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They had set out for the tundra that morning, a small trek away from the village. The vast, white emptiness seemed to stretch out forever, Hakoda led the way, and Sokka followed, trying his best to walk in his father’s footsteps. It was easier than trudging his own path through the deep, heavy snow. Finally, Hakoda stopped. It seemed they’d reached their destination. Whatever that destination was.
“Do you know why I brought you out here today?” Hakoda asked.
“Nope.” Sokka shrugged. Then he gasped in fake shock. “Don’t tell me you forgot!”
Hakoda snorted. “That’s not why I asked.” He turned to look Sokka in the eye.“You’re growing up fast. One of these days, you’ll be a man.”
Sokka couldn’t help but grin at the thought. He didn’t want to be a kid anymore. He wanted to be an adult, capable and strong and in charge. He could hardly wait, but he’d have to. It was a long way off. He wouldn’t even be old enough to go ice dodging for years. That was exciting, too. The stories he’d heard, from older boys who’d already been through the rite of passage, convinced him it was thrillingly dangerous, and fun, and manly.
“You’re going to need to know how to defend yourself,” Hakoda continued. “You need a good, reliable weapon, and the knowledge to handle it well- and responsibly. So, Sokka, I think it’s time you had this.”
Hakoda fished a blue-and-white boomerang out of his pack. The blade glinted in the sun as he held it out towards his son. It was beautiful. Perfectly crafted, and of course, perfectly dangerous, which was the cool part. Sokka’s eyes grew wide.
“Really? Thank you! Thank you!” He squeezed his hands together, and looked up at his father. “Can you teach me how to use it?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Hakoda demonstrated, to start. He took the boomerang and threw it. The weapon soared in a perfect arc before landing, just right, in his open hand.
“Show me what you can do. Give it a throw.” Hakoda gestured towards the snow fields around them.
Gingerly, Sokka took the boomerang in one hand. He took a step back. He tried to remember the right movements, to copy what he’d seen Hakoda do. He hesitated just before letting the boomerang fly.. Only it didn’t exactly fly. It kind of did the opposite. When he released, it arced down, fast. Then it skidded over the ground, like a flat, smooth stone skips over open water.
“That’s what I meant to do,” Sokka said, nodding fiercely and flashing what he was sure was a very convincing smile.
“Right.” Hakoda shook his head. “Now, you need to build up momentum in your arm and in your wrist. If you pause, you lose that momentum.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Sokka said, wincing and scratching the back of his neck.
“Go on, get it and try again! These things take practice.”
The boomerang had finally come to halt some ways away, and he chased after it. The snow was the icy kind that had melted, refroze, and melted again until it formed an outer crust. It was deep, too, and running in that was not an easy task. He scooped the boomerang up off the ground and ran back to his father.
“Remember,” Hakoda warned, “You have to follow through.”
“I’ll do it right this time,” Sokka said.
He didn’t.
That throw went only barely better. This time, the boomerang actually flew through the air. Wind whistled through the air holes as it spun, end over end. But it didn’t come back. Instead, it stabbed into the ground, blade-up, with a soft thunk. Sokka sighed and, once again, chased after it. He was really getting sick of chasing after it. Once he caught up to it, he yanked it out of the ground and triumphantly held it in the air.
“I thought these things were supposed to come back,” Sokka grumbled.
“That’s the point,” Hakoda said. “Get it? Point? Like-”
“Like the blade!” Sokka said, grinning.
“Exactly. So, the problem you ran into there was in your wrist movement. You don’t want to jut it out like this-” Hakoda showed Sokka the mistake he’d seen him make. “Instead, you want to flick your wrist like this.” He demonstrated a quick, fluid motion. Sokka practiced.
“That’s exactly it. Come on, give it another shot.”
Sokka took a deep breath, and went through the motion as well as he could. The boomerang soared through the air. It started to arc around, turning to come back towards him.
Then it fell into a snowbank. Sokka rolled his eyes, and once again, chased after it. Only there was a problem.
Sokka felt his stomach drop to his knees. He couldn’t find the boomerang. He knew it was here, he’d seen it happen, but it was nowhere to be found. This was horrible. Not only was he the worst boomerang-thrower in the history of boomerangs, but he’d lost the boomerang on his first day. How could he lose a boomerang, of all things? He felt so useless. He didn’t want to admit that it was lost, but he had no choice.
“I can’t find it,” he yelled, across the snow plain to where his father stood. “I don’t know where it went!”
It took them ten entire minutes to dig it out. Sokka sat on the snow, holding the boomerang with one hand and the bridge of his nose with the other.
“Just face it, Dad,” Sokka said. “I’m never going to get the hang of this.”
“What?”
“I said, I’m never going to get the-”
“I heard you. But why would you say that? You’re already getting better, and it’s only your first try.”
“All I’m doing is messing up. I almost lost the boomerang forever!”
Hakoda kneeled down in front of Sokka, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Sokka, you’re brand new to this. It’s going to take you some time to get the hang of it. Once you do, I know you’ll be an expert in no time.”
“There’s no way that’s true.” Sokka scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re just saying that because you’re so good at it.”
“Believe me. I was so much worse at this when I was your age. I hit myself in the head with my first boomerang. I don’t even know how I managed to do that. The memory is a little fuzzy, but maybe-” Hakoda smirked, pausing for emphasis-“it’ll come back to me.”
For a moment, Sokka stared at him blankly. Then, something clicked. He let out a little laugh, before quickly making himself stop grinning. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to ever figure it out, though.”
“You’re so smart, my son. You’re always planning things out, tinkering with things to figure out how they work. A boomerang is the perfect weapon for you. It’s not like a club or a spear. You have to strategize, and throw it at just the right angle.That’s just how your brain works. All you have to do is master the technique. Then, I know you'll be good. Someday, you’ll be even better than me.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I think you should give it another go.”
Sokka gave him a look of determination. He didn’t believe his dad, not completely. But he could try, at the very least to prove one of them wrong. He stood up, and he let the boomerang fly.
Everything happened so fast. The weapon soared through the air, slicing through the silent air around it with a whistling sound. It spun around on itself again and again, flying higher and higher before finally hitting a peak somewhere in the distance. It spun in a perfect arc. Sokka held out a hand and his breath, and when the boomerang came back, he caught it.
And he never let go.