The Girl With the Bread

The Feast

In the remaining hours before nightfall, Sokka gathers rocks and does his best to camouflage the opening of the cave. It's a slow and arduous process, but after a lot of sweating and shifting things around, he's pretty pleased with his work. The cave now appears to be part of a larger pile of rocks, like so many others in the vicinity. He can still crawl in to Toph through a small opening, but it's undetectable from the outside. That's good, because he'll need to share that sleeping bag again tonight. Also, if he doesn't make it back from the feast, Toph will be hidden but not entirely imprisoned. Although he doubts she can hang on much longer without that medicine. If he dies at the feast, District 12 will not have a victor.

He makes a meal out of the smaller, bonier fish that inhabit the stream down here, fills every water container and purifies it, and cleans his weapons. He has nine arrows left in all. He debates leaving the knife here with Toph so she'll have some protection while he's gone, but there's really no point. She'll be out all day, and besides, she's so out of it she wouldn't be able to rely on her keener instincts to find a target should she be attacked.

He's certain that at least Zuko, Mai, and Yaling will be on hand when the feast starts. He isn't sure about Azula since direct confrontation isn't her style or her forte. She's even smaller than he is and unarmed, unless she's picked up some weapon since he blew up the supplies. She'll probably be hanging somewhere nearby, seeing what she can scavenge. But the other three... he's going to have his hands full.

He watches the sky, hoping for at least one less opponent at dawn, but nobody appears. Tomorrow there will be faces up there. Feasts always result in fatalities.

He crawls into the cave, secures his glasses, and curls up next to Toph. Lucky that he had a good long sleep today; he must stay awake. He doesn't think anyone will attack their cave but he cannot miss the dawn.

So cold, so bitterly cold tonight. As if the Gamemakers have sent an infusion of frozen air across the arena, which may be exactly what they have done. He lies next to Toph in the bag, trying to absorb every bit of her fever heat. It's strange to be so physically close to someone who's so distant. Toph might as well be back in the Air Temples, or in District 12, or on the moon right now, she'd be no harder to reach. He's never felt lonelier since the Games began.

Just accept it will be a bad night, he tells himself. He tries not to, but he can't help thinking of his father and Katara, wondering if they'll sleep a wink tonight. At this late stage in the Games, with an important event like the feast, school will likely be canceled. His family can either watch on the static-filled old clinker of a television at home or join the crowds to watch on the big screens in the square. They'll have privacy at home but support in the squares. People will give them a kind word, a bit of food if they can spare it. He wonders if Toph's mother has sought them out, especially now that he and Toph are on the same team, and made good on her promise to keep his sister's belly full.

Spirits must be running high in District 12. They so rarely have anyone to root for at this point in the Games. Surely, people are excited about him and Toph, especially now that they're together. If he closes his eyes, he can imagine their shouts at the screens, urging them on. He sees their faces - the Hob members and Toph's mother and even the Peacekeepers who buy his meat - cheering for them.

Through a crack in the rocks, he watches the moon cross the sky. At what he judges to be about three hours before dawn, he begins final preparations. He's careful to leave Toph with water and the medical kit right beside her fingers. Nothing else will be of much use if he doesn't return, and even these would only prolong her life a short time. After some debate, he strips her of her jacket and zips it on over his own. She doesn't need it, not really. His hands are already stiff from the cold, so he takes Aang's extra pair of socks. He fills his small pack with some food, a water bottle, and bandages, tucks the knife in his belt, and gets his bow and arrows.