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agentsassy005 · 28 days

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I was rewatching the cartoon of avatar last airbender and realized how much story and canon stuff they fucked up on with legend of korra. They could’ve done a whole different category for korra like mastering the four elements by exploring the subcategories in elements. Metal, blood, steam, magma, healing, lightning, mud. That aang might’ve accidentally unlocked when he sealed ozais bending away in an enlightened avatar state that he was the only one who done so. And korra must relearn an ancient bending known as spiritual bending that was even lost by the avatars that aang was working on but died before finishing.

More under read more.

Also toph as the next king bumi au will always be my headcanon i seriously thought they butchered her as a cop. She will always be my con artist fav or at least in the white lotus to prevent corruption happening that fast.

Also the whole group is in like their early 50’s late 40’s when korra is a older teen kill aang a little sooner because he enlightened too early he killed his lifespan at probably 30 due to overworking himself trying to rebuild airbenders but instead of his kids he found benders that were descended from those who escaped due to gyatsu. So aang was training a new generation including the scientists family as living in the temple granted some to be born due to environment. He brought the sky bison variants bringing them back from extinction and found momos species the boy would not rest. He did have a kid with katara and traveled with them teaching them the nomad life

Korra is a southern water tribe still, keep polardog in katara was away grieving and looking for signs of the avatar, when sokka discovers korra is the avatar, she hit him with fire out of anger when he told her she can’t keep naga . Sokka loves the kid a warrior and even if a reincarnation he knows its not aang but still some quirks remain. He remembers what aang told him and is gonna help make sure korra gets her childhood first unlike most of the gang. But he takes her on lots of travels. Toph is her favorite aunt and toph recgonized that the way aang walked reincarnated calls korra twinkle toes always. And toph loves that the kid is a wild child and not a hippy like aang

Zuko is still fireking but he did divorce mei it was mutual, after they had a kid. Mei still lives in palace and acts as an advisor they both love their kid very well. Zuko and katara found each other after aangs death and married and had a child uniting water and fire tribes. Zuko also makes sure aang and kataras child know they are loved even though they won’t have their biological father with them. The three bending children cause a lot of trouble as they have to deal with all but earth elements. Mei laughs on the sideline.

Azula does get redeemed sometime inbetween. By forcing her to travel with sokka. The only one she seemed to respect see as an ally and sokka didn’t run away at her. They do have a kid surprising and pissing everyone off the kid is born around about same time as korra. So those two are best friends.

Suki and ty lee are lovers, sokka a third wheel also a donor. Both got a kid from sokka they act like twins even if only born a day apart master of chi blocking and unblocking.

Toph has a kid, nobody knows whose the father is toph is not telling. (Its sokka after a drunk night stand bad decisions made but toph did want to have a heir for her craziness) toph and suki also have a relationship ty lee doesn’t mind. All three girls are best friends

Sokka can’t have any sons it is a curse. Meanwhile katara has a son. Salty brother sokka. All the kids but suki’s and ty lees are benders. Korra feels like they’re all one big family.

The main villains would be spirits especially wan shi tong. Trying to close the bridge permanently to the spirit world as they see humans are not fit to have bending even though it is not their choice it is the lionturtle spirits choice. And wan shi tong starts trying to collect the avatars head for the past reincarnation aggression. Face stealer is helpful info and states it is a past life he needs to learn to move on. So it is a war in spirit world and real world.

Iroh still helps as a guide for korra as due to aangs enlightenment avatar state he unlocked it for the next avatar to be more spiritual, does not help korra was close to death from freezing as a kid. Aang helps teach korra killing is not always the answer. And that their are many angry spirits that are around after the war, and balance between humans and spirits must be found again now that the war is over. To learn from spirits whose rivers and forests destroyed, so we see humans and spirits recovering together. And we see yui as an ally as well.

All of this would help as world building as korra’s world building seem to forgot that some spirits gave up the immortal form and had NO WAY OF GETTING BACK TO THE SPIRIT WORLD. IM LOOKING AT YOU SEA AND MOON AND NORTHERN WATER TRIBE AS WELL AS MERGING THE TWO WORLDS PERMANENTLY WHEN THAT DIDNT NEED TO HAPPEN AS SPIRITS ARE TECHNICALLY DEAD YOUR ALLOWING PEOPLE TO CHEAT DEATH AND COME BACK TO LIFE. Also i want to see the people and spirits slowly recovering from a war that traumatized them. Begin to heal together.

#avatar the last airbender #agentsassy rambles #legend of korra #avatar au

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dominhdang · 2 years

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First times go to eat drink at Pet coffee ☕️. I like Husky and Samoyed dog. #pet #coffee #drink #dog #whitedog #whitedogs #husky #samoyed #vietnam #saigon #hochiminhcitysaigon #polardog #polardogs #animals #animal #animallover #animallove #dogstagram #huskystagram #samoyedstagram #animalstagram #huskylove #doglove #samoyedlove #samoyedlovers #doghusky #dogsamoyed #dogcollection #samoyedhusky #dogpicture # (tại Cherry Pet Coffee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcUFhSyvd54/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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rustyravenna · 6 years

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http://susirajan.blogspot.fi/

#lapland #hiking #hikingadventures #husky #huskydogs #huskyphotos #siberinhusky #alaskanhusky #alaskanmalamute #arctichusky #snowdogs #polardogs #blogger

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cindej-blog · 4 years

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Hello, got some snacks for me? • • • • • #alaskanmalamutepuppy #alaskanmalamutedog #alaskandog #malamutelovers #malamutedog #teendog #dogofinstagram #dogoftheday #polardogs #snowdog #snowy #pet #petting #fluffydogs #dogphotographylife #dogphotographer #dogphotography #dailydog #ilovedogs #dogaddict #eskimodog #sleddog #adventurousdog #curiousdog #dogparent #dogportrait #dogmodel #posingdog #coldweather #irresistible https://www.instagram.com/p/B5-h8_2hUIS/?igshid=1hq2dgt6wk13e

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terrymagson · 6 years

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#analog #film photography #35mm #photography #Terry Magson #grain #lomography #ishootfilm #film #polardog

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mooneyekoda-blog · 6 years

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#husky #polardog #outdoors

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slicedvegan · 4 years

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🇧🇻Ut på tur til Skarbua i Brenvikfjellan i Steigen. Fint vær, og Luna 🐕 var med 😊 Fin tur til Skarbua og ned igjenn. Luna var veldig utslitt etter turen og har nå ligget som et slips oppfor hytta siden vi kom ned 😅 God utsikt, og en fin tur uten alt for bratte luftige partier. Anbefales! Sjekk også ut gårdagens middag, vegansk bønne, nøtter og potetburger 🍔 🌱 😋 . . 🇬🇧 Hiking in Steigen Norhen Norway with Luna the dog 🐕. Very beautifull nature, easy hike. Also vegan bean nuts and potato burger 🍔 🌱 😋 . . . #vegansk 🌱 #vegetarisk #hvaspiserveganere #sundtoggodt #plantebasert #plantemat #norgesferie #topptur #skarbua #samojed #samojednorge #polardog #veganrunner #vegannorway #vegannordland #veganoslo #steigen #brennvika #leiranger (ved Brennvika) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDcPvhoJgYL/?igshid=kbbip6zbh6cr

#vegansk #vegetarisk #hvaspiserveganere #sundtoggodt #plantebasert #plantemat #norgesferie #topptur #skarbua #samojed #samojednorge #polardog #veganrunner #vegannorway #vegannordland #veganoslo #steigen #brennvika #leiranger

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pictures-of-dogs · 3 years

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hello could i please have some more pictures of ice dogs/polardogs? they r my favorite kind of dog :D

you know I can never turn down a request for more ice dogs

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fredd-and-hope · 4 years

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Einen wunderschönen guten Morgen an diesem Donnerstag. Anbei ein paar Fotos der Wandertour auf die Schwarzries mit meinen Eltern. Was dabei nicht fehlen darf ist eine zünftige Brotzeit auf da Alm. 😋😋😋 Grüße Freddy, Hope und Tom #dog #dogs #hund #hunde #husky #siberianhusky #exciteddog #exploreearth #dogsareawesome #beautifulscenery #dogaddict #mountain #mountains #mountainstories #doginstagram #igtraveller #polardog #livetotravel #dogsonadventures #lifewithadog #dogpack #activedog #dogmoments #doggygram #instadoglovers #dogsofinstagram #dogfluencer #fellnase #hundeglück #dogphotography (hier: Wagner Alm) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wD7q_Ia7x/?igshid=1q1mpa9unby20

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dogsintheworld3142016 · 4 years

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Mom and Pup GREENLAND Dog From #Sâtut 🇬🇱 Credit @guidetogreenland _________________________________________ #greenland #greenlanddog #greenlanddogsofinstagram #polardog #snow #greenlanddoglove #greenlanddogs https://www.instagram.com/p/B60m1AmC4I1/?igshid=xoix2uqqq41c

#sâtut #greenland #greenlanddog #greenlanddogsofinstagram #polardog #snow #greenlanddoglove #greenlanddogs

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sylvilel · 5 years

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Happy Sunday!😎🐕 • • • • #liveterbestute #liveterbestbakhunderumper #hundekjøring #alaskanhusky #huskylife #husky #mushing #polardog #sortlandvillmarkssenter #sunday #søndag #summer #sommer #sol #lifeasitshouldbe #mypassion #dogsofinstagram #huskygram #hundeliv #magiciseverywhere #adventureawaits #mittfriluftsliv #mittnordnorge #vesterålen #secondhome #hobbyphotographer #wannabewriter #bookstagrammer (ved Sortland Villmarkssenter) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0LJTs1oYIF/?igshid=1rvql83k8ej6d

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koala-otter · 4 years

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Hi hun!! I have a prompt!! So, Zuko was born into an obviously conservative family and with all that royal training and everything, he usually speaks with proper grammar and etiquette. Enter: Sokka. Sokka has the most filthy mouth in terms of speaking and anything in general. He can turn a simple conversation about dinner into something that makes Zuko blush unintentionally. I just want to see more flustered!Zuko out here!! Ty!!

hello love! it’s probably not what you expected, it’s definitely not what I expected, but there’s a lot of flustered!Zuko, so here we are

I don’t think it’s nsfw? but it’s also not entirely sfw??

ok here’s Sokka’s got a filthy mouth and a filthy mind and now Zuko does, too almost 2k words

Zuko spent three years of his life traveling the high seas, so he spent a fair amount of time around sailors. As a banished prince, he didn’t necessarily have his pick of the lot when it came to choosing his crew, and very few men on his ship ended up being the upstanding sort typical of the Fire Navy. Instead, the men Zuko lived with during his early teen years were often slippery, prone to debauchery, and crude. They swore frequently, mercilessly, and thoroughly, and after a couple of bottles of soju, could not have been stopped by the sea itself from telling detailed stories of their sexual conquests, the deck of the ship rollicking with tall tales of quivering thighs and heaving breasts left behind at the last port. For a long time Zuko couldn’t understand why he didn’t enjoy these stories, or why all the other men did. Still, despite his uncle’s careful influence, Zuko experienced his fair share of vulgarity on his travels, and largely as a result of the seafaring men surrounding him.

Yet he finds, time and again, that he has never met anyone whose mind or mouth matched Sokka’s.

They are all sitting around the courtyard of the Fire Lord’s house on Ember Island, idly waiting for dinner to finish cooking, when Zuko hears a gasp. He looks up from sharpening his swords in time to find Sokka standing next to Katara at the pot full of their food.

“What the hell are those?” Sokka demands.

“Sea aubergines,” Katara says matter-of-factly, though Zuko hears the annoyed undercurrent of her tone.

Sokka lets out a peal of laughter. “Katara, they look like dicks!”

A governess once struck Zuko for using such a word, and he feels the sting again as he gapes at Sokka’s relaxed form. He almost expects Katara to lash out or yell at her brother, but instead she barely rolls her eyes.

“It was all they had at the market,” she says.

“Aang!” Sokka calls, cupping his mouth with his hands. He waves the airbender over. “You need to see the size of these.”

Aang skips over easily and leans over to look into the pot.

“Don’t they look like a bunch of dicks?” Sokka says, nudging him with his elbow.

Aang immediately bursts into laughter, his hands coming to rest on his stomach. Zuko can only gawk at them and the casual way they react to such language.

“Where’d Toph go?” Sokka asks. “She’d get a kick out of the dicks.”

“You idiot, I’m blind,” Toph says from her position lying on the stairs.

“You can still—” Sokka notes Katara’s glare and the fact that Toph is still a twelve-year-old girl and immediately retreats. “Right, then,” he says, taking the ladle from Katara and scooping up one of the phallic vegetables, “Zuko!”

Zuko lifts his head, the dismay clear on his face.

Sokka waves the sea aubergine in the air maniacally. “Don’t you think it looks like a dick?” he almost shrieks.

Zuko tries not to wince at the word, and instead lies, “I don’t see it.”

“What?” Sokka looks between the vegetable and the stony look on Zuko’s face. “Are you serious? It’s even oozing—”

“Enough,” Zuko says. The island heat seems to have suddenly gathered entirely around his face. “Don’t be disgusting.”

Sokka’s face breaks into a boyish grin. “So, you do see it.” He waves the ladle in the air, the sea aubergine clinging by its tip to the bowl of the spoon.

“No,” Zuko continues denying.

Katara puts her hands on her hips and finally addresses her brother. “Sokka, would you cut it out? We’re going to eat that.”

Sokka ignores her.

“Here, Zuko,” he says casually, holding the ladle handle with both hands for some reason, “maybe you just need a closer look!”

And all of a sudden, a slimy, tan-and-purple, mottled, tubular vegetable is hurtling across the courtyard straight at Zuko. Before he can even think about it, he closes his eyes and catches it right in his hands. Then comes the heat, so high and concentrated from the cooking pot, that his hands immediately pull apart, and the aubergine flops, useless, on the courtyard ground.

Zuko looks up and glares, and for the first time since going back to the Fire Nation, he swears.

“Damn it, Sokka, that’s hot!”

Sokka stops laughing abruptly, and his expression turns mischievous. “I didn’t know you swung that way, Zuko.” A blush erupts across Zuko’s face as he suddenly hears his own poor phrasing. Sokka smirks. “Good to know.”

The blush is still on Zuko’s face when they finally sit down to dinner, and it’s all he can do not to choke at the sight of Sokka’s ruthless grin each time he takes another bite of slimy, limp sea aubergine.

A couple of years after the war ends, Zuko finally lets Sokka drag him on a trip to see Master Piandao. Sokka’s already gone back a couple of times to forge a new sword and for training, but Piandao hasn’t seen Zuko since before his banishment. He politely does not react to Zuko’s scar, and instead scrutinizes the close relationship between the two young men.

“Knowing you when you were younger,” he says in his measured tone to Zuko, “and knowing Sokka,” he continues, turning to look at the younger swordsman, “I wouldn’t have imagined you two being quite so drawn to each other.”

“What do you mean?” Sokka looks up from where he’s flicking Zuko’s arm. He throws his own arm around Zuko’s shoulders and pulls him in close, beaming. “We’re best fucking friends!”

Zuko looks horrified at the blatant lack of refinement in Sokka’s language, and in front of their swordmaster no less, but Piandao remains unperturbed. In fact, if Zuko squints hard enough, it might even look like he’s smiling.

“Well,” Piandao says, picking up his own sword, “let’s get started.”

Their training session does not last long.

The two young men are caught in almost a death grip, their swords biting into each other, and their bodies so close they are practically panting in each other’s faces. Sokka’s managed to disarm Zuko of one of his swords, cast aside on the patio of Piandao’s house, and looks smug even as Zuko pushes against him. Hard.

Zuko, on the other hand, looks enraged. His leg is smarting where Sokka smacked him with the flat edge of his sword, and he has suddenly been made frighteningly aware of the fact that Sokka is now taller than him. He glowers up at Sokka, pressing back against Sokka’s sword with all of his strength, which he worries will not last as long he needs it to because since he last checked, Sokka has gotten broad, and Sokka has gotten strong.

Zuko feels a growing desire to ram his sword through Sokka, and his glower turns to a grin as he considers it. The ramming. And then a thought fills his head of how Sokka would interpret that word, and he’s shocked when he doesn’t hate it, and it makes him even angrier. Sokka’s definitely rubbing off on him. And there he goes again.

“All right, it’s a draw,” Piandao says from his safe distance away.

When neither boy pulls back, he calmly walks over and pulls them apart. They both slump onto the ground, panting like polardogs in heat.

“You’re clearly very well matched,” Piandao says thoughtfully. He waits until both boys have cooled off before he continues speaking. They sit in front of him, waiting for instructions. He nods and gestures for Fat, the butler, to join them. “There’s an orchard on the way to the village full of plum trees.”

Fat hands Zuko and Sokka each a towel.

“Best plums I’ve ever had,” Piandao continues. “Sweet and juicy, and a little sour, too.” He takes the beverage Fat hands him. “And this time of year, the trees are full of them.”

Sokka and Zuko wait as Piandao sips his drink. He hands it back to Fat.

“Go home. And walk through the orchard on your back,” Piandao says, pointing in the general direction. He bows his head slightly at the two swordsmen in front of him. “Training is done for the day. I’ll see you early tomorrow morning.”

Zuko and Sokka look at each other questioningly but scramble to do as they’re told.

Fat stands behind Piandao as they watch the two run off toward the orchard. “Those two,” he says with a shake of his head.

Piandao glances behind himself and then forward at the boys again. A thin smile graces his mouth. “They’ll figure it out,” he says warmly.

In the orchard, Zuko walks resolutely back towards the house they’re staying in, while Sokka takes his time to languorously pick individual plums from the passing trees, biting into each of them with gusto. Juice drips down his lips and chin, even down his neck, and falls from individual fruits down his wrists and muscled forearms. His appetite’s only grown as he’s gotten bigger, and so has his enthusiasm for eating. He makes loud slurping sounds to prove it.

“Stop that, would you? It sounds awful,” Zuko says.

“I can’t help it, they’re so juicy,” Sokka replies, waggling his eyebrows at Zuko. He holds one of his plums out. “Are you sure you don’t want one?”

“I’m sure,” Zuko practically barks.

Sokka shakes his head. “You’re just mad because I tricked you,” he says, referring to the three times he’s managed to pull Zuko in with the promise of a bite of plum, only to rip the fruit away at the last minute.

“I’m not mad about that,” Zuko says angrily.

Sokka raises his eyebrows. “Then what are you mad about?”

Zuko gestures back toward Piandao’s house. “We must have done something wrong if we got kicked out,” he says glumly.

Sokka stares at him. “What? We almost killed each other. In a swordfight, I’d say that was doing it right.” He pulls out one of his plums. “Besides, you heard Master Piandao. We’re well matched.”

Zuko sighs.

Sokka bites into the plum, and his eyes go wide. He holds the fruit out to Zuko.

“Zuko,” he says seriously, “try this one. It’s the best I’ve ever tasted.”

“I don’t know if I trust the guy who goes around eating random plants all the time.”

“Come on,” Sokka almost whines. He shakes the plum a bit in Zuko’s face. “It’ll make you feel better.”

Zuko gives him a hard look. “You’re not going to take it away again?”

“I’m not going to do it again,” Sokka promises, his face genuine. He almost looks caring.

Zuko eyes him suspiciously, but leans toward the plum. The skin is shiny and dark purple, the color of an eggplant, but the flesh inside is a bright and brilliant pink, exposed by the bite from Sokka’s mouth. Juice trickles down the edges of the bite into Sokka’s outstretched hand, and Zuko briefly wonders what it would be like to skip the plum altogether and take Sokka’s fingers into his mouth, to lick the juice off of them.

Zuko swallows and tries to toss the image out of his head, finally leaning toward the fruit. Just as his lips make contact with the plum’s skin, a high-pitched moan erupts from Sokka’s mouth. Zuko pulls his head back immediately to find Sokka grinning widely, and he fixes Sokka with a hot glare.

“You’re disgusting,” Zuko snaps.

Sokka smirks and takes another bite of the plum. “Ah, you love it,” he says, and he continues making those awful slurping sounds all the way back to town.

sorry

#zukka #ask #my writing #zukka fanfic #atla fic #atla fanfic #zuko #sokka

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thegoldenavenger · 3 years

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Avatar the Last Airbender Fic!! Rated T for TEENAGE ANGST Canon typical violence! It's Zuko so also implied Canon child abuse sorry

CONVICTION (what's in a name)

Part One Sokka + Katara

___

"What can I do to prove to you I've changed?" He rasps, frustratingly desperate, hands almost clawed into the stone of the temple dias.

Katara sneers and draws her water whip to ready, like she can erase even the memory of Zuko kneeling here in this temporary haven. "Nothing!" She yells.

But Sokka raises his hand to his chin and thinks, quickly. There's not much less that he wants than Zuko in their space, helping them. But, here's the thing, Zuko has followed them doggedly, faithfully, since the South Pole. Zuko has found them even now, must have resources to have gotten here, knowledge to have found them. Zuko is the prince of the nation they're fighting... it stands to reason he has intelligence about them as well.

"Then take me prisoner," Zuko starts saying, unfurling his fingers from the stone and offering them.

"We don't want you!" Katara yells and splashes Zuko with enough force he rocks backwards.

Steam rises from Zuko's shoulders, his eye wide as his hair drips in his face, before he steels himself. To try and entice them again, to pick himself up and turn away for once, Sokka doesn't know. He interrupts Katara's next words.

"Give us your soul name," Sokka says.

The silence that follows is deep.

"Sokka?" Aang asks, stepping to see Sokka's face.

"It doesn't matter then, if you have changed or not. We'll have your name if you try to betray us." He tilts his head towards Aang, towards Katara but his eyes don't leave Zuko.

"That's--that's too much," Aang is saying, shaking his head, but Katara considers it. Her mouth is a straight line and her eyes are harder than Sokka has seen them.

Toph says nothing, has said nothing besides her first entreaty to consider Zuko's offer. Sokka doesn't turn to look at her reaction.

Zuko's is enough to look at on its own. His shoulders stiff, his skin pale, there is the smallest rainbow refracted from a bead of water on his sunlit cheek. He's surprised, shocked, maybe even afraid, Sokka has never seen Zuko afraid before just angry, but now, Sokka wonders if Zuko's anger and his fear are two sides of the same coin.

Sokka remembers Zuko crouched over his Uncle, feral almost in his anger--his fear, Sokka thinks now. And who wouldn't be afraid in this moment? To give a peice of your soul away and trust someone with it. Sokka can count the soul names he knows on one hand; his sister, his father, his mother, Yue.

He's only wanted to share his soul name with Yue, before. He remembers the fear and excitement. He hadn't had to share his name with his parents or Katara, they knew him when he was a kid, when that part of your soul is open and effortless, but he wanted to give that part of himself to Yue. She beat him to it.

Even now, her name lives curled inside him, like a gentle-sleeping thing. A perfect reflection of the moon on the surface of ink-black water, icy wind against the back of your neck, and resettling your hood to keep warm. The knowledge that something deep, and beautiful, and so, so kind lies beneath the water, but not daring to break the surface tension.

And Sokka watches Zuko close his eyes. When he opens them it is with resolve.

"Okay," he says. "Okay."

Zuko gets back to his knees, back straight and hands lifted as if in supplication. He keeps his unsettling yellow eyes on Sokka.

It was his plan, so Sokka makes himself step forward. He feels Aang's hand reach out to him, but Aang doesn't stop him so he keeps stepping forward until he stands over Zuko.

It takes him a moment, but he puts his hand in Zuko's and asks for his name.

He feels a rush of heat, and he thinks they should have prepared for if Zuko tried burning them in this moment--but no, it's just. It's just Zuko's name.

Fever-warm--of course, fire bender, Sokka thinks--but also the spray of salt water, which is surprising. The smell of iron, Fire Nation Steel, like the forge at Master Piandao's but thicker in the air. Sokka hears sliding, like silk over silk and the weight of something bearing down, like the gemimite that had crept up Sokka's arms until he couldn't move. And even though Zuko is all firebender heat and steel the feeling of eyes on his back makes Sokka think nothing more than of standing in the middle of the ice fields, knowing an Orcawolf is watching you but not knowing where it is.

It's knowing there is shelter a thousand steps ahead of you and also knowing the moment you step forward the Orcawolf will chase. Zuko's name is taking that step anyways.

Sokka steps back away from Zuko and blinks and blinks. Zuko looks exactly the same, it's only Sokka's understanding that has changed.

Zuko's eyes are predator-yellow, orcawolf-gold, Sokka thinks.

"Zuko," he says to test it. He lets the feeling of fever and forge heated sword steel rise and he says it again. "Zuko."

Something in Zuko's jaw clenches, his eyes sharpen and Sokka feels that lonely ice field again, but Zuko nods. "I think we can say that worked," Sokka announces and turns away from Zuko. He shoves Zuko's name back down, tries to find somewhere that isn't next to his family's names to store it.

______

Sokka leaves first, then Toph with a disgruntled noise. Katara and Aang stand where they're left, with Zuko still... there. Waiting.

Katara looks at Aang and finds him unaccountably sad, his wide grey eyes distressed. To her ears, Zuko's name had sounded the same, flat as ever, from her brother's mouth. But you know when someone speaks with power, it's just that the only name she knows for Zuko is the one her experiences with him have given her so she can't understand yet.

Or ever. She thinks of Zuko and she thinks of fear, she thinks of shadows of violence flickering on the walls of homes, of ice melting as red, red, red licks up and devours entire families. She doesn't want that living inside of her, hates that Sokka is carrying that now.

"I'm going to check on Sokka--Aang. Keep an eye on him." She orders and turns. Of course now they have to keep him, they have his soul name, that changes things. He can teach Aang Firebending and then they can drop him off somewhere he won't be able to bother them anymore, but for now at least they have to keep him.

"Yeah, uh--come on," she hears Aang say, to Zuko she guesses. "No more names today," he says. Katara stomps away.

She keeps her resolve for a couple days. Sokka bounces back, Toph is quieter than usual, Aang dutifully keeps his lessons for Earth and Waterbending and half-heartedly asks for Firebending lessons. Katara puts her foot down. No Firebending lessons until she can be sure Zuko isn't going to fry Aang when they aren't looking.

Sokka is her brother and she loves him, but he shouldn't have to be Zuko's keeper by himself. He'd taken Zuko with him to find their dad, and he had to take Zuko, he wouldn't leave Zuko alone with them. They weren't defenseless but Sokka takes responsibility hard, the same way he had taken protecting their village.

It's the same way he will stay up at night, redrafting their schedule and Katara will have to physically unclench his hand from his vine of charcoal and wheedle, drawing his name from her chest, telling him, please Sokka, it's time for bed everyone is tired.

Sokka doesn't use her name very often. The last time had been at the South Pole when he didn't trust Aang. Before that, he hadn't used her name since their mother had died.

Katara uses his name a lot. She loves Sokka's name. Her mother's name is too sharp a memory, it flutters behind her breastbone like it might escape if she speaks it. Her father's name is tucked in her core, as if she can curl around it and keep him safe from the dangers he faces away from them by keeping it quiet. But Sokka's name lives in her lungs.

She uses it when she scolds him, when she hugs him, when she is afraid for him. She won't let him forget that she's right by his side, and that she won't leave him, not like mom left, or dad left, or Yue left.

Every time Katara says Sokka's name she shades it with her understanding of him. Ice walls sheltering from howling bitter winds and the sturdy foundation of a home. The peircing howl of an orcawolf as the spirit lights dance in the night sky, and polardogs pressed together sharing strength and warmth. Sokka's name is understanding you are part of something more than you, part of a family, and Katara will remind him that he's stuck with her for as long as she lives.

And, well. There's something in her that wants to know Zuko. She wants to taste ash on her tongue. She is sure Zuko's name is fire and violence, but if she knows it then she can keep him in his place. She can make sure Aang is safe, from this threat at least. If she knows Zuko's name, then she finally knows who he is. No more tricks in Crystal cities, he won't be able to prey on her weaknesses anymore.

So when he comes to her, and says, "I know who killed your mother," Katara has already decided what to do.

She says, "Give me your name." And she holds out her hand.

She's vindicated, seeing his eyes widen, the scar pulling around his left side. He inhales, then nods sharply his breath releasing in a cloud of steam. The night is cold, even Katara's breath puffs small clouds in the air, but that doesn't stop herself from thinking he should have more control than this.

He puts his hand in hers and his fingers are shockingly warm, surprisingly callused for a prince. Katara remembers Yue's hands, smooth and fine and elegant. The Earth King's hands as well were soft and weak. That is what she expected, she realizes. Hands that have never seen work in their life.

Zuko's hands are scarred and rough in places, if well kept.

He tells her his name.

Heat at first, of course. Like a burn from the sun, making your skin tight and red, then the cool-sting of salt water making Katara think, ridiculously of spending too much time at a beach. Then blood, biting your cheek on accident, the pain negligible but the metallic tang overwhelming, that's what she expected. Hearing someone or something shift behind you, heart beating panic-fast and then getting wrapped up tight, and squeezed until your bones creak, like when her dad swings her around and around because he missed her. No, Katara thinks, it's getting wrapped up like ice spears, the cold burning as much as fire, and being unable to wrench free. It's remembering how Master Pakku looked at her, knowing she was good enough but refusing her anyways.

Zuko's name is someone, everyone saying no, and then doing it anyways.

Katara takes her hand back. Of course, that's the Fire Nation through-and-through, she thinks. "Take me to him, Zuko," she says. She orders. The copper tang that tints his name isn't ash, but it's close enough.

Katara never needed Zuko's name to show him she was a threat. She's a Master Waterbender under the full-moon, a healer who knows the secrets of the body, she can stop the rain if she has to. And she does.

Zuko doesn't flinch.

He doesn't overstep, he accepts her lead, stays quiet unless he needs to speak up. He's not cowed, he doesn't wait for her permission to speak if he sees something or notices something. He's just.

Respectful, Katara realizes. This is about her, she realizes. She knows this is about her. It's about Zuko trying to prove himself too, but it's like Zuko has forgotten that, in the moment. That helping Katara find justice--or revenge--is all that he's after.

It would be ironic, Katara thinks. Zuko has terrorized her home, he knows she wants justice--revenge?--from him too. Here he is, watching her ready to kill a man for crimes Zuko could be accused of as well and he stands there like this is right.

Like he hadn't knelt in front of her, hands offered, and asked her--them--to sentence him.

She sees him out of the corner of her eye, sees the same calm as when he'd knelt. When she stops the rain she sees the same surprise, the same acceptance as when Sokka had demanded his soul name in answer.

Something heavy settles in her stomach, when she realizes that perhaps, this isn't ironic. That if she had said, I need you to die for your crimes, he would have said okay, okay, in the same exact way. She lets it rain, again.

She says this, half to Zuko half to herself, on the way back. "If I had said you needed to die, for us to trust you instead of Sokka asking for your name. What would your answer have been?"

Zuko blinks at her, wary. "Really?" He asks. She doesn't elaborate, and he falls quiet again.

She starts to think he won't answer when he finally does. "I came to you--to the Avatar, I mean--to... atone. To stop my father and my family, to make things better. I, uh, Uncle says, said, I don't think things through," here he laughs, bitter. "I guess I forgot that I'm my father's son."

Katara sees his face shutter and she turns away, not wanting to see whatever expression he puts on his face. "My father cannot be allowed to continue as he has been. My family cannot be allowed to continue as they have been. I have been complicit in their crimes." He says. "If death is the answer to my father, then for the years as his loyal son I should share it."

Katara narrows her eyes and looks back at him. Zuko is considering his knee, his fingers worrying at a loose thread. Katara knows Zuko now, knows by the cadence of his words Zuko was not calling himself Fire Lord Ozai's loyal son. There was a breadth of history in that phrase she didn't understand.

"But..." he says and looks at her. "I'm done letting my father dictate my destiny. I want to help fix what my family has broken. I don't know what I would have said back then. But I am going to help where my family has only hurt before. I can't do that if I'm dead."

Katara only hums in response, and watches as Zuko's shoulders find their way to his ears. He turns red and looks away from her and mumbles an apology.

Zuko's name is sun burned skin and bitten lips and, Katara is realizing, standing up when no one else will. Not because you're the only one who can, but because if not you, than who?

Something settles in her, and she relaxes. She isn't ready to forget--not Yuan Ran, not the Fire Nation's crimes--but maybe this one boy. This one boy she can try to forgive.

#kamaeteWRITES #atla #soul names #zuko #the gaang #tumblr has a bs text block limit so brb with the next parts

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