Love, Anonymous: Tokka

Part 5

By morning Sokka had finally arrived, a traditional loud entrance scaring the crap out of the three who were still fast asleep.

"Have no fear! Your hero has arrived - just in time I'm hoping!"

The dark haired girl rolled over, still half asleep. She must of been really knocked out, typically she would have felt his presence from miles away. Bending her little fortress back into the Earth she reached out into the air, stretching her aching limbs while letting out a loud yawn.

"You couldn't have just waited for us to wake up on our own, huh?"

"Of course not, danger's my middle name after all, I'm just ready to get on out of here and kick some Fire Nation butt all over again!"

"That's a great plan and all, but we still have to wait for our royal pain in the ass to arrive, oh wait.. I think he's coming"

"Hey Toph! I heard that-"

Zuko made his way into the clearing, offering a friendly smile to the group. Once again they were all together - reunited at last. They were all so much stronger now in every aspect - physically and mentally. She knew together they would be an unstoppable force, nothing could get in their way this time. Or at least that's what she had hoped for.

Aang and Katara made their way out of their tents, all of them now gathered around the fire pit, still smoking from the night before. Zuko used his bending to relight it, the whole group sitting around awkwardly waiting for one of them to finally speak up. Aang chose to break the silence.

"It's good to see you all here, it's kind of like old times. I kind of just want to use today to catch up and relax before we head out, we still need to come up with a plan, sorry Sokka, I know how excited you are. A few weeks ago during my travels I spent a few days in Ba Sing Se, while I was there I heard rumors of a new underground kind of group forming in the Fire Nation. They're a rebel group calling themselves The Outsiders. Their members consist of escaped war criminals and a few soldiers who once worked for Ozai and Azula. Their goal is to take control of the royal palace, launching the world back into war so they can take control of everything and everywhere."

"How have I not heard about this? My guards should have informed me..."

"I'm certain they don't know, they are still in the very early works of their so called master plan, right now they don't want anyone to know. They think if they can build up their forces it'll be easier to strike. That's why we need to stop them soon, before any damage is done."

Toph chimed in, "Well how the hell do we stop them if they don't want to be found?"

"Lucky for us we know that their base is here and they don't plan on leaving. If we spend enough time here we have to find someone who knows something."

Aang pulled a large sack off of Appa's back, revealing its contents to be Fire Nation disguises.

"It's probably best we look the part while we're here, they will leave or strike early if they find out the Avatar and his friends are asking around."

Aang was right, as much as she hated walking around in disguise, talk of the Avatar being here would send them into a panic. They all changed into their new clothing, Aang reluctantly wrapping the familiar headband over his arrow. She knew how much he hated that, he must of been really freaked out by this to do it all over again.

Once fully dressed they mutually decided to head into town, this wasn't to find information but more of a routine shopping trip, tonight they would celebrate being together again. They were older now and most accustomed to blending into the crowd without standing out. The trip was a success, lugging back meats, veggies, desserts, and more back to camp.

Once back Zuko added more fuel to the fire, both Katara and Sokka began preparing their feast. Everyone pitched in for once, all just happy to be there. As the food started to finish, Aang and Toph bended a large table with chairs, Katara bending water from the nearby stream into a large pitcher placed at the center of the table.

They all took a seat, digging right in. Smiles and laughter filled the clearing, all worries disappearing in that moment. As the sun began to set most of the gang retired to bed, needing to get a good nights rest for the next few weeks ahead.

Toph struggled with sleep lately, especially the past few weeks. Her little white lie ate away at her mind, almost as much as her stupid little crush did. Being closer to him only made it worse. She just needed to get through the next few weeks, and then she could go far, far away. Seated on a ledge overlooking the stream lost in thought, she tried her best to relax, she knew a few hours of sleep would be better than none at all. So distracted she never even noticed someone had taken a seat beside her.

"Can't sleep either huh? What's bothering you tonight, you seem off."

Sokka's voice sent her into a nervous panic, it took her a while to think of the right words to respond with.

"N-Nothing, just having trouble sleeping. Why are you still up? You never have a problem falling asleep.."

"I have a lot on my mind, can't seem to get away from it tonight."

"Well not like I care or anything, but what's wrong?"

"Oh how I've missed your sympathy. I just can't stop thinking about this girl.."

"Oh girl problems... What's going on with Suki now?"

"No, not Suki..."

"Well who's this girl?"

"Hmph, that's the problem, I'm not even sure who she is.."

Here we go, "What do you mean by that? You got a stalker or something?"

"No, nothing like that, this mystery girl's been writing me, I don't even know who she is but I think about her all the time, I just want to meet her... actually meet her, but she doesn't want to see me, maybe she's embarrassed of me or something, girls are weird."

"I'm sure it's not that... she's probably just scared of what you'll think..."

"I bet she's incredible..."