"I hate wearing boots! I'm practically blind in these stupid things," Toph said while Sokka knelt in front of her.
"You're already blind," Sokka reminded her, tying her laces.
"Shut up. Don't you have any secret Water Tribe method to keep my feet warm?" she spat back.
"Yeah. You're wearing them." He barely dodged Toph's kick when fell away from her. He rolled backwards over his shoulder and stood back up, grinning at his friend. "Those are my thickest pair of socks. There's nothing else I can do if they don't fit you. Why don't you have your own boots?"
"I forgot them," she pouted. She hopped off the chair and the sharp image of Sokka turned to a fuzzy blob in her mind. "I can't see a thing!"
"It'll probably be even worse when there's snow involved," the blob said to her with what she assumed was a shrug. Her fist shot out and Sokka doubled over in pain, holding his stomach.
"I can still make out enough to hit you!" Toph growled, stamping next to his head.
"Good to know," the winded warrior wheezed. He picked himself off the floor and began taking deep breaths. "I'll get Katara to find a proper pair of boots for you. Without those socks, you'll probably be fine." Toph nodded and sat down, lightly tapping her feet on the floor. Sokka turned his head when he heard a pair of voices coming close to them.
"Thank you for the update," Satoru said to the worker before turning and walking towards them. "Any luck?"
"They'll stay on, but she'll walk into a few buildings if nobody keeps an eye on her," Sokka said as he took a big step out of Toph's range.
"That's...good, I suppose. We should be landing in a few minutes. I suggest not going out onto the platform; it's covered in ice."
"You could have warned me about that earlier," Sokka mumbled as he rubbed his elbow.
Satoru laughed lightly as he looked out the window across the barren sheet of snow to the mountains beyond. "This is my first time in either of the Poles. It's breathtaking." He stepped closer to the window.
"Wait until you see the city. Malina has helped transform the South Pole into something that would rival the North's capital," Sokka said, standing next to the engineer. Toph smiled as she listened to the two talk. There was a small bump as they landed and Satoru gestured for them to follow him.
"Agni protect me," Satoru muttered, breathing into his hands when the cold hit him. Sokka grinned like a madman when he felt the crunch of snow underneath his foot. They walked towards the city until Toph shouted at them. They looked back and saw the Blind Bandit with her hands on her hips.
"Did the both of you forget I can't see?!" She held out her hand. Sokka and Satoru both took a step towards her, but stopped and glanced at each other. Satoru took a step back and nodded slightly. Sokka gave an uncertain but thankful smile before trudging through the snow to Toph.
"Was I right?" Sokka asked as he took her hand. She felt her face turning red as he led her back to Satoru.
"Right about what?" she said, lowering her head.
"The snow making your sight worse. How much are you able to see?"
"Well, everything is just one big blob. It's all sort of blending into itself." She felt Sokka's grip tighten. "Except you."
"Huh?" He stopped and looked at her.
"Well, your heart is making vibrations, so I can see you pretty clearly when we're holding hands." Toph pulled her bangs in front of her face. "I mean...just touching in general allows me to see people a lot better," she quickly added.
"Oh..." His own cheeks began to burn, and it was not the first time Sokka was glad that Toph was blind. Satoru grinned at him as they neared.
"Hurry! I can see fire pits in the city. I need to warm up," Satoru told them, rubbing his hands together and setting off for the gates.
"Typical Fire Nation. Can't stand the cold," Sokka said, following after him. As they neared the city gate, two familiar figures ran out. Sokka put his free arm out wide for a hug, but frowned when Katara and Aang stopped and stared at him.
"What's up with..." Katara trailed off, pointing at Sokka and Toph's entwined hands. Sokka's blush deepened and he began stumbling over his words, trying to explain. Katara raised her eyebrow at him.
"I can't see a thing because of these. Do you know where I can get a pair that fit me, Sugar Queen?" Toph asked them, kicking the snow with her boot.
"I'm sure there's some spare child-sized boots around for you, Toph," Aang said with a grin. Toph clenched her fist.
"I'm going to hurt you when I get the chance."
"Before those two destroy the South, it's great to see you again, Satoru," Katara said. The engineer's eyes went wide when Katara hugged him.
"Likewise." He hugged her back and gave Aang a friendly nod. "Would either of you be able to show me to the oil factory? I want to get my work out of the way quickly and enjoy what the South has to offer."
"Sure." Katara said. "Aang, would you take him, I want to talk with Sokka." Sokka's brow creased.
"No problem," Aang said with a shrug. "I'll take Toph too. There's a store where we can pick up some kid-boots along the way." Sokka nearly yelped as Toph's grip became a vice.
"If Twinkle Toes ever sets foot near some earth again, you'll have to go searching for the new Avatar," Toph hissed quietly to Sokka.
"Just try not to break anything while we're gone," he told her, handing her over to Satoru. The group walked into the city before Sokka and Katara split up and strolled down the main street.
"So, was the trip fun?" Katara said, grinning as she watched Sokka wave to people.
"Yeah, it was nice to go travelling again. The South can get kind of dull sometimes," he told her, stopping and looking at a large fountain, its streams frozen.
"You spent an entire year away from home. I'd thought you'd be glad to be back, working alongside Dad." Katara waved her hand, creating a seat for herself on the wall of the fountain.
"Well, going from saving the world to being my dad's assistant isn't exactly how I imagined things turning out." Sokka sighed and sat down next to his sister, slipping backwards and landing on the ice in the fountain. "Ow."
"You're an idiot." Katara chuckled. She grabbed him by his fur collar and pulled him up.
"You could have helped me with your bender magic," Sokka huffed.
"Where's the fun in that?" He rolled his eyes and the siblings sat together for a small while, people giving them polite nods as they passed. Sokka cupped his chin, slowly going over the light stubble with his forefinger.
"You know, I actually missed everyone here on my birthday. It was my first one away from the tribe––although I was with Toph, so I guess it wasn't too bad." Katara turned her head towards him, raising an eyebrow.
"You missed me?" she said, smirking.
"When I said 'everyone', I was excluding you."
"Aww, Sokka missed his sister." She nudged him lightly. He let out a long, slow breath before grinning at her.
"Fine, I missed you." he mumbled, putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her into him. "Although, I've forgotten why."
"Of course, you have."
"So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked as Katara slipped out of his hug.
"Huh?"
"You said you wanted to talk to me. I thought it was going to be something serious?" Sokka frowned when she opened her mouth and then closed it again.
"It's nothing," she told him with a shake of her head. He was about to question her when her eyes lit up. "I almost forgot. I have a letter for you." She rummaged through her bag before finding it. "It's from Suki. It arrived a day before your birthday, but I had already sent all the cards by then."
"Thanks for those, by the way," he said as he opened the letter and began reading. He started to bite his lip as he made his way down the letter. "She's back in the Fire Nation and wants to organise a trip to the Royal Caldera for me soon. I'll have to get back to her as fast as I can."
"At least we won't have to deal with the both of you at the house then. I doubt Dad would be happy having you two sneaking around." Katara stood up and smirked back at her brother.
"I don't think sneaking would accurately describe what we'd be doing," he said, smirking as he stood and strode past her.
"Sokka!" Katara rolled her eyes and ran after him, his barking laughter filled the street and made people turn their heads.
An Hour Later
Dear Suki,
Sorry for not responding to your last letter. It completely slipped my mind as I was travelling with Toph on Earthern Fire business. I'm delighted to hear your trip went well, although it's a shame for Zuko about that Earth Kingdom girl. I'm free...
Sokka tapped the end of his brush against his lips as he read over what he had written. That had taken him only two minutes, and yet here he was, ten minutes later, with nothing new on the page.
Do I want to continue? he wondered as he put his brush down and read over it again. Do I even want to go see Suki? His eyes widened at the idea and quickly pushed it away. He quickly picked up his brush and dipped it in ink. Why wouldn't I want to go see her? It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but Sokka wasn't so sure. He spent another five minutes hovering his brush above the page.
"Stand still so I can hit you, Twinkle Toes!"
"That doesn't sound good," Sokka murmured as he stood up and looked out the window of his room. He couldn't help but laugh when he saw Aang and Toph having a snowball fight. Toph stomped on the ground and a mass of snow launched towards Aang, who narrowly avoided it. "Oh... Toph is throwing rocks at him." His eyes narrowed while he watched them, an idea slowly forming in his head. He walked back to his desk and sat cross-legged. He crumpled up the paper and began work on a new letter.
Two Hours Later
Sokka took a deep, satisfying breath as Malina put the steaming pot of soup in the middle of the circle of food. Hakoda passed around the bowls before looking to Katara, who grinned widely. She turned her palm upwards and slowly began to raise it, bringing the soup up with it. She drew her hand back to her other one before she pushed both outward and splayed her fingers. The floating ball of soup spread into seven streams, which filled each bowl.
"Amazing," Satoru stated, clutching the hot bowl close to his body. "This smells lovely. What is it?"
"Five-flavour soup; a Southern dish. Don't ask what the flavours are," Sokka told him, taking a sip of the soup. "I'm impressed Malina. You got it spot on."
"Thank you. Kanna has been showing me how to cook some of the more traditional Southern foods, although, personally I still prefer the Northern food."
"Is that why there are these giant crab legs here?" Katara said, picking up one of the legs. Malina nodded, a smile on her face, and began passing around the rest of the food. Toph frowned, trying to work out what was on each plate.
"Here," Sokka said, placing a plate of food he gathered in the hands of the blind girl sitting next to him. She smiled at him and quickly dove into her food.
"Satoru, how's that oil factory coming along?" Hakoda asked, dipping his seal jerky into his soup, which still made a crunch when he bit into it.
"It's fine, better than fine actually!" Satoru said. His eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise as he swallowed some seaweed noodles. "Production is up due to the waterbenders coming from the North, and I'm sure it'll only get better once the South produces more of its own waterbenders."
"Malina and I will get to work on that," Hakoda declared, putting his arm around her. He grinned as his wife lightly hit him.
"Dad stop! We're eating!" Katara squeezed her eyes shut, trying to push that image out from her mind.
"That's not going to stop me," Sokka muffled through his food. "Is this polar bear dog?"
"Yep. My own kill on the recent hunt," Hakoda said, leaning over and picking up his spear proudly.
"I wish you wouldn't go out on those hunts. You're the High Chief of the South, you should be more careful," Malina said, shaking her head as her husband spoke more about the hunt.
"It would take more than one of the most dangerous animals in the South Pole to take me down," Hakoda told her, grinning as she glared at him.
"It's a shame you missed the hunt Sokka, although you probably wouldn't have been much help," Aang said as he surveyed the food, careful to take only the vegetarian dishes. Katara covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laugh.
"Hey! I'm the best boomerang thrower in the South. I'm great at hunting!" he snapped. He glanced over to his father, who gave a small shrug.
"There will be another hunt in a few weeks," Katara said. "You can take over for me at Dad's office to past the time."
"You're just sick of working there already, aren't you?" Sokka said, cocking his eyebrow at her.
"Of course not! I just thought that...you'd like to spend time with Dad," Katara said, her head dropping when everyone laughed.
"Actually..." Sokka began, looking over to Toph. "I had already planned on heading to the Wulong Forest with Toph. I want to try to search for Space Sword and Boomerang." Toph narrowed her eyes as she felt Sokka's heartbeat pick up. She decided to play along; it sounded like fun to her.
"It would beat standing around in a glorified balloon all day," Toph said before taking a piece of meat off of Sokka's plate.
"Don't worry, sweetie, I'll drop by the office and help out," Aang said, putting an arm around the deflated waterbender.
"Oogie," Sokka and Toph said in unison. Katara frowned and pushed the Avatar away.
"I thought you were going to be staying here, then going to see Suki?" Katara stared at her brother, who began to fidget under her gaze.
"I kind of forgot about it when you gave me the letter, but I had planned this out for a while. It would be a shame to just not go," Sokka said, his voice wavering. Toph shifted her head towards him.
Why is he lying to Sugar Queen? she wondered. I guess I did tell him I would be willing to go whenever. It would have been nice to have been told about this, though.
"You seemed so annoyed when she cancelled on you, though. I thought you would be ecstatic to finally go see her. How come you don't want to anymore?" Katara pressed, and Sokka could feel everyone else staring at him.
"Well, he's telling the truth about having it all planned out already," Satoru cut in, and Sokka's eyebrows shot up. "I was going to drop them off at the village by so they could get some supplies for the road, then I would continue to our Fire Nation factories while they travel to the Wulong Forest." His and Sokka's eyes met for a few seconds.
"What about Suki then?" Katara said, her frown not leaving her face.
"We've been apart for a while, a couple more weeks won't hurt," Sokka told her. She held his gaze for another few moments.
"Okay." Katara sat back and continued eating her food. Sokka let out a quiet sigh of relief, giving Satoru a nod of thanks.
"Is there any places you guys would suggest I check out while I'm here?" Satoru said, hoping to start-up the conversation again.
"There's an old Fire Nation ship trapped in the ice. It's a bit of a trek, but really fun to explore," Aang told him. "We can go penguin sledding afterwards, too!"
"Penguin sledding?!" Satoru repeated, an excited grin coming to his face, which was quickly replaced by uncertainty. "Isn't that a bit cruel?"
"They don't seem to mind. They just get up and waddle off," Aang said with a shrug.
"Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day," Satoru said, tucking back into his food.
Thanks again to the amazing Serenity for betaing this chapter!
Hello Everyone! Apologies about this slightly late chapter, hurricane Ophelia hit Ireland and took out my electricity for a couple days. While having no internet to distract me was great for getting some writing done, having no way to charge my laptop wasn't so much of a help.
Well anyway, this was a nice long chapter for you guys, about 3000 words or so. The very last chapter of this story is being planned out as I write this, so we'll see how that goes. I'll explain what will be happening in the next 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!
