The warm sunlight flooded in through the open window illuminating the room in its warm golden glow, Sokka's head felt as heavy as a brick, and the rest of his body was in incredible pain, he groaned as he opened his eyes being blinded by the golden glare of the sun.
"Oh," said a soft female voice, "your awake, I'll get the others."
Sokka turned his head to watch Ty Lee turn and walk out the door calling for everyone to meet up in his room loudly announcing that he had finally awoken.
Ignoring the protest of the rest of his body Sokka shifted himself up into a sitting position on the bed; he looked around and recognized the room almost immediately, he had spent many nights here in the guest rooms of Iroh's tea shop.
"Sokka!" yelled Katara in her usual motherly fashion, "You shouldn't move, you're lucky to be alive."
Katar put a hand on his shoulder to prevent him from sitting up even more, "I've been working my ass off just to keep you alive you know that!?"
"Katara" said Sokka, "can you keep it down I have a massive headache."
Katara frowned taking a seat next to him on the bed, one by one his friends moved into the room, Iroh, Aang, Toph, and Ty Lee all stood around him their faces somber but looking very much relieved to see him conscious.
"You cracked your skull Sokka, you're lucky to have that headache."
Sokka saw the heavy bandages on his chest and arms; he grabbed a handful of gauze and lifted to see the damage that had been inflicted.
Sokka used to think Zuko's scar looked bad; his arms and chest were covered in scars where the tongues of flames had licked him leaving a black and red mark in their wake.
"I managed to get to you soon so I don't think there's any nerve damage, but Sokka you're going to have these scars for the rest of your-"
Sokka held his hand up to stop her, "I get it Katara; I can live with a few scars, I'm just trying to remember everything, I remember getting attacked but everything else seems a blur to me."
"Some rouge fire benders attacked the anniversary banquet" explained Aang, "we managed to save almost everyone but their leader escaped."
"If Zuko hadn't fought their leader off, everyone could have died" said Ty Lee; Sokka now noticed that the circus girl's hand were wrapped up in bandages like his own.
"What happened to you?" asked Sokka pointing to the bandages that covered her hands.
"I tried Chi blocking their leader" she explained rubbing the bandages.
"Did it work?" Sokka asked.
"Sort of" she said biting her lip, "he stopped bending for a short amount of them but I've never seen a bender recover so quickly from having their chi blocked, and his skin was so hot it burned my hands badly just to touch him, he broke a few of my ribs too."
Sokka sighed, "That sounds like one mean fire bender."
"That's an understatement," said Aang, "I've never hear of such a powerful fire bending, these techniques and abilities would give Ozai a run for his money, I don't think we are dealing with an ordinary fire bender, and he's completely disappeared, two weeks of searching and we have nothing."
"I've been out for Two weeks!" cried Sokka immediately wishing he had shown more restraint, he almost collapsed back into the bed but his sister luckily had caught him.
"Sokka you need to take it easy you're lucky you're not dead, we'll continue this conversation later, and you have a lot to take in you don't need to hear everything all at once."
Katara tucked Sokka in and closed the blinds on the window blocking out the harsh bright sunlight, "Iroh will bring you some tea Sokka and some food, I want you to eat and rest, well tell you the rest of the story later."
As the group was shuffling out Sokka turned his head and watched, when one last question popped into his mind, "What happened to Suki?" he said the frightening image of her singed body being hit by lighting.
Everyone froze clearly the camelephant in the room had been addressed, Ty Lee turned clearly trying to make an effort to speak, her thin pink lips pressed together clearly trying to suppress any the emotion building inside; her lips separated and a sob echoed across the room, tears began to stream down her cheeks.
"Sokka," Katara said her eyes closed to hold back tears of her own, "Suki… didn't make it… sh-she's gone."
"It was that fire bender wasn't it?" he asked, Ty Lee nodded wiping her tears on her sleeve; her mascara was becoming blotched with all the wet tears.
"We… we buried her on Kyoshi Island" explained Katara her eyes couldn't even look up as him they stayed glued to the floor like a child embarrassed in front of a parent.
"As soon as you heal up" began Aang, "Appa and I can fly you there, so… you can say goodbye."
Sokka didn't say anything, he had known, he remembered the lighting hitting her, the smell of ozone and the blue bolt of plasma burning a hole straight through her, he had known, his questions had been completely rhetorical, but the answers still cut him like a jagged knife.
"We buried her in a very nice place Sokka," said Katara, "you can see her soon" Katara stepped forward, "And… and give her this."
Katara set down the betrothal necklace by the bed side, "I'm sorry you couldn't give it to her sooner Sokka, I guess this explains all those cuts on your hands."
Sokka rolled over on the bed to face the wall away from everyone, closing his eyes and feeling the hot watery tears well up behind his lids.
"I'll bring up some tea and food for you" said Iroh, "You should get some rest and take it easy for now."
Sokka listened as each and every one of his friends walked out of the room to leave him alone to his own thoughts and sorrow.
******************************************************************************************.
Katara's gaze was fixed on her tea cut the hot green tea reflected her image back at her.
"I was hoping we would be able to avoid breaking the news about Suki for a while, he doesn't need that kind of stress while he's trying to heal."
"Sokka's a tough guy Katara, give Snoozles a few more days and he'll be walking about again" said Toph taking a sip of her tea, "he'll be back to throwing that boomerang and kicking ass in no time at all Sugar Queen."
Katara sighed, "That's exactly what I'm worried about Toph I don't want him running off trying to get revenge for Suki, you know how Sokka is it'll be like the Boiling Rock all over again, unless someone captures that fire bender and his men soon Sokka's going to want to solve this personally."
Toph folded her arms, "You don't think he'll be stupid enough to take that guy on all by himself, I know Sokka has had his share of bad ideas in the past but that's just suicide plain and simple."
"I'm afraid he might not care about that Toph; we've all had a couple weeks to adjust to this, some better than others, but Sokka just woke up from those two weeks, he hasn't had the proper time to adjust to all this, last he was awake Sokka was preparing to ask Suki to marry him, and now… she's gone."
The grim quiet lingered for a while the only sounds to be heard was the sound of Iroh working in the kitchen making Sokka's meal, Ty Lee walked out the bathroom her eyes red and puffy from crying, the circus had been taken Suki's death rather badly, aside from Sokka Katara didn't thing anyone was closer to the Kyoshi Warrior than her; Ty Lee was taken off her duties as a body guard due to her injuries and state of trauma, Iroh was more than happy to accept her help around the tea shop.
These days he seemed to be quite lonely with everyone keeping themselves busy with trying to help the world after the war he was only used to seeing the shop this crowded once a year when everyone met up for a celebratory reunion of when they defeated the Fire Lord Ozai the atmosphere here however with resent events was far from cheerful flying Sokka here from Republic City was one of Toph's better ideas Republic City had faced four more similar attacks in the last two weeks all targeting various dignitaries around the city and racking up a number of civilian casualties Toph was only here in Ba Sing Se for the day she had her hands full trying to keep order in the city with her metal benders, she was here to oversee some more recruits travel to Republic City via airship to help with security in the city.
Iroh stepped out of the kitchen a tray in hand with hot soup and a fresh pot of Sokka's favorite tea, Ty Lee stepped forward and took the tray into her bandage wrapped hands, "I can take this up Iroh, how about you rest we don't have any customers today."
"Thank you Ty Lee" said Iroh, "It is so refreshing to have some young hands to help out here again" the girl smiled and bowed, she gracefully turned on her heel and walked up the stairs to Sokka's room.
************************************************************************************.
Sokka sighed as he turned in the bed trying to find a comfortable position to rest in, his head was throbbing painfully and no matter how he laid himself down his body hurt from putting even the slightest amount of pressure onto his burns was extremely painful, he almost wished Katara had allowed the nerves to remain singed so he wouldn't have to deal with this pain, he wondered just how he was able to sleep for two weeks and be transported to Ba Sing Se without waking up in extreme amounts of pain.
The sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention; they were too light to be Iroh's Katara was probably coming back up to talk to him and offer more motherly advice about staying in bed and getting his rest, Katara mothering him was the last thing he wanted to hear right now, and he certainly didn't want to hear more about Suki and how he could visit her grave later, Sokka turned in the bed to face the wall again pretending to be asleep.
"Sokka?" a soft voice said Sokka recognized it as Ty Lee's and was glad he wasn't going to have to put up with one of Katara's lectures.
"Are you awake?" she asked stepping into the small guest room, the smell of Iroh's tea and cooking filled his nostrils and his stomach growled quite loudly.
"Yeah I'm awake" he said turning over to look at the brown haired girl holding a tray of delicious food and tea.
Ty Lee giggled and set the tray of food down by his bedside, "Your stomach just told me" she said as he helped him making the chore of sitting up to eat much less painful.
Sokka smiled happy to hear a sense of humor for a change, "It hasn't had real food in two weeks who can blame it for being loud and upset."
Ty Lee placed the tray over his lap and took the kettle pouring him a cup of Iroh's fine tea, while Sokka dug into the stew and the basket of biscuits, Iroh had the right idea giving the water tribesman plenty to eat.
They both sat in silence while Sokka ate, Ty Lee's head tilted back as her closed waiting for Sokka to finish so she could take the tray back and probably have to bring more food in, Suki had told her many stories of how insatiable Sokka could be when it came to food.
Sokka picked up the cup of hot tea and slowly sipped the contents dry, he reached for the kettle and bumped hands with the circus girl she let out a tiny giggle and poured him a cup of fresh tea.
"What's so funny" Sokka asked raising an eyebrow.
Ty Lee flashed him one of her pearly grins, "I'm just glad to see your appetite is as healthy as ever" she said.
Sokka returned the smile and returned to his meal, they both sat in silence for a long time as he finished the stew and biscuits, the quiet was in no way awkward, if it had been anyone one else who had come in Sokka would have to sit in anticipation of hearing how sorry they were and have to listen to words designed to comfort him yet only served to rub salt into his wounds.
"Uh" stammered Sokka, "can… I ask you a question?"
"Uh… sure" she said looking at him taking full note of the seriousness in his voice.
"How, how did that fire bender get away, what happened after I got knocked out, after Suki was… you know?"
"Oh…" she said biting down on her lip.
"If you don't want to talk about it its ok" said Sokka quickly not wanting to push the delicate issue, he knew his curiosity would do little to help ease the pain, but the more he thought about what had happened the more questions formed in his mind.
"After Suki was… hit, the man tried to kill the Earth King, If Zuko hadn't stepped into the fight I don't think anyone would have been able to protect him, like I said I tried to chi block him but that didn't work very well the man's skin was like hot metal and my chi blocking moves didn't work very long on him."
"But they did work?" asked Sokka scratching his chin.
"For a while" she answered, "I've never seen anyone recover from the effects so fast, it didn't even take more than a full minute for him to go back to bending, and even then he wasn't the easiest man to fight, he gave Zuko a black eye to match his scared one."
"How did he get away?"
"He blasted his way out through the ceiling, like Aang said he's almost as good a fire bender as Ozai, he could practically fly with fire bending" she explained, "he retreated as soon as Aang showed up to the fight in the Avatar state his eyes and tattoo's glowing and scary and everything, Katara tried to… to heal Suki after the fighting had died down but…"
Ty Lee's eyes squeezed shut a single tear streamed down the corners of her eyes a soft sob escaped from her lips, "The lighting had burned a hole straight through her heart, she died instantly."
"It's ok Ty Lee; you don't need to talk about it if you don't want, I… I could have done more, if I hadn't told Aang and Toph to guard the entrance of the building this would have never happened."
"That's not your fault" she said wiping the tears.
"I told our two best bender to leave us and cover the front entrance, that left us exposed to that murderer, he slipped in and kill Suki" now Sokka's own eyes were welling up with beads of clear moisture, "I should have kept them closer to protect everyone."
Ty Lee's arms wrapped around him, he didn't resist the hug despite the pain from his burns he wrapped his own arms around her body.
"Don't you dare blame yourself Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe; you had no way of knowing what those men were capable of, it's their fault Sokka and theirs alone."
"I… I feel like I should have done more" he whispered holding her close to him, "I feel like I failed her, like she was counting on me and I came up short."
Ty Lee rested her forehead upon his shoulder he felt her salty tears soak through his shirt, "join the club" she whispered, and "I was too slow to help her, too distracted to see she was in danger."
"I want to kill him that bastard," he said squeezing her to him, "spirits help me I want that man to die."
"Me too" she sighed, "I want him dead too."
They both stayed like that for a long time holding each other, no words were said to each other save what they said with their tears and sobs, eventually they broke the embrace and wiped the tears from their wet faces.
"You should rest" she said helping him ease back into the bed and pulling the covers over him, "I'll bring some more food up later."
Ty Lee placed a kiss upon his forehead and walked out of the room leaving the man to take his rest.
