The noise of the city got louder and the streets busier as they strolled along well-lit paths. Slowly, the amount of people on the street grew; families and couples going to restaurants and seeing what the night had to offer. While Satoru and Toph mostly blended well into the Upper Ring, Satoru only being distinguishable from his red clothing, Sokka hadn't a hope. The dark-skinned, weapon carrying warrior was a clear contrast to the high-class people of the Upper Ring in their well made clothing and jewelry. However, Sokka mostly didn't notice the sideways glances.
Various men and women stood by the entrances of the doors of the buildings lining the streets. They called out to others, encouraging them to come and enjoy whatever it was their business offered, be it food, entertainment or luxury goods.
Satoru clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "So, will we see if we can find a nice restaurant?" Satoru said as he looked around the street. "I doubt it would be hard. I'm sure there is a square with anything we want just a bit ahead. Ba Sing Se has everything."
"Honestly," Sokka began, "I don't feel like some big meal. I might have something small from a vendor if we find one." Sokka looked back at Toph, who had stopped in her tracks and stared at him with her mouth agape.
For show, she cautiously looked him up and down. "How can you not be hungry? You're always hungry!" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Who are you, and what did you do with Sokka?"
"I probably just filled up on food at the Jasmine Dragon, those dumplings were delicious," Sokka told her, although she still eyed him suspiciously for a few moments still.
She shrugged and gave a grin towards Satoru. "Well, that just means more for me. I'm starving! I could eat a whole hippo cow," Toph said. Sokka began looking around, searching for somewhere to bring her.
Satoru saw it first.
"Over here," Satoru said, pointing to a small line of people queued by the large open window of a store. Lovely smells of meats and spices wafted through the air around it. "Come on Toph, I'll get you something." Satoru glanced back at Sokka. "Would you like anything?" Sokka simply shrugged and leaned against the post of a house, watching as they stood in line. Once they reached the front, Satoru pointed towards the menu. Satoru seemed to freeze, until he dropped his hand and started laughing. Toph stood with her arms crossed. Her head was tilted in that disappointed way she always had it whenever he made the same mistake. Sokka looked away and he realised he was grinding his teeth.
"Don't want to ruin my perfect smile," Sokka mumbled as he watched the people walk past him. He spotted a couple who were looking over at him, their eyes glancing from him, to his heavy club, and to sword at his hip. He gave a small wave and smiled at them. The woman gave a hesitant smile back, and the man gave a curt nod, keeping his eyes on him. Sokka held the man's gaze, puzzled by the way he looked at him, until he spotted Satoru and Toph returning with food in their hands.
"Sure you don't want some food, Meathead?" Toph asked when she reached him. She held out the stick with a thick piece of meat on it but he still shook his head. She pulled a face. "Are you sure you aren't sick?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Sokka said, giving a small laugh.
"I was talking to someone in the shop, asking them for any suggestions for somewhere nice to spend the night," Satoru said after he swallowed his food. "He mentioned the Si Wong Oasis, some bar not far from here."
"That sounds perfect. Some drinks would be nice after all the travelling and working," Sokka said.
"Getting drunk sounds fun!" Toph mumbled through her food.
"I'm not sure if that's exactly a good idea, especially considering you're only fifteen," Satoru said, frowning at her while Sokka laughed.
"It'll be fine, let's go. Hopefully, it's not as difficult to find as old Owly's library," Sokka said, waving away Satoru's concerns. They walked along the street for another few minutes, Sokka and Toph reminiscing about the time in the desert, while Satoru gushed over her holding the entire library up, until they spotted the name along a building.
"Whoa," Sokka exclaimed as they walked in and sat up by the front of the bar. Various items lined the wall of the bar from all over the world, but primarily of the Si Wong Desert. There were some sandbender garbs hung up and He saw a familiar object attached to the counter of the bar.
"Don't break anything," Sokka heard Toph say as he looked at the compass. He gave the glass cover a few pokes, but the compass was fixed, pointing South-West.
"Can I help you?" Sokka jumped when he heard the deep voice. He looked up into the tanned, lined face of the bartender. A few long-faded scars adorned his face.
"Sorry," Sokka said sheepishly. "Haven't seen one of these for a few years."
"It's fine," the bartender said through a laugh, before leaning in close. A pair of deep set eyes scanned Sokka "Where would you have seen such a compass, you're a bit too dark to be a sandbender."
Sokka gestured towards Toph. "My friend and I journeyed through the desert a few years ago, found an abandoned sand-sailer buried in the sand. Pretty much saved our hinds," Sokka explained. "We found a tribe, the Hami if I'm remembering correctly, and they helped us find our way out."
The bartender tilted his head and pursed his lips before nodding. "I've heard of them. Very Impressive, not many would survive even getting into the desert without a guide," the bartender said as he looked at the young girl.
"Well, we kind of had a flying bison at the start," Toph told him.
"A flying bison?!" The bartender repeated. His eyes widened as they jumped between Sokka and Toph. "You two must have travelled with the Avatar?" He broke into a large grin as Toph nodded.
Sokka placed his hand on the shoulder of Toph. "I'm Sokka of the Southern Water, and that is Toph Beifong, the Avatar's earthbending teacher."
"Nainzu, of the Sanju Tribe. It is an honour to meet the heroes who saved us all," Nainzu shook both their hands. His eyes turned to the unnamed figure. "And you?"
"Satoru," he said as he shook hands with the bartender. "If I may ask, how did you find yourself in Ba Sing Se, let alone in the Upper Ring? I mean no offence, but the general view of the sandbender tribes isn't exactly a favourable one."
"Thieves and raiders, I know the stereotypes," Nianzu said with a grin. "I won't deny that there's a reason those stereotypes exist about the tribes, many do raid travellers and caravans passing through." He reached up and tapped on a mean looking spear. "It's why us Sanju, and some other tribes, offer protection and act as guides."
"Would have been nice to have one of you guys back then," Toph said sourly. The fuzziness of the great desert was not something she wanted to ever experience again..
"So how did you wind up in Ba Sing Se?" Sokka asked.
"I was offered a position of a bodyguard for a noble here in the impenetrable city after helping escort them through the desert." Nianzu patted the counter and looked at his old garbs. "It's generally frowned upon to leave the tribe, but I finally had an opportunity to escape that desert, so I accepted. Took a few things from the journey as you can see." He gestured to the many items along the wall. "I stayed as a guard for a few years, finished my contract and became a free man. I made many friends and connections in the Upper Ring while with that noble, and managed to open a bar. That was about ten years ago." Sokka watched the bartender look across his trophies with pride. "Enough with the old times, what would you three like to drink, a personal and bar favourite is the sandbender style cactus juice."
"What makes it sandbender style," Sokka asked, seeing the smirk on the man's face.
"The cactus juice here is all watered down! Cactus juice is usually watered down with... well water, it completely kills the kick in my opinion. Us sandbenders however, we prefer to water ours down with a bit of alcohol," Nianzu explained.
"We'll have three of those then!" Sokka said excitedly. Nianzu nodded, placing three cups on the counter and filling the cups up just under halfway with cactus juice. He opened another bottle, and filled the cups the rest of the way.
"First one is on the house; a thanks to you two after stopping the Fire Nation. Enjoy."
Toph reached out to take one of the cups but an arm stuck out in front of her. "I don't think so," Satoru said. Sokka grinned and raised an eyebrow at him. Satoru shook his head and gave him a disapproving look. "She's only fifteen." Nianzu simply shrugged, downing the free drink and pouring a glass of water for her.
"Sorry Toph," Sokka muttered as he took his drink. "Although maybe getting the greatest earthbender of all time wasted isn't the best idea."
"It would have been fun," Toph protested, but sighed when she saw neither was changing their mind. "Great, now I'll have to deal with a drunk Meathead and Gears tonight."
An Hour Later
"That stinger and skull is from the same buzzard wasp I took down with this very sling," Nianzu explained as he took the items off the wall and placed them on the counter. He gave the bright white skull a wipe with a cloth while Sokka inspected the curved stinger. "Careful with the stinger, that thing is as sharp as a razor. Funny story actually, made it into a dagger during my time as a guard, worked pretty damn well."
"That's incredible," Sokka mumbled as he turned the stinger over in his hands, carefully checking the sharpness by shaving a small bit of hair off his arm. "That must have been a one in a million shot."
"Aye, I'm guessing it's probably what made that noble offer me the job. Caught that pest right in its eye and ," Nianzu said proudly, holding the sling out in both hands.
"We have slings in the South as well, fantastic for catching small prey. Although, personally I prefer the boomerang, trained with it since I could walk," Sokka said as he slid his boomerang out of its sheath and handed it to Nianzu. "If you throw it right, it'll curve around and come right back to you, or close enough anyway."
Nianzu looked curiously at the boomerang as he tossed it up and down. "Incredible, must be useful to hit things without them ever seeing you." Sokka nodded, picking up the buzzard wasp skull for a closer look. The sand-triber frowned as he felt the edge of the boomerang. "I would have thought having it be sharpened would be more useful."
Sokka shrugged. "They're good for blunt force. We mainly use these when hunting birds and other small prey," he said as he took the boomerang back. "They were also much more useful against the Fire Nation soldiers, we weren't going to cut through their armour, so we simply smashed their helmets in." Nianzu laughed and nodded in approval. Sokka slid his weapon back into its hilt and grinned. "Sharp ones would be more useful against the larger stuff in the South, such as the polar bear dog or snow leopard caribou. You're not knocking those beasts out, so you want to disable one of its limps, or even cut through its neck if you're skilled enough. I've only ever pulled that off once."
"I thought surviving in the desert was rough, but those creatures sound more dangerous than anything you'd encounter in the sands," Nianzu noted. Toph and Satoru sat to the side of the two warriors, listening to them talk. Satoru smirked. His vision hazy, speech somewhat slurred and holding onto the edge of the counter to stop that annoying swaying… that cactus juice had hit him hard.
"I think I get why you call him Meathead now," Satoru muttered to Toph as he leaned close to her. "All he ever seems to think about is hunting and fighting." Toph gave a small chuckle, and Satoru grinned as he glanced back up to Sokka. However, it disappeared when he found the deep blue eyes glaring right at him. Satoru didn't know if it was the cactus juice, but he decided for once to hold eye contact with Sokka. "What?"
"Mind repeating what you just said?" Sokka said, standing up off his stool and crossing his arms.
"Just that you only seem to be interested in fighting," Satoru told him as he followed suit. He put his new-found boldness down to cactus courage.
"Yes, I like weapons, hunting and knowing how to fight, what's exactly your point?" Sokka spat, stepping around Toph and closer to Satoru, until they were within arm's reach.
Satoru raised his palms out in front of him. "Calm down, I was making a joke to Toph," he said, not taking a step back as Sokka had imagined.
"Oh, a joke? Okay, what's the joke then?" Sokka said, shifting his leg slightly back in a more stable and ready stance.
Toph frowned at the pair. "That I call you Meathead because you like to fight, even though it's actually because you're an idiot who only thinks about food," Toph said,frowning at the two.
Satoru stood up straighter and slightly lifted his chin. "To be fair, someone can figure both of those things out from the moment they see him, I know I did." Satoru added, and saw Sokka's brow furrow.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toph asked, raising her eyebrow at him.
"Well, he's from the Southern Water Tribe. Of course all he thinks about is fighting and killing," Satoru said, his eyes going wide when he saw Sokka bare his teeth and leap for him.
"Enough!" Toph yelled as she stepped between them with both her hands on their chests, stopping Sokka like a stone wall. She pushed them both backwards a couple of steps. "Satoru, leave, now!" she ordered him. Satoru frowned, confused.
"Why should-"
"Get out!" Toph snapped, stamping towards his direction and making the entire building shake. Satoru raised both hands, nodding quickly as he stepped backwards towards the door. He blinked rapidly, the threat of a building crashing down on top of him somewhat sobering him. "I'll head back to the house then." He took one last glance at Sokka, before turning and exiting the bar.
"What in Oma and Shu is his bloody problem?!" Toph yelled in frustration, before turning back to the two warriors. Nianzu peeked out from under the counter before standing slowly up. They both looked at her with a small hint of fear. "I'm sorry about that, Sokka, I can't believe he actually said that." A dour look came to Toph's face as she slowly shook her head. That wasn't like him at all.
"It's... It's fine, Toph." Sokka said, slowly sitting back down on his stool. "You know what, let's not let it ruin our night. We can deal with it in the morning." He patted the top of the empty stool beside him. Toph stood there for a moment, before taking the seat. Sokka let out a very slow breath. He'd deal with Satoru later. He turned to their bartender. "Nianzu, I'm sorry about that. Nothing broke, did it?"
Nianzu shook his head. He kept glancing towards the Toph, who folded her arms on the counter and rested her head on them. He had faced some intimidating people in his life; very few rivaled her. He glanced around his bar. "Nothing that I can see. Don't worry about it, I've seen and heard much worse during my time. If you'll excuse me, I have to go check on the other customers out back… make sure they're okay." Sokka nodded and watched Nianzu walk away.
Toph mischievously raised her head the moment he left the room. "So, about me being too young to drink…" Toph said, a sly grin on her face as she turned towards Sokka. Sokka let out a quiet laugh, before checking to see if Nianzu would return soon. He quickly poured half his drink into Toph's empty cup, and topped his own up with Satoru's abandoned drink. "That's why you're my favourite," Toph laughed as she held the cup up to him. He tapped his cup against hers, and couldn't hide his smile as the two sat and drank together.
Well Satoru messed up pretty badly, let's hope Toph doesn't deal with him her way! Got this chapter out a bit early, and it's a good medium sized chapter. Chapter 9, which will include Sokka and Toph simply having fun together, will be next. I'm happy to say that chapter is for the most part already planned out, so it should be on schedule. It was originally going to be part of this chapter, but thought the shift in tone deserved to have it be a new chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always would love to hear your opinion on it so far, or any little comments you may have. Consider following if you'd like to keep up with the story. Thanks for reading!
