A Peaceful Problem (Dream and Blue)

Sokka stood at the prow of his boat, the delagation of water tribe members behind him, his arms crossed across his chest and his eyes darting back and forth. It was expected of him though, his job to protect the water tribe delagation on the road and then when they were at the summit. It was to be the first such summit since the battle that stopped Firelord Ozai from taking over the world. The three nations were here to talk about peace. Weary, war scarred, and tired of battle as they were the three nations there was still very little trust. The truth was the peace was only held on by the smallest of margins.

That was why Sokka was here. He was a captain of the water tribe armies, or at least what was left of them, and as one of the people that helped to stop the war he had a lot of pull. Sending him to this summit was the Water Tribes way of showing that they wanted these peace talks to succed. He only command was the one boat at the moment, but still he hoped it would be enough. If the other nations brought more troops than he might be worried that they didn't want the talks to work out.

In the distance Sokka first caught site of the place that was supposed to be the area for the delagations. It was a small village, on the edge of the Earth Kingdoms shores. It was chosen for its isolated location, far enough away from any large places that a large number of soldiers would be obvious. It was also close to a central point for all of the nations. Fire and Water woudl arrive by boat while Earth walked.

THe boat put into the docks of the village and Sokka called to his sailors to start lashing the boat to the dock. He and his five soldiers stepped off the boat ahead of the delagation, meeting the small group of men waiting for them there.

"Captain Sokka I persume. I must ask that you surrender your weapons. No one may go armed during the delagations." Said one of the men, bowing to him. Sokka coudl understnad that. The last thing the summit, and this small town, needed was a bunch of men running around with weapons. Sokka reached down to his waist and slid his sheathed sword out of his belt and then the boomerang behind it. He had lost his favored weapons in the final battle, his treasured sword and even more treasured boomerang. These weapons were of good quality but they still never felt the same.

"We understnad. Have the other nations arrive yet." Sokkas asked as she handed over the weapons and gestured for his men to do the same.

"The Earth nation has arrived though we still wait for the Fire nation to arrive."

Fashionably late. That was the order Zuko had given the small ship of Fire Nation delegates, be fashionably late. And with that, he sent his one-boat armada across the ocean to have their peace meeting with the other two nations. Mai was put in charge, of course. Since Zuko was too busy keeping his country in check with this new, more appropriate regime. The few men who werenâ??t aware of the womanâ??s talents grumbled at first, having to answer to another female but those complaints were quickly silenced after a few close shaves of a knife. So naturally, Mai requested Tai Leeâ??s presence on the trip in order to keep her sane amongst the â??dull menâ??.

Tai Lee was quite excited to go- it felt like forever since the end of the war and although it was generally a good thing, it left life rather dull in its wake. The mention of an adventure- even to some uptight, peace meeting- was appealing to the girl. Plus, maybe sheâ??d meet some familiar faces. Surely, either the airbender would be there, right? Or the waterbender and her cute brother.

Within minutes, she was set to go- Mai probably only invited her last minute because she didnâ??t want to have to deal with Tai Leeâ??s incessant badgering about how much longer until they would leave. She put her hair into her usual high ponytail, dressed herself in her pale pink-and-red garb, and was set to go.

The ride there was rather peaceful and somewhat fun. Most of the time, she was either cartwheeling on the deck or playing card games with Mai- things she usually did on land but now there was just less space to do it in. When they finally arrived on the shore, the water tribe ship was already there. Fashionably late, as planned. The ship was tied to the dock and half a dozen or so fire nation citizens disembarked, containing both nobles and generals.

Tai Lee and Mai were the first to step off the boat, and they were soon greeted by the same group who had disarmed Sokka and his gang. All of the group surrendered their weapons with small hesitation and the two girls smirked at each other, each knowing that Tai Lee didnâ??t need anything but her hands to render someone useless. Once the weapons were set aside, they were directed to the meeting area, where the water tribe members were already ushered into. The group obeyed and continued onwards, finding the area quite cozy. Tai Lee scanned the room, which wasnâ??t all too crowded, and soon spotted the water tribe boy- now warrior- she had once fought against. She quickly turned to Mai, giving a small smile as if to ask for permission to walk around. Mai responded with a small nod and Tai Lee quickly darted over to Sokka, her run almost like a dance with how light on her toes she was.

She extended two fingers, jabbing into one of the pressure points just above his elbow just hard enough to leave his hand a little numb. â??Whereâ??s your sister? Were benders not allowed, since they have no weapons to take away,â? she joked. She had wondered what the security would do if benders had their talents as weapons while non-benders were practically stripped bare of protection.

Sokka had prepared himself for a slow time now that they were here. The only time he might find excitment is if something went horribly wrong, and he didn't think he coudl be bored enough to hope that the worest woudl come to pass. So he was slightly suprised when he saw Tai Lee running across the floor. He spent the few seconds she took admiring her. She was quite a beautiful young woman, a bit more mature in the year since they had seen each other last. Her costume was still just a revealing and her steps just as graceful. Obviously the time since she had stopped fighting hadn't diminshed her grace at least.

He saw her strike coming, too. He had spent too much time running away from her and seeing her in battle to not know how she operated. Still there was not much he could do to stop the strike, the fingers hitting home and tingling numbness spread up his arm. Still it was something of a point of pride for him. He had been annoyed when a girl coudl take him down so easily before, and even though he had plenty of respect for women warriors it stung his pride to be hit so easily.

"No." Sokka blurted out, reverting away from his warrior image to the gangly teenager he used to be. "She just didn't have time to come." Sokka crossed his arms and glared at her. It didn't take him long to see several stares focused on him and figured it might be a bad idea for a water tribe captain to loose his cool.

"So why are you here anyway. Isn't this a bit too serious for you?"

It was a serious occasion, yes. Typically not her thing, sure. However, she was still here and so was he. The brief moment where his stoic, poker-faced look typical of a warrior was broken was enough of a victory for the Fire-born gymnast. Her lips curved upwards in a playful smirk, gaze set on the other teen. â??I could say the same for you,â? she replied,

straightening herself up to her fullest height, as if to prove she were fit for an occasion such as this one. â??I doubt theyâ??ll take you seriously, I bet your voice still cracks,â? she teased.

Tai Lee gave a quick glance around the room to make sure she wasnâ??t missing anything too important. Her focus returned to Sokka. Up close, he did look a lot older than she remembered- mature, at least. Her last memory of him was this scrawny boy in a body too young to be a formidable warrior. It seems this past year had done his figure well. He actually looked fit in his position as captain of his lone boat.

â??Itâ??s a pity your sister couldnâ??t come,â? she mused, â??She was a good fighter- not like that would matter much in this situation, though.â? Come to think of it, it was probably for the best that the bending masters stayed back in the negotiations. Maybe thatâ??s why Zuko was so persistent on staying home.

"I am plenty serious. I'm not in some circus. I am a captain in the water tribes army after all. A warrior. Serious." Sokka crossed his arms again and glared at the perky gymnast. She wasn't going to break his cool again. He was supposed to be here because of his record in the war, and that meant that he was here because he was a soldier. And a soldier didn't break his cool just because some crazy girl messed with him.

"ANd my voice does not crack." Sokka almost yelled, his cool breaking again. He saw plenty of people looking over at him again and he blushed, his dark skin turning even a darker shade. The warrior grabbed Tai Lee's arm and pulled the young woman, almost dragging her out of the room. When they had escaped from the eyes of the differnant dignitaries in the hallway he let go of her arm and glared at her again.

"Exactly this is not a time to set up a fight. And that includes you going in there and screwing with me. We are trying to keep this peace treaty going and you playing around in there is making both of our nations look bad. And then what happens to our peae." Sokka was breathing hard as he finished his little speech. He guessed that the gymnast would just laugh off what he was talking about, not worrying about anything as serious as the war. She had never seemed to worry too much about the war when it was going on and he coudln't imagine too much had changed since then.

Tai Lee mimicked his crossed arms as her lips formed into a frown and her eyebrows lowered slightly to complete her pouting face. â??The circus is plenty serious,â? she huffed. Responsibility and trust played just as great of a role in the circus as it did in battleâ?¦ it was just thatâ?¦ well, the circus was a lot less violent. But oh well, she wasnâ??t going to have some petty argument with him about the topic. This was supposed to be a peace meeting, after all.

She grimaced slightly when he yelled and she looked around, slightly bashful at all of the eyes that had turned in their direction. Tai Lee was forced to return her attention to Sokka when he took her by the arm to drag her out of view. She stumbled alongside him but even in her faltered steps, there was still a strange amount of grace.

Immediately after he finished scolding her, Tai Lee placed one hand on her hip and used her free hand to wag her pointer finger at him like a mother disciplining a child. â??Youâ??re the one who yelled, not me,â? Tai Lee pointed out, then placed her second hand on her hip as well. â??I just came up to say hi, thatâ??s all. If you ask me, youâ??re the one who should be taught proper manners in peace meetings.â?

The brief moment of serious- was she even being serious?- soon passed and her pout was replaced with her usual, bright grin. â??Captain of a water tribe army, huh? That must be some responsibility.â?

"I know how to act." Sokka squawked and he glanced nervously at the door to the little party the nation's delegates were in. He was pretty sure that they had gotten far enough away they couldn't hear him through the door, but he couldn't take too many chances. He certainly didn't want to hurt the chances of peace or the chances of the water tribe by giving a bad impression to any of the delegates. Sokka sighed and looked down at the ground, trying to calm down so that Tai Lee couldn't goad him anymore.

When he heard her next statment he couldn't help but start to laugh though. It came slow, just a few chuckles than a few bigger laughes, until he was trying hard not to make too much noise as he practically doubled over in laughter. Really the two of them hadn't changed much in the year that they had been apart. Sokka had thought that he had made progress in becoming the serious soldier he thought everyone expected him to be, but Tai Lee had only taken a few sentances to break him down again.

"This is rediculous." Sokka said as the last laughes faded away, brushing away a tear from his eyes. "We haven't really changed all that much have we? Still trying to do whatever everyone expects us to do."

"Yeah, if you were in a daycare center," She replied smartly, her hands moving to her hips. Of course, it wasn't like she was about to complain about his attitude. Tai Lee much preferred someone who was immature instead of some serious stick in the mud... and although she didn't know Sokka all too well- since she had spent most of her time fighting the guy whenever they met- she was pretty sure the soldier's attitude was more of an act than not.

Tai Lee was a bit confused when he started laughing- what could have been so funny that it left him in stitches? She figured that it was just a guy thing and she responded with a grin and a laugh like a clear, ringing bell. She wasn't all too sure what she was laughing about, but it didn't seem to matter. For Tai Lee, laughing at nothing was better than not laughing at all.

Once he spoke again, she finally understood what he found so amusing. The girl chuckled and gave a shrug, "I suppose so." It was strange, but somehow nice that they were finally able to talk without having to fight each other. To her, the war had no good reason and the only reason why she joined in was because Azula called on her and she couldn't leave her friend hanging on her own. "You've gotten taller, though."

"Well one year can make a guy get taller." Sokka sighed as he finally managed to get control over his laughes. It was kind of nice to get a release like that. He had wanted to be a soldier, he did enjoy serving his country after all, but Sokka wasn't a serious kind of person. All of the time actinv serious had been stressful on him and to have a chance to share a laugh with an old friend. It didn't hurt that the girl in question wasn't all that hard on the eyes either.

The water tribe soldier had to clamp down on that thought though. Even after a year he and Suki were still together with each other. They had their troubles of course, but nothing that would ever make Sokka think that they weren't going to be together for a long while. Tai Lee, even though she was a crush from the past, couldn't be allowed to break that up.

"Well I don't think they are going to need us here for a while. In fact they might be happy we're gone. I saw a nice beach on the way here. Want to go for a walk?" Sokka saked the bubbly fire nation girl.

"Yeah, it does," she agreed, twirling a bit in place. "I remember when Zuko went away for a few years. He was so short when he left but then he actually looked like an adult when I saw him for the first time after he left." Zuko was cute, too. She envied Mai for being able to have such a stable relationship, especially with someone as good-looking as Zuko. Of course, looks weren't everything but that didn't mean that she couldn't scout out who's cute and who's not.

Tai Lee beamed when he invited her for a walk. "Of course," she said brightly, straightening up her posture and clasping her hands behind her back. She rocked back and forth on her feet, gaze shifting over to the meeting area to see how Mai was fairing. She couldn't find her in her quick glance over, but Tai Lee was sure her friend was sitting down in some corner, hating every minute of it...as usual.

"So what've you been doing this past year?"

"Well I've been making myself quite important of course." Sokkas said, puffing up his chest and looking quite proud of himself. Sokka might be a year older, but he would probably never get off the chance to show off a little bit in front of a girl.

"A captain at my age is quite impressive." Sokka bragged as they walked out from the building the party was in and towards the beach. The town was nice, the moonlight filling the town with a soft white light, and a cool breeze was blowing in off the ocean. The breeze brought the smell of salt water and dune grasses up from the beach.

"What about you. Without Azula what are you doing? Back to the circus or have you found something else to do?"

Tai Lee was a veteren at flirting and whenever a guy showed off, it was the girl's job to appear impressed. She gave a small laugh, nodding her head a bit as she walked. Even her walk seemed like some sort of dance. However, even though she knew how to flirt, that didn't mean she couldn't tease, either. Plus, some guys liked girls who kept them on their toes anyways. "A captain at your age, must be some feat for sure," she said, her voice holding a tone of wonder. However, her lips curved into a teasing grin, "I heard the Fire Lord is only a teenager. You think you can beat that?"

The girl tapped her chin in thought. What had she been doing the past year? "Well, I have been in the circus again. They're kind of like family, you know? But I've been at the palace a lot, too. Since Azula's been locked away, Mai hasn't had anyone to hang out with. There's Zuko, but he's so busy, you know?" There were a few times she wanted to go an visit Azula, wherever she was... sure, she was two-faced, demonic, and had done so much wrong against her friends and country, but they had been friends for so long, it was hard for Tai Lee to let go for good.

Sokka opened and closed his mouth for a second, trying to find words to meet her challange. He fell back on the normal recourse for any guy caught in this kind of situation. He threw forward a lot of confidence and lied. "Well sure Zuko might be Fire Lord but who really wants that kind of job. I mean look at it, all work and no chance to have a good time. I like to have a good time."

"I know what you mean about busy though. We spent more than a year together flying around and now that its all over I haven't seen Katara or Aang for monthes. You would think that they would to at least see me." The two of them reached the beach, the hardened dirt of the town's roads giving way to the softer sand at the beach. It was a nice place, the sand a pale white and practically glowed in the moonlight. Really it was suprising this little town wasn't more busy with a beach like this. It must have been the town's remote location that made it less popular.

She giggled at his loss for words. Well, at least he had a quick tongue- the excuse he came up with was actually pretty decent. "I can see your point," she said pensively, grinning. "I sure wouldn't want to have to be Fire Lord." She was amazed at how well Zuko has been handling things these past year. Normally, he was really hot-headed.

"Really? You all seemed so close to each other," she muttered, sounding disappointed that they hadn't talked in a while. "I'm sure they're still thinking of you- but everyone's got a lot of things to catch up with. What about that blind earthbender girl? She was some tough cookie."

Once they reached the sand, Tai Lee kicked off her shoes to walk barefoot, enjoying the feeling of the grains of sand beneath her toes.

"Yeah we still are close to each other. After the whole thing ended though it became a bit different. Katara and Aang were so tied up in everthing that they were doing and I got into the military. I guess it all kind of came between us." Sokka crossed his arms over his chest and looked up into the air, thinking for the first time about how the life had changed. Sure people always talked about how years could seperate people, but he had never really thougt about it happening to his group. They had kind of just slid apart over the time, life pulling them apart.

"Toph. She went back to her family. I hear that she is winning in that arena now though. No one can stand any chance against her. They won't even let her fight most of the time since she always wins." Sokka kneeled down as well and slipped off hsi boots, leaving them behind so he coudl enjoy the feel of the sand as well.

"It looks like your still close to Mai at least."

"Well, they do have an entire nation to make up for," Tai Lee pointed out with a chuckle. Like Sokka, she didn't know much about Katara and the Avatar besides what she had gathered through fights and hearing about what they had done during their journey... but from what she had observed, Aang was much too young to start fathering little airbenders just yet. "But at least you're all doing what's best for you- of course, family is always important, but it's no good if you're doing something you don't like." After all, Tai Lee hadn't seen her own sisters in years.

The fire citizen gave a small smile. "That Toph girl had a very pure aura," she babbled, "I think she's a softie on the inside." It wouldn't be the first time she had come across someone with a tough exterior to hide their true shyness... though she doubted Toph was shy in most aspects.

"Mai's been my friend ever since we were little girls. She kind of grows on you after a while," she laughed, cartwheeling occasionally as she walked. "You'd probably like her, too, if you stuck around her long enough."

Sokka understood her insinuation with Katara and Aang and he did understnad it. A year ago he might have freaked out, but now he didn't. They might not be adults in the age sense of the word, but in what they had done with their lives they certainly were adults. If Katara and Aang wanted something like that then he wasn't going to bother them.

"I had fogot you could read auras. What does that kind of thing look like. I mean is it like a glow around them or is it something a bit more mystical. It just always seemed strange to me that you coudl read a person by looking at him." He had always wondered about that ability. Coudl you see if a person was evil or good, maybe even if they woudl be a friend or an enemy just by looking at them. Of course she had made some bad selections of friends so it couldn't be too exact.

"Maybe, always struck me as kind of scary. With the knives and all. So you haven't said too much about yourself. Like anything. Are you seeing someone or anything like that."

Tai Lee gave a small grin, letting her mind wander to the young waterbender and airbender. They were surely very compatable with one another and it wasn't any secret that they liked each other. She was happy for them, though. She believed that everyone had their soul mate somewhere and it seemed like Aang and Katara found theirs.

The teen thought for a moment before responding, "Well, you can't really see auras... you feel them really. I just associate the feeling of auras to colors. Anyone can read auras if they try hard enough. The cool thing about auras is that they usually stay the same for a person unless something really good or really bad happens to them." Tai Lee laughed because it was hard to explain the exact feeling of knowing someone's aura- it was just one of those strange things where you just knew it.

"She strikes a lot of people as scary." It took a while for Tai Lee to be comfortable around Mai. She scratched the back of her head and smiled, buying herself time to answer by doing a cartwheel and walking on her hands for a few paces before returning to her feet. "Nah, I never had a long-lasting relationship. Not like I'm upset about it- it's just hard to be with someone for too long when you're constantly travelling... I like it, though. In the circus, I have my own identity. I'm my own person and everyone seems to like me for it. See, back at home, I was one of six sisters and we all looked alike. I loved my family, but I just had to be my own person, you know?" It seemed like once Tai Lee was given the opportunity to speak, she'd take advantage of it by babbling on and on.

"I guess that all makes sense." Sokka suddenly let go and fell back onto his back, landing on the sloped edges of one of the sand dunes and crossing his arms behind his head. He kicked one legs up and rested it on top of the other, just starting up into the sky and the stars. It wasn't that long ago that Sozen's comet had dominated the night sky, filling it will do much light it coudl be seen even in the day. The sky was much nicer without that reminder of war though.

"We never had that much to worry about I guess. Mostly just me a Katara and Gran Gran of course. With only a sister you don't have to worry about being the same. She was the one with the dreams, the ambition, and I guess I just followed behind her, trying to keep her safe." Sokka reached behind his head and grabbed a piece of dune grass, sticking it in his mouth and chewing on the end.

"Hey you want to do somethign fun?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you two are kinda hard to mix up," Tai Lee agreed, gracefully easing herself into a handstand before leaning forwards and flipping onto her back near Sokka. She let her gaze lift upwards towards the sky, her arms raised above her head and legs extended, stretching herself to her body's fullest length. It had been a while since she was able to relax like this. Although she usually found time to do things that were fun or soothing, they were usually short-lived and interrupted by Mai needing someone to talk to about how much of a pain being the Fire Nation's queen was or just to flat out talk to someone who wasn't her husband-to-be. The marriage was set to be in a few months from now.

"What was life like at your home? You didn't grow up in the north, did you?" She knew that female waterbenders were practically forbidden in the northern water tribe and she doubted Katara was able to get so good at bending without anyone noticing.

She turned her head in his direction in response to his question, slightly curious as to what he was thinking about. However, doing something tended to be better than doing nothing so she beamed and nodded. "Sure."

"No we always lived up north. Guess it was cold and kind of boring. Nothing really happened up there until we found Aang. Then everything changed. Katara became some sort of master, Aang always was a good fighter, and Toph was a little powerhouse. Kind of took everyone by suprise I guess, but it was for the best." Sokka looked over at her and grinned. Suddenly he jumped to his feet and his arms went down and scooped her up. She might be a dangerous little thing but he was bigger and stronger than her. Hopefully before she would be able to react he was off and running towards the water.

He hit the surf at top speed, the water suddenly taking the feet from underneath him and both of them fell forward. Sokka lost his grip on Tai Lee as they went under the water and enjoyed drifting under the water for a second. It was almost relaxing, the weight taken away from his body and only the thing trails of moonlight drifting through the water to let him see. Still it was only seconds before he brust from the water, pushing his long dripping hair away from his eyes.

"See now that was fun."

"Extreme situations tend to result in extreme results," she mused, shrugging her shoulders. "All of you must be pretty special- not everyone's able to rise to the challenge on taking on the world in a day." That much was true. Most people would have just wished Aang the best of luck and sent them on their way. Katara, Sokka, and Toph all threw away their previous lives for the sake of saving the world.

Needless to say, Tai Lee was taken by surprise when Sokka scooped her up into her arms. Typically, she would lash out in a situation like this- whenever she got flustered or surprised, she'd just poke those pressure points and cartwheel away. However, she managed to hold back that impulse. Instead, she threw her arms around his neck and held on tight as he sprinted into the water. The first thing she noticed was that the water was surprisingly warm- she'd thought it'd be a lot colder at night. Tai Lee hardly ever went into the ocean- sure, she was a bit of a beach bum but it usually involved with her laying out in the sun or playing volleyball and flirting with the guys... and if she ever went into the water, it was only ankle-deep. But the water seemed nice. Peaceful. When the force of the wave pushed her out of the other's arms, she managed to grasp hold of Sokka's hand until she finally emerged at the surface of the water.

She shook her soaked bangs out of her eyes, inhaling a breath of fresh air before laughing. That definitely was quite enjoyable. "Yeah, but you know what's even more fun? This." Tai Lee placed her hands on his shoulders before pushing down, dunking him into the water before letting go.

Tai Lee looked good when wet, or at least that was what Sokka decided. Hair plastered to her head, skin glistening in the moonlight, and clothes fitting like a second skin. She definitly had the advantages of spending so much time in the circus and exercising. A slim and sleek body that might not have the curves that some men liked but certainly wasn't lacing in any way that the young water bender captain could see.

Sokka opened his mouth to say something when suddenly she dunked him into the water. He coudl feel his mouth feill with salt water and he fought his way above the surface, coughing and spitting water. He brushed his hair from his face with some annoyance and looked around to find her.

"You shouldn't have done that." Sokka charged forward and tried to catch Tai Lee so that he could knock her down into the shallows.

As soon as Sokka came up from the water, she began to swim towards the shallower waters. He may have been stronger than her, but she was surely faster. However, since she hardly ever went swimming, she wasn't all too quick in the water. If they were on land, she could have gotten away but that wasn't the case. He managed to catch up with her and Tai Lee fell into the water but by that point, the water wasn't that deep and the water was just up to her ribs if she were sitting down.

A smile still graced her features when she turned back to Sokka, having slipped forwards onto her stomach. She sat down on the sandy bottom of the wet shore, still finding her small prank rather laugh-worthy. It wasn't until now that she noticed how long his hair was. Since it was usually up in a ponytail, she never was really able to tell- but the water weighed the locks down to their full length. It looked nice.

"You're cute when you're angry, you know," she teased.

Sokka splashed asfter her, catching up. She was more agile but with the water slowing he could power through the water faster than her. However he really wasn't that much more used to the water than she was. When water was cold enough to freeze at any time it wasn't good to spend too much time in the water. Sokka tripped, falling down and knocking into Tai Lee, knocking the young woman onto her back and landing on top of her. He did manage to keep himself from landing on her totally with hsi arms.

The water was shallow here, coming up only a few inches at their heads so that Tai Lee's long brown hair floated around her head. It was almost like a halo drifting around her head, the small waves slowly dragging in the water around her. A few wet strands had stuck themselves to her face and Sokka reached out with one finger and pushed the hair to the side away from her face.

"So you think I'm cute. Well you're not too bad yourself." Sokka grinned at her, his own long hair falling down around their faces, making a wall around their heads.