Aang had never meant to drive apart two siblings, but as dawn slowly approached he marked the 2nd hour of Katara and Sokka arguing, and it didn't seem to be coming to an end anytime soon.
“Katara! There's no way I'm letting you go to the North Pole with a guy you just met! Dad told me to protect you, and that means you have to stay!” shouted Sokka for what must have been the 8th time, their conversation kept repeating itself and neither relative seemed willing to give up.
“But my bending is a part of me, Sokka! I need to learn how to master it and I can't do that here.” Replied the waterbender, an hour ago she'd been screaming as loudly as her brother but she seemed to have cooled off and was now using reason and logic, though her tone was slowly slipping back into a higher decibel.
“But you leaving is selfish! You can't just leave your tribe, your family, can you?” asked Sokka, making full use of the method he called ‘guilt trip’.
“I need to do this!”
“No you don't!”
“I'm going, no matter what!”
“Then how will I protect you?!”
“Why don't you just come too?!” Aang finally yelled, slamming his staff onto the ground as to make enough sound to shut up the squabbling siblings.
Aang had actually been considering bringing Sokka before the pair even started their argument, or heard about Aang's plan. It made sense that when bringing balance to the world, which was the avatar’s purpose, after all, you'd need someone from each element and a nonbender to even it out a little. Sokka seemed a perfect fit, if he and Katara could get along long enough for the three to get any work done.
“Wha- No! The village needs me, and Katara, here.” He stated stubbornly, pouting his lips and crossing his arms in protest.
“No, we don't. The world needs the two of you more than we do, we'll get by once you're gone.” said an elderly woman, who Aang had been introduced to as Gran-Gran, whilst walking towards the three and shoving two sleeping bags into Katara and Sokka’s hands, not even noticing the stutter of argument Sokka was trying to give.
“Really, Gran-Gran? Oh, thank you!” cheered Katara with a smile, dropping her new sleeping bag into the snow so she could give the older woman a hug. Gran-Gran tutted slightly but still wrapped her arms around the girl, smiling sadly.
“Are- Are you sure? What about the fighting, and the fishing, and the hunting, and the-” began Sokka, now more het up than Aang thought he would be.
“We will be okay, your job now is to help Aang find the avatar.” said their grandmother, also pulling Sokka into the hug.
“But dad said-” He started, before Katara shoved him in the ribs and he gave out a pained yelp.
“Dad would understand. Maybe we'll even see him in our travels.” Katara suggested, immediately perking up her brother who then rushed off for supplies.
Sokka was amazing at packing, Aang decided. Within 30 minutes Appa was packed with plenty of food (though most of it didn't look too appetising to Aang), some weaponry, a few sets of spare clothing, hairbrushes, maps and all the money the tribe could offer (which was a pathetically small amount but the trio were grateful nonetheless). Hopefully wherever the avatar was they accepted water tribe currency. Of course, the maps were unnecessary since Aang had his own back from his journeys with Arianna. The three were just about to leave, when one of the young girls signalled an alarm of sorts by blowing a horn.
The entire village was thrown into a sudden panic, Katara helped their grandmother indoors and Sokka rounded up his ‘warriors’, meanwhile Aang tried to decipher what was going on by talking to the girl who'd blown the horn. She was stood atop the largest hut, though the difference from the other buildings was minute, and was pointing wildly at something in the distance.
“What is it?! The Fire Nation?” Aang asked after climbing up next to her, squinting at what looked like no more than a red dot.
“Yes! A soldier is headed our way, probably a firebender who's going to melt our homes!” she rambled hysterically, not unlike how most of the other children were acting. But one detail did strike Aang as odd.
“Just one firebender?” He doubted the Fire Nation would ever only send one person, no matter how skilled they were. Something wasn't right.
Aang quickly rushed away and to where most of the village had huddled, facing the fast approaching stranger. Aang could see him more clearly now though his features weren't exact: he was wearing red garments embroidered with gold (not armour), he had a sheathed sword slung across his back but he wasn't wielding any weapons, he also had a shoulder bag across his arm and was dragging a very large, (and heavy looking) sack, his hair looked freshly, and messily, cut short and, though Aang could only tell as the guy got closer, he had a large burn scar across the left side of his face. The man, who looked more like a teenager than a grown soldier, stopped advancing when he got to about 15 feet away from the small crowd of villagers. Sokka, who was wearing what passed for armour in the South Pole, or was just everything that had been left when the adult men went to war, had painted his face like a shark (it did look pretty cool, Aang had to admit), he walked closer to the guy until there was only 5 feet separating them. Sokka spoke first.
“Get out of our village!” he yelled, apparently not very threateningly because, even when he raised his bone club and boomerang, the man dressed in red didn't even flinch.
“I'm not here to hurt you.” He stated simply, raising his arms to show he wasn't going to attack. Aang noticed he was a good inch shorter than Sokka but didn't doubt that he'd probably be the one to win in a fight.
“You've already hurt us! You've already taken so much from here, leave before you can't anymore!” threatened Sokka taking one step forward, yet the other stayed rooted in place, simply looking Sokka up and down.
“I didn't do that. The Fire Nation did, and that's why I'm here, I want to help.” said the guy, crossing his arms now and glaring- much like Sokka had been doing earlier.
“Well we don't want your help, ashy scu-” began Sokka, raising his bone club even higher and bringing it down as if to strike, before Aang jumped between the two and blocked with his staff.
Aang felt a strange familiarity with the stranger, like a bond of trust had already been formed. A gut feeling that they should hear him out. The airbender usually got these feelings from the spirits, guiding him. And who was he to ignore them?
“Sokka, stop! Let's hear him out, he's not even drawn his weapon yet. What's your name?” mediated Aang, turning to the man in red who shifted his gaze from Sokka to the boy in front of him.
“I'm Lee.” Lee didn't elaborate but he wasn't shooting fire at them either, so Aang counted it as a win.
“You said you want to help us?” The young boy asked, peering at Lee's face to see if his spiritual connections were going to nudge him in the right direction in this situation.
“Yes, my country has hurt the world. I want to help you find the… avatar… And restore balance.” He seemed uncomfortable with saying avatar, perhaps he'd been stuffed full of so much propaganda even when doing the right thing he still felt inclined to the Fire Nation ways? But Aang didn't dwell on it too long as Katara chose that moment to speak up.
“Aang, Sokka, a word?” She spat, glaring at Lee for a second before dragging the two boys of to one side and whispering to them. “How does he know we're looking for the avatar? Something fishy is going on here.”.
“Why don't we just ask him?” Aang suggested naively.
“What?! Are you crazy? He's Fire Nation, he'll just lie!” insisted Sokka, turning for a second to glare daggers in Lee's direction, though the firebender hadn't moved an inch in the snow where they'd left him, despite the dozen eyes from the village staring fearfully at him.
“Look, I think we should trust him. He's not attacked and… I've just got this feeling.” Aang admitted, giving the siblings a pleading smile until they broke.
“Well… A man's instincts are important…” deliberated Sokka, biting his lip as he thought.
“Okay, fine. We let him explain himself, we ask him some questions, and then figure out if he can join us.” Said Katara finally, going back towards Lee with a frown carved across her face.
Lee shifted a little as they came over, looking more nervous than he had before. Aang supposed he was just nervous that he wouldn't be accepted, which was understandable. But Aang was already ready to bring him along, though it was probably easier for the airbender to trust him since, unlike Katara and Sokka, he'd only been aware of this war for a day.
“How do you know about our search for the avatar?” interrogated Katara with a snarl, staring at Lee angrily, he wavered slightly but didn't break down.
“I had a dream. Your young friend over there was there and he told me to come to the South Pole, so I'm here.” Lee explained, and Aang didn't doubt him. His unprecedented abilities with the spirit realm made him frequently appear to people he knew or would know in their dreams, sometimes giving them advice. He never meant to, it was just a subconscious thing. Of course, he'd never directed anyone to go as far as the South Pole before but there was a first time for everything.
“Hmm, even if that's true, why would we even want your help, ash-breath?” Questioned Sokka, actually going as far as to poke Lee in the chest, which Lee immediately swatted away angrily.
“I can fight, soggy-savage, I'm a firebender and-” he reached for the large bag he'd been dragging along through the snow and, whilst Sokka immediately flinched back, probably afraid that it would explode or something, opened it. Inside was a massive heap of gold, gems and jewels, sparkling in the thin sunlight. “-I have money.”.
Lee smirked at Sokka’s gobsmacked face and fastened his bag up again. Katara shifted slightly but gave Aang a nod, very clear as to what she meant. Aang smiled too at that, though more brightly as he jumped in place, rushing up to Lee so quickly that Lee's smirk turned into a startled expression.
“Welcome to the team, Lee! You're just in time, we were just about to leave. There's plenty of room on Appa, but be careful not to step on Mo-Mo when you get onto the saddle. Also, I'm Aang, this is Katara and that's Sokka, hopefully soon we'll have the avatar with us too. Are you ready to leave?” Aang beamed and, while he seemed rather off put by Aang’s sunny personality and enthusiasm, he nodded briskly and tried to lug his bag stuffed with treasure up to Appa.
Sokka ended up helping and together they reached the saddle, Katara climbed up after saying another quick goodbye her and Sokka’s people and Aang, who was simply excited to find the avatar and bring peace and harmony to the 4 nations, pondered the journey ahead of them. Hopefully, once they were done, the world could have balance once more.
“Yip yip!”