Preparing for the journey

As the day was growing old, the family decided to postpone all further planning for the next day. With Katara and Sokka both hungry from their day-long rest, the ate dinner together, with Katara bombarding Sokka with questions about the Avatars he had met. With her help, he pieced together the names of those he had spoken to outside of Roku (and he had still not mentioned Aang or Korra to his family): The Earth Kingdom Avatar was Kyoshi and the Air Nomad Avatars name was Yangchen. Since Sokka hadn't paid much attention to their grandmothers tales about the Avatar, he really hadn't had a clue about it, but now that he was the Avatar, he figured it was good to know.

The next morning, during breakfast, their grandmother was the first to bring up Sokkas mission. It pained the old woman dearly and visibly to have to do help her grandchild go on a dangerous journey, but she knew that without Sokka, the world was in even more danger. "If you want to find a waterbending teacher, you'll have to get to the Northern Water Tribe.", she told him, to which both Sokka and Katara nodded. They had figured as much already. "But the journey is long and dangerous,", Gran Gran warned them before adding, "or so I've heard, at least.".

Sokka didn't see the difficulty in that, however. "Well, how hard can it be? I'll just have to go north all the time and I'll make it eventually, right? Riiight?", he asked.

But their grandmother only shook her head. "It would be best if you had a map and compass. Unfortunately, your father and his men took all navigation instruments we had when he left. Without it, you'll risk getting lost at sea."

"So what is he supposed to do? Just wait until dad comes home?", Katara chimed in. It was a rhetoric question. Though they hadn't spoken about it, it was clear to all of them that Hakoda would either come home when the war was won... or not at all...

So that wasn't an option. So what else? Sokka wondered whether or not he should wish for them to somehow be able to find their way across the open ocean, until he remembered something else. "Wait! What about the Fire Nation ship?", he asked. He was referring to a ship that had been encased in ice and prevented from moving by Southern Waterbenders, when there still were some around. Though it had been there for decades, Sokka figured it was the best chance for them to find what they needed. Sure, the maps would be somewhat outdated, but continents didn't move, so they'd be perfectly usable for them. "There must be something useful there!", he reasoned.

Unfortunately, Gran Gran didn't see it that way. "Sokka, no. It is forbidden.", she insisted. The ship itself was a memento of the war and what it had cost them. It was the only ship that had managed to incapacitate and in return, over the following years and decades, their waterbenders had either been killed or imprisoned by the Fire Nation.

And Sokka knew that, but it didn't change the fact that he needed to go there. "But we need whatever help we can get, Gran Gran. We can't just sit around and wai-...", he began to object when his grandmother cut him off decisively.

"Sokka, as the village elder and your grandmother, I forbid it. It is taboo. End of discussion.", Gran Gran decided with finality. It was the first time she had pulled the 'village elder' and 'grandmother' card in a long while, so Sokka was left without any possible response...

After lunch, Sokka snuck out of their home. If Gran Gran wouldn't allow him to go there, even if it was the difference between accomplishing his task or failing it, he figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. Behind their hut, he strapped the snowshoes to his backpack, ready to set out, when..."So, you're going to the ship, huh?", Katara called out from behind him.

Sokka jumped up, startled. Turning around, he saw Katara standing there with a knowing grin. There was no point denying it, he knew. He was never very good at hiding things from her, at least not for long. "Yup. Are you going to stop me? Tell Gran Gran?", he asked, hoping she wouldn't. He was prepared to use a wish to prevent her from doing so, if he needed to.

But it turned out he didn't need to. "Hmm... I might... if you don't take me with you.", she replied, holding up her own pair of snowshoes.

Though he tried not to, Sokka smiled at the offer. So eager to help... still, he couldn't allow Katara to endanger herself on his behalf. He'd already done that once, unintentionally and he had no desire for a repeat so soon. Or ever, for that matter. "Katara, we don't know what's in that ship... it might be dangerous. There could be traps or the entire thing could just collapse with us inside.", he reminded her. But if he was being honest... the ship had been stranded and deserted there for decades, so whatever traps were in there surely had stopped functioning a long time ago.

But Katara wasn't so easily deterred. "Oh, so you want to go there alone, do you, Mr. 'I'm the Avatar but I don't know how to even bend a single drop of water so I don't need the help of a waterbender'?", she snarked at him, though he observed her sarcasm needed more work, it was just way too long to be snappy. "Besides, you're the Avatar. If something happens to you out there and nobody is around to help... that'd just be awful.", she argued.

And try as he might, Sokka wouldn't be able to change his sisters mind even if he wanted to. So, he relented and together, the siblings set out into the icy tundra of the Southern Pole. An hour later, they had already reached their destination: A Fire Nation cruiser ship, raised out of the waves and frozen in place by waterbenders.

Sokka turned to his sister. If she wanted to return, this'd be her last change. But again, she knew him better than he gave her credit for. "No way, I'm not staying here and I'm not going back, Sokka. Let's go!", she said and thus, together, the Water Tribe siblings approached the stranded vessel...