We woke up a long time after we boarded; probably really close to noon. Sokka had pulled out my hair a few hours ago, and it was falling in my face, a wave in it from the strip of leather that had held it in place. I'd woken up, and he'd looked at me, still half asleep. I'd known then that I could sleep longer.
I lifted my head up and looked at him, and when I began to move too much, Sokka had awoken. He looked at me, kissed me, and then sat up.
"I still do not like Fire Nation ships. They're really… inhospitable, you know? They look like they weren't made to have people on them." I nodded. Sokka liked things with a bit of humanity to them- a personal touch. After a moment, I swung my feet over the edge and laid down.
I still wore my pajama bottoms, and my robe was buttoned unevenly. I laughed- I must have looked like a mess when I left Toph's sand castle.
"What's so funny?" Sokka asked.
"I look like a mess!" He looked at me, then smiled.
"No… you look beautiful. Your clothes just look funny." he looked down at himself, looking for faults like mine. He looked fine, but he hadn't tied his hair into his little "wolf tail". Or maybe he had, but he'd taken it out, lust like he'd done to mine. I stood up and walked across the room and opened my bag, pulling out my comb, pulling it through my hair, and putting it up. I then began to wonder if they had baths on board- we'd be on the ship for a couple days, and it'd be nice to look somewhat less heathen-y when we arrived. Sokka walked up behind me and pulled the comb out of my hand and repeated the procedure. Then he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me.
"Good morning, Suki."
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When we arrived on deck, Toph was playing a game with Aang and Katara was standing at the prow of the ship, summoning intricate webs of water and releasing them. Sokka led me in the direction that his stomach took him- the kitchen.
We got food, then decided to eat it on the deck with the others. Katara had finished her practice and came and sat by me, and Sokka had left to observe Toph and Aang's game.
"Is he over his whole moon thing?" I shook my head. "Stupid kid." I smiled in reply.
"Do you think he ever will, Katara?" I asked.
"Oh, I think so. He's pretty strong… this is one of his hardest battles to fight, and I'm sure he'll pull through. And if he doesn't… well, we can water whip him into shape!" She was joking ,but it didn't work as well as she had hoped. But she was trying to help, and I appreciated it, so I decided to humor her.
"I'm sure we can." I laughed a little, then ate another bite. We began gossiping about what had happened recently, and we didn't talk about it anymore, which was a relief.
I soon took my bowl back to the kitchen, and on my way back to the main deck, I saw Feng again.
"Hey Suki!" He ran to catch up to me.
"Hey Feng." I waited a moment, and we walked together.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked. I guess I was moping somewhat obviously.
"It's a long story." He shrugged.
"I've got time." We had reached the main deck, and Sokka was nowhere to be seen. Katara and Aang were surfing below us, and Toph was laying flat on the ground, hands spread. I sat down on a mat next to the railing, and Feng sat across from me.
"So tell me about your troubles."
"Well, my boyfriend, Sokka, he has this ex…" I began, and soon I couldn't stop my recollection. I told him all about the first time I heard about it at the play, where he had shushed me, then to me asking Katara about it and her telling me to wait, and to be patient. I told him about how he had once tried to set aside his problems, but how Zuko had ruined it and Sokka had chickened out as soon as I reappeared, and how since then he had been able to kiss me, to be with me, during the night. I even told him about the mornings after, how he snuck into my room and slept in my bed with me.
"Oh." He didn't seem to know what to say.
"Yup."
"That stinks."
"Yup." I leaned back and looked at the sky- already the sun was beginning to set. "Hey… Thanks for listening Feng. I've got to find Sokka before-" I pointed up. He nodded, and I rose.
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Sokka was in our room, pulling my comb through his wet hair. He wore only his loose drawstring pants.
"Hey Suki!" He looked happy, but I was a little distracted by the wet hair.
'They have baths onboard?" I practically screamed, a huge smile covering my face. Finally! Soap!
"Yeah!" I tossed my arms around him, inhaling the deep, intensely male scent of his sandalwood soap. "You've been wanting a bath, huh?" Sokka laughed.
Sokka was always really warm. I guess it came from being from the South Pole- living in a land made of ice and snow, the temperatures being constantly freezing… You had to generate some serious heat to survive there comfortably. I pulled him tighter to me, and he did the same. Sokka's lips found mine after a moment, and the mood changed. He picked me up then shuffled backwards until he found the bed. He sat, his hands holding the small of my back. He kissed me like he was about to die, and I tried my hardest to return the favor. Soon, we broke apart, gulping down air desperately.
Sokka's eyes were intense- filled with passion and caring and… and desire. I was mesmerized by the look in them. He reached up and cupped my cheek.
"You have no idea how much I love you." He whispered. He kissed me again, slowly, less hurried- peacefully. Like all he wanted in this world was to never stop. He leaned back, and laid there, kissing me like the world had stopped. Coherent thoughts had abandoned me, leaving me to my senses- the softness of his lips, the way I was slowly becoming intoxicated by his smell, the feeling of his fingers drawing circles on my back, and the blissful silence surrounding us.
He pulled away, and I rolled off of him, balling up at his side. I was suddenly really tired- he relaxed me, robbed me of my sense, made me an inept warrior… And I loved it. Before I could fall asleep, Sokka said;
"Let me show you to the baths."
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Sokka led me down corridors and staircases, waking my senses again. He finally stopped outside of a door, and pulled me into his arms again.
"Enjoy yourself." He kissed me once, softly, then began heading back up the stairs, disappearing into the dark.
I opened the door, and found a kind woman who led me to a fresh, hot bath, and put sweet rose scented bath soaps in it for me. She gave me all sorts of other soaps and hair creams and towels, then left.
My bath was heavenly, and I exited relaxed, yet alert. My hair smelled like jasmine and the rest of me smelled like roses- I was submersed in a blissful state of cleanliness.
I arrived in my room, and found Sokka dressed and polishing his sword. I put my dirty clothes, and sat on the bed behind him. He still hadn't pulled up his hair, so I took to it with a comb and began pulling it back. When I finished, I kissed the top of his head, and laid back, staring at the ceiling peacefully.
A while later, Katara came in, announcing dinner. She waited by the door, making idle conversation with Sokka while I combed my hair back and Sokka pulled on a tunic and some slippers.
Life on the ship didn't change much. We slept in a lot, bathed a lot, and played a lot. We were all really relaxed- well, everyone except Toph, who was sorely missing the earth and seemed really nervous for most of the time.
The only thing that changed was that, on the fourth evening, we landed. All of us had visited the bathing rooms and become clean and fresh, and I had done Katara and Toph's hair. Mine never really changed much- just the front got pulled back, out of my face. All of us dressed in our best robes- Katara had her newest one, a robe to signify her as a water bending master. Toph wore one of silk, decorated sparsely with symbols of her family and her nation. She didn't want to let on that she was an earth bending master- she preferred having the element of innocence. I wore my Earth Kingdom robes that had been made for me before I had left the Fire Nation capitol, as well as a new pair of silk slippers and a golden miniature of a Kyoshi fan in my hair. Aang had the robes he had worn to Zuko's coronation. Sokka wore a water tribe warrior's outfit, minus the helmet. We all acted now as ambassadors of our nations and homes, symbolizing what was important to our culture.
To be honest, most of us were rather uncomfortable.
The ship docked, and our belongings were handed off to attendants. The Dai Li proceeded us, their leader captain proceeded them. The flanked us after we had exited in succession of rank- Aang went first, then Toph, then Katara, myself, then Sokka. I gripped my fans, nervous because I could already hear the din of a crowd assembled to see the Avatar. I glanced back, noticing that Sokka too held firmly to the hilt of Space Sword. He offered me an encouraging smile, though, and I returned it halfheartedly.
And then I laughed at myself- I'd helped to defeat Ozai, the former most powerful fire bender in the world. I was the captain of an elite squad of warriors. I had steered a crashing ship by its rudder to save Toph and Sokka. I had taken the warden of the most inescapable prison in the world hostage!
There was nothing scary about a crowd of adoring fans, not after I remembered all that.
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After passing through great door and the crowd, carefully walking up what seemed like a million stairs, and standing as Zuko introduced each of us, we were finally allowed in the palace.
We ate like… well, like the guests of a king. Zuko, however, did not dine with us- he had to go and attend a security meeting with his generals regarding the safety of his country while he was away, and then he had to make sure that our transportation was ready for us.
After our meal, we were escorted to an airship dock. The attendants from earlier were coming on and off, carrying things to the storage area. We would be flying through the night, and we would be allotted one day of rest once we reached Ba Sing Se. Zuko finally arrived, two attendants following him with a golden trunk. They passed us all and headed to the air ship.
"Zuko!" Came our chorus of happiness. All of us swamped him in a giant hug. Soon, Iroh came, and joined us.
Finally, we were all together.
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The ride on the airship was spectacularly dull until sunrise. The sky bloomed with the color spectacle- from navy to orange, red, pink… it was lovely.
"Sunrises are like flowers- they bloom in every color, coloring the boring fields of the sky." This was obviously Iroh, tossing out some metaphorical wisdom. Zuko wore plainclothes, and served us tea.
It was a serious case of déjà vu. Within an hour of the sun coming up, we arrived at the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. Kuei was standing on the top of it beside Appa, who was being fed berries and apples by some children of the wall's guards.
We had been heartily welcomed.
Author's note!: hahaha fooled you! Well…. Probably not. But I have decided to move my little notes to the bottom so that maybe people read them since I've noticed that when people put authors notes at the bottom, I'm more likely to read them since at the top I'm always anticipating the story and usually skip over it.
But anyway, I'd like to apologize for the fact that this is the shortest chapter yet… but I was having a case of writers block so yeah. I tossed in a little Sukka fluff, but it didn't block the story, in my opinion. The whole ship ride was about three and a half days and I figured that on an ex war ship there wasn't much to do for a non-bender. Plus Suki is kind of not apart of the group as much as the others are, since her only real tie is with Sokka.
I digress. The gang is finally in Ba Sing Se ( I had originally planned them to make it there in the last chapter but I write a lot more than I thought I would) and I'm pretty sure the next chapter is gonna be ridiculously huge since I have a ton that I have to throw in there to set up the main conflict and all that fun stuff… but I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the entire story so far!
PLEASE REVIEW! I have over 500 hits, but only the fabulous FangedSerena is reviewing! I'd love some constructive criticism, some encouragement… anything except flames, really.
End longest authors note EVER.
