Chapter Text
Sokka didn’t fuck with the spirits. Ever since being carried off to their world by an enraged panda bear he made it a rule to steer clear of anything to do with them.
He was a man who dealt in reality. In clear plans and laid out blueprints and how one thingamabob spins this doodad and turns this chain and ta-dah you’ve got a bike. Or a submarine. Or a bomb. Or an entire functioning irrigation system, no water benders required!
Simple.
The spirits were not simple. Not clear, laid out, or made a lick of sense to Sokka. He didn’t care for any of them.
Well, he cared for one. But she was a special case.
Not that it mattered much. It was an Aang thing anyway. So if there was something vaguely nonsensical and stinking of spirit meddling then off the Avatar went to deal with it. Sokka was happy not to go on those particular adventures.
Sokka would stick to helping with other things that cropped up like wild Mousedeer problems or smaller troublemaking groups. Normal, regular people have problems even during times of peace.
If Aang was the bridge between humans and spirits, then Sokka considered himself a bridge between the superhuman benders he was surrounded by and the average person worried about their crops being devoured by pesky animals.
So when a letter came from a small town in the Earth Kingdom for help with just that, his useful inventions and plans having made him somewhat famous for problem-solving, he answered the call alone.
Aang offered to come along, probably just wanting to goof off a little, but Sokka just shooed him out of his office and told him to go take Katara on a date if he had time to goof off.
He had briefly considered asking someone else to come with him. Super briefly. Honest. It was just a flicker of a thought, really, as he had stared down at a sheet of paper with his charcoal pencil in hand.
Hey Buddy! I know you’re busy being Firelord and undoing a century's worth of Fire Nation propaganda, but wanna come to the Earth Kingdom and help me deal with the local Mousedeer population?
Sokka :)
Sokka had stared at what he had written. Yeah, about as ridiculous as it sounded in his head too. At best, it would get a little chuckle out of the other man. He could just picture Zuko, sitting ramrod straight and filling out that giant throne of his with his flowing robes and unfair body, face impassive as he read the letter.
Then a little crack of a smile would break that stoic look. His shoulders would relax. Maybe his eyes would soften a bit in amusement.
Just imagining that had almost made it worth it to send.
Then again, it was just as likely Zuko would shake his head at his nonsense and set the letter aside without another thought.
And Sokka had his pride as a man to keep intact. Asking the leader of a nation, and friend, he had been ogling and sighing over in private for over five years to join him for a little trip was just shameless.
Which Sokka wasn’t usually worried about, happily flirting and hamming it up. But Mai and Zuko, and his own conflicting feelings about that, made him second-guess things.
In the end, he left Republic City to its rebuilding and went alone.
How hard could it be?
Right?
Honestly, at 25, he should have known better by now.
Or he wouldn’t have found himself in this sea pickle right now.
The town hadn’t actually seen what was eating their cabbages, but an increase in Mousedeer had been a nuisance in the past, so that is what they expected. Based on the teeth marks of the left behind cabbages, Sokka wasn't so sure. So he set up a simple alarm in one of the fields: some bells and strong cord used for fishing nets. When one of Sokka’s rigged alarms in the fields went off just after dinner, he ran to see what it was. He did not expect to see a giant white meadow vole the size of a sky bison standing in the field.
“What?” Sokka said dumbly, looking at the other townsfolk with their lanterns to make sure they were seeing this too. Their wide eyes said as much.
It sniffed the air, nose and whiskers twitching, then zeroed in on Sokka, dropping the cabbage in its paws, and charged.
The next thing he knew, here he was being carried away in this creature’s mouth, and no amount of whacking it with his club helped.
This was now the second time in his life that he had been carried off by a spirit. And with no Aang this time. Great. Would he be rat food by the time they came to look for him?
Before he could loudly bemoan such an unheroic end, there was a sudden whistling sound through the air and a thud. The vole squeaked and dropped him before scurrying off deeper into the forest.
“Well, alright then,” he said, sitting up. He looked around, wondering what had saved him.
It was still night, no moon in sight, yet he found he could see perfectly well in the forest. The trees were a strange pale color but he couldn’t grasp which as they shifted and shimmered between every blink of his eyes.
Did he hit his head? He did feel kind of floaty. Sokka rubbed at his eyes again as he stood. Looked around. Took a few steps.
He stumbled over a root.
He watched the tree he tripped over lift itself out of the ground, picked up some of its thinner roots with leafy limbs, like a lady would gather up the fabric of an overlong skirt, and then walked away in a huff.
“Oh shit,” he muttered, recognizing he was very much not in his world.
“Indeed. You stumbled into quite a sea pickle, as you say, haven’t you?”
Sokka whirled toward the voice behind him, club raised.
A fox sat at the base of a tree. Its narrow eyes glittered at Sokka, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He took a step back.
This was not just a fox.
“Who are you?” Sokka demanded.
The fox stood and stretched. “Some call me Hong Ma. And you may do the same, Sokka of the Water Tribe and precious treasure of the Moon Spirit.”
Sokka stiffened. “I uh… what was that last part?”
“Your confusion is adorable,” the fox tittered. She wound her way around a tree and vanished. Sokka jumped as suddenly she was almost at his feet, looking up at him. “And your aura is quite lovely. Marked with our world. You can’t blame Kyabetsu-gui for running off with you when you put off such a fetching scent. It is a lucky thing I was here.”
“You saved me?”
“Yes. Normally, you wouldn’t need it, but with the new moon, your usual guardian is asleep. You’ve attracted the attention of spirits far more often than you know, but have been blissfully unaware thanks to her.” The fox’s tail flicked. “So I’ve done her a favor, protecting her favorite when his poor luck has reared its head. Lucky me.”
He quickly put together exactly who the spirit was referring to and felt a thrill of surprise and joy that Yue was looking out for him. It was accompanied by a tinge of sadness, too.
He also put together that this fox was telling him he was apparently lemur-nip for spirits. Which was definitely news to him.
“Love is a hard thing for you, isn't it? I can sense a weight on your heart. A longing. It tinges your aura pink.” She trotted away and vanished behind another tree. This time though, a small woman with long, striking red hair that Sokka had never seen on a human before appeared instead. She smiled at him, not exactly kindly, and Sokka swallowed.
Time to go!
“Yup, but uh, you know who doesn’t struggle with love, right?” He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “Anyway, thanks for the save. I’ll just be going now. Back to the regular guy world. If you could just… point the way?”
“Oh, so soon?” Hong Ma, floated closer, looking up at him. He went stiff, feeling a bit like a hunted rabbit. The scent of jasmine and honey wafted from her. It made Sokka’s nose itch and he resisted the urge to scratch it.
Despite looking ephemeral enough to vanish with a sneeze, Sokka could feel a strange energy in the air coming from her that told him not to piss her off. Yet...
“Yeah. Cause I don’t belong here and this is… Avatar stuff. You know the Avatar? My really, really good friend, Avatar Aang? Friend of spirits? Who would be very sad to find me injured or maimed?”
She rolled her dark eyes. “So dramatic. There is always an Avatar. There is not always someone favored by a powerful spirit like you. Tell me, precious thing of the Moon. How would you like me to help you with your love woes?”
“Woes?”
“Your heavy love. Your lack of a mate.”
Sokka sucked in a breath at the reminder that he and Suki hadn’t been together in over a year and his embarrassing feelings for Zuko. Though “mate” wasn’t exactly the word he would use.
“See? You are sad. You humans are so sad. Lacking instinct. Or rather, refusing to listen to what instinct you have because your brains are too overstuffed.” She poked him lightly in the forehead, and it was then that Sokka realized he was frozen. “You just need a little push. I can help with that. I think the Moon will be pleased if I help her favorite human find love, right?”
That last part seemed mostly to be to herself, and Sokka just stared at her.
If he made it out of the spirit world, he would never turn down Aang’s offer to join him again. Maybe there was some sort of spirit sensor that went off that made him suggest it in the first place.
Hong Ma clapped her hands together. “Yes, I have just the thing!”
She reached into her sleeve and held out… well, it looked like a small berry or maybe a round shiny pill the size of a marble. Sweat beaded down Sokka’s shaved temples, and he at least found that his voice wasn’t frozen.
“Uh, no thanks! I really don’t need any help from a spirit. Especially, whatever that is. If you could just point the way out, I’m sure Yue will consider that- ack!”
She didn’t let him finish that thought as her hand moved faster than he could track it, and she shoved the small marble into his mouth. Instantly, jasmine, honey and heat flooded his senses thickly. If scent could be thick. It spilled up into his nose like hot wax and into his eyes before bursting from his sinuses and clogging his brain.
Sokka gasped, the pill already gone in his mouth but the effect of it still rampaging through his body. Warmth spilled from his head down his neck and spine before spreading through to his chest, his abdomen, and deeper into his core, where it blazed like a fire. He clutched at his stomach, where it burned the worst. It was too much. He feared he would burst with the sensation building in him.
“You’re welcome!” The spirit said excitedly.
I think I would have preferred to be rat food, was his last thought before his vision went dark.
He didn't come back to awareness until he heard the concerned voices of townsfolk and someone shaking him awake.
He bolted straight up. “I don’t want what you’re-!”
Sokka blinked. The forest was dark, the small area around him lit by the flickering of the townsfolk’s torches surrounding him. The trees were dark. Normal. The ground beneath him was solid, and his body felt like it had actual weight to it.
“Master Sokka?” A man asked, kneeling next to him. “Are you alright? You have been missing all night.”
Sokka looked down at himself, patting himself to confirm that, yes, he was alright. Not injured. Though he did feel a little warm despite the chill of the night.
“I’m… fine,” He said, trying to convince himself of that fact. His brows furrowed in confusion at the strange haze over his thoughts.
“Thank the spirits,” the man sighed. “Where did you go? When the creature ran off with you, we tried to follow, but you had vanished!”
Sokka’s brows scrunched deeper in thought at that as he looked back at the man. He rubbed at his head.
“I don’t really remember?”