The Fate Of The Abjurer
by Rob Morris
(Please note : Unlike most of my ATLA stories, this one is set in the Movie continuity)
THE NORTHERN WATER TRIBE
The great battle was won, and a beauty who no longer had white hair (but in a way, now always would) was laid to rest, along with many of those who would one day have been her subjects and sacred charges.
Grieving, an inventive young man asked his sister to see to the needs of their new best friend while he attempted a fitful night's sleep. He was not out very long before the only man likely grieving more than him issued a summons it was not in Sokka to even attempt to ignore or delay.
"I'd apologize for waking you, but if your dreams are anything like mine, I think I did you a favor."
He was honest for a politician.
"She didn't accuse me or anything like that. Just--a lot of running towards her and then grabbing empty air."
Chief Arnook nodded in a way Sokka took to mean his dreams had been similar.
"You want something to do, son? Something you could focus on, till you sleep the kind of sleep where nightmares don't matter?"
His use of 'son' was generic, but it likely also spoke to a could-have-been that would always bind the two.
"I'll take whatever you've got, Chief."
Arnook got down to business.
"Though of our people, you are also an outsider, Sokka. You can ask questions a resident wouldn't or couldn't. And this one is a daunting one."
Sokka's mind flashed on an extreme possibility.
"A spy among your armies?"
"No. At least, we have no reason to believe such a thing. We're not looking for traitors, Sokka--but for heroes. Do you know how Admiral Zhao met his end?"
"I'd heard that he was taken out by three to five waterbenders working together."
Arnook nodded.
"Can you name any one of those soldiers?"
Sokka had been accused of being self-centered, so he didn't hesitate to speak the truth.
"No. I'd be more than happy to shake their hand--introduce them to Aang, maybe."
"Exactly. But you don't know who they were--anymore than I do. Anymore than anyone in this tribe does."
Sokka's eyes went wide and his jaw went a bit slack.
"Chief? This was a pretty harsh battle. Maybe they don't want to come forward. Maybe they just view taking out Zhao as part of their duty, and asked others to keep their mouths shut, so they don't look like glory-hounds. Maybe--maybe they're even afraid of upstaging Yue's sacrifice."
Rather than roar at this, Arnook again proved why he ran the tribe so well.
"I thought of that--and made it known that I WANT her sacrifice to be upstaged by some form of good news. I'm glad the people grieve their Princess, but we need to move on, and honoring the ones who destroyed Zhao would give us just that. Sokka, no one is getting much sleep right now, and even oaths of silence are bound to be a bit slippery at a time like this."
Sokka nodded, and went out into the city. There was even more rebuilding to be done than he imagined.
"Were there three or five---or more? Has anyone found that out yet?"
"I'm not sure whether I'd hug Zhao's killers or punch them--where were they as we routed the last of the invaders, and needed rear support?"
"I saw them all, and I saw them do it--but I don't know who a single one of them were. I mean, I know everybody here. It's almost impossible not to."
"I'm a soldier. We sacrifice, but we're not so selfless as to not take credit for a kill that big. Ba Sing Se has a monument built around the catapult that killed Prince Lu Ten, and the names of its operators engraved in the side of a mountain! So I'm sorry, but we are given to brag."
"I think they're hiding. They know Ozai hires assassins to kill local heroes, to break down morale. Problem is, if we don't know who to honor, they won't know who to kill, and we all might end up poisoned or something. Cowards!"
Sokka saw these conversations repeated ad infinitum et ad nauseum before consulting his closest kin. Nearby, the most powerful being on the planet slept off what had looked like having a star lit up inside him.
"That is strange, Sokka. If I could ever find and punish the man who took Mom from us, I'd crow it through every hill and valley till my throat gave out."
Sokka looked bone-weary.
"Sis, you've never been shy about letting me know when I could do something better or smarter. Please tell me what I've been doing wrong in all this."
Katara shook her head.
"I even heard you when you talked to a few people. Your inquiry method is a solid one. I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Sokka."
Aang's eyes briefly opened, and the light he had summoned inside him briefly shone again before he resumed sleeping. Sokka stared dumbly. Katara shrugged.
"It shocked me the first few times I saw it. But then, he is the Avatar."
Sokka saw another kind of light.
"Yeah, he is. And what is the Avatar?"
"Huh? Like--like Gran-Gran said--he is the living bridge between the realm of the spirits and our world."
"Right. In other words, even the most cynical skeptic must accept at least the existence of the spirits. Even if--even if some don't respect their true power and divinity."
Katara frowned.
"Zhao sure didn't."
Sokka smiled.
"Katara--little sister, I love you!"
A peck on the cheek left Katara confused but happy as he ran off. Before Chief Arnook, Sokka presented his weird but compelling theory.
"So the reason we can't find or identify these soldiers is--because they don't exist?"
Sokka was sitting down, something the Chief insisted on, rank and custom aside.
"Yes. I got from a couple of sources that Zhao said something grandiose before he killed the Moon Spirit. Something about not needing the gods anymore, or becoming the gods ourselves--I might have even heard him, but there was just so much going on. Now, I'm not a spiritual type the way my sister or Aang is--but I get that, if I kill a major spirit that then comes back, I am likely gonna be targeted by that spirit. Simple behavior says it will happen--so does every old story you can name. Wasn't an Avatar from our tribe punished for laziness by a spirit?"
Arnook started to catch on.
"Yes--Avatar Kuruk was tasked horribly by Koh The Face Stealer."
"Right--and all that fella did was slack off a bit. This guy kills a powerful spirit that lives in this world with us and yet the last thing he sees is not that spirit dragging him under but five or so mortal guys just doing their job."
Arnook became concerned.
"Do you think those soldiers were erased by the spirits and that we face reprisals for robbing them of their vengeance?"
Sokka grabbed at his own head.
"I am not even remotely qualified to say that for certain--but no. I think, maybe the spirits wanted vengeance on Zhao but were not willing to give him the notoriety that being taken out by a spirit would give him."
Arnook actually found a reason to smile for the first time that week.
"So his hubris at challenging the place of the gods was answered by them refusing to be directly seen when he was brought low. A man who was dragged off by a vengeful spirit might become more of a legend than one who simply died commanding a failed campaign. Zhao tried to deny them their immortality--so perhaps instead, they took his."
Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Does any of that make any sense at all?"
Chief Arnook helped the boy to his feet, and to a well-adorned bedchamber.
"Get some sleep, Sokka. You've more than earned it."
"But Chief---this was--this was Yue's!"
Arnook got some servants to help set him up.
"In times to come, people will tell me endlessly how beautiful my poor daughter was. Some will ask--did she have many suitors? Them I will tell, with all honesty, that yes, she had several able suitors, and that the one she liked best of all was the boldest."
"The boldest?"
"Yes! You see, I found him in her bedchamber the very week she died--I'll let their imaginations fill in the rest--and on those occasions, I will remember my Yue in fun and laughter. So you see, Sokka--Sokka?"
The young man was dead to the world. Chief Arnook saw the moon's light stream in, and smiled as he imagined his daughter's panicked face as her secret visitor was found out, and drew solace from the spirits who sometimes chastened their mortal children by stepping back a bit.
by Rob Morris
(Please note : Unlike most of my ATLA stories, this one is set in the Movie continuity)
THE NORTHERN WATER TRIBE
The great battle was won, and a beauty who no longer had white hair (but in a way, now always would) was laid to rest, along with many of those who would one day have been her subjects and sacred charges.
Grieving, an inventive young man asked his sister to see to the needs of their new best friend while he attempted a fitful night's sleep. He was not out very long before the only man likely grieving more than him issued a summons it was not in Sokka to even attempt to ignore or delay.
"I'd apologize for waking you, but if your dreams are anything like mine, I think I did you a favor."
He was honest for a politician.
"She didn't accuse me or anything like that. Just--a lot of running towards her and then grabbing empty air."
Chief Arnook nodded in a way Sokka took to mean his dreams had been similar.
"You want something to do, son? Something you could focus on, till you sleep the kind of sleep where nightmares don't matter?"
His use of 'son' was generic, but it likely also spoke to a could-have-been that would always bind the two.
"I'll take whatever you've got, Chief."
Arnook got down to business.
"Though of our people, you are also an outsider, Sokka. You can ask questions a resident wouldn't or couldn't. And this one is a daunting one."
Sokka's mind flashed on an extreme possibility.
"A spy among your armies?"
"No. At least, we have no reason to believe such a thing. We're not looking for traitors, Sokka--but for heroes. Do you know how Admiral Zhao met his end?"
"I'd heard that he was taken out by three to five waterbenders working together."
Arnook nodded.
"Can you name any one of those soldiers?"
Sokka had been accused of being self-centered, so he didn't hesitate to speak the truth.
"No. I'd be more than happy to shake their hand--introduce them to Aang, maybe."
"Exactly. But you don't know who they were--anymore than I do. Anymore than anyone in this tribe does."
Sokka's eyes went wide and his jaw went a bit slack.
"Chief? This was a pretty harsh battle. Maybe they don't want to come forward. Maybe they just view taking out Zhao as part of their duty, and asked others to keep their mouths shut, so they don't look like glory-hounds. Maybe--maybe they're even afraid of upstaging Yue's sacrifice."
Rather than roar at this, Arnook again proved why he ran the tribe so well.
"I thought of that--and made it known that I WANT her sacrifice to be upstaged by some form of good news. I'm glad the people grieve their Princess, but we need to move on, and honoring the ones who destroyed Zhao would give us just that. Sokka, no one is getting much sleep right now, and even oaths of silence are bound to be a bit slippery at a time like this."
Sokka nodded, and went out into the city. There was even more rebuilding to be done than he imagined.
"Were there three or five---or more? Has anyone found that out yet?"
"I'm not sure whether I'd hug Zhao's killers or punch them--where were they as we routed the last of the invaders, and needed rear support?"
"I saw them all, and I saw them do it--but I don't know who a single one of them were. I mean, I know everybody here. It's almost impossible not to."
"I'm a soldier. We sacrifice, but we're not so selfless as to not take credit for a kill that big. Ba Sing Se has a monument built around the catapult that killed Prince Lu Ten, and the names of its operators engraved in the side of a mountain! So I'm sorry, but we are given to brag."
"I think they're hiding. They know Ozai hires assassins to kill local heroes, to break down morale. Problem is, if we don't know who to honor, they won't know who to kill, and we all might end up poisoned or something. Cowards!"
Sokka saw these conversations repeated ad infinitum et ad nauseum before consulting his closest kin. Nearby, the most powerful being on the planet slept off what had looked like having a star lit up inside him.
"That is strange, Sokka. If I could ever find and punish the man who took Mom from us, I'd crow it through every hill and valley till my throat gave out."
Sokka looked bone-weary.
"Sis, you've never been shy about letting me know when I could do something better or smarter. Please tell me what I've been doing wrong in all this."
Katara shook her head.
"I even heard you when you talked to a few people. Your inquiry method is a solid one. I don't think you're doing anything wrong, Sokka."
Aang's eyes briefly opened, and the light he had summoned inside him briefly shone again before he resumed sleeping. Sokka stared dumbly. Katara shrugged.
"It shocked me the first few times I saw it. But then, he is the Avatar."
Sokka saw another kind of light.
"Yeah, he is. And what is the Avatar?"
"Huh? Like--like Gran-Gran said--he is the living bridge between the realm of the spirits and our world."
"Right. In other words, even the most cynical skeptic must accept at least the existence of the spirits. Even if--even if some don't respect their true power and divinity."
Katara frowned.
"Zhao sure didn't."
Sokka smiled.
"Katara--little sister, I love you!"
A peck on the cheek left Katara confused but happy as he ran off. Before Chief Arnook, Sokka presented his weird but compelling theory.
"So the reason we can't find or identify these soldiers is--because they don't exist?"
Sokka was sitting down, something the Chief insisted on, rank and custom aside.
"Yes. I got from a couple of sources that Zhao said something grandiose before he killed the Moon Spirit. Something about not needing the gods anymore, or becoming the gods ourselves--I might have even heard him, but there was just so much going on. Now, I'm not a spiritual type the way my sister or Aang is--but I get that, if I kill a major spirit that then comes back, I am likely gonna be targeted by that spirit. Simple behavior says it will happen--so does every old story you can name. Wasn't an Avatar from our tribe punished for laziness by a spirit?"
Arnook started to catch on.
"Yes--Avatar Kuruk was tasked horribly by Koh The Face Stealer."
"Right--and all that fella did was slack off a bit. This guy kills a powerful spirit that lives in this world with us and yet the last thing he sees is not that spirit dragging him under but five or so mortal guys just doing their job."
Arnook became concerned.
"Do you think those soldiers were erased by the spirits and that we face reprisals for robbing them of their vengeance?"
Sokka grabbed at his own head.
"I am not even remotely qualified to say that for certain--but no. I think, maybe the spirits wanted vengeance on Zhao but were not willing to give him the notoriety that being taken out by a spirit would give him."
Arnook actually found a reason to smile for the first time that week.
"So his hubris at challenging the place of the gods was answered by them refusing to be directly seen when he was brought low. A man who was dragged off by a vengeful spirit might become more of a legend than one who simply died commanding a failed campaign. Zhao tried to deny them their immortality--so perhaps instead, they took his."
Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Does any of that make any sense at all?"
Chief Arnook helped the boy to his feet, and to a well-adorned bedchamber.
"Get some sleep, Sokka. You've more than earned it."
"But Chief---this was--this was Yue's!"
Arnook got some servants to help set him up.
"In times to come, people will tell me endlessly how beautiful my poor daughter was. Some will ask--did she have many suitors? Them I will tell, with all honesty, that yes, she had several able suitors, and that the one she liked best of all was the boldest."
"The boldest?"
"Yes! You see, I found him in her bedchamber the very week she died--I'll let their imaginations fill in the rest--and on those occasions, I will remember my Yue in fun and laughter. So you see, Sokka--Sokka?"
The young man was dead to the world. Chief Arnook saw the moon's light stream in, and smiled as he imagined his daughter's panicked face as her secret visitor was found out, and drew solace from the spirits who sometimes chastened their mortal children by stepping back a bit.
