Loose Talk

by Rob Morris

THE FIRST YEAR OF THE REIGN OF ZUKO RLF, FIVE YEARS BEFORE START OF HIS REIGN AS BRIDGE LORD, OR PAX AANG

Iroh concluded his eerie tale.

"...as the sunlight rose and the last undead thing retreated back to its tomb, the time-lost warrior had once again bested his ancient foe. The graveyard was now no longer an infinite dungeon of evil, but merely a stop on his path back to the past, where fate awaited them both."

The young people-and some not so young-all applauded the splendid story. The Fire Lord smiled at his uncle.

"I always loved your 'Warrior Ramallihp' stories, Uncle. That one was a real old favorite. I think it even scared Azula, though she'd never admit it. I just remember her staying up all night after you told that one. Do you have one where he finally gets home?"

Katara, who normally felt she had seen enough scares in her time, nodded as well to this question.

"Yes, Uncle Iroh-these are all great, but even the good ones we've heard before."

Iroh saw assent all around.

"Well-Jabram, the young man who sweeps up for me, says he's good at making lantern shadow shows, and would love to try and conclude my old effort-perhaps next year sometime, we will start."

Sokka was still almost drooling over the scary dialogue.

"I-Will-Devour-Your- SOOOOOUUULLLL!"

Katara saw the full moon outside, and then saw a nod from Zuko.

"Everyone-Aang, Sokka, Toph and Zuko know about this-but I've never told Suki, Mai or Ty Lee. I have a power you should all know about-or I think you should. It's just not something I'm proud of. Zuko convinced me that all our allies should be aware of it."

Mai cut in.

"...or maybe it should be kept in secret reserve? The fewer who know a secret, and all that?"

Iroh nodded.

"We appreciate the trust inherent in this, Katara. But Mai has an extremely valid point."

Ty Lee shook her head.

"I disagree. Apart from everything else about Azula, I hated when she would unleash some ability or technique she'd never discussed with us, then yell and pout when it threw off our rhythm. If Katara finally trusts us enough to tell about this-whatever it is-then I wanna know what she can really do."

Mai did something rare.

"Okay. That pressed a lever in me. Yeah-that bugged me too. But whenever this sort of thing comes up again-I say we keep it inside the group. The less any potential enemy knows, the better."

Sokka, who had been parroting choice pieces of dialogue from the 'Warrior Ramallihp' story, looked at his sister with more than a little seriousness.

"Hey-it's one thing to speak up-but does this really need a demonstration?"

"It kind of does, Sokka. I need to show everyone why I don't like doing this."

He rolled his eyes, just a bit.

"Then I'm volunteering as your practice dummy-unless you decide to seize upon that opening I just gave you."

She cupped his cheek.

"You're no dummy. It's because you're not that you exasperate me so much."

"Hey-what else is a brother for?"

Bypassing this opening as well, Katara made her challenge.

"Ty Lee-take my brother down."

Ty Lee stood stunned for a moment. Mai seemed to catch a look of realization, and whispered to her friend.

"OHHH-fight him! I kinda thought that wasn't a thing a sister asked for her brother-at least in most families I've known."

Katara correctly guessed that it was Ty Lee's crush on Sokka that drove this misunderstanding, and not some lack of brains. Katara had learned repeatedly that what she had said of Sokka was at least as true of Ty Lee.

*But I'll bet I still surprise her.*

Sokka did an okay job blocking Ty Lee's attempts to chi-stun him, but all present knew that she was not yet anywhere near her stride, and a solid strike was inevitable. Katara reached out to her brother's body with her power, and where his blood flowed, she now had control when she wanted it.

"Got you!"

But to Ty Lee's shock, the instant closure of Sokka's eyes was not the end of his fight.

"No-way! I struck the right spot. Even if he deadened the nerves there, he should still be out like a lamp."

Sokka's arms moved to block her, and though five or six separate strikes on her part seemed set to stop him, the unconscious Sokka just kept on moving against her. Ty Lee finally spotted Katara's arms and legs moving in the same motion, and caught on. Her face grew badly upset.

"Enough! I-I thought he was tricking me, or overcoming my chi-blocks! How could you do that to your own brother? You call me a freak, but you can bend the water in someone's blood?"

Suki at first had wondered why she hadn't been told about this ability. As her own blood grew a bit cold, she now understood. Mai also seemed thrown off by the implications.

"Hey, he agreed to help me in this. Besides, once you've knocked him out, what does a chi-block matter anymore?"

Iroh grabbed up the fallen Sokka.

"It is not as simple as all that, Katara. Ty Lee, will you aid me in reviving him?"

Aang held Katara close as she wept, hoping against the very worst things that now crossed her mind.

After a time, Mai emerged from an argument with Zuko and sought out Katara.

"Okay. He kind of pushed you into this, right?"

"Sort-of. He knew that this ability scared me, and said that I should just regard it as the equivalent of lightning bending or metal bending for their respective arts. But Mai, I just can't see it that way. Are you two all right? I'd hate for you to fight because of me."

Mai cracked a barely-visible smile.

"It's okay. You may have heard the argument-the making-up we closed the doors for. Katara-do you know why my blades can pin clothing to surfaces and yet not even scratch the flesh?"

"I-never really thought about it."

"Neither have I. I was taught the technique I use, and part of my practice was pushing out all thoughts of anything else. Zuko is like you-he holds onto hope, and he wants to make this dark art into just another extension of bending. I'm like Sokka-I know that some things are just weapons meant to harm. What was your teacher in this blood-bending like?"

Katara sighed.

"Teacher-is not so great a term in this case."

So Katara told of their encounter with a woman too long gone from her tribe and its high moral fiber. For Mai, the tale easily eclipsed Iroh's for creepiness, but she figured as she often had that she herself was creepier than most anything else.

"My advice? Put this ability away on a shelf marked 'Azula'. What my boyfriend forgets is that metal bending by its existence ends all possibility of holding a corrupt Earth bender. He forgets that only one lightning user of his acquaintance is not a monster. The Air Nomads may have unleashed their equivalent power when attacked, but they are still gone. These so-called upgrades are gimmicks in my opinion. You've stopped me, Ty Lee and Azula on separate occasions. Any blood-bending involved there?"

Katara nodded, taken aback by the blood-simple logic.

"You-are good."

Mai raised a finger in the air.

"I bow to no one in my ability to swiftly bring someone crashing down to Earth. Your brother might rival me, but he's too nice to really bring it home."

Katara smiled.

"Just why are we all getting along so well?"

"Easy. We ditched and defeated the two ruling monsters in this nation and hooked up with the two champions. But just because we all turned to Zuko, we shouldn't mistake that for his being perfect. I'll have to show you his pathetic attempt at a goodbye letter someday."

"Only two people see me as perfect. Aang-and my brother."

Mai shrugged.

"I'd include the new Fire Lord in that one. Remember, it was you who broke Azula when he failed to take her nature into account."

"Yeah-but if I hadn't stuck so close by, he could have battled her freely."

"It was still Azula. She'd have found another way to cheat."

Mai went off at this point, not mentioning she wished to check on her comrade-in-cynicism as well. A boy she had known for barely a year and yet now made serious plans with walked up and tried to cheer her.

"I'll bet-I'll bet he'll be up and around and pigging out on all kinds of meat any second now."

She smiled at his effort. Romance aside, it was still sometimes easier for her to think of Aang as another brother. Whoever they ultimately chose to spend their lives with, it was impossible to imagine that they wouldn't always be exactly that close.

"Did I ever tell you about the first time I tried to cook a meal?"

"Sokka did. He said it was a little overdone, but that you tried your best."

Katara sighed.

"I spilled blubber oil all over the hut, and it caught fire. We were weeks cleaning up, and Sokka only joked about it when I looked like I needed a laugh. Gran-Gran told me later that the fire burned up all the toys Mom had carved for him-that he never brought up. Oh, Aang! What I would give to hear him moan about my lousy laundering skills!"

"Sorry, little sister-nowadays I have enough to get my stuff stone-pressed!"

Sokka emerged looking a bit unsteady, but very much alive, with both Suki and Ty Lee supporting him. The newest Kyoshi Warrior looked at his sister.

"Look, what I said about creepy-"

"I deserved that and worse-ooooh! That I ever thought that horrible ability could be used for anything good!"

Ty Lee didn't correct her, but did add on.

"Eh-I think part of it was my being creeped out by someone being able to shut me down the way I usually do others. It kind of reminds me of stories about the Chi-Less Ones. ooooh-try NOT to have a boatload of older sisters who like to scare you."

Suki seated Sokka, who his sister hugged like mad.

"Sokka-you still feel unsteady."

"Actually, Katara-I've never felt better. Even as I shook off my-ahem-enforced slumber-I started thinking thoughts I've never even formed the basis of before today. I really feel I might be on to something-some THINGS bigger than any we've ever known. I'll make you proud, Sis!"

"You've always done that. Me-I'm not so proud of. I will never use that ability again, except in the direst emergency."

Aang looked a bit put off, but spoke anyway.

"I hope you make an exception for me, Katara. Because I want you to teach me blood-bending."

Katara turned and looked at her more-than-friend and glared, but he stood firm.

"I am the Avatar. It's just possible I have more work before me than any other Avatar in known history. Zuko has set a pace for rebuilding I've pledged to keep up with. Toph can teach me Metal-Bending when she gets back from Omashu-though I'm really not looking forward to that. Uncle Iroh has pledged to teach both me and Zuko Lightning when we're ready in his eyes. I'm almost certain the Air Nomads had some similar secret method- I remember Gyatso and the others whispering about Forbidden Arts. There are only two people who can teach me Blood-Bending, Katara-and one of them is nuts."

Katara was ready to boil over.

"WHY would you want to know about a lot of those things? Your own mentors called them Forbidden Arts. Lightning nearly killed you and Zuko! Metal-Bending? Maybe. But you saw what I could have done-what Hama did do-how can you even ask this of me?"

The Avatar faced this foe down, though it obviously tore at him to do so.

"It's going to be a desperate world for a while. Instead of one big-huge Ozai, we face potentially hundreds of little ones. I have to have an edge in each art. An edge almost unique to me. I have to have the ability to end most fights before they even start."

Sokka walked over and simply took Aang's staff without warning, and then stared at it.

"Sokka!"

"You know, Aang-you're pretty sharp with this thing, even without using air-bending."

Sokka swung the staff about a bit, surprising everyone when he completed a spin-kick without falling while using it.

"Thing is, there are lots of ways an enemy or situation could arise and take away your advantage on the bending fronts. Suppose we got a staff for me, and I give you some of what Master Piandao showed me? Then, you get Zuko on other swordplay, and maybe some Archers too. Yeah, you are powerful. You may even be power itself. But knowing this stuff can only enhance your bending, and give you a fallback for when you're plain out of Avatar juice."

Sokka handed the staff back, and Aang lit up.

"Great idea, Sokka! Avatar Roku not only learned bending in his travels, but the arts and sciences and martial arts as well. If I know how to take somebody down fast, then that makes it much less likely I'll ever have to really hurt them."

"Annnd-you won't have to learn blood-bending."

"Katara-"

"Aang, besides the art being morally repugnant, it's not exactly reliable. I mean, you can only use it a few nights of the month-presuming good weather."

Sokka seemed to have something to say on this subject as well.

"Stuff of nonsense, Katara-you can blood bend any time you feel like it. So could Hama."

Sokka was now steadier than before, but something still seemed off.

"What are you saying?"

"Look-when Hama figured out what she could do, she was weak as a kitten, and certainly not as well-trained and talented as you. So she needed the full moon to focus. Now, even though when we met her, she was all 'cackle-cackle-cackle' loopy, she must have still felt some remorse at what she was doing and how she was doing it, or else she would have just dumped us all in that spacious dungeon of hers. So she tells herself that she can only do it during the full moon. Simple combination of mistaken initial assumptions and residual disgust at how low she had to sink."

Ty Lee looked at Suki, seeing that her Commander was thrown off by her man. She spoke up for no other reason than to guide the conversation away from this tender subject.

"Wow! Any advice for me, Sokka?"

Sokka knew nothing of Chi networks, so a more typical Sokka-idea was expected. This was not to be.

"Funny you should ask, Ty Lee-cause you have the power to make a man's head explode."

Suki rolled her eyes.

"Thanks a lot, Sokka."

"Ohhhh-you know I respect your innate power to lop off his head and eviscerate him-but this is different, Suki."

Sokka hit three spots on his own body in succession, and Ty Lee nearly gasped.

"How did you know about those?"

"Simple! Convergence of nerve and muscle and joint groups. Anyway, Ty Lee hits those three, and then waits about two seconds while those energies travel along the chakra path along the spine, and if she has the timing, traps the displaced Chi by striking the vertebrae just above and below their path. Fifteen seconds later-BOOM! Women are built tougher, though, so doing that would probably just melt their internal organs."

Ty Lee now needed Suki to seat her as she shook from the implications of Sokka's words. Katara was disgusted.

"Sokka, how can you say such a thing? That's even worse than blood-bending!"

"Well-sis-who says you even have to blood bend? A bender of your power? My sister is so great, I'll bet she can dehydrate someone instantly. All that would be left is a few pounds of chemicals inside some clothes and boots. Heh! Imagine boarding a ship and finding the crew like that?"

"And suppose I don't want to murder people?"

Sokka seemed truly clueless for the first time in his life. This wasn't a lack of realization, they began to realize. It was perhaps an inability to realize just what he was saying.

"Oh. Then all you do is just use the water inside them to pull them towards you, or send them away. Pull them over to punch them, trip them, or mess with their steeds. Push them back or freeze them from the inside out. It's water, Little Sister-we all got it in us! Speaking of which-"

Sokka ran off, and the silence as he found a place to relieve himself stood well past his return.

"Ho-Kay! That was a relief. Oh-Aang? You want me to come up with something on that Forbidden Arts front, as regards air-bending? For some reason, I really feel like I could."

Aang knew Katara would want his hide, but it was hidden knowledge that proved the difference in his great victory over Ozai. He could not afford to pass such knowledge up, even if he rarely or never used it.

"I'd appreciate that, Sokka. But let's keep all that between you and me, alright?"

"You got it, Ava-buddy! Hey! Is it mid-afternoon already? Mai and I always meet about now, to gripe for no good reason. Toodles!"

Sokka had proven his ability to flabbergast a room full of people on many occasions. But even with that, this was still a first. An unwanted first. Suki spoke to her subordinate.

"Ty Lee? No one's blaming you for this. But can you think of any reason why those chi-blocks could have caused this to happen?"

Katara gave a reassuring look to the shaken warrior, acknowledgement that, if there was blame to be had, she held at least as great a portion.

"Well-people have been known to become more talkative once multiple blocks are released. But Sokka-"

Suki chuckled despite herself.

"It is hard to imagine him becoming even more talkative."

Katara wanted to laugh, but found she could not.

"But he has, don't you get it? Not in how much he says-but in what he says. Sokka's always had a marvelous brain-and part of me has wondered why he doesn't really harness it. I think on top of all the other lessons I picked up this week is the answer to that question. Ty Lee, when might he return to normal?"

"It-it could be as much as a week."

"Great-just great. Suki-any chance you two can take him along when you scout out The Ruin?"

Suki shook her head.

"He's not the problem. The problem is the other girls. Warriors are really hormonal, and a pretty face of either kind tends to distract from mission work."

Katara accepted this. The Ruin, the area that Ozai's ships had managed to scour before they were halted, had become a gathering place for pirates, former Fire Nation soldiers who refused to stand down, and bullying soldiers from other nations, like the ones once faced down by Zuko in the Earth Kingdom. While never pledging to serve the Fire Lord or Nation, the Kyoshi had given a far more personal oath to aid Aang and Zuko in rebuilding.

"No. You need stealth, and stealth is not Sokka-I think. We'll just need to ride herd on him, and hope he doesn't break anything-like the laws of common creation."

On the first day, Sokka finally managed to creep out Mai when he demonstrated that her blades worked partially by way of activating a body's static electricity, built up in simple motion.

"See? A simple rearranging of strike patterns will be like bending lightning they carry around with them!"

Mai nodded.

"It'll be like having a little bit of Azula around at all times. Thanks loads, Sokka."

The second day, Aang gained a pretty good idea of what his mentors of old whispered in private. He became thankful the temple guards had been so very good at keeping novices out of such meetings.

"From up here on good old Appa, we can see the sky meet the ocean. Now, while in prison, The Mechanist met up with some scientists from all four nations, and together they confirmed two long-held theories. The first one is, that water and air contain a common element. The second element in water hydrates it, or makes it liquid. The second element in air nitronizes it, or makes it all gassy. As the Avatar, you have power over both elements, which means you could in theory seize upon their common nature and separate it from either or both."

Aang was not an idiot, but nor was he a scientist.

"What-does all that mean, Sokka?"

"Easy-cheesy, my friend! You can remove the essential element from either, given enough practice. Minus the element that makes metal rust in either, the remaining element will become acidic enough to eat through mountains. Done in the air, you can take down, well-ummm- a mountain. Done in the water-you could skeletonize a serpent as large as the one we faced on the way to Ba Sing Se."

In Aang's nightmares that followed, the poor stupid beast writhed in the water, surfacing in agony before sinking beneath the waves, with eventually even its bones dissolving.

On the third day, someone who actually welcomed the distraction he provided was awed by the prowess of a man he once dismissed entirely, when they were enemies.

"I-I froze it."

Zuko sat before his now literally iced tea-not to mention tea cup.

Sokka nodded sloppily.

"Heat induction, Lordly Lord! You can pull it out of something too. You always could, but Fire Nation folk are big on pumping fire out, not pulling it in. Also-let's be frank, subtlety is not the way of your people."

Zuko pointed to his scar.

"Umm-Duh!"

"Yeah, that is a major Duh. But here's a not-so-Duh for you. You know those reading headaches you get? Imbalance in the eyes. Just cool down the overworked eye a little, and you'll be able to tear through those scrolls like nobody's business-except yours-since it is your business."

Zuko seemed to be excited by this prospect.

"Geez-you like paperwork that much?"

"Sokka-couldn't I also use this technique to calm myself, physically and emotionally?"

"Keep calm cool and collected? Sure, why not? That's my new motto-Why Not? Man, why have I never thought of this stuff before?"

Zuko now contemplated combining his recent maturity and peace of mind with this technique to finally persuade Iroh to give him lessons in lightning bending-provided he could find a half hour to even begin such lessons.

"You're certainly impressing me, Sokka. Don't forget, tomorrow you inspect the ammo dump. We don't need anyone grabbing some of the stuff that's there."

"What if-I told you I could get rid of everything in that dump in one fell swoop?"

Zuko nodded.

"Like the ancient gamesman said : Name That Melody. What do you propose?"

"Just exactly that. I'll keep it safe-but I have to see if this can be done."

Zuko signed the appropriate order.

"Keep this up, and you may be called the greatest genius since-"

Sokka answered.

"Since Zakouta?"

Zuko watched him leave, and only then did he release a shudder, call for a Hawk, and send a message to his Uncle and mentor.

"Zakouta. Why'd it have to be Zakouta?"

On the fourth day, Commander Sokka of The Fire Nation went after the ammo dump in such a way as to render its temptation null and void. Commander Jee, a survivor of the North Pole Campaign and a man Zuko wanted in a position of power out of respect, did not dispute but found the outsider's orders puzzling.

"Commander Sokka, if we're going to attempt to bombard the ammo dump out of existence, I suggest that we need more combustible material to go along with the base fuel we're using."

"Jee-trust this former ice dweller. The concentrate I made from the base fuel you were using is going to do the job for us. Ensign Turo-you ready?"

The female archer seemed to relish the challenge ahead of her.

"Willing and able, Commanders-I just wish you'd let me light the bolt."

She set her crossbow while Sokka shook his head and held up the fist-sized projectile.

"You split this baby just so, lady officer-and you will see why we're not lighting it-on this end."

Sokka placed the pellet in the weight-adjusted catapult.

"Jee-did the Dai Li build the earthen containment for the dump?"

"I wasn't here then, Sokka-but I believe they did. None left now, though. Those traitors have all fled to the Ruins with the other trash."

It took Sokka a moment to realize that people who would betray their own people weren't necessarily well-loved anywhere, even by those who had in theory benefited from their actions. The Kyoshi were a different story, offering aid so long as it met certain standards and helped with the general rebuilding. But the Dai Li agents had followed a girl well-liked for her prowess and skill and disliked for practically everything else you could name, and as her star fell, theirs sank outright.

Sokka nodded, as did Jee, and the catapult was fired. At the precise angle and time Sokka had told her, Turo fired her cross-bolt straight into the ball.

The report was heard across the Four Nations, with echoes in every corner of creation. The light turned the late afternoon sun into the Noon-Day sun. People watching from a distance thought the ancient volcano the Fire Nation capitol sat in had come back to life. The earthen-shield surrounding the dump did its job-at the cost of being melted. The dump itself was cleaned out.

Jee and Turo stared at a man they had shown respect to, but now were frankly in awe of. Good or Bad, you couldn't be Fire Nation and not respect that kind of weapon-power. Turo found her voice first.

"Commander Sokka, sir? What was that?"

Sokka jumped in the air.

"That was-NOTHING!"

Later on that day, a grinning Sokka was confronted by his likely future brother-in-law.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

The Avatar heard words that scared him to no end.

"Yeah-I kinda think maybe I am. Ain't it cool?"