Chapter Text
...
Sokka is not freaking out- He is absolutely not freaking out!
"What do you mean the gate's closed?! The war- "
"There is no war in Ba Sing Se." The guardsman shoves him rough into his shoulder and Sokka stumbles a few steps back. He throws his hands up in defeat.
"Fine!" He shouts at the guardsman, before turning around.
It's fine. He is not freaking out.
Sokka huffs annoyed, kicks a small pebble and watches it bounce a few steps ahead of him. He drags his hand down his face trying to remember which way he came from, turning in that direction.
It's not fine obvious.
Sokka rubs his wrist absentmindedly and squeezes himself through the crowd as he passes the same street vendors he came across earlier. People bump and shove into him as he makes his way past various stalls. Sokka's stomach rumbles as he takes in all the smells of different spices and flavors in the air. Had he known how far he would run- he would have had a bigger breakfast.
Just why didn't he have a plan for this exact scenario as unlikely as it seemed? Sokka is the plan's guy.
He stops in front of a stall selling some meat- skewers. They smell mouthwatering and he reaches for his wallet...
Right.
Somewhere along the way he must have lost it. Sokka scratches his wrist. It's itching some again and still looks bruised. Probably from when he fell down the stairs as he was running for his life...
Someone bumps into him again and Sokka curses after them.
... Maybe, if he is lucky he will find his wallet again and- Who is he even kidding. He will not find it.
So.
So. It's not fine and he maaay be freaking out a bit, but he can come up with a plan. He is the plan's guy after all. Right? He just has to gather his thoughts fist.
Here are some facts:
He got separated from his friends. No biggy.
He can't get back into the upper ring, can't even leave the city because he doesn't have the correct papers as the guard so lovingly told him and he has no idea what he should do now. Eh. He'll figure it out eventually.
Aang may or may not be death. He doesn't know where Katara and Toph are, but if they have been with Aang- that could only mean... Well. That one is not so great, actually.
Then there is also the the Dai Li- who is decidedly not side Team Avatar and now that Sokka thinks about it all, he might as well be screwed.
He sits down at the side of the street, away from the crowd and empties his right shoe. Some tiny stone that had been annoying him falls out. He watches it roll away.
How did it even come to all that?
They were all together, trying to get an audience with the Earth King, when Aang finally, finally got his invitation. Katara insisted on coming along, so he and Toph stayed behind.
Sokka sighs as he gets up and he takes another turn left. By the looks of everything... Why does he even try to go back- he has no way to reach the upper ring where all of their stuff was. It may as well be lost forever. He should have seen it was a trap right from the beginning and not only when the Dai Li attacked him and Toph in their accommodation -
Sokka stops walking.
In front of him is a small dark alley. This... This isn't the direction he came from earlier. Sokka walks back, turns right, turns right again and-
Another narrow alley he has never seen in his entire life.
Okay. That's not a problem. Just go back down the street turn left instead and-
Well shit.
Sokka kicks a rock angrily and curses when a shooting pain shots up his foot and the rock barely moves. His stupid wrist also doesn't stop bothering him-
Tui and La, just where the fuck is he? He turns around himself a few times in the foolish hope to recognize something- anything. He looks back down the ally to see if there is anyone he can ask for directions.
There is nobody. Sokka is all on his own.
Sokka really needs to think positive now. Katara is his sister- Toph is the best earth bender alive and Aang is the literal Avatar... They are Team Avatar. They can't be dead. They just can't. Toph must have gotten away after she shoved him down the stairs, found Aang and Katara in the palace and they escaped all together- and now they are looking for him. Or maybe the Dai Li has them captive somewhere- Sokka just has to find out what happened and figure out how to save them, while keeping the Dai Li off his back. Right?
His stomach rumbles again and Sokka can't ignore how hungry he is any longer.
Just great... The Dai Li almost got him, he is lost, he needs something to eat and he is absolutely penniless. This shitty day just keep getting better and better.
Sokka stoically keeps on walking. He has to find a street he recognizes eventually or someone he can-
He takes another turn left and walks into something hard - someone yelps loudly - he stumbles and finds himself planted on his ass. Sokka groans.
"Don't you have eyes?" A girl says angrily - sprawled right next to him on the ground too.
"Er- sorry. Sorry!" He must have ran straight into her.
The girl glares at him but then her eyes soften for some reason. She get's up, patts down her pants and begins to picks up her things.
"Are you okay? You look a bit dazed."
"Of course I am- I... Urg. No who am I kidding. I'm hungry and I'm lost, not that I get lost but. You know how it is. My friends got lost, not me. And I don't know where to find them. And they may not be in the city, or they are.... They are-" Sokka can't stop himself from spewing everything out, needing to say it out loud and yet he can't bring himself to voice his biggest fear.
The girl's eyes sweep over him, taking in his foreign appearance, the bruises he has and she must have come to some conclusion when she gives him a sad but understanding smile.
"Oh. I have been there."
"I highly doubt it - no offense," he says and scratches his wrist again.
She watches him a moment before plopping down next to him still on the ground and gives him a small package.
"What's that?" He ask her confused.
"My lunch. You said you are hungry and I'm giving it to you."
Sokka looks at her skeptically, not wanting to believe the kindness some random stranger shows him. When she nudges him on he opens the container and finds some rice and bland looking steamed vegetables -given his situation he is not picky.
"I do know what you've been through. Almost all of the refugees have lost someone on the way," she tells him while he is eating.
A refugee is it? Well, given the situation and how it looks, it's not far from the truth.
"You still didn't have to give me any of your food," he says as he takes another bite. It does taste better than it looks.
"Of course I had. Someone once helped my family when we where new to Ba Sing Se and now I'm helping you. We refugees have to help each other." She says like it's obvious. Sokka pauses.
He is reminded of the sense of community he grew up with in the south pole. Nobody would have let a stranger gone hungry when there was enough food you could share. Sokka didn't expect to find such solidarity elsewhere, and surprisingly not among refugees in the Earth Kingdom. On the other hand it seems obvious that the people running from the war would try to help each other out.
"I love that, and thank you. I'm Sokka by the way," he says as he stands up and offers the girl his hand to help her up.
"I'm Jin and- What's that?" She says when she is already standing but still has his hand in hers. The girl pulls his arm to her - the one that's been bothering him so and wipes over a smudge of dirt and-
"By Kyoshi's left tits!" Jin exclaims and she sounds half exited, half horrified as she stares at his arm with huge eyes.
"What? What is it?" Sokka pulls his arm out of her grasp and tries to wipe the dirt away but - it's not a smudge of dirt.
Here is another fact:
On his wrist is something written in dark ink and he can't brush it away.
Sokka rubs some more over the place, turns his wrist this way and that way, trying to figure out just what this means because he can't even read the sign that seems to be branded into his skin.
Jin is still staring at him.
"What do you mean what is this? What- That's a soulmark and... stop- don't- You gotta hide that quick - here- " she pulls one of her hair-ties off and quickly wraps it around his wrist, completely covering the mark. Sokka is sure he must have misheard.
"What." Sokka stares at the green fabric, still not comprehending.
"Not here. The walls have eyes and ears. I do know a place were we can talk more privately. Come on." Jin says in a hurried and hushed voice.
Sokka doesn't really know her. It may be naive from him when he starts to follow her, he has no reason to trust her. It could all be a trick from the Dai Li after all. But Jin gave him her lunch and right now he desperately wants to rely on the kindness of strangers. Sokka let's his curiosity wins out.
"Where are we going?"
"Only the best tea-shop in this city."
"Er- I'd feel like I need to inform you that I have zero money to my name."
Jin hums. "Don't worry about that. We'll just have to figure something out for that too, then."
He follows her through another set of alleys and narrow streets. He tries to memorize the path not sure if it is meaningless to try to do so. Meanwhile Jin talks on and on in fake cheer-fullness about other refugees and how they build up their life from the ground.
" -you could tell me about your friends too later. Maybe somebody I know, knows something." She keeps flashing him a reassuring smile and he wonders again if he just walked into a trap from the Dai Li. That would just be he luck. Sokka may very well be stupid for being so utterly naive.
"Anyway, Here we are- the Jasmine Dragon and the best tea shop in Ba Sing Se." Jin tells him as he looks at the building with more skepticism.
It's almost completely full. They sit down on an one of the few empty table in the corner. Sokka frowns at Jin. This doesn't look like a place that can offer any privacy at all.
"I'm not so sure- ," he start but a shadow falls over them then.
Sokka cranks his head and sees a young man with the biggest resting bitch face he has ever seen in his entire life standing at their table. He has a nasty burn scar covering half his face and glares at Sokka with such an intensity- like he wants him to catch fire with his stare only.
"What do you want?" The man says in a tone that makes Sokka's hackles rise and he instantly reaches for the place his boomerang used to be, before he catches himself.
Jin let's out a laugh, breaking the tension. Sokka's head snaps back to her confused.
"The usual. Do you like Jasmine?" It takes Sokka an embarrassing long moment to realize she has ask him.
"What?"
"Jasmine tea? Er- Just bring us some," she says to the scary intense guy. He stomps away without any kind of reaction that he has heard her.
"It's always a pleasure, Lee!" She calls after him and the man casually flips her the bird like she isn't one of the paying customers. Sokka takes a bit to shaking himself out of a stupor.
"Who was that?" He asks bewildered.
"Oh that's my friend Lee. It's his uncles tea-shop. He works here. He can be a bit rough around the edges but once you know him he is a gem."
She smiles but Sokka has some serious doubts about that. He turns to look in the direction Lee has gone off.
The man is at another table, with the same murderous look while taking another order and now that Sokka is looking he can spot the cutesy apron that is clashing with the whole intense thing he has going on. He seems to be about the same age as Sokka, nineteen, maybe early twenties and for a fleeting moment Sokka thinks he'd be unfairly handsome if not for the scar and the aggression that is rolling off of him in waves-
Lee gives him a glance. Sokka looks away and flushes at being caught staring.
He turns back at Jin.
"So, about this- ", he goes and wants to remove the hair-tie of hers when she stops him with hectic movement, lowering her voice to a whisper.
"Don't! Don't let anyone ever see this." Sokka frowns, still not understanding. His arm has stopped itching some time ago but he still doesn't know what this means- Jin apparently does.
"Okay- but what is this?"
"It's a soulmark, dummy." Sokka blinks owlish. He didn't mishear her earlier then? There a many things he could say to that. So he says the most eloquent thing he could ever come up with.
"Huh? - a soulmark like- like a soul...mark...?"
Sokka knows what a soulmark is - theoretically. They are so rare and he has never met anyone who had one. He isn't sure if Jin isn't just trying to fuck with him. She laughs softly.
"I don't understand- Why do I need to hide it? If I really do have one - and sorry for my skepticism- it should be a blessing from the spirits. There is nothing dangerous- "
"Your mark is written in imperial short-hand. No-one in the Earth Kingdom uses it but it can be easily recognized as such. You do not want anyone to find out that you have the mark of the fire nation on you."
Sokka stares at her, frowns and stares some more before her words truly sink in.
"You are telling me my supposed soulmate is- ", he can't bring himself to say it out loud. His soulmate is fire nation- may as well even be a fire bender by the luck he is having lately and... That is not any blessing from any spirits. Not that he believes her of course.
Sokka curses.
"You are lucky I ran into you. I'm not going to tell anyone- I promise. You better forget this even exists."
She is still whispering.
Jup. He is absolutely fine with pretending that it doesn't exist. Soulmate-who? Sokka doesn't know her... or him.
"So, you said you were lost earlier, any idea what you are doing now? Do you even have a place to stay?" Jin leans back and ask in a normal voice, trying to shift the conversation back from any secrets that Sokka may as well take to the grave with him.
That's a good question and Sokka shakes his head. He can't go back to the upper ring, but he does need to stay somewhere. Finding out what happened to his friends will have to wait, even if it means the Dai Li will come looking for him -
Sokka frowns. Why didn't anyone come for him when he was walking around, getting himself lost earlier anyway? He had assumed the Dai Li was after all of them, when they were attacked. But when Toph kicked him out of the way and he fell down the stair on the side of some building as she ran in the direction of the palace - nobody was after him as he made his getaway. He had thought they lost track of him but surely the Dai Li would have found him by now, right? Maybe they weren't -
Suddenly a tray of tea gets slammed in front of them. Sokka jumps out of his skin. Jin laughs delighted.
"Shit. That was. You are rude! That's no way to treat customers." The guy- Lee glances at Jin, before glaring back at Sokka.
"So? You got your tea. What more do you want?"
Okay. Sokka has had a bad, bad day and while meting Jin was the best thing that could have happened so far he still may or may not be feeling petty.
"Oh. Maybe you could smile for a start. I'm inclined to think some friendly face would be better for business. But by the looks of it, It's not your sorry mug that the other customers are coming back for."
"What did you just say?" Lee says dangerously low and Sokka get's the impression he just has set fire to some fuse. Er. Maybe Sokka is feeling more than just a bit petty. Not to excuse his assholery, but something about this Lee guy just sets him off.
"Lee, do you want another scolding for picking fights with customers again?" Jin thankfully interrupts. So Sokka isn't the only one who feels riled up like this. Good to know.
"He started it!" The man says hot-headed and so loud that now several other guests turn to their table to see what this is about.
"Excuse me?! You were the rude one first!"
"If you had to deal with assholes like you all day, you wouldn't be nice to them either!"
This is just stupid.
"Maybe it is you then! The customers are all assholes to you because you are their waiter."
Sokka catches Jin's eyes and she looks at both of them so disappointed. Sokka flushes with embarrassment- he is so grateful for everything she is doing for him and he thanks her, by insulting her friend-
"Oh, really funny. You wouldn't last a day if you had to- "
"Actually. That's a great idea!"
"What is?" They both turn to Jin.
"Didn't you need another waiter? You drove the last one off with your attitude."
Sokka has to stifle a laugh. This sounds about right.
"I didn't drove anyone off! He quit because he got a better job!" Lee yells back.
Sokka now fully starts to laughs at that, that is until Jin's words sink in and he cuts him off with a strangle-
"Eh what?"
"You need a job if you want to afford a place to stay- as a refugee you can't be picky but don't worry. This place is great. I'm sure Mushi will love to have you," she says and Sokka has no idea who Mushi even is.
Lee looks murderous at her, then at him before stomping back into the kitchen without another word. Sokka can hear he has started arguing with someone in the back.
"Don't look so worried- I told you Lee will grow on you eventually. So how about you give it a week, should be enough time to find something else should it not work out."
Sokka still has some doubts. How should the others find him if he is stuck in some tea-shop?
"How about this. I live close by and we have a small storage room. I let you stay there if you give this a chance. It's only me and my gran but I'm sure she loves having a young man around helping her out a bit too."
"Just why are you so nice to me? You don't know me. I could be dangerous. You shouldn't trust me like that..." Sokka realizes it's not him that was naive but her if she just trusts a random stranger she has met earlier like that.
Something complicated crosses her face then. Sokka frowns.
"Like I told you. People were nice to us and I'm just paying back- we refugees stick together- ," before Jin can say anything else Lee comes stomping back and beckons Sokka to come with him to the kitchen.
Sokka follows and steps through the doorway and sees a jovial old man waiting for him with a serene smile. The man gives him a look over and introduces himself as Mushi- the owner of the Jasmine Dragon.
"And what is your name- young man."
"I am Sokka...," he glances back to Lee, who still stands stiff and tense and he suddenly remembers Jin telling him that Lee's uncle is the owner here.
The two of them couldn't be any more different. Sokka swears he has never seen anyone so calm and in peace with himself as the kind old man.
Mushi meanwhile gives him a basic run-down of the things he will have to do, his schedule and his pay.
"Does this all sound acceptable?"
Is he really doing this? Jin is right, he doesn't have lots of choices and he needs a new plan if he wants to figure out what happened to his friends. Also going undercover as a refugee working in a tea house should throw the Dai Li off his trail - if they are even still looking for him right now. Sokka nods numbly.
Mushi beams at him.
"Wonderful. I'm sure you and nephew will get along brilliantly." Lee snorts once at that, clearly doubting it and Sokka looks back at him.
Yeah- no. He seriously doubts it too.
Anyway. Thats how Sokka gets a job at Mushi's Teahouse.
When Sokka is finally alone, later that night he takes a deep breath, removes Jin's hair-tie and looks at his wrist.
The mark on it is written in bold, strong strokes and he can't make out what it should mean. He guessed it could be a name.
Sokka has been spending so much time in the earth kingdom he picked up quite a lot, and while he is not fully fluent he still can read the most common signs.
Staring at his mark it becomes undoubtfully clear that it is recognizable as something else then standardized Earth. Jin was right. Anyone with two functioning eyes will see that this doesn't belong into the earth kingdom.
Sokka brushes his thumb softly over the mark.
He still can't believe that he's got a soulmate out there. No seriously- he's not believing it. He tries to imagine what kind of person this could belong to but comes up short. He knows not everyone in the fire nation is evil but it is a ruthless war machine and the indoctrination and propaganda runs deep and - okay, maybe he can see why the spirits could think he and his soulmate would need help then but...
It's still such a foreign thought. Sokka and some fire bender - not that he knows for sure but somehow the thought seems fitting and. Just where should he even met some fire bender anyway? He is stuck in Ba Sing Se for the time being. It's not making any sense at all.
Sokka carefully wraps the hair tie over his wrist, making sure it is securely hidden once again before laying down.
The storage room he has claimed for himself is tiny and doesn't fit the bedrolls completely so Sokka has to lie with his knees tucked close to his body - he tries to shift into a different position and his elbow hits the shelf behind him and he lets out a small curse.
Yet he can't complain. It's still better then sleeping on the streets waiting for the Dai Li to just grab him. Sokka still thinks that Jin shouldn't have been so kind to him but it's comforting to know that some people still are trying to care for other people in need.
And Sokka feels like he now needs all the help he can get.