Their Oath

Just when he thought he was all cried out, unable to produce more emotion than he had already done, he would let his eyes settle upon her stomach again.

Suki was laying completely nude in their bed, the moonlight lit the opposite side of the room only enough to see her body, her stomach beautifully swollen with the presence of their unborn child. A blanket was draped lightly over her, not wholly covering her legs and one of her breasts. Her hair spread out wildly around her face, a mess of strands fallen under her nose atop her upper lip to give her a makeshift moustache, her soft lips parted in exhausted slumber. She was so peaceful, one of her hands curled over her stomach beneath the blanket, she slept deeply after a day of celebrations.

The festivities for the child had been a day of amusement at Kyoshi Island, almost all their friends and family were there. Each sure they knew all, competitions arising with prizes to those who guessed the correct gender, eye and hair colour. Zuko guessed a daughter with hair of a dark chocolate tone with and sapphire eyes, Toph had shrugged and automatically agreed with whatever had just been said; Aang and Katara guessed a son, with jade eyes and auburn brown hair; Hakoda had guessed a trouble-maker, regardless of appearance, a trouble-maker to the core. All day he was surrounded by noise, merriments, bantering, and enough food that he was somehow still too full to venture to the kitchen for his token midnight snack. Instead, he sat alone at the desk in the corner of their room finishing up on small amounts of business, the candlelight from his desk barely casing one side of her in a warm yellow glow, the other a soft azure light from the moon.

From her.

He didn't know how he hadn't noticed it immediately when they were reunited. Aang and Toph had smirked mischievously as they embraced, knowing before even Suki did. They could feel the beating of the child's heart the moment it become a part of Suki's being. Katara and he had finally made it back from their trip, seeing not only Suki, but Toph, Zuko, and Aang for the first time in months. Sokka had definitely felt that she had more of a stomach than when he had left, but it wasn't soft like when someone lets themselves go. He kept her pressed to him while watching the others holding back there smiles as best they could, then, like a wrecking ball, a memory crashed through him.

He was being lead into a tent by his father, clutching a toy club to his chest, waddling to keep up. They pushed through the flaps of the medical tent, the warmth wrapped around them in welcome. There were a few elders in with his mother, she smiled across at him, opening her hand towards him. Sokka pushed past Hakoda and practically ran through the legs of the elders, almost diving into his mother's side. Despite being scarcely older than eighteen months, he tumbled upon his mother's chest and cried into her. He hadn't seen her in a few hours, but that was enough for him. Kya smiled and rubbed his little head, circling her finger round and round his wolftail while he gripped the material of her shirt. After a moment he looked up to make sure she was still there, fearing that she would leave him again. Hakoda sat beside the pair as the elders left the room, he cleared his throat and Sokka turned his little head towards him, his eyes swollen and nose running. "We have something to tell you, our little brave boy." Hakoda smiled, rubbing his thumb over his cheek. They had been waiting to tell him for many weeks.

"You are going to have a little brother or sister." Kya whispered, rubbing her own thumb over his other cheek, "You are going to be a big brother!" she smiled widely. Sokka was confused for a moment, but he immediately thought they were saying that Kya was going somewhere, Hakoda laughed loudly as Sokka cried harder. Kya chuckled and held his tiny, brown hand and placed it on her stomach. Sokka would never forget, the tiny bump that came from beneath the skin, it stopped his crying immediately. He was too young to actually notice that his mother was getting bigger, but he slowly rested his head on the now very prominent stomach. The skin was not soft and squishy, but firm and warm, safely housing his future sibling, Katara.

He came back to the space in time when he held Suki, the same firm, warm bump was pressed against him. He raised his eyes to Katara, she had obviously just been filled in on the news by Aang, as she held her hands over her mouth and tears streamed down her cheeks. He couldn't believe it, he had not been able to let her go for what must have been hours.

He smiled at the memory, looking towards the window as he saw the edge of the full moon peaking from outside, heading for the horizon. He stood from the desk and walked towards the side of the room that held a minor balcony, he stepped quietly past the bed and out into the night air, leaning his arms on the polished wood railings. She was high above all else, Sokka smiled up to her, and cleared his throat gently.

"Hey beautiful." He spoke softly to the night. His face was illuminated by the shine of the moon, the cool air was nothing to the nights felt in the South Pole. "How have you been?" he never knew how to start the conversations with her, he never knew if she was bored or interested in what he came up with. He listened to the silence for a long while, nodding to himself, imagining her replies. "Yeah, I have been well too…" he smiled partly, knowing that, like all other conversations with her, the smile wouldn't last forever.

He was wearing only a pair of old pants, his hair was hanging around his face as he averted his eyes from the moon working up to his announcement. Near the crown of his head was two small braids with had two beads on each which near reached his eyes, two from the South Pole, one from the North, and one from Kyoshi Island. "I-I…" he sighed, "I wanted to talk to you about something important." He felt his eyes begin to sting, his nose felt prickly, "Something wonderful. Something that has changed everything for me, and for another." The silence was deafening, he peeked over his shoulder to make sure Suki was still breathing, still sleeping, "Suki is having a child." He turned back to the moon, "I am going to be a father, Yue. Pretty soon actually, she is halfway through now…"

He waited, watching the skies, the stars that glistened and flitted across the clear night. Her response came soon enough, the trees sighed and whistled softly. "I guess you are wondering why I think you want to know all this…" he mumbled, playing with his fingers, but now refusing to look away from her, "Yue, I need a favour… Well, I need a lot of favours, but let us start with one."

The night was still.

"Be there for us." He whispered, his eyes stung, "I mean, you have always been for me, but to have you there for Suki and the baby…" as soon as he said 'baby', his eyes spilled the tears that he thought he could hold. "I-it w-would be gr-great." He sniffed twice and wiped his eyes, "This is going to be h-hard, I don't know the first thing about raising a child, I-I mean, Katara raised me, and she won't always be a bison fly away..." he sniffed and wiped under his nose with his forearm, "Well, yeah, she w-will I guess… But I doubt even she can solve everything. There are going to be moments where I won't kn-know, where I won't be able to help, or be able to stop from happening. They will get h-hurt, they will see horrible things, they will cry and scream and get mad, th-they are going to be part of a generation that will still exp-experience the hate and anger from those before Aang's victory, and the struggle and sense of over-due acceptance of those that followed it, even from nine years on people still fight f-for Ozai. I won't always be there, Suki won't always be there, and I just pray that… Y-you will be. That no matter wherever they are and whatever the change, you will be one that makes them feel safe in this world. Pl-please, my sweet blue-eyed gi-girl." He could barely utter the last part, holding his face in his hands and struggling to keep himself composed. He took a deep breath and looked again to the moon, "Just to kn-know whatever comes," he smiled, "even from across the seas, behind the clouds, above this world, that I can always rely on you for your love and… Lunar goodness."

He waited for nothing.

He tried to smile, but he just couldn't. She wasn't answering him, he felt sobs rising in his throat and promised himself that he would keep them down. He closed his eyes in an effort to stop the tears, he listened for her response, he anticipated each of Suki's breaths. He let out another sigh and turned to slip into bed, knowing that she never took this long to reply, and that maybe he was just asking too much this time.

There was a whisper from behind him.

He spun so quickly that he was sure for a moment he would lose footing, the moon seemed to somehow increase the gleam from itself, intensifying it to become almost too bright. It shone through the window, illuminating the whole room, Sokka's candle flickered and extinguished. He watched the moon, all of its marvel, he thought he would be blinded, he thought she was furious. There was a soft whoosh as a wave of air blow past him, blowing his beads from his face, chilling him slightly as it headed for Suki. There was a moment where the light encased her body, Sokka knew Yue would never cause harm to her, but fear still had him. Slowly, Yue seemed to concentrate her glow, reeling it in to a singular beam of light directed at Suki's stomach, hidden beneath the blankets.

Sokka approached the bed slowly, Suki still slept silently, the room was still warm despite its openness. The light seemed to evaporate as he reached for the shine, the night darkened as the moon dimmed back to her normal luminosity. Sokka was concerned, what did that mean?! Is that a no, or? He wiped his eyes and lay beside Suki in bed, wrapping his arms around her protectively. His last conscious thought was that she was trying to communicate, and that he would have to wait until the first moment she was needed to determine her response.

…

Sokka was quiet as he shoved as much as he could into his mouth, usually trying to speak and spitting pieces of bacon at people. Everyone chatted quietly and a few nursed mild hangovers from the celebrations, Zuko and Toph were amongst those enduring the aftereffects. Even Aang kept rubbing his arrow and grimacing into a concoction dished up by healer on the island that specialised in hangovers. Katara sliced her elephant koi politely talking happily to everyone, despite the fact half of the table were growling responses. She turned her attention on Sokka as he placed another section of his scrambled eggs into his mouth and chewing loudly, she noticed a new addition to his hair, "I like your new bead! Where did you get it from?"

"Huh?" Sokka questioned, looking up from his food, having genuinely missed what she had asked.

"Your fifth bead, where did you get it?" she smiled, slicing off another piece of koi and chewing graciously.

"Fifth?"

"Yeah Sokka, you have a new bead…" Aang held, apprehensive by the obvious confusion Sokka had.

Sokka's eyes were wide as he reached for his braids, he felt two beads on one, but there was an addition to the second, "B-bead?" he turned to Toph, "Quick! What is it?!"

"I dunno… Pink?" she grumbled, more hungover than the rest, "Whatever that colour is…"

"I think he wants you to distinguish the stone." Zuko whispered, almost smiling at Toph's sarcasm. During a stay in the Fire Nation, Iroh and Zuko had spent days helping Toph dig up stones and gems, classifying them and deciphering their names and meanings with her. Everyone looked at Zuko, as if to ask why he couldn't just tell them what it was, "I'm not that great at it…" he whispered, Toph chuckled.

"Don't flatter yourself, Sparky, you suck at it." She punched his lightly.

"… Ahem?" Suki pressed, after a moment of Toph seeming to forget the request.

"Oh." Toph realised everyone was waiting for her, leaning over the table and taking the bead between her thumb and pointer, she felt it gently, "Selenite." Toph said, rolling it in her fingertips, "It is for protection, love, and all that mushy stuff." Sokka's eyes were wide, he blinked twice and looked down at Suki's stomach, before back to Toph.

"It is beautiful. The different white and grey pigments, the shape!" Katara spoke with a warm smile, admiring the stone, "It kind of looks like-"

"The moon." Suki said, everyone turned to look at her, she was smiling tenderly, "It looks identical to Yue."

He felt his eyes water, everyone raised an eyebrow in concern, he smiled widely.

She… She answered me.

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I do not own AtLA, the image was created by Zatallis, and there are references to Tim Minchin's song lyrics from: White Wine in the Sun.

Hope you enjoyed it.