The amount of places they have to stop at so Aang can have fun is ridiculous. Sokka knows that he's a 12 year old boy, but it doesn't excuse the many stops they've made. Sokka just wants to get to the Northern Water Tribe so Katara can learn how to bend. Kyoshi Island is the last stop she's willing to put up with, and she wishes it will be the last time Aang tries to impress Katara, but she knows she'll probably end up having to put up with a lot more.
After Aang nearly dies thanks to a giant fish, they are ambushed. Sokka's getting really tired of the whole mess.
When their blindfolds finally come off, she's surprised to see all women. "Who are you?" She demands. "Where are the men who ambushed us?"
"There were no men. We ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?" says one of the young women. A mixture of jealousy and anger wells up inside of Sokka. She just huffs and decides to not answer the woman's questions. Of course Aang and Katara end up working things out and they're free.
"Sokka, what's your problem? Eat!" Aang demands.
Sokka doesn't move from where she is with her arms crossed. "I'm not hungry." Ever since they got to the island and met the warrior's Sokka has felt an uncomfortable feeling in her chest.
"But you're always hungry!" Sokka ignores Aang's comment trying to understand her feelings.
"She's just mad she got bested yesterday." Katara said with a tone that Sokka didn't like. "She's always been the best in our village at everything and she's mad there's someone better than her at something."
"That's not it!" Sokka exclaims. It's the first time she's raised her voice at Katara in a long time.
"Just because you're not good at fighting now doesn't mean you can't learn." Katara says, in a kinder tone.
"I don't want to be a fighter. That's not a woman's place." Sokka's surprised at the words that come out of her mouth, they don't even sound like they belong to her.
Her comment surprises Katara and then angers her. Her younger sister ends up storming away with Aang in tow. Upset about how things turned out, Sokka decides to go give the Kyoshi Warriors a piece of her mind, or at least get an apology from them for the way they attacked them the day before.
Instead of doing that, Sokka ends up watching the girls practice from outside. Their doors are open and from where Sokka stands she can see in, but they can't see her. She ends up doing this the next day, but unfortunately the one called Suki catches her.
"What do you want?" Suki says in a hostile tone.
Sokka keeps her head down. "I would be honored if you would teach me."
"Even though I'm not a man?" Sokka could hear the anger in Suki's voice.
"I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier… Either by implying that you would've needed men to ambush us or by ignoring your questions. I was… and am jealous of you." Sokka admitted.
"We normally don't teach outsiders." Suki said in a slightly less harsh tone.
"I understand." Sokka said with a quick bow of her head. "It was stupid of me to think you would make an exception. This is a skill passed down from generation to generation I'm sure, and it would be stupid of me to try and disrupt that tradition." Sokka tried to back her way away from Suki, but the young woman grabbed Sokka's arm.
"I'll make an exception for you." She said quickly. "You're traveling with the avatar. It's smart for you to have a way to protect him." Suki paused. "And yourself."
Suki and Sokka became quick friends. Suki wanted Sokka to put on the full ceremonial garb, but they both decided against it. They didn't know how long they'd have to train together, and Suki wanted Sokka to feel comfortable in the clothes she was fighting in. Suki taught Sokka in quick lessons, and as they got more and more days to spend together, Suki would elaborate on the lessons. While she never gets into the dress, Sokka is taught what it means by Suki. Soon Suki also lets her practice with weapons, but Sokka finds that she is still much more comfortable with her boomerang and her club.
Too soon the Fire Nation catches up with them. Sokka is desperate to find her sister and Aang and get them out of there quickly. While she searches for them, she sees the Kyoshi Warriors fight against the fire benders. They are amazing and strong, but there are too many from the Fire Nation. She sees the scarred young man get knocked off his rhino by Suki, but then once he rights himself, he attacks, possibly hurting Sokka's teacher. Sokka gets behind him and hits him with her club getting his attention. He recognizes her and charges, probably hoping to capture her, but Sokka uses his own force against him and flipping him over before she helps Suki get away.
"There's no time for good-byes." Suki says.
"What about, 'Thank you'?"
"For what?" The warrior says surprised.
"You taught me even though I'm a girl, I can be a warrior too. And I can break tradition too, and save more people that way."
"Good." Suki says with a grin. "Don't forget that." She gets her fans ready. "Now get out of here! We'll hold them off."
And the Kyoshi Warriors did. Aang helped by using their Unagi to put out the fires, and soon the trio was on their way again. But Sokka had to admit, if their pitstops could help her meet more people like Suki, she would gladly make a million more.