A/N: Now we go back to Sokka. I'm thinking of this as Round Two…
Disclaimer: Well of course I don't own these characters or their universe. I just plays with them to suit my fancy, and respect all property rights held by others. Y'all can just back off now…
Chapter 5
There was really nothing to do, and no room to do it in anyway. A guard had taken away the bath basin, and the cell was, for the moment anyway, devoid of anything movable besides himself.
There was a wall sconce for a candle behind a latched grill near the door, and a long, low bench built into one wall served as the only furniture. He had stood on it when he first arrived to see if he could reach the vent near the ceiling that let in air. There was little purchase for his fingers once he did manage it, and no reward for his efforts; the vent was hooded on the other side, leading into some kind of duct-way whose size was impossible to judge. He decided that it would have been a pretty stupid cell design if egress had been possible through such an obvious opening, and face it, one thing the Fire Nation engineers are not and that's stupid.
So he sat on the bench, wracking his brain for some way out, and considering a time line. This ship, now docked at the small Fire Nation port, had been a three-day hike from the city's outer wall. He remembered noticing that the port itself consisted of a few smaller buildings flanking a larger structure; probably where the giant drill had been constructed from parts brought in on navy ships over time to this large inland bay. The pier itself was substantial, and included two heavy cranes that supported Sokka's deduction. The location of the port itself clearly relied on the depth of the bay here, which was deep enough to accommodate the draft of the big ships. That and its relatively safe distance from Earth Kingdom assault troops intent on defending the Earth Kingdom capitol from encroachment by the Fire Nation. The paucity of ships along the pier itself was testament to the difficulty the Fire Nation had in bringing ships in through the bay's narrow mouth.
So he had maybe two-three days before his friends received Azula's message, less if she sent it via a mounted rider. Yeah, she would do that. He was running out of time.
Again, the door lock rattled, and he eyed the door itself grimly. It was hard to imagine how it could herald good news.
One of the helmeted guards opened the door, leading the way for the promised reappearance of Ty Lee, this time carrying a tray laden with several covered bowls. At first he was dismayed, but the odors wafting into the cell from that tray indicated the contents were both hot and savory, two elements sadly lacking from his fare to date. Perhaps the girl had some positive points to her after all.
The guard added another candle to the wall sconce, and left a lantern on the floor on the other side of the door as he left, closing the door solidly behind him. The additional light was welcome, although when she stood in front of it her face was cast in shadow, and he couldn't read her eyes at all.
"So they said you only get to eat once a day, and I thought how silly that was, since I know we had lots of leftovers from our lunch. But maybe the cooks in the galley keep it for themselves. What do you think?" She said chattily as she breezed about.
Sokka stood up immediately. "It's that whole jailer-prisoner thing. You keep messing it up. I'm guessing you haven't really done this much before, have you?"
His sense of irony was caught by her words. She apparently thought it should be perfectly possible for them to have a congenial conversation despite the circumstances.
On the other hand, since she came bearing food, he was prepared to make allowances.
"Bring food to someone? Oh sure, a lady has to know how to look after her guests, and I am a lady after all." She held the tray out to him.
He shook his head, trying to determine if she deliberately chose to misunderstand him, or if she were really that dim.
"I think you're using the word 'guest' pretty loosely here, but hey, if that's for me I'm not complaining," he took the tray from her outstretched hands and set it down on the bench. "Well?"
"Please, that's what I brought it for." Ty Lee settled herself on the bench on one side of the tray as he knelt on the other, drawing one leg up beneath him.
She watched a brown hand scoop up one of the bowls easily and slide off the cover with a practiced thumb as he brought it to his lips. His attention was wholly focused on the bowl's contents, which disappeared with astonishing speed and, frankly, little grace.
She remembered those hands' grip on her arms, and a slight shiver ran through her as she considered that mobile mouth making short work of her offerings. She wondered if he brought such focus to everything he did and felt the familiar thrum of heat begin to build.
Sokka reached for the second bowl with his other hand even as he swallowed the last bites of the first. He noticed the fire girl's eyes upon him, and it occurred to him that he should slow down. Way down. After all, there was no telling what else was on her agenda besides feeding him.
"So, you're not worried that I'm poisoning you, or that I've drugged your food?" Ty Lee suggested with a grin as she pulled her knees up to her chest and roped her arms around them.
"Poisoning me after bothering to bandage me up and bring me all this way would be kinda pointless, wouldn't it? As for drugs, if you had anything worth using you wouldn't have waited till now," he shrugged his shoulders as he more sedately removed the cover off the second bowl. He took an appreciative sniff. "I mean, even I don't think the Fire Nation's that stupid."
She giggled. "You don't like us much, do you?"
He lifted one eyebrow as he glanced at her sideways. What could she possibly be thinking? Could she ask a dumber question?
"I mean, just because we're on opposite sides doesn't mean we can't get along, does it?"
"I kinda think that not getting along's part of the definition of being on opposite sides," he pointed out, reaching for the chop-sticks on the tray.
"Pooh. Now you're being stubborn. When the Fire Nation wins the war we'll all have to get along anyway, so why not start now?"
"Listen, Brat. We're operating on different assumptions here to start with. I don't think the Fire Nation's gonna win," he punctuated the statement by pointing the chop-sticks at her, adding under his breath. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
"You're cute when you go all defiant, you know. Gives me chills." She shimmied her shoulders for effect, releasing her legs to rest her feet back on the floor, tucking one knee behind the other and letting the sway carry itself throughout her body. She knew it was a provocative pose, and it was about time he finished eating anyway.
"What's with you? You don't really expect me to take you seriously, do you?" She was maddening was what she was. That cheerful grin and those wide puppy-seal eyes that never ceased to regard him. It made him all too conscious of his missing tunic. On the other hand, the cell now seemed plenty warm.
Ty Lee considered before answering. It appeared that she had him again pleasantly off-kilter. This was almost more fun than foreplay. Almost.
"I'd seriously like you to take me…" she murmured.
And Sokka dropped the near-empty bowl as his fingers went suddenly nerveless. He gnawed at the inside of his cheek as his brain attempted to shift gears and catch up to this girl. Unfortunately, his brain was the only part of him not already in sync with her words. And he wanted to die. He took a long, deep breath.
"Um. Thanks for the lunch. I don't suppose you've also got a shirt for me?"
"Why would I do that? I like you shirtless. I think I'd like you even better naked…"
"Enough already!" He shrugged again, turning his back and seeking composure in the blankness of the far wall. He needed to prevent this encounter from falling back into the absurd. "I guess I'll leave it to you to answer to Princess Pyro next time she wants to see me, um, 'properly attired'."
"Poor Sokka, caught between pleasing Princess Azula and pleasing me." Ty Lee pretended to pout.
He half-turned to face her, "Look. I don't care about pleasing either of you, got it? I would just like something to wear. I'd think you'd be more interested than I am in keeping the bitch happy."
"Oh, I care all right. Actually, though, she doesn't mind my being here with you at all. I'm very helpful to Azula, you know. She wants to keep me happy, and she even said she didn't mind if you did."
"I did…If I did what?" He was confused. Even so, an idea was beginning to form.
"Make me happy, of course." Hadn't Azula said he was supposed to be a smart one? She was beginning to wonder. On the other hand, she had seen his muscles tense across his shoulders, and his sudden drawing up of the leg nearest her to rest a heel on the bench was obviously intended to mask other signs of his awareness of her.
"Really…" Now Sokka's brain started turning the idea around, considering it from a variety of angles as he also wondered just what it was about him that apparently appealed to this girl. "And you think I'd be willing to, um, make you… happy?"
She wasn't acting to throw him off balance. Oh sure, if the princess thought she had something to use against him, she certainly would. But this was simply too bizarre to be a plot. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way he could find some advantage for himself in it.
"Why not? I mean, you're in a bad situation, aren't you? So why shouldn't you take what pleasure you can get out of it? And if you're nice to me, think how nice I might be to you. I'll bet you'd like to be in a more comfortable cabin, maybe have something nice and soft to sleep on. I could arrange that," She smiled in satisfaction as she saw his eyes suddenly hooded in contemplation.
Ah. Finally. Surely he was drawing the appropriate conclusions from her words. "You already owe me, you know," nodding down at the tray between them. "How about a kiss? It's your turn."
He simply sat there for a moment, looking at her. His expression, grim and perplexed through most of their interview, had shifted into a blank mask. The dim light of the candles played across the planes of his face, the darkness of his skin accentuating its angularity and those strange blue eyes. Ty Lee felt another shiver go through her being. It was partially how different he was that attracted her. Like the circus, Sokka was exotic and strange.
Slowly, then, he nodded. "Why not?"
He reached out one of those strong dark hands towards her, catching the back of her head and pulling her to him across the now empty tray. His eyes locked with hers and then his mouth was upon her.
She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't this! Like a wolf unleashed, Sokka's mouth ravaged Ty Lee. Her hands leapt to his chest to push him away, but that hand on her neck held her close, and his other hand closed over both of hers, pulling them together and trapping her against him.
His lips consumed her. Then she felt his teeth pulling at her lower lip in earnest demand. She moaned as sudden weakness flowed through her body, and found his tongue instantly entwined with hers. It wasn't so much an exploration as an invasion, insistent, probing, and overwhelming. As her senses struggled to sort out this attack she vaguely recalled wondering, again, if Sokka approached everything else with the focus that he engaged in eating. She realized she should have been paying attention to the fierceness he had displayed then as well.
Then it was over. But before he released her Sokka pulled away slightly, tilting his head and bringing those teeth gently to bear on her nose, grazing the skin at its tip before closing his lips over them in a final, sure touch that left her reeling.
"Be careful what you ask for, Brat," he said as he pushed her away gently. His voice was faintly husky, but his breathing was perfectly even, unlike hers. "You may not like it when you get it."