Chapter 14: When The World Needed Him Most Part 5

Kel and Katara continued on their way to the spot where they collected sea prunes and upon arriving, Katara moved from the front of the boat where she had been giving directions and walked over to Kel. 

She placed her hands on her hips as she commanded, "Move out of the way, I need to get the tools and start collecting."

This was a good opportunity for Kel to reply with a snarky comment, but he didn't really want to get on Katara's bad side for now, as he didn't really know where to begin collecting the so-called sea prunes and wasn't too eager to point out his ignorance. 

So, he pretended to groan in pain while moving his shoulder in a circular manner as if exhausted from the effort of paddling the entire journey. He did not talk back to Katara and instead just moved away, which made her feel a bit guilty as she wondered if he was really more hurt than he let on.

Given his usual bravado, it was common for them to do this even when he got sick, often leading to Katara taking care of him when the injury or sickness worsened. Even then, however, Sokka would complain, and the pity she felt for him would disappear. But now, Kel's silence on the matter did make her feel slightly guilty, and so, as Kel was moving away, she asked, "Does it still hurt?"

To which Kel replied, "Yeah, a bit." 

"Maybe Gran Gran has some ointment. When we get back, and I'll help you rub it in." Katara added, causing Kel to show a smile while inwardly thinking. 'Heh, Rub it.' 

"What are you smiling like that for?" Noticing the weird smirk Kel had on his face, Katara couldn't help but ask, but Kel simply shrugged his shoulders, saying nothing. "You're just so cute when you care," he complimented, causing her to blush slightly.

She didn't like it at all; she felt he was making fun of her. "Don't think I won't hit you just because you're hurt, Sokka," she threatened, to which Kel responded by raising his hands in surrender.

"Okay, that's what I get for giving compliments, I guess," he added while pretending to be massaging the part where he had been hurt, wanting to really sell it.

He removed his top yet again and began to massage it while occasionally groaning, though only mildly. This was as Katara was preparing the equipment with which to collect the sea prunes. 

She even went as far as to begin collecting them. As she was doing so, silence prevailed in the boat, with only the water thrashing against the floating pieces of ice and Sokka's occasional groans being audible. 

Because of them, Katara would occasionally glance behind at Kel to see how he was doing, but she would always see him massaging that particular area and part of his thigh, not paying any attention to her.

Knowing the curiosity of the woman, Kel knew she was likely stealing glances at him. Kel only needed keep up the act for a time before stopping to address a point. As he stopped to do this, he noticed Katara flinched as she frantically turned her attention back to her own activity, not wanting to be caught staring. 

Seeing her look away so quickly and not focused on her own thing, Kel showed a smile as he dressed up before asking, "Need any help?"

Katara turned, looking a little bit flustered but otherwise the same, her demeanor unchanged. "Better now?" she taunted, to which Kel shrugged. "About as good as I will be, I guess," Kel added with a light chuckle.

Katara gave a light nod, then scooted over. "Good, help me pull in the net. I think something's got in," she said before the two worked together to begin fishing for sea prunes. 

Katara would throw out the net, and Kel would paddle the boat so that the prunes and fish within the area could fall in. After that, they'd work together to pull up the net, catching mostly sea prunes and a bit of fish in the process. 'I'm no fisherman but this seems like a good catch,' Kel thought to himself while looking at a good portion of the boat, which now had a bunch of sea prunes and a good number of fish. 

'I guess the reason these two never really get much done if they're constantly arguing. It's amazing what a little coordination and teamwork can do.' He felt rather satisfied as he was doing so. Even Katara seemed impressed. "Wow, we really caught a lot today. Gran Gran is gonna be so surprised. See, Sokka, you should let me take the lead more sometimes. This is probably the biggest catch we've ever had," she added, to which Kel internally frowned. 

'Trying to steal all my credit. Do you have any idea how hard I had to maneuver to make this work, to make this happen? Damn, the coach always gets underestimated.' He thought, though on the surface, he played along. 

"Meh, you did okay." 

"Just admit it, Sokka," Katara urged, but Kel simply shrugged his shoulders. As he was doing this, his attention turned toward a particularly large and stationary iceberg floating in the water. 'Pretty sure it's the one Katara destroyed that initiated the whole mishap. Either way, the fact that things didn't go the way they were supposed to means we're probably not even there at the right time or the right way. Which means either the reincarnator will pop out another way, or it's up to me and Katara to find the particular iceberg,' he mused.

While thinking of this, Kel turned to Katara and asked, "Hey, since we've gotten so much, do you think we can head back now?"

"Really?" Katara asked. "I thought we could get a few more. Who knows if tomorrow will be as good as today?" 

With that, Kel couldn't help but think, 'Damn it, I have to do this every day. Great, one minute I'm enjoying COD on my 4k monitor, and the next, fishing for sea prunes is a 9-to-5 in this freezing place with no hoes, cars or seasoned meat.'

Since they did seem to be getting a lot of sea prunes and fish comfortably, it was best to capitalize on this. But Kel felt like the longer they stayed out, the higher the chances of triggering some so-called Canon event.

"If your injury is too much, we can head back." 

"It's not that. The icebergs around here just don't look very stable, and if a huge chunk falls in the water, it may cause our boat to go out of control, especially since the weight is all wrong because of so many sea prunes. It would be hard to navigate, and if we fail, we lose everything. But if we go now, we return with two days' worth of catch," using this logic, Katara was immediately convinced and quite surprised that her muddleheaded brother could even come up with this.

"Hm, That's actually a good point. Fine, let's get back, it'll give the women more time to prepare the fish. In the meantime, we can tend your boo-boo, Mr. Warrior," Katara agreed, causing Kel to show a smile. 

'I sense another opportunity coming.'