The Freedom Fighter ➵ Sokka

You Either Die a Hero...

The morning began the same as any other. Nara rose with the sun and brought breakfast back to her tent. It was a collection of fruits, the one food that was in abundance. Though Jet hadn't gone into any detail about the day's mission, Nara knew she would be expected to join the others and set about running whetstone along the edge of her sword.

This didn't chew up much of her morning, as Nara was pedantic about her sword maintenance and the short battle in the previous day had done little to impact the sharpness of her blade. Once she was satisfied that the edge could truly get no sharper, she reluctantly set it to the side in its sheath and sprawled out on her bed to wait.

She didn't have to wait long, though. "Nara?" A voice called from outside minutes later. It was Longshot. Evidently, he'd been sent to collect her.

"I'm awake."

A pause. "Can we talk?"

"Funny thing for you to say." Taking that as his cue, Longshot pushed his way into the tent. Seeing her sprawled out he lifted an amused brow. "Shut up," she grumbled, reluctantly sitting up. Longshot lifted his hands as if to say I didn't say a word, but she waved a dismissive hand. "What do you want?"

Longshot sat down beside her. He wasn't quite touching her, but his shoulder was so close to hers she could feel the chill of the winter air on his skin. Sensing he wasn't going to answer, Nara got straight to the point. "Aang's the avatar. He draws a lot of attention."

A nod. He knew what she meant.

"So why is he still here? Jet's planning something." She couldn't keep the bite out of her words, which Longshot noticed.

"You're upset."

"And you're pointing out the obvious," she reflected. Longshot frowned, clearly unimpressed with her response. His silence was stifling, and Nara felt herself relenting. "At dinner, Jet said he knows how Aang and Katara can help, and you lot have been acting strange since they arrived. I don't know what it is Jet's planning, and no one is talking to me about it, and it is infuriating."

Longshot was staring ahead as she ranted, refusing to meet her gaze. She could see the waring emotions written plain as day on his face. Unable to help her scoff, Nara stood up. "I know Jet isn't happy about what happened with Zhou, but cutting me out isn't going to change anything."

"It's not that—" he protested, but Nara snagged onto the words.

"But you don't deny he's leaving me out? If it's not about Zhou, why doesn't he trust me with this?" She demanded. Longshot, wisely, shut his mouth. It hurt more than Nara wanted to admit, so she decided to do the same. Ice crept into her voice as she said, "You don't trust me either? Fine. The feelings mutual." Crossing her arms, Nara stormed out and left him in her tent.

Sokka was already waiting when Nara made it to the forest floor. He winced when he saw the scowl fixed to her face. "What's put you in a mood?"

"People."

Sokka laughed. "I thought I was grumpy." He smiled crookedly, which took the edge out of his comment. Nara couldn't help her own laugh in response. Seemingly encouraged by the positive reaction, Sokka edged closer. "So, should I be concerned?"

"About my mood?" Nara snorted. "Depends. Do you find it concerning that no one will tell me what it is Jet's planning for Aang and Katara, which means that it is probably a terrible idea and they know I'll try to stop them?"