The Legend of Percy: Book 1 - Finding Purpose

11. A Duel on the Edge of a Cliff (Finally, a Good Fight!)

Suki didn't know what to think. It appeared that a lot of that was going around lately.

First this man shows up, holding a glowing bronze sword, yells at a humongous sea serpent to f off. Mind you, while splitting the lake in two. And now he's walking with them to Ba Sing Se.

Suki was suspicious. She conceded that he was handsome, though that put her right on edge. But he didn't seem like the arrogant male type. Percy hadn't done anything overtly suspicious yet, she was waiting for it though. The Kyoshi warrior didn't trust him with Sokka, yet.

Not to mention she also just wanted Sokka to be honest with her. And Suki really liked him. She planned on getting Sokka alone to continue their discussion from the previous night that didn't end so pleasantly. She got the feeling Sokka did reciprocate her feelings, although Suki wasn't 100% sure. She thought maybe talking it out a bit might help their situation a bit more.

That was until Sokka had been disarmed so quickly she couldn't even track Percy's movement. It was like a blur of bronze and black hair and then his machete was on the ground. She gasped in shock, she knew she shouldn't have, they were bound to notice her by now. Thankfully, they both seemed to be too deep into the training, and also too shocked by it if you were Sokka, to have heard.

She heard Percy's reasoning for his attack, and she had to say, it wasn't without its merits. She had been teaching him something similar in their first proper meeting, although that had been more about underestimating your opponent, than surprise, unfair attacks.

The Fire Nation wasn't a group that fought fairly, but she didn't particularly like someone, that she came along with to protect mind you, being outright attacked. Training or not. Sokka was hers to kick to the ground, not his. Wow, that's a bit...yeah let's stop that train of thought now. That's not really healthy of me and we're getting a little ahead of ourselves.

Suki didn't get up though. She almost did, but as soon as she saw Percy backing up, she let herself untense. Apparently Sokka didn't mind the aggressive training regimen Percy had him do, for the hour or so they trained, because he got up after every lesson and didn't let the beat down affect him. She looked upon him with a small inkling of pride, being reminded of the arrogant, kinda blatantly sexist boy that showed up to her island home and how much he seemed to have grown in and since their short interactions.

Something at the North Pole had changed Sokka, that was for certain. What, she didn't quite know. She betted a lot of money that it was some girl that had passed, which filled her with a deep sense of sorrow for what he had to go through up there. It mustn't have been easy.

After a while, it seemed that Sokka was just too tired to get up. He genuinely attempted to rise to his feet, but his muscles seemed to be failing him. In a dramatic effort, very typical of Sokka, he reached for the stars as though they might help pull him up.

Percy seemed to have a genuine laugh at Sokka, and she saw the beginnings of begrudging respect for taking the punishment that he'd put the water tribe boy through. He extended his hand out to actually help Sokka up, as opposed to the night sky, and lifted him with relative ease. That was yet another thing that startled her.

Sokka was by no means light. And the fact that Percy lifted him as if it was a routine weight for him was worrying. Sokka would be considered on the taller end. But as Percy pulled Sokka to his feet, she got her first real comparison of what they were like eye to eye.

Well, it wasn't eye to eye, as much as it was eye to mouth, or eye to chin. And that was Suki being very generous. It was safe to say that Sokka was having to look up quite a bit to match Percy's gaze. It didn't take much to see why this man was so intimidating, and could have survived being the prisoner of the Fire Nation Princess.