Katara was aghast. Not only did Sokka and Suki look completely weathered and horrifying and have an absolutely dreadful story to tell about the past few days, but they would not stop smiling.
"It really wasn't that bad, Katara! Sure, it wasn't my first choice for a vacation... which reminds me! Hey, Aang! Can we swing by the South Pole real quick?"
"Are you insane?" It was at least the third or fourth time Katara had asked.
"Look, if we don't do it now, Suki and I are just going to find some way of getting there on our own. Not that I would complain, but this might be faster and less suicidal."
"It's okay, Katara. It's not too far," Aang said, smiling, having already set the course. "Oh Suki! You have to try penguin sledding."
"No. No she doesn't. What she has to do, she and Sokka both, is come back to someplace warm and rest."
"We can rest just fine in the South Pole," Sokka persisted. "You and I managed for a few years there, if I recall. Besides, I want to see what they've done with the place."
Katara decided to fume in silence, trusting that would make Sokka realize how foolish he was being.
"So... how did you find us?" Suki offered, still smiling.
"Well, we went to Kyoshi Island to find out whether you'd arrived, and they said you had, but that you'd left. We asked around, and one of them said you guys mentioned something about going to the Southern Water Tribe, so we started over there. Then Katara spotted the boat you guys took. Well... you know, parts of it."
"We thought you two had drowned, you know." Katara broke her silence briefly.
"Well, we figured it wouldn't hurt to look. And hey! We found you!"
"That's weird, though... I didn't even know we were heading South before we left, let alone mention it to someone. Did you tell anyone, Sokka?"
"It was this vendor who said he'd talked to Sokka when he sold him--"
"I think I just must have mentioned that's where I'm from! Thank goodness he heard me wrong. Really lucky, there. Hey Aang! Can I have a word?"
And that left Suki at the back of the saddle with Katara and her aura of disapproval. Suki debated striking up a conversation, but one look from Katara made her think it might be better if she just pretended to be contrite. Sokka was back at her side before long, and they continued to smile at each other a lot while Katara scowled.
Sokka introduced Suki to everyone when they landed ("Suki, this is everyone!") then they were somehow separated in the ensuing rush to get them cleaned up and comfortable and, most importantly, fed. Suki found herself surrounded by entirely new faces, which she didn't mind at all, as they kept bringing her delicious new things to eat. At some point Katara showed up, much friendlier than she had been, latched onto Suki's arm, and gave her a tour of the tribe, pointing out the recent developments and a few of the new faces, when she spotted Sokka again. They exchanged a goofy smile and a kiss before he stammered an invitation to show her something. He took her mittened hand in his own, and led her away to a quieter snowy area. A few penguins shuffled by a little ways on.
"Okay, so... I have something for you. It's kind of the reason for... everything. I just wanted to do this as right as I could." He took a few breaths; his heart was racing. "You've seen Katara's necklace, right?"
And he presented his gift, explaining that the choker had come from Kyoshi Island, and the stone from the South Pole. He went on to explain the pattern carved in the stone, each line having some significance.
"Okay... so you know how I can't really draw, right?"
"A little." Suki was trying to restrain herself until he had finished speaking.
"Well, I didn't want you to have to wear one of my art projects forever... if... you know... you decided to... and you don't have to, but I hope...well... So, I... I carved this line here, but I thought I'd get some help to do the rest, especially since the best ones are done with waterbending. So Katara helped me make the design a little more, uh, polished... and she did this swirl here. And Aang did that one. And Grand-Pakku did this wave. Then, since I was on kind of roll, Gran-Gran did that part, and my dad did that last wave. Anyway, I know it's not terribly traditional, and it's not like it has to mean that we... but I thought it might be... nice?"
Suki had kissed him before she could attempt to stop herself. She pulled away slightly just to say, "You talk too much," before attacking him again.
When Suki returned to the rest of the village wearing the necklace, very few people seemed remotely surprised, and at least one was out of her mind with excitement.
"Oh, Suki! When Sokka told me and had me look over the design, I was just... I'm so glad!" Katara embraced her. Clearly, she had been dying to say something. "I'm so sorry I was so rude on the way here! I was just worried and I had no idea... Sokka said he would have told me right away so I'd lay off, but he thought I wouldn't be able to keep the secret, and he was probably... but I'm so glad!"
It took them all of a few hours before they'd commandeered a canoe for some privacy, which worked better than they expected when some shifting ice prevented them from moving anywhere once they got far enough from shore.
"This stuff happens out here," Sokka said dismissively. "I've definitely had worse."
"Really? What did you do?"
"Last time? I think we found a kid in some ice with a magical bison."
"So no big deal."
"No big deal."
They were roaring with laughter when they returned, Sokka sopping wet, the two of them carrying the canoe. No one was able to figure out what had happened, on account of both of them dissolving into giggles when asked about it.
A few missions later (including "Sled on a Penguin," "Teach Suki to Fish," "Build a Snow Fort," and "Beat Katara and Aang in a Snowball Fight"), one of which was a hilariously pathetic failure, another might have been a success or a failure depending on how you looked at it, two of them wound up requiring rescue missions, and only one was an undisputed success (Suki had learned to fish), Katara was losing patience with them. She (with a silent Aang) insisted on doing a nice, grown up evening together as couples, where everyone would act like an adult and no one would get thrown in the water again.
It wasn't the first double date that Suki and Sokka had been on; there had been that memorably awkward night with Mai and Zuko a few months back... neither Sokka nor Suki had gone anywhere near a fruit tart since. But they got the feeling this wouldn't be one of those dates, though probably not the respectable kind of adult evening Katara seemed to be planning, either.
"So what do you think? Revenge?"
"Revenge." Sokka nodded. He and Suki had resorted to some questionable tactics in their last snowball rematch against Aang and Katara, and while they believed they had been paid back by suffering one of their most grisly defeats yet, Katara may have felt a little different. Suki maintained that there had been no acknowledged rule against the use of penguins, but conceded the middle-of-the-night sneak attack might have been a little much.
"What form will that take?"
"You think the date itself isn't enough?"
"This is Katara, and she wants us to feel uncomfortable. Like, tripped on a penguin and fell into the water uncomfortable." They both paused a moment to laugh a little.
"Mushy stuff, then?" Sokka made a face.
"That's my best guess."
"Aang is probably off-limits, huh?"
"Too easy. It would be like cheating. And it's not his fight." Before Sokka could object, Suki interrupted, "That ice ball was accidental, Sokka. You know it was, and I still say your head was always that lumpy. So," Suki changed the subject before he could argue any more, "beat her at her own game?"
"Yes," Sokka agreed enthusiastically. "But that means what, exactly?"
It was actually a mature, grown up evening for the better part of 10 minutes. Sure, Aang and Katara were smiling a lot more than usual and that was the tiniest bit unsettling, but it was otherwise nice. Then, in all fairness, Katara started it by asking a bunch of silly questions, like what they loved the most about each other, the sweetest thing they'd ever done for one another, and precise moments that they "knew they were meant to be together." There may have been real answers for those questions if they dug deep, but they just made up what they knew Katara wanted to hear.
"So what's it like being betrothed? I'm sure you two must be so excited and making lots of plans for the future."
"It's so fantastic, Katara! Thanks so much for asking. When it's all finally official, I just can't wait to settle down somewhere quiet and start a family of our own. I was a little embarrassed to say it earlier, but I'm just so happy that we get to be sisters, finally!" Suki almost looked a little misty-eyed. "You know, from the moment I first met you and your brother, I just wanted to be part of your family. And now it's coming true!"
"Oh, sweetie, there's no reason to be embarrassed about that!" Sokka made a big show of kissing her hand. "I kept telling her that you'd be so happy when this happened, Katara, but she was so worried! It was so adorable!"
"You're adorable!" Suki giggled.
Aang, who had been growing more concerned as the evening went on, began to look a little nauseous. Katara was beaming, however, believing she was finally seeing the real side of this relationship.
"I'm so happy for you two! You have no idea how nice it is to see you both like this. Right, Aang... honey?"
Aang put on a very unconvincing smile.
"Oh, Katara, I'm just... I hoped that this would... the whole time I was in prison I was only thinking of... I hoped..." and Suki dissolved into full-on tears of joy. Then she turned to Sokka.
"Can we ask her?"
"Go ahead, darling."
"We were wondering, Katara..." Suki bit her lip. "I can't... You ask her, honey."
"But it was your idea!"
"She's your sister, though..."
"No, pumpkin. She's our sister." And they shared a long, loving look into each other's eyes, then at Katara, who was completely absorbed in watching them.
"Together then..." Suki turned to Katara, beaming. "Katara, we were wondering..."
"... when we have our first daughter..."
"... can we name her..."
"... after you?" They said together, grinning.
"YES!" Katara squeaked, completely unable to contain herself.
They held the tableau for a few moments before Aang fell out of his chair laughing, at which point Sokka and Suki lost it. Katara was stonily silent.
"I'm sorry, Katara, really, but... I didn't think we'd have you going that long!"
"Oh, I totally did!" Sokka laughed, trying to catch his breath.
"You two are so... immature!" Katara was not pleased. "Why don't you just... penguin... drown!" she stammered, which only got them going anew. "Well, at least I... That's just not something you do." She tried dialing up the disapproval.
"Come on, Katara... if you really believed that Suki and I could ever be like that, you kind of had it coming." Sokka had calmed himself enough to only laugh every other word.
"Well, I don't go following you around on your dates or anything, Mr. Knows.... Things... So Much!" Katara was still fuming a bit. "Sorry I assumed that you two could actually act like a real couple."
"Oh, Katara... I don't know what kinds of scrolls you've gotten your hands on..." Suki was trying to show no signs of the laughing fit she had only just suppressed. "Real couples? Tell me you don't act like that with Aang."
Aang shook his head vigorously before Katara could stammer her response. Instead, she made an exasperated noise and stormed out the room. Sokka and Suki looked at Aang, who slouched and resignedly accepted his fate.
"I'll go talk to her."