I hope you're liking the story. And if you're a fan like me, you'll be counting down the days until the finale. July 19th everyone!! Anyway, there is a change of perspective in this chapter...so read on!

Chapter 2

THREE DAYS EARLIER

Sokka muttered softly under his breath as he scrubbed viciously at the flat of his boomerang with the edge of his shirt. There was an extremely stubborn bit of grime smearing its perfect shiny surface, and he had been working at it for what seemed like hours. Not for the first time, he wondered if Toph's formidable earthbending skills extended to bits of dirt on things, but he wasn't about to ask her. She was several hundred feet away working with Aang on a complex earthbending move, and if he interrupted her now, she'd probably bend him into the ground with only his head showing and leave him there overnight. If he was lucky.

So, with renewed vigor and several hissed curses about stupid dirt spots, he went to work again. He was a man…no, a warrior. And warriors, if they wanted to protect their reputations, did not allow themselves to be beaten by grime spots.

Just then, Katara's mildly interested voice drifted over to him, "Hey Sokka, I think your hawk's back."

"Really?!" Sokka forgot all about dirt spots and his boomerang as he shot upright, letting the weapon clatter to the ground. He was momentarily surprised when his cry of delight was echoed by Toph, who dropped the rock she had been holding aloft with a thunderous CRASH. Aang whipped off his blindfold at the noise, looking around nervously.

It was then that Sokka remembered exactly what errand Hawky had been on; delivering a letter to Toph's parents. He was amazed; he had never seen her this excited about anything.

There was a gust of breeze above him, and Hawky, seeing no convenient arm to perch on, settled on Sokka's head. His claws felt none too comfortable, so Sokka quickly transferred the Fire Nation messenger bird to his wrist. Hawky cocked his head as if he was trying to remember Sokka's face, and then nipped his thumb, hard.

"OW!" Sokka winced, and then forced a smile at the bird. "It's okay Hawky. It was a love bite, wasn't it?"

He could hear Katara snickering slightly from over on Appa. He glared in her general direction, and then stroked Hawky's back. "They're just jealous that you're so pretty and awesome Hawky.." he crooned, lapsing unknowingly into the baby talk he used on the bird.

"Did he bring anything back?" Toph asked. Her excitement had taken away the tough, fierce look on her face for the moment.

"Don't rush him," Sokka said in an indignant voice. "He just got back from his long trip…he needs to recover, don't you Hawky?"

Toph snorted, sounding more like her old self. "He can rest after he gives me my answer. Lemme see him."

She reached up and uncapped the message tube strapped to the hawk's back. Inside was a very thin piece of paper, coiled tight. With her sensitive fingers, Toph withdrew the message, her eyes wide with anticipation. Katara and Aang came up behind them, looking interested. "Do you want me to read it for you, Toph?" she offered kindly.

Toph passed over the paper to Katara and stood with her misty eyes staring off into the distance as she waited for Katara to read aloud.

Katara unrolled the parchment and read clearly,

Dearest daughter,

Your mother and I were worried sick when you didn't come home, and when the men we hired to find you were found trapped in a crushed steel box (it was very strange). I must admit, though we are very angry with you for running away, it was good to know you are alive at least. I assume you are with the Avatar, or you would not have been able to have someone write your letter for you. I hope you are being careful; in times like these, you are in possibly the most dangerous company you could be in. And spirits know why the letter you sent arrived with a Fire Nation hawk! I had to stop the guards from shooting it down on sight, and it caused a stir in the village. Your mother and I still can't help feeling worried about our poor, blind daughter out there in the world, but there is nothing we can do now, except tell you stay safe and wait for you to return.

Your loving father,

Zhian Bei-Fong

"That's it," Katara announced, rolling up the message carefully.

Toph was smiling slightly. "About the best I could hope for, I guess. Looks like they still haven't grasped the fact that I can take care of myself yet, but there's hope."

Sokka was still crooning to the bird, "You did such a good job Hawky, you're such a good messenger hawk, yes you are…"

"Hey Sokka, now that he's back, where are you going to send him next? Is there anyone else we need to talk to?" Aang asked.

"Aang, you are so inconsiderate!" Sokka glared at the Avatar. "Hawky just got back, and all you can think about is sending him back into the cold, lonely world…"

"Sokka, it's bright and sunny out. I would hardly say it's 'cold'", Katara pointed out.

"Well….still!" Sokka blustered. "Who do we need to talk to so urgently? Who would we even want to talk to? This is the Fire Nation, there's no one here we know!"

"There is someone who might be here," Katara said suddenly, her eyes lighting up. She gave Sokka such a sad and serious look that he stopped being indignant over Hawky and stared at her. "Who?" he asked, genuinely curious. Toph and Aang looked at each nervously, as if they too knew who Katara had in mind.

Sokka's sister scuffed at the ground with one foot, looking subdued and reluctant. "Well…you know," she said quietly, avoiding his eyes.

"No, I don't. Who?" Sokka was starting to get frustrated.

"Sokka." Toph gave him a look that said he was being incredibly dense. But her voice actually sounded gentle as she said it.

"Her. Your…girlfriend. Suki."

Something inside him seemed to evaporate, crumple up and shatter. His mind lurched backwards involuntarily, back to a room in a dimly lit tunnel, his face inches away from a dangerously beautiful one. Tears were scalding hot on his face, and there was a lump of pure fury in his chest, leaving no room for any other feeling. He heard his own voice out of the past, as if from far away.

"Where…is…SUKI?"

"Sokka?" Katara's tentative voice broke him out of his sudden remembrance. Sokka raised his hand to his eyes and found that they were wet again. He looked at the ground quickly to hide them.

The truth was, he had always known. Ever since the moment when he had had enough time to stop and wonder why Azula and her cohorts had Kyoshi uniforms. Ever since he had made the deadly, painful connection that almost broke him inside, while Aang had been unconscious in a coma. There had been so much to worry about, so he had hidden his pain from the others. He did not want fussing and crying and comforting. It made him feel even worse. But he had held his own private memorial for her inside him, he had done all his mourning from within, because that was what a warrior did. He had felt he must stay strong for Katara, for Aang, even for Toph. And bit by bit, the tension of preparing for the invasion had distracted him from his pain, from having to contemplate the awful truth that Suki, the warrior who had taught him so much, the warrior he had just begun to truly know and love, was gone.

And then, all that had changed at the moment he had least expected it. Right smack in the middle of all the chaos of the invasion, one cruel, taunting sentence had stopped him in his tracks.

"My favorite prisoner used to talk about you all the time. She seemed to think you were coming to rescue her, but she gave up on you in the end…"

And a whole new world of fury and possibility had opened before him. She wasn't dead, she was somewhere, and Azula knew where. That single thought had blotted out every other thing until it blinded him. He had always scoffed at the way people always seemed to get all mushy about love. He had never understood Aang's need to get that stupid panda lily flower from a volcano, or why Katara had gotten so worked up over Aunt Wu's predictions. Even his time with Yue had been too short for him to appreciate what it was to be truly in love with someone. But when Azula had said that, he had lost control. He had never felt like that before in his life.

Now, with the eyes of Aang, Katara, and Toph lingering on him with concern and sorrow, he lifted his head and looked at Hawky. The messenger bird was preening absently, completely unaware of his pained thoughts and memories. Of course, Hawky could never find Suki. There was a huge difference between finding a rich family in the Earth Kingdom, and finding a single prisoner in a hostile Fire Nation prison. Besides, they would never let a messenger bird get close…

Or would they?

It was, after all, a Fire Nation prison. What would look amiss about one of their own messenger hawks swooping around the area? And Sokka had every faith in his bird's intelligence.

It was the only chance he had, no matter how incredibly slim.

"I've got to write a letter," he told the other three, and without any other explanation, he turned and went to Appa, Hawky still riding on his shoulder. He rummaged in the saddle pack until he found a piece of paper, and then a thin writing brush. He wasted three sheets because he blotted the ink in his rush. Finally, he had a letter. He stood up so fast and with such determination that the bird was nearly thrown from his shoulder. Twisting around, he worked the letter into the tube with the utmost care, speaking under his breath as he did so.

"Listen Hawky, I know you just got back, but this is urgent. I need you to find Suki…got that? Find Suki. I don't know where she is, but she's in a prison somewhere. A prison, a dark, scary building with a lot of guards and bars on the windows. Suki's this girl, and she has brown hair, and she's really pretty…" He trailed off, and then shook himself. "Just try to find her, okay Hawky? Just try…for me."

The messenger bird cocked his head and made a soft croaking noise that might have been an answer. Then he took off in a flurry of wings. Across the camp, Toph, Aang, and Katara followed his progress, and then looked at Sokka sympathetically. Sokka didn't notice. His eyes watched Hawky until he was a brown speck in the clear sky, and then was gone.

Then, with slow, painful steps, he walked back to his spot next to the boulder, picked up his fallen boomerang, and started to absently clean it on his shirt again, his thoughts somewhere else entirely.