"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? It's you!" Sokka crooned to his beloved pet.
Hawky screeched in reply. Though incapable of comprehending the bird, the man chose to believe it was confirmation of his statement.
Sokka offered up a scrap of jerky, taking great pains to avoid the sharp beak. Having Katara reattach a finger would be a bit of a damper on his day.
Movement on a tree down the field caught his eye. A squirrelmouse scampered in on its trunk, blissfully unaware of the pair.
Sokka casually glanced around, ensuring he was alone. If Aang saw this, it might result in Katara freezing him to something.
"Hawky," he whispered to the bird, "go and catch that squirrelmouse."
Hawky looked to the small mammal. Though he was trained as a messenger bird, not a hunting hawk, he still had the predatory instincts of his undomesticated predecessors. Dinner might usually come in the form of easily digested, pre-cut meat, but this was definitely on the menu.
Spreading his wings, he sprang from his perch on Sokka's arm, gliding swiftly toward his prey. Talons extended, he swooped down before a sudden burst of noise and movement from a nearby undergrowth sent the furry creature darting into a hole in a branch.
Unsatisfied, he landed on the branch, poking his beak into the hole. His curved jaws closed on nothing. That particular creature firmly out of reach, his sharp eyes turned to the disturbance.
It was pink, mostly. And making curious whooshing noises as it cartwheeled and jumped over fallen logs and rocks.
Hawky's job was to do his master's bidding - mainly delivering his letters - not to ponder curious humans, so with a cry of annoyance he took to the sky once more, alighting back down next to Sokka.
"No luck, buddy? Well, you can't win 'em all."
Much like Sokka, Hawky could not speak any language but hawk, but he was a clever bird and the tone of voice was easy enough to understand. Mild indignation filled his little hawk brain and he shrieked irritably.
This was answered with a remarkably similar cry.
"Oh, I see. Someone else get there first, eh? Is it a wild one or is someone sending me a letter, I wonder."
He tapped his shoulder, and Hawky jumped up to it, his talons gripping it firmly. Blood trickled down from a scratch, but Sokka was used to it by now and ignored the pain.
It was only with a mild sense of surprise that Sokka regarded Ty Lee, who was sitting on a tree stump by her elbows with her feet above her head.
In the years he'd come to know her as a friend, she'd turned up in a variety of unusual places including, in one particularly memorable and confusing occasion, under his bed. Even now he wasn't entirely sure why.
"What brings you to this Earth Kingdom wilderness, Ty Lee?" It was in truth probably best not to ask, but his natural curiousity always won out.
Her smile was as dazzling as always. Sokka tended to distrust people who smiled a lot (after all, life was hardly fun and games, and if it was then you were doing it wrong) but not even the hardest of hearts could resist her perfect grin.
She flipped herself upright, before clambering into a tree and swinging from a branch by her back legs.
"You know, just hanging around."
A lover of bad jokes, Sokka could not help but join in with her giggles.
"But actually I was looking for you. No one's seen you in a while, after all."
She scrunched up her nose, long braid trailing against the ground.
"You've got a hawk, why didn't you write?"
Sokka blushed a shade, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Some of my stuff ended up in a river, brush and ink included. And Hawky here refused to give up a feather to fashion a quill, the traitor."
The hawk regarded him with disdain before tucking his head under a wing.
"How'd you find me?"
Ty Lee dropped out of the tree and shook herself, before smiling.
"I asked a few people on the way, Cutie. Water Tribe guys with black swords stand out."
Sokka's fingers clutched at Space Sword protectively.
"Well, since you're here we might as well head to camp. I've got some hog monkey on a spit, if you're hungry."
The suggestion of food roused the hawk, who screeched in Sokka's ear.
"Spirits! You can have some too, just don't do that again."
Camp was a simple affair - a small fire, Sokka's tent and a flat stone as a makeshift table.
Cold, seared hog-monkey-on-a-stick was a far cry from the food she was used to - even compared to the stuff she got in prison - but she wasn't going to complain. Her travelling on the road here had gotten her used to foraged food.
"So, you know what I'm here for, but what about you? Doesn't seem like there's much around." Ty Lee questioned.
Sokka didn't speak for a moment, instead choosing to unsheath his beloved sword.
"The last day of the war, I lost this sword. Threw it away to save me and Toph."
Ty Lee remembered Toph turning up one day, covered in dirt and soot and presenting the soot-coated blade to an astounded Sokka. The smile that had split his face had eclipsed any she'd seen before.
"I threw my boomerang too. It wasn't special like this is, and my dad offered to make me a new one, but it was my first one. He gave it to me before he went away. He said to me 'you're a man now, Sokka. And a man needs a man's weapon.'
"I killed my first tigerseal with that weapon. My first man too, come to think of it. I know Toph didn't sense it at all when she found Space Sword, but I figure I should look anyway. It always came back to me."
Ty Lee put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, I can come along and help you look. Two heads are better than one, right?"
Sokka considered this.
"I dunno, Ty Lee. Are you sure?"
She nodded vigourously.
"It'll take me a while to get back to Kyoshi anyway. And it must have been a bit boring with only a hawk for company."
Said hawk eyed her menacingly, having not forgotten her earlier disturbance. Sokka patted his feathered head comfortingly before the bird took off and landed in a tree above their heads to roost for the night.
"In fact I brought along some paper and a brush, we could send Hawky with a message back home."
Sokka laughed. "I'm sure he'll be pleased to have a proper job once more. I haven't sent many letters since I got him back from Toph's parents."
He looked up at the darkening sky, the orange rays of sunset beginning to fade.
"I guess it'll have to wait til morning though. For now we should probably get some sleep."
It was then that a thought occurred - he only had the one tent. Ty Lee's bag was nowhere near big enough to contain one for herself.
"Uh. Where have you been sleeping?" He asked.
"There were some houses along the way, people were usually kind enough to let me sleep there. And when there weren't, trees usually worked out." The girl shrugged.
Sokka winced in sympathy.
"That must have been painful on your back."
"It was fine, Cutie. I'm tougher than I look." Ty Lee rolled her shoulders.
"Hey, don't I know it. Those fists of yours are dangerous. I guess you can sleep in my tent though. I can make a shelter out of branches and stuff."
An uncharacteristic frown crossed her face.
"Hey, I'm sure we can both fit in there. I don't snore."
Red tinged Sokka's cheeks.
"Well- I was just... Oh, fine. Nothing wrong with two friends sleeping in the same area, I guess. No one will know, anyway."
Ten minutes later the two were curled up next to each other, sound asleep.