Chapter 9: Finally here
Suki stirred at Sokka's loud noise. She sat up and gasped when she realized it was night. Suki crawled over next to Sokka and peered over the side of Appa's saddle.
They had just passed over the wall into Ba Sing Se. The city itself was beautiful at night; the buildings were illuminated by the candles and lanterns that dotted the streets and windows. Suki and Sokka were mesmerized by the beauty of the greatest city on earth.
"We've finally made it!" Sokka exclaimed. He was so excited that he almost wet himself.
Suki said nothing; she leaned over and kissed him passionately. Appa knew where to go, and he started descending into the upper ring of the city. Suki and Sokka watched the buildings fly underneath them. As they neared the courtyard where The Jasmine Dragon was located, Sokka began to gather up their bags.
"I'm so excited to see everybody!" Suki said with much fervor.
"I know me too!" Sokka replied, showing the same amount of zeal.
Appa was ready to sleep for a long time; he had been flying for 16 hours at least. He almost crash landed in front of The Jasmine Dragon he was so tired.
"They're ba-ack!" Toph said, grinning.
Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, Mai and Iroh all rushed outside of The Jasmine Dragon. Suki and Sokka walked down Appa's tail onto the white stone ground.
Katara ran at Suki at full speed, and before Sokka could stop her, she tackled Suki to the ground with hugs.
Suki yelped, "Katara! I missed you too, but could you get off?"
Katara stood up, regaining her composure. She held out her hand, and helped Suki up. Toph walked over and punched Suki in the arm.
"It's kind of against my nature to hug people. If I punch you instead of earthbending at you, it's a sign of affection." Toph said in her very distinctive manner.
"Thanks?" Suki said, rubbing her arm.
"Flameo hotman!" Aang said to Sokka, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Good to see you Aang. Thanks again for letting me use Appa." Sokka said, yawning.
Zuko and Mai were standing in the doorway with Iroh. Iroh was holding a tray full of tea, waiting for the greetings to finish.
Aang grabbed Suki's bag and Sokka grabbed his own. Suki and Katara started back into The Jasmine Dragon, Toph following close behind.
"Shall we sit down and discuss your travels?" Iroh said cheerily.
Everyone nodded in agreement, following Iroh inside.
"It's good to see you again." Zuko said to Sokka and Suki. Mai remained silent, but nodded.
"I missed you too Zuko." Sokka said, trying not to make the conversation awkward.
"So what did you guys get up to while you were on your way here?" Katara asked eagerly.
They had barely sat down and Katara was already asking questions. Suki and Sokka were sitting next to each other at the large round table in the middle of the room. Katara sat next to Suki and Aang next to Sokka. Mai and Zuko sat opposite Suki and Sokka, with a space between Mai and Katara for Iroh. Toph was sitting in between Sokka and Zuko.
Iroh finished putting the cups of tea on the table and sat down for their story.
Suki stood up. "We'll for starters I got this in Omashu!" She exposed her bruise to the group.
Everyone gasped at the injury. "Oh my- are you ok?" Katara almost screamed.
"Yeah I'm fine, mostly." Suki laughed, followed by a few coughs.
Katara nodded, in too much shock to speak. Aang looked at Sokka and said, "Riding the mail carts?"
"Mhmm." Sokka said reluctantly.
"That looks awesome!" Toph said. Suki shot her a playful dirty look. "You're dirty looks are wasted on me."
"How did she-? What?" Suki said, confused. The entire group, including Suki and Toph laughed.
"How's Appa?" Aang asked.
"He's tired from the long trip, but he was well cared for. We flew all the way from Omashu today, so he's tired at the moment. Bumi had his servants feed him and bathe him well while we were in Omashu." Sokka said reassuringly.
"That's good to hear." Aang said, sipping his tea.
Suki broke into a coughing fit and coughed up three drops of blood into her hand.
"That is really not good." Katara said with much worry in her voice.
"I'm fine, I promise." Suki assured everyone.
Everyone looked at her skeptically, even Toph. Iroh handed her a napkin to wipe the blood off.
"It's only a little bit of blood, and I'm only a little bit dizzy. I'll be fine I promise." Suki said, sipping her tea.
The conversation had taken a more serious turn, they hadn't really told them much of their travels, however there wasn't very much to tell.
"Maybe you should go for a healing session with Katara tomorrow morning." Sokka suggested, knowing Suki wasn't going to argue with him in front of the group.
"I guess. It won't be any trouble right Katara? If it is, I'm fine without it." Suki tried to get herself out of it.
"I came here for your- surprise." Katara caught herself. "I don't have anything else to do but spend time with you!" Sokka shot her a very brotherly you're-so-dead look.
Zuko and Mai were still quiet, but nobody cared since nobody liked Mai except Zuko. Suki coughed more blood into her napkin, pretending like nothing was wrong.
"What?" Suki asked innocently.
"It's getting worse," Sokka said grimly. "You need to take it easy."
"What, do I have to go to bed now?" Suki teased.
"That actually sounds like a good idea." Mai chimed in. Zuko stood up and pulled out Mai's chair. He put his arm over her shoulder and walked to the back of the room where the stairs were.
"Goodnight everyone!" Zuko said as he ascended the staircase with his gloomy girlfriend.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Suki asked.
"The house right next door. Apparently I didn't do my research because there aren't two flats above The Jasmine Dragon. We are sharing the house next door with Aang, Katara, and Toph. Is that ok?" Sokka explained.
"Yeah, sure. I'm just really tired." Suki said, standing up.
Sokka stood up and pushed in both of their chairs. Suki took a few steps and stumbled. Luckily Sokka caught her before she fell. Not risking another fall, he swept her off her feet and carried her into the house. Aang followed behind to open the doors for them.
Katara and Toph were the only ones left at the table, because Iroh had gone upstairs.
"There's something weird going on." Toph said. "I can't place it, but there's definitely something more to Suki than usual."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, perplexed by Toph's observation.
"I- I don't know. I can't figure it out but there's something up with Suki, not wrong, just something." Toph described.
"Ok, whatever you say." Katara chuckled.
"Listen Sugar Queen, I can feel it. Something's up. I'll let you know more when I find out." Toph said, standing up.
Katara didn't have anything to say back to Toph, so she went with Toph to their temporary home.
Suki and Sokka were already in bed; they didn't even bother getting changed.
Toph had her own room, and Aang and Katara shared a bed. Aang was waiting for Katara. He was already ready for bed; he had washed his face and wore his looser pants to bed. He didn't like sleeping with his shirt on when he didn't have to. Katara didn't mind his shirtless-ness either.
"Glad to have the gang back together?" Aang asked as Katara entered the room.
"Yes, like you wouldn't believe. Believe it or not, I really missed the constant tormenting from Toph and my brother's sarcastic remarks. Suki and I are really close too."
"What about Zuko and Mai?" Aang probed.
"Eh, they could stay or go. It doesn't really matter." Katara said as she dressed herself in her pajamas.
Aang chuckled to himself. "So do you know what's wrong with Suki?"
"No not yet. I should know when we do our healing session tomorrow morning." Katara said as she climbed into bed with Aang. It was a little weird for her; sharing a bed with the man she met less than 2 years ago.
"She seems really sick, but she's playing it off as if nothing is happening at all." Aang said, rolling over closer to Katara.
"I know. That's Suki for you; she'll never tell you anything is wrong even if she's about to die." Katara laughed lightly. "We're really close friends, so I bet she'll confide in me tomorrow."
"I hope so. Are you going to tell anybody what she says?" Aang asked hopefully.
"Only if she says it's ok. She's not the very trusting type, and I think she would kill me if I told anybody anything she didn't want people to know." Katara said, scooting closer to Aang so that their bodies were touching.
Aang put his arm around Katara and asked, "Not even Sokka?"
"Not if Suki doesn't want me to. I'm not going to break her trust." Katara replied, yawning.
"Ok, well good night." Aang yawned sleepily.
"Good night."
Yay! They are finally in Ba Sing Se! I hope you liked my chapter because I worked for several hours on it. I threw in some commentary through the characters that ~the pigeon one will get. I happen to not be a fan of Mai and Zuko. I just really don't like Mai XD. I tried to stick to everybody's character as best as I possibly could. I haven't really had any practice with them, so it was a little hard. Forgive any shortcomings please. I tried to right any inconsistencies without being too blatantly obvious, but clearly that failed. So now I write chapter 10. It'll be a little bit of filler, maybe the climax of the story or I might put it off until chapter 11. Who knows? Once again, thanks for reading my story. I hope you are enjoying it! Please comment!