Chapter 15: When The World Needed Him Most Part 6

After reaching a common agreement, Kel and Katara began to make their way back to the village. Thankfully, while paddling away from area where they had been fishing for sea prunes, Kel made sure to take note of the way. 

This had been hard considering the only landmarks were huge icebergs and groups of penguins. 'Still easier than trying to find a plug in a new city,' Kel thought. Thankfully, Katara was still giving some direction as she helped him avoid the chunks of ice within the water, and before long, they could finally see the shore they had come out from.

As they were arriving, kids playing not too far from the village could see them and began to yell out, "Sokka and Katara are back!" before running over to the shore in excitement. While they were coming down, a few women followed to receive Sokka and Katara as they got closer. 

Katara threw the rope with which the boat was tied to the shore onto land, and it was caught by some of the children who were excitedly waiting on the shore. Together, they began to pull until the boat made it to the shore. Once it did, the kids left the rope and one of the women began to tie it. All the kids themselves rushed to surround the boat, trying to peek at what had been brought. "Wow, so many sea prunes and fish! How'd you get so many?" the kids asked in wonder.

"Oh you know, we were just lucky today," Katara answered, which made Kel narrow his eyes a bit. 'How dare you be humble about my efforts? At least flex in front of these little brats,' he thought.

One of the older women clapped her hands and began to gesture to the children. "Come out of the way children, let them come out. Some of you, go get the baskets so we can carry all these prunes and fish." 

"Ou me!" "No! Me!" Without even needing to pick a person, a couple of the boys ran off back to the village to get the baskets first.

As Kel came out of the boat, he made sure to remember that he was faking an injury, and so he did so with some trouble, even going as far as to actually step into the shallow water and fall. 

"Ow, dammit." The splash as he fell into the water immediately caught the attention of everyone present. The children were quick to break into laughter, while the women showed a bit more concern, especially Katara, who was aware that he was injured, though the fall wasn't serious.

"Sokka, are you okay?" asked Katara as she came over.

Kel knew that if he tried to claim even more pain at this point, Katara likely wouldn't buy it. So instead, he pretended to be the usual Mr. Bravado. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just slipped and hit something in the water."

"There's nothing in the water, Sokka," Katara frowned and reviewed.

"Look, there's a rock. I think it just moved when I fell." 

"If you're really hurt, Sokka, just say so," Katara lectured as she reached out to grab him by the arm to help him up.

Kel got up but made sure not to put much weight on the leg he was pretending was a bit hurt. His guile had come from years of dodging physical education classes during his high school days, and even the occasional football games his friends who would always organize matches against other people, many of whom he found took the game far too seriously for his liking. The occasional injury was needed. 

"Let's take you back to your igloo," as Katara said this, she looked toward the two women standing by the shore. "Let me just take him up and I'll back to help you," but the women shook their heads. "We'll manage. You just go make sure he's okay."

Katara gave them the nod and began to make her way back to the village. As they were doing so, they encountered Gran Gran, who had been made to descend by the many children who were excited to show her the boat full of sea prunes and fish.

Encountering Kel and Katara on the path, she couldn't help but narrow her eyes, seeing Kel seemingly injured. "What happened?" she asked, to which Katara readily explained the circumstances that had occurred on the boat. 

Gran Gran put her finger under her chin and looked at Kel before asking, "Where does it hurt?"

"Nowhere," Kel answered with a smile, continuing on the path of bravado. "Katara is just overreacting. It doesn't mean any—ow, ow, ow!" As he was saying this, Katara put a bit of pressure on his back, and at the same time, put her hand on his thigh, squeezing slightly. 

The reaction from Kel made Gran Gran sigh. "He must've strained his muscle. Boil some water and use the same herbs that I do for my back pain. First soak a cloth in water, then massage the area where he's hurt. Afterward, just apply the ointment you make from the herbs. He should be fine after a day or two of rest."

"I'm telling you, Gran Gran, I'm fine. Tomorrow, I'm going to go out and get even more sea prunes and fish-ow, ow!" Before Kel could finish speaking, Gran Gran had used her walking stick to poke at the area Katara had initially squeezed on his thigh. 

"Don't 'Gran Gran' me. Go get treated and rest," Gran Gran lectured before continuing on her way. The children surrounding her constantly tugged at her tunic and pointed toward the shore as she walked past.

Katara and kel exchanged glances as Katara added, "See? You should learn to listen to me," 

"What part of what Gran Gran said involved listening to you? You must be delusional," Kel replied, prompting Katara to squeeze that part of his thigh again, which Kel had to fake a pained reaction to. "Ow! dammit, Katara, that hurts!"

Without hesitation, since Katara was helping him walk and was standing so close, Kel moved his hand toward her waist and gripped one of her asscheeks through her clothes before giving it a firm squeeze followed by a hard pinch. 

"Hey!" Katara yelled out in shock and surprise, cauisng Gran Gran to look back. "What are you two waiting for?" 

Before Katara could complain, Kel replied, "Nothing, Gran Gran, just getting my footing. Almost slipped again." Kel revealed with a smile. 

As he turned back to face Katara, she was absolutely angry. Seeing her so upset with a slight blush on her face Kel just shrugged his shoulders. "You started it." 

"Yeah, but I didn't catch you on the—on the…" Katara trailed off, unable to say it clearly. 

"Well, I doubt you would have felt it if I did it on your thighs with all those layers of clothes." Kel passed it off, trying to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. 

Because of that, Katara also considered it as something minor and rather than getting angry, she shifted to wanting revenge. "I'll get you back for this, Sokka." 

'Not if I get your back first, wait pause.'