We're so close to the end. There are somewhere between 2 and 4 chapters left, depending on how many words it takes to write the battle. I'm fairly confident this story will be complete sometime this summer.

This is one of the longest chapters yet. Enjoy. :)

More Than Blood Can Stand

Chapter 40: Ignition

"Ugh!"

For what felt like the twentieth time in the last ten minutes, Toph stumbled into Sokka, making him nearly lose his balance. He rubbed the spot on his back to ease the pain and scowled at the ice. Because it wasn't Toph's fault she was suddenly so clumsy.

She had been having trouble seeing ever since they had arrived at the North Pole.

"The earth is buried too deep beneath the ice," she had complained when they first stepped off Appa. "I can sense it down there, but I can't feel any vibrations through it."

After Zuko, Lee, and Aang left for a meeting with Chief Arnook, and Katara to who-knows-where, she latched onto Sokka. And to be honest, he had welcomed it. With Toph as his responsibility, he had no time to seek out Yue or her father or a certain Kyoshi Warrior. None whatsoever.

They spent the first day wandering around the city looking for spots where she could feel faintly stronger hints of earth. The palace was immediately ruled out, since it was constructed of layer upon layer of extra ice. And if the idea to rule out the palace had been his, well… Toph hadn't complained.

She also hadn't found a thin spot in the ice, so they settled into the stable with Appa for the night. Because Toph was used to navigating the saddle blind, and for no other reason.

"It's so frustrating," she complained, punching the saddle like she would the ground. "I hate the ice."

"But you can sense earth nearby. So doesn't that mean you should be able to see a little bit?"

"No," she said shortly. "It doesn't. That's not how it works."

He scooted a little forward in his sleeping bag, overcome with a sudden curiosity. "Then how does it work? I don't think I've ever really understood."

She spent a few moments sighing and rubbing her feet before she answered. "I don't know how to explain, exactly. I feel the vibrations in the earth, I guess? My feet can sense through earthbending. Even little things, like ants or someone's heartbeat."

"That is so cool. And you can do that with metal, too?"

"Eh." She shrugged. "More or less. There's a lot less earth to work with, so the sense is dulled a bit. But nothing like here."

Sokka sat back in the saddle, glad to have something to occupy his mind. "I wonder if there's a way to improve your sight here. It seems like there ought to be."

"Short of raising the ocean floor, I don't know what."

"If there was earth just under the ice, you think it would work?"

"Sure. When it snowed in the winter at home, I could still sense things. Kind of like on the ship, actually. It was a duller sense, but still workable."

"Hmm." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You don't need to be physically touching the earth for the sense to work, and you don't need the people and objects around her to be directly touching the earth, either?"

"Nope," she said, obviously not as interested in this conversation as he was. "I wear boots in the winter, and I can still sense things through the boots and snow. Now are we going to get to sleep, or not?"

Sokka tried to sleep, really he did, but it was so hard to turn his brain off when he had ideas. He wondered how far away from earth Toph could sense vibrations, and he wondered if it worked the other way. If someone was jumping on a log, would Toph be able to feel the vibrations even though the person wasn't on the earth? He thought it ought to work.

It was late into the night when he finally drifted off, the last thought in his mind that it was too bad Toph couldn't take her own personal earth island with her.

The next morning they began their search again. This time Sokka let Toph lead. Or rather, he let her choose the direction they walked. They stopped every few yards for Toph to put her hand on the ice and try to sense earth.

"Nothing," she grumbled over and over, putting her cold, snow-wet hand back into his and sighing. "But I feel something. There's earth somewhere here."

Her senses brought them closer to the palace than was comfortable for him. They wandered the streets of the city, skirting around the very places he was afraid to go.

"Don't you want to look somewhere else?" he asked, sure that Suki or Yue would walk around the next corner any minute.

"No. This is the way to the earth."

"Yeah, but couldn't we try behind the palace or—"

He blanched as a Kyoshi Warrior turned the corner, and he acted on instinct, grabbing her hand and running in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" she protested, tripping over her own feet in an effort to keep up.

"Sorry."

A pang of guilt shot through him. He really should have warned her.

They wound their way through the city, Sokka ducking and changing directions whenever he saw someone he thought might recognize him, until they were quite lost. He paused, taking stock of the area around him, trying to get his bearings while he caught his breath.

"So," Toph drawled, "are you going to tell me what's really going on?"

"What!" he protested immediately. "Nothing's going on! We're looking for earth for you to bend, and it's hard to find here. That's all."

She folded her arms and scowled. "I don't need earthbending to tell you're lying. And I really don't appreciate you using me as an excuse for your lies. Especially when I don't know what the real reason is. So fess up, or take me back to the palace, where I can get a decent breakfast."

"I- I don't-" he sputtered, until at last settling on: "It's complicated."

"Yeah, I'd figured that out already, genius."

It was no use. Toph would settle for nothing less than the truth. He hung his head.

"Katara, Aang, and I know the Kyoshi Warriors. We visited their village last winter."

"Sounds fun," she said in a voice that said exactly the opposite.

"I got to know their leader, Suki, pretty well."

"Yeah?"

"She, uh, kissed me."

"Good for you," she said, her voice laced with an undercurrent of venom. "But I still don't see the problem."

Sokka blinked. "Well, she's here now."

"Obviously."

"And so is Princess Yue?"

"Yep. She's here, too."

He threw up his hands and leaned back against the ice wall. "Do you really not see the problem?"

"No, actually. I don't." She folded her arms against her chest. "There is a genocidal maniac somewhere off the shore that intends to wipe us all off the face of the earth. I don't really see how your girl problems are the issue here."

Sokka scowled. Of course Toph didn't understand. "It's the issue because we're all going to have to fight together, and that's going to be a problem if my girl problems, as you put it, cause Suki or Chief Arnook or Yue not to trust me."

"You're using that as an excuse," she spat back. "The real issue is that you're not man enough to commit to one girl, and you're panicking that one of them is going to find out about it."

His hands balled into fists, and he could feel a muscle in his face begin to twitch. "I can commit!"

"Yeah," she smirked. "But to which one?'

He opened his mouth, but the only thing that came out was a strangled growl. He spun around and stabbed his machete into a nearby snowbank.

What Toph didn't understand was this was exactly why he was avoiding Suki. He was supposed to be in a relationship of some sort with Yue. If he didn't see Suki, he could convince himself he wasn't in love with both of them. Because he wasn't that kind of guy. He would never betray someone he was committed to.

So it was a good thing he was avoiding Suki when he was already promised to Yue. His honor depended on it.

Yue and her father, on the other hand… he winced. Some brave warrior he was, if he couldn't face two people who thought he was worthy enough to join their family. Why was it he could rush into battle headlong without any fear, but when it came to his - he gulped - girlfriend, he was as weak-kneed as old lady Yuka from his village.

Toph sighed from behind him. "I thought you might not have an answer. Come on, Sokka," she said in a softer voice. She reached out blindly with her hand, grabbing the back of his shirt and then fumbling from there until she'd grabbed his hand. "I feel like we're getting close to some earth. Let's focus on that right now, okay?" Then, with the sarcastic edge back in her voice. "That way if you see Yue or Suki, at least I'll be able to bury them in a rock-alanche."

He nodded dumbly, before realizing that Toph couldn't see it.

"You're right," he said, grasping her hand a little more firmly. "I'm being selfish. We have to find you some earth before the Fire Nation gets here."

Or else you're a sitting turtle duck.

The unspoken thought hung between them for a moment, before he cleared his throat and tugged on her hand.

"So. Which way is this earth you're sensing?"

Even with the windows covered with thick curtains, it was difficult for Zuko to get much sleep here. It wasn't the summer solstice, but it was close enough that the sun only dipped below the horizon for a couple of hours each day. Even then, it never got much darker than twilight.

And while he could sleep with the sun up, it was more like a light nap than the restorative deep sleep he needed. He kept waking up, restless, before managing to doze off for another half hour or so.

He felt a stab of guilt at leaving so many of his troops here for months on end; the firebenders among them must have been having difficulty sleeping for weeks now - maybe months. But perhaps they'd gotten used to it? Adjusted?

He hoped so.

He gazed down at Mai's sleeping form, grateful that she wasn't having the same difficulties he was. Her face had lost that tight, guarded look that she so often wore. Her features were soft, peaceful, her limbs splayed about with none of the grace they displayed when she was awake. It must be trained rather than innate - a thought that brought a smile to his face. He could relate to having to work to overcome his natural ineptitude.

The sun was high in the sky now. He didn't know what time that meant it was, but he knew he wasn't going to get any more sleep. With a sigh he rubbed his eyes and pushed himself out of bed.

Mai shivered a bit at the loss of his body heat, and he reached over to pull the furs up to her chin, using his firebending to warm them slightly before tucking them in at the edges to trap as much heat as possible. She made a small noise in the back of her throat, then rolled over to bury her face in the pillow, still fast asleep.

He reached his hand down to skim his fingers over her hair, which had fanned out when she changed position. There seemed to be so much more of it when it was down, like an extra blanket spread out on the bed. It slid through his fingers, silky and soft, yet also thick and weighty.

He rubbed a lock idly between his thumb and forefinger, hardly believing his good luck to be able to do this - that she was here, that she had forgiven him - and that he had been able to forgive her.

She had been right that forgiveness didn't lead to things being just as they were before. No, the pain was still there; he hadn't forgotten any of it - and he was sure she hadn't, either. But it hurt less this morning than it had even the day before.

He straightened and took a quick step back. He was liable to wake her up if he stayed here any longer, and he knew she needed her sleep.

Instead, he put his hair up into a topknot and changed into a pair of robes that had been hanging in this closet since before they'd left. He pulled the curtains aside just far enough for him to see people walking around the courtyard outside, and not all of them Fire Nation.

Satisfied that it wasn't that early, he left the room as quietly as he could, and found himself face-to-face with Aki and Yuto, who were huddled close together.

His reaction to seeing them was immediate, and visceral. A rush of relief at seeing them alive again, a stab of pain that Hinata was not with them, a sickening feeling of guilt settling in his gut that he had hand-picked Hinata to be the one to die. Which wasn't a fair thought for him to have at all, he knew. But reality had very little to do with how he felt.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Yuto smiled, bowing. "It's so good to see you again."

Aki nodded once. "Our apologies for not being here to meet you yesterday. We were out on a training exercise with the troops, and by the time we were made aware that you had returned, you had disappeared into your room for the night."

"Right. It's, uh, good to see you both again, too."

"If I may be so bold, your highness…" Aki stepped aside to create space between her and Yuto, and Zuko saw Lee, tied up on the ground behind them, scowling. "We found this Yuyan archer hanging around outside your room. He claims he is your guard, but we have been informed of what the Yuyan did to you in the Earth Kingdom."

Zuko never thought that the mention of the Yuyan archers killing Hinata would inspire anything other than pain in him, and while it did twinge, he also had to bite back a laugh at the contrast of Aki's dead serious almost-glare and Lee's grumpy, almost embarrassed scowl.

"Thank you, Aki. That was very, uh, thorough of you. But Lee was actually acting as my guard in absence of Hinata, and I would appreciate it if you untied him."

"I told you," Yuto hissed as he bent down to loosen Lee's restraints.

Aki merely shrugged. "Better safe than sorry when it comes to the Fire Lord's protection."

Lee shrugged out of his restraints and scrambled to his feet. "Finally," he huffed, then bowed to Zuko. "They took me by surprise, but that is no excuse. I'm sorry I failed."

And suddenly Zuko could no longer contain his laugh. "Some guards you three are. Unable to stop two firebenders—" he tsked at Lee.

"I'm not really a close-combat specialist," he grumbled.

"— and you two tying up a completely harmless ally?"

"It seemed like the best course of action at the time," Aki said, hands on her hips.

He shook his head fondly.

Yuto had a hand behind his head, and was laughing nervously, when he suddenly stilled and leaned forward, speaking in hushed tones.

"My Lord, as much as we deserve the scolding, there is urgent business to discuss. The Fire Navy is nearly to our shores. What is your plan for when they arrive? And where is the Fire Lady?"

Zuko felt his cheeks flush. "Oh, Mai? She's, uh—" Technically she was hiding, presumed dead by the enemy. Her whereabouts were on a strictly need-to-know basis, and he hadn't cleared adding new people to that list with her. Unconsciously, he began to sneak a glance at the door behind him, but stopped himself just in time.

Or maybe not. Aki rolled her eyes.

"Right, so she's safe for the time being."

Lee's eyes bugged out, and a wide grin spread over his face. "You made up with her? How did it go?" He waved his hand impatiently. "Never mind. Obviously it went well if she's in there. So did you use the speech we practiced?"

"Not… exactly…"

Aki gaped. "Made up? You were fighting?"

"Umm…"

The group fell into an uncomfortable silence, Zuko and Lee refusing to say anything, and Aki and Yuto waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Tom-Tom is going to be so happy his sister is back," Yuto finally said, attempting lightheartedness. "I should go get him, tell Lady Michi that—"

"No!" Zuko reached out and grabbed Yuto's shoulder, holding it tight. "You can't tell Michi. You can't tell anyone."

At their concerned looks, he sighed. "Look, I'll explain everything, but we need to move to someplace more secure, where we can't be overheard. Okay?"

Azula pushed her spoon into her bowl of rice with more carefully focused attention than was necessary. She smiled faintly at the perfectly-sized pile of rice, slightly rounded, the stickiness holding it together, then selected the most perfect slice of sweet and spicy pickled cucumber-melon to accompany it. With her chopsticks in her other hand, she placed the fish on top of the mound of rice, taking time to balance it just so. Then she put the spoon into her mouth, savoring every last morsel.

She wouldn't normally focus so much attention on eating a meal, but in this case it was preferable to making eye contact with anyone else at the breakfast table. The tense silence of the room was enough to cut through the metal hull of their ship.

She considered the bowl of rice again, and aimed her spoon.

The door banged open, making her jump and eliciting a shrill "eep" from the chair in the corner. She looked up from her meal to see a soldier who entered, bowed to her father, and began speaking in a clipped, business-like tone.

"My Lord, the lead ship has spotted the gates of the Northern Water Tribe. We should reach our destination in about two hours."

Father nodded once, and the soldier exited the room. But the bubble she had created with her breakfast had been broken, and she could no longer pretend the other people in the room didn't exist. She set her spoon and chopsticks on the table. Suddenly her appetite had disappeared.

"The timing is good," Father said after a moment. "The sun will be at its highest point."

"Good." Ty Lee was sitting ramrod straight in her chair, her balled into fists so hard the knuckles turned white, and her face set in a hard mask. "We will be able to inflict maximum damage."

Azula felt a moment of… not fear, exactly, but definite unease. The way Ty Lee had changed since Mai's death was unsettling, not the least of which because she didn't understand it. Bubbly, ditzy Ty Lee she understood. Bubbly, ditsy Ty Lee she could control. But she had no idea what to do with this angry, vengeful, hard version of her.

Even Ling seemed unsure. Every now and then he reached a hand out, as if to place it on her fists or to wrap it around her shoulders. But he pulled back at the last second, clenched and unclenched his fists, and placed them back in his lap.

They exchanged an uneasy glance, then quickly looked away.

Ty Lee had been a mess after Mai's death. She had cried for days, unable to get up from her bed and completely unconsolable. Until one day, she'd gotten up before anyone else and watched the sun rise from the top of a hill just outside the camp. When she'd come back, she was unrecognizable from the Ty Lee Azula knew. She was angry, hard, vengeful.

Azula's shocked, "What got into you?" was met by a scornful snort.

"Mai was murdered. Doesn't that bother you? It's like you don't even miss her."

It's not like Azula didn't also miss Mai. She did. Sort of. It was like a dull ache somewhere in the back of her mind that every now and then made itself known. But this focused rage was so foreign to her — no, that wasn't true. She knew how to focus her rage. She did it all the time with her firebending, or how she plotted against Zuko. Focused rage was a way of life for her. But it wasn't precipitated by anything. It wasn't linked to a singular event in her life.

And there was something fearsome about it in Ty Lee.

Even her father seemed to recognize it, choosing to sit on the opposite side of the conference table from her, his body angled away. And none of them spoke much.

Another whimper from the corner of the room reminded her that Ty Lee wasn't the only reason for that. Her mother was tied to a chair, bound and gagged, tears glistening on her face. She sent pleading glances to Azula that she had been trying to avoid ever since they'd set on on this journey. It made her want to throw up, the pathetic way her mother sat there.

And how her father sat unmoved by it.

"I don't agree with Zhao's plan," she said, mostly because she couldn't stand listening to her mother's whimpers or Ty Lee's anger anymore. "It's too risky."

Father looked almost relieved to have something else to talk about, too. "It is worth the risk. If the waterbenders lose their bending ability, we will have an immense advantage that they won't be able to overcome."

"But we have to get to the pond first - it's deep inside the city, almost to the pole itself. And that's assuming it's real and not some fairy tale Zhao invented on his cactus juice-induced the Si Wong Desert."

"It's real, Azula. You're just going to have to trust me."

If he was going to be like that about it… "Fine. Let's say it is real. Then if they're smart, they'll have it guarded with their best benders."

"Are you suggesting you can't handle the best they have to offer?" He sneered in her direction, a haughty, cold look that Azula most commonly associated with his interaction with Zuko, not her.

She let out a squeak that was hardly consistent with her carefully crafted image. "No other firebender alive has blue fire! I am special. I am a prodigy. You have told me this my whole life. And now you don't believe in me?"

He scoffed. "Lately I wonder."

She sat in shock, a buzzing noise filling her head and making it hard to think straight. "I have done everything you ever asked of me," she rasped. "What more do you want?"

"Zuko? The Avatar? The Blue Spirit? You continually let them slip through your fingers."

"You were the first to let Zuko escape," she hissed, pushing her chair back and standing. "If you'd just stuck to the plan, maybe we wouldn't be in this position!"

"Sit down!" Father frowned. "That mouth of yours is exactly why I sent you to the Earth Kingdom to begin with. I am the Fire Lord. You will not contradict me, and you will not question my decisions."

The tone of his voice should have been a warning, but she was feeling reckless.

"I will speak up when you are wrong. And you are wrong about this crazy plan. I refuse to be part of it."

"Let me do it." All eyes turned to Ty Lee. Her lips trembled, but she plowed on. "I can get in without being seen, and I can stop anyone I meet." She gave a grim smile. "I'll kill the fish."

"Ty Lee," Ling said, again reaching out his hand, "I don't know if you should—"

"No." Azula's fist slammed onto the table. "You're going on the mission with me. I need you."

"I agree with Ty Lee." Father smiled, as though there had never been any argument. "This is a perfect job for her. She can join you in your mission when she has finished with mine."

She collapsed into her chair, all the fight gone out of her. What was the point in fighting? Nothing ever worked out the way she planned it. The debacle with Zuko in Omashu, the failure of the Dai Li with General Mak, the failure of Mai to kill Zuko, the way Zuko and the Avatar slipped out of her grasp at every turn, and, of course, Mai's death.

She didn't know why she expected anything different with this invasion. So why fight her father's plans? Focus on surviving. Focus on escaping. Focus on what comes next.

And whatever else, definitely do not focus on how very wrong everything about this invasion feels.

"We're nearly there." Toph wrinkled her brow and leaned down to touch the ice again. "It's so close… I think…"

Being at the North Pole was hard on her. Every sensation was muted, and would have been muted even without stuffing her feet into the fur-lined boots she was forced to wear on the ice and snow. Most of the city was formed on sea ice, with no earth except the sea floor hundreds of feet below. It was scary, being robbed of her seismic sense, and if not for the vague feeling that there was a massive deposit of earth nearby, she might have gone crazy.

For the last hour, she and Sokka had been wandering ever closer to the supposed earth, and she had felt the sensation increase - but she couldn't pinpoint exactly where it was.

She could feel it now, though, strong enough that it made goosebumps pop up on her forearm and the hair on the back of her neck prickle. It was strange; earth had never made her feel this way before. Was it because she had been deprived of it for days on end?

"Are you sure you're going the right way?" Sokka said from beside her. His voice echoed strangely. "This doesn't look like the right place."

"How would you know what the right place looked like?"

She felt him shrug through their joined hands. "I figured it would at least be outside."

Huh. There was no better proof of her utter blindness than this - she hadn't had the slightest notion that they weren't still in the open air.

"Where are we, then?"

"We're in a narrow, high-walled courtyard, headed for a small door at the far end. We came through a passageway that looks almost like a… temple, maybe? There are lots of carvings of the moon and ocean on the wall."

She frowned. "Yeah, that doesn't sound right at all. But I know what I'm feeling, and this has got to be it."

"What does it feel like?"

Toph hardly knew how to answer. It was a sort of thrumming inside her body that she could feel all over, but also deep inside. Maybe it was her chi that was sensing it? She wasn't entirely sure.

"It's not something you would understand," she said, aware that she was being callous, but also unwilling to admit that she didn't understand it, either.

"Probably not," he shrugged. "Come on. Let's see what's beyond that door."

She heard him jiggle what must have been the handle, then a creaking sound that would have been the door swinging open, and a blast of warm air.

"Woah," Sokka gasped. "I think we found your earth."

He tugged on her hand, and she took a step forward into the warmth. Yes, this was it. The thrumming feeling grew with each step, until at last she felt not ice beneath her feet, but land.

With a laugh, she tore off her boots and dug her feet into the grass, wiggling her toes. She was lying on the grass of a small island connected to the mainland by wooden bridges. There was a pond in the middle of the island where two fish were swimming, and a free-standing gate just beyond it.

She could feel the minutest vibrations, her connection with her element so strong here that she could actually make out the layout of part of the palace beyond this place, and the people who were there.

"Finally!" she cried, before falling onto her back so she could feel the ground with more of her being. "How is there a place like this in the North Pole?"

"I don't think I've ever seen a place like this in the South Pole, either. I wonder if it's heated by hot springs?"

Sokka began poking around, dipping his hand in the pond and in the water that surrounded the island, running his hands over the gate. But Toph lay where she was, encased by her element, soaking it in.

"What do you think this place is?" Sokka called from behind the gate.

"I don't know. I'm too happy to care."

"It really looks like a temple," he murmured, his hand on his chin. He began pacing around the island. "Kind of like the little temple in our village." He came to a halt next to the pond. "Those fish really like circling each other, don't they?"

Toph liked Sokka, but he did talk an awful lot when he got excited. She opened up a hole in the ground beneath her, dropped into it, and then covered it back over herself.

Oh, sweet dirt. It was heavenly. She could stay encased in it forever.

"Toph!" Sokka's voice was muted, but no matter how much dirt was over her, it couldn't be ignored. "Where did you go?"

She sighed and popped back up. "Right here."

"Woah," he said, eyes wide. "That's impressive."

She shrugged and lay back down on the ground. "It's earthbending. Nothing fancy."

"So what are you going to do with all this earth, now that you've found it? Stay here until the Fire Nation finds you?"

"Are you kidding?" she scoffed. "I'm going to take it with me. Just move this island all over the North Pole and if someone wants to take me on, they've got to step on it."

"I don't know," he hedged. "This seems like it's a sacred place. I think you'd better not damage it."

"No way. I've finally found earth. I'm going to use it. I refuse to fight the Fire Nation blind."

Sokka began pacing again, around and around the island, and then he skidded to a halt.

"Earth snowshoes!"

"Earth... snowshoes?"

Sokka's heart rate had soared, and he began pacing again with a fervor. "Yes, earth snowshoes! Ice transmits vibrations, too, any Water Tribe hunter can tell you that. Stick your machete in the ice and you can hear better. So if you make snowshoes out of earth, it makes sense you could feel the vibrations of the ice through earthbending!"

"I don't know, Sokka. It seems like a long shot."

But Sokka wasn't listening. He was practically giddy. "If you can feel the vibrations of earth through the ice, it stands to reason you can do it the other way, too. Better make them big, wide snowshoes to gather the most vibrations possible. Spikes on the undersides to help you really sink into the ice. Yes. Yes, it should work!"

He spun around to her. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

He was nuts. There was no way this would work. But she reached her fist into the ground all the same and pulled out a hunk of earth, which she fastened into two oblongs to the bottoms of her boots. With a flick of her fingers, spikes extended from the undersides to help grip the ice.

"What do you think?" She flourished her newly shod feet in Sokka's general direction.

"Impressive," he said, stroking his chin. "Most impressive. Let's try them!"

It took her a few minutes to get the hang of walking in them, but once she did, she was nearly skipping with excitement. Maybe it was the magic of the place, but she could still sense things, even when walking over the wooden bridges.

The real test would be once they left this magical place. They reached the door, and with a deep breath she stepped out onto the ice.

The shoes gripped the ice exactly as he'd said. And what was more - she could see.

The earthen shoes transmitted the vibrations of the ice to her feet. Yes, there was a loss of detail, but that was a minor difficulty compared to the complete blackness she had felt before. This was amazing.

"Sokka! You're a genius!"

She ran at him at full speed, crashing into him in a hug of sorts. But he didn't return it. Instead, he turned his face to the sky

"Oh no," he said, and she could tell by the increase in his heart rate that this wasn't one of his ordinary complaints.

"What? What is it?"

He continued staring at the sky for a beat, before turning to her.

"It's soot, and a lot of it."

"Soot from the sky? What does that mean?"

Sokka shook his head. "It means the Fire Navy has arrived."