A/N; So close now to Ba Sing Se... god I'm so hyped for that.

In the meantime though, we must offer the great sea serpent a humble and tasty offering. (Sorry, not sorry Momo.)

Sokka P.o.V.

"Waterbending bomb! Yeahhhh!"

Sokka barely had enough time to cover the maps he was looking at before the giant wave came crashing over him, drenching him head to toe and ruining several of the parchments. He took the most soaked one and started to wring it out, glaring at his sister the whole time. 

"Sure, five thousand year-old maps from the spirit library," he scolded her. "Just splash some water on them."

Katara had the nerve to look sheepish as she wrung out her hair. "Sorry," she laughed. "But, uh, I wasn't alone."

"Wait, what?" Sokka wondered, looking back up the cliff just in time to see Azami jumping off next.

What is she doing! he screeched internally, shoving the maps aside as he raced to the edge of the pool. "Firebending bomb!" the princess yelled excitedly as her entire body became wreathed in flame, looking strikingly similar to a fireball as she landed into the water. Whereas Katara's had created a huge wave, Azami's caused the pool to erupt into steam, heating it almost instantly.

"And now," the firebender sighed as she laid back peacefully, floating on the surface. "We have a hot spring."

Not even bothering to check on the maps, Sokka jumped into the pool to get closer to her. "What were you thinking?" he hissed, not wanting the others to hear. "That was dangerous, you could've hurt yourself!"

"Eh, it's fine," she assured him, not even opening her eyes or moving an inch. "Sometimes, if you want to have fun, you've gotta take risks."

He shook his head, unable to believe she'd care so little for her own safety. "That doesn't mean you should just go ahead and do whatever stupid idea-"

"I don't understand what the problem is here," Azami snapped, pulling herself up to glare at him. "Your own sister made the exact same jump before me, why does it matter if I did it or not?"

Sokka struggled to find an answer for a bit, but when he did he refused to let up. "Katara's a waterbender and you aren't, so it was probably a lot safer for her-"

"Hey, Sokka!" Aang's voice called out from nearby. "Are you guys done over there? We need to figure out what route we're gonna take to Ba Sing Se!"

The two shared an uncomfortable glance before going to join the others, knowing this argument wasn't over. Fortunately, there was some good news, which was that Katara had gotten the maps all thoroughly un-soaked.

Pulling out the map of the Earth Kingdom, Sokka studied it for a moment before figuring out where they were. "Okay, so we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here," he explained, pointing at the spots on the map. "As you said, we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here... so it looks like the connection between the north and south is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass."

"You're sure that's the best way to go?" Toph muttered, sounding more than a little skeptical.

Taking a good look again, Sokka nodded before rolling up the map. "It's the only way," he admitted. "I mean, it's not like we have Appa to fly us there."

"Shush up about Appa," Katara hissed at him, trying to be quiet even though everyone could hear her. "Can't you at least try to be sensitive?"

Everyone looked over at Aang worriedly, unsure how he would react, and Sokka had to admit that comment was a little incensitive. Something he was starting to appreciate was that the truth wasn't always particularly helpful.

"Katara, it's okay," the airbender assured them, sounding almost... bored? How on earth could he switch up from trying to kill the sandbenders a few weeks ago for stealing Appa to now not even caring at all? "I know I was upset about losing Appa before, but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se, and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse."

The gaang all stared at him in disbelief. Personally, Sokka didn't really buy it, but if the kid didn't want to deal with it right now, he could respect that. It also seemed like he wasn't the only one in that boat, either. "Oh, well... okay," Katara conceded, sounding equally unsure herself. "I'm glad you're doing better."

Sokka rolled his maps up as he stood, getting ready to leave. "Then to Ba Sing Se we go," he announced. "No more distractions."

"Hello there, fellow refugees!"

One more distraction, he thought bitterly as he observed the family approaching them.

"I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the Fire Nation!"

Sokka couldn't help but agree with his sister - looking out at the loading bay for the ferries, he was astonished by the sheer amount of people present. He knew the Fire Nation was cruel and vicious, but man... there had to be a hundred times the population of the entire South Pole crammed into this one sheltered area.

Looking around, Sokka quickly spotted what looked like a massive waiting line to get tickets for the ferry, and he groaned in annoyance. "Are you sure we have to do this?" he whined to no one in particular as the group started proceeding towards the lines. "The serpent's pass is still an option for us. I mean, we'd probably get past it before we even finish getting our tickets here!"

"Wake up, Ponytail," Azami admonished him. "There's a reason everyone else came here, and I for one don't really feel like taking a so-called deadly route when we could be having lunch made for us on the way instead. I would've thought you, of all people, would appreciate getting some fresh food for the first time in weeks."

Sokka couldn't deny the soft hum that escaped him at the thought, nor the fact his mouth was already salivating just from the idea of food. Reluctantly, he caved, and for the next two or so hours they waited patiently in line for their turn to get tickets.

Right as they neared the front, Sokka couldn't help frowning as he thought he recognized the person ahead of them - some little, old man dressed in green clothes, who had a cart of cabbages beside him while he got his ticket.

"I told you already!" the ticket lady snapped at him. "No vegetables on the ferry! One cabbage slug could destroy the entire ecosystem of Ba Sing Se! Security!"

The cabbage man cried out in fear as a platypus bear was brought out and promptly tore his entire cart - including the cabbages - to shreds. "No!" the man exclaimed, collapsing to his knees in despair. "My cabbages!"

After a moment, two guards had to come and drag him away, the man still unmoving. The gaang all looked nervously at one another before returning their attention to the ticket lady, who furiously stamped another ticket before glaring down at them. "Next!"

"Um... five tickets for the ferry to Ba Sing Se please," Aang asked weakly as he stepped forward.

The woman didn't even look up at him as she got the tickets ready. "Passports?"

"Oh, uh..." Aang's voice trailed off, and Sokka's gut twisted - this wasn't going to go well. "No one told us we needed to have passports."

Ticket lady looked up again, her expression quickly souring, and Sokka raced forward to step in before Aang blew it. "Don't you know who this is?" he demanded, gesturing to the young airbender. "He's the Avatar!"

"Ah, I see fifty Avatars a day," the woman scoffed, sizing up Aang with a very unimpressed look. "And by the way, not a very impressive costume."

She gestured over to another group of people, who were all bald with painted arrows and fake gliders. Honestly, Sokka wasn't really sure how to feel about that. Momo poked out on Aang's shoulder to take a look, and the woman's expression worsened. "Besides, no animals allowed," she declared. "Do I need to call security?"

Everyone looked over in fear at the platypus bear again, who chomped down another cabbage while staring at them. "That... won't be necessary," Aang laughed nervously as he slowly backed up.

"I'll take care of this," Toph muttered as she shoved the airbender out of the way and placed a small green thing on the lady's counter. "My name is Toph Beifong and I need five tickets."

Ticket lady gasped in shock as she looked at it, and Sokka couldn't help smirking - there definitely was something to be said for the perks of being wealthy. "The golden seal of the flying boar," the woman breathed in awe. "It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Beifong family."

"It is your pleasure," the earthbender smirked. "As you can see, I am blind and these four imbeciles are my valets."

The supposed 'valets' all hugged close to one another, grinning up at the ticket lady in an attempt to sell it. "But..." the woman winced. "The animal-"

"Is my seeing-eye lemur," Toph insisted as Momo flew to her shoulder.

"Well... normally it's only one ticket per passport," the woman conceded. "But this document is so official... I guess it's worth five tickets."

Sokka grinned as she stamped the tickets and Toph grabbed them, rejoining the others as she handed them all their ticket. "Alright!" he exclaimed happily as they started walking up towards the ferry. "We scammed that lady good-Ah!"

He couldn't help the yelp that left him as he felt an arm grab his and yank him around, bringing him face to face with a girl that looked around his age. "Tickets and passports, please," the girl snapped.

"Uh... is there a problem?" Sokka asked nervously, not wanting to face any more delays.

The girl glared at him, unimpressed. "Yeah, I got a problem with you. I've seen your type before, probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious and let me guess... you're travelling with the Avatar."

Sokka just gulped as he took a step back, having no idea how this random girl knew so much about him. "Do I know you?"

"You mean you don't remember?" she demanded, grabbing his shirt. "Maybe you remember this." To emphasize her point, she grabbed his hand and twisted it so that he was lying on the ground, groaning in pain while it felt like his hand would break off. The way she did it though was strangely familiar...

"Oh, I'm an idiot," Azami's voice echoed from above him, followed by a slapping sound that he presumed was against her own forehead. "Sokka, it's Suki. From Kyoshi island?"

The girl grinned as she let him up, and he cradled his hand with a whimper. "The one and only," she proudly stated. "It's good to see you guys!"

Azami P.o.V.

"You look so different without your makeup," Katara remarked. "And the new outfit?"

Suki smirked as she leaned against the wall's railing. "That crabby lady makes all the security guards where this," she admitted. "And look at you guys! You'd better be practising those moves I showed you."

She glared playfully at Sokka and Azami, since she did teach them both back on Kyoshi, and the firebender had to admit she was a little surprised by the warm reception. When they'd left it wasn't exactly on the best of terms. "Oh, I've gotten plenty of practice," Sokka grinned as he stretched a little. "Knocked more than a few firebender heads along the way."

"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?" Aang asked her.

Suki nodded. "Yeah, after you left Kyoshi we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since." Momo jumped up onto the railing next to her, and she giggled as she pet the lemur's head. "Hi Momo, it's good to see you too."

The lemur purred as it closed its eyes in contentment.

"So why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry?" Suki wondered, confusion evident in her tone. "Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"

Azami winced slightly - obviously, the girl had no way of knowing what happened, but that definitely wasn't going to sit well with Aang. "Appa is missing," she explained. "We're hoping we can find him in Ba Sing Se."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Suki sighed as she looked nervously over to the airbender. "Are you doing okay?"

Everyone watched for his response, slightly worried, but Azami was shocked again by how nonchalant he looked. It was like he didn't even care anymore. "I'm doing fine," Aang insisted. "Would everybody stop worrying about me?"

"Avatar Aang!" a voice suddenly cried out from the base of the wall, and everyone looked down in surprise to see Ying and her family looking up at them desperately. "You have to help us! Someone took all of our belongings, our passports, our tickets! Everything's gone!"

The airbender's eyes narrowed as he nodded. "I'll go talk to the lady for you," he promised.

Yeah... that didn't really pan out at all. Suki and Azami both watched from the sidelines as the others tried to get the ticket lady to compromise with them, but the two girls already knew that was a hopeless venture.

"They never learn, do they?" Suki winced as they watched the ticket lady spray Aang with spit. "That woman's more stubborn than anyone I've ever met, there's no way she'll give in."

Azami nodded slightly, still feeling a little uncomfortable being around the other girl. "Suki, what happened after we left?"

The warrior looked at her in surprise, almost like she wasn't expecting the question. "Well, not much, really. You guys already put out the fire when you left, and those firebenders followed right after you. It took a while, but we eventually got our homes rebuilt to what they were before, and no one was seriously injured, so it's fine."

"Uh... that's not what I remember," Azami admitted as she frowned. "What about that girl that I... well, you know."

Suki passively waved a hand, shrugging it off. "Oh, she's fine. Her family was understandably infuriated, but we eventually agreed that you were just trying to help, so they don't blame you for it anymore. Their daughter doesn't either."

"Wait, what?" the firebender asked in shock, turning to face her. "Why would you guys just forgive me when it was still my fault?"

The warrior shrugged. "I don't know, I guess it just didn't make sense to hold a grudge against you for trying to help. I mean, to be fair, while you made that one mistake you also protected me and many others in the process. You really shouldn't worry yourself about it."

Azami glanced down at her feet, confusion still swirling around in her thoughts. Why would they just forget about it like it never even happened? It wasn't like she deserved to be forgiven for it, she'd done nothing to earn it-

"Well, bad luck guys," Katara announced as the gaang joined the two girls. "They won't give that family new passes, so it looks like we'll be leading them across the serpent's pass ourselves."

Suki sighed, as though she had already accepted the girl's statement. "I'm not surprised," she admitted. "That lady will adhere to every rule ever made, even if no one else agrees with her. Well, I wish the best of luck to you guys on the pass - no one really knows why it's so dangerous."

"You won't come with us?" Sokka asked, sounding more than a little disappointed.

The girl shook her head. "I can't. The other Kyoshi Warriors are still here, and I can't just leave them behind. I might see you in Ba Sing Se, but for now this is where I need to be." After giving everyone a quick hug, she started to walk off, but paused slightly to say one last thing. "Also, keep an eye on the west side of the pass - word is the Fire Nation's patrolling it like crazy, and that they're working on some secret project."

"We will," Katara promised.

"This is the serpent's pass?" Sokka scoffed. "I thought it would be more windy, you know, like a serpent. Hm... I guess they misnamed it."

As they stood at the gate to the pass, Azami had to wonder if she was looking at the same road as he was. Sure, it may not be that windy, but it was following a very narrow ridge up the spine of some large two-sided cliff, and it looked steep, too. Not exactly an appealing hike.

"Look at this writing," Ying called out in a despairing voice. "How awful."

Azami squinted at the post, making out a few words. "It says... abandon hope?"

"How can we abandon hope?" the woman cried, leaning into her husband's shoulder. "That's all we have!"

"I don't know," Aang's voice echoed from beside them, and everyone looked at him in shock. "The monks used to say that hope is just a distraction. So maybe we do need to abandon it."

Well, that's... cheery. It seemed like Azami wasn't alone in that either. "What are you talking about?" Katara wondered.

"Hope isn't going to get us into Ba Sing Se," the airbender declared as he looked at the pass ahead of them. "And it's not gonna find Appa. We need to focus on what we're doing right now, and that's getting across this pass."

Azami and Katara shared a glance, feeling more than a little put off by his words. "Okay... if you say so."

Not saying anything else, they all started heading up the pass. It turned out to be a little wider than Azami expected, offering more than enough room for everyone to walk along it comfortably. The pass continued up and over ridges, then shifted to jutting out on one side or the other of the cliffs.

Overall? Definitely not one of her highlights of the trip, but she was still wondering where the 'deadly pass' and 'abandon hope' crap came from.

As they continued along one of the cliffsides, the whole group tensed up at the sight of a Fire Nation ship passing by a few hundred yards out. "Should we wait for it to pass?" Sokka whispered, echoing everyone's thoughts.

"No," Azami replied. "We need to get to the city as fast as possible, and as long as we're quiet they shouldn't see us. Go single file, and stay as close to the wall as you can."

Reluctantly, she could tell, they all did as she said. Aang and Katara took the lead of the group, while Azami and Sokka brought up the rear. The pass got a little narrower on this strip, forcing everyone to basically hug the wall on the side for fear of falling off.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt a hand yank her back by the shoulder, forcing her back against the cliff wall. Azami didn't even say anything as her heart immediately started racing, and she glared over at Sokka who had the nerve to look sheepish. "Sorry, I thought you were getting too close... to the edge..."

His voice whithered under the weight of the glare she was giving him.

"Would you focus on yourself instead of giving me a heart attack?" she hissed at him, and he quickly nodded.

They continued on without another word, keeping roughly the same pace as the Fire Nation ship, which thankfully hadn't spotted them yet. Up ahead, she could just make out where the path cut through the ridge and continued onto the other side of the cliff, and everyone in the group all sighed in relief, knowing that they were soon going to have cover from the Fire Nation.

Well, as anyone with any sense should know by now - life was never that easy. Especially for them. The crossover was only a handful of feet away from Aang when Ying's husband, Than, suddenly tripped on the edge of the path and started to fall. Luckily, Toph was easily able to catch him with her bending, but that didn't stop the broken parts of the path from crumbling down into the water below, leaving a trail of dust behind it.

In the distance, two bright lights suddenly appeared on the Fire Nation ship, and Azami's eyes widened as she realized what it meant.

"They spotted us!" Sokka cried as the ship launched several fireballs up at them. "Let's go, let's go!"

Aang responded almost immediately by jumping onto the cliff side and then leaping outwards, sending out a blast of air from his staff. The gust caught one of the fireballs, launching it straight back at the ship where it promptly destroyed the command bridge at the top. 

Taking a deep breath, Azami prepared to reach out and stop the other fireball - something she'd done dozens of times by now - when suddenly she was tackled out of its way by Sokka. "What are you doing?!" she yelled at him.

Before he could say anything, a loud rumbling sound echoed around them, and the two looked up in fear to see the fireball had slammed right into the cliffside, sending a sizeable avalanche of rocks towards them. Realizing it was way too late to move, Azami curled up to protect herself while Sokka tried to cover her body with his - though it wouldn't do much against the massive boulders heading straight towards them.

Right as the rockslide was about to collide with the two, Toph bent out a wedge on the side of the cliff to cover them, sending the rocks tumbling into the sea below. "Azami, are you okay?" Sokka cried, yanking on her arm to pull her back to her feet. "You have to be more careful, come on!"

Azami just watched him in confusion as he dragged her along behind him. What in agni's name is wrong with him today?

Just before she got out of earshot, she could here Toph muttering to herself from where she stood behind them. "'Gee, thanks for saving our lives, Toph.' Hey, no problem, Sokka."

Sokka P.o.V.

By the time they stopped for the night, the sun was setting on the horizon, casting everything around them in a dull orange glow. They had found a decently sized plateau to set up camp on, with Azami lighting a small fire for everyone. Fortunately, the Fire Nation ship hadn't been seen again since Aang hit it, which was hopefully a good sign for them.

Just as they were about to finish getting set up, Sokka glanced over to realize that Azami had again put her sleeping bag a little far from everyone, and more importantly, way too close to the nearby cliff. "Azami, you shouldn't sleep there," he called out to her as he walked over, grabbing her sleeping bag. "Who knows how stable this ledge is, it could give way at any moment."

"Sokka, for agni's sake, I'm fine!" she snapped, yanking her sleeping bag back. "Would you stop worrying so much and telling me what to do?"

He meekly nodded his head in response, and Azami just rolled her eyes as she laid the bag down closer to the fire and everyone else. For a moment, he almost panicked again when he thought he saw a massive spider crawling all over it, but as he was just starting to move he made eye contact with the firebender, who was sending him quite the death glare.

Sokka just chuckled nervously as he returned to his own stuff, still feeling the weight of her gaze burning into his back as he did so, as though she was daring him to try and pull something again. He had to admit - he was actually acting pretty over-the-top today, and he wasn't sure why.

Hours later, after he was sure everyone was asleep, he crawled back out of his sleeping bag and walked off a little to find someplace to sit and think. It wasn't until he looked up at the moon, slowly rising into the sky above them, when the familiar pang of loss hit him, and he started to reminisce on the events of the North Pole.

Yue.

Staring at the full moon, he couldn't help but remember the friend he'd lost. Every time the full moon came, he was reminded of the girl who died in his arms, sacrificing herself to save the world while his only job had been to protect her.

It had been months since then, but he still hadn't forgiven himself for failing Yue. He'd promised to ensure her safety, and the only thing he succeeded at was making sure she didn't die alone.

"Couldn't sleep either?" a familiar voice echoed from behind him.

At this point, Sokka didn't even flinch in surprise anymore - he was far too lost in his thoughts for that. Instead, he just shook his head slightly in response, knowing she'd get the message. Honestly, he wasn't sure if he wanted company or not right now, but when the firebender sat down beside him, his mind made that choice for him.

Azami remained silent for a moment, watching the moon as well for a bit before Sokka felt her gaze turn to him. "Look, I know you're trying to help, but I can take care of myself," she assured him. "You do know that, right?"

"Of course I do," he replied softly, still not shifting his eyes from the full moon. "Its just... well, you know what happened at the north pole. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Sokka felt a hand squeeze his shoulder gently, the gesture assuring him that she was still safe. "You won't," she promised him. "But why is this coming up now, months after it happened?"

"I don't really know," he admitted. "I guess it happened when we left you alone with that owl spirit. I wasn't sure if you'd... well, make it. I just feel like you keep getting hurt, and there's nothing I can do to help. Just like with Yue."

The grip on his shoulder tightened, and Sokka winced slightly as it got a little uncomfortable. "She had her own path to follow," Azami insisted. "There are some things you can't change, Sokka. Yue probably knew she was living on borrowed time, and she did what she had to do. And she certainly wasn't going to let anyone stop her. None of us could."

"Oh, I know," Sokka whispered. "That doesn't make it any easier when you lose someone you care for. Just because I couldn't do anything to change what happened doesn't mean I can't feel guilty about it." He turned to face her, a knowing look crossing his face as he did so. The words didn't need to be said, not really - she of all people knew what that felt like.

As if she heard his thoughts, Azami let out a short, humorless laugh before shaking her head and looking out into the distance. "Preaching to the choir," she muttered.

Sokka's thoughts swirled as he thought over her statements - something that immediately stuck out to him was that she seemed to include herself in being unable to help Yue. Almost as if she wasn't blaming herself anymore. "I don't suppose you'd care to explain?" he asked gently, still slightly afraid he was pushing her too much.

Azami seemed to struggle with herself for a moment - he knew she still unsure if she could trust him again - so rather than answer directly, she instead just rested her hand out by her side. He watched as the familiar blue flame appeared, illuminating their surroundings. "Do you know why my fire's like this?" she questioned, not looking away from the darkened horizon.

"No clue," Sokka admitted truthfully. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious."

She shook her head as she glanced down with a look of disgust. "Well, I at least learned something from that stupid library," she muttered, glaring at the flame as if its existence was an insult. "It still doesn't explain how to get my old flames back, but it turns out this is basically an emotion detector - nothing really special at all. The blue is just a sign of a person's negative emotions running their life."

"Ah," Sokka winced, painfully aware of how long she'd had those blue flames - going back to even before the solstice. For Sokka, it was already hard enough when he watched Yue die and Azami still hadn't forgiven him - he couldn't imagine what it would be like, having an integral part of his being further shoving that in his face.

Azami sighed, waving her hand to put out the flame. "You said I need someone to talk to, to 'open up'?" she asked. "I've heard that advice before - and the truth is, I don't. Not really, anyways," she admitted. "You already know what's been bothering me for months now, and I'd rather not go through that whole fiasco again."

"So what changed?" Sokka wondered, still fairly confident that she said she still wasn't willing to trust him.

The firebender's body slumped, a look of exhaustion overcoming her - as if she were carrying the weight of the world on her back. "Suki and I talked, and I realized... I'm just so sick of this," she explained. "Of letting all this guilt run my life. Letting it control me."

Sokka's eyes widened in surprise - of all the things he was expeting, he definitely wasn't expecting that answer. "You were right last time, you know," she continued. "Even if I could've changed what happened with my father, it doesn't matter, because I'm here now. And I've decided," she declared, a look of deterination crossing her face as she did so. "Since I can't change that, I'm just going to have to make the most of it, and do the best I can with what I'm given."

Grinning wildly, Sokka quickly wrapped an arm around Azami's shoulder, hugging her close to him. "I knew you'd come around," he laughed gently, unable to deny his happiness for her. She rolled her eyes as she shoved him off of her, but he still noticed the soft smile that crossed her face as the two watched the moon continue to rise.

After a few minutes, he reached out tentatively with his hand, softly resting it on hers as it lay between them. She didn't acknowledge it verbally, but he still felt a rush as she returned the gesture, interlacing her fingers with his. It was, he felt, a new beginning for the two - ready to leave the past behind them, where it belonged.

Yue, whever you are - thank you.

Azami P.o.V.

"The path. It's... gone."

Yeah, no kidding.

Deciding they wanted to get an early start today, and hopefully avoid the attention of anymore Fire Nation ships, the gaang had set out with the small family, following the path as it continued onwards. For something supposedly so deadly and dangerous, it was actually pretty easy to follow... until now, that is.

As they all stood staring out at the large gap between them and the rest of the path, it became obvious what was wrong with this road - a solid hundred feet of it were completely submerged. Though Azami was confident she could swim that far, it was probably a safe bet that the nine-month pregnant woman beside her would struggle with that.

Fortunately, though, they just so happened to have two excellent waterbenders with them.

"Everyone single file," Katara instructed, and they all did as she told them. Azami couldn't help the slight feeling of awe she felt as Katara forced the ocean to split in front of them, revealing the submerged path as it continued onwards. They all slowly started walking down the path, with Aang joining in to help maintain a bubble of air around them.

Azami couldn't help gawking a little at the sight of fish swimming around their little bubble, a sentiment Momo seemed to share as he dived into the water beside them, attempting to grab a fish. As she expected, he was unsuccessful, but that thought soon disappeared as a giant shadow passed right above them.

The gaang all stopped, looking up at the massive object getting eerily close to them. "What is that thing?" Katara whispered, her voice a little shaky.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the thing dove right into their bubble of air, causing the two benders to lose concentration as the water collapsed in around them. For the third time in her life now, Azami felt the panic of drowning start to overtake her, but this one was interrupted by Toph bending a pillar of earth under their feet, shooting them up through the water and back to the surface.

Everyone gasped for breath as soon as they were out of the water, but they didn't get a long break as Azami noticed the large fin circling their little island.

The water erupted around them, and they all just looked up in horror at the massive green sea serpent towering above them, looking thoroughly pissed off. "I-I think I just figured out why it's called the serpent's pass!" Sokka squealed before lifting up Momo in both hands. "Oh great and powerful sea serpent! Please accept this humble and tasty offering, thank you."

Pure satisfaction filled Azami for a moment as she and Katara both slapped him at the same time, causing Sokka to again groan slightly in pain. That satisfaction faded almost immediately though as the serpent went in to bite at them.

Aang whacked it away with a gust from his staff, turning to the others with a determined look on his face. "I'll distract it! Katara, get everyone across!"

The waterbender nodded, quickly forming a platform of ice between them and the far side of the pass. Like any sane human would, everyone immediately raced across it as fast as possible, while Katara leaped out into the water to go help Aang.

Right as they were almost across, Sokka came to a screeching halt, and Azami looked over with wide eyes as she realized why. "Toph, come on! It's just ice!"

She took a hesitant step out onto it, before panicking and getting back on her little island. "A-actually, I'm gonna stay here where I can see!" As if on cue, the serpent's body slammed into the ground right behind her, and she yelped as she nervously stepped out onto the ice. "Okay, I'm coming!"

Toph took pretty slow side steps along the way, but she was making progress nonetheless. "You're doing great!" Sokka called out to her. "Just follow the sound of my voice!"

"It's hard to ignore," she snapped, still shuffling pretty slowly.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Azami had to fight down a laugh as Sokka lowered his voice in response. "You're almost there!"

Suddenly, the serpent's massive body crashed into the ice, shattering it and sending Toph into the water. "Help!" the earthbender screamed, fighting to keep her head above the surface. "I can't swim!"

"I'm coming Toph!" Sokka cried out, then for some reason started to take his shoes off? Not caring to wait for him to finish, Azami decided to simply jump in immediately, swimming straight for the drowning earthbender. Thank agni I got lessons, she remarked. There were loads of people in the Fire Nation who never learned the ability.

By the time she arrived where the earthbender was, she panicked slightly as she saw Toph already several feet under and continuing to sink. Diving down as quickly as she could, Azami's lungs were screaming at her when she finally managed to grab Toph under her arms and pull her back up. That was definitely a little too close.

As soon as they broke the surface, Azami gasped for air slightly, wile Toph seemed... a little delirious, if she was being honest. "Oh, Sokka!" the earthbender swooned. "You saved me!"

To prove her point, Toph grabbed Azami's cheek and gave her a big kiss, leaving the firebender's face burning red in embarassment. "Uh, actually Toph, it's me," she admitted.

"Oh, well..." Toph's voice trailed off as she chuckled slightly, her body slumping in Azami's grip. "You can go ahead and let me drown now."

Not saying another word, the firebender slowly swam them both back to the shore where everyone was waiting, trying her best to calm down slightly from that awkward moment. Add that to the list of things never to mention again, she thought ruefully.

Well, one more catastrophe avoided for the gaang. The rest of the pass was largely uneventful, and as soon as they were safely on the other side, they all paused for a moment to take a breather.

"There's the wall!" Sokka exclaimed happily, pointing into the distance, and Azami could just barely make out the faint white outline of it in the distance. "Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se."

Of course, nothing in life was ever that simple. "Oh no!" Ying cried, curling up slightly.

"What's wrong?" Sokka wondered.

Her eyes were wide as she responded, and Azami felt like her stomach just plunged into her feet. "The baby's coming!"

"What!?" the boy panicked as Ying was slowly lowered to the ground by her family. "Now? Can't you... hold it in, or something?"

Katara stepped in front of the others, putting on her 'commanding mother' look. "Sokka, calm down," she snapped. "I helped gran-gran deliver lots of babies back home."

"This is different!" Sokka screamed, making everyone wince at the sound. "It isn't the same as delivering baby seals! This is a real, human... thing!"

She deadpanned at him. "It's called a baby," she snapped. "And I helped to deliver plenty of those too." Her back straightened then, returning to the mother look from before. "Aang, get some rags," she instructed. "Sokka, water. Toph, I need you to bend an earth tent. A big one. Azami, come with me."

"Um... would now be a good time to mention I've never done this?" Azami admitted, her hands fidgeting slightly. "I mean, I did kind of grow up in the royal palace, so I don't exactly have experience with, uh... you know, this."

Katara didn't seem frustrated, but she definitely wasn't smiling either - she seemed wholely focused on the task at hand. "Well, no time to learn like the present," she stated bluntly. "Come on."

The firebender gulped before hesitantly following her into the earth tent, not entirely sure what to expect.

Sokka P.o.V.

"Sokka, where's that water!"

Desperately, he ran in with Katara's bending pouch, now filled to the brim with water - right as his sister yelled 'push'. Right then, he saw something he knew he wasn't ever supposed to see, and the sight caused him to faint on the spot.

Either Toph or Azami must've dragged him out, because when he woke a little later he was sat outside beside the firebender, an infant's soft crying already filling the air. "It's a girl!" Katara's voice exclaimed from inside the tent.

"So..." Toph muttered, standing next to Sokka. "You wanna go see the baby, or are you going to faint like an old lady again?"

He held up a hand weakly, stopping her. "No no, I'm good this time."

Right as they were about to head in, Azami emerged from the earth tent, looking rather pale. Having been able to hear everything from outside, it was clear the birth was successful, so Sokka wasn't really sure what caused the firebender to look so distressed.

"What happened?" he asked, rushing over to stand in front of her. "Is the baby okay?"

She seemed a little distracted for a moment before responding. "Huh?" Azami muttered. "Oh, yeah, the baby's fine. Actually, Ying's offered for you guys to come see her new daughter."

Toph eagerly got up to head inside, Azami and Sokka following behind her. Katara got up and left, presumably to get Aang, while the others all stood around Ying and her newborn. The others were all making comments on how beautiful she was, that she was healthy - but only one thing really came to Sokka's mind as he was watching them.

"It's so... squishy-looking," he remarked.

Still though, even he could tell how important this was to them, the delight and adoration on both the parents' faces quite evident of that. He couldn't tuning out the conversation the others were having as a thought occured to him - what if that was him someday?

It had always seemed like it would be in another lifetime for him, that he'd never reach that point in his life - but now, looking at this family embracing their new daughter, he couldn't help imagining a future where that was him, looking down at his own child. Becoming a dad.

And, of course, a certain someone being there along with him.

After the parents had decided to name her Hope, the gaang slowly left the tent, the family following behind them a little later. As Azami and Sokka both left, they came out to see Katara and Aang were hugging for some reason. "I promise I'll find Appa as soon as I can," the young airbender promised as he pulled back, glider in hand. "I just really need to do this."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Azami asked, sounding concerned for him, to which the airbender nodded. "Alright, well... in that case, just be careful, will you?"

Aang smirked as he gripped his glider in both hands. "Come on, you know me," he grinned. "I'll be back before you know it."

Just like that, he took off, Momo flying after him as they raced towards the walls of Ba Sing Se. With any luck, he'd be able to find Appa no problem and come pick the others up.

Ying's family continued to fawn over Hope, along with Toph and Katara, so Sokka again found himself alone with the firebender. "Kinda gets you thinking, doesn't it?" he suddenly asked, and Azami glanced at him in confusion. "About what's important in life. It's not exactly every day you see a new life entering the world."

She let out a weak laugh at that, watching the distant family with an unreadable expression. "Yeah, I guess it does..."

The silence after her statement filled the air around them, and it became clear pretty quickly she was lost in thought. "Something wrong?" Sokka questioned, trying to play it off as casually as he could.

Azami shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong, it's just..." her voice trailed off, as though she was unable to find the right words. "I always thought I wanted kids, but after seeing that, and what she had to go through... I can appreciate the result, and I'm more than happy for them, but I'm not exactly thrilled by the prospect of ever going through something like that. She was in so much pain throughout..."

"You know you don't have to, right?" he asked. "Whether you want to or not - that choice is yours to make."

She tilted her head back, closing her eyes as she sighed. "Yeah... I guess you're right," she conceded. "It's funny - back in the palace, when I was actually a part of the royal family... it wasn't ever really said by anyone, but you're expected to have kids. You know, have as many heirs as possible, all that stuff."

Sokka nodded, unsurprised by her answer.

"I guess I'm still getting used to being free of that life," she admitted, before opening her eyes again and laughing slightly. "Sorry, I just sorta dumped a lot of nonsense on you. That kinda came out of nowhere."

He laughed along with her, not bothere in the slightest. "It's fine," he assured her. "Personally, I hadn't really given it much thought before now either. Now that I see them, though, and what they have? I can't really see any reason I wouldn't want to have kids - someday, at least."

Azami smirked as she jabbed him lightly with her elbow. "Easy for you to say. You wouldn't exactly be doing the hard part."

"Definitely not," Sokka agreed. The two continued to laugh slightly as they rejoined the others, beginning the long walk to the great wall.

A/N; annnnd holy fuck that's another 7.2k word chapter, I need serious help. Probably could've edited it down a little, but honestly I'm just ready to move on to Ba Sing Se. Y'all are gonna have a field day with what I've got planned... at least I hope :P

Oh yeah, and speaking of which, I'm skipping the drill. Mostly due to the fact that it would be like 95% identical to the original with very little room for variation - and if I did something like put Azami up against Azula then it screws with the whole thing, so let's just pretend she went down the slurry pipeline with Sokka and Katara and got to slap him again. There, everyone's happy.

See you in the city of walls and secrets :)