Author's Note: I just wan to give a HUGE shout out and an even HUGER thank you to my one reviewer, FangedSerena4! I really appreciate. And to those who favorite and added this story to their story alerts, THANKS!

So this is where we resume our story, and its kinda filler-y. There's some plot points in here that will definitely be referenced later, though, and some of the plot for the series as well. Hope you enjoy it! (PS, for some reason when i uploaded this, it was all in bold, and i can't change it. Oh Well!)

Aang seemed to be set on finding the monks, but Katara soon set him right.

"Aang, the monks have waited for a hundred years. I think they can wait a little longer before we set off to find them, don't you think? It's you obligation to attend the ceremonies. Plus you already agreed to go down to the south and help the reconstruction efforts… we need you. Pakku and I cant do it all by ourselves, and the water benders from the north wont be able to help us for another month." Aang's shoulders slumped a little, but he didn't seem to bothered, which was surprising. I guess just the idea of them waiting for him to find them was hope enough.

"Alright." He rolled the tiny scroll up again and then bended the box back together, except for one piece. He placed the scroll in it again, and then sealed it. After placing the medallion around his neck, he stood with a smile on his face. "Toph, is there food here?"

"Course! My parents wouldn't let me starve, even if I refuse to come home. They sent me a chef who makes some seriously great food." She led the rest of our party out, leaving the rooms unsealed so that we could easily access them.

After the crowd left the room, Sokka looked at me, somewhat pitifully.

"Suki do you think you could help me out? I kinda managed to tie the ties into knots…" I looked at my now destroyed work, a small smile crossing my lips. Sometimes I wondered what Sokka would do without someone to look after him. He couldn't even untie simple knots, and he was a master of fishing knots of all sorts.

"Sure… You are so helpless sometimes." I told him, looking at his abashed face. He smiled at me.

"That's why I need you." I blushed a little, but ignored it. After lifting off the cumbersome shoulder piece and helmet, I made him stand in a horse stance so that I could work with the knots on my lever. Once the chest and back plates were off, the shirt was simple since he hadn't had a chance to mess with those yet. For some reason, I was reminded of the nights after the defeat, when Sokka had a broken leg and couldn't do simple tasks without a little help. I remembered the nights where I had had to help Katara hold him down while she healed him, bit by bit. She had said it was shattered in so many pieces from both of the falls he had taken on it that it wasn't something she could set. She did her best to keep the bones as aligned as possible, but during the days we would have to let Mother Nature do her work. It had lasted three weeks.

We had laid him down in his lodgings at the palace, and I had had to sit on his chest and hold his hands tightly. The first two sessions were the worst. He had flailed so much that Toph was in making earth bindings so he didn't mess the work up. He never cried though.

Afterwards, we would put him in a splint and wrap it tightly, and Iroh would give him tea to make the pain less intense. Sokka would lay with his head in my lap, hair undone, sleep beginning to take him. He wouldn't say much, usually. We'd just sit there peacefully, me humming and playing with his hair, or washing off his face with a cool cloth. The moments in silence had been the ones that had bonded us.

I unlaced his shirt and then he slid it off.

"I can not wait for food!" I rolled my eyes and he smiled.

"You're a goof. Do you ever think about anything but your stomach?" I asked, patting his belly.

"Well… I think about random inventions a lot. And you… for some reason, I can never get you out of my mind." That's about when he kissed me. And it was an amazing kiss, like the ones he had given me during the nights after he had rescued me and his father and that one man from the Boiling rock. I guess he had missed me a little. Now he was just being all impressive and romantic.

When he pulled away, I was momentarily dazed, but I regained myself and grabbed his shirt.

"Come on, Sokka. Lets go get some food." He grinned hugely and obliged.

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In the kitchen, a chef by the name of Gijong was putting us all into a food coma. Sokka was shoving his face like we wouldn't be eating for the next three days… or the next week. Toph ate happily, Zen in her face. Aang and Katara conversed over their bowls, each nearly empty. I had finished a few minutes ago, childhood tendencies making me eat quickly and neatly. In the training houses, food was something to covet, and if you didn't eat fast enough, you just didn't eat. Once you advanced to my level, however, that wasn't something you worried about much.

After the meal, I went and wondered. Sokka was off practicing his swordsmanship, and I had nothing else to do.

I went into the village and startled the agents in it. As I walked through, they seemed to be debating weather or not to attack me or talk to me. I was really hoping for the latter.

"Are you one of the Kyoshi Warriors?" I was sort of startled by the question, but I stopped and walked over to the man who had asked the question.

"Yeah I am… How do you know about us?" I asked.

"Those crazy fire girls that infiltrated the earth kingdom had the same hair. And you have the fans in your sleeves." I was started by him knowing this, but I didn't let on; instead, I nodded.

"Yeah… They whipped us. But we defeated them and escaped prison so I guess its even." He smiled at my comment.

"Yeah it does. I'm Feng." He stuck out his hand, clad in rock glove.

"I'm Suki. I'd shake your hand but I don't trust those." He looked down.

"Oh… Understandable." I nodded. Katara soon came walking from the other end of the village.

"It was nice meeting you!" I told him, taking off to join the girl.

"Hey Suki! Who's that?" She asked, noting my acquaintance waving.

"His name's Feng. He doesn't seem so bad."

"Oh… You talk to everyone, don't you?" I nodded.

"As long as I'm not trying to beat them to a pulp and they aren't attacking me, I see no reason not to." She smiled.

"That's a good philosophy. Oh, by the way, Sokka's looking for you. He says he wants to spar. I suggest getting the your outfit on." I smiled at her, and thanked her for telling me. Then I ran back to the house, pulled the dress on, then put on the leggings and shirt and all the braces in between. I laced up my boots and tied on the headpiece, then went to find Sokka.

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Sokka was lounging on a rock, swinging his sword around in a bored manner. When I got there, he scrambled to his feet and stood in a prepared stance. I looked at him in his old armor and smiled. After whipping my fans out and taking stance, he smiled too.

"ready?" Sokka asked. Instead of nodding, I attacked. He tried to stab the sword at me, but I used it to toss me into the air. I landed behind him and he swung around. I was surprised that still worked since that was one of my usual moves.

Now it was my turn to attack. He began to swing, but I ducked under his arm and gave him a sharp hit to the back of his shoulder. One of my feet also caught his ankle, and he fell forward. He rolled out of it, grinning hugely.

"Is that the best you have?" I asked. I fanned changed the fans into a shield and decided to let him get some hits. I stood, waiting.

Finally, he charged. He hit the center, and I did a backwards hand spring. Sokka followed, and we continued our little dance. After a switching between offense and defense several times, we both grew tired and stopped. Sokka laid down, his sword standing upright in the dirt. I untied my head piece and removed my gloves, then joined him.

"That was fun." He whispered. I rolled over onto my stomach and looked at him.

"yep." He smiled at me.

"Wanna go play in the sand?" I asked. He stood and began running towards the shore, and I followed. I was laughing so hard, watching Sokka run while trying to maintain the heavy should piece, so he won by about ten feet.

"Do you need help? He looked at me in defeat and nodded. I giggled. I untied his bindings and helped him pull them off, and then he stripped to his underwear and dove into the water. When he surfaced, he laughed.

"Come on, Suki!" I shed my clothes as well and joined him, and he splashed me. I went up to him underwater and returned the favor, but he grabbed my ankle. In a moment I surfaced, and began shrieking and laughing hysterically for him to let me go. He just grabbed my other foot and held on while I kicked and thrashed at him. I finally landed a good kick to his chest and he let me go.

"OW!" He shouted, falling backwards dramatically.

"Serves you right!" I pretended to be angry and stormed out of the water and sat in the sand. He soon followed.

"… Wanna build a sandcastle now?" I nodded, then pulled him down to me and hugged him. He remained stiff for a moment, and then gave in. Then he got up and ran to get a bucket and shovels.

"Okay… what do you want to do?" I asked.

"How about a tiny Kyoshi island?" I nodded, wondering how he planned to do it. He went and filled one bucket with water and poured the contents of another out, revealing a bunch of tiny sticks.

"we'll use these as internal supports. That way, all the little buildings have a fighting chance." We began by scooping out a giant hollow. I used my memories to shape the borders and he packed sand around in the base. While he went to work on the buildings, I made a model of the Unagi, with its head and the middle of its body and it tail sticking out high enough so that when we filled it with water, they would show.

"Sokka, can I build the statue of Kyoshi?" he nodded, not looking up from his building. The first was a pretty cute likeness, but it had no detail. I would go over it later.

I began carving the pedestal she stood on, and continued. We had been working for about an hour when I finished. Sokka was working on the last building. They all looked the same, however, and I decided to go over their roofs with my fan to create the look of our grass thatched huts. I used the tiniest twigs to shape windows and signs and stairs. Sokka had finished his plain houses in perfect order and was watching, but then I saw him smile as another idea popped into his head. As I shifted around and circled the little island, he stayed in one place and worked. I created trees and small bushes and flattened pathways.

Together, we created the perfect team. Sokka looked at the bigger scheme of things, and I saw the details. I soon finished, satisfied with my work. Kyoshi's little leaf fans were placed perfectly, the folds of her uniform were precise, and her face was exact. The buildings now resembled houses and shops and even our dojo. The trees were placed as well as I could recall. Sokka hulked over his project, hiding it from me. I laid down beside him and relaxed.

After a few minutes, a shadow loomed over me and then lips touched mine. I opened my eyes briefly, then kissed him back. He pulled away and I sat up.

"Look!" He pointed down towards the middle of the clearing in front of the dojo. I saw a tiny copy of myself in my warrior uniform, holding hands with him in his old wolf warrior outfit.. I held a leaf fan in one hand and he held a twig version of space sword.

"it's so cute!" I smiled and kissed his cheek. We then filled the buckets and filled the bay, carefully trying not to kill the Unagi.

"OI feel like we did a good job." He said, standing and brushing sand off of his knees and hands. I nodded, and looked up. The skies were getting darker, and Toph's amazing chef would have our dinner ready soon.

"I guess we should go." I stood as well and gathered my clothes.

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Aang and Katara had built a fire outside of the sand castle and were in the process of moving tables outside. We went inside and changed, and then went to join them. Toph was outside in the village, rounding up the Dai Li. She was their dictator and their care taker.

As we sat down, the chef came out and began to serve us. Aang and Katara were sitting side by side, speaking conspiratorially. Sokka noticed too, and he bluntly asked what they were talking about. Katara looked at us, her eyes betraying her anger.

"Well, Aang here wants to go looking for the monks, But he knows that he has to wait." Aang looked at her hopelessly. I could understand where he was coming from. To lose all hope, and then find out that there was reason for it? I was reminded of my days in the Boiling Rock, getting trapped, fearing I would be forgotten in that cell forever- and then Sokka had come.

"But Katara! These are my people- my people who were said to have been dead for a hundred years! I have to find them." He was a resolute child, and I saw in his eyes the determination. He would do anything to find these people.

"You can wait! You have obligations, Aang! I'm sure they will understand!" He looked down at the food Gijong was ladling into his bowl sadly. He knew she was right.

"Fine Katara. But after we do this festival thing and rebuild the South, we," He glanced around the table at us, "All of us, are going to go find them. Deal?" She looked at him, and then at us. We were all in, of course- These gatherings were like flashes to the old days, and we all missed them.

"Deal."

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After dinner, I said goodnight to Sokka. Again, he couldn't find it in himself to give me the kiss I was longing for. I wanted him to be comfortable with us, being together at night time. I could see in his eyes that he wanted it too… In fact, he seemed to want a little more than "Comfort." Yue's grasp on him was still strong.

I laid down on my pallet that rested on a sand pedestal, staring up at the ceiling. Katara was snoring softly in her corner, her blankets tossed all around her. Earlier, I watched as she and Aang made up, as he grabbed her hand, and they had spoken some words I hadn't been able to hear, and as she finally kissed him. They were sweet together, but it wasn't the couple I would have imagined.

I looked up above her, noticing how the symbol of her tribe encompassed the moon and the water. I sighed, looking at yet another reminder of a girl whom Sokka had loved, who still prevented him from loving me. I rolled over, up onto my knees, to look out the window.

There was no glass, wood, or other covering over the hole in the wall, and the sill was large enough for me to sit. I looked up at the bright orb in the sky, my heart aching.

"Yue… Please, let me have him. I love him." A tear streamed down my face as I whispered, and I brushed it away, smiling at how silly I was being. She couldn't hear me. She probably hated me, since I had him and she didn't. I shook my head and went back to bed.

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The next morning, we all arose in the earliest hours to the sound of a foghorn blaring at us. The ship to take us the Zuko's palace had arrived. We all dressed, most of us groggy except for the Avatar and Katara. They were cheery morning people who were really annoying me. My bag was packed, my fans were in my sleeves, and my hair was tied back. I didn't care after that.

Sokka met me in the hall, giving me a kiss on the cheek and grabbing my hand. When we exited, the Dai Li stood in two short lines, rucksacks over each of their shoulders. I saw Feng, and he waved to me. I nodded and passed through the lines, Sokka leading me onto the ship.

We went below decks and found a room, then laid down. He held me close, and neither of us had words. It was too early to process more than was necessary. We were together, and we were going to a festival.