Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Avatar the Last Airbender, The Fifth Element, or Star Wars as well as any other books, movies, or songs that may be mentioned intentionally or unintentionally. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

© The Fifth Element – Luc Benson

© Avatar the Last Airbender – Nickelodeon – Michael DiMartino and Tim Hedrick

Knights of the Avatar

A Fan Fiction Fusion

By

Tattoo Alchemist

Chapter 8: Jedi Training

0-0-0

A month had passed.

When time passes like that, it always has such an unusual effect to expand and contract over and over again until towards the end of a certain period it doesn’t feel like that measured time had passed. Sometimes it can seem longer and other times it can seem shorter.

For Aang, the first few days were difficult since he had used up so much of himself during his last outburst of the Avatar state, but the upside to it was that Katara was there. All confusions were put to rest when Katara had admitted that she loved Aang above anyone else. It was a scene worthy of a movie (once they knew of such things), that one day while Aang was in bed and Katara was nursing him back to health, Aang had began:

“Katara,” he said nervously, “I love you.”

“I know, Aang. Now eat up.”

As soon as Aang got back to his feet, he restarted his training with Katara for waterbending, Toph for earthbending, and as part of his new resolve, he had asked Iroh to teach him firebending. The old firebending master was reluctant to teach him, but seeing as how he had to learn and since there was little doubt that they would face Azula again, they had to start. It was awkward for Aang to learn firebending since his sparring partner was Zuko. Still, Zuko himself admitted that it would be unusual to spar with him, but the young prince seemed so much happier as a man with his scar relieved.

Aang’s progression with firebending was taken slowly because he did not want to repeat what happened with Katara. So, with the Zen-like patience on Iroh’s part, they began with simple firebending basics. Those being to simply allow Aang to breathe, because as Iroh had explained:

“The power in firebending doesn’t come from your muscles. It comes from the breath. Once you breathe it in, it extends beyond your muscles and becomes fire.”

As an airbender, Aang took to this principal fairly quickly, but it wasn’t until a week into firebending training did he actually achieve some manner of control over fire. Even with that amount of control, Aang took to it carefully. He had told Iroh what Master Jong-Jong had told him that fire was alive, that even without the bender it grows, consumes and destroys.

“He is right.” Iroh said to that sentiment, “Fire can grow, consume, and destroy. But, if it is given balance and control, fire can give such benefits. Such as heating the water for my tea.”

It was another personality quirk that Aang had liked about Iroh right away. The fact that he loved tea so much and he started to wonder, had Iroh met Monk Giatso, perhaps they would have become the greatest of friends.

For Sokka on the other hand, his training over that month had been quick. He had taken to the Jedi training and the Jedi philosophies more quickly than any student that had ever come through the academy. Even Master Skywalker and Kyle Katarn had to admit that his progress had been incredible. That the young Water Tribe warrior had managed to master the initial training in weeks, while others took years to do it.

It was then on one of the final days of that month long period that the time had come. In the great hall, Master Skywalker spoke with his apprentice.

“The road to this point, Sokka of the Water Tribe, has been long.” Luke began, “But you walked it carefully. The physical training has adapted you for the rigors of the order. The meditation has allowed you to channel the Force. Your mind has become open to the knowledge of our order. You will now face three tests that will pass you in rank from Apprentice to Padawan. Are you ready, Sokka?”

“I am.” Sokka said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Very well.” Luke smiled, “The first test is to test your knowledge of the Jedi Code. I will speak the first half of a line of the code and then you must finish it. Afterwards, you must give me your interpretation of each line of the code. Do you understand?”

“I do.” Sokka answered

“There is no emotion.” Luke began

“There is peace.” Sokka finished

“There is no ignorance.”

“There is knowledge.”

“There is no chaos.”

“There is harmony.”

“There is no death.”

“There is the Force.”

Luke nodded in acceptance of his pupil’s excellence. “Very good, Sokka. However, memorizing the code is one thing, but understanding the meaning of it, is another. Remember, Sokka, there is no right or wrong answer. Each Jedi’s interpretation of the code is different. There is no emotion, there is peace. What does it mean to you?”

“In the face of emotion, we as Jedi must have peace.” Sokka stated, “If emotion goes out of control, it can cloud us and prevent us from making rational decisions.”

Sokka knew this both as a warrior and from what he saw of Aang when he saw Zuko and Katara together. He had hoped that nothing like that would ever happen to him to cause such a horrible reaction.

“There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.” Luke stated

“Knowledge is the light and ignorance is the darkness.” Sokka stated, “Through knowledge we gain understanding and through understanding we gain peace.”

In the month that Sokka had been training as a Jedi, he had poured through stories of other Jedi. He even found a story about a Jedi named Revan, who then became a Sith, and then by a betrayal of his apprentice, Malak, he nearly died. It was only because of the Jedi that Revan was brought back to life, and given a second chance to make his own decisions. With that second chance, he chose the path of the light, and served the Jedi once again.

“There is no chaos, there is harmony.”

“Even though our universe may seem chaotic, there is a certain harmony in the way of things.”

Sokka had thought about that, and it reminded him of the man in the swamp. He had said to him that if one were to listen hard enough one could feel everything living and breathing together. Everything was connected. Despite how people may act like they live separately.

“There is no death. There is the Force.”

Sokka paused for a moment on that last line of the Jedi code. There is no death, there is the Force. The Force, the very thing that gave the Jedi their power, the energy field that surrounds, penetrates, and binds the galaxy together. But death? As Sokka thought about it, the words of the swamp-man came back to him. The swamp shows us loved ones that we think are gone, but they’re not. Time is an illusion. So is death.

“Death is an illusion.” Sokka stated

“Very good, my apprentice.” Luke smiled, “You’ve passed the first test. Now for your second test, this will deal with the Jedi’s weapon – the lightsaber. It is not only a weapon; it is a symbol of the order and a representation of a Jedi’s skill and dedication. Each lightsaber is as unique as the one who wields it. As you’ve learned through your studies, each lightsaber has within it a polished crystal. Each crystal is tuned to the Jedi and its color will represent your class.”

Sokka remembered how there were different colored lightsabers for different Jedi. There were green, blue, yellow, and purple for Jedi, but only Sith carried red sabers. According to what Sokka had read, the reason for the red hue of their sabers was because they used synthetic lightsaber crystals to give the blade more power. Though, as Sokka saw it, there was an irony that the Sith embraced the horrors of their own emotions and passions. So it would seem very appropriate that red would be the color of their saber.

“What classes are there?” Sokka asked

“First, there’s the Jedi Consular.” Luke explained, “It’s the class I’m in, which is the reason for my green saber. A Jedi Consular seeks to bring balance and mediate between groups. A Jedi of this kind focuses on Force powers and less on combat.”

Sokka thought about that class and figured that it really wasn’t for him. Despite all the Jedi training that he’s had, he was still a warrior, through and through.

“Next is the Jedi Guardian.” Luke continued, “This is what Kyle Katarn is, which is marked by his blue lightsaber. A Jedi Guardian battles against the forces of evil and the dark side. He focuses on combat training and lightsaber techniques.”

Sokka smiled thinking that this one was for him, in more ways than one.

“Finally, there is the Jedi Sentinel. This Jedi ferrets out deceit and injustice bringing it to light. They focus less on Force powers or lightsaber techniques and instead focus on other abilities. So, Sokka, which do you think that you are?”

“A Jedi Guardian.” Sokka answered

“A swift answer.” Luke commented, “But I’ll ask you a series of scenario questions and we’ll see how you react to them. First, a woman and her child are being attacked by a group of thugs. What do you do?”

“Attack the thugs.”

“Alright. Now, you’re faced with a locked door. That you cannot open, what do you do?”

“Slice it down.”

“Finally, you’re the leader of an enclave and Dark Jedi is attacking. What do you do?”

“Organize and coordinate a counter attack.”

Luke pondered. “Tricky. From your answers, you’d either be a Jedi Consular or a Guardian. Still, given how you’ve taken more towards lightsaber techniques…Guardian it is.”

Luke reached into his black tunic and when he pulled out his closed hand Sokka watched with such anticipation of what the crystal would look like. He did read a little bit about lightsaber crystals, but with Luke’s hand opening up, it was his first time in laying eyes on it. He watched the fingers stretch out and sitting in the palm of his hand was the crystal.

It was ordinary, strange, and beautiful at the same time. He had seen crystals on his home planet before and that experience made seeing it ordinary. The feature that made the lightsaber crystal unusual was its color, unlike most that were transparent; the one in Luke’s hand was blue. It was also that feature that made it beautiful, a blue colored crystal. Sokka couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the beauty of it.

“Sokka,” Luke called.

Sokka looked up at his master. Realizing the mesmerized state that he was once in, he tried to make himself look like he was paying attention to Luke. Seeing that he was smiling, there was a matter of concern that Sokka had if he missed something very important.

“This crystal will be yours.” Luke said ominously as he handed the small jewel to his apprentice, “It is not tuned to you. But I will show you that next step. Follow me.”

Sokka took the blue crystal and gave it another look. The light of the mid-day sun passed through it casting panes of blue light onto the surface of his hand and even splitting the suns rays into tiny rainbows. Since he didn’t want to make the same embarrassing mistake again, Sokka clutched the lightsaber crystal in his hand and took off after his master.

Even if he wasn’t a Padawan just yet, Sokka had a certain feeling of pride being in the Jedi order. There was that air of mystery to the Force and the fact that he was accepted for training was an honor in itself. Despite how the new training had tried to teach him to understand that pride and honor aren’t part of the Jedi way. They may seem relatively harmless, but they can lead to the Dark Side as Luke Skywalker, Kyle Katarn, and Jaden Orrs had tried to teach him. With those teachings, Sokka still felt both pride and honor as one who was born a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. He started to wonder what his father would say if he were to go home a Jedi Knight.

“Here we are,” Luke said.

Sokka had followed Luke to a special room in the academy. To the young apprentice, it was his first time in seeing it, and to his warrior’s experience, it would be likened to that of a military weapons room. In the center was a small table with an attached light over it and a chair. All around the room were cabinets and drawers, most of them were closed but the ones that were open he could see small metal parts, all of them looking like parts that would form a lightsaber.

Luke stepped on the other side of the workbench in the center of the room.

“The first step is to tune the crystal to you.” Luke instructed, “Have a seat.”

Sokka had a seat at the workbench.

“Set your crystal on the table.”

Sokka did as he was instructed

“Now, close your eyes and focus on the crystal.”

Sokka had closed his eyes and imagined what the crystal looked like when he first saw it. He saw the flat edges, the crystalline shape to it, its blue hue, and the blue panes that it made when the sun past through it. Through the Force he saw the crystal sitting on the workbench in front of him as if his eyes weren’t closed in the first place.

“Imagine the crystal as a piece of yourself.” Luke’s voice had echoed into Sokka’s meditative state.

I…am Sokka…of the Water Tribe. Sokka said aloud in his mind as if proclaiming it to the crystal. As he said that one singular phrase, the crystal looked as if it had stood up on end like some bug getting back to its legs. He watched with his closed eyes as the crystal was floating in mid-air. In the Force he started to feel a connection opening, like a creek opening up to a greater river, or when he first awakened to the Force itself, and the crystal was another part of it.

“Good, Sokka.” Luke said, “Open your eyes.”

Sokka opened his eyes and just like in his own vision, he saw the crystal floating in mid-air above the workbench. The only difference was that Sokka’s eyes looked into a blue light that was coming from the crystal like a miniature blue sun sending out blue rays of light across the weapons room. Acting only on instinct, Sokka reached out for the crystal and took it back in his hand, the blue rays breaching out through the small cracks between his fingers. In his hand, the blue light began to die down and Sokka looked to his master.

“The crystal has accepted you.” Luke stated, “Now you may begin selection of your lightsaber parts. I trust you’ve studied on the parts that compose the lightsaber?”

“Yes, I have, master.” Sokka stated with great certainty. Unlike a lot of other things that Sokka would have fibbed on, this was something that he didn’t lie in the very least. He had spent a lot of time in the past month reading about the parts of a lightsaber, especially how different parts will affect the blade and the power of it. Knowing about the different parts, Sokka had already figured out what he wanted to do as far as the construction of his lightsaber.

He set the crystal down on the workbench and went to the different drawers and cabinets of the weapons room to look for the parts that he needed. When it came to weapons, Sokka was one to really take his time with it. In the past it was usually with boomerangs and clubs, since those were the only weapons that he had as part of the Water Tribe. In his travels with Aang his mind was opened to other ways of thinking, other ways of fighting, and most of all, other kinds of weapons. His old weapons of the boomerang and club he had made himself and took great pains to craft them properly. So, he took the same approach in choosing the parts of his saber, the emitter, the shaft, the focusing lens, and the pommel.

Each piece that he hand picked out of each drawer in the weapons room, he set it back down on the workbench. Setting the pieces down on the workbench, they began to circle around the crystal like some kind of ritualistic circle that would make some great sacrifice for something even greater in return.

At last he had returned to the workbench with the pommel in his hand and he began to work on the lightsaber. Placing each piece into one another, his hands began to work with such careful precision like carefully pulling and tugging the boomerangs sharp edge over the whetstone.

Sokka didn’t know how much time had passed, but the time had come to set the crystal into place.

Luke saw that too and began to speak a small parable that Sokka had read before:

“The Crystal is the Heart of the Blade” Luke stated poetically. “The Heart is the Crystal of the Jedi. The Jedi is the Crystal of the Force. The Force is the Blade of the Heart. All are intertwined…the Crystal, the Blade, the Jedi, and the Force. You are one.”

As Luke spoke this poetic verse, Sokka had already set the crystal into the lightsaber hilt. He had begun to close it up and with the lightsaber completed physically, there was one last test to make absolutely sure that his lightsaber was functional. Sokka hesitated for a moment, but then reached out with his thumb to the control switch and pushed it to the “on” position. With a vibration in the hilt, there was an eruption of that blue and white energy that spouted from the emitter. Sokka looked up at his lightsaber with wonderment; he had constructed this magnificent weapon with his own hands. He reached his thumb out and switched it to “off” and the lightsabers blue blade sunk back into the emitter.

Sokka and Luke looked at the lightsaber that was constructed. It was a relatively simple design, a long and thin cylinder of a shaft with black vertical rubber grips around the middle of the shaft. The pommel was much like Luke’s Saber, but the control switch was very different in its more intricate design of the on and off switch. He saw that Sokka had used his old language from his world, putting the symbol for “off” at the bottom of the control switch, and likewise with “on” at the top.

“You have passed the second test, my apprentice.” Luke said to Sokka proudly, “now for your third test.”

Sokka stood up with his lightsaber in hand. “What is the third test, my master?”

“You have heard all of us talk to you and teach you about the dangers of the Dark Side,” Luke began, “but now you have to face it yourself.”

“Where is it?” Sokka asked calmly.

“You will find it.” Luke stated, “It’s to the North of here. In the jungle you will find a great tree growing above a cave. Go into the cave and you will face the Dark Side.”

“What’s in there?” Sokka asked

“Only what you take with you.” Luke answered

0-0-0

Sokka did as he was instructed; he headed north from the Academy. He didn’t want to use his lightsaber in such a wasteful way, so he used his machete to cut through the thick vines and branches of the Yavin jungle. He was reminded once again of that swamp back on his home world, the only upside to it was that Aang wasn’t there to tell him not to cut through the vines and branches. After all, it was part of his training to go to the place and he had to cut through it to get there.

He wasn’t looking ahead when he was cutting the last of the vines out of his way, but he had noticed that the more he had cut through the jungle the thicker the canopy above his head was growing. It had gotten so thick that only a few small rays of light had managed to break through the rooftops of leaves and branches. It looked like he was coming to a clear spot when he was cutting the last vine out of his way.

He looked ahead and there he saw a clearing. With the thick canopy above his head, it almost looked like all light was shut out by that place. It was literally a dark place. The clearing itself was a roughly circular area, but there was no sign of grass anywhere in that place. He even listened and he couldn’t hear any birds or animals rustling through the underbrush. Then his force sense had hit him when he stretched out, it was like looking down into a deep and dark pit, not a single ounce of light coming, but only darkness there.

At the other side of the clearing, he saw a downward dip in the earth that was like a tongue of a great monster leading to the mouth of a dark cave. Sokka saw that Luke was right, for above the mouth of the cave grew a tree. Yet, the tree seemed, as Sokka looked at it there was no other word to describe it, it looked evil. The very bark of the tree was black. It wasn’t because of the lack of light. That was its true color, black as burnt wood. The trunk was twisted like a broken arm and the branches stretching outward like old stiff fingers. All of its branches were barren of leaves. The roots were just as twisted as they hung over the cave mouth making them look like teeth, while other roots sunk and rose out of the ground like earthworms in the mud.

Sokka felt overwhelmed by the place. His newly trained sensitivity to the Force made him feel exposed to the evil of the cave and the tree. It was dizzying like looking down to the ground from a very high place even though common sense would say not to look. The darkness of the place was also chilling, but it wasn’t in the same way that Sokka had felt it in the climates of the North and South poles. The chilling that he received from that place was like a great hand that reached down to his bones and very innards spreading its cold like a river of ice.

“It is the Dark Side,” Sokka told himself.

Yes, he was afraid, but he had to face whatever was in that place. Taking a calming breath, he stepped into the clearing. His legs were hot from all the walking he did and he could feel the layer of sweat drying on his forehead. Most of all, he felt his heart beating as quickly as a tribal drum and it wasn’t just in his chest. The driving fear had sent the beating to his head making his ears feel like they were thumping. With each step that he took towards the cave he felt less like a Jedi, less than a warrior, and less than a man. He felt like a little kid afraid to sleep in the dark without his mother there.

It was only twenty feet from where Sokka sliced into the clearing to the mouth of the cave. Walking that short twenty feet was the longest that the young apprentice had to take. Eventually he got there and standing at the very edge of the cave he understood what a fly felt like when sitting in the mouth of a fly trap. He had expected that at any moment the mouth of the cave would close its mouth trapping him in the monstrous gullet. He first looked into the darkness of the cave, his mind churning with ideas, fears, and paranoia.

In his panic he looked over his back towards the light for the mental comfort of it being there. As he looked toward the light from outside the cave he watched it quickly shrink away like a ship sailing away into the horizon while Sokka stood still. In a very real way it was like he had wandered into his very own dream, where impossible things were going to happen all around him, and he would simply stand still or act as if it were all part of normality. With the light shrinking into a non-existent dot Sokka’s panic was as far away as the dot itself. He tried to reach for it, but then he heard a voice that he hadn’t heard in a very long time.

“Sokka!” The voice called from behind

The memory of that voice had instantly hit Sokka.

“Mom?” He asked aloud as he turned around to face the voice from behind.

As Sokka turned towards the voice, everything around him in the darkness had changed. The darkness of the cave turned sharply white and there was a landscape that stretched out into the visible infinity of snow covered glaciers and the oceans beyond. Confused, Sokka looked around for some clue or hint as to what was going on, and the voice called again:

“Sokka”

The voice that Sokka thought belonged to his mother came from the left. He turned and then to his greatest disbelief, it was his mother. She was standing in the snow with the Water Tribe village behind her and she was smiling gently at Sokka. For a split moment, he wanted to run to her and be held in her arms once again. Nothing would have felt better than to be wrapped in those arms, the motherly security that Sokka, on some deep level, had missed for so long.

“Come along, your father and sister is waiting for us.” She said.

In the back of his mind, the memory of all what he was seeing started to creep back like the name of someone he hadn’t seen in a long time. As the memory came back little by little, something walked through him. Even though Sokka was never one to believe in a lot of the unseen, it was hard for him to deny what his eyes were showing to him. The thing that walked through him was a young Water Tribe boy roughly eleven years old. Sokka didn’t get a good look at who the young boy was, but he had a pretty good idea of who it was.

“I’m coming, mom.” The young boy said.

As the two walked through the snow to a nearby Water Tribe village, Sokka knew where he was. He was home.

Just then in the cloudy skies above, it started to snow. At that point, a wash of terror came over the older Sokka because he knew what was going to happen next when he saw the snow. It wasn’t the usual white snow that would normally fall over the South Pole, it was black and gray.

He watched as his mother picked the younger Sokka up in terror and dashed away to the Water Tribe village.

The scenery around Sokka had changed, as if he was spinning round and round and the world around him became a wash and blur of colors. His mind was reeling from what was happening and his senses overpowered but he could hear the sounds of that very bad memory.

“SOKKA!” His mother cried

“MOM!” Sokka screamed.

He remembered that day so vividly, how his mother died in a Fire Nation raid. It was a firebender that struck her down in a point blank attack. Sokka couldn’t do anything except hold onto Katara and watch their mother slowly die from the burns.

“Stop…” Sokka breathed to whatever force was there in the cave. He didn’t want to relive this memory, but it didn’t stop there.

The spinning of colors had stopped and Sokka was somewhere else. This time, it was more recent. The place was dark as night on a new moon. It was a place that was once again surrounded by glaciers, but in the very center of it all there was a patch of grass and a small pond where one fish, white with a black spot on hits head that was floating dead. Around the pool there was Katara, the old general Iroh, Sokka (although Sokka the Jedi Apprentice was watching his younger self), and then there was her; Princess Yui. How could Sokka forget her? Such a beautiful girl she was, with her elegant features, eyes that were ice blue but warm and gentle at the same time. Then there was that one feature that Sokka couldn’t forget of all others; her hair. Her hair wasn’t as white as snow, no, that would be too cliché and insulting to its true beauty. Yui’s hair was white like the rays and the glow of the full moon itself. Set into her full moon white hair was her crown that bore the symbol of the Northern Water Tribe.

Seeing her, Sokka wanted nothing more than to simply dash to her and throw his arms around her, but once again he could do nothing but watch. He saw the old general Iroh pick the white fish out of the pond. It was oddly ironic because the fish itself was the mortal form of the great spirit of the moon. It had died at the hands of a firebender named Admiral Zhao who knew that by killing the spirit of the moon, the waterbenders would be powerless against the Fire Nation raid on the North Pole. His plan seemed to have worked.

“It’s too late,” Katara said as general Iroh laid the fish back into the pond, “It’s dead.”

The younger Sokka was at the side of Princess Yui holding onto her just like his orders from the Chief had dictated; protect Princess Yui.

The older Sokka, the Jedi Apprentice, watched and remembered that this was the first time that Iroh had set his eyes upon the beautiful Princess Yui. His old eyes had seen something in her that he had spoke of when he observed.

“You have been touched by the Moon Spirit.” He ascertained, “Somehow, its life is in you.”

“Yes,” Yui answered. “You’re right. It gave me life…and maybe I can give it back.”

Both the younger and the older Sokka watched as Yui got up and looked as though she was about to step into the pond itself.

“No!” The younger Sokka had said to Yui as he reached out for her hand. “You don’t have to do that!”

“It’s my duty, Sokka.”

“I won’t let you do that!” Sokka had said defiantly, “Your father told me to protect you.”

“I have to do this.” Yui said, her hand slipping away from Sokka’s grip.

Yui had stepped over to the old general Iroh who had brought the white Koi fish back out of the pond. Its firebending wound still fresh in its back. Iroh offered it to Yui like a high priest offering his sacrifice to some great god. Yui had placed her hands over the wound and in a soft white light the wound was healed, no longer burnt by fire but new and wet as if it had just been taken out of the pond. It wriggled furiously with life as it struggled to breathe the air that it once had from the water.

Iroh had released the white Koi fish back into the pond, while Yui fell backwards into Sokka’s arms.

“No!” Sokka cried as he caught her. He tried to feel for any signs of life that she may have, a little breath, a small pulse, but there was nothing. He looked to his sister and Iroh with such sad eyes. “She’s gone…she’s gone.”

Sokka had held onto the lifeless Yui wishing against all other wishes that there was some life still in her.

“Stop!” Sokka, the Jedi Apprentice asked whatever force was showing him these horrible memories once again hoping that his pleas will stop him from reliving them.

Once again, he could do nothing but watch.

Yui’s body, once solid had become transparent, like steam when ice is thrown onto a fire and then she was no more. No longer was she a physical body in Sokka’s arms, she was truly gone.

Both the younger and the Apprentice Sokka watched as the white Koi fish swum round and round in circles, but from its circled a discus of light came forward and rising out of it like a person coming up for breath out of the water was the visage of Yui. She was floating in the air above the pond like an apparition. She was dressed in white robes like some kind of ethereal goddess, yet her face is what made her so human and her eyes were so sad.

“Good bye, Sokka.” She said before coming closer to Sokka, her face up against his, “I’ll always be with you.”

With that her lips had touched his in Sokka’s first true kiss, the older Sokka wished that things hadn’t turned out that way and he knew that his younger self wished that even more. Sokka’s eyes were closed when he had the last kiss of Yui before she had vanished into nothingness.

“Stop!” Sokka shouted louder without any sign that whatever force was controlling the memories was going to stop.

As Yui had vanished into nothing, the full moon had come back again in the skies over the Northern Water Tribe.

“STOP!” Sokka had screamed louder.

The memory had stopped and all had gone black.

Sokka, the Jedi Apprentice, had fallen to his knees, tears flowing out from his eyes like water from a newly made spring that would soon flow into the river. Everything that had happened was because he couldn’t do anything about it. He had lost his mother because he wasn’t strong enough to protect her. He had lost Princess Yui, one of the first women that he had fallen for, but it was because he couldn’t fight that she was gone. It was that same question that he had asked himself when he was accepted for Jedi training, what good was he if he couldn’t fight like the others? Was he truly that useless?

“Stop!” Sokka cried softly, “Stop…”

Throughout his entire being, Sokka had wished that he could forget all that had happened. To loose all of those painfully horrible things that had happened to him because of his incompetence as a warrior and as a man. They often say that ignorance is bliss, if that were true Sokka would wish that he was the happiest man alive without those memories in his own head.

The tears that he had shed had seeped into his hands and had fallen like raindrops onto his tunic. His ears started to pick up something, but at first he didn’t notice it. He had hoped that it wasn’t another bad memory coming to attack him emotionally. Otherwise he would be lost to the despair. Even though the Jedi had taught that things like hatred, despair, and sadness are part of the Dark Side, but after all that, Sokka would gladly give into it, if it meant protecting those that he wanted to save.

The sound got louder.

“Sokka,” a voice said.

“Leave me alone!” Sokka cried, “I don’t want these memories anymore.”

“Sokka,” The voice called again.

“What’d you want from me?” Sokka screamed with his eyes tightly shut and the tears making burning paths in his face.

“Stand up, my son.” The voice of Sokka’s mother had told him.

Hearing that voice, Sokka wondered if it was a memory since there was no time in the short years of his childhood had his mother told something like that to him. So, he stood up and opened his eyes blinking away the thick veil of tears over them. Once they had rolled away, he saw his mother. At least, it was a visage of his mother, dressed in her blue tunic that was very much like Katara’s. Yet, he knew that it wasn’t her for all around it was dark and she was surrounded by a glowing white light. It was her ghost.

“My son,” Sokka’s mother said as she reached out her arms. She wrapped them around Sokka’s neck bringing his face to her breast in such a motherly embrace. Even though she looked like a ghost she didn’t feel like one. “You’ve grown so much.”

“Mom,” Sokka cried into her tunic, “I’m sorry, mom.”

“You don’t need to apologize, my little warrior.” She said back, “And you don’t need to grieve any longer.”

“Why?” Sokka pleaded, “I couldn’t save you, just like I couldn’t save Yui.”

“You no longer need to grieve for me anymore, Sokka.” Another voice came to Sokka’s ears.

Looking up from his mother’s embrace, he saw her, Princess Yui of the Northern Water Tribe. She was dressed in the very same robes that she had died in, or rather when she gave back her life to the spirit of the moon. She looked so radiant. Her face gentle and soothing like water itself. Her robes flowing outward like the waves of the ocean. All around her she was glowing like the moon itself.

“You’ve grieved for your mother and me long enough, Sokka,” Yui had told him.

“Why?” Sokka asked Yui, “I was asked to protect you and I couldn’t. Just like you mom.” He turned to his mother, “The Fire Nation took you away from Katara and me. We’ve been…lost…especially without dad there.”

Sokka’s mother placed her hands at the sides of her son’s face and brought his gaze to meet her own.

“The reason you don’t need to grieve anymore, is because Yui and I have become part of something greater.”

“It is something that you now have only just awakened to.” Yui added.

Sokka realized what it was. “The Force.” He said

“Yes,” Yui answered. “In our death we have become one with the Force itself. We were always with you, even though you had not yet awakened to it, but now that you are, each time you use the Force, we are there. Remember this, Sokka.”

Yui began to float away once again, like a ship sailing away into the horizon.

“Yui!” Sokka called out, but his mother stopped him.

“It’s alright, Sokka.” His mother said as she brought him back into the motherly embrace. “Even though it may get hard for you to see us…we are always there.”

“Mom…” Sokka cried as he wrapped his arms tightly around her wishing that it would stay like that forever, but if Sokka knew anything from his logic; it’s that nothing could last forever. With his arms around his mother, he could feel her slip away, like an iceberg turning into water. His arms fell away into the nothing that was left behind.

“Remember this of us, my son.”

Then there was nothing but Sokka and the emptiness of the darkness.

With the words of his mother and Yui in his head, Sokka had understood something. Even with all his science and logic, there were still things that he couldn’t understand or even reason with. Love was one of them, the love that he had for his sister, the love he had for his mother and father, the love for his friends like Toph and Aang, and then there was the love he had for Yui. From all the teachings of the Jedi, he understood that one last line clearly. There is no death, there is the Force.

“I will,” he spoke to the darkness and whatever forces were lying there to hear him, “I will, mom! I will, Yui! I will love the Force! I will love the Force as I love you both! I love you, mom! I love you, Yui!”

It was with that last defiant statement that the light had crept back into the cave. The light that was beyond the mouth of the cave, the light that came through the jungle had reached Sokka. Seeing the light, Sokka had walked towards it. In a very profound way, he understood was it was to be born. To live in the darkness, but then through the pain of facing the unknown he had come up for breath and into the light. Sokka of the Water Tribe was reborn as Sokka the Padawan Jedi.

To Be Continued…