Memories from Western Airtemple

Memories from Western Air Temple

Chapter 39

Stuck Between

As soon as dawn had broken after the night of their arrival at the Order’s camp, Sokka had informed his friends that he would be consulting the members of the Order and see how they could help them reach their goal to end the war. It would be better that the others concentrated on giving Aang any possible last bits of advice. There was not enough time for Aang to learn many new techniques, but there were still enough days left for him to perfect the ones he already knew.

Suki had insisted on sticking along with Sokka to the meeting, and Sokka knew the girl well enough to know that refusal was out of the question. So the two of them ended up going to the negotiations together.

The members of Order of the White Lotus had a campaign of their own here in Ba Sing Se, it was revealed. They intended to liberate the city on the very same day the team was going to be encountering the Fire Nation’s forces. But the Order still agreed to help, even if it was only by rounding up anyone who would be willing to rise against the Fire Nation. With the revelation of the upcoming invasion there were bound to be a great deal of people willing to fight, as not doing so would mean allowing the upcoming genocide to happen. The Order had offered to use all of the connections it had across the world, and Sokka had readily accepted.

After the meeting Sokka and Suki were on their way for a bit of a practise of their own, when suddenly a dark-clad form appeared in their path to block their way. Sokka was slightly startled by the woman’s sudden appearance, but could actually face the other’s painted face easily by now.

“Jun, what do you need?” Sokka asked the woman. Katara was always unnerved by the bounty hunter’s presence but to Sokka she was an annoyance at most, but most of the time actually bearable.

“Just wondering if you have a moment”, Jun prompted and Sokka grinned before replying: “We were actually on our way to practise our forms, but if it’s just a moment then I think it’s fine.”

“Oh, practise?” Jun queried and her black lips curled into a smirk. “Sword practise?”

“Yeah!” Sokka said excitedly, realizing that this was actually a person who he had not yet shown his sword to. “My sword is made out of a meteorite, so it’s actually a space sword! How cool is that?”

“Very cool indeed”, Jun drawled and something about the woman’s tone had Sokka thinking that no one actually spoke about weapons in such a tone, well, except for Jun, apparently. But Sokka did not get a chance to determine what exactly was wrong with the tone before Jun was leaning her face close to his own, very close, and murmuring: “I’d love to see your sword, if you’d show it to me.”

“Or maybe I should show you a few choice Kioshi Warrior moves”, Suki spoke abruptly, landing a hand on Sokka’s shoulder as she stepped past the boy to be face to face with Jun. “How would you like that?”

“That’s a great idea!” Sokka agreed readily. “You girls go and practise by yourselves while I’ll put down some drafts for a plan of action.” He needed to get started right away, while the ideas were still fresh.

Suki and Jun did actually do as Sokka suggested, wandering off together. But Sokka wondered about the air of hostility between the two female warriors. His instincts were telling him that something was off, but he could not quite put his finger on what that something was. Oh well, it probably was not anything very important or alarming anyway.

To be continued...