Gasp! An update after only a week or so? Has the world gone mad? Nah, it's more like I'm trying to do shorter chapters and more consistent updates (may as well at least try to keep those New Year's resolutions); I'm on a Tokka kick that's only going to get stronger once Korra season 2 starts and The Search comic (even though Toph isn't in it; ah well, we at least got some good Tokka bonding in The Promise). I hope to keep this updating once every week or two up! Your words encourage me to keep coming back, for those few of you who enjoy everyone's favorite duo this side of Psych! Thanks for your support and enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the shoes on my feet…wait, scratch that, the credit card company owns those. Well, damn, now I'm really sad.

…

The day had started off ordinary enough for Hina. First she woke up at 9:00, took her daily twenty minute long shower, and by the time she was waiting for her breakfast to heat up, it was 9:50. After that, she spent ten minutes looking into the mirror, trying to get her wild hog-monkey nest of black hair under control. After fighting with her hair, she often just settled the feud by tying it up in a ponytail and leaving it alone for the rest of the day. By the time 10:30 rolled around, she was ready to actually start her morning, which naturally included going through the bills. She glanced over at the pile of ignored scrolls on the table near her front door and sighed; she hated Bill Day. She briefly wondered if Kahn or Ti were around to hang out with—she could normally count on them for a good distraction, but then shook her head.

"Not this time; this time, I'm going to pay back everything first." If I can…. She hadn't had the best luck with money the past two months, which made her a little bit desperate for hours at the shop. Hina glanced over at the time candle and it flickered eleven times. It was 11:00. How did they ever survive without the Mechanist's time candle? It was baffling just how much they depended on it; she was pretty sure that her Water Tribe mother back Yu Dao still just relied on the positions of the sun to tell time, which made her approach to punctuality more along the lines of "whenever it gets done. Hardly the work ethic to teach her impressionable young daughter. The more she thought about it, she realized that was probably the main reason she couldn't stand her neighbor, Gin. The jackass just seemed to scoot through life—he didn't care that his laziness hurt others. Which made her all the more tempted to consider moving to a new building, or at least up a floor; the only things stopping her were her finances and her other neighbors, Kahn and his brother Ti.

She had met the brothers shortly after she had gotten to Republic City; right after she had gotten off the carriage a year ago last week, actually. Once she had stepped out of the carriage, she had almost been run over by a rogue ostrich horse; however, at the last second, Kahn pulled her to safety and they had stuck together ever since. After all, it was a big city; a girl needed friends to back her up, and those two more than fit that bill. She smiled slightly. At first, she didn't believe they were brothers, given how pale Kahn was compared to his tanner younger brother, but she was quickly convinced by how much they argued; if that wasn't a sure sign of relation, what was? She didn't press them too much about their history, just as they didn't press her for hers; the whole point of moving to the city was to start over and asking questions about the past just wasn't polite, not in this section of the city at least. Though, as well as Kahn and Ti got along, she still found it odd that they had separate rooms, though she mostly chalked it up to Ti bringing all those people back at random hours of the day. He was certainly popular for a guy who watered plants for a living; then again, she paused, perhaps it was because he watered plants—maybe girls thought he was the sensitive type and, with his tanned foreigner look, figured he'd be a good lay. That would be annoying, your roommate constantly bringing women back to the room; if that was the case, she could hardly blame the more chaste Kahn for living separate.

A sudden knock on her door shook her from her reverie. She glanced wearily down at the scrolls scattered on her kitchen table; she had barely read half of them and already she was depressed. With a sigh, Hina got up and walked over to the door. She stood on her tip toes and peeked through the peephole on the door that Fuin had installed after the Dragon first struck Mrs. Fink—though, in Hina's mind, the old woman probably had it coming a little bit. She bit her lower lip—every time she thought that, she couldn't help but feel at least the tiniest bit guilty. It wasn't as the accident had been all her fault….

There was another knock on the door. From what Hina could tell from her peek, there was no reason to pretend she wasn't home—it wasn't the debt collectors again. She undid the locks and eased her door open. "How can I help you…Oma and Shu, right?"

The most recent additions to the Saint Bara family looked at each other and flushed a little. "Er, it's Sou and Omai." The tan man—clearly Water Tribe—corrected. He was wearing a knee-length green cloak that covered most of his body, with his loose black pants leading to brown boots.

"I believe you mean Omai and Sou." The pale women glanced up at her…boyfriend? Roommate? Friend with benefits? Hina couldn't quite peg them and it annoyed her. Omai fidgeted a little with her scarf, but otherwise seemed fine in her loose tan shirt and looser pants. Her shoes were kind of odd—they had very thin soles; frankly, if Omai stepped on so much as a pebble, her feet were doomed, but each to their own.

Sou just glared at her. "I thought we agreed my name would go first?"

"But doesn't the more awesome person come first? That'd be me." Definitely together, Hina thought. Either that or their siblings. The arguing cinched it.

"I'm not doing this right now." Sou pouted and crossed his arms in a decidedly unmanly way while Omai just smirked; she knew she had won. After a steady few seconds of pouting, Sou turned back to Hina, who was just staring at him, eyebrow raised. "I'm sorry about my friend here; she tends to be a little OCD about certain things; why, last night she just couldn't rest until all the spoons were in correct order from biggest to smallest."

Omai glared, her loose, mid-back-length black hair framing her face, but to her credit, didn't miss a beat. "Wait until you see how I organized your panty drawer, Sou—you can finally stop storing your thongs in mine." Sou winced while Hina tried not to laugh; there was something about these two that she could tell she'd like. Still, she knew that if she didn't say anything, they would only keep on bickering—she had had plenty of bicker-referee experience after knowing Kahn and Ti for a year, so she coughed pointedly.

"So…Omai and Sou…what can I do for you? I'm afraid whatever it is, it'll have to be short; I have to go to work in ten minutes." That stopped the argument that was undoubtedly brewing. At least they had the decency to fake looking sorry before Omai nodded.

"It's no problem…Hina, right?" Hina nodded. "Cool. See, idiot? I told you her name was Hina—where the hell did you get Lee from?" Sou lightly smacked her on the back of the head. "Right. Anyway, as you heard last night, my friend and I just moved in and we were hoping to hold a party tomorrow night, a sort of get-to-know-the-neighbors thing, you know? Would you be interested in coming?"

Hina blinked—she hadn't expected that. These people wanted to actually know their neighbors? In the big city? Just how recently had these trusting hicks gotten off the boat? Still, they seemed nice enough… "There will be food there." Sou deadpanned as he noted her hesitation.

Score. "Sure, I think I'll be able to come. Though, may I ask you two a question?" They glanced at each other and shrugged; Hina took that as permission to continue. "You seem like nice enough people, so it's only fair that I ask: why would you want to move here? Didn't you hear about this Dragon Spirit thing?"

Sou shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah we did, and since this is our first apartment and Omai here is something of a tightwad—" Omai not so subtly kicked the side of his shin. "I mean, I'm the tightwad. Right. Anyway, we heard about this Dragon thing and couldn't help but think the rates would be cheap. Besides, we moved to the city for adventure—how can we top a Fire Nation Dragon Spirit?"

"Fair enough, but I'd recommend keeping your options open—I wouldn't want you to get hurt, okay?" They nodded, but didn't look nervous at all. Hina just shrugged, Ah, the old days of naivety; they'll become cynical in no time. "So long as you understand that, I guess. So tomorrow night for the party then?" Omai nodded. "What room?"

"We're on the third floor, right across the hall from Mrs. Fink and I think…Tiger? Tiguh?" She shrugged. "Whichever. Anyway, she's next to us." Hina tried not to shudder. Tiguh was almost as bad as Gin…still, she looked at their naïve, hopeful stares and knew that she'd cave.

"Okay, I'll definitely come." The candle made its popping noises again. "Well it's 12:30; I better get going. It was nice talking to you and I'll see you tomorrow." With a smile and a wave goodbye, Hina closed the door and sighed. Well, at least she'd get a free meal out of it…though she doubted the party wouldn't go long…not in this building….

…

"Is she moving?" Sokka asked five minutes later as he and Toph sat at the café across from the Saint Bara; they were waiting for Hina to finally start heading to work so they could tail her. Toph just shook her head and Sokka scowled. "Now that's just plain rude—she told us she had to leave right away." He stroked his fake beard. "Wang Fire is displeased by the corruption of young people today."

Toph smacked him lightly on the arm. "Well, 'Wang Fire' can go suck it."

"Why young lady! Such foul language!" Sokka gapped in mock indignity. "Don't make me rise out your mouth with soup. Actually," he sniffed the air suspiciously. "have you taken a shower recently?"

"We're supposed to be going in disguise, Sokka, so I figured that—that I may as well pretend to be clean." Toph looked like she was caught between pouting and flushing; Sokka just laughed.

"I thought your healthy coating of dirt looked thinner than usual." He would've patted her head, but he prized his fingers too much; besides, with her professional-looking hat, he doubted she could've felt it anyway. At the moment, her hair was up in a bun and resting under the hat, and she had glasses that kept sliding down the bridge of her nose. Given that they were going to be following Hina to presumably a place of business, Sokka figured that they should look professional and confident, two things he knew that would make most people let them go about their business without question. Granted, if they did their disguises right—and if there was one thing Sokka prided himself on was his ability to be a master of disguise—there should be no way that anyone could figure them out; Sokka was carrying a cane for crying out loud! He was practically invisible.

"Did you see anything in her room while I distracted her with my awesome banter?" Toph asked as she pretended to read the book Sokka had set in her hands.

"You still got a bead on her and talk?"

"I can multitask, jackass, and you know it." Toph snorted and, after groping around the side of the book for a second, turned the page.

"True, true, but we need to get this to work." He did a quick scan of the tables around them. The room was fairly loud and busy and no one walking by stared at them through the wide window, and the employee at the counter was too busy struggling to complete orders while balancing his not giving a damn. "Anyway, while we were distracting her with our banter, I did manage to at least get a good sweep of her room—at least the stuff she had on display. Apparently, she's not the biggest laundry fan; I think I saw some under things I shouldn't..." He trailed off, caught between feeling ashamed and slightly happy by the sight; Toph merely flushed a little and gestured for him to move on. "She didn't keep too many important things out in the open—actually, her room didn't have much personality to it at all; no posters, no paintings, no plants, no nothing. She did have one of the Mechanist's timer candles though, so we know she's punctual—I'm willing to say that she doesn't let herself get too close to anyone or any place."

"That help or hurt our cause?" Toph raised an eyebrow, cutting through his exposition. Sokka sighed; she just didn't appreciate a good buildup.

"I'd say it helps us; I mean, if the building closed tomorrow, I don't think she'd loss too much sleep over it, and she seems to be behind on bills, if that mountain of scrolls is any indication."

"I thought you said she was current with her rent?"

"Doesn't mean she can't be in debt for other things, like her gym membership or her bar tap, or something." Sokka scowled as he fell silent.

"Her porn collection, maybe?" Sokka met Toph's unseeing gaze and considered her suggestion; finally, they both shrugged.

"I think we're going to keep trying, but that is a good backup." He said, echoing the words from his sister when he guessed that King Bumi's name was "Rocky"—a joke, he now thought, that he'd have to try on Toph; surely she'd be able to appreciate its puniness more than his sister…. "You know, I think that she just might—"

"She's on the street." Toph slammed the book shut and got to her feet. Sokka glanced out the window and saw Hina exiting the Saint Bara and turning to her left to walk down the street. "Let's go Snoozles; I can only keep track of one person for a little while here—too much hustle and bustle."

"Aw, missing the country already?" Sokka chuckled but got to his feet as well.

"You're the hick, Southern Water Tribe commoner." Toph grumbled, but Sokka pretended he couldn't hear her. A minute later, they were out the door and walking down the street.

…

"I don't believe this." Sokka gapped. After following Hina on three bus carriages, losing her twice and getting turned around three times, this was the payoff?

"What is it?" Toph asked eagerly. Sokka almost felt envious; she couldn't see the foo-foo, cutesy decorations and the air of sophistication and femininity that the made the building seem far more "seductive" than "evil-Dragon-Spirit-plans-here!"

"It's a…dress store." He sighed. "A popular one, if all these middle age women are any indication. Seriously, Aunt Wu's was less packed than this!" This was not turning the way he had hoped. After all their time disguising themselves and him picking out his perfect beard and cane, the woman turned out to work at a dress store? There was no way in hell that was relevant!

As if sensing his train of thought, Toph sighed, "Well, that sucks. And to think we pushed an old woman off a bus to make sure we caught up with Hina."

"Hey, this is the city; she should've seen it coming. I mean, at her age, isn't walking better for her health anyway?" Sokka scoffed, then paused. "Toph, are we terrible people?"

"Yep, we're going to hell, but we're not going to be walking there, that's for damn sure." Sokka laughed and shrugged.

"Well, the shame my Gran Gran is undoubtedly sending my way right now, we may as well go inside and ask around—we did make that poor woman walk for this cause."

"Fine, but what's our cover story? Should I lower my collar so people can see the betrothal necklace?"

Sokka shook his head. "Nah, we can't have Hina catch wind that it's us and that necklace isn't going away anytime soon. Just follow my lead and let me do most of the talking; I want you focusing on whether they're lying or not."

"I can do that in my sleep, Snoozles." Toph snorted, but gestured for him to lead the way. The Water Tribe warrior took a breath and began to stride confidently into the shop, him stroking his beard thoughtfully. He almost faltered once he walked through the door, though; if the outside was cutesy, then the inside practically made him gag—it was Ty Lee's wet dream—he shivered; I can't believe I put that thought in my own head. The nightmares would be plenty retribution for that thought, he was quite confident.

The store room itself wasn't too large; however, there had to be at least ten aisles of dresses and gowns of all shapes, sizes, and colors that Sokka was pretty sure didn't actually exist, yet every aisle had at least fifteen women browsing through their inventory; Sokka could even see a small herd of bored men banded together against the right wall—some may have been tempted to try and lean on the left side of the room, just to mix things up, but that wall seemed to be dedicated to all kinds of sheets of fabric. From their glazed over expression, I guess they left their souls at the door.

Toph shared similar sentiments, "Looks like those guys lost their balls somewhere."

"They didn't lose them; they just left them in their wives' fabulous handbags."

Toph didn't even dignify that with a response; she just kept marching towards the back of the store, where the clerk was. Sokka kept stride and caught up with ease; though Toph may've grown taller, but his legs were still longer by four inches or so. He gently grabbed her shoulder and turned her towards the rack to their left.

"What do you think of this one?" He asked, using his Wang Fire voice.

Toph sighed and her shoulders slumped, but she reluctantly reached forward and groped the aisle and grabbed the first dress she had a decent grip on. "This the one you mean?" She hissed.

"Doesn't matter, just reject it."

"You're the boss." Dear Spirits, when this is over, I'm going to get a plaque with her quote on it. And the date. And it will sit right above my fireplace and become my tombstone. Sokka was interrupted from his plaque dreams when Toph scowled and said, "No way in hell I'm going to the party in that; I'd look like a fashion pariah!"

"Okay, okay Song; let's just ask this young man to help us. Hello, sir?" Sokka called to the clerk who was probably old enough to be his father, yet had the glasses and critical eye of a man who knew his fabrics—he certainly looked like the manager type. "Could you please help my friend here? We're going to a party tonight and she doesn't have a thing to wear."

The man looked up from his notebook and glared at one of the female staffers he had carrying a heavy looking box. One of the shorter but stronger ones shivered and set down her box. She quickly made her way over to Toph and Sokka and bowed slightly. "Welcome to the Dancing Dragon—" Sokka and Toph snickered; the girl's eyes narrowed slightly. "My name is Jin; how may I help you today?"

"As I was just informing your boss over there, Ms. Jin, my friend and I have a party to go to tonight for work—office parties, you understand—and she doesn't have anything to wear. She's new and more than a little colorblind, so we thought we'd get an expert's opinion." He trailed off; by the time the first few words were out of his mouth, Jin had started looking at Toph with a critical eye.

"I see…." She gestured for Toph to turn around; Sokka held his breath, but he worried for nothing. It seemed her earthbending senses at least let her see what motion gestures people were doing, and she began to turn on the spot. "I see potential here…."

"Excellent; well, I'll let you girls get to it. I'll just wait over here by the counter; just come to me when you're done, or I'll fetch you if we're running out of time." Sokka smiled and thanked the spirits that his beard obscured it; fortunately, Jin was too much in the zone to notice and Toph was too busy scowling and standing still while Jin poked her body in various places to hit him. He shrugged and leaned against the counter and glanced over at the wall of fabrics. While over the course of their journey to defeat the Fire Lord he had learned enough sowing to make minor repairs to his clothes and armor, he had no idea what separated good fabric from bad fabric, and as far as he was concerned, none of those shiny things deserved the prices being asked; frankly, he'd give Aang's—no, wait; Sokka wanted nieces and nephews—he'd give Zuko's left nut to have even a fraction of just one sheet of fabric.

However, the more he scanned the wall, the more something seemed to stand out to him. He narrowed his eyes and casually wandered over to the fabric that caught his eye. The price tag bragged that it was firmer than most fabrics, but still a flexible enough to be sown or molded into whatever garment you wanted—it reminded Sokka of paper mache and, more importantly, it reminded him of the sheets of material he, Toph, and Fuin had found in that trunk in that hidden room underneath the first floor. He pulled the price tag off the wall and wandered back to the checkout and the silent-but-angry manager behind it.

"Why hello again, my good man!" A grunt in reply. "I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to say what this is?"

"Read the tag." He answered curtly.

"I did, and I'm interested in the material, but I'm afraid that a big sheet is just a little out of my price range. Do you know if anyone else may sell it for a lower price?"

The pale man glared at him and stroked his bread; it was longer than Sokka's fake one and definitely whiter. The Water Tribe warrior sucked in his gut and stood slightly on his tip toes—if this man could beat him in the beard department, at the very least, he'd make himself taller. "No; we're the only shop in the city that carries it. Made somewhere near Gaoling, if you must know."

"I was just curious. I have to have something to keep me interested while the girls are chattering away like hog monkeys." He sighed and set the tag on the counter and resumed leaning against it; however, his mind was already processing the information. The material for the mask had to have come from this shop, and he and Toph figured that the Dragon had to be someone in the building; the only link between the Dancing Dragon and the Saint Bara was Hina—at least, as far he knew so far.

The manager just grunted and went back to counting the money he had in the bin that rested on the counter; whenever people bought something, their money seemed to get tossed into the bin and recorded by the man's diligent records. "I'm Wang Fire, by the way." Sokka held out his hand. The pale man froze and looked at him with a new interest; Sokka's heart quickly leapt into his throat. Had he been found out already?

"Wang Fire? The Fire Nation Wang Fire?" Sokka nodded, and the man smiled. "I've heard of you. My brother was Drill Sergeant in the Fire Nation army and he talked about you all the time." The man frowned. "I thought you were supposed to be dead."

Sokka's heart started pounding. What were the odds that he'd run into the brother of his old Drill Sergeant ? And a pleasant fuck you too, Universe. He had tried to forget about the time when he had joined the Fire Nation army while he and the others were traveling in the Fire Nation. He had originally done it to try and learn more about the country, but quickly found himself overwhelmed by latrine duty and those evil cow hippos—he couldn't take any more and fled, only to be cornered by the army. Fortunately, he had come up with the guise that he had been hunting earthbender and waterbender infiltrators and, with the display made by his friends, convinced the Drill Sergeant that he would take them on himself. One faked death later, Sokka hadn't given it another thought. Until now, that is. (A/N: This story is an actual tale from their time in the Fire Nation; it was chronicled in the epic "Private Wang Fire" comic that was included in the individual Season Three DVD volumes, or you can pick it up in the "Lost Adventures" Avatar comic collection from Dark Horse.)

Sokka did the only thing he could think of: laugh. "I remember the son of a bitch! He made me dig latrines until I collapsed….good times." Noting the man's skeptical glance, he added. "As for the whole, 'how am I alive' thing, if you must know, is a simple matter: when I went to fight those benders, I wasn't sure I'd make it back. It was fierce struggle, but I had distinct advantage. They didn't think that anyone would be crazy enough to try to take them on, you know? Anyway, I'll spare you the gory details, but I have to admit that they beat me; however, I did manage to talk them into taking me hostage versus attacking the rest of the troop—all it took was me mentioning the secret river that that flows to the Fire Lord's palace."

"But that doesn't…"

"Of course it doesn't exist! You know that, I know that, but those idiot benders didn't. Anyway, they took me out of the country, to the rebel base—to this day, I don't know where it was, but it took a long time and far too many bumpy carriage rides, I'll tell you that! Still, I got to meet the leader—a hooded guy, wearing a mask—"

"Wait," the clerk interrupted; he looked tense, though he tried to keep the interested expression of his face. "how can the guy have a hood and a mask?"

"Er, he was very thorough; he didn't want anyone to figure out his identity. Hell, I'm not even sure if it was a man; it could've been a woman in disguise." The clerk raised a skeptical eyebrow. "C'mon, think about it—if you were leading one of the charges against the Fire Nation, would you want to go about with just a hood? Why take the chance? Anyway, I didn't tell them anything, but they didn't like that." He tapped his leg with his cane. "Despite my efforts, I fear that they used the secret river info in their invasion plan. At least that failed, right? For a while, anyway….

After the Fire Lord fell, I got released from prison and was taken to one of the colonies, and with all that Harmony Restoration Movement bull, I decided to stay put and see which way the wind blew. Fortunately, for me, er us, they went with Republic City instead. So I made my way here. How's the old drill sergeant?"

"He got injured in the War, after you left. He's retired on Ember Island." He paused. "He still writes some times; I'll mention you said 'hi.'"

Sokka nodded. "Good, good." He glanced over at the clerk—it seemed that he had gained his confidence with the story; maybe he could get him to talk about Hina. They did go all the way out there; they may as well get some extra information. "You know, you remind of me of your brother—keeping those employees filled with fear."

"Gets stuff done."

"How many employees do you have? Any recent hires, with all these newcomers coming into the city every damn day?"

The man just shrugged. "No, still got the same six person staff as I did a year ago. All those newcomers have lazy work ethic—not like us Fire Nation folk. Fortunately, Jin keeps the Earth Kingdom employees in line, like that Hina."

"Hina?" Sokka asked casually. "She one of your Earth Kingdom employees?"

The man nodded. "Yes, and if she didn't have Fire Nation contacts, I would have tossed her on her ass weeks ago."

Sokka tried to only look mildly interested. Fire Nation contacts? "Why, is she unpunctual?"

"For the past month or so, she's missed a shift or two."

"For shame! Why, you'd think her Fire Nation contacts would teach her better. After all, nothing teaches discipline like a Fire Nation stepfather."

The manager shook his head. "It isn't her stepfather—she's friends with a friend of mine; he and his brother went to school with me in the colonies. I think he lives somewhere in the city, last I heard." He paused. "He doesn't write anymore."

"That's a shame…." Sokka's mind was racing. He glanced over at Toph while she pretended to be interested in whatever Jin was babbling on about. She stiffened and looked in his general direction; she had sensed his heartbeat increase. The Water Tribe warrior watched as his partner talked to Jin and shrugged. Slowly, they made their way back to the counter. "Find anything good?"

Jin scowled. "Unfortunately, I can't find anything to please this…valuable customer. She couldn't see quality colors if they bite her on the…"

"Jin, that's enough." The manager snapped, and turned to Toph, who was smirking. "I'm sorry we couldn't find anything to satisfy you, Miss."

"It's not a problem; maybe next time." Toph shrugged and Sokka nodded.

"Thank you for your help though. And tell the drill sergeant I say hello!" The manager grunted. On that note, Sokka and Toph took their leave of the Dancing Dragon and onto the crowded afternoon streets of Republic City. Once they had walked a few blocks, Sokka glanced down at Toph. "So, was the manager lying?"

Toph shook her head. "Nope. Why? What'd he tell you?"

Sokka sighed. "That's what I was afraid of." He walked over to the bus stop. "C'mon, I'll tell you while we wait; we got a day to plan, after all—tomorrow's when the party starts."

…

And that's that for this part. Things seem to finally be heading towards something of a climax; who knows? There may even be some action instead of just talking. Anyway, hopefully I will be able to get the next chapter up next Sunday or so; it depends on how intense my course work turns out to be. I will get back to this and feel free to place bets on the villains! Thanks for reading!

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