Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zuko always enjoyed when Azula had her friends over. For one, it meant she was less likely to start picking on him out of boredom. For two, it meant he could see Mai. Out of the trio of girls, he always had found Mai the easiest to get along with.

“So, why do you wear those gloves with the fingers cut off?” Zuko asked Mai one day. Ty Lee was teaching Azula some of the new gymnastics tricks she’d been practicing, but neither Mai nor Zuko wanted to have anything to do with it. Instead, they watched the two 8-year-olds doing cartwheels from the shade of a nearby tree.

Mai turned to Zuko, an eyebrow raised in a silent question Zuko didn’t know how to answer. “They cover my soul marks,” she eventually said, voice quieter than usual, and she began to absently fiddle with one of the gloves.

“Soul marks?” Zuko parroted, tilting his head in clear confusion.

“Do you… not have soul marks?” Mai had to lean towards Zuko in order for him to even hear her whisper. Zuko shook his head. He must not have them if he doesn’t know what they are, right? An emotion that Zuko couldn’t quite place flashed across Mai’s face. Sadness? Disappointment? But as soon as Zuko noticed it, it was gone as a thud followed by Azula’s laugh pulled Mai’s attention back to the other girls.

——

“Mom, what are soul marks?” Zuko asked Ursa later that night, tugging on the sleeve of her robe as she came in to tuck him into bed.

Ursa could tell this would be a long conversation, so she slid onto the bed to sit next to her son. “When did that come up, sweetie?” she asked, careful to keep her tone light and curious.

Zuko, however, still frowned, feeling like he somehow did something wrong by bringing it up. Still, he explained to his mother the conversation he’d had with Mai.

“Soul marks are little pictures that people are often born with on their skin that indicate that person’s soulmates. Soulmates are people outside of your family who you’re destined to love and are destined to love you, whether it’s romantic love or an unbreakable friendship,” Ursa explained.

Zuko’s lip began to tremble. “But I don’t have any soul marks. Does that mean nobody outside our family will love me?”

Ursa immediately scooped Zuko into her arms. “Do not tell your father or sister I told you this, but you have six soulmates,” she whispered into the young prince’s hair.

Zuko’s eyes widened. “Six?” He repeated. “Why haven’t I noticed them?” He looked over his body as though the soul marks would suddenly appear.

Ursa let out a sad sigh as she gently pulled up Zuko’s top, looking at the very old burn scar roughly in the shape of a hand on the right side of his abdomen. “Your father and grandfather think that soulmates are a sign of weakness, so when you were a baby, they burned your marks off.” She dropped his shirt, letting it cover the scar once again. “I only got a quick look, but I counted six marks.”

“Do YOU have any soul marks?” Zuko asked, now glancing over his mother.

Ursa sighed again, pulling the sleeve of her robe all the way up to show Zuko a burn scar of her own on her shoulder. “I did,” she explained. “When I married your father, I had to cut all ties to my life before the Royal Family. My soul mark was a part of that.” She let go of her sleeve and she instead reached forward to cup Zuko’s face in her hands. “Tell me, my love, have you felt a presence you couldn’t see? Invisible hands like ghosts giving you comfort, or trying to guide you?”

Zuko thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. “I thought that I was imagining things, or that some spirits decided they liked me. Either way, I didn’t want to ask anyone because I didn’t want them to go away,” Zuko admitted. He felt a firm hand clap onto his shoulder as though assuring him that they’re still here. He suddenly sat up straighter in a mix of surprise and happiness. “I feel one of them now!” Zuko said. “What does it mean?”

Ursa smiled at her young boy. “It means you will meet your soulmates one day.”

****

“Stupid Master Yu and stupid dad and mom,” Toph grumbled, punching the pillow on her bed. “You don’t need eyes to earthbend, you just need arms and legs! My arms and legs work just fine!”

Toph felt a pat on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin. “What? Who’s there?” she demanded, the hand immediately pulling away. She hadn’t heard anybody enter her room, she was pretty sure her door was closed. Gently, as though not to startle her again, the mysterious presence tapped on the back of her left shoulder. She struck out with her left arm, swinging her fist in an arc around her. Surely she would’ve hit whoever was touching her shoulder, but she found nothing but air.

“GUARDS!” she shouted.

The bedroom door flew open. “Toph, what’s wrong?” Toph relaxed slightly upon hearing the voice of her favorite guard, Xiuying.

“I thought I felt someone touch me,” Toph explained. She heard Xiuying move around the room, checking every potential hiding place and entry point.

“There’s nobody here,” Xiuying stated. Toph felt the bed shift with her weight as she sat down. “What did you feel exactly?” she asked.

“It was like there was a hand on my shoulder,” Toph explained, putting her hand on her shoulder where she felt the presence as a demonstration. “And then a poke on the back right here.” She turned away from Xiuying to show her.

Xiuying had a theory, which was all but confirmed when she noticed a light blue arrow poking out from under Toph’s night clothes near where she said she felt the poke. “It seems that Fate has decided you could use some support from one of your soulmates,” the guard stated with a smile.

“I have soul marks?” Toph asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Your parents never told you?” Xiuying asked.

Toph dramatically flopped back onto her pillow. “They never tell me ANYTHING!” she complained. “Especially not about soulmate stuff.”

“Well, you’re supposed to be getting to bed. How about a bedtime story?” Xiuying asked, pulling back the covers on Toph’s bed and helping the blind earthbender settle in.

“Okay,” Toph agreed as she got herself comfortable.

“A long, long time ago, before the spirit and mortal worlds were separated, before the Avatar and benders, spirits of Fate and Destiny watched over and guided the early humans. They saw that humans were social creatures, needing love and connection, and they came up with a plan to ensure that we would get the support we need through our lives and find the people who could give it to us. They gave us marks, little pictures that give us a hint as to who will play an important role in our lives. And when a person finds one of their soulmates, a touch of blood will bring them both into each other’s pasts. Their presence is invisible but felt by their soulmate, and they are brought to the moments throughout their soulmate’s life where either they were needed, or there’s something important they need to see. Through that soulbond, even new friends can instantly understand each other on a deep level and be there for each other throughout their lives.”

Toph had closed her eyes at some point during the story, but she stubbornly refused sleep until it was over and Xiuying gave a whispered “good night” as she left Toph’s room to resume her guard outside the door.

****

Katara stood there, frozen. There was a Fire Nation man in her family’s home, standing over her mother. She could feel all four of her soulmates urging her to RUN. She had one gripping each hand - the soulmate with a feather-light touch was at her right hand and the soulmate who radiated heat clutched her left - both pulling in the direction of the igloo’s front door flaps. The soulmate who had a particularly strong presence was trying to push Katara by her shoulders towards the exit, and the last of the four was standing protectively at Katara’s front, as if trying to be a barrier between her and the man. Despite their combined efforts, however, the young waterbender remained rooted.

“Mom, I’m scared,” Katara said, voice small and wavering.

“Go find your dad, Sweetie. I’ll handle this,” Kya told her, projecting a confidence that neither she nor her daughter actually felt.

Katara was still frozen for a moment, staring into the eyes of the cruel man standing over her mother, until she finally snapped out of it. Turning and running out of the igloo with eyes blurry from tears, she followed her soulmates’ pull, trusting them to guide her to her dad.

“Dad! I think mom’s in trouble!” Katara shouted the moment she spotted him. Once he looked at her, she pointed back in the direction of their home. “There’s a m-”

Katara was cut off when Hakoda winced, groaning in pain as a gloved hand went up to the base of his neck, where Katara knew his soulmarks were. “Kya!” he gasped out, his attention narrowing in on his home as he ran as fast as he could. Katara ran after, not nearly as quick but still entering shortly after her dad, barreling right through one of her soulmates trying to keep her from entering the igloo. She didn’t care what waited for her behind the door flaps, her dad would protect her and she HAD to be there for her mom.

But her mom was already gone. A teary-eyed Bato soon entered the igloo and scooped up the sobbing young waterbender, taking her to his home and setting her down next to her confused brother. She felt all four sets of her soulmates’ arms wrap around her small, shaking form.

“Katara, what’s- The Fire Nation left, what’s wrong?” Sokka asked, pulling his sister towards him. “Bato wouldn’t let me go home.”

“It’s- it’s mom. She’s-“ Katara couldn’t get the last word out without a sob drowning it out.

“Gone,” Bato supplied, barely louder than a whisper as he sat in front of the young siblings. He had taken off the wrappings around his left arm, allowing the Water Tribe siblings to see his soulmarks for the first time. He had two on the back of his right arm, one white and vibrant blue in the shape of the tooth-and-bone necklace their dad wore, and the other now a dull gray pine branch. Sokka had seen the pine branch on his dad, he knew it represented their mom and was supposed to be a deep green. But he also knew what a dull gray soulmark meant, that what Katara and Bato were saying was true. Their mom was gone, and they’ll never see her again.

The instant Bato opened his arms in invitation to the siblings, they jumped at the comfort he offered. The three of them sat on the floor of his igloo, Sokka and Katara clinging to Bato’s sides and to each other as they cried. At some point, Hakoda finally joined them with Gran-Gran in tow so they could all grieve Kya’s death as a family.

——

About a month after the Fire Nation raid, most of the tribe had gone back to normal, though Chief Hakoda still found it hard to find the motivation to go out to fish or hunt. Bato made sure the Chief and his kids had enough to eat, but Katara could tell that Bato wasn’t doing much better himself. So she decided it was time for her and Sokka to lend a hand.

It took some prodding from Katara (mostly to get Sokka to wake up and get out of bed) but the siblings soon found themselves a fair distance from the village, sitting next to a hole in the ice with Sokka’s fishing gear in hand.

A couple hours later, when they’d only caught two fish that were each barely big enough for a meal, Katara and Sokka agreed that they’d try for just one more fish before heading home.

Katara studied the ice hole while waiting for something to bite and frowned. “Is it just me, or is the fishing hole getting smaller?” she asked, holding out her mittened hands to the size she remembered it being when they started.

“It’s freezing back up,” Sokka agreed, reeling the line back in so he could set the pole aside to focus on the ice. “Can’t you melt it with your water magic?”

“Waterbending,” Katara corrected almost out of habit more than anything. She shook her head. “I’m barely able to freeze water on my own, and that’s with everything already being so cold. No clue how to unfreeze it.”

“Alright, I’ll get it,” Sokka said with a dramatic sigh as he stood up and peered into the hole. He placed a boot firmly on the edge, testing the strength of the ice before lifting his foot and bringing it down with as much force on the edge of the hole as a 9-year-old could manage. He was just trying to chip away some of the ice from the side, and was careful not to put too much of his weight so close to the slick edge.

It took a couple stomps but Sokka got a thin piece of ice to drop from the edge and into the water. “Hey, it’s working!” he said, taking a small step so he could begin stomping on a new section of the ice around the hole.

“Sokka, be careful!” Katara warned.

“I am, I know what I’m doing!” Sokka assured her. He, however, paused as he felt a tugging on his arm as though the presence was trying to get him to step back from the edge of the ice. “One of the soulmates is apparently worried, too. It’s fine!” He waved the presence off with a giggle, their feathery touch almost tickling Sokka in its persistence. Ignoring the warnings, he stomped again at the edge of the hole, but instead of just chipping away the ice like expected, the entire chunk under Sokka’s boot fractured and broke off, plunging into the depths. The surprise jolt was enough to throw off Sokka’s balance, sending him tumbling into the polar water.

“SOKKA!” Katara shouted, dropping to her stomach to peer into the water from the edge of the ice.

Despite almost gasping at the shock of hitting the cold water, Sokka thankfully managed to keep from losing the air he had been able to get into his lungs as he fell. Of course, holding his breath was only the first of Sokka’s worries - the hole he had fallen into was likely the only spot for miles around where he could reach the surface and avoid being trapped under solid ice. He had to find that hole and FAST, but he didn’t even know which way was up. He tried to open his eyes underwater, but it hurt and what little he could see was too blurry to be helpful, and Katara’s voice shouting for him sounded like it could be coming from anywhere. But before panic could fully set in, Sokka felt something wrap around him, guiding him as he oriented his body upright, then when it started pulling him, he followed. While quick to trust the help, his mind was much slower at identifying the source, eventually realizing it was a soulmate, and recognizing their touch as different from the soulmate who had tried to warn him in the first place.

The soulmate led Sokka directly to the hole in the ice, but even then, his lungs were burning with the need for air by the time his head hit the surface. His desperate gasp for breath unfortunately brought some water in with the air, making Sokka sputter and complicated his goal of getting out of the dangerously cold water. Katara managed to catch his arms in her hands as they flailed in search of solid ice, and she slid backwards on her stomach to pull him to the edge with her.

“I got you, Sokka. I’ll help you up,” Katara assured, pulling her brother onto the ice with all her strength. “Then we gotta get back home QUICK to warm you up.”

A weak nod was all the response Sokka could manage between the effort of dragging himself out of the water and his lungs trying to expel the water he’d inhaled. As soon as Sokka was firmly on the ice and out of the water, he took a moment to focus on being able to breathe properly. A third soulmate, the one with the strongest touch out of the bunch, decided to help by giving Sokka’s back some firm pats to help guide the water out of his lungs.

Once his breathing was mostly back to normal, it finally registered to Sokka just how COLD he was. More than just feeling cold, his body had gone straight past being numb to the point that the cold felt more like a million sharp knives stabbing through his skin and to his bones. While Katara pushed herself to her feet to start walking back, Sokka instinctively curled into a tight ball, trying to conserve what body heat he had as he continued to sit on the ice.

“Sokka, we need to go back,” Katara stated, offering her hand to help Sokka up.

“Is-cold,” Sokka managed to say through chattering teeth. “Can’t-”

“That’s WHY we need to get back, so you can warm up,” Katara pleaded.

Sokka’s brows furrowed in confusion as, while Katara spoke, he suddenly felt like someone draped a fire-warmed blanket over his back.

“Your shivering slowed. Is it a good-slowed or a bad-slowed?” Katara asked, crouching to try and get a closer look at Sokka’s face.

“I think one of my soulmates is sharing body heat with me,” Sokka explained. He looked to the side to address his soulmate. “Give me a tap if I’m right.” A tap on Sokka’s knee, which was still pulled up close to his chest, and Sokka smiled. “Whichever soulmate you are, you make a good blanket.” He felt the presence shake a little, which Sokka guessed was a chuckle.

Once he was ready to get up, Katara helped Sokka to his feet and held his hand during the walk back to the village. Sokka could still feel the much-needed warmth from his soulmate’s presence as they walked, but he could tell that they struggled with finding a way to keep consistent contact while moving, so he didn’t stay quite as warm as he hoped.

“Dad! Gran-Gran!” Katara called as soon as they reached the village. “Sokka got wet, we need to warm him up!”

Hakoda was running up to his kids in an instant, looking them over for any sign of injury. “Let’s get him over by the fire for the moment,” he suggested, guiding the kids towards a fire near the middle of the village and sitting them down on a couple leather mats that had been placed around the fire pit. “What happened, is everything alright?”

“We went out ice fishing, but when Sokka tried making the hole bigger, there was a thin spot and he fell in,” Katara explained, trying to ignore the small crowd forming as the villagers were checking to see if the kids were alright.

“It’s remarkable you were able to make it back,” Gran-Gran commented as she walked up to Sokka to look him over. “To have found your way out of the water, and still have enough energy to keep you warm enough to make it back here is something of a miracle.”

“My soulmates helped, actually,” Sokka replied with a smile. “One guided me back to the hole while I was underwater so I wouldn’t get trapped under the ice, and another is really warm and was able to share their body heat with me so I could make it home!”

The village was silent for a moment, before chatter returned in nervous murmurings and hushed whispers. Sokka’s smile fell - he thought the tribe would be excited that his soulmates saved his life; he couldn’t figure out why they were reacting the way they were. “What?” he asked, glancing around the tribe before looking between his dad and Gran-Gran for one of them to explain.

“A soulmate’s soulbond presence feels different depending on if they’re a bender or not, and on what kind of bender if they are,” Gran-Gran explained. “Waterbenders have a presence that’s cold to the touch; earthbenders have a particularly strong touch - a very solid presence; airbenders, if memory serves, were said to have a feather-light touch in contrast to the earthbenders.” She sighed, and dread pooled in Sokka’s stomach as he realized what was coming next. “And finally, the presence of a firebender gives off enough heat that it’s said it can be felt even without a direct touch from the presence.”

“So, one of my soulmates is a firebender?” Sokka asked in a small voice. Gran-Gran nodded. “How- why-?” He looked at his dad, hoping for answers to the questions he couldn’t even form.

“I’m not sure,” was the only answer Hakoda could offer his son. “I’m just grateful at least that they very likely saved your life today.” He smiled in a way he hoped was reassuring.

“I’m going to go change into dry clothes and warm up in bed,” Sokka decided with a sigh, standing up to head into their igloo. He’d had enough stares and whispering from the rest of the tribe when he just couldn’t wrap his head around it himself.

——

Katara gave Sokka a good several minutes to change and have a moment to himself before she joined him inside. “Sokka?” she called to announce her presence as she pushed past the door flaps, letting them fall back into place behind her. She spotted Sokka instantly: he was in his bed and laying on his back, with his left arm bare of the wrappings he usually wore and held over his face so he could study his soulmarks.

“Hey, Katara,” Sokka sighed in greeting, glancing briefly in her direction as she came closer. As she sat on his bed by his legs, he didn’t move, still apparently looking for some kind of answers to emerge from the simple pictures.

“I’ve felt the firebender too,” Katara admitted, pulling a foot up to rest on the bed so she could wrap her arms around her knee.

“Well, that rules out the crescent moon as being the firebender,” Sokka stated, finally lowering his arm and sitting up. “The fact we feel them means we’ll meet them someday. That we’ll trust them enough to soulbond. But WHY? After everything the Fire Nation has done to us, our Tribe…” Sokka’s voice cracked and he paused for a moment so he could get his emotions under control. “How will a firebender even be able to gain our trust?”

“I donno. But clearly we’ll find out some day,” Katara replied with a shrug.

Sokka seemed lost in thought for a moment before speaking again. “You’ve felt all four of your soulmates, right? I felt four today.” He trailed his right hand down the line of marks on the front of his arm.

Katara nodded as she pulled open the collar of both her coat and tunic so she could look down at her own soul marks. They all matched with four of Sokka’s five, even following the same order down Sokka’s arm as clockwise around the front of Katara’s shoulder. At the top for both of them was a light blue arrow pointing down, followed by an eye with a cloudy blue iris and only slightly darker pupil, a crossed pair of curved broadswords with dark blue handles, and a golden fan. The fifth on Sokka’s arm, below the others and just above his wrist, was a light blue crescent moon, the ends pointing to the right, matching the moon on the Water Tribe’s emblem.

“Besides the firebender, which I’m GUESSING is the fan because it’s the only one not blue… also, can’t fans be used to help make fires bigger? Like when you blow on a fire to get it big enough to cook on?” Katara started, briefly getting distracted by her own logical reasoning until she remembered she actually intended on getting the conversation OFF of the firebending soulmate. “One of our soulmates seems like they hit really hard. Maybe they’re an earthbender, with a solid presence like what Gran-Gran was saying?”

“I half expect to get bruises with some of his friendly punches,” Sokka commented, wrapping an arm around himself to rub near where they had hit his back earlier. “He helped me cough up the water I ended up breathing in.” Even though Katara has insisted on avoiding using gender-specific words for her soulmates until she meets them and knows for sure which to use, Sokka figured there’s no harm in making guesses about his soulmates’ genders and using the pronouns that match his guesses. If he turns out to be wrong, he’ll just switch to the correct pronouns whenever he finds out. “He could be any of the three other marks, but if he bends, he probably wouldn’t use swords. Especially with earthbending. So probably either the eye or the arrow?”

Katara nodded in agreement. “One has a really light touch, like Gran-Gran said airbenders feel like, but that’s impossible. Probably just shy or something,” she guessed. “No clue which mark they might be.”

“She was the one who tried to get me away from the ice hole. I should’ve listened,” Sokka scolded himself.

Katara frowned slightly, but just continued on. “The last one doesn’t have anything notable with how their touch feels, but they seem particularly… protective. Kinda like you, actually.” She smirked as she poked her brother in the chest. “Trying to stand between me and danger, watching my back when I leave the village.”

“Protective enough to get in the water WITH me to make sure I made it back to the surface,” Sokka agreed. “My guess is he’s a strong warrior, probably the swords.” He tapped at the swords on his arm before beginning to trace the crescent moon with his fingertip. “I don’t think I’ve felt whoever the moon represents. With everyone else being there to help today, even Firebender, I’m starting to worry I never get to soulbond with Crescent Moon.”

Katara shrugged. “It’s possible. Or they just might be even more shy than Light-Touch.”

“Light-Touch? That’s the name you’re going with?” Sokka teased. “You should just leave the nicknames to me.”

Chapter Text

“Light-Touch? That’s the name you’re going with?” Sokka teased. “You should just leave the nicknames to me.”

“Come on, it’s JUST as creative as Crescent Moon!” Katara shot back.

“Breezy! We can call the soulmate with the light touch Breezy, because it feels like a light breeze,” Sokka stated.

“So we’ve got Firebender, Breezy, and Crescent Moon. Got names for the other two?” Katara asked. As much as she always groaned at the names Sokka came up with that he insisted were clever, finding nicknames for their soulmates was definitely a much better use of Sokka’s time than worrying about a destiny they had no control over and no clear understanding of.

“We could just call the protective one Warrior, or Guard. Guardian?” Sokka suggested.

“Guardian works.”

“And the last one… Bruiser. Because I can just imagine his affectionate punches leaving bruises in person.” Sokka jumped, a hand going up to cover his shoulder as Bruiser surprised him with a punch. “Hey, Bruiser, didn’t realize you were here. Did you punch me because you like the nickname, or because you don't like it? Tap once if you approve, twice if I should find something else to call you.” Sokka felt a single tap on his shoulder. “Bruiser approves!” he informed Katara with a grin.

****

In the couple weeks following Toph’s initial encounter with a soulmate, despite her parents’ continued refusal to tell her anything, she was able to learn a few things about her soulmates.

It didn’t take long for Toph to learn that she had more than one soulmate. It was like a dam had burst, and now she felt the presences interacting with her nearly every day. There were at least four of them, and she began to name them in her head to keep them straight:

She dubbed the first soulmate Spooks, for how they’d spooked her when they first touched her shoulder. Despite first impressions, Toph found Spooks to be a very comforting, supportive presence. Sometimes they surprised her at how well they accommodated for her blindness without overcompensating, but other times they seemed to completely forget about that same blindness.

Bumble-Fly was named for their flighty touches and constant movement that reminded Toph of the insect. They were often trying to cheer Toph up or get her to have some fun with them. Bumble-Fly and Spooks were the two soulmates Toph felt interacting with her the most often.

Frosty’s touch was noticeably cooler than the others, which was put to good use soothing various bumps and scrapes that Toph managed to get, usually from playing or from earthbending. Frosty also would remind Toph to eat or go to bed when she was being stubborn, earning them the secondary nickname “Mom”.

Sunshine was the opposite of Frosty in that their touch was remarkably warm. They seemed somewhat shy, however, though Toph usually noticed them when she was practicing her earthbending, helping to adjust her stance slightly or guiding her to move in a slightly different way that she found more practical than what Master Yu had her doing.

Toph thought she felt at least one other presence as well, but if she had, they seemed even shyer than Sunshine.

Toph also became certain that her soul marks were on the back of her left shoulder. Whenever Spooks showed up, they always touched the back of her shoulder first to announce their presence in order to avoid scaring her again. Toph appreciated the thought, even though she now knew the difference between a soulmate’s touch and that of someone physically with her, so it wasn’t strictly necessary.

The last thing she learned was that she could have full conversations with her soulmates so long as she stuck to yes-or-no questions. They could answer by tapping her, and they all understood one tap for yes, two for no.

But Toph still didn’t know exactly how many soulmates she had, or what the marks looked like. She didn’t know if there was any specific reason why Frosty’s touch was so cold, or Sunshine’s touch was so warm. But whenever she tried to ask her parents about her soulmates or soul marks, they shut her down with vague excuses and half-hearted promises to tell her when she’s older.

Toph had an idea: maybe her guard, Xiuying, would answer the questions her parents refused to. As Xiuying did her nightly task of setting out Toph’s sleep clothes, Spooks gave her an encouraging push towards the guard to try it.

“Hey, before you leave my room, could I ask you a few things?” Toph asked, sitting down on her bed.

“What is it, Toph?” Xiuying asked, and Toph felt her bed shift as the guardswoman sat down as well.

“Since you told me I have soul marks, I’ve been curious about them,” Toph explained. “Could you take a look and tell me what they look like? And how many there are?”

“Sure, I can do that,” Xiuying replied in a gentle tone that skirted the line between comforting and pitying.

Toph turned so that she had her back to Xiuying and loosened the bindings of her dress just enough to pull her left sleeve down to show the marks on the back of her shoulder.

“Huh,” Xiuying commented in surprise once she was able to see all of Toph’s soulmarks.

“What? What is it?” Toph asked, tensing a bit, worried about why Xiuying might be hesitating.

“You know how I’m from Kyoshi Island? One of your marks looks just like the fans us warriors train with,” Xiuying explained. However, before she could say anything else, a voice from the open doorway startled her quiet.

“Toph Beifong!” Lao snapped, disappointment practically radiating from his tone. Toph jumped, though Spooks’s comforting hand on her right shoulder helped to slightly calm her now-pounding heart. Xiuying jumped to her feet to give a bow to her employer, though he kept his glare focused on his daughter. “You know it’s improper to show your soul marks to other people.”

“I wouldn’t have had to ask Xiuying if you or mom would just TELL ME-” Toph argued, though she was cut off.

“No. I told you, you don’t need to know about your soul marks or soulmates until your mother and I feel comfortable letting you meet people outside the estate,” Lao stated.

“Which will be never,” Toph grumbled under her breath. Spooks gripped her shoulder tighter, she couldn’t tell if it was in reassurance to her or anger towards her dad.

“I don’t want to hear about this any more,” Lao stated, leaving no room for argument. “Guard, it’s about time for you to start your night patrols.” With that, Toph heard his footsteps fade down the hall.

“Xiuying?” Toph asked, hoping they could just ignore her dad.

Xiuying sighed. “I’m sorry, Toph. If the Boss doesn’t want me to tell you about your soul marks, there’s nothing I can do.” She took a couple steps back to the door. “Your night clothes are on the foot of your bed. Have a good night, Toph.” She left the room, closing the door behind her.

Toph let out a wordless shout in frustration, her hands shaking with anger and tears threatening to fall. “Can you BELIEVE my dad?!” she asked Spooks and any other soulmates who happened to be there, observing. “Anyone else would be able to see their own soul marks in a mirror, but just because I’m blind, I don’t get to know?” She was ranting, but she didn’t care. Sunshine gave her a slightly awkward pat on the back of her hand, apparently in sympathy.

Toph felt Spooks move, hand shifting before leaving her shoulder. A moment later, she felt their hand lay over her soulmarks. Then six taps in a circle around the back of her shoulder.

“I have six soulmates?” Toph interpreted. A single tap to her other shoulder, telling her she was correct. “Which one are you?”

Spooks began tracing a shape on the back of Toph’s shoulder. She had no idea what it was supposed to be, the best she could figure was like a long cone bent in half. It was angled in the middle, narrowing to a point on the bottom with a wider end on top.

“Some kind of bent horn?” Toph guessed. Two taps, that’s a no. “I have no idea then.” She thought for a moment more, but nothing came to mind, so she shook her head. “Sunshine, you still here? Wanna trace yours so I can guess?”

There was a brief moment Toph wondered if Sunshine actually wasn’t here anymore, but then she felt a warm touch just below where Spooks traced out their bent cone. A long curve, then as Sunshine traced out the details at the bottom, the shape became obvious to Toph.

“A sword!” she exclaimed. Sunshine, however, didn’t tap yes or no, leaving Toph confused as they finished tracing the hilt and the other half of the blade. Then they began tracing the same shape again, mirrored and crossing over the first. “Oh, they’re crossed swords!” Sunshine tapped her other shoulder once while their other hand finished tracing the shape.

Toph was considering if she should ask Spooks and Sunshine to trace out the other soul marks for her, when she felt the cool touch of Frosty begin to trace out a circle. This one seemed more abstract than Spooks’s bent cone. “A circle with wavy lines and swirlies in it?” Toph said, confused. Two taps, pause, one tap. No and yes. “I’ll take that as close enough?” Yes.

Bumble-Fly was next, and Toph had trouble keeping still while they traced their mark, the fluttery touch tickling her skin. Thankfully it was much simpler and easier to guess than the others, being a simple arrow.

Then there was a new touch, and as soon as they began tracing their soul mark, Toph knew exactly which it was. “Oh, you’re the fan Xiuying mentioned! Are you a Kyoshi Warrior?” Yes. “That’s so cool! And now I know what I can use for a nickname for you. Is this the first time you’ve interacted with me?” No.

Toph thought for a moment. Kyoshi Warrior’s touch didn’t have any obvious differences from Spooks’s, but Toph knew there was at least once she felt a presence that she didn’t think was Spooks. “When I snuck out to see the badgermoles?” Yes. “Any other times?” No.

There was a brief pause and Toph wondered if the sixth was even present, but then she felt a new touch. It was similar to Spooks and Kyoshi Warrior’s, but had a similar sort of hesitation as Sunshine. “I’m sure I haven’t felt you before, have I?” Toph asked as the soulmate began tracing a circle. No, was the tapped reply, other hand pausing mid-trace. “Because you’re shy?” she asked. Yes. Pause. No. Toph frowned in confusion. “Yes and no? Other reasons too?” Yes.

As Toph paused to try to think of those other reasons, the presence continued tracing the soulmark. The circle was the inner part of the picture, but as the presence traced the outer part, it didn’t become any clearer to Toph. “It’s like… a wheel with square chunks taken out of it. Or stuck to it,” Yes. “Yes? What would a wheel with square chunks even mean?”

There was a pause, presumably as the soulmate tried to think of how to respond. Toph felt them tug at her hands, so she moved them as directed. She ended up with both hands open in front of her, fingers splayed out, but close together so that the fingers of one hand were slotted between the fingers of the other. She was then guided to rotate one hand, illustrating how the “wheel with square chunks” would be used to move multiple wheels at once.

“You’re a nerd, aren’t you?” Toph teased. Yes.

Toph turned around, maneuvering to face the opposite way she had been. Her parents had drilled into her that it was polite to at least pretend to look at whoever she’s speaking to, and she assumed that, besides Nerd, the soulmates probably settled somewhere behind her when they finished tracing their marks.

“Thank you guys, really,” Toph said, feeling herself getting choked up in emotion but trying not to show it beyond a bright smile as she spoke. “I think my parents are actually trying to keep me from meeting my soulmates. I’m really glad that, despite them, I’ll be able to meet you guys.”

****

Aang frowned at his and Bumi’s right hands clasped together between them. “Something’s supposed to happen, right?” he asked.

“Not if we aren’t soulmates,” the other twelve-year-old replied with a shrug and an unbothered smile. He let go of Aang’s hand to grab supplies off a nearby table, wetting the corner of a clean cloth using the contents of a bottle.

“I know one of my soulmates is an earthbender, and you’re my best friend in the Earth Kingdom!” Aang protested. He brought his hand up closer to his face to inspect the small cut and smeared blood from the failed soulbonding attempt. “Did we do something wrong?”

“Our blood touched, that’s all that’s required,” Bumi replied, wiping the blood from his own hand with the cloth. Once done, he wet the opposite corner and offered it to Aang. “Here, my mom insisted we use this stuff on the soulbond cuts.” Aang smiled and nodded a thanks as he took the rag. As he began to clean his cut, Bumi cut strips off a bandage roll for each of them. “Have you tried soulbonding with anyone else?”

Aang shook his head. “I brought it up to Kuzon last time I visited the Fire Nation, but he told me he doesn’t have any Airbender soulmates,” Aang explained. Once his palm was clean, he took the bandage Bumi set aside for him and wrapped the small cut.

“I actually don’t think I do either,” Bumi commented with a shrug. Seeing Aang’s confused reaction, he continued, “When you asked about it, I figured it was still possible. The presence of an airbender soulmate feels like a light breeze, right?”

“That’s how Monk Gyatso explained it,” Aang replied with a nod, though acting troubled still. “But I haven’t felt it myself. I’ve felt a firebender, waterbender, and earthbender, but no airbender. A couple non-benders.”

Now it was Bumi’s turn to look confused, tilting his head as he looked at his friend. “That seems strange, doesn’t it? Soulmates all over the world except your own nation?” he asked.

Aang shrugged. “It’s pretty common for airbenders to have soulmates in other nations, being nomads and all. And apparently even more common for Avatars to have soulmates that bend the other elements,” he explained, fidgeting a little. It hasn’t even been a month since the elder monks told Aang he was the Avatar, so it was still weird to refer to himself as such. “Apparently it’s somewhat of a tradition for Avatars to travel with a group of soulmates from the other nations to have friends to train alongside and help provide guidance.” He sighed. “I was hoping you and Kuzon would be two of those traveling companions for me.”

Bumi gave Aang a sympathetic smile, before walking over and plopping down next to Aang, throwing his arm around the young monk’s shoulders. “Soulmate or not, we’re still friends! No one else is crazy enough to go down the Omashu super-slide with me!” That managed to earn a giggle from Aang, cheering him up a bit. “But I get the feeling there’s a reason I’m not destined to be your traveling companion. You know how my father is the King of Omashu? He’s teaching me to take over someday. As much fun it would be to get into trouble all over the world with you, I have to stay here to learn and eventually lead.”

“I guess you’re right,” Aang commented, looking to Bumi with a grateful smile. “I just figured I’d have met at least one of my soulmates by now.”

“You’ll meet them someday. And when you meet that earthbender, you’ll have to introduce me. I’d love to test my earthbending against an Avatar-worthy companion!”

Chapter Text

“Do you know how low our food reserves are?” Mingxia asked, looking at Suki with concern.

“Almost gone,” Suki replied with a frown. “None of the villages had a good harvest. We might not have enough to get through the Winter.”

“People are going to starve.”

Suki shook her head. “We’ll find a way to make ends meet,” she stated firmly, kicking a stray rock along the path.

“We could open our borders. Buy supplies from the other nations.”

“No, Avatar Kyoshi wouldn't want us to do that. She removed us from the mainland for a reason.”

“Avatar Kyoshi never could have predicted we'd be facing famine and starvation!” The rest of Mingxia’s argument faded as Suki felt a tug on her arm. She turned her focus on following the light touch of her soulmate, guiding her to something. When she saw what it was, Suki’s face lit up. Some of their problems were solved!

“There’s another way!” Suki said as she plucked the small plant and turned, showing it to her friend. “Remember gathering dumpling weed when we were younger? They’re nutritious and grow all over the North of the island! Let’s go tell the others, we’ll get through this together!”

——

“Thank you for this, Suki,” one of the villagers thanked as the Kyoshi Warriors finished distributing the dumpling weed they had managed to gather.

“Don’t thank me, it was a team effort,” Suki replied, shaking her head.

“Well, you WERE the one who gathered the most,” Mingxia pointed out to Suki, nudging her with her elbow.

Suki waved off her friend. “I can’t even take full credit for that. One of my soulmates has an eye for plants, apparently.”

The villager wandered off, and soon Suki and Mingxia were alone as they put away the baskets and tidied the storeroom.

“I still think Kyoshi Island should open its borders. I don’t think it’s right for us to hide away in isolation,” Mingxia stated, her tone determined, leaving no room for argument. “I’m going to talk to the village leaders tomorrow. I hope- I hope you’ll support me.”

Suki shook her head. “You know I can’t. I’m sorry,” she said. There was a squeeze on her shoulder from one of her non-bending soulmates. She couldn’t tell if it was meant to be agreement, disagreement, or just comfort, but it didn’t really matter. Suki knew where she stood on this subject.

Mingxia gave her a sad smile. “It was worth a try.” She put the last basket up on the shelf, before flipping an empty crate up-side-down to use as a chair. She sat with her elbows on her knees, leaning forward to rest her chin in her hands as she smirked up at Suki. “So, have you met any of your soulmates yet? If the one who helped you find the dumpling weed is around, they’d be pretty helpful to know!” Mingxia was clearly trying to ease the tension of the earlier conversation, and Suki was relieved their friendship wasn’t hurt by their disagreement. The Kyoshi Warriors were sisters to each other, even when they weren’t related by blood, and Suki had considered Mingxia a sister even before they both could join the Kyoshi Warriors.

Suki tilted a barrel on its side to sit before answering. “No, I don’t think I have. Most of my soul marks are pretty distinct, and a couple of them are benders.” She specifically avoided mentioning what kind of benders, mostly because she still didn’t know how to handle the fact one of them was a firebender, let alone try to explain that to anyone else.

“Ooh, let me see!” Suki hesitated a bit, though she pulled up her pant leg to show Mingxia the line of markings down the side of her calf. A half-circle of golden stylized rays like a sunrise or Kyoshi’s headdress, a light blue arrow pointing down, a waterbending symbol, a boomerang, a cloudy blue eye, and a pair of crossed broadswords. “You have Water Tribe soulmates!” She pointed at the waterbending symbol and the clearly-Water-Tribe-style boomerang.

“One of them is a waterbender,” Suki admitted.

“You KNOW this means that either you have to leave Kyoshi, or they’ll show up here, right?”

Suki tried not to think about that, especially when it came to the firebender. They seemed friendly enough, they helped Suki train in her early lessons, and pushed her to always get back up and try again whenever she fell, or felt like she wasn’t good enough. But she just couldn’t reconcile that with the fear of the Fire Nation that the last hundred years has instilled into the world. She couldn’t help but be quietly glad that since she became comfortable in her role and skill as a Kyoshi Warrior, she hasn’t felt the firebender’s presence.

“What about you?” Suki asked, turning the conversation on Mingxia in an easy deflection. “Have you met any of your soulmates?”

“Probably?” She took off her belt, letting her outer kimono fall open, and pulled up on her top, letting Suki see the ring of five soulmarks around her bellybutton. She pointed to the one on the top. “You’re lucky your marks are so distinct. I have a fan! You know how unhelpful that is? It could be anyone on this island!”

Suki couldn’t help but giggle at her friend’s complaints. “You’ll figure out who it is. Along with the rest of them, I’m sure.”

——

“Are you sure you want to leave?” Suki asked Mingxia as they stood together on one of the docks. “You’re a Kyoshi Warrior! You know one of your soulmates is still here.” Suki wiped the moisture from her face on her sleeve. She’d blame the sea breeze for the tears. “We’re sisters,” she added quietly.

“We are.” Mingxia placed a hand on Suki’s shoulder, mirroring the comforting hand of one of her soulmates on the other. “But I can’t turn my back on the world. There are people out there that I want to meet, experiences that I want to have. Kyoshi separated us from the rest of the world, but surely she didn't mean for us to stay that way forever? I have to go. But I won’t be gone forever, I’ll come back.”

Suki pulled Mingxia into a hug. “I’ll miss you so much.”

“You could come with,” Mingxia offered, hugging Suki back tightly as though she could drag her onto the boat. “Your soulmates are out there somewhere. We could find them.”

Suki shook her head in reply, stepping out of the hug to wipe the new tears from her eyes. “I can’t.”

“I’ll miss you too, then. The Kyoshi Warriors will always be my sisters, but you especially,” Mingxia told Suki with a smile, before boarding the boat.

——

The Avatar arrived on Kyoshi Island. The Avatar, who had a bright blue downward-pointing arrow on his forehead. With him arrived two members of the Water Tribe. A waterbender, who wore a necklace bearing the symbol for waterbending, and a jerk who happened to wield a boomerang.

Not for the first time, Suki questioned the Universe’s choice in soulmates for her.

Suki wondered if she should tell the group about her soul marks, but she was afraid they’d insist she travel with them if they knew she was their soulmate. And when the Water Tribe boy showed just how insufferable his sexism was, she made up her mind. She wasn’t going to tell them, not yet at least.

Over the first couple days of their stay, Aang befriended every child in the village, Katara proved to be the sensible member of the group as she took the opportunity to gather supplies for when they left, and Sokka… Sokka grew on Suki. He showed humility, humbling himself and setting aside his sexism in order to be trained by a group of girls he finally recognized as skilled warriors.

——

“Hey, Suki,” Sokka stopped the Kyoshi Warrior as the rest of the girls left the dojo after their training was over. “Could I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?” she asked.

“I’m, uh, pretty sure one of my soulmates is a Kyoshi Warrior.” Sokka hesitated as he spoke, seeming a bit nervous or shy about bringing it up. “One of Aang and Katara’s too, actually. Same mark. I was wondering if you had any idea who it might be?”

“Why are you so sure it’s one of our warriors?” Suki carefully kept her tone even.

Sokka took off his Kyoshi Warrior bracer and pulled up his sleeve, showing Suki five soulmarks down his arm. The arrow, the eye, and the swords all matched her own. But it was the fourth one that Sokka was pointing to. A golden fan, same as one of Mingxia’s marks.

“Once I saw the fans everyone here fought with, it was pretty obvious what this one was,” he explained.

She hesitated, again wondering whether or not she should let them know that she was the soulmate they were looking for. But Suki was not known to change her mind easily. She hoped Sokka saw her hesitation as trying to think of someone his soul mark could represent. “That could really be anyone on this island,” she finally replied, recalling what Mingxia had said about her own fan mark. “This isn’t even the only village on the island with Kyoshi Warriors.”

Suki saw Sokka’s shoulders droop. Was he hoping she was the soulmate? Or was he just hoping to get a lead and didn’t realize how many possibilities there were?

“Thanks anyway,” Sokka said, forcing the disappointment out of his voice. He began to stretch out his arms, clearly his ineffective way of trying to act casual. “Well, if you find out which Warrior has a blue arrow for a soulmark, you can let them know the Avatar’s looking for them!”

——

The Fire Nation attack could’ve been worse. It could’ve been so, so much worse, but as soon as the Avatar left, so did the Fire Prince. Aang was even able to use the Unagi in a wild stunt to put out all the fires.

Suki had felt her firebending soulmate again during the battle. They helped her fight, signaling her when to dodge and deflect attacks and helping her to protect her people as much as she could. They clearly knew what kinds of attacks to expect from the Fire Nation soldiers and Fire Prince. She appreciated the help, but now as she stared at the charred remains of buildings, processing her feelings, she was glad the firebender wasn’t there. Instead, the cooling arm of her waterbending soulmate wrapped around her in a consoling hug. A waterbending soulmate she now knew the identity of.

“Thank you, Katara,” she mumbled to the presence. Katara’s soul presence seemed to stiffen in surprise at Suki’s side, and the Kyoshi Warrior managed a smile in amusement. “Yeah, I figured it out right away. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything while you were here.” She felt Katara’s presence rub her arm assuringly, showing that it was okay.

Suki felt another pair of arms wrap around her, a feather-light touch that she now realized matched the descriptions she had heard from the elders of what Airbender soulmates felt like. Then the third member of Team Avatar that she had just met placed his arm over her shoulder.

“Next time I see you guys, I promise I’ll tell you we’re soulmates,” Suki decided.

——

Suki could admit part of her decision to leave Kyoshi was due to her guilt about not telling her soulmates that she knew they were her soulmates. And part of it was an even deeper guilt about standing so firmly against what Mingxia was trying to say regarding Kyoshi Island’s isolation from the world. She understood now, and she too wanted to make a difference. As she spoke to the other Kyoshi Warriors about going out in the world to help, she felt both of her nonbending soulmates - who she now knew to be Sokka and Mingxia - encouraging her on this decision.

——

The Kyoshi Warriors ended up at Full Moon Bay, operating as security and helping refugees get to Ba Sing Se. It wasn’t exactly what Suki had in mind, but she was helping people affected by the war get to safety, so she couldn’t complain.

“Suki? Is that you?” a familiar voice called out.

“Mingxia!” Suki returned the greeting, just as surprised. “It’s so great to see you!”

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Mingxia pulled Suki into a hug, before grabbing her wrist to lead her somewhere. “Come on, there are some people I want you to meet.”

At Mingxia’s pace, it wasn’t long before they reached a group of four refugees. “Suki, meet Dandan, Fenfang, Peng, and my girlfriend, Meilin. They're my soulmates! Everyone, this is Suki, my Kyoshi Warrior sister,” she introduced.

Suki gave a wave of greeting to the group before focusing back on Mingxia. “Speaking of Soulmates,” she said, having a really hard time keeping a grin off her face as she reached into a pocket on her uniform. “You know how one of your marks is a Kyoshi Warrior fan?”

Mingxia’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Did you find out who it is?” she asked.

“Yep!” Suki replied, pulling a small knife out of her pocket and holding her other hand out in a clear offer to soulbond. “Want to see what I’ve been up to since you left?”

Chapter Text

Aang was already just a speck in the sky by the time Katara hopped on Appa and gave him a “yip yip!” She was still angry at the old fisherman who blamed AANG, a twelve-year-old BOY, for not stopping the war and disappearing for 100 years. But right now, her anger was mostly eclipsed by her worry for Aang. Worry about where he was running off to and what could happen to him if someone like Prince Zuko caught him alone, and worry about why Aang responded to the fisherman’s accusations the way he did and how much undeserved guilt Aang was holding onto because of it.

When the rain started, Katara briefly lost sight of Aang, but he had been flying towards a nearby mountain so she hoped that’s where he would’ve landed. Peeking into a cave, Katara relaxed slightly as she spotted the familiar yellow and orange of his clothes. He was kneeling on the floor of the cavern, back towards the opening and head hanging.

“I’m sorry for running away,” Aang apologized, voice quiet even as it echoed around the stone of the cave walls.

“It’s okay,” Katara assured him. “That fisherman was way out of line.”

“Actually, he wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Katara couldn’t believe that anything Aang could’ve done would warrant the harsh words and guilt that the fisherman hurled at the young Avatar.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Aang said, shaking his head. Katara knelt next to Aang, placing a hand on his shoulder, but before she could think of something to say, Aang spoke again. “But we could soulbond. I can show you what happened.” He avoided Katara’s gaze until he finished his suggestion, glancing quickly at her to gauge her reaction.

“I want to say yes, but I’m afraid that some of the things you’ll see in my past won’t exactly help you feel better,” Katara stated, her free hand instinctively going up to where her necklace should be, frowning at the reminder that it was currently in the clutches of the Fire Nation Prince.

Aang’s frown deepened. “You’ve… mentioned what happened to your mom,” he said, looking down at his hands as he began idly tracing patterns into the dust on the cave floor. “I know it won’t be easy, but I want you to know where my guilt is coming from. And I want to better understand you. And understand what it’s like to grow up during this war.” He looked up to Katara again, his eyes wide and open with sincerity.

Katara held Aang’s gaze for a moment before standing up. “I’ll make a fire, and grab Sokka’s knife,” she told him, glancing over to Appa as he walked into the cave for shelter from the rain. The bison plodded up to Aang and gave the young Airbender a comforting nudge with his snout as Katara climbed up to his saddle to grab supplies.

——

The fire Katara made was small, but she didn’t want to accidentally fill the cave with smoke. She knew that no matter how long she and Aang perceived their soulbond, it only took a few moments in the current physical world, not enough time to worry about the small fire burning out.

Satisfied with the size of the fire, Katara turned to face Aang, her crossed legs nearly touching his as she sat in front of him. Aang had already made a small cut in his palm with the knife and wiped the blade clean, now holding it out to Katara.

“Last chance to back out if you’ve changed your mind,” Katara warned Aang as she took the knife, putting the tip to her palm and slowly applying pressure.

Aang shook his head. “I want to soulbond with you,” he stated with all of the confidence that he’d been lacking since the encounter with the fisherman. He held out his hand as though for a friendly handshake (or a Water Tribe-style arm clasp, Katara noted).

Katara gave a slight wince as the knife broke skin, setting it aside to deal with later as she looked up at Aang. “Ready,” she told him with a firm nod, reaching to take his hand in hers, blood touching blood.

****

After a blinding flash of light, Katara found herself at what she could only assume was the Southern Air Temple. Structurally, it looked like the air temple they had visited at the start of their journey North with Aang, but it was, for lack of a better word, alive. Monks clad in orange and red were everywhere, flying bison dotted the sky around the temple, some with riders, while children ran around, giggling at whatever games they were playing.

One of those kids of course was Aang, Katara guessed he was somewhere around six years of age. Katara nearly didn’t recognize him so young and without his arrows. He seemed to be racing three other boys around his age towards the terrace Katara had found herself in. Aang had been lagging in third place, until he moved his arms in an airbending move she’d seen him do whenever he wanted to run even quicker than his legs would normally allow. Suddenly he zoomed out in front of the other boys, skidding to a halt once he nearly ran into the wall, and turned with a cheer of triumph.

“Yeah! I win!” He shouted as he watched the other boys also slow to stop at their designated finishing line.

“How did you DO that?” one of the other kids asked, sounding impressed.

“I just bent the air around me, taking the air in front of me and moving it around to my back to push,” Aang explained, illustrating the movement of the air with his hands.

“Where did you pick that up from?” An older monk asked Aang, walking up to the group of children. Katara recognized him from the statue Aang had pointed out outside the air temple, this had to be Monk Gyatso.

“Nowhere,” Aang replied with a shrug. He seemed a little apprehensive, like he didn’t know if he was about to be praised or scolded. “I just figured there had to be ways I could use airbending to make myself faster, and that seemed like a good way to do it.”

Gyatso stroked his beard, looking at his young pupil with an expression filled with pride. “Well, you just happened to figure out on your own a high-level airbending technique. I’m impressed, well done, Aang,” he praised.

Aang beamed at the praise from his mentor and the impressed exclamations from his peers. Katara smiled. Of course Aang was just as much of an airbending prodigy as he was waterbending. Spurred by her own pride (and perhaps a little leftover guilt from her behavior during the whole Waterbending Scroll incident), Katara reached out to give Aang a congratulatory shoulder squeeze. If it was even possible, Aang grinned wider at that, placing a hand on his own shoulder where Katara’s was.

——

There was a mishap when riding some hog-monkeys where Aang was thrown from its back and didn’t catch himself with airbending in time to avoid a painful-looking fall. That was when Katara realized that being a waterbender with a presence that’s cool to the touch was actually really helpful in soothing bumps and scrapes.

Katara also got to witness the moment Aang and Appa met at the Eastern Air Temple. She wasn’t sure why exactly Destiny deemed this moment important enough for her to see, but it was so cute that she was glad it was.

Overall, however, she didn’t see much of this period of Aang’s childhood, just a few bits here and there. It was clear to Katara he didn’t really need much from his soulmates at this stage. Everything was peaceful, Aang was progressing quickly in his airbending training, he was seeing the world and being a kid with Gyatso looking out for him and was making friends wherever he went.

——

“Aang, would you show the council the airbending move you came up with?” Monk Gyatso prompted.

Aang was a lot closer to his current age, though still without his tattoos. He was standing in the largest room in the temple that Katara’s seen so far, in front of a group of elderly monks, Gyatso kneeling next to them.

“You just form a ball of wind, like this,” Aang explained, doing a circular motion with his hands that Katara’s seen a dozen times. “Then you have to quickly hop on.” Again, Aang demonstrated, though he briefly wobbled before righting himself. “Then you can move and steer by shifting your weight!” Aang did a tiny circle, then a wider one, before jumping off and dismissing the ball of wind before he could lose control. “I call it the air scooter!”

Gyatso beamed with pride at Aang while the other elders looked impressed, a few clapping at the demonstration.

“Very impressive, young Aang,” the monk in the middle of the council of elders commented. “You have advanced through your training much faster than any airbender in recent memory. You’ve already surpassed all but our most advanced teachers. I’m sure the council can agree,” he glanced both left and right at the other elders, who all gave knowing nods. Katara could tell that the decision had been reached even before Aang’s demonstration. “That with the invention of a new Airbending form, you have demonstrated a level of mastery over the element that proves you are ready for your tattoos.”

Aang’s face lit up at the word “mastery,” but by the time the elder monk finished his statement, Aang just could not contain his excitement. “OH, YES!” he shouted, pumping his fist and literally jumping in joy. Katara glanced at the elders, and while Gyatso seemed faintly amused, the others looked less enthused about the new master acting so childish. Katara gave Aang a nudge to get him to reign it in. After a moment of confusion, Aang noticed the annoyed looks the monks were giving him. He cleared his throat and straightened his back, though Katara could tell he was practically vibrating with excitement still. “Sorry, I mean, thank you.” he said, bringing his fists together and bowing deeply. “It’s an honor to receive my tattoos. I will wear them proudly.”

——

The tattoo ceremony was beautiful. Just like everything else the Air Nomads did, it clearly had its foundation in ancient tradition, but that didn’t stop the monks from having some fun with it. Still, Katara found herself choked up with too much emotion to process when Aang pulled back his hood, finally looking like the young Avatar she knew. The happiness and pride of the moment tangled with the dread of what she knew must be coming soon.

——

Katara was confused to find herself in the middle of one of Aang’s lessons with Monk Gyatso. She hadn’t seen any of his official training sessions in her glimpses through Aang’s life so far, so it seemed strange to be shown one from one of his lessons post-mastery tattoos.

“Very good, Aang,” Gyatso said with a nod as Aang finished the complicated form. “Now, that move can also be effectively used mid-air, how would you adapt-” He abruptly cut himself off mid-sentence with a look of pain and panic as his right hand flew up to grip his opposite forearm. Katara recognized that look, she’d seen it on her dad years ago, the day her mom died. Suddenly it was clear why she was here. “We’ll pick this up later, Aang. I have something I must see to,” he explained, trying to sound composed, though his words were a bit rushed and he walked away with a bit too much haste to be casual.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Aang asked. He began to follow after Gyatso, so Katara reached out to grab his arm and stop him. Since she was not physically there, Aang could easily pull away from Katara to follow if he wanted, but the tug of her presence was enough to get him to pause.

“Something’s wrong, you don’t think I should follow him?” Aang asked into the air. Katara tightened her grip on his arm and gave him a little tug towards her to emphasize her point he should stay. “Do you know what’s wrong?” he asked.

Katara wished she could explain with words, but all she had was touch. Since Aang seemed to be staying put for now, Katara let go of his arm so she could poke the spot on Aang’s back just above his right hip, where she knew his soulmarks were. He reached his hand back to touch the same spot, realizing what she was getting at. “Soulmates?” he asked. “You think one of his soulmates was telling him something?”

Katara traced out a small X on Aang’s shoulder to tell him he was wrong. “Then what- Oh.” Aang visibly seemed to deflate at the realization and looked back in the direction Gyatso had disappeared to. Still standing behind him, Katara wrapped her arms around the small monk, both to offer comfort and to make sure Aang let Gyatso do what he needed in peace.

——

Again, Katara was caught off-guard by the next moment she found herself in. Everything seemed normal, Aang was his usual happy self, teaching some other kids how to do the Air Scooter. However, the lesson was cut short when the elders walked up to the group of kids.

“Aang, come with us. We need to speak with you,” Gyatso said, beckoning to his student.

Katara followed as Aang was led a short distance back to what Katara had gathered was the main council meeting room. As the elders took their places, Aang knelt on the floor in front of them. Katara sat beside Aang, not close enough that he could feel her, but still close enough she could reach out if she needed to.

“Aang, I’m sure you’ve wondered why we continue to train you even though you’ve achieved status as a master airbender,” one of the monks began.

“I just figured it was because I’m still a kid,” Aang commented with a shrug. “There’s not exactly any other kid masters.”

The monks exchanged glances, clearly surprised at the reply. “Well, regardless,” the elder continued. “It’s because you are the Avatar, and thus capable of much more than an average master.”

Aang looked shocked at the statement. “How do you know it's me?” he questioned.

A different monk spoke up. “We have known you were the Avatar for some time. Do you remember these?” he asked, airbending a rolled-up bundle towards Aang. As it opened, Katara was confused to see four toys. The monks continued, explaining the four Avatar relics. It made perfect sense to Katara, though she questioned if Aang was really listening while he played with the propeller toy.

“Normally we would have told you of your identity when you turned sixteen, but there are troubling signs. Storm clouds are gathering,” Gyatso stated. Katara winced at how accurate that statement was.

“I fear that war may be upon us, young Avatar,” another monk chimed in.

“We need you, Aang,” Gyatso stated. “We have a few things we need to do now. You can take the time you need here to process this new information. Whenever you’re ready, you’re free to meet back up with your friends.” The elders stood, each of them bowing to Aang as they passed to leave.

Katara sat there with Aang for a while as the young Avatar sorted through his feelings. As she reached over to wrap a comforting arm around his shoulders, she felt a few other invisible presences also reach out to comfort the young Avatar. She’d always wondered if soulmate presences could feel each other, and now she had her answer. Below her arm, she felt the firm presence of Bruiser wrapping their arm around Aang from his other side, and either her brother or Guardian accidentally bumped her arm as they gave Aang’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

Eventually, Aang stood up to head back out to his friends. Katara expected to be taken to the next moment of Aang’s life, so when she realized that wasn’t happening yet, she had to scramble back to her feet to follow Aang.

The other kids were still on the same terrace where Aang had left them, now zooming around on air scooters about as well as Aang did.

“Hey, not bad! You guys have been practicing!” Aang called out as he walked up to the group.

“Not only that! We made up a game you can play with the air scooters!” one of the kids exclaimed.

“Great!” Aang replied. He jumped on an air scooter to join in, though as he did, the others dismissed their own scooters. Aang frowned. “What's going on?”

“Now that you're the Avatar, it's kind of an unfair advantage for whichever team you're on.”

“So, what? I can't play?” Aang asked, and suddenly Katara realized Aang’s lie from when they first met about not being the Avatar made sense.

“Sorry, Aang,” the youngest of the kids apologized as Aang walked away, dejected.

“Aang? What’s wrong?” Gyatso asked, finding his young charge sulking.

“The other kids won’t play with me because I’m the Avatar. They said it would be unfair,” he explained.

Gyatso’s expression was one of sad understanding. “Well, come on, then,” he said, forcing cheer back into his voice. “You being the Avatar won’t stop me from kicking your butt at Pai Sho. What do you say to a few games?”

Aang perked up at this, smirking at Gyatso’s challenge. “You’re on! First one there gets the first move!” he said before racing off, Gyatso chuckling as he followed.

——

Katara was briefly panicked when she found herself on the sloped roof of one of the buildings. Aang was looking through a hole, spying on the meeting going on within, and Katara was just about to tug him back to get him to stop when she recognized Monk Gyatso’s voice coming from within the room.

“Aang needs to have freedom and fun. He needs to grow up as a normal boy,” Gyatso stated firmly. Katara couldn’t agree more, but she also knew the reality of what was to come. She didn’t know whether or not Aang should listen to this, but her own need to know swayed her to let Aang eavesdrop.

“Gyatso, I know you mean well, but you are letting your affection for the boy cloud your judgment,” one of the other elders stated. Katara frowned. She didn’t like where this was going.

“All I want is what is best for him,” Gyatso argued.

But what we need is what's best for the world. You and Aang must be separated! The Avatar will be sent away to the Eastern Air Temple to complete his training.”

Aang was shocked, but Katara was furious. Aang was the Avatar, sure, but he WAS still a kid! IS still a kid! No wonder Aang was upset. She watched him jump down from the roof, but as she was wondering if it was safe to do the same as a soul presence, she saw the flash of light that signaled another jump in time.

——

Rain was coming down, and Aang was out in it, coaxing Appa out of one of the bison stables. The bison groaned loudly in protest. Katara found herself already in Appa’s saddle.

“I know it’s late, but I need to leave,” Aang pleaded with the bison. “I can’t let them take me away from Gyatso. So I’ll leave for a little bit, and then come back and hopefully things will have blown over.”

Katara was torn. Obviously, she knows that Aang runs away. She knows that causes him to be frozen for 100 years, never seeing Gyatso or any of the air nomads again. And she knows that HAS to happen in order for Aang to be alive today to possibly end the war. But everything in her was screaming to try to convince Aang to stay, don’t go out in the dangerous storm that was only getting worse.

Apparently sensing Aang’s distress, Appa stepped out into the rain, letting Aang on with only a low grunt as further protest. “Yip-yip!” Aang called, and the bison took off.

Even though Katara couldn’t stop Aang from leaving, doing nothing in this situation was killing her, so she slid up to sit next to Aang on Appa’s head, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Waterbender,” Aang greeted, forcing a small smile at the contact. “I don’t exactly have a plan on where I’m going. Shall I try to visit you?”

Katara didn’t exactly have a way to answer that, so instead of trying to give him a yes or no, she wrapped her hands around Aang’s gripping the reins, gently tugging them to have Aang steer Appa South.

“I take it you’re in the Southern Water Tribe then? Let’s see if I can find you!”

——

Katara was surprised and a little relieved to not have to witness the moment Aang was frozen in the iceberg. Instead, she was in the metal hallway of a Fire Nation ship, Aang being led between two guards with his hands bound.

“I bet I could take you BOTH with my hands tied behind my back!” Aang taunted, before doing exactly that. Even though she has a better idea now just how powerful and quick-thinking Aang is, she was still impressed with how easily Aang was able to escape being held captive so soon after being freed from the iceberg.

****

Seeing as how Katara and Aang have been at each others’ sides nearly constantly since Aang’s escape from the Fire Nation ship, it made sense that the Spirits had nothing more to show her. With one more flash of light, Katara was back in her body, sitting on the floor of the cave with the storm outside raging on.

Chapter Text

Aang wasn’t quite sure when the initial flash of light faded, it took him a second to adjust to the brightness of the snow and the sea catching the sunlight. Once he could see, however, it took him a second to even recognize where he was. The village was larger than the one Katara and Sokka had brought him to once he was out of the iceberg - there was easily twice as many people, and the buildings were mostly igloos, though he did spot a few of the same style of tents that made up the village as he saw it.

A cry of “You cheated!” drew Aang’s attention from looking around the village to a pair of children playing in the snow near the village wall. Katara was pouting with her arms crossed over her chest, trying to look angry at her brother but just coming off as adorably disgruntled.

Sokka clearly couldn’t take his sister’s pout seriously, laughing at her. “No, I didn’t,” he managed between giggles.

“Yes you did!” Katara so eloquently argued in her young age, stomping a foot and moving her arms sharply down to her sides. The movement seemed to have triggered a small avalanche of snow to fall off the wall, burying Sokka. Katara gasped, her anger forgotten as she ran to help her brother out of the snow pile. However, one of the adults got there first, easily pulling Sokka out.

“I’m sorry, did- did I-” Katara stammered, looking between Sokka and the man who was making sure he’s okay.

“I’m fine, Dad, just a little surprised,” Sokka said to the man, waving off the help. “But what was that?”

Katara and Sokka’s dad seemed relieved, before glancing at Katara with a look of pride. “Well, it seems like our tribe has its own little waterbender,” he said, reaching over to pat Katara’s head through her hood.

“Wait, Katara? Really?” Sokka asked in disbelief while Katara beamed.

——

It didn’t seem like much time had passed between the last moment and this one. “Sokka! Dad’s back!” Katara exclaimed, rushing into the igloo to shake Sokka awake. “Maybe he found me a teacher!”

Sokka grumbled and slowly began getting up, but Katara apparently decided she didn’t want to wait and ran back outside. Aang followed her, knowing the news wasn’t going to be good.

Katara stopped next to a woman that Aang was fairly confident was their mom, she looked just like how he could imagine Katara looking as an adult. Next to her was Gran-Gran, with a couple less wrinkles on her face than when Aang had met her. Katara and Sokka’s father stepped off the small ship with a small crew following behind, looking tired but giving a smile when he spotted his family members waiting.

“How was the trip, Hakoda?” Katara’s mom asked as the dad pulled her into a hug in greeting.

“Did you find me a teacher?” Katara asked, hopeful.

Hakoda sighed and knelt down to be on Katara’s level, pulling her into a hug as well. “Unfortunately, none of the Southern tribes have any waterbenders,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “The Fire Nation were thorough in their raids.”

“I won’t get to be a proper waterbender?” Katara asked, tears welling in her eyes.

“You’ll just have to figure out on your own what you can do until it’s safe enough to make the journey to the Northern Water Tribe,” Hakoda assured Katara, wiping away a tear that fell.

“I might be able to give you a starting point,” Gran-Gran told Katara with a kind smile. “I’ve watched waterbenders learn and train. It won’t be anything like having a real teacher, though.”

“Can we try now?” Katara asked, eyes wide and pleading.

Gran-Gran led Katara over to the water just outside of the village walls, giving the tiny waterbender the same first lesson in pushing and pulling the water that Katara had given Aang. Aang observed for a moment, watching as Katara got frustrated when the water didn’t move. No wonder Katara got upset when Aang picked it up easily. He realized Katara wasn’t moving her wrists properly, so he walked over, standing behind the tiny waterbender and grabbing her hands in his to guide them. Katara gasped, though she followed the invisible guidance.

“Katara, what is it?” Gran-Gran asked in concern.

“It feels like something’s guiding me? I think one of my soulmates is helping!” Katara said, excited at the realization. Gran-Gran smiled, and Katara tried again to push and pull the water, following Aang’s guidance. It still took a few moments, but soon the water began moving back and forth, against the tide but with Katara’s waterbending. “I’m doing it!” Katara exclaimed.

——

Aang guessed it was only a year or two after Katara discovered she was a waterbender, and she and Sokka were once again playing in the snow. Aang was about to jump in to help Katara win against Sokka when the falling snow began turning black. Everything halted for a moment, and then there was a flurry of activity. Men running around, gathering weapons and making sure the women and children were inside and safe.

“I’m going to find mom,” Katara told Sokka before running off. Aang ran after her, feeling dread as he guessed what was about to happen.

“Mom!” Katara shouted as she ran into an igloo, freezing as she saw a Fire Nation man standing over her mother.

“Just let her go,” Katara’s mother said, trying to bring the Fire Nation man’s attention back to her. “And I’ll give you the information you want.”

Aang panicked. Katara couldn’t be here. He grabbed Katara’s right hand and tried to pull her towards the door back out of the igloo. But being incorporeal in a soulbond, he couldn’t actually make Katara move. He could only make her feel a tug and it was up to her to listen.

“You heard your mother. Get out of here!” the Fire Nation man shouted.

“Katara, please! Run!” Aang pleaded, even though he knew Katara couldn’t hear him.

“Mom, I’m scared,” Katara said, still rooted to the spot in her fear.

“Go find your dad, Sweetie. I’ll handle this,” Katara’s mother urged. Katara stared up at the man for a moment that felt like ages before she finally turned and ran.

Aang kept hold of Katara’s hand as they ran, and he scanned the fight for Hakoda. He guessed he wasn’t the only soulmate of Katara’s guiding her, as Katara changed direction in her running slightly, even though it was clear she hadn’t spotted her dad yet. But Aang finally did spot him, so he could help bring Katara straight to him.

“Dad!” Katara shouted once she saw him, getting Hakoda’s attention as he shoved a Fire Nation soldier into a snowbank. “I think mom’s in trouble! There’s a m-”

Katara let out a little gasp as Hakoda winced, letting out a groan of pain as he brought a hand up to the base of his neck. “Kya!” he gasped, and Aang knew exactly what that meant. Gyatso had described the pain of losing a soulmate as feeling like a stab through the soulmark as it fades to gray.

Hakoda ran towards the igloo, and Katara ran after him.

“No, wait, you don’t-” Aang said in a rush, briefly forgetting that Katara would be unable to hear him. He tried to plant himself in Katara’s way, but she just rushed right through, seemingly not even registering the fact that a soulmate was trying to stop her. Maybe their shared earthbending soulmate should’ve tried to stop her instead, though Katara seemed determined to enter the igloo behind her father no matter what.

Aang decided he had to see for himself. He knew all too well the feeling of seeing a loved one dead by the hands of the Fire Nation, so he had to be there for Katara. The Fire Nation man was gone, and Aang was relieved to see that Hakoda had already covered what had remained of Kya. It still wasn’t a pleasant sight or especially smell in the igloo, and Aang was glad when Bato came in to take the crying Katara into his own home.

Sokka was already there, and acting on his big brotherly instincts, he pulled Katara into a hug even though his confusion was clear on his face. Aang knelt down behind them so he could also wrap his arms around Katara’s shaking form. He felt the presence of three other soulmates all doing the same, all presences that Aang also knew well.

“Katara, what’s- The Fire Nation left, what’s wrong?” Sokka asked. “Bato wouldn’t let me go home.”

“It’s- it’s mom. She’s-” Katara broke down into sobs before she could finish. Aang hugged Katara tighter, wishing he could protect her from what she just had to go through.

“Gone,” Bato finished Katara’s sentence for her.

——

Destiny seemed to know that Aang’s strength was in having fun and being playful. After Katara had some time to grieve her mother, it seemed to be Aang’s job to try to ease her back into being a child again. He spent a lot of time in this time of Katara’s life playing with her, making her laugh again, and getting her to play with Sokka. Occasionally, Aang was able to give Katara ideas for things she could do with her waterbending, whether it was tripping Sokka up by pushing the snow at his feet, or bringing something accidentally dropped into the water back closer to her so it could be retrieved.

——

Katara, Sokka, Hakoda, and Gran-Gran all sat in their home, and Aang had a feeling that this was a moment to just observe.

“So, I spoke with the chiefs of the other villages, and we’ve decided we can’t just sit out this war anymore,” Hakota stated, looking at his family. “In a week, we’ll be taking the men up to the Earth Kingdom to help them fight back against the Fire Nation.”

“What?!” Sokka exclaimed.

“You can’t go!” Katara protested at the same time as Sokka spoke. Aang thought he heard a hint of fear in her voice, and reached out to place a calming hand on her shoulder.

“The Fire Nation is getting too close to victory. Anything that can be done to slow them down, or hopefully even stop them, is worth it,” Gran-Gran told Hakoda, placing a hand on his arm in support as he spoke. “We can manage on our own until you can come back.”

“After you leave, how long will it be before we see you again?” Katara asked.

Hakoda sighed, clearly dreading this part. “I don’t know, Katara,” he said. “There’s no definite plan on when we’ll be coming back. Likely when we either stop being needed or effective.”

Aang didn’t miss the look Gran-Gran shot Hakoda at that moment, one of pleading and fear that whatever worst-case-scenario she took from his words wouldn’t happen. But she remained quiet, Looking to Katara and Sokka who were still processing the information.

Hakoda leaned closer to his kids, placing a hand on a shoulder each. “That means I need the two of you to look after this tribe while I’m gone. Katara, keep the tribe running. As long as the Southern Water Tribe exists, there’s hope for us. Don’t lose sight of that. Sokka, you’re going to be the man of the tribe. It’s your job to keep everyone safe and protected. We’re counting on you guys to keep everything together.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Katara said, teary-eyed. Sokka gave a nod in agreement, probably not trusting himself to speak at the moment.

“I know, I’m going to miss you both so much,” Hakoda said. Aang dropped his hand from Katara’s shoulder as their father pulled both Katara and Sokka into a big hug.

——

It was harder to get Katara to loosen up and be a kid after the men left. Aang felt like he could SEE the layers of responsibility getting piled onto Katara, a little bit when her mom was killed, then even more after her dad left. Katara was STILL a kid, the same age as Aang is now, but she felt so much older. Aang realized in his few glimpses at this time in Katara’s life that there was a reason he spent so much more time playing with Katara in the years between her mom’s death and her dad’s leaving. It was the last time Katara was able to really feel like a kid without all the responsibilities that were placed on her or she otherwise ended up picking up, and she deserved to make the most of it.

——

Aang found himself with both Katara and Sokka some ways away from the village, the wooden remains of a boat that had been smashed floating in the water next to the chunk of ice that the siblings ended up on. They were arguing, something about Sokka’s steering skills and how Katara should’ve used her waterbending, but Aang wasn’t paying attention, trying to get his bearings in case he had to help guide the two of them back home. This area almost looked familiar, but most icebergs looked alike and often changed shape as they melted and became refrozen.

Apparently something Sokka said enraged Katara, her raised voice drawing Aang’s attention back to her. “You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained... I'm embarrassed to be related to you!” Katara shouted. As she waved her hands in her anger, she was unintentionally bending the water behind her. Aang knew that bending could be triggered by emotion, but he was in awe at the power that seemed to come out of Katara in her anger. Aang startled as an iceberg behind Katara began to crack. “Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!” The ice cracked again.

“Uh, Katara,” Sokka tried to get her attention. Aang realized he should probably stop just watching her frightening bending and actually do something before Katara accidentally brought a bunch of ice down on the both of them, or break up the ice they were floating on, or anything else that would put them in peril.

“I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, not pleasant!” Katara continued, creating new cracks in the ice. Aang jumped towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders to try to calm her down.

“Katara, settle down!” Sokka pleaded, which unfortunately worked against Aang’s efforts in calming Katara, angering her even more.

“NO! That’s it, I’m done helping you. From now on, you’re ON YOUR OWN!” Katara shouted, still moving her arms and inadvertently bending the water even more violently. This split the iceberg in half, finally snapping Katara out of her anger enough that Aang and Sokka were able to turn her attention to the iceberg falling into the water, thankfully giving the siblings enough time to brace for the wave it created.

“Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara,” Sokka said, and Aang wished he could give Sokka a disapproving nudge at that comment. He hoped one of Sokka’s soulmates, maybe Aang himself in a soulbond with Sokka, let him know that he was being a bit too harsh there.

As Aang was wondering what the next step would be, the water where the iceberg had been began to glow and bubble. The glow spread and became brighter and brighter, until a massive, round mass of ice broke the surface, glowing a bright blue. Aang gasped once he realized what this was, just a moment before the two figures frozen in the iceberg became noticeable. Aang gave Katara a gentle push towards the massive iceberg, encouraging her to go closer.

In the iceberg, Aang opened his eyes, revealing a glow that matched that of his arrow tattoos. “He's alive!” Katara gasped. “We have to help!” Aang went to push her again towards the iceberg, but Katara was already grabbing Sokka’s club and rushing towards the frozen mass.

It was weird to see himself from outside of his body, and to experience a memory from a different angle. Thankfully, as soon as the Aang in Katara’s arms opened his eyes, the soulbond presence of Aang was pulled away in a flash of light.

——

Seeing as how he and Katara had been nearly inseparable since, Aang had expected to find himself sitting in a cave hand clasped in Katara’s when the light faded. However, he first found himself on Kyoshi Island in the aftermath of the argument he’d had with Katara about him riding the Unagi. Aang pushed Katara towards the door until her worry was stronger than her anger and she went to make sure Aang was safe. After that, Aang was brought to the Fire Nation prison rig in order to watch Katara’s first speech to the broken-down earthbenders, finally able to fully see the inspiring effect she had on the people when she wouldn’t give up on them.

****

Aang blinked as he got used to the darkness of the cave once again, soon able to see Katara sitting across from him doing the same. As soon as they both got their bearings, Aang launched himself at Katara, pulling her into a hug, which she readily returned.

“I’m so sorry, Katara,” Aang said, burying his face in her shoulder, feeling tears start to prick at his eyes.

“Aang, I know, it’s okay,” Katara soothed, bringing a hand up to gently cradle the back of his head.

“No, the fisherman was right,” Aang said, shaking his head. “My people needed me. The world needed me, and I wasn’t there to help. And the world suffered for it.”

“Yes, you ran away, but you’re being too hard on yourself,” Katara said gently, pulling out of the hug and holding Aang at arm’s length to look into his watery gray eyes. “But it’s clear it was meant to be this way. If you stayed, you would’ve been killed along with the other airbenders. But you being here, now, you give people hope. The world needs you now, and you’ll have the chance to become the wonderful Avatar I know you’ll grow to be.” She offered an encouraging smile, which Aang returned after a quick sniffle.

Before they could say anything more about their soulbond, the fisherman’s wife ran into the cave, frantic for help as her husband and Sokka hadn’t yet returned in the storm.

Chapter Text

A quick tap on Zuko’s shoulder warned him that the guards were about to check under the carriage he was using to sneak in, signaling him to go up to hide inside. He couldn’t tell if the soulmate helping him out was the one he’d nicknamed Brother or Guard, the two of them were often hard to tell apart. Their hands were similarly calloused, though Guard’s were smaller, but the difference in size wasn’t noticeable enough to tell with a quick tap. Either way, he climbed into the cart just in time to avoid detection, and he gave a small nod of thanks to his soulmate.

This wasn’t Zuko’s first time breaking into Pouhai, but it was so much easier while he had his soulmates helping him out. A couple of them had helped him the first time, almost a year into Zuko’s banishment, but they rarely had since, until this mission. Apparently they wanted the Avatar out of Zhao’s clutches as much as Zuko did, which made sense. Zuko was meant to capture the Avatar, not Zhao. Of course his soulmates would be helping him restore his honor.

However, once he got inside, the touch guiding him changed. He was surprised to feel Feather’s feather-light touch pulling him through the halls, hopefully guiding him to his target. Feather usually didn’t help with Zuko’s Blue Spirit activities. It was usually some combination of Guard, Brother, and Noble if any of them.

Feather suddenly stopped, their hand dropping Zuko’s wrist and coming up to his chest to stop him right as the hallway came to a T. Zuko bit back a noise of annoyance, why were they stopping now? He slowly peeked around the corner, spotting four guards outside of a door. That must be where the Avatar was being kept. He ducked back out of sight before any of them happened to look his way.

As Zuko tried to come up with a plan to deal with the guards, he felt the sharp tug of Noble’s hand on his shoulder, their well-manicured nails felt like they were digging into his skin as they tried to yank him around. As Zuko spun around, he spotted a guard just stepping out of a door into the hall he stood in.

The Blue Spirit acted quickly, charging in on silent feet to close the distance before the guard even registered his presence (those masked helmets really did no favors for peripheral vision). With a couple swift strokes of his swords, the guard was down and Zuko held his helmet in his hands, an idea forming on how to bait the guards over to take out a couple at a time.

It wasn’t long before Zuko found himself in front of the door that held his prize. As he slipped in, he took stock of the room. Only one way out - the door he just entered through - and the Avatar was chained in the middle of the room, unhurt but afraid. The young Avatar started screaming as Zuko rushed forward, and Zuko wished he could just tell the boy to be quiet but he couldn’t risk his voice being recognized.

Zuko made quick work of the chains, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the Avatar stopped screaming, his fear now replaced by confusion and curiosity.

“Who are you? What's going on? Are you here to rescue me?” the Avatar asked. Zuko ignored the rapid-fire questions, turning to head back out the door.

“Wait! Before we go back out there, I have to ask… your swords look like one of my soulmarks. Do you happen to have a blue arrow soulmark?” The Avatar pointed at the arrow on his forehead as if it wasn’t obvious what he meant.

Zuko almost laughed at the question. Obviously the Avatar had no idea who he was talking to, the idea that the Avatar and the Prince of the Fire Nation might be soulmates was ridiculous. He was saving the Avatar from Zhao, sure, but only to capture him himself.

Of course, the only way the Blue Spirit could respond to the Avatar’s question was a shake of his head, the mask’s stoic grin revealing nothing.

The Avatar’s shoulders drooped and he looked down in disappointment, but something else apparently caught the boy’s attention. “Wait, the frogs!” he exclaimed, but they’ve waited around too long already. Zuko grabbed the Avatar’s collar to pull him away, refusing to get distracted wondering why the Avatar apparently needed frogs for his friends to suck on.

Zuko was impressed at how well he and the Avatar worked together as they escaped Pouhai. He didn’t need his soulmates watching his back when the Avatar did it so naturally. He knew the Avatar was skilled, so he shouldn’t be so surprised, but he was still a child and it showed.

Zuko had the Avatar where he wanted him, out of Pouhai and under his control, when the world went black.

The first thing Zuko noticed when he came to was the cooling hand of the soulmate presence he had nicknamed Snowflake, laid on his forehead to soothe his splitting headache. The second thing he noticed was the Avatar, sitting nearby, talking.

“You know, one of my soulmates is a firebender,” the Avatar was saying. Zuko slowly opened his eyes, startled to see daylight filtering through the trees, and his mask laying on the ground next to him. The Avatar wasn’t even looking at him, staring off into the distance. “Before the war, I used to always visit my friend, Kuzon. He was a firebender, from the Fire Nation, just like you. I thought he might be my firebending soulmate, but he wasn’t.” The Avatar looked at Zuko then, and the prince couldn’t take the open sincerity of the child’s gaze. “I still feel the firebender’s presence, so I know there’s at least one person still out there from the Fire Nation who I’ll be friends with. Do you think… if our circumstances were different, we could be friends?”

Zuko had heard enough. He sprung up and shot a fireball at the Avatar, startling the young monk into running away. He knew that was foolish, even without Punchy giving him one of their usual “You’re being stupid” punches to his shoulder. He let the Avatar get away, but at least Zhao wouldn’t get the glory and take away Zuko’s one chance at going home.

****

As Aang gathered a new batch of frozen frogs and made his way back to the cave he had left Katara and Sokka in, he couldn’t stop thinking about Prince Zuko. He couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to their destiny than just as enemies on opposite sides of the war.

Could it be possible that Prince Zuko was actually their soulmate? The more Aang considered it, however, the less likely it seemed. If Zuko was in fact the one represented by the dual swords, he’d have to know they were his soulmates. If the blue arrow wasn’t obvious enough, he still had in his possession Katara’s necklace, which had the same design as the soulmark that represented her. Either he’d have to know and was actively acting against his soulmates… or he just wasn’t their soulmate at all.

Zuko certainly isn’t the only person in the world who wields the dual Dao, and there could be any number of firebenders not loyal to the Fire Nation’s leadership that they could potentially befriend at some point.

But on the other hand, it almost felt natural fighting alongside Zuko as they made their escape out of Pouhai, not to mention the incredible risk Zuko took to even rescue Aang from Zhao’s clutches. There was certainly more to the Fire Prince than just anger, shouting about his honor and capturing the Avatar. Could it be possible that he was in fact their soulmate, and somehow didn’t know, or could be swayed to their side?

Aang was moving on autopilot as his thoughts swirled around the events of last night and that morning, he almost didn’t register when he got back to the cave.

“So, did you make any new friends?” Sokka asked around his mouthful of frozen frog.

“No, I don’t think I did,” Aang replied with a sigh.

Chapter Text

Bato hated being left behind. He had to stay and heal, of course, and the rest of the Water Tribe men had their mission. It couldn’t be helped. At least Hakoda’s soulbond presence was there, keeping him company for most of his recovery as a constant reminder that they WILL be reunited, this was just temporary.

The Water Tribe warrior decided he couldn’t sleep, and went out for a walk. “I think I’m about as fully recovered as I’m going to get,” Bato commented, flexing the fingers on his burnt side. “How much longer until I can leave?” He knew he was whining, but he felt like he had every right to complain to his friend who wasn’t even physically there.

Soon, Hakoda tapped his response on Bato’s arm. The two of them, plus Kya, had developed their own code for communicating while in their soulbonds. It wasn’t perfect, but it was nice to be able to communicate in at least simple terms.

“Couldn’t you just tell me where you are now and save me the trouble?” Bato asked.

Hakoda’s tapped response indicated it was too complicated to communicate through their code. Bato sighed. “When we meet back up, we’re expanding our code to include a way to give detailed directions.”

Yes, Hakoda agreed. Bato couldn’t tell if he sincerely thought they should, or if he was just playing along. Wait! Look! Hakoda drew Bato’s attention towards the beach, where there was a dim glow and smoke from a fire that certainly wasn’t there before. Bato frowned and began to sneak towards the campers.

Bato wasn’t sure what he expected. Maybe some Earth Kingdom refugees or Fire Nation scouts. But he certainly was not expecting a very-familiar teenage Water Tribe boy, on his feet with his boomerang in hand, having heard Bato’s approach.

“Sokka?” Bato called, disbelieving.

“Bato?” Sokka answered back, just as surprised. Bato felt Hakoda’s hand gripping his shoulder, his own excitement obvious through their soulbond.

The commotion woke the other two children, Katara instantly springing up when she realized who it was, while the bald boy just hung back, confused.

“Bato!” Katara greeted, and soon enough Bato found himself in a hug with his best friend’s children. He felt Hakoda also join the hug, even though Bato was the only one who could feel his presence.

“Sokka! Katara! It’s so good to see you two. You’ve grown so much!” Bato said, almost wondering if he would be waking up any moment back at the abbey by himself. He stepped back to get another good look at Hakoda’s kids.

“Where’s dad?” Sokka asked, his eyes darting around for a sign of the chief.

“Is he here?” Katara added.

“No, not physically at least. He and the other warriors should be in the Eastern Earth Kingdom by now.” Bato replied, his own heart sinking at the disappointment on the siblings’ faces. “But even though you can’t feel him, his soulbond presence is here. He misses you so much, he’s probably still trying to hug you.”

Bato felt a playful punch coming roughly from the direction of the siblings. Bato grinned at the confirmation he was right.

Bato led the kids back to his tent, where he was formally introduced to the bald kid - Aang, who was apparently the AVATAR? This piece of information certainly didn’t help Bato’s fear that this was all just a dream.

——

When the three kids were still around by the next morning, Bato was more convinced about the reality that Sokka and Katara were HERE and traveling with the AVATAR.

“What’s ice dodging?” Aang asked curiously when the topic came up.

“It’s a rite of passage for young Water Tribe members,” Bato explained. “When you turn fourteen, your dad takes you-” He was cut off by an encouraging bump on the back of his shoulder. He smiled. “You know what? You’re about to find out.”

Sokka’s face lit up, but then his smile faltered a little. “But what about Dad? Wouldn’t he want to be the one taking me?”

“He is. He’s here, remember? Through me,” Bato replied, a smirk pulling at his lips. “And him being incorporeal means he won’t be able to step in and cheat for you if it starts to look rough. You pass or fail on your own. I’ll be there, of course, if it gets dangerous. But you know how your dad can be.”

The ice dodging went well, REMARKABLY well. Sokka showed so much ingenuity and quick thinking with his sister’s and friend’s unique skills to get the boat out of a tight spot that Bato wasn’t even sure he could’ve gotten out of. Bato was proud, but he knew that Hakoda was absolutely beaming with pride. Bato felt Hakoda going through the motions with him as he gave Sokka, Katara, then Aang their marks for a job well done.

But then the young Avatar admitted to keeping information about Hakoda’s whereabouts secret, which understandably upset Katara and Sokka. Hakoda gripped Bato’s arm in a flash of anger himself before calming. Aang was just a kid, afraid of being separated from his friends like how Bato was separated from his tribe.

Bato wasn’t surprised when Sokka and Katara asked to join him to go see their dad instead of continuing with the Avatar. He also wasn’t surprised when they changed their minds and headed back to Aang after a moment for some rational thought.

“I’m so glad we’re both able to see how Katara and Sokka are doing,” Bato commented, watching Sokka and Katara disappear back down the path. He felt Hakota pat his back in agreement. “Hard to believe how much they’ve grown up in just two years.”

*****

The fight against Zuko and the mole creature went very well, despite how it started, thanks to Sokka’s quick thinking (not that Katara would admit it). They all escaped on Appa without too much injury, and most of the damage being to the perfume barrels. Aang even got Katara’s necklace back!

But Sokka still wasn’t quite over what Aang did, and Katara could tell that Aang’s remorse wasn’t quite enough. Sokka needed to understand all the friends and family that Aang lost, why he was so scared of losing the two friends he had now.

“Let me steer Appa for a bit,” Katara offered. “I feel like the two of you are due for a soulbond.”

Aang perked up at the idea. “Sure! Sokka?” he asked, airbending himself back into the saddle while Katara maneuvered to Appa’s head. However, instead of taking the reins, she knelt, facing into the saddle to watch.

“I suppose now’s as good a time as any,” Sokka said with a half shrug, pulling out his knife and making a small cut in his palm before handing the knife to Aang. The airbender wiped the blade before making a cut of his own, in the same spot he had when he soulbonded with Katara.

Katara watched as Aang and Sokka clasped hands, a flash of light shining from the touch. They both seemed to be in a trance, staring at the light, motionless for a few moments. Until suddenly they moved again, shaking their heads and blinking as they re-oriented themselves. Once the initial adjustment passed, all the lingering anger and remorse was gone, forgotten with all the time Aang and Sokka just spent with each other in the past.

Well, it wasn’t all peaceful when they came back to the present. “Okay, WHY did you think I was a girl?!” Aang asked Sokka, exasperation in his tone.

“Your touches were so light and dainty!” Sokka defended himself. Katara put a hand up over her mouth to stifle her giggles.

Chapter Text

The Northern Water Tribe city of Agna Qel’a was stunning. Overwhelming, in the same way that Omashu was. To think that a city this size could be built from ice and snow when all the Southern Water Tribe had was tents and simple igloos.

Sokka was still taking in the city when his eyes fell on her. The most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen, striking white hair, piercing blue eyes, and a gentle expression as she looked steadily forward, seemingly not even noticing the giant bison swimming through the canal.

Something drew Sokka to her. It could’ve just been her looks, but Sokka felt there was something deeper there. He didn’t put much thought towards the spirits and vague “magic” stuff, but Sokka could’ve sworn something other than his teenage boy hormones was pulling him to her.

——-

The group met with Chief Arnook, were shown to some temporary lodgings, found a place for Appa, and were told about a large feast for the entire tribe where they were going to be guests of honor. And all throughout their tour of the central part of the city, part of Sokka’s attention was on scanning the crowd for that beautiful girl with white hair.

——-

“Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe,” Chief Arnook announced to the crowd gathered for the feast. Sokka was grinning, he certainly felt important. “And they have brought with them, someone very special, someone whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now ... the Avatar!”

Arnook paused for the applause from the crowd before continuing, “We also celebrate my daughter's sixteenth birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age!”

Sokka glanced over, his heart skipping a beat once he saw that Arnook’s daughter, this Princess Yue, was the white-haired girl that had captured Sokka’s attention when they first arrived.

“Thank you, Father,” Yue said, her voice just as beautiful as her looks. “May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times!”

Everything else faded as Sokka realized she was heading for the spot next to him at the table. As she sat down next to him, his eyes darted up, glancing at the emblem adorning her hair at the top of her head.

Things started clicking in Sokka’s mind. Without thinking about it, he brought his right hand over to rub over his left arm where his soulmarks were hidden under his wrappings and coat sleeve. Either Yue was his crescent moon soulmate, or Katara’s constant attempts to justify her crushes as soulmates was rubbing off on him. He hoped it was the former.

Sokka realized he was silently staring at Yue for a moment too long and rushed to save face. “Hi there. Sokka, Southern Water Tribe,” he greeted, giving a smile but inwardly cringing at how awkward he was being.

Yue, however, seemed to take it in stride, giving Sokka a gentle smile and small bow. “Very nice to meet you,” she said in turn.

Sokka’s mind was racing. He wanted to make a good impression and he was failing so far. If she really was one of his soulmates, he certainly didn’t want to disappoint her. But what do you even say to a princess?

A nudge on the back of his shoulder from his nonbender soulmate spurred him to spit something - anything - out.

“So… uh, you’re a princess, huh?” Sokka stammered. Still, Yue seemed unbothered by how awkward he was being and gave a polite smile and nod. One of the soulmates, meanwhile, seemed less than impressed and showed that fact through a playful flick on the back of his head. Still, Sokka felt encouraged to continue. “You know, back in my tribe, I'm kind of like a prince myself.”

“Ha! Prince of what?” Katara very rudely butted in.

“A lot of things!” Sokka defended himself. Hey, he was also the child of a chief, that made him the Prince of the Southern Water Tribe, right? “Do you mind? I’m trying to have a conversation here.”

Katara rolled her eyes. “My apologies, Prince Sokka,” she mockingly shot back. Whatever, as long as she’d stop trying to ruin things with Princess Yue.

Sokka turned his focus back solely on Yue. “So, it looks like I'm going to be in town for a while,” he started casually and not at all awkwardly. “I'm thinking... maybe we could... do an activity together?”

Yue giggled, and Sokka could feel the heat rising to his face. He’s ruined the conversation tonight, he may not recover. To keep himself from talking and making it even worse, Sokka decided now would be a great time to stuff his face with the food offered in the feast.

——-

“I think Yue might be my crescent moon soulmark,” Sokka told Katara and Aang once in their lodgings after the feast.

Aang’s expression lit up in excitement while Katara turned to him with a skeptical look.

“Oh so you shot down Haru and Jet as potential soulmates when I suggested them, but now that you’re smitten with a pretty princess, suddenly she might be your soulmate?” Katara said.

“This is completely different, Karara!” Sokka defended himself. “Your only argument for Haru was that he’s an earthbender, and your argument for Jet was that he dual wields, despite the fact he uses the wrong kind of swords!”

“So why do you think it’s Yue?” Aang cut in before the siblings could get carried away arguing.

“Well, first of all, her name. It literally means ‘moon,’” Sokka pointed out. “Secondly, the emblem on her hair tie has a crescent moon on it just like my mark.”

“And her hair is white! Just like the soulmark,” Aang chimed in, looking excited to contribute another connection.

“So’s the moon itself, but sure, that might also be part of it,” Sokka agreed with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Well, if she really is your soulmate, it should be easy to confirm it,” Katara said. “See if she has any kind of reaction to your boomerang.”

“First I’ll have to make sure she even wants to see me again after the disaster I was tonight,” Sokka said, flopping back onto his bedroll.

——-

Sokka managed to find Yue again the next morning, successfully got her to agree to meet him again later for an activity, then promptly fell into the icy water of the canal. Once he climbed back out, he didn’t even mind either the cold or his firebender soulmate trying to warm him up. He was too excited for that night.

——-

Part of Sokka’s mind wondered if Yue would actually be on the bridge. What if she decided to back out? What if she just wanted to get rid of him? What if…

All doubts went away as soon as he saw her hair glowing in the moonlight as she stood on the bridge. Sokka smiled, picking up his pace slightly, his hand in his pocket as he held onto the carved trinket he’d made that day. It was tradition to give carved gifts to potential soulmates, and even if he was wrong about her being his soulmate, it could still be a gift to show respect. He had considered incorporating a boomerang into its design, but that proved to be just slightly too difficult.

Yue spotted him approaching and gave a warm smile. “‘Evening, Sokka,” she greeted as Sokka stepped onto the bridge.

“Hi, Princess Yue,” Sokka greeted, suddenly feeling nervous. WAS Yue his soulmate? Would she like the carving? Would it be too much?

“So, did you have anything in mind for this ‘activity’?” she asked, lips pulled into a small cheeky smile.

Sokka’s mind blanked. He had no idea what to suggest. But, he did have one thing. He decided it was worth the potential awkwardness of his plan going wrong to avoid staring at Yue blankly failing to think of something else.

“I wanted to give you this, actually. I carved it myself for you.” He pulled the small carving out of his pocket, presenting it to Yue in his gloved hand.

Sokka tried to read the princess’s expression, but it was carefully neutral as she looked at the carving.

“It’s a bear?” she asked, clearly confused.

“Actually it’s supposed to be a fish. See, it has a fin,” Sokka explained, pointing to the small nub sticking off part of the carving.

Yue seemed a little confused, or conflicted. She wasn’t taking the carving. Sokka’s already-low confidence in this idea was quickly falling farther.

“Sokka, you know gifting carvings has meaning in our culture, right? What kind of gift is this?” she finally asked, searching Sokka’s face curiously.

Sokka frowned. Of course he knew the significance of carvings, the Southern Water Tribe still had traditions. “I’m… wondering if you might be one of my soulmates,” he admitted, voice quiet as if he was worried about anyone listening in. Yue’s eyes widened slightly but didn’t open her mouth to speak, so Sokka continued. “The symbol that represents me is a boomerang, blue and white.

Yue took a small step back, shaking her head. Sokka frowned - had he done something wrong?

“I’m sorry, I made a mistake,” she said, voice wavering. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come here.” She turned and ran, leaving Sokka stunned and heartbroken on the bridge.

He made a mistake, and he’d ruined his chances with Yue. With an angry wordless yell, he chucked the carving onto the canal. He felt the supportive hand of one of his soulmates patting him on the back of his shoulder.

——-

Sokka tried to move on from Yue’s clear rejection. Warrior training helped to take his mind off of her for a while, but it just kept wandering back to her. Could he have done anything differently? Or was she always going to reject him because of their difference in status?

The one thing that managed to fully take Sokka’s attention from Yue, despite the princess being right there in the room with them, was Katara shouting at (and CHALLENGING?!) a waterbending master. Katara was crazy, she was going to get herself hurt, and there was nothing he or Aang or apparently any of her soulmates could do to stop Katara’s rage.

Despite his worry, Sokka was impressed - his baby sister was holding her own against a master! She ultimately lost, of course, but Katara was unhurt, which was the main thing Sokka was concerned about.

And then Master Poophead (what was his actual name again? Pakku? That might be it) spotted Katara’s necklace.

Sokka never knew that Gran-Gran was from the Northern Water Tribe, much less that she was arranged to be married to this jerk.

“Gran-Gran wouldn't let your tribe's stupid customs run her life,” Katara concluded. “That's why she left. It must have taken a lot of courage.”

Sokka heard a noise to his right, and looked to see tears streaming down Yue’s face, a gloved hand covering her mouth as she choked back sobs. Before Sokka could react, however, Yue ran off.

“Go get her,” Aang encouraged him as one of his soulmates shoved him forward.

The sun was setting by the time he caught up with Yue on the same bridge they’d met on the previous night.

“What do you want from me?” Yue asked without turning around, her voice wavering as she spoke.

Sokka frowned. “Nothing,” he answered. “I just want you to know, I think you're beautiful. And I never thought a girl like you would even notice a guy like me.”

Yue turned around and shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

No, I think I do understand,” he stated, rubbing his left arm with his right hand in a nervous fidget. “You’re a princess and I’m… I’m just a Southern peasant. And… I’m sorry if I overstepped with the whole soulmate thing.”

“No, Sokka,” Yue pleaded, stepping closer.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything. I was wrong, I just thought-”

Sokka was cut off mid thought by Yue pressing her lips to his. Sokka let out an undignified surprised noise from the back of his throat as he froze in surprise. His brain took a second to catch up to the fact YUE WAS KISSING HIM before he finally realized he should probably kiss her back.

After a moment that was all too brief, Yue pulled back, out of the kiss, looking up at Sokka with a gentle gaze.

“Okay, now I’m really confused,” Sokka stated, trying to read Yue’s expression.. “Happy, but confused.”

“I do like you, a lot,” Yue admitted, wrapping her arms defensively around her midsection. “But we can’t be together, and not for the reason you think.” One arm still wrapped around herself, she brought the other up to the fur around the collar of her coat. “I’m engaged.” She pulled down, revealing an intricately-carved betrothal necklace around her neck.

Sokka’s jaw dropped. Everything clicked into place. Or, well, almost everything. He still didn’t know if she was his soulmate or not.

Not knowing what else to do, Sokka reached towards Yue, though she took a couple steps back. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, before turning and running away.

Sokka felt an arm drape around the back of his shoulders. It was Guardian. Come to think of it, he’s felt Guardian a lot lately. “What should I do?” he asked. He felt the arm shift as though his soulmate shrugged in answer.

He decided to try asking someone else. “Yue, if you are a soulmate and you’re here right now, I could use some guidance,” he spoke into the night air. There was no response, only Guardian’s arm as a comforting presence.

——-

Sokka couldn’t stay away. And it seemed neither could Yue, despite her efforts. They could be just friends. Nothing against that in the stuck-up Northern Water Tribe customs. But still, Yue refused to broach the subject of soulmates, so Sokka stopped trying to get an answer on that. He was lucky enough to just be allowed to talk with her, he wouldn’t ruin that again.

Sokka’s good mood instantly fell when he spotted snow blackened with soot. The Fire Nation was coming. And there were a lot of them.

As soon as the call went out for warriors to help prepare the city for the invasion, Sokka stepped up, no hesitation. Guardian seemed to try to pull him back, while Firebender encouraged him forward. Nothing was going to change his mind. Being a man means knowing where he is needed, and right now, the Northern Water Tribe needs him fighting the Fire Nation.

At least, that’s where he thought he was going to be. After getting in a fight with Yue’s jerk of a fiance (he started it), he was pulled off the mission and put on another: protect Yue.

Everything happened so fast. One moment, Yue was taking Aang and Karara into an oasis to talk to spirits, the next Yue was running to get his help, Katara had been knocked out, and Aang was gone.

Fortunately, Aang’s spirit led the group to where Zuko had him tied up, and Karara made short work of the prince. Unfortunately, Aang was too good a kid to leave the angry jerk in the blizzard, so they had to tie him up and drag him up onto Appa.

With Aang rescued, Sokka had hoped things were starting to look up. And then the moon darkened, painting the sky red.

Yue winced, her hand coming up to hold her head, her eyes screwing shut for a moment in pain. Sokka frowned as he reached for her to stabilize her. “Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.

“I feel faint,” was her reply as she leaned into Sokka.

“I feel it too,” Aang chimed in with a frown. “The moon spirit is in trouble.”

“I owe the moon spirit my life,” Yue stated, glancing up at where the moon had been. “When I was born I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born as if I was asleep, my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could. They told my mother and father I was going to die.” She wrapped her arms around herself protectively. Sokka sat, silent, just taking in what Yue was saying.

“My father pleaded with the spirits to save me. That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond,” she continued. “My dark hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me Yue. For the moon.”

Sokka was speechless. And with Yue’s even deeper connection to the moon than he realized before, it seemed that much more likely that she was his soulmate that was represented by the crescent moon.

“We’re heading straight for the oasis,” Aang assured. “We’ll stop whatever’s happening with the spirit.”

“I really hope whatever it is can be fixed,” Yue commented with a frown.

——-

It couldn’t be fixed. It almost was, but then in a fit of anger, Zhao killed the moon spirit koi fish. (Why were spirits mortal koi fish in the first place?)

Aang seemed to channel the ocean spirit’s rage to go enact revenge on the Fire Nation. Perhaps Sokka should be more concerned for his little buddy, but Aang’s the Avatar. He could handle it. But something had to be done about the moon spirit. It was important to his tribe, to both his sister and to Yue.

“You have been touched by the moon spirit,” the old guy who’s always around Prince Zuko commented to Yue. Sokka forgot he was there, and was a little weirded out at the reminder he was sitting with someone from the Fire Nation. “Some of its life is in you,” he continued.

Yue looked up at him, her eyes practically shining blue in the dim light. “Yes, you’re right,” she agreed. “It gave me life, maybe I can give it back.” She began to move towards the pond.

Sokka refused to believe that was the only way. “No, you don’t have to do that!” he protested, grabbing for Yue’s hand, stopping her from moving any father. His grip was tight, he had to protect her.

“It’s my duty, Sokka,” she protested, still facing away from him. There was a slight quiver in her voice.

“I won’t let you!” Sokka again protested, trying to pull Yue closer to himself, but she remained firm. “Your father told me to protect you,” he tried instead.

“I have to do this,” she stated firmly, before pulling away. Her hand slipped out of his, leaving him holding her glove.

Sokka tossed the glove aside and tried to move towards Yue, but he wasn’t quick enough. Yue had her hands over the lifeless koi fish, a glow radiating from her as she healed the spirit.

“NO! Yue!” Sokka shouted. Suddenly he felt an intense pain in his left arm, like he was being stabbed just above his wrist. He winced, but he couldn’t do anything about it before Yue began to fall, limp. Sokka caught her, immediately checking for a pulse or breath. Nothing.

Sokka held Yue’s body tight to his chest, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. “She’s gone. She’s gone,” he stated, not wanting to believe the words as they left his mouth.

Guardian was the first soulmate he felt wrapping their arms around him in a comforting hug, followed shortly by Aang’s presence’s feather-light touch, then Bruiser’s firm arm around his shoulders. Last was the firebender, though they didn’t join in with a hug. Sokka felt their hand briefly on his shoulder before they awkwardly pulled away.

Sokka tried to hold back his tears, but he couldn’t. He failed. He couldn’t protect her.

The white koi fish began to glow, the light quickly engulfing the lake. In that moment, Yue’s body faded, vanishing away and leaving Sokka holding nothing. He glanced around, as though he’d find her body just moved somehow, though he stopped to watch once he noticed the mist gathering over the lake, taking form.

It was Yue, just as beautiful as a spirit as she had been in life. She was floating above the water, semi-transparent and literally glowing. Her heavy winter robes were now replaced by a flowing white dress, and she looked at Sokka with an expression of sadness and longing.

“Goodbye, Sokka,” Yue said as she floated closer. Sokka couldn’t move, couldn’t say anything. He was still frozen with grief and stunned by the spirit of the princess he loved. She reached for him, her fingers like a cold breeze as they caressed his face. It felt just like he’d imagined the cold touch of a waterbender soulmate to feel like.

Yue continued to move closer, her eyes closing as her lips touched his. It took Sokka a moment to react, his hand coming up to lightly caress Yue’s head in return and his eyes closing as he lost himself in one last kiss.

It was over way too soon. Yue didn’t pull away, just faded from existence, her presence and touch fading until there was nothing left but a fish swimming in a pond and the moon glowing in the sky.

—--

The Fire Nation was defeated, the Northern Water Tribe saved. There should be rejoicing, celebration, but everyone just seemed tired. Bodies were being rounded up and pulled out of canals for proper burial, waterbenders went straight to work repairing the damaged ice structures.

Katara was able to find Aang collapsed on top of the wall surrounding the city, but needed Sokka’s help getting him back to their lodgings.

Once inside, Aang tucked comfortably into a sleeping bag, Sokka began unwrapping the bindings around his left arm. He had a feeling he knew what he would see, but he just needed to see for himself.

The arrow, the eye, the swords, and the fan were all the same as they always had been. But the crescent moon, once a vibrant white, had dulled to a dark gray. The same color as the pine branch on both his father’s and Bato’s skin after his mother died.

Katara looked over at Sokka, seeing the marks on his arm before looking up at his saddened expression as he stared at the gray mark. “I’m sorry,” she said, her own sadness and empathy clear in her tone.

There was something Sokka needed to do. He let out a sigh as he covered his arm once again in the wraps, then let his sleeve fall back into place over them. “I’ll be back later,” he informed his sister before leaving the building.

—--

It wasn’t too terribly hard to find Chief Arnook. He was near the center of the city, trying to help organize the initial rebuilding and recovery efforts, even though he looked about as tired as Sokka felt.

“Chief Arnook?” he called to get the chief’s attention. Arnook looked at him, and there must’ve been something about Sokka’s expression or posture, because a look of sad understanding crossed his face.

“Sokka, follow me,” Arnook said, waving for the boy to walk with him.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he stated as he fell into step alongside Arnook.

“I know. I have a feeling I know what it is,” Arnook replied, sadness in his tone. “I just want to get to a more suitable location for this.”

The rest of the walk was in silence as Arnook took Sokka up a staircase to the top of the city wall, where they had a beautiful view of the full moon - of Yue - as she dipped closer to the horizon.

“I failed, Chief Arnook,” Sokka admitted, looking out at the moon to avoid looking at Yue’s father. “I couldn’t stop her from-” He hesitated. How could he tell the chief that his daughter is now the moon?

Arnook, however, shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me what happened, Sokka,” he stated. “The spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw a beautiful, brave, young woman become the Moon Spirit.” He sighed. “I knew this day would come.”

There was a small amount of relief that Arnook wasn’t angry that he’d failed, even though he probably should be.

“You must be proud,” he said, cautioning a glance out of the corner of his eye to Arnook, whose gaze was also locked on the setting moon.

“So proud… and sad,” Arnook agreed, before turning to look at Sokka. “I realized you were one of Yue’s soulmates when I saw you sharpening your boomerang. Yue’s soulmarks were in the middle of her back, so I had to draw them for her when she was a kid so she could see what they looked like.” He gave a small sad smile. “In having you guard her, I was hoping to give you a chance to soulbond with Yue. I’m certain she knew.”

Sokka shook his head, still avoiding eye contact with the Chief. “She refused to acknowledge if we were soulmates or not. I didn’t know for certain until, well…” he brought his right hand over to grip his left arm.

“Somehow this does not surprise me,” Arnook said with a small sigh. “She never said anything about feeling her soulmates, and one of her marks, I never figured out who it even represented. I think she avoided soulbonds for some reason.”

Sokka was unable to give an answer to that, it was a mystery to him too. So instead of replying, he just looked back out to the moon, standing with Arnook in silence as they watched Yue disappear below the horizon.