"You know Sokka," Hahn says putting an arm around her shoulder, "If you keep acting the way you have been, I think I could fall in love with you."
Sokka sits up, away from Hahn's arm. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Hahn says sitting up, getting more into Sokka's space, "when I first met you, I thought you were annoying. The way you and your sister wanted to break our traditions and disrespect our culture. And then when Arnook let you join the group, just cause of your smart little mouth, I was pissed." Hahn laughs. "When you attacked me just cause I said something about Yue, that was irritating too. But now it's like you've completely changed. It makes me happy that you've agreed to my proposal."
"I never accepted you proposal." Sokka said before she stood and walked away from Hahn.
The Northern Water Tribe boy followed after her. "Yes you did! You took the betrothal necklace from me. I know you're a little slow, but even you have to know what that means."
"A little slow?!" Sokka said turning around to glare at the boy. "Yeah, I've made a few bad choices, but you don't get to tell me that I'm dumb." She turned sharply and kept walking through the hallway towards the deck of the ship.
Hahn finally caught up to her when she stopped suddenly on the deck when she realized her father was there. Hahn notices them too and she sees him slip into his fake personality whenever he's around a chief. It's respectful and kind and nothing like the real Hahn is.
"What are you lovebirds doing here?" Bato said with a grin.
"We had a little disagreement." Hahn explains. "I'm sorry that you thought I insulted you Sokka, I would never want to disrespect you."
Sokka laughed, loud and angry. "Yes, you would. You just called me slow. And you were an absolute jerk to me in the North Pole. You wouldn't even respect a princess, so I'm not even surprised that you don't respect me."
"Now Sokka," Hahn said in a condescending tone. "Calm down, you're acting all emotional."
"Even if I am, who cares? That's my choice. I can act and feel and do whatever I want. And what I want to do is refuse you're proposal. I have no interest in marrying you." Sokka reached around taking Yue's necklace off. "I wanted this because it belonged to Yue, not because I wanted to marry you. I thought you understood that and I thought you were maybe a nice guy. But I was so obviously wrong." She drops the necklace into Hahn's hands. Then she turns back towards Hakoda and Bato who are petting Momo and pretending that they have been doing that all along instead of watching the two of them.
Suddenly Momo runs towards Aang who looks thoroughly confused. Katara and Toph go over to him, so Sokka turns to Hahn. "Leave me alone. We still need you and the Northern Water Tribe's help for defeating the Fire Lord, but from now on you stay away from me." Then Sokka turns towards Aang. She strolls over and hugs him. "Aang, good to see you back with the living, buddy!"
"Sokka?" Aang takes a heavy breathe and then he passes out.
Toph, Katara, Sokka, and Aang find a room where they can all talk alone.
"After what happened at Ba Sing Se, we had to get you to safety. Katara helped us navigate to Chameleon Bay where we found my father and the other Water Tribe men. The Earth King decided he wanted to travel the world in disguise, so he and his bear left. Soon, the bay was overrun by Fire Nation ships." Sokka explains. "Rather than fight them all, we captured a single ship and made it out disguise. Since then we've been traveling west. We crossed through the Serpent's Path a few days ago. We've seen a few Fire Nation ships, but none have bothered us."
"So what now?" Aang asks.
"Sokka came up with a modified version of the original invasion plan." Katara explains.
"It's a smaller invasion. A ragtag team of our friends and allies from around the Earth Kingdom. And anyone else we can get ahold of. We won't be able to mount a massive invasion with the Earth King's armies now that Ba Sing Se has fallen. But the date is still the same. The solar eclipse will still leave the Fire Nation vulnerable, so that's the day we will attack. And the best part is, the eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage." Sokka drops her voice down to a whisper. "We have a secret… you!"
"Me?" Aang questions.
"Yep, the whole world thinks you're dead! Isn't that great?" Sokka says with a grin.
Aang gave her a weird sort of look before he stormed away towards the deck of the ship. Sokka followed. "The world thinks I'm dead?" Aang says once he stops near the railing. "How is that good news? That's terrible!"
"No, it's great! It means the Fire Nation won't be hunting us anymore!" Sokka explains. "And even better, they won't be expecting you on the Day of the Black Sun!"
"No," Aang keeps repeating the word. "You have no ideas. This is so messed up!" Another Fire Nation Ship approaches and Aang grabs his glider. "I'll handle this. The Avatar is back."
Katara shows up to calm Aang down, then Hakoda and Bato go over to talk with the crew from the other ship. Sokka is thankful that she hasn't seen Hahn since she told him to stay away. Soon she doesn't have to worry about him because the other Fire Nation starts attacking them.
They get lucky and a serpent helps them out. Sokka thanks the ocean spirits. And then Yue too, just because.
Sokka and Toph get off at the port to go get food. The two decide to actually sit down and eat somewhere, just as a special treat. It's the first time they've been sent off to do something together.
"So what's with you lately?" Toph finally asks after Sokka and her finish stuffing their faces.
"What do you mean?" Sokka says as she lifts her hand up to tell the waitress to bring them two more plates.
"The way you've been acting? Almost all the things you've said lately we're lies. And you seemed so uncomfortable. In fact, you only started to go back to normal since Aang woke up, and I don't think Twinkletoes has that much of an influence on you."
"Uh… Well, it's complicated." Sokka says, trying to get away from answering.
"We got time." Toph says. "I know you just ordered more food, so we'll be here a bit longer. Spill."
Sokka sighs. There's no way to get out of it, so she just starts talking. "There was this girl Yue in the Northern Water Tribe who turned into the moon. She's the reason I have the white streak in my hair. Not that you knew it was there… But I guess you know now. Anyway, Hahn was her fiancé and he was a jerk. But after she turned into the moon, I guess I was just so desperate to have something of hers to hang onto to that I accepted the necklace. But I didn't think Hahn meant it in a 'betrothal necklace' way, I thought it was more of a 'I'm sorry I'm a jerk' way."
"Yeah, Katara and me didn't really think you wanted to be engaged to him either."
"You and Katara talk about me?" Sokka asks shocked.
"Uh, duh." Toph rolls her eyes. "Neither of us have any romantic interests to talk about."
"What about Aang and the Duke?" Sokka asks with a grin.
"Don't try to change the subject." Toph steers them back on track. "As soon as you knew Hahn was there, you became a totally different person. Well, Hahn and your dad. When you weren't pretending to be someone you're not in front of them, you were hiding from them. It wasn't very fun for me and Katara. I mean, I don't really need you there, but Katara could've used your help. I think she's going through some issues with your dad or something."
"Well that's not fair. I wanted to be the only one with daddy issues." Sokka tries to make a joke.
"Oh, well there's no denying that yours are going to ruin your life. Katara's brave enough that she'll confront him about them, but you're probably just going to keep trying to be what you think he wants you to be." The food arrives and Toph digs in immediately.
Sokka just stares at her food. She suddenly doesn't feel hungry anymore.
When they get back to the ship, they learn that Aang is gone. Right away, Toph and Sokka rush to start packing up their things. The girls are going to have to take Appa to find the Avatar. She hears a knock on her door and turns to find her father there.
"Can I help you?" Sokka asks as she shoves things into her bag.
"I just came to ask you what happened between you and Hahn. When I met him he told me that he was your fiancé. And then you had the necklace to prove it. But I saw you break things off with him." Hakoda explains. "I was just trying to understand what happened, and since I haven't seen much of you, I thought I better ask before I lose the chance."
"Look, I'm sorry I can't be the perfect daughter and unite the tribes through a marriage, but I can't." Sokka closes her bag.
"No one ever asked you to do tha-"
Sokka interrupts Hakoda."I don't understand what you want me to do! It feels like everything I do is wrong. How am I supposed to make you proud when nothing I do is right?!" Sokka can't even control the words coming out of her mouth.
"Sokka, why would you think that?" Hakoda asks, looking at her concerned.
"What am I supposed to think?" Sokka can feel the warm tears starting to run down her face. "I know you didn't want me to be a girl! You gave me a boy's name for goodness sakes! But I still wanted to try to make you proud, but I have no idea how to!"
Suddenly Hakoda's arms wrapped around her, squeezing her in a strong hug. "I'm so sorry that I ever made you feel that way Sokka. I'm sorry that I made you so confused. If I could go back I would make sure you never had to feel this way." He walked her over to a place where they could both sit down.
Sokka was still crying, so Hakoda put an arm around her and started to fill the silence with her words. "You are my first born. You have no clue how scared I was the day you came into this world. You were so small and tiny. I remember holding you and I thought I would break you if I held you too tight. I told your mom I wanted to give you a strong name, and that's why we decided on Sokka. I remember when I called you Sokka you grabbed one of my fingers in your hands, and you had such a tight grip that I knew I made the right choice."
Hakoda rubbed Sokka's back, helping her calm down. "I already told your sister how the two of you are my entire world. I could have never imagined that she would become such a brave bender, and that you would become such a wise leader. I am so proud of you and I am so amazed that you are my daughter. I know your mother would be too."
They find Aang on the island where Roku's temple once was. They explain their plans for the invasion, and they find Aang's damaged staff. Aang agrees that it is a good idea to keep his survival a secret. Then they head deeper into the Fire Nation.