The six that had been to the sanctuary left early the next morning. Zuko and Aang were already reluctant to take Suki, Sokka, Toph, and Katara to the Sun Warriors Village, much less the whole encampment, so they snuck out of bed early in the morning, with a note not to panic in their absence.
Aang led them into a small cave where he had been keeping Appa. The bison let out a grunt of delight upon seeing Suki. The amazing creature no doubt remembered how she and her warriors had helped him when he had been lost and frightened. He nuzzled her excitedly, knocking her off her feet and almost out of the cave. She brushed herself off, giggling, and looked up to where the other five had already climbed on top of the enormous beast. Aang gestured for her to climb up too, but she hesitated for a moment. Although she had spent a lot of time with Appa, she had never actually ridden him.
Once they were all safely on, he took off with a swoosh, and Suki had to hold fast to the saddle to keep from feeling as if she would fly off. They flew for a while, as Katara used her bending water to make a cloud to conceal them from any unfriendly eyes that would happen to be patrolling the country below. Finally they came to it. Suki let out a small gasp as she surveyed the ancient city below. The yellow stone buildings seemed to be made of gold as they reflected the morning sun. She expected Aang to land in front of the large palace in the center of the city, but he kept flying until they came to a mountain with a large clearing in it. There was a long and steep staircase in the middle, with a platform on top.
"What is this?" she asked.
"This is where I learned to firebend," replied Aang, starting to ascend the great stairs.
"Wait," said Zuko. "Would the Sun Warriors be angry if they found us here? And we didn't bring a fire from the eternal flame. Ran and Shao might be angry. And I don't want to see a dragon when it's angry."
"Don't worry," said Aang optimistically. "They already judged us worthy once." He started climbing again, and this time the others followed. He reached the top and waited. Nothing happened. "Hello?" he called. "Hey Ran, hey Shao. We came to talk to you!" Again, nothing.
Then a deep rumbling started from the insides of the cliff. It sounded like the world itself was collapsing from the inside. Suki tensed, preparing herself for the worst.
A blue streak shot from the opening in front of her, coming at her at top speed. She wanted to recoil in terror, but she reminded herself that she was a warrior, and stood her ground. She noticed that behind her Katara had thrown herself at Aang, causing both of them to blush as red as the other dragon now circling them. The dragons made a ring around them, spinning furiously. They kept going faster, and faster. It made Suki dizzy.
"Hey, guys," called Aang, apparently unfazed by their sheer size and greatness. "We came to ask you about the first dragon ever."
The dragons stopped, abruptly, as if they had run into a wall. They turned to face Aang. "The firssssst draaagon." They whispered together.
"Yeah, we just kind of wanted to know… if he exists."
This time, only one spoke. It was deeper and louder than the soft hiss before.
"The first dragon was noble and great. It was from her that all dragons came. She is the reason all dragons live. We are all linked through her. She is alive. We are all linked to our great mother. She is the source of all our power. She is alive"
"How do you know that?" snapped Katara. "Where is she? We need some specifics. We're on kind of a tight schedule, here!"
"They know Katara," Aang tried to calm her down. "She is the source of their life, like the earth is for us. If she dies, they die. That's how they know she's alive."
"You are wise, young Avatar." Said one dragon. With a great sweeping of her wings, she took off towards the sun warrior village. The group stayed on the platform, unsure of what to do. The other dragon was still sitting there, watching them attentively. They exchanged looks, wondering if they should leave or stay. Luckily, the decision was made for them because the dragon returned moments later, with a glowing gem in her hand.
"This will help you find her," was all the dragon said in way of explaination.
Zuko and Aang exchanged looks as they recognized it as the stone that had set off a booby trap at the Sun Warrior temple. He shoved it into the arms of the closest person. Suki. It was heavy, and it seemed to have a something pulsing inside of it, keeping time with her own heart.
It seemed peculiarly…alive.
"Let my help you with that thing, Suki," said Sokka, coming forward and reaching out to her.
"No," said a dragon, so forcefully that all heads turned in it's direction. "It is imprinted on her now. She must carry it's burden."
"That's ridiculous!" scoffed Sokka. "How can a gem imprint itself on someone."
"Don't argue with me," said the dragon, decisively.
He couldn't argue with a dragon.
It was too late to go any further, so the team set up camp in the woods outside the Sun Warrior village. They were so exhausted that they simply threw their stuff on the ground. Aang, Toph, Zuko, and Katara had all drifted off, and Suki was finally settling down, when someone shook her awake. "Suki," said Sokka. "Come with me." He led her away from the clearing. "I haven't been able to get you alone since you got here."
"Yeah, I guess it was pretty much nonstop from the time I arrived," she agreed.
"I'm happy you're here. It's amazing. I had no idea where you were, I was worried. I though you were, you know—dead. Not that I ever gave up hope because I didn't and I always cared, it's not an insult that I though…" she silenced him with a finger across the lips.
"Did you really bring me all this way to say that?" she asked.
"Well, I'm just glad you're back. We haven't seen each other since the Serpent's Pass. I just wanted you to know if you were okay. You must have gone through hard times in prison. I'm here if you need me."
Suki ran at him, pulling him into a deep hug. She breathed in his scent deeply and smiled. His smell was always so comforting.
The two tiptoed back into camp, and after checking to make sure that Katara and Aang were sufficiently far apart, Sokka lay down and closed his eyes. Suki watched him for some time, but hen realized her own fatigue, and curled up around the curiously warm gemstone that now belonged to her.
Suki was awakened the next morning by a peculiar rattling in her arms. She groaned piteously and cracked open her eyes. She opened them even wider when she discovered a thin crack was forming in the surface of her gem. It widened, along with her eyes, until the stone finally broke apart.
Inside there was a small, curled-up form. It gradually unfurled, raising its long, scaled neck, and unfurling its thin, bat-like wings. It looked up at her with its large, watery-blue eyes. They made eye contact, and Suki smiled as the creature let out a small squeak. She had her very own baby dragon.