Book Four: Air

IC: Suki

"That's the spirit!" said Suki.

She was glad she had been able to help. The last thing they needed was for Aang, a symbol of balance, to be unsure of himself or his abilities to help people. Not only that, but his optimism could spread, and had in the past.

Maybe it would infect the people here, too.

"Ah! Avatar Aang! Lady Suki! Welcome!"

A man, looking very much like a merchant, approached them. Smiling, he bowed.

"I am glad you have arrived," he said. "My name is Tao."

***

IC: Toph

Toph choked in the big guy's grip. And she had thought her own hugs were bone-crunching. Samanya was actually doing it.

"Hey! It's nice to know you care, but it's kind of hard to breathe right now!" she said. "Mind putting us down?" To Sokka, she added, "Once you and Suki are back together, I think you'll figure out how you feel pretty quick."

Sokka shrugged as he struggled against Samayana's grip. He murmured, "I think I heard my bones crack." The then turned to Toph and smiled, "Whatever I decide, I'm glad you're my friend no matter what."

IC: Toph

"Of course I am!" said Toph. She blushed despite herself. "You can always count on me to be there for you, Snoozles. Best friends until the end!" Chuckling, she added, "I think I've fulfilled my "cheesy" quota for the year with that one."

Katara

"Sounds like a plan," Katara said, looking at the fish. "If only there was a firebender around," she muttered before gathering some branches and trying to start a fire to cook it.

"You have a quota?" Sokka asked her with a grin, blushing a little himself. He though she did look rather cute while she was blushing, but he wasn't about to admit that right now. He didn't have a deathwish.

She nodded. "Of course I do. I can't go over it, or I lose my big, bad rep. Nobody wants that to happen, and the last thing I want is for people to think I'm the female version of you! Or worse... Cute." Toph shivered, but it was mostly for fun, because she was still smiling.

Sokka laughed a little, "What's wrong with being a female version of me? I think a female version of me sounds great! And you are cute." He blushed, but still grinned at his friend teasingly.

IC: Azon

Azon approached the three and gave a short cough to alert them.

"Excuse me, Toph, Sokka, Large One, Appa is ready to leave."

His blindfolded eyes seemed to be staring at the blush on Sokka's face.

"Oh, I apologize; I was unaware you were engrossing yourselves in eachother. Excuse me..."

He held up his hands and began to back away.

"Engrossing ourselves in each other!" sputtered Toph, embarrassed. "What the heck are you thinking, you idiot!? We're just talking! We are friends, you know!"

Though, if she were honest with herself, she would like for it to be more than that.

But if she was going to be honest with herself, Toph had to acknowledge that Sokka would never really, even if he was unsure right now, want to be with a little girl when he already had a perfect woman.

Sokka's face reddened further and he glared at Azon, "What she said! We hang out all the time!"

"That's right!" added Toph, though she really didn't need to. She took comfort in the fact that Sokka sounded embarrassed too. "We're, like, a legend or something. Dynamic Duo, and all that! It's not weird that we like hanging out together, and it doesn't mean... well, anything like that!"

IC: Azon

Azon rubbed his chin.

"Hmmm, by "engrossed", I simply meant engrossed in conversation. However, that's a very interesting conclusion you both came to..."

The eyebrows above his blindfold slowly raised.

"Well...like I said, Appa's ready when you are..."

With a smile he turned from them, and headed back toward Katara and the Sky Bison.

Sokka's mouth moved to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. He was blushing and his heartbeat was skyrocketing. This had never happened to him before.
"Stupid Azon," he murmured.

"I know..." muttered Toph. "But we did kind of walk into that one."

She pursed her lips, not liking that at all.

Sokka's heartbeat pounded in her ears. It had to be beating fast and hard to do that.

"Yeah. I suppose I would have done the same thing," Sokka told her as he tried to calm his racing heart.

"You would have? You did! With me!" said Toph, suddenly chuckling. "But Azon's weird, so he would've made some leap like that anyway."

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