driftfleet | [muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

Summerday is, yeah. I've never not had a summer, though in the north there isn't really winter so it's like that in reverse. No snow in the winter is as much a drag as too much of it, but at least I can sort of make that with magic.

[He kicks at some of the detritus on the forest floor.]

Were you surprised when you first experienced seasons?

Huh, that's pretty neat. So the more North you go, the warmer it gets?

[He chuckles. ]

It was an experience. We were too busy trying to figure out how to save the world to really enjoy them, though.

...Also? Deserts are weird.

Deserts are weird.

[He agrees amiably, leaning down to pick up another interesting rock, this one glowing neon green or pink when held at different angles.]

You say you were saving your world? Sounds like a lot of worlds people here are from need saving.

So weird. There was a library in one in my world. And then it like...buried itself because the spirit who guards it is a jerk and we all nearly died.

[That fucking owl, man.]

We were. I mean, we saved it from the guy who wanted to literally burn it to ashes so yay us? Now we're just trying to rebuild it after a hundred years of war. It's not easy.

[He exhales softly. ]

I've noticed that. Atroma probably planned it that way. Entertaining, you know?

A spirit library in the middle of the desert. Are you sure this wasn't a dream in the Fade? That sounds like something that would go on there.

[The sort of place a demon who promised untold knowledge would take you when you said yes to a deal. He has to wonder if Merrill ever visited a spirit library, then. Or... well, the Fade isn't exactly that concrete. He shakes his head.]

Either way, there's always a lot of rebuilding to do after a war, but it's far better to be free and working than just dead by an enemy's hands.

[Could be worse, basically.]

Nope, it was absolutely real. It was a giant owl, and seriously a huge jerk. Spirits in my world are a little uh...complicated, sometimes.

[All the time.]

There is, but we;re prepared to do it. And it is a lot better than being dead, or having the other side win. Who knows how many people would have died if that'd happened. It's just waiting for people to see that for themselves.

Spirits everywhere are complicated.

[As if that explains everything. It doesn't, though, and he knows it, but they're not going o figure out the mysteries to all spirits walking through a forest speculating.]

I don't know about your situation, but I do know that people in general are more interested in themselves and their own safety. It's not their fault, it's just how they are, but it means when the next kingdom over is, say, being overrun with monsters from the deep, they're more likely to draw back and say 'glad its not me!' then help in the good fight. Sometimes the only way to change their minds is through something drastic.

Tell me about it.

[SPIRITS, man. He would never, ever get them. ]

We'll probably never be running low on that kind of thing. Crazy stuff that makes people have a call to arms. The main problem is other people, some are fighting against the new staus quo, others want retribution against largely innocent people. It's just...a mess.

[It will never cease to amaze or upset Wolfe that people so young - children - get embroiled in these things, but he's long since learned that there's no use in trying to save them from it. Instead, the best thing to do it support them, work with them like anyone else. Sokka's clearly already been through more than many in his lifetime and far be it from Wolfe to look down on that just because of his age.]

When it comes to that, I guess it's just being able to make people see what's best for everyone instead of just for them. The hardest thing for us was always getting people to see past their own fear of each other. It's still a struggle.

[And of course, that's the big problem for Sokka. He hasn't been able to be a kid for such a long time, he honestly forgot how. The Fire Nation robbed him and his sister of that opportunity a long time ago. ]

Tell me about it. I mean, Korra is from my future, way way into my future and things are mostly okay there. There's always new problems, but the ones we're dealing with mostly get fixed so that's...something. I know it's not impossible.

That's good news. You're lucky.

[He has no idea how the mage-templar conflict will shake out. Even with the Inquisition's direct involvement in all major politics and the current unifying distraction of Corypheus, Hawke has no doubt that it will fall back to blows in due time unless someone makes some kind of decision, namely who will assume the seat of the Divine. Whoever it is though, unless she's staunchly of the same school of thought as the Libertarian fraternity, it's not going to really matter. The war could rage on into the next age if the Chantry doesn't give any quarter. Either that, or mages really will be literally enslaved in the south.]

I have no idea what's going to come of my home or my people.

[Sokka would feel for him, really. No matter how wars end up, someone ends up suffering for it- usually the people who were suffering the most during the war in the first place. A part of him dreads going home, to see what the war has done to it. To see what's left to rebuild. He's heard nothing good about it.

Korra seems fine, but what happens between the end of the war and her time? Who knows.]

I'm sorry. That's got to suck.

It is what it is, really. I would like to know, but...

[He lets out a heavy breath.]

I'm also sort of dreading it too.

[Because when has anything ever actually gone right?]

I hear you there. I mean, what if something horrible is just there waiting for you? And no matter what you do, you can't change it. Even if you found out about it here beforehand, it's still just gonna...happen.

Like the worst surprise ever.

I... yeah.

[He swallows what he's going to say and just agrees instead. How can he explain that he doesn't want to go back, especially with all the fighting he had a hand in starting. It's the same as a child running from cleaning up his toys or punching another kid on the street. Someday, he knows he's going to have to face all that.

Someday he's going to have to pay for that, and watch Anders pay for it too, no matter how hard he fights for the contrary.]

[Going back is never a question for Sokka. It's where he belongs, where he's needed. He does understand it's not an option for everyone though, he's worked that into his Great Escape Plan.]

But hey? Maybe you might be able to go to a different world, instead. That's what I'm hoping to achieve for some of my crewmates. Get them somewhere safe.

[Where they'll be 100% less dead or in danger. ]

[He smiles a little at that. It's a rueful thing, but appreciative even as its dismissive.]

It's a nice thought, but I have things left undone in Thedas that are my responsibility. It's not that I want to go back - it's not really that I don't either, I'm just...

[Wolfe trails off, not certain how to even express what he's feeling. He breathes in deeply through his nose and lets the breath out slowly through slightly pursed lips, trying to calm his mind enough to center it, but an answer isn't forthcoming even with that.]

I'm tired. I want to settle down, have a family, not have to fall all over myself to right every wrong on the Maker's green earth, but some of those wrongs are my fault, and I have an obligation.

[He's very still as he explains, different from his usual jovial demeanor. There's a stalwart undercurrent to his demeanor when he talks like this, not heroic but certainly solid and all parts mature. Such a contrast to the man who will shamelessly roll around in the mud with his dog at a moment's notice.]

I owe it to my world to do what I can.

[And, perhaps surprisingly, Sokka understands. His plan was always to get himself back home, he needed to be there. But at the same time, he'd kind of wanted his happy ending. He'd done the fighting, it was time to just- well, not be a kid again, that chance was stripped from him the day his mother was murdered- but to have some kind of life. One not revolving around war. ]

I get it. There's stuff that's happened that you got to fix. The world's not right yet and you need to get it as close to it as you can before you can stop.

[IF he could stop. Sokka was starting to wonder if that was on any of their cards. ]

[It is surprising, and certainly not a level of understanding that Wolfe had expected from Sokka.]

Yes, that's it exactly. Only there's never a 'close'. There's always something.

[Sokka's full of surprises. ]

Yeah. You think that you finally get time to catch your breath, and then it's like "surprise, you have to deal with this thing now." And I mean, I wouldn't turn my back, none of us would.

It'd just be nice to stop, even for a tiny little while.

I don't know if just a short while would work. If I stopped even for that long, I'm afraid I couldn't continue after that.

[He almost had. It eats at him still, knowing he could have died in the Fade. Should have, by all rights. It would have been over. But then there's so much left undone. Corypheus, the mage rebellion, Weisshaupt's message. So many things left to do but still with the nagging overarching wonder of it it will even matter. Does anything they do actually matter?

He shakes his head, trying to rid it of the Nightmare's thunderous voice.]

[Sokka's wondered that, too. He and Katara are headed back to the South Pole. Maybe once he's there, he'd just...stop too. Just stay at home, try and forge any kind of life he could there.

But he doubts it would ever be that easy. ]

Lucky me, I have someone who'll always drag mee off on adventures if I wanna go or not. A few someones, actually.

Funny, I have a lot of people always telling me I need to calm down or not do the thing. In fact, one of my best friends kept my location from someone wanting me to lead a massive organization just to keep me out of it.

[Which... really wasn't exactly the reason Varric kept him secret from Cassandra, but sometimes Wolfe has to wonder.]

I just can't keep my nose out of anything. I feel like if I can help, then I have a responsibility to, even if I don't actually want to.

Really? That's pretty awesome of your friend. I mean...assuming they wanted you for bad things.

[Most massive organisations in Sokka's experience weren't exactly great things. ]

That sounds exactly like Aang. And by extension, all of us, because we get dragged along for the ride. Sure, we could always say no, but we never actually do.

Sort of? I mean, he probably assumed they did, but I think they just wanted my help. Eventually he did call for me. I would have gone sooner of my own volition, probably, if I hadn't had someone to protect.

[Wolfe rubs the back of his neck, looking up at the canopy. It's a weird thought, thinking what he'd have done without Anders. He doesn't really like to imagine his life without, honestly. No real reason to start now.]

Aang has that overdeveloped sense of responsibility too, then?

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