CHAPTER FOUR

"Wang…Fire…?" Katara raised an eyebrow in question.

"I know! Stupendous name, right? I thought it would match my Fire Nation get-up! Speaking of which, I rummaged together a set of fiery fibers for you as well, my dear!" Sokka lowered his body to the side to let a maroon-colored duffel bag slide of his shoulder.

"You must implement them if you want to administer the proper medicinal resources to Toph's injured regions and achieve maximum healing potential." Sokka talked as if he were some kind of professional. A doctor or politician, perhaps. Katara didn't exactly know where Sokka was coming from, but she did agree on needing to get something to help Toph's foot.

"I'm guessing we are to dress up like Fire-Nationalists?" Katara asked. Sokka raised a finger positively.

"AH-HA!" He piped. "That is correct, love! I believe it necessary to disguise our appearance when we -" Katara put a finger to her lips, telling Sokka to shut it. From the look of seriousness on Katara's face, Sokka became Sokka again and dropped the Wang Fire act momentarily. He pulled down his beard and asked Katara more closely to ask why he wasn't allowed to talk.

"Don't blow our cover, Sokka!" Katara whispered loudly and led Sokka back to where Toph and Aang were sitting. "You're always so…damning."

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"It's not effective to talk about disguising one's appearance in front of eavesdroppers…" Katara snapped her head around and shot a menacing look at the scattered people looking at the extravagantly-dressed Sokka. Upon getting spotted, they looked elsewhere and continued walking on their way. Sokka got out of Katara's grasp.

"Okay, you're right. Basically I want to-" Sokka was silenced again, this time Katara put her whole hand over his mouth. He muffled "What now?" and Katara removed her hand.

"Don't talk. Just do. Let's put into action your play, hopefully it won't be too insane, and that way no-one will get onto us."

"EXCELLENT PLAN, MY DEAR SAPPHIRE FIRE! LET US…" Sokka, now Wang Fire again, nodded his head in agreement and snapped his beard back onto his face. He stopped when Katara summoned that raised eyebrow up again.

"Erm, right…" He said in his normal voice, scratching his head. "Um, okay. Aang, could you wait here with Toph? Katara and I need to go this alone. She shouldn't' try to walk anyway." Aang glanced at Toph. She had no objections and implied she wasn't going anywhere by crossing her arms. Toph consented to staying put and said she wanted nothing more than to have her foot healed up as soon as possible. Katara picked up the bag of clothes and went off with Sokka behind some buildings to change.

"By the way…" Said Katara.

"Yes?"

"Sapphire Fire?" She questioned while slipping into the fancy red outfit. The two were behind a residential building in an alley, free from spying eyes and able to go over the plan which Sokka had in mind. She would not like it, but there was likely no other way. Katara liked her new clothes. They were considerably cooler than her Water-Tribe robe, although it was a bit unsettling wearing Fire-Nation clothes. It was the same cultural garb worn by the people who sacked her tribe and brought all this pain to her in the first place. She quickly disposed these troubling thoughts from mind and buckled on some leather sandals, slipped on some jewelry and did up her hair in a manner similar to Sokka's.

"Ingenious name, huh? I thought it up when I devised Wang Fire, my manly alter ego. We are to be a couple of Fire-Nation descent, so no-one will be suspicious of us.

"I guess that's what this pillow is for…" Said Katara as she stroked her artificially pregnant belly. "Your wife? That's a little odd, considering we're related, don't you think?"

"Not really. I mean, it's just for show. We need to do it to help Toph, and we will help her by getting beer to purify her foot with."

"Beer, huh?" Katara beamed. "Can we drink it afterwards?"

"I don't see why not. But don't forget why we're doing this in the first place: to help Toph. After we run some over her foot, we can drink it, sure."

"I haven't had alcohol since we left home. I almost forget how it tastes…" Day-dreamed Katara as she stuffed wads of cotton in her brassiere to complete her "mature" look. Sokka asked if she was ready, and she responded with a nod.