The group had been split on whether to return to the Cave of the Two Lovers. On the one hand, Aang pointed out that they had left the place a mess, its entrance blocked by a landslide. He felt obligated to restore it to the way it had been before the Fire Nation had tried to trap them inside. It was a tomb and a historic landmark, after all. But Sokka pointed out that the badgermoles could easily have cleared the opening if they wanted to, and besides, he had not enjoyed their first visit very much. When Toph heard that there were badgermoles in the cave, she decided the group.

"They are only the sweetest, coolest, strongest, most fun bending animals in the world!" Toph enthused. "No offense, Appa. And they're rare and reclusive. If we know where some of them are, we have got to go hang out with them!"

"Toph didn't get a chance to pick a vacation spot, remember?" Katara pointed out. "I picked the Misty Palms Oasis, Sokka picked the library, then Appa got stolen and there were no more vacations."

"Well, since we're not going back to either of those places, I guess we have space for it in the schedule," Sokka conceded. "But I reserve the right to complain the entire time!"

Appa landed outside the cave entrance, which was still blocked by rubble. Aang and Toph got to work clearing the rocks.

"I wonder what Chong and the others are up to now," Aang mused as he lifted stones and fitted them back into the cave's walls.

"Oh, probably just spreading cheer." Sokka answered sarcastically. "Picking flowers, singing songs. Getting other travelers stuck in crazy situations and driving them nuts with their idiocy."

Almost as soon as the entrance was open, two badgermoles nosed out. Toph squealed in delight, running up to the huge animals. They sniffed her and seemed to recognize her as one of their own. Soon she was disappearing into the cave with them. "Meet you back here later!" She yelled behind her at her friends.

"Great. Who knows what she means by later? Tonight? Tomorrow? Next month?" Sokka groused.

"I guess we'll find out." Aang shrugged, unconcerned. "We don't need to go all the way through the tunnel to the other side of the mountain. Let's just make sure the way to the tomb is clear. When Appa caused that tunnel collapse, it blocked the path. Visitors who want to pay their respects to Oma and Shu should be able to get through. We'll be back soon, Appa," he reassured his bison, patting its nose. "You don't have to go in the cave this time, buddy. You can just rest and wait here."

"Well there's one thing that makes this visit a lot easier and less scary than the first time." Sokka remarked as they prepared to enter.

"What's that?"

"Aang can firebend now. We don't have to worry about the torch going out."

"Right." With a glance at Katara, he conjured a flame floating above his palm.

As they walked, Sokka sang softly, "Secret tunnel, secret tunnel..."

"Do you have to keep singing the song, Sokka?" Katara asked, annoyed.

"I had to listen to that guy sing that song for hours, over and over, until my ears were bleeding. I'm going to make sure you two wake up months from now with a little tune in your head, just like I did."

He continued singing, going through the whole song three times before Aang tugged on his arm to shush him. The airbender pointed to the ceiling, where several wolf-bats hung upside down, asleep. They tiptoed by the animals, barely breathing.

After they turned two more corners in the cave, the danger seemed to have passed, and Sokka felt safe enough to sing the song some more. But before he got halfway through the chorus, he stopped himself abruptly, moaning, "Who am I kidding? All this singing about the secret tunnel is just making me miss Suki even more."

Katara cringed.

Aang looked at her quizzically. "What?" He asked.

"Don't think about it too hard." She cautioned her naïve boyfriend.

"Oh, look. There's the tomb entrance." Aang saw the carved words that marked the resting place of Oma and Shu. They spent a few minutes marveling at the carvings and paying their respects.

After they left the tomb, they tried to follow the same passages they'd used to arrive there, making turns in the opposite direction.

"There aren't any more blocked passages," Sokka remarked. "Not even any rubble. I told you the badgermoles would clear it. We didn't need to come in here."

"The entrance was covered with rocks." Katara reminded him. "We had no way of knowing what we'd find in here."

"Maybe the badgermoles didn't know the war is over, and they don't need to seal themselves off from Fire Nation attacks anymore." Aang wondered.

"Or maybe they don't want people in their cave." Sokka speculated darkly.

"Well, they can always block the entrance again if they want to, after we leave." Aang pointed out blithely.

"You're not scared, are you?" Katara nudged her brother playfully. "I'm sure Toph won't let her new pets trap us in here."

The stone hallways all looked the same. After a while they had to admit it was taking much longer to reach the entrance than it should have Finally they came to a fork in the tunnel that they didn't remember, and couldn't agree on which path to take.

"I thought we'd be set because we now have unlimited light, a torch that won't go out. But just because we can see around us doesn't mean we know which way to go." Sokka admitted defeat.

"I guess there's one way to find out." Katara looked at Aang with a sly smile, which he returned.

"Uh, Sokka, I need to put out my fire."

"What?"

"Just for a minute. Then we'll know which tunnel leads back to the entrance."

"How will that help?"

"You'll see." The airbender promised his friend.

The flame hovering over his palm disappeared, and the darkness was complete.

Aang and Katara were already holding hands, so they didn't need to grope for each other in the dark. As if with a sixth sense, they knew exactly where the other would be. They turned to each other, lining their bodies up completely and holding each other close before aiming their lips together in a kiss that was more practiced than that first one, full of shared understanding instead of nervous, hopeful questions. Behind their closed eyes they could sense the immediate change in the cave around them, and looked straight up.

"It's even brighter than before," Katara whispered in wonder.

"Yeah, and more colorful. The lights have different dimensions now, and they're kind of luminous." Aang marveled at the beauty above and around him. The crystals, though, were outshone by the girl in his arms.

"Sparkling," Katara murmured. The lights reflected in his eyes dazzled her.

"Did you guys just make that happen?" Sokka pointed at the ceiling, breaking the spell.

"The inscription on the tomb reads, love is brightest in the dark." Katara reminded him, dropping her arms from around her boyfriend, but keeping one of his hands in hers, their fingers interlaced.

"Just like the legend says, we let love lead the way." Aang said, gazing at his girlfriend, who blushed and looked down.

Sokka recognized the words from Aang's explanation of how he and Katara had gotten out of the cave before, and he put it together. "Wait. You two kissed way back the first time we were in this cave? And you still had all of that drama? Why wasn't it settled right then? A magic cave tells you you're in love, and you wait months to officially start dating?"

Aang reddened, unsure how to react to that question, and afraid of what Katara might say. He was worried she'd deny or downplay what they had just felt in that kiss, and what Sokka had just said. He found that the idea that the cave's lights had confirmed their love meant a lot to him. It would hurt if she didn't see it the same way.

Instead, Katara snickered and nudged Aang's side with the elbow of the hand he held. "Why don't you ask Mr. "I'd rather kiss you than die" over here?" Was she implying that that if he had been more honest about his feelings at the time, it would have made a difference for her? Did she mean that even then, she had liked him, had wanted that first fumbling kiss, and the only reason they hadn't begun a relationship so long ago had been his immaturity? Even though it meant he had only himself to blame for the heartache he'd suffered before that kiss at the tea shop, he found he liked that idea a lot.

Sokka looked at the younger boy, laughing in surprise. "You said that to her? I knew you weren't smooth, but that is next-level awkward."

Aang shrugged, nonplussed. She didn't deny it, and that was all he cared about. "Obviously I wasn't ready." He replied, relaxing.

Katara tilted her head to the side, surprised. "Really? You weren't ready?"

"If I couldn't admit out loud that I wanted to kiss you without using the cave as an excuse, then I didn't deserve to. I don't mind, especially now. It all turned out the way it was supposed to. I eventually learned how to trust in love." The fact that he was quoting the cave's legend made it easier to say the word, and even to look at her while he did. He thought he noticed her breathing change when she heard it, as if it were almost as meaningful to her as it was to him.

"Ugh, you guys act like it's so simple." Sokka grumbled, interrupting their moment. "I hate vague platitudes like that, and I especially hate it when a vague platitude is backed up by magical mumbo jumbo. What does that even mean, trust in love?"

Katara and Aang exchanged another glance, communicating this time about their companion instead of their own feelings. They knew this outburst was more about Sokka's frustration with his own romantic predicament than with them. Aang decided to give his friend back his own good advice. "Maybe it means keeping faith while you wait. Holding on to hope that when the time is right, you'll be with the one you love."

Katara's heart skipped a beat when he said that, it sounded so similar to their story. Was he speaking from experience, or just trying to support his friend?

"So it doesn't mean go grab Suki, bring her here, and kiss her?" Sokka asked despondently. "Let the cave prove to her that I'm finally over Yue?"

"I guess you could bring her here if she wanted to come," Katara said carefully, "but if she needs a magic cave to convince her, that's not a good sign."

He sighed. "You're right. I don't know how I'll show her though. I don't know what to do or say that's different from before, so that we wouldn't just end up in the same place again."

"You'll figure it out when the time comes." Aang assured him.

They followed the crystals back to the cave entrance. There they found the two badgermoles making Appa's acquaintance, with Toph mediating between the massive creatures.

That night, Sokka wrote a letter:

Dear Suki,

Today we explored this cavern near Omashu called the Cave of the Two Lovers. Have you heard of it? There's a whole legend about it. The first time we were here, a year ago, we were with these crazy, idiotic, drugged-up nomads whose singing made me twitchy. There was a landslide, and we got stuck in the cave, and the badgermoles dug us out. They're gigantic and terrifying, but they like folk ballads. Good times.

When we went into the cave today, Toph immediately ran off to play with the badgermoles, and I was left alone with my sister and her boyfriend. Thanks to those two, I found out the cave works like a magic love detector. If you kiss the one you love in the dark, these crystals light up and show you the way out.

I know you haven't replied yet to my last letter, and that's ok. I know you're busy. You don't have to rush to reply. I just don't want to wait anymore until I hear from you before I send another letter. I want to keep reaching out toward you in the dark. That's something I learned in the cave. I'll keep writing you as much as I can until you tell me to stop.

I've enclosed our schedule. First Gaoling for Earth Rumble VII, then Ba Sing Se. Did King Keui invite you to his Spring Festival ball? If not, I'm allowed to bring a guest, and I'd love to take you if you can make it. But I understand if you can't come or don't want to.

I hope the Kyoshi Warriors are living up to your high expectations, and that the chi-blocking lessons are going well. Has your sister been initiated yet? Let me know when that happens so I can send her a note of congratulations.

I wish you'd been with me in the cave today.

Love,

Sokka


Author's Note: Please leave me a review if you liked the chapter!

Maybe the cave doesn't really work like this in canon, as a kind of magic love detector, but it's kind of ambiguous, so I decided I liked the idea that the crystals only turned on for true love's kiss.

I'm taking next week off for the holiday, and may need some more time after that for the next chapters. Please follow so you can get an email when I update! And if you just can't wait until the next chapter, send me a PM and I'll send you a preview or deleted scene or suggestions of other fanfics to read while I work on it.