’re following them or how they’re managing to find them. So, this time they make sure to get plenty more distance between them, eventually landing on top of a cliff. Everyone is far too exhausted to bother with unpacking and each just pick a spot on the ground to curl up.

Sakari almost wants to cry when Toph wakes them up again to alert them that the machine is catching up. Aang, ever the optimist, suggests that the people in the machine could be friendly and they should wait and see who it actually is. When the three Fire Nation girls from Omashu come towards them on mongoose lizards, he seems to regret this. The broody one smirks when Sakari meets her gaze and she glares in response. The group just manage to buy themselves time to escape and their collective anxiety has only gotten worse now. Poor Katara is terrified of having her bending taken away again, and Sakari can attest to how much it hurts when one of that girl’s blades ends up in your body. Not to mention that other girl who seems downright vicious.

The sun appears on the horizon. They’re all far too sleep-deprived and struggle to formulate any kind of plan of what to do now. If they could just get a little bit of sleep…

Sakari’s awoken by the feeling of her stomach in her throat and- why are they free-falling?

“Appa fell asleep!” Aang shouts, and she registers the others screaming and clutching onto the saddle for dear life. “Wake up buddy!”

As she starts to drift from the saddle, Sakari panickily reaches for edge of the saddle closest to her. Just as her fingers manage to grip the material, Appa wakes up, halts their descent, and starts to soar back upwards in one steep motion. However, the suddenness of the movement jerks them all to the side and her grip fails her. The next thing she knows, she’s free-falling again.

Just as she manages to orient herself to actually see below her, the tops of the trees are right there and she has a split second to form a slope of ice below her that acts as a slide to catch her and guide her to the ground. Except, the execution is significantly rougher and less graceful than intended and she lands harshly on the surface, skids down the slope, and is sent rolling across the grass.

“Ow,” she groans, lying there for a few moments and processing what the fuck just happened.

There’s some kind of crashing noise in the distance, and a quick glance up at the sky tells her it must be Appa (and hopefully the others if they actually managed to hold on). Appa managed to cover a fair bit of distance before actually crash-landing if the sound is any indicator, which makes Sakari’s situation a little trickier.

Letting out a sigh, she sits up and assesses herself for scrapes and bruises, healing the worst of them while she contemplates her next move. The most obvious thing would be to try and find the others. She has a rough idea of where they are and it would likely just take a while to get to them. But given what just happened, Appa is not going to be in any state to fly anytime soon, which is going to give those Fire Nation girls time to catch up. If she instead goes to find them, maybe she can figure out some way to slow them down or sabotage them so that the others can actually get away. Obviously, she’s going to be outmatched and outnumbered but if she’s stealthy enough, she’ll have the element of surprise. She doesn’t have to defeat them, and she’s not going to, she just needs to delay them. Preferably, without getting killed in the process. And ideally, without getting stabbed again (but realistically, she feels that may indeed happen). Her attention turns to the column of smoke in the opposite direction, she takes a deep breath, and starts walking.

When Sakari finally starts to get close to the machine and starts to jog along with it, she realises that she doesn’t actually know how she’s supposed to stall the thing. It’s made up of three cars, the front of which is pointy and has the chimney on top, meanwhile the next two look more suited to passengers and/or cargo. By the looks of it, no water or ice is going to be able to penetrate it. At first, she tries to freeze the wheels and tread surrounding them, but the power of the vehicle just shatters the thin layer of ice as soon as it forms. She could use a lot more ice and essentially lock the wheels, but the girls would immediately know something was wrong, she wouldn’t have much time to get away, and it would be an easy fix for them. Before she can think of another plan, the machine comes to a stop and Sakari hastily finds cover in some shrubbery. The three girls all step out of the back carriage and look around the ground for a brief moment before seemingly finding what they were.

“The trail’s gone slightly east,” the Bossy one announces, and then they’re back in the machine and taking off again.

Trail? she wonders, but then notices lots of long cream-coloured hairs. Appa.

Sakari realises that the front car, which is clearly where the mechanics of this thing function, probably isn’t actually manned. Or even if it is, it’s not by those three. Which means, if something were to suddenly go wrong there, there would at least a small delay before those three found out about it. Her eyes land on the chimney then. She doesn’t know how the machine functions, but it’s evident that the smoke is being released for a reason. If she can block the chimney, the smoke and heat will have nowhere to go and build up and… hopefully that’ll do something bad? And even if it’s clear its sabotage, she’ll be long gone by the time they know.

It's definitely not foolproof but it’s worth a go. So, she races about, breaking off branches of trees and shrubs while trying to keep up with machine until she has a substantial bunch, and then uses waterbending to vault herself onto the front car, clinging on for dear life. Although it’s an immense struggle between trying to stay on, not burn her hand, and complete the task, she manages to shove all the greenery down the chimney until only a tiny trail of smoke is able to come out. She gets off and follows it from a distance for a while, waiting. Sure enough, soon the machine starts to make some kind of sputtering sound and it gradually slows. Sakari bolts, relishing in the strange mechanic whining noise behind her.

Once she thinks she’s put a decent amount of distance between them, she tries to orient herself again and heads in the direction she thinks the others are. She’s proven right when she comes across Appa’s fur trail again. Not long after getting on the trail, she comes across what is obviously Appa’s crash site. There’s no one there, but the trail from this point onward consists of wet clumps.

At this point, she’s exhausted. She’s been running this entire time but she doesn’t know how much damage to the machine she’s done, and how much time she’s bought, not to mention she’s stupidly gotten rid of the main warning sign – the smoke. So, there’s no time to dawdle but her legs are burning and-

She glances thoughtfully at her hands. There may be another option.

This could definitely use some fine-tuning, Sakari thinks, standing on a board of ice and propelling herself across the landscape using her waterbending. It takes a lot of concentration, concentration that she doesn’t really have the mental state for at the moment. But she needs her friends, and her body needs a rest.

Eventually, she arrives at a small, abandoned town and as she looks down into the main street, her gaze lands on Aang. When he looks up, his expression morphs from surprise to relief and joy and when she runs up to him, the pair collide in a tight hug.

“Sakari! Thank the Spirits you’re okay! Where are Sokka and Katara?”

“They’re not with you?”

“No, I sent them and Appa to look for you and Toph while I lured the Fire Nation girls here.”

“Oh… Toph fell off too?”

Aang suddenly looks very uncomfortable. “Uh, not exactly. We kind of... had a fight. Katara and I were jerks to her and she left.”

She places a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her and sort it out.”

But the boy is now preoccupied with the soot covering her arm. “Wait, what happened to you?”

“Oh, I just tried to sabotage their tank thing  - plugged up the chimney. It worked! I don’t know how well, though, I didn’t stick around to find out.” 

“No wonder it’s taken so long,” Aang laughs. 

“So, what’s your plan here?”

“I don’t really know,” he admits. “Just no more running.”

Sakari’s eyes linger on the dark bags under his eyes. “Why don’t you let yourself rest for now? I’ll keep watch.”

Chapter Text

When Sakari spots a figure approaching the abandoned town, she gently shakes Aang awake and he startles upright from where he was slumped against her side.

“There’s only one of them,” she murmurs. “The bossy one, I think. They must have figured it out somehow.” At the fretful look on Aang’s face she adds, “The others will be okay.”

She follows suit as he gets to his feet and stares at the approaching person, expression hard. They watch the girl ride up on her mongoose lizard, and when she dismounts, Sakari grabs Aang’s hand and gives it a small squeeze as one last act of comfort and encouragement before things go to shit.

“Alright, you’ve caught up with me. Now who are you and what do you want?”

“You mean you haven’t guessed?” the girl replies coolly. “You don’t see the family resemblance? Here’s a hint.” She covers an eye with her hand and deepens her voice, “I must find the Avatar to restore my honour!” Aang and Sakari just look at it each other. Zuko’s…. sister? “It’s okay, you can laugh. It’s funny.”

“So, what now?”

“Now? Now it’s over. You’re tired and you have no place to go. You can run but I’ll catch you.”

“We’re not running,” Aang says firmly.

As Sakari shifts, the girl’s piercing eyes lock onto her and then her still-soot-covered arm. Her lip curls. “It was you.”

Sakari smiles sweetly. “It was indeed.”

“Bold move, but it hardly made a difference.”

“Probably pissed you off though, right?”

“That won’t work in your favour, I assure you.” Sakari draws water out of her waterskin and the girl’s eyebrows raise. “Do you really want to fight me?”

Suddenly, Zuko leaps out from the nearby alleyway in a small cloud of dust. He doesn’t have a ponytail anymore, instead a full head of short hair. He’s also visibly skinnier than when she last saw him. “Yes, I really do.”

Aang’s eyes widen. “Zuko!”

The Fire Nation girl is unfazed. “I was wondering when you’d show up, Zuzu.”

Yep, definitely siblings.

“Back off Azula, he’s mine!” Zuko growls.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Everyone assumes a fighting stance, eyes darting between one each other in a tense standoff. It’s quickly broken when Azula sends a blast of blue fire at Zuko, who conjures up a fire shield to deflect it, but the force of it causes him to fall backwards. Aang grabs Sakari by the sleeve and starts to bolt to the other end of the town, but a stream of blue fire coming down on them causes them to dart in opposite directions to avoid it. Azula makes a beeline for Aang and Sakari creates a patch of ice under the other girl’s feet causing her to skid and stumble, meanwhile Zuko gets to his feet.

Sakari has no clue what the relationship between the two siblings are, and even though it doesn’t seem as though they’d want to work together, she doesn’t want to give them the opportunity to try. She figures if she can keep Zuko engaged, then it gives Aang a chance against Azula. So, she darts towards Zuko and plants herself in front of him when he goes to run after the other two. He doesn’t immediately do anything but stare at her in puzzlement and it becomes clear that he’s trying to figure out who she is.

She’ll humour him. “The North Pole.”

“What?”

“That’s where you know me from. We fought in the Spirit Oasis.”

“That wasn’t you.”

Sakari rolls her eyes and goes into her Kavik voice, “Yeah, it was, dumbass.”

Zuko scowls. “I bested you last time, I can do it again.”

“Yeah, by accident.”

“Get out of my way, you’re not my enemy.”

“But you’re mine. Your enemy’s enemy may be your friend, but your friend’s enemy is still your enemy.”

“…What?”

Sakari loops a water whip around his ankles and pulls, sending him back on his ass again. He growls and send a fireball at her, beginning a to-and-fro between them. At one point Zuko manages to slip past her and goes after the others, but when he races up the staircase and into the building they’d gone into, there’s a yelp and through the window, Sakari glimpses him falling through to the ground floor. Seconds later, Aang is scrambling down the staircase and then Zuko is sent crashing through the wall by Azula and falls limply.

For a brief second, she thinks the boy is dead, but then she spots a gentle rise and fall of his chest. She’s not sure why she’s relieved, but she chalks it up to the fact that even if he’s their adversary, she doesn’t necessarily want him dead. When she turns, Azula has Aang pinned by rubble and cornered in a house across the street. She vaults through the side window just as Azula sets the edges of the room ablaze and knocks the princess back with a harsh blast of water. The Fire Nation girl gets back to her feet while shooting her a vicious glare, and just as Sakari accepts that she’s about to be slaughtered, a water whip pulls away the bit of wood pinning Aang down and yanks Azula backwards. Katara.

Azula whirls around and chases after Katara, and Sakari pulls Aang to his feet before racing after them.

“You’re alive!” Sokka shouts happily when he sees her, also chasing Azula.

“For now!”

She spots a man helping Zuko up and recognises him as General Iroh, the man who had helped them in the Spirit Oasis. She, Aang, Katara, and Sokka all begin to attack Azula, shortly joined by Toph. Now working with Zuko and Iroh, the group manage to corner her and he eyes flit between them all.

“Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors, all working together. I'm done.” She raises her hands. “I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honour.”

The group all look between each other uneasily. Suddenly, Azula strikes Iroh with a fire blast. There’s a pained shout from Zuko and everyone launches attacks – all four elements and a boomerang aimed at the one target. There’s an explosion and when the thick black smoke clears, Azula has vanished.

Zuko rushes to Iroh’s side. The sight of the man wounded and unconscious is like a punch to the gut after everything he did to help them. They start to approach, but the prince turns and snarls, “Get away from us!”

“Zuko, we can help-“ Katara begins.

“LEAVE!” he roars and throws his arm back to scatter fire at them, making them duck out of the way.

Sakari feels a tug at her sleeve, but she’s rooted to the spot, staring at the back of Zuko’s head in frustration. She pulls out of the grip of whoever’s trying to pull her away in favour of conjuring a water whip and striking Zuko on the head with it. “Are you seriously going to let your pride get in the way of helping him?!”

When his head snaps back to her, for a split second, the legitimately thinks he’s about to kill her right then and there. But then his expression falters and she takes that as the answer she wants. She doesn’t acknowledge him as she kneels on the other man’s other side and begins to heal the burn on his chest. Behind Zuko, the rest of the group are lingering awkwardly and the Fire Nation boy keeps glancing warily back at them. She makes a vague gesture at them to get away and Aang looks at her like she’s lost her mind.

“Why don’t you guys figure out where we actually are and where we need to go when I’m done?” she asks pointedly.

They opt to go to the house across the street where they can watch through the window which makes her smile to herself. She’s well aware that Zuko doesn’t trust her either but is probably letting his distrust take second priority to Iroh’s wellbeing for this moment. She doesn’t particularly care either way.

The silence between them is tense and awkward, but she just focuses on repairing the damaged tissue and pretends not to notice when Zuko wipes at his eyes. To her surprise, he’s the one that ends up breaking the silence.

“Why are you helping me?”

“I’m not,” she bluntly answers. “I’m helping him. Like he helped us at the North Pole.” She tries not to think too much about what that help involved.

There’s a pause. “How come you let me get away there?”

A noise from behind Sakari catches her attention and she whips around and makes eye contact with Zuko, dropping down beside Appa. He freezes and stares back at her wide-eyed, as if waiting for her to do something. But in that moment, she doesn’t see an enemy, she isn’t looking at the Prince of the Fire Nation. All she sees is a boy. Sakari turns her back to Zuko without a word to look at the hooded figure instead.

“It’s not like we were trying to kidnap you or anything. The only reason we took you from that cave was so you wouldn’t freeze to death out in the blizzard.”

His expression shifts from confusion into contempt. “That’s just stupid. How have you lot survived this long?”

Sakari honestly finds it funny that the second he realises that her help is independent of Zuko’s behaviour, he takes it as a free pass to be a dick again. She’ll accept the challenge. 

“Well, there’s also the fact that you’re not really a threat. You’re kind of just like… an angry cat.”

“Do you have a death wish?”

“Is that a promise?” she asks mildly and is met with a huff of annoyance. “Okay, that’s the worst of it healed. There might be a bit of scarring but he’ll be perfectly fine. He should wake up soon.”

He nods as she gets to her feet and starts to walk away, but then she hears a quiet, “Thank you, Kavik.”

The name makes her falter for a moment, but she doesn’t correct him.

“You don’t have an ounce of self-preservation, do you?” Sokka says as they walk out of the town.

“Says the one that tried to attack Azula with a boomerang.”

“What are you trying to say?”

It turns out that Toph has a slightly different approach to teaching than Aang is used to, and the poor boy is very distressed when he can’t seem to make any progress with earthbending on the first day. On the second day, Sakari goes with Sokka to the small nearby forest to go hunting, figuring she’ll be of more use there rather than just being another pair of eyes on Aang.

When Sokka ends up stuck in the ground in pursuit of some kind of creature, Sakari can’t help but double over in laughter.

“Sakari, get me out of here,” he groans and wiggles about, only to sink deeper into the crevice so that only his head and shoulders are poking out.

“Okay, okay,” she cackles, and tries to pull him up by his arms, but after he doesn’t really budge and she almost pulls the poor boy’s arms out of his socket. Waterbending doesn’t help either. “Yeesh, you’re really wedged in there. I’ll go get Toph, she’ll be able to get you out easy.”

“Much appreciated,” he replies flatly.

“I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere!”

“Oh, fuck off.”

As it turns out, freeing Sokka becomes very eventful. The mother of the creature Sokka had been trying to hunt (a saber-tooth moose lion, they learn) appears and begins to charge at Sokka, causing Aang to have to step in and blast it back with a gust of air. Apparently having demonstrated how an earthbender thinks by standing his ground, Toph orders Aang to try to move a rock and he successfully does. Toph still insists on being the one to get Sokka out though, not wanting to risk Aang accidentally crushing him.

“Are you hurt at all?” Sakari asks, checking Sokka over once he’s free.

“Oh, look who cares now,” he says dramatically. “No, just some minor scrapes.”

“You want me to heal them?”

“No, they make me feel tough.”

“Right, silly me.”  

That night, Sakari takes a seat beside Sokka as he pours over their map, planning out their route.

“Are you still sure you don’t want me to heal you?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep.”

She shakes her head fondly. “Okay. I really am sorry about laughing by the way.”

“Oh, don’t be sorry, I absolutely would have laughed if I were you.”

Sakari returns his grin. “Fair point.”

“I’m just glad it wasn’t Katara in that position. Though, mind you, she probably would have figured a way out somehow.”

“You’re very protective of her.”

He just shrugs, and then in an obvious tone, “she’s my sister.”

Sakari hums thoughtfully. “Yeah… I sometimes wonder what it’s like to have siblings. I often wish I did. I mean… Tuktu and Anik are like brothers to me, I guess. Well… I’m not sure Tuktu would return the sentiment anymore,” she adds, trying for a joke but it falls flat. 

Sokka shifts slightly to give her his full attention. “Look, I only knew you for- what, a couple months before you revealed yourself? And it was a big shock to me. Not in any way a bad thing, just unexpected. If they’ve known you for that long, I imagine it would have been a big adjustment.”

“But that’s just the thing. You say it wasn’t a bad thing, and maybe it wasn’t to you. But it’s different in the North and I think that Tuktu –and even Anik to a degree, even if he didn’t show it- did see it as a bad thing. And it really sucks because I had friends back in Kuk’uq but never as close as those two. They were my only real friends.”

“Your first real friends,” Sokka corrects.

She smiles and nods. “My first real friends. I don’t know… it hurts.”

“He’ll come around.”

“But he might not.”

“Then he’s not worth your friendship,” he says simply.

Sakari just nods. He is right, but it doesn’t stop it hurting. They fall into a comfortable silence, and when she glances back over at him, he’s gazing up at the moon.

“Do you think she’s watching?”

He doesn’t need her to elaborate. “I like to think so… I wish she got more of a chance to live… to see things... do things she actually wanted to do. Everything she did, she did for her people… and they took her for granted.”

“We did,” Sakari agrees.

Sokka grimaces. “I didn’t mean…”

“I did though. I wish I’d gotten the opportunity to be a better friend to her. Maybe I could’ve… I don’t know. But for what it’s worth, now she can see more than she ever could have and do just about whatever she wants. In a way, she’s more free. Just…”

“Out of reach,” he finishes, and she nods. “You know… I think you’re pretty much the only person I feel like I can talk to about this kind of stuff. I know Katara would listen and care but… I feel like I created this image of being some… aloof comedian and I don’t want to ruin that for her, I don’t want to worry her. And Aang is a great kid but he’s a literal twelve year old  - and he’s got enough shit to deal with already. Same with Toph. I guess I’m… I’m just trying to say that I’m glad you joined us.”

“Even though you’re not the oldest anymore?” Sakari asks good-naturedly.

“Especially because I’m not the oldest anymore.” 

She laughs and shakes her head. “I’m… I’m really glad I joined you guys too.” She lightly punches his arm for good measure.

Sokka snorts, “Toph’s rubbing off on you.”

A trip to the Misty Palms Oasis and run-in with Professor Zei, the head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University, leads the Gaang out into the desert in search of Wan Shi Tong’s Library, said to contain a vast collection of priceless knowledge. This hopefully includes maps and other information about the Fire Nation that they could potentially use to win the war. So, they take to the skies with Professor Zei, and after a long search, discover that the library is almost entirely buried in the sand.

When Toph opts to wait outside, Sakari says she’ll stay with her. She gets the sense that the girl is more bothered by the sand hindering her ‘sight’ than she’s letting on. So, as Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Professor Zei enter the library, Toph, Sakari, and Appa sit outside.

There’ve been there for quite some time when there’s a strange rumbling sound and Appa starts snarling. The library is sinking. Toph is quick to act, planting her feet in the sand and her fists in the turret, holding it up. Sakari has no choice but to just hover helplessly, anxiously waiting for the others to emerge.

“Is there any way I can help?”

“Not unless you can suddenly earthbend, Humbug,” Toph says through gritted teeth.

What if they don’t even know the library is sinking? Just as Sakari is contemplating going inside to get them, there’s a strange noise in the distance, and she turns to see a group of sandbenders approaching on three sand-sailers.

“Who’s there?” Toph asks.

“Sandbenders,” Sakari replies quietly, looking warily between them. Are they here for the library? In a loud voice she calls, “Can I help you with something?”

Then they send a blast of directly at her, her hand coming up to protect her face just a fraction of a second too late. The sand burns in her eyes and down her throat, sending her coughing and spluttering with tears trying to expel the grains from her eyes.

“Sakari?!”

By the time she manages to somewhat collect herself, vision still blurry, the sandbenders have circled Appa and are beginning to throw weighted ropes over his body to bind him.

“NO!” Sakari bellows and launches a block of ice that takes two of them out in one swift move. She’s about to launch her next attack when-

THUNK

Something large and heavy smacks hard into the side of her head, stars bursting into her vision and she falls to her knees. Sandbag, she realises in her daze. A whine from Appa pulls her focus back to the situation and she staggers to her feet, wildly flourishing a water whip. Cutting the ropes needs to be her top priority – without them, the sandbenders don’t have a way to keep the sky bison bound. She bends the water into an ice blade and sends it through the rope closest to her. But before she can cut through the next one, another weighted rope is swung at her, this time wrapping tight around her body and causing her to fall onto her face in the sand. With her arms pinned to her sides, she struggles to bend, so instead throws all her energy into trying to wiggle free.

A slice of sand is thrown at the benders by Toph but it misses and the library starts sinking as soon as she lets go. Finally, Sakari manages to give herself enough room to cut through her binds, but when she scrambles up, they’re starting to glide away dragging poor muzzled Appa behind them. She tries sprinting after them but the sailers move much faster than she can and rapidly grow further away.

“NO!” Sakari shouts again, tears running down her cheeks. A sharp stinging sensation over her arms and legs belatedly registers in her mind and she glances down at the harsh rope burn on her skin.

Distantly, she hears the others emerge from the tower before it’s swallowed into the ground.

“Sakari!” Toph calls, running over to her. “Are you okay?”

“What happened?” Aang asks, “Where’s Appa?”

Sakari finally turns to face Aang, Katara, and Sokka, trying to swallow back the tears. “He- he was taken. A bunch of sandbenders just showed up and- I tried to fight them off but… they got away. I’m so sorry.”

“How could you let them take Appa?!”

“I tried, Aang-“

“And what about you?!” he rounds on Toph. “Why didn’t you help?!”

“I couldn’t! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-“

“You could’ve come to get us! I could have saved him!”

“There was no time, Aang, she was single-handedly holding the entire library above ground, if she stopped, you’d all be dead. This was all my fault.”

Aang glares at her, and Sakari feels very small. “Yeah, it would seem that way.”

“Aang, stop it,” Katara says, putting a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. “You know she did all she could.”

“Well, it wasn’t enough!”

“We need to start thinking about how we’re going to get out of here,” Sokka cuts in.

“That’s all any of you guys care about, yourselves! You don’t care whether Appa is okay or not!”

Katara frowns. “We’re all concerned, but we can’t afford to be fighting now.”

“I’m going after Appa,” Aang says coldly, then takes off on his glider without another word.

Sakari has to hold her breath to stifle a sob.

As they walk through the desert, Sakari linking her arm through Toph’s, Katara and Sokka catch them up on what they found out about the upcoming eclipse and how Professor Zei chose to remain in the library. Then Sokka drinks the mystery liquid from a cactus because their water supply is running low and he starts tripping hard. Sakari takes on the role of babysitting him to stop him from wandering off and keep him calm.

“You seem experienced with this,” Toph notes when Sakari calmly explains where they are to him for the third time.

“Uh, sort of. There are these specific types of urchins that some people back in my home village would prick themselves with and it gave them this weird high.

Some didn’t react that well… including Gramps. Not that that stopped him.”

“And where would one get these urchins?”

“Toph, no.”

Aang eventually returns and the night comes and goes before they come across a half buried sailer. Unfortunately, its compass leads them to a nest of huge buzzard wasps and they barely escape that encounter alive when they’re faced with a group of sandbenders. Sakari is trying to figure out if it’s the same group as earlier when Toph manages to identify one of their voices. Upon finding out they had muzzled Appa, Aang enters the Avatar State. The wind around him starts to swirl and he begins to destroy the sand-sailers. Sokka, thankfully now clear-minded, yells at them to run, pulling Toph with him as he does. Katara doesn’t move though, and the sandstorm picks up hindering their view of what’s happening. The three glance anxiously at each other for a few moments, but then the wind dies down and Katara has Aang in a tight hug, the glow of his tattoos fading.

Aang practically passes out after that, and the group take one of the sand-sailers and use it to finally escape the desert. 

The group are planning their route to Ba Sing Se through the Serpent’s Pass when they come across 3 refugees who are also heading to Ba Sing Se and inform them of a ferry that departs from a station in Full Moon Bay. When they get there, the station is packed with refugees. The sight of so many people whose lives have been entirely uprooted by the Fire Nation is a grim one. However, one particular man in the distance wearing a light grey cloak makes Sakari do a double take. Despite his neutral clothing, she can tell from his features that he’s Water Tribe. This, in itself, isn’t particularly odd, but it’s the faint sense of recognition she feels that puts her on edge. Perhaps he just looks like someone she knows.

After getting their tickets, they run into Suki, working as a security guard at the station. Sakari has heard a lot about her from the others and is very happy to meet her. However, as they move away from the crowd to catch up properly, Sakari spots the Water Tribe man again, only this time she gets a closer look at him and she stumbles slightly, stomach plummeting as she realises who he reminds her of. The man has to be related to Irniq, there’s no doubt about it. And the fact that he has no reason to recognise her does nothing to ease her terror.

There’s a poke at her arm. “What’s up with you, Humbug?” Toph asks.

“Uh… I’ll explain later…”

Sakari’s plans to discuss the situation with the group are interrupted when the refugees who had led them here inform them that all of their stuff has been stolen, including their tickets and passports. While Aang tries to talk to the ticket lady for them, the woman refuses to help, so when he comes back, he announces that they will all go together through the Serpent’s Pass. She realises then that she has to make a decision immediately and looks at the man again. She is not a big believer in serendipity or signs from the universe, never has been. But this… this means something, she knows it, and she can’t just ignore it.

She takes a deep breath. “I’ll meet you guys there.”

There’s a moment of silence in which she’s met with some very confused looks. Sokka ends up breaking it with a simple, “Huh?”

“There’s… something I need to sort out.”

“Well… what is it?” Katara asks. “We can do it together.”

“No, it’s… I can’t explain it right now, we don’t have time. I don’t know how- how long this will take and you have to get to the Earth King and tell him about the solar eclipse as soon as possible. It’s… this is something I need to do alone.”

Aang frowns. “I don’t think we should split up.”

“It won’t be for long. I’ll deal with this and then take the ferry to meet you in Ba Sing Se.”

“Sakari, I really don’t like this…” Katara says uneasily, “can’t you at least tell us what this is all about? What you’re doing?”

“I… I’ve made mistakes. Bad ones. It’s time for me to apologise.”

“To who?”

“I’ll explain everything in Ba Sing Se, I promise. I just need you to trust me to know what I’m doing right now.”

“I can send a couple of my Kyoshi warriors with you, if you’d like,” Suki offers.

Sokka’s eyes widen as he glances between them. “You’re just talking to someone, right?  Why would you need back-up?”

“I won’t, thank you very much for the offer though, Suki.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Toph asks.

“Yes,” she lies, uneasy when the girl just frowns.

Sakari begins to say her goodbyes, giving each of her friends a tight hug. She falters when she reaches Aang. She’s been keeping her distance from the boy ever since Appa was taken, knowing that he resents her for it and not wanting to upset him any further. But he throws his arms around her, squeezing her tightly.

“Promise you’ll stay safe and catch up with us soon?”

“I promise,” Sakari murmurs. “I… I’m really sorry about Appa.”

Aang pulls back but holds her hands in his. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry for blowing up at you. You were clearly injured and I didn’t even ask if you were okay… I was a bad friend.”

“You were scared, Aang. I forgive you.” Sakari smiles and leans forward to kiss him on the top of his head, making him giggle.

When she turns to Toph, the girl gives her a brief hug and says, “Just don’t do anything stupid, Humbug.”

As she watches the group walk away, Sakari can’t help but feel a sense of mourning. Oh, how she wishes she could have their support for what she’s about to do, but they have a far more important job. In any case, she doesn’t actually want them to see this. Her entire world is about to come crashing down and she won’t be able to hide from her mistakes any longer. It’s time to face retribution for her past. It was nice playing hero for a while, but it’s just not who she is.

Chapter Text

Sakari doesn’t move from her spot until her friends are long gone. Once they’re out of sight, Sakari takes a deep breath and approaches the Water Tribe man, a strange feeling of calm washing over her. Relief, almost. He’s accompanied by two other men, which is going to make this a little tricky; she’s not exactly about to have this conversation in front of a couple of strangers.

“Excuse me,” she says, clearing her throat. They all turn to look at her, and when the one in the light grey cloak meets her gaze, she falters. Those same eyes have haunted her for seven years. “I, uh… are you related to Irniq of Okauyak?”

He scowls. “He’s dead. Who’s asking?”

“My name is Sakari. I grew up in Okauyak too.”

The man pauses, scrutinising her. “He was my brother. My name is Kanut.”

“So, your father is Tunerk?”

Kanut crosses his arms. “Can I help you with something?”

“No, but… I may be able to help you.” At his quizzical look, she continues. “My… my grandfather worked for your father.”

Kanut’s eyebrows knit together for a moment as he connects the dots, and she can pinpoint the exact moment everything falls into place, that he realises she’s the granddaughter of the man who betrayed his father. His expression shifts to cold fury, and when his eyes pierce hers, she finds herself struggling to breathe.

“Amaruq.”

Sakari nods, swallowing hard.

Kanut’s eyes start rapidly sweeping the crowded station. “Where is he?!”

“He’s not here. Can we- can we talk outside?”

When he takes a step toward her, Sakari has to resist the urge to make herself seem smaller. “Do you know what he did? Were you there that night?”

“Y-yes, I was there that night. And I’ll tell you everything you want to know outside.”

“Just fucking tell me.”

Sakari steps backwards, using everything in her to keep her head held high. He’s going to get angry, there’s no question about it, and she doesn’t want any of these refugees to get caught in it. “Look, Kanut, I want to help you. I really do. But it’s going to be on my terms, alright?”

The other two men look questioningly at Kanut, and he stares at her for a moment before waving dismissively at them. “Fine.”

Sakari can feel his eyes trained on her as they walk out of the ferry station, and her anxiety is starting to make a comeback. But it’s too late to back out now. As soon as they step outside, Kanut rounds on her. “So, what happened?!”

“Well... the night that Tunerk went to prison after my grandfather turned him into the chief, Irniq came to our house.”

“I know this part,” he says impatiently.

“He was… understandably angry and upset and he was threatening us. Gramps was trying to reason with him, but… he was too far gone.”

“So, he killed him?!”

“No…”

He scoffs. “You expect me to believe that my brother just vanished off the face of the planet?”

“No. But my grandfather didn’t kill him.”

“Bullshit-“

“I did.”

A beat. “…What?”

“You betrayed him! He’s the reason you even have shelter and you stabbed him in the back!”

“He is facing the consequences of his own actions!” Gramps’ voice argues.

“And what about the consequences of yours?! Did you think about that?!”

“Please,” her mother pleads from where she stands beside Gramps, tears in her eyes. “He didn’t mean any harm, he was only-“

“Shut up!” the stranger shouts furiously, taking threatening steps towards them and glowering at her grandfather. “You’ve torn my family apart, and now you’ll suffer the consequences” In one swift movement, the man lunges forward, grabs her mother roughly by the collar and yanks her towards him holding an arm around her throat.

“Sesi!” Gramps cries, staggering forward slightly on his cane and staring at the young man with an expression Sakari has never before seen on him - fear. “Please, don’t- it is not her that has wronged you. Punish me, leave my daughter out of this-“

He is cut off by a cold laugh. “Oh, but I am punishing you.”

As his grip on her mother’s neck tightens and the woman gasps, 9 year-old Sakari can’t help the cry that escapes her, can’t help but stumble out of her hiding place with a sob of “Mama!”. The intruder’s eyes land on her, eyes shining with glee as Gramps grabs her arm and drags her protectively behind him before kneeling to the ground. “Please, I beg you, don’t hurt my family. I’m sorry, I wish I could take back what I did, but I can’t. But I can help! I’ll do whatever you need, I swear. Just please leave my family alone.”

The man stares at the kneeling elderly man for a few moments, a look of twisted satisfaction on his face as he pretends to consider this.

“No.”

The stranger draws a dagger from his belt. He lifts it to her mother’s throat. Sakari closes her eyes and screams. There’s a gurgling, then a thud. When Sakari opens her eyes, her mother is standing where she was, petrified and shaking. Behind her, the intruder is slumped on the ground, deep red blood pooling under his body from where a large icicle is impaled in his throat.

“I killed him,” Sakari repeats, now shaking. “It was an accident; I didn’t mean for it to happen. I was scared and I had no control of my bending and it… I’m so sorry.”

There's an eerie silence as he stares at her, deranged look in his eye. “Why did you come here?”

“I came here to tell you the truth, to give you answers, to apologise.”

Kanut lets out a cold, derisive laugh, “And you thought after that, I’d just be on my merry way, oh so thankful for your help?!”

She tries to blink away at the tears building up in her eyes. “No, I just- I didn’t mean for any of it to happen, I swear.”

“DO YOU THINK I CARE?!”

“I just wanted you to know the truth.”

His smile is unhinged, all teeth and not meeting his eyes. “Your mistake.”

Sakari only just manages to dodge the shard of ice that comes flying towards her head. She doesn’t even have time to fully recover from her shock when he sends another one that she manages to block mere inches from her face. She knows in an instant that he wants to kill her. In retrospect, it’s not a shocking notion, but in all her fights in the past, never has she been so sure that her opponent wants her dead, not just out of their way.

Forgoing waterbending entirely, one of his hands shoots out and wraps around her throat, fingers digging painfully into her neck. She scrabbles desperately at his hand only for him to throw her down to the ground, back colliding roughly with the ground. Sakari coughs and clambers back just in time to dodge another shard of ice. From her waterskin, she forms a shield of ice in one hand and a blob of water in the other, but she doesn’t attack. She doesn’t want to hurt Kanut – her violence against his brother is what’s put her in this position in the first place and he’s justified in his anger. But she doesn’t want to die, especially not like this.

But then a sharp icicle comes flying right at her right eyeball and she only just manages to throw her shield up in time. He continues a flurry of vicious attacks that Sakari only barely keeps up with and she realises that she’s going to have to retaliate if she wants to survive.

After all that time spent in waterbending training getting over that constant hesitation to strike, something about coming face to face with Kanut, looking into the same eyes that Irniq had, brings her straight back to being nine-years old. And she falters again. Then a shard of ice grazes her upper arm, making her cry out in pain and it flips a switch in her, much like Pakku had back in the North Pole. She knows her best bet is to try and incapacitate him so she can get away, so she directs her attacks primarily at his head, hoping to knock him unconscious.  She uses her shield to block his attacks while her right hand acts on the offensive, throwing various moves back at him. 

Finally, she manages to destabilise him and lob a block of ice at his head. He drops to the ground unconscious, and she allows herself a couple of seconds to process what the fuck just happened before she takes off back inside the station. As she weaves through the crowd, careful to stay out of sight of Kanut’s friends, the hears someone shout last call for boarding on the ferry and she races for the port. She shoves her ticket at the ticket-person and skids to a halt on the boat just as they block off the gate.

As the ferry begins to move, Sakari stares anxiously at the gate, gradually feeling her breathing and pounding heartrate settle. Eventually, once she’s deemed the distance acceptable, she lets herself sit back on the deck. Feeling safe at last, her weariness overcomes her and she drifts off, curled up into a little ball.

She’s not awake to see when three mysterious figures vault silently from the water onto the deck, one of whom is draped in a light grey cloak.  

The ferry arrives on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se, and Sakari follows the rest of the passengers to the monorail station. She doesn’t doubt that Kanut will be after her, and he’ll likely be on the next ferry across, meaning that she has a bit of time but she has to work quickly, and she’ll have to get as far away as she can.

She’s so on edge at the station that when someone bumps her shoulder walking past, she has to stop herself at the last second from attacking them.

“Sorry,” the boy says, looking anything but as he chews on a bit of wheat.

“Watch where you’re going,” she says irritably, and stalks off before he can reply.

When the monorail enters the city, Sakari’s mouth drops open in awe at the scale of it. The size of Ba Sing Se is going to work to her advantage given her situation. It won’t be easy to find her. Unfortunately for her, however, this also means that she’s not going to have a fun time finding the others. Her chest aches at the thought of them. She already misses them and, really, what in spirits was she thinking? She shouldn’t have split up from them. And what if she never finds them?

She realises then that they won’t be in the city yet. She hadn’t expected to beat them here because- well, she wasn’t sure what would happen once she walked up to that man in the station. She supposes she had been more focused on just getting them out of there that she hadn’t really been putting any thought into how or when she’d find them again. Perhaps she can try and get an audience with the Earth King to tell him about the upcoming eclipse, and hopefully they’ll let her hang around the place until the rest of the Gaang get there, because that will be their first stop. It also means that Kanut will have next to zero odds of finding her.

Sakari’s passport doesn’t allow her into the upper ring, which will make this difficult. If she gets off at the middle ring, she’ll at least have a better chance at finding someone who could get her into the upper ring. So, when she steps off the train, she sets off to find her way into the palace.

She’s been wandering around for quite some time when she’s walking down a quiet street and suddenly finds her feet frozen to the ground. She instantly unfreezes the ice, spinning around to face Kanut, who’s grinning wickedly at her. How the-?! She hurls the blob of water up to block his next attack, remembering too late that he had two friends with him at the station.

There’s a burst of pain as something solid and heavy makes contact with her head-

Sakari groans as she wakes, head throbbing in pain. She registers cold stone beneath her and wearily opens her eyes. She’s in a small, windowless room, dimly lit with one sconce beside the heavy door. As she slowly sits up, she registers the other person in the room. Kanut is sitting on a small bench across from her, elbows propped on his knees, hands clasped in front of him as he stares at her intently. It sends a shiver down her spine.

“What… what do you want?” she asks, coughing at the dryness of her throat.

“What do you think I want? I want revenge.”

“Kanut, I swear, that night-“

“Shut up! I’m talking. You said your piece, now you’re going to hear me say mine. Got it?”

She nods numbly. She figures that it’s the least she owes him, even if she’s really not feeling great about being knocked out and kidnapped.

“I know that my father wasn’t the greatest person. I know he did bad things. But he was a good dad, he looked out for us. And he looked out for your grandfather when he needed a job. So, you can imagine how devastated we were when he was arrested.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have murdered someone, Sakari thinks bitterly. The ‘someone’ in question had only been an innocent witness to one of Tunerk’s many thefts. Tunerk had decided he couldn’t afford to have a witness if his business were to continue, but he didn’t realise that Amaruq had seen what he did.

“I don’t think Mom was all that surprised. I think she’d been half expecting it to happen one day. Me and Irniq, though? Not so much. Irniq figured out that it must have been Amaruq that snitched to the chief, so he snuck out one night. Told me he was going to confront him, maybe rough him up a bit as revenge. But he never came back. We held out hope for a little while, but… then we found out your whole family had skipped town,” he sneers. “It wasn’t difficult to put the pieces together, though evidently, we didn’t quite get it right. It was just the two of us then… but Mom was inconsolable and she never recovered, was never the same again. She basically checked out of being a mother and I spent the rest of my childhood fending for myself. All because of you.” 

“I really am sorry… I never meant for any of that to happen,” Sakari pleads. “I was just a kid, and I-“

“SO WAS HE!” Kanut roars, getting to his feet and stepping towards her. “And so was I!”

It hits her then, his youth. In her head, she’s always remembered Irniq being so much older, and he had certainly seemed so when she was so little. But she realises now that he would have only been a teenager, not much older than her. She killed a child.

Every little bit of guilt and anxiety that’s been festering in her all these years erupts, and she dissolves into tears. “I’m- I’m sorry,” she croaks through sobs. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Kanut crouches before her, lips curling into a sinister smirk. “Oh, you’re not sorry. Not yet.” He grabs her roughly by the wrist and drags her across the ground on her knees toward the bench. “A little help?” he calls, and his two friends walk through the door. They grab her shoulders and pin her firmly between them, holding her arms down on the bench in front of her. “The annoying thing about us waterbenders,” he continues conversationally, “is that people need water to survive. And I can’t exactly have you dying on me yet, that would be too merciful. I just need to make sure you can’t bend.” Then he holds up a mallet.

Sakari feels her stomach lurch and she desperately tries to wrench herself free, yanking at her arms and wriggling about. The fact that she doesn’t even budge from their grip doesn’t stop her from trying, especially when she sees Kanut raise the mallet. She squeezes her eyes shut, throwing everything she has into trying to pull free. Then he brings the mallet down on her hand and she starts screaming.

When the three of them walk out of the room a short time later, Sakari is left curled on the ground with a puffy, tear-stained face, holding her bloodied and mangled hands to her chest. She feels dizzy from the pain and her throat is raw from screaming. She tries to give an experimental twitch of her fingers, but it causes a burst of pain so severe that her stomach roils in nausea and her vision grows momentarily blurry. She lets herself slump against the ground and cries herself to sleep.

“Where is he?” Kanut asks, the next time he comes in. When she just stares blankly at him, he grits his teeth. “Irniq. Where is his body?”

“I… I don’t know,” she croaks. “I wasn’t there for… that.”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to mourn someone when you don’t even definitively know they’re dead? When all logic is pointing to them being dead but because there’s no body, no proof, you can’t help but hold onto a bit of hope?”

Sakari knows better than to try to tell him she actually does. It’s not going to do her any favours. So, she stays silent.

“Not only did you take my brother away from me, you couldn’t even give us the chance to give him a proper burial. So, I’m going to ask again. Where is he?”

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know! They tried to- to shelter me from everything after.”

“You don’t just get to say ‘after’,” he snarls.  “If you want me to believe that you’re actually sorry for anything, you can start by showing some fucking accountability! After what?”

She tries to blink away at the tears building up in her eyes. “After I k-killed him.”

“So, you really have absolutely no idea where my brother’s body could possibly be?”

“Well, I could- I could guess. I mean, it couldn’t have been too far from- from where we lived because I don’t remember them being gone that long, but beyond that, I really don’t know, they were really secretive about it all.”

“I see,” he says, eerily calm all of a sudden. “I’ll just have to find the people who do know. Might be able to kill two birds with one stone there; find Irniq so I can finally give him a proper burial and serve justice. You kill someone I dearly love, now I kill someone you dearly love. That seems fair, doesn’t it?”

She just curls into a tight ball, praying to every spirit she can think of that Kanut will never find her Mom and Gramps.

Sakari quickly realises that she would have much preferred it if Kanut had just killed her. The next time he walks into the room, he has a small tray of food along with a tiny cup of water. Given that she can’t even move her hands without almost passing out, she struggles to get the food into her, having to lean down to eat it straight off the plate like an animal. And when she goes to drink the water, she has to pick the cup up with her mouth, letting it slowly tip back into her throat. Once she’s done, he punches her hard in the face, her jaw clicking together loudly from the impact and she whimpers in pain. He continues beating her until she’s bloody and bruised, then takes the tray and walks out of the room, whistling merrily.

It becomes a routine after that. Sakari quickly loses track of the days.

Sakari’s first idea of an escape plan involves studying the key that Kanut uses to lock and unlock the door and find some way of fashioning an identical one. Theoretically, the easiest way would be to waterbend one, but there’s two main problems with that. Firstly, she never has access to enough water to do that. She attempts to hide away a small amount from each cup she’s allowed, intending to collect enough to do something with, but it just keeps drying out. And given how little she’s allowed to drink, she needs all the water she can get. Secondly, and probably most importantly, she can’t bend with the state of her hands. Any semblance of a plan would have to start with her healing her hands, which would require a decent amount of water, and some kind of container. She knows her chances of getting more water are extremely slim, but her only other option would be to escape without using her hands. But even if she managed that, how would she defend herself when she’s out? She struggles to form many plans after that.

“I don’t know why I didn’t realise it sooner.”

Sakari is curled in the corner, watching Kanut lean against the door frame. She thinks it’s been at least a few weeks now. She turns away.

“You see, every few years I go travel to visit my father in prison. It just so happened that you caught me on my way back in. But I heard some very interesting news while travelling. Mainly about the alleged return of the Avatar.” Whatever he’s looking for in her expression when she glances at him, he finds, and his lips curl. “Rumours are he’s acquired quite a team. A bunch of kids from all over. An earthbender, a couple of Southern Tribe kids, and a Northern Tribe girl. And… when I think about it, it doesn’t make much sense for a Northern Water Tribe girl like yourself to be travelling around the Earth Kingdom alone, does it?”

Sakari tries very hard to keep her expression neutral, but from the look on his face, there’s no point lying. She looks away again. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that you’ve got friends somewhere around the place. I think I could call us even if I paid them a visit… made you feel what I felt.”

She glares at him, jaw clenched. “Well, you can’t. They’re not here. We split up back at Full Moon Bay.”

“Pity,” he pouts. “Have your hands healed at all?”

“I assure you, if they had I wouldn’t be here.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Naturally. But, just for good measure…”

He raises his mallet and Sakari nearly pukes at the sight of it.

Sakari dreams of her friends. Of freedom. And she spends just about every waking moment thinking about them, wondering what they’re doing, where they are, if they’re okay. If they’re worried about her. If they know something’s wrong. If they’re looking for.

But she knows the answer to that. She doomed herself when she only gave vague answers as to where she was going and why she was splitting up with them. They have no idea what she was doing, and so they have no reason to believe that anything is wrong. No one is coming for her, and it’s entirely on her to get herself out of here. But with each passing day, each beating, her hope and optimism comes closer and closer to extinguishing entirely. She’s going to be stuck here until either her body gives up on her or Kanut finally opts for mercy and outright kills her. Perhaps that’s her way out – to rile him up enough to lose control and end it all.

However, as appealing as the idea may seem at times, she can’t bring herself to act on it. Because anytime she does, she thinks of Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph. She thinks of Mom and Gramps. Especially Mom and Gramps.

Stay strong, stay safe, her mother had said.

Show ‘em what you’re made of, Gramps had said.

After everything else they’ve been through -much of it her own fault- she has to fight to get back to them.

She won’t make them endure another loss.

She won’t let it end like this.

Chapter Text

Sakari would have thought that, at this point, she would be starting to get used to the pain. But right now, she’s starting to think there is no such thing as getting used to pain. Each and every beating hurts just as much as the last. And the more bored Kanut gets with the routine, the more creative he gets with his torture methods.

Kanut walks into the room one day and Sakari is huddled in her usual corner, trembling violently. Instead of dragging her out of the corner like he usually does, he walks forward and crouches in front of her. When he places a hand on her forearm, she flinches on instinct but then just stares down at the hand in confusion. His lips pull into a slight smile, and for a brief, delusional moment, she thinks that perhaps he’s had a change of heart. But then the skin beneath his hand grows cold. It gets colder and colder and colder until her nerves protest, causing a sharp throbbing, numbing pain to light up her skin. A strangled sort of wail escapes her and she tries to pull her arm away, but his grip is like a vice. When he finally lets go, there’s an angry red handprint, the skin firm and tingling painfully.

The ice burns become a staple in his repertoire after that.

A few days later, Kanut walks in with almost a skip in his step. But then he holds up a poster and her stomach drops. LOST SKY BISON, it reads, accompanied by a drawing of Appa.

“So… they are here.”

“Don’t touch them,” Sakari growls.   

“Oh, if you say so,” he replies mockingly.

“You’d be no match for them anyway. Besides, why would you want to hurt the person who’s supposed to end the war?”

Kanut walks over and crouches in front of her, wicked gleam in his eyes. “What war?” he whispers. “Didn’t you know? There is no war in Ba Sing Se.”

Sakari fantasises about ways to attack Kanut, though it’s difficult without use of her hands. Even more so considering that she’s established that he and his friends all live together in this place, so odds are that she would have to take on three people. Somehow, she doesn’t think she’d come out on top in that scenario.

Still, it helps pass the time to think about the ways she would hurt them if she could use her hands. Yet, every now and again, she catches herself in these thoughts and feels ill. Kanut is doing all of this out of revenge – if she were to do the same, what’s the difference between them, really?

Maybe there isn’t one, she decides. And maybe she can be okay with that.

She might have to be in order to get out of here.

Sometime after that, when Sakari receives her tray, she looks at the tiny amount of water and lets out a frustrated huff. Between being extremely dehydrated and being a waterbender with very little access to water for a prolonged period, she’s feeling awful. “You have broken my hands very thoroughly, it’s not possible for me to waterbend, why can’t I have more water?”

“Are my beatings not getting through to you? I want you to suffer. But fine, you are really starting to stink.” With that, Kanut bends a large blob of water from his waterskin and dumps it over her before bending it all away in some semblance of a shower. While it does nothing for her dehydration, it does seem to soothe some part of her. (And she feels cleaner.) However, since it’s been so long since she’s touched this much water that being in brief contact with so much of it makes her itch to waterbend. Not only would this cause excruciating pain, though, it would also have Kanut coming down on her worse than he ever has. And she really doesn’t think she’d survive that.

By Sakari’s estimates, it’s roughly a week after that when she overhears some very important information. She’s realised in her time here that Kanut and his friends seem to think that the door to her room is a lot more soundproof than it is. So far, this hasn’t yielded any information of value. Until now.

She’s lying on the ground, shaking and sore after another torture session when she hears voices on the other side of the door. She drags herself across the ground to lean against the door to listen, picking up on three familiar voices. That’s how she finds out that the following morning, Kanut and one of his friends will be heading out at dawn to go meet with someone, and that Other Friend will be staying at the house to give Sakari her daily Tray and Beating.

This means two things: Firstly, that for the first time since she was captured, she knows for a fact there’s only going to be one person in the house. Secondly, that that person will not be Kanut.

A plan starts to form.

Around the time that Sakari usually gets her visitor, she shuffles herself over to the wall that the door opens against, such that she’s behind the door when it’s opened, back against the wall. And then she waits.

Finally, she hears the guy’s heavy footsteps and she gets ready. The door unlocks. The handle turns. When it starts to swing open and she sees his shadow under the door, she kicks her foot against the door as hard as she can. It slams back against the man, crushing him between the door and the doorframe and he lets out a yelp of pain and staggers. As the door rebounds off him, Sakari channels all her rage through her legs and does it again. And again. And again. And again. She keeps going until he’s crumpled to the ground then adds a couple more for good measure.

When she crawls out from behind the door, and grimaces at the sight. It’s clear that at least one of the blows caught him in the head, blood pooling from under a large gash near his ear. She doesn’t stop to check if he’s still alive.

Sakari emerges from the room, evidently in some kind of basement. She hurries up the stairs and, with difficulty, manages to open the door. The first thing she sees is a barrel of water by the kitchen. She shoves her hands in it and tries to heal them. Instantly, she’s overcome by excruciating pain. But she needs her fucking hands, so she just bites down on her tongue and tries to push through. By the time her hands are loosely back together, her mouth is full of blood from biting so hard, and she spits it out onto the ground. Experimentally, she tries to waterbend, almost crying at the little blob she elevates and at the pain it causes. But she can do it.

Sakari is extremely disoriented when she steps outside after grabbing her things. In part, because she’s outside and in the dawning sunlight for the first time in… well, she’s not sure, but also because she’s fairly sure from a quick look around that she’s in the Upper Ring. She doesn’t know where she is or where she needs to go, only that she needs to get away from here and soon. So, she picks a direction and runs.

The streets are very quiet, likely because of how early it is. It’s not long before she comes across a pond and, though she knows she should keep going, she can’t bring herself to walk past; she kneels to stick her hands in it, suppressing groans as she tries to mend the bones and tendons. Just as she feels like she’s starting to make actual progress, she hears footsteps from down the street and looks over to see Kanut.

She up on her feet in an instant, taking on a defensive stance, unease rising at the furious look on his face.

“Haven’t you tortured me enough?” she tries weakly. “Just let me go, no one needs to know about this. We’re even now, right?”

“We’re even when I say we’re fucking even,” Kanut snarls, and shoots an icicle at her.

The fighting begins again, and while Sakari manages to block his attacks, she’s struggling immensely with how much it hurts. The next thing she knows, there’s a large, thin shard of ice buried in the side of her abdomen and she cries out. She knows, in this instant, that if she doesn’t take him down now, she is going to die. Biting back the pain and drawing all the strength she can muster, she starts firing icy projectiles at him in all directions, forcing him to jerk back and forth while blocking them to avoid getting hit. Then one hits him square in the shoulder, and another in the ankle. As he stumbles, she freezes the ground beneath him and he slips and crashes to the ground.

For a second, she’s nine years old again, standing in front of a dead body. That awful gurgling sound ringing in her ears. The coppery scent of blood permeating her nose.

Then Kanut moves and she hears Pakku’s voice in her head screaming, ’FIGHT!’

Before he can counterattack, Sakari forms a club made of ice and hits him on the side of his head with all her remaining strength - granted it isn’t a lot. But he goes limp. She runs for her life.

It’s not long before the dizzying pain from her wound forces her to stop and heal it just enough to stop the bleeding, clearing the blood off her in the process. Then she’s off again, run eventually slowing to a walk as her body tires. It’s hours later that she realises she’s at the other side of the Upper Ring. People have been giving her a lot of strange looks but, given that she likely looks very grotty and very miserable, she supposes that makes sense. She’s positively exhausted when she spots a large, flowing fountain and makes a beeline for it. Healing her hands hurts slightly less now, and she ignores everyone around her, just staying slumped against the edge of it with her hands submerged, ignoring the throbbing at her side. She stays that way for a long time.

At some point though, like a switch has been flipped, she realises how horrifically thirsty she is, and she begins scooping the water up and swallowing it down. It’s as if having her very basic needs met breaks down the emotional dam, and she promptly breaks down. She’s not even hydrated enough to cry properly, but her breaths are ragged with dry sobs. Most people who pass either ignore her or just give her strange looks, but one person walks right up to her and taps her gently on the shoulder. She flinches violently and stares at an old lady, who holds her hands up apologetically.

“Sorry, dear, I didn’t mean to frighten you. Here, it’s a bit cool this morning.” She shrugs off her coat and offers it out to Sakari, who simply stares at it for a long moment, processing what she just said. “I don’t know what’s happened to you,” she continues when Sakari tentatively takes the coat, “but you look in desperate need of a feed. You can come with me and I can make you some food, how about that? And get you cleaned up a bit?”

Sakari just shakes her head, eyeing her distrustfully.

“Okay… how about some bread? I just came from the baker,” she tries, offering a bread roll that, potential poison be damned, smells amazing. Manners forgo her entirely as she snatches it and starts eating. “How can I help you, love? Will you tell me what happened to you?”

She shakes her head.

“Is there someone I can get for you?”

“I’ll… I’ll be okay. I’ll go find my friends soon, I just needed… I was just…” she trails off blankly.

“Okay…” the lady says gently. “Well, here are some coins so you can get yourself some more food and maybe a nice cup of tea? There’s a new place just down the road, really soothes the soul.”

“Th-thank you,” she manages, head beginning to clear.

“Stay safe, dear.”

It's not until the woman is gone that Sakari realises she still has the woman’s coat. Feeling rather cold all of a sudden, she puts it on.

Realistically, Sakari should find a place to stay first and then focus on literally anything else, namely the big wound in her abdomen. But the woman had mentioned tea and fuck, does that sound good right now. So, after cleaning herself up a bit, Sakari heads in the direction the lady had pointed, soon coming across what seems to be a very popular tea shop. The young woman that seats her shoots her a very judgemental look, which Sakari figures could be due to her dishevelled appearance, unpleasant body odour, or both. She’s certainly not the picture of Upper Ring Ba Sing Se citizen right now. But with a pointed jingle of coins, the woman seats her right in the back corner of the store. She slumps forward, zoning out and staring at the table in front of her for quite some time.

“Hi, what can I-?”

Sakari’s head snaps up at the same time the familiar voice cuts off, and she finds herself face to face with Zuko. She blinks, certain for a second that she’s hallucinating.

“What are you doing here?” is the first thing that comes out of her mouth.

Zuko, who looks equally as stunned to see her, gestures lamely to the shop. Over his shoulder, Sakari spots Iroh pouring tea behind the counter. She’s glad to see the man is okay.

She looks back to Zuko and her face hardens. “I don’t know where the others are so don’t even bother asking.  And even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Okay,” he says, looking uncomfortable. He doesn’t leave though, just continues looking at her expectantly.

“What?” she asks hotly.

Zuko pulls a face and holds up the pad in his hand. “Your order…”

She blinks. “Oh, uh… ginseng. Please.”

The boy nods and walks off and Sakari stares at him in bewilderment. How long was she in that basement for?

She stares down at her hands. The bruising is mostly gone but they’re still a bit discoloured, and her fingers are gnarled and crooked. There’s a steady ache present in them, but she can at least use them now. Her next stop after this will be a room at an inn somewhere we she can spend a few hours in a bath.

“Um, Kavik?”

Sakari startles, head snapping to Zuko who looks uncharacteristically timid as he motions to the cup of tea in his hands. He places it down on the table in front of her.

“It’s Sakari,” she blurts out, making him pause when he turns to leave. “My name. Not Kavik.” What the fuck is wrong with me?

Zuko just nods stiffly, looking unsure of how to respond, but she doesn’t expect him to. Then his eyes land on her hands, lingering for a moment, and she quickly pulls them back under the table feeling strangely vindicated at the embarrassed look on his face. “Uh, let me know if, um, you want anything else.”

Sakari nods.

For the next few minutes, Sakari watches him in confusion as he moves around the shop. Despite the tentative truce they had the last time she saw him, she doesn’t trust him. When he walks over to Iroh and starts whispering urgently to him, the older man’s eyes shift over to meet hers, and she hastily looks away. She wonders if she’s about to get kicked out, but it never comes. She supposes it wouldn’t make sense to do anything to annoy presumably the only person here who knows that they’re firebenders.

While taking slow sips of the tea (which is damn delicious), Sakari begins to figure out what she should do next. The only problem is that she keeps drawing a complete blank; it’s as if now she’s ‘safe’, her mind is letting itself shut down, letting the exhaustion finally take hold of her. She can’t formulate any kind of plan.

Maybe she can just rest her eyes for a moment…

The next thing she knows, she’s being awoken with a gentle shake, and she flinches back from the touch, immediately wincing at the pain of the movement. She looks up at Iroh, who’s giving her an apologetic look, and then at Zuko, who’s hovering awkwardly behind him. The shop is otherwise empty, and with a glance out the window, Sakari realises they must be closing.

“Oh, shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I’m sorry-“

“It’s alright!” Iroh replies cheerfully. “You looked like you needed it. I’ll go make you another tea.”

“No, that’s okay, you…” she trails off as the man leaves anyway.

Zuko shifts awkwardly and she glances warily at him. “I, uh… I’m sorry about the North Pole. Your… shoulder and your arm,” he elaborates at her somewhat blank look. “I didn’t- I didn’t actually mean to…”

“Yeah, I figured,” she shrugs.

“…Did it scar?”

“It’s fine, I healed it. Don’t worry, you didn’t permanently disfigure me.” There’s a moment of silence and she registers who she just said that to. She slaps a hand to her face. “Fuck, sorry, I didn’t- that was a really stupid thing to say, I didn’t even think. That wasn’t meant to- I wasn’t- that was just a very bad attempt at trying to lighten the mood.”

“I’m used to it,” he shrugs, looking uncomfortable.

“I think scars are very cool, actually.” She tries, then winces. She’s overcorrecting now, what is wrong with her?

Zuko turns to hide his scar, looking strangely insecure. This weird, vulnerable Zuko is a stark contrast to her perception of him, and it confuses her greatly. It sets off a spike of irritation.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re playing at but I’m so not in the mood to fight and I honestly don’t know where the others are, though I really wish I did-“

“You can relax,” he says, and she’s almost grateful for the interruption because she’s about to start crying. “I’m not… doing that anymore. We’re just trying to make a living.”

Before she can reply, Iroh is back and setting down another cup of tea in front of her.

“I’ll drink it quickly and be out of your hair soon,” she assures him.

Iroh looks almost offended. “Oh, nonsense, tea is meant to be enjoyed. Excellent choice by the way,” he adds with a wink.

“It’s the superior tea,” she replies with a weak smile, earning a light chuckle in return.

“I hear I have you to thank for healing me. I appreciate that very much.”

She nods absent-mindedly. “No problem.”

“Do you have somewhere to go, dear?”

And that’s just fucking perfect, just what she needs right now; these two seeing how vulnerable and pathetic she is right now. The fact that he’s even asking says a lot about the impression she’s given already and she finds herself stammering in panic and embarrassment.

“Yeah, I’m- I’ll… I’m- I’m fine. Sorry for taking up a table for so long. Here,” she reaches to give him a handful of coins to cover the tea and their time, but Iroh shakes his head and pushes her hand closed. She sucks in a sharp breath, and his eyes dart down to her hands, eyebrow furrowing. She quickly withdraws them and scrambles to her feet. “I’ll be leaving now. Thank you very much for the tea.”

Sakari hurries out of the shop without another look behind her.

o o o

Zuko feels no less confused by the entire encounter when Ka- Sakari leaves. Absolutely nothing about what just happened makes any sense to him. Why was she alone? And why did she look so miserable and exhausted? Why had she stunk a little bit and looked a total mess despite wearing a clean and undoubtedly expensive Earth Kingdom robe? He remembers being on the monorail into Ba Sing Se and thinking he saw her, but the girl he saw looked different and didn’t have any of her friends with her, so he’d assumed it was someone who just looked kind of like her. He realises now that it probably actually was her.

When Uncle told him to wake the girl up from where she was slumped over the table, he steadfastly refused and made the man do it instead. Considering their history and how hostile she’d been, he figured he would only startle her more and that probably wouldn’t end well for anyone. By the time she practically runs away from them, it’s abundantly clear that something is very wrong.

“What in Agni’s name happened to her?” Uncle wonders aloud, mirroring Zuko’s thoughts.

“Did you see her hands?” he whispers, scandalised. He knows for a fact that they weren’t like that last time he saw her, because he’d been watching her hands like a hawk the whole time that she was healing Uncle.

His uncle gives him a pointed look. “She’s a bender, isn’t she?”

Zuko frowns, remembering the earthbenders who had been prepared to crush Iroh’s hands so that he couldn’t firebend. He feels a little bit ill at the thought. “But… she’s just a waterbender. Why would…?”

“I’m not sure.”

“It’s obvious she doesn’t actually have a plan and was just too proud to ask for help.”

Iroh raises an eyebrow. “Sounds familiar.”

He scowls.

“I slipped her some extra coins though. Hopefully she will be alright. Do you think she’ll come back?”

Zuko refrains from outright snorting. After that display? “…I highly doubt it.” 

o o o

Sakari manages to get a room at an inn for the night, pleasantly surprised to find that she has more money than she thought. As planned, the first thing she does is get in the bath, feeling like a warm blanket has been wrapped around her soul. She knows she should be more concerned with the wound in her side, but now that the injury isn’t putting her in immediate peril, she can’t bring herself to prioritise anything but her hands. Her weapons. Her lifeline.

After a long soak and healing session, she carefully bandages her side and her hands, crawls into the bed and burrows deep in the blankets. It’s so nice to be cosy and warm for once rather than lying shivering on that hard bench. She so overwhelmed by the sense of safety a mere blanket brings her that it brings tears to her eyes and subsequently sends her spiralling. She grieves for herself, processing the things she’s been through. She wonders if her waterbending will ever be the same again, if she will ever be the same again. She wonders if she’ll ever actually find her friends, and what she’ll do if she can’t. She wonders what the fuck she’s supposed to do now.

She ends up crying herself to sleep.

The next morning, Sakari is heading to the nearby markets for some food when she spots a very familiar figure in blue walking by in the distance and stops dead in her tracks. At first, she thinks it’s a despair-induced hallucination. After all, she’s spent many hours fantasising about reuniting with her friends.

But a few blinks confirms that she is, in fact, looking at Katara.

Chapter Text

At first, she thinks it’s a despair-induced hallucination. After all, she’s spent many hours fantasising about reuniting with her friends.

But a few blinks confirms that she is, in fact, looking at Katara.

For a brief moment, she just stands there, looking at the girl in awe. It’s her. It’s really her. She breaks into a sprint, ignoring how the jolting hurts her wound, and yells out, “KATARA!”

The girl whirls around, eyes widening and expression morphing from disbelief into joy as she rushes to meet Sakari. They collide in a tight and desperate hug that immediately brings tears to her eyes.

“Sakari! Where have you been?! I’ve missed you so much!”

The girl only starts crying harder, and Katara draws back with a frown.

“Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

Sakari wipes at her face and nods. “Sorry, I’m… I’m okay.”

“What happened, Sakari?”

She begins to shake her head. “I don’t want to- I can’t- it’s...”

“Are you hurt?”

She shakes her head, instead embracing her friend again. “It’s really good to see you again, Katara.”   

“You too. I can’t believe it’s been a month since we saw each other.” 

A month? Sakari keeps her expression neutral and forces out a light laugh.

“Where have you been staying?”

“I, uh, I stayed in an inn last night. I was just on my way to get some food.”

She can tell that Katara is wondering where she was before last night, but thankfully the girl seems to think better than to ask right now.

“We’ve got a house not far from here. Let’s get some breakfast and I can show you.”

When the two girls step inside the house, Sakari’s excited smile fades as she glances around the empty house.

“Where’s… everyone else?”

“Oh,” Katara starts, expression apologetic, “we had to split up. Aang’s gone to the Eastern Air Temple to meet with a guru who says he can help him control the Avatar State. Toph is meeting with her mother and Sokka’s gone to Chameleon Bay to see our dad.”

“You didn’t want to go with him?”

She shrugs a little. “Someone had to stay and help to Earth King. I miss Dad, but I knew it would mean a lot more to Sokka.”

“So, it’s just been you here?”

“Not for long. And now you’re here!” 

Katara reaches for Sakari’s hand then, and she reflexively pulls it away. The motion draws Katara’s gaze down and her eyes widen. “Your hands…”

“They’re fine, I’ve healed them,” Sakari says quickly, shaking the sleeves of her coat down to hide them.

She looks at a loss for words for a moment, then presses her lips together. “I… I’m really glad to have you back, Sakari. I have to go meet with the Council of Five soon to discuss the invasion, would you like to come?”

“Um… I think I’d rather just stay here if that’s okay.”

Poor Katara looks very conflicted, probably torn between respecting her privacy and wanting to know what the hell happened to her. She nods, smile tight. “Of course. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure.”

With another hug, Katara leaves to meet with the council, leaving Sakari alone in the house. She finds the closest bed and promptly passes out again.

When Katara returns to the house, Sakari is trying to brush out her tangled hair but struggling between the pain and outright exhaustion. She’s been feeling worse than she had in the tea shop, but she supposes that in this feeling of safety, her adrenaline has come down allowing her to actually feel everything.

“Let me,” Katara says softly, kneeling behind her and taking the brush from her hands. She begins to gently and methodically work her way through the hair. “Do you want to talk about it yet?” she asks after some time.

“Nope.”

“Okay… will you at least let me make sure that your hands are fully healed? I imagine that it’s been very painful for you to try.”

“…Okay.”

Sakari is extremely tense when Katara first touches her hands. She battles with the urge to yank them away, unable to stop flinching away from the non-existent mallet. But Katara is gentle as she takes her hands and holds water over them, and the tension slowly leaves Sakari’s shoulders. After some time, Katara releases her hands, frowning.

“I’ve done everything I can, but they’re still…”

Sakari looks blankly down at them. They discolouration has gone and the skin is healed, and a tentative flex of her fingers tells her that the bone is mostly healed too, just a steady ache remaining. But her fingers still look gnarled and crooked, sitting at odd angles. It’s very obvious from a first glance that something isn’t right.

“It’s okay… I can use them, that’s all that matters.”

“I… I could try using the water from the Spirit Oasis?” she tries, pulling the pendant out.

“No, that would be silly. I’m fine. Honestly.”

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” 

Sakari takes a moment to register the question, then simply lifts up the side of her top to reveal the bandaged wound and starts to unpeel the wrappings. When they fall away, they reveal a deep wound, puffy and red around the edges.

“Sakari!” Katara gasps, “that’s infected!”

“Ah… that’s why I feel like shit,” she says with a bitter laugh.

“How long have you left this?!”

“I didn’t- It happened yesterday morning and I- I healed it a little bit but… I needed to focus on my hands.”

Her friend’s expression softens. “I understand. It’s just… this is going to take longer to heal now. And you’re going to need to rest.”

A part of Sakari is relieved by this – she’s exhausted and paranoid and revels in the idea of staying hidden. But there’s that other part of her, the part that would snap and snarl in her chest every time she had to pace her prison cell for any kind of stimulation. Katara seems to read some of the anxiety in her expression and puts a gentle hand on her arm.

“Will you let me heal you?”

Sakari nods and sits back, holding her shirt up so Katara can get started. As she works, the girl updates her on everything that happened since they separated; The Serpent’s Pass, the drill, all the weird cult shit and brainwashing and how they had to prove the existence of the war to the Earth King. Suddenly, what Kanut had said about there being no war in Ba Sing Se makes a lot more sense. They also found Appa, apparently, which sends her into relieved tears.  

Sakari wakes with a start the following morning after a nightmare. She instantly sits up to check her surroundings, relaxing when she realises that she is, in fact, safe and free. Then she makes eye contact with Katara who’s watching her closely from across the room, brows furrowed, and ducks her head.

“I wanna come with you,” she says when Katara is getting ready to leave to meet with the Council of Five, the restless side of her winning.

“You know I don’t think that’s a good idea with your wound.”

“You did a really good job on it last night, it’s doing better. And I… I could really use some fresh air…”

Katara purses her lips and nods. “I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do. If you want to come, of course you can. Just… take it easy, okay?”

So, Sakari goes to the meeting. And despite her paranoia as they walk through the streets, she feels reassured by Katara’s presence – she knows the girl could kick Kanut’s ass easily. However, this only serves to make her feel pathetic when she lingers on the thought for too long. She doesn’t contribute much during the meeting, zoning out for most of it, but it’s just nice to be around people. Specifically, Katara. Though after a while, she can feel exhaustion creeping up on her and finds herself almost swaying slightly.

They end up finalising a plan for the invasion, and all they have to do is get the scrolls signed off by the Earth King in order to get everything in motion. Sakari stumbles slightly coming down the staircase and Katara steadies her with a pointed look. She doesn’t argue when Katara insists on walking her home first, insisting that she’s more than capable of getting the scroll to the Earth King on her own.

“Once I get back, we’ll do another healing session, okay?”  

Sakari nods, and watches her friend leave again, before promptly passing out.

She wakes with a start again, eyes darting around the empty house, unease settling into her bones. She checks the time. It’s been an hour, Katara should be back by now. Maybe she just got caught up talking to the king? Or maybe Kanut found her, her mind supplies, making her stomach twist. No, he can’t have. He was in no condition to do anything when she left him, let alone defeat Katara. Unless somehow, he or his friends can heal. Was she truly so arrogant to assume that she was the first to break the Northern Tribe’s bending ‘rules’? The idea of Katara locked in that room won’t go away and she’s working herself into a panic. The reasonable part of her knows that if she goes to the palace, she’ll find Katara there in perfect health and just distracted, but that part of her mind is very quiet right now.

You’ve got friends somewhere around the place. I think I could call us even if I paid them a visit… made you feel what I felt.

Sakari goes to the palace.

Walking into the entrance hall, she’s relieved to see the Kyoshi Warriors there, and rushes up to them.

“Hey, sorry, have you seen-?” Sakari registers gold eyes when the girls turn around and her mouth clicks shut as she moves into a defensive stance, eyes darting between the three Fire Nation girls. Between being outnumbered and her already weakened state, she’s not liking her odds.

“Katara?” Azula finishes sweetly. “I have, actually.”

She barely has time to do anything before the Bouncy Girl lands a series of harsh jabs, one of which lands directly on her wound and sends her vision spinning. The side of her head hits the ground hard when she falls. 

When Sakari stirs, it takes a moment for her to register her surroundings and remember what just happened. Katara is kneeling at her side, watching her anxiously. A wave of dizziness washes over her as she forces herself to sit up, wincing in pain, and look around the cave they’re in.

TrappedTrappedTrappedTrappedTrappedTrapped-

“Sakari?”

“Fuck!” she bites out. Not again.

“Sakari-“

Panic twists into fury as she scrambles to her feet and looks hopelessly around. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“Sakari, you’re going to hurt yourself! You need to calm down,” Katara says. And she’s got that look on her face, like Sakari is a puzzle she’s trying to figure out, and the older girl suppresses a snarl.

“I can’t- We have to get out!”

“We will. We just need to bide our time.” Sakari’s stomach lurches. No more. “And when we do get out, you’re going to need to be in the best condition you can be. So why don’t you sit down and I can heal your wound a bit more?”

Reluctantly, Sakari sits down, flinching slightly when Katara’s water first touches her tender flesh. The fight leaves her all at once and she deflates, blinking back tears.

Both girls jump up when a hole in the wall abruptly opens up and a third person is tossed into the cave before the wall seals shut once more.

They both stare at the boy in front of them. “Zuko?”

His eyes flit between them before lingering on Sakari. “How did you end up here?”

Sakari raises an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Azula knew I was in the city…” His eyebrows furrow and he shoots her an accusatory look. “Interesting timing now that I think about it.”

Sakari scowls. “I didn’t say anything to anyone.”

“Wait, you knew he was here?”

She winces and sighs, avoiding Katara’s eye, instead catching Zuko’s surprised one. “Yes.”

“And you didn’t think that that would be an important bit of information?!”

“It wasn’t exactly a high priority at the time, Katara.”

“Protecting Aang wasn’t a high priority?”

Sakari rubs her face in frustration. “Don’t- That’s not what I meant.”

“Care to explain why you thought you wouldn’t say a word about seeing the guy who’s been trying to hunt us down from the beginning? You didn’t want to disclose that?”

Another tired sigh. “Do you really want to know where I’ve been the last month, Katara? I’ve been locked in some basement as a vindictive fuckface’s prisoner. I’d finally escaped and I was hurt and exhausted and I walked into their tea shop, and -obviously I was tense at first- but he and his uncle were just minding their own business and were very nice to me so forgive me for just wanting to enjoy some fucking tea.”

The younger girl deflates. “I’m sorry… that- that must have been really hard… and now to be here, trapped again…” Her eyes widen and snap to Zuko. “It’s a trap, isn’t it? So that when Aang shows up to help us you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches!”

The boy turns away, shoulders hunched.

“You’re a terrible person! You know that? Always following us! Hunting the Avatar! Trying to capture the world’s last hope for peace! But what do you care? You’re the Fire Lords’ son. Spreading war and violence and hated is in your blood.”

“Katara-” Sakari tries weakly.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Zuko spits.

“I don't? How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through!” Katara snaps, sitting down, tears welling in her eyes. “Me personally! The Fire Nation took my mother away from me.”

Sakari isn’t sure what she’s expecting Zuko to do, but it’s certainly not apologise. “I’m sorry… that’s something we have in common.”

The two Water Tribe girls glance at each other and then at Zuko, but he just stares hard at the ground. An odd silence falls between them, and Sakari takes the opportunity to press more water to her side, very much regretting her lack of care for her wound earlier. For a moment, she can feel Zuko’s gaze on her and, sure enough, when she looks over at him, he hastily looks away.

“Is your uncle okay?” she asks.

A nod. “He got away.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No shit.” His expression immediately pinches in regret, but Sakari just sniggers. She supposes she deserves that. “It was my fault… I don’t know why I though Azula would play fair.” A pause. “So… why was a ‘vindictive fuckface’ after you?”

Her expression drops at the same time Katara’s attention piques. “Long story.”

He just nods.

The silence resumes, and Sakari grows more and more restless. Eventually, she stands and begins pacing laps around the cave while still trying to heal her side, teeth gritted.

“Are we going to talk about what happened to you?” Katara asks softly as Sakari passes her at one point.

"Yeah, just… not right now. I don’t have the mental capacity.”

"Okay… I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know.”

Katara turns to Zuko then. “I’m sorry I yelled at you before.”

He shrugs, “it doesn’t matter.”

“It’s just that, for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face.”

“My face? I see,” he murmurs, touching his scar. And wow, that is two for two in Water Tribe Girls accidentally saying very dumb things about Zuko’s scar right to his face.

Katara is quick to backtrack. “No, no, that’s- that’s not what I mean.”

“It’s okay. I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I’ve realised I’m free to determine my own destiny, even if I’ll never be free of my mark.”

“Maybe you could be free of it.”

“What?”

“I have healing abilities.”

“It’s a scar, it can’t be healed.”

Katara pulls out the vial of Spirit Oasis water. “This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I’ve been saving it for something important. I don’t know if it would work but…”

Just as she goes to take a step towards Zuko, there’s a loud rumbling sound and a part of the cave wall disappears to reveal Aang and Iroh.

“Aang!” Katara cries, rushing over to pull the boy into a hug meanwhile Zuko and Iroh hug. Sakari just stares dumbfounded at Aang for a moment until he makes eye contact over Katara’s shoulder and beams.

“Sakari!”

She has to try very hard not to cry as she squeezes Aang, before drawing back to check him over for injury, to confirm that Kanut hadn’t got his cruel hands on the boy.

“Uncle, I don’t understand,” Zuko speaks up, “what are you doing with the Avatar?”

Aang’s expression cools. “Saving you, that’s what.”

Zuko actually growls and takes a threatening step towards him, but Iroh holds him back. “Zuko, it’s time we talked.” He turns to them. “Go help your other friends, we’ll catch up with you.”

With one last look at the Fire Nation Prince, the three of them run back through the newly made tunnel.

They haven’t been running for long when Azula catches up to them, finding them in a massive opening in the catacombs, the cave ceiling way up above them and a large waterfall on one side, leading into a canal. She doesn’t bother with any kind of talk, going straight for blood instead. They have to dodge fierce blue blasts of fire, trying to land blows of their own as they do. Just as they’re getting the upper hand, there’s a blast of orange fire that cuts right between the middle of the standoff and Zuko stands there, eyes flitting between the two parties. Sakari’s initial hope at seeing him rapidly dwindles, especially when she registers Iroh’s absence.

Then Zuko sends an attack their way and she loses it.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” she screams, charging into a duel with the boy while Aang and Katara take on Azula. “What happened to just trying to make a living?!”

Zuko scowls and doubles down in his attacks, a series of rapid fireballs sent her way. 

Sakari throws up a water shield. “What does your uncle think of this, huh?!”

“Shut up!” 

“She put you in that cave and now you’re siding with her?”

“Shut up!”

The fighting starts to get messy after that, all of them interchanging opponents, attacks that send each other flying. Naturally, this doesn’t bode well for Sakari and her still-partially-infected wound.

Things only get worse when the Dai Li show up. The earthbenders crowd around them, and they were already not doing too well, so Sakari has no idea how in Spirits they’re supposed to get out of this one. Then she remembers what Katara had said – that Aang had been to see a guru to learn to control the Avatar State. She keeps glancing at the boy, wondering what he’s waiting for as the Dai Li agents continue to appear.

“Hey, Aang?! Now would be a great time to bust out the Avatar State!” she finally shouts as she hurls a chunk of ice at Azula.

“THERE’S KIND OF A PROBLEM WITH THAT!” is the response she gets from the distance and she pulls a face.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!”

The two waterbenders are well and truly surrounded now, and Sakari takes a breath, preparing herself once again to go down fighting. But then Azula and Zuko pause. The room lights up. Sakari turns around just as there’s a brilliant flash and Aang starts to rise into the air, eyes and tattoos glowing brightly.

Another flash. This time, a bolt of lightning. Azula’s eyes gleam at it hits Aang square in the back, and the boy starts to plummet to the ground. Katara forms a massive wave that launches the two of them towards his falling form and she just manages to catch him. He’s not moving.

Sakari swallows hard and turns to face Azula and Zuko. Katara is crying behind her and she can’t see how they’re supposed to get out of here. This can’t be how they lose; this cannot be it. The Fire Nation siblings move forward and she gears up for the fight of her life. She didn’t go through hell to get out of Kanut’s clutches only to die here and now.

There’s another blast of fire, but it’s not directed at her. Zuko and Azula flinch back as Iroh jumps beside Sakari, lightly pushing her back.

“You’ve got to get out of here! I’ll hold them off as long as I can!”

As he launches another attack, the girls waste no time grabbing Aang and getting out of there.

Not long after they emerge from the catacombs, Appa touches down nearby and Sokka leaps down.

“Katara! Sakari! I’m so glad you’re both okay!” His eyes land on Aang then and widen. “What happened?”

“Azula,” Katara sniffles, “She- we’ve got to get out of here and heal him!”

Sokka quickly helps them get Aang onto Appa’s back, and Sakari pats Appa in a quick hello before following them. It’s not until Katara administers the water from the Spirit Oasis and Aang stirs that everyone takes a collective breath, tension easing slightly. Toph immediately yanks Sakari into a tight hug before introducing the Earth King and his bear, Bosco. The King, however, seems a bit preoccupied with the view of the city as they get further away.

“The Earth Kingdom… has fallen.”

“Where do we go?” Sakari asks.

Sokka frowns in thought. “We’ll go to Chameleon Bay. That’s where my Dad and the other Water Tribe men are. We have to warn them that the city has fallen. Besides, there’s more safety in numbers. Maybe they can help us figure out how to keep Aang safe until he’s better.”

She nods and sighs, closing her eyes and resting her head in her hands. Now that the adrenaline from the fight is wearing off, a heavy wave of fatigue is catching up with her.

“Where have you been?” Sokka asks after a moment, piquing Toph’s interest. “How did everything go?”

She straightens up slightly and tries to keep her expression light. “Uh, not very good. I’ve kind of just been kidnapped the whole time.”

“You were in those catacombs for a month?!”

“Ah, no. I was kidnapped by someone else for a month, then I escaped, found Katara and almost immediately got captured by Azula.”

There’s a pause in which even King Kuei looks at her in alarm.

“I have a lot of questions-“ Sokka begins, only to be cut off by a swift elbow to the side from Toph, “-but they can wait until… you’re ready. Are you okay?”

“In the scheme of things… yeah. I’m alright.” Her emotions take over and she wraps the two of them in a hug. “I just really missed you guys.”

“We missed you too, Humbug.”

Chapter Text

When the group land in Chameleon Bay, King Kuei decides to bid them farewell and travel in disguise with Bosco as his companion. A group of 6 once more, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, Sakari, and Appa head to where the Water Tribe men have made camp. When Sakari is introduced to Chief Hakoda and Bato, she comes to the conclusion that the Southern Water Tribe truly has a blessed gene pool.

Hakoda points out that the fall of Ba Sing Se means that Fire Nation reinforcements will likely be arriving anytime soon to support the occupation. So, they form a plan to wait for a Fire Nation ship to arrive in the bay and capture it. Using that ship, they will travel around the Earth Kingdom rallying allies to assist with a smaller version of the initial invasion plan.

While they are waiting, Sakari finds herself feeling very overwhelmed by all the people. Not only is it the sheer number of people, it’s also the fact that the only Water Tribe man she’s seen recently is Kanut, so to suddenly be surrounded by them leaves her jittery and paranoid. She finds it rather ridiculous that in the middle of a war against the Fire Nation, she finds herself most afraid of her own people. The others notice her strange behaviour and try to coax her into opening up about her time away from them, but she manages to keep deflecting. She can’t really explain what happened then without explaining what happened before, and she doesn’t think she could survive their reactions to that. It’s selfish, but she’s grown far too attached to them all and she cannot bear to risk losing them.

So, she hides.

Appa doesn’t seem to mind the company, even when she sobs into his leg, apologising for losing him in the desert, for not fighting hard enough. He just licks her so hard she ends up falling back on her bum and she stares up at him for a moment, stunned.

“Is this you telling me to get a grip?”

Appa huffs.  

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m a right mess.”

He nudges her with his nose as he lies down and she flops back against his shoulder.

“I’ll get a grip tomorrow, let me sulk a little bit more.”

Sakari is relieved when a Fire Nation ship makes an appearance in the bay. Finally, something to do. They manage to capture the ship swifty and quietly. There’s a little bit of difficulty with getting Aang onto the boat, but they get there in the end.

Then it’s back to restlessness.

Sakari doesn’t sleep much on the boat. Often at night she finds herself heading up to the deck and perching herself on the edge, staring down at the water. It’s soothing to be surrounded by so much water after being deprived of it for so long. Katara, Sokka, and Toph notice that she doesn’t sleep much and keep probing but she keeps brushing them off. She can feel her seams splitting though, and she knows it’s only a matter of time.

As it turns out, that time comes not long later.

It’s been about three weeks when Sakari is up on the deck, making little patterns and shapes in the water as they cruise along in the early hours of the morning. Footsteps behind her make her jump and she whirls around to see Sokka. He gives her a small smile and leans beside her against the railing.

The pair stay in companionable silence for a while, and Sakari surprises both of them when she’s the one to break it.

“How’s the invasion plan coming along?”

“Good. It’s a bit difficult not knowing how many fighters we’ll have, so it’ll become clearer as we gain allies.”

“Are you worried about it?”

“A bit,” the boy admits, scratching his arm. “I… I wanna do Dad proud, y’know?”

“I’m positive you’ve already done that, Sokka. But… I get it.”

There’s a pause. “We… we really missed you, Sakari. And we were really worried. Especially Katara.”

She ducks her head as her eyes well up with tears, and nods. “I really- I really missed you all too. I should have just… gone with you over the pass.”

“I know you don’t want to talk about it now, but… are you ever going to tell us what happened?” His tone isn’t demanding, simply curious. Concerned.

Sakari chews at her bottom lip. “I… don’t know.”

“Okay… can I ask what it is that’s stopping you?”

“I’m afraid of… of what you’ll all think of me.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Sokka straighten up. “Sakari, you’re a good person. I know that. In fact, you’re one of the best people I’ve ever met. Not matter what happened in the time you were gone, that won’t change.”

In the time you were gone.

She inhales. Exhales. “It’s… not about recently. It’s…. it’s about the reason he kidnapped me.”

Sokka scrutinises her for a moment, and she’s incredibly appreciative that he has patience for her crypticness. “Look, anything that you’ve done that you think is bad, I trust that you had good reason for it. I mean, Spirits, you could tell me you killed someone and I’d just assume they had it coming.”

The joke makes Sakari’s stomach lurch and she squeezes her eyes shut, the admission teetering dangerously on the tip of her tongue.

“…And if he didn’t?”

There’s a sharp inhale, and Sokka shifts closer but she flinches away, unable to meet his eye. Frankly, she’s bewildered that he isn’t freaking out and running away.

“Sakari…” he begins slowly, “we’re family. None of us are going to turn our backs on you.”

Maybe he’s lulling her into a false sense of security. “Well, perhaps you should.”

And Sokka huffs. “Dude, you’re killing me here-“ he cuts himself off abruptly. “I mean- shit- uh-“

Embarrassingly, it takes Sakari a second, but then she bursts into laughter and finds that she can't stop.

“I don’t know whether I should be relieved or concerned,” Sokka says, raising an eyebrow, and she quickly pulls herself together, suddenly feeling the urge to cry again. Spirits, what is wrong with me? “Look, we want to help. Please tell us what’s going on. I know you would never mean any harm to someone who didn’t deserve it, so if he didn’t deserve it, then it was an accident right?”

She nods miserably.

“And… the guy who kidnapped you in Ba Sing Se… he was a friend of this guy?”

Her stomach lurches again and she tugs at her hair. “Can we… Are the others… I don’t want to do this more than once.”

“Of course, if you’re ready. I didn’t mean to rush you, I was just… worried.”

“I know. And I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, but I may as well get it over with.”

Sokka claps a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Sakari, it’s going to be alright. I promise.”

She steps forward to hug him tightly. “Thank you.”

When she walks into Katara’s room where her and Toph are talking, their expressions sober as they stop, seemingly just knowing that something is up. That, or Sokka is gesturing frantically from behind her or something. Sakari sits on the floor against the wall across from the bed where the other girls are sitting, meanwhile Sokka sits in the chair in the corner.

She takes a deep breath.

“The man that kidnapped me… his name is Kanut. I’m not sure if you remember but before I lived in Kuk’uq, I lived in the city, Okauyak. When I was nine years old, my grandpa got a job working for a man called Tunerk. He would employ pirates to steal valuables from people and he hired Gramps to help sell everything. Gramps wasn’t proud of it by any means but he wanted to be able to support me and Mom and he figured no one was getting hurt. But uh… turned out he was wrong. Someone accidentally got in the way of what was supposed to be a big job and Tunerk killed him for it. So, Gramps turned him into the chief and he got sent to prison. I wasn’t aware of any of this when it happened, I didn’t find out until much later.

“Then one night… One night a stranger came to our house. His name was Irniq and he… he was young. He was angry and screaming at Gramps and getting aggressive. Mom and Gramps tried to shelter me a bit, but it was hard to ignore, especially when it just kept escalating. I could tell Gramps was getting scared, and then Irniq threatened mom and… I was terrified.”

Sakari braves a quick glance over at Sokka, whose expression dawns into one of understanding. She swallows and takes another deep breath, gaze going back to the floor in front of her.

“I… I didn’t know how to control my bending and… I killed him.” Sakari only makes herself sit in the tense silence that follows for a few seconds before pushing on. “Mom and Gramps knew that Tunerk knew some dangerous people and what that would mean for us. So, they decided that the best thing for us would be the leave. So that same night, we packed up everything we could and fled to Kun’uq. Skip forward to a bit over a month ago at the ferry station… I see this guy who looks… terrifyingly like Irniq and I just knew that he must be related somehow. That’s when I separated from you guys. Turns out that Irniq had a brother… Kanut. I knew… I knew that he wouldn’t react well, but I wasn’t really thinking past that point. I just wanted him to have the truth… that I killed his big brother.” It’s only on the last few words that her voice finally cracks and she lifts her head to look at Toph and Katara.

Toph is the first one to speak. “This doesn’t change what we think of you.”

It’s the best reaction Sakari could have hoped for, yet for some reason she just grows frustrated. “I… I killed someone, Toph.”

“You were just a scared kid, unaware of your own power and wanting to protect your family,” Katara says.

“Yeah, well, Kanut would disagree. He was quite adamant that I deserved to pay for it.”

“But you escaped?”

“Eventually. He found me when I wasn’t far away and chased me… we fought for a while but I managed to get the upper hand and… get away.”

“Is he…?”

Dead. Sakari thinks of his limp form and shakes her head. “I don’t think so. I managed to knock him out and just ran for it.” A small part of her wishes she’d killed him so she could feel some semblance of ease but killing Irniq had traumatised the fuck out of her so she’s not sure she would have been better off. “He’s out there somewhere.”

“Well, if we ever come across him again, we’ll face him together, okay?”

Sakari has to swallow down tears as she stares first at Katara and then at Toph and Sokka, all of whom look equally unperturbed. “But I… Don’t you care?”

“Of course, we care,” Sokka pipes up. “That’s really horrible and I’m really sorry you had to go through that.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Toph pulls a face. “Do you want us to be mad at you?”

“No, I… I just… It’s… I don’t know…” Sakari buries her face in her hands, feeling utterly overwhelmed.

She hears movement and startles slightly when someone touches her shoulder, but then finds herself wrapped in the middle of a group hug. The dam around her heart she’s been meticulously constructing comes crashing down and she dissolves into tears, tucking herself tighter into their embrace.

“I really love you guys,” she mumbles.

“We love you too,” Katara replies.

“Yeah, bloody thirsty killer, or not,” Sokka adds, which causes Katara to make a strangled sort of sound and smack him upside the head. But then Sakari lets out a wet snort, and Katara softens, albeit looking confused and vaguely concerned.

Sakari settles a lot more over the next few days. Contrary to her expectations, her friends to do not cast her out. It’s still a little weird with all the new people, especially when they come across Pipsqueak and The Duke, some friends of Aang, Sokka, and Katara. But she makes an effort to try and get to know people despite her very limited social energy.

They’re just outside the Fire Nation when Aang wake up and freaks out. Like, a lot. And in retrospect, they should have foreseen it. He especially doesn’t react well to the great news that everyone thinks that he is dead.

After taking Aang back to his room for another healing session, Katara finds Sakari on the deck. “Aang said he was really worried about you… he’s really glad you’re safe.”

Something about her tone makes Sakari’s stomach churn. She’s been trying not to think about how Aang would respond to her past; sweet, innocent, precious Aang. “He knows what happened, then?”

“No, I wasn’t sure you’d want me to tell him or if you’d rather talk to him yourself. I thought I better ask you first.”

“I appreciate that. You can tell him, though. Frankly, I don’t have the energy to talk about it myself.” Also, I’m a coward and can’t bear to tell him who I really am.

The shit hits the fan when they encounter another Fire Nation ship. Things seem to be going okay at first until Toph declares that the other ship know that they’re imposters and bends the metal bridge between ships off. And since when has that been a thing?!

Sakari stops dead mid-fight. “WHAT?”

Even when a giant serpent emerges from the water in the midst of everything, she still finds herself more fixated on the metal-bending. Eventually they manage to get away, and Sakari makes a beeline for the younger girl.

“Hey, Toph,” she begins, “since when can you bend metal?”

Toph grins proudly. “Cool, right? I figured it out when I got kidnapped by Master Yu and Xin Fu.”

“You- What?”

“Don’t worry, they weren’t very good at it. And now I can bend metal, so,” she shrugs.

“I think you are genuinely the coolest person I have ever met.”

“Why, thank you. Right back at ya.”

Aang decides against going with them into town to get dinner, still upset about not being able to do anything and already feeling as though he had failed back in Ba Sing Se. So, instead they bring some food back for him. At least, that’s the plan; but when they get back, the boy has vanished. Despite the initial panic, it doesn’t actually take them long to find him after identifying the closest land as Crescent Island, saying a quick farewell to everyone, and leaving on Appa. They find Aang asleep on the shore of the volcanic island, and Momo graciously wakes him up by licking the boy on his face.

“You’re okay!” Katara exclaims in relief, pulling him in for a hug that the rest of group quickly join.

“I have so much to do,” he says miserably.

“I know, but you’ll have our help.”

Toph cracks a grin. “You didn’t think you could get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation, did you?”

“What about the invasion?”

“We’ll join up with my dad and the invasion force the day of the eclipse,” Sokka replies.

Aang’s staff washes up beside them then, heavily damaged, and Sakari grimaces.

“It’s okay,” he says heavily. “If anyone saw it, it would give away my identity. It’s better for now that no one knows I’m alive.” With that, he flies up to where there’s a small pool of lava and wedges the staff in a gap in the rocks. It catches fire and they leave, Aang’s expression a little too hollow for Sakari’s liking.

Using a combination of waterbending and airbending, they hide themselves in a cloud as they travel through the Fire Nation. Eventually, they decide to set themselves up for the night in a cave, stealing some of the locals’ clothes in order to blend in so they don’t have to hide which allows them to go into the bazaar in town to stock up on supplies. While Aang claims to be an expert in Fire Nation customs, whenever he calls people ‘hotman’ or says ‘flamey-o’ he just gets odd looks and Sakari remembers that the boy is technically over a hundred years old. When they go to get some food from a meat stand, Aang opts to head off on his own.

In hindsight, this was a bad idea.

They don’t see Aang for the rest of the day. They wait in the cave hoping he’ll meet them there but when it starts getting dark, they begin to wonder if they should go out looking for him in case he’s found himself in trouble. Just as they’re about to leave, Aang comes strolling in, casual as anything, and reveals he’s been at school. Despite everyone’s initial protests, the boy makes a strong argument to stay for a little while.

Aang helps Sakari make dinner that night, telling her the details of his day at school as they work. She’s happy that he’s got the chance to act like a normal kid and his overall energy just seems to be lighter than it was the previous day. She’s very determined to keep it that way.

“Um, Sakari?” he says after a few moments of silence. “Katara told me what happened to you in Ba Sing Se… and what happened when you were younger.”

Sakari drops the spoon she’s holding and it clatters to the floor loudly.

“Sorry!” Aang scoops it up. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all of that. And I’m here for you, whatever you need.”

Sakari’s eyes tear up. “I… Can I please have a hug?”

His returning beam makes her heart swell. “Anytime. And you never have to ask.” And with that, he pulls her into such a tight squeeze that it almost hurts. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

The next day, Aang goes to school and everyone else decides to split up and explore the area. It’s odd to feel so content and comfortable in the Fire Nation after spending all her life thinking of the entire nation as evil, as the enemy. But now, walking through this town and watching how everyone seems so normal, it’s easy to forget that they’re in enemy territory.

Especially when Sakari almost trips over a toddler and only manages to dodge the kid at the last second, narrowly missing his head with her foot. She looks around for anyone that might be responsible for the boy, but the few people milling through the street just give them a passing glance. She looks back at the boy to find him reaching for an earthworm. Whatever his plans are with it, she figures it would not end well and so she hastily scoops the toddler up.

However, now she is standing in the middle of the street holding a very small child at arm’s length looking around wondering what to do. He tries to make a spectacular swan dive out of her hands at that moment and she only just manages to catch him in time. Completely unaware of how close he just came to severe injury, the kid just shrieks and starts giggling hysterically. He keeps wiggling around in her grasp trying to do it again so shifts him around so she’s holding him firmly against her side.

“Kid, I’m trying to help you here. I need you to work with me. Where did you come from? Where are your parents?” Sakari just gets an incoherent babble in response and she sighs heavily. She tries a different approach. “Where’s Mommy? Daddy?” Nothing. “Uh… Mama? …Papa?” The toddler’s head perks up to stare at her. “Where’s Papa?” she asks, trying not to show her impatience. The kid turns his head to the left, looking in the direction of a side street, before turning back to her. “Papa that way?” she tries, pointing with her free hand.

Another babble.

She sighs. She supposes it’s the best lead she’s got so far.

They haven’t been walking very far when the boy starts yanking on her hair.

“Please stop that,” she groans, pulling his tiny hand away from her head for the fifth time. “I don’t think you realise just how- ow! Alright that’s it.” She deposits him gently on the ground and he staggers a little bit, clearly still a bit new to walking, but then starts toddling off. Sakari walks a little behind him watching warily.

He’s a very curious boy, and refuses to walk in a straight line, zigzagging back and forth to investigate every little thing they pass.

“Kid, where’s your Papa?” she tries to remind him, and he looks up at her then ahead of them and continues walking with a fresh resolve that lasts approximately one minute until they come across a fire flakes stall. The boy walks right up to the stall and looks between the merchant and Sakari expectantly.  

“Well, hello there, Hing,” the gentleman greets before eyeing her curiously.

“You know this boy?” she asks. “I found him alone and trying to get him back to his parents. You know where I could find them?”

“You’re looking for Jiahao. He’s staying with his mother down the end of the street past the river.”

“Thank you!”

So, Sakari walks ‘Hing’ down the street, keeping an eye on him since the boy is so adamant on having his independence and not holding her hand. And it’s fine. At least, until Sakari catches sight of a tall figure in a light grey cloak and goes rigid in panic.

Kanut.

How the fuck has he followed her here? Not only is she separated from her friends again, she currently has a very small child with her, not to mention the other innocent people milling through the street. Innocent Fire Nation people who would very likely attack her if she revealed herself to be a water bender. Her mind draws a blank and she can’t do anything but just stand there. So, she braces herself for a fight, but waits for him to make the first move.

When he turns around to look at her, instead of those haunting blue eyes that keep making an appearance in her nightmares, she’s met with confused brown ones giving her an odd look. Sakari’s clenched fists loosen and she winces.

“S-sorry,” she stammers to the Fire Nation man, who just shuffles away. “I thought you… Never mind.” She forces herself to take a deep breath to try and slow the pounding of her heart and settle her trembling limbs.

You are pathetic, she thinks to herself. The looming self-deprecating spiral is put off when she remembers with a start that she’s supposed to be taking care of Hing. When she turns around, the boy has somehow climbed up onto the stone railing of the bridge and is looking down at the flowing water below with intrigue, feet mere millimetres from the edge. Sakari makes a strangled kind of yelp and darts forward to yank him up by the back of his collar like a kitten before he can tumble into the water. Once again unphased by near-death, Hing bursts into hysterical giggles meanwhile Sakari has to regulate her panicked breathing.

“You’ve lost your walking privileges,” she says sharply, holding him to her hip again. He reaches an arm forward to tug at a loose lock of her hair, but before he can, she uses her free hand to (albeit gently) tug at his own hair. A comically bewildered look appears on his face. “Don’t like it, huh? That’s what I thought.” Very grudgingly, the kid settles.

That is, until they near the end of the street and a very stressed-looking old woman locks eyes with them and her face lights up. “Hing!”

The boy’s head perks up and he reaches out for the woman. “Nai Nai!”

Very eager to no longer be responsible for the little gremlin, Sakari hastily hands the boy over to the woman who hugs him tightly. “Oh, Hing, we’ve been so worried. Jiahao!” she calls over her shoulder. “He’s here!”

The thirty-something year old man that rushes out of the house beside them looks positively frantic until he sees the boy with his own eyes, at which point he seems ready to cry with relief. He takes the boy from the woman and peppers his head with light kisses that send the kid into hysterics once more. “Oh, my boy, I was worried sick.” He looks to Sakari then. “You found him? Where?”

“He was right down the other end of the street.”

“How did you get all that way, you little terror? You think it’s fun to make your father and grandmother panic?” The question is delivered with a tickle to Hing’s feet which Sakari thinks slightly undermines his sentiment. Jiahao looks back up at her. “Thank you so much for bringing him back to us.”

“No trouble,” she smiles back. That’s a lie. “Anytime.” Please, for the love of the spirits, never again.

Chapter Text

When Sakari returns to their cave, there’s only Toph there, lying against a rock picking at her toes.

“Where are the others?”

“At a parent-teacher conference. Aang got in trouble.”

“…what?” she tries, before just shaking her head. She probably doesn’t want to know.

She quickly changes her mind when the three of them walk back in, Sokka sporting a large fake beard and Katara a pregnant belly.

“I think that went pretty well,” Aang is saying.

She lets out a loud snort that evolves into deep belly laughter. Katara rolls her eyes good-naturedly but Sokka looks somewhat offended.

“You wish you’d look this good in a beard, Sakari.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

“Sakari,” Aang chides, making Sokka grin.

As soon as the younger boy turns his back, she throws a middle finger up at him.

They hold a secret dance party in the cave. Because of course they do. Something about showing the Fire Nation kids a tase of freedom. Sakari wants to focus on what a bad idea it is, but then Aang presents them all with friendship bracelets that one of the kids in his class had shown him how to make and she melts.

As the Fire Nation kids arrive at the cave and Aang convinces them to dance, Sakari finds herself retreating to the back, the events of the day playing heavy on her mind. She was so convinced that the man she saw was Kanut and yet she had just frozen. That very well could have been the death of her if Hypothetical Kanut had seen her first. It will be if she doesn’t learn to control her fear. Once again, she finds herself lingering on the irony of finding herself relieved when the man turned out to be Fire Nation, not Water Tribe; how fucked up it is that in the territory of ‘the enemy’, she finds herself terrified at the idea of one of her own people being there.

Sakari looks up at where Aang and Katara are dancing in the middle of the crowd just as the two come close together and for a brief second, she thinks that they’re about to kiss. But instead, they both smile and keep dancing, their display finally encouraging some of the other kids to dance too.

Naturally, it’s not long after that that things turn to shit and the school’s headmaster along with some soldiers rock up looking for Aang. To their immense fortune, the Fire Nation children help throw off and delay the soldiers, buying the group time to escape out the back of the cave.

Sokka was already miffed about Aang’s impromptu dance party causing delays in his Master Schedule. So, when Katara pretends that Appa is sick so that they have no choice but to stay in the miserable river village of Jang Hui so that she can pretend to be a spirit and help the people there, Sakari is half expecting the boy to combust. And, well, when he finds out the truth, he sort of does.

Nevertheless, when the Fire Nation soldiers descend upon the village for destroying their factory (courtesy of Katara and Aang), Sokka doesn’t hesitate to help them. Together, they put the fear of The Painted Lady into the soldiers (who are quick to retreat after that) and help the villagers clean up the river.

“That was sweet and all,” Sokka begins as they depart Jang Hui on Appa, “but we will now be combining potty breaks and food breaks.”

There’s a collective groan from everyone and Katara shoots him a withering look. “Nope, not happening. Figure something else out.”

“Excuse me, I warned you. This is your fault.”

“I was helping people!”

“Well, if we want to get to the Fire Lord in time for the eclipse, you can help people by eating and pooping at the same time.”

“Ugh, you’re the worst.”

Having nightmares about the night she killed Irniq isn’t new to Sakari. However, she’s used to them going a certain way; that is, the way things actually happened.

Not like this.

Sakari finds herself back in their old house, trembling in fear at the shouted threats. And when the intruder lifts a dagger to her mother’s throat, she screws her eyes shut and screams.  There’s that sickening gurgling and a thud. Only this time, when she opens her eyes again, it’s not Irniq’s body on the ground.

It’s Aang’s.

She lets out a horrified shriek and rushes forward, dropping to her knees in front of him. The coppery scent of blood assaults her nose as it continues to pour from around the icicle in the boy’s throat, pooling around him. She holds her hand uselessly around the wound, thick red blood coating her hands meanwhile warmth soaks into her knees from the growing pool on the floor.

“No, no, no!” she sobs. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

Sakari wakes with a pounding heart, rattling breaths dragging in and out of her throat. Aang’s sitting beside her with a hand on her arm and a concerned frown on his face.

“Are you okay?” he asks as she bolts upright to look him over. His gaze becomes wary as she grabs the front of his shirt, examining him. No blood. No injuries.

“You’re okay?” she croaks.

His expression softens and he nods. “Yeah, Sakari, I’m fine. Are you?”

“I- Yeah, I just- I thought- You were-“ She cuts herself off and pulls him into a viciously tight hug. It’s only then, looking over his shoulder, that she sees the others watching her worriedly and she pulls back, face flaming. Aang glances behind him, then back at her.

“Do you wanna go for a walk?”

Sakari swallows and nods, ignoring everyone else’s eyes and following the boy away from the campsite. He takes them past a line of shrubs and sits down on a patch of grass, so she sits beside him, still drawing in deep breaths in an attempt to soothe her thudding heart. He puts a comforting hand on her knee but doesn’t say anything, seemingly waiting for her to start the conversation.

“I had a dream about… about the night I killed Irniq. But… after it happened, it was you lying there. I’d killed you.”

Aang watches her sympathetically. “That sounds awful... I’m sorry.”

She sighs heavily and chews on the inside of her cheek for a moment, lost in thought. “Aang, I… I was really scared about you finding out about it all. I mean, I was scared about everyone, but… you’re you. You’re the antithesis of violence. I was terrified that you’d… not wanna be my friend anymore.”

“That’s never happening,” he replies adamantly. “I promise you; I don’t think any differently of you. It was a fear response and an accident. I know you would never have meant to do that.”

“But what if… what if I did? What if there’s some part of me that’s- that’s evil?”

Aang shifts to face her fully and grabs both her hands, eyebrows furrowed together. “Sakari. No part of you is evil. In the slightest. I know that with every bit of my being.”

“But…”

“Even if you don’t trust me, trust yourself. Bad people aren’t concerned about whether they’re bad or not. And this has clearly deeply affected you all your life. If there were any part of you truly evil, you wouldn’t be remorseful. The fact that you are so traumatised by it is a testament to how much it goes against your morals.”

“I… I’ve never thought about it like that,” Sakari admits, chewing at her lip. “I guess that makes sense. I don’t think my intent would have ever mattered to Kanut, though. It doesn’t change what I did. It doesn’t change the fact that his brother is dead because of me. He was set on revenge, no matter what. I just… It’s so stupid because the whole thing could have been avoided if I just had more control over my bending.”

Aang watches her thoughtfully. “Is that why you wanted to learn?”

“It was definitely a part of it. I knew my family was vulnerable and wanted to be able to protect us, but… I’d seen how that played out before and I didn’t ever want it to happen again.”

 The boy is quiet for a moment before he says, “I think you’re really awesome, Sakari.”

She smiles and pulls him gently into her side. “I think you’re really awesome too, Aang.”

A meteoroid falls to Earth and starts a forest fire a short ways from a village. The Gaang leap into action, building trenches to stop the spread and dousing the flames with water from the nearby creek. Sakari notices that Sokka is acting… off afterwards. But she just brushes it off as him being in a bad mood because of a lack of sleep.

“These people have no idea how close they were to getting toasted last night,” Aang says as they sit and eat breakfast in the morning.

“Yeah,” Toph nods. “The worst thing about being in disguise is that we don’t get the hero worship anymore. I miss the love.”

“Oh, boo-hoo,” Sokka chimes in sarcastically, “poor heroes.”

The other four exchange glances as the boy turns away from them.

Katara breaks the silence. “What’s your problem? You haven’t even touched your smoked sea slug.”

“It's just, all you guys can do this awesome bending stuff like putting out forest fires and flying around and making other stuff fly around. I can't fly around, okay? I can't do anything.”

“That’s not true, no one can read a map like you.”

“I can’t read at all,” Toph contributes.

“Yeah, and who keeps us laughing with sarcastic comments all the time?” Aang tries. “I mean, look at Katara’s hair, right? What’s up with that?”

Sakari smacks a hand over her face as Katara grabs at her hair self-consciously and asks, “What? What’s wrong with my hair?”

The look of instant regret on the boy’s face is comical. “Nothing! I was just trying to-“

“Look, I appreciate the effort,” Sokka cuts in. “But the fact is, each of you is so amazing and so special and I'm... not. I'm just the guy in the group who's regular.”

“You are not regular, Sokka,” Sakari says fiercely, taking a seat beside him. “You’re a phenomenal fighter and strategist, and an amazing friend.”

Katara sits on his other side. “I'm sorry you're feeling so down, but I hope you know, none of us see you that way. I know something that's going to make you feel better.”

“You do?”

They go shopping in town and Sokka does indeed seem to perk up a bit. But Sakari has some information that she thinks could make him feel better about himself, even if it is at the cost of her own dignity. But the others will hear about it over her dead body.

So, she waits until they’re spread out and double checks that none of them are in earshot before essentially cornering the boy. “Sokka, I’m about to tell you something that I think -and hope- will make you feel better but you have to swear to never speak of it ever again, okay?” He just looks at her in bewilderment. “I mean it, if you ever utter this to a single soul ever, I will hunt you down.”

“Yeesh, okay, woman.”

“I… may have had a… teensy crush on you in the North Pole.”

Sokka blinks before his expression starts to morph into one of glee, only to suddenly drop into indignance. “Only teensy? And how come it went away? Are you suuuure-“

Sakari kicks him hard in the shin. “Oh, fuck off. That’d just be weird now, you’re like my family. The point is that it wasn’t just because of-“ she cuts herself off suddenly. She’s just dug herself an even bigger hole. She’s not about to tell the guy that he’s attractive (just because she can admit it to herself, doesn’t mean she’ll admit it to him). In lieu of finishing her sentence, she just gestures awkwardly in his direction and the smugness that takes over his face almost makes her kick him again. She takes a breath and persists. “You’re an amazing fighter, really smart, and more importantly, incredibly kind. You hold this group together and without you, we’d be totally screwed. I know that you’re not instantly going to feel better, but… I hate that you feel this way because it’s not true at all and none of us think that.”

“Thanks, Sakari,” he replies quietly, eyes bright with gratitude. He frowns then. “Hang on… you were helping me with Yue then.”

“Well, yeah, you were super into her. And she seemed really into you. Besides, I kind of had other priorities at the time.”

“Okay, yeah, I see your point… I can’t believe you had a crush on me, how embarrassing.”

Sakari groans and rolls her eyes. “I hate you so much.”

Not long later, they end up in a weapons store and Sokka finds a sword that he positively loves. Not only that, the sword was apparently made by the greatest swordsmaster and sword maker in Fire Nation history, Master Piandao.

That’s how they end up walking Sokka to Piandao’s castle to see if he can learn sword fighting. He doesn’t come back, which the rest of them take to be a good sign and try and kill time waiting for him. As it turns out, this is extremely boring and the day passes incredibly slowly. Eventually, Sokka returns to the campsite looking practically giddy with excitement. He tells them all about the day he spent training with Master Piandao and how tomorrow he will be making his very own sword – hopefully, with the meteorite that had landed.

So, the following morning, they all locate the meteorite and work together to get it up the hill to Piandao’s castle, where they are introduced to the Master himself as ‘other good Fire Nation folks’. The group watches in awe as Sokka spends hours forging his sword under Master Piandao’s instruction. Finally, the sword is complete and the pride on Sokka’s face is enough to make Sakari feel her heart grow soft.

Now, the group of them sit behind Sokka as the boy kneels before Piandao.

“Sokka, when you first arrived, you were so unsure,” the master says. “You even seemed down on yourself. But I saw something in you right away. I saw a heart as strong as a lion turtle, and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn’t your skills that impressed me… no, it certainly wasn’t your skills. You showed something beyond that; creativity, versatility, intelligence… these are the traits that define a great swordsmen. And these are the traits that define you.” He kneels too and offers the sword our to Sokka, who takes it. Master Piandao stands. “You told me you didn’t know if you were worthy, but I believe that you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained.”

Sokka, however, hangs his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Master. You’re wrong. I am not worthy. I’m not who you think I am. I’m not from the Fire Nation. I’m from the Southern Water Tribe.” Sakari, Katara, Toph, and Aang exchange alarmed looks. “I lied so that I could learn swordsmanship from you. I’m sorry.” He holds the sword back out towards the sword master.

“I’m sorry, too.”

That’s the only warning any of them get before Piandao dives forward to attack Sokka. Thankfully, the boy’s reflexes are fast enough for him to block the blow. As the rest of the group jump up to  help, he holds a hand up toward them, keeping his gaze on the swordmaster.

“No, this is my fight, alone.”

So instead, the group sits and watches anxiously as their friend duels Piandao, all in a little awe at the fluidity with which they both move. Despite the fact that they are fighting, Piandao doesn’t seem all that angry. If anything, he seems… pleased? And then the man starts complimenting Sokka on the way that he fights, and Sakari isn’t sure how sword fights usually go down but she’s fairly sure this isn’t it.

Sokka’s confidence grows with each parry and it appears as though he is close to winning when Piandao suddenly manages to disarm him and knock him to the ground. His sword moves to point at Sokka’s head and Sakari, Aang, Toph, and Katara dart forwards in panic, only to slow when Piandao lowers his sword and smiles. “Excellent work, Sokka.” There’s a confused silence in which the kids exchange wary looks but hold their bending stances. “I think I’m a little too old to be fighting the Avatar.”

And… what the fuck?

“How did you know?” Aang asks.

Master Piandao explains that he’s known all along that Sokka was water tribe but doesn’t believe that the way of the sword belongs to any one nation. And as he bids them farewell, he implores Sokka to keep up his training, promising that one day the boy will make an even greater master than himself.

As they’re walking out of the gates of Piandao’s castle, Fat, the butler, rushes to catch up with them and offers them a small brown bag. “The Master wanted you to have this, as something to remember him by.” Sokka tips the bag up to reveal a Pai Sho tile with a white lotus on it.

Sakari looks back up and frowns at Fat’s retreating figure. “I’m getting really sick of this cryptic shit.”

Of course, the Cryptic Shit keeps on coming.

The Gaang are camped out near some hot springs one night when Toph wakes them up. “Guys, you’re all gonna think I’m crazy, but it feels like a metal man is coming.”

They turn to look in the direction Toph’s head is turned and spot a hulking figure standing on top of the cliff looming over them. In the dim light of the moon, Sakari can just make out metal legs, a metal arm, and a strange symbol tattooed on his forehead. They all scramble to their feet just as the man moves his head and some kind of beam of energy shoots out from the tattoo, striking the ground near them and causing an explosion that showers them all in small pieces of rock. As he continues shootings energy beams at them, The group tries to block them with their bending, but nothing they try does anything to dampen the blasts. In the end, Aang tells everyone else to get away on Appa while he distracts the attacker and manages to fend him off until they are able to swoop in to grab him.

There’s a stunned sort of silence that hangs over the group for a moment before Toph says, “well, that was random.”

“I don’t think so,” Katara replies, glancing back. “I get the feeling he knows who we are.”

“That must mean the Fire Nation know that Aang’s alive then,” Sakari says grimly. “But how?”

“Well… we have been getting less careful,” Toph says pointedly. “Aang hasn’t been covering his tattoos as much lately, maybe someone saw them.”

Sakari rubs her forehead. “Okay. So, we know that whoever that metal guy is knows that Aang’s alive. I think it’s a fair assumption that he works for the Fire Nation given they’re really the only ones who want Aang dead, therefore whoever hired him knows too. If they’ve spread the news, that means Fire Nationals will be on high alert.”

“I don’t think they’d spread it,” Sokka says thoughtfully. “I mean, everyone thought he was dead for so long that it would be a bit embarrassing on their part if everyone found out. That’s probably why they hired him, to kill him before people could find out that he isn’t dead.”

“Can we stop talking about me being killed?” Aang groans.

“Sorry, buddy. There’s also the fact that with Aang supposedly… not around, the Fire Nation feels secure and everyone else supposedly feels hopeless, which is exactly what they want. But in any case, we should make sure we lay low… stay away from people.”

They end up doing almost the exact opposite of that, with Toph becoming a little con artist in Fire Fountain City, scamming merchants for money. It causes a severe rift between her and Katara, who is decidedly unimpressed with the girl’s actions, particularly when they discover wanted posters looking for Toph. After a nasty and drawn-out argument, the two girls reconcile and decide to perform a scam together by staging Toph’s capture to get the generous bounty and escape, meanwhile Sakari, Aang, and Sokka wait back at their campsite.

However, they wait for quite some time with no sign of the girls and start to get worried. So, the three of them head into town, uneasy when the place seems practically abandoned. Something catches Aang’s eyes then and he hastily shoves them all behind an Ozai statue with a cry of, “Watch out!” just as there is a blast right where they were standing. “It’s Sparky-Sparky-Boom Man!”

Sakari peers around the statue to see the man jump down from the roof of a house and immediately send another blast, the force of which sends them flying back. Aang suggests splitting up to confuse him, and the next moment, Sakari is on her own, weaving through buildings and sending water bending attacks in the attacker’s direction whenever she glimpses him.

As she skids around the next corner, the gasps when she sees Aang on the ground with their attacker looming over him, drawing in a deep breath ready to create another beam. But suddenly his head is encased in ice, and Sokka, Toph, and Katara are standing behind him. Sakari dashes across to them, hauling Aang to his feet as she passes. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

There’s a shattering sound as the man frees himself from the ice and Sakari glances back to see him charging up for another attack. Thinking quickly, Toph launches a boulder back toward him. The beam blows the boulder up and one of the resulting pebbles strikes his forehead right on the tattooed eye, momentarily stunning him. When he tries to make another blast, he instead ignites the air around him and causes a blast that sends him flying back into the wall behind him.

They get out of there as fast as they can.

Later, Katara and Toph are filling the rest of them in on how their arrest had been a trap, and how their wooden cell meant that Toph could not bend them out. Instead, Katara had figured out that she could make herself sweat in order to make water to bend with, allowing her to slice through the door.

And, well, that’s great. Sakari is truly happy for the girl. But, at the same time, she feels unbelievably stupid. Because, of course, that makes perfect sense. Bodies are full of water. And yet, she spent a month stuck, tortured in Kanut’s basement because she didn’t have any water to end to get herself out. Logically she knows that she was not exactly in any condition to make herself sweat, and even if she had, it probably wouldn’t have been enough water to heal her hands. But the thought had not even crossed her mind, and she feels like an idiot for it, especially when Katara had figured it out so quickly.  It’s no wonder she ended up in that basement in the first place.

Like most nights, when Sakari goes to sleep that night, she dreams of being back there, dreams of Kanut’s torture. She dreams that her friends break in and save her, and while Aang is helping her up, Katara is looking around the cell with a frown.

“Why didn’t you just get yourself out?”

It’s only then that Sakari realises that she is surrounded by barrels full of water. Katara is staring at her with a look of contempt, and her cheeks grow hot with shame.

“Some waterbender you are.”

Chapter Text

Sakari is not a wuss. But… camped out in the woods telling ghost stories in the middle of the night is not her idea of a good time.

She startles when Toph suddenly gasps and says, “Wait! Guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain. And they’re screaming.”

“Pfft, nice try,” Sokka dismisses.

“No, I’m serious! I hear something.”

Just as unease and panic start to settle into the group, a strange old woman suddenly appears and introduces herself as Hama. She says that she owns an inn nearby and offers for them to stay the night.

“Thanks for letting us stay here tonight,” Katara says as Hama pours them all some tea. “You have a lovely inn.”

“Aren’t you sweet? You know, you should be careful,” Hama warns, “people have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in.”

Sokka raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean, ‘disappearing’?”

“When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don’t come out. Who wants more tea?” The woman is met with silence as the children all exchange uneasy looks. “Don’t worry, you’ll all be completely safe here. Why don’t I show you to your rooms and you can get a good night’s rest?”

As expected, Sakari does not, in fact, get a good night’s rest. Any sleep she does get is met with more nightmares, now featuring Kanut luring her into the woods to recapture her.

In the morning, Hama takes them all into the market to shop for food, and her and Katara seem to become fast friends. While walking around, they overhear some of the locals talking about the strange disappearances and Sokka and Aang become determined to figure out what has caused the ‘Spirit World shenanigans’. Sakari however, in a bad mood from a lack of sleep, hangs back with Toph who looks equally exhausted.

 “This is a mysterious little town you have here,” Sokka says to Hama.

“Mysterious town for mysterious children,” is the only response she gives and Sakari exchanges a wary look with Sokka, feeling a prickle in the back of her neck.

Hama sends them back to the inn while she runs a couple more errands, and the group begin to unpack all the groceries.

“Hama seems a little strange,” Sokka says. “Like she knows something, or she’s hiding something.”

Katara scowls. “That’s ridiculous. She’s a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran.”

“But what did she mean by that comment, ‘mysterious children’?”

“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods at night? Isn’t that a little mysterious?”

“She’s got a point there,” Sakari chimes in.

“Maybe… but I’m gonna take a look around.”  

Katara’s eyes widen when Sokka starts heading up the wooden stairs and they all follow. “Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing? You can’t just snoop around someone’s house.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“She could be home any minute,” Aang tries to reason.

“Sokka, you’re gonna get us all in trouble and this is just plain rude!”

The boy tugs on a cupboard door. “I’m not finished yet. Come on…”

With a yank, the cupboard doors open to reveal a bunch of wooden puppets and they all jump.

“Okay, that’s pretty creepy,” Aang says.

“So, she’s got a hobby. There’s nothing weird about that. Sokka, you’ve looked enough. Hama will be back soon.”

Sokka ignores his sister and heads up into the attic. “Just an ordinary puppet-loving innkeeper, huh? Well, then why does she have a locked door up here?”

“Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff!”

“We’ll see.” He peers through the keyhole. “It’s empty, except for a little chest.”

Toph perks up. “Maybe it’s treasure!”

Sokka uses his sword to pick the lock and they file into the room to find the chest locked as well. Toph manages to earthbend her meteorite bracelet into the shape of a key to get the chest unlocked just as Hama’s voice appears behind them. “I’ll tell you what’s in the box.”

They all scream and jump, before recovering from the initial fright. Sokka guiltily hands Hama the chest and she pulls out a blue whale tooth comb. She explains that it is her greatest treasure, the last thing she owns from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe and reveals that she overheard Katara telling her ghost story about a girl from their home village and was planning to surprise them all with a big Water tribe dinner. Sokka apologises, but the woman doesn’t seem fazed about the whole ordeal.

While everyone else seems to have the appropriate reaction to finding out about the woman’s heritage (relief and happiness) Sakari just feels even more on edge. And it makes her feel broken. She should feel comfortable around her own people. When she looks over at Hama, she finds the woman staring curiously at her hands, still scarred and knobbly, and Sakari’s stomach twists.

At dinner, Hama reveals herself to be a waterbender, which naturally excites Katara even more.

“You’re a waterbender! I’ve never met another waterbender from our tribe!”

“That’s because the Fire Nation wiped them all out. I was the last one…”

“How did you end up out here?” Sokka asks.

“I was stolen from my home. It was over sixty years ago when the raids started. They came again and again, each time rounding up more of our waterbenders and taking them captive. We did our best to gold them off but out numbers dwindled as the raids continued. Finally, I too was captured. I was led away in chains. The last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. They put us in terrible prisons here in the Fire Nation. I was the only one who managed to escape.”

“How did you get away?” Sokka asks. “And why did you stay in the Fire Nation?”

Sakari thinks this is a great question – she could not imagine staying in the very nation that captured you.

However, Hama just grimaces. “I’m sorry, it’s too painful to talk about anymore.”

Katara shoots her a sympathetic look. “We completely understand. We lost our mother in a raid.”

“Oh, you poor things.”

“I can’t tell you what it means to meet you. It’s an honour. You’re a hero.”

“I never thought I’d meet another Southern Waterbender. I’d like to teach you what I know so you can carry on the Southern tradition when I’m gone.”

“Yes! Yes, of course! To learn about my heritage, it would mean everything to me.”

Later that night, Katara comes to sit on Sakari’s bed, looking nervous.

“What’s up?”

“Listen, Sakari, about tomorrow… I know you’re from the Northern Tribe, but I’m sure that Hama would be more than willing to teach you too.”

“No, no, it’s fine, honestly” Sakari assures. She doesn’t even think that Hama knows that she’s a waterbender because she hasn’t mentioned it, and while the omission wasn’t necessarily intentional, for some reason she just feels the need to keep her cards close to her chest. In any case, she would much rather go with the others to investigate the disappearances. “Our traditions are sacred-” she winces at her hypocrisy, “well… most of them. This is about your specific culture; I won’t infringe on that. But I really appreciate you checking in on me.”

“Okay… If you’re sure. But if you change your mind in the morning, let me know.”

The next day, Sakari sets out with Aang, Sokka, and Toph into town to see what they can find out about the missing people, and what they might have done that could have upset the spirits.

“This has got to be the nicest natural setting in the Fire Nation,” Aang says. “I don’t see anything that would make a spirit mad around here.”

“Maybe the Moon Spirit just turned mean,” Toph suggests.

This strikes a nerve with Sokka. “The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady! She rules the sky with compassion and… lunar goodness!”

Toph pulls a face and Sakari shrugs, “He’s got a point, the Moon Spirit is an absolute babe.” 

Aang catches the attention of a villager walking by. “Excuse me, sir. Can you tell us anything about the spirit that’s been stealing people?”

“Only one man ever saw it and lived and that’s Old Man Ding.”

“Where does Old Man Ding live?”

They find Old Man Ding boarding up the windows to his house.

“Old Man Ding?”

Aang’s voice startles the man, causing him to accidentally hammer his thumb. “Ow, dang blame it! What? Can’t you see I’m busy? Got a full moon rising. And why does everyone call me that? I’m not that old!” At that moment he tries and fails to lift a wooden plank off the ground and sighs. “Well, I’m young at heart. Not ready to get snapped up by some moon monster yet, at least,” he adds as they start to help him with the boards.

“We wanted to ask you about that,” Sokka says.

“Did you get a good look at the spirit that took you?”

“Didn’t see no spirit, just felt something come over me, like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking toward the mountain. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't control my own limbs. It just about had me into a cave up there. And I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then the sun started to rise and I got control of myself again! I just high-tailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!”

“Why would a spirit want to take people to a mountain?”

At this, Toph gasps, “Oh no! I did hear people screaming under the mountain. The missing villagers must still be there!”

It's getting dark by the time they’re running through the forest up in search of the missing people.

“I can hear them,” Toph says, touching a hand to the ground. “They’re this way!” She leads them in a sprint towards the mountain.

They’re all panting heavily and full of adrenaline when they come across the mount of the cave.

“This is the place.”

“I can’t see anything down there,” Sokka frowns.

Toph just grabs his hand and says, “That’s why you have me. Let’s go!”

In the tunnel, they come across a solid metal door with torches either side. Toph breaks it down and they walk in to find a cavern filled with villagers chained to the walls.

“We’re saved!” one man cries. 

Toph is quick to use her meteor bracelet to start unlocking the people’s shackles.

“I didn’t know spirits made prisons like this,” Aang frowns. “Who brought you here?”

“It was no spirit.”

“It was a witch!”

“A witch?” Sokka repeats. ” What do you mean?

“She seems like a normal old woman, but then she controls people like some dark puppetmaster!”

Sakari’s stomach drops. The moon influencing waterbending power. The disappearances occurring during full moons. Katara bending her sweat. Hama seeming far too content living in the Fire Nation after everything she went through. Bodies are full of water. “Hama!”

“Yes, the innkeeper!”

Sokka scowls. “I knew there was something creepy about her!”

“We have to stop Hama!” Aang exclaims.

“I’ll get these people out of here,” Toph says. “You go!”

The trio race out of the cave and follow the sound of a nearby commotion to find Hama and Katara in a small clearing, duelling. They arrive just as Katara manages to knock Hama to the ground.

“We know what you’ve been doing, Hama!” Sokka shouts, as the old hag rises to her knees.

Aang takes a fighting stance. “Give up! You’re outnumbered!”

“No! You’ve outnumbered yourselves.”

At that moment, Sakari begins to feel her body moving against her will. She exchanges panicked looks with Aang and Sokka who have also gone rigid, and the next thing she knows, they’re all being launched in the direction of Katara, who dodges and sends a waterbending counterattack in one swift motion. They hit the ground hard and Sakari groans.

When she starts to feel her body seize up again, she manages to overcome her initial panic and takes a deep breath, focusing on her body and the water in it. It takes a moment to fully extricate herself from Hama’s control and the tension in her muscles eases once she’s regained control of her own blood. She gasps in relief and has to take a second to recover from the awful feeling meanwhile Katara fends off Aang and Sokka. Just as Katara manages to freeze the boys against a tree, Sakari turns to Hama, only to see the woman giving her a vicious look.

That’s right, she remembers, she didn’t know I was a waterbender.

Sakari moves her arms ready to attack, but the old hag smirks and suddenly there is ice around her hands. Hama squeezes a fist and then the ice is crushing them. Sakari yelps in pain and falls to her knees, mind now somewhere completely different.

The mallet coming down on her hands.

Freeze burns on her skin.

Kanut’s sadistic laugh.

But then something else cuts through the haze – Pakku’s voice. Fight back! FIGHT!

Sakari lets out a guttural cry as she draws on all her power and might to shatter the ice surrounding her hands. She gasps in a breath, coming back to herself just in time to see Aang and Sokka being launched at each other, the latter with his sword pointed directly at the former. She winces as she pushes her hands up, throwing up a barricade of ice between them just as they both stop suddenly. Sakari looks to Hama who has stiffened, then to Katara, who has her arms outstretched, controlling her.

At that moment, Toph and the villagers come running up and the group are quick to apprehend Hama.

“You’re going to be locked away forever,” one man says, but the old woman looks completely unbothered.

“My work is done. Congratulations, Katara. You’re a bloodbender.”

As she’s dragged off by the villagers, laughing manically, Katara falls down to her knees, dissolving in hysterical sobs. The Gaang are quick to surround her and try to comfort her.

Sakari kneels in front of her and places her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders, tears threatening to spill from her own eyes. “You did what you had to do, Katara. You did what you had to do. You were protecting us… protecting your family… you did what you had to do.”

She pulls her into a firm hug and for a brief second, she’s not embracing Katara, but her 9-year-old self.

The mood of the group is very sombre as they fly away on Appa, all of them very anxious to get away from this place. Sakari slumps back against the side of the saddle and draws some water from her waterskin to hold around her hands to heal them.

“Here, let me,” Katara murmurs, moving in front of her and starting to take over.

“No, it’s fine, I can do it. You’re exhausted and you’ve been through a lot.”

“No, I need to do this,” she says firmly, before letting out a sigh. “After all of that… I need to be reminded that I- that I can do good with waterbending.”

Sakari’s expression softens and she holds her hands out for the girl. It’s quiet for a moment between them, then she says, “you don’t just do good, Katara. You are good. Always will be. Hama needed to be stopped.”

“I know… I just wish it didn’t have to be me who stopped her.”

Sakari feels her heart break a little bit. She doesn’t know what else to say.

They arrive at the Black Cliffs, the rendezvous point for the invasion force, four days early. While this puts most of the group at ease, Aang just seems even more stressed.

They wake up the following morning to Aang repeatedly and aggressively punching a tree.

“Hey,” Katara greets tentatively. “How long have you been up?”

“A couple hours. I got a lot more skills to refine if I’m gonna fight Ozai.”

“You know, there is such a thing as over-training.”

Aang punches the tree one last time proceeds to start walking around Katara in circles in a fighting stance. “You don’t get it, do you? My form is bad, I’m sloppy, and I still don’t know any firebending. Not even the basics.” 

“That’s okay, Aang,” Sokka says from where he’s lying on the ground. “The eclipse will block off firebending anyway, you don’t need to know it. Plus, it’s a stupid element.”

Sakari snorts.

“Okay, well, I still have to work on everything else. I better spend the whole day training.”

Before anyone can reply, he rides off on an air scooter.

Sakari rubs her forehead tiredly. “He worries me.”

They don’t see Aang for the whole day. The only indication that he’s still around is the occasional distant noise from him attacking various parts of nature. They manage to lure him back to the campsite for some dinner, but as soon as he’s done, Aang is gone again, back to training.

A while later, Katara, Sokka, and Toph have gone to sleep, but Sakari waits up for him. It’s been quite a while since she’s heard any kind of noise and she’s starting to grow paranoid.

You’ve got friends somewhere around the place. I think I could call us even if I paid them a visit… made you feel what I felt.

Sakari shudders. No, there’s no way Kanut could have found them here.

But Combustion Man might have. Or Zuko. Azula.

She hears footsteps then and when Aang pushes through a line of shrubbery, she sighs in relief. “Hey,” she whispers as the boy approaches. “You okay? You look exhausted.”

“Yep, I’m great,” he replies in the least convincing tone possible, before letting out a huge yawn. “Goodnight, Sakari.”

“Goodnight, Aang.”

Aang has dark, heavy bags under his eyes the following morning from having his sleep interrupted by multiple nightmares. He starts unravelling and giving them each highly specific orders based on his nightmares until Katara manages to get him to settle and says she has just the thing to help him relax.

The hot yoga does not work, though.

And neither does Sokka’s therapy.

Nor Toph’s brutal ‘back pounding’. When she holds out a boar-q-pine ready for some acupuncture, Aang screams and runs.

Sakari tries giving him ‘head scratchies’ like her mother did to help her sleep when she was little, but that doesn’t settle him either.  

When he wakes up screaming from yet another nightmare, Aang resolves to simply not sleep until after the invasion, much to concern of everyone else in the party. When the boy starts having hallucinations, the group decide they need to intervene and make him a bed of koala sheep wool. He thinks he’s hallucinating a bed of clouds at first, and it takes some convincing to get him to lie down in it, but when he does, he’s asleep in a matter of minutes.

He sleeps until the next morning, the day of the invasion, and wakes up in a chipper and confident mood. Not long later, they spot the invasion force approaching on the horizon, and Toph uses earthbending to create a dock in the harbour.

Once the ships are docked, Hakoda and Bato are the first to step off and greet them.

“You made it, Dad!” Katara greets excitedly, hugging the man.  

“Were you able to locate everyone I told you to find?” Sokka asks.

“I did. But I’m a little worried, Sokka. Some of these men aren’t exactly the… warrior type.” At that moment, Tho, Due, and Huu from the Foggy Swamp Tribe emerge. “It is just me or are those fellas a little loose in the leaf-hat?”

“I just wish they would wear pants,” Bato complains, and Sakari grimaces in agreement.

As more people file out of the boats, Aang introduces Sakari and Toph to some unfamiliar faces: Haru and his father, Tyro, earthbenders from a formerly Fire Nation occupied town; The Mechanist, an inventor and engineer, and his son, Teo. Pipsqueak and The Duke also arrive, and while Sakari met them while on the Fire Nation ship, she was so out of it in those days that she barely remembers their interactions.

Toph gets ready to fight when she recognises The Big Bad Hippo and The Boulder, but the pair tell her that they’ve given up fighting for entertainment and now wish to fight for their kingdom.

The next two figures to step off the boat are all too familiar to Sakari, whose heart swells at the sight of Anik and Tuktu. However, as soon as they make eye contact with her, she finds her excitement dwindling, suddenly feeling unsure of herself and where she stands with them. But a huge grin spreads across Anik’s face and he rushes up to her and pulls her into a tight hug before pulling back to ruffle her hair.

“Hey!” Sakari objects with a laugh, shoving his hand away.

“My little brother really is my little sister now,” he says, tugging playfully at one of her loopies.

“I can still kick your ass.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.”

When Anik moves aside to greet the rest of the Gaang, Tuktu is standing in front of her, rubbing his arm awkwardly. “Can I talk to you alone?”

Sakari crosses her arms and presses her lips together. “Not unless you plan on apologising for being an ass.”

“I do,” he says quickly, and she relaxes then gestures to a quiet spot off to the side.

He looks nervous, which greatly pleases Sakari.

“I’m really sorry for reacting so badly,” he begins. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it all and I’m sorry that it took me so long to see how stupid I was. I trusted Kavik… I see now that Sakari shouldn’t be any different.”

“You really hurt me, Tuktu. You were one of my best friends and you turned your back on me and it really fucking hurt.”

“I know. I know, and I am so sorry. I was such an ass and I should never have treated you like that. I would- I would really appreciate it if you would give me a chance to make it up to you.”

Sakari’s expression softens. “Thank you for saying all of that. I forgive you, Tuktu.”

He stares at her for a moment, and at the quizzical look she gives him he hastily says, “Sorry, I’m just- not used to this look.”

“I really don’t look that different.”

He huffs a laugh. “Maybe not. You, uh, you said I was one of your best friends… I- I understand that-“  

She cuts him off with a hug. “You still are, you goof.”

“O-oh, okay,” he says as she pulls away, a pink hue on his cheeks. “I, uh, missed you.”

“I missed you too. I’m excited to kick Fire Nation ass together.”

When the pair return to the group, Anik is introducing himself to Toph and explaining how he and Tuktu know Sakari. The relief on his face when he sees that the two have reconciled is obvious. However, Sakari is amused to find that Sokka, Katara, and Aang are giving Tuktu cold looks. While she appreciates their protectiveness, she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of those looks.

“Toph, this is my friend, Tuktu,” she says pointedly.

Aang, never one to hold a grudge, smiles instantly. “Thanks so much for coming, guys, we really appreciate it.”

Sokka and Katara reluctantly follow suit.

Sokka positively freaks out about presenting the invasion plan to everyone and proceeds to deliver a very awkward, stunted, and confusing speech that Hakoda hastily takes over. The boy is completely embarrassed and Sakari gives him a comforting pat on the back when he comes back and sits next to them, burying his face in his hands.

“Dude, it’s fine, everyone’s bad at speeches,” she tries.

“Dad isn’t.”

“Okay, well- fair, but- he’s had plenty of practice. He does this all the time. A few more times and you’ll be a pro.”

“I have no intention of doing that ever again.”

“Eh, I reckon it’ll take a little more than a bit of embarrassment to take down the Mighty Sokka.”

Sokka squints at her. “I can’t tell if you’re mocking me.”

“I’m not. No one’s gonna remember this except you. Especially when you single-handedly lay out the entire Fire Nation army.”

Sokka rolls his eyes at her, but she counts it as a win when his lips pull into a smile.

Sakari’s heart is racing by the time everyone gathers at the boats, largely in fear at the upcoming battle, but also in excitement as the prospect that this horrific war could be over within in the next 24 hours. Realistically, the aftermath with be a mess, and even if Aang defeats the Fire Lord, Azula and Zuko are still going to be a problem. But it’s hard to focus too hard on that when the energy of the invasion force is so electric.

When she spots Aang, is takes her a second to realise what looks different about him, then she realises; he’s shaved his head, tattoos now on full display. She immediately makes a beeline for him, pulls him into a playful headlock and rubs her knuckles on his head. “I missed this beautiful smooth head of yours.”

Aang just laughs and shoves her off.

They attempt to get through the Great Gates of Azulon using a cover of fog to hide the boats, but just as they’re about to reach them, a huge net rises out of the water and lights on fire. Immediately, patrol boats start heading towards them so they turn to Plan B – the submarines.

From below the deck of each ship, a submarine emerges, propelled through the water by the waterbenders. Sakari, Anik, and Tuktu are teamed up together in one submarine, and it brings Sakari such joy to be working side-by-side with her boys again. Halfway out from the shoreline, they have to rise to the surface to replenish the air supply, and everyone takes the opportunity to stretch and get some fresh air.

“You know, you haven’t told us what you’ve been up to since you left,” Tuktu says, and Sakari tries to keep her expression patient.

“Well, we’ve all been a bit busy the last couple hours and I’m not really sure now is the best-“ she cuts herself off suddenly when she sees both him and Anik glancing between her face and her hands. Oh. “Right, yeah. Okay, well, now is definitely not the best time for that conversation. I… I ended up kidnapped by some guy and he was making sure I couldn’t waterbend. I’ll explain fully once this is all over, but… bit of a mood killer, if you ask me. Not great for pre-battle vibes. And I’m okay now, so… please say something.”

“We’re glad you’re okay,” Anik smiles and gives her a side hug.

Tuktu nods. “Yeah, and once this invasion is done, we look forward to hearing about how you kicked whoever-did-that-to-you’s ass.”

Sakari’s heart grows warm. “Thanks, guys.”

Just before they resubmerge, Sakari hops across to the top of the middle submarine, where the rest of the Gaang is gathered. They have a quick pep talk and huddle together in what will be the last group hug they have before the battle commences. Hakoda signals that it’s time and everyone heads to their respective positions to continue the journey. Just before they sink below the surface, Sakari catches sight of Aang flying off on his glider, and her stomach churns.

The boy is about to face Fire Lord Ozai alone. She knows he’s capable, but until they see him again, they’ll have no idea how things are going, if Aang is okay. And the thought makes her feel sick.

Chapter Text

The excited buzz combined with anxious dread amongst the invasion force escalates the closer they get to the Fire Nation’s doorstep. As they reach the port, they have to dodge several harpoons, and there a couple of near misses, but they manage to use torpedoes to blast their way through the underwater barrier and head towards land. Everyone is well and truly amped up now.

The moment the submarines rise out of the water and the invasion force emerges on foot and in the metal trains, they face heavy fire from numerous battlements high up on the surrounding cliffs. The battle has well and truly commenced by the time Fire Nation tanks appear, and the scene is a blur of movement and attacks. Sakari, Anik, and Tuktu work as a unit, ploughing through Fire Nation soldiers and taking out the battlements along one side one by one, meanwhile Katara, Sokka, and Hakoda work on the other side.

Sakari is distracted from her task when she hears her friends cry out, “Dad!” and she looks across to see Sokka and Katara running up to their wounded father.

“I’m going to go check on them, will you guys be alright without me?”  

Anik snorts. “Don’t flatter yourself, we’ll be fine.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

Without any follow-up, Sakari starts fighting her way across the other side of the battlefield where Katara is now healing Hakoda.

“Don’t be crazy, Sokka,” Katara is saying irritably to Sokka as she approaches.

“Maybe I am a little crazy, but the eclipse is about to start and we need to be up that volcano by the time it does.”

“You can do this,” Hakoda encourages. “I’m proud of you, son.”

Katara softens. “I still think you’re crazy, but I’m proud of you too.”

“Do you want a right-hand man?” Sakari asks. “Well… woman.”

Sokka grins and nods. “C’mon.”

The pair of them climb up onto Appa and fly toward to the front of the force.

“You don’t think I’ve made a mistake, do you?” Sokka asks, glancing at her.

“Of course not. You’re the best man for the job. You’re going to ace this.”

Appa takes out an enemy tank as they land, and Sakari and Sokka dash towards the soldiers. 

“Listen up, everyone! I want the tanks in a wedge formation. Warriors and benders in the middle. We’re taking that tower and heading for the royal palace.” Immediately, the invasion force follows suit, forming a wedge behind Appa with soldiers and benders protected in the middle.

“See? You’re a professional,” Sakari says, elbowing him lightly, and a look of pride lights up the boy’s face.

The invasion force continues to push through, gradually getting closer to the palace with minimal injuries as the moon approaches the sun. There’s an even better turn of events when they spot Katara and Hakoda approaching.

“Dad! You’re on your feet again!”

Hakoda sits down gingerly behind the rock they’re using for cover as Sakari, Katara, Sokka, and Toph surround him. “Thanks to your sister. I’m in no shape to fight, but maybe there’s some way I can help.”

“Everything’s going smoothly and the eclipse hasn’t even kicked in yet.”

“Let’s hope our luck holds out.” Hakoda glances at Katara who’s moving away, looking in the distance. “Katara, you seem distracted. Is something wrong?”

“Yeah. Is that… is that Aang?”

Sakari follows Katara’s gaze and, sure enough, Aang is flying towards them on his glider. At first, she’s just relieved to see him in one piece, but she grows uneasy when he lands in front of them, a troubled expression on his face.

“Please tell me you’re here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn’t even need the eclipse to take him down,” Sokka says flatly.

“He wasn’t home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned.”

“They knew.”

Aang hangs his head. “It’s over. The Fire Lord is probably long-gone; far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse.”

“No,” Sokka shakes his head. “My instincts tell me he wouldn’t go too far. He would have a secret bunker; somewhere he could go and be safe during the siege but still be close enough to lead his nation.”

Toph perks up and says, “If it’s an underground secret bunker we’re looking for, I’m just the girl to find it.”

Sokka pulls out some kind of device. “The mechanist gave me this timing device. It looks like we’ve got about ten minutes until the full eclipse. Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord.”

Aang straightens up a bit, looking hopeful. “We can still do this. We can still win the day.”

“Wait!” Katara chimes in. “If they knew we were coming it could all be a trap. Maybe we should use the time we have left to make sure we all get out of here safely.”

“Everyone who’s here today came prepared to risk everything for this mission,” says Hakoda. “They know what’s at stake. If there’s still a chance and there’s still hope, I think they would want Aang to go for it.”

“What do you think?” Sokka asks Aang. “You’re the one that has to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you decide, I’m with you.”

Aang gets to his feet, staring resolutely in the direction of the palace. “I’ve gotta try.”

Sokka and Toph go with Aang to locate the secret bunker, meanwhile Sakari, Hakoda, Bato, and Katara stay and continue to lead the invasion force further inland. 

“Why did we just see the Avatar again?” Sakari hears Tuktu’s voice behind her, and she glances back to see her friends.

“Isn’t he supposed to be killing the Fire Lord?” Anik asks as she drops back to be in line with them.

“Slight problem; it seems they knew somehow and have evacuated. But Sokka’s confident that Ozai’s hiding out in some underground bunker so he and Toph have gone with him to find it.”

“Fucking fantastic,” Tuktu mutters.

“And… are we confident about this plan?” Anik asks.

“We have to take any chance we have at ending this war.”

“So that’s a no. That’s on me, I shouldn’t have asked. Alright let’s do this.”

Despite the hiccup in their plan (perhaps an understatement), things seem to be going well. The Fire Nation soldiers even start retreating, much to the pleasure of the team. By the time the eclipse starts, they’ve reached the rim of the volcano and the Fire Nation Palace is in their sights. They put on their eclipse glasses provided by the Mechanist and for the next eight minutes, they continue advancing through the city, relishing in every surrender of a Fire Nation soldier.

As the sun starts peaks out again from behind the moon, the invasion force slows to a halt in their attacks.

“What should we do, Hakoda?” Bato asks. “Shouldn’t something have happened by now?”

“I don’t know. But now that the eclipse is over, I expect we’re going to see some firebenders any minute.”

At that very moment, five war balloons followed by five huge airships rise into the air from behind the palace.

“They’re back!” Katara says, pointing to the sky where Appa is flying towards them with Toph, Aang, Sokka and Momo with him.

“It was all a trap!” Sokka exclaims when they land and climb out of the saddle. “Azula knew we were coming and she’s plotted out every move! We’ve just got to get to the beach as fast as we can. If we can make it to the submarines, maybe we can get away safely.”

Aang steps forward and opens his glider. “They’ve got air power, but so do I! I’m gonna go what I can to slow them down.”

As he takes off, Katara moves toward the sky bison. “Appa, you and I can help too.”

Once she’s flown off too, Sokka turns back to look at everybody else and shouts, “Everyone, let’s get back to the subs!”

Dodging fireballs as they run, the invasion force makes their way back down the volcano.

“Try and find cover!” Sokka’s voice booms when they’re about halfway down. “I think we’re about to see some bombs!”

Sakari lets out a surprised yelp as Anik yanks both her and Tuktu by the sleeves, down into a small niche in the mountain side. Seconds later, there’s a series of deafening explosions and shockwaves as bombs detonate. When the explosions stop, they look up to see the ships passing overhead, giving them the opportunity to keep running just as Katara, Aang, and Appa rejoin the group.

“Why aren’t they turning around to attack us again?” Katara asks.

“They’re heading for the beach…” Aang says thoughtfully before his eyes widen. “They’re gonna destroy the submarines!”

Sokka’s face falls. “How are we all going to escape?”

“We’re not,” Hakoda says, approaching with an arm draped over Bato for support.

“Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar, we could still win.”

“Yes, with the Avatar we could still win. On another day. You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa together.”

Katara grabs her father in panic. “What? We can’t leave you behind! We won’t leave anyone behind!” 

“There must be some other option,” Sakari tries weakly feeling dizzy at the turn of events. “If Toph can make a tunnel we can all escape underground.”

“Even if we had a way to navigate underground, the second we emerged anywhere, we’d be noticed in an instant. You can’t really hide an entire army,” Hakoda explains gently, before giving a sad smile. “You’re our only chance in the long run. You kids have to go with Aang somewhere safe. It's the only way to keep hope alive.”

Bato nods. “The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We’ll be prisoners, but we’ll all survive this battle.”

“I’ve got some experience with Fire Nation prisons,” says Tyro. “It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll get by.”

“They’re at the beach already!” Sokka cries.

They watch as the airships fly over the beach and drop a series of bombs that obliterate all of the submarines while they can only watch in horror. A few of the others start saying their goodbyes and Sakari feels like throwing up.

“Goodbye, Sakari.”

Sakari spins around and stares at Anik. “What? What do you mean goodbye?”

“We’re surrendering with the others,” Tuktu says.

“No, you’re not, you can come with us!”

“We’re adults, Sakari.”

“Barely!” Tears are welling up in her eyes as she looks between the two boys.

“It’s not permanent, we’ll see each other again,” Anik tries to reassure her.

“You-“ she stops herself from saying you don’t know that. “You can’t leave me, we only just reunited.” It sounds childish but she can’t help it.

“And we’ll reunite again. Later,” Tuktu says.

“But…”

Anik pulls her into a tight hug. “I know. Be safe, okay? And kick ass.”

She lets out a wet laugh as they separate. “You too.”

Sakari is slightly caught off guard by how fiercely Tuktu hugs her but relishes it. Oh, how she’s missed them. When she pulls back, instead of pulling away, Tuktu’s hands come to rest on her hips and she feels herself freeze. Oh. There’s an intense look in his eyes when she meets his eye and she hastily coughs and steps back out of his arms feeling incredibly awkward. Nope nope nope. She glances at Anik just in time to see him roll his eyes.

She gives them one last sad smile before jumping back up in Appa’s saddle, the sick feeling in her stomach coming back in full force as she looks out at everyone.

“Thank you all for being so brave and so strong,” Aang says, voice tight with emotion. “I’m gonna make this up to you.”

As they fly away, Sakari is left in disbelief. Things were going so well, and now they’ve just lost all of these people. How are they supposed to do anything now? What is their next move going to be? They’ve blundered their one chance of having the upper hand against the Fire Nation and consequently sent a whole bunch of their allies to Fire Nation prison. Hakoda said that this the only way to keep hope alive, but as she looks around at the sullen expressions of the group, it’s hard to find that hope.

With the saddle as full as it is, it’s only a matter of time before Appa gets too tired. Fortunately, they manage to cross the ocean to the Air Nomad mountain range before he does. After that, they have to walk.

Katara lags behind the group, head hanging low, and Sakari drops back to step in line with her. She doesn’t really know what to say, and she’s not going to ask if the girl is okay when she clearly isn’t. Instead, she just takes her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze, getting a small smile in return before they continue walking in silence.

“Aang kissed me.”

The quiet voice startles Sakari so hard out of her train of thought that she stumbles over her own feet, the humiliation of almost going ass up worth the huff of laughter Katara lets out. A glance up at Aang confirms they’re out of whispering earshot. “What? When?”

“Just before the invasion. He started talking about if he didn’t come back and I started to say that of course he’d come back and then he just… kissed me. And then immediately flew away.”

She tries to read to look on the girl’s face. “And are we… happy about the kiss?”

“Yes? I don’t know… I- I really like Aang, and I think I do want to be with him… when everything is all over. But right now, with everything going on and constantly fearing for our lives… it’s too confusing and I think it would be too complicated. I just feel a bit… lost… about it all.”

“That makes sense. And you haven’t talked about it since?”

“We haven’t had the chance.”

Sakari gives a pointed nod toward Aang.

“I don’t feel like talking about it now.”

“You are talking about it now.”

Katara rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Look, I don’t think Aang expects you to know how you feel, or that anything is going to happen. It sounds like he was scared and just wanted to make sure you knew how he felt. But he definitely should have asked…”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks, Sakari.”

Later, the group has shuffled around a bit and Sakari is walking near the middle of the group when Sokka sidles up beside her. The mischievous look in his eyes already has her dreading what he’s about to say.

“So… what was that weird moment I saw between you and Tuktu?”

Sakari feels her face grow hot. She opens her mouth to reply when suddenly Toph chimes in, grinning as she says, “Yeah, his heart was racing.”

“Didn’t you say he was like a brother to you?” Sokka asks.

She groans loudly. “Apparently, he didn’t get the memo.”

There’s a pause, and then in unison they start singing, “Sakari and Tuktu sitting in a tree, K-I-S-“

“Oh, fuck off.”

“Sakari!” comes Aang’s disapproving tone and she winces.

The Western Air Temple is an incredible feat of architecture, with a series of temples built ‘upside down’ into the cliff face. Teo, Haru, and The Duke are quick to run off to explore, and while Aang attempts to follow them, Katara holds him back reasoning that they need to figure out their new plan. When no one can immediately come up with a viable potential firebending instructor, he’s quick to redirect the conversation and fly off with Momo before any of them can cut in.

Sakari, Katara, Toph, and Sokka decide to give Aang a bit of space for a while before tracking him down on Appa and following him on his glider.

“Aang, can we talk about you learning firebending now?” Katara asks.

“What? The wind is too loud in my ears! Check out this loop!”

“Aang!” Sokka shouts. “I think we should be making some plans about our future!”

“Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table!” Aang says cheerfully as they all land in one of the buildings. “Oh, you’re gonna love the all-day echo chamber!”

“I think that’ll have to wait,” Toph says, pointing behind her.

Appa moves aside to reveal Zuko, and everyone freezes.

“Hello…” Zuko says and gives a small wave. “Zuko, here.” In an instant, the five of them are lined up, prepared to attack, and the Fire Nation Prince holds his hands out. “Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I’d wait for you here.” Appa stomps over to him, takes a sniff and lets an almighty roar. But then he licks Zuko. Twice! The prince uses his sleeve to wipe off the slobber and continues. “I know you must be surprised to see me here.”

“Not really, since you’ve followed us all over the world,” Sokka replies flatly.

“Right. Well, uh… anyway… what I wanted to tell you about is that I’ve changed and I, uh, I’m good now, and well, I think I should join your group. Oh, and I can teach firebending to you. See, I, uh…”

“You want to what now?” says Toph.

Katara gives him a scathing look. “You can’t possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!”

“Yeah, all you’ve ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!” Sokka says.

“I’ve done some good things! I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That’s something!” At this, Appa licks him yet again.

“Appa does seem to like him,” Toph considers.

“He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I’m not buying it.”

“Last time you were ‘good’, it didn’t exactly last,” Sakari adds, and when she meets his eye, she’s a bit taken aback by the vulnerability in his gaze. The only other times she’s seen that look is when they’ve been working (somewhat) together. When she was healing Iroh after Azula’s attack, when she was in their tea shop, when they were stuck in the catacombs together. Before he turned against them. “You went from ‘just trying to make a living’ to attacking Aang like that,” she clicks for emphasis, and she expects defensiveness, but to her surprise, he hangs his head.

“I can understand why you wouldn’t trust me, and I know I’ve made some mistakes in the past.”

“Like when you attacked our village?”

“Or when you stole my mother’s necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?”

“Look, I admit, I’ve done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I’m sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I’m going to try and stop-“

“Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?” Sokka thunders, pulling out his boomerang.

Sakari can read the room well enough to know that it’s not an appropriate reaction, but something about the ridiculousness of Zuko accidentally incriminating himself while supposedly pledging his innocence gets to Sakari then, and she stifles a snort, covering it with a cough.  

 “Well, that’s not his name, but-“

Spirits, he could almost be an earthbender with how fast he’s digging his own hole.

“Ohhh, sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your friend!”

“He’s not my friend!”

“That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!” Toph says angrily.

Zuko turns to Aang then. “Why aren’t you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.” Sakari is learning a lot in this conversation.

Aang turns to look at everyone else, and Sokka shakes his head. The younger boy presses his lips together. “There’s no way we can trust you after everything you’ve done. We’ll never let you join us.”

“You need to get out of here,” Katara orders. “Now.”

“I’m trying to explain that I’m not that person anymore!”

“Either you leave, or we attack.”

“If you won’t accept me as a friend, then maybe you’ll take me as a prisoner,” Zuko tries, and kneels down, holding his arms out in surrender.”

“No, we won’t!” Katara lashes out, blasting water at him and knocking him to the ground. “Get out of here, and don’t come back! And if we ever see you again… well, we’d better not see you again!”

He looks up at them, wide eyed and dripping wet, then his head lowers and he silently gets up and walks away.

Sakari doesn’t know what to make of what just happened. Zuko seemed so genuine, but he also seemed genuine back in Ba Sing Se. And though she doesn’t want to admit it, his actions in the catacombs had left her feeling plain hurt. So, a part of her wants to feel satisfied at Zuko’s rejection, but another (annoyingly louder) part of her feels bad for the guy.

“Why would he try to fool us like that?” Katara asks.

“Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap,” says Sokka.

“This is just like when we were in prison together at Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he’s an actual human being with feelings.”

“He wants you to trust and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes.”

“The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he was really confused and hurt, but obviously, when the time came, he made his choice, and we paid the price. We can’t trust him.”

“I kind of have a confession to make,” Aang pipes up. “Remember when you two were sick and I got captured by Zhao?”

“And you made us suck frozen frogs?” Sokka asks. “How could I forget? I had a wart on the flap that hangs down from the back of my throat for a month!”

Katara sighs impatiently, “Sokka, I looked at it and I told you, there was nothing there!”

“I could feel it! It’s my throatal flap!”

“Don’t ever say ‘throatal flap’ ever again,” Sakari grimaces.

“Hang on, frozen frogs?” Toph repeats in disgust.

“Anyway,” Aang continues pointedly, “when Zhao had me chained up, it was Zuko who came in and got me out. He risked his life to save me.”

“No way! I’m sure he only did it so he could capture you himself!”

“Yeah, face it, Aang, you’re nothing but a big prize to him.”

“You’re probably right…”

“And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar!”

Toph interjects, “actually, he wasn’t lying.”

The certainty in her tone makes Sakari frown. “You seem very sure of that.”

Toph smiles then, like there’s a joke she’s not in on. “Oh, yeah, I can tell when people are lying. Their heart rate changes and I can sense the vibrations in the earth.”  This does not appear to be new information to the others.

“You- What-? Okay, we’ll come back to that later. That explains why Appa likes him.”

“Oh, hooray!” Sokka starts sarcastically. “In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn’t add animal cruelty to the list.”

Toph doesn’t rise to the bait. “I’m just saying that, considering his messed up family and how he was raised, he could have turned out a lot worse.”

Now, Katara joins in with the sarcasm. “You’re right, Toph! Let’s go find him and give him a medal. The ‘not as much of a jerk as you could have been’ award!”

“All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere. Maybe you’re all just letting your hurt feelings keep you thinking clearly.”

“Easy for you to say! You weren’t there when he had us attacked by pirates!”

“Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island!”

“Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple!”

“Why would you even try to defend him?”

Toph’s expression grows angry. “Because, Katara, you’re all ignoring one crucial fact-“ she pokes Aang in the chest “-Aang needs a firebending teacher! We can’t think of a single person in the world to do the job! Now one shows up on a silver platter, and you won’t even think about it?” She stomps her foot on the ground.

“Toph is right,” Sakari says. “We don’t have to hug it out with him or anything, we don’t have to be friends but Aang needs a teacher and he can be that.”

“I’m not having Zuko as my teacher!”

“You’re darn right, you’re not, buddy,” Sokka assures.

“Well, I guess that settles that,” Katara says finally.

Toph lets out a noise of frustration, throwing her hands up. “I’m beginning to wonder who’s really the blind one around here!”

As she storms away from the group, Sakari shoots an apologetic look toward the others before walking after her. As Sakari follows Toph, her mind is racing with the news that the girl can detect lies with her earthbending. She doesn’t understand how Zuko’s sincerity is in question if Toph can categorically say that he was telling the truth.

Ever since the catacombs, Sakari had been assuming that their conversation with Zuko in that cave had been part of some ploy. But now, thinking back to that same vulnerability in his eyes, she realises that he very well could have been being sincere that day. It had only been when Azula had arrived on the scene that things had changed. And if that is the case, what power is it that she holds over him to do that?

“You agree with me, right?” Toph says when they eventually come to sit on a bench.

Sakari nods slowly. “I know he’s done… really bad things. But… I feel like he has to potential to be good. I mean… If Azula hadn’t gotten to him in Ba Sing Se, then he would probably still be in the tea shop with his uncle. I just… it seems like whatever is going on there is so much deeper than any of us understand. And obviously Zuko is responsible for his own actions, but at the same time, people need guidance.” After all, look at the damage she had done without the proper guidance for her bending. These may be very different circumstances, but the point still stands. “And looking at his father and his sister, it’s not like he’s got great people around him.”

“Exactly. You think he really does want to be good?”

“I mean, you’d know better than me with your magic lie-detecting feet, but… yeah.”

“Me too. I can’t imagine it’d be easy to break away from that kind of family even without them being royalty. I know the others have every right to be wary but he is telling the truth. Besides, Aang really does need to learn firebending. Especially after that failed invasion.”

Sakari hums in agreement. “Plus, Zuko would be outright stupid to try anything now. We’d kick his ass.”

“You seem to be assuming that he’s not stupid. We heard the same speech, right?”

“Fair point,” she snorts. “But you know what I mean.”

“I feel like… we need more information.”

Sakari raises an eyebrow, unnerved at the contemplative expression on Toph’s face. “What do you have in mind?”

Chapter Text

Sakari and Toph have to wander around for quite some time, but eventually, after the sun has set, they spot the smoke of a campfire. The two of them creep up slowly, wanting to make sure it is actually Zuko rather than stumbling into the clearing and finding someone else. What they don’t consider about a quiet approach is that, when they do actually step through the bushes, Zuko is so startled that he instinctively shoots fire straight at them.

Sakari is quick to create a shield with some water and deflects the flames with a defensive, “Hey!”

The boy’s eyes widen and he backs up, holding his hands up. “Fuck, sorry, I didn’t realise it was you! I’m sorry!” His eyes dart between the two of them curiously, evidently confused. “So what, uh… why- what um-“

“You said that you didn’t have a choice,” Sakari interrupts. “At the North Pole. But you did. You always have.”

Zuko presses his lips together and nods slowly. “You’re right… I was being a coward. And I’m sorry-“

“I don’t want your ‘sorry’s. I want answers. I need… I need to understand why.”

A very uncomfortable look appears on Zuko’s face and he hesitates for a moment. “Uh, well. About three years ago, I spoke out of turn at a war meeting and humiliated one of the generals and my father. And… well… my father ended up banishing me.”

 “He banished you just for speaking out of turn?”  Toph asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Something like that,” he replies, not looking at them. She can tell there’s a lot more to it, and at first she assumes he’s omitting details to make himself look better, but something about the almost haunted look on his face tells her that it’s not about that. “I thought that by bringing the Avatar to my father, he could restore my honour, but I was being naïve. I need to restore my own honour by doing the right thing.”

Toph tilts her head and asks, “So, what are you trying to achieve by helping us?”

“I want… My father needs to be taken down. I want this war to end and for people to stop suffering by his hand.”

When Sakari looks to Toph, the girl nods minutely and her chest tightens. She almost wanted to find some kind of indication that he was deceiving them, some kind of excuse to let things stay as they are, to not have to try to trust him. But he’s being sincere, and it just makes her sad that everything has worked out the way it has: that he has only seen the error in his ways after hurting them all, that he’s going against his entire family, that he has the potential to help them a great deal, and that it would take an immense amount of trust for that happen.

She sighs heavily. “We want to be able to trust you, Zuko, but…”

He bows his head. “I know… you have no idea how much I regret what I’ve done and I am going to do everything I can to earn your trust. I know it’s going to take time and I know I don’t deserve it so… thank you for being willing to come talk to me. And um, sorry again for almost burning you.”

“Okay, well, we’re going to go talk to the others, but… we operate as a democracy so…” if they say no, there’s nothing we can do.

Zuko nods and gives and awkward sort-of bow in goodbye as they turn and leave.

They get lost while trying to get back to the temple, because of course they do. In Sakari’s defence, everything looks different at night. And in Toph’s defence, “I’m literally blind”.

“What about your magic feet?”

“For the last time, Humbug, they’re not magic. Besides, we’re too far away from the temple, I can’t sense it.”

“Maybe it’s best if we just pick a spot near here to set up camp and wait until the sun is up to find our way back. If we keep moving, we could end up just moving further away.”

Toph lets out a huff as she flops back against a tree. “Katara’s definitely gonna think that Zuko kidnapped us or something.”

“Yeah, probably.”

They wake up as the sun rises and Sakari can spot the canyon the temple is located in and the two set off towards it. When they reach the temple, they hear the loud voices of Katara, Sokka, and Aang and follow the sound until they reach the building where the three of them are eating breakfast by the fountain. When Katara spots them, she jumps to her feet and looks them both over.

“Where have you two been?! We were beginning to get worried that Zuko had gotten to you!”

Toph nudges Sakari lightly and the girl has to cough to mask a snort. “Well, we did see Zuko-“

“What?! Where is he? Are you okay? Did he attack you?”

“What? No- well, actually, kind of, but it was an accident.“

“So he did firebend at you?” Aang asks.

“Well, yeah, but-“

Sokka crosses his arms. “Zuko’s clearly too dangerous to be left alone. We’re gonna have to go after him.”

“I hate to go looking for a fight, but you’re right. I don’t think we have a choice.”

“He’s crafty, but we’ll find a way to capture him.”

“Guys, stop,” Sakari says firmly, making Aang and Sokka deflate. “It was because we snuck up on him and he didn’t realise it was us. I blocked it and he was very apologetic.”

“Why did you even go to him?!” Katara demands.

“We thought he could be helpful to us,” Toph says. “And if we talked to him, maybe we could work something out.”

“We made the decision yesterday. We’re not letting him help.”

Sakari lets out an exasperated sigh at Katara’s stubbornness, and when she looks across as Sokka, the boy is already looking at her thoughtfully. “So, you’re really prepared to accept Zuko into our group?” he asks her.

“Well, I mean, I don’t know if I’d put it like that but I do think we should accept his help.”

Sokka ponders for a moment, then nods slowly. “Okay.”

“What?!” Aang and Katara exclaim in unison.

“Look, Sakari is like one of the pettiest people I know,” Sokka says, and Sakari should not feel as flattered as she does. “If she thinks he should help then… I’ll go with it.”

“Okay, fuck you too-“

“Plus, Toph is a literal lie detector, so if she says he’s being sincere then I trust her.”

“-never mind,” Toph finishes innocently.

Katara and Aang exchange uncertain looks. Before anything else can be said, there’s a deafening explosion right beside the building and they all flinch and scramble for cover. There’s a shout of “STOP!” in the distance and they all look across to see Combustion Man on a ledge across the other side of the canyon, Zuko in front of him with his arms out. The prince continues yelling at him to stop, but the assassin shoves him to the side and sends another blast at the top fountain, causing bits of rock to shower down on the group as they huddle behind the fountain’s edge. They peak over the edge to watch as Zuko continues scrabbling at Combustion man and trying to get him to stop, offering double the money, only for the assassin to charge up and blast Zuko right off the ledge. For a brief moment, Sakari is convinced he’s just been vaporised, but then they spot him clinging to a vine dangling off the edge.

Aang takes the opportunity to dart out and send a whirlwind towards Combustion Man, who retaliates with another explosion and begins leaping between buildings, heading towards them. Katara and Sakari attempt a combined waterbending attack of icicles but they just seem to bounce off him, not even leaving a scratch, and when Toph flings some boulders at him, he simply blows them up. As the explosions continue, the group is forced to take shelter around a corner, unable to come out for fear of being incinerated.

Then brilliant, brilliant Sokka manages to throw his boomerang in a perfect arc, hitting Combustion Man right in his third eye, sending him crashing to the ground. They begin to celebrate, but it’s short-lived because he gets back up again moments later. He tilts his head back, charging up for another energy beam, but he seems to be stunned from the boomerang and instead causes an explosion right where he is standing, destroying the building he is standing in.

There’s a collective sigh of relief as the group come out of their hiding place. Aang looks around at the damage to the temple, looking a little melancholy and Sakari pulls him into a side hug. “Once this war is over, we’ll come back and rebuild, okay?”

The boy shoots her a grateful smile and squeezes her in return.

o o o

After making sure that ‘Combustion Man’ (as Avatar and Company call him) definitely won’t be making a return, Zuko makes his way over to the group.

The five of them are waiting by the fountain, the Avatar standing front and centre. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” the tattooed boy says, “but thanks, Zuko.”

“Hey, and what about me?” the Water Tribe boy says, and Zuko holds back an eyeroll. “I did the boomerang thing.”

He takes a deep breath, not wanting to blow this opportunity any more than he already has. “Listen, I know I didn’t explain myself very well yesterday.” Understatement. “I’ve been through a lot in the past few years, and it’s been hard. But I’m realising that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honour and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honour. It’s something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what’s right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world.” His gaze moves across to the earth bender and Sakari. “I’m sorry for almost burning you guys. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to make sure I’m careful and control my bending so I don’t hurt people unintentionally.”

The Avatar’s eyes widen as he says, “I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt people. I'd like you to teach me.” He bows to Zuko then, and once the prince has recovered from his shock, he returns the gesture.

“Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group.”

“Not so fast,” he says, and Zuko’s heart sinks. “I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them.”

“You know where Sakari and I stand,” the earthbender says when The Avatar looks back at them.

“Sokka?”

The Water Tribe boy nods.

“Katara?”

The girl in question glares at him and Zuko feels incredibly small all of a sudden. “I’ll go along with whatever you think is right,” she says, tone dripping with reluctance.

Zuko steps forward eagerly. “I won’t let you down! I promise!”

A short while later, Sokka shows Zuko where they’ve set up and leads him to an empty room. “So, here you go, home sweet home. I guess, you know, for now. Unpack? Lunch soon? Uhh… Welcome aboard? Yeah.” With that, the boy walks out, and Zuko hears him say, “Okay, this is really, really weird.”

This feeling of isolation isn’t anything new for Zuko, and he knows that their reactions are justified, and their distrust is to be expected after everything he’s done. He’s here to follow his destiny, make amends, and find where he finally belongs. He’ll do whatever he can to earn their trust and he doesn’t care how long it takes.

He opens his bag and starts unpacking his few, precious belongings. When he pulls out a painting of Uncle, his heart gives a painful clench and he’s brought back to when he was in this same temple three years ago, immediately after his banishment.

“If I have to, I will spend every day of the rest of my life hunting the Avatar. I know it’s my destiny to capture him.”

Uncle places a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You know, Prince Zuko, destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. But, if you keep an open mind, and an open heart, I promise you will find your own destiny someday.”

Zuko has no idea how the man just seems to know everything, nor how seemingly none of it has rubbed off on himself.

He startles suddenly when he notices Katara in the doorway, arms folded and a cold expression on her face.

“You might have everyone else here buying your... transformation, but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past.” She approaches him and gets right in his face, demeanour intimidating. “So, let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently.”

The girl whirls around and storms out leaving Zuko feeling incredibly unnerved.

“Don’t look at me like that, Sakari,” he hears Katara say in the hallway, followed by a sigh. The next moment, Sakari pokes her head in and clears her throat. “You, uh… you good?”

Zuko doesn’t even really know what she’s asking, but he nods anyway as she steps into the room.

“She’ll, uh, she’ll come around… maybe.” Her lack of confidence makes him feel anything but reassured.

“Thank you… for giving me a chance.”

Sakari regards him for a moment, contemplative, and says, “Actions speak louder than words.” Zuko nods solemnly and she gives a small smile. She starts to leave only to hang back in the doorway and grins, “His name is Aang, by the way – The Avatar.”

Zuko feels his face grow hot. “I- I knew that!”

Sakari runs her tongue over her teeth in, lips curled and a twinkle in her eye. “Uh huh.”

o o o

After lunch, Zuko and Aang go off to start their training, and Sokka decides he wants to go watch them do their ‘jerkbending’ and follows them. Sakari isn’t at all surprised when he comes back saying that Zuko got shitty with him and told him to leave.

So, Sakari opts to spend the rest of the afternoon getting to know Haru, Teo, and The Duke and hear their tales of meeting Aang, Sokka, and Katara.

However, it’s not that long later that Aang and Zuko return to where everyone is sitting near the fountain, and it’s very clear that Zuko is in a bad mood.

“Listen everybody,” Zuko says, arms folded as he leans against a pillar. “I’ve got some pretty bad news. I’ve lost my stuff.”

Toph holds her hands up and says, “Don’t look at me, I didn’t touch your stuff.”

“I’m talking about my firebending. It’s gone.”

The ensuing silence is broken by Katara’s laugh, and everyone turns to look at her.

“I’m sorry. I’m just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would’ve been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago.”

“Well, it’s not lost. It’s just… weaker for some reason.”

“Maybe you’re not as good as you think you are.”

It seems any time that Sakari begins to forget how savage Katara can be, the girl makes sure to remind her. Zuko just scowls.

“I bet it’s because I changed sides.”

Katara rolls her eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”

 “I don’t know,” Aang says thoughtfully, “Maybe it isn’t. Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you just don’t have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to.”

Sokka perks up. “Sooo, all we need to do is make Zuko angry. Easy enough.” The boy starts poking the firebenders repeatedly with the hilt of his sword, and Zuko quickly bats him away.

“Okay, cut it out! Look, even if you’re right, I don’t want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way.”

Toph suggests going to the original source. Unfortunately, in the case of firebending, the original source is dragons who are now extinct. However, Zuko explains that there was an ancient civilisation, the Sun Warriors, who were the first to learn from the dragons, so they decide that the following morning, they will head to the Sun Warrior ruins, hoping to find something useful by poking around.

Katara’s displeasure at Aang and Zuko going off in their own is evident, and she glares coldly at Zuko as they get ready to leave. They’re barely out of earshot on Appa when she stalks away from the rest of the group, grumbling about not understanding how everyone else is okay with this. Sakari grimaces and moves to follow her, but Sokka grabs her elbow. “Maybe just… give her some space.”

Sakari doesn’t want to do anything to make Katara even more anxious, so for the entire day, she makes a point to make it obvious how not worried about this field trip she is. Because she’s not worried at all. Not one bit.

…Okay, she is worried, but it’s not because of Zuko. It’s just that she’s developed a bit of separation anxiety and doesn’t enjoy going prolonged periods of time with absolutely no contact with her friends. Which, given everything that’s happened, Sakari thinks is pretty reasonable, even if it is not ideal.  

The point is, she’s stressed about the possibility of something bad happening to them and having no way of knowing, let alone helping. But there’s no way she’s saying any of this to Katara.

However, by the time the late afternoon sun is heading towards the horizon, she’s getting antsy and she asks Sokka to spar with her so she isn’t just pacing the temple. She hasn’t seen Katara for the last couple hours and she suspects she’s trying to keep herself distracted from her own anxieties. Just as Sakari thinks she’s about to get the upper hand, Sokka manages to knock her spear out of her hands and it clatters to the ground.

“So, um, at what point should we start to worry that something has happened to them?”

Sakari startles at the sound of Katara’s voice from behind her. “You mean to Aang? And by something you mean Zuko?”  

She winces and is trying to figure out how to respond when she sees a speck in the sky in the distance and seizes the opportunity. “Oh, look, it’s them!” Spirits, she sure hopes it is them, she’s put a lot a faith in this speck. There’s an awkward stretch of time in which the three of them wait to see if it really is them. Luckily for Sakari, as the speck draws closer, it morphs into Appa’s shape and there are two small shapes visible on top of him.

It turns out that neither dragons nor the Sun Warriors are actually extinct, not that Aang and Zuko are supposed to tell them, but the two are very excited to show the group a firebending form that they learnt there. Their movements are fluid, graceful, and synced as they mirror each other.

“With this technique the dragons showed us, Zuko and I will be unstoppable,” Aang says, just before the pair move into the final position, leaning sideways and connecting their fists to form an arch. There’s a round of applause from the group and Aang and Zuko look pleased with themselves.

“That was super cool, very elegant,” Sakari says, confused when they cringe. “What? I meant that in a good way!”

“Sakari, ‘elegant’ is not something most guys are flattered by,” Sokka explains sagely, making her roll her eyes. “But yeah, that’s a great dance you two learned there.”

Zuko looks offended. “It’s not a dance. It’s a firebending form.”

“We’ll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord.”

“It’s a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old!” Zuko defends, walking towards Sokka.

“Oh yeah?” Katara pitches in. “What’s your little form called?”

The boy’s cheeks redden and he lets out a resigned sigh. “The Dancing Dragon.” As the group laughs and he cringes even more, Sakari gets to her feet to start getting things ready for dinner. As she passes Zuko, she gives him an encouraging nudge in the arm with her elbow as she passes.

“The gentle bullying is a good thing,” she tells him quietly. “It’s all banter. It’s a sign of acceptance.”

The boy furrows his eyebrows in a happy sort of confusion, smile pulling at his lips. “Oh.”

“Key word being gentle. Y’know… if you’re planning on dishing it back at any point.”

He snorts and nods. “Noted.”

Sakari is going through a series of katas in one of the pagodas two days later when a figure appears out of the corner of her eye and she jumps.

“Sorry!” Zuko apologises. “Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“It’s not a you thing, I’m just a jumpy person,” she says, hoping to alleviate the evident guilt in his expression. “What’s up?”

“I think Sokka’s going to do something stupid.”

“…You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“He was asking about your troops that got captured at the invasion and where they’d be. He said he wanted to know what he ‘put his dad through’.”

Sakari chews at her lip thoughtfully. “And you think he’s going to try and break him out?”

Zuko nods and says, “He’ll get himself killed, I have to stop him. But you know him better than I do.”

“Okay… well if he’s trying to be sneaky about this, I bet he’ll try and sneak off with Appa in the middle of the night.”

“Hm, okay. I’ll stay with Appa tonight so he can’t run off then.”

Sakari surprises herself when she says, “I’ll keep you company.”

Once everyone else has gone to bed, Sakari and Zuko sit across from each other in Appa’s saddle.

“How’s your uncle?” Sakari asks quietly, immediately regretting it when Zuko frowns.

“I… don’t know. After the catacombs, he was put in prison. When I ran away, I went to break him out and beg for forgiveness, but he was already gone.” He sighs heavily. “I really miss him, And I don’t know what I’m going to do when I see him again, I know I really disappointed him.”

“Zuko… remember how you used to be trying to capture Aang to hand over to your father?”

He shoots her an expression that very clearly says, duh, and shifts uncomfortably. “I prefer not to.”

“My point is, after all of that, look at where we are now. We’ve forgiven you. If your uncle loves you as much as I get the sense he does, he’ll forgive you in a heartbeat.”

“I don’t know…” he murmurs. “Even if he did, I’m not so sure I’d deserve that.”

“Do you think you’re usually an accurate judge of what you deserve?”

Zuko stares at her blankly and frowns as though she’s given him a complex math problem. When Sakari proceeds to let out a yawn, he seizes the opportunity to deflect and asks, “Why don’t you go to sleep if you’re tired?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Because I generally don’t stay asleep. Besides, when you draw energy from the moon, it’s kinda hard.”

“You’re not… You’re not nocturnal, are you?”

Sakari huffs out a laugh and replies, “No, but… that would actually make more sense. Drawing energy and power from the moon when we spend most of the night sleeping seems like a bit of a waste. But to be fair, I just don’t sleep that much. Back when I was training as Kavik I’d spend a lot of late nights practising forms so that was pretty useful, actually.”

Zuko ponders for a moment and then tentatively asks, “So… how long have you known you were a girl?”

It takes a moment for Sakari to process the question. “Huh? Oh, I wasn’t- I was just pretending to be a guy when I was in Agna Qel’a.”

“Oh… why?”

The genuine confusion on his face is almost endearing. She lets out a humourless laugh and says, “Because the Northern Water Tribe has some… unique customs.”

“What do you mean?”

She supposes it makes sense that Fire Nationals aren’t taught much about other cultures. “Girls aren’t allowed to learn bending for anything other than healing. But my Dad… he went to war and never came back and I didn’t want that to be in vain. I didn’t want to just sit in wait, I wanted to actually help. Maybe even see if he’s still out there. And even if I didn’t actually fight in the war, I knew I still needed to be able to defend myself and my family in case…” she trails off with a shake of her head and continues. “So, I cut my hair and pretended to be a boy so I could actually learn and join the fight. But then… the fight came to us.”

Zuko grimaces. “How long were you pretending for?”

“A bit over a year.”

“Wow… that must have been hard.”

“Yes and no… it was hard putting on a front and pretending to be someone I wasn’t for so long and I couldn’t see my family so I missed them a lot and… it was lonely. I made a couple of friends in my waterbending training, but it’s not quite the same when you’re pretending to be someone else.” At this, Zuko frowns. “And in warrior training, I only had one ‘friend’ and he was a total douchebag. But… it was good to be doing that actually felt meaningful.”

“I had no idea it was like that there. But didn’t Katara have a master by the time I… was there? She’s a girl.”

“Well spotted,” Sakari says, grinning at the eyeroll she gets. “Yeah, Master Pakku refused to teach her at first, but then she challenged him to a duel and…. She didn’t exactly win but he still agreed to teach her. Something about being engaged to her grandmother when they were young or something.”

“Right… but if he had agreed to teach Katara by then, why were you still pretending when we fought?”

“When he agreed to teach Katara, I thought about coming clean, but… it wasn’t quite that simple. The fact that he was training her didn’t mean that everyone was suddenly cool with girls waterbending. It’s… The ideas were ingrained in a lot of people, a lot of those people being the men who I worked with and for, and had lied to in order to do so. Even if they were suddenly okay with women waterbending, I was scared they’d punish me for lying about it.”

Sakari feels vindicated by the indignant look on his face as he says, “But surely if you proved yourself, that counts for something, right?”

“You would think. But people don’t like to look like fools. Especially people like Master Pakku. He did not take it well.”

“You told him?”

“Uh, more or less. I had to get my shoulder healed but the healer had to get a decent look at it and, well, she figured it out pretty quick. And then she went to Pakku and he was really pissed off, renounced me as his student and everything. Said I’d brought dishonour on my family and shit. Later, he apologised and basically said it was because his pride had taken a hit. And one of my friends didn’t react well either. He was glad I was okay, but… distanced himself from me, which hurt. But I saw him again just before the invasion and he was really sorry, said he’s had time to think and realised how stupid he was.”

Zuko frowns thoughtfully before looking back up at her. “I think it’s really brave what you did. And honourable.”

Sakari’s heart softens and she smiles brightly at him. “Thanks.”

“When you say you had to get your shoulder healed… would that happen to have anything to do with me crushing you with that rock?”

“You did not crush me. But yes,” she laughs.

“I really am sorry about that. I didn’t mean to.”

“I mean, it wasn’t really your fault. You only blasted the wall because I tripped you.”

“Well, yeah, but you did that to protect yourself… from me. If we hadn’t been- if I hadn’t attacked you in the first place, it wouldn’t have happened.”

He’s really not going to let this go. “Maybe,” she concedes. “But… you’re forgiven.”

“I don’t feel like I’ve earnt that.”

“I’m sensing a pattern here.”

“What does that-? Oh, shut up.”

“Look, you don’t think you’ve earnt my forgiveness for that, yet I forgive you anyway. Therefore, is it not possible that even if you don’t think you deserve your uncle’s forgiveness, that he’ll forgive you anyway?”

“Yeah… maybe,” he replies tiredly, but he doesn’t look convinced.

Despite her earlier words, Sakari is nearly falling asleep when they hear Sokka coming, and she startles awake, having almost forgotten why they’re here in the first place.

“Not up to anything, huh?” Zuko says when Sokka climbs up and freezes as he spots them.

“Really, you too?” Sokka pouts at Sakari. “Fine, you caught me. I’m gonna rescue my dad. You happy now?”

“I’m never happy.”

Sakari snorts.

“Look, I have to do this,” Sokka insists. “The invasion plan was my idea, it was my decision to stay when things were going wrong. It’s my mistake, and it’s my job to fix it. I have to regain my honour. You can’t stop me.”

“Sokka, that was on all of us, not just you,” she tries.

“You need to regain your honour? Believe me, I get it,” Zuko says. “I’m going with you.”

“Me too.”

Sokka crosses his arms. “No, I have to do this alone.”

“How are you going to get there?” Zuko questions.  “On Appa? Last time I checked, prisons don’t have bison daycares. We’ll take my war balloon.”

Sokka considers this and his eyes dart to Sakari. “Okay fine, but Sakari, you’re staying here.”

“Seriously?!” she snaps, and even Zuko’s looking strangely at Sokka.

“I just don’t want to endanger more people than I absolutely need to. Plus, I would feel a lot better knowing you’re here to protect the others in case something happens while we’re gone.” Then, in a grave tone, he grabs her by the shoulders and says, “It’s not because you’re a girl.”

She rolls her eyes and lightly shoves him “That wasn’t- never mind. I have to go. I know it’s unlikely but… my dad could be there too.”

“I know,” he says, and the sincerity in his voice tells her he’s already considered this. “And I’ll look for him too, ask around to see what people know. I promise. But... they need you more than I do for this, okay?”

Sakari clenches her jaw, then sighs. “Fine. But be careful, and don’t do anything stupid.”

She follows the boys to the war balloon, and Zuko starts giving Sokka a quick rundown of how the vehicle works but the Water Tribe boy cuts him off and says, “Oh, yeah I know, I helped invent these.”

There’s a very stunned silence that follows and Zuko and Sakari exchange alarmed looks, each wondering if the other knew that.

“What?” she finally manages.

“Oh yeah, that was before me met you, wasn’t it?” Sokka says, and suddenly his eyes widen, evidently realising why they’re so confused. “Wait wait wait! Let me explain! We met this guy who was an inventor – The Mechanist, you met him at the invasion – and I helped him with the war balloon design. And then afterwards we found out he was being blackmailed by the Fire Nation to make stuff for them.”

“Ah, that makes a lot more sense. I really do mean it, be careful,” Sakari reiterates as Sokka pulls her in for a quick hug. As he pulls away, he goes to pat her on the head but she smacks his hand away. Zuko just gives her an awkward nod before stepping onto the war balloon.

“Um, maybe just tell Katara we’ve gone fishing or something,” Sokka says before they take off. “I don’t want to get her hopes up in case it doesn’t go as planned.”

Sakari nods, wishing that she could avoid getting her own hopes up.

As she watches them fly away, she tries to ignore the unpleasant churning in her stomach.

Chapter Text

In the morning, Katara is the first to wake, and Sakari tells her what Sokka told her to: that he and Zuko have gone fishing and will be back in a few days.

“A few days?” Katara repeats incredulously.

Sakari scratches the back of her head. “Yeah, Zuko said something about there being more fish towards the east…?” Not her best work.

“And you and Sokka just… believed him?”

She winces internally as she realises her error. “I- yeah? I don’t see why he would make that up.”

“Maybe so he could do something to hurt Sokka?”

“He’s not going to hurt Sokka,” she says firmly.

“How are you so quick to trust him?!”

“Because he’s scared. He was scared at the North pole, he was scared when Azula hurt his uncle, and he was scared at Ba Sing Se. He’s just a kid like us.”

Katara scowls. “A kid who’s the prince of the Fire Nation! A kid who’s been chasing us all over the world trying to capture Aang! When Aang got struck by that lightning, I thought he was…”

Sakari’s heart sinks horribly. “I know… me too.”

“And then spending weeks healing him, not even sure if he was ever going to wake up! And I don’t care that it was Azula who did it, because she probably wouldn’t have had the chance if she didn’t have Zuko helping her!”

She goes quiet and nods slowly. “You’re right. Aang trusts him though.”

“Aang trusts a lot of people he shouldn’t.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Katara. If you’re not there yet, that’s fine. I’m not either. But I’m getting there, and Zuko’s trying. And I want to trust him.”

Katara deflates then. “Me too… but…”

“I know.”

Three days later, Sakari and Katara are getting a bit antsy. Katara because she doesn’t know what Zuko and Sokka are doing and Sakari because she does know. Toph and Aang, having taken the fishing trip lie at face value, are perfectly at ease. (Sakari was very thankful she was able to avoid lying to Toph since Aang was the one to tell her). Her separation anxiety has gotten stronger and stronger each day and she has to make an effort to stop catastrophising in her head.

Night has fallen and the group is about the eat dinner when there’s a very strange sound in the distance. They rush out the edge of the pagoda and Sakari’s blood runs cold when she sees a huge Fire Nation airship approaching.

Azula.

Is this connected to Sokka and Zuko? Are they okay? Did something happen? Sakari draws water out of her waterskin and prepares for a fight, moving protectively in front of the others as they all back away. The ship comes to stop right beside the ledge and there’s a creak as the huge metal door opens. Sakari holds her breath, heart pounding in fear. Traitorously, her mind pictures Zuko and Sokka returning to the temple later to find their bodies there.

Two figures step out and Sakari’s water drops to the ground with a splatter. It’s Zuko and Sokka. She’s filled with pure relief, but something about the emotional whiplash doesn’t compute right in her brain and she glares at them.

“What the fuck is wrong with you two?! Did you think it would be funny to scare the living shit out of us by making us think Azula had found us?” she demands. Sokka and Zuko’s eyes widen and they look at each other in bewilderment. “Why are you even in that thing?!”

“Yeah, what happened to the war balloon?” asks Katara.

“Um, it kind of got destroyed,” Zuko says.

Aang lets out a low whistle. “Sounds like a crazy fishing trip.”

“Did you at least get some good meat?” Toph asks.

Sokka smiles. “I did. The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood.”

Three figures emerge from the ship then: first Suki, then Hakoda, and as another man starts to appear, Sakari feels her blood thrumming with excitement, hope building. But it comes crashing down a fraction of a second later when he steps into the moonlight and she doesn’t recognise him. She’s only vaguely aware of him introducing himself, of Katara running excitedly up to her father and hugging him.

“Hey,” she startles at the hand on her shoulder and can't bring herself to meet Sokka’s eye. “I’m really sorry. I asked everyone, but… no luck. No one knew anything about any of the fleet. Maybe they’re at a different prison?”

“Yeah, maybe,” she nods, trying to keep her voice steady. Breathe in, breathe out.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Katara calls to her, grinning widely, and Sakari plants on a smile. 

“I might have. Figured it would make a good surprise. Um, excuse me, I have to, uh, go pee.”

Sakari starts to walk away, holding her breath in an attempt to hold back the oncoming tears, and as she passes Toph, the girl reaches her hand out to grab Sakari’s and gives it a light squeeze. She’s quick to pull, away, desperate to get away from the group so she can be alone.

She tried so fucking hard not to get her hopes up. She told herself over and over again that they wouldn’t find him, that he’s probably long dead. But against her will, her hopes had risen, and now she has to pick up the pieces of her heart. She finds an empty room in the temple, curls up in the corner, and sobs into her hands.

She truly is happy for Sokka and Katara, but the sight of their reunion with their dad makes it so much harder. And she feels incredibly guilty for feeling like this, for not being able to participate in their happiness with them. She figures the least she can do is keep her sadness away from them so they can enjoy catching up with their dad without her dampening the mood. So, she hides.

About an hour later, Aang finds her still huddled in the corner, now out of tears. Without a word, he comes and sits next to her, resting his head on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he says finally. “It must be hard watching them.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sure your dad’s still out there though. He’s probably in the prison on the mainland. Once this war is over, we can find him and free him.”

Sakari appreciates the thought, she really does. But hearing Aang talk like that just hurts because she doesn’t want to hope again. She doesn’t think she’d survive the disappointment.

“Aang, I really appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but I don’t really feel like talking about it right now.”

“That’s okay!”

“Can I… maybe have a hug though?”

Aang beams. “Of course you can!”

Since talking about it is off the table, Aang’s next approach seems to be distraction and he asks her to play knee tag with him. Truthfully, Sakari does not want to do that at all. But what she wants even less is to disappoint that hopeful look on Aang’s face. So, she says yes.

They move some old furniture to the corners of the room to make space and Sakari stares at Aang apprehensively. “I feel like I’m at a disadvantage here, with your general… airiness.”

“No bending, I promise,” he swears sagely and she huffs out a laugh.

“Alright, get ready to lose, sucker.”

o o o

In hindsight, arriving back at the temple in a Fire Nation airship wasn’t their smartest move. If Zuko had put a bit more thought into it, he might have foreseen it being an issue. As it was, they were greeted by Sakari yelling at them, and while it was vaguely terrifying, he can see it was pretty justified.

Having spent the last 3 days asking around for any information on a captured Northern Water Tribe fleet, Zuko’s not looking forward to having to disappoint her. Then Sokka, too wrapped up in excitement, said they found the “meat of friendship and fatherhood” and Zuko wanted to smack the guy for his thoughtlessness, then proceeded to watch Sakari’s expression go from hopeful to crestfallen. She went extremely quiet after that, and when he next looked over, she was gone.

Later, not long after Aang left to see if he could find her to check on her, Zuko finds himself wanting to follow. In part, because he feels a bit awkward in this group, and in part because he’s concerned about her too. Not that he really feels like it’s his place to say anything – would she call them friends? It’s still very early days. That being said, when reflects on their interactions, particularly the night in Appa’s saddle, he realises that he probably knows more about her than he did about Mai after years of friendship. And he doesn’t doubt that if she doesn’t want to see him, she’ll just tell him to fuck off. So, mind made up, he walks off in the direction Aang went, and soon starts to hear laughter. He follows the sound to a mostly-empty room on one of the pagodas and finds the two playing some kind of game.

“How are you so agile?” Sakari whines, eliciting a giggle from Aang, who then spots Zuko and grins.

“Hey, Zuko! You wanna join in?” 

“Uh… what are you playing?”

“Knee tag! You have to try and tag each other’s knees!”

Zuko could have guessed as much. “Sure.”

So the three of them start playing together, standing in a little triangle and shuffling around trying to tap each other’s knees. Aang is annoyingly good at it, and Sakari and Zuko seem to develop an unspoken agreement to gang up on him. Until the girl totally betrays him and swipes his knee.

“Fuck!” he exclaims through a laugh.

Aang looks scandalised as he says, “Zuko!”

He snorts. “Sorry. In my defence, I did spend three years with sailors.”

Sakari grins and sidles up to Aang. “Gosh, not around the children, Zuko!” She pulls the Avatar into her side and rubs her knuckles playfully on the boys head.

“Sakari!” he whines, pulling out of her grip.

The girl just laughs and Zuko can feel his own smile growing wider. It’s a wonderful sound.

o o o

It’s a bit of an adjustment, having another 3 people in the group all of a sudden. But it’s great having Hakoda and Suki back, and Chit Sang seems perfectly nice. In particular, Sakari is glad to have the time to get to know Suki given that she first met the girl at the ferry station and they didn’t get much of a chance to talk.

Over the course of the next couple of days, it becomes obvious to Sakari that Zuko does not like Chief Hakoda. What she cannot figure out is why. No one else seems to have noticed anything, so she decides she may as well just ask the boy directly.

“So, not that I make a habit of trying to understand what goes on inside your head, but… is there a particular reason you’re not very fond of Chief Hakoda?” she asks the next time she manages to get him alone.

Zuko freezes. “I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. You look like you don’t trust him.”

“Well, maybe I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Does it matter?” he asks testily, and she opts to just back off.

That is, until the next day, Sokka and Hakoda get into a heated discussion about which meats taste the best. They’re both very animated people who talk with their hands, and anyone who wasn’t actually listening to the ‘argument’ could think they were legitimately fighting the way they’re carrying on. When Sakari looks over at Zuko, his eyes are darting between the two of them, shoulders tense. It’s not until Hakoda pats the boy on the back with a laugh and walks away that Zuko appears to relax. And now that Sakari thinks about it, every time she’s noticed Zuko acting extra weird, it’s when Hakoda’s been close to Sokka or Katara, particularly when there’s any kind of physical contact.

He's worried Hakoda will hurt them, she realises sickeningly, trying very hard not to think too much about the implications of that.

For a while, she battles with herself, unsure if she should just mind her business or try to reassure Zuko. But… she’s always been a bit of a meddler. So, when it happens again, she makes a decision.

“Do you want to spar?” she asks him suddenly and he blinks.

“Uh, sure.”

She leads him to an area out of earshot from the rest of the group and they stand across from each other.

Zuko squints. “It feels weird to firebend at you.”

“Intentionally?” she teases and his ears go red. “Look, even if you do burn me, I can literally heal it in an instant.”

“Okay but… it hurts.”

Sakari is about to make some kind of sarcastic remark when she remembers he has a burn scar on his face and is speaking from experience. Instead, she goes for a different approach. “I really don’t think that’ll be a problem. I bet you couldn’t even burn me if you tried.”

She grins as he scowls. “Ugh fine.”

The duel starts pretty tame, both of them a bit apprehensive to attack each other, but their competitive natures get the best of them and it quickly escalates. Sakari waits until they’ve had a few rounds, finishing when one of them ‘yields’, to bring it up.

“He’s not going to hurt them, you know.”

“What?”

“That’s why you act weird around Chief Hakoda, right?”

Zuko clenches his jaw. “I don’t act-“

“Yeah, you do. Look… I don’t know much about your father as a person, but as a Fire Lord, he’s- he’s a bag of dicks. And I’m assuming that’s consistent with most aspects of his life, including being a father.” Zuko is staring hard at the ground. “But most father’s aren’t like that. Hakoda doesn’t even come close. I think he’d sooner cut off one of his own limbs that hurt Sokka or Katara.”

He doesn’t say anything for a few moments, staring blankly out at the horizon. When he looks back at her, he looks somewhat resigned. “Am I really that transparent? Or are you just like… a witch?”

Sakari snorts. “You’re not transparent, but… you’re probably a bit easier to read than you think you are.” She sighs dramatically and adds, “You got me though; I am indeed a witch.”

Zuko huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. “Fucking called it.”

The following morning, most of the group is woken to Aang shrieking with laughter as Appa licks him. Sokka squints at the scene for a moment, then grumbles and rolls over in an effort to go back to sleep. Sakari is about to follow suit when she looks across at Toph and finds the girl frowning, head turned towards Zuko.

When Sakari looks at the firebender, he’s sleeping with his back to the group, twitching and jerking violently. When a quiet wounded noise escapes him, she hesitantly approaches. She suspects that waking him up from his nightmare would completely freak him out, but he also looks like he’s having a less than ideal time right now. She gets a fright herself as she’s contemplating this because Zuko abruptly jolts awake and sits upright, still turned to his right, drawing in deep breaths, and trembling slightly.

“Zuko, are you alright?” she asks, placing a hand on his left shoulder. The boy flinches back violently, staring at her with an almost animalistic wariness. “Sorry! You can relax, it was just a-“ 

“Don’t tell me to relax, Water Tribe pe-“ he snarls, only to cut himself off suddenly, looking horrified. Sakari just stares at him in confusion, another apology on the tip of her tongue when Zuko’s eyes dart over her shoulder and widen even more. She turns to follow his gaze and sees Sokka, now sitting bolt upright glaring daggers at Zuko. Now she’s just even more confused.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?!” Sokka spits, standing up and thundering towards them.

Zuko looks positively distraught at this point. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that’s not- I didn’t-“

“Sokka, chill out,” Sakari says, holding a hand out to stop the boy from getting closer.

“No, I’m not gonna…” Sokka trails off, scrutinising her. “You don’t know what he was about to say, do you?”

She glances to Zuko, who looks miserable, and suddenly feels incredibly uneasy. 

“You were going to say ‘peasant’, weren’t you?”

Sakari recoils, inhaling sharply. She thinks of only a few nights ago when they’d spent hours together in Appa’s saddle, and she feels like they really opened up to each other.  She thinks of playing knee tag with him and Aang. She thinks of their conversation about Hakoda. All that growth, and then he says this? Is this how he really sees her?

Zuko sits up properly, turning to face her fully. “Sakari, please, that’s not at all what I think, I don’t know why I said that. I was just freaked out and agitated and I just- I didn’t mean it, I swear. I’m so, so sorry,” he pleads, voice cracking near the end.

Getting to her feet, Sakari swallows. She’s too stung to come up with any kind of response, so instead she just walks away, the whole time kind of wishing that Sokka had never said anything.

A while later, Suki finds her sitting on the ledge of one of the pagodas and sits down next to her. 

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Honestly, I’m mainly confused. A little hurt but… I also can’t stop thinking about how miserable he looked.”

Suki nods, looking thoughtful. “Have you noticed that he almost always sleeps on the side of his scar?”

“Uh, no, but now that you mention it…”

“I think it’s a defence thing… if the burn impacted his sight and hearing then it would make sense that he would sleep on that side so he can hear better.”

In an instant, Sakari understands what she’s getting at. “I came up on his scarred side…” Guilt coils around her stomach as she begins to see the incident from Zuko’s perspective. He wakes up from some sort of horrific nightmare already on edge, and then have someone suddenly right beside you on your side where your senses are impaired and not even realise until they touch you. She thinks she’d shit herself in that situation. But… “I still can’t shake the feeling of hurt, even though I know he didn’t mean it.”

“I’m not saying you’re not allowed to be hurt,” Suki says. “I think that’s a very reasonable response. Just because he didn’t mean it, doesn’t mean it can’t hurt. I just think that understanding why he did what he did can help. I also think that it would be helpful to talk to him… when you’re ready. You don’t owe him the chance to explain himself, but I do think you would feel better if you did.”

“No wonder Sokka’s so smitten with you,” she says, making the warrior laugh. “Thank you. I needed someone to pull me out of my little pity party.”

Suki grins as she stands and offers a hand to pull Sakari up. “Come on, Aang is desperate for someone else to play Pai Sho with.”

“Shouldn’t he be training with Zuko?”

“Zuko’s gone for a walk and given Aang the morning off.”

“Alright. I’m really bad at Pai Sho so I’m sure Aang will love playing against me.”

She proceeds to lose four times in a row. She comes close to winning the third one but then ends up losing spectacularly. As she predicted, it’s pleasing Aang to no end, but it’s hard to be a sore loser when the kid is so happy so she’ll take it.

“Um, Sakari?”

Her smile fades slightly as she turns to see Zuko shuffling nervously in the doorway.

“I’m going to go practice some of the forms you’ve taught me,” Aang says quickly and skips out of the room.

“Hey,” she says softly, and immediately some of his tension seems to ease.

“Um, can I- can I show you something?”

“Sure.”

She follows him to the room they’ve designated as their kitchen and finds a pot of steaming water. He gestures for her to take a seat and starts to pour her a cup. “I can’t express how sorry I am. And- well, actions speak louder than words so… I made you tea… it’s ginseng.”

Sakari is very well aware of their tea stocks and she knows for a fact that they did not have any ginseng. “I… Where did you get the ginseng root?”

Zuko hands her the tea and rubs the back of his head. “I went foraging.”

“You- But… Doesn’t it have to be dried?”

“Well, perks of being a firebender, you can dry things super-fast,” he says with a small smile.

She pictures him going out to find and dig up ginseng roots, and then using his bending to dry them just to make her some tea. Her favourite tea. And she can’t quite articulate how it makes her feel, so she just smiles fondly at him and says, “You’re such a dork… I’m sorry, by the way. It didn’t occur to me that coming up on your left side may, uh, be startling for you, and I should have considered that.” 

He looks at her puzzled. “You couldn’t have known. And that still doesn’t excuse what I… was about to say.”

“You didn’t mean it and you’ve apologised profusely since.” Then, with complete honesty and clarity, “I forgive you.”

“You should really stop doing that.”

Sakari laughs and takes a sip of the tea. “Oh, this is wonderful. Thank you.” Zuko’s expression brightens at the compliment. “So… I never actually thought about it before, but uh, your eye, does the scar…?”

“I can sort of see okay. It’s a bit blurry and the scarring means I can’t open my eye fully, so my visions obscured a little bit. And my hearing in this ear isn’t quite the same. I usually sleep on this side because of it, but I guess I must have rolled over at some point.” For some reason, he looks quite troubled by this.

“Well, I promise to be more conscious about it in the future.”

Zuko looks very caught off guard by the sentiment. “Oh, uh… thank you. I promise to not say really mean shit.”

Sakari snorts.

The group wakes up to explosions. There are 3 Fire Nation airships launching bombs at the temple meanwhile Aang is standing near the pagoda’s edge, using airbending to deflect the bombs. The boy darts back under the shelter and creates a gust of wind that slams the metal doors surrounding their campsite shut as everyone else scrambles to grab their gear. The thundering explosions and tremors continue as the airships keep pelting them with bombs. All of a sudden, Zuko shouts “Watch out!” and dives at Katara, pushing her out of the way seconds before part of the ceiling caves in and lands right where she was standing.

“What are you doing?” Katara spits when the two land in a heap.

“Keeping rocks from crushing you.”

“Okay, I’m not crushed. You can get off me now!” she says, scrambling up.

“I’ll take that as a thank you,” Zuko says flatly, getting to his feet.

“Come on!” Toph yells as she and Haru create a tunnel through the wall. “We can get out through here!”

Everyone starts to move towards the exit, small pieces of rock still raining down from the ceiling at each explosion, however Sakari hangs back when she sees Zuko not moving. He’s staring at the airships through a gap where an explosion has partially destroyed one of the metal doors.

“What are you doing?” Aang calls out to the boy.

“Go ahead! I’ll hold them off. I think this is a family visit.”

“Zuko, no!” Aang shouts, and moves towards him, but is stopped by Katara and Sokka who hold him back. Sakari, however, is already on the move.

“Sakari! We’ve got to get out of here!” 

She glances at Sokka, then to Zuko, who’s shooting her a quizzical look. “You’re not facing them alone.”

“I can handle them perfectly fine on my own!” he says, starting to run out through the gap in the door.

Sakari rolls her eyes and sprints after him. “You cannot be making this about your ego right now!”

The pair approach the ledge of the pagoda and start to attack the airships, but suddenly another one rises up right in front of where they’re standing, Azula standing on the viewing platform on top and smirking down at them.

“What are you doing here?” Zuko demands.

“You mean it’s not obvious yet? I am about to celebrate becoming an only child!” She vaults over the railing, blasting powerful blue flames out of her feet as she does.

Sakari and Zuko have to dive back to dodge the fire, but the power and intensity of the blast causes more of the ceiling to crumble and she lets out a cry of “Fuck!” as something hits the side of her head. She sits for a moment, dazed, before her focus clears and she looks up to see Zuko sprinting towards the airship, taking a run-up on a falling pillar before taking a flying leap towards the vehicle, shooting fire at Azula as he does. But his trajectory falls short, and he collides with the side of the ship. He scrabbles for purchase, sliding down the side. But he can’t. Instead he slips down and falls, disappearing into the mist below.

“ZUKO!” Sakari shrieks, scrambling up and staring down into the canyon in horror, head pulsing.

Her eyes dart up to Azula who’s grinning wickedly at her. The princess gears up for another attack and Sakari stumbles back, about to make a dash for the tunnel when she hears someone shout her name and she turns to see Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph on Appa, about to fly out. Behind them, Hakoda, Chit Sang, Haru, Teo, and The Duke are making their getaway through the tunnel. Sokka reaches an arm down as Appa starts to move and Sakari rushes up to grab his hand, climbing up the sky bison’s side as he and Suki help pull her up into the saddle between them. As soon as she’s in, Aang directs Appa to fly forward, protected with an earth shield created by Toph. The movement almost makes Sakari faceplant, but Suki and Sokka are quick to steady her.

“Where’s Zuko?” Sokka asks.

Her skull is throbbing and she struggles to articulate. “He- He’s…”

“Look!” Katara shouts, pointing behind them.

She turns to see Zuko standing on top of an airship, rising up out of the mist. He takes another leap towards Azula’s airship and makes it, a duel immediately ensuing between them. Their view of the fight is interrupted when another wave of fireballs comes at them, forcing them to dodge and weave through the air while deflecting them. There’s a bright, almighty explosion from where the siblings are duelling, sending Azula and Zuko flying off opposite sides of the ship and plummeting down.

Appa swoops down below Zuko, catching him in the saddle and Sakari grabs his sleeve tightly as if he’s going to float away. 

“She’s not gonna make it,” Zuko says as they stare at Azula, still falling. There’s something strange in his tone, almost like some semblance of disappointment. Then the girl manages to use firebending to propel herself towards the cliff face and dig her hairpin into the rock, stopping her fall and he clenches his jaw. “Of course she did.”

Sakari takes a deep breath as they fly away from the temple, mind still struggling to process everything that just happened.

“Um, Sakari, you can let go of- Wait, you’re bleeding.”

In her almost delirious state, for some reason her first thought is that she’s on her cycle. But then she realises he’s staring at the side of her head and she reaches up to touch it, wincing at the consequent pain and the wet blood on her fingertips. “Oh…”

Katara shuffles forward to heal her and her heavy eyelids droops closed, comedown from adrenaline zapping all the energy out of her.

“Don’t fall asleep!” Zuko says anxiously, poking her hard in the arm and she opens her eyes to scowl at him.

“I’m not concussed… I think. Just tired.”

“Nope, you’re concussed,” Katara declares. “It’s only mild, though.”

“So, basically… not a concussion.”

She pulls a face. “That is not how that works. Like, at all. You’re a healer, you should know that.”

Sakari just rolls her eyes and slumps back. It’s then she realises she’s still holding Zuko’s sleeve and hastily lets go.

Chapter Text

“Wow, camping,” Aang says as the group sits around a bonfire the night after escaping Azula. “It really feels like old times again, doesn’t it?”

A small smile pulls at Zuko’s lips as he replies, “If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh… chase you around a while and try to capture you.”

The joke is met with laughter and smiles from most of the group, however Katara’s expression remains cold and she lets out a sarcastic, “Ha ha.”

Sokka, either oblivious to the tension or strategically ignoring it, holds up his cup. “To Zuko! Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he’d be our hero?”

“Hear! Hear!” they chant. Aang nudges Zuko and Toph lightly punches his arm, making him smile bashfully.

“I’m touched. I don’t deserve this.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Katara says sharply, before getting up and stalking off.

Sokka frowns. “What’s with her?”

“I wish I knew,” says Zuko, following after her.

“What’s with him?”

Perhaps it’s the help of the concussion, but Sakari wakes the following morning from the first night of uninterrupted sleep in a very long time. She finds Sokka and Aang relaxing near Appa and joins them.

“Did I miss any more Katara and Zuko drama after I went to bed?” she asks.

“Uh, kind of,” Sokka replies. “Zuko thinks that Katara’s connected her anger at our Mom’s death to her anger at him. He came to my tent last night asking about how she died, and what the raiders ship looked like. It was odd.”

Sakari presses her lips together, a bit uneasy as she tries to figure out what his angle is.

It’s only a few minutes later, however, that Katara and Zuko approach Appa, the prince with a slack slung over his shoulder.

“I need to borrow Appa,” Katara says.

“Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?” Aang asks jokingly.

“Yes, it is.”

“Oh… what’s going on?”

“We’re going to find the man who took my mother from me.”

Oh.

“Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him,” Zuko says.

Sakari thinks it’s quite sweet, actually. Aang, evidently does not.

“Um… and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?”

Katara huffs and starts to walk away. “Ugh, I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

“Wait! Stop! I do understand. You’re feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?”

“She needs this, Aang,” Zuko insists. “This is about getting closure and justice.”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s about getting revenge.”

“Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that’s what I need! Maybe that’s what he deserves!”

“Katara, you sound like Jet.”

Sakari may not have been present for that particular adventure, but she’s heard what happened and she knows that’s a low blow.

“It’s not the same!” she argues, whirling back around. “Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he’s a monster.”

“Katara, she was my mother too, but I think Aang might be right,” Sokka tries to reason.

“Then you didn’t love her the way I did!”

Sakari inhales sharply as Sokka’s face falls, expression wounded. “Katara!”

“The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you’re being poisoned yourself.”

Zuko barely suppresses an eyeroll. “That’s cute, but this isn’t air temple preschool. It’s the real world.”

“Now that I know he’s out there… now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice.”

“Katara, you do have a choice: forgiveness,” Aang tries.

Zuko pulls a face. “That’s the same as doing nothing!”

“No, it’s not. It’s easy to do nothing, but it’s hard to forgive. But it’s always the best course of action. I mean, look at what happened to Sakari.”

Sakari startles. “What?”

“You said it yourself, that guy was trying to get revenge and look how that turned out-“

“Aang, that is so not the same thing, do not bring me into this!” she snaps.

Zuko glances between the two of them in confusion, and Sakari steadfastly avoids eye contact.

“So, you think she should go through with this?”

“I think that my opinion isn’t really relevant because I don’t know what it feels like to be in her position. I think Katara is perfectly capable of making her own decision. If she wants to wipe the guy out of existence, that’s her choice.”

“But her judgement is clouded by anger!”

Katara shoots him a vicious glare and says, “I think my judgement is crystal clear because of my anger,” before storming away from the group.

Sakari thinks over what she just said and her stomach churns. She intended to express support for Katara, but not give her any ideas. She hastily follows after her.

“Can I sit next to you?” she asks when she finds Katara sitting on a rock with her knees curled up to her chest. When the girl nods, Sakari sits next to her and lets out a breath. “Katara… I know that you’re angry. You have every right to be, and this guy deserves to pay for what he did. And… I don’t know what you’re planning, but I just need to say that… taking a life…”

“You don’t think he deserves it?” she demands.

“Of course, he does. But you don’t deserve that. You don’t deserve to carry that burden.” Katara softens and Sakari realises that she was a bit more honest than she intended. “I- I know it’s different. And I trust you, Katara. And I support you, whatever you choose to do. I just… Be sure, okay?”

Katara looks thoughtfully out at the horizon at nods. “Thanks, Sakari.”

When she returns to the campsite, Sakari sees Suki attempting to comfort Sokka, who looks simultaneously agitated and hurt. The boy gets up and walks off shaking his head, and Suki looks helplessly after him.

“Is he okay?” she asks the Kyoshi warrior, even though it’s a stupid question.

“What Katara said really upset him. He just needs some space.” There’s a pause, then- “Is there usually this much drama?”

Sakari lets out a laugh. “Uh, not quite this dramatic, no. Little tiffs here and there but that’s usually it. I think we can blame Zuko for it,” she adds conspiratorially.

“Yes, he does seem to have a flair for drama.” 

“A flair for drama?!” Zuko’s outraged voice repeats from behind them, making them both jump. “If you both hate me so much, you can just tell me.”

Both girls just look at him and suddenly his cheeks go pink.

“Okay, that’s not fair, how else am I supposed to respond to that without proving your point?”

Sakari grins and pats the boy on the shoulder as she passes. “I think that is the point, Zuko.”

Surprising to absolutely no one, Zuko and Katara attempt to sneak off on Appa in the middle of the night.

“So, you were just gonna take Appa anyway?” Aang says.

“Yes.”

“It’s okay, because I forgive you.” Aang pauses. “That give you any ideas?”

Katara just looks at him. “Don’t try to stop us.”

“I wasn’t planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man. But when you do, please don’t choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him.”

“Okay, we’ll be sure to do that, guru goody-goody,” Zuko says sarcastically. He steps towards Appa, about to climb up into the saddle when Sakari steps forward and grabs his wrist.

“Wait. Quick word?” At his blank look, she drags him off to the side.

“Look, Sakari, you don’t have to worry, I’ll make sure she’s safe, I promise.”

“I know you will,” she says absent-mindedly, and his expression does something complicated. “I just… make sure she does what she needs to do, but… make sure she does only what she needs to. If she’ll genuinely benefit from ending the fuckstain, then good for her. I just don’t want her to spend the rest of her life regretting something… severe if that’s not the case.”

He gives her a brief questioning look but nods firmly. “He’ll pay, but… not at Katara’s expense.”

“Thank you.”

As they watch the pair fly off, there’s a sense of unease amongst the group, unsure of what will happen. When Sakari looks over at Aang, the boy is already staring at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Come on,” she says to him, gesturing to a spot away from the campsite. “Let’s have a talk.”

He follows her to a grassy area near the cliff’s edge and they sit next to each other.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you,” Aang says. “I just don’t get it. You clearly regret what you did to Irniq.”

“Irniq was just a kid, Aang. He was a kid in pain. He didn’t do anything like that monster who killed Katara’s mother did, he wasn’t being cruel for the sake of it. He was angry and hurt. And… I never intended for him to die.”

“But then… why would you be okay with Katara killing someone?”

“Well, if I saw Kanut today… I don’t know what I’d do, but it wouldn’t be good. And I’m not saying I condone it, and honestly, I don’t want her to – for her sake, not for his- but… I understand.”

“But even someone like Kanut… do you really think he deserves-“

That strikes a nerve. “Aang, don’t you dare try to tell me what the guy who kidnapped and tortured me for a month deserves.” She pauses to take a breath. “I know… I know that’s your belief system, and I get it, and eye for an eye will make the world go blind, but… you can’t expect people to just forgive sh- stuff like that. It’s so much more complicated than that.”

“Katara didn’t tell me he tortured you,” Aang murmurs after a moment, looking at her hands like everything makes a lot more sense.

“I didn’t tell anyone.” Truthfully, she just didn’t think she needed to. But unlike the others, Aang had been in a coma for weeks afterwards, so aside from their brief fight with Azula and Zuko in the catacombs, he hadn’t seen her until she’d already had a few weeks to recuperate. He didn’t witness the absolute mess she was.

His expression is devastated. “I’m really sorry that happened to you.”

Sakari laughs hollowly. “Yeah… me too.”

“And I’m sorry for what I said. I understand what it’s like to feel hurt and anger like that, but that doesn’t mean I understand what you’re actually going through, or the position Katara is in.”

Fuck, she hates that he’s apologising for that. She turns her body towards him and grabs his hands in hers. “I’m glad you don’t, Aang. I know you’re only trying to help, and so does Katara. She appreciates you looking out for her. It’s just that... being told you should forgive someone like that is… hard to hear. And hard to understand.”

“Yeah…” he says, head low. He looks so young and so gentle and suddenly Sakari feels extremely guilty for how she’s spoken to him.

“I’m sorry if I made it seem like I don’t care about your values. That’s not the case. And I shouldn’t have been so harsh.”

“No, I know,” he assures her with a small smile. 

“You’re a really wise kid, and I have so much respect for you. And I love you, you know that right?”

Aang’s smile widens. “Yeah, I do.” He sits up to give her a tight hug. “I love you too.”

“She’ll make the right decision, whatever that is. We just have to be there for her afterwards.”

In the morning, Suki goes with Sokka to the nearest town to go shopping, meanwhile Aang, Toph, and Sakari stay at the campsite.

Aang opts to spend the morning meditating, leaving Toph and Sakari to their own devices. Naturally, they decide to fill this time by duelling. It turns out that when you have a waterbender and an earthbender fighting for no stakes other than fun, it generally ends with both parties covered in mud. When they stop for lunch, Sakari uses waterbending to wash herself but Toph seems quite content as she is.

“Where’s Aang? Is he still meditating?” Sakari asks, and Toph shrugs. They haven’t seen him since he went to meditate, and she is suddenly very hopeful that he just lost track of time and hasn’t found himself in any sort of trouble. “Let’s go find him.”

They wander around for a few minutes until Toph picks up his movement and points, “Over there!”

Behind a thicket, they find Aang pacing in circles, expression frantic as he hums something and abruptly stops. He makes a frustrated noise and starts singing under his breath, coming to a stop at the same point and letting out a slight whine.

“Aang?” Sakari says tentatively, and when he looks at her, she realises his eyes are glistening with unshed tears. “Aang, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t remember the words!”

“Uh… you’re gonna have to elaborate a bit more, bud.”

“There’s this lullaby that the monks taught us, and I can’t remember the second half!”

Sakari is extremely confused, but whether or not she understands why her friend is upset, she’s going to do her damned best to help. “Okay… it might just be a bit of a brainfart, I’m sure it’ll come to you later.”

“Don’t you understand?! I’m the last airbender! If I can’t remember it, then it’s gone!” he cries, tears now rolling down his face. “The temples have all been raided or destroyed, I- everything that I’ve ever learn about our culture, it’s up to me to remember, to carry it on!”

Sakari’s face falls, feeling incredibly stupid now, and walks forward to put her hands on his shoulders, which are heaving as he hyperventilates. “Aang, I need you to take a deep breath, okay? Copy me.”

As his big round eyes meet hers, she finds herself tearing up at the sight of him so distraught. He matches her exaggerated breaths, and once he’s slightly more settled, he wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder.

“I know you’re scared. That’s completely understandable. And once this war is over, we’re going to help you record everything you know. We’ll do a whole bunch of research and make a huge library about air nomad culture and history. We’ll make sure it’s preserved, okay?”

“But what if there are things I miss?” he asks, pulling back.

Toph steps forward and grabs his hand. “Aang, there are going to be some things that will be lost forever and it’s gonna be really awful. But you can’t carry the weight of an entire culture on your back. It’s just not possible. It’s not your fault, it’s the fault of the Fire Nation, okay?”

“Exactly,” Sakari nods. “Besides, traditions are constantly coming and going and evolving. You can make new ones. But we will do everything in our power to minimise the losses. As a team.”

Aang wipes at his eyes and nods, wrapping the two in a group hug. “Thank you… I really appreciate you guys.”

“We appreciate you too, Twinkle Toes.”

“Maybe next time you’re upset you come to us instead of panicking on your own?”

“Full offence, Humbug, that is the most hypocritical thing you’ve ever said,” Toph says flatly, making Sakari’s cheeks grow hot.

“I- okay, you know what, fair. I will try to work on that.”

Sokka seems to be in a lot better spirits when he and Suki return, both donning some new accessories. It’s only a short while after that, as the sun approaches the horizon, that they see Appa returning.

Except, when he lands, only Zuko is in the saddle.

Sokka stands up and starts thundering towards him. “Zuko, for the love of-“

“She’s okay, she’s okay!” he reassures. “She just needed some time to process. She’s at my family’s house on Ember Island. I figure we can lay low there for a while.” 

Aang bites the inside of his cheek. “Did she…”

“She said everything she needed to and scared the shi- uh- spirits out of him. But then she walked away.”

The group quickly pack up their camp and gather their things ready to head to the next destination. As Sakari climbs into Appa’s saddle beside Zuko, she grabs his hand for a moment and quietly says, “Thank you.”

It’s a short trip to the island, and Katara is waiting for them on the dock when they arrive.

“I wanted to do it,” Katara is saying to Aang when Sakari approaches. “I wanted to take all my anger out at him, but I couldn’t. I don’t know if it’s because I’m too weak to do it or because I’m strong enough not to.”

“You did the right thing,” the boy replies. “Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing.”

“But I didn’t forgive him. I’ll never forgive him.” She turns to Zuko and smiles. “But I am ready to forgive you.” She gives the prince a hug, and Sakari falls into step with her when she heads back toward the house.

“I’m really proud of you, Katara.”

Katara loops her arm through Sakari’s, smiling and pulling her close. “Thank you for looking out for me. You’re a really good friend, Sakari.”

o o o

Zuko still thinks that staying at his family house on Ember Island is a good idea, strategically. But now that he’s here, he knows that he is not going to enjoy it. It’s bringing back a lot of unpleasant memories, and even the good memories just make him sad because they all involve his mother. But he masks his discomfort as best he can as he shows the group around, internally making comments like, ‘This is the cupboard my father locked me in for two hours after I spilt soup on his new robes.’ Or ‘This is the fire poker he hit me with after I broke a plate’. It would be a bit of a downer, not to mention they don’t know what his childhood was like and he’s not about to expose himself like that. Well… except for Sakari, who is annoyingly perceptive. And pushy. But at the same time… it’s kind of nice having someone other than Uncle who cares enough to be pushy.

Needless to say, he’s not too surprised when, after hours of trying to get to sleep, he’s woken by a horrific nightmare. This one, as many of them usually do, took him right back to his banishment, to the burn. He’s sweaty and breathless and trembling, tears sitting in the corners of his eyes, and he aggressively throws back the covers of his bed to sit up. Even after a few minutes, he’s no less agitated and decides to get some fresh air.

He steps out onto the porch, taking deep breaths and sniffling, only to freeze when he notices Sakari sitting on the steps. She turns to look at him, a grim smile on her face.

“You too, huh?” She pats the spot next to her and he silently sits. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Nope,” he replies sharply. Sakari just nods, and he abruptly realises he’s being rude. “Do- uh, do you?”

The waterbender swallows and shakes her head. “I’m sorry… I know it can’t be easy, being here.”

“It’s not so bad… my family is awful but I do have some good memories.”

“Still… thank you.”

Her gratitude makes him uncomfortable for some reason and he shifts in his seat. “Besides, it’s nice to be in a decent bed again.”

At this, Sakari lets out a genuine laugh and he struggles not to smile. He made her laugh, he did that. “Tell me about it. I think my back forgot what a real bed felt like.” A moment of silence passes before she says, “I’m going to go down to the beach… do you wanna come?”

His first instinct is to say no. But all he had planned was to wallow in self-pity so he figures he may as well. “Sure.”

As they walk down the path to the beach, he lights a small fire to light the way.

“It’s pretty.”

Zuko blinks. “What?”

“Fire. I’m used to seeing firebending used for destruction. I sort of forgot how pretty it can be.”

He really doesn’t know to respond to that. He’s a bit embarrassed at having his firebending be referred to as pretty but when he looks down at the steady flame, he smiles. “Yeah… me too.”

They reach the shore and Zuko stops just before the water, meanwhile Sakari steps out until the water covers her ankles and visibly relaxes. She starts using waterbending to fiddle with the water around her, then looks back at him. “You’re not gonna get your feet wet?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?” she asks teasingly.

When he just gives her a flat look, she bends down and playfully flicks some water in his direction. He shrieks and throws a hand up to shield his face. “That’s so cold!” he cries, but he can’t help but laugh. Sakari beams in return and he wants to keep that look on her face. So, he makes a dramatic show of reluctantly coming to stand in the water and crosses his arms. “Ta da,” he deadpans. “Happy now?”

“Overjoyed, actually,” she grins, and it’s so hard to not smile stupidly back.

He watches silently as she bends various shapes and patterns into the water for a bit, and as he does, he’s reminded of what Aang had said.

Look at what happened to Sakari.

That guy was trying to get revenge and look how that turned out.

“What was Aang talking about?” he asks. He’s about to elaborate when he expression drops, an almost vacant look in her eyes. Clearly, he doesn’t need to.

“It’s… a long story.”

Do you really want to know where I’ve been the last month, Katara? I’ve been locked in some basement as a vindictive fuckface’s prisoner

So… why was a ‘vindictive fuckface’ after you?

Long story.

He realises that Aang must have been talking about the guy that kidnapped her. Just as he’s wondering what the kid meant by ‘look how that turned out’, he remembers the awful state she was in when she was in The Jasmine Dragon.

He decides to just shut up.

Zuko is pleasantly surprised by how relaxing he finds standing in the water to be. But he can’t handle it for too long. “Alright, I’m getting out, my feet are getting too cold,” he says and steps back out onto the dry sand. He takes a seat and looks out at the moonlight reflecting off the ocean’s surface, feeling his eyes growing heavy. Then Sakari starts humming quietly and he closes his eyes as he listens to the tune.

“What song is that?” he asks.

“It’s called Sleepsong… Mom used to sing it to me before bed.”

“It’s really nice.”

Sakari gives a small smile over her shoulder before continuing humming and playing around in the water, making small blobs of water float around her. It’s a little mesmerising. And then she starts singing.

“May you sail fair to the far fields of fortune

With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet

And may you need never to banish misfortune

May you find kindness in all that you meet

May there always be spirits to watch over you

To guide you each step of the way

To guard you and keep you safe from all harm

Loo-li, loo-li, ly-lay.”

Zuko finds his sleepiness slowly taking over, and he ends up lying back on the sand. Shortly after, Sakari comes and sits next to him, still humming gently, and it’s not long later that he drifts off to sleep.

Zuko wakes to the sun in his eyes and sand under his back. He slowly sits up, startling when he realises Sakari is fast asleep right beside him. And with her face smushed into her hand, a bit of drool coming out of her partially opened mouth, and hair sticking out everywhere and covered in sand, he finds himself thinking how peaceful she looks. It’s still very early, the sun barely risen, and he decides to make some tea, wanting to start the day how Uncle would.

He still has some ginseng root leftover so he decides to brew that and take some out to Sakari. However, just as he’s pouring out the two cups, Aang walks into the kitchen, yawning widely.

“Oh, sweet, thanks, Zuko!” he says when he spots the cups. Before Zuko can say anything, he’s grabbed one and taken a big sip, letting out a loud, satisfied ‘ahh’. This fucking kid. “I have something for you too.”

This makes him pause. Aang digs into his pocket and pulls out a thin braided bracelet. “It’s a friendship bracelet! We all have one.”

Zuko just stares at it for a moment, stunned. “I- You- …What?”

Aang’s excitement seems to wane a little. “Well… you’re part of the group now, so… I made you a friendship bracelet. But I mean… you don’t… you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to…”

“No! I mean- sorry- I mean of course I’ll wear it. I was just surprised.” He takes the bracelet and slides it over his wrist, running his finger over the material and feeling his heart grow warm. This kind of acceptance is all he’s ever wanted in life. When he looks back up at Aang, the kid is beaming. “I’m really honoured, Aang. Thank you.”

When Aang disappears to meditate, Zuko pours another tea for Sakari, takes it out to her and finds her doing some katas on the shore.

“Hey. I uh, I brought you tea… ginseng,” he says awkwardly.

Sakari smiles at him, looking very pleased as she takes the cup. “I still can’t believe you remembered my tea order.”

Fuck. Was that weird? “It’s Uncle’s favourite tea, too,” he says defensively, hoping that explains it. You’re being weird, stop being-

His thought is interrupted when Sakari puts a hand on her arm, eyes bright. “Thanks, Zuko.” Her eyes dart down to the new addition on his wrist and grins. “Ah, I see you’ve been promoted. Welcome to the club, my friend.” She holds up her arm to show her own. “We’re officially besties now.”

Zuko tries very hard to keep his heart under control, feeling very much like he might just drown.

Chapter Text

It’s a hot day, but it doesn’t stop Zuko and Aang from spending many hours outside training. Given that there’s nothing the rest of them have to do, Sakari decides to use her waterbending to keep her friends cool by preparing icy cold drinks for everyone using some fruit she found in the markets in town.

“What are you making?” Zuko’s voice says from the entryway into the kitchen just as she’s finishing up.

“Um, some kind of smoothie, I think,” Sakari replies, looking doubtfully at the mess she’s made.

There’s a snort. “You think?”

“Well, I’ve never actually-“ she looks up to find a sweaty and shirtless Zuko standing in front of her, and for some reason, she suddenly feels extremely awkward. “-uh, done this before. I kind of, um, just figured how hard can it be, you know?”

“Well, it looks good to me.”

“Would you like to taste this completely experimental beverage?”

“Sure,” he laughs, and she spoons some of the mixture into a cup and holds it out to him.

“Wait, you’re not allergic to anything, are you?” she asks anxiously.

“Just lychee,” he says and promptly takes a big sip. Sakari practically dives across the room to smack the very-much-lychee-containing cup out of his hand until he breaks out into a laugh and holds up his hands, shouting, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!”

“Oh, fuck you,” she mutters. “Just for that I’m going to actually poison you.”

He just grins innocently and takes another sip. “You know, it’s actually really good.”

“You sound so surprised. And here I thought you believed in me,” she sighs dramatically.

“I did until you said, ‘completely experimental beverage’ and that kind of… lowered my expectations.”

She tries to keep her stupid smile in check. “Well, that’ll teach you not to lower your expectations of me, won’t it?”

Zuko sniggers and rolls his eyes.

Sakari really doesn’t know why she feels so awkward around Zuko when he’s training shirtless. She’s seen plenty of bare teenage boy chests in her time as Kavik, so it doesn’t make sense that she suddenly feels weird about this one. Perhaps it’s just because it’s been a while. But… when she thinks about it, she’s definitely seen Sokka shirtless regularly and she’s never thought anything of it. The only other possible explanation she can think of is if… no, surely not.

“You know, Humbug, I’ve noticed this really strange pattern,” Toph says in a sly tone to her one day as the two of them and Suki are lounging in the sun. “It seems every time Zuko has his shirt off around you, your heart rate increases. How strange.”

“Your ears go a little red, too,” Suki adds with a grin.

Sakari wants to bury herself in a hole. “You- It’s nothing, it’s just-“

The wicked look on Toph’s face makes her stomach drop. In an alarmingly loud voice, she starts to sing, “Sakari and Zuko, sitting in-“

In an instant, Sakari has dived onto the girl and covered her mouth with her hand to shut her up. When Toph sticks her tongue out to lick her hand, she yanks it back in disgust, wiping it on her tunic.

“I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you,” she grumbles, only to realise her error.

“I’m not sure how that would help me, but I appreciate the threat.”

Suki giggles as Sakari groans loudly.

Over the next few days, Aang continues making great strides in his firebending, spending most of each day training with Zuko. For everyone else, their stay at Ember Island is a bit like a holiday, finding various leisurely ways to kill the time.  

Then one day, Suki and Sokka return from town bringing the news that there’s a play about them.

“’The Boy in the Iceberg’ is a new production from the acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim,” Sokka reads from the poster, “who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.”

“Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players,” Suki quotes.

At this, Zuko scoffs, “Ugh! My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered Love Amongst the Dragons every year!”

Sakari wouldn’t have picked Zuko for someone who enjoys the theatre, but in hindsight, it makes sense.

“Sokka, do you really think it’s a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves?” Katara asks doubtfully.

“Come on, a day at the theatre? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I’ve been missing!”

Sakari is more than curious about this production and what this playwright has supposedly found out about them. “Well, think of it this way, wouldn’t it be helpful to know they know about us? You know, for… strategy reasons.”

Katara raises an eyebrow at her, clearly seeing right through her bullshit, but sighs. “Fine.”

When they enter the theatre, they find their seats on the balcony, with Toph, Katara, and Aang sitting in one row, meanwhile Suki, Sokka, Zuko, and Sakari sit in the row behind them.

The play starts off strong, with Katara being portrayed as a weepy, emotional girl always making dramatic speeches about hope and Sokka being portrayed as a bad-joke-making, constantly ‘starving‘ goof.  When a woman playing ‘Aang’ appears, the real Aang is quite outraged. Overall, it’s so bad it’s entertaining.

“They make me look totally stiff and humourless,” Zuko complains when he and ‘Iroh’ are introduced.

“Actually, I think that actor’s pretty spot on,” Katara shoots back, amused.

“How could you say that?!”

“Let’s forget about the Avatar and get massages!” ‘Iroh’ suggests.

Actor Zuko turns to ‘Iroh’ menacingly and shouts, “How could you say that?!” in such a perfect mimic, that Sakari has to clap a hand over her mouth to suppress a cackle.

Zuko cringes and slumps down in his seat.

‘Kavik’ is introduced with a comical amount of fake facial hair, but overall, Sakari is quite pleased with her actor. She wishes she was that buff.

It’s a bit hard to watch when everything with Yue happens, partially because of the bad memories, and partially because of how plain insulting the portrayal is.

‘Kavik’ is revealed to be ‘Sakari’ in a dramatic, unprompted reveal in which she rips off her fake moustache in front of 'Pakku’.

‘Pakku’ gasps. “You dishonour your family! Dishonour on you, dishonour on your pig-cow!”

Sakari crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. “We don’t even have pig-cows in the North Pole.”

“You’re right, that is the most inaccurate thing about this performance,” Zuko says dryly.

“You wish it was inaccurate,” she teases.

She speaks too soon.

“Please, let me come with you!” ‘Sakari’ pleads pathetically to ‘Aang’, ‘Sokka’, and ‘Katara’. “I have brought shame on my family and have nowhere else to go! Please, take me with you! I beg you!”

Zuko looks at her and she huffs. “That is so not what happened.”

“You wish it was inaccurate,” he echoes slyly, making her sigh.

“Touché.”

The first intermission is spent with most of the group bitching about their portrayal, only for Toph to shoot back that she thinks it’s pretty accurate.

When they’re heading back into the theatre twenty minutes later, Zuko tugs at Sakari’s sleeve somewhat anxiously. “I think I fucked up,” he says quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“On the way to Boiling Rock, Sokka told me that his first girlfriend turned into the moon. But I thought it was a metaphor or something! I didn’t realise he meant it literally.”

Sakari snorts. “Okay, so what did you say?”

“Well… I couldn’t figure out what it meant! I just gathered that whatever it meant was bad, so I said, ‘that’s rough, buddy’.”

She cackles and Zuko buries his head in his hands.

The appearance of ‘Toph’ in the play brings the girl immense glee, particularly the fact that she is played by a very hunky man.

When ‘Zuko’ reappears, his ponytail is replaced by a full head of very long and very lush hair, and Sakari leans over, pokes Zuko’s arm, and whispers, “Why don’t you have your hair like that?”

The prince scoffs. “Because that looks ridiculous.”

“What are you talking about? Ember Island Player Zuko is a total dreamboat,” she teases, and it’s not until his cheeks go pink that she realises perhaps that was an odd thing to say.

Things take a… weird turn when they get to Ba Sing Se. In the play, ‘Sakari’ goes with the rest of the group across the pass rather than separating from them and helps them take out the drill. It’s not until they’re in the city that ‘Sakari’ wanders off from the group and a hooded man appears on the other side of the stage.

“Look! A defenceless girl!” he declares, then grabs ‘Sakari’ from behind with a villainous cackles and drags her away. “You’re mine now! Be a good girl and do what I tell you to and you won’t get hurt!”

With that, the two actors disappear of the stage and Sakari stares at the empty stage in bewilderment. Not only was that yet another humiliating misrepresentation, it was straight up creepy and implied that her kidnapper had very different intentions than Kanut did. It makes sense that the writer didn’t know why she was really kidnapped, but this? She can feel her friends looking at her and she subtly sinks down in her seat, deeply uncomfortable.

Then, to top it off, they put ‘Katara’ and ‘Zuko’ in the catacombs alone and depict a romance between the two.

“I have to admit, Prince Zuko, I really find you attractive,” ‘Katara’ says.

“You don’t have to make fun of me,” Actor Zuko replies.

“But I mean it! I’ve had eyes for you since the day you first captured me!”

Sakari shifts uncomfortably, slightly relieved when Zuko and Katara exchange looks of mild disgust. 

“Wait, I thought you were the Avatar’s girl!”

“The Avatar?” Actress Katara laughs. “Why, he’s like a little brother to me!” Sakari winces when she sees Aang’s shoulders hunch in front of her. “I certainly don’t think of him in a romantic way. Besides, how could he ever find out about… this?”

The two embrace, holding hands, and Sakari grimaces. She grows even more tense when Aang gets to his feet and walks out of the theatre. Thankfully, there’s only a couple more scenes they have to endure before the second intermission, but it’s another hard watch.

“Well, my brother, what’s it going to be? Your nation, or a life of treachery?” ‘Azula’ asks.

As ‘Zuko’ dramatically struggles with this decision, Actor Iroh says, “Choose treachery, it’s more fun!”

Actor Zuko walks towards ‘Iroh’, only to shove him to the ground and shout, “I hate you, Uncle! You smell, and I hate you for all time!” 

Katara turns in her seat to look at Zuko and asks, “You didn’t really say that, did you?”

“I might as well have,” he responds miserably.

The last scene ends with ‘Aang’ entering the Avatar State and being lifted in the air by a cable, only to be struck by Actress Azula’s lightning (some blue ribbon) and sink down to the ground, seemingly dead.

Finally, the second intermission starts and everyone is quite glad to get out of that room. A lot of the group is staring at Sakari with varying degrees of concern and she clears her throat. 

“Um, I just want to clarify that there were… certain things that were implied that did not happen,” she says awkwardly. “Kanut was a, uh… very different type of awful. So… yeah. Um, does anyone know where Aang went?”

At this, Katara frowns. “No, I’m gonna go look for him.”

As the girl walks away, Sakari grimaces. “Ah, this is going to be awkward.”

“How so?” Zuko frowns, before his face scrunches up. “Wait… are they…?”

“Um, it’s complicated.”

After Suki and Sokka disappear to try and sneak backstage, it’s just Toph, Sakari, and Zuko sitting in the hallway.

“Geez, everyone’s getting so upset about their characters,” Toph says. “Even you seem more down than usual, Sparky, and that’s saying something!”

“You don’t get it, it’s different for you. You get a muscly version of yourself taking down ten bad guys at once and making sassy remarks.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty great!”

“But for me, it takes all the mistakes I’ve made in my life and shoves them back in my face. My uncle, he’s always been on my side, even when things were bad. He was there for me, he taught me so much, and how do I repay him? With a knife in his back. It’s my greatest regret, and I may never get to redeem myself.”

“You have redeemed yourself to your uncle,” Toph says, sitting next to him. “You don’t realise it, but you already have.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I once had a long conversation with the guy, and all he would talk about was you.”

Zuko lifts his head up, pushing his hood back as he looks hopefully at her. “Really?”

“Yeah, and it was kind of annoying.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“But it was also very sweet. All your uncle wanted was for you to find your own path and see the light. Now you’re here with us. He’d be proud.”

“Exactly,” Sakari nods, sitting on his other side. “Yeah, this thing might be reminding of your mistakes, but in doing so, it also shows how far you’ve come. Look at how much progress you’ve made, and all the good you’ve done since. It takes a lot of strength to do what you did.”

Zuko hangs his head and fiddles with his hands, looking quite bashful. “Thanks, guys.”

Then Toph punches him hard in the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“That’s how I show affection.”

A kid in an Aang costume runs past them and stops before saying, “Your Zuko costume’s pretty good, but your scar’s on the wrong side.” Without waiting for a response, he promptly runs off.

Zuko sits up, outraged and yells at his retreating figure, “The scar’s not on the wrong side!”

Sakari doubles over with laughter, sliding down onto the ground with a hand on her stomach. And she can’t stop laughing. When it gets to the point that tears start to build up in her eyes, even Zuko starts to laugh. When she finally pulls herself together, Toph is shaking her head and Zuko is smiling shyly.

She spots Katara coming back inside from the balcony, but rather than rejoining them, the girl heads down another corridor.

“Uh, I’m gonna go check on Katara, I’ll be back in a bit.”

Sakari hurries around the corner and tracks the girl down to a quiet corner.

“Hey… are you okay?” she asks, taking a seat beside her.

“I… I don’t know. Aang was asking about… us. And how he thought we were gonna be together because we kissed before the invasion, but we’re not. And… I said I don’t know, and then he asked why I don’t know. And I explained how… with everything going on I’m just a bit confused. But then he kissed me.”

“Oh, Katara… I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know what to do,” she says, tearing up.

“Hey, hey, none of that,” Sakari says, bending the tears away. “Nope, I’m not letting you cry over a boy, stop it.” Katara laughs a little and Sakari pulls the girl into her side, rubbing her arm soothingly. “He cares for you and he wants you to be happy. He’s just… a bit stupid, y’know? Like, he’s wise and all, but… still stupid.”

“Thanks, Sakari,” Katara smiles. “Though, speaking of stupid boys… what’s up with you and Zuko?”

“What? What are you talking about?” she replies defensively, and the younger girl just laughs. Is she that transparent?

“Hey, um… on a more serious note… you never really talked about what actually happened in Ba Sing Se and that scene…”

“I promise, nothing like that happened. Just… regular ol’ torture.” Katara looks at her, a deeply concerned look on her face. That was funnier in my head, she thinks. “I’m okay, Katara.”

“Are you?” 

“I… I’m getting there.”

“Okay… I’m really glad.”

After Katara leaves to rejoin the group, Sakari ducks out to the balcony to check on Aang.

“Did you talk to Katara?” he asks when he sees her.

“Yeah…”

He groans and flops over the edge of the balcony. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, Aang, important lesson: if a girl says she’s confused about how she feels, you don’t just kiss her.”

“Yeah, I learnt that one,” he says miserably.

“You have to respect her boundaries. You’ve made it clear how you feel, that’s all you can do. Now you just need to give her space so she can figure out how she feels. I know it sucks, but if you show her that you’re patient and respectful, it’s more likely to work in your favour than pushing her is.”

He lets out a heavy sigh and mumbles, “You’re right… I guess this just isn’t how I saw it going.”

Sakari squints. “Aang. How much of your life has gone how you saw it going?”

The kids lets out a surprised laugh and nods. “Yeah… not much.”

“I can’t guarantee you’ll end up together. You might, you might not. But the important thing to realise is that either way, you’ll be okay. Might suck for a while if you don’t, but you’ll be okay.”

“Yeah… thanks, Sakari.”

She pulls him into a tight squeeze. “Are you coming back in?”

“I might stay out here a bit longer.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Sakari’s stomach rumbles as she makes her way back to the group, and she glances over at the food stand.

“How much longer have we got?” she asks.

“A few minutes,” Katara replies.

“Alright, I’m gonna quickly grab some food. Anyone wanna come?”

“I will!” Zuko says quickly, getting to his feet, and Sakari catches both Toph and Katara smirking behind him. She throws a finger up at them as the pair walk away, and although she belatedly realises that Toph won’t be able to see it, she trusts Katara to pass the message on.

By the time the two are walking back into the theatre, Sakari has just finished giving Zuko a brief rundown of the drama.

“So, why is this your problem?” he questions, pulling a face.

Sakari can’t help but laugh. “Because that’s what friends do, Zuko. Share their problems with each other so the load is a little lighter.”

“Is that what this bracelet was all about?” he says dryly, holding up his wrist. “A contractual obligation to tell you all my problems?”

“Only you could put a cynical spin on a friendship bracelet. …But yes. Precisely. Legally binding and everything.”

“Uh huh, I see.”

The final act begins and, for a while, Sakari wonders if her character has met a grisly end, but she reappears with very little explanation just before they leave the Fire Nation. The rest of the play passes in a series of equally inaccurate, poorly written, and uneventful scenes until ‘Zuko’ is shown to run away with the Gaang after the invasion, at which point they assume it’s coming to an end.

Except it doesn’t.

In the scene that follows, the team have stormed the Fire Nation palace during Sozin’s comet. ‘Azula’ and ‘Zuko’ proceed to have a short and underwhelming duel that ultimately ends in Actor Zuko’s death, at which point the crowd cheers and applauds. Sakari can feel Zuko go rigid beside her and she puts what she hopes is a comforting hand on his arm.

In much the same way, the next scene depicts Ozai defeating and killing ‘Aang’, with the Fire Lord declaring that the world is his. The crowd stands to give more cheer and applause meanwhile the group look on in horror.

There’s a mass exodus as everyone leaves the theatre at once, and the Gaang huddle together to avoid getting split up in the dense crowd. They manage to reach the lobby before Sakari finds herself starting to get swept away from the others.

Just as her panic starts to rise, her eyes land on a figure in a light grey cloak leaning against one of the pillars. The person’s head turns and Sakari freezes in utter terror when she makes eye contact with Kanut. Just the sight of him makes her hands throb and the contents of her stomach rises in her oesophagus as she recalls each and every way that he hurt her.

A hand grabs her wrist and she almost jumps out of her skin. She’s about to yank her arm away when she sees Zuko smiling at her. “Almost lost you.”

Her head snaps back to Kanut, only to find a random man giving her an odd look. Once again, her mind has played cruel tricks on her.

“What’s wrong?” Zuko asks with a frown.

“Nothing… nothing…” she mutters. Evidently not believing her, he follows her gaze to the Fire Nation man in the grey cloak and proceeds to scowl at him. Were Sakari a bit more lucid, she would feel bad for the man. As it is, she’s a bit preoccupied.

She wordlessly lets Zuko guide her out of the theatre, trying very hard to stay in her own body and not disappear into the flashbacks blaring in the back of her mind. Shivering alone in that cold room. That wretched mallet. Kanut’s beatings. The cold burns. She forces herself to take deep breaths, desperately hoping that Zuko (still holding her wrist) can’t feel her shaking.

“What was it you were saying before about friends sharing their problems with each other to lighten the load?” he asks as they catch up to the others, his tone light.

“I’m fine,” she says shortly, and he presses his lips together, but drops the matter.

After a bit of walking in the fresh outside air, Sakari’s panic eases up slightly. She recalls Zuko’s obvious discomfort at his death scene and looks across at the boy. He’s staring at the ground in front of him, deep in thought.

“Are you okay?” she murmurs.

When he looks at her, for a moment she thinks he’s about to call her out for her hypocrisy. But he just sighs. “I mean… it’s not great watching yourself die… and then have everyone cheer.”

“That wasn’t you though. That was your character, who was written in a way that was designed for the audience not to like. Especially when you look at the demographic of the audience.” She thinks back to the scene, of Actor Zuko being engulfed by flames. She feels queasy. “Besides, that’s not going to happen.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I- We won’t let it,” she says firmly

And when he meets her eye, there is something in his gaze so emotionally raw that she has to look away.

While everyone else goes to bed, Sakari knows better than to even try to sleep. Instead, she heads straight down to the beach and sits on the sand, staring out at the ocean. She thought she was doing better, she thought she was healing. But now it feels like she’s back to those first few days on the ship after getting out of Ba Sing Se. Listless, anxious, on edge. And so tremendously sad.

She’s not sure how long she’s been sitting there when she hears footsteps approaching. She just knows it’s Zuko before he even sits down.

“I thought I might find you here.”

Sakari isn’t sure why it happens now. But the flood of emotions she’s been forcing down erupts, and in lieu of any kind of verbal response, she just starts crying hysterically.

“Oh, no,” he mutters, before shuffling closer and awkwardly patting her back. The touch sets something off in Sakari and she needs more. She leans into his side, curling in tighter when he moves his arm to wrap it around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffles.

“That’s okay! No need to apologise. I, uh, I’m here if you- if you wanna talk about it.” 

Sakari thinks over her next words for approximately two seconds before blurting out, “I killed someone.” She feels him stiffen but he doesn’t move. “I was… I was nine at the time. Dad was away so Gramps moved in with Mom and I to help out and… he was injured so he couldn’t do a whole lot in terms of work. But he ended up getting offered a job by this… questionable guy called Tunerk. He’d raid villages and docks for valuables and sold it all, but he didn’t hurt anyone. At least… we didn’t think so. And Gramps needed a job so he accepted and he was working in the shop and everything was fine for a while.

“But then one day he caught Tunerk killing someone for getting in the way of a job and… he couldn’t just ignore it. So he reported him to the chief and he got sent to prison but… turned out he had two sons who obviously weren’t very happy about that and found out what had happened. The older one came to our house and… he was threatening Mom and Gramps and… I was so scared. I didn’t understand what was going on but Mom was screaming and crying and… I’d never seen Gramps looks scared before, but the look on his face… the next thing I knew, I’d… I didn’t mean to…”

There’s a gurgling, then a thud. When Sakari opens her eyes, her mother is standing where she was, petrified and shaking. Behind her, the intruder is slumped on the ground, deep red blood pooling under his body from where a large icicle is impaled in his throat.

“We didn’t really have a choice then but to run, so Mom and Gramps hid the- hid him and we moved to a tiny village across the country.” When she’s finished speaking, Sakari takes a deep shuddering breath and stares at her hands. In case Zuko is disgusted by her, she can’t bear to look at him.

“That wasn’t your fault,” he says firmly, and she blinks at him. Clearly, he’s not understanding.

“He was just a teenager. He would have been our age at the time and I…”

“He was endangering your family and you protected them. What happened is on him.”

Sakari looks down at her hands and picks anxiously at her fingernails. “That’s not what his brother thought.”

She hears him let out a breath when he realises. “The guy in Ba Sing Se…”

“He was very adamant that I deserved to pay for what I’d done. And he made sure I did.” Zuko’s gaze lowers to her hands and she instinctively moves them from view. “That’s why I freaked out before when we were walking out. I thought I saw him, but… it was just my mind playing tricks on me.”

The boy tightens his arm around her back, thumb brushing back and forth over her shoulder. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. You’re safe now.” Then, evidently remembering the circumstances, says, “Well… from him.”

And despite everything, she can’t help the dry laugh that escapes her. “Ah yes, the whole ‘war’ thing is a separate issue.”

She feels exhausted from the catharsis and rests her head on his shoulder. When he moves, she starts to think she’s fucked up and crossed a line until she realises that he’s shifting to make her comfortable so she’s not bending her neck so much. They continue to sit like that until Sakari’s warm, fluttery heart feels like it can’t handle all of this physical contact anymore and she reluctantly draws back.

“Um, I’m going to go to bed now. I… Thank you for listening. And understanding. I- I can’t express how much I appreciate it.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me. I know that must have been hard.”

Sakari stands and brushes the sand off herself. “I thought it was going to be, but… you made it easy.”

“Oh,” he responds, looking like he doesn’t quite understand but gets that it’s a compliment. “I’m... glad. Goodnight, Sakari.” 

“Goodnight, Zuko,” she smiles and begins to walk back to the house. Once she’s a safe distance away from Zuko, her smile fades and she smacks herself in the face.

Spirits, she is fucked.

Chapter Text

If Sakari ever lives in a house with an attic, she’s going to make sure that it’s firmly locked to keep out people like Sokka, who seem to have a penchant for snooping around in attics.

After discovering that the Fire Lord’s house has an attic, Sokka was the first to suggest “having a look around”. Even Zuko seems curious (albeit apprehensive), saying that he’s never actually been up there before. However, as the group of them stand in the small, dark, dusty room, there isn’t all that much to look at. Aside from a cabinet in the corner, the only other thing in the room is a large chest.

While everyone else heads for the chest, Sokka and Suki make a beeline for the cabinet.

“Well guys, I think we’re in for a very fun night,” Sokka says, and when they turn around, he’s holding up a bottle of some kind of alcohol.

“Sokka!” Katara reprimands.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Wow, there’s a lot of this stuff here…”

There isn’t anything nearly as exciting in the chest, nor does there seem to be any sort of pattern to what’s in it. They pull out random bits dinnerware, books, and old clothes. Then Zuko freezes, staring at something transfixed. He pulls out a very thin and worn stuffed turtleduck, fingers running lightly over the grubby fabric and a small crease forms between his eyebrows. Then his eyes land on something still on the chest and he swallows hard. Sakari follows his line of sight and sees a tattered book. Love Amongst the Dragons: Playscript. When he lifts it out of the chest, she realises that there have been pages torn out, and one of the corners is severely singed. It’s evident from the look in Zuko’s eyes that whatever memories he’s currently reliving are not happy ones.

“How about some lunch?” Sakari suggests, standing up. “I’m starving.”

“Yeah, I could definitely eat,” Sokka nods.

It’s pretty quick after that that everything is placed back where it was and they all head back downstairs. Sakari tries to catch Zuko’s eye to check in with him, but his remain firmly on the floor.

Zuko’s spirits seem to lift over lunch, after which he and Aang go out to the courtyard for another training session and Sakari’s vague worry for him dissipates as he returns to his normal self.

In the early hours of the morning, Sakari is still lying awake in bed, trying to get to sleep. Just as she can feel herself starting to succumb to sleep, a quiet crashing noise from the kitchen makes her jolt upright, heart racing. Is someone in the house? Has someone found them?

She scrambles out of bed and creeps silently out of her room and down the corridor towards the sound of footsteps and someone muttering. She swallows hard and braces herself for a fight before she peeks around the corner. Her eyebrows pull together when she sees Zuko’s silhouette in the kitchen, shuffling around and seemingly mumbling to himself. With a quick look around the room to confirm that there are definitely no intruders, she lowers her guard and steps out.

“Zuko?” she whispers.

The boy whirls around, staggering slightly, and just stares at her. It’s then that she notices he’s clutching a bottle of baiju in his right hand.

“Are you drinking?”

Zuko glances down at the bottle, then back up to her and shrugs helplessly before letting out a small hiccup.

“How much have you had?”

Another shrug. Sakari walks up to him and scrutinises the hazy look in his eyes, as well as the slight sway in his stance.

“Spirits, you’ve really gone for it, haven’t you? I suspect you’ve had enough,” she says, taking the bottle from his hands despite his small whine of protest. “More than enough. You need some water. Here.” When she hands him a cup of water, he takes tentative sips and she watches him anxiously. “Okay, I’m gonna need some kind of verbal reassurance that you’re okay because so far you’ve just made sounds at me.”

Zuko pulls a face and loudly replies, “’M fine, I‘m fine. Just fucking fantastic.”

She gently shushes him, not wanting him to wake any of the others. She suspects he’s going to feel humiliated enough without more people seeing him like this. “Okay… why don’t we sit down outside? I think some fresh air could do you some good.”

He follows her out to the porch and almost trips down the stairs while attempting to sit down but manages to catch himself in time and flops down onto one of the steps.

“Lucky,” Sakari murmurs, eyeing him warily. How in spirits did he get himself into this mess? And why?

“My father always said I was lucky,” Zuko hiccups. “Lucky to be born. Your sister was born lucky and you were lucky to be born.” Sakari inhales sharply. “I s’pose he’d also say I’m lucky that he just- just gave me this scar instead of outright killing me.”

Her head snaps to him, staring at him in utter horror at the revelation. His own father had done that? She knew he was a complete piece of shit but this is a whole new level of cruelty.

“He’s wrong,” she says quietly. “He’s the lucky one to get such a wonderful son. It’s his loss that he can’t see that. And he’s a monster for what he did to you.”

Zuko stares silently ahead for a moment. “Is it- I hate him, but… is it fucked up that I still want him to- to love me?”

“No… it’s in our blood to want our parents’ love. But he doesn’t deserve that, Zuko. He is not worthy of loving you, and he’s far from worthy of your love.”

The boy just frowns and Sakari’s heart aches. She’s almost certain this whole spiral was set off by the things they found in the attic and she severely regrets not checking on him earlier. He opens his mouth to say something but then pauses and his expression drops. In an instant, he’s leaning over the side of the steps and retching.

Sakari swears and shuffles closer to make sure he hasn’t thrown up on himself. When he starts heaving again, she places a gentle hand on his back in an attempt to soothe him, but it only makes him flinch away. She starts humming instead, and he starts to relax slightly. After a few more bouts of vomiting, his stomach seems to settle a bit and he slumps back on the steps, partially leaning into Sakari’s side.

“You should have some more water – small sips, otherwise you’ll be sick again,” she advises, giving him more water.

He takes small sips between deep breaths, his tense and anxious energy dissipating as minutes pass. She keeps humming various tunes until his eyelids start to droop and he lets out a big yawn.

“How about we get you to bed and you try and sleep the rest of it off?” she suggests, grateful when he simply nods.

Sakari takes his hands and pulls him to his feet, wrapping a steadying arm around his waist. He leans his weight into her and his hair brushes against her ear, sending her heart into another frenzy. She guides him quietly back inside, into his room, and onto his bed. As she’s about to step back, his hand shoots out to grab her wrist and he looks at her wide-eyed.

“I- I’m so sorry,” he mutters. “Fuck, I feel stupid.”

“It’s alright,” she assures softly, sitting beside him. “We’ve all got to be a little stupid sometimes, that’s how we learn.”

“I’m sorry you had to see me like this. I don’t even know why I… fuck. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay, Zuko.”

“No, it’s not,” he groans.

“Well, I forgive you.”

“You really should stop doing that.”

She squeezes his hand and stands up, draping his blanket over him. “I’ll stop doing it when I think you no longer deserve it.”

When she closes his bedroom door behind her, she lets out a heavy sigh in an attempt to exhale out all of her tension and anxiety.

“Well, well, well,” a quiet but cheeky voice from a short ways down the hall says and Sakari nearly jumps out of her skin. Sokka is standing there looking between her and Zuko’s bedroom door with an eyebrow raised. “I’d like to say I didn’t see this coming, but-“

“It’s not like that, dipshit,” she cuts him off, stepping closer so she can whisper. “He got into the liquor and, well… turned into a bit of a mess. Ended up puking his guts up… and trauma dumping.”

“Oh, yeesh.”

Belatedly, she registers his words. “Wait, what do you mean- actually, never mind.”

When Sokka grins, she knows he’s not letting her off that easy. “I mean good for you. I see you’ve finally moved on from me. I know that must have been really hard-“

She hits him hard on the arm. “I hate you. And I distinctly remember telling you to never speak of that again.”

In the morning, Sakari isn’t surprised that Zuko is the last to wake up. He doesn’t emerge from his room until everyone else is halfway through breakfast. He looks tired but surprisingly put together, and if she hadn’t seen him in his drunken state last night, she probably wouldn’t guess that he’s severely hungover. She waits for him to look at her so she can subtly check in, but he doesn’t even look in her direction.

“Someone’s a bit sleepy,” Katara says mildly.

Zuko just hums in acknowledgement and takes a seat in their little circle, digging into his own meal.

Rationally, Sakari knows she should just leave him be. But it’s clear that he’s avoiding eye contact with her and she doesn’t understand why and it’s pissing her off. 

“Are you alright?” she asks pointedly.

He only meets her gaze for a fraction of a second before staring back down at the floor and muttering, “I’m fine.”

“You sure? You don’t look well.”

Zuko clenches his jaw. “I said I’m fine.”

Sakari presses her lips together and stares back down at her bowl, feeling stung. While Katara, Aang, and Toph just look thoroughly confused by the interaction, Sokka and Suki look almost offended on Sakari’s behalf.

The conversation moves on, and both Sakari and Zuko remain silent throughout the rest of breakfast. When Suki suggests a morning swim, the rest of them start filing out and Sakari busies herself with cleaning up the bowls. As soon as everyone is out the door, she turns to face him, arms folded.

“Okay, what’s your deal? Did I do something to upset you? Did I do something wrong when I was making sure you didn’t give yourself alcohol poisoning?”

Zuko still looks away. “No.” 

Sakari feels her frustration deflate, instead replaced by confusion and hurt. “Then… why are you acting like I did?”

“I didn’t mean to go that far,” he replies after a moment, guilt evident in his expression. “I didn’t want you to have to fucking babysit me, and I certainly didn’t mean to say everything I said.”

“Is that what this is about? The stuff you said about your father?”

“Can you just pretend you never- actually, can we pretend none of last night happened?”

Sakari runs her tongue over her teeth. “Why?”

He shoots her an irritated look. “Cut it out, Sakari, you know why.”

“No. Look, I get it, feeling exposed sucks but that’s what you have to do to actually deal with shit; you talk about it.”

“Yeah, well, not everyone wants to cry about their problems on a beach,” he shoots back.

She clenches her jaw, staring back at him. It wasn’t a good comeback, but it was clear that he had meant it to be one, that he had intended to hurt her with it. And it pisses her off. “If that’s how you wanna be… then fine.”

She turns on her heel and storms out of the house, only to hear rushed footsteps following. “Wait! Sakari, I’m sorry, can we talk?” 

“That depends, are you going to try to personally attack me again?”

When she turns around to face him, he looks wracked with guilt. “No, I’m sorry, that was such a fucked up and awful thing to say, I don’t know why I said that. I just- everything with my father, it’s not something I talk about. Like, ever. And I hate feeling like this, like I’m… vulnerable,” he says, voice cracking slightly. “Also, I feel so bad for making you deal with that… with me. I shouldn’t have gone that far. Or at all, really. I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”

Sakari frowns. “You don’t need to apologise for that, Zuko. I hate that you felt like that was the only way to make yourself feel better, but I don’t want you to apologise for ‘making me’ help you. You didn’t make me, and I’m glad that I was awake and could help you rather than being asleep and you being on your own the whole night. You could have really hurt yourself.”

“You’re right… I’m really sorry for lashing out at you. And thank you for looking after me. Um… my memory of last night is a little… fuzzy.” Sakari lets out a ‘hmph’. “I remember some of what I said but… not all of it.” He doesn’t outright ask but it’s clear that there’s a question there.

“Well, to be honest, a lot of it was just making unintelligible noises.” Zuko winces. “But um, you talked about your father and… how he was the one who gave you your scar.”

At this, Zuko looks surprised. “You didn’t know that? I thought everyone knew, it was pretty public.”

Sakari didn’t think that things could get any worse. She shakes her head, horrified. “I just- I just assumed it was kind of accident.”

A humourless laugh escapes him. “It was no accident. I told you that I was banished after I spoke out of turn at a war meeting. My father saw my outburst as a grave insult so he demanded that I take part in an Agni Kai.” She gives him a blank look. “It’s essentially a firebending duel, the first one to burn the other wins. I agreed, assuming I’d be fighting the general I’d spoken out against –not that refusing would have been an option- but… it was my father I’d insulted the most. So, when I actually came to face him, I couldn’t do it. I- I fell to my knees and begged for forgiveness and refused to fight him. But he just took that as an act of cowardice and said I’d only disrespected him further… that I would learn respect and that suffering would be my teacher. Then he…” he gestures to his face, “and banished me. Said that I could only return home and regain my honour if I brought him The Avatar.”

“I- I can’t even articulate just how… fucked up that is. That’s beyond cruel.”

“Yeah… I told him it was cruel. On the Day of Black Sun just before I left. And he blasted me full of fucking lightning.” There’s a pause in which Sakari gapes at him, wondering how the fuck he’s still alive. Apparently realising his mistake, he casually adds, “It’s okay, I managed to redirect it.”

Sakari is at a complete loss for words, fury coursing through her veins. Then a small detail stored in her brain makes itself known. “Hang on… didn’t you say you were banished three years ago?”

Zuko nods.

“But that was before Aang even…”

“Yeah…” he says, then in a joking tone, “it was a big day for me when he came out of the ice.”

“…Can I hug you?”

Zuko stares at her in surprise. “I- uh- yeah.”

When she pulls him into a hug, his arms wrap around her back tightly and she revels in the embrace.

“I really am sorry for being such a dick,” he murmurs, and she can feel the vibration in his chest as he speaks. “Especially after I promised not to say mean shit again. My issues are no excuse to treat you like that, and it won’t happen again.”

Sakari reluctantly pulls away and smiles at him. “I appreciate you saying that. I’m sorry for being really pushy about it all and not respecting you not wanting to talk about it. Not everyone deals with things the same way and I need to remember that.”

“Well… it’s not like my current way seems to be working,” he says dryly, making her snort. 

“Do you wanna join the others at the beach?”

“Yeah, I’d really like that.”

No one knows what the fuck is going on a few days later when Zuko starts spontaneously attacking and chasing after Aang, partially destroying the house in the process while they’re trying to have a relaxing beach day. The rest of the group manage to catch up to them just as Aang sends Zuko flying off the balcony and he lands in a heap.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Katara demands. “You could have hurt Aang!” 

“What’s wrong with me?” Zuko replies. “What’s wrong with all of you? How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin’s comet is only three days away?” There’s a pregnant pause in which they all glance at each other. Clearly there has been a miscommunication. “Why are you all looking at me like I’m crazy?”

Aang scratches his arm. “About Sozin’s comet… I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came.”

“After?!”

“I’m not ready. I need more time to master firebending,” he explains.

“And frankly, your earthbending could still use some work, too,” Toph adds.

“So, you all knew Aang was gonna wait?” Zuko asks, eyes lingering accusingly on Sakari and she frowns, confused. What’s the big deal?

Sokka steps forward. “Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he’s gonna lose.” He glances at the boy. “No offence.”

“The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war,” Katara says. “But they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can’t get any worse.”

“You’re wrong,” He says darkly, making them all look up in alarm. “It’s about to get worse than you can even imagine.”

That’s how they find out that the Fire Lord plans to harness the power of the comet to burn the entire Earth Kingdom to the ground.

“I can’t believe this,” Katara breathes, falling to her knees.

“I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy,” Sokka shakes his head. “But his plan is just pure evil.”

“What am I gonna do?” Aang asks desperately.

Zuko comes to stand in front of him. “I know you’re scared. And I know you’re not ready to save the world. But if you don’t defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won’t be a world to save anymore.”

Sakari shoots him a reprimanding look over Aang’s shoulder – pressure is the last thing the kid needs right now.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your dad’s crazy plan sooner?!” Aang demands.

“I didn’t think I had to! I assumed you were still gonna fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait.”

The Avatar holds his head in his hands, walking away from the group. “This is bad. This is really, really bad.”

“Aang, you don’t have to do this alone,” Katara says.

“Yeah, if we all fight the Fire Lord together, we’ve got a shot at taking him down,” Toph chimes in.

Aang stands, looking more optimistic. “Fighting the Fire Lord is gonna be the hardest thing we’ve ever done together. But I wouldn’t wanna do it any other way.”

Everyone except Zuko surrounds Aang in a group hug. “Get over here, Zuko,” Katara orders. “Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs.”

Zuko grimaces but when Sakari grabs his wrist and pulls him into the hug beside her, she can see his expression soften. Naturally, the moment is immediately ruined when Appa attempts to join the hug and instead proceeds to knock them all over. Sakari lands half on top of Zuko and she instantly scrambles off him, feeling her face grow hot.

In order to train for the Fire Lord’s defeat, they stage a fake battle and create a ‘Melon Lord’ for them to attack, meanwhile Toph throws flaming boulders at them. However, when Aang swoops in to deliver the final blow, he falters.

“I can’t.”

Sokka storms up to him. “What’s wrong with you? If this was the real deal, you’d be shot full of lightning right now.”

“Sokka, stop it,” Sakari admonishes, coming up behind Aang and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, but it just didn’t feel right,” Aang says miserably. “I didn’t feel like myself.”

Sokka gives him an unimpressed look and simply takes out his sword and slices the melon head in half, the top of it falling to the ground as Aang watches in horror. 

“Not helping,” Sakari hisses. “Aang, why don’t we go for a walk?”

“I just want to be alone,” he mutters and shrugs off her hand before walking away.

She glares at Sokka, who looks entirely unapologetic. “Can you have a little sensitivity? He’s twelve, for fuck’s sake.”

“Sensitivity isn’t going to help him. He needs to be realistic,” the warrior replies soberly. “We can’t afford to be delicate about his morals when there are so many lives at stake.”

Sakari understands where he’s coming from but she still doesn’t like it. She just shakes her head and walks away.

That night, Katara finds what she thinks is a baby picture of Zuko and shows it to everyone. The mood turns sour when Zuko reveals it’s actually Ozai, not him.

“But he looks so sweet and innocent,” Suki says, trying to lighten the mood.

“Well, that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster. And the worst father in the history of fathers.”

Sakari is inclined to agree. Of course, Aang chooses this moment to chip in from where he’s sitting off in the corner with his back turned.

“But he’s still a human being.”

“You’re going to defend him?” Zuko scoffs.

“No, I agree with you.” He stands up. “Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world will probably be better off without him. But there’s gotta be another way.”

Zuko huffs impatiently. “Like what?”

“ …I don’t know. Maybe we can make some big pots of glue and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can’t bend anymore!”

 “Yeah, then you can show him his baby pictures and all those happy memories will make him good again!”

“Do you really think that would work?” Aang asks excitedly.

Zuko’s fake bright expression folds into a scowl. “No!”

Aang sighs heavily and starts pacing. “This goes against everything I learned from the monks. I can’t just go around wiping out people I don’t like.”

“Sure, you can,” Sokka shrugs. “You’re the Avatar! If it’s in the name of keeping balance, I’m pretty sure the universe will forgive you.”

“This isn’t a joke, Sokka!” Aang yells, whirling around angrily.

“I think what he’s trying to say is that it’s not about ‘wiping out people you don’t like’, Aang,” Sakari steps in. “It’s about preventing a genocide.”

The boy just glares. “None of you understand the position I’m in!”

“Aang, believe me, I understand the gravity of it, but you have to realise that there are so many innocent lives at stake-“

“Why don’t you do it then, Sakari?” he demands, rounding on her. “You’ve killed before. And you handled that so well!”

There’s a ringing silence in which Sakari recoils and swallows thickly. “That’s different and you know it.”

“Aang, stop it,” Katara says firmly. “We’re trying to help!”

“When you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I’d love to hear it!”  

He starts to storm off and Katara groans in frustration making to go after him. “Aang! Don’t walk away from this.”  

“Let him go,” Zuko says quietly, stopping Katara from following. “He needs time to sort it out by himself.”

There’s a loaded silence as everyone looks concernedly at Sakari, who feels frozen in place. She notices Sokka glancing warily at Zuko and she realises that, as far as everyone else is aware, this is the first the prince is hearing about her murderous (technically, manslaughter-ous) tendencies. Everyone is looking at her like she’s about to break down and she can’t stand it. She needs to get out of there.

“I’m fine,” she says tensely. “I’m going for a walk.”

She’s about halfway to the beach when Zuko catches up with her, falling into step beside her.

“You know he didn’t mean it,” is all he says, apparently knowing better than to ask if she’s okay.

“I do,” Sakari sighs. “I do know that because Aang is… well, Aang. He was just lashing out because he’s really stressed and is in a really fucked up situation. And he doesn’t deserve to have to do this, but… there doesn’t really seem to be another way.”

“You’re right, but… still doesn’t make it okay for him to say something like that.”

Sakari stops, lump in her throat growing. “It’s true though.”

Zuko frowns and moves to stand in front of her. “That doesn’t define who you are. I know you don’t define me by my mistakes… and I’ve made a lot. So… why define yourself by yours?”

Sakari can’t find it in herself to conjure any words in response. Instead, she just widens her arms in silent question and he instantly steps forward to wrap her in a hug. She rests her forehead on his shoulder and lets out a heavy exhale as she lightly squeezes her arms around his torso. Neither of them make to move for some time, and when Sakari finally finds herself reluctantly pulling away, she feels her heart shudder in her chest when she meets his gaze. Can he feel this tension too, or is it entirely one-sided?

“Thank you,” she murmurs quietly, and he gives her a soft smile.

“It’s what friends are for, right?”

Sakari laughs and nods, feeling like she’s going to combust.

Chapter Text

After Aang’s storm-out, none of them see the boy for the rest of the night. And as much as Sakari understands his lash out, she’s in no rush to face him again.

You’ve killed before. And you handled that so well!

She’s really not surprised when she finds herself lying awake long after going to bed. She was so scared of Aang finding out about her past for so long and when he finally did, it was such a relief when he accepted her anyway. At least, that’s what he’d said. But had it all been an act? Was he just hiding how disgusted he really was this whole time?

Letting out a soft groan, Sakari hauls herself out of bed and heads to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. However, as she walks down the hallway, she comes to stop outside of Zuko’s room. His door is partially open, the light of a candle revealing Zuko’s figure sitting hunched over, staring out the window. She hesitates a moment before gently knocking twice, making him turn to look at her.

“You too, huh?” he mutters, and Sakari smiles and takes a step into the room.

“What’s on your mind?”

He bites the inside of his cheek and looks back out the window. “A lot.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

Zuko thinks about it for a moment before nodding, and Sakari walks over and takes a seat beside him on the bed.

“Even after everything my father has done, even knowing what a horrible person he is… I feel guilty for saying he needs to die. I mean… he’s my father, that’s fucked up, right?”

“I don’t think it’s fair to reduce this to simple biology,” Sakari says softly. “He may be your father, but he’s never acted like it. He’s treated you like absolute shit. I think the fact that you think he deserves to die is only further testament to how horrible he is, it’s not a reflection of you.”

“I guess… but regardless of what I think, I shouldn’t have said that to Aang. I shouldn’t have told a twelve year old kid to kill someone. I just… I feel really helpless. Uncle would know what to do… I miss him so much. And I’m still so scared that he won’t forgive me, and he has every reason not to. He’s done nothing but love and support me and I threw it in his face. For Azula of all people. I hate that she had that kind of power over me. And I know that the way she is, it isn’t- it isn’t entirely her fault. But frankly, she terrifies me and I know that’s pathetic, but-“

“It’s not pathetic,” Sakari interrupts with a frown.

Zuko sighs. “Sometimes I wonder- I wonder what it would be like if things were different. If she was different. I look at Sokka and Katara and it’s like… fuck, is that what siblings are supposed to be like? I wish we could have been like that. But instead, father turned her into this… monster. And I don’t think I can fix it.”

“You shouldn’t have to. It’s not on you. Azula’s made her choices. You made yours. And it’s… it’s really shitty, I know. But it’s not your fault.”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “I also… I’m also worried about what’s going to happen if I become Fire Lord. The nation is so divided already and there’s so much wrong with it. And I know that for a very long time, there are still going to be people who support my father and would hate to see me on the throne. A traitor.”

“Zuko, you’ll never have everyone’s approval – it’s not possible. And, in any case, you shouldn’t want everyone’s approval, especially from people like those who are loyal to your father. Those kinds of people are always going to exist, and if they hate you, that just means you’re doing something right.”

“I… hadn’t thought about it that way.”

Sakari nods sagely. “I’m full of wisdom.”

This earns her an eyeroll and a playful shove. There’s a comfortable silence between them, then Zuko says, “I guess you’ll be going back to the North Pole after all this is over?”

Truthfully, Sakari hasn’t even thought about that. She’s not sure if that’s a sign of poor foresight or simply pessimism about returning at all. “Yeah, I- I suppose so. I really miss my family and I’m excited to see them again, excited to go home again. But… after what I did, I’m… not sure how welcome I’ll feel. I didn’t exactly have many fans when I left,” she adds dryly.

Zuko frowns. “They should welcome you back as an honoured hero.”

“We’ll see,” she replies with a small smile. “At the end of the day, I guess the only opinions that matter are those of my family. Anyone who actually has a problem with me can fuck off.”

He huffs out a laugh and nods.

The more Sakari thinks about the idea of being home again after the war, she realises there’s something wrong about the image. “It’ll be really strange, not seeing everyone every day.”

“Yeah…” Zuko murmurs, eyebrows pulling into a frown and Sakari instantly regrets saying anything.

“But hey, we might not need to worry about it if we lose.”

The boy snorts. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Depends… did it work?”

Zuko laughs and shakes his head.

“Well, you’re smiling so I’ll take that as a yes, actually.”

Immediately, his face drops into comically serious expression. “No, I’m not.”

When Sakari bursts into quiet giggles, another smile breaks out on his face. “Do you feel a bit better now that you’ve gotten all that off your chest?” she asks after a moment.

“Yeah, a bit… thanks… I still don’t think I’ll be sleeping anytime soon though.”

“It helps if you lie down.”

Zuko shoots her an irritated look and she just laughs. “I don’t see you trying to sleep.”

“Well, I’m not sleeping ‘til you’re asleep, so…”

“Fine,” he huffs, and proceeds to lie down and close his eyes. “There, I’m sleeping.”

“For some reason, I’m not entirely convinced,” she says sarcastically.

He cracks open one eye. “This is weird, how am I supposed to sleep with you just watching me?”

“That’s not what I was planning to do.”

At that, his other eye snaps open, watching her warily. “What were you planning to do?” 

“Just close your eyes,” Sakari insists, and she thinks it says a lot about the trust between them when he makes a dramatic show of squinting distrustfully but follows her instructions. She shifts slightly closer and starts quietly humming that lullaby she sung on the beach. He lets out a breath and seems to settle, and after a couple minutes she starts to sing softly. The tension in his shoulders softens, body sinking slightly further into the mattress and she wonders if he realises how much tension he actually carries in his body.

Tentatively, Sakari reaches out to brush some of his hair out of his face, heart leaping when he slightly turns his face into her hand. She continues to sing and lightly play with his hair until his breathing slows and evens out as he falls asleep. Her eyes linger on his scar, feeling vaguely ill at the mental image of 13-year-old Zuko being hurt in such a way, and her heart grows heavy thinking about everything he’s endured. Her hand moves to brush ever so slightly against the raised skin there.

Sakari presses her lips together and places her hand over one of his for a brief moment before standing up to blow out the candle and leave the room.

The following morning, the group prepares to leave but find that Aang has disappeared without a trace aside from a set of footprints leading to the ocean. They split up into parties and search the island for him but to no avail. So, they turn to their resident Avatar Tracker.

Zuko guides them on Appa to the Earth Kingdom and takes them to a seedy tavern. When Katara asks why he’s brought them there, he simply points and says, “June.”

He’s pointing to an extremely attractive woman with long dark hair, dark lips, and tattoos on her bare shoulders. Sakari blinks, feeling flustered all of a sudden.

“Oh yeah, that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole,” Sokka says.

“Mole?” Suki repeats. “Her skin is flawless.”

“No, she has this giant mole creature she rides around on.”

“The shirshu,” Zuko clarifies. “It’s the only animal that can track Aang’s scent anywhere in the world. It’s the one shot we have of finding him.”

When they approach June, the woman glances up at Zuko with an unimpressed expression. “Oh great. It’s Prince Pouty. Where’s your grandpa?”

“He’s my uncle. And he’s not here.”

Her gaze moves across to Katara and she raises an eyebrow. “I see you worked things out with your girlfriend.”

At the same time, the pair of them scowl and yell, “I’m not his girlfriend!”  “She’s not my girlfriend!”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh. I was only teasing. So, what do you want?”

“I need your help finding the Avatar.”

“Hm. Doesn’t sound too fun,” she says nonchalantly and takes a sip of her tea.

Zuko leans in angrily. “Does the end of the world sound like more fun?”

June rolls her eyes but gets up and gestures for them to follow her outside. They give her Aang’s staff so her shirshi, Nyla, can scent it. However, the creature simply walks in circles sniffing the air before flopping back down on the ground and covering his nose.

Then June tells them Aang doesn’t exist.

“Do you mean he’s… you know, dead?” Sokka asks anxiously.

“Nope. We could find him if he were dead,” she says and shrugs. “Wow, it’s a real head-scratcher. See ya.”

She’s about to leave when Zuko presents another idea – finding Iroh. He present Nyla with a sweaty sandal that no one’s really sure why he still has, and the animal immediately picks up a scent. So, they climb onto Appa and follow June and Nyla across the landscape until eventually they reach the destroyed outer wall of Ba Sing Se, by which point night has begun to fall. June tells them that Iroh is somewhere not too far beyond the wall and takes off, leaving the group to set up camp, deciding to continue the search at dawn. While Toph makes herself an earth tent, the rest of them use Appa as a bed, with Sokka and Suki on his tail, Katara on his legs on one side of his body, and Sakari and Zuko on the legs on his other side.

At one point in the night, Appa shifts the leg Sakari is on, causing her to roll to one side, still half asleep. Sensing something warm nearby, she curls her body into the source of the warmth and only vaguely registers something heavy draping over her side.

Everyone is woken with a start when Appa abruptly stands up, sending them all crashing to the ground. Sakari and Zuko’s heads smack into each other as they fall, and Sakari is about to groan out a string of curses when she registers the ring of fire that’s surrounding them. Her head snaps to four figures standing on the wall: Piandao, Pakku, Bumi, and a man Sakari doesn’t recognise.

“What’s going on?” Toph asks. “We’re surrounded by old people.”

“Not just any old people,” Katara beams. “These are great masters and friends of ours.”

The man Sakari doesn’t know is introduced as Jeong Jeong, Aang’s first firebending teacher. The masters tell them that they are all a part of the same ancient secret society, the Order of the White Lotus. “About a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important,” Jeong Jeong says.

“It came from a Grand Lotus,” Pakku continues. “Your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation.”

“Well, that’s who we’re looking for!” Toph says.

Piandao smiles. “Then we’ll take you to him.”

Bumi leads the way to their camp and Sakari grins up at Pakku when the master falls into step beside her. Immediately, Zuko comes up on her other side, the back of his hand lightly brushing hers and when she glances over at him, he’s giving Pakku a cold, unimpressed look. The master just eyes the boy warily before turning his attention back to Sakari.

“So, what have you been up to since I last saw you?”

She lets out a loud snort. “I… wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“Have you been using the scroll I gave you?”

“Yeah! I can conjure up basically any weapon I want now,” she replies brightly. Then as an afterthought, “Though sometimes they’re a little wonky.”

Pakku smiles. “That’s excellent, Sakari.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty great,” Zuko says in a tone that is clearly intended to be casual but comes across very pointedly.

Sakari glances down bashfully as her cheeks grow hot at the same time Pakku barely suppresses an eyeroll.

A short while later, they come across a rock wall that Bumi lowers, revealing a large encampment.

“Well, here we are,” the king says. “Welcome to Old People Camp.”

Zuko looks around anxiously. “Where… where is he?”

Piandao points to a tent at the other side of the camp and says, “Your uncle’s in there, Prince Zuko.”

Zuko’s hand finds Sakari’s and she gives it a light squeeze, brushing her thumb over the back of his hand and watching him closely as he takes a deep breath. Hands still linked, she walks with him over to the tent. When he pauses outside the entry and sits on the ground looking almost ill, Sakari kneels in front of him and places a hand on his knee.

“He’s going to forgive you, Zuko,” she says. “I know it. And I can guarantee that he’s missed you just as much as -if not more than – you’ve missed him.”

He gives her a watery smile and stands up, wrapping her in a hug when she follows suit. When he draws back, he doesn’t fully pull away, instead holding her hands in his for a moment and he stares down at them.

“Don’t wait for me,” he says, only looking up to meet her when he lets go of her hands.

“It’s going to be okay,” she promises quietly, one last attempt at reassurance before he steps past her and into Iroh’s tent.

“I get the sense you’ve told Prince Zuko about me,” Pakku says dryly when Sakari goes and finds him a short while later, sitting beside him in front of a fire.

She just offers a shrug. “He asked about the whole ‘Kavik’ thing.”

There’s a moment of silence. “Are you okay?”

She frowns and looks over at him, only to find his gaze fixed on her hands. She lets out a sigh, flexing her fingers. “I actually am now, I think. And… as much of an asshole as you were about it, I really am actually grateful for everything you taught me. I… probably wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for you.” He just looks at her pensively and she continues. “There was this moment… well, multiple moments, actually… that I felt myself about to give up and I heard your voice in my head… screaming at me to fight.”

His lips pull into a gentle smile. “As much as I would love to take credit for that, I don’t believe that’s true. You survived because of you. And you’re right, I was an asshole about it. I was… out of line when I attacked you.”

“You didn’t think that when I was Kavik,” Sakari shoots back accusingly and he tilts his head in consideration.

“You’re right. But I should have. It wasn’t an appropriate method of teaching. I’m… I’m proud of you, Sakari.”

As much as she wants to play it cool, she can’t help but beam at the praise. “Thank you, Master. And… I’m proud of you too.”

Pakku rolls his eyes, but there’s a sense of fondness evident in his expression.

When Sakari emerges from her tent in the morning and spots Zuko, she can immediately tell from the peaceful expression on his face and the lighter way in which he carries himself that his conversation with Iroh went well. He brightens when he sees her and wraps his arms around her in a gentle hug.

“You were right,” Zuko murmurs into her shoulder and she squeezes him back.

“Of course, I was,” she grins, snorting when he lets out an exasperated groan.

As they pull away from each other, Sakari’s eyes shift over his shoulder to see Iroh standing some distance behind him, watching to two of them with a soft expression.

“Um, hello,” she says, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

“Good morning,” the man greets, coming to stand in front of them. “It’s Sakari, isn’t it? It’s nice to see you again.”

“You too! Sorry again about falling asleep in your shop.”

Iroh gives a dismissive wave. “Nonsense. Are you doing better now?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Good,” smiles, and gives her a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Thank you for taking good care of my nephew since he joined you.”

“Uncle,” Zuko whines, making Sakari snigger.

“We’ve been taking care of each other,” she insists.

“I’m very glad to hear that.”

“Uncle, you’re the only person other than the Avatar who can possible defeat the Father Lord,” Zuko says as all of the Gaang (minus Aang) and Iroh sit in a circle eating breakfast.

“You mean the Fire Lord,” Toph corrects.

“That’s what I just said!”

Iroh just hums thoughtfully.

“We need you to come with us!”

“No, Zuko, it won’t turn out well.”

“You can beat him!” Zuko insists. “And we’ll be there to help.”

“Even if I did defeat Ozai, and I don’t know that I could, it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord.”

“And then… then you would come and take your rightful place on the throne?” he asks uncertainly.

“No. Someone new must take the throne. An idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honour. It has to be you, Prince Zuko.” 

Zuko frowns and glances down for a moment. “Unquestionable honour? But I’ve made so many mistakes.”

“Yes, you have. You’ve struggled; you’ve suffered, but you have always followed your own path. You restored your own honour, and only you can restore the honour of the Fire Nation.”

“I’ll try, Uncle.”

Sakari puts a reassuring hand on Zuko’s knee and offers a small smile  and his tense expression softens slightly.

“Well, what if Aang doesn’t come back?” Toph asks.

“Sozin’s Comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again.”

“That’s why you gathered the members of the White Lotus,” Suki concludes, and the man nods.

“Yes. Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there, waiting for you.”

“I can handle Azula.”

“Not alone. You’ll need help.”

Sakari and Zuko look at each other at the same time and he doesn’t need to ask, she just smiles and nods. He looks to Katara then. “Katara, how would you like to help us put Azula in her place?”

The girl smirks. “It would be my pleasure.”

“What about us?” Sokka asks. “What’s our destiny today?”

“What do you think it is?” Iroh replies.

“I think that, even though we don’t know where Aang is, we need to do everything we can to stop the airship fleet.”

“And that means when Aang does face the Fire Lord, we’ll be right there if he needs us,” Toph adds.

When it comes time to leave, Sakari wraps her arms around Pakku in a firm hug which he reciprocates.

“Stay safe,” he mutters into her hair, and she just grins at him as she pulls away, trying to ignore the pounding anxiety in her chest.

“I’ll make no such promises.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“You really want those to potentially be your last words to me?”

He scowls deeply. “Well, they won’t be if you stay safe.”

She smirks. “Love you too, Master.”

He just lets out a pained sigh. 

Zuko is the last to finish saying his goodbyes, looking incredibly anxious about leaving his uncle again. As he steps back after giving the man a hug and just lingers for a moment, Sakari sidles up beside him and slips her hand in to his, giving it a small squeeze. The prince lets out a deep breath and nods and when she looks to Iroh, the man is already looking at her, a knowing twinkle in his eye.

The last goodbye is to each other, and the six of them pull together in a group hug. Sakari can’t help but wonder if this is the last time she’s going to see any of them, and she feels a bit sick at the thought. She may never see Aang again - the last time they spoke was when he lashed out at her and she has more feelings about that than she knows what to do with.

One thing at a time, though. First, she’s gotta survive the day.

Sokka, Toph, and Suki climb on top of the eel hound meanwhile Sakari, Zuko, and Katara board Appa.

Zuko looks down at Iroh and asks, “So, if I’m going to be Fire Lord after the war is over, what are you going to do?”

“After I re-conquer Ba Sing Se, I’m going to re-conquer my tea shop, and I’m going to play Pai Sho every day,” Iroh answers with a smile. “Goodbye, everyone. Today, destiny is our friend. I know it.”

Sakari’s glad some of them are feeling optimistic because she sure isn’t. She hopes it’s just pessimism giving her the awful feeling that things are going to go horribly wrong. She once again finds herself thinking that she’s not ready to die yet. But life has never much cared for what she’s ready for.

As Appa takes off, Sakari feels a strange sense of numbness come over her. It all ends today. One way or the other.

They land on the palace courtyard just as one of the Fire Sages is about to lower the Fire Lord headpiece onto Azula’s head.

“Sorry, but you’re not gonna become Fire Lord today,” Zuko says as he jumps down from Appa’s head. “I am.”

Azula just laughs. “You’re hilarious.”

Sakari and Katara jump down and come up beside Zuko, and Sakari raises an eyebrow when she takes in the princess’s appearance. Her hair is all over the place, thrown up into a messy bun with choppily cut bangs framing her face and there are dark, heavy bags under her eyes.

“And you’re going down,” Katara shoots back.

Azula’s eyes dart between the three of them for a moment before holding a hand up to stop the Fire Sage about to crown her. “Wait. You want to be Fire Lord? Fine, let’s settle this. Just you and me, brother, the showdown that was always meant to be – Agni Kai!”

Sakari’s sneer drops when he replies, “You’re on.” Both her and Katara look at him, astounded.

“What the fuck, Zuko?”

“She’s playing you,” Katara hisses. “She knows she can’t take us all, so she’s trying to separate us.”

“I know. But I can take her this time.”

“But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula.”

“There’s something off about her; I can’t explain it but she’s slipping,” Zuko mutters, and Sakari glances back at Azula because, yeah, that much is obvious.

“And what if that makes her more dangerous?” she questions, but Zuko just shakes his head.

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing. And this way, no one else has to get hurt.”

Sakari’s expression softens as she nods and takes one of his hands in both of hers, giving it a light squeeze. She tries to ignore the way her heart pounds anxiously. “You’ve got this.”

There’s a whirlwind of emotion behind his eyes when Sakari meets his gaze and for a brief moment she contemplates kissing him. However, she instantly decides that now is really not the time for that, and instead just gives his hand another squeeze before stepping away. When she looks back at Azula, the princess is already staring at her, eyes glittering maliciously. Sakari suppresses a shiver and just glares back.

Sakari and Katara stand off to the side of the courtyard as Zuko and Azula kneel at opposite ends.

“I’m sorry it has to end this way, brother,” Azula drawls sarcastically.

“No, you’re not.”

Sakari flinches when Azula sends a huge blast of blue fire at Zuko, but he quickly retaliates and a wave of orange launches back across the courtyard. The two attacks collide in the middle forming a wall of blue and orange that lights up the area. When it falls away, Azula leaps forward, launching fire from her feet with a series of kicks. It triggers a to-and-fro as Azula and Zuko launch attacks at each other creating huge sweeping waves of fire, the light and heat of which make Sakari’s eyes water and her and Katara hastily move further back. 

“I feel sick,” Sakari mutters, and Katara takes her hand.

“He’s gonna be okay.”

Zuko punches forward, sending a powerful blast of flames. Even when Azula blocks it, the flames roll past and set part of the palace on fire. The princess looks back at it, wide-eyed and furious, then takes a giant leap and flips, slamming a whirlwind of fire down from her feet that rushes toward Zuko. For a moment, it looks like it’s about to consume him and Sakari gasps. But then the boy squats and throws his hands out, creating a wall of fire that deflects her attack.

The flames dissipate to reveal Azula kneeling on the ground, panting heavily. She scowls and narrows her eyes in determination. When Zuko launches his next strike, Azula only just manages to dodge it, leaping out of the way before propelling herself across the courtyard with jets of fire from her feet, punching a series of fireballs at him as she goes. Zuko leaps up to dodge them at the same time her counterattacks and she flies around him in a circle, managing to stay ahead of his strikes.

Zuko drops to the ground then and spins around as he kicks, creating a rapid ripple of fire that rushes outwards as Azula flies toward him. She tries to dodge it but ends up getting knocked roughly to the ground and rolls to a stop. When she picks herself up, she’s hunched over, hair now falling around her shoulders and a furious look on her face.

Zuko merely stands taller and mockingly shouts, “No lightning today? What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll redirect it?”

“What the fuck is wrong with him?!” Sakari hisses as Katara smacks herself in the face.

“Oh, I’ll show you lightning!”

At that moment, Azula adjusts her stance and starts moving her arms to generate lightning. Sakari and Katara both move forward anxiously, ready to intervene if necessary, meanwhile Zuko takes a deep breath and takes the correct stance, ready to redirect his sister’s attack.

The air crackles and lights up as Azula finishes charging up her lightning. Her sharp gaze shifts from Zuko to Sakari and her lips curl.

Sakari feels her blood run cold.

Chapter Text

At that moment, Azula adjusts her stance and starts moving her arms to generate lightning. Sakari and Katara both move forward anxiously, ready to intervene if necessary, meanwhile Zuko takes a deep breath and takes the correct stance, ready to redirect his sister’s attack.

The air crackles and lights up as Azula finishes charging up her lightning. Her sharp gaze shifts from Zuko to Sakari and her lips curl.

Sakari feels her blood run cold.

Azula’s arm shoots out, fingertips pointed directly at where Sakari and Katara are standing. Sakari shoves the other girl behind her and stares wide-eyed as the bolt of lightning crackles toward her.

“NO!”

Zuko darts sideways and takes a running leap, launching his body right into the path of the lightning. His arms move to try and redirect it, but instead it strikes him squarely in the chest and he falls to the ground, body convulsing. He rolls onto his back, groaning as he clutches his wounded chest.

“ZUKO!” Sakari shrieks, and rushes towards him.

Azula shoots a blast of lightning as she approaches that Sakari only just manages to block with the water in pouch before her and Katara use the water in the canals surrounding the courtyard to launch a massive wave that shoves Azula back.

“Look after Zuko, I’ll take care of her,” Katara spits.

Sakari nods sharply and practically skids to her knees beside Zuko’s side. She gasps in pain when she touches his shoulder and gets a painful zap from the lingering electricity, but just hisses and shakes it off, leaning forward to check him over. He’s conscious (though barely), and there’s a large burn wound on his chest that she immediately holds water over and begins to heal, keeping an eye on Katara and Azula as she works.

She rolls sideways out of the way when Azula surges past and flings a huge fireball that narrowly misses both her and Zuko.

“I’d really rather our family physician look after Little Zuzu if you don’t mind,” she snarls as Sakari is forced to scramble back and join Katara in fending her off as Azula sends a series of blue blasts at them. The pair end up having to duck behind some pillars for cover. “Zuzu, you don’t look so good!” Azula taunts.

Sakari grits her teeth as she looks at Zuko’s limp form, knowing all too well how critical this time is.

“Let’s try this again,” Katara mutters, and Sakari nods firmly. At the same time Katara darts out from behind her pillar and bolts in one direction, Sakari makes another dash for Zuko. She resumes healing, eyes constantly darting up to Azula and Katara chasing each other around the courtyard with vicious attacks. She ends up being driven away again almost immediately as Azula almost manages to strike her with a bolt of lightning.

“STOP IT!” she shrieks. “This is all your fault! He took that lightning to protect you! I don’t want a filthy peasant touching him!”

“You’re the one who shot the fucking lightning in the first place, you maniac!” Sakari grunts.

Katara appears beside her a whispers, “I think I’ve got a plan – follow me.”

So, Sakari follows as Katara backs up until they’re standing on a grate over a waterway. Katara gestures pointedly down at it then tilts her head toward Azula and Sakari nods. When Azula approaches them, Katara uses multiple water whips to drag her over the grate, and just as she’s about to shoot lightning at her, Katara throws a wall of water up and freezes both of them in place. Sakari hastily grabs a chain hanging from the wall nearby and holds them out as Katara exhales, carefully extricating herself from the ice while keeping Azula trapped. The girl grabs the chain and pulls it around Azula’s wrists behind her, tightening it so she can’t move before fully releasing her.

As soon as she’s confident that the princess can’t get free, Sakari races back over to Zuko to continue healing him, Katara hot on her heels. Her hands shake and tears fill her eyes as she holds the water over the wound, Katara quickly joining her on his other side.

“Please be okay, please be okay,” Sakari whispers desperately, a tear running down her cheek. After everything he’s been through, after everything they’ve been through, he can’t die now. Especially not for her.  She draws in a shuddering breath of relief when Zuko groans and stirs, eyes opening blearily. “You’re an ass, you know that?” she sniffles when his eyes lock onto hers.

He starts to laugh weakly but then winces in pain. Sakari and Katara help him sit up and Sakari desperately wants to hug him but knows that in this state, she’ll just hurt him. Instead, she leans forward to press her forehead to his for a moment before quickly pressing a kiss into his sweaty hairline. A small sound escapes his throat and when she sits back, there’s a burning intensity in his eyes that makes her swallow.

A shriek makes all of them look over at Azula, who’s breathing fire and writhing around. The girls help Zuko to his feet so he can shuffle closer to his sister who’s now hysterically screaming and sobbing, a look of pity on his face.

“Let’s go,” he mutters after a few seconds.

Sakari uses the arm wrapped around his back to guide him back towards the palace, stopping when she notices Katara staring anxiously out towards the horizon.

“You worried about the others?” she asks, and Katara nods. “Take Appa and go help them. I can look after Zuko.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” she breathes, then gives them both a very gentle hug. “I’ll come back with the others once it’s all over.”

“Stay safe.”

Sakari should have known better than to think that just because Azula isn’t a problem anymore that they would be safe.

Almost as soon as they walk through the front doors, there’s a bright blast of fire heading straight for them, and Sakari barely manages to swing her right arm up to deflect it just in time.

“Long live the Phoenix King! Long live Fire Lord Azula!”

Sakari’s left arm tightens around Zuko’s waist as her eyes dart between the three palace guards standing in front of them in stances ready to attack. She doesn’t know what in spirits the Phoenix King is, but from the context, she thinks it’s safe to assume it’s a pretentious title Ozai gave himself.

“Fuck,” she huffs, and strikes out a water whip that shoves them all back at the same time. Zuko moves to help but inhales sharply in pain and sways in her grip. “I’ve got it. But I’m gonna need both hands,” she says and moves back to prop him up in the corner of the wall before standing protectively in front of him, eyeing the guards. “Azula is defeated. Ozai isn’t far behind. Give up now, and I won’t have to hurt you.”

“You think you can win against three firebenders during the comet, water tribe peasant?” one of them sneers.

Sakari clenches her jaw and launches a sharp icicle that embeds itself deep in the shoulder of the woman who had spoken and she cries out in pain, staggering back. Instantly, the other two launch attacks on her and she throw her hands up to create a shield. Her heart pounds as she duels the three guards, quickly disposing of the injured one so it’s just the other two. She grunts as one of their blasts manages to burn her elbow and quickly retaliates by launching a block of ice at his head as hard as she can. He promptly drops to the ground at the same time the other guard takes the opportunity to strike her exposed side and the water shield she throws up manages to deflect the worst of it, but not before some of the flames manage to lick at her arm, burning away the fabric of her sleeve and singing the hairs on her arm. An animalistic growl escapes her as she launches another icicle, this one piercing straight into the attacker’s sternum.

She stays still for a moment, panting as she watches the three bodies for any sign of movement. When there is none, she glances back at Zuko who’s staring wide-eyed at her. “That was… impressive.”

Sakari huffs out a tired laugh and loops an arm around his back again as they continue their trek into the palace. “Thanks.”

Of course, it’s not even two minutes later they round a corner to another four guards who attack them. Sakari can’t afford the time to be as gentle as she was with Zuko last time, having to practically dump him against the closest wall before swinging straight into a counterattack. Any sense of guilt or hesitance about taking lives flies out the window when one of them comes close to landing a hit on Zuko and she retaliates with a viciousness she hasn’t felt before. But numbers really aren’t on their side, even when Zuko starts to help despite the agonising pain he’s clearly in.

Sakari manages to kill one of them and knock a second one to the ground just before one of the remaining guards fires a blast right at Zuko. She plants herself in front of him and deflects it with a wave of water that she then redirects at the man’s head, freezes, then twists sideways, snapping his neck. The last one standing is a woman who’s already shooting fire at her when Sakari turns to face her and she cries out when the blast hits her exposed arm, skin instantly blistering. She retaliates by conjuring a spear of ice and plunging it straight through the woman’s abdomen.

Sakari staggers, hunching over from pain and effort.

“S’kari-“ Zuko rasps suddenly from behind her.

It’s too late when, from the corner of her eye, she spots movement. It’s only then she remembers that she hadn’t actually killed one of them, only knocked him down. By the time she twists to face the man, he’s already struck, fist extended out towards her. Despite knowing it’s futile, she throws a hand up in some semblance of defence, squeezes her eyes shut, and prays to every spirit she knows that Zuko will be okay.

She feels a searing heat in front of her but there’s not pain. Her eyes open as a ball of fire dissipates and the man is crumpled on the floor. Sakari blinks up at the newcomers; three Fire Nation men, the middle of which has a familiar face that she can’t quite place for a moment. Then it hits her. The father of that toddler that kept giving her a heart attack. “Jiahao?”

He stares at her with an equally puzzled expression. “You’re the one that found my son.” He glances at her water tribe get-up and then back at Zuko. “You’re one of the Avatar’s friends?” When she hesitantly nods, he grins. “Then we’re here to help. What do you need from us?”

She just opens and closes her mouth a few times, not really sure what to say at first. Then she remembers Azula and widens her eyes. “Azula – she’s chained up in the courtyard. If any of her loyalists find her and free her…”

Jiahao nods sharply and glances between the men at his side. “You two, go secure Azula. I’ll go with these two and make sure they’re safe.” When his two friends rush out to the courtyard, he looks back at her. “I never actually got your name.”

“Sakari,” she supplies as she wraps her uninjured arm around Zuko again.

Jiahao brackets his other side. “Sakari, Fire Lord Zuko, General Jiahao at your service.”

“I need to get him to a bed so I can heal him properly.” He nods again and starts to lead the way.

“Technically not the Fire Lord yet,” Zuko grunts. “Also, who are you?”

“I realised long ago that the war is something I can’t support, but… I hoped that if I stayed in the military, I could make some changes… mess up some of Ozai's plans… help when the time came.”

Sakari lets out a breath. “Thank you.”

As they move through the palace, they encounter two more groups of loyalists, but Sakari is ready for them this time and has Jiahao’s help so they’re all quickly defeated. The General leads them to a huge bedroom with a four-poster bed and helps Sakari gently sit Zuko down.

“I’m going to go scour the rest of the palace, make sure there aren’t any more of those brainwashed dipshits around the place. I’ll be back,” he adds before slipping out the door.

Zuko lets out a quiet snort and winces again. Sakari grimaces and quickly gets him to lie back against the pillows, pulling up a chair beside him so she can keep healing.

“S’kari,” he mumbles, weakly grabbing her wrist and she pauses to look at him, not sure what to make of the intense look in his eyes. He opens his mouth, hesitates, then says, “You… you fight good.”

She lets out a bemused huff and rolls her eyes. “Thanks, Zuko.”

It’s a lot easier to concentrate now that there’s no immediate threat, and she lets out a steady breath as she concentrates on repairing the damaged flesh. His eyes grow heavy as she works and it’s not long before he’s passed out.

Almost an hour later, Sakari can feel her exhaustion seeping into her bones and she knows this is the best her healing is going to do right now. Instead, she pokes around the room and joined bathroom until she finds some first aid supplies. She carefully cleans and bandages the wound before realising she should probably do something about her burnt arm and gives it a quick go over with water until the skin has just scarred over. Then she slumps over with her head in her hands, mind racing.

They’re not safe. Even when Ozai and Azula are both defeated, they still probably won’t be safe. And even with Jiahao’s help, she doesn’t know how to begin protecting them both.

There’s a gentle knock at the door then and the General pokes his head in. “Sakari? There were a couple more loyalists but I dealt with them. There’s no immediate threat for now. But that won’t be the last of it. There’s going to be plenty more who want Fire Lord Zuko dead.”

Sakari swallows as she looks at Zuko and nods. “I know… I’ll figure it out.”

He surveys her for a moment. “I’ll get a couple of my men to stand guard, make sure nothing happens to the Fire Lord. Then we can go somewhere and talk strategy, okay?”

“You’ve already helped so much, I can’t ask you to-“

“Sakari. I want my son to grow up in a nation I’m proud of. I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.” His gaze drops to her arm for a moment. “I’ll get you some burn balm, too.”

She doesn’t trust herself to reply verbally without crying so she just nods.

“Okay, tell me everything you know about this place,” Sakari says, new wave of determination filling her as she and Jiahao sit across from each other in a small office.

“I have a group of people that I trust wholeheartedly, a lot of whom are in the army. We’ve all been working together to do what we can with the power we have. Some of them are already here, and I’ve summoned the rest. So, we’ll soon have a lot more people on our side to help. In terms of people not on our side, most of the really loyal fuckers are out there trying to incinerate the Earth Kingdom rather than sitting here in the palace. So, we’re safe from them for now.”

“Wonderful,” Sakari says dryly, making him smile.

“Then there’s palace staff. Most of the staff were actually very recently fired by Azula herself in a series of rather… impulsive decisions. As for the ones that remain, I can list a few people I know for sure are Ozai loyalists. For the rest, we might have to come up with some kind of screening process. I can source a list of all employees so we can keep track of them. Once we’ve done that and organised detailed security, that should keep the Fire Lord safe from immediate threats. In terms of threats outside the palace, there’s not a whole lot we can do right now, that will be a bit more of a long-term issue.”

“Okay. Yep, I can work with that. Do you have enough people to make sure the palace is at least somewhat secure for the rest of the night?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve got two guards at the Fire Lord’s door and then nine others patrolling the building. More are likely to turn up in the next few hours too.”

“Can we maybe station a few more men on this floor? I’m worried that if any intruders manage to slip past the patrols, then there’s only two people to protect Zuko.”

“Good point,” he nods. “It might be better to place multiple groups on this floor to make sure you and Fire Lord Zuko are well-protected.”

Sakari nods and rubs at her temples. “Alright. We need more allies quickly… there’s gotta be more people like you out there, right?” She straightens up suddenly. “Prisons. Anyone who’s betrayed the Fire Nation will be in prison, right?”

“Or dead,” he mutters darkly, then winces at Sakari’s expression. “But- but mostly in prison, yeah.”

“Okay, so we can send release orders out to free them, right? Along with any Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe people.” She realises, after the words have left her mouth, that this means she will soon have answers about whether her Dad is alive or not.

Jiahao nods slowly. “It’ll be a bit hard to arrange a blanket pardon like that, but if we can get the wording right, we can make it work. I mean, for Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom prisoners, that’s pretty straightforward. But there are a lot of Fire Nation folks in that prison for good reason. Even if we give a blanket pardon for everyone charged of treason, there might be some people included in that who we don’t want free.”

Sakari thinks this over for a moment. “Do you have any contacts working in the prison?”

“I do, actually. A friend of mine is a guard at the Capital City Prison.”

“How much do you trust them?”

He raises an eyebrow. “To act in the best interests of the nation? I trust her immensely.”

“I know it would be really sketchy, but… could we give her some kind of… veto power? If she knows what everyone is in for, would you trust her to make decisions about anyone who shouldn’t be pardoned?”

“Once again, we’d have to get very nitpicky about the wording, but… yes, I think that would work. And I’d trust her to do that.”

“Okay, so… how about you go get that list of palace employees and organise your guards. In the meantime, I’ll start drafting up documents for the release orders for the prisoners, and for dismissal of Ozai loyalist guards. Then when you come back, we can go through the list and finalise everything.” She pauses for a second. “I’m assuming that it doesn’t matter who writes it as long as it has Zuko’s signature on it, right? Wait, if he’s not technically Fire Lord yet, does he even have that authority?”

“Even if he hasn’t had his coronation yet, he’s next in line and acting as one. Given the circumstances, it’ll be valid. And no, as long as it has his signature on it, it doesn’t matter who’s written the order.” Then in a dry tone he adds, “Generally, Fire Lords are too busy doing more important work to simply write documents.”

Sakari snorts. “Fair point.”

For her own peace of mind, Sakari heads back to Zuko’s room to sit at his bedside as she drafts up the documents. While it’s a relief to know that he’s safe, she grows unreasonably anxious anytime there’s a slightly too-long pause between his breaths. About an hour later, one of the guards at the door pokes her head in to let Sakari know that Jiahao is back and she returns to their make-shift office.

It takes another couple of hours for the pair to comb through the list of employees, categorise them all loosely as ‘Ozai loyalist :(’, ‘Uncertain’, or ‘Safe’, compile a complete list of those that require immediate dismissal, and finalise the documentation. Next, they work through a few drafts until they’re both happy with the wording of the orders to pardon select prisoners.

At one point in the middle of it all, there’s a commotion in the corridor outside and they rush out to find one of Jiahao’s men apprehending a figure in all-black, yelling “Long live The Phoenix King! Down with Prince Zuko!”

“That was another question I had,” Sakari says to him, watching the intruder get dragged away toward the holding cells. She thinks her muscles could snap from how tense she feels. “Since when was ‘The Phoenix King’ a thing?”

Jiahao just rolls his eyes. “Agni, I fucking hate that guy. Egotistical, evil sack of shit.”

Sakari barks out a surprised laugh and he shoots her a cheeky grin.

After ensuring the area is secure once more, they step back inside the office. “Alright, I think that’s everything we can do for the time being. When Fire Lord Zuko wakes up, get him to sign these, then give them to me and I’ll send them out.”

Sakari nods as she collects the pieces of parchment and looks gratefully across at the man. “General… thank you so much. And I’m so sorry it’s so late, you must be exhausted-“

“Ma’am,” he interrupts, not unkindly. “This is important. I don’t know much about Prince Zuko, but if he’s against his father and sister’s actions then that means something. And if you’re on his side, then I’m here to help you, whatever you need. Like I said, I want my son to be able to be proud of this country. To be safe and happy. And not at the expense of others.”

She swallows the growing lump in her throat, tears burning at her eyes, and Jiahao puts a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“You’re doing great. The worst of it will be over soon.”

When Sakari launches herself at him and wraps him in a hug, she blames the action on her exhaustion-and-anxiety-triggered-delirium. Jiahao pats her gently on the back.

“You ought to get some rest, Sakari.”

Sakari does not do that.

Instead, she goes back to Zuko’s room and spends another three hours straight healing him and redressing his wound. She feels so insanely stressed out by everything going on and has no idea what she’s doing, not to mention, feeling utterly alone. She’s so grateful for Jiahao but she barely knows the man and she doesn’t completely trust him. Nor, by extension, his guards. Spirits, she wishes Toph were here so she could know who’s lying and who’s telling the truth. She’s so used to being around people she trusts wholeheartedly and now she’s in a position where she’s been forced to trust a bunch of total strangers with the safety of herself and Zuko. Not to mention the fact that she still has no idea if any of the rest of her friends are okay, or how they’re missions have gone. And she’s so excruciatingly exhausted and anxious and she so badly wants to relax but she just can’t.

Her mind continues to race with anxiety over what comes next. What happens when palace staff turn up in the morning (in a few hours, at most) expecting work? Sakari doesn’t want anyone entering the palace without knowing they aren’t a threat. If she can speak with Jiahao’s guards, she can get them to deny entry to anyone they see fit, and anyone they do believe is safe to allow in, Sakari will insist on personally speaking with them herself. She realises there’s a slight irony in deciding to place that kind of trust in people she hasn’t already ‘screened’, but she figures that they’ve all had ample time and opportunity to try and kill them in the past few hours, and it wouldn’t make sense to wait until now.

So, after making sure Zuko is still alive and safe, Sakari makes her way through the palace and talks to all of the guards to update them on her strategy and also finally introduce herself to them all, since she didn’t have the opportunity to earlier. She’s relieved that, true to Jiahao’s predictions, a lot more of his allies have rocked up. They’re all weary-eyed and she thanks them profusely for their time, though (like Jiahao) they’re quick to wave off the gratitude and insist they just want to help.

(Apparently, Jiahao is taking a quick nap to get through the rest of the night and Sakari finds herself slightly resentful and jealous even though there is nothing stopping her from doing the same.)

Now feeling slightly more secure, Sakari returns to Zuko’s bedside and holds water over his chest once more. However, she feels so ridiculously heavy from exhaustion that she finds herself leaning on her elbows on the bed as she works, eyelids drooping over her gritty eyes.

She startles awake, slumped over the bed, partially on Zuko’s stomach and bolts upright. She blinks groggily over at the clock and sighs in relief when she realises it’s only been half an hour. She gets back to work.

A couple hours later, the sun is starting to rise and she knows palace staff are likely to start showing up soon. So, she stumbles her way down to the main entrance, where there are five people waiting by the door, talking to the two guards there, Jing and Li.

“Ah, there she is,” Jing says, smiling at her. “You wanted to speak to all the staff?”

“Yes, thank you, Jing. Why don’t you all follow me and I’ll have a chat with you one at a time?”

Sakari leads the group to an empty office nearby and takes them in one-by-one, checking them against her list of employees, doing her best to ask the questions she thinks she should, and gauge they’re body language for any hints of lying. Once again, she finds herself desperately wishing Toph were here. But the staff all seem sincere and excited for the changing political climate, promising to serve Fire Lord Zuko to the best of their abilities. Three of them are kitchen staff, meanwhile the other two are servants, both of whom have been working at the palace since Zuko was a child and are thrilled at the idea of serving him again. It’s obvious they’re all a bit confused as to why they’re being interviewed by a Water Tribe girl of all people, but the fact that none of them seem to have an issue with it is a good sign.

Hua, the thirty-something-year-old chef, scrutinises her for a moment when Sakari dismisses her. “How long have you been at this?” 

“What do you…?”

“You look- With all due respect, Miss, you look ready to pass out. You been at this all night?”

Sakari presses her lips together and rubs her forehead. “I can’t… I can’t let anything happen to him.”

Hua’s expression softens and she leans forward. “You need sleep. We can get by running the palace with everyone we have currently. It might be a good idea just get anyone else who arrives to just come back another day. Tell them we’re on lockdown and only using a skeleton crew for the time being.”

“That… is a good point,” Sakari says slowly, glancing down at her list and realising that personnel like laundresses and maids really aren’t a necessity right now. “Thank you, Hua. If you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to call for me.”

Jiahao gives her an exasperated look when he passes her on her way back to Zuko’s room. “I thought I told you to get some sleep, kid.”

“I did. This is just my face.”

The general rolls his eyes.

Chapter Text

It’s nearing noon when Zuko slowly blinks awake as Sakari is rewrapping his wound after almost an hour of more healing.

“Hey,” she greets softly, and his sleepy expression brightens when he sees her.

“We’re still alive?”

Sakari huffs out a laugh and draws her chair up closer. “Yep. Made it through the night.”

Zuko’s eyes widen then and he tries to sit up, though Sakari is quick to push him back down. “Wait, what time is it? There’s so much I have to do-”

“Zuko-“

“What happened to Azula? And the staff! We’ve gotta be careful, a lot of them might still be loyal to her and father-“

“Zuko!” Sakari shouts, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve handled it.” He frowns and opens his mouth only to pause when she dumps the pile of documents on his lap. “You’ll have to sign these. Jiahao -from last night?- I got him to help me go through a list of all the palace staff and identify anyone who’s loyal to Ozai and we drew up dismissal orders. We also wrote up orders for the release of all Water and Earth Kingdom prisoners, as well as people like Mai and Ty Lee who betrayed the Fire Nation. I have no idea what proper documents like this are meant to be like but Jiahao approved them and I figure given the circumstances these will be good enough as long as they’ve got words and your signature on them.” She takes a breath. “We also started strategizing about how to screen everyone else to make sure no one here is a threat. And on that note, Jiahao and I have his most trustworthy guards acting as security until we’ve done a complete reform and know we can trust everyone who works here. They’re pulling really long shifts and I’ve promised them they’ll all get paid handsomely, so-“

“How long was I asleep?!” Zuko interrupts, looking absolutely bewildered.

“Uh, like… fourteen hours?”

He frowns and looks at her searchingly. “Have you slept at all?”

“Uh, a little.”

His frown deepens. “You shouldn’t have done all that.”

Sakari recoils slightly, glancing down. She knows that realistically she doesn’t have the authority to make any of the decisions she’s made so far, and she feels a bit guilty about it. But it was all to protect them, and she’s lost an obscene amount of sleep for it. She tries to keep the irritation out of her voice as she says, “I mean, I know it really wasn’t appropriate given who I am, but I had to make sure it was at least somewhat safe-“

Zuko hastily sits up, eyes wide as he shakes his head. “Shit, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m so grateful for that! I just mean that you shouldn’t have had to so that by yourself. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because you almost died, Zuko. You need rest.”

“You need rest too, you look exhausted.”

Sakari doesn’t even have to energy to banter right now. She just sighs. “I know. Why don’t you sign these and I can give them to Jiahao and then I can do some more healing on your wound and then we can both get some more rest.”

“I only just woke up!”

“You were struck with lightning, even if you don’t need more sleep, your body still needs rest.”

Zuko looks as though he’s about to argue but then seems to think better of it. “Okay, fine.”

Once the papers have been signed and palmed off to Jiahao, Sakari is about to start another round of healing but is stopped when Zuko gently takes her wrists.

“You need sleep, Sakari.”

“I’ll sleep after I’ve done some more work on your wound-“

“That can wait. It barely hurts,” he says, though Sakari knows that’s a lie. “Plus, you’ve got your own burns to tend to.”

She just crosses her arms. “I’m not doing that until you’ve let me heal you.”

He grits his teeth and flops back against the pillow. “Fine. You’re infuriating.”

“Thanks,” she replies, lips pulling into a weak smile.

Contrary to his insistence that he wouldn’t need more sleep, Zuko dozes off while she’s working. When she’s done, almost falling asleep on him again in the process, she spends a bit of time on her own wounds, then staggers over to the sofa and flops down, letting herself sink deep into unconsciousness.

The next time Sakari wakes, she is so disoriented that it takes her a moment to remember everything that happened with Azula and the absolute clusterfuck of a night that followed. She registers low voices and groggily sits up against the sofa as she glances around the room and finds Zuko sitting on the edge of the bed talking to Jiahao, who smirks when he spots her.

“Finally.”

“Oh, shut up,” she mutters, rubbing at her eyes and Zuko’s eyebrows shoot up.

“I’m just saying, ma’am, you needed the rest. I may not know much about how your water healing voodoo works but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to do it for hours at a time.”

She feels her ears go red as Zuko’s gaze snaps to her and she folds her arms over her chest. “Oh, now it’s back to ‘ma’am’?” Not 'kid'. 

“I take it you two got pretty familiar last night?”

“A political upheaval tends to do that, Fire Lord,” Jaihao replies cheekily, making Zuko snort. He looks back at Sakari. “I was just informing Fire Lord Zuko that we’ve received word that The Avatar succeeded – Ozai has been defeated. He’s alive, but the Avatar took away his bending.”

Sakari’s hands fly to her mouth and she lets out a joyful laugh, relief flooding her. Zuko’s bright eyes meet hers and she rushes across the room to sit beside him and pull him into a giddy side-hug.

“Also,” the General continues with a grin, “Ba Sing Se was successfully reconquered.”

Another sharp sound of delight escapes her and Zuko slips his hand into hers to give it a squeeze. “Oh spirits, they did it!”

“Indeed. Now the real fun begins.”

“It’s gonna be a shitshow,” Zuko grumbles. “I think if I manage to not get assassinated, I can take that as a win.”

Sakari frowns. “Don’t joke about that.”

“I’ll go let Shi know you’re both up,” Jiahao says. “She’s been getting antsy about making sure you’re fed. Hua will be making dinner soon anyway.”

The pair thank him before he leaves and then it’s just the two of them again, and Sakari gently pokes at the bandages half-falling off the wound. “I need to change this. Now that you’re upright I can wrap it around your torso properly. Stay there.”

Zuko shoots her an amused look put stays put as she fetches a roll of bandages and comes to stand in front of him. She unceremoniously nudges his knees apart so she can stand between them, looking thoughtfully down at the wound. “Actually, this angle might be a bit tricky, are you able to stand?” She steps back and hovers a hand under his elbow as he grabs pillar of the bed beside him and pulls himself up. “Yeah, this will work better,” she nods and holds one end of the wrappings to the side of his ribs. “Can you hold that there for a moment for me?”

He follows Sakari’s instructions as she carefully winds the wrappings repeatedly over his wound and around his back and shoulders, folding and tucking it in securely when she’s finished and absentmindedly running her fingers over the fabric. “How does that feel?” Her train of thought comes to a screeching halt and her breath catches in her throat when she lifts her gaze to find Zuko’s eyes burning deep into hers. He raises his hand to brush a loose lock of her hair out of her face and she suppresses a shiver. 

His hand hovers beside her face. She swallows, inching slightly closer.

A knock at the door yanks them out of their daze and Zuko gives a strangled call of “Come in!”. Sakari stumbles back just as Shi walks in with a trolley full of food. “Would you like to eat in here, Fire Lord Zuko?”

“Technically not the Fire Lord yet,” he reminds gently, but the grey-haired servant just waves him off and he sighs good-naturedly. “Yes, in here would be wonderful, thanks, Shi.”

“I’ll be back later to collect the dishes,” she smiles and leaves them to it.

There’s a few seconds of awkward silence, and Sakari so badly wants to return to what they were doing but it feels like the moment has been lost. Zuko’s hands are fidgeting nervously as his eyes remain firmly on the floor and Sakari watches him with a fond expression. 

“You know, I uh- I never actually thanked you for saving my life,” she says.

“You called me an ass, that’s close enough,” he replies good-naturedly, making her snort.

“Seriously though… thank you.”

He frowns and shakes his head “You don’t have to thank me; it wasn’t even a decision. And it was my fault in the first place for egging her on like that.”

“Yeah, that was stupid,” Sakari agrees, making him laugh only to immediately grimace.

“You can’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what else I can do,” she says sympathetically, stepping closer again. “Lightning wounds really aren’t something I-“

“No, no, it’s okay! It’s not too bad, honestly. And you’ve already made it so much better. I wasn’t trying to suggest you need to do more.”

“I know, but… I don’t like seeing you in pain.” She bites the inside of her cheek anxiously. “During the Agni Kai, I felt… so sick. And then when she… I thought you were…”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m sorry, this wouldn’t have happened if we stayed out of your way.”

Zuko shakes his head, crease between his eyebrows. “I pushed her. Besides, if she had hit you, I… I don’t know what I would have done.” There’s a pause. “Besides, I still haven’t thanked you. For keeping us alive last night, for spending the entire night healing me and making sure the palace was safe. Thank you.”

Before Sakari can respond, there’s a loud grumbling sound coming from his stomach and his ears go bright red meanwhile she launches into a fit of laughter.

“Let’s eat, shall we?” she asks dryly.

The pair sit side-by-side on the bed as they pick at the absolute feast in front of them containing noodle soup, bread, dumplings, hotcakes, and mochi. They’re both so hungry that they eat mostly in silence, too busy eating to talk. When Sakari has had her fill, she flops back on the bed with a content sigh. It’s not long later that Zuko finishes too and leans back on his hands. Even though Sakari can’t see his face from this angle, she can tell by the tilt of his head that he’s deep in thought.

“It still doesn’t really feel real… that it’s finally over,” he eventually breaks the silence.

“You keep waiting to wake up back before everything?”

“Yeah. And now it’s… I always aspired to be Fire Lord but when I think about it now, it’s... a lot.”

“You don’t want to do it anymore?” Sakari asks, sitting up. She completely understands if that is the case. 

“No, I do, it’s just… overwhelming. Having the responsibility of an entire nation on my shoulders… and in the aftermath of all of this. What if I fuck it up?”

“You say that like it’s all up to you, but it’s not. You’ll have a whole team of people whose job is to help you and provide guidance and advice when you need it. And more importantly, we’re all here to support you. Especially your uncle.”

Zuko lets out a breath and looks down at his lap. “What about when you all leave though?”

Sakari can tell from the look on his face that he’s been anxious about this for a while. She grabs his hand, prompting him to look back up at her. “We won’t be gone for good. I know it won’t be the same, but we can still see each other every now and again, plus we can send letters. Also… I really don’t want to go a long time without seeing you.”

He inhales sharply and his eyes dart between hers before glancing down at her lips. “Can I kiss you, Sakari?”

In lieu of actually answering, Sakari just surges forward, pressing her lips almost desperately against his as one of her hands finds his jaw. A hand tentatively comes to rest on her waist as they pull away from each other and she finds Zuko looking at her as if he’s seeing the moon for the very first time. She can’t help the stupidly big smile on her face and she brushes her thumb lightly over his cheek, her other hand clutching the collar of his robes. She leans in for another kiss, softer this time.

They’ve touched plenty of times before now. Casual touches on the arm, grabbing each other’s hands, even the occasional hug. But it’s different now. A line has been crossed and Sakari doesn’t ever want to go back. She wants to feel engulfed by him, soak up every bit of touch that she can. When they next break away, she buries her face in his neck and wraps her arms around him, making sure she doesn’t put any pressure on his wound. A soft noise escapes her throat when one of his hands comes up to brush through her hair. She places a feather-light kiss on his collarbone before she pulls away, beaming at him while her heart does ecstatic flips in her chest.

When there’s yet another knock at the door, they exchange amused looks and Sakari hastily shifts to a slightly more platonically explainable distance from him. When Zuko calls for whomever it is to come in, Shi pokes her head in and grins.

“You have a visitor, Fire Lord.” She steps back and opens the door fully to reveal Iroh.

“Uncle!” Zuko breathes, face lighting up as he meets the man halfway and pulls him into a hug.

Sakari’s heart softens at the sight, especially when she sees a tear trickle out of the corner of Iroh’s eye. “I am so happy you are okay. Both of you,” he adds as they separate, looking at Sakari with a smile and opening his arms for a hug that she quickly accepts.

“I’m going to go for a walk around the palace, leave you two to catch up,” she says. She’s about to reach for Zuko’s hand but realises she doesn’t know if he wants Iroh to know about them and aborts the motion at the last section, instead awkwardly scratching her own arm. She just smiles at them both before heading out of the room.

o o o

“I am so proud of you, Zuko,” Iroh says when the door clicks shut behind Sakari. “You are going to make a wonderful Fire Lord.”

Zuko’s cheeks grow warm as he looks bashfully down. “I don’t know… I don’t feel like I’m ready.”

“I don’t think you ever will, dear boy. But you are. And you will not be alone.”

Zuko subconsciously glances at the door Sakari just left through, and when he looks back at his Uncle, there’s a twinkle in his eyes.

“How is Sakari?”

“Uncle,” he whines.

“You don’t meet a girl like that every dynasty.”

Zuko continues to grow more flustered. “You don’t need to- She- We already-“

“Already…?”

“Can we not do this now?”

Iroh chuckles and pats him fondly on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you. You deserve to happiness.”

“Don’t jinx it,” he mutters jokingly.

“From the way she was looking at you, I don’t think I could.”

He feels his face grow even hotter.

Zuko feels significantly lighter after his conversation with Uncle. He may not share the confidence Iroh has in him, but his uncle’s faith in him does make him feel braver, as it always has.

When Uncle heads off to make some tea, Zuko opts to try and track down Sakari. He hasn’t been wandering around long when he walks out into the gardens and stumbles across her curled up by the tree near the turtle-duck pond, moonlight reflecting off the water. He smiles at the coincidence that she’d pick that spot, of everywhere in the palace.

However, as he approaches, he realises that she’s crying. He’s by her side in an instant, not sure what to do but feeling the need to do something.

“Sakari?! What happened?”

She lifts her head, glistening red-rimmed eyes meeting his and his heart breaks. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m fine, honestly.”

“You don’t look fine, Sakari.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand what’s going on. It’s like everything is catching up with me. Like… I’ve just been in survival mode for months. Even when I thought we were safe, we weren’t. And I’ve never really actually processed anything. And it’s like now I can finally actually relax, everything that I’ve just been shoving down is coming back up. Especially… especially everything with Kanut.”

Zuko goes to guide her into his chest only for her to pull back and he pauses, trying to ignore the feeling of rejection. But then she says, “I don’t want to hurt you,” frowning at where his wound is and he just shakes his head.

“It’s fine.” This time, when he lightly pulls her towards him, she settles into him. “You’re worth it,” he murmurs into her hair, and she buries her face in the crook of his neck. One of his hands comes up to rub her back as he shifts so she can more comfortably lean against his side. They sit there for a few minutes, silence broken only by Sakari’s occasional sniffle. “How about some tea?” he asks gently when he breaths even out. “Uncle was about to start brewing some.”

“Ginseng?” she asks quietly and he huffs out a laugh.

“Of course.”

“That sounds good.”

They help each other get to their feet, and Zuko uses the edge of his sleeve to gently wipe at the moisture on Sakari’s face. He relishes in the light giggle she lets out, still taken aback by the beauty in her sparkling blue eyes. He’s vaguely aware of the presence of other people around the place as he slips his hand into Sakari’s but can’t bring himself to care much right now and the pair head back into the building, fingers intertwined.

They’re about to round a corner when Sakari slows to a halt, pulling him to a stop too. When he looks at her, she’s staring at him with an adoring look on her face that he’s really not used to seeing directed at him.

“What?” he asks awkwardly.

Sakari just grins and steps forward to kiss him before mumbling against his lip, “Just wanted to do that again.”

Zuko kisses her back fiercely, one hand sitting on her waist while the other cups her face. Her lips part slightly and he reciprocates, a shiver running up his spine when her tongue brushes against his bottom lip.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Sakari and Zuko spring apart at the voice, heads snapping to find Sokka, Katara, Aang, Toph, and Suki all standing there, having just come around the corner.

“It’s about time,” Sokka continues smugly, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Yeah, finally,” Toph pipes up.

Aang just looks absolutely flabbergasted. “Wait, what?”

Katara and Suki just laugh, and Sakari recovers from her shock enough to launch herself at the group. Suki, being the closest, is the first person she reaches and she throws her arms around her. The warrior staggers from the force and laughs brightly as she steadies them. Zuko grins and starts his own round of hugs as Sakari moves to hug Sokka, Katara, and Toph.

When Sakari comes to stand in front of Aang, the boy fiddles anxiously with his hands, eyes wide with guilt.

“Sakari-“

She cuts him off with a fierce hug and he squeezes her back so hard that the girl lets out a slight wheeze.

“I’m so sorry,” he croaks. “I’m so sorry about what I said. It was awful and unfair and cruel. And I can’t believe that could have been the last thing I ever said to you.”

“But it wasn’t,” Sakari says, putting her hands firmly on his shoulders as she pulls away. “And I know you didn’t mean it. It’s okay. I forgive you. And I’m sorry for not being more understanding.”

“You have nothing to apologise for. You were only helping and I lashed out. I’m… I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“Me too, Aang,” Sakari smiles. “And I’m so proud of you.”

The kid barrels into her chest for another hug and she presses a quick kiss to the top of his head.

Sakari plants herself at Zuko’s side once everyone’s had their hugs, and he can tell how exhausted she is by the way she seems to almost sink against his body. He’s pretty sure she’s not even aware she’s doing it.

“You look like shit, Sakari,” Sokka says then, sounding simultaneously amused and concerned.

She just lets out a weak snort. “Fuck off.”

“Guys.”

Suki, however, is a tad more perceptive (and tactful) as she frowns and asks, “What happened?”

He feels her shift slightly against him. “Nothing, I’m fine. Just tired. There’s been… a lot to do.”

“What she means,” he says pointedly, “is that she organised complete reform in the palace by working with one of the guards to compile a list of staff that pose a danger and organised their dismissal, wrote up orders to free all the war prisoners, put together extra security, and spent hours healing me, all while I was asleep last night.”

“We were attacked multiple times while walking into the palace. It needed to be done,” she says irritably as if that makes it any less impressive.

Katara’s expression becomes guilty, eyes tracking the burn scars twisting up her arm. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I never should have left.”

“No, no, it’s fine! Besides, Jiahao did most of the work. I basically just…. stressed at him the whole night.”

“That’s not what he told me,” Zuko says lightly, lips quirking in amusement at the faint glare Sakari shoots him.

“It’s nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix.”

“Hello!” Everyone’s attention snaps to Uncle, looking around at them happily and there’s a chorus of excited greetings. “How fortunate that I made so much tea. I think we all have a lot of catching up to do, don’t we?”

A short while later, everyone is seated around a large table, cups of tea in front of them. They each take turns recounting their experience during the comet, things getting quite emotional at points, especially when Toph and Sokka explain how close they came to plummeting to their deaths before Suki swooped in to save them.

Sakari gives what Zuko suspects is a fairly watered down version of events of her own night. “Oh, that reminds me,” she adds when she mentions interviewing some of the staff. “Toph, would you mind helping when we screen the rest of the staff? I could really use your lie-detecting skills. I want to make sure no one with any hidden ill-intent slips through.”

“It’d be my pleasure, Humbug.”

“So, are you officially the Fire Lord now?” Sokka asks, and Zuko shakes his head.

“Not officially.”

“I’ve spoken with the Fire Sages,” Uncle says. “Your coronation will take place tomorrow afternoon.”

Zuko feels a little bit sick at the thought. But he’s surrounded by his family (his real family) and he knows that, even if just for a short while, he has their help. “Aang… I would love for you to be a part of the ceremony. None of us would be here without you. It seems fitting for you to be a part of this new beginning for the Fire Nation.”

Aang beams. “I would be honoured, Zuko.”

o o o

The group continues talking long after Iroh bids them goodnight. It’s getting late when Shi finds them and asks if Zuko wants rooms made up for all their guests.

“That would be great, thank you, Shi.”

The woman does a quick count of their heads, and Sokka with his arm wrapped around Suki says, “We can share.” There’s a slight raise of her eyebrow but she just nods and bustles off.

A short while later the woman returns to let them know the rooms are ready for them and everyone is very keen to get some rest so Zuko shows them the way to the guest wing. There’s a chorus of sleepy goodnights and then it’s just Zuko and Sakari standing in the corridor outside the room Shi made up for her.

Sakari glances at it, then shyly back at Zuko. “You know, I’m still worried about your wound. I think, medically speaking, it would be a good idea to stay near you so I can keep an eye on it.”

Zuko’s lips curl in fond amusement.

Suddenly realising that her words could be misconstrued as much more suggestive than she meant them, she hastily adds, “Wait, that sounded- I don’t mean that we should… do anything, I just meant that I want to… be close to you. And maybe cuddle.”

“No, I know that’s what you meant,” he laughs softly. “And I really like the sound of that.”

She gives a small grin, embarrassment easing, and takes the hand that he offers before falling into step with him as they head for his room.

Zuko lets go of Sakari’s hand when they near his room and hear movement from inside. A second later, Shi emerges, expression brightening when she sees him. 

“Fire Lord Zuko, I’ve just run you a bath, but if you don’t feel like having one now, I can reheat it for you in the morning.” 

“A bath sounds wonderful. Thank you so much.”

Her gaze moves to Sakari, friendly smile on her face. “More healing?”

Sakari suppresses a cough. “Yep!”

“Go get some rest, Shi, you’ve had a very long day,” Zuko tells her kindly, earning a fond smile in return.

 “Will do, Fire Lord. Goodnight.”

Sakari curses herself for not even thinking about it being an issue until she hears a pained hiss and then a grunt from the other side of the bathroom door.

“You alright?” she asks quickly.

There’s a strained reply of, “Uh huh.”

“Do you want me to get Shi? Or-“

“No, no, I’m- ow, shit- I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine, Zuko,” she huffs. She takes a deep breath before her next words. “Are you covered?”

A pause. “Um. There’s lots of bubbles, yeah.”

“Okay, I’m- I’m coming in.”

When she slowly opens the door and cautiously pokes her head in, Zuko is half lifting himself out of the tub to keep his chest from touching the water with an embarrassed look on his face. Sakari tries very hard to not think about the fact that he is naked right now.

She clears her throat and guesses, “It hurts when the hot water touches it?”

He nods.

“I should have guessed it would be sensitive to heat. This might help.” She shuffles into the room and kneels beside the tub before bending a small blob of water, turning it cold in her hand and holding it against the wound. Immediately, he sighs in relief and sinks down more comfortably, her hand shifting to follow the movement.

“Thanks, that’s much better. Sorry…”

“You have nothing to apologise for, Zuko.”

“Still… this is awkward,” he coughs, ears red as he avoids her eye.

She snorts. “Yeah, it is. But I think given everything we’ve been through…”

“Right. Perspective,” he huffs, eyes sparkling with amusement.

Sakari sits back and holds the water still from a distance and turns away so that Zuko can actually wash himself. Once he’s done, she fetches a towel for him and keeps her head turned as he gets out.

“Thank you,” he murmurs, and when she turns to look at him, he’s holding the towel around his waist, water droplets trickling down his toned body and she reminds herself to keep her eyes on his face.

“It’s no trouble. I’ll, uh, leave you to get dry and dressed.”

When Zuko emerges from the bathroom and spots her sitting up against the pillows on the bed, he smiles softly.

“Is this okay? I can sleep on the sofa if you’d prefer…” she asks anxiously and he quickly shakes his head.

“No! Please stay.”

Her cheeks grow warm, dopey smile forming on her face as he climbs into bed beside her. It’s slightly awkward at first, neither of them used to being in each other’s spaces like this, but Sakari tentatively nestles into his right side, and when he wraps an arm around her back, they both relax.

Sakari finds his free hand with hers and starts brushing her fingers lightly up and down the inside of his forearm, earning a pleasant shiver in response and she grins.

“Witchcraft,” he grumbles, making her snigger. After a few minutes, he shifts his arm to take her hand in his and starts tracing his thumb over the backs of her scarred, crooked fingers.  “You never actually… I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. But if you ever want to tell me about what Kanut actually did to you, I’d love to listen.”

She lets out a breath. “There’s not really… There’s not a whole lot to tell. He didn’t want me to be able to bend, so he had this mallet and… beat the shit out of my hands. He did it a few times, even though it really wasn’t necessary after the first time. It wasn’t like they were healing. But he wanted me to hurt. He regularly beat me… gave me cold burns. It was basically just all that on repeat.”

“Is he… dead now?”

“I don’t think so, no. I left him on the street unconscious. I’m sure he’s out there somewhere.”

Zuko’s grip around her tightens ever-so-slightly. “He won’t come near you again. I’ll make sure of it.” Sakari’s heart softens but she doesn’t know what to say so she just squeezes his hand. “I’m really sorry you had to go through all of that,” he murmurs. “And I’m sorry that you had to deal with me straight afterwards.”

Sakari barks out a surprised laugh and looks at him with a fond exasperation. “I’m sorry that you had to deal with me then. I was weird and paranoid and… a mess. And definitely stinky.”

“You did make an impression. Also… why did you come to the shop instead of like… getting help?”

She can’t help but snort. “Look… even at the time, I knew it shouldn’t have been my priority but… I don’t know, I guess tea just genuinely sounded better at that moment than doing literally anything else.”

Zuko huffs and rolls his eyes. “No wonder Uncle likes you so much. I don’t think I should let you spend too much time together.”

Sakari refrains from delightedly asking more about how apparently Iroh likes her, wanting this moment to just be about them. Instead, she just smiles and tucks her head back against his shoulder, arm slung across his stomach.

Sakari is woken by movement in the middle of the night. She blinks and props herself up as Zuko flinches, a strange, wounded sound coming out of him. In the faint moonlight pouring in from the window, she can see his eyebrows drawn together, eyes screwed shut, and chest rising and falling in short, uneven breaths. When he makes another pained sound, she brings a hand up to play with his hair and begins to gently hum.

Slowly, his breathing begins to regulate, the crease between his eyebrows softens, and he gradually calms down. Once she’s sure the nightmare has passed, Sakari settles back down, curling against his side, and lets herself drift back off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The following morning, Zuko gives them a tour of the palace. Sakari can tell from the almost vacant look in his eyes and tension in his shoulders that many of these rooms are associated with some less than ideal memories for him. So, it’s a relief when Caihong finds them and lets them know that Hua has prepared breakfast for them in the dining room.

When they walk into the room, there’s quite a feast laid out for them. Zuko is on edge at first but seems to become more at ease as everyone else takes a seat around the table and starts piling up their plates. Sokka looks like he is in heaven, and they all end up staring at the strategic, meticulous way in which he loads his plate to maximise the amount of food he can fit.

“You know you can go back for seconds, right?” Zuko asks dryly.

“Oh, I will.”

Sakari rolls her eyes and turns to Zuko on her left. “Could you please pass me the bread?”

He reaches over for the plate of bread, however as he pulls it back towards him, his elbow catches a pitcher of juice and it topples over with a loud bang and a slosh as its contents spill out onto the table, some of it spattering onto him. He inhales sharply and Sakari feels him flinch then go rigid beside her. When she stands to help deal with the mess, he flinches again making her pause.

Sakari only has a vague idea about what Ozai was like as a father, but she knows enough to be certain that the time he burnt Zuko’s face was not the first time he laid hands on the boy. She also is conscious of the fact that -as far as she’s aware- none of the others are privy to this information.

She settles a gentle hand on his back, brushing her thumb back and forth soothingly as she moves around him and sets the pitcher upright. Already, Katara and Aang (being the closest) are collecting napkins and starting to mop up the spilt juice, while Suki and Sokka get up to clear away some of the plates that are in the way. Toph, on Zuko’s other side, subtly takes his hand.

“Good thing you did that before you changed into your fancy Fire Lord gear,” Toph teases with a slight grin.

Zuko blinks, glancing down at himself and lets out a weak huff. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want everyone to know I’m a complete mess.”

“Eh, they’ll figure it out eventually,” Sokka shrugs. “But hey, we knew right off the bat and still love you. It’s just part of your charm.”

Zuko just stares blankly at him, blush slowly creeping up on his cheeks. His mouth opens and closes. Sakari is pretty sure Sokka has broken him. She leans down to press a quick kiss into his hair.

“He’s right, you know.” She doesn’t want to press the point too much; she thinks he’ll combust if any more affection is directed his way right now. So, she grabs the plate of bread that started this whole kerfuffle and deposits a slice on her plate and then his before reaching for the fruit platter. “Fruit?”

“Oh, uh… yes please.”

The chatter starts back up again as Sakari sits back down, and conversation quickly shifts to reminiscing over the many memories had ever since Aang came out of the ice.

“I have a question, actually,” Zuko says, long after their plates are empty and bellies are full. “Aang, remember when I got you out of Zhao’s prison?”

“Of course, I do!”

“How come you had a bunch of frogs? And why, when they started running away from you, did you say that your friends needed to suck on them? It has genuinely haunted me ever since.”

The rest of the table erupts into hysteric laughter.

“It’s because Sokka and I were sick and apparently they excreted some cure,” Katara explains and Aang makes a noise of protest.

“What do you mean, ‘apparently’? It worked!”

Sokka rolls his eyes and dramatically demands, “But at what cost?”

“If I ever have to suck on a frog, just let me die instead,” Zuko mutters, eliciting another chorus of laughs.

When the conversation turns to her and Zuko – more specifically, Sakari’s apparent lack of subtlety on the matter - she wants to sink into the floor.

“I remember Sakari’s heartrate mysteriously increasing every time Zuko’s shirt was off,” Toph dobs her in.

“Toph!”

When Sokka gives a shit-eating grin, she knows she’s going to hate whatever he’s about to say. “I remember on Ember Island when I saw her sneaking out of Zuko’s room in the middle of the night.”

“Sokka, you ass,” Sakari seethes as Zuko just splutters.

Suki shoots her boyfriend an exasperated look meanwhile, Aang, Katara, and Toph’s eyebrows all fly up.

“It wasn’t like that!” Sokka quickly amends. “I mean I thought it was at first, but…” he trails off, evidently only now realising why it may not be an appropriate story to share with the group.

“What was it like?” Toph asks with a snicker.

Sakari looks to Zuko, not sure what he wants everyone to know. He lets out a heavy sigh and grimaces. “I was having a… moment and got into the alcohol. Drank way more than I should’ve. Sakari found me and made sure I didn’t… choke to death on my own vomit or something.”

A grim silence falls over the group and when Sakari glares pointedly at Sokka, he winces apologetically. Then there’s a mischievous twinkly in his eye. “You know who wishes you would come sneaking out of his room in the middle of the night? Tuktu.”

“I’m going to actually kill you.”

“Tuktu? Isn’t he one of your friends from the Northern Tribe?” Zuko asks.

“He sure is,” Sokka continues brightly as she buries her head in her hands.  “He tried to make a move at the invasion and got promptly brother-zoned.”

“That is not what happened. He didn’t make a move, he just got… weird.”

“Yeah, because he was about give you a smooch until you practically ran away.” 

Zuko snorts, “I should count myself lucky.”

Sakari lets out a laugh and looks at him fondly. “Luck has nothing to do with it.”

Toph makes a noise of disgust at the same time Aang beams and goes, “Aw.”

“It’s me!” Sakari calls as she knocks on Zuko’s door.

“Come in!”

She opens the door and walks in to find Zuko fiddling with the collar of his new robes in the mirror. The huge shoulder piece seems a bit overkill, the spikes on each side looking almost deadly. But he looks incredibly regal, especially with his hair pulled into a topknot. 

“Don’t you look fancy?” she grins, coming to stand beside him.

“I feel ridiculous.”

“I’ll admit, it’s strange seeing you like this, but… it’s a good look.”

He gives a shy smile and kisses her softly, hands finding hers as he pulls away. A crease forms between his eyebrows and he bites the inside of his cheek, expression thoughtful. “Sakari… I don’t know what’s going to happen now. And I know you’ll be going back to the North Pole soon and I don’t know when I’ll get to see you again after that, but… I do want to. See you again, I mean. In a non-friend way.” He cringes. “That didn’t come out right. I’m trying to say that I um… I want to be with you. If… If you’ll have me.”

Sakari gives him a look of complete adoration and pulls him back in for another kiss. “I would like that very much.”

The smile he gives her could power the fucking sun. It quickly fades to a more tentative one and his hands play anxiously with hers. “With me being Fire Lord and you being Water Tribe and everything else going on… we’d have to keep it private. At least- at least for now.”

“That’s okay! I figured that would be the case.”

“Yeah?” he breathes, expression brightening again.

She grins. “Yeah.”

The Plaza is buzzing with excitement as people from far and wide gather, ready to see the crowning of the new Fire Lord. Toph catches up with Pipsqueak and the Duke while Sokka and Katara embrace Chief Hakoda. When Sakari spots two familiar figures in blue, she makes a beeline for them. Anik and Tuktu spot her just in time to brace themselves as she runs and throws her arms around them.

“I’m so glad you’re both okay!”

“It’s good to see you too, Sakari,” Tuktu smiles as Anik claps her on the back.  “What happened to your arm?!”

“It got burnt.”

“No shit, I meant how?”

Sakari rolls her eyes and lightly whacks him in the chest. “People trying to assassinate Zuko.” 

“He looks fine,” Tuktu says pointedly, and she clenches her jaw, irritation spiking.

“He jumped in front of a bolt of lightning for me and almost died.” 

He shifts uncomfortably, expression guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean- Sorry. I’m… I’m really grateful he was looking out for you. And I’m glad he’s okay.”

Sakari sighs. “Sorry for snapping. It’s been… a very stressful couple of days.”

“Don’t worry about it, that was a really dumb thing for me to say,” Tuktu shakes his head and she shoots him a fond smile.

“It’s all good, dude. How have you two been? Did they hurt you?”

“Nah, they mostly left us alone,” Anik shrugged. “Got to meet a bunch of other Northern Tribe folks too.”

Sakari’s eyes widen. “You wouldn’t have… You wouldn’t have heard anything about my Dad while you were there, would you?” Her tentative smile fades at the grim look on Anik’s face, already knowing where this is going.

“Yes, actually. He… I’m sorry, Sakari. We met the rest of his fleet… he died protecting them.”

Sakari’s heart drops into her stomach. It’s a reality she’s been preparing herself for years. Some part of her has always known, really. And yet that damned hope. She swallows around the thick lump in her throat and nods, avoiding the boys’ concerned looks. “I- Yeah, I suppose that… Thank you. For finally giving me an answer.”

“Some of them are here,” Tuktu says tentatively. “Would you want to meet them? I’m sure they’d love to tell you about him.”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Oh ho ho!” a booming voice calls, and a forty-something year old man plants himself between Anik and Tuktu. “You must be Sakari. You look just like him y’know. But without his huge chin.”

Anik and Tuktu shoot her apologetic looks and the former opens him mouth, perhaps to gently shoo him away, but Sakari blurts out, “You knew him?”

The man’s expression softens and he nods. “Nanouk and I became best friends on that last expedition. My name is Cupun. It’s really nice to meet you, kid. He told me a whole lot about you.”

“He did?”

“Of course, he did.” He turns to look over his shoulder and calls to someone, “Hey! Hanta, get over here. I found Nanouk’s kid!”

“Sakari?” the other man asks as he approaches and his eyes widen when they land on her. “Huh. Spitting image. Minus the chin.”

Her eyes fill with tears as she lets out a choked laugh and nods. “It was pretty big.”

A gong is struck to signal that the ceremony is about to start and Cupun claps a hand on her shoulder. “If you’re not busy later, how about we take you out for a drink and exchange stories about your Dad?”

“She’s seventeen,” Hanta says pointedly.

“That’s plenty old enough. If you want,” he adds, looking back at Sakari who laughs and nods.

“I would love that.”

There’s another strike of a gong and Cupun gives her another clap on the shoulder and grins. “We’ll find you later, kid.”

He walks away and she pulls Tuktu and Anik into a tight squeeze. “Thank you.”

The crowd erupts into deafening cheers as Zuko emerges from the palace, looking out at everyone from the top of the steps. He holds up a hand. “Please, the real hero is the Avatar,” he says, turning and gesturing to Aang as he walks out to stand beside Zuko. “Today, this war is finally over!” Sakari joins everyone else in joyous cheers. “I promised my uncle that I would restore the honour of the Fire Nation. And I will. The road ahead of us is challenging. A hundred years of fighting has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar’s help, we can get it back on the right path and begin a new era of love and peace.”

Zuko kneels to the ground as a Fire Sage approaches and lowers the headpiece into his topknot. “All hail Fire Lord Zuko!”

After the ceremony, Sakari continues chatting to Anik and Tuktu for quite some time, catching up on the past few months. She’s so wrapped up in explaining the Ember Island Players stuff, that when a voice suddenly appears behind her, she startles and swings around, elbow colliding into something soft as she does.

Zuko lets out a quiet “Oof” and chuckles as he rubs his chest meanwhile Sakari claps her hands over her mouth in horror.

“Oh spirits! I am so sorry! Are you okay? Did I get your wound?”

“No, no, you didn’t,” he assures her, laughing and brushing off her concerned hands. “I shouldn’t have come up behind you like that, that was on me.”

“Can you tell the guards that? I’m worried they’re going to lock me up for attacking royalty.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ll spare you this time.”

“Wow, thank you for your mercy, your Majesty.”

Zuko just rolls his eyes, eliciting a gleeful grin from Sakari.

“I think I’d be fine, actually; your guards like me more than you.”

The clearing of a throat reminds Sakari that there’s other people with them and she quickly takes a half-step away from him.

“Zuko, this is Anik and Tuktu; guys, this is Z- uh, Fire Lord Zuko.”

Anik raises and amused eyebrow and gestures between them as he says, “If this is meant to be a secret, you guys might want to be a bit more subtle.”

“Shit,” they mutter in unison, then exchange embarrassed looks.

An odd look crosses Tuktu’s face as he glances between them and Sakari suddenly feels incredibly awkward. But then he gives Sakari a wry smile and says, “You really are incapable of doing anything traditionally, huh?”

“I’m a disgrace to my ancestors,” she agrees with a grin, making him roll his eyes before looking to Zuko.

“Sakari mentioned how you saved her life… Thank you.”

Zuko blinks. “Oh! Uh, it wasn’t even a choice. And she saved mine immediately after, so…” he trails off awkwardly. “Um, anyway, I just came over to introduce myself; any friend of Sakari’s is a friend of mine.” Her turns to Sakari. “Mai and Ty Lee are here if you’d like to meet them? …Properly, I mean.”

Sakari snorts, thinking of the previous times she’s ‘met’ the girls. “I’d love that. I’ll see you later, guys.”

“Zuko’s told us so much about you!” Ty Lee squeals as they approach and promptly throws her arms around Sakari. She goes rigid at first but then just laughs and gently pulls back. Immediately, Ty Lee presses herself back against Mai’s side and intertwines their fingers.

“It’s nice to not be fighting you guys,” Sakari grins.

Mai’s lips curl. “How’s your shoulder?”

“It bled like a bitch, but it’s fine,” she shrugs and Zuko’s eyes widen.

“Wait, what?”

Later, Sakari leaves Zuko to his political duties in favour of tracking down Cupun and Hanta, who introduce her to some more of the fleet and find a tavern to catch up at. There, they proceed to spend hours exchanging stories.

They tell her how he talked about her waterbending. How, even when she was just 7 years old, he thought that she would make a phenomenal waterbender in another world. He told them about her odd food habits, like the weird, specific way she’d eat dumplings in which she’d scoop out and eat the inside first then eat the empty dough. The way she loved stewed sea prunes so much that he got in the habit of leaving some of his aside for her – a habit he apparently found difficult to break, even while out at sea. They talk about what a kind and considerate man he was, gentle and sensitive. How he never bought into the ‘tough guy’ act and always encouraged his teammates to be open and emotional. How he would sing the crew the same shanties and lullabies that he used to sing her to sleep.

“That man was born to be a dad,” one of the men is saying. “He practically adopted all the younger warriors as his own.”

“There was this kid fresh outta training that was so restless and could not sit still. So Nanouk would play catch with him to keep him stimulated when there wasn’t much to do.”

“Don’t forget that time Muktuk thought he got his girl pregnant and Nanouk basically sat him down and gave him The Talk right then and there.”

Cupun guffaws. “The kid couldn’t get out of that conversation fast enough.”

Sakari cradles her stomach which is sore from laughing so much and is taken by surprise by a big yawn. “I should probably be getting to bed,” she says, looking around at everyone. “I really can’t thank you all enough. It means so much to get to know him like this.”

“Thank you, kid. It means just as much to us to get to know you and the wonderful kid he helped create. Your mother did an amazing job without him.”

“She really did,” she smiles softly.

When she returns to the palace, she finds Zuko pacing in the entrance hall while Jing and Li watch in exasperation. He looks up in relief when he sees her.

“Hey! Sorry, I- I know this looks weird. I was just… starting to get worried.”

“I’m okay,” she assures him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect to be out that late.”

“Please don’t apologise for that. I’m just… losing my mind.”

Sakari lets out a laugh and nods. “I think that’s fair given everything we’ve been through. Come on.”

Once they’ve climbed into bed together, Sakari fills Zuko in on everything she found out about her dad, utterly grateful for the way he sits and contentedly listens as she word-vomits every little piece of information she can remember.

“-and he threw the guy overboard!” she laughs. However, as soon as her laughter dies down, she abruptly finds her eyes filled with tears. Zuko’s eyes widen and he sits up straighter. When she dissolves into hysterical sobs, he hastily pulls her into his side, hand running soothingly up and down her back. “Fuck, I miss him. It’s been ten years and I still miss him so much. And a part of me is angry at him for sacrificing himself even though that doesn’t make any sense. Why can’t someone else have done it? And I know that’s such a fucked up and awful thing to say, but I don’t care. I want my Dad.”

“I know,” Zuko murmurs. “It’s not fair. You have every right to feel like that.”

She curls tighter into his side, letting him hold her and soothe her until the tears run out.

The next day, Toph joins Sakari and Jiahao as they begin the very long and extensive process of screening every palace staff member. Some of them, while perhaps having... questionable views on the political changes, don’t actually appear to pose any kind of threat. Like the one guy who sits down, takes one look at Sakari and Toph and irritatedly asks, “Why am I being interrogated by Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom chicks?”

Sakari raises an eyebrow, crosses her arms and replies, “Well, that’s not very in the spirit of peace and international cooperation now, is it?”

He clenches his jaw but backs down and (mostly) cooperates with the rest of the interview.

The process gets tedious very fast, but the trio come up with ways to keep it fun, making guesses on who’s going to be an issue, or how many people they’re going to have to be let go that day.

While this is happening, Zuko, Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Suki all work together to figure out what needs to be done to sort out this political clusterfuck; what legislation needs to be passed, what reparations need to be made, what aid needs to be sent where, and so on.

The evenings are always spent as a group, eating dinner together and returning to their usual childish antics after a full day of pretending to be Adults. And when it comes time for bed, Sakari and Zuko curl up beside each other to recharge for the next day.

Once things within the palace are somewhat on track, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Toph head to Ba Sing Se to get the beginnings of the Harmony Restoration Movement started. Once some key pieces of legislation have been organised and the palace is secure, Sakari and Zuko will meet them over there to get the ball rolling.

The palace suddenly seems a lot emptier, and mealtimes are a lot quieter, and it’s obvious they both miss the others even after just a few days. Sakari tries not to let her separation anxiety drive her into a complete spiral, but they send regular letters back and forth and each one takes a little more tension out of her shoulders.

“I want to visit Ozai,” Zuko blurts out as Sakari comes out of the bathroom one night. She pauses only briefly in surprise before sitting beside him on the bed.

“Okay… Do you know what you want to get out of it?” 

“Have I… Have I ever told you about my mother?” 

Sakari shakes her head. “You’ve mentioned that she used to take you to the theatre, but that’s all.”

He takes a big breath and she takes one of his hands in hers. “Okay, so… when I was eleven, my cousin Lu Ten – Uncle’s son – died during the siege of Ba Sing Se. Uncle was… inconsolable and abandoned the siege, which Father saw as weak and asked Fire Lord Azulon to revoke his birthright. Azulon was outraged and said father would be punished for suggesting that he betray Uncle.

“Later… Azula was taunting me, saying that Father was going to kill me. I didn’t fully believe her, she always lied. But then that night, Mother woke me up in the middle of the night. She… told me that everything she had done was to keep me safe… that she loved me… and to always remember who I was, no matter how things seem to change. The next day, she was gone without a trace and Azulon had died.

“On the day of the eclipse, when I confronted Father, he told me…. He told me it was true. He had been ordered to kill me so that he would feel the pain of losing his first-born and he had every intention of carrying it out. But… Mother found out and made a deal to protect me. She knew he wanted the throne, so she killed Azulon and accepted banishment so that my life would be spared.”

Sakari feels sick. Just when she thought Ozai couldn’t be any more of a monster, she finds out this. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts, knowing that Ozai’s evilness is not supposed to be the focus of this story right now. Zuko’s mother is. “And you haven’t seen her since?”

He shakes his head. “And I have no idea where she could be. But… Father might.”

“And you think he might tell you?”

“Honestly? No,” he admits. “But I have to try.”

“Would you like me to come?” 

He immediately shakes his head again. “No. This is something I need to do on my own.” 

Sakari gives his hand a gentle squeeze and smiles as she softly replies, “Okay. I’ll be here when you get back then. Whatever you need.”

Zuko squeezes her hand back, expression grateful. “I appreciate you so much.”

Sakari knows that Zuko is more than capable of handling himself. And she knows that he doesn’t need to when Ozai is unable to bend, behind bars, and surrounded by guards.

But still, she’s anxious.

Regardless of her certainty of Zuko’s physical safety, she’s worried about his emotional state. Given everything she’s heard about Ozai, she wants the man to suffer for lifetimes to come. She wants to kill him brutally and painfully and bring him back to life just so she can kill him again in a different brutal and painful way. The last thing she wants is for Zuko to be in the same room as him, let alone talk to him. She doesn’t want Ozai to have any more opportunities to cause the boy more pain than he already has.

But this is something he needs to do, so she will just make sure she is here and ready to pick up the pieces if she needs to when he returns.

The sun is starting to set when Zuko arrives back at the palace. He finds her in her office and wordlessly hugs her, face buried in her shoulder. Immediately, one of her arms wraps around his back meanwhile the other cards through his hair and she reminds herself not to ask what happened; he’ll tell her when he’s ready.

They stay like that for a few moments until he lets out a heavy sigh and pulls his head back. “He refused to say anything. I’m not surprised but…”

“You hoped,” she finished sympathetically. “He can’t be the only lead. We’ll figure something else out. We’ll find her.” She presses a kiss to his forehead and continues running her hands soothingly through his hair as he sinks back into her embrace.

One silver lining of the others being gone is that they have significantly more alone time as a couple, not just the precious hours cuddled up in bed. After a day full of meetings with various staff members to check in and see how everything is going, make sure everyone is happy, she returns to the bedroom to find a note on the bed.

              Meet me by the turtle-duck pond

- Zuko x

Sakari frowns to herself feeling thoroughly confused but makes her way out to the gardens and stops dead at the scene before her.

Zuko is seated on a rug by the pond, a basket and a small bunch of flowers placed beside him while a number of lit candles are placed near the corners. He gives a shy smile when he spots her and hastily stands up, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry, is this- Is this too much? I just thought… I know the situation is really weird and there’s so much going on but I wanted to… do things properly. Have a proper date. If it’s too much, I can-“

“It’s perfect,” Sakari cuts him off, finally recovering from her shock. “You did all of this?”

“Yeah? Oh! These are for you,” he adds, picking up the flowers and thrusting them in her direction.

She feels like she could explode right here and now. “I- I don’t even know what to say, Zuko, this is… this is so sweet.” His responding beam is almost blinding and she doesn’t know what to do with this feeling in her chest.

“Do you wanna sit?” he asks, kneeling on the rug and gesturing for her to do the same as he opens the basket. “I got Hua to make us a special dinner and I got us some wine too. I don’t know if it’ll actually taste nice, but-”

Sakari cuts him off by pulling him into a kiss. “Zuko, this is so beautiful and thoughtful. I… thank you.”

He gives her a dopey grin and presses another quick kiss to her lips before simply saying, “You deserve it,” and reaches for the wine as though he didn’t just maker her heart do a flip.

Once the food and wine is gone, they head up to bed so they can shamelessly make out, with Sakari ending up straddling Zuko’s lap.

They’ve been at it for some time when Zuko abruptly pulls away and say, “Um, we may have stop.”

“Why- oh.” Sakari feels her cheeks grow hot as she realises (rather feels) what he’s getting at, but it’s nothing on the redness on his face, eyes avoiding hers. “I mean… do you want to stop? Because we can-  I mean, I don’t-  I’m happy to… keep going. If you are,” she stammers.

“I- um, yeah, that- I’m happy with that.”

There’s a brief moment of silence before they both break into flustered laughter and Sakari leans forward to capture his lips with hers again.

Chapter Text

Sakari stares out of the window of the carriage as she and Zuko make their way through the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, headed towards The Jasmine Dragon. The familiar streets make her stomach roll with nausea, mind unable to focus on anything except what happened last time she was here. She wonders if Kanut is still here somewhere.

“Sakari?” She only realises that she’s shaking when Zuko takes one of her hands in his. “Are you sure you want to be here?”

“Yes,” she replies firmly.

“Sheng and Rao will be with you for security at all times. And me, obviously. Plus, all the others are here already. You are completely safe, okay?”

She lets out a breath and nods. “Okay.”

“I know it’s not going to make facing the memories any easier, though.”

Sakari glances outside, then back at Zuko and tightens her grip around his hand. “You will.” His expression softens, eyes piercing hers with a tender look.

She can tell they’re getting close to the Jasmine Dragon when she spots the fountain that she’d spent quite some time slumped against after running away from Kanut; the fountain she’d healed her hands in, drunk from, and broken down hysterically sobbing against. At least, until that sweet old woman had found her.

A short while later, the carriage comes to a halt and they step out in front of the Jasmine Dragon, where Sheng and Rao flank them. The guards hastily have to make space though as Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Suki all rush out towards them. Plenty of hugs ensue, and when Sakari pulls away from her hug with Aang, she gives him a suspicious look.

“Have you gotten taller?”

“It’s only been two weeks, Sakari,” he rolls his eyes.

“Nah, you’ve definitely gotten taller.”

A giant tongue knocks both Sakari and Zuko to the ground then and she grins up at Appa looming over them, Momo perched on his head. “Hey, guys. Missed you too.”

Sheng and Rao wait outside the shop, which Iroh has closed to the public for the day. The older man plays the tsungi horn meanwhile Zuko prepares tea for everyone. 

“Zuko, stop moving!” Sokka scolds from where he’s hunched over a painting. “I’m trying to capture the moment. I wanted to do a painting, so we always remember the good times together.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Sokka,” Katara says, however her expression grows irritated when she actually looks at the paper. “Wait, why did you give me Momo’s ears?”

“Those are your hair loopies!”

When Zuko approaches and takes a look, he scowls and says, “At least you don’t look like a boar-q-pine! My hair is not that spiky!”

Sokka continues to defend his masterpiece as everyone else gathers and offers their own complaints. Well, almost everyone.

Toph gets to her feet and grins. “Well, I think you all look perfect!”

The way Sokka’s face goes from immensely pleased to utterly unimpressed has Sakari doubled over laughing.

She’s not sure why the figure walking past the shop catches her attention; perhaps it’s because the streets are so quiet, or perhaps it’s some kind of spiritual intervention. But the movement catches her eye and she glances out the window only to freeze when she recognises the woman as the very one who had helped her after everything with Kanut.  

“I’ll be back!” she calls, then races out of the shop without any further explanation.

“Sakari!” Rao cries, and she and Sheng rush after her.

The commotion garners the attention of the old woman, who turns and shoots them an inquisitive look. However, when her gaze settles on Sakari, her expression grows shocked. “Oh, spirits, it’s you.”

Sakari lets out a slightly hysterical laugh before stepping forward to hug her, quickly pulling away when she realises how weird that is. “Sorry, I just… thank you. I can’t tell you how much your kindness meant to me. And I’m so sorry for being rude.”

“Nonsense,” she dismisses kindly. “I could see you weren’t in a good state of mind. I’m so glad you’re doing okay. I’ve thought about you often, you know. I never actually got your name, by the way.”

“Sakari. And you are?”

“Nela.”

“Nela,” she repeats, wanting to burn the name into her brain. “I’m afraid I lost your coat at some point, but I’ll buy you a new one, I promise! I’ll buy you a whole wardrobe!”

“That’s not necessary, dear,” Nela laughs. But the smile fades as her gaze moves behind Sakari, her eyes widening. Sakari glances back to see Zuko approaching, looking curiously between them.

“Zuko! Sorry, I had to- This is Nela. She helped me after everything happened. She gave me money and food and her coat… and then pointed me in the direction of the Jasmine Dragon!”

Zuko steps forward and bows to the woman. “Thank you so much for looking after her.”

“…Lee?” she asks weakly, eyeing his Fire Lord attire with bewilderment.

He lets out a laugh. “It’s… Zuko, actually.”

“Gosh, I- I don’t know what to say. It’s an honour to meet you, Fire Lord.”

“The honour is all mine. I’ll talk to my uncle; you can have free tea whenever you like.”

“That’s really not necessary-“

“That’ll just be the start. I’ll be in contact later to arrange more tokens of my gratitude.”

Her eyes grow even wider. “Fire Lord Zuko, that is really not necessary!”

“Nela, please,” he insists, holding up a hand.                  

She lets out an exasperated sigh but doesn’t argue. Instead, she looks between them, eyes twinkling. “She must mean a lot to you.”

There’s a beat.

“Yes, she’s a, uh, very good friend,” he coughs.

Sakari stifles a grin. “Well, I’m really glad I ran into you, Nela. Thank you so much for everything.”

“It was my pleasure, Sakari. Stay safe, dear.”

After Nela walks away, they turn to look at each other and snort. Zuko rubs at his face. “Fuck, we need to get better at this.”

When Sokka and Katara start discussing plans to head back to the South Pole a couple weeks later, Sakari knows she really can’t put off going home much longer. She misses Mom and Gramps more and more, and she wants to go home – home now apparently being Agna Qel’a according to her last letter from them. But at the same time, she knows she’s going to miss the fuck out of her friends. (As much as she’s been working on it, her co-dependency on them is likely also a factor at play here.)

It's only a couple days after this that the Gaang travel to the state of Chenbao, on the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom, to make arrangements for some of the Fire Nation colonies there. The port here is a prominent hub for trade with the Northern Water tribe, with many ships going back and forth along that stretch of sea, and it’s here that Sakari decides to travel home. 

Which is how, a few days later, Sakari has booked herself passage on a cargo ship headed for Agna Qel’a. There’s a bit of a sombre air around the group on the day she departs, everyone highly aware that this is likely going to be the last time they’re all together like this for a long time; that this marks the end of an era.

Aang pulls her into a hug first, and she squeezes him back and presses a quick kiss to the top of his head (which she stands by is taller than it was a few weeks ago). “I’m gonna miss you, Sakari.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, Aang. Stay safe, alright?”

“You too.”

Next is Suki. “If there’s absolutely anything you need, let us know, okay?”

“You too, Suki.”

“You’ll have to come visit the South Pole soon, you know,” Sokka smiles, clapping her on the shoulder before pulling her into a boyish hug. “We’ve seen your home, you gotta come see ours.”

“I will!”

“We’d love to come back to the North Pole too sometime,” Katara adds, opening her arms for an embrace next.

Sakari really shouldn’t be surprised that, when she gets to Toph, she’s met with a rough punch in the shoulder. But before she can even say ‘ow’, the girl has wrapped her arms around her. “Don’t do anything stupid. Well… stupider than normal.”

“I’ll make no such promises,” she sniggers.

Zuko looks at her with fond exasperation when she turns to him and he reaches to grab the rucksack slung over her shoulder. “Here, let me help you with your things.”

“Oh, that’s okay, I can-“

“Sakari,” he says with a pointed bemused look.

“Oh, right. Um, I’ll be back in second,” she says to the rest of the group, who are watching with knowing expressions.

Zuko follows her onto the ship and down below deck to one of the storage rooms that she’ll be using as a bedroom for the journey. After depositing the bag carefully on the floor, he pulls her into a passionate kiss, one hand on her waist and the other cupping her jaw. She fists her hands in his robes as she kisses back and presses her forehead to his when they break away.

“I… I don’t know what I’m going to do without you,” he admits. “It all seems less daunting when you’re with me.”

“I’ll come back to the Fire Nation in six months,” she promises.

“From a diplomatic standpoint, I should head to the North Pole soon anyway. You know, strictly for Fire Lord duties.”

Sakari grins. “Oh, certainly.”

“Stay safe, okay?”

“I think I’m the one who should be more worried about your safety,” she frowns. “Just because the assassination attempts have died down, doesn’t mean you should get complacent about it. That’s exactly what they want, I’m sure.”

“Have a little faith in me.”

“With your track record of self-preservation?”

He lets out a surprised laugh and nods. “Okay, fair. I promise I’ll be careful, Sakari.”

She burrows herself into his arms for a hug before pressing one last kiss to his lips. When they return to the deck of the boat, she figures she can platonically justify one more hug before Zuko gets off and awkwardly claps him on the shoulder in a very bro-ish way that elicits an eye roll from him. As he walks down the ramp, she’s left standing alone on the boat, looking down at everyone and suddenly struggling to swallow around the lump in her throat.

“Make sure you all write lots, okay?” she asks, voice wobbling.

“We will.”

When the ship starts moving away from the dock a few minutes later, Sakari stands by the railing and waves goodbye to her friends. And as they call out goodbyes and wave back, tears start to fall from her eyes.

When the boat pulls into the port at Agna Qel’a, Sakari can spot Mom and Gramps standing at the dock and she wonders how long they’ve been waiting. As soon as the ship moors, Sakari practically vaults over the railing, only narrowly avoiding falling down into the water, and races towards them.

Sesi darts forward to meet her in a fierce hug, Gramps following just behind and wrapping his arms around both of them.

“Oh, sweetie, we’ve missed you so much!” When she pulls out of their embrace, her mother’s eyes dart down to her scarred arm and hands then widen. “Oh, my baby,” she cries, pulling her back into her arms.

“I’m okay, Mom,” she promises. “But, uh, I have a lot to update you on.”

“I bet you do, Kiddo,” Gramps says fondly. “C’mon. Let’s go home.”

Sakari takes approximately two days to let herself settle back home before throwing herself into work with the council and Chief Arnook, not that there’s actually a whole lot to do. The city has been almost fully restored in the time she’s been gone, so she helps support the people who were displaced by the Fire Nation attack and corresponds with the Southern Water Tribe to assist with their rebuild. She’s also started helping Pakku with teaching, now that his student population is on track to double with girls now signing up to learn waterbending. It hasn’t quite been the sudden influx she was expecting, with many people still not onboard with the new ideology. Consequently, while most people act either supportive or indifferent to Sakari, many of the more conservative members of the community make their displeasure of her quite known. Social reform is a slow process, she supposes.

Not even a month of this has passed when she starts feeling really antsy. She thinks a lot of it comes down to the letters she’s receiving from all the others and hearing about everything that they’re doing. The work she’s doing doesn’t feel nearly as fulfilling as she was hoping it would, and hearing from everyone else about the drastic work that they’re doing leaves her feeling a bit empty.

Toph is working to start up a metalbending academy; Aang and Zuko are still working on the Harmony Restoration Movement; Suki’s gone back to Kyoshi island to help restore the village and train up a new generation of warriors; and Sokka and Katara are back in the Southern Tribe, rebuilding.

Sakari has to deal with people like Hahn.

“This is a much better look for you, you know,” the boy says as she passes him in the Citadel one day, sleazily eyeing her up and down.

She stops dead and whirls around. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” he insists, holding his hands up dramatically. “Aren’t I allowed to joke? Jeez.”

She just rolls her eyes and keeps walking.

When a Fire Nation ship pulls into the dock one morning a bit over a month after Sakari’s return, she finds it incredibly difficult to keep calm. Nonetheless, she’s the picture of nonchalance as she waits with Chief Arnook and a couple of council members as Zuko walks down the ramp off the ship. He greets the chief first, offering his forearm for the man to grasp.

When he turns to her, she greets him with a hug that lasts perhaps slightly longer than platonically reasonable. To make up for it, she gives him a slight punch in the arm and says, “Hey, man. Long time, no see.”

There’s an almost imperceptible tightening of his jaw that tells her he’s trying not to laugh and he clears his throat. “Ha. Yeah, dude. It’s not the same without you.”

There’s some time to spare before the meeting with the rest of the council, so Sakari offers to take Zuko on a tour of the city. Of course, she takes the first opportunity to drag him to a secluded corner and snog him senseless.

That afternoon, she sits beside Zuko in the council chambers as they discuss reparations for the siege, future trade, and just generally building a relationship between the nations. Unsurprisingly, Hahn, who has somehow managed to weasel his way into the room for this discussion, is a massive suck-up to Zuko. The Fire Lord clearly knows better than to trust it though, and eyes the boy warily each time he chimes in with some kind of overt flattery. She can’t wait to give him the lowdown on what a tool Hahn is later.

In the evening, a feast is held in Zuko’s honour. Hahn continues to be unbearable throughout it, and Sakari pounces on her opportunity to embarrass him when Zuko mentions how great it is that so many girls are enrolling to waterbend now and Hahn replies with, “Oh yeah, I’ve always thought it was stupid they weren’t allowed to.”

“That’s funny, because you told me that us women have ‘no respect for the art’,” she says sweetly.

Zuko’s eyebrow shoots up into his hairline and he looks to Hahn with an unimpressed expression.

“I- what? No, I didn’t, I just-“

“And then you threatened me.”

“I did not threaten you, you’re so sensitive-“

“I’d stop talking if I were you,” Zuko cuts him off coolly.

“You don’t understand, she’s a pathological liar, she lied to this whole city for over a year about who she was!“

“Because she had to. You clearly have no idea of all the courageous things she’s done. It’s become very clear to me that she has more honour in her pinkie than you do in your entire body.”

Sakari had anticipated Zuko making Hahn uncomfortable, she hadn’t expected him to totally chew the guy out. Spirits, it was hot.

“I’m not sure what it says to your intelligence that you thought you could just insult me in front of my friend without any consequences,” she adds casually, revelling in the humiliation on his face.

Hahn scampers off without a word, undoubtably to lick his emotional wounds in private, and Zuko turns to Sakari with a stunned expression on his face. “What the fuck is that guy’s deal?”

She cackles, “Oh, let me tell you…”

Zuko is positively fuming by the end of her rant.

A short while later, Sakari leads him over to her Mom and Gramps to introduce him. Owing to their relationship being a secret and the fact that she was only willing to give her family so many heart attacks at once, they don’t actually know that the two are together. But when they invite him over to the house for supper, she suspects it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out.

They grow fond of him very quickly, especially when he makes tea for them all, and they’re particularly fascinated to hear some of the stories he has about her. And when he leaves to go back to his ship for the night to sleep, she’s met with two very pointed looks and her face grows incredibly hot.

“Oh, shut up.”

Zuko’s only in the North Pole for a few days, but he spends just about every waking moment working in some way. Sakari is eager to help - partly for her own sake, but also because she can see how overworked and exhausted the guy is.

She brings its up with him one night when they’re both in his office on the ship, working through copious amounts of paperwork. She sits across the other side of his desk, rolling up and sealing letters he’s written before sorting them based on where they need to be sent, and pauses to watch him for a moment. “You look like you’ve barely been sleeping.”

His tone is joking but she knows he’s not when, without looking up from his work, he says, “There’s no time to sleep.” A pause. “Besides, I get enough of that from Jiahao.”

“Then clearly, I’ve got a point.” She decides to appeal to his need to please everyone and tries, “You’re no use to the world dead on your feet, Zuko.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be of use to the world,” he says bitterly, only to grimace and swear under his breath, shoulders slumping. “That’s not true. Ugh, you’re right.”

“You need to start delegating more. In fact, anything that can possibly be delegated, you’re gonna delegate it, okay? That’s what all the people around you are for.”

“I don’t want them to think I’m not capable of doing it all.”

Sakari reaches across the desk to grab his wrist. “It’s not about being capable, it’s about being efficient. Prioritising.”  She stands up and moves around to stand beside him, leaning up against the edge of the desk before using her hand to tilt his head towards her. “You’re doing a really great job, Zuko. But you need to take care of yourself. Then you can take care of your country.”

“I… I don’t even know what that means.”

“For now, it means getting some sleep. Come on.”

“Sakari, I really have to finish this first, otherwise-“

“I’ll give you head scratchies and hum you to sleep?”

He pauses. Considers. “…Okay, yeah, that would be nice.”

Sakari grins.

It’s only a couple days later that it comes time for Zuko to leave again. She thought one month without him was hard enough, now it’s going to be another five months until she sees him again. Her heart fucking aches. It’s harder this time to play it cool, but Sakari quickly offers to help load gear onto the boat and the pair seize the first opportunity to say goodbye in private.

When the door to his office closes behind them, she immediately pulls him into a searing kiss. They stand wrapped around one another in silence for a few moments just soaking up each other’s company.

“Zuko, I…” Say it, she thinks. Just say it. “I’m really gonna miss you.”

“I’m really gonna miss you too,” he murmurs.

“I’ll see you in five months, okay?”

He lets out a breath and nods before pressing another kiss to her lips.

And as Sakari watches him sail away a short time later, it feels as though a piece of her heart is leaving with him.

I should have said it.

The next couple of months pass in a long and monotonous blur. Sakari tries to keep busy but truthfully, there’s not actually that much to keep busy with.

“You’re restless,” Gramps comments one night as she and Sesi are preparing dinner.

She pauses and bites at her lip. “Yeah, I guess I have a lot of pent up energy.”

“That’s not what I meant. You’re restless here. You’ve never really settled since you got back, love. I think the closest to ‘settled’ I’ve seen you is when you were helping Zuko with all his political nonsense.”

She huffs out a laugh and sets down the knife she’s holding. “I… I really miss my friends. People here… A lot of them still act weird around me. You’d think helping the Avatar save the world would pull the sticks from their asses but…” She shrugs and finds her gaze shifting to the pile of letters from all the others that she’s kept on the table. “I feel like there’s so much more I could be doing. I get that there’s people here who need help, but there’s also plenty of people here to help. But there are so many people – particularly in the Earth Kingdom – who are still suffering so much worse and resources are spread so thin. And Zuko – I know he’s working himself to the ground with no one to stop him and I just- I feel so helpless.”

“You love him, don’t you?” Sesi asks gently.

“…Yes.”

“And he loves you?”

“I- I think so. We haven’t actually…” Sakari trails off, considering. She thinks about the things he does and says, the way he looks at her. “Yes.”

“He makes you happy?” Gramps asks.

“So happy.” 

“You don’t like to make things easy for yourself, do you, my dear?”

She lets out a choked laugh and nods. “I suppose not.”

Sesi shoots her a sympathetic look. “Sweetie, your grandfather and I just want you to be happy. No matter where that is. If… If going back is what feels right, then it’s what you should do.”

Sakari presses her lips together, feeling her stomach churn anxiously at the turn of conversation. “I don’t know… I’ll miss you two so much. You’re my family.”

“So are your friends,” Gramps says gently. “Unless we all live in the same place, you’re always going to be missing someone. I’d rather you be doing something that makes you happy and missing us than being miserable here and missing them.”

“I’ll come back and visit a lot… And I’d love for you guys to come visit the Fire Nation, too.”

“We’d love that. And if you’re actually staying in one place most of the time, we can send regular letters,” he adds, making her let out a wet laugh. “Oh, love, come here,” he says, offering his arms for a hug and she buries herself in his embrace.

“I thought you would be upset.”

“Never, baby,” her Mom says, rubbing her back soothingly. “Of course, we’ll miss you, but we would never be upset at you doing something that makes you happy.”

“I love you so much.”

“We love you too.”

Sakari starts to write a letter to Zuko to tell him about her plans, but as she’s figuring out how to word it, she finds herself crumpling it up and throwing it away. It can be a surprise, she decides.

She spends the next week finishing things up with her work for Pakku and Chief Arnook, the latter of whom suggests that she could act as a representative for the Northern Tribe in the Fire Nation. As soon as she’s packed up and ready to go, she takes a small boat and sets off towards the horizon, using her waterbending to propel the vessel across the sea at an astronomical pace.

Throughout the journey, Sakari rehearses her arrival in her head: she’s going to go the palace, use her connections with the palace workers to get inside while keeping it a secret from Zuko, sneak into his room, wait for him to walk in, and boom. Cute, sneaky, romantic, surprise reunion.

Except, when she finds herself arriving at Fire Nation shores and walking through Caldera City just as the sun is starting to set, she feels so giddy with excitement that the plan flies completely out the window. She races up the stairs to the palace to find Rao and Jing standing guard at the main door, and the women stare at her in surprise.

“Sakari?!”

“Hey,” she pants with a grin. “Would you- Would you mind letting me in?”

“Of course,” Jing says, quickly opening the door. “Is everything alright?”

“Yep! I’d love to chat, but uh, I’ve got something important to do right now, so uh, bye!”

“Something or someone?” she hears Rao snigger as she rushes past. Sakari stumbles slightly and whips her head around to look at the woman who at least has the sense to look sheepish.

“I’ll get you back for that later!” she calls with a laugh, running off down the hall. She’s here, she’s actually here, in the same country, the same city, the same building as Zuko. And despite waiting for months, she now feels like she can’t wait another minute to see him. “ZUKO!”  

She continues running through the palace, heading in the general direction of his bedroom, while yelling his name like a crazy person. She skids around a corner to find him coming the other way looking thoroughly confused. However, when he sees her, he stops dead in his tracks, face lighting up.

“…Sakari?”

Sakari breaks into a sprint towards him. His eyes widen slightly as she gets closer with no sign of slowing. She ends up practically launching herself at him, their bodies colliding with such force that she promptly knocks them both to the ground with her sprawled on top of him. She opens her mouth to apologise but doesn’t get the words out before Zuko captures her lips with hers, hands burying themselves in her hair. When she finally breaks away with a goofy smile, he’s staring up at her in utter awe.

“Hi,” she grins, and gets a joyous laugh in return.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?!”

“I wanted to surprise you! You weren’t in some super important meeting, were you?”

 “No,” he chuckles. “But even if I was, it wouldn’t have been more important than you.”

Sakari’s jaw falls open slightly and she can feel her cheeks grow hot. “I- You-“

The sound of footsteps from around the corner brings Sakari back to herself and she hastily scrambles up off him and yanks him to his feet just as two men who look like they might be advisors walk around the corner.

“I was just passing through the city and thought I’d come say hi to my buddy!” she exclaims loudly, slipping back into what is apparently her bro persona. “Sorry, I should have given you a heads-up, dude.” Then, pretending she only just saw the men, looks at them as they pass and gives a friendly, “Oh, hello there!”

They just give a polite nod in return and Sakari and Zuko look at each other, both cringing severely. Once the two men are out of earshot, she buries her face in her hands. “Fuck, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he laughs. “I’m so glad you’re here. I was actually just about to have dinner with Uncle; he’s visiting for a couple weeks. Join us?”

“I would love that.”

Iroh is in the dining room already when they get there, and the man looks absolutely delighted when he sees her.

“Sakari!” he exclaims and rushes over to pull her into a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

When he shoots an almost accusatory glance at Zuko, she laughs and assures him, “Neither did he. I kind of just… turned up.”

“Oh, what a lovely surprise. You have perfect timing, my dear, I’ve just finished making a new tea blend I think you would love.”

Zuko frowns. “You haven’t asked me to taste it.”

“She doesn’t think all tea is ‘hot leaf juice’,” he replies simply, and Sakari turns to look at him with a scandalised look that makes Zuko roll his eyes.

“I never should have introduced you to each other.”

After dinner, Iroh retires to bed leaving Zuko and Sakari alone once more, and Zuko leads them up to his bedroom where, as soon as the door shuts behind them, he wraps her up in his arms and lets out a content sigh.

“I never actually asked, how long are you here for?”

Sakari opens her mouth then pauses, only now realising that this was something she probably should have discussed with Zuko. “Um… as long as you’ll have me.”

“So forever?” he asks with a raised eyebrow, bemused grin on his face.

“Well… I did come here intending to move. Like… permanently. So that was kind of the plan… if you still mean that? If not, that is totally fine-”

Zuko’s face lights up in a way that makes her heart melt and he presses a gentle kiss to her lips. “Of course, I mean it.” He sits on the bed, lightly pulling her with him by her hands to sit beside him. He keeps her hands in his, thumbs tracing gently back and forth over her skin as he stares thoughtfully down at them. “Sakari, I… I can’t offer you the life that I want to. We’ll have to keep our relationship a secret for a long time… I mean, some of the staff definitely already know…”

“Rao definitely knows,” Sakari interjects humorously, trying to hide how nervous the turn of conversation is making her.

Zuko huffs and nods. “Even if a long time down the line, we make it public, there are going to be lots of people against it. Probably including some of my advisors. And those that aren’t against it would probably be very… pushy. About like… marriage and kids and stuff. And obviously that would be a long, long time away,” he quickly adds, “but there’d probably still be people who would hate it. And I don’t… I… I really want to be with you Sakari. But I don’t want to put you through all that. I definitely don’t want to make you feel trapped into a life you didn’t expect or want.”

“Zuko, I know,” Sakari says gently. “I know all of that. I’ve… I’ve thought about this a lot.”

He blinks, finally lifting his gaze to meet hers. “You have?”

“Yeah. And… I know it’s going to be hard. I know certain aspects are going to suck sometimes. But I’m willing to do it. Whatever ‘it’ is. Any life with you  is a life I want, because… I love you.”

He inhales sharply, shock shifting to a look of complete adoration and joy. “I love you too, Sakari.”

Chapter Text

The streets of Ba Sing Se have been a lot livelier ever since the city was liberated from Fire Nation control. It’s safe to say that being taken over by the Fire Nation was quite possibly the worst way for the population to find out that there was a war happening outside the walls.

The occupation was a miserable time, made even more miserable by everyone catching up on the last hundred years of history. Then, of course, coming close to being incinerated during Sozin’s Comet.

Now, they have been freed and the war officially over for four months. During this time, the Fire Lord has been spending lots of time in the Earth Kingdom helping mend the relationship between the nations. It’s all very… kumbaya.

Kanut doesn’t really give a shit about any of this. Of course, he’s glad the city is no longer occupied by the Fire Nation. But his relief largely comes from the fact that he now has the freedom to go about his business, like he is now.

He sits outside an Upper Ring cafe, idly sipping his tea as he waits. He’s only been waiting for a few minutes when he spots his contact approaching. The scrawny young man sits across from him, wringing his hands.

“Well?” Kanut asks, flipping open his notebook.

“She’s in the Fire Nation,” he confirms, and his eyes shine excitedly. “And she’s just been officially appointed as the Northern Water Tribe Ambassador.”

Kanut raises an eyebrow and writes this down, pleased at the fact that his handwriting is getting better. He barely made it out of his fight with Sakari alive, and the blow to the head she gave him has left him with lingering coordination and memory issues. It’s been getting a lot better over time and he’s almost fully recovered which is a relief because he wants to be in prime condition when he sees her again.

“She seems to be good friends with the Fire Lord,” the man adds.

Kanut suspected that the two were friendly based on what he’s heard about the former prince joining the Avatar to help stop the war, but he certainly wasn’t expecting them to be ‘good friends’. But he supposes it makes her position as an ambassador in the Fire Nation make a bit more sense. He wonders why she’s chosen not to stay in the Northern Tribe and comes to the gleeful realisation that perhaps she’s worried he would find her there. Stupid girl. Clearly, she needs to have a bit more faith in him.

“Thanks,” Kanut says, handing over a sack of coins and giving a sharp nod to dismiss him.

Once the man walks away, Kanut takes another sip of his tea, deep in thought as he formulates a plan.

He’s not going to let the vicious little bitch get away this time. He’ll find her again and he’ll avenge Irniq.

For good, this time.