Sokka didn't even think about the tariff dispute until Wednesday when his boss called him into his office.
"Sokka, grab a seat."
Sokka wasn't sure what this meeting was about. "If this is about the missing coffee cups …"
"Oh we got replacement ones from a flea market. This is about the World Summit conference happening next month."
"Oh."
"Yeah, Kuei's suing the Fire Nation, and since we're the beneficiaries of the agreement in dispute, we have to get ready to put on our own defense."
"Why is Kuei suing?"
"At the end of the war, Zuko agreed to buy certain goods from the Earth Kingdom. There wasn't a set deadline for how long Zuko had to keep buying them, but according to Kuei, they had a gentleman's agreement that he would keep buying the goods for the next ten years.
When United Republic formed, Zuko had to import more goods because he no longer controlled the production that happened here. At the time, it costs just as much to buy from us as it did from Omashu, so he bought some from each of us to maintain good relations with both nations.
Anyway, we have been buying industrial supplies from the Fire Nation and we wanted to buy more but it was too expensive. We asked him if he could lower the price and he said that he could, but it would be nice if we lowered the price on other goods. We realized that we would make more money in the long run by cutting prices. The cheaper goods are, the more people go into business, the fewer people are unemployed and need benefits, and the more tax revenue we can collect.
We made a deal with him to cut all of the tariffs for goods coming from the Fire Nation if he cut all of the tariffs on our goods."
"What happens if the deal benefits one country a lot more than the other one?" Sokka asked.
"We thought about that and are keeping track of how much revenue we save by not paying the other's tariff and how much we lose by not collecting our tariff. If one country comes out too much ahead, then it will pay the other country to even it out. This way, we are guaranteed to share the extra profits."
"So no matter what happens we win and Kuei loses?" Sokka questioned.
"Pretty much, unless Kuei makes the Fire Nation pull out of the deal."
The allegation was that the countries were colluding to distort the world market. They wanted Sokka to do some research and show that this agreement was actually good for the global economy, even if it caused short-term losses for the Earth Kingdom.
"We have an expert on economics coming in from Ba Sing Se University. He's going to give a presentation, so he can explain this to all of us in greater detail." Sokka's job was to lead the interns who would be doing the grunt work for this.
Sokka had a lot of work ahead of him.
Azula hadn't escaped the agreement either. Since she had negotiated the terms, she had to meet with Zuko's lawyer in Republic City to go over what she was thinking when she asked for certain conditions and why they wanted this treaty. It was one thing for this to be a chance to forge an alliance and make some money. It was another to purposefully be trying to flout any pre-existing agreements Azula had with Kuei.
She knew nothing about this alleged ten-year gentlemen's agreement. The only agreement Zuko had mentioned was that they had promised not to raise the tariffs on the Earth Kingdom to an "unfair" level, whatever that means. She didn't think the Fire Nation had any longstanding obligation to buy a set number of goods from the Earth Kingdom.
"I was under the impression that the nations dealt with each other as capitalist enterprises. You go where the money is." The Earth Kingdom clearly did not do that given their numbers. If they wanted to make more money, they would have had the charges reflect the actual costs and not Kuei's favoritism. If he lost out because of it, that's too bad for him."
Azula realized, however, that she had to walk a very tight line when explaining this agreement. The goal was to harmonize the Fire Nation and United Republic, but she couldn't say that or else Kuei would accuse them of taking over United Republic, going back on the treaty to form the country in the first place.
"We made this deal to our mutual benefit, but we are still independent states with separate fiscal and monetary policies."
She just hoped the Council didn't say anything stupid during the Summit.
Completely unrelated to the Summit, save the date letters were sent to Aang and Katara's closest friends informing them that their nuptials would be coming this winter.
"AW!" Suki said happily as she read the card. "They're finally getting hitched!" They'd only been together four years now.
"Where's the wedding?" Zuko asked.
"At the tribe."
It made sense to do it at Katara's homeland. Her tribe would likely be better at putting on a wedding than the acolytes, and this meant they could have meat and booze.
Zuko slipped his arms around her. "I love any reason to go away with you."
He's so cheesy, but I love it! Suki turned around and kissed him.
Toph got a letter in Republic City, but it wasn't in metallic ink, so she had no idea what it said.
Satoru read it to her.
"Sugar Queen and Twinkle Toes, eh! You think we can start a food fight there."
"They might find that offensive, given that food comes scarcely to them."
"You're so culturally sensitive. We should wait for Zappy's wedding instead!"
"When do you think that will be?"
"At their rate, pretty soon. They're still gaga for each other like they just met."
Toph wondered if it would be at the tribe or at the palace. She hoped for the palace, so she could see.
"We could throw Aang a bachelor party at Chin Village before the wedding," Satoru suggested.
"Sugar Queen will say no!"
"What if we don't ask him first?"
This sounds like fun! "Now you're talking!"
As cards went around the world, people marked their calendars for what would be a historic event. For obvious reasons, there hasn't been an Avatar wedding in about 150 years.
People would be coming from around the world and from all walks of life, from pauper to king to be here for this moment. The world would rejoice happily, but first, the world had to make it through October's World Summit.
Zuko requested that Azula come home to discuss the pending litigation. He didn't have time to leave because he had a workers' strike to deal with at Boiling Rock
Azula wanted to bring Sokka, but he had his own work in Republic City, and this was Fire Nation ears only.
"I'll miss my Caveman," Azula pouted as Sokka kissed her before she had to get on her sky ship.
"I'll miss my Firefly, but think about all the hot reuniting sex we'll have when you come back."
"Yum!" She kissed him one more time and then ran on the ship before they closed boarding.
That evening, Azula found herself in the Fire Nation on the way to the palace. She started making a list of things to do: get a massage, get dim sum, annoy Suki ….
When she got to the palace, she was offended by the hideous painting in the foyer.
"Who ate a can of paint just to vomit it back up on this canvas?"
"The Fire Lady selected that piece," the guard informed her.
"Has she been to the optometrist?"
The guard snorted. "Shall I inform your brother of your arrival?"
"Have a cocktail sent to me first."
"Of course Princess."
A stiff gin and lemonade came her way and she chugged it before dealing with Zuzu and Cuckoo.
When Azula got to her office, Suki and Zuko were kissing, EW!
"You called for me," Azula said interrupting them.
"Oh Azula, thanks for coming," Zuko said.
"Yeah thanks," Suki muttered.
"Oh congratulations," Azula said to Suki, sounding serious for once.
Suki was about to ask for what when Azula said, "I didn't know you were pregnant."
"I'M NOT PREGNANT!" She yelled angrily.
"Oh, it must be your womanly … glow."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"Now would I call you fat?" Azula asked mockingly.
Suki was ready to hit her.
"Suki how about you get a massage. You did have that knot in your back this morning."
She scowled as she left the room.
"Now why did you do that?" Zuko questioned.
"Because if I told her to get out she would have refused. You did it for me Zuzu."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"
"Now shall we talk business?"
They started going over their strategy for the meetings, their arguments, the counterarguments and what they thought the other world leaders would do.
"I don't think Hakoda cares," Azula told him. "If he doesn't think he's losing money than he won't get involved. Aang is more difficult. He thinks fair means it's the same everywhere, so he might object to us excusing one country from the tariffs and not the others, and Arnook, well you know him better than I do."
Zuko nodded. "Arnook doesn't like to show his hand. I doubt we can anticipate what he'll say ahead of time."
"Is there anything that we could offer him that would make him less inclined to side with Kuei?"
"I don't think so," Zuko said, "but we could accidentally let him find out that Kuei charges him more for the same goods he sells to the Southern Water Tribe."
"Why?"
"He thought the Northern Water Tribe should have done more to help the other nations during the war."
"So he's punishing them for not rescuing his sorry butt."
"Yeah, but they don't know about it, so it's not much of a punishment, is it?"
"Hmm. I don't think we should tell Arnook directly. He won't trust the intelligence. Instead, we should have someone tell Hahn and then tell Hahn it's a secret. He'll tell everyone in the tribe before sundown."
"You purposefully say things are a secret when you want them to be revealed."
"Duh! How do you think I started that rumor that Suki has to wax her face every other week?"
Zuko groaned. "Why?" She complained about that rumor for a month.
"Because I live to annoy you."
"AW!"
October 104AG
Katara thought it was nice when the acolytes volunteered to help plan the wedding. She should have known that they would want to micromanage everything her tribe did.
"Do you think we could make it a vegetarian wedding?" Hei Won proposed.
Katara glared at her. "Look around. What vegetables do you see here?"
"I know it would be expensive to import enough to …"
Have of the tribe has never seen a damn vegetable. They'll go nuts.
"We'll have plenty of vegetarian food for those who are accustomed to eating it," Katara told her, like she wasn't going to feed her future husband.
"What about a dry wedding?" Yee Li suggested.
Even Aang knew that no one would come if it were a dry wedding.
They agreed on semi-dry, wine and beer below a certain abv and no hard liquor.
"This way people can wet their lips and not get too drunk," Hei Won said happily.
I might need to get drunk to put up with these girls!
Kanna was trying to figure out how to adjust their traditions for Aang. When a man married the chief's daughter, he was expected to hunt the fur coat that he would wear on his wedding day to show that he was willing to face danger for her.
Of course Aang was willing to face danger for her, but he was not a hunter. She wasn't even sure if he would be comfortable wearing a fur coat for the wedding, especially if the animal had just died.
Maybe Pakku could think of something else for Aang to do for Katara.
"Maybe he could pick the cotton that they use to make him a vegetarian coat," Pakku suggested.
Kanna rolled her eyes.
Pakku laughed. "Sorry, I just don't know how to make this vegetarian. Maybe he could shave some koala sheep and make a wool coat."
"That's better than picking cotton."
Hakoda was just glad that his baby girl was getting married. "Oh she's going to be so pretty in her dress." He made little to no preparations for this summit, although he did pitch the idea of having an attraction to the Elders.
They suggested trying to get a prototype done by the wedding. "We'll have lots of free test subjects," and if they like it, then word will travel really quickly.
They needed an engineer to consult with.
"The Mechanist will probably cost too much," he's been in high demand since the war ended.
"How about his son Teo?"
They sent a letter, offering him money if he could help them design … "What are we calling this?"
"A rollercoaster!"
He thought it would be a lot of fun. He hadn't been to the tribe before. Snow wasn't exactly wheelchair friendly, but if he was going to design tracks for this ride, he could also design tracks, so he could get around when he was there.
"I got a job Dad!"
"What?"
Azula made sure to take advantage of all of the amenities she could access while in the palace. She had dim sum in the garden. She had a mud bath and a massage, and she had herself groomed.
She was having dim sum naked when someone knocked on her door.
"I'm naked if you care."
Suki told her to put on a robe.
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
"Fine!" Azula put on her robe and answered the door.
"What is this?" Suki angrily shoved a paper into Azula's face.
"Well it's too close for me to read, so do you mind backing up."
Suki shoved the paper into Azula's stomach.
Azula read it. It was an authorization to auction off various artworks, including the painting Suki just put in the palace.
"You can probably get twice what you paid for it."
"Why would I sell a painting I just bought?"
"Because it looks like a baby swallowed paint and had diarrhea all over it."
Suki contorted her face. "That is a horrible mental image."
"It's what I think every time I come into the foyer. Are you trying to repel everyone from the palace? Because if you are, I think a portrait of Zuko and Iroh fucking would really do the trick."
Suki angrily left. Why did I bother? I can't get anywhere with her.
Azula chuckled. "Now that I've annoyed Suki for the day, I'm going to get some gin."
Without Azula around, Sokka was lonely. "I lived here two years without her, but now that's she's apart of my life, I feel a hole when she's gone."
"Aw," Toph said as she pinched his cheek. "You got it bad, bro!"
"Yeah I know. She did say she'd bring me pastries from the palace."
"She's good people. We should get drunk."
"Yeah!"
When Azula did get back to the apartment, Sokka was asleep. She could smell the booze on him and knew he wouldn't be up for a while. She left aspirin and water by his side of the bed and went to sleep.
Omashu
The Summit
King Bumi hosted the Summit, since it was a central location for all of the parties. He also didn't feel like flying anywhere. "Let's get this jazz over with, so I can go do something useful," Bumi said as his staff got the room ready.
Kuei came with General Sung and a lawyer who looked like he was only 15, but he was allegedly much older.
Arnook came with one of the elders and Hahn, which made Azula want to laugh.
Two of the Councilmen came with their own lawyer and Sokka.
Zuko had Azula and lawyer for the Fire Nation.
Aang came with Katara, and she was happily showing off her betrothal necklace.
"He actually did a good job with that," Sokka told Azula. He wasn't sure how well Aang would do making a necklace.
"He bought a kit that gave him directions," Azula told Sokka.
"Smart man." Sokka couldn't use the same kit of course, but he had to make something for Azula, eventually.
"Congratulations on the engagement," Kuei told Aang and Katara.
"Thank you," Katara said happily.
Hakoda came with Bato and a bag in his hands.
"Why would your father bring anything?" Azula asked Sokka.
"They're probably just snacks."
Aang convened the meeting. "Thank you all for coming. We're here to discuss a dispute between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, which involves United Republic, so they have sent representation.
How about I start with Kuei because he's the complainant?"
Kuei took the floor. "I would like to thank Bumi for generously hosting this meeting. I'm sorry to pull you all away from yoru countries, but this is a very important matter for my kingdom.
At the end of the war, Fire Lord Zuko and I came to an agreement to help the Earth Kingdom's economy rebound as several territories had been occupied by the Fire Nation, illegally I might add, which impacted our ability to produce goods.
We had a gentlemen's agreement that he would buy …
Katara interrupted. "Forgive me but what is a gentlemen's agreement?"
"A gentlemen's agreement is an arrangement that is not in writing because it is nonbinding."
"If it's nonbinding then why are we here?"
"We are here because even though the gentlemen's agreement is nonbinding, there are treaties involved that are binding which he also violated. If I may continue, the Fire Nation had agreed to purchase certain goods from the Earth Kingdom for at least the next ten years to help our economy.
We had assumed that all of his imports for these goods came from us, but we found out later that some of them were coming from Yu Dao. I reminded him of the agreement, and he told me that Yu Dao didn't count as an import since the Fire Nation still controlled it. This was around the same time that he refused to return Yu Dao to the Earth Kingdom, in violation of another agreement.
Anyway, after Yu Dao became Republic City, we set their tariffs to be the same as ours so that the Fire Nation would uphold the agreement, but then the Council and the Fire Nation decided to wave their tariffs for each other, allowing the United Republic to undercut us and now he buys his goods from them only.
We believe that this is in violation of the Four Nations agreement, particularly Article III subsection 5 on tariffs. Zuko is in effect starting a trade war with us by shutting us out of two major markets, and we request that his agreement be declared in violation of the treaty, so he either has to rescind it or pay the appropriate sanctions."
"Now I will give the floor to Zuko," Aang told them, "and then we will discuss it."
"I'm going to share the floor with my sister because she was the main negotiator for the Fire Nation as to the agreement in question. I will start with my recollection of our gentlemen's agreement.
I never agreed to purchase these goods from the Earth Kingdom for a set period of time. The agreement was that I would buy them, so long as the Earth Kingdom was offering a fair price, which I took to mean that the price wasn't substantially higher than what I could get elsewhere. I was willing to pay a bit more, maybe 2-5% more for a few years, but I never would have committed to ten years. It's impossible to know what the market will be like that far ahead.
I also disagree on the reason the United Republic's tariffs were set at the Earth Kingdom's level. I thought they should have been kept at the Fire Nation's level, so they would be more competitive since they had the disadvantage of not having as many established agreements as the other nations.
The majority, however, thought that politically it would be easier to lower tariffs than raise them, so we should give them a higher amount, so they would have more flexibility later. We never discussed making their goods artificially more expensive so the Earth Kingdom would be able to sell more goods to the Fire Nation, and I wouldn't have agreed to that.
Anyway, after my sister did some investigating as to how much goods cost in different countries, she came back to me and suggested that we seek to trade more with the United Republic. The shipping costs would be a bit more since we have to deal with that channel and it gets congested there, but she thought we could save enough on goods to justify the extra expense.
I gave her authorization to negotiate on behalf of the Crown and they came up with an agreement that I believe is both fair and legal, and my sister can explain what all this agreement does."
Azula took over. "I'll start with my findings. When I went to the Northern Water Tribe, I found that they paid less than we did for the same goods even though shipping costs to their nation is higher, and they bought less volume. Economically speaking, we should have been charged less because the more of a good you sell at a time, the less you pay for each unit.
It's like running a restaurant. You don't have to pay twice as much to make twice as many sandwiches on a given day because there are overhead costs that apply no matter how many you made. You have to hire an employee to be there all day whether or not they get any customers; you have to pay rent. You get the idea.
Furthermore, when I went to the Southern Water Tribe, I found that they paid even less than the North, which economically made even less sense. Having no idea as to how Kuei sets prices, I assumed he did it on personal favorites and not making money. He has a right to do that. We have a right to go elsewhere.
Before I could ask to meet with the Council, they asked to meet with us. They wanted to buy a variety of industrial goods, but they couldn't afford the listed price. They suggested buying a bulk order and paying less per unit.
We were willing to agree, so long as we could get the same deal on goods we wanted from.
We went back and forth and we realized it made no sense to charge each other tarrifs at all.
We want to buy food products them which get utilized and resold as luxury goods. They wanted to buy tools and parts from us that they could transform into better goods as well.
Since we already charge our citizens a consumption tax, we didn't need the tariff to make government revenue, and if we ditched the tariffs, then more people would be able to open businesses at home and we'd have a bigger market and in theory more tax money in the long run.
This was never an attempt to get out of our gentlemen's agreement. As far as we're concerned, Kuei let us out of it the moment he started making up prices, and although Kuei's argument that we are starting a trade war by selling goods at a lower price than his country is a novel argument, it has no legal merit.
The provisions he points to in this treaty were to prevent embargos and escalating tariff amounts that would cripple the world market. They weren't to prevent countries from undercutting each other. The former could cause a war, which this treaty seeks to prevent. The latter, is just how the economy works.
If anything, this agreement gives the Fire Nation and United Republic a reason not to get into a war. Service economies, like ours, thrive in peacetime. They do not do so well in war time."
Azula sat back down.
Sokka thought it was hot when she talked politics.
"Damn you look good," he wrote in a note that he passed to her.
Unfortunately Zuko got it first and glared at Sokka. Really bro?
Sokka just shrugged.
The world leaders were largely silent. The lawyers went back and forth debating whether or not Zuko's actions were in line with the spirit of the law.
"What's the spirit of the law?" Azula questioned.
"It means that if you know an action is against the purpose of the treaty you shouldn't do it, even if you don't expressly violate the treaty." Aang told her.
"What?"
"We don't have this in the Fire Nation," Zuko added. "If you get around a law, the law gets amended, but you go free. It's to encourage people to challenge the law, so we can figure out what's wrong with them."
"You encourage this kind of behavior?" Arnook questioned.
"Oh I should add that we only allow this civilly. If it's a criminal matter, you'll just go down for offending the Crown."
"And how are we in violation of this law spirit guy?" Azula questioned.
Sokka tried so hard not to laugh. It's not a real spirit. Damn she's so cute!
"The whole point of this treaty was to prevent the Fire Nation to be in a position to be a threat," Kuei's lawyer claimed. "This agreement is designed to give the Fire Nation an economic advantage and a political alliance that could be dangerous."
Arnook raised his hand. "I don't think that was the purpose of the treaty. Yes, there was a concern about Fire Nation hostilities, which is why they have their military sanctions, but there was also a concern that if we hit them too heavily, it would just cause unrest in their nation, which would lead to violence and start another war.
In the past, post war agreements have just begat new wars as one country struggles to pay and then a new leader comes along and says forget the reparations, let's just start a new war and win this one.
This treaty was supposed to represent the world leaders all coming together to make sure that wars don't break out anywhere. It wasn't to make sure that the Fire Nation couldn't make money anymore or that Kuei could charge inflated prices without any economic repercussions, and why did I get overcharged on grain for two years?"
The world leaders all started arguing, pointing fingers, and name-calling. It was like five year olds at recess.
Azula started teasing Sokka's thigh with her foot. She was curious as to how hard she could get him while he was sitting with the council.
He tried not to give anything way. He was definitely going to fuck her during their lunch break
Finally, Aang got order in the room. "I know that this is a touchy matter for people, but we can't just have yelling and shouting across the room. The matter in front of us is a simple one. Either Zuko's tariff policy is in line with the treaty or it isn't. Does anyone have any questions before we vote?"
"I do," Hakoda asked. "What is United Republic getting out of this deal?"
One of the councilmen answered, "We are getting a better deal on the goods we need to modernize United Republic. We have a variety of building projects, but our engineers need source material for testing, and this agreement gives us both cheaper goods and protects us from any possible losses."
"What?"
"We keep track of how much money we save not paying the tariffs (not just the amount not paid but also the added business from not having to pay it) and how much money we lose not charging any tariffs, and if we are short, then the Fire Nation pays us. We can't lose money on the deal."
"And if they're short?"
"That would be unlikely since they buy more than we do, but we'd have to pay them."
"Why can't Kuei just make a similar deal with someone else?" Hakoda questioned.
"Because he made a deal with his nobles not to raise taxes, so he's trying to get us all to pay for his country instead," Azula alleged.
"That's a lie!" Kuei insisted.
"That you made a deal with Lao or that you want us to pay the consequences for it because I had drinks with Lao just last week."
Really? Zuko wondered.
Kuei ceded the point
After the lunch break, and Sokka did fuck Azula in a storage closet during it, the Fire Nation won 3-0.
"I can't believe Lao told you all that stuff about the taxes," Zuko told her.
She snorted. "he didn't tell me anything."
"You lied?"
"I bluffed. He made the deal. I just didn't have direct proof of it."
"You can't lie during the summit!"
"Why? Are there rules saying you can't lie."
"This is what they mean by spirit of the law!"
"Who's the law spirit?"
Zuko shook his head.
If Azula understood the core concept, she would have found it amusing that they did violate the sprit of the law. Kuei just pointed to the wrong provision of the treaty.
Azula had a lazy grin on her face.
"What has you so happy?"
"I had really great sex today."
"EW!" Zuko complained.
"Going to fall into the pond now?"
Azula ran away before Zuko could hit her with a fireball.
Aang now had to negotiate a dispute between the Northern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom.
He knew that no matter what happened today, the political crap would only get worse.
Katara got to go ride the mail carts with Bumi while Aang got to work.
Teo was working out this sled ride. He was trying to figure out the brakes. Naturally, he wanted a hand break instead of a foot brake, but he didn't think buttons would work since it would jam.
He saw his father trying to scare away a raccoon cat with a stick, and Teo had an idea. "If I attach a stick to the sled, then you can pull it one way as a break and the other way to speed up."
He started to sketch. The tracks would be easy. It was the sled that Teo had to figure out.
November 104AG
Sokka got a letter from his father about the wedding.
"He wants to know if we can come early and help," Sokka said.
Azula wasn't very domestic. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Um, he wanted me to do labor. They're doing renovations to the hall so it can fit everyone, and I guess he wants you to cook. I'm sure they already figured out who has to sew the wedding dress and all that other stuff."
Azula thought it was ironic, a princess cooking for a peasant's wedding. "I could make that gumbo you like."
Sokka heard gumbo and grinned. "Oh yeah. We should bring something tasty."
"What are they doing for alcohol?"
"My guess is sea prune vodka."
"That sounds nasty."
"Once you get past the second shot, your taste buds are done anyway."
"How pleasing."
"Yeah, it incentivizes binge drinking, which might explain why so many members of our tribe develop alcohol dependencies."
"Really?"
"There's not much to do there and the drinking age is only 14, not that it matters when there are no police."
"Oh right," that's too bad. "We should probably discourage our children from drinking as much as we do. We can handle it, but they might be lushes."
Sokka turned to her. "I love how you say that while you're drinking gin."
"That's my point."
Sokka wrote back saying they would come early.
Toph and Satoru were figuring out Aang's bachelor party.
"The closest strip club is in Gaoling, which is a bit out of the way. We could take him to this obscene bar in Chin Village or this trashy lesbian club on Kyoshi Island."
"Definitely trashy lesbians," Satoru told her.
"Yeah I think you're right."
Next was working on the guest list.
"Who else is coming to this other than Zappy and Snoozles?"
"Ty Lee came last time, and she might come again, unless Mai disapproves."
"Are they together?"
"I think Azula said they were boinking each other. I don't know if that means anything more romantic or not."
"We could invite Haru."
"What about Zuko?"
"He'll tell Suki who will tell Katara."
"Oh yeah. He is kind of a snitch."
"Teo?"
"Sure."
"I think this is enough people."
They started figuring out how they were going to get Aang there and back without Katara noticing.
While Aang was still working on new trade agreements, Katara went back to the temple to continue working on their wedding plans. RSVPs were starting to come in. They made the return address the temple so it would come in more quickly than if they had sent it to the tribe.
They had to get a head count and do a seating chart.
Somehow, all of the acolytes thought that they would be seating near Aang. If they didn't stop fighting, Katara was going to put them at the kids' table.
Katara's biggest problem was that the tribe had larger tables than most palaces, so you had to find large groups of people who could all stand each other. It was easy enough within the tribe, but once you had different nations involved, things could get awkward quickly.
Her starting position was to seat people based on significant other and then on nationality and from there, she'd have to spot check for issues at the tables. This was going to suck.
Lemons
Chocolate sauce poured down Azula's breast as Sokka held the bottle over her.
They had gotten new sheets and decided to have fun on the old ones one last time before throwing them away.
Sokka's greedy tongue lapped away at Azula's hot skin.
"You're like a sundae," he told her as he pushed her on her back.
They decided not to use whipped cream, as the sheets would get really funky before they could take out the trash.
Azula put a cherry in her mouth and dared Sokka to help her tie the stem.
Their tongues went back and forth as they managed to make a knot.
"Now that is a party trick," he said with a grin as he went to her other breast.
He kissed his way down her flat stomach, admiring every scar along the way. Her wounds from Ba Sing Se were the only indications on her body that she wasn't invincible.
Azula flipped him onto his back and eased her legs around his head.
He knew exactly what she wanted and he knew better than to deny her. He reached his head up, burrowing himself in her slippery folds as she mewed for more.
Azula felt like she was in control right now, but she really wasn't. Sokka knew her body so well that he could make her come undone with a twist of the tongue and his fingers in just the right spaces.
He, however, chose to take his time. He didn't want her to cum before he had a chance to get inside of her.
Her back arched and she deep groans escaped her mouth, as she got closer to her apex.
His arm struggled to reach the drawer so he could get a condom out. He managed to put it on himself while he was still pleasuring his girlfriend.
Before she knew it, he hoisted her in the air and set her down gently on his dick.
"I love it when you manhandle me," she admitted once she got used to him.
She learned forward and started to ride.