Kicking a rock out of his way, Sokka approached the dojo of the fan warriors. He knew what was coming up next and it would be the hardest thing that he had done so far. He carefully moved into the building as the girls stopped their lesson and looked at him. From among the crowd he could see Shampoo and Cologne were also in the room, watching him with guarded faces.
"Uh... hey, Suki," Sokka said, his voice full of hesitation. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say next as he moved to swallow his pride.
"Hoping for another dance lesson?" Suki said, mocking him by using his own words against him. Blushing at the barb, Sokka knew that he had to be truthful to gain their acceptance.
"No... I... let me explain." Sokka said, stumbling over the words.
"Spit it out! What do you want?" Suki demanded, sounding like she meant business. From her tone and stance it was clear that she wasn’t in the mood for any nonsense.
'Given the way I acted before, I wouldn't blame her, ' Sokka thought. Kneeling down and doing his best to assume a humble position Sokka replied, "I would be honored if you would teach me."
With a smug look of satisfaction on her face it was clear that Suki was enjoying this. "Even if I am a girl?" She mocked, still using his own words against him.
His voice taking a quiet quality to it he continued, "I am sorry if I insulted you earlier. I was wrong."
Looking upon Sokka, Suki’s expression began to soften, as if she could see the truth in Sokka's words. "We normally don't teach outsiders, let alone boys." She lightly teased, testing him.
"Please make and exception. I won't let you down." Sokka said, bearing the honesty of his heart to the woman.
"Alright, but you will have to follow all of our traditions." Suki said, breaking into a smile.
Breaking into a smile Sokka quickly replied, "Of course!" For some reason, when he saw Cologne and Shampoo they seemed to be holding something back, 'What’s gotten into them? '
"And I mean ALL of them." Suki said, as she and they other girls began to look like Cologne and Shampoo. Sokka could only look on confused.
A few minutes later...
Sokka stood in the hall, dressed in the robes of the women warriors, and with full war make up on his face. The white caking covered his entire face and extended to his neck and hairline, the elaborate and colorful eye shadow seemed to stretch all the way to his temples, and the crimson lipstick was just wrong! Sokka studied the outfit, if the makeup hadn’t been so thick he was sure that his face would have been as red as his lips were now. "Do I really have to wear this? I feel a little... girly."
"It is a warrior's uniform, you should be proud." Suki said as Sokka took a second look at it. Suki then continued, "The silk threads symbolize the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of a warrior's heart." Suki pointed out different features of the green uniform.
"Bravery and honor," Sokka said as he began to swell with the pride of the uniform that he was wearing. It seemed a little less girly to him at that moment.
It was then that Aang walked by the door, sticking his head in he took a long hard look at Sokka. Giggling for a moment he said, "Hey Sokka, nice dress!" before running off again. His momentary pride in his new outfit being crushed by Aang's words, Sokka’s shoulders slumped in defeat and humiliation as Suki looked on amused.
It took a while for Sokka to build back enough pride and confidence to walk out of the room wearing the outfit and by that time Cologne and Shampoo had returned to see how he was doing. Heading into the main hall they saw Sokka practicing with the leader of the Kyoshi warriors. The two hero women tribeswomen looked on as Sokka and Suki circled each other with their fans held out.
Watching Shampoo whispered to her great grandmother, "It looks like Sokka has learned to respect women as warriors."
Cologne nodded and added, "It should help with his future training. If he couldn't accept that a woman might be a better warrior than him, it would make teaching him martial arts a little harder. Now it should be easier to assist in his training to protect this Avatar." Agreeing, Shampoo settled in as the two of them continued to watch.
"You're not going to master it in one day; even I'm not that good." Suki said as she tried to take the advantage of the situation.
Slightly loosing his balance, Sokka said, "I think that I'm starting to get this," before the fan flew out of his hand, hitting a tree outside. Falling into a snow drift outside the fan was immediately smothered by the snow that had been knocked free from the leaves.
Suki turned and walked towards Sokka. "It's not about strength. Our techniques are about using an opponent's own force against them. Loosen up, think about the fan as an extension of your own arm," Suki took on a battle stance as Sokka looked on determined.
"Wait for an opening and then..." Suki lunged at Sokka as he parried the blow, knocking Suki off of her feet. Showing surprise and embarrassment on her face she looked up from her spot on the floor.
Looking on with his arms crossed in a 'so there' manner Sokka merely hmmed in false humility.
Getting to her feet, her face was flustered Suki quickly barked out "I fell on purpose to make you feel better!"
Sokka began to laugh as he pointed his finger at the embarrassed warrior. "I got you. Admit it I got you."
Suki began to laugh as well as she grabbed Sokka's outstretched arm and bent it back painfully, "Okay, it was a lucky shot. Let's see if you can do it again." Suki said as she let go of Sokka's arm and assumed her battle position. Quickly dropping into his own stance, they began to circle each other once again.
Shampoo raised an eyebrow as she looked at her elder. Cologne just nodded, it looked like Sokka and Suki were fast developing a bond.
Out on the ocean waves...
Zuko looked across the ocean through the spyglass trying to keep an eye out for the island of Kyoshi, the place that he had learned the Avatar had landed. After weeks of nothing, they had finally found news that he was not far away.
'Too bad it interrupted my supper. Uncle has likely eaten it by now.' Zuko thought as he remembered how his uncle had been looking at his dinner when he rushed off to change course. The ship had to move quickly if they wanted to catch the Avatar before anyone else could find him, 'He's my only chance to regain that which I have lost; my home, my honor, and my birthright.' Zuko knew that he had to catch the Avatar alive if he was to reclaim all of it. His mission had been to bring the greatest threat to the Fire Nation before his father. And for that he had recruited a secret weapon to be used against the Avatar. The strange man known as Mousse; a man from another world if one could believe everything that he had told him.
There had been some evidence that Mousse might have been from another world. There was his strange martial arts, moves that somehow bent space around him so that he could store many things on his person, 'I have never seen anything like it. It doesn't seem to be part of any of the bending styles that I have seen, but it does have its uses. Its basics are even simple enough that even I’ve managed to learn a few of his tricks. Enough to hide a few small items, but I’ll never figure out how he fit an entire spear up his sleeve, much less 10 others and 20 meters of chain.'
'There was also the curse that turned him into a duck. It seemed that the transformation didn't affect his mind or abilities. The duck Mousse became was skilled in his martial arts and was skilled at knife throwing. Such a surprise might come in handy in battle, ' Zuko thought thinking of future conflicts.
'Then there is that portrait of that girl he's in love with. It's more life like than any painting that I have seen before. It is also made of such strange paper. Why does the girl in that picture have purple hair? No one that I have ever seen has had purple hair.' Zuko thought as he remembered the image on the paper, a realistic image of a cute girl with long flowing purple hair.
This had caused Zuko to accept that Mousse might not be of this world, but this idea left him uneasy. 'If there is more than one world in existence, what does that mean to us? Could there be other benders in other worlds? Are there other threats to the Fire Nation, perhaps even other Avatars? If Mousse made it to this world then who else could have made it here as well? And most importantly, could they stop me from finding the Avatar? '
Such thoughts gave Zuko pause as he searched for the Avatar. Shaking it off he returned to his task, 'Better to look for the Avatar now and worry about these question after I get him.' Gazing once more through the spyglass Zuko spotted what looked to be an island in the distance. Signaling to the crew the ship began to head in that direction. 'Soon I will be on Kyoshi the Avatar will be mine.'
Turning he shouted his orders to prepare the Rhinos for landfall. The troops began to prepare for battle, and Mousse began his own preparations. The battle was beginning.
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(Posted Wed, 14 Jun 2006 12:39)
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