A/N: And now we shall see what happens to Sokka and Toph after leaving the North Pole.
Chapter 16: The Treasure Scroll
At the bow of a large wooden boat, Sokka stared at the open sea in front of him. Dotting the blue waters were dozens of similar boats, all carrying refugees from the Northern Water Tribe. They were sailing south, planning to reunite with their sister tribe at the South Pole. It was Master Pakku's idea to join the south, for neither tribe could survive the war alone anymore.
For the first time since leaving his home, Sokka didn't know where to go. His sister was still out there somewhere, and must have found another place to learn waterbending. It was the only explanation for why she never arrived at the North Pole. Sokka thought about returning home with the refugees, but the thought of facing Gran Gran without finding Katara was unacceptable.
While lost in thought Sokka didn't notice Yue walking up to him from behind. She was wearing thinner clothes, unaccustomed to the heat south of her home. "What's on your mind?" Yue asked.
Sokka turned and looked at Yue. "Just wondering what I'm supposed to do next," he answered. "How's Toph holding up today?"
"Sleeping, finally," Yue answered. She gestured to the stairs leading below deck. "She's getting worse Sokka."
With a sigh Sokka closed his eyes. For the weeks the boats had been slowly sailing Toph had been seasick the entire time, and none of the tribe's remedies were helping. Barely keeping any food down and rarely falling asleep, Toph was a liability on the voyage. Sokka knew that the cause of Toph's seasickness had to be the way she saw with vibrations, which were too chaotic in the open sea.
"We need to make landfall, and soon," Sokka said. "Toph's been away from the earth too long."
Over the following day the single boat changed course, heading for Earth Kingdom shores. Master Pakku was aboard the boat, using waterbending to propel the boat faster. In the next morning the boat found land, though Sokka didn't know if it was under the control of the Fire Nation. When the land was still on the horizon with the rising sun Pakku stopped his bending to let the boat drift to the shore.
Finding Sokka still on deck, Pakku walked up to him. "Sokka, will you keep something for me?" Pakku asked.
"Sure, anything," Sokka answered. Holding out his hand Sokka watched Pakku pull a small blue vial out of his pocket and placed it in Sokka's hand. "What is it?" Sokka asked.
"Water from the Spirit Oasis," Pakku answered. "It's said to have mystical powers."
"Shouldn't Yue have this?" Sokka asked, offering the vial back to Pakku.
"Perhaps," Pakku said, looking away. "But I feel that you have earned the responsibility of safeguarding this important relic. Until we can reclaim our home."
Looking at the vial Sokka found a small string attached to it. "Thank you, Master Pakku," Sokka said and tied the string around his neck, then tucked the vial under his shirt.
Once she was back on dry land, Toph immediately began to recover. She slept for a whole day on a slab of stone, subconsciously bending it to fit her body. When she woke up she ate enough food to surprise even Sokka, depleting their food stores in the process. Yue's boat had already moved on, leaving Sokka and Toph on their own.
"Where do we go now?" Toph asked while sitting on a rock.
Rummaging through his green bag, Sokka was checking the supplies he had. "First we need some supplies," he answered. "And we're going to need more money to get them."
"Money I can get," Toph said, standing up. "Just point me to the nearest town."
Checking a map, Sokka found a port village not far from their location. He pointed Toph in the right direction and she carried them both on a wave of earth. Following the coast south they arrived at the village in mid-morning, stopping the earth wave just outside view of the locals. Walking the rest of the way Sokka and Toph entered the village without attracting attention.
After exploring the village for an hour Toph got to work earning coin. Instead of actually earning the money she found various games of chance, pretended to be a vulnerable little blind girl, and used earthbending to cheat. Conning the con artists several times brought in several times the amount money that could be earned legitimately.
Not content to let Toph have all the fun, Sokka got in on the con act. After buying a fake beard and guard uniform he played the role of a guard catching a carriage 'run over' a little girl, taking bribes to let the owner of the carriage off the hook. Before long Sokka had all the coin he could carry, and decided that it was time to spend some of it.
Still wearing the fake beard and fake guard uniform, Sokka walked along the docks with Toph. Several ships were in port, trading with the locals while the tides kept them from leaving. Sokka wanted to shop there to avoid anyone they might have conned earlier. Outside one particular ship was a mustached man in yellow and green clothes trying to attract customers.
"Earth Nation, Fire Nation, Water Nation, so long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here. Don't be shy, come on by."
Stroking the fake beard Sokka noticed the stranger. "Let's see what they have in there," he said to Toph.
Inside the ship were several shelves of merchandise on display. Toph found a strange monkey statue with rubies in it and considered buying it, but didn't want to go through the trouble of carrying it around. Sokka examined a case of scrolls, casually unrolling one and finding instructions for waterbending techniques on it. He put the scroll back in the case and continued browsing.
"Find anything you like?" a new voice asked. Standing in a doorway was the ship's captain, a middle aged man in reddish brown clothes with a reptile-bird on his shoulder. His hair was gray and mostly covered by a wide hat.
"You've got a really wide selection here," Sokka commented.
The reptile-bird leapt off the captain's shoulder onto one of the shelves. "Our line of work takes us all over the world," the captain said. "Why just a month ago I salvaged some quality items down south."
"Hey Sokka, you should get this," Toph said. She picked up a sword and started swinging it around. "Definitely an upgrade from that club you've got."
Alarmed, the captain sprinted over to Toph. "Careful with that, you'll hurt someone," the captain said. After getting Toph to stop he said "Wait until after you purchase it."
While the captain was distracted Sokka picked up another scroll, one with a Fire Nation brand on the ends. Unrolling the scroll the contents immediately had Sokka's full attention. On it were a set of directions, various methods of finding a specific location. The scroll didn't say what was at that location, but the thorough directions were enough to tell Sokka that something very important must be there.
Rolling up the scroll, Sokka turned towards the captain. "Say, where did you get this?" he asked.
Placing a sword back on a weapon stand, the captain faced Sokka. "I got that from a wreck by the swamp down south," he answered. "Lots of salvage work down there since the Avatar destroyed a Fire Nation fleet there."
So that's where Katara went Sokka thought. "What was the Avatar doing in a swamp?" Sokka asked.
"No idea," the captain admitted. "He was already gone when I arrived."
The statement ended any thoughts of finding Katara at the swamp. Turning his thoughts back to the present Sokka asked "How much for the scroll?"
"Five hundred gold pieces," the captain said.
Sokka placed his green bag on a table and started counting the coin he had inside. Five hundred gold pieces was most of what he had, leaving just enough left to purchase supplies. Buying the scroll was a gamble, though Sokka figured he and Toph could just con more coin later. Once his count was finished Sokka pushed the pile of coins towards the captain.
"Here you go, five hundred," Sokka said.
"Scroll's yours," the captain said, accepting the coin. "Is there anything else you'd like to purchase?"
"How about that sword for Sokka?" Toph suggested.
"Like I'd ever hit anything with one of those," Sokka said, stuffing the scroll into his green bag. "No I think we're done here."
"Come back anytime," the captain said.
Sokka and Toph exited the ship and walked away from it. They were only a few dozen away when Sokka noticed a crowd walking towards them. When they got closer Sokka could swear that he spotted them carrying torches and pitchforks, though why they'd have torches in broad daylight he had no idea. He didn't want to ask them, quickly guessing that they were after him and Toph.
One person in the crowd spotted Sokka spotting the crowd, noticing the beard. "There they are, the Runaways!" he yelled.
"Oh crap," Sokka muttered. He grabbed Toph's arm and started running, pulling her along.
Now a full blown mob, the people in it chased Sokka and Toph. Leading the way Sokka took Toph through the village streets, trying to lose the mob. After a few twists and turns they ended up in the marketplace, but the mob still followed. Merchants saw the mob and instinctively tried to pull their stands out of the way, expecting at least one of them to get destroyed.
Toph stopped for a moment to bend the ground beneath a few stands and move them into the mob's path, then hit the ground to make a dust cloud emerge from it. The mob hurried through the dust cloud, everyone refusing to let the little thieves get away. One vegetable stand was hit and destroyed, stopping a few people while the rest continued.
As the dust cloud settled a humble merchant of cabbage looked for his stand, expecting to find it in pieces. To his surprise the cabbage stand was completely intact, and someone else's stand was destroyed.
"MY RADISHES!" a woman merchant screamed.
The humble cabbage merchant walked over to the radish merchant and placed a hand on her shoulder while offering a cabbage. "I know your pain."
The mob continued to chase Sokka and Toph, now running in the residential district. Spotting them turn at a small house into another street the mob hurried to follow. They caught up with the bearded boy and tackled him to the ground, along with the woman next to him. With their quarry captured they started beating up the couple and searching for the money they conned.
"What is the meaning of this?" the boy questioned, the beard coming off. "My father is the mayor."
Beneath the village in an earthbended tunnel Sokka was laughing with Toph. He knew he was going to miss the fake beard, but losing it was worth it to distract the mob. Toph made the tunnel extend out of the village, allowing them to make a clean getaway. They stayed in the tunnel for about a mile before surfacing, then used one of Toph's earth waves to leave faster.
"I think it's safe to say we can't come back here again," Toph said.
"Yeah, we kinda got carried away with the cons," Sokka said. Then he reached into his green bag and pulled out the scroll he purchased.
"So what's on that thing anyway?" Toph asked.
Sokka unrolled the scroll and examined it more thoroughly than he had at the ship. There were constellations displayed, physical landmarks described, travel times by foot, ostrich-horse, and Fire Nation tank. And yet it didn't say what was at the location it described, just how to get there. Whatever was there Sokka believed that the writer of the scroll only wanted himself to be able to find it, and that the way was difficult to memorize.
"Toph, take us south-east," Sokka asked.
"Why, where are we going?" Toph asked.
"This scroll points to something in the Si Wong Desert," Sokka explained. Then he noticed a small signature scribbled in the corner of the scroll. "Courtesy of this Zhao person, whoever he is."