The Warrior and the Prince

10: Bato of the Water Tribe

 The four of us were walking through the woods, giving Appa a well deserved break from flying. He was grunting happily behind us, but as I turned back to look at him I tripped up on something, landing in a heap on the floor. "Ow," I groaned, rubbing my head. "Hey- hey look, it's a water tribe weapon!" I cried out, realising I had tripped over a spear made out of a whale's tooth. Its handle was wrapped with blue ribbon and the actual tooth looked like it had been roughly carved by a pocket knife to create a more lethal weapon.

"Lemme see that," Sokka snatched it from me and began studying the instrument.

"Hey look! An arrow head!" Aang called out, holding up his find.

"It's burned... there must've been a battle. Water Tribe warriors ambushed a group of fire benders and drove them down this hill," Sokka began deducting judging by the state of the trees around us. We ran after him as he continued, jumping over some rocks onto a sandy beach.

"Then what happened?" Aang asked eagerly but Sokka looked defeated.

"I don't know... the trail ends here," he mumbled.

"Wait, look!" Katara spotted a boat on the far end of the beach.

"It's one of our boats!" Sokka said excitedly. The four of us ran up to investigate and saw it was mostly intact which made me wonder why the fleet left it here. "This is from dads fleet... he was here!"

I smiled at the excitement running through the siblings and we agreed as it was getting late we'd set up camp here. I set the fire going as Katara laid out all of the sleeping bags, however a rustling sound coming from the trees caused us all to turn sharply and for me to reach for my swords. A man with long dark hair wearing blue robes emerged from the shrubbery and glanced at the siblings with shock. "Sokka? Katara?"

"Bato!" They both said at the same time, running up to the man and engulfing him in a hug. I glanced back at Aang who shrugged.

"It is so good to see you two! You've grown so much," the man Sokka and Katara called Bato said fondly.

"Hi, I'm Aang," Aang introduced himself, bowing.

"I'm (y/n), it's a pleasure to meet you," I said with a smile.

"Likewise," Bato said. "I'm afraid your father isn't here you two. He and the other warriors should be in the Eastern Earth Kingdom by now. Come with me," he said, beckoning us to following him which we happily did do, wanting to get out of the chilly wind blowing from the sea. We walked through the trees towards an Abbey, Bato explaining that he was left there by Sokka and Katara's father after being badly injured and that the nuns were taking care of him. He introduced us to the other nuns in the Abbey, them welcoming us happily and a sense of warmth ran through my body.

"Mm, what's that smell?" I asked, an almost hypnotic smell reaching my nose.

"The sisters craft perfumes and ointments here in the Abbey," Bato explained.

"Perfume? Maybe we can dump some on Appa, you know, because he stinks so much," Sokka said, trying to bait a laugh from us but only to be met with silence as Katara and I exchanged looks.

"You have your fathers wit," Bato said simply and I wasn't sure if that was meant to be a compliment or not. Bato took us to his rooms, my eyes widening with how much it replicated a true Water Tribe home with the pelts and a fire pit in the centre of the room. My eyes were automatically drawn to the range of spears and swords made out of antler and animal teeth, these being weapons I had rarely seen up close. I gravitated towards them, wanting to touch them but knowing I shouldn't. "You like our weapons?" Bato appeared by my side.