Sokka had been in worse fights, but never had the steaks been higher. Mentally congratulating himself on the pun, he continued his pursuit of the eagle-chicken that had stolen his dinner. Aiming his trusty boomerang, he let it fly. It hit the bird, making it lose its balance. Unable to correct itself while flying with such a heavy burden, it dropped the meat. Sokka watched his dinner plummet... straight into the river. He caught his boomerang, though.

Of course, Mother Nature wasn't done tormenting him for the day. As he walked back to camp, he saw something rooting around his campsite. Jogging to get closer, he had a great view of a pair of beaver-dillos stealing his tent, but he was still too far away to do anything about it. He knew from previous experience not to mess with beaver-dillos, so he resigned himself to sleeping under the moon and eating some questionable grey lint-covered seal jerky he was lucky enough to find at the bottom of his pack.

That night, he had his usual going-to-bed-hungry dream: being chased by old shoes and fish bones into a boiling pot of pink goo. Then there was something about being turned into a bear. It didn't end well. Then he dreamt of a woman.

She was obviously Fire Nation, probably nobility or at least part of a well-to-do merchant family. She was dressed in the female equivalent of the finery Katara forced him to wear to state functions when he visited. Sokka wondered how the woman in his dream could wear it without fidgeting. Was she superhuman or had she just somehow managed to find Fire Nation formal wear that wasn't constantly itchy?

The woman mingled, danced and made small talk, smiling kindly nearly the entire time. At dinner, a servant girl spilled soup on her fine gown. The girl was distraught, but the woman magnanimously forgave her and the party went on. Later in the evening, when the woman started talking in detail about embroidery, Sokka found himself getting bored. He wondered if this was the first time he'd been bored in a dream or if he just didn't remember the other times. Luckily, he discovered he didn't have to follow the woman around. Naturally, he made his way to the dessert table and began to eat.

"Flameo, hotman," said an elderly courtier in greeting.

Sokka snickered and said hello, but the man's expression didn't change. Turning around, Sokka realized the man was talking through him. Weird, he thought, and helped himself to another pastry.

Then Sokka's food disappeared. As he was coping with his loss, the dream scene shifted. It was daytime, in the Fire Nation Palace kitchen. Sokka had spent a lot of time there so he recognized it instantly, despite superficial changes. In his time - by now, he was beginning to think he was viewing the past - it had been repainted, given a new stove and of course the pots and pans had been replaced. Pleased at his good fortune to be dreaming about more delectable food, he grabbed a moon-peach from the counter, took a huge bite and settled in to watch the servants bustling about.

The regal woman from the previous dream entered the kitchen, and it immediately became silent.

The head chef - Sokka recognized his position by the fancy hat in his head. Sokka had once tried to wear a similar one to a state banquet but Zuko's valet had caught him in the hallway - greeted the woman, "Your Royal Highness, how may we be of service?"

"I need to see all the serving girls from last night."

Nine girls stepped forward, forming a neat line in front of the woman.

Pointing to one girl, she said, "You, stay here. The rest are dismissed."

"My Lady -"

"When addressing your betters, you are to wait until you are spoken to. Furthermore, you are to refer to me initially as Your Royal Highness and ma'am after that. Has no one taught you proper procedure?"

"I - um -" she stammered. Sokka now recognized her as the girl who had spilled soup on the woman earlier. She was tall, in an all-elbows-and-knees sort of way.

"Speak up, girl," the woman insisted, "What is your name?"

"Nariko."

"Nariko, I'm here to discuss your failure the other night."

"But you said all was forgiven."

"One does not correct one's betters, girl. I did what I must to avoid disrupting the banquet more than you already had."

"But then -"

"You are clearly unaware of the importance of such events."

"My La- Your Highn-"

"At state dinners, no less than perfection is required. It is your patriotic duty to ensure this is the case."

"It won't happen again."

"Yes, it most assuredly will not. You are to be reassigned to the laundry."

"But I-"

"You should be grateful I can tell you are merely clumsy, low-bred and stupid. Otherwise I would suspect more sinister motives on your part."

"Ma'am I-"

"You are dismissed."

At this point Sokka was awoken by hunger pangs. Cursing his bad luck at not being able to eat actual food in dreams, he packed up his sorry excuse for a camp and continued on his journey.

Fortunately, he was only a few miles froma moderately sized Earth Kingdom trading city called Wangtai Shun. As he reached the bustling marketplace, his stomach growled in relief. He bought a pastry that resembled the one he had eaten in his dream the night before and took a bite. It didn't taste as good, but it came with the advantage of actually filling him up.

After his third bite, he heard someone shouting, "Hey you, in the blue, you aren't allowed here!"

"Wha- but I'm just enjoying this delicious pastry," Sokka objected. The ugly old woman manning the stall smiled at the compliment.

"By order of the Earth King, I am to arrest all foreigners on sight." The voice belonged to a burly looking man in what was probably a police uniform.

Since Sokka didn't feel like being arrested, he punched the man and ran off through the marketplace.

"Look, over there," he heard someone shout. Risking a glance back, he could see two other men in the same uniform beginning to chase him.

Overturning a farm cart ("My broccoli!" shouted the irate farmer) held them up enough for Sokka to duck into an alleyway. He sprinted through an alleyway and stopped at the other side to catch his breath, only to be seen by two more guards. He ducked around a corner, only to run into yet another man in the same uniform. This one was huge.

"Hi. I was just passing throu-"

His excuse was cut off by a blow to the head from behind, and he crumpled to the ground.

Author's Note: Can you guess who the woman is?