Soldier's Boy
Nine

Five days later, Katara told the others it was safe for Lee to move. They carefully loaded him up onto Appa, and, after a brief exchange of philosophy with Teo and his father, the others climbed on and they took off, heading even further north.

By this point, they'd had to purchase coats for Kouji and Lee, who had no clothing suitable for the harsh winter conditions of the poles; Kouji's had been bought large by necessity. As they drew closer to the pole, Kouji began spending more time curled up against Lee, cocooning himself in his overlarge coat.

Lee was just as miserable, if not more so, in the cold — Katara didn't seem surprised, and, when Sokka asked and she thought Kouji wasn't listening, she pointed out that Lee had lost a fair amount of blood on the mountain, of course he was going to be cold.

They spent two days flying over the water with nothing to show for it, and tempers were starting to run hot — save for Lee and Kouji, who were too cold to join in. Finally, Aang, having had quite enough of Sokka's complaints about their speed and altitude, suggested that Sokka fly them all on his back, instead.

"I'd love to," he replied, sarcastically. "Climb on, everyone, Sokka's ready for takeoff," he finished, wriggling his hips. Lee risked moving despite pain and cold to kick that oh-so-tempting target.

"Look," Katara said, trying to placate her brother and the Avatar, "we're all just a little tired and cranky because we've been flying for two days straight."

"And for what?" Sokka asked, somewhat dejected. "We can't even find the Northern Water Tribe. There's nothing up here."

As if on cue, the water just below Appa began leaping up and trying to trap him in ice. Aang yelled and tried to steer Appa away from this, making the previously-smooth ride very rough indeed. The ice caught one of Appa's middle legs, throwing the bison into a spin until he finally crash-landed in the water; the impact tossed Kouji out of the saddle. "Lee!" he screamed, just before hitting.

Lee didn't shout back, just hit the water less than a second later and managed to find his hand again. Before they could swim back to the bison, however, the water around them turned to ice, then moved past them to trap Appa the same way. "Th-th-this is all S-S-S-Sokka's f-f-fault!" Kouji managed to get out through chattering teeth.

Lee's jaw was rigid with cold, so he couldn't reply in words, but he nodded.

Katara shouted something from the bison that sounded vaguely like "We found the Northern Water Tribe!"

Kouji just groaned and buried his face in Lee's coat. It was too cold for this…

After a few minutes of trading explanations with the people in the boats that swarmed unexpectedly from among the icebergs, Lee and Kouji were unfrozen and returned to Appa, who was also freed, and the boats guided the bison to a beautiful, glittering ice city.

Sadly, the two soaked boys were far too cold to enjoy this; Kouji had had to be stripped out of his sodden clothes and put into Sokka's spares, and then into a sleeping bag. The icy dip had not been kind to the boy.

Lee, too, struggled out of his own wet clothes — the spares having gone to Kouji, he just wrapped himself in every blanket he could find, dizzier than he had been since they left the Northern Air Temple.

Once they were behind the walls, Lee and Kouji were sent to the healers' lodge, while the others got a tour of the city. It took awhile, but the younger of the two was made warm again through judicious use of a hearty soup, several blankets, and practically sitting him inside a fire. Lee was a little more complicated, but, after a brief discussion, the healers — all women, the older boy noticed hazily, wondering why — decided to warm him before going about healing him. By the time they were done, Kouji had made a right pain of himself, asking when he could see his brother again. It was clear he was extremely worried.

When they finally let him in to see Lee, the older boy already looked much better than he had that morning. "Hey."

"Hi," said the boy shyly. He was rounder than normal, bundled into the warmest clothes he could find.

"You okay?" he asked, with a faint worried frown.

Kouji nodded. "They knew I wasn't taking the cold well, and after we both got thrown in the water nobody wants to take chances." He sighed. "I guess it's the Fire in me."

Lee relaxed visibly. "Yeah, makes sense."

Kouji came over to sit down next to him and lowered his voice. "I told them our father was a soldier," he said. "Explains your eyes and why both of us aren't really adapting well to the cold."

Lee nodded, looking unsurprised. "Well, mine was," he reminded the younger boy in an undertone. "So it's only half a lie."

"Oh, right…"

"…or is," Lee said, after a moment's thought. He'd told the others in the Avatar's group he didn't know who or where his father was, when they'd asked about his golden eyes early on, but that he was a soldier.

Kouji sighed and laid down beside him. "Guess we should tell the others we're brothers again…"

"Yeah," he said, getting up. "Where are they, anyway?"

"Tour of the city, I think. Or trying to find Aang and Katara a teacher by now."

"We should probably find them before they say something confusing…"

Kouji nodded and got up as well. "Prolly a good idea."

It took the two of them a little over an hour to track down the others. By that time, the sun had almost set. Sokka had an odd, goofy, dreamy look on his face. Katara had to hit him twice to get him to pay attention to what Lee and Kouji were saying about being brothers again.

"…and it's probably best that we stick to that," Kouji finished. "They… might not take it well if they find out about where I really came from." One gloved hand drifted to his chest.

Katara nodded. "Right. Thanks for the warning."

"Any luck finding a teacher?" Lee asked.

"Chief Arnook's going to introduce us to someone tonight at dinner. They're throwing us a big party!" Aang said, eagerly.

Lee made a face, and muttered something that sounded vaguely like "I hate parties."

Kouji looked thoughtful. "I've never been to a party," he said, then sneezed.

"Are you okay?" Lee asked, frowning worriedly.

"It was just a sneeze, Lee," the younger boy replied, rubbing his nose.

"…Right, sorry," the older boy said, sheepishly.

"You worry too much," Kouji told him, reaching up to pat his shoulder.

"I know, I just… never mind."

The ten-year-old sighed and shifted awkwardly. He'd never tell the others, but he hated this city of ice and water. He felt… disconnected, muffled, completely cut off.

Lee tried to find a creative excuse to skip the party that night, but, much to his displeasure, he was dragged along anyway. The healers had released him, there was no real reason for him not to be there. Other than the simple fact that he hated parties.

Trailing after Lee, Kouji stopped when he saw the long table at the front of the room. "Please tell me we're not sitting there…"

Lee groaned. "I think we are…"

Kouji pulled his parka hood up over his head and tried to hide his face with it. The older boy did the same, with no better luck, particularly when they were reproved by a snitty-looking man of the sort probably common to all wealthy households and told to take their hoods down.

The pair of them meekly obeyed, and Kouji tried to hide behind his brother.

Lee let him, forcing himself to sit up straight and not make Aang and the others look bad while Chief Arnook was welcoming them and announcing that his daughter was also cause for celebration, being now old enough to be married. He bit his lip hard enough to split it open to keep from laughing at the worshipful look on Sokka's face and his inept attempts to get Princess Yue to go out with him.

"Spirits, he's worse than Aang," he muttered to Kouji.

Kouji, bright red, could only nod. They could probably all consider themselves lucky that Princess Yue had not seated herself next to him, or likely he would have passed out from all the blood rushing to his head.

Katara rolled her eyes and took a break from teasing her brother to point out, "Lee, your lip's bleeding."

"I… did not know I bit it that hard." He pressed a napkin to his mouth to slow the bleeding. Thankfully, this also helped him hide his laughter. If his shoulders were shaking a bit, it was clearly just from cold. Not anything else. At all.

Soon enough, however, Kouji's youth came through, and he leaned more and more heavily into Lee's side, fighting sleep. It wouldn't do for him to fall asleep up in front of everyone.

"I think we're going to leave," Lee murmured to Katara, while Aang was talking to Chief Arnook and the old man who'd led the waterbending demonstration — Master Pakku, they'd said his name was. "Have fun at your 'activity,'" he said to Sokka, who went bright red and glared at him. "C'mon, Kouji, time for bed."

"'Kay," said the boy gratefully, rising when Lee did and following them out, unable to entirely conceal a yawn. Not knowing where else to go, he led Kouji back to the room they'd been in before going to look for the others. He was tired, too — his injuries may have been healed, but this was still technically his first day up since he'd held off an army in the mountains, and he needed to rebuild his strength.

Kouji discarded his parka and his boots but nothing else, crawling gratefully into Lee's bed and falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Lee took off his own parka and boots and curled up to sleep, as well. His original plan had been to station himself near the entrance, the way he usually did, but, upon finding out that sleeping there either meant stealing half the blankets or freezing again, crawled into the bed as well. I hate this place. Hope Katara and Aang learn fast.

* * *

Sokka was the first to notice the coming attack. He'd been out with Appa and Princess Yue, and had noticed black snow. They immediately flew back to warn Arnook and the rest of the city.

When Lee heard word of it, he went straight to Arnook himself, to find out what the safest place in the city was. It took quite a bit of begging, but he managed to get permission to hide Kouji in the hidden oasis at the centre of the city.

The prospect of being hidden safely away did not please the boy, but even he had to admit that the last times he'd fought, he'd overextended himself severely — and on this frozen city, he had nothing to offer in a fight. Somewhat sulkily, he allowed himself to be led there. Once inside, however, his eyes went wide. It was warmer there, and there was grass. "No way…"

Lee spent a few moments longing to stay in the warmth himself, then shook his head, to remind himself he was more needed elsewhere. "Stay here. I'll come get you when it's over."

"Right," Kouji replied, then practically threw himself onto the grass. Yes! It was on earth. Strong, solid, earth! Lee slipped out of the oasis to take a position with his swords on the walls. He just hoped the cold didn't slow him down too much.

Kouji managed to spend a frightful, boring day in the oasis, pacing around and around and occasionally watching the two fish circle each other. He flinched every time he heard something explode, and could only wonder who had been hurt, who had been killed.

Lee came by that evening, bandaged in a couple places—they were conserving the healers' resources, only the most serious wounds were being healed, the rest were just cleaned and bandaged. "How was your day?" he asked, sitting next to him.

"Boring. Terrifying," Kouji admitted. "I've got no way of knowing what's going on outside."

"I don't know much. Standing on the wall isn't the best place to get a global picture," Lee pointed out. "But I don't think we lost too many defenders. Aang and some of Pakku's students took out some of the ships, but… there's a lot of them." He frowned. "Tomorrow's going to be worse."

Kouji groaned. "I wish there was something I could do."

The older boy just shrugged. "Aang mentioned trying to talk to the spirits, so you might not be alone tomorrow, at least, depending on how long it takes him."

"Somehow, I doubt he'll take me along for the trip," Kouji pointed out.

"Point. Sorry, I'm not thinking all that straight right now."

Kouji sighed. "So what now? Do I stay here, or can I actually sleep in our room?"

"I think we can stay in our room. I'll have to wake you up a couple hours before dawn to move you back here, though, so it might be easier for you to just stay. You'll get more sleep."

"I don't think Chief Arnook will like a soldier's boy sleeping in their super secret oasis," Kouji muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, I guess…"

Before they could leave, however, Aang, Katara, and Princess Yue showed up. Aang was nearly as delighted to see the grass as Kouji had been.

Kouji immediately backed to the edge of the oasis, away from the princess, his face going bright red. Yue explained to Aang about the spiritual nature of the oasis, and the Avatar settled down to meditate, staring at the fish in the pond. After barking at Yue and Katara to be quiet so he could concentrate, his eyes went blank and they and his tattoos started glowing.

"This is going to be fun," Kouji said quietly.

Yue went to get help, though Katara assured her that she was capable of protecting Aang, should anything happen. "I am too," muttered the boy, patting the ground beside him. Lee stayed with them until sunrise, then left the oasis to go back to the wall.

Sighing, Kouji flopped onto his back. "Remind me to bring a scroll the next time I'm sidelined."

"I will," he called back, then was gone.

The boy sighed, groped for his parka, then tucked it under his head as a pillow. He was exhausted, having been up all night. "K'tara?"

"Yeah?"

"You gonna fight t'night?"

"Probably, yeah. I'll stay here 'til you wake up, though."

"Wake me up at midday. You'll need sleep too," Kouji told her, then fell asleep before he could hear her response. At midday, she shook him gently. Aang hadn't moved. To her surprise, the boy jerked awake with wide eyes. "What? Brain! Pickled!"

"…what?" she said, utterly bewildered.

"I need it for the ball!"

"Kouji? Are you okay?"

He stared at her, then rubbed at his eyes. "….what was I saying?"

"You said 'What? Brain! Pickled! I need it for the ball!'" she told him, very confused.

Kouji groaned. "Oh, spirits. I was dreaming."

"Do I even want to know?"

"No. No, you don't."

"Right, then," she said, still puzzled. "I'm going to take my turn to sleep. Wake me at sundown."

"I will," he promised. She curled up, using her own parka as a pillow, and was fast asleep in moments.

Kouji spent the rest of the day practising earthbending moves without actually bending, for fear of waking the sleeping girl. As the sun began to set, he went over and shook her shoulder. "Katara…"

She groaned and rolled over. "Five more minutes," she mumbled, swatting at some imaginary insect over her left shoulder.

"You said to wake you up when the sun went down."

She groaned again. "I'm up, I'm up…" She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

Kouji crouched next to her and offered her some of the food a thoughtful Yue had come by with earlier in the day.

"Thanks," she said, and wolfed it down. She turned to look at Aang, and sighed. "Still in the spirit world…"

She stood, and stretched. "I'm heading out. See you in the morning."

"Good luck," Kouji said, and returned to pacing the oasis, turning to look at Aang every now and then. "Hurry up, Aang," he said quietly. "I don't know how much longer I can take this."

"You won't have to take it for very much longer," commented a new voice, and Kouji paled.

"Zhao!" He whirled to face the Admiral, flanked by four men in the masks of Navy firebenders.

The Admiral smirked when he saw the boy. "You'd think they would have left someone with a bit more… experience to guard the Avatar," he said as Kouji fell back a step. "My men could use a bit more of a challenge than a pyrophobic tra—"

He's like the thing that wouldn't shut up, thought Kouji even as he jumped. Zhao's guards raised their fists, but they hesitated before attacking an obvious child — and it was that hesitation that was their undoing. The ground shook as Kouji landed, then five pillars shot from the ground, one for each of the invaders. Four went flying; the Admiral had quickly moved aside.

Kouji turned to keep going, and caught sight of a blast of fire heading directly for his chest—

Which was intercepted by Lee, snaking in from behind Zhao — he'd followed the older man from the walls. "Leave. Him. Alone," he spat, taking half of the hit and shoving the other half back at the Admiral.

Zhao calmly redirected the fire to the grass as Kouji collapsed to the ground, whimpering. "I must admit, I'm a little surprised to see you alive and well," said Zhao. "Prince Zuko."

Current Location: my bed
Current Mood: sick
Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, soldier's boy

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