Chapter Five.

The snow hole was dark, damp, and would have been uncomfortable even if he didn't have to share it with Azula. Despite that, it was warm, and that was all that mattered. His digging had become frantic as the cold had started to seep into his bones, and it turned out to be a tougher job than he'd thought. The snow cover was loose and fluffy, while the material underneath was stubborn ice which he chipped out in slabs. In the end, he was able to make a pod-shaped opening which he helped Azula through first and followed her, covering the entrance with the canvass bundles he had carried through the caves. Feeling their weight, he thought he might be part polar dog.

Azula had stopped shivering by the time he had her inside, which was a bad sign. He was close to being in the same condition, but his heavy coat was warm, and his desire to live after all he'd gone through was strong, and neither of those things failed him. With the last of his waning strength, he was able to wrap himself around Azula and cover her and himself in his coat.

Sleep found him, and he dreamed he was the Avatar. He had encased himself in a shell of ice under the sea, and while it was dark and quiet, it was somehow warm while also being frozen. He didn't want to come out, ever. He could hear people far off calling for Appa, and he didn't want to tell them what had happened. The bubble sank deeper into the ocean, and his legs began to cramp. He could no longer hear his friends calling, but he knew they were still up there, waiting. His legs hurt fiercely and he stretched, tearing the bubble around him and letting cold water in.

When he woke up it took him a few seconds to remember who and where he was, the place was so strange. Cold, dark, save for an unfamiliar mass spooning into him. He recoiled from it, but only had room for a few millimeters of distance. After a moment, he was able to relax and his skin pressed against hers. She was warm, but not as much as she should be. He could tell she was breathing and was asleep, and he decided to let her stay that way for a while.

Something was wrong with her. He hadn't had time to think of it until now, but ever since her encounter with the blob creature where she'd killed it, something hadn't been right with her. Her voice was different somehow, like she was thinking about something else even as she spoke. He wondered if the monster had poisoned her somehow, perhaps damaged her mind. Maybe she had hurt herself fighting it. He didn't know, but it was clear something was wrong and that she couldn't firebend.

He would ask her when she was awake. Her ability to bend was key to his plan, as he didn't have access to natural gas.

-I haven't even built the stupid balloon yet,- he thought, acknowledging that he'd made many assumptions about how the design would ultimately work.

It had to work, that was that, he decided. They were now cut off from their fallback plan of waiting at the airship, and Deep Cold was as much a danger on this side of the mountain as it was the other. He tried to sleep and tried to forget it was Azula he was pressed against. When she wasn't conscious he could almost pretend she was anyone. The extreme conditions had taken quite a toll on Azula, as she seemed wispier than before, and her bones pressed into him more sharply. Those bones were lined with tight, wiry muscles which were still now, moving only as she breathed, and he could remember their fast, lethal motions from past encounters.

He moved his hips back and tried not to think about her, instead turning his mind to the balloon. He had thought as much as he could about the actual building of it, and now turned his consideration to what they would do once they were aloft. The wind would blow them in a north-easterly direction towards the sea. They need not reach the ocean, he reminded himself, they just needed to get clear of the wasteland.

His mind buzzed with energy but his body had been drained. This last exertion had been nearly as bad as the first trek across the snow to the mountains from the airship, only this time he'd been eating better, and the threat of horrific death had spurred him onward. His muscles were now making him pay for what he'd made them do, and the pain made it difficult to concentrate.

Sokka tried to ignore his pain, and Azula's body, and focus on how he planned to return north and find his family. He would have to account for Appa. With any luck, he would have Azula as a captive. That wouldn't make it better, not really, but it would help some. There was also the possibility he would be captured by the Fire Nation. They would have ships patrolling the waters to the north, looking for signs of the airship, but then again, maybe they wouldn't.

Azula moaned in the darkness, and he shook her lightly by the shoulder.

"Hey, wake up," he said.

"Ugh..."

"Yeah, ugh," he said, mimicking her moan that was equal parts pain and disgust. "We made it. Can you bend fire or what?"

He felt her body tense and her breathing change, but there was no light or flush of heat. "No," she said numbly. "I don't know what's wrong."

There was a tinge of defeat and fear in her voice that made her sound like a wholly different person. It filled Sokka with more dread than her normal ruthless tone ever had.

"You haven't eaten in a bit. Maybe you're just cold. I'll go outside and see if it's what passes for daytime down here and see if there's anything I can spare to burn."

"How will you start a fire?"

"Rubbing sticks together. Firebenders didn't invent the stuff, you know."

"Primitive, but if it works..."

"It won't work for a balloon, unless I find some kind of fuel buried around here," he said, thinking that would be some stroke of luck indeed.

"Then you wouldn't need me, would you?" she said.

"I'd need you to make this whole mess worth my time," Sokka said. "My sister is probably going to kill me as it is."

"I gather this was some sort of rogue expedition, then?" Azula said, some of her old vicious spark returning.

Sokka felt his defenses go up but thought maybe if he let her land a few jabs it might lift her spirits enough to bend.

"It was a scouting mission," Sokka said, deepening his voice. "I thought I'd take some blasting jelly along as a precaution."

She let out a weak chuckle. "You wanted payback for the Avatar," she said, yawning. "Well you got it."

"I think in the end, we'll have more than payback," Sokka said. "Just don't make any trouble. We've been doing well so far."

She laughed, and he hoped the snide, cruel tone was a sign she was getting better and not an indication she was slipping the other way. "We can be pen pals later, don't worry," she said.

"Uh, huh. Just rest," he said, getting on his fur coat and kicking the canvass away from the entrance. The hole they were in grew cold immediately, and he saw that in his haste to dig the hole he hadn't dug upward enough to trap the heat.

Outside, he plugged the hole with the canvass and stood in the center of the two-hundred year old camp, realizing his troubles were far from over.

To be continued...