Soldier's Boy
Five

 

 

It took both Jiro and Lee a few days to recover from the ash they'd inhaled, but other than that everything seemed to be going well — until Jiro inexplicably doubled over in pain.

"Jiro? What's wrong?" Lee asked, tight with anxiety.

"Hurts," the boy whimpered, curling up tightly.

"Where does it hurt? What happened?"

"Dunno," Jiro replied to the second question.  As to the first, he uncurled briefly to trace a line across his lower abdomen.  Lee frowned, then dug in his bag for the supplies he'd been carrying since he'd left home — he'd run out of bandages long before, obviously, but there were other things, things that could maybe dull the pain until they figured out what was wrong.

Jiro moaned and curled up again, tighter.

"Here, try this," his brother said, finally finding what he was looking for and offering it to him.

The boy obeyed, but it didn't seem to help.  Whatever it was that was bothering Jiro, it seemed to be mostly in his head — or it would if Lee didn't know the signs of genuine pain.  Katara couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong either, and she tried everything she could think of, too.

Eventually they had to give up and let Jiro be, though he managed to articulate a bit more information to them, pointing out exactly where he was hurting.  Katara frowned, then shook her head. "We'll think of something. I'm sure there's something we haven't tried yet."

Miserable, Jiro nodded; finally, after several hours, the pain faded and the boy relaxed.  After a little discussion, they decided to stop and camp there for a couple days, just to make sure it didn't come back.  In the meantime, they decided to explore the area.  On their fourth day, Aang was at the front of their group, running down a hill towards the beach, when he found something. "Hey, look! A sword made out of a whale's tooth!"

Jiro, finally recovered from the pain that had plagued him for three full days — though the second and third times, it had faded much quicker — ran with Sokka to see.

The older boy snatched the weapon from Aang. 'Let me see that!" He studied it carefully. "This is a Water Tribe weapon," he said. "See if you can find anything else."

Gamely they all pitched in; it was Sokka who found the arrow and determined that there had been a battle between firebenders and Water Tribe warriors.

They followed the trail of the battle, narrated by Sokka's interpretations of the signs, down to the beach. Katara quickly spotted a beached Southern Water Tribe craft, and the five of them ran over to investigate.

"Is it Dad's boat?" Katara asked, excitedly.

"No," Sokka said, "but it's from his fleet. Dad was here."

Jiro flinched slightly behind Lee, but didn't object when the Water siblings insisted they make camp by the boat.  Lee, too, went very quiet while Sokka and Katara were discussing their father.  To nobody's surprise, Jiro slept curled up next to his brother that night; he seemed to alternate between Lee and Appa when he slept.

Sokka stayed up, to keep watch and think. Lee, too, couldn't seem to fall asleep, but he didn't make conversation or let the other teenager know, just stared up at the stars.

Something crackled not too far from the camp.

Sokka looked up. "Who's there?" he called. Lee, too, half sat up, reaching for his swords.

A tall man came into the firelight, his chest and arm wrapped in bandages.  "Sokka?"

"Bato?"

"Who the what now?" Aang was awake, too.

"Bato!" Katara cried, wriggling out of her sleeping bag.

Jiro sat up too, rubbing his eyes.

"Sokka!  Katara!" cried 'Bato', opening his arms for the two siblings.  The two of them ran over and embraced him. Lee relaxed a hair, letting go of his swords.  "It's so good to see you two," the warrior went on, embracing them in return.  "You've grown so much."

Aang went over, following the two Water Tribe children. "Hi, I'm Aang," he said, bowing. Before Bato could reply or Lee or Jiro could come over and introduce themselves, as well, Sokka and Katara interrupted.

"Where's Dad?"

"Is he here?"

"No," replied Bato.  "He and the other warriors are in the eastern Earth Kingdom by now."  Sokka and Katara both looked very disappointed. The wind picked up, and they shivered.  So did Jiro, who quickly scrambled into Katara's abandoned sleeping bag.  "This is no place for a reunion," said Bato, turning away and putting his arms around Sokka and Katara's shoulders to lead them.  "Let's get inside."  He turned back briefly to indicate the other three should follow.

Lee helped Jiro disentangle himself from Katara's sleeping bag (which wasn't easy; the small boy was reluctant to give up his newly found warmth), and they trailed after the others. Bato led them to a small abbey, tucked away in the trees.  "After I was wounded," the tall man explained, "your father carried me to this abbey.  The sisters have cared for me ever since."  He led them to a group of three women.  "Superior!" he called.  "These are Hakoda's children.  They have been travelling with the Avatar and two others.  I found them by my boat."

"Young Avatar," the oldest of the three women, with the most complicated headdress — Lee suppressed the irreverent thought that it looked like it had wings — said, turning to them and bowing. "It gives me great joy to be in your presence. Welcome to our abbey."

"Thank you," Aang said, bowing back. "It's truly an honour to be here. If there's anything—"

Sokka interrupted him again. "What smells so good, Bato?"

"And Katara was doing so well with beating manners into him," Jiro muttered to Lee.

Lee sighed. "It'll take weeks to retrain him," he muttered back. "He was almost housebroken, too."

Jiro snorted quietly.

"The sisters craft ointments and perfumes," Bato explained, ignoring them.

"Perfume?" Sokka was saying. "Maybe we could dump some on Appa. Because he stinks so much. Am I right?" He grinned.

Lee groaned internally and looked around for a nice wall to bash his head into.

A long silence, broken by a cough, then Bato said, "You have your father's wit."  Jiro got the feeling it wasn't a compliment.

The children were then led to the room Bato had been staying in, and Sokka and Katara gasped with delight. "Bato, it looks like home!" Katara cried, as they ran in.

"Everything's here, even the pelts!" Sokka chimed in, petting a rug.

Jiro slipped in as well, his eyes round.  "Wow," he whispered, touching one of the pelts on the wall.  "It's so... unoppressive."  He grinned, showing he was sincere.

"Yeah, nothing's cozier than dead animal skins," Aang said, clearly uncomfortable. Lee said nothing, but reached out to touch one of the pelts as well, to see if it was as soft as it looked.

Katara lifted the lid off a pot in the centre of the room. "No way, stewed sea prunes?!"

"Help yourself," suggested Bato with a smile, sitting in front of the pot. 

"Dad could eat a whole barrel of these things," Sokka said, almost wistfully, as Katara scooped bowls for everyone. Aang clearly didn't find it too appetizing. It was hard to tell what Lee thought, his face was carefully neutral. Jiro didn't indicate whether or not he liked the food; in any case, he finished what was given to him.  On the other hand, the perpetually hungry boy didn't ask for seconds, either.

"Bato, is it true you and Dad lassoed an arctic hippo?" Katara asked, excitedly.

"It was your father's idea," Bato told Katara.  "He just dragged me along.  Well, the hippo did the dragging."

"Hey, I ride animals, too!" Aang chimed in, excitedly. "One time, there was this giant eel, and I—"

Yet again, Sokka interrupted him. "So, who was it that came up with the Great Blubber Fiasco?"

Bato laughed.  "You knew about that?"

"Everyone does," Katara said.

"What's that story?" Aang asked.

"It's a long one, Aang, some other time," Sokka said.

"You and Dad had so many hilarious adventures," Katara said.

Lee watched Aang, frowning. He'd never seen the Avatar look quite so glum.  Jiro, however, watched the three Water Tribesfolk.  The expression on his face could only be described as hungry.

"Not all of which were hilarious at the time," said Bato, "but everything's funny with hindsight."  He chuckled, then raised a hand.  "Hey, Aang!  Please put that down.  It's ceremonial and very fragile."

Aang took off the wolf-like headdress he was wearing and hung it back on the wall, trudging over to a corner to sit down.

"Was it you or Dad that put an octopus on your head and convinced Gran-Gran you were a water spirit?"

"Your dad wore the octopus," Bato answered Sokka, "but I did the spooky voice."

The children continued badgering Bato with all kinds of questions about their father, and Jiro moved to a different corner and piled a rug over his head.  Lee tried to blend into the surroundings, keeping an eye on both Jiro and Aang, no longer paying attention to the conversation. Aang quietly slipped out at some point. Lee debated following him for a minute, then decided he'd probably prefer to be left alone. Instead, he slipped over to where Jiro had curled up.  The younger boy said nothing, but one hand snaked out to slip into Lee's. 

Lee squeezed it briefly and leaned back, closing his eyes, refusing to wish.

"It would be great," Sokka was saying, "but we can't. We have to take Aang to the North Pole first."

"Even if we had time to wait for the message, who knows how far we'd have to travel?" Katara added. "We don't have time for a long detour."

As Bato answered, Jiro's grip on Lee's hand relaxed, indicating the younger boy had drifted off to sleep.

Lee drifted into a half-aware doze himself, the conversation washing over him, background noise keeping him tied close enough to reality that if something happened, he'd be moving in an instant.

After about a half hour, the door slid open, and Lee jerked a little, irritated that he'd been woken up.

"Hey, everyone," Aang said, a little too loudly and cheerfully. "Sorry I was gone so long."

"Hey, Aang," Katara said, smiling. "I didn't notice you'd left."

"Huh?"  Jiro, apparently, had been startled awake as well.  "Is someone attacking us again?"

"No," Lee assured him. "Not at the moment, anyway. Aang's just too cheerful." He glared up at the chatty Avatar, and dearly wished he had a pillow to throw at him.

Jiro groaned and burrowed under the fur again.

"Sorry," Aang said, a little sheepish, then turned to stage-whispering cheerfully at Bato, Sokka, and Katara.  Jiro shook his head — or at least Lee thought he had, the pile of fur had moved — and groped blindly for another cover.  Lee found one within reach and draped it over himself and his brother, before trying to slip back into half-sleep.

 

The following morning, Bato took them back to the boat.  "This ship is sentimental to me," he said.  "It was built by my father."  He patted the side.

Aang wandered over to the bow, froze, then wandered back, whistling nervously. Neither Sokka, Katara, nor Bato seemed to notice.

"Is this the boat he took you ice-dodging in?" the fifteen-year-old asked.

"Yep," said Bato proudly, "and it's got the scar to prove it.  How about you, Sokka?  You must have some good stories from your first time ice-dodging."

"...what's ice-dodging?" Jiro asked Lee.

"I don't know," he replied. "I'm sure they'll explain in a minute."

"He never got to go," Katara was saying. "Dad left before he was old enough."

"Oh.  I forgot you were too young," Bato said apologetically, then Aang raised Jiro's question again.  "It's a rite of passage for young Water Tribe members," the man explained then.  "When you're fourteen, your dad takes you—"  He cut himself off, looking at Sokka.  "You know what?" he said, putting a hand on the teen's shoulder.  "You're about to find out."

Aang and Lee were invited to come along on the boat, but it was pretty much universally decided that Jiro was too young.  Sulking, he sat on the shore and watched them all go.  The ship darted through, around, and then over the jagged rocks in the natural harbour. Once past the rocks, they made a wide circle and came back to the beach where they'd left Jiro.

The boy helped tie the boat off, then the Water Tribesman instructed the three teens and the Avatar to line up in front of him.  He had a bowl with some paint with him.  "The spirits of water bear witness to these marks," said Bato, the words having a ring of ritual to them.  "For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise."  With his thumb, he drew an arc with the paint on Sokka's forehead, then added a dot under the arc.  "The same mark your father earned."  He moved on to Lee and Katara.  "For Katara and Lee, the Mark of the Brave."  This one was a crescent moon.  "Your courage inspires us.  And for Aang," he said, going the Avatar, "the Mark of the Trusted."  A single line across the brow.  "You and Lee are now honorary members of the Water Tribe."

Lee bowed silently.

"...I can't," Aang said, looking away.

"Of course you can!" Katara said, brightly.

The Avatar wiped the mark off his forehead. "No. You can't trust me."

Jiro blinked, frowning.

Lee frowned as well, watching the twelve-year-old.

"Aang," Katara said, bewildered, "what are you talking about?"

He was silent for a few seconds, then pulled a crumpled paper out of his pocket. "A messenger gave this to me for Bato."

Katara reached out and took it.

"You have to understand," Aang went on, pleading. "I was afraid you were — "

"This is the map to our father!" Sokka cried, grabbing it from his sister. "You had it the whole time?!"

Jiro's grey eyes went wide, and he stared at Aang.  How could he have done that?  Lee, on the other hand, wore an odd, closed expression. Aang stared at the ground.

"How could you?" Sokka snapped. "Well, you can go to the North Pole on your own, or with Lee and Jiro, if they still want to stick with you. I'm going to find Dad." He turned and stalked away.

"Now Sokka," Bato started, looking worried, "I think you should—"

"Katara," Sokka snapped, ignoring and interrupting Bato. "Are you with me?"

She looked torn for a minute, staring back at Aang, then she bowed her head. "I'm with you, Sokka." She turned and walked away.

Bato went with them, leaving Lee, Aang, and Jiro alone on the beach.

All of them were silent for a moment. Lee looked over at his brother, a silent question in his eyes.  Jiro looked over at the dejected Avatar, then shook his head.

"We'll stay with you," Lee said, quietly.

"R-really?" Aang said, looking up, almost hesitantly hopeful.

"Yeah," Jiro agreed.

He threw his arms around first one brother, then the other. "Thank you," he mumbled.

They went back to the abbey, to collect their supplies. Katara paused to wish them luck. Sokka wouldn't even look at them. The Superior coldly told them it would be best if they moved on, and, after giving Katara, Sokka, and Bato about a five minute head start, they left the abbey.

As they reached the beach, Jiro pointed out a messenger hawk.  "It's Fire Nation," he said warily, reached for a stone.

"It's circling. It's going to land," Lee informed them.  "There's no need to hit it, we might be able to intercept—" The hawk landed on his head.

Jiro giggled, but then his eyes widened.  "Wait — that's an Earth Kingdom emblem on its harness!  When did the Earth Kingdom start using messenger hawks?"

"Threeish years ago, some cities set up eyries to try and fool the hawks into landing so they could intercept messages," Lee said absently, removing the hawk from his head with an ease that hinted he'd handled such birds before.

"Well, what's the message say?" Jiro asked.

Lee unrolled it, and a pendant on a blue ribbon fell out. He read it out loud. "'Hey, guys. Hope the hawk didn't scare you, but it was the fastest way I could think of to contact you. I found this when my people were dismantling the prison island and taking the coal back. Thought maybe Katara would appreciate it. Good luck!' It's signed 'Haru'," he finished.

"Katara's necklace!" Aang cried, picking up the pendant. "We should go after them, at least to give this back. Then we'll head north."

"Who's Haru?" Jiro asked.  "Her boyfriend?"

"No!" Aang said, hastily. "He's someone we met a couple weeks before we ran into you."

"Oh."  Jiro accepted that.  "Then I guess we go back."  He tugged the pendant out of Aang's hand to observe it.  "This is really pretty."

"Yeah. Yip, yip!" Appa flew off in the direction Sokka and Katara had left with Bato.

They met Sokka and Katara just beyond the abbey — apparently, the two siblings had changed their minds about going with the tall warrior.  Aang, relieved, hugged them both, and tied Katara's necklace back on for her, apologizing again and again for his earlier stupidity.

"Looks like that's taken care of, then?" Jiro asked.

The others all nodded. They paused at the abbey to reconfigure all the loading, back to its usual shape, then took off.

---

 

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