Book Four: Air, Part Two

"What are you doing here?" Sokka asked in surprise, grinning a little when he thought he saw someone familiar fighting, "Hear Hahn was in this village, too?"

IC: Suki

Suki walked over to Toph and Sokka. "Actually I dind't, but seeing as how your girlfriend's gaurddog is here it makes sense." She said looking back at Jerrel as he finished off the remaining drunks. "Remind me to thank him later."

***

IC: Jerrel

Jerrel stood with a black eye and a busted lip, the drunks laying on the ground around him. He never even had to use his bending even once against the drunks. As he turned to walk away he noticed the symbol of the water tribe on one of the drunks and knelt down.

IC: Toph

"Yeah, Jerrel can be pretty reliable that way," said Toph.

She wasn't sure how to act around Suki. Toph had always liked her, but now that Sokka was with her instead of Suki? It was an odd sort of situation, and she wondered how Suki felt about it.

Sokka rubbed the back of his head, feeling more than a bit awkward. How should he treat Suki now, especially with his current girlfriend nearby. Somehow, he never thought his currrent and ex girlfriends would meet again like this.

IC: Toph

Well, at least she didn't seem to be the only one who was nervous. She could sense much of the same thing coming from Sokka. Toph felt for him, and gently lay a hand against the small of his back. It was a small, but affectionate gesture, and she hoped it helped him, the both of them really, calm down.

After all, it was Suki! She was their friend. Nothing would change that.

IC: Suki

Suki noticed the couples uneasiness in front of her, she only smiled. "What's wrong with you two?" Suki walked over to Sokka and gave him a sock to the shoulder. "Not like you to worry so much, I'll be fine." she then stepped over to Toph. "Plus, you have a wonderful girl now. I hope you take good care of Sokka, you know how stubborn and a handful he can be." suki said placing her hand gently on Toph's shoulder, it seemed suki had gotten over her first heartbreak pretty well. "Plus, I think I might have an admirer.......I think." she said slightly looking over shoulder at Jerrel.

***

IC: Jerrel walked over to Suki, he finally noticed Sokka and Toph with his good eye. "Hey, I think I may have found something." Jerrel held out a piece of cloth with the water tribe symbol on it. "You think those drunks were with Hanh?" Jerrel asked unconsciously placing his arm around Suki's shoulders.

Zuko nodded, "She'll be fine, Katara. If she wants to come, we cannot stop her. Least you forget, Katara, you were civil once as well. In fact, it should be that civilians who bring down these rebels. It is their right. " He grinned at her, "She would chase us down if we refused her, I'll bet. Now come, we have evil to destroy." He turned and began to walk to their new destination. "It is time we bring back peace and honor that these rebels are trying their damn est to steal from the people."

Akemi frowned, but all wasn't lost. Katara was protecting her which was fine. At least she didn't distrust her. Still she was going to have to watch herself around them.

She walked behind them looking at the sky. A small sparrowkeet flew down to her and Akemi rubbed it's head with her hand. Then she tied a red ribbon around it's foot and let it go. The bird was from the rebel camp. A normal hawk would have caused questions. The ribbon Akemi tied was a warning. It meant that danger was coming.

Watching it go, Akemi kept on smiling. Things were working out nicely.

Zuko frowned a little as he noticed Akemi and the sparrowkeet. It was not strange for a sparrowkeet to hang around a human. But something WAS strange. It happened too quick for his eyes to register was it was, but something was on the sparrowkeet's leg that was not there before.
"So tell us a little about yourself, miss Akemi"

Sokka smiled a little at Suki, glad to see she seemed to have recovered, "Yeah. Toph's great."
He looked over at Jerrel smirking, "And Jerrel's a great guy too."
He looked over at the Water Tribe symbol, "Probably. Who else would be here? Hear any of them talk about a sort of boss in the richer part of town?"

IC: Suki

Suki blushed somewaht for the first time since her and Sokka's break-up, she reaced up and gently held Jerrel's hand as it lay on her shoulder. It was strange, Jerrel reminded her of Sokka, yet he wasn't Sokka at the same time. She was also trying her best to figure out if Jerrel had feelings for her or if he was still pretending just to keep her safe.

"Me? I grew up here in the Fire Nation. I lived in a good home since I was middle class. But I still didn't want the war, though I didn't really do much about it. I didn't think I could." Akemi told them. "So when the war ended I was relieved. Since then I have been checking out some places in the Fire Nation. It's amazing to live in a place all your life and have never really seen it," Akemi said with a laugh.

IC: Katara

She nodded. She did not know what to think of the girl, or even if she liked having her along--it was dangerous! But she was a friendly person by nature, and she could not help but strike up a conversation.

"I know! When I went to the Northern Water Tribe for the first time, I was taken aback by how different its culture was from the Southern Water Tribe."

***

IC: Toph

"There's one way to find out," said Toph.

She walked over to one of the drunks. She nudged him with a foot.

"Hey, you! Lughead! You one of those bozos working for Hahn?"

"Just be careful," Aang warned the girl with a frown. He didn't like the thought of endangering others' lives anymore than Katara did, "When we tell you to run, you run, okay?"

*

The thug groaned as he felt someone kick him. He was already aching from the beating he received already. He murmured, "What's it to you?"

Toph glowered. "A better question is: what's it to you? As in if you don't tell us what you know, I'm going to kick your butt."

The guy groaned, finally recognizing the girl's voice. She was that super-weird blind girl the boss tried to force into marring him.

"Okay, okay. Just don't hurt me. The boss is staying at Lord Pao Pang's house in the richer part of the village. Apparently it pays to have connections," the man said.

"Thanks," said Toph, grinning. She stepped away from the man, and his fallen companions, and nodded at her friends. "Well, that's that. We know where Hahn is now. What's our next move?"

"How about we tell the authorities? People here are grateful to us and I'm sure they'd be willing to arrest someone that tried to kill us both," Sokka told her optimistically, smiling back. She really was good at tracking down people. Who knew?

Akemi nodded at Aang. Things were going well which surprised her just a little. It appeared that they were more trusting then she thought. Also it was kind of funny they felt like they needed to protect her.

"It just goes to show you that even if we live in the same place none of us live in the same way."

IC: Katara

She smiled. "How true." Katara frowned, however, and looked at Akemi. "I still don't feel right about taking you into danger, Miss Akemi."

***

IC: Toph

"That's an idea," said Toph. She thumped her chest. "I'm a Bei Fong. Attacking me was a pretty stupid move on his part. Legally, I could take him down myself, and the authorities here would have to just smile and nod."

"So, there are some perks to that last name," Sokka told her with a smile. He felt a little, strange at the moment. At the back of his mind, he was thinking about what Hahn had said about him earlier. He had no titles, not even a last name. How was he worthy of Toph?

*

"Me neither," Aang admitted, "I just hope you can take care of yourself."

IC: Toph

"Eh, a few," said Toph, waving dismissively. "Lot more headaches, though, trust me." She started down the street. "Let's see if we can't find the police, then."

"Agreed," Sokka told her, ridding herself of his thoughts as he took her hand and headed down a random way down the street.

"Don't worry. I have been trained in firebending and I have been though my fair share of fights," Akemi said. Then she blushed lightly. "Though they were mostly with others from my hometown, but still. I just hope I don't burden any of you."

IC: Toph

The police-station was in the center of the port-town. It consisted of a main office building, with a connection prison section. It looked old and shabby, but the uniformed men and women who worked there were alert.

Toph walked right into the station. It was busy, which was not too surprising. The port-town housed a number of criminals. The authorities were either always busy or crooked.

***

IC: Katara

She sighed. "Well... Just be careful, okay? Stay close." To Zuko, she added, "We should get going. At the very least, we should investigate those caverns the man told us about."