Chapter Text
Sokka had three soulmates.
One green, and two red. Soulwords appeared on your arm, with the first sentence the other would say directly to you, in the color of their nation.
The green words read: "Who are you?"
An average sentence, something anyone could say to anyone. To rectify this definite problem, when your soulmate spoke your words, the color of the words would fade to black, and you would feel a soft and slightly tingly sensation. Sokka often wondered who his Earth Kingdom soulmate was, and when they'd meet. He'd decided she would be the one, because when you have multiple soulmates, any one of them has the potential to be who you'd spend the rest of his life with. The others were usually platonic soulmates; best friends. Besides, Earth Kingdom was better than Fire Nation; Sokka's other two soulmarks were written in a brilliant red.
One said "How are you seeing this?"
The other was slightly more interesting: "Sokka, take my hand!"
Sokka was terribly doubtful of any situation in which he would have to take the hand of someone from the Fire Nation, especially someone who knew his name. Hakoda and Kya had seen Sokka's second red soulwords, when they appeared in his second year (soulwords appeared when your soulmate was born). It was not kept secret, as most people in the Water Tribe had no compulsion about covering up soulwords. The small village it was had accepted that sometime in Sokka's life, he would meet two Fire Nation women. That was all it was; he was destined for the Earth Kingdom soulmate. Sokka sometimes dreaded what they would have thought of him, had the red been his only soulwords. Hakoda had reassured him, and told him not everyone in the Fire Nation could be evil. Then the raids had happened. Things had been strained since then, and not just because Sokka's entire world had broken into a thousand bleeding pieces. The Fire Nation was the fault of all evils, and he had their words on his arm. The Fire Nation had started the hundred-year war, and it was their fault that the raids had happened, that his mother was gone. That his dad, and all the other men of the Southern Water Tribe, had sailed to fight. That the Air Nomads were all dead. Speaking of Air Nomads; Katara's soulwords were yellow. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?"
Soulwords turned white if a soulmate died, and Katara's had been yellow all her life. So there had to be some, or at least one, Air Nomad left. Sokka was glad that Katara's life would have a happy ending. Because Sokka had had a fourth soulmark. Once. Four words, in blue:
"Nice to meet you."
They'd turned white a few hours after they appeared, when Sokka was still a baby. They were almost completely faded, fifteen years later. Sometimes, he looked at them, and wondered who she could have been.
***
Suki had three soulmates.
One Water Tribe, two Fire Nation. Kyoshi Island, though neutral in the war, was witness to the battles, and Sui would much rather be with a Water Tribe man than Fire Nation, thank you very much. Not everyone had soulwords. Six was the highest amount anyone had ever had. Suki's mother, rather proudly, had five, and they all lived on the island. Four were Kyoshi Warriors, Suki's mother's friends, and "soul-sisters", as they called themselves. The fifth was Suki's father. Suki looked out over the sea, some days, and thought about who her soulmates could be. “What's going on?"
That was one of the red soulmarks. They were the most positive of those she had. It was custom in the Earth Kingdom to cover your words, and so the only other people who had seen them were Suki's parents, and her rather supportive soul-aunts. The whole island was aware, in some manner (it was a small island) that Suki's soulwords were unfortunate, but they had no idea. None at all. The blue words said: "I'm Sokka."
Not so bad, right? Suki's third soulmark, as red as the first, said words Suki wished she could erase permanently. Soulwords, however, could not be removed.
"Sokka's dead. I killed him."
When Suki was old enough to understand what they meant, she'd cried for a day, because there was nothing worse than one soulmate killing the other.
***
Zuko had three soulmates.
Soulwords were kept covered in the Fire Nation; some believed they were signs of weakness. Ozai was one of those people. He did not have any. Azula had soulwords, and they were green, and read:
"I can only hope Mai isn't the exception."
Ursa had had soulwords, but they had shone blue until the day she disappeared, meaning that somewhere, the words of a Water Tribe man had gone white. In contrast, one of Zuko's marks had turned black rather quickly, when Azula had brought two friends home, Ty Lee and Mai.
"How do you do that?” Zuko had asked, watching Ty Lee do a backflip.
"I'm awesome."
She'd replied, as she felt her mark turn black. Zuko's words lost their color, and the two became instant friends. She was part of the reason Zuko had learned parkour.
"You don't have to have bending to be awesome. If you can jump over people's heads, and dodge flying boulders, keep in mind that benders are vulnerable when you get close." Ty Lee had told him. He'd never had the time to learn chi-blocking properly (he knew a few moves though), because he was constantly trying to improve his firebending. Azula was so much better than him, it wasn't fair! And, of course, sword fighting. The dual dao, which he learned how to use from master Piandao, were at least something he could do Azula couldn't. He asked Mai to teach him how to throw knives, too, and he was pretty terrible at it, but at least he had a new friend. Even if this one almost never smiled. One day, Ty Lee said she'd show him her other soulwords, if he showed her his. Zuko agreed. Besides Zuko's mark, she had two others. One in green: "Zuko, Zuko, Sokka and Sokka; it's complicated."
Ty Lee wondered what situation would result in those being her soulmate's first words to her. Her third mark was blue, and read: "Yaaahhhhh!"
"That one's conflicting as well. Ooh, let me see yours!" she said, scooting closer to Zuko. They were hiding in the palace library. Zuko, somewhat reluctantly, showed her.
"Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!"
Were what his blue words said.
"It's probably the same guy that I have!" Ty Lee announced, because multiple soulmates were very often connected to each other. Zuko pulled up his sleeve a little farther, and scowled. These words were in green, and they said:
"Not this. Not you."
Ty Lee winced.
"Yeah. Those are pretty bad. Sorry." she said. The two talked for a while, until they heard a commotion a few rooms over.
"Hey, there's gonna be a war meeting!" Ty Lee realized. Zuko suddenly got an idea.
"I'll ask Uncle Iroh if I can attend." he told her.
"Really! You have to tell me all about it, after." Ty Lee said. For years after, she regretted her words, and wished she had told him to stay far away from the meeting, to just stay with her, forever.