Chapter 6

I was furious. I laid on my stomach on Appa's saddle as we flew away from Omashu. The boy Avatar was once again the cause of my pain and ire. Not ten minutes in the city and he caused major damage to the city and myself. The daft boy thought it would be fun to use their mail system as a super slide. I tried to convince them not to go down them, but Katara's stubbornness and Aang idiocy led to them not listening to me. Of course I wasn't going to let Katara do something like that without me being there to protect her and when we lost control and crashed I had to sacrifice my body to protect Katara. Afterwards we got arrested and taken before the King, who we later found out to be an old and I mean old friend of Aang's. Of course the man turned out to be wolf-bat crazy and we were taken captive while Aang had to perform some stupid challenges. I managed to get myself roughed up by the guards when they grabbed Katara and I tried to protect her. We ended up being held hostage and encased in genomite while Aang went through his challenges. Once Aang had completed his challenges and discovered the identity of the crazy King as Bumi, his old friend from a hundred years ago. Both Aang and crazy King Bumi were unapologetic of the suffering I endured directly from their hands, and that is why my anger seethed as we flew north away from the great city of Omashu.

"Sokka would you hold still?" Katara snapped trying to pull my tunic off of me.

"I'm not taking my shirt off with leering eyes just right there." I snapped back.

"I'm never going to be able to clean the wounds if you don't take your tunic off. Besides he's a humble monk he won't look." She replied right back.

"He's a twelve year old boy with wondering eyes." Came my sharp retort.

"Ugh! You're impossible." She groaned. "Would it helped if I sat between you and him to block his view."

I pondered the option for a few seconds and gave her a reluctant nod of agreement. I may have been to my boiling point with the boy and didn't trust him as far as I could throw him to keep his eyes off my exposed skin, but my back did hurt and needed to be cleaned.

"I wouldn't be in this compromising situation if you would have just listened to me and not gone down that chute." I grumbled.

"Well you didn't have to go you know?" She responded.

"Yes I did, it's my responsibility to protect you Katara. If I wasn't there it would have been you that would have been skidding on the ground after the crash."

"You didn't need to pull me on top of you before we landed."

I just went over this with you, how thick can you be. I wanted to yell at her. Instead I settled for grunt of disapproval. Katara finally got my shredded tunic off and set it aside. The entire back was ripped apart. It looked like I got mauled by a polar bear-dog. Right before we hit the ground when we fell from the mail chute, I pulled Katara on top of me and oriented us so my back would hit the ground and Katara would land safely on top of me. Unfortunately our momentum was so fast that when we hit the ground we slid along the ground for a good ten feet. The rough stone ground did a number on the flesh of my back. My back almost looked like claw marks that ran from the top of my shoulders all the way down to the small of my back.

"You're pretty lucky Sokka most of these aren't very deep mostly just superficial. There will be hardly if any scarring." Katara said encouragingly.

"Small miracle that is." I gruffed out sarcastically. Katara's response was to slap my bare shoulder. "Ouch!"

"Oh, quiet you big baby." Katara said with a light chuckle.

I laid there quietly while she patched me up. I was tired of being mad and I didn't want to argue with Katara and I just wanted to put the last couple of days out of my mind.

"You're pretty lucky that guard didn't break your nose. You shouldn't rush into things like you do." Katara said after a while.

"You can't expect me to not do anything when some thug touches my little sister like that. I made a promise to dad that I'd protect you. Even though I'm a miserable failure I will never stop trying to protect you." I said seriously. "And I'm not so sure he didn't break my nose, it hurts like a mother."

"Hey Katara when we land can you help me make some new crutches. I never got mine back from Omashu and I still can't really walk without them." I said when she was finishing up on my back and all my anger fizzled out.

"Sure Sokka. Oh, that reminds me I should probably change the dressings and apply some ointment on your burns." She said.

Katara retrieved the ointment out of her pack and went to pull my pants down far enough to get to my legs. I stopped her before she could pull them down. "Hey Katara can...can you cover me up first." I said self-consciously.

Katara must have picked up on my tone and laid a blanket over me, and shielding my exposed skin from prying eyes. Katara then helped me pulled my pants down and went about the agonizing process of unwrapping and redressing my burns. The gauze stuck to my wounds much like they did from my wolf bite only this hurt infinitely more. It was all I could do to try and hold back my screams and muffle my whimpers. I didn't want to look weak in front of Aang, though I think I failed miserably.

By the time Katara was done rubbing the burn ointment on the back of my legs I was a blubbering mess of whimpers and sobs. I hated it. I hated crying and I hated looking weak. I'm the older sibling, I'm the tough one. Katara's not supposed to see me like this. How can she look to me for protection if she sees me shedding tears like a toddler with a scraped knee. Although, as much as I hate to admit it all these times Katara has bandaged my wounds and taken care of me it has been a great comfort. The more I spend around her the more she reminds me of mother. The way she looks, her gentle touch, the way she comforts me brings back happy memories of mom. When Katara did my hair the morning before we reached Kyoshi Island was the first time I saw more of our mother in her than just her looks; she had the same heart.

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It was another two weeks before my legs were healed enough for me to walk without crutches. Katara was right about the scrapes on my back; they were completely healed over and they left no discernable scars. The whole time I was out of commission the food was deplorable; nuts, and berries and lettuce. Occasionally, we would stop near a river or lake on their trek towards the Northern Water tribe that would allow me to sit and fish. In the fortnight I were out of commission I ate meat three times. Katara was just as grateful for the meat as I was. In the Southern Water tribe almost all of the food was meat or fat. We wouldn't be able to survive in those conditions without it. Sure we had snow berries and would occasionally eat seaweed and sea prunes, but our survival depended on the food we hunters brought in.

"Katara, I can't take it anymore, If I have to eat any more plants for dinner I'm going to lose it." I complained.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it. It's not like I know how to hunt or anything. That was always more your thing." She replied.

"I could teach you. How would you like to learn?" I asked with some hope it could give us something we could have in common. I totally forgot how well it went when I tried to teach her how to fish.

"Ew, no. Hunting is a dirty job meant for boys." She said with disgust. She saw the obvious hurt and anger across my face and suddenly realized what she just said. "Wait Sokka, that's not what I meant." She rushed out trying to take back her hurtful words. It was too late.

"No, no. I understand you've made known how you feel about my role in the tribe a long time ago. I'm not as pretty or as feminine as you. I've accepted that a long time ago, but I am who I am and I'm going to fulfill the role that was chosen for me. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go hunt and act like the boy everybody thinks I should have been." I said bitterly as I got up grabbed my gear and headed toward the forest.

I marched into the forest trying desperately to keep the tears from falling that were stinging my eyes. "How can she say that to me? Can't she see how jealous I am of her?" I mumbled aloud to myself. "What did I do to make the universe hate me so much." I shouted to the trees. A bunch of birds fluttered out of the trees at my shout and it was enough to remind me why I came into the forest. I stopped my brooding and focused my attention to the hunt.

I stalked the forest looking for clues of game when I happened upon a meadow of tall grass. My third step into the meadow a couple of pheasant-squirrels burst from the grass less than a step away from me and flew off. I nearly wet myself the suddenness of their flight scared me so bad. After I regained my composure I knelt down and examined the area where the birds were. It was a nest of some sort and by the indention in the grass it should be simple to find others. A plan developed in my head of a way to get dinner out of these pheasant-squirrels.

I found a handful of rocks just big enough to throw effectively and pocketed them. I pulled out my bow and nocked an arrow and began walking slowly through the tall grass. I was looking for places where the grass had been disturbed like the nest I stumbled upon.

I came within a ten feet of a nest. I held my bow, already nocked, at the ready with my left. With my right I pulled out a rock and threw it towards the disturbed grass. Just like I suspected a pair of pheasant-squirrels shot into the air. As quick as I could I grabbed the bow string and drew it back. I took aim at the nearest bird, leading it slightly I let my arrow fly. I smiled to myself, my arrow struck true and the bird fell out of the sky. I repeated this three times. Once I bagged three pheasant-squirrels my mood had improved drastically and I was ready to head back to camp.

I stopped just outside the edge of camp to prepare the pheasant-squirrels and offer my thanks to the moon and ocean. I cut the heart out of the first bird and cut it in half to release the spirit then took a piece the heart and started to take a bite when Aang burst in on me shouting hysterically.

"Sokka! No! I can't believe what I'm seeing. What is wrong with you?"

I stopped with the piece of heart just outside my mouth and at this point the blood from the heart is dribbling down my chin. I can only imagine how barbaric I looked to him at that moment.

I let him rant for a few moments about how all life is sacred and how I'm heartless and what I'm doing is evil and defiling. After I've taken enough I cut him off. "Will you just shut up. If you weren't so narrow minded you might learn how my tribe honors the spirits and the animals who provide sustenance." That gave him pause. "If you're the bridge between our world and the spirit world you should understand how the other nations and cultures honor the spirits." I said with condescension as I allowed my bitterness to get the better of me.

"You're telling me that evil act is supposed to be spiritual?" He responded incredulously.

"Tell me Aang, where is our spirit in our own body?" I asked him much calmer than before. My question took him by surprise. He hesitated before he responded.

"The heart."

I decided now that I have his full attention that I would explain my tribes customs. "In my tribe we believe this as well. Because of where we live, meat is our main source of food, and because we also believe life is sacred we honor Tui and La for the hunt and we cut the heart to release the animal's spirit. We eat a piece of the heart to honor the animal and thank them for their sacrifice. What you see as evil we believe it as honor and thanks. Not all cultures believe the same as you do, but that doesn't mean we are not spiritual people."

"I guess I never saw it that way." He said downcast.

"Perhaps next time you should learn of a culture before being judgmental. Especially in spiritual matters. You should know better than that Avatar." I scolded more harshly than I should have.

"You're right. I'm sorry Sokka." He said so morosely that it made me feel instantly guilty.

Blast it, why do I have to be so weak and soft hearted. "Listen Aang, you don't like killing or eating meat and I respect that. From now on I'll be more considerate when it comes to hunting and eating meat. I'll do as much away from camp as possible if you promise to let me provide for my sister and I. Deal?"

"Deal." Aang responded and took his leave.

I finished honoring the pheasant-squirrel and headed back to camp, I picked some nuts and berries for Aang along the way.

"Hey guys I brought food." I yelled triumphantly. "Aang, I even found some nuts and berries for you." I said waving a leather pouch at him.

"Really Sokka, that's great!" Aang shouted excitedly. It looked a little overplayed to me, but we came to some level of understanding so I brushed it off as nothing.

"Katara, what do you say we cook some of this up and have a nice meal. I can make the rest into jerky in case we have a hard time finding food." I said with the most enthusiasm I'd had in weeks.

Things looked like they were finally starting to look up. Aang and I were starting to build an understanding. I still wouldn't say I liked him but I understood the weight he had to bare as the future savior of against the Fire Nation and decided to cut him some slack. Katara and I started to get closer as well. Once I saw our mom in her I started to look at her differently as well. I was still jealous and insecure of her looks and femininity compared to mine but things were getting better. Maybe the universe is done torturing me. Maybe things would get better for myself. I thought to myself while Katara and I cooked our pheasant-squirrel. My thoughts were most definitely wrong because it didn't take but a few days for my reprieve from pain to end.