Mixed Troubles - Sokka x OC

Chapter 20: All In Vain

Hey guyssss! I hope you are all doing fine and well! New chaper today and I'm sorry it's so freaking late. Kinda like this one but you'll just have to read on and see. Hope you enjoy and happy reading!

Presenting.......

|All In Vain|

Safiyah

The two maps I have are folded neatly in my pocket. The one I got from Zen's ship and the one I got from one of Isuya's murderers. 

Now, in the past ten days, ten days that consisted of stopping in places so that Aang can get a proper start on earth bending, I've been fully examining the maps. And there were a couple things I noticed. 

The map that I found in Zen's ship looks, like a mentioned before, used. There's hints of yellowing to signify the aging, and that's not to mention the extraneous, inked marks that adorn it. However, the marks look somewhat fresh due to their precision. But there's too many, and when I took a closer look at the map, I barely noticed that some locations marked weren't famous landmarks of cities, and I know that because they don't have a name written underneath the map like, for example, how the city of Ba Sing Se has 'Ba Sing Se' written underneath it. 

But what I found out next is weirder and is beyond me. 

Coincidentally, when I was looking at the close-up map I got from the two men, I noticed that the marks on it were somewhat similar to my map. Although, I pushed this revelation away because it seemed too difficult to prove. The maps were too different characteristically. The men's map had much less marks, meaning they were only tracking me as I went through my journey. 

But then, as those ten, signature days passed on, I over analyzed and compared the maps over and over again. The final conclusion I have now is that both maps are interconnected based off of a very, very vague detail I noted. 

I realized that when I was travelling alone, I would mostly stop and rest at the places that were marked because it was the easiest to follow and because I wasn't exactly sure where to go, even though I had Omashu in mind. 

So in a very inexplicable way, Zen's map is connected to the men who killed Isuya. 

This is all running through my head as Professor Zei explains how there's a hidden library in the desert, a library that contains all possible information. I'm beyond grateful that such an opportunity can just fall in my hands. The opportunity to find out what those tattoos mean. 

"It's all coming together," I say softly. 

"I'm sorry?" Professor Zei asks politely. 

"Oh! Nothing, I just think it's amazing that you've dedicated your life to look for this library. I admire your passion for knowledge," I say. Sokka gives me an amused smile, like he knows I'm lying, but I ignore him by taking a sip from my cold mango smoothie. 

Today we were all planning differently. Katara, Aang, Toph, and I wanted to choose different vacations. Sokka, on the other hand, wanted to go find information on the Fire Nation and wanted to get a newer map. I told him that they had me if they wanted information on the Fire Nation, and he said that we needed a battle plan. We all brushed him off and Katara chose a place. 

We went to Katara's chosen place for a vacation, which was the Misty Palms Oasis. We went based off of what Aang told us about it: a beautiful, natural ice ground. But when we got here, we saw the opposite. All that's here is a pub with a bartender whose specialty is fruit smoothies. 

That's how we met Professor Zei. He bumped into Aang, and was fascinated by the fact the he's an Air Nomad. Sokka noticed that he's someone with large experience in terms of traveling, and asked him if he has a new map. We were disappointed to see that he only had a map of the Earth Kingdom, kind of like the one I have. I asked him about his travels through the Earth Kingdom and through the desert, and he said that he's been passionately searching for this secret library that belongs to the spirit Wan Chi Tong.