"Another couple of minutes," Sokka mumbled into his sleeping bag as he turned away from whatever poked him. He had been having an odd dream about an elephant koi and a dragon, and was about to drift back into it when a few more sharp jabs to the back of his head snapped him awake. "Alright, I'm up!" Sokka snapped as he whipped around and found Momo staring back at him, making light chirping noises. He was about to make a grab for the winged lemur when he heard Aang calling for him.

"We're nearing Tienhai's Cliff, we should be at Old Iron soon," Aang told him once he had sat down on Appa's head next to him.

"Thanks for taking the time to drop me off here," Sokka said as he laid back down. He gave Appa a pat and a scratch and received a loud purr in response

"No problem. It's nice to get away from Katara for a few days," Aang said, looking back and seeing the grin on Sokka's face.

"Uh oh, trouble in paradise?" Sokka teased, giving Aang a small shove with his foot.

"Nothing to worry about, or in your case cheer about," Aang laughed, pushing his foot away. The corners of his mouth turned upward. "Although I think I'm beginning to understand why the Air Temples were segregated."

Sokka sat back up and barked with laughter . "They're a handful, and my sister is probably the worst of the lot, tied in first with Azula," Sokka told him, wrapping his arm around Aang's shoulders. "When they start complaining or talk about their feelings, just smile and nod. Throw in a couple of "you're right" every few minutes and you should be fine." Aang chuckled as he shrugged Sokka's arm off.

"I've learned taking advice from you tends to be the wrong thing to do, especially when it comes to relationships, but thanks anyway." Sokka rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Just give it a try, you'll see how effective it is, worked wonders whenever Katara would start screaming at me," Sokka said, stepping back into the saddle to pack up his sleeping bag.

"And I'm sure you did nothing to cause that. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes," Aang called back to him as Appa began to descend. Sokka slung his bag over his back, along with a tube that contained the painting for Toph. Aang leaned onto the edge of the saddle and bent his head back until he was looking at Sokka. "How do you even know that Toph will be here?"

"I had received a timetable from Earthen Fire about some check up of their main factories. We received one because of the oil extraction plant back home," Sokka explained while he strapped his sword to his belt. "Toph is apparently meant to be on this trip, so I found the letter and figured where they would be."

"Why would Toph be on this trip, doesn't she have a metalbending academy to teach?" Aang asked as they landed just outside the town. He could see a couple of people poke their heads out of the nearest buildings, looks of disbelief on their faces..

"I haven't a clue," Sokka said with a shrug as he climbed over the saddle and slid down Appa's arm. "It's probably something she has to do as an executive partner."

"Maybe she wants to spend some time with that Satoru guy, she seemed pretty smitten on him last time we were here," Aang suggested, grinning at the thought of Toph being in a relationship.

"I'll make sure to let Toph know you said hi. Thanks again" Sokka said quickly, looking away from Aang and shifting his items around to get comfortable.

Aang raised his eyebrow at Sokka, opened his mouth to speak, but slowly closed it. "No problem. See you in a couple of weeks. Yip yip," Aang yelled, giving Sokka a wave as he flew away.

Sokka gave a small wave back as he checked everything was secure before he started walking. He was caught off guard at the size of the town. He could have sworn there had only been at most ten buildings plus the refinery since he was last here, but now it must have been at least triple that.

"I forgot how good this place smelled," Sokka whispered to himself as he continued towards the refinery taking a deep breath and began following where his nose took him. He glanced at the cabbage merchant's restaurant as he walked past. "You're definitely not what's making that smell." He broke into a big grin as he spotted a Fire Nation stand, with meat galore. He quickly made his way towards it, only to stop when he heard his name being called.

"Sokka?" He turned and saw a Water Tribe girl with weak blue eyes and dark brown hair, tied over her shoulder, running towards him.

"Niyok!" Sokka said excitedly as he met her hug with one of his own. "How's the refinery work treating you? No more collapsing tunnels or angry spirits I hope."

"Nothing as exciting as when you guys first visited, I'm just on break at the moment," Niyok told him, giving him one last squeeze before letting go. She eyed him up and down, focusing on the sword at his belt and the light bag on his back. "What are you doing here?"

"Official Water Tribe business, can't divulge any information," Sokka said pompously, turning away and paying for two komodo rhino sausages. He turned back to Niyok, who had her hands on her hips.

"Why would they send you, of all people, with important information?" Niyok teased, a smile playing on her lips.

"Important information needs to be protected," Sokka told her, a smirk on his face as he raised his arm and flexed. He held the pose for a few moments, until he broke and started laughing. Niyok rolled her eyes as she watched him. "Honestly, I'm just here to visit Toph; I heard she's meant to be here," he explained, handing her the second sausage.

"I was going to buy my own-" Niyok began, but stopped when Sokka gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Thanks. If you're looking for Toph she should be in the meeting room in the refinery."

"Okay..." Sokka said, looking towards the large buildings that made up the refinery. "Which one has the meeting room?"

"I'll show you," Niyok said as she gave him a small flick of her head for him to follow her. "How's the tribe?"

"It's... okay," Sokka told her hesitantly. "If you haven't heard, the North has issued a public apology for attempting to make the South a colony once more." Both of them shared a look. Niyok's jaw stiffened before she ripped a piece of sausage off the stick with her teeth. Sokka's mouth formed a thin line. "However it seems the Northern Chief is still trying to use his influence and old history to make some sort of claim over the South. Something about the importance of unity among the tribes."

Niyok let out a snort and shook her head. "Our people fought off sixty years of raids, losing nearly all of our waterbenders and being split across the South Pole, with no help from the North until they were seriously attacked," Niyok said, anger biting at every word. "Now they want us to just lie down while they rob us of our resources and lord over us." She crossed her arms. "I'm beginning to think that Gilak may have had a point." Sokka sighed as they came to the entrance of the refinery.

"Katara has been saying the same thing. We've argued about it for hours," Sokka admitted once they stopped. He looked around the refinery before turning back to her. "The South needs to catch up with the other nations, and Zuko has supported us fully to do so, but I've come around to the idea of making sure the South isn't just some copy of the North." He gave a small shrug. "Although none of us really know what the tribe was like before the war." Niyok stared at him with a bewildered look.

"What about your Gran Gran Kanna, Ashuna, or any of the other elders?" Sokka was now the one confused. Niyok's features softened. "Do you remember our date, a bit before you went off adventuring with the Avatar?"

"I don't know if I'd call it a date, but yeah, of course." Sokka said as he nodded slowly and lightly blushed.

"Remember what we did that night?"

"We sat around the fire and listened to Ahnah tell stories about..." Sokka trailed off as her point came to him.

"About stories and tales about the tribe from before the raids," Niyok finished for him. "There isn't anyone alive from before the war, but many from before the raids. They know what life was like back then, and most of our history is passed by word of mouth anyway."

"You're right," Sokka said, his brow creased as he thought. "When I get back I'll make sure to speak to Gran Gran and the others, see what I can learn." Niyok smiled brightly at him, before looking down a branching hall in the refinery.

"I have got to get back to work. Keep going and there'll be a building to your left once you walk out of the main area, Toph should be in there."

"Thanks, Niyok," Sokka said. They hugged again. "Tell Nutha and the rest I was asking for them."

"Glad to be of help," Niyok said as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before letting go of him and jogging towards her area. Sokka grinned but rolled his eyes as he wiped his cheek and continued down the main hall. All the women of the world, bar one, would have to weep, for he was a taken man. He slowly strolled down the main road of the refinery, watching the various work that was going on.

"After nearly three years the Beifong Metalbending Academy has produced a total of twelve actual metalbenders. Big whoop," Toph muttered grumpily as she leaned back into her chair, her feet up on the large table.

"That's still fifteen who'll be able to repair machinery and perform tasks that would take days and even weeks for us normal people in minutes," Satoru countered, as he poured two cups of tea. He looked back at Toph as she blew the bangs out of her face. "I know it seems like slow going now, but I actually think it's beginning to snowball."

"What makes you say that, smart guy?" Toph asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Well you told me you only had three who could metalbend in the first year, which is now twelve. I'd say that's not a bad increase. You could expand, open more Academies around the Earth Kingdom and-"

"If a person actually wants to learn metalbending, then they'll drag their sorry butts to my academy, not hope that one might open up across the street," Toph cut in, quickly putting an end to that idea. Satoru chuckled and walked over to her, putting her cup on the table.

"You're too stubborn for your own good," Satoru told her as he sat down next to her.

"I know," Toph said with a smirk as she took her feet off the table and reached for the cup. The moment her feet touched the floor she froze, with her hands inches from the cup. She focused on a certain pair of footsteps that were coming nearer, a pair that she knew very well. Satoru jumped when Toph scrambled to her feet and sprinted for the stairs, a huge grin on her face. Satoru hurriedly stood and went after her.

Sokka was about to reach the door when they burst open, and felt like a rock hit him in the chest as the short girl crashed into him. "Sokka!"

"Surprise!" Sokka exclaimed while hugging her back.

"What are you doing here?" Toph asked as she pushed out of the embrace and punched him in the arm.

"You said you wanted me to come visit you sometime," Sokka said with a shrug, giving his arm a small rub.

"You could have let me know," Toph said, looking back at the slightly out of breath figure of Satoru coming up behind them.

"Sokka, a pleasure to see you again," Satoru said, offering his hand to him.

"You as well, the refinery has really expanded," Sokka noted as he gripped the hand.

"Yes. it has," Satoru began as they released. He moved his hand behind his back, and flexed it open and closed to get some feeling to return. "We found a new area to dig, with many veins of different materials. Lao Beifong suggested we double the size of our project here."

"Very impressive," Sokka said absently as he looked around at the new buildings.

"Thank you, it's mostly benders. However, the machinery is coming close to the output of them, which I'm sure you'll be happy to hear," Satoru explained, smirking as he glanced at Toph.

"Why is that?" Sokka asked, frowning as Toph got the same smirk on her face.

"Well, Toph had told me how during your travels together you... How did Toph put it? Sulked like a baby because you couldn't bend," Satoru told him, a toothy grin coming to his face. He mostly suppressed the laugh. Sokka glared at Toph, who had no problem laughing about it.

"I didn't sulk," Sokka sulked as he crossed his arms and continued to glare at Toph.

"Lighten up, Snoozles," Toph said as she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Satoru continued, "I had a design that was actually matching them every now and again, so I made a few adjustments and was confident, so I challenged Toph against it."

"I'll give you one guess who won," Toph said proudly, lifting her chin slightly.. Sokka glanced, only for a moment, at Satoru's hand as he placed it on Toph's shoulder.

"Toph completely blew my machine out of the water," Satoru said, with a proud look of his own. "Although I don't think it would have been such a defeat if my machine hadn't caught fire." Sokka cocked an eyebrow at the last sentence.

"Satoru nearly burned down the whole refinery! Luckily for him, the waterbenders managed to get it under control," Toph told him, shrugging the hand off her shoulder adopting a cocky pose. "Once again, proving us benders are better."

"For now they are," Satoru said as he stepped over to Sokka and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "A few more years and it'll be the other way around."

"The problem is Toph, no matter how good our machines are, she'll always find a way to top us, and rub it in our faces while doing so." Sokka muttered as he slipped out of Satoru's grip.

"I told you Sokka was smart," Toph told Satoru, a big grin on her face. Sokka frowned again as he began to say something, but was interrupted when someone walked over to them.

"The airship is ready to leave whenever you are," the man said, giving Sokka a curious look, before turning back to Satoru.

"You kind of picked a bad time to come along, MeatHead, I've got to leave for another factory soon." Toph mumbled, an annoyed look on her face.

"I know about that actually. I was thinking that I could come along," Sokka said, stepping over to her and leaning down. "Must be boring being around that pansy all the time," Sokka whispered.

"Leave Satoru alone, he's sweet," Toph whispered back, grinning as she glanced at Satoru. "Although, maybe just a bit. Fine with me if you want to tag along."

"If we want to keep schedule we should get going soon," Satoru said as he turned around. "Sokka it's been-"

"Actually he's going to come with us," Toph announced. "You can show him all your little inventions and ideas." Satoru's face lit up.

"You're going too, Satoru?" Sokka asked as they walked together towards the airship.

"Of course I am, I'm the head engineer for all operations of Earthen Fire," Satoru explained. He laughed at the surprised expression on Sokka's face. "My uncle, after joining the Air Acolytes decided he had enough of the business. He was going to sell his share of the company to Lao, but decided to instead pass it on to me." He gave a few waves to various workers.

"My father pretty much deals with the business side of things while Satoru focuses on getting the stuff out of the ground," Toph added. Sokka didn't respond, he was more interested in the airship. It was about a fifth the size of a Fire Nation airship, and an Earthen Fire symbol stood in place of the Fire Nation emblem. It was the first time he had seen one outside of the Fire Nation.

"I got to get myself one of these," Sokka said to himself as he stepped onto the ship. He turned to offer his hand to Toph, but saw that Satoru had followed in behind him and had already done so. He was surprised when he caught himself eyeing Satoru as he held Toph's hand. He quickly looked away and continued up the stairs to the main deck.

"So where are we off to?" Toph asked as they sat down. Sokka opened his mouth to answer but slowly closed it. He didn't actually remember.

"Our mining facility in Mount Makapu, we'll be spending a day or two in the village there," Satoru answered.

Why, of all people, did he have to be coming along? Sokka thought as he felt the airship move. He wasn't sure why he disliked him, but something about Satoru annoyed Sokka ever since he met him. I guess if Toph likes him, I can give him a chance.

"Sokka?" Satoru called him, breaking his line of thought. Sokka glanced questioningly at Satoru. "Would you like some tea, I'm making a pot for Toph and myself."

"Yeah, sure, thanks." Sokka muttered. He seems nice enough, I suppose. They began to rise into the air. However, once more, something about what Satoru had said annoyed him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. A few minutes later he was sitting with Satoru and Toph, with his tea in his hands. "Excuse me," Sokka began as he put his cup down and stood up. "I'm just going outside for a moment." He stepped out onto the platform outside the airship, and stayed there for a while, watching as they climbed higher and higher.


Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one is currently in the planning stage. I would love to hear what you think of the story so far and any critiques are certainly welcome!