A/N: *dies* Okay this part really kicked my arse but I finally got it! Here is the 4th and final part to Betrothed. Thank you for reading and please remember to review!
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The sea breeze hit her face and she inhaled and exhaled evenly. Ty Lee came rushing at her, hands poised to attack. Suki turned as the acrobat lunged for her and spun around her, knocking her lightly on the back of the head.
"You haven't been practicing enough." The Kyoshi leader noted. This was the fifth spar she had won.
Ty Lee laughed nervously, "I guess I spent too much time playing around back home. I'll work on it!"
"Please do." Suki wiped the sweat that was forming on her forehead, "I'm done for today. Do your exercises if you want."
Ty Lee nodded and began her routine. Suki walked to the edge of the small ship and leaned against the side, letting her hands hang over. Cool sea spray flew up onto her face as the bow broke against the waves. It was refreshing, but it did not chase the rising feeling she was getting in her gut. Everything in her was telling her to go back the South Pole and find Sokka, but she just couldn't. Things were different now, whether she liked it or not. Her vision blurred as tears rose to her eyes; she quickly wiped them away and watched the sun begin to set. She tried to keep herself from wondering what he might be doing right then. Several different ideas came to her mind, a few of which she did not quite care for. She shook her head, trying to drive the thought away. A chill breeze struck her then and she shivered. She looked back at Ty Lee who was still doing exercises.
"It's getting cold. You may want to stop soon"
Ty Lee stopped and nodded, then jumped into a handstand.
Suki continued walking and went down into her quarters. As she opened the door she could see the blue and white fur-lined coat hanging over the edge of her hammock. She walked in and picked it up, wrapping it around her and running her hands over the soft material. It had been his; he told her that Katara had made it a few winters back, but he had since grown out of it. She looked at the fasteners, small blue-grey hand crafted stones. She knew those were done by him, because carved into each one was a small boomerang. He told her they reminded him of her eyes when he had given it to her. They were smooth to the touch but she could feel where the symbol had been dug into the stone. She laughed sadly, the tears she had been holding back began falling down her cheeks.
"You miss him don't you?"
Suki jumped at the voice, "H-how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough." Ty Lee responded, leaning against the door frame, "Suki, you need to talk to him. At least send him a letter."
"No Ty Lee. I can't."
"Why not?"
"I just…can't."
"Doesn't seem like a very good reason to me." the fire nation girl crossed her arms.
"You don't understand."
"Don't I? Suki, you need to remember. I used to like Sokka too. And I know how it feels to get your heart broken."
There was a quick intake of breath as Suki's head snapped in Ty Lee's direction, "What?"
Ty Lee nodded, coming into the room and planting herself on a chair, "Yup, awhile ago. Back before I really knew you. I mean honestly Suki, he's not a hard guy to like. Even if he is a little…." She motioned in the air, searching for the word.
"Dull witted?"
Ty Lee laughed lightly, "If you say so."
"I admit, he is a little slow sometimes. But he makes up for it in his tactical genius. And his humor is top notch."
"You defend him so well."
Unsure of what to say Suki just looked at her friend.
"What I'm trying to say is that Sokka had plenty of options in the past. Plenty of girls he could be with. And he chose you."
"No, Ty Lee," She steeled her gaze and looked at her friend, "He chose Toph." she choked slightly as she said the earth bender's name. She had thought it so many times but to actually come out and say it; it felt like a bolt of Azula's lightning went through her chest.
"Suki…" Ty Lee strained to think of something to say as she watched her friend turn away and pull Sokka's coat tighter around her.
"Ty Lee. I'm tired." Suki said, her back to her friend, "Please leave."
The brown haired girl stared after Suki, "Suki, I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"
"Please Ty Lee, " There was pain in her voice, "Just leave."
She got up and went to leave, at the door she turned and saw Suki crawl into the hammock, shaking slightly with sobs.
***
Ty Lee avoided Suki for the rest of the voyage. Suki felt she should apologize to her friend, but she was still sore at the acrobat for making her face what she had been trying to convince herself otherwise of for so long. Sure, she was being immature, but she was in so much pain, so much hurt and she just did not care anymore. They made it through the customs port and arrived at the large walled city within an hour. Suki was surprised to see that the walls were almost completely rebuilt. People were going about their daily business and a large array of different nation's ships were docked in the harbor. A cabbage merchant pushed his cart, whistling happily.
Their ship found a place a little ways down, docking next to a fire nation ship. It was one of the older ones, crude and completely made of metal. There were places where it had been patched up, probably from damage from the war. Ty Lee was walking silently next to Suki as they exited and she gasped suddenly,
"That's Zuko's boat!" She pointed at the metal ship, her eyes wide in surprise.
"What?" Suki looked at her companion, "Why would he be here?"
Ty Lee shrugged, "I'm pretty sure it is though."
"Well whether it is or not is none of our concern." Suki brandished the gold and green scroll that she had received back on Kyoshi Island, waving it in front of her friend's face, "We have work to do."
She nodded, understanding. As they reached the end of the dock they were greeted by some of the other Kyoshi warriors.
"It's so good to see you Suki!" a girl with long, black hair said, hugging her.
"Same to you Makiko." Suki smiled weakly, "How have things been going here?"
"Very well. We've nearly finished training a new set of guards to help with security in the city."
"And the Dai Li?"
"We haven't heard a word from them. It seems like you two managed to get the last of them locked up."
"Let's hope they never get out," Ty Lee laughed, "They'll be pretty angry at us."
Makiko laughed as well, "They wouldn't stand a chance. Even with Earth bending!"
Another Kyoshi warrior came running up to them, a scroll in her hand. She reached them and stopped, trying to catch her breath a look of worry on her face.
"Jai?" Suki regarded the girl, "is something wrong?"
She panted, "The…Earth King…wants to….see you and Ty Lee…immediately." She was clutching her side.
"Did you run all the way from the palace?" Ty Lee's eyes widened at Jai nodded.
"Okay." Suki nodded, taking the scroll from Jai and looking over it quickly, "Let's go Ty Lee."
She walked through the group of girls, closely followed by the acrobat, and made her way through the outer level of Ba Sing Se. They boarded the monorails and sat in silence as they flew through the city. They eventually made it to the heart of the city. Rich houses lined the bright, paved roads and were guarded behind iron gates. Ty Lee said something about it always being so shiny, like the inner level of the Fire Nation Capitol. Suki just nodded. The monorail slowed as they reached the station and the doors slid open.
A familiar face appeared from the other side. He had grown a little bit taller and there was more definition to his face. His blue arrow tattoos seemed to shine slightly in the sunlight.
"Suki! Ty Lee! Welcome back to Ba Sing Se!" The Avatar grinned.
She could not help but laugh, "Aang? What are you doing here?"
He shrugged, "Zuko and I finished everything we needed to do at the Capitol and decided this was the next stop. How about you?" he strained to look behind her into the monorail, "Where's Sokka? I'm surprised he's not here with you."
Suki was aware of Ty Lee behind her waving her arms in an "x" type motion, trying to tell him to stop.
A look of concern crossed his face, as he looked from Ty Lee to Suki, "Did something happen with you guys?"
Suki shook her head, fighting off the tears she knew would come if she tried explaining, "Don't worry about it. It is my issue."
"If you say so…" He replied, obviously not convinced. There was a short silence as they stood there.
"Um…we have to go see the Earth King." Suki held up the scroll Jai had delivered to her.
"Oh yeah! Right!" Aang laughed nervously, "He sent me here to get you. Let's go."
They followed Aang to the palace. Heads turned as people watched the Avatar stroll lightly up the stairs. They entered the large building and were escorted by the guards to the King's throne room. Basco bellowed as they entered, Ty Lee smiled, flitting over to the fuzzy creature and petting him. He licked her face and she laughed.
"It seems that Bosco remembers you." The Earth King said, laughter shining in his eyes.
Suki bowed slightly to him, "You wanted to see us?"
"Oh yes!" he adjusted his glasses, "I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done with the Dai Li."
"It seems that you two have managed to quell them all and retrieve the information the Earth Kingdom needed to help rebuild relations with the Fire Nation." A familiar voice added.
Suki looked over at the old man who had walked up. His beard was now trimmed and orderly, coming to three points, the rest of his hair was pulled back in a fire nation bun and held in place with a gold band. However, he donned earth nation clothing. The green making his golden yellow eyes glow.
"Iroh!" Suki gasped, surprised to see the old fire nation general, "What are you doing here?"
"Doing my part. Much like we all are." He smiled warmly at the auburn haired girl.
Suki shook her head, the scroll heavy in her hand. She turned back to the Earth King, "Is there something else you needed us for. These scrolls seemed very urgent."
"Humm." The King scratched his chin, "Are they now? Well, I supposed whatever it was has been settled now. Welcome back to Ba Sing Se." He laughed.
Suki groaned and rolled her eyes. The King never changed. Iroh walked over to her.
"Come, my dear. Let us go to the other room and have some tea." The old man grinned.
"Alright." She turned to her other companion, "Ty Lee?"
"I'm going to stay and try to teach Bosco to walk on his front paws," The former circus performer smiled, "He almost had it last time."
Suki nodded as she and Iroh left the throne room. He led her to a sitting room two doors over. It was decorated in gold and pale green. The sunlight shone through a large window, making the gold accents around the room shine. In the middle of the room was a platform table with dark green cushions around it. Sitting on the table was a tea set that looked very out of place. It was red and gold, a dragon wrapped around it, the creature's head was the spout and the tail formed the handle. Iroh motioned for her to sit, and she did. He poured her tea, then his own and sat down across from her.
"So, your trip here was pleasant I hope?"
"Another boat ride. You've ridden one boat, you've ridden them all. It never really changes." She sipped on her tea. It was jasmine, as she had expected.
"Indeed." The old man nodded.
"How is your tea shop?"
"Absolutely flourishing. The customers quite enjoy it there. And I now have a new worker there, a kind girl by the name of Jin. She and Zuko went out on a date once."
Suki smiled, remembering the story, "Does she know who Zuko is now?"
"She has never mentioned one way or another. But that may be for the better." Iroh winked at her.
Suki set down her tea, looking down at her hands.
"Is there something bothering you my dear?"
Suki debated telling the old man. She had always heard he was good at giving advice, but she was unsure of how to ask.
"I've heard you give really good advice."
"I just help to shed light on situations that need it." He replied wisely, pouring himself more tea.
"Something happened last time I was at the South Pole." She swallowed, afraid to continue, "Something with Sokka…" And from there she explained what had happened. How she had followed him and had seen him and Toph.
Iroh sat there quietly as she talked, nodding when appropriate and paying full attention to her story.
"And now…I just don't know what to do. It's such a mess. I'm such a mess."
Iroh looked at her, "Sometimes, even the foulest smelling thing can be sweet to the taste. You must not judge things as seem to be, but as they truly are. And if you do not know that truth, then you have never taken the opportunity to find out."
Suki digested his words. He was right in so many ways. But she knew what she had seen, and what she felt.
"Maybe your right. But….I don't think there's any hope for me."
"Self-doubt is the first step to self-destruction. The heart is fickle and tricky. The eyes can deceive and the mind can misinterpret. You must find out by speaking from your heart."
"You make it sound so easy."
"It is only as easy as you make it." He closed his eyes and took a sip of tea.
Suki sighed, "You are pretty wise."
"I have lived for some time. You pick things up." He smiled at her, "Just listen to your heart. It will tell you what to do."
She nodded and looked at her reflection in her tea, "Thank you Iroh."
"Of course, young lady. You should come by my shop some time."
"I'll make sure to." She stood, "Thank you for the tea."
"You are quite welcome."
She turned and walked back to the throne room to get Ty Lee.
"Done already?" She asked, walking over to Suki on her hands.
"Yes. Now come one lets go find where we're staying and settle in."
Suki lay on the down feather bed, the pale moonlight shining over her as it streamed through the small window. She thought about what the old fire nation general had said. His advice had been turning in her head all day, but it did not help her make up her mind on anything. She did know that she would eventually have to stop running away and talk to Sokka. But she did not know if she was strong enough for that yet. She turned and reached out for the coat. It was the only thing she had of his, and she unconsciously cherished it. She constantly caught herself reaching for it during the daytime, even though it was quite warm in the Earth Kingdom. Wearing a coat would be absurd, especially one made for the South Pole.
Thoughts churned over and over in her head. Making up her mind had never been so difficult; before she knew it she had drifted off to sleep.
She woke the next morning by someone shaking her.
"Suki, wake up!" Ty Lee shook her shoulders again.
She at up, rubbing the sleep in her eyes, "Ty Lee? What's the matter?"
"We have somewhere we need to go. Now."
Suki blinked, there was an odd sternness in Ty Lee's voice, "Where's the fire?" she half laughed.
Ty Lee giggled, "Just get up and get dressed, Iroh sent word that he wants us to visit him at the Jasmine Dragon."
Suki nodded and swung her legs out of bed, "Alright alright. I'm awake. Just give me a few minutes."
"Okay," Ty Lee walked to the door, "I'll be out here." and she closed the door.
Suki stood and stretched, Ty Lee was acting odd this morning and she wanted to know why. She ran through a few possibilities while she got dressed but none of them made sense.
When she entered the living room, the acrobat was walking along the edge of a table on her hands.
"Finally," She sighed, twisting and landing on her feet.
"I don't get why you're in such a hurry. It's not like the shop is going anywhere."
Ty Lee shrugged, "I just want to get there early. And if I had let you, you would have slept all day."
Suki laughed, "And that's a problem how?"
"Lets go." Ty Lee chuckled.
They left the house and made their way down the cobble stone road. It was a bit of a walk to the teashop, which stood just before the wall to the outer level of the city, before the craftsman's district. The two girls eventually made it; the sign hanging out front shone in the sunlight, a carved teacup sat at the corner with a steam dragon curled itself around the words 'The Jasmine Dragon'.
Iroh came out through the hanging cloth door and started when he saw Ty Lee and Suki.
"Well, look who it is!" He smiled, "Welcome to The Jasmine Dragon. We are just opening up." The old man's hair was down today and he donned an apron.
"We wanted to be your first customers today." Ty Lee smiled at him.
"Well it seems you have succeeded. Come in, come in." He motioned to the girls to follow him.
"Customers already?" A girl's voice inquired.
Suki and Ty Lee entered to see a girl about their age behind the counter. Her brown hair was pulled up into a poofy ponytail and she donned an apron identical to Iroh's.
"Old friends from the Island of Kyoshi." He nodded, smiling.
"You must me Jin." Suki said smiling at the girl, "I'm Suki and this is Ty Lee."
"That would be me and-" she looked at Suki, "You said your name is Suki?" She turned to Iroh, "Isn't that-"
He held up a hand to stop her. Jin and Iroh's eyes met and she nodded, understanding some unspoken though.
"Well, I'll go make some tea for everyone." Jin said, turning her back to them.
Iroh sat down with a slight grunt, "Old age seems to be catching up." He laughed weakly.
Ty Lee flitted over to the table and sat down next to him. Suki moved to go to a seat herself but Iroh stopped her.
"Suki, would you mind terribly going upstairs for me? I seem to have forgotten my sash, but my old bones are particularly achy this morning."
"Oh," Suki blinked, "I suppose so."
"Thank you kindly."
Suki turned towards the stairs that led to the living quarters above the shop. She thought she heard movement behind the door so she knocked. It opened slowly.
She had not been prepared for the face that appeared. Her grey blue eyes met with two bright blue ones and she nearly fell backwards down the stairs. His quick hands caught her around the waist and she hurried to correct herself.
"S-sokka?!" she stammered, frantically trying to look anywhere but at him, "What are you doing here?"
He stepped aside, she could feel his eyes on her but he did not answer.
"I-I…" She tried to think of something to say as she walked passed him and into the room. He closed the door and faced her. Suki could feel the tears coming to her eyes as he waited for her to continue, "Sokka…"
His gazed dropped from her, "What happened?"
She looked at him confused and unsure what to say. Thoughts were colliding in her brain.
"Why did you leave so suddenly? You seemed angry at me." He looked at her, his face stern but still sad, "And I still don't understand why."
"I….it…." she looked down, "it was a lot of things." As she said it memory of everything she had felt when leaving the water tribe came back, anger took over her.
"I-I went there to see you. That's the only reason I went to the South Pole. And…and the whole time you spent it away." Tears fell freely from her eyes, "And you spent all the time there with Toph."
"Suki, I can explain-" Sokka started to say, but she held up a hand interrupting him.
"I think I already know what you're going to say."
"You do?" He looked at her confused.
"The night before I left….I….followed you and Toph. I saw what happened, until you knocked her into the snow."
"What?"
"You and her…I should have seen it coming." She clenched her fists, trying to keep herself from shaking.
"Me and TOPH!?" Sokka's jaw hung open, "You think she and I…" he started to laugh.
Suki looked up at him, "But I saw…"
"What you saw was Toph teasing me about…something" his mouth twitched, "There's nothing between us Suki. I swear. What you saw was two old friends going for a walk at night. I needed to talk to her about something."
"In the middle of the night?"
"It was something important. I didn't want anyone to hear us."
"And you couldn't talk to her about it in all that time that you two spent fishing, or whatever you two were doing."
Sokka looked hurt at the edge in Suki's voice, "Suki..I…"
"I want to know what is going on Sokka. Why did you spend all your time away? You knew I went all that way to see you."
"Yeah but I hadn't expected it so soon. I thought I had more time."
"More time for what?" Suki narrowed her eyes at him, tears threatening to spill again.
He scowled, "This isn't how I wanted to do this."
Suki was confused, "Do what?"
Sokka closed his eyes and sighed, when he opened them back up he looked at her, "Suki, I'm sorry I spent so much time away when you were at the South Pole. I really am. But I was working on something very important." He walked over to her, "I wanted to do this later this summer but I didn't think I'd finish it so soon."
Suki looked at him puzzled, "Sokka? What is going on?"
He inhaled then exhaled, and faced her. He reached into his pocked and pulled something out, "The reason I was away is because I was working on this." He put out his hand towards Suki and opened his hand palm up.
Sitting in his hand was a necklace. Two gold rings to attached a round green-blue stone to a soft blue band. Engraved on the stone was a fan with a boomerang inside it. Suki's eyes grew wide as she realized what it was.
"Oh Sokka…" She reached out a hand to it, slowly as if she was afraid it would burn her if she touched it.
"We've been through a lot together since we first met." He said, "But no matter what happened you've always been there to support me. You put up with me and my jokes and even my crazy ideas. You're always by my side and I would never want it any other way. The reason I was spending so much time with Toph is because she was helping me make this. There's metal in it and I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. I made it that way because metal lasts longest…almost forever" He paused for a moment, the next things he said in a much softer voice, "and Suki, I want you to be by my side forever. Will you…." he gulped, "Marry me?"
A rush of relief flew over Suki and she flew into his arms nearly knocking him off his feet. Her tears fell freely, "Yes Sokka! A million times yes!"
He relaxed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly, "I'm so sorry for what happened at the South Pole. And that you spent this whole time thinking that I was with Toph."
Suki pulled back and looked at him, "I should be the one who's sorry. I jumped to conclusions."
"I still could have been a little more honest."
She thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, you could have." She agreed.
He laughed as he let go of her and put the necklace on her, "You weren't supposed to agree to that." he clasped it then slid his arms around her waist, "But I'll let you off this time. But seriously though, I'm really sorry that I did that to you. It wasn't right or fair of me to-"
Suki cut him off, bringing her mouth to his. After a moment she pulled back, a coy smile on her face "You talk to much."
He laughed, leaning in to return her kiss. Suddenly there was a giggle from the doorway. Suki quickly pulled back, blushing madly.
Sokka laughed as he let go of her and they turned to the doorway. Ty Lee, Iroh, Katara, Aang and Toph stood there, smiles on their familiar faces.
"So Snoozles, you finally did it huh?" Toph said coming forward and punching Sokka in the arm.
Suki laughed, actually happy to see the earth bender, "Thank you Toph."
"I didn't do anything. Just bent a little metal and kept idea guy here from going insane." She shrugged.
Katara came forward and hugged Suki, "I'm so glad you said yes. I wish I could have told you when you were visiting. But Sokka would have killed me." She laughed as her brother nodded.
"A happy ending it seems for all." Iroh said, "Now come. I will put on some of my rare dragon flower tea and we will celebrate." He turned and Toph, Katara, Aang and Ty Lee followed him out.
Suki turned to Sokka and kissed him lightly, "So, if Toph wasn't into you so much. Why was she so giggly that night? It seems kind of out of her character."
"Oh, she and Zuko are dating now. He sent her a hawk asking formally that night."
"Wait…Zuko and….TOPH?!" Suki tried to digest it.
"Yup. Zuko and Toph."
"But….how?" She blinked.
"Well, It's kind of a long story."
Suki nodded, bringing a hand to the stone at her throat, "Well, we have all the time in the world now." She smiled at him.
"That we do." He leaned in and kissed her deeply, "Now we better get down there before they come back up."
Suki laughed and let him lead her downstairs.
She had never felt happier in her entire life. This was her place.