Disclaimer: I still do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Author's Note: I hope this doesn't seem too rushed; I was really trying to get it done before I'm unavailable over the holiday weekend.

The Warrior

Suki went back to her cell excited. Katara and Sokka were here, and there was a good chance she would be free again soon. At least, as free as you could be when you were a fugitive from the Fire Nation. She would gladly take that over her present situation.

However, she decided to stick with her routine. That entailed going through several of her Kyoshi exercises. She didn't dare to use them in the prison yard because it would just invite someone to challenge her. Suki had no desire to fight her fellow prisoners and thought it best to save her strength for when she would really need it, like an escape attempt.

A Fire Nation mask appeared at her window, and Suki paused. Apparently, the guard had found what he was looking for and opened her door. Suki withdrew far enough to allow the door to swing inward, but then she approached again, stepping forward with one foot and swinging the other up to kick at him. She checked her motion, though, when a small, white figure glided in after the guard and landed on his helmet. Caught slightly off-balance, Suki lowered her foot and placed it behind her.

"Momo?" she asked disbelievingly, setting her foot back on the floor again. The flying lemur responded by leaping to her shoulder and winding his tail loosely around her neck. She looked at the guard with new eyes. "Then you must be…"

The man confirmed her guess when he removed his helm to reveal Sokka's grinning face.

"I'm glad to see you haven't lost your edge," he commented.

"Sokka!" Suki exclaimed as she rushed to embrace him, heedless of the hard armor that pressed against her uncomfortably or of the lemur she'd dislodged from his perch in the process. The helmet clattered to the ground as Sokka put his arms around her and they met in a passionate kiss. The last time they'd kissed was in The Serpent's Pass, and that was much too long ago.

"I knew you'd come," she added when they broke apart.

"I'm sorry it took so long," he apologized, not meeting her eyes. "It was a long time before I even knew you'd been captured."

"It's okay. You're here now."

"I should have guessed sooner," Sokka protested, withdrawing from her and turning to the side. "When Azula and the others showed up in Kyoshi uniforms—"

"They did what?" Suki interrupted. Naturally, she'd heard about the fall of Ba Sing Se. It had been highly publicized and celebrated by the guards, who especially singled out her as a foreigner to taunt with the news. However, the details had never made it down to the common prisoner, and Suki doubted that even the guard staff knew the whole story.

"They pretended to be Kyoshi Warriors," Sokka explained. "They got right into the palace of the Earth King and took down the city from the inside. Even after we escaped, it didn't occur to me….I guess I was just hoping they were imitations."

"You had no way of knowing," Suki tried to reassure him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Even if you did, you wouldn't have known which prison I was in. I just believed in you because I've seen you overcome incredible odds before."

"And after Ba Sing Se, everything happened so fast," Sokka continued softly, almost talking to himself. "I just wasn't thinking clearly. Maybe I never was. Maybe I'm not as good a planner as I thought."

"Where's Aang?" Suki asked suddenly, remembering how Azula had found her in the first place and wanting to pull Sokka away from his self-doubt. "Is he okay? The guards said he fell at Ba Sing Se." At last, Sokka met her eyes with a faint, if sad, smile.

"He did," he said. "Suki, he nearly died there. "Actually, I think he did die."

"What?" Suki hadn't wanted to believe it.

"Katara brought him back somehow." Sokka held up a hand to forestall her question. "I don't even begin to understand how. All I know is that she used her waterbending ability to heal and some special water from the North Pole. I'm just glad it worked."

"Me too."

"Anyway, he and Appa are both close by, ready to fly us out of here. We couldn't really sneak them in here."

"That's understandable," Suki agreed. "I'm glad you finally found Appa." She had been wondering about that ever since her capture. The giant bison hadn't been mentioned in any of the stories about the Earth Kingdom's defeat.

"Yeah. I don't know how much Katara had time to tell you, but Toph and Zuko are here, too."

"Zuko?" Suki was in utter shock. "As in Prince Zuko? Of the Fire Nation?" Azula's brother she added mentally. She now had a personal grudge against them both.

"It's a long story, but he's joined us now. He's posing as a guard, like me."

Suki's head was spinning, but she had enough presence of mind to realize that they were running out of time for this conversation.

"So what's the plan?" she asked, deciding to table other concerns for the moment.

"Pretty simple, actually. Toph will tunnel us a way to the boiling lake, and Katara will create an ice path for us to cross. It will probably be easiest to do it after dark, but I still have to coordinate with everyone."

"All right. Just let me know when to be ready."

"I will," he promised. "I was hoping we could do it tonight, but I think I'll need to find out when and where they change the guards during the night shift so we can use that to our advantage. I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to, and I don't think you do, either."

"That's true, but I can wait another day or two to make sure we'll all get away safely."

Sokka nodded, and there was an awkward pause.

"Well, you'd better go," Suki advised, giving him one last kiss. Sokka bent to retrieve his helmet. He had to shoo Momo out of it, who'd been investigating and looked as though he were considering taking up residence there. Sokka scooped up the lemur and let himself out. Suki was smiling to herself after he left, the expression feeling unfamiliar on her face. Today was the first time she'd had a reason to smile in a long while. She thought she could get used to it.

--

Sokka sauntered down the hallway, a new spring in his step, although he tried to act normally when he passed other guards on his way. Maybe things weren't going exactly according to plan, but then again, he'd more or less intended to play this entire thing by ear.

He went up a set of stairs to the next level, where Katara and Toph were located. He spoke with Toph first, outlining the general plan. She seemed subdued, but Sokka was in too good a mood to let that affect him. She was probably just chafing at being confined within walls again. She'd be fine once they got back to the Western Air Temple. She already had a pretty good idea of the prison's layout and thought she could get them out quickly.

His next stop was Katara's cell, and she looked up from the bench as he entered. As he raised his visor, her eyes were focused on a spot to his left.

"That's why I didn't recognize you before!" she exclaimed. "You didn't have Momo with you."

"He found the kitchens," Sokka rolled his eyes. "I had to haul him out of there."

"I can't imagine why," Katara remarked, making a face. "The food here is barely edible."

"Well, the guard fare is better. Not much, but…" Sokka trailed off and shrugged. "Besides, you know Momo will eat – or try to eat – just about anything. Aang even said he tried to lick the slurry from that drill."

"Yuck. I really didn't need to know that."

Sokka looked over to the lemur sitting on his shoulder and found the round, green eyes gazing at him in what appeared to be reproach and bruised dignity. He petted Momo between the ears, which seemed to mollify him.

"Dad's not here," he reported. Katara nodded as though she'd expected that.

"But Suki is."

"I know. I just talked to her." Sokka knew he was going to start grinning like an idiot soon, so he shifted topics to the business at hand. "I'm going to watch the guards to find out their nighttime routine. I'm planning to volunteer for a night shift to give me an excuse to be out and about."

"Are you sure that's wise?" objected Katara. "You haven't slept since last night."

"It'll be fine. I'm hoping to get the last shift, the one that ends at dawn. That should give me time to catch a few hours of rest beforehand, and it will leave me free tomorrow morning to see everybody."

"You should use some of that time to get some sleep," insisted Katara, using her most motherly tone and expression. Sokka smiled and resisted calling her "Mom." He didn't need to antagonize her right now.

"I promise," he said instead.

"Are you going to send a message to Aang?"

Sokka paused, thinking it over.

"Not until I'm sure when we're going," he decided. "I don't really have much to tell him right now, and he already knew we'd probably be here a couple of days. I'd rather save Momo for when we need to send an urgent message. If I do it all the time, someone might notice."

"All right then. Good night."

"I hope you're able to sleep in here," Sokka remarked, really taking in the cell for the first time. "I wish I could do something to make you more comfortable."

"Don't worry about me," she assured him. "I'll be fine. You need to go. They're probably going to be serving what passes for a meal soon." Sokka nodded and allowed her to usher him out. Her statement reminded him that his own stomach was growling, and he headed for the mess to receive his dinner.

There happened to be an empty seat almost directly across from Zuko, who'd lifted his visor in order to eat, so Sokka took it. They caught each other's eye a few times but didn't dare to talk too openly. Instead, Sokka engaged his neighbors in casual conversation. In doing so, he discovered that the man two down from him was scheduled for the late-night to dawn shift and none too happy about it. Sokka volunteered to take it for him, and they agreed to speak to the watch captain about it after supper.

Sokka had just finished his meal and was getting up to take care of his tray when two guards strode across the room purposefully. They halted behind Zuko, and Sokka paused to see what was going on.

"The warden wants to see you," intoned one of the men through his masked helmet.

"What? Why?" Zuko asked.

"He didn't say. Come with us."

Zuko cast Sokka a questioning glance, but Sokka just looked back at him helplessly. He didn't know what to do. There might be an explanation other than the obvious one that Zuko had been recognized. No one was giving any indication of knowing the reason for the unusual summons. Sokka hadn't been with Zuko for most of the day, after all; maybe he'd managed to offend someone.

Sokka simply tried to act surprised and curious, as the other guardsmen were doing. He would gather more information later, but first, he had to make the arrangements for the night shift. He signaled to the guard he was exchanging duty with, and they made the switch without much fuss. Once that was done, Sokka set about tracking down Zuko's whereabouts. On the pretense of having a message for the warden, he found a cell door with two guards standing outside it. Sokka ducked back to avoid being seen by them, but he could hear some of what was going on behind the door. He stayed just long enough to hear Zuko being addressed by name.

Arriving at the barracks, Sokka decided that this piece of news did merit a message to Aang. He scribbled it quickly and tucked it into his pocket. Just before his shift began, he would attach it to Momo and send him across the lake. In the meantime, he needed to fulfill his promise to his sister and get some sleep.

--

Aang awoke to find himself in a place so dark that he couldn't tell for a moment whether his eyes were open or shut. Eventually, he recalled that he was in a cave he'd made in the ridge of the island. He'd spent a fair part of the morning building it, even making some careful ventures into the sky with his glider to make sure that it blended well with the natural rock. In all, he was quite proud of his handiwork, and he'd been dozing on and off inside it throughout the day.

The feel of Appa's fur was reassuring beneath him, and he still seemed to be soundly asleep. Aang knew something must have awakened him, however, so he paused to listen.

There it was. A soft, skittering sound above him. Concentrating, Aang placed his hand on the sloping roof to feel the vibrations it transmitted. He couldn't "see" in nearly as great a detail as Toph could, but he had learned how to understand some of what the rocks could tell him. Finally, he thought he recognized the small shape darting back and forth above him. His suspicion was confirmed when he crept out from under the overhang he'd created.

"Momo!" Aang exclaimed in a whisper, and the white lemur, illuminated by the moon's glow, darted toward him joyfully, scampering over Aang's head and down his back. Aang was trying very hard not to laugh out loud. He went back under cover, bringing Momo with him. "Do you have a message for me?" Unfortunately, since he'd specifically designed his shelter to fit the slope of the ridge, the moonlight didn't make it inside, except what little reflected from the water. Therefore, Aang risked setting fire to a small pile of sticks he'd already prepared, just in case. He could have tried to just hold one blazing hand up to read by, but his fine control wasn't well developed yet, and he was afraid he might set the scroll on fire before he got a chance to read it.

A small, rolled rectangle of parchment was tied to Momo's leg. Aang gently untied it before finding a piece of fruit to give him as a reward. Momo accepted it and withdrew to eat. The missive was hastily written in Sokka's crabbed calligraphy:

Hakoda not here. Suki is. Zuko discovered. Stand by.

Brief and to the point – that was Sokka. He clearly hadn't wanted to waste words, and he might have been pressed for time. Aang sighed, wondering what Sokka would do next and wishing he could be more help. He hoped Sokka wouldn't decide to cut their losses and leave Zuko behind. Aang had just been getting into firebending.

Momo finished his snack and rejoined Aang, who petted him absently.

"I'll send you back at dawn," he decided aloud, and the lemur curled into his lap as though he'd understood. Aang pulled a small amount of water from the sea to extinguish the fire and tried to relax, but he doubted that he would be getting any more sleep tonight.

--

Member of the Boomeraang Squad: charleegirl, Jesus.Lives, Liselle129, Strix Moonwing, Avatarwolf, MormonMaiden, libowiekitty, Snows of Yester-Year, La Vixen de Amor, chocolatecoveredbananacheese, Aangy, and honorary member SnakeEyes16

Author's Note: Well, the plot's beginning to heat up, and I've already written part of the next because I was debating putting a different scene at the end of this chapter. Happy Independence Day to the US folks!

Review responses:

kitkat.the.pirate: Well, I appreciate your open-mindedness in being willing to endure some Kataang. I agree with your assessment of TBR.

nutshak: What are you doing in Vietnam? I'm glad I could make you feel better.

BlackRose108: I don't know if I'll attempt any more. This episode was one that just jumped out at me as having such obvious opportunities for improvement. I've long wanted to rewrite The Awakening, settling for just re-doing some scenes, but that would require the entire third season to be different.

SignsOnTheWalls: Yet I notice you've signed up for story alerts. Seriously, are you the kid of an Avatar writer? The emphasis on Zuko and Sokka was one of the things that bothered me because we just saw that plot in TFM with Zuko and Aang. I've actually simplified things by including characters we already know instead of introducing new ones (Chit Sang, the guard who antagonized him).

Vanille Strawberry: Who knows? All of this stuff seemed obvious to me, so you'd think the writing team immersed in the show and its characters could have come up with it without my help.

JESUSFREAK-And-Proud-Of-It: Thanks for the info, although there's no way steam would go even ten feet in the air with any density, let alone high and thick enough to cover a red balloon approaching.

Sifu Toph: I don't have much to say because I completely agree with everything you said about Season 3. I've also been wondering why they bothered including Teo, Haru, and The Duke in the group just to write them out of every plot since. Then they just had to add Chit Sang as another character to ignore.

AirGirl Phantom: Thank you. I think Tokka is fun but kind of unrealistic until Toph grows up a little. I do hope the show deals with Toph's apparent crush and don't have her just shrug and accept Suki.

Magnumus: I'm looking forward to that, too.