Dear Recipent of this letter,

My name is of no concern. I have been watching you carefully, and I feel your talents set you apart from the others of this misguided world. I hear you are a bit short on money? Well, you need not worry... I have selected you for a very important mission. Should you complete it in due time you will receive 700 pieces. Is that satisfactory?

Your mission is to rid the world of the anceints. Burn them to a crisp pile of ash if you must. Once said task is completed I will send you your money. I'm counting on you.

PS- Make sure no one knows that you are the culprit behind the destruction. Burn or eat this letter after it is read.


"I knew something wasn't right about them..." Suki whispered to herself after reading the script neatly written on the parchment.

She'd snuck out of her bed and into the meadow. What would you know? Misa and Ganju were nowhere to be found. Ironic isn't it?

"It makes me wonder if they left this behind on purpose..." she crept quietly through the tall and wet grass, clutching the crumpled up parachment in her hand as she headed back to the campsite.

It was probably a good hour or so into the night. The moon had not quite risen yet, so it was still somewhat dark. Suki wondered idlely if there was a reason the others were so quick to trust those two. Suki stared at the sleeping faces. She then knew that this was her time. Suki had realized that she never did much to help anyone else out. She did little things, but she always felt them to be insignificant.

Suki sighed. She suddenly realized that this was something that she had to complete on her own. She was tired of being dead weight all the time. Now was her chance to do something useful... something that she was actually skilled in doing... she was born a warrior... her destiny had somehow been shifted from fighting to doing domestic work, and she could not accept that. She wasn't ready to be tamed so easily.

The Kyoshi warrior found Sokka cuddled up with his sword in a corner. "You seem to hold that sword tighter than you intend to hold on to me... I now see your choice..." Suki whispered to none but herself, noting the moonlight that was now draped protectively across his figure in the dark.

Suki reached for the sword, knowing that wrenchig it from his grip would not wake him... because there was nothing that could wake Sokka. Suki grasped the sword feeling the pain of rejection. She retreated from the site, and although she did not realize it, Sokka had caught a glimpse of her as she left.

Why she felt guilty for stealing his weapon of favor she did not know. Was it perhaps because her love was deeper than her sorrow? Was it because guilt is an after-effect of reject? Or maybe... it was because the moon spirit witnessed the undertaking.

She was far from the site now. The ground before her lighted only by the moon's gentle light. Suki looked to the starry sky. The moon was nearly full on this night. "Tomorrow is a full moon..." Suki whispered.

Nobody knew how much that hurt her. As much as she wished for him to choose her, she realized that wishing that would only cause her more pain when he did not. Suki glared back at the moon. She wasn't one to hate or become jealous or to envy... but she loved Sokka. Love itself was a war. Her eyes softened, realizing that this fight was one she would never win. Yue had her beat. Suki had no control over that battle... but there was one she did have control over... and she would win, too.

Suki smiled at her rival in love. "I'll deal with you later." She announced boldly to the Moon Princess, reminding her that Suki was not going to quit.

The meteorite blade felt more like strength now than weakness in Suki's hands. She would fight with the blade that connected her to him. Afterall... he still had the necklace, didn't he?

"Suki?"

She spun around at the sound of his tired voice, sword at the ready. "Go back to sleep."

"I can't."

"Well, that's unusual, isn't it?" Her voice sounded colder than she'd meant for it to.

Sokka smiled. He saw her holding his blade, but ignored it anyway. "Look, something's obviously wrong... so what's going on?"

Suki's brow furrowed. She didn't want to be talking with him right now. Her mind was sent back to when the GAang had decided to go to a play in a nearby town simply becase they needed to get away from the temple for a bit. That was when she first learned that Sokka had been in love with the moon spirit. He had completely silenced her at the name of Princess Yue.

"Here." She tossed the crumpled parchment to him.

The completely uncoordinated water tribian was late in trying to catch the flying, wrinkled ball. It tapped him on his forehead and fell to the ground. The wind swept the parchment over the edge of the temple's crumbling stone railing and into the black abyss below.

"Oh my!" A familiar voice called to them.

Suki's head shot up and she found Misa hanging from the ceiling by her toes. "Should you not be asleep at this hour?" Misa performed some very impressive flips before landing gracefully and silently on her feet.

Ganju stepped from the shadows. Suki raised the sword against the two siblings. "Shutup! You're no different from that wretch that calls herself the Fire Nation Princess!"

"Ow... you hurt my feelings... I'm not anything like Princess Azula. Ganju... did you take care of the others?" Misa questioned her brother.

"I did."

Sokka's eyes widend, "What did you do with the others??"

"Froze them. They can still breathe though... but Misa, that won't hold them for long. You do realize that they have 2 waterbending masters and 2 1/2 firebenders with them, right? Ice won't be an issue."

"It'll serve its purpose."

Suki lashed out at Misa swinging the onyx blade with expert precision. Misa dodged the blade and counter attacked with a fire whip.

The unexpected attack caught Suki by surprise. She was just barely able to dodge the whip. Misa laughed, "Water Tribe, you can't have the girl do all the fighting."

Sokka was confused. He didn't understand what was going on. But what he did know was that Misa was attacking Suki, and he would never forgive himself if anything happend to the Kyoshi warrior. Sokka pulled his father's boomerang from his back. He aimed to throw it at Misa, but Ganju stepped in the way.

"Ganju, move!" Sokka ordered.

"It's not your fight, Water Tribe."

Ganju sloshed the water inside Sokka's stomache and then kicked him in the gut. The wind was knocked out of Sokka and his head crashed hard on the stone flooring of the temple, knocking him unconcious. Ganju, afraid he hurt Sokka too severely went to heal him quickly, but left him unconcious.

"Sokka!!" Suki shouted.

Misa shot a small cinder spark at Suki's hand, burning her flesh and causing her to drop her weapon. Misa took the opportunity to set Suki's clothes on fire. "Pay closer attention next time, Girlie!"

Misa ran off to finish the job with the others. Expecting Ganju to terminate Suki and Sokka. Tired of obeying his sister, Ganju finally found it in himself to splash Suki in some water from a nearby fountain. His act saved her from having several burns.

"Well? Aren't you going to attack me like you did, Sokka?!" Suki questioned, practically asking him to attack her.

"No."

Ganju handed the sword to Suki. He saw the burn etched into her skin. He reached for her hand, "Here, let me heal your burn..."

Suki wrenched her arm away from him, "No! There's no time! Is Sokka okay?!"

Ganju looked at the unconscious warrior, "So... his name's Sokka? He'll be fine... should wake up in a few minutes."

"Quickly, you must tell me what Misa is planning to do!"

Ganju nodded, "She intends to gather everyone into that meadow... there are only two ways out of it... the way in, and the hole in the ceiling. She says its the perfect place to start a "bon fire" she called it. My sister has good intentions, but this is the wrong way to go about this... we cannot be forgiven... please do whatever it takes to stop her. I'll stay here until Wate-... erm... Sokka wakes up."

Suki nodded and ran off grasping Sokka's sword tightly. "Yue... please protect him."

xXx

"Misa, what're you-?" Zuko saw that same insanity in Misa eyes that shone in his own sister's eyes. The only difference was that Misa was about his age.

Zuko opened fire on Misa. He was relived to find that she was not a prodigy like his sister. Misa was unable to block the last of the fire balls that Zuko began shooting at her. "My, my! You were able to hit me... I assure you that I will not underestimate you again..."

"Why did Ganju freeze us, and why are you attacking us?! I thought you took no sides in the war?!"

"Oh, I don't. I've been promised a large sum of money if I destroy the temple. Unfortunately... I cannot be found out... so therein lies your fate. My appologies, Prince Zuko."

Misa conjured up her fire whip once more, aiming it at Zuko. Katara whipped Misa from the side, dousing her flame and saving Zuko from being hit.

"aw... no fair..."

"You might be able to take on one of us... but you can't take on all of us! We out-number you, you are at a disadvantage!" Katara announced to the enemy.

Misa raised a brow, "Really? You think so?" she ran toward the meadow for cover.

"After her!" Teo called, racing after the firebender in his wheelchair.

Zuko and Katara stayed behind as everyone else (including the Avatar) sped off. Zuko smiled at Katara, "Thanks... for... well, you know..."

"No one's allowed to kick your butt and humiliate you except for me!" After saying those words she could feel her face heating up, and added, "...a-and sometimes Toph!"

Zuko continued to smile, which made Katara feel even more bashful. However, his smile faded suddenly, "Wait, where's Sokka and Suki?!"

Katara gasped, "Oh no!"

Suki leapt between Zuko and Katara breaking up their little moment, "'scuse me! Coming through!"

"Suki, where's Sokka?!" Katara asked her, seeing Suki hefting Sokka's meteorite blade along with her.

The usual fan wielder paused for a moment, "Sokka..." Suki turned to face Katara, seeing the horror written on her face, "is in the protection of the moon spirit... he'll be fine..."

With that Suki hurried off again, determined to stop Misa, Zuko following behind her. Suki still felt akward around the Fire Prince. Afterall, he was the one who attempted to burn down her village. But she supposed that this was not the time to be picky about who she had for back up. Suki assumed that Katara decided to go track down Sokka. Good thing, too, because Suki had a hard time trusting Ganju at the moment.

The meadow was already dancing in flames when Suki and Zuko arrived. Her perfect place... gone... the hours spent here with Sokka beneath the sakura tree... tarnished... the endless memories of the mystical ad enchanting magic that made this meadow a treasure... turned to ash.

The flames were high... threatening to engulf the entire meadow in one clean sweep. This was the kind of fire that only a full fledged Avatar could cease... unfortunately... Aang was still in the process of mastering his firebending. Beads of sweat formed along the lines set deep into Suki's brow. As Zuko frantically tried to tame the flames, Suki was busy trying to pin point Misa's location.

Suki's ear twitched upon hearing a small laugh over the roar of fire. "H-hey! Suki!!" Zuko called as she leapt into the heart of the embers.

"Oh? You found me?"

"It wasn't hard... now shutup and fight me." Suki ordered the firebender, pointing the blade's edge at her.

Misa smiled, "You'll die... and when you do... I will make sure there is nothing left of you... too bad... I really thought we might have become friends at some point..."

"Who would want to be friends with a monster like you?!"

"Owch... burn... well... you know what they say," Misa willed a fire ball into her palm, "One must fight fire... with fire!"

The little fire ball in Misa's hand exploded, shooting sparks and cinders everywhere. Suki lunged at her, slicing her left side with the edge of Sokka's blade. Misa fell to her knees from the pain. She was completely at Suki's mercy. "Well?! Aren't you going to finish the job?" Misa asked curiously.

"This is the temple of the air nomads... the last link between us and them... I will not allow it to be destroyed... and this meadow," Suki could feel her anger rising, "This meadow was special! It meant something to me! And now it is covered in smoke and ash! Charred from the inside-out! It will never be the same! All because of you!!"

Suki knocked Misa out with the hilt of Sokka's meteorite sword. She didn't have the heart to simply kill the girl. The cracking and popping sounds of the flames continued to resound throughout the meadow. Ganju found his way to his sister in the center of the death trap.

"No one can hold off the fire much longer... it's too strong... all we can hope for is to have it die down... but..." Ganju sat beside his bleeding look-alike, holding her in his arms, "if you can make it out of this hazardous area, everyone is doing their best to prevent it from spreading to any other part of the temple... but you must go... now!"

"What about you? What about your change of plans?" Suki asked him; she knew he was good at heart, he was just being used as a tool by his sister.

"Change of plans? There were no change of plans... Misa was a prision guard at the Boiling Rock... when she went there she killed our Mom..." Ganju, who had always seemed so strong to Suki, was actually crying as he knelt over his sister's body, "I sent the letter to Misa... I wanted her dead, and I felt no remorse for what I was planning on doing... so what does that make me? I answered that question myself... it made me the same as her... it made me a murderer... and I can't live with myself knowing what a terrible thing I've done..."

Suki was appalled. Ganju had planned the entire thing out to just kill his sister and avenge his mother's death.

"Suki..." Ganju spoke, "This was the plan from the beginning... she and I will die here... together... as it should be... please... leave before the flames become too great."

"But-"

"Go! I won't hold the lives of anyone else in my hands but hers..." He stared down at her face, lit in the orange glow that surrounded them and smiled. Mission complete.

Suki raced through the maze of fire until she emerged from the flaming meadow. Her clothes were singed and her face was filthy; covered in sweat and blood from the cinders that fell upon her skin. Suki still held the sword tightly in her grip.

"Sukiiii!" The Duke ran at her, hugging her leg tightly, "I saw you run in... but I was scared you wouldn't run out!!"

The Kyoshi warrior gave him a weak smile. Katara took Suki to heal her wounds. This night would not be one so easily forgotten. A few stray cinders floated across the darkness of the night sky.

xXx

It was nearly time to leave. The full moon in the sky shined much light upon the group. The fire had dispersed early that afternoon. They never found anything of Ganju or Misa, as if they never existed. Suki walked across the remains of the stone path. The only thing that truely had been spared from the intense flames of the previous night was the sakura tree... and even it had lost all of it's petals and was suffering from severe scorch marks. The once shimmering grass was now nothing but piles of ash and soot. Dull and grey. It was hard to beileve that this place had once been magical.

Suki stared through the hole in the ceiling, the stone blackend from the smoke using it as an escape route. The moon could be clearly seen on this night. It's light rained down like a beam from heaven, leaking it's beauty where none resided any longer. Suki stood in the moon's spotlight and ran her hand over the tree's scarred trunk. Her eyes did not waver from the scar on her hand. She and the tree were both scarred... they had something in common. It was the only wound Katara was unable to heal. Now the memory of that horrible night would haunt Suki forever more.

"Hey."

His voice wasn't entirely unwelcomed in such a bleak place, but Suki wasn't entirely sure how she felt at the moment... after all she'd been through the previous night... she wasn't sure if she wanted his company now or not.

"Hey..." She replied, not knowing what else to say.

"I've been thinking a lot about what you said..."

He'd been thinking about what she said? When? Suki didn't know what he meant. As if on cue, Sokka answered, "You know... when you said I had to choose between you and Yue..."

Oh. When she'd said that. Such a topic was not exactly one Suki wanted to discuss.

"Sokka... I-"

"No, no... just... hear me out... please."

Suki sighed.

"I wanted to tell you here... in our meadow..." He paused as Suki glanced around at the vast emptiness covered in grey, "Because you know... even if it is... uhm... a bit... eh... in need of a clean up... it's still our meadow..."

The idiot was right of course.

Sokka sighed, "I decided..."

Here it comes.

"that Princess Yue is a wonderful and gentle woman to choose as mine."

Suki sighed once more, but smiled. It was his choice to make... not hers. "Oh? Is that so?" Suki asked him, trying to sound calm and not to allow her voice to break.

"Yes."

The Kyoshi warrior turned to stare into his blue eyes. He took her hands into his, "Suki, I'm so sorry... I should have told you from the beginning..."

She forced a smile to her face, "Oh... that's very thoughtful of you, Sokka... but it's... it's okay... really."

Sokka held her hands tighter, "No Suki... it's not okay..."

All Suki wanted to do was get away. It seemed that it was her way of dealing with her problems nowadays... just running away... as if her problems wouldn't follow her. "Sokka, we should really get going now... I'm sure everyone is waiting on us..."

"They can wait a little longer..."

"No... I really think-"

"Suki, I love you! I can't picture living my life without you by my side every minute... I know I'm still hung up over Yue... but... I promise I won't be like that forever... I just... I need more time... I... Suki, I can't go on without knowing that you are to be mine! you are strong, and beautiful and courageous! You are a fierce and skilled warrior, but you have a kind and gentle side too... Suki you are wonderful in every possible way! I'm in love with you, Suki! I love you!"

Suki was at a loss for words, "I-I... Sokka... I don't know what to say..."

"Say 'yes'."

"What?"

"Suki, will you marry me?" Sokka was on one knee now, holding the box in his hands.

Her face lit up at the sight of the necklace for the second time, only this time... there was real meaning behind the onyx jewel carving. "I... yes... yes! YES!! I'll marry you, Sokka!" Suki wrapped her arms around him.

He lifted her off the ground and spun her around in a circle. He smiled at her, "Here, turn around..." Sokka tied the betrothal necklace around Suki's neck. She turned back around to face him once more as he spoke, "Let the Moon Spirit be my witness... once this war comes to an end... I will wed Suki."

She couldn't help herself, Suki attached her mouth to his and began to kiss him passionately. When their kiss broke apart, Suki removed the meteorite blade from Sokka's back. "Now what are you doing with that?" Sokka asked her teasingly.

"You'll see..." Suki began carving something into the tree's already scarred surface, "My carving to you."

He smiled at her, taking his sword back. Sokka added onto her carving. "It's our carving now."

The two rested... much as they had before, with Suki's head resting on Sokka's shoulder, and his arms wrapped around his someday-wife-to-be. They stayed there with the carving above their heads that would remain in the trunk of that tree for generations to come:

Suki
x
Sokka

Surrounded by a heart placed by Sokka.

The moon shone its brightest from heaven on that night. It's light as pure as the lovers that it draped itself upon. And somewhere up there, Princess Yue was smiling down at them, saying, "Sokka... I only wish for your happiness... go with my blessing..."


-fin-

The wait is finally over, as is this book. I hope that everyone enjoyed it! Thank you everyone who has stuck with it from the very beginning, it means so much to me!

The next chapter begins Book 2!