Sokka tugged at the mask hanging around his neck, letting it drop in the waste bin as he entered the healing ward. He spotted his sister quickly, her hands filling the dark room with a soft glow that cast her shadow against the curtains.
After scrubbing down at a wash station, he fell heavily into one of the hard metal chairs, letting his head rest against the wall while he waited. He'd just spent the last few hours searching the temple for the poison along with a team led by Constable Sung. Finding it wasn't hard – the sage had hidden it in some ink bottles in a storage cabinet – but they'd continued to sweep the entire site just to make sure that was it. Even with the mask, just opening the bottles was enough to make Sokka feel light-headed. With that kind of potency, it made sense that the poison could still affect Suki hours, even days after it was applied to the parchment. Ursa was currently examining another jar they'd found full of strange herbs—though Sokka had no doubt it contained an antidote the sage was using to protect himself.
He didn't realize he'd closed his eyes until someone rested a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Katara looking down at him. She looked even more exhausted than he felt.
"Do you need a healing session next?" she asked with a tired smile.
"Do I look that bad?" he grinned, giving her hand a squeeze and sitting up. "…How're they doing?" he asked, glancing over to the beds where Suki and Ty Lee were resting, curtains drawn around them.
"Suki took a pretty heavy hit from that poison, but she should be okay after another session in the morning," Katara sighed, sitting beside him. "She had some bad bruising too, but I took care of that already. And Ty Lee will be fine. She wasn't really hurt at all, but…" she trailed off, pursing her lips.
"What?"
A darkness clouded Katara's face. "Sokka," she whispered, leaning closer to him. "Ty Lee was chi-blocked."
Sokka's eyes grew wide. "What? Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I can sense a person's chi with my healing abilities. She was definitely chi-blocked—and not by a novice, either. I don't think it's very common for a chi-block to both incapacitate and knock someone out for so long."
Sokka frowned deeply.
"I just can't believe one of the other Kyoshi Warriors could have done this," Katara continued, almost inaudibly.
"Me neither," Sokka said firmly, looking over at her. "It couldn't have been them. Chi-blocking may be a rare skill, but there are definitely others who can do it. Ty Lee had to learn it from someone, right?"
Katara looked relieved. "Oh, I hadn't even thought about that."
"Well, both of us couldn't get the brains in the family," Sokka chuckled, earning him a smack in the arm. He glanced back to the curtains, a small fire inside one reflecting the shadow of someone hunched over a chair. "…How's Zuko doing?" he asked quietly.
"He's—" Katara sighed, leaning back against the wall. "…He's a mess," she whispered. "Had to kick him out of the room at one point so I could focus on my work."
"Well, can't really blame him. He's had a pretty rough day."
"Yeah, he has," she said sadly.
Sokka stood and stretched his arms. "I'm going to bed. Have you," he paused, blushing a bit and feeling grateful for the darkness of the room. He cleared his throat before continuing casually. "You haven't seen Toph around, have you?"
Katara shook her head, though a small smile tugged on her lips. "I thought she'd join up with you after bringing Suki's attacker to the prison."
Sokka's heart was suddenly pounding heavily against his chest. "W-wait, she hasn't come back since then?" he cried. "That was hours ago!"
Hands pressed against the ground, Toph fought against the desire to sleep as she focused on the quiet vibrations from within the prison cell. The sage's pathetic sniffling had stopped a while back, but she still felt his anxious twitching spilling into the earth, like he was frightened and even…confused.
Suddenly, her hyper-sensitive hearing picked up on someone pounding down the hallways a good distance away.
That blockhead, she thought, grinning despite her irritation at him for breaking her focus.
"Toph!" Sokka shouted a few minutes later, running towards her and skidding to a stop. "Y-you're…okay," he said lamely.
"Of course I'm okay, you dummy," she said warmly. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I just thought…maybe," he said, panting heavily as he fell to the ground beside her. "Well, you didn't…come back…and I was…" he trailed off, and Toph could feel his embarrassment seeping into the ground as he rested his head against the wall behind them.
"So you ran all the way here."
"No! Not all the way," he insisted.
"I know you're lying."
He exhaled roughly.
Toph laughed. "Come on, Sokka. I'm the greatest earthbender in the world, remember? Nothing to worry about."
Sokka sighed. "I know. It's just, there's something weird going on around here and I don't like it," he said darkly. "I mean, we usually wouldn't have to worry about Suki or Ty Lee either, but look what happened to them!" he said in his defense.
"I guess that's true," Toph admitted. "…But I'm tougher than them, right?"
Sokka chuckled. "Definitely."
Toph smiled in spite of herself as Sokka ran his fingers in circles over the stone ground beside her. She had to admit, it was a kind of sweet that he'd been so worried. Ridiculous, but sweet.
"So, what are you doing here, anyway?" he asked.
"Well," she started, leaning a little closer so the prisoner couldn't hear her. "I've been trying to get a read on this guy," she said quietly, knocking her head in the direction of the cell.
"Uh, why?" Sokka huffed. "Pretty sure we already know he's a dirty piece of—"
"I know, I know. But something's off about him. For the most part, he's just shaking in his boots like a scared kitten-owlet. But once in a while—" She frowned deeply. "All that fear just disappears. It's like…like he just disappears."
Sokka had inched a little closer to her while she was speaking, a large hand coming up to rest on her back. "Maybe he's asleep?" he whispered.
"No, I can tell when he's asleep. It's different."
She could tell he was thinking as he sat in silence, his thumb tracing those same, absent-minded circles over her shoulder blade. Is he doing that on purpose?! Toph thought, biting her lip hard to stop herself from flushing. It didn't work.
"Well," he said suddenly. "I think this means we've got one more interrogation to do."
Toph smiled a little. "Sounds good to me."
Sokka pulled away and yawned loudly. "Let's do it tomorrow though—this guy's not going anywhere until then," he said, standing up. Toph huffed, shaking her head at him before feeling his hands grasp hers and pull her to her feet.
Instead of letting go, his grip simply loosened as they stood together in the quiet corridor. She could feel the warmth radiating off his body, they were standing so close. He smelled like seal leather and ginger and something nice she couldn't pinpoint. She bit her lip, ducking her head as her face and neck grew hot.
"You okay, Toph?" he asked quietly.
Heh. "Y-yeah. Just, um, tired," she lied, lifting her head back up to face him.
"Well, it's pretty late. Nearly sunrise," he said deeply, breath brushing against her bangs, thumbs brushing the backs of her hands.
"Mmhmm," she hummed, heart pounding in her chest.
He squeezed her hands quickly before letting go. "We should get to bed," he said roughly, moving back the way he'd come. Toph rubbed her hands together, too distracted to notice the quaking pouring into the earth from Sokka's feet as they moved back to the palace in silence.
Gasping for breath, Nukka pulled herself up the muddy bank with trembling arms.
What happened?! She thought desperately, trying to force herself to sit up. It was dark, too dark to see where she was. Only the sounds of rapids crashing against rocks let her know she had just emerged from a violent river. She'd have thought she was dreaming, but the burning in her lungs and the aching in her limbs suggested otherwise.
Her heart leapt in her chest as a sudden, terrifying memory filled her mind.
It was pitch black. A rough hand was grabbing her neck, oily skin pressing against her forehead. The dark figure before her drew back quickly, a sick chuckle breaking through the silent air.
"You've done well, waterbender. But your services are no longer needed," a deep voice drawled, eyes framed in red suddenly glaring at her as moonlight broke through the clouds above.
Nukka could hear the rushing waters below. Her healing abilities were worthless here—if only she knew how to fight! Despite her lack of training, she tried to summon the waters to her aid, but quickly realized her wrists were bound. She gasped as rough hands grabbed her and sent her hurling over an unseen edge and into the darkness.
Nukka buried her face in her still-bound hands, not minding the soaking hair plastered to her face. Where was I when that happened? How did I get here?! She wracked her brain, trying to recall the last memory that made any sense.
"Good morning, Master Nukka. How was your shift last night?" Osamu asked warmly.
"Oh Osamu, how long have we known each other? Just Nukka is fine," she smiled. "And things were quiet, as usual. I'm hoping to check on Miss Suki before I head to bed."
"Well, don't tire yourself out too much," he said, resting a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder. "In fact, Master Katara of the South has just arrived with the Avatar—I'm sure she can be of some assistance to you if you need it."
Why was everything blank after that?
As her breath finally returned, Nukka found a jagged rock and tore through the thick ropes encasing her wrists. She quickly bent the water from her clothes and hair before standing on quaking legs. Squinting against the dim landscape, she thought she could make out a faint, urban glow in the distance.
Several hours later, she found herself in the industrial district, panting heavily as she leaned against a metal crate. I'm too old for this, she thought, tempted to lie down and sleep on the dirty road but knowing she needed to find help soon. Someone had wanted her dead, and she was sure her role as Suki's healer wasn't a coincidence.
Walking down the main street, she noticed a billboard illuminated by a dying fire in one of the lanterns lining the road. As she glanced at the posters, her heart skipped a beat as a familiar face stood out at her. She tore the sign off and stared at the sketch of a dark-skinned woman of her own likeness.
"Oh good, so they are looking for me—" She stopped, horror washing over her as she read the inscription.
WANTED: Nukka of the North. Waterbender. Possibly dangerous. Report any sightings to the imperial guard.
Her hands trembled as she crumpled the edges of the parchment, realizing she was standing in the center of a foreign nation that was now hunting her down.
No…what is going on?!
"Thanks for helping out, Ty Lee. This shouldn't take long," Sokka said, waiting for her to unlock the prison cell.
"No problem," she winked at him. "Anything for you, handsome."
Sokka flushed. "O-oh, uh—"
"How long does it take to unlock a stupid door?" Toph asked irritably from behind them. She was leaning against the stone wall, arms folded across her chest.
"Got it!" Ty Lee said brightly, pushing open the door to the small room. Before they could enter, heavy footfalls started echoing off the walls.
"Sounds like Fire Lord Hothead's on the way down," Toph huffed, pushing herself away from the wall and standing in the center of the hallway.
Zuko stormed down the corridor, a fire blazing in his palm to illuminate the dark space. "What are you guys doing?!" he hollered. "I don't want anyone going near him!"
"Zuko, buddy," Sokka drawled, strolling over and placing a firm hand on his friend's shoulder. "We're only following through on the interrogations. That's what you asked us to do, right?"
Zuko glared at him. "There's nothing left to find out," he said darkly.
"I don't think that's true," Toph argued. "I'm getting some weird vibrations from this guy," she said, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. "It would be dumb not to check him out."
"Oh, I already checked him out," Ty Lee said cheekily. "Stinks that he's a bad guy—he's cute."
Zuko looked like he was going to explode. "How could you even joke about this, Ty Lee?!" he shouted at her.
Ty Lee's lower lip quivered. "S-sorry, Zuko. I was just trying to—"
"He hurt Suki! He attacked you! How can you even—"
"That was him?!" Ty Lee asked, glancing into the room and looking horrified.
They all stared at her in silence.
"W-what's going on?" she sniffled, shaking. "Sokka just said they needed to interrogate a prisoner…"
Zuko walked over and rested his hands on Ty Lee's shoulders. "Ty Lee, I'm sorry, I just assumed… What happened last night?"
She looked up at him anxiously. "I—I followed Suki out of the palace. She said she wanted to be alone, but I was just so worried about her! I followed her to the temple—"
"But who attacked you?" Zuko asked desperately.
Ty Lee furrowed her brows, an unusually stern expression on her face. "…I don't know. It was really dark out—and whoever did it got me from behind. I didn't see who it was," she said blankly, ducking her head.
Zuko stared at her wide-eyed, then looked back at Sokka. "Get in there and start that interrogation. Now."