At first, when a hunting accident tore his tendon, Hakoda was, in a twisted sort of way, glad it happened. The relief of being ineligible for the army and getting to stay home with his kids and Wolf Cove, even if for just a bit longer, overshadowed his sense of duty.

And, like most good things in his life, that didn’t last. He couldn’t remain out of direct conflict.

Especially when the Fire Nation is the one to contact him first. He read that scroll over and over for days until his eyes blurred together, but…

No, no, that is… most definitely Firelord Ozai proposing an alliance.

The flowery language and barely-hidden racial biases ticked every single bone in Hakoda’s body the wrong way, of course, but could one blame him for wishing? They took the South Pole’s waterbenders, his wife, and their future.

Which is why he wrote back.

Correspondence over the next Spirits-knows-how-long was tedious and tense, the visits to the Fire Nation itself even moreso, but something had been tenuously worked out. A political marriage-- a member of the court, a non-heir to the Fire Nation’s throne, and with it, resources and assurance that the Nation would never pillage the tribes again. In exchange, oil and natural resources from the South Pole would be sent back.

It still felt off in a way the chieftain can’t put his thumb on (yes you can, the Council of Elders had not so gently reminded him, the same nation that’s dead set on pillaging the rest of the world, seemingly sparing the South Pole after ruining it once before?), but…

This wouldn’t be the first or last elk-crap decision he’d made for the good of his tribes.

Of course, the Council of Elders were wary. His kids were livid. Hakoda himself felt like he was simply waiting until it blew up in his face. ~~He still wasn’t over Kya.~~ But nonetheless, he agreed to it, and now, Katara was angrily making her… her new step-parent… a sleeping bag, and the chieftain found himself at the docks, the wind biting his face as he waited for the Fire Nation ship to arrive.

Tui and La. He doesn’t even know his betrothed’s name.