Sokka and Zuko got back late in the afternoon the next day. At first everybody panicked because of the massive airship that descended upon the Western Air Temple, thinking that Azula must have found us before we saw Sokka waving like a goofball from the bridge so we all relaxed. They docked and we helped tie the ship down with a rope so that it wouldn't float off before the drawbridge lowered and the boys both stepped off. "What are you doing in this thing? What happened to the war balloon?" Katara questioned in confusion as we all gathered together.
"It kind of got destroyed." Once I arrived I jumped on him, throwing my arms around him in a hug with relief, glad to see that he was okay, still in one piece and hadn't been caught by the Fire Nation and imprisoned. Zuko caught me as my feet came off the floor, smiling softly as I hugged him before I slid back down to put my feet on the floor, ruffling his hair with a grin as I welcomed him back.
"Sounds like a crazy fishing trip."
"Did you at least get some good meat?" Toph asked hopefully, to which Sokka smirked rather proudly.
"I did. The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood." Not having a clue what he was on about, it all made much more sense when two people also stepped off the airship. I recognised Hakoda, but not the girl, not having a clue who she was. She was pretty, with neatly cut short hair and large eyes. Another man appeared behind them, also a stranger and built like a platypus-bear, smiling as he waved.
"I'm new. What's up everybody?"
"Dad." Overcome with emotion, Katara ran to her father in order to embrace him as I stayed next to Zuko, his arm resting around me casually as we both watched the touching reunion. Zuko really pulled through on this one, I felt proud.
"Good job." I praised him in a quiet whisper and he gave me a grateful look.
"How are you here? What is going on? Where did you go?" Katara was full of questions and turned to her brother who awkwardly answered, a little hesitant to tell the truth knowing that Katara would be mad that he did something so reckless, and that he went without her.
"We...kind of went to a Fire Nation prison." Katara grabbed her brother, giving him a scolding look before softening and pulling him into her arms as the family reunited once more, and this time without the weight of an invasion looming over their shoulders.
"Seriously, you guys didn't find any meat?" Laughing at Toph who was still focused on the meat, I walked over and ruffled her hair playfully.
"Don't worry Toph, you and I can go find something, show these boys how it's done. Time for a girl's only trip!" I cheered and Toph punched the air with a whoop of agreement. "Katara you in?"
"I'll pass, but thanks for asking." Breaking away from his dad and sister, Sokka eagerly rushed over to the girl and pulled her by the hand over to us, grinning like an idiot as he introduced her as Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors.
"Oh! So you're Suki, Sokka's talked a lot about you, nice to meet you." I greeted warmly, shaking her hand as Suki smiled.
"You must be…Kayo? Sokka talked about you too. It's good to see you again Toph." Suki said Toph and I as we began to get to know each other.
"Same to you sweetness, Sokka cried like a baby every night since he found out you'd been captured by Azula." Toph revealed, making Sokka exclaim rapidly in protest.
"I did not!"
"I heard you." Suki and I laughed as Toph started to mess with Sokka who only rose to the bait, both of us similar in height and build as we naturally placed our hands on our hips.
"So Sokka tells me you're a warrior, I'm impressed. We need more kickass girls around to keep these rowdy boys in line." I said to her as I pointed at Sokka who was racing around trying to catch Toph whilst Aang was springing up and down like a raberoo, playing about as everybody else laughed. "They've been driving me crazy." Hanging my head with a groan, Suki laughingly promised that she'd soon straighten Sokka out so I grinned at her. "I think I'm going to like you. Toph and I are going to go find food supplies, did you want to come or would you rather rest? I can get you a change of clothes and there's an awesome bathhouse around here if you wanted to freshen up."
Accepting my latter offer to rest and clean up, I supplied Suki with a change of clothes and showed her around the temple with Sokka following us around, telling Suki all about what had happened since they parted ways in Ba Sing Se until we reached the bathhouse and Suki walked in and I held out my hand which Sokka walked straight into. "Girls only Sokka. No boys allowed." I ordered him and he pouted, slouching slightly as he gave me a simpering look so I sighed. "How about you guard the door for us whilst Suki bathes? I'll be out in a minute."
"You got it!" Accepting this role, Sokka promptly turned his back to the door and stood up proudly, rigidly devoting himself to protecting Suki's honour as I rolled my eyes affectionately before going into the bathhouse to help Suki get the water flowing and showed her how everything worked before leaving her to it.
"See you when we get back Sokka."
"Don't forget to get plenty of meat!" He yelled after me so I flicked out my hand, signalling I'd heard him as Toph waited for me by Appa so that we could get going. Making sure we had everything we needed for a trip that could possibly take two days, I made sure Aang knew where we were going with Appa and just as I was helping Toph to climb up, Zuko came towards us.
"Hey, do you need any help?"
"No I think we're all set. Don't worry, we won't be breaking into any prisons whilst we're gone." I said to him jokingly as I twirled my metal batons with the ribbons wrapped around them securely, taking them with me in case we needed to defend ourselves but couldn't reveal our bending. "We'll be back either tomorrow or the day after."
"Do you…think we could talk when you come back?" Seeing that something was bothering him, I straightened up as my shoulders dropped, putting the batons away.
"Is something wrong?"
"Not really, it's just something happened at the prison and…"
"Do you want me to stay and talk right now? We can postpone the supply run." I offered but Toph called down where she was hanging over Appa's saddle.
"No we can't, I need meat! Zuko can wait until we get back, right Zuko?" Although she couldn't see me glaring at her, I glared anyway, making to say something but Zuko stopped me.
"It's fine, it's not that important. Be careful out there. Don't do anything reckless." I arched an eyebrow at him.
"Like breaking into a prison with no real plan and almost getting trapped there with no escape?" I listened before smiling, reaching up my hand to brush aside his hair and my fingers happened to touch his scar also. "We won't go crazy, at least, not too much. Right Toph?" She grinned at me, looking forward to just getting out of the temple for a bit and stretching her legs. Since her feet were all better, I guess she was eager to use them so after giving Zuko's arm a comforting squeeze, I climbed up onto Appa's neck then took hold of the reins. "Yip-yip."
Taking off with a growl, we flew out of the temple and into the skies, heading south in order to find a town or market place where we could buy supplies. "What do you think Zuko wanted to talk about?" Toph asked me as she lay on her back and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw her picking her nose. Gross Toph. Real gross.
"I don't know, but he didn't look like he had good news. Guess I'll find out after we get back. Come on Appa. I know a place we can rest for the night before going the rest of the way in the morning. It's far, but we can't risk people seeing us too close to the temple." With a cloud wrapped around us as I bent it to shield us from view, we flew to an island I knew of and slept for the rest of the night before continuing on in the morning, glad to be out in the open air.
