Aang and Katara - A Wedding Tale

Chapter 8: Sokka Part 3

Toph's point view
Aang was heading out to talk to Sokka. His heart rate was calm. He was confident. He knew Sokka was going to give him his blessing.

After a minute I decided to follow him.

Jeez his heart rate was all over the shop. Oh no. That's not good. He's confused, angry, hurt, disappointed, upset, guilty.

Sokka said no?

What!? Why?

Someone runs past me. His footsteps are light, I can barely feel them. Aang. I feel the gentle tap of dripping water: he's crying.

What did Sokka say!?

I feel his presence. I need answers.

"Ponytail. What in the spirit world do you think you're playing at!" I yelled heading towards him. His heart rate jumped. He felt as he was going to make a run for it. Oh no you don't. I earth bent his feet to the ground. I need answers Sokka knew Aang and Katara well enough, he had no reason to not give him his blessing.

"Toph look I can explain."
"Oh. You better! How could you say no! Aang loves her. She loves him. So why the *CENSORED* did you say no!?"
"Hey just give me a second. Wait how did you know?"
"No I could hear Aang's heart rate jumping all over the place, so I came to investigate because I knew what he was planning. You really hurt him. Now why the *CENSORED* did you say no!?"

Aang was like my brother. I needed to look out for him. This had hurt him. More than that nightmare. More than any guilt over his people's death.

"Calm down Toph. Please release me and I'll explain." He wasn't lying. I relaxed the earth around him.
"Fine." I replied begrudgingly, "Now talk!"
"Okay. Okay. First understand: Katara's my sister. I have to look out for her." I nodded.
"I get it. Aang's like my brother. I physically wouldn't be here, or lived the life I love without him. By now I would be in an arranged marriage with some Lord. I owe him everything."

Sokka's heart rate decreased.

"Don't tell him that!" I said as I elbowed him in side. "That's also no reason to say to not give him your permission. Aang loves Katara, he'd protect her until the end of the line. And he's the Avatar: no better protector than him."
"I get that, I do. It's just you know how many times she's been put in danger, kidnapped, not to mentioned almost died! All the news I seem to get about my sister is when she's kidnapped or seriously injured for spirits sake!" He sighed, "That's not right. I need to protect her and all the danger stems from Aang. I have to protect her. And this... this is the best way."

He wasn't lying. What he was saying was absolute rubbish but he believed it.

"And you really think hurting them both is the best way! You know how much pain breaking them up would do?"
"I never said I wanted them to break up!"
"I have two points to make here Ponytail. A) how's dating and marriage any less dangerous?" I rolled my eyes, how does his mind work. "B) you think Aang after you told him that he was hurting Katara and putting the one he loves the most in danger constantly he would end things with her. Because he thinks it would protect her! Really Meathead how did you not see that!"

His heart rate picked up again as my words sunk in.

"Spirits I knew I shouldn't have said anything!" He was panicking now. "I don't want my sister in danger but I swear to all the spirits I never wanted to break them up! We need to find Aang before he does something he'll regret!"

Eh. It's a start. All we need to do is find one of the most powerful benders who can fly with a glider and bison.

"That's more like it! Now let's go!"

We started heading back to the Jasmine Dragon when we found everyone had left the academy.

The lily livers.

"Hey Iroh, have you seen Aang?"

"No. He has not returned yet. The others assumed he was with you, is that not the case?" The older man seemed puzzled with our request but never once tried to pry. That is what we all loved about Iroh – he was cool with any of our weirdness and gave brilliant advice over tea when we needed it.
"No we lost him." Sokka replied. I elbowed him.

"We were having a race to see who could get back first, he must have taken a detour." I added. We did not want the others – especially Katara - knowing about this. This was Sokka's mistake to fix and I was going just to make sure he did it right.

"Wow, Sokka so discrete." I replayed sarcastically.

"Hey! Oh, there Katara we should talk to her." He said as quietly as he could.
"Yeah, just let me do the talking." I whispered as we headed over, "Hey Sugar Queen, you seen Twinkle Toes?"
"No. He's not back yet."
"Ah 'kay. Well, we were just going to head out and get some supplies." I lied – luckily, I was the only one hear who could earth been because if my lie hadn't tipped her off Sokka's heart rate would have. He could barely stand to look at his sister, never mind speak. He couldn't trust himself not to show his guilt.

She whished us luck, and asked us to pick up some vegetables for tonight's supper.

We turned to head somewhere more privet.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Sokka began. "He hasn't told anyone where he's gone. He only runs away when something really bad happens. This is all my fault. All I wanted to do was protect Katara but I've made things so much worse: Aang's ran away and is probably going to break up with her! I should have just given him my blessing! Then we wouldn't be in this mess!" He kicked a rock, it bounced of a building then a sign, at the perfect angle to hit his head. I stopped it mid-air just before it hit him.

"Listen all we have to do is find him, tell him you were wrong, remind him he loves Katara, and give him you're blessing. How hard can it be? He's the Avatar, the only air bender, he can't go two steps without being recognised so if we ask about, I'm sure we could find him."

His heart rate calmed; my plan must have made sense to him. Obviously because it's a brilliant plan.

"Okay so why are we still here. Let's move quickly before Sugar Queen gets too worried." And at that we went out in the city to find Aang.

It was sunset so we didn't have much time. If he didn't get home by night Katara would definitely know something's up, and Sokka would be screwed.

"Have you seen Avatar Aang?"
"He's about yay high, blue arrows, 10 tonne flying bison and lemur by his side."
"The Avatar, have you seen him?
My throat was getting dry and itchy. We had been at this for hours; the sun was nearly fully set. We were losing time, light and hope fast.

"Hey! I've seen the Avatar." We both perked up. He wasn't lying. Oh, spirits yes! "Tell us what you know! We're in a massive hurry."
"Okay, so I saw the Avatar about 2 hours ago heading out to the lower ring. He wanted to buy food to last him a few days and camping equipment. I refused to let him pay, he tried to make me accept, but how could I make a crying avatar pay?"
"He was crying." Sokka asked quietly.
"Well it looked like he'd just stopped. Seriously though what could make the Avatar cry? It'd have to be really horrendous, let me tell you." Sokka was shifting nervously.
"Thank you Sir. We'll be on our way now."

The sun had now fully set. "How are we going to be able to get to the lower ring from here and back before Katara gets suspicious!? It's a good half a day walking. And the ring is huge! We'll never be able to find him in time!"
"Sokka. Get a hold if yourself. You panicking is not going to help anyone. Remember I'm The World's Greatest Earth Bender, with a Bifong passport. I can get us anywhere!"

Authors Note:
So I have just realised that some of the saying I am using may be local (I'm from Cumbria in England), and potentially not used elsewhere, thus may not make sense to some people. If this is the case please comment and I'll explain it to you. Most of them can be worked out based on context but just to be safe I thought I had better just write this note.

Anyways did you get my flipped Brooklyn 99 reference? Here's a hint:
Toph = Gena
Sokka = Charles
And they are convincing each other to agree to consent for a marriage between mutual 'family'.

Again, it's okay if you have never heard of the show never mind watched it. As I say a lot it makes no difference to the plot, it's just my inspiration.