The boy, if you could still call him that, loved it up here. There were no hands to shake, babies' foreheads to kiss, and appearances to make. It was just him, in his parka to shield him from the South's cold, and his thoughts. He sat down, hanging his feet off the ledge, and took his hood off. He smiled as he felt the morning sun touch his face. Sunrise made his home below look glorious, turning the white snow gold. He slowly sipped hot cocoa from a silver flask he'd brought up in his knapsack and admired the view.
The South hadn't been much to look at before they'd begun reconstruction post-war, and in the couple years since it had come a long way. Was it three years now? No, not yet. The anniversary was coming up pretty soon though. You could physically feel the excitement in the air around this time of year. He took another sip.
Zuko had got him this flask, not for some special reason like a gift or anything, but because the boy had said "That's a cool flask" once, referring to Zuko's. Wait. He examined the flask. This was Zuko's. The boy shrugged. Guess it was a gift. That's nice of him. Zuko was never really the best at gift shopping.
He missed his friends. He missed his sister too. Yeah, they were both here in the South, but they might as well have been on opposite poles. They both had their own duties to uphold. He saw more of her boyfriend than her these days, who he'd suspected was only around to suck up to their father. He chuckled and tilted his head back to take another sip, but the flask was empty. Maybe it was time to head down. Five more minutes? Fifteen? I mean, it was early.
"Sokka."
Never mind.
sokka
He let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Dad looking for me, huh?" Sokka stood up and brushed the snow off his backside.
She didn't say anything but when he'd looked up he'd seen she had a face that said: "The usual." The siblings both rolled their eyes. They were exhausted.
"Nice hair," he remarked, brushing passed her. She frantically reached for her hair, almost forgetting she'd cut it short. When it hit her, she sighed, relieved.
"I felt like change," she shrugged. "I guess…"
They walked back home, neither saying a word. It wasn't awkward though.
Katara, aside from having cut her hair shoulder length a day or two earlier, hadn't changed much since the war. Physically that is. Walking alongside her brother you'd think she'd shrunk though. He'd grown much taller. It annoyed her that both he and her boyfriend towered over her now. They'd joked that the only reason it annoyed her was because she felt like she couldn't order them around like she used to. While not entirely off, she mostly wasn't yet comfortable with how fast everything was changing – the world, and her boys.
"Where's Aang?" her brother said, breaking the silence.
She rolled her eyes. "Where do you think? Sleeping in."
"A hundred and fifteen years old. Talk about late blooming."
Katara punched his arm, ("OUCH!"), a little harder than both were expecting. They laughed anyway. Sokka rubbing the sore spot while doing so. They both missed this.
Hakoda, their father, stood leaning against the frame structure that would soon be a city hall, in the exact centre of the Tribe. A detail Sokka had let take over a couple weeks of his life. That was a rough month. It was the first one without Suki around.
Although she'd promised to write to him every week, they both knew they were fooling themselves thinking a long distance relationship would work out. But, yeah, for a couple weeks she did. It had been nearly three or so months since she last wrote back to him now. You think she'd moved on? She would at least say something… right?
"Sokka." His father's voice brought him back to reality.
"I wrote to the builder guys, but the mailing system in Ba Sing Se isn't the most reliable, so I don't know how long until we hear back from them," he replied, automatically.
"What?" Hakoda pulled a face.
"You told me to get some more hands down here so I… what were you saying? Sorry. I must've blanked." He'd be doing that more and more these days. Everyone was picking up on it.
"Good morning," his father chuckled.
Sokka scratched the back of his head and, blushing, chuckled too.
"Good morning, dad."
chapter one
another reunion, part one
Sokka, laying facing up on his bed, bounced a rubber ball back and forth against the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't remember the last time he could. He caught the ball, and balled his fist around it.
I should write to her.
He quickly sat up right, scanning the room for something to write on and with. It was clean, everything put away. Unusual. When'd he do that? He shook his head. Katara probably did. He made a mental note to thank her in the morning.
He stood up. A whistle from outside prompted him to quickly close his curtains. He wrapped himself in a silk robe he'd brought home with him the last time he was at the Beifong's estate and headed to his father's study to look for parchment.
I should write to her. Tell her I miss her.
Did he?
He hesitated, staring blankly into the desk drawer he'd just opened.
Do I?
"Sokka?" Aang's croaky, rudely awakened voice, made him jump. "What are you doing?"
He closed the drawer.
"Going to bed."
"You wanna talk about it?" Even half asleep Aang could tell that Sokka wasn't alright. He loved that about him, though it did annoy him sometimes. Times like these.
"No."
"Cool."
He turned to face the doorway but Aang had already disappeared.
He did want to talk about it.
Aang sat with his legs crossed, by the edge of the river, with a fishing rod in his hands and a smile on his face.
"Nothing beats fishing," Aang looked over at Sokka. The goofy smile on his face was contagious. They laughed. Once the laughter had faded, Aang's tone suddenly changed.
"I'm bored."
Sokka reeled his line in, throwing his catch in the basket behind them. "You don't need to pretend you can't just use your bending to catch us some fish."
"Where's the fun in that?" the younger boy shrugged.
Aang puffed the hair blocking his eyes off his face. He'd been growing his hair out since being in the South. In this cold Sokka would too. Katara was into it at first, but feared Aang was maybe getting a little too carried away with it. She'd once caught him trying different styles in the mirror, making faces and sounds too. With his forehead exposed now, Sokka looked at his tattoo.
"Do I have another pimple?" the boy cried.
Maybe he'd been staring.
"No man, I'm just…" Sokka drifted off, and gazed out at the water. It was so… blue. It wasn't this blue every day, was it?
"You know you can talk to me, right?" Sokka looked over at Aang. He too was looking out at the water like he'd just discovered how blue it was. "I know that one time I told Katara, but it was just that one time. I swear. I won't— I don't do that anymore!"
Sokka laughed. Aang had told her Sokka had forgotton her birthday last year.
"You're not sleeping. You're eating, yea, but not Sokka-level eating. You do what your dad tells you to do… without making funny remarks or anything," Aang specially emphasized the last part like that was the last straw for him.
They hadn't spoken about the night Aang caught him in the study a couple days back. Sokka doubted Aang was fully conscious at the time.
"I think I just need a break," Sokka was finally opening up. Aang shifted his attention to him. "I'm in serious need of a breather. I love the snow but I'm sick of everything just being… white! I miss hating the heat in the Fire Nation. I miss the food in the Earth Kingdom. I miss Toph, Zuko… Suki."
"Speaking of…" Aang interrupted.
Sokka sighed, defeated. "I haven't heard from her in a while. A long while."
"Then go see her," Aang shrugged. "It's that simple."
Was it that simple?
"I can't leave dad and Katara to do all of this," he gestured towards the nearby construction site, "on their own."
"You can't or you don't want to?" Aang smirked, making a "Are we making a breakthrough?" face.
"I can't."
Oh," Aang looked down at the water. Guess not.
"I guess I'm…" Sokka looked up at the sky. "Homesick."
It was finally done, and just in time for the End of the War Anniversary, or E.O.T.W.A (or Eotwa, as Sokka and Aang called it) and the finished city hall looked much grander in person than anyone could've imagined looking at the designs on paper. Designs Sokka was proud to have helped draw up. That was kind of his job now. After the South, he was scheduled to do the same up North. With no wars to fight, who needed a warrior?
Sokka, his father and the design team walked the empty passages and rooms, every now and then someone coughing or sniffing and breaking the silence. Everyone was just taking it all in.
When they'd finished, Hakoda and Sokka sat outside on the hall's steps. Hakoda pulled his son in closer towards him with his arm.
"I'm proud of you, my boy."
Sokka stood shaving in the mirror: upper lip, cheeks, chin and (although he'd call you a liar if you ever mentioned it) between his brows. His sister, next to him stood shaving her potential unibrow too. They glanced at one another in the mirror and laughed.
On the city hall steps, Sokka sat watching the tribespeople all excitedly set up stalls and putting up decorations for tomorrow. Hakoda had insisted they host this year, instead of the North, to "let the world see how far they'd come" or something like that. There was a speech, he'd just forgotten it… or hadn't listened.
He looked back, hearing footsteps coming down the steps. Aang and Katara sat, one on either side, next to him. Aang handed him a mug of cocoa. Sokka nodded his thanks and blew on it to cool it down, before taking a sip.
"Do you know if she's coming tomorrow or not?" Katara asked, still watching everyone prepare for the following day.
He hadn't thought about Suki in weeks. Not since fishing with Aang. The question caught him off guard.
"She wouldn't miss it," Aang answered before Sokka could. Would he have anyway?
They sat there till dark. Sokka carried a sleeping Katara home. Aang fell asleep on the couch shortly after, or probably while, Hakoda shaved his head.
"Big day tomorrow," Hakoda looked up at his son, sitting on the house's rooftop, his feet hanging off the edge. "I'm gonna call it a night."
"Night, dad."
Hakoda smiled, and pushed one of Sokka leg's as he walked back into the house, making it swing back and forth.
"Get some rest," he said from inside the house.
Sokka laid back and looked up at the sky, his leg still swinging.
He doubted he would.
Sokka's cheeks were getting sore from faking smiles all morning. How many more hands did he have to shake? He looked, behind the dusty politician whose hand he was currently gripping. He gripped a little too hard when he saw just how many hands were left.
"Unibrow," he heard a familiar voice call from behind him. He couldn't hide his excitement.
"Hothead," he turned around to see Zuko. The Fire Lord grinned and put his hand out.
"Got energy left for one more?"
"No," Sokka pushed his hand aside. He gave Zuko a bear-hug, suffocating him in his arms.
"I missed you too," Zuko coughed.
"You've really been working hard, huh?" Zuko nodded, giving the tribe below a not-too-shabby nod. They were at Sokka's favourite spot. Zuko shivered, "It's still cold though."
"We're still working on that, Your Highness," Sokka remarked.
They stood for a bit. Just looking down at the busyness below.
"Azula here?" Sokka asked, making conversation.
"Unfortunately. I didn't think leaving her was a smart idea. 'Good behaviour'. Yeah, I don't buy it."
"And, uhm," Sokka cleared his throat, "is Suki…?"
"On the ship. She's guarding Azula with the other Warriors. They'll be at dinner." That's what he'd really wanted to know.
"Cool," Sokka nodded… for a while.
Sokka scanned the full hall for her face but she wasn't there. His table had noticed, him of all people, hadn't touched his plate. Surely he'd still recognise her, even with her makeup on right? He excused himself, Katara, Zuko and Aang all looking at one another confused.
"You think he'd be mad if I helped myself to his plate?" Aang asked.
Between gaps in the crowd, and over the heads of those shorter than him, he spotted a group of the Kyoshi Warriors posted near the hall's entrance. He sorry-ed and excuse me-d his way to them, disappointed to see that Suki wasn't one of them when he'd reached them. Ty Lee was though. Surely she'd know where Suki was.
"Ty Lee," he tapped her shoulder.
She turned around, and gave him a too-tight-for-his-liking hug. "Hey Cutie," she looked him up and down and smirked. "Someone's been eating his vegetables."
"And looking for his girlfriend. Do you know where she is?"
The bubbly girl shrugged. Her pigtails bounced as she did so.
Just then, Sokka's arm was met with a punch so hard that the guests around them jolted.
"I don't need to be able to see it to know you have a long face."
"I'm actually happy to see you, Toph" Sokka said, sarcastically, rubbing his arm. His poor arm.
"Have you checked our ship?" Ty Lee said, referring to Suki's whereabouts.
Sokka glared at her. "Thanks for the heads up by the way," referring to the punch.
"Girlfriend," Ty Lee mimicked him.
Where was she?
Lost, both literally and figuratively, Sokka gave up. Leaning against the wall, he slid down and hugged his legs as he just sat there, alone in a long corridor. It was as cold as it looked. He physically couldn't cry, despite wanting to.
Aang probably ate my plate.
He needed to get off this ship, so after he moped he got right back up and continued looking for an exit. Practically jogging the way he was walking so fast, he hadn't thought of checking where he was going and, quickly realised he wasn't the only one on the ship when he'd been pinned up against the wall, on his tip-toes.
Oh, how funny the universe was. Their roles were reversed now.
"Hey," Sokka squeaked.
A/N: This is honestly crazy.. 3 years, that's how long its been since I last updated this story, let alone been on this site. Lemme begin by saying thank you. The support this story was receiving, even with my absence, is heartwarming and I'm exceptionally grateful for it.
I, like most teeangers, don't check my emails - but I did a couple weeks back, and saw a notification from here and well.. here we are. Ironically, I'm not so good at words. Well, I'm back! I have a whole release schedule planned and stuff so I'll, fingers-crossed, be back for good.
As for the story, naturally it was best to reboot it. What's 2018 without reboots? Jokes aside, it felt odd continuing a story a 14 year old me had been writing. I read my older chapters and thought "What the hell was i thinking?".
Well, anyway.. till next time!