Chapter Text
Hakoda considered himself to be a decent leader. He cared about his tribe, his men, his ship, and his children. Although his life as a chief hasn’t been without mishaps, he always tried his best to lead by example; to be dedicated and honest, and to not fall prey to the usual allure of power that men seemed to crumble under.
He had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, and with this never ending war with the Fire Nation, Hakoda could feel the responsibility getting heavier and heavier by the day. He has left everything behind in order to participate in this war, leaving his beloved daughter and son at home while he took their fleet to provide resistance against the Fire Lord’s army. At times, he felt the crippling debt of guilt when he thought about all that he had taken. He had taken all the men from the tribe, leaving everyone else defenseless while he was sailing hundreds of miles from the Southern shore. He had taken a father figure away from his children, leaving Katara to all but help raise Sokka alone. He remembered how desperate Sokaa was to come with him, so eager to rush into being a man if it meant that he could be by his side. Hakoda did not allow him to sail, not because he wanted to see Sokka disappointed, but because he couldn’t ask him to take on these same responsibilities that were now burdening Hakoda each and every day. As for Katara, she didn’t beg him to stay, but he knew the unspoken burden he was placing on her as he left. To leave his young son as the only protector of the tribe, and Katara as the only waterbender of the tribe–to raise herself, Sokka, and others, it pained him.
He wasn’t blind. He was very well aware of what he was doing, and although he wished he didn’t have to do any of it, there wasn’t much other option left to him. Ever since the day that the Fire Nation started this war, all four nations have been plunged into deep, deep misfortune. Some were dealing better with the war than others, but all were suffering at the hands of the Fire Nation Royal Line. Hakoda was particularly bitter when he thought about it all. The Fire Nation was a powerful country, driven by innovation, industrialization, and global commerce. In their eternal goal of conquering the world, it seemed like everything they have done and continue to do is planned eons in advance. They have invested in superior technology, weaponry— spending thousands in their currency to train an unrelenting army from scratch. They have willed metal into ships, with no masts to tear down, no sails to set fire to; and they can manufacture those ships in days, employing some of the most skilled crafters in all the realms. All that they did, they did with speed, efficiency, power, the kind that one can see burning in the eyes of the most patriotic society anyone has ever seen.
Hakoda always had that sickening feeling in the back of his throat that the Fire Nation was always one step ahead of everyone else. Always developing, never resting. Their pride driving their people towards eternal victory. No matter what measures any other nation took, the Fire Nation would always find a way to weasel itself through every crack and crevice in the weakness of its opponents. And goddamn, everything they did was so --planned--. Waking up every morning to the salty air and the wooden creaking of the ship’s deck, it almost made Hakoda wonder if all this was worth it. Leaving his family, his tribe, his people, to put up nothing but a fruitless fight. After all, what could their wooden ships possibly do against the great might of their fleets? It almost seemed laughable. Resisting against the Fire Nation felt just about the same as sailing towards a tsunami blindfolded. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel shivers down his spine every time he saw the smoldering trails of ash on the horizon.
What’s worse, is that Hakoda knew that the other nations were slowly losing their will to fight with every decade that passed. The airbenders, bless their souls, have all been exterminated. The Earth Kingdom, has retreated to its golden capital of Ba Sing Se and for the most part, refused to acknowledge the war even exists. As for his brothers and sisters at the North Pole, they have locked themselves behind a great wall of ice, cutting ties with their sunk costs and choosing to defend rather than offend. The nations were starting to lose their fuel bit by bit. Resources aren’t eternal, and no one can keep up war efforts that they cannot win. It is no wonder that many people are now willing to live to avoid the Fire Nation instead of living to fight it. Maybe if the avatar didn’t disappear one hundred years ago, everything would have been different. Maybe he or she would have been able to unite the nations, instead of watching them slinker away to their three corners of the world, trying to wait out a storm that will never end.
All this made Hakoda very tired. Not the kind of tired from running up a hill, but the kind that weighs on you, the kind that makes your heart and your soul heavy when you stare off aimlessly into the candlelight. Sometimes he wondered if he'd ever see the end of this war. He was born into it, and his father had fought it much like he has now. And maybe one day, Sokka will grow up to fight in this war too, until this war turns from one century to another, and another. Who really knows? Or maybe the Fire Nation will come back to the South Pole for the final time, and burn down permanently, and Hakoda will be their last chief in history.
“Hakoda!--”
He turned his head to the sound of Bato’s voice, echoing loudly atop the helm of the ship. Hakoda leaned away from the railing of the ship, breaking his gaze from the dark waters lapping endlessly against the hull.
“You’re going to look 100 by the time you turn 45, Hakoda,” Bato teased, sticking his finger splat in the middle of his friend’s brows, “with all that thinking you’re doing.”
“I don’t think I’m going to make it to 45,” He said, “Not with you running up my blood pressure every day.”
“Come now, if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be half as youthful and energetic as you are now. I keep you on your toes.”
“That, you do.”
He turned back to the water with a heavy sigh, his smile fading all too quickly. Bato eyed him carefully, his head tilted to the side in that usual half amused thought. He went around and leaned against the rails by his side, his forearm brushing up against Hakoda’s.
“What were you thinking about?”
Hakoda let out a snort. “Why do you ask me that when you know the answer? Is there really anything left to think about when all we’ve faced is failure?”
Bato stayed silent, his features soft with sympathy. This man has been with Hakoda through a lot. He wasn’t like a brother, he was a brother to him. Sticking by his side through thick and thin no matter what they had to endure.
“You say that, but you're still here, aren’t you?”
“Yes well,” Hakoda huffed unhappily, “I have to do what I have to do.” Which is what Hakoda always told Bato. But on the inside, Hakoda had half a mind to tell him that he’d rather quit this weak endeavor and return back to the South Pole. But he couldn’t say that. Not when he knew he had men depending on him.
“I know you too well, Hakoda, you’re not being very honest.”
“I know you too, and I am wise enough to guess that you want something. What is it?”
Now it was Bato’s turn to sigh with his full chest, adjusting the furs around his shoulders against the cold air. “I miss the times when you were as dull as a tree stump, now I actually have to be careful around you.”
“Spit it out, already.”
“Alright, Alright,” Bato shook his head, “There are reports of Fire Nation fleets attacking an Earth Kingdom port, Lo Ri, and apparently their attack has been successful. A few of our ships stationed there have been captured.”
“What?”
Bato glanced away guiltily. “It looks like the Fire Nation doesn’t like Ba Sing Se’s existence. They have been relentless in taunting their surrounding lands to gain some kind of response from the Earth King. To my knowledge they haven't received any. But neither have our diplomats. Before they could get their own contacts into the Earth City, the port was attacked. We lost communication with them.”
Hakoda shoved his face into his hands, feeling a headache rapidly starting to invade his head.
“They were ahead of us once again,” Hakoda said, “We have to rescue them. Is there any way?”
“Not right now, no,” Bato looked at him grimly, “The port is swarming with the Fire Lord’s imperial army. We should wait to see if the Earth Kingdom responds to this invasion. But recently Ba Sing Se hasn’t shown any response to its outer borders. My guess is that their capital city will ignore it.”
“That doesn’t mean we should ignore it.”
“No, but if we go there now, we will lose, and they will capture us as well. The Fire Nation has been ramping up their efforts these days.”
“Why?”
Bato shrugged.
The heavy water lapped tirelessly against the side of the ship, the repeating hum of its waves grating against Hakoda’s nerves. How is it that the Fire Nation has once again run a loop against all of them? If you win a fight once against these bastards, then you will lose ten times more in return. Like snakes they know where to weave their poison, and one of these days they will weave themselves ever closer to Ba Sing Se. And what if Ba Sing Se falls? It is the last remaining city of concentrated influence and wealth, and if it crumbles to the Fire Nation, then the war is all but lost for the whole world. The day Ba Sing Se falls will probably be the day that Hakoda will start picking out a Fire Nation last name and start wearing red, because for all he knew everyone will become a citizen of their world-wide nation.
“There has to be a reason why they’ve been so active lately,” Hakoda said, “It can’t be that they’re just bored and vindictive.”
“Rumor has it that the Fire Lord’s son has been up to something. But who knows? The Fire Nation loves to spread rumors about their newest weaponry.”
“His son?---”
“Yeah, apparently, he got a ship and everything. Went straight to the top of their military hierarchy. And so did his daughter. His right and left hand, or so I think.”
His son and his daughter. Hakoda almost forgot that the tyrant had children to begin with. As far as Hakoda could remember he heard that his children were also in the military, serving by their father’s side like two knives around a plate. No doubt they were the futures of this war, and the opponents of generations to come. Hakoda had never seen them before—not that he wished to—but it wasn’t hard to imagine the two most powerful people on this planet, second only to their faceless figure of a father, whom Hakoda only had the great displeasure of seeing in portraits on books and papers. What kind of father was that man anyways? And most importantly, who would marry a tyrant like that and give him children? The great imperial royal family of the Fire Nation, standing above the rest of the world. It didn’t leave a good taste in his mouth.
“His right and left hand, you say. Nightmare number one and nightmare number two, I say.”
Bato chuckled. “Come, come, let’s get down below deck. No need standing out here in the cold shivering away. If we have to ruminate over our plans, let’s at least do it over food.” Hakoda unwillingly followed Bato down the deck and below the stairs, when his best friend all too eagerly lured him towards the overwhelming scent of seal and bread.
Laughter met his ears the moment he walked in on his crew, sitting around in a circle, faces deep in salty, savory meat. If there was anything they loved more than their own families, it was salty food, and even if it was shortening all their lifespans by about ten years, no one here seemed to really care.
“;Koda, about time, a little more, and nothing would have been left to you!” A gruff, bearded man winked up at him, nose scrunched up in sarcasm. “Do you think we’re nice enough to spare you left-overs?”
“No, Gods forbid you’re ever kind to me, Thorfinn.”
He barked out a laugh, followed by another and another. A pang brewed in Hakoda’s chest as he looked around at his fellow shipmates. These were the men he dragged along with him out to sea. The men who chose to follow him despite all the odds stacked against them. How they were in such good spirits still amazed him, but a part of him wondered how long it would last amidst all the bloodshed that all them have yet to undoubtedly witness in the years to come.
“Quit being so mean to your Chief, you oaf,” Kinrin, another man huffed, “Hakoda, can you throw him overboard? I think we have a plank somewhere.”
“A plank?! You underestimate me. I will simply swim back to shore. You would know, but unfortunately, you’re not as strong as me, Kin.”
“Ah!” Kin scrunched up his brows, biting into his jerky, “What good is being strong when your wit is about as sharp as a river pebble? I saw you spell orange with a D once.”
“How dare you?”
“You’re all very hopeless,” Bato sighed, sitting down at the table besides Hakoda, “How do you expect to win against the Fire Nation this way?”
“Oh, we will win, don’t fret,” Tona’s voice piped up, “And they will all run away from us, won’t they, Koda?”
Hakoda glanced up from his own jerky, caught off guard if only for a second.
“Yes, Tona, I’m sure the Fire NAtion is very intimidated by us.”
“Uh-hu. You know, last time we fought those Fire Nation soldiers, I saw one of them shivering! I bet my war paint really puts the fear of their Agni in their souls. Those ashmakers don’t have the guts to be real warriors.”
“You sure they were shivering from your paint and not from the cold?” Thorfinn nudged him hard, bowling him over, “I know it’s hard for you to tell the difference.”
Hakoda blinked down at his dinner. This comradery was the only thing that kept his head up sometimes. It was warm and familiar, and it was at times like these that Hakoda felt his resolve harden at protecting his friends. His loyalties lay with them, with his people and his family, and nowhere else. How can he possibly watch any of these people get hurt? He would go to any length to protect his tribe, even if he will end up being the last one to do so. The evening sped by without a second wasted, time ticking by quicker the more Hakoda allowed himself to relax. With the food spent they all retired to their hammocks, with Hakoda being no exception.
As he fell into a somewhat restful sleep, he couldn’t help but think how to go on. Nights like these were food for the soul, but how long can they live in this tension on the sea, before this war turned for the worst? Hakoda didn’t want to think about it. He already thought about it all day, couldn’t he at least get the night to his thoughtless bliss? Apparently, life had other plans.
“Chief Hakoda! Wake Up! Wake up!”