Plot bunnies eat my face

[adalger]

 “Katara,” Sokka pronounced in his I-will-take-care-of-you-I’m-your-brother voice, “I know I’m not often the voice of sanity.”  As Katara’s head whipped around, he already had his hands raised in front of him, palms out.  “Okay, you don’t even have to say it.  I’m never the voice of sanity.  I can’t even do a decent impression of the voice of sanity.  The voice of sanity and I are barely on speaking terms.  If the voice of sanity and I went to the same tea shop –”

“SOKKA!”

“Right, see?  But this time, well, I hate to say it,” he gloated, “but I’m the one talking sense.  You can’t make a good decision without good information, so you need to send someone to scout the territory.  I’ll talk to Aang, and Suki can see what she can find out from Mai when they’re sparring, and in a few days you’ll have a better picture.”

“What scares me the most right now is that I am almost considering going along with this, Sokka.  I’m probably insane for even letting you know you were right about the part you guessed, because you’re just going to drag me into this – this – disaster, no matter what I do.”  Katara squeezed her head in her hands, elbows out and swiveling like the needle her father used to find his direction on the ocean.  Then she dropped her arms to her sides, limp, wrung out, and huffed.  “Just do it, but I promise you, if anyone ever finds out I even talked to you about this, let alone gave you permission, I’ll freeze you in a block of ice for a hundred years. IF YOU’RE LUCKY,” she shouted at his back as he darted out the door.