The Girl With the Bread

The Beginning

The anthem booms in Sokka's ears, and then he hears Bato Flickerman greeting the audience. Does he know how crucial it is to get every word right from now on? He must. He will want to help them. The crowd breaks into applause as the prep teams are presented. He imagines Flavius, Venia, and Octavia bouncing around and taking ridiculous, bobbing bows. It's a safe bet they're clueless. Then Ty lee's introduced. How long she's waited for this moment. He hopes she's able to enjoy it because as misguided as Ty Lee can be, she has a very keen instinct about certain things and must at least suspect they're in trouble.

Satoru and Suki receive huge cheers, of course; they've been brilliant, had a dazzling debut. He now understands Suki's choice of attire for him tonight. He'll need to look as boyish and innocent as possible. Iroh's appearance brings a round of stomping that lasts for about five minutes. Well, he's accomplished a first. Keeping not only one but two tributes alive. What if he hadn't warned Sokka? Would he have acted differently? Flaunted the moment with the berries in the Air Temple's face? No, he doesn't think so. But he could easily have been a lot less convincing than he needs to be right now. Right now. Because he can feel the plate lifting him to the stage.

Blinding lights. The deafening roar rattles the metal under his feet. Then there's Toph just a few yards away. She looks so clean and healthy and beautiful, he hardly recognizes her. But her eyes are the same whether in mud or in the Air Temples and when he sees them, he takes about three steps before running toward her and throwing his arms around her. She staggers back, almost losing her balance, but then he picks her up and spins her around and she kisses him firmly and all the time he's thinking, Do you know? Do you know how much danger we're in?

After about ten minutes of this, Bato Flickerman taps his shoulder to continue the show, but Sokka pushes him away without even glancing at him. He knows this is the right move as the audience goes berserk.

Finally, Iroh interrupts them and gives them a good-natured shove toward the victor's chair. Usually, this is a single, ornate chair from which the winning tribute watches a film of the highlights of the Games, but since there are two of them, it's been replaced with a plush velvet couch. A small one - his father would call it a love seat. Go figure.

He sits so close to Toph she's practically on his lap, but one look from Iroh tells him it isn't enough. He kicks off his shoes and tucks his feet to the side, leaning against Toph's shoulder. Her arm goes around him automatically, and he feels like he's back in the cave, curled up against her, trying to keep warm. Her dress is made of the same yellow material as his, a slender blue flower tucked into her hair. For the first time, he truly notices how long it is - nearly to her waist.

Bato Flickerman makes a few more jokes, then it's time for the show. This will last exactly three hours and is required viewing for all of Avatar. As the lights dim and the seal appears on the screen, he realizes he is unprepared to do this. He does not want to watch his twenty-two fellow tributes die. He saw enough of them die the first time. He suddenly envies Toph, who didn't have to watch either time. She must be able to sense his tension; she squeezes his hand and tells him it will be okay as a whisper in his ear.

Condensing several weeks into three hours is quite a feat, especially when you consider how many cameras were going at once. Whoever puts the reels together gets the choice of hat story to tell. This year, for the first time, they tell a love story. Sokka knows he and Toph won, but there seems to be a disproportionate amount of time spent lingering on them, right from the beginning. He's glad though, because it supports the whole crazy-in-love thing that's his defense for defying the Air Temples, plus it means they don't have to spend too much time reliving the deaths.

The first half-hour or so focuses on the pre-arena events; the reaping, the chariot ride through the Air Temples, the training scores, the interviews. There's this sort of upbeat soundtrack playing under it that makes it twice as awful because, of course, almost everyone on-screen is dead.