Sokka was counting his money.
He had a lot of money. A very small portion consisted of the blue beads of the Water Tribes, but most of it was in Earth Kingdom currency and Fire Nation coins—Sokka's business was international. Due to his wide array of customers, inventing was very profitable—not as profitable as the last business he'd been involved with, but that one had been a lot more dangerous. It was lucky he'd gotten out of that business while he still had the chance. Though recently… well, at least he had plenty of money for all the shopping sprees he went on. Or was planning to go on—since his business had picked up he hadn't had any time for shopping. Oh well, one of these days he'd go shopping. Eventually. Maybe. If he could find the time.
Sokka pushed his piles of money aside and turned to the plans for his latest invention. It was the most costly thing he'd ever created, and he was determined to get it right. This baby was going to earn him a fortune.
On the other side of the room, Sokka's brother-in-law Aang was jib-jabbering away. "So then Tenzin made a huge wind and blew away all the laundry! He's going to be the world's greatest airbender, I just know it!"
Sokka grunted. He blew on his bottle of ink, trying to warm it up. The stupid liquid was freezing to slush.
"Sokka?" Aang zoomed over. "Here," he said, touching the bottle of ink with a small flame. "Why don't you just get a bigger fire pit?"
"Like I'm going to hire someone to make one for me," Sokka scoffed. "The waterbenders around here charge an arm and a leg for making fire pits. It's ridiculous!"
Aang considered this, then raised his arms in a fluid motion. The ice around the fire pit liquidated. It pulled back, leaving a much bigger pit in the ice floor.
"There!" Aang said, and the ice froze in place.
"I'm not paying you," Sokka said over the scritch-scratching of his quill.
"Oookay." Aang lined the pit with earth and blasted fire into it. "There we go! Much warmer."
Sokka didn't respond. He focused on the plans he'd drawn, trying to figure out what adjustments he needed to make to get this thing off the ground. Maybe…
"Whatcha inventing, Sokka?" A gust of wind swooped the paper off the desk and plastered it to Sokka's face.
"Do you mind?" Sokka snatched the paper from his face and glared at Aang, who was now hovering in front of Sokka's desk.
"Sorry." Aang let the air scooter he'd been sitting on die and looked at Sokka hopefully. "So?"
"I'm working on this." Sokka handed the piece of paper over.
"A pointy house?"
"No, it's-"
"A mechanical dog monkey?"
"Nooooo. Why does everyone keep saying that? It's an airplane."
"Oh," Aang said, craning his neck and thoroughly examining what admittedly looked remarkably like a dog monkey. "What's an airplane?"
"I got the idea from your glider. It's basically a huge glider that can carry a bunch of people at one time."
"Wow, Sokka, that sounds really cool! I'm impressed."
"Thank you," Sokka said, feeling gratified. "It is impressive, isn't it?"
"Very," Aang agreed.
Sokka x-ed out part of the design. The wing configuration wasn't right. Now if he just made a few calculations… He pulled out his abacus.
"Um, Sokka?"
"Eh?"
"Why didn't you have Katara make a new fire pit for you?"
"Because I didn't want to pay her either."
"Sokka, we're your family. Surely you don't think we want your money?"
"Well, you never know, Aang. There are some people who just care about money and nothing else," Sokka said loftily. "By the way, an Earth Kingdom tenth-of-a-cent got frozen into my floor during last year's spring thaw. Could you-"
Aang used a combination of metal and waterbending to get the coin out. "You know I've never asked you for money."
"True."
"Although…"
"Although?"
Aang's next words came out in a rush. "Well, being the Avatar, I don't exactly get paid, and Katara and I are sort of dependent on the goodwill of the people for everything we have. But with the seal hunting in the Southern Water Tribe being so poor this year, not many people are willing to share. Our kids' warm clothes from last year don't fit so well and I wanted to buy them something special—dinner and presents, you know—at the Moon Festival. So I was wondering if I could borrow some money from you. I'll pay you back, I swear. It's just… we're desperate."
"Say no more, Aang. I'd be glad to help you out."
"Really?" Aang's eyes lit up. "Thanks so much, Sokka. You have no idea how grateful-"
"Here." Sokka put three blue beads in Aang's hand.
"-we are." Aang stared at the pitiful amount.
"Oh, you can have this, too." Sokka tossed him the tenth-of-a-cent. "Now, I expect you to pay me back by the end of next season."
"…uh…"
"With eighty percent interest. No, make it eighty-five."
"Okay." Aang pocketed the money, then brightened. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at the Moon Festival, huh?" His tone was casual, too much so.
"Unlikely. I'm not going." Sokka turned back to his abacus. Drat. He'd lost count.
"You say that every year."
"And then I uphold it."
"I know, but… couldn't you make an exception? Katara was saying just the other day how she hardly sees you anymore. And Pakku, Kya, and Tenzin would love to see their Uncle Sokka!"
"Oh, there are three of them now?"
"Yes, Sokka," Aang said, starting to sound annoyed. "You came to Tenzin's naming two years ago. Remember?"
Sokka thought about it for a minute. "Is he the waterbending one?"
"No, that's Kya. Her naming was three years ago."
"Then, no."
"Well," Aang said. "All sorts of people are coming to the Moon Festival this year! Have you seen Zuko yet? He arrived this morning."
"Really? The Firelord came all the way to the Southern Water Tribe for a festival? Shouldn't he be busy burning stuff or something? Enforcing laws? Helping his wife with his million kids?"
"He does not have a million kids. He has four. And one on the way."
"Right," Sokka said. He shuffled through the mail on his table until he came up with the family portrait Zuko had sent him last week. He'd only looked at it briefly because there had been something else in the mail that had demanded his attention more. Now he read the message scrawled across the bottom. "Love from Zuko, Mai, Gyatso, Bosco, Lu Ten, Lee, and unborn Fire Nation Prince or Princess. Cute. Remind me why Zuko named one of his kids Bosco again?"
"An appeasement measure," Aang explained. "He named his firstborn son Gyatso as an act of respect towards the air nomads his great-grandfather destroyed. He wanted to honor the Earth Kingdom next, so King Kuei said the nation would be honored if Zuko would name his next son Bosco."
Sokka snorted.
"Lu Ten and Lee, the twins, have typical Fire Nation names."
"Why not Water Tribe names? If he's going for appeasement, I mean."
"Zuko's saving one of those for his first daughter. He thinks it's the name that will honor the Water Tribes the best: Yue."
Sokka hunched over his abacus again.
"Chief Arnook will be at the festival tomorrow."
"Really? I'm surprised he can stand it." Sokka kept his eyes trained on the abacus.
"He chooses to think of the occasion as a way to honor her instead of a reason to feel pain. Maybe if you felt that way…"
"You think this is about Yue?" Sokka laughed. Well, he did his best, anyway. It came out as a weak, "Ha. Ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha."
Aang raised an eyebrow.
"Well, anyway," Sokka said, "I have too much work to do to take time off for a silly festival. What's the point? There isn't one. My time is better spent working on this airplane." He thought of the invitation lying in his mail pile. "And if I do take tomorrow off, believe me, I'm not going to the Moon Festival."
"Okay," Aang said after a long pause. "Well, I should get going, Sokka. Thanks again for the money."
He was at the polar bear dog fur door when he turned around. "By the way, I invited Toph to the Moon Festival."
Sokka looked up from his abacus for the first time in five minutes. "Toph? What did she say? I mean, write? Er, have someone else write for her?"
"She never responded." Aang shrugged. "Just thought you should know."
"Right," Sokka said. He sat in thought for a full minute after Aang left.
Then he shrugged all the thoughts off. Sokka had work to do.