Home and Heart

It is a silent meal, except for the soft clatter of utensils against bowls and quiet chewing. Not even Gran Gran, who would normally start off things with a brusque "Don't tell me none of you has anything to say!", says a single word. The sea prunes are perfectly stewed, the fish is almost delicately crisp, and the five-flavor-soup has all of its flavors perfectly intact, but it's all salty-sweet-bitterness in Sokka's mouth, like rising tears.

It's Katara's last meal at home.

Granted, Katara would still come home, but this time, she would be Fire Lady Katara, prim and proper, no longer able to penguin-sled down a hill or aid him in snowball wars or throw a roll at him during feasts to get his attention or run after children and tackle them in the snow or sing as she walked through the village. Meals would be dignified feasts, conversations would be spoiled with guards hanging over their shoulders, and visits would be confined to diplomatic meetings.

He had been thrilled when Katara announced the news, clasping Zuko on the back, crowing, "The Fire Lord as my brother-in-law? Does that mean I get a wing in the palace?" But time after time spent with Katara in the Fire Nation gave him a taste of the life of a royal, the unpleasant cold spoonful that you thought was warm soup. Assassinations—not just open ones with those handy flashing knives and fires, the ones his sister could handle within a heartbeat, but the ones in an intricate dance on rotten ice that would take one plunge in the hidden spot, and down you go. Pressure—the birth of a heir and a spare and more (not to mention it should be a Firebender as the firstborn, and as many as possible; perhaps one Waterbender, to prove that we as the Council are not being prejudiced!) as if his sister, a war hero, was some sort of baby machine! And, of course, the geography.

A moment still rang in his head as he kept automatically spooning food into his mouth, Suki beside him, peeking looks at him anxiously. It was when Zuko dropped her off, worrying about leaving her without the guards for the months she was supposed to be spending at the South and hugging her, telling her he'd miss her. She'd leaned in and kissed him, whispered, but Sokka could hear: "You have years to see me, Zuko. I only have a few months to visit my family, then I must go."

Meanwhile, Katara was standing up to help clear dishes, a routine that was so familiar that Sokka never glanced up until he heard his grandmother speak.

"No, Katara, let us do it." Gran Gran softly rebuked her.

"I want to." She insisted, fingers still curled around the bowl.

"Katara—" Hakoda started.

"I want to do this one last time." she begged. The family stopped, and Katara, fighting tears, helped Gran Gran. Suki was picking up the spoons when Sokka found that he couldn't take it anymore.

"Why are you leaving, Katara?"

She stopped. "To marry Zuko, Sokka, you know...I'm going to live in the Fire Nation."

"You do realize you won't be able to see us much again."

"I know that."

"You're leaving us."

Katara closed her eyes and put down her plate. "Excuse me." She turned on her heel and ran out of the igloo, the entrance flap rustling behind her.

Suki turned to her husband. "Sokka—"

"I just—" he found that he was moving towards his room. "I need to clear my head." He didn't dare go outside; he wasn't ready to face Katara—he knew his sister, and he didn't think she wanted to see him.

"Sokka."

"Suki."

She sighed and flopped down next to him on the bed. He was lying on his side and staring out at the sky, thanks to the new glass windows Zuko had sent over as a gift. How could he like the bastards who was taking his sister away? He wanted to chuck something heavy at the window, but decided against it. He wasn't that angry to risk snow sweeping in with the cold wind.

"I understand how Katara feels."

"What, how? Oh, Kyoshi."

"Oh, yes, Kyoshi my home. We visit it every summer."

"That's not the same. Katara can't visit us—"

"She will find a way, like how she figured out how to lead you guys through the Si Wong Desert. How she survived and strengthen after your Mom's death. Or to sneak past the guards to get you into the Apple Festival for women only in the Fire Nation."

Sokka half glared and grinned, in spite of himself. "I can't believe that guy that I was Lady Su-Wen."

Suki knocked him with her elbow. "I understand what it means to give up your home. I gave up a lot. My parents died a long time ago, so my role as the Kyoshi Warrior leader was very important to me, because Oyaji was like a father to me and encouraged me. Ty Lee is a good leader, but..." she shrugged. "I miss it. I miss inspiring other girls...and a certain boy...to be strong, to fight for what is right, to be honorable. I liked it, and I was good at it. I miss the monsoons, the cherry blossoms in the spring, swimming in the bay, the festival for Kyoshi, training everyday in the dojo, the kitchen where Lien cooked congee and sweet cakes, and the outdoor market. And..." She kissed his forehead. "I have her story."

"Story?"

"You are the genius who perfected the war balloon and is helping design Republic City. Figure it out."

Sokka felt like an idiot once he did. "You left your home to marry me, a Water Tribe chief, since Dad stepped down."

"You are thick, like the time you realized about the anniversaries."

"Will you let that go?"

"On our first one, our first one, you said with utter horror, 'We have to have another wedding again?'"

"Suki, you shouldn't have left Kyoshi to put up with me."

She rolled her eyes. "That is the point you're missing, Sokka! Katara knows the consequences. She loves you. She loves Zuko. Everyone knows that we all must leave our home at some point, and even though some may never return, we will always have it in our hearts, for it is part of our identity."

Sokka sat up, rusting the furs beneath him. "I should apologize to her."

Suki nodded. "You know where to find her?"

He threw his legs over the edge over his bed. "Of course I do...she's my sister."

Katara was sitting, crouched over her folded knees, on her favorite hillside, the one where it showed the perfect view of the ocean. It was far enough to escape the village's eyes, but close enough to double back if the weather looked bad. She would miss this spot, she thought sadly, wondering if the Fire Nation had something like this. There was the turtleduck pond or the fountain in the Royal Gardens, but it was impossible to be alone, now that she was going to be the Fire Lord's bride in a few days. And it never snowed in the Fire Nation, Zuko said, except in the northernmost provinces.

She would miss her home. She had no real friends in the Fire Nation, except for Iroh, who would be leaving for Ba Sing Se, and Councillor Lu, who really wasn't a friend, but supported all of her projects and was nicer than all of the other council members. There were so many faces to remember, so many faux pauxes to commit, so many enemies in the shadows and in the open, so many things to learn, so little time before their little patience ran out! The Waterbender sighed and sent an angry icicle into the ocean with a quick flick of her wrist and fingers.

"Where you aiming for something in particular? I don't think the ocean is exactly a hard target."

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "What do you want, Sokka?"

"I want to say...that I'm sorry." Sokka sat down next to her. "I was really frustrated and angry that you'd be leaving us, maybe for good. It doesn't seem fair, now that I talked to Suki, that the guys get to stay home, and the women have to leave it forever."

"Not forever. I will talk to Zuko, and I can make a visit, without the pomp and circumstance the Fire Lady requires. It'll be hard, but I'm sure my tribe will never hurt me, and I don't think any assassins will be able to hide out here." She smiled at him. "Suki talked to you?"

"Yeah, she made me realize what a sacrifice she made to leave Kyoshi just to marry me." he shook his head.

"It is hard to believe."

Sokka snorted and tossed snow into her parka, and she retorted with the same in his face. Soon, the siblings were wrestling in the snow as if they were children again, Katara's hair loops coming loose and Sokka's wolf-tail falling out all-together, while the powder stuck to their clothes and their dark hair. They were laughing and tosssing fistfuls of snow, never minding with packing it into neat snowballs, and soon they were breathless as they collapsed in the snow.

"What's gotten into us?" Katara gasped, wiping the sweat off her brow.

"We're having fun." Sokka breathed.

They laughed again, not for the last time, lying down in the snow, staring into the endless dark studded with stars.