Sokka, Suki and Toph

The seven members of Team Avatar sat on a long table, on a raised platform overlooking many other smaller tables that had been set up for the occasion.

Toph sat on one end of the table, with Sokka and then Suki sat beside her. Sokka was inhaling some turtle-duck, and chatting animatedly with Suki about how awesome she had been while defeating those guards.

"Did they really think you were Kyoshi?"

"Apparently so."

"It's good to know the Fire Nation has idiots too then! And when you fought that other guard..."

Suki blushed. "You weren't bad yourself, you know. You were the one who came up with the plan."

"Oh, that was nothing," Sokka replied with uncharacteristic modesty. He changed the subject. "So what was it like growing up here? It looks nice but I can't imagine there being much to do."

"Surely you had a more interesting childhood than I did though," Toph butted in.

"Yes, I was at least allowed outside." Suki knew very well Toph's circumstances. "Most of it was spent training, to be honest."

"I imagine it was nice to be close to people your own age."

"Why, weren't you?"

"The only person around my age in my village was Katara, and after mum died and dad had to go off to war, we were forced to grow up very quickly. I was basically put in charge of the defence of the village then."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry, that got very depressing very quickly, shall we change the subject?"

"Please."

"Ok. Who's that?" And Sokka pointed into the crowd.

"He's been trying to catch your eye this entire feast, and he's not at all subtle about it."

Suki looked where he was pointing. "Oh, he's the one who keeps foaming at the mouth, isn't he?"

"Why is he so interested in you?" Toph asked.

Suki suddenly looked uncomfortable, and Sokka sought to come up with a reasonable explanation that would not embarrass her. "Suki did just help save the village by singlehandly defeating three Firebenders while dressed as Avatar Kyoshi, who is kind of a big deal around here."

"There is another reason," Suki confessed.

"We kind of used to date."

Sokka looked at her without saying anything for a full fifteen seconds.

"What?"

"I try to pretend it didn't happen."

"Was it that bad?"

"He wasn't the best boyfriend ever. Now would you mind changing the subject? Shall we dive into your embarrassing personal secrets, Toph?"

"You can try, but the only answers I will give will be punches."

Mai and Zuko

On the other end of the table, the two most recent additions to Team Avatar sat. Mai and Zuko sat uncomfortably, and picked at cuts of meat they didn't know the names of.

"I'm surprised we're even allowed to sit up here," Zuko said.

Mai turned to look at him. "Is this because of what happened last time you were here?"

"Yes, the whole "burning down the village" thing."

"Do you think you're overthinking this?"

"How would I be overthinking it?"

"Last time you came here, you did a bad thing to these people. Now, though, you've come and done a good thing, and it is being celebrated."

"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Nobody knows you've defected yet. As far as anyone knows, at most we've just run away together. You still wield royal power until the true reasons for our leaving become more widely known."

"And then we'll have to go back to doing everything with our fists."

"Do you feel ready to actually fight Fire Nation troops?"

"Why not? I've done it before. I was a fugitive for weeks before I ended up in Ba Sing Se. How about you?"

"I... don't know. It is beginning to sink in just how big a decision we made by joining the Avatar. And are we really going to have to put up with the constant sniping by that water tribe girl all the way through?"

"That Water Tribe girl has a name, you know!" Katara, who was sat right next to them, hissed.

"Right. Sorry." Mai turned her attention back to Zuko.

"Hopefully not. It is a big thing, but the decision does become a lot easier when they start trying to kill you. And hopefully Katara will come round. We both hunted them, so maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic about them liking us, but with any luck after we've proven ourselves a few more times they should get better at hiding it."

Mai did not like the sound of that. It didn't particularly matter to her if they were liked, but it did make things like teamwork a lot easier. Mai was used to operating in groups where the trust was not quite there; Azula operated through fear, even in her relationship with Mai and Ty Lee, and Ty Lee appeared to be too in thrall to the Princess to realize it. At least Zuko did not operate like that, which was very refreshing.

Zuko looked at her with concern. "There's still time to back out, but once the Fire Nation knows what we're doing, what we've done, we'll be fugitives. Are you sure that's what you want?"

"I've made my decision, and I stand by it."

Zuko squeezed her hand. "I'm glad to hear that."

Aang and Katara

As the Avatar, Aang had the best seat in the house; absolute dead centre. Next to him sat Katara, who had positioned herself between him and the two Fire Nation members of their group. Aang was still dealing with the twin revelations he had recieved from Avatar Kyoshi just a few hours ago.

"So, what did Kyoshi tell you?" Katara asked. She would have done so earlier except that it was such a rush getting things ready that there hadn't been time.

"She didn't show me as much as Roku did. She told me that she founded the Dai Li."

"Those secret policemen from Ba Sing Se?" Katara wrinkled her nose. "They were shifty, sure, but what do they have to do with our mission? We left Ba Sing Se in flames."

"That's just it. The Dai Li let the Fire Nation through the walls."

"What?" Katara and Suki, sat on Aang's other side, both yelped.

"Why would they do that?" Suki asked.

"That was my reaction too. But neither Kyoshi nor Roku knew. They told me that we had to fix Kyoshi's mistakes by disbanding the Dai Li though."

"And are we going to do that before or after we stop the Firelord?" Asked Zuko.

"Shall we decide that later?" Sokka asked. "All I want is to eat delicious meat and forget about the war for one night. I would advise you do the same."

"But I'm a vegetarian!" protested Aang.

Sokka snorted. "Which sounds like a you problem."

Still, Aang did take Sokka's advice to forget about the war for a bit. Surely the time would come where they would have to leave Kyoshi Island once again, and they would be plunged into the violence and terror of war that had been their world ever since he had got out of the Iceberg.

But that was tomorrow. Tonight, there was food to be eaten and joy to be felt.

Aang picked up a morsel and began chatting animatedly about nothing in particular with his friends.