Author's Note: Hi all! I'm trying to keep the characters as canon as possible, please let me know if you think something is off. I love any and all reviews! And, as a necessary disclaimer, I do not own any characters or settings in this story.
It had been about one year since Firelord Ozai's downfall. Many would have expected the world to fall into an era of relative peace, but those assumptions were far from the truth. Those who had supported Ozai did not take kindly to Zuko being crowned as their new Firelord. Assassination attempts were many. Bands of Ozai's followers spread throughout the world in attempts of converting others to their cause and creating as much mayhem as possible.
Fortunately, Firelord Zuko had powerful allies, and his allies had powerful allies. It took nearly eight months, but many of the rebellious groups had been vanquished. The work now turned to rebuilding the war-torn and scarred world that had been left behind in his father's wake. It was a monstrous group effort. When his political duties allowed (or required) it, Zuko traveled with his old companions, which some citizens, to Sokka's extreme delight, had dubbed Team Avatar. This trip to the North Pole was one of diplomatic importance and he was glad to be traveling with his old friends once more.
Much to his dismay, once the group arrived it was nothing but meeting after meeting. Between the Firelord and the Avatar, they were all much desired guests at both political meetings and important social gatherings. There had been little time to catch up with his old friends.
His friends, however, had all been traveling together for a much longer time and it seemed as if it was starting to take its toll. Katara had been distant and moody and Toph became more irritable as the group neared the North Pole. Everyone needed a break from all the traveling and diplomacy but, unfortunately, they were not getting a break any time soon.
There was an important meeting that all of them were requested to attend. Having other matters to discuss with Chief Arnook, Zuko arrived a few hours early, leaving his companions to their own whims.
Sokka and Aang were getting a few moments of much needed relaxation in the upscale villa they had been provided. Aang and Zuko, being as important as they were, had been granted their own private quarters but the entire group took to socializing with each other in the space shared by Sokka, Katara and Toph. Katara and Toph were out exploring the city. Rather, Katara was exploring and Toph was following closely behind since she was completely blind in and around the city due to the lack of earth in the icy pole.
Sokka, clothed in the warm attire necessary for comfort in the North Pole, was sprawled out haphazardly on a plush couch. He stared at the ceiling with dull, bored eyes, mindlessly stroking his newly acquired chin hairs with the corner of his boomerang. Despite having searched mercilessly, Sokka had never found his original boomerang or his beloved space sword after the big battle the year before. Toph had made him a new one, which he liked, but it just wasn't the same as his old one.
"Hey, Aang? Do you think Suki will like my goatee?" he asked ponderously.
"Mmrmph." Lying face-down on the floor, definitely not the most dignified position for the Avatar, this was the most that Sokka heard out of the boy. Aang was exhausted from having to be so diplomatic and proper all the time. He savored these moments when he could relax.
Sokka nodded appreciatively as if that had been the answer he had been looking for. "I think she'll like it, too. Maybe I should even grow a beard," he contemplated thoughtfully.
Aang rolled over and was greeted by Momo gliding over to land on his forehead. The lemur cocked his head to one side and tentatively poked the tip of Aang's nose with a finger. Smiling, Aang brushed the lemur away. "I think a beard would be a bit much, Sokka," he said in an awkward-sounding voice, jumping pitch in the middle of the sentence. He cleared his throat in frustration. He was getting to the embarrassing point in every man's life where his voice hardly stayed the same. It was mortifying when he was trying to give a diplomatic speech to important world leaders and his voice cracked. However embarrassed it made him it did always seem to break the tension in others.
Ignoring the voice-crack (Sokka understood how the boy felt and never teased him about it… the same could not be said for others in the party, mostly Toph), Sokka nodded once again. "Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, maybe you should think about—"
But what Sokka thought Aang should think about went unsaid as the door burst open, admitting Katara into the room. Both boys turned to look at her and noticed immediately that something was wrong. For one, Katara's eyes were red and moist looking. Secondly, Toph was not behind her.
"…what's wrong?" asked Aang tentatively, sitting up on the floor to look at the waterbender in front of him. He could hear Sokka move to a sitting position behind him as well.
"Toph's gone," answered Katara, not meeting either of their gazes.
Knowing that Toph wouldn't just go wandering about on her own in this place, Sokka assumed there had been a fight. He was instantly angry with Katara; she should know better by now to not argue with Toph, especially if the girl ended up walking off in a place where she couldn't see anything!
"What did you say to her, Katara?" he demanded as he got to his feet, knowing already that this was about to turn into a rescue mission.
"I didn't mean it! I- I was angry and it just came out and then she just stormed off. I tried to follow and apologize to her, but she yelled at me to leave her alone. Now I can't find her and I'm worried that she might be lost," she finished, looking down at the ground in shame. She knew that she shouldn't have blown up at Toph, knew that she shouldn't have brought up how helpless she was here at the North Pole, knew that she shouldn't have let the blind girl wander off into the icy wilderness. She knew that. But she couldn't change anything now.
Sokka huffed through his nose, giving his younger sister a deadly glare. "I can't believe you, Katara!" he scolded. He turned and grabbed a backpack and began angrily shoving basic supplies into it, mostly blankets and some food. "Angry or not, you shouldn't have let her go out there by herself. There's no earth around here anywhere, she can't see a damn thing!"
"I know that, Sokka! And I'm sorry! I'll go with you to-"
"No," he said, maybe a little too harshly. "You've caused enough problems already. Aang and I will go out and look for her. I can track her footprints and Aang can use his glider to search from the air," he said, glancing over at Aang to make sure he approved of this plan. The avatar got to his feet and gave a couple of solemn nods showing that he was on board.
Sokka turned to look back at Katara. He could tell that she was worried and she really regretted whatever she had said to make Toph so angry. He softened his gaze, knowing that being angry with her wasn't helping anything. "We'll find her, Katara. You go ahead to the meeting and apologize to the Chief and Zuko that we can't be there."
Aang stepped forward and placed a gloved hand comfortingly on Katara's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll be back with Toph soon. She couldn't have gone far," he reassured her, thankful that his voice stayed in one place.
Katara gave the two boys a small nod. "Just get back soon." She glanced at them one last time before heading out the door and toward the palace where post-war negotiations were taking place between Chief Arnook and Firelord Zuko.
Once she had left, Sokka turned to look at Aang. It suddenly occurred to him just how much the young boy had matured since their first meeting. Since defeating the Fire Lord the year before and becoming the savior of the world, it seemed like the boy had now matured even more beyond his years. Sokka often forgot that the boy was only thirteen years old most of the time. But he supposed that when you are the Avatar, you don't get a chance to act your age. When you aren't arranging peace talks, you were organizing and participating in search and rescue missions.
So much for their relaxing afternoon.
"You ready to head out?" he asked, slinging the backpack over his shoulder and pulling his hood up to keep his head warm in the freezing wilderness.
Aang nodded, staff in hand, and pulled up his hood as well. "Let's go."