It was a lovely day in Ba Sing Se, and Sokka stood with Katara and Aang, who had Momo perched on his head, as they supervised the craftsmen making a new saddle for Appa.

The old one had been lost at some point during the Sky-Bison's absence, and Aang had wanted to get a new one that was authentic to what the Air Nomads used. It helped that they had Earth King Kuei on their side now, and that he felt he owed them a favour for their part in opening his eyes; it had been his royal decree that had allowed them to commission these craftsmen.

Sokka had, like everyone else, taken great pleasure in the fall of Long Feng, not least because it allowed him to make a great joke about Long Feng being Long gone. Nobody had laughed except Suki.

Speaking of Suki, Sokka had plans. He excused himself and made his way to the house, where he found her talking to the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors in full makeup.

"Hey, Suki, can I ask you something? In private I mean?"

Suki nodded and followed him out of earshot.

"I know that you're probably thinking of getting back to the rest of your warriors soon, but before you do, I was wondering if you would accompany me on a date. A proper one I mean."

Suki laughed at his awkwardness. "Of course I would! Where did you have in mind?"

"Well, Ba Sing Se is a great place, with lots of lovely restaurants. The food is great! There's one I've seen, but it looked romantic so I didn't want to go without the right person with me. I didn't want to go without you."

Suki nodded. "Meet me tonight and we'll see what it is then."

Sokka spent the rest of the day in giddy anticipation. When the sun set and the time finally came, he put on his finest clothes (specially commissioned to be Water Tribe blue- what was the point of having a generous allowance if he didn't spend it on the things that mattered?) and knocked on Suki's door.

She opened it dressed in a green dress that resembled a finer version of her Kyoshi Warrior armour, but where the armour was made for protection, this dress was made of fine silk with green patterns all over it. It managed to render Sokka speechless for a couple of seconds, never an easy thing to do, but once he could he wasted no time complimenting her on how beautiful she looked.

Suki giggled. "You don't look so bad yourself, you know. Where is it we're going?"

"Just follow me," Sokka said, offering her his arm. The two of them strolled through the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, talking about anything they thought of but nothing of much substance, before they reached a magnificently lit restaurant called the Lotus Garden.

"A table for two, please", Sokka said. The owner obliged, and they were seated in their own booth with a lot of privacy but also a view out of a window onto the street below. In the distance they could hear the owner complaining about losing customers because of some amazing tea maker elsewhere in the city.

"You were right, this is a nice restaurant!" Suki remarked as they ordered; Suki got some noodles and Sokka of course ordered the biggest lump of meat on the menu.

"What is your obsession with meat?" Suki asked jokingly.

"I don't know what to tell you, I just love it so much. Almost as much, as I love you."

That was the first time that he had told her that, at least in so many words, and the fact that he had done so off the back of a conversation about meat took Suki aback.

"Sokka... I love you too." She said, and leaned across to kiss him. They were both grateful for the privacy of their booth.

Wait", Sokka said. "I hate to kill the moment like this, but there's something you should know."

The events at the North Pole had been months ago, but it was still difficult for him to talk about Yue. It was probably necessary though, to help Suki understand if this was going to get serious.

"There's something you should know before we go on with this. You know at the Serpent's Pass, when I told you about someone I couldn't protect at the North Pole?"

Suki nodded grimly.

"Her name was Yue. The Fire Nation attacked and destroyed the Spirit of the moon, hoping to take the bending of the entire Water Tribe away at once so they could defeat them easily. Yue... gave her life to restore the moon. She was the one I couldn't protect.

"Your girlfriend... turned into the moon?" Suki repeated, seemingly not quite knowing how to react to this revelation.

Sokka laughed hollowly. "It seems impossible doesn't it. And girlfriend is too strong. There's only one person for me, and that is you."

Suki seemed reassured for this; she must have wondered where he was going. "And I am glad to hear it", she said, going in for another kiss.

Just then, a scream sounded- from just out inside the window. They jerked apart and looked out of the window to see a shadowy figure standing over the inert form of an unconscious man, rifling through his pockets. Suki wasted no time in pulling out two familiar golden objects from her sleeves.

"Why am I not surprised that you brought your war fans on our date?"

"You never know who you might encounter," she shot back as she tossed him one. "You do know how to use this right?"

"I had a good teacher," Sokka said as they rushed out of the restaurant, remembering his first meeting with Suki on Kyoshi Island. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"About five minutes ago."

"That way!" Sokka saw a foot vanish around the corner as the thief took off, and he and Suki took off after him. They had a hard time keeping track of him in the dark, but had a stroke of luck; the thief couldn't see any more than they could and went down a dead end. Sokka and Suki screeched to a halt.

"Give back what you stole and we'll let you go! You're trapped, there are two of us and you are alone!" Sokka shouted.

In response, the thief only laughed mockingly. What are you going to do it with, those... toys?" He asked, gesturing at the war-fans they held.

"Also, what gave you the idea I was alone?"

They realised the trap too late, and turned around as three more figures clad in black crept behind them, armed with various clubs and swords. "Did you have to say that?" She hissed at Sokka.

"Now we have you outnumbered. Your bravado is admirable, but now it will only get you killed!"

The first thief gave a war cry and charged, his club raised over his head, with the others following. Suki was faster, using her fan to deflect his blow and sweeping his legs out from under him. Sokka, meanwhile, swung his fan into the face of the second thief, who had just been about to attack Suki from behind. The third thief lunged with a knife towards Sokka, but Suki again used her fan to knock his arm, causing him to miss, before elbowing him in the head. The last thief tried to attack them with a sword, but it was Sokka's turn to parry with his fan, before quickly jumping out of the way as Suki brought her weapon down hard. Their attacker fell to the floor, stirring feebly along with his friends.

Retrieving the stolen goods, a purse full of money, they returned the way they had come, making sure they weren't sneak attacked. They found the victim sitting on the floor, and returned the purse to him. They then returned to their table, just in time for their food to arrive.

"Nothing like beating up bad guys to work up an appetite!" Sokka said, tearing in to his meat.

"Not that you need it," Suki smirked.

"That's true." Sokka might have ordinarily taken offence at that statement, but he didn't feel like it at the moment.

"Do you bring your weapons with you everywhere?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Of course," Suki replied after swallowing a mouthful of food. "You never know when you need to beat someone up!"

Sokka noted the glee with which she said that.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," he laughed.

"You already did, remember?"

"Oh, that."

When Sokka had first met Suki, his worldview that women could not fight had been the second casualty. The first casualty had been his dignity.

"I have... mixed feelings about that."

"Oh?" Suki raised her eyebrow.

"Well, nobody likes to lose, and I did a lot of losing. Yes, I know I probably deserved it. But on the other hand..."

He leaned forward.

"... I met you, and I thank the Spirits every day for it."

"You're not the only one," Suki replied.

"And don't worry, you made your way into my good graces very quickly."

"I'm very glad to hear it." A question occurred to him.

"So what do you think of the big city?" He asked.

"It's... nice," Suki said after a while. She had not been in Ba Sing Se for very long, and Sokka knew that it must have been almost as big a culture shock for her, who grew up in a small village on Kyoshi Island, as it was for him, who came from a tiny settlement in the South Pole.

"It's like an island of peace," she said.

"Everywhere else we've experienced war, felt it's effects, but here? Here we sit in a fancy restaurant eating fancy food without a care in the world. I don't think we could do this anywhere else."

"Then it's a good thing we're here. Though the city was getting boring without you. Hey, did I tell you about how I accidentally discovered my secret talent for haiku?"

"No, but you're about to."

"Yes, I am."

Suki listened to his story raptly, laughing at his escapades. Sokka managed to recite a few of his haikus successfully from memory, but not all of them. Eventually he reached the part where he had been thrown out, and Suki frowned.

"They threw you out over one syllable?"

"I know!"

However, Suki's concern did not last, and was eventually replaced with laughter.

"You have to admit, that is pretty funny," she said.

"Alright, I admit it. But I'm still annoyed I lost."

"You did pretty well for a first-timer, so don't be."

"What about you?" Sokka asked. "While I've been living it up in the big city, what have you been doing?"

"I wouldn't say that I had as much fun as you, but we rescued Appa and defeated a Fire Princess."

Sokka clapped his hands together. "Well done, you did what all of us combined couldn't do."

Suki shrugged modestly.

Afterwards, they linked arms again and strolled home.

"I enjoyed that," said Suki as they kissed each other goodnight. "We'll have to do it again sometime".

As Sokka went to sleep, he couldn't help but agree.