Sokka and Ayla (Avatar fanfiction)

Earthbending.

I sat just outside of my tent as the sun begun to rise into the sky, I took a deep breath and felt my body waking up slowly with the sun. 

I was thinking of the day before, that man had said my mother's name he obviously knew her. 
Sokka had pulled me away when I had tried to stay behind to find out how he knew her. 

"He won't be waking up anytime soon Ayla, besides Zuko doesn't want our help" Sokka had said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we walked back slowly to Appa who was waiting in the distance. 

I took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it out slowly. Everything was so confusing now. Back at home everything was easy I never had to worry about my past or what nation I actually belonged to, I thought I knew my mother but now it's like she's a stranger. 

"You alright princess?" Toph sat down beside me and picked up a few pebbles and played with them in her hands. 

"Yeah, I just feel confused. That man, I've dreamt of him before, and he said my mother's name when he saw me, I know he obviously must know her somehow but I'm worried just how well they knew each other" I confessed to Toph who sat there in silence for a while.

"I had tea with him, when I left the camp yesterday. We talked about him and his nephew and letting people who love us help us, he seems like a very caring man who would do a lot for his family. Maybe you should worry a little less about how close they were" I didn't reply to Toph straight away, I sat and took it all in slowly.

"Thanks, Toph" I finally said, she smiled in reply and Sokka must have finally woke up because Toph got to her feet, "I need to talk to you, but not when Sokka is around okay" Toph turned quickly to walk away before I could ask what she wanted to talk to me about but I didn't bother calling out to her.  I saw Sokka slowly stumbling up  to my tent, wiping the sleep from his eyes. 

"Good morning pretty lady, you and Toph just having a little girl talk hey? talking about boys are we?" Sokka sat down in the same spot Toph had been sitting and kissed my cheek softly. 

"Oh yeah, Toph was just telling me about her 3 boyfriends back at home" I joked and Sokka turned his head towards Toph who was laying against a rock with a piece of grass between her teeth. 

"Really?" Sokka asked pretending to believe me, I laughed lightly and nuzzled myself into his body. 

"So what is the plan for today? Toph and Aang are meant to be earthbending all day so that'll be pretty boring to watch" I said wrapping my hand around his and running my thumb over his skin softly. 

"Well, I was thinking of going hunting, we don't have any meat left and it's not like anyone else in this group will do it" Sokka said watching as Aang woke up excited to start his earthbending training. 

"I'll hunt, I used to fish at home all the time, though I wasn't allowed to go actual hunting, I always wanted to help out" Sokka raised an eyebrow at me with a questioning look. 

"You really think you could kill something?" Sokka asked obviously thinking I couldn't. 

"I killed plenty of fish!" I said offended, though it wasn't really true, I had always gotten my father to give the final blow.

"Alright, we leave in 10 be ready" Sokka got to his feet and stretched his arms over his head as he walked back to his tent. 

I went back into my tent and pulled out my hairpin and put my hair up and out of my face, I got dressed into my dark blue quarter length pants and my light blue shirt that sat just above my belly button. I thought about everything my father had taught the soldiers about hunting, though I wasn't sure what use it would be to know how to hunt down a penguin when we were in the middle of the earth kingdom. 

"Ready?" Sokka asked from outside my tent. 

"Sure" I said getting to my feet, Sokka was standing outside my tent with his club in hand, he had obviously done plenty of hunting before, something inside of me got excited and I found myself flustered and starting to sweat.

"You okay?" Sokka asked putting a protective arm around me, I put my hand on his chest out of habit and felt just how strong he was, I hadn't notice he was starting to really grow into a man. 

"Have you been working out?" I asked laying my head on his chest, losing myself in his scent. 

"Oh yeah, you noticed hey?" Sokka flexed his arm playfully and I cooed and ah'd as I wrapped my hands around his bicep. 

"So strong" Sokka laughed and placed a kiss on my forehead before starting to lead us back to the others. 

"Come on, we need to get some breakfast, you're obviously going loopy from lack of food" Toph and Aang were sitting down on the ground talking and laughing while Katara was going through our supplies as Momo jumped and chatted along happily. 

"We're going to do some hunting today so dinner should be sorted" Sokka said picking up two apples and handing me one. 

"Okay, can you try and find some more berry's or nuts for Aang as well?" Katara asked not looking up from her list of things.