The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

ii. X

A/N; So close now to Ba Sing Se... god I'm so hyped for that.

In the meantime though, we must offer the great sea serpent a humble and tasty offering. (Sorry, not sorry Momo.)

Sokka P.o.V.

"Waterbending bomb! Yeahhhh!"

Sokka barely had enough time to cover the maps he was looking at before the giant wave came crashing over him, drenching him head to toe and ruining several of the parchments. He took the most soaked one and started to wring it out, glaring at his sister the whole time. 

"Sure, five thousand year-old maps from the spirit library," he scolded her. "Just splash some water on them."

Katara had the nerve to look sheepish as she wrung out her hair. "Sorry," she laughed. "But, uh, I wasn't alone."

"Wait, what?" Sokka wondered, looking back up the cliff just in time to see Azami jumping off next.

What is she doing! he screeched internally, shoving the maps aside as he raced to the edge of the pool. "Firebending bomb!" the princess yelled excitedly as her entire body became wreathed in flame, looking strikingly similar to a fireball as she landed into the water. Whereas Katara's had created a huge wave, Azami's caused the pool to erupt into steam, heating it almost instantly.

"And now," the firebender sighed as she laid back peacefully, floating on the surface. "We have a hot spring."

Not even bothering to check on the maps, Sokka jumped into the pool to get closer to her. "What were you thinking?" he hissed, not wanting the others to hear. "That was dangerous, you could've hurt yourself!"

"Eh, it's fine," she assured him, not even opening her eyes or moving an inch. "Sometimes, if you want to have fun, you've gotta take risks."

He shook his head, unable to believe she'd care so little for her own safety. "That doesn't mean you should just go ahead and do whatever stupid idea-"

"I don't understand what the problem is here," Azami snapped, pulling herself up to glare at him. "Your own sister made the exact same jump before me, why does it matter if I did it or not?"

Sokka struggled to find an answer for a bit, but when he did he refused to let up. "Katara's a waterbender and you aren't, so it was probably a lot safer for her-"

"Hey, Sokka!" Aang's voice called out from nearby. "Are you guys done over there? We need to figure out what route we're gonna take to Ba Sing Se!"

The two shared an uncomfortable glance before going to join the others, knowing this argument wasn't over. Fortunately, there was some good news, which was that Katara had gotten the maps all thoroughly un-soaked.

Pulling out the map of the Earth Kingdom, Sokka studied it for a moment before figuring out where they were. "Okay, so we just got out of the desert, so we must be around here," he explained, pointing at the spots on the map. "As you said, we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here... so it looks like the connection between the north and south is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass."

"You're sure that's the best way to go?" Toph muttered, sounding more than a little skeptical.

Taking a good look again, Sokka nodded before rolling up the map. "It's the only way," he admitted. "I mean, it's not like we have Appa to fly us there."

"Shush up about Appa," Katara hissed at him, trying to be quiet even though everyone could hear her. "Can't you at least try to be sensitive?"

Everyone looked over at Aang worriedly, unsure how he would react, and Sokka had to admit that comment was a little incensitive. Something he was starting to appreciate was that the truth wasn't always particularly helpful.