As the Zoryu approached the water tribe village, Sokka and Katara stood at the bow and tried to make themselves as visible as possible.

They were, after all, on a ship that had belonged to the Fire Navy until a few days ago, and the appearance of a Fire Navy vessel might cause panic in the villagers, especially with the recent resumption of southern raiding.

It had been a day since Aang had entered the spirit world with Avatar Roku to comb through the Fire Avatar's memories; Aang had returned with a new understanding of how the war had begun, and with advice from Roku on how to end it.

"He wants you to befriend the Fire Lord? How is that supposed to work?"

"That's what I said, but I don't think Roku was talking about Ozai."

"If not Ozai, then who? Iroh, maybe?"

The discussions over what this had meant had raged long into the night, with no answers presenting themselves.

"Looking forward to coming home?", Katara asked him.

"It feels like ages since we were last there; like so much has happened to us since. It will be nice to see Gran Gran again."

"It will. And they can meet Suki and Toph."

The ship steamed around the side of an iceberg, and they caught sight of the walls of snow that protected their village for the first time.

"It looks just the same."

"Not quite. Look!"

Sure enough, the watchtower was now made of ice. The man on it wore furs in the style of the northern water tribe, and he began waving and shouting at the approach of a Fire Nation vessel.

Katara and Sokka began shouting back, and Sokka started waving a white flag he had made to show that they came in peace. The man seemed to take notice; he shouted again, but in a less panicked way now.

Eventually, the Zoryu made contact with the ice.

As the doors opened and the ramp extended, Sokka and Katara led the way down the ramp, followed by Aang, Toph, Suki, and the water tribespeople they had liberated.

They were met by several men, and at the head of those men was an old man with grey hair and a familiar face.

"Master Pakku!"

"Katara! Aang! Sokka!" The waterbending master greeted them warmly.

"What brings you back to the south? And how goes the war?"

So Sokka told him. Pakku looked horrified as the Sack of Ba Sing Se was described to him, and gave Aang a reassuring look when he found out about his "death". Katara made sure to thank him enthusiastically for the vial of spirit water that she had given to him, without which the Avatar's death could have been an awful lot more permanent.

"We came back because we found out the Fire Nation was raiding the south again, and we wanted to help."

"Yes, we had noticed that. Hard not to really. You needn't have come though."

"Why? The water tribe needs our help."

"They have help. The north sent several waterbenders to help the south, led by me."

I do have other news though. And it's good news."

Pakku smiled widely.

"When I arrived in the south, I rekindled my relationship with Kanna -that's Gran Gran to you- and we just got engaged. We're going to marry."

"That's great!" Katara shouted.

Sokka agreed, but he had more pressing concerns- finding a suitable nickname for their new grandfather-in-law. "Does that mean we can call you Grandad now? Or GranPakku?"

"Master Pakku."

"But-"

"MASTER. PAKKU."

"Fine."

By now, the group had walked inside the village, where they were surrounded by people. Sokka was immediately crowded by the children who he had been trying to teach to fight a few months ago, who began bombarding him with questions about the Avatar, the Fire Nation, and fighting. Sokka good-naturedly answered them for a bit, with interjections from the others whenever they thought he was embellishing details.

This meant they were butting in every second sentence.

He was just telling them how he had heroically single-handedly defeated an entire shipful of Pirates and Fire Prince Zuko at the same time when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"I'm sure you did."

"Gran Gran!"

Sokka and Katara ran to hug her.

After they had broken apart, they heard a cough from nearby.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Toph asked.

"Oh, right. This is Toph Beifong and Suki, from the Earth Kingdom. Toph is Aang's earthbending teacher, and Suki is the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. Toph, Suki, this is our Gran Gran. And this is Pakku, a very grumpy waterbending master from the north who fought Katara once."

Surprisingly, Pakku did not take offence at his description.

The two of them politely made their introduction.

"What are we going to do with the others we rescued?" Sokka wondered.

"I can send men to escort them back to their homes, but it might be best to try to group up as much as possible. There's safety in numbers, after all."

"It's so good to have you home again, even for a short while", Gran Gran said warmly.

"Pakku told us about the engagement!"

"Yes, it did happen rather fast. But he is no longer the traditionalist he was 60 years ago, and this time it is for love."

After that, everyone split off to do their own thing. Aang and Katara had a waterbending session with Pakku, while Sokka decided to inspect the troops with Suki.

"Alright then, everyone, how have you been getting on in my absence?" He asked.

A chorus of "fine" and "good" returned.

"I have someone I would like you all to meet. This is Suki. She's a Kyoshi Warrior, she actually knows how to fight."

"But women can't fight", one of the children said. That's why it's our job to protect the village."

"No. Women can fight. Trust me, I have found this out the hard way." Sokka replied sternly. "And unless you want a demonstration, I would advise you to present arms."

Several short, stubby arms presented four sticks, a broom, and a large fish.

"Terrifying." Sokka humoured them. "I would hate to be the Fire Nation soldier who had to fight you."

"Can I go to the toilet?"

"Fine."

With the northerners here, the children were no longer the only line of defence the village had, and so Sokka was doing this more for old time's sake than anything else.

"What do you think of our humble village?" He asked Suki.

"Kyoshi Island's not a big place, but it's like Ba Sing Se compared to here. Still, it's nice here."

Just then, something began to fall from the sky. Sokka looked up, and was about to comment that it was snowing when he got a better look at what it was and froze.

Ash.

Everyone else noticed at the same time, for suddenly the village was a hive of activity. Cries of "The Fire Navy is coming!" Rang out, and men hurried into their positions. The three waterbenders rushed back into the village, as Aang was told to hide in a tent to protect his identity along with the rest of the women and the children.

Sokka was reminded uncomfortably of the day Prince Zuko had arrived at their village, all those months ago. At least Zuko had agreed to leave them alone once he had the Avatar; given what he knew of the Fire Nation's intentions in the south now, he doubted this crew would be as honourable. He and Suki grabbed their weapons, and along with the northerners they awaited the ship.

They did not have to wait long.

The second Fire Nation ship docked alongside the first, and a ramp extended down the front of it. Down this ramp came a stream of soldiers, led by the captain. They entered the village, and the Fire Nation captain unrolled a piece of paper.

"This is a decree of Firelord Ozai.

The Avatar is dead."

Sokka hoped that no one there, who had seen the Avatar alive five minutes earlier, would blow Aang's cover, but nobody did.

"Your menfolk are off at war. There is nobody about to defend you. You will come with us to holding facilities in the Fire Nation, where you will be held until further notice. Please do not resist."

Pakku walked towards the captain. Sokka noticed that the master had suddenly developed a limp and a hunched back.

"S-sir," he asked. "What is going to become of our families?"

"That is none of your concern, old man. Just suffice it to say that you're not going to be returning home for a while.

"I was afraid you would say that."

And Pakku straightened up and blasted the captain with a powerful jet of water.

"A waterbender!"

"But I thought we deported all of those?"

"There are no waterbenders in the south any more!"

The cries of dismay from the Fire nation troops rang throughout the village. They had been expecting to round up a bunch of defenceless women, old men, and children, and instead they now had a fight on their hands.

"That's where you're wrong." Pakku smiled. "Now, who is feeling brave?"

Still, they weren't cowards, and so they piled in regardless. Suddenly, the village was engulfed by chaos.

Sokka saw Pakku and Katara working together in the centre of the village, freezing one Firebender in ice, water whipping another and forming arms that picked up a third and threw him into the sea. A fourth narrowly dodged a massive ice spike that erupted from the ground beneath him, before quickly liquefying and knocking him down. The rest of the northerners were involved too, forming ice walls to protect the civilians and launching ice javelins at the marines. Sokka and Suki charged the nearest Firebender.

Sokka threw his boomerang, which whistled away to the side. The Firebender ignited a flame in his hands, but Suki batted it aside, allowing Sokka to club him. The next Firebender charged them, launching a fireball. Suki jumped in front of Sokka and blocked it with her shield, before falling back and allowing Sokka to take the lead. This Firebender too received a club to the head.

The third Firebender took on a fighting stance, but before he had a chance to do anything the boomerang swung in and struck the back of his cranium. He crumpled, and the boomerang returned to Sokka's hand.

He was so busy congratulating himself for what a good shot that was that he let his guard down for a couple of seconds- allowing a marine to come up behind him. Fortunately, Suki was paying attention.

"Duck!"

Sokka dropped, and Suki's war-fan connected with the man's nose.

"Thanks. Have I ever told you how grateful I am you're travelling with us full-time now?"

"You could stand to mention it more."

Cursing himself for his lapse in judgement, but without any immediate threats, Sokka surveyed the battlefield. Katara and Pakku were still stood back to back in the centre of the village, blasting any fire nation soldier who dared to get close with jets of water.

Just as Katara turned around to combine her powers with Pakku's and unleash a particularly strong water whip on an unfortunate marine, Sokka saw the captain stand up behind her. He instantly saw the opportunity and ignited a fire dagger.

The next ten seconds seemed to happen in slow motion.

Sokka shouted and threw his boomerang, but it took a while to reach the target and so before it could the captain was knocked over by an immense gust of wind.

The rest of the Fire Nation troops instantly stopped to stare at the new combatant. "It can't be."

Aang used another gust of wind to send another one flying, before switching to waterbending (in case any further proof were needed of his identity) to knock down another. By now, the combination of several powerful waterbenders and the Avatar had convinced them they needed to retreat though. The few remaining firebenders ran for the ship, dragging the wounded comrades beside them. The waterbenders did not interfere with their evacuation.

As the ramp was raised and the ship moved away from shore, Sokka turned around to stare at Aang.

"Congratulations, Aang. Now the entire Fire Nation knows you're here."