I walked into the Jasmine Dragon soaking wet, bloodied kneed, and with my dress torn. Katara – bless her mothering spirit- was the first to totally notice my condition and she came to my side. She smoothed some hair out of my face. "What happened?"

I looked to Uncle Iroh, who obviously saw that I needed some privacy away from some ears that might not understand. He hitched a thumb over his shoulder, pointing toward the hallway that led from the shop into Iroh's apartment. I walked quickly, finding the room where most of the girl's were sleeping. I walked in, walked to the wall and put my forehead against it. Don't cry, not yet.

When I turned, I saw that all the girls had followed me, and they were taking seats on the floor, ready to listen to what had gone down. Katara came up to me, took my hand and had me sit down. "Come tell us what happened."

Mai addressed me for the first time. "Wouldn't mind kicking someone's tail; what'd he do?"

I sat down roughly, sandwiched between Katara and Ty Lee, and I cried. The whole story came out, from the very first time I met Jai until what had just transpired. I could have been talking for hours, but everyone – Katara, Toph, Ty Lee, Suki and Mai – just listened. Katara stroked the back of my head every so often, which helped keep me calm enough to speak.

When I finally finished, Suki stood from her seat, walked over to me and enveloped me in a hug. "Say it with me – guys are jerks."

I hiccupped a response and Suki released me, sitting right in front of me. Toph scooted closer on her right, and Mai followed suit on her left. Ty Lee sat on my left, holding my hand a patting it reassuringly while Katara sat on my right. I sat in silence, tears flowing freely down my face; when ever Jai was the subject of discussion, they were sort of an involuntary reaction.

Ty Lee patted my hand both to make me feel better and to get my attention. "It'll be alright; maybe he…really wants things to be okay between you two."

I shook my head roughly. "It just doesn't make sense; why wait over a year to even try to really apologize to my face?"

Toph put a hand on my knee. "It's probably because he's scared,"

We all cast slightly confused looks to the blind girl before Mai spoke up. "Yeah, I mean, the guy was pretty freaked out when he just appeared in the Capital. He probably wants something familiar to attach to in order to insure that he doesn't lose touch with his world. You just happen to be very familiar."

I blushed slightly; maybe I shouldn't have told them absolutely everything that happen between Jai and I. "I guess that makes sense, but…if he attaches to me, it's just going to tear me apart. I…can't just be his friend. I know that's kind of selfish, but it'll be too hard. I care about him too much."

Katara stroked my head as she spoke. "You should tell him; get out everything you need two. Then let him say his part. The two of you can talk things out after all the emotion fueled words out. This goes for you and Sokka too, Suki."

The Kyoshi warrior looked stricken. "There's nothing for the two of us to discuss; your brother is an immature little jerk."

"I'm not denying that, but he's an immature little jerk who cares about you," Katara said. "I mean, you didn't exactly tell him what was making you so mad, so how can you expect him to understand?"

Toph snorted with laughter. "Yeah, Sokka isn't exactly the smartest guy around; you kind of need to spell things out for him."

I couldn't help but laugh; I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe, and my tears continued to flow. At first the other girls looked at me as if I had finally lost it before they all dissolved into laughter as well. When we finally stopped laughing, we were all wiping tears from our eyes. "Okay," Suki coughed, small laughs still escaping her. "Maybe I should try talking to him before getting mad."

Katara patted Suki's shoulder. "Okay; if he still doesn't get it after you spell it out, then you can kick his butt."

Mai was lounging on a pillow twirling a throwing knife on her index finger. "What about me? I'd like to kick some butt; I made the request earlier, remember?"

Suki stood and began heading toward the door as she spoke to the knife thrower. "You and I can tag team him if it comes to that. How's that sound?"

The knife thrower smirked a little and nodded to the warrior. Suki left the room, obviously in search of Sokka. Katara patted my shoulder gently. "Go talk to him," she said, looking more like a mother than any teenager should. I gave her a quick hug, a thank you for mothering me despite the fact that I was older than her.

I stood quickly and began walking out of the room, but was suddenly flung to the floor. The ground shook roughly, sending everyone down. "Toph! What's going on?" Ty Lee sounded terrified as she called to the earth bender.

As the ground finally settled, Toph placed her hand on the floor, looking around. "Something's happening out in front of the shop!"

We all regained our footing and ran out to the front of the tea shop.

Muahahaha! I'm the queen of cliff hangers! (Self proclaimed, no offense is meant toward anyone who actually has that title).

To those who are worried, don't freak – the adventure part will come in to play in the next chapter.

Well, it's more like action that will feed into adventure, but don't worry, we'll get there!

R&R pretty please! With whipped cream and a cherry!

XXOO~BBTM