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In Bai Shan	By : Gunwild Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Sokka/Toph Views: 28262 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
(The following contains adult content and descriptions of consenting minors engaged in sexual situations. Reader discretion is advised. The spelling ‘June’ and not ‘Jun’ is used in keeping with official promotional material.)

***

IN BAI SHAN
Chapter 2
By Gunwild

***

Toph managed to thrash her legs back into her wet pants without any help, though her thighs were still smarting from their recent exercise. Sokka was already up and about and energetic, surveying the shore. She grimaced. “That is *so* unfair.”

“What is?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder. Toph was working on getting her wet hair back into its bun, not exactly able to stand. She didn’t look happy.

“Whenever we do it I can’t move my legs for around ten minutes, and then they’re sore for a long time. Whereas *you* can just move along right away.” She adjusted her hair band a little, though it didn’t stay in place because it was soaked. “Someday I’m going to do you so hard *you’ll* be the one who can’t get up, you know.” Eventually she gave up on fixing the bun and let her hair drop so that it would dry by itself. “Hey, do you like this better up or down?” she asked, trying to sound offhanded but failing. It was rather hard for her to say things and not be earnest about it after years spent hating all pretentious conversation.

“Um, up,” Sokka admitted. But he had to allow that she looked cute resting her feet in the water, hair shining on her shoulders in the reddish light of a dying day. “Didn’t you tell Katara that you don’t care what people think you look like, though?”

“Not real people. Just you.”

He settled on his knees behind Toph, massaging her shoulders. “That’s a lovely backhanded compliment, thanks.”

“I do spoil you whenever possible.”

He sighed. “I should probably apologize. Us being in public like this, anybody could have seen…”

Toph crossed her arms. “Don’t. If you hadn’t done it, I would have, sooner or later.”

“I’ve got no self-control.”

“If you didn’t have self-control, I’d have passed out like last time. Can’t you just be pleased with knowing you were wonderful and not wring your hands over it like a fussy housewife? You were so good you made me feel safe and comfortable when I was wet, naked outdoors and worrying. That’s all I’m saying about that.”

After this significant boost to his manhood, Sokka again threw his young lover over his shoulder. She yelped and pounded his back a few times, laughing. “Hey! Put me down! Where are we going?!”

“I’m putting you in the shade. You remember that time we got lost in the desert? I saw you getting sunstroke and didn’t even realize it.”

“You didn’t realize a lot of things thanks to that cactus stuff. Woulda been funny if we hadn’t all been worried.”

“I thought you were on fire, actually, remember? I guess that’s a fair metaphor. Katara had us walking during the day and taking off clothing – that isn’t good, I just didn’t get it at the time. Anyway, your right arm’s getting sunburned. It’s all red.”

“I’ll take your word for that. I guess it is kind of tender.” She repositioned herself so that she was half-hugging him. “So we’re just going to wait for them to find us? That’s not a little optimistic?”

Sokka got on his knees and put her back against a heavy face of rock. He leaned himself against it too and tried to relax – carrying heavy supplies, a well-muscled girl and his many worries all that way had done a number on him. “We’ll yell, have a cook fire. Worst that can happen, you’ll be stuck alone with me for another few days.”

“Ah. That sounds awful.” She rested her palm on his knee, making sure that the touch wasn’t too sensual. She couldn’t go again right now, as much as she wanted to, and they’d risked enough for one day. “I think I need a nap.”

Sokka chilled out a little more. He should keep watch for soldiers and whatever else came along, but he didn’t think it was going to be a problem. A lot of things could have gone wrong today and hadn’t. If it was going to go bad, that would be tomorrow’s worry.

The only thing that bothered him was that even if Aang and Katara couldn’t tell they were here, Appa’s giant ears and nose should have found them easily. It only kept him awake for a half-second longer as his sleepiness turned his vision a deep, comforting dark black.

***

It was warm out, so June hadn’t bothered to put her clothes back on all the way after their swim across the water-filled depression. The night was coming, so the breeze was cool, and she was able to beat the heat quite soundly. Her top was still wet from the crossing and clung to her, and her pants were dripping as she walked softly over the sand. There wasn’t one curve of her the two men following couldn’t make out. Her steps were small and light as she moved in the shadow of the mountain.

Iroh and Zuko were being quiet, too, though finding it harder, since they weren’t sure of where June was headed. She was taking a diagonal path across the beach, into the solid rock side of the mountain; after a short time they were climbing. June did this in a peculiar way that reminded them of how her Shirshu moved. She was on all fours, knees bending extremely with every motion, halfway between crawling and walking. Her rump was raised high in the air at the end of each step, wet enough that her crack could be seen shifting around. Iroh took the time to bite his own knuckle and Zuko worked hard to ignore it, trying to focus on his foot placement.

They’d reached the spot on the slope where the vegetation stopped growing when June raised a hand, fingers together. Then she yanked it downwards, putting her palm horizontal. It didn’t take a great deal of military expertise to know this meant for them to stop and get down.

The three of them got into prone position. June pointed two fingers at her eyes, and then at a spot down on the beach. It was perfect Fire Navy sign language, begging questions about June’s training that probably weren’t going to be answered willingly.

All eyes were on the place June had specified. At first it looked like another clump of sand, but patience showed that it was their quarry. The two kids were fast asleep on the sand, though the older one was in the state of shallow rest that soldiers knew so well.

“I think,” June said, “It would be best not to move on them yet.”

Zuko grimaced, lifting his chin off of the ground and trying to see by starlight. “Why? They won’t see us coming. That oaf is no real fighter, and she-”

Jun pushed his head down, scolding him with a hiss like a snake’s. “No. Be less stupid, *now*. Use your eyes. Or eye, if that messed up one doesn’t work.”

Zuko decided to remember the slight, but looked again anyway. He didn’t see a thing until the moon peeked out from behind a high cloud.

Two glinting green lights. Big. Round.

“It’s the lemur,” Iroh informed him.

“They’re naturally nocturnal. When they nest there’s always at least one awake to watch out for the others – that’s what this one does. I’ve watched it. When they sleep, it just perches and stares around.” June grimaced. “I was ready to move the first night when I noticed it. If it raises the alarm, we’ll have a grumpy earthbending prodigy on our hands. And I want to do this clean, with her knocked out.”

Zuko was barely interested. His empty stomach was aggravating him. “You do have a plan though, right?”

“Can’t you blast it with fire?” June nudged Iroh, who was obviously going to prove more useful. “We could eat it then,” she added for Zuko’s benefit. She heard his stomach growl again. People aware of how hungry they were could be manipulated more easily.

“I don’t believe we could kill it from here, only start it burning. That would be loud. And besides, it hasn’t done anything to us. It’s just a harmless lemur.”

“It’s harming my profit margin!” sighed the bounty huntress. “We’re going to watch from here, understand? We’ll move when we get the opening, but I expect you both to watch for it carefully.” With that, she did a push-up and crab-walked over to a nook where she dropped herself down. She undid her whip and gear, sighing. “One of you goes first. There’s trail mix in that bag.”

“Nephew, I can’t kneel on these rocks for hours. Can you-”

“I’ll do it,” interjected Zuko. He didn’t particularly feel like scrambling downhill again.

“What a dutiful young man,” Iroh observed, slowly creeping away, already half-asleep. Sometimes it was hard to believe what a masterful fighter he was, and even harder to believe his history as a tactician. “Yes, yes, dutiful, dutiful and lonely.”

Zuko kept himself warm with heated breathing, though he was careful not to actually create fire. He had training in surveillance, though he was no fan of waiting games. After an hour or so the moon was well overhead and he allowed himself to stretch by a few inches, joints creaking and aching.

“Giving up so soon? You’re awful at this, Prince,” came June’s voice. He hadn’t heard her breathing at all. “Sorry, ex-prince, current beggar.”

His fists clenched unbidden. The woman was hell-bent on goading him into a fight, or at least an argument. She shouldn’t press on his patience like this. Some men wouldn’t dare hit a woman, but he would be happy to duel anyone who impugned his honor.

He was about to roll over and confront her, but he found himself unable to move. He realized why only when he noticed the hands around his wrists. “Off of me. Now!”

June had pinned him *somehow* in a way he’d never seen before, and done it without him noticing. Both his legs were locked between hers – that was a familiar enough technique – but she was holding herself above him while restraining his wrists. And his hands were facing the wrong direction to break out of her grasp. He didn’t have a degree of leverage. “Don’t make so much noise. I’ll let you go, but you’re screwing this stakeout up.”

She did let him go, though it took him a second to realize it. He rubbed his own wrists, though they didn’t hurt. Actually, June’s hands had been softer than some silk robe sleeves he’d worn back home. “Nice *hold,*” he said derisively. Firebending styles eschewed excessive grappling for fear of getting burnt by the opponent. Zuko couldn’t imagine how this wasn’t an insult.

June flipped onto her back, staring skyward. Her thin form was just a silhouette in the dark, breasts rising and falling with each patient breath. “I specialize in grabbing people who’re still alive. My pet paralyses them, or I tie them up, maybe knock them out and put a shroud on them so they can’t fight back. That entails a lot of waiting, so I can grab them at the right moment. You need to learn to do the same thing if you’re going to help me.” He heard a popping noise, and then she waved something in front of his nose, fast. The ring he’d seen on June’s little finger. “Here. Don’t worry, it’s shirshu toxin. You’ve felt it before. All it’ll do is help you; it’s just a muscle relaxant.”

He didn’t like being drugged. But all he felt was his muscles loosening a bit. He could still move, even though he felt a tad detached and lightheaded. “Hmph.”

“You’re welcome. Have they moved?”

“No. They’re down for the night, except the animal.”

“Good. They’re probably tired from all that fun before.” Zuko noticed her turn again, so that she was looking at him. Not that he could tell, exactly. “You seemed a little more disgusted than a normal man your age should be.”

“Don’t even begin,” he cautioned. “I’ll watch your targets because we’re in the middle of nowhere and my uncle wants your food, but that’s it.”

June breathed out, running a finger across her lips thoughtfully. “You’re still trying to find the Avatar, aren’t you?”

Zuko didn’t know. He did want to find the boy. He did want to ask him questions. Actually, he wasn’t sure what questions to ask – but maybe he’d think of it when he met Aang. Maybe he’d learn what he was supposed to be looking for. “Could be.”

“Do you respect him?”

Zuko gritted his teeth. “He’s strong.”

“Do you like him?”

“I don’t know him.”

“Hm. That’s not what I meant. Do you prefer boys?”

He recoiled out of habit, almost retching. That kind of behavior wasn’t even to be spoken of to a royal like him, despite his sister’s cruel proclivities.

The truth was that he’d considered this possibility – even examined men to see if he found them attractive. He hadn’t. But women confused him, even if they did arouse him now and again. If he had it his way, there’d be no sex in his mind at all. But once again he wasn’t going to get what he wanted. “I don’t care for any of that filth.”

“Hmph. Filth. It only feels filthy until the pleasure washes away the fear.” June sounded like she was reciting something she’d heard previously. “I bet if you tasted my mouth you’d think it was sweet, not dirty. Have you ever kissed a woman?”

“Well…”

“I see.” Once again, she was fast, like she’d done it all many times before. It was just the smallest kiss, and swift, but she slid just the tip of her tongue between his lips. Zuko nearly spat in surprise, but she was right. It was sweet. He stared at her.

“Come on. You’re not relaxed enough?” She slid a hand along her hip. “I don’t expect you to feel obligated. But I’m not letting prey have a good time when I’m not.”

Zuko’s back shuddered. His penis was getting a tad bigger. Nobody had actually bothered telling him what this meant, but he’d more or less figured it out.

“Mmh, don’t lie to yourself. If you like girls, you should take advantage. We don’t have to do anything you’re not up for. I’m not going to pretend it’ll mean anything, but…”

He didn’t move, and it wasn’t because of the shirshu toxin. Perhaps it was some of that detachment, or his natural desires, or his angry fascination with June, but he didn’t flee. Not even when she pressed her whole hand onto the outside of his pants.

Zuko wasn’t too hard – his uncertainty might have been a factor in this – but he was huge. Much bigger than average. June knew it didn’t guarantee a better ride, but it was certainly arousing. And if they didn’t make it to coitus, it would be nice to see such a fat cock covered in its own cum and stuck in her hand.

She rubbed the outside of his pants until Zuko’s breath was irregular and he was threatening to break the stitching. “You want to touch me?” she asked by way of invitation. He didn’t answer. Instead she just nestled closer to him, breathing on his neck and cheek. “Fine, then. I’ll just get us started here…”

She ran her hand along the waist of his pants, noting the twitches he made as she tickled him. June decided to be soft for now. If she got him into a bed it would be different. She brushed their lips together, kissed him, bit him gently on the tip of the tongue. He didn’t appear to understand this and pulled away. Fine, then, he wasn’t after that. She understood that some people thought of kissing on the mouth as emotional and decided to nibble on his neck instead. He responded better to it, tensing and then loosening and finally laying hands on her.

Zuko’s fingers moved solidly. At first he grasped her right breast like it was an object, but then he took more of an interest. He cupped it, squeezed it from the bottom and felt out her nipple with his thumb. The hardness surprised him, even though the cloth. Apparently he didn’t know how a woman’s body worked at all.

Finally she reached into his underwear and wasted no time in grabbing hold of him. As expected, it did stiffen him to a degree; he proved to be just above average length but almost double average width, and circumcised. The skin was extremely supple everywhere. She pulled at his pants so that he was sticking out of them in full, base to end. He was actually sweating and had his eyes shut, but he didn’t release her breast. Instead he felt her other one, too, working hard on keeping his breathing steady. He wasn’t exactly experimental about the foreplay, so June decided to cut to the chase.

It was easy to get her own pants around her ankles without standing; June didn’t like having to wear anything that got in the way of her enjoyment. She knelt before him and ran two fingers up and down her outside until they were wet. “Pull me down on top of you, if you can handle it.”

Zuko barely opened his eyes to snatch her hips in his hands. At first he took it too fast, so she didn’t let him in. She decided to grind herself down with long pauses, so that the anticipation actually hurt him. His nails bit into her skin until finally he pushed her down himself, forcing her to gasp. *Now he’s getting somewhere,* she thought happily, pulling off a little twist of her thighs. She couldn’t actually move around with this kind of width in her, but it did feel good since she had enough experience to know what to do. Trying to stay quiet enough, she pushed herself into a horizontal position. Zuko’s teeth showed as he came close to coming, so she froze until he came back down. “Not yet! You’re going to have to do it yourself.”

The ex-prince moved. He put his arms around her torso and hugged as though he actually wanted to be close to her. But he was really just trying to drive deeper into her cunt, feeling like he could coax her into doing *something.* He had nothing to go on but instinct, but June had a plan of her own. She let Zuko have it his way until he struck on a back-and-forth motion that offered good clitoral stimulation. Then she started helping. “There you go. Now I can make you a man.” June pushed with her knees so that she was in control. She let almost all of him go all the way in and out with every hump of her body, cackling. She wagged from side to side so that he twisted around in her and she was dribbling on his groin. “Come on. I know what you want to do.”

Her playmate was at the very edge, but he wasn’t going any farther, even though she pulled up and turned in what she liked to call ‘the swirl.’ She’d seen this before. Men had their problems; there were plenty of kinds of erectile dysfunction, and there were ways to fight all of them. Zuko had been denied immediate release and was failing. It was because he was nervous and sexually confused; he just needed harsher urging.

She lifted one leg and he flopped out of her wetly. He was only half-hard now that something had turned him off. “Problem?” she asked.

“No,” he lied. He was now even more bewildered and upset than before. He felt so good, but this felt wrong. Not that he should be with anyone else in particular, but that he didn’t want to be having sex at all. There was a disconnect with his body that he’d felt before, during tough fights.

“Fine,” she laughed at him, getting a grip on him with both hands. He was big enough, even partly soft, that she needed two. She had long, strong fingers and gave great handjobs. Soon she was pounding him so hard that it was loudly splashing her hands with fluids, and the sight made her mouth water. After he was back in good form she took a hand and began playing with herself, pinching her love button as he stiffened up. She ran her fingers all the way over his enlarged penis, then gave it a big lick. It tasted like sweat and her come, mixed with his lubricant. When he came it was especially thick and easy to lick from her own lips. A good deal got stuck on Zuko himself, so she licked that, too; he rubbed his own forehead, groaning. It took her a few more seconds to get herself off until her hand was drenched and steaming. It helped that there were sleeping people not far off. She’d love to take this farther with every chance of being caught, but Zuko hardly looked in the mood.

Still, she proferred two of her wet fingers. “Lick these,” she instructed.

“Not on your life,” he grumbled back.

She pulled them away, but didn’t wipe them off yet. “You’re a coward, then. You can’t even clean up the messes you make.”

She began to creep away, but Zuko grabbed her hand, stuck both fingers in his mouth and sucked them clean. “*Never* talk down to me,” he shot back, then bit her fingers a bit harder than was friendly. She liked it. Obviously there was a bit more backbone to him than he’d shown thus far.

“I might not next time,” she laughed.

“I don’t want a next time.”

“Fine. If you think you can’t please me, then you definitely won’t be able to.”

Zuko gripped her wrist tighter. “That’s a challenge?”

“Duh. Maybe we should do some of the things those children were up to? Think you can make that mouth do more than taunt?” It looked like she had hit on something that would get him involved of his own accord.

“Oh, I’ll show you yet.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

They hadn’t realized how loud they’d been. From not too far away there was a sound of cloth rustling and a loud yawn, then a mumbled “I don’t wanna argue!” as Sokka fell back asleep.

June and Zuko almost laughed together, but suppressed it and then kept watch separately. They didn’t speak again until morning, but both of them thought plenty about what they’d done. And despite himself, Zuko was curious. It hadn’t been nearly as bad as he’d thought.

***

Sokka made a fire with his boomerang and a piece of flint. There were plenty of green weeds and ferns on the rocks to burn for extra smoke; he used a blanket and sand to make signals Katara would recognize.

“Does she know smoke signals?” Toph asked.

“Enough to get by,” he explained. The truth was, she’d always had a better memory for codes than him. After their friends didn’t show up, he examined the area for signs of their passing. “If she left and knew we’d try to find her, I hope she’d have put trail signs up.”

“What are those?” asked Toph interestedly.

Sokka tapped a rock with his toe. “Symbols giving directions to those who know how to use ‘em. In the Southern Water Tribe we leave grass tied together as a warning for danger or three rocks piled straight up to show an important location. Little things that aren’t obvious, but can only be made by human hands. But none of that’s here. I told her to use them if we got separated.”

“But you didn’t tell me?” Toph asked, nearly offended.

“I’m telling you now, aren’t I? Besides, the day I let you out of my sight’s the day I don’t deserve to find you.” He scratched his head. “Okay, I’ve looked everywhere, on every part of the shore. Can you feel it out? You know, if anyone’s been here recently?”

“I told you, my senses don’t work right around here.” Toph shrugged, then leaned against the mountain on an especially flat face. “It’s like this place is tailor-made to keep earthbenders from-”

The rock face slid. At first she thought it was the start of an avalanche, and her immediate thought was to throw Sokka out harm’s way. But a moment of reverberation let her know it was something different; artificial, creaking, with a slide to it. It rolled into the rest of the rocks, and there was complete darkness inside.

Sokka coughed. “Well, your good luck works okay.”

Toph snapped her fingers. The echoes carried a long way. “So… you want to go first, or should I?”

If it had been anyone else, Sokka would have been apprehensive about heading into a mysterious man-made cave blind. But there was nobody better than Toph to lead the way into a situation like that, and time could be a factor. “After you, naturally.” He grabbed one of the heftier sticks out of the signal fire, one that looked like it could keep a good flame at one end without burning down too fast.

“Okay. I’m going to need you to tell me what we find, because the inside is all loose and… do you feel that?”

“What?”

“I felt like… we were being watched. It’s gone, now.” She rubbed a spot on the back of her own head. “Huh. I’ve never felt that before.”

“Maybe it’s gas,” Sokka suggested with a sly half-smile.

“Funny. C’mon.” Toph signaled, stepping inside. Sokka followed. He half-expected for the wall to shut behind them, but there was no trap. Yet. “We’re making only left turns,” she said. “That way we can’t lose our way back.”

Sokka held his torch up. The walls were rough-hewn but rounded, like they’d been made with hammer, chisel and pickaxe. Why wouldn’t an earthbender have done it, or at least one of the Fire Nation’s combustion-driven machines? “Yeah. I just hope Aang and Katara didn’t get lost in here. Last time we were in tunnels it wasn’t that simple. But if it had been, I’m not sure those two would have known what to do anyway. Their minds aren’t what you’d call ‘analytical.’”

“What, like yours is?”

“No. Like yours is.”

“… is that a compliment?”

“A statement.”

“Then I’ll trust it.” Toph flicked a wall with her finger. “You notice about the walls?”

“Yeah. But they’re old, and not smooth like you’d find naturally in a volcano.” They came to a fork, and Toph turned left just like she’d said she would. “And unless I miss my guess, there’s a whole labyrinth down here.”

“Who’d build a maze under a mountain?”

“You’re right – labyrinth is the wrong word. They lead somewhere. The twists and turns are to keep intruders from finding their way. If you get lost down here, it could be forever.”

“I heard a story like that, once,” said Toph. “This guy was looking at stalactites and stuff in a mammoth cave and got lost, and his torch went out. He wandered around and heard this noise, like footsteps in the darkness. There were four of them, like a wild animal, so he threw a rock, and then another and another…” she trailed off.

Sokka poked her in the back. “So what happened?”

Toph smiled evilly, putting on a spooky voice. “His friend arrived, and they saw that it really was a horrible, four-limbed animal with long white hair all over it. It had an ape-like face and ten fingers and toes, but no tail, and its lips were still moving even though it was bleeding from the head. And the last sound it made was ‘Help me…’”

Sokka swallowed. “Oh. It was a person.”

“He must have been lost where the sun didn’t reach for years and years, because he had white eyes that couldn’t see, just like mine. I know that because this story is all true.”

“What? No way.”

“It is.” She stopped walking and turned her face back at him. “I know because that man was my *real father.*” After a long moment, Sokka exhaled, his lungs tingling. Then Toph laughed at him. “Kidding again!”

“I knew that!” he protested.

“Yeah, but I got your heart beating faster, didn’t I?” she blew a kiss at him. “But the point is, sometimes you don’t know what’s around the next corner. Old secrets, buried by time, and stuff. That’s part of why I didn’t want to enter that creepy library with you guys.”

“But you’re leading, now.”

“I have a good luck charm with me.” Sokka didn’t need an interpreter to know she meant him. “Still, I am nervous. We could find anythi-”

She fell out of the range of his makeshift torch. He nearly dropped it as he rushed to her side. There could be a hole down here – maybe even a trap of some kind – and so he grabbed her wrist, hoping she wasn’t already falling away from him.

But she’d just tripped, not dropped. And she’d tripped over Aang.

“Holy crap!” Sokka lifted the boy’s head. “Aang! Hey! Aang! Wake up!”

It turned out that Aang was already awake, in a way. His eyes were open, but bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept in a long time. His pupils shrunk away from the torchlight, and he looked like he wanted to raise his hand to shield them but couldn’t lift it. “Sokka. Help Katara.”

“Where is she?” he asked, expecting the worst. But Toph put a hand on his shoulder.

“She’s right here.”

Katara was sleeping, curled up and looking the worse for wear. Her waterskin was empty and her hair was roughed up. Her normally clean skin was greasy and dirty. Both kids were showing signs of exhaustion.

“Did you get lost in here?” Sokka cried. “Why’d you think it was a good idea to run in when you couldn’t see?”

“Isn’t that what you did?” Aang half-laughed. Sokka poured water from the new flask he carried into the Avatar’s mouth drop by drop. Someone who was dehydrated couldn’t handle too much at once. He let Katara have a turn while Toph held her mouth open. The girl sputtered as she woke up, spilling a few drops.

As it turned out, they’d been in here for at least three days. Aang had tried bending them a way out, but only managed to confuse the system of tunnels already in place with the ones he’d made. Katara and he had drunk up all the water quickly. “It’s a good thing you came looking for us.”

“It’s lucky.” Sokka patted Katara on the back. “You can stand, right?”

“Yeah. We’re not hurt, just tired. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

Toph’s eyebrows raised. “You don’t want to know what’s in here?”

“Do you know?” asked Aang.

“We were planning on looking, now.” Sokka dusted off his side. “If you need to leave-”

“Uh-uh.” Aang waved his hand. He was standing up straight, but he was using his staff to support himself. It was a good thing Momo wasn’t here; he looked like he might’ve collapsed if the lemur tried to stand on his shoulder. “These tunnels means there’s more than we know going on. Something’s still to be found about Bai Shan.”

Katara shook her head. “But we don’t know the way out. If we all get lost, there might be no way to return.”

Sokka helped her to her feet. “Not true. We’ve kept to one wall. We were lucky enough to meet you, but who knows what else we might find down here?”

Toph tapped her foot. “Yeah. Bleached bones. If they say they need out, maybe we should go.”

“Don’t be silly. It takes sun to bleach bones, Toph.” Sokka cracked another smile. “But come on, we might be able to do some good for somebody else who’s lost in here. That’s not the kind of thing we pass up on.”

Truth be told, she was just worried for his sake. But unfortunately, he had resolved himself to be selfless and noble. It was crazy of him, but also brilliant and sweet. *He makes it way too easy to love him.*

So, after a short rest, they went deeper. Sokka kept an eye on Katara, afraid she’d collapse again, but she was tough, even if he did still see her as his baby sister. And Aang lead them straight on, explaining himself. “That stone door must have shut by itself. We might even have passed it in the dark. It’s strange down here. I think the walls were made with tools, and… we heard…”

“Heard…?”

“Laughter.” Aang shuddered. “It was really distant. It sounded like it was as lost as we were.”

“I didn’t hear it,” Katara clarified. “But I was fading faster than Aang. I… gave him most of the water.”

“You said we’d share it equally!” he exclaimed. He wasn’t happy, and even stopped walking.

Katara shrugged, looking sheepish. “You’re the Avatar, Aang. It was more important for you to have it.”

He didn’t speak to her for a while after that. They began descending into the earth, and turning as though in a huge stairwell.

“I wonder how deep this goes?” Sokka cupped his hands and yelled. “HELLO?!”

Toph’s head perked up. “There’s an end to this tunnel nearby. It echoed back.”

“Do we have to make any turns?”

“Only left ones. We’ll be fine.”

They continued, and found the end. It wasn’t anything they’d been expecting.

Katara wondered if her eyes were tricking her after days without light “Is that… ivory?”

Though yellowed and chipping, it was unmistakable. Sokka held his torch up. It was going to go out in a matter of minutes, so he examined quickly, using his fingers to determine the grain. “It’s not just any old stuff, either. It’s whale tooth. Soft yellow, ringed grain – this is the kind of thing you make the best jewelry out of. I don’t know much about other kinds of ivory, but I know whales, and I’d know it anywhere.”

“Waterbenders,” Katara breathed. “So it’s true.”

The door they were facing now was gorgeous. The carving was exquisitely detailed; it displayed a massive – and familiar – symbol.

Aang was proud. He knew what it was. “That’s the mark of the Trusted! Bato gave me that after Sokka’s man-testy-thing!”

Toph stifled a laugh. ‘Man-testy-thing.’ Hee.

“It doesn’t have a handle. Aang, can you break it down?” Sokka asked.

“I can do it!” Toph announced.

“Wait, maybe I could cut through,” Sokka reflected, drawing a blade. “Whale Ivory is kind of soft. If I hit it right here…”

Katara held up her hand like a mother asking for attention. The three others went silent. “Stop acting like infants. Did it occur to any of you to just *knock* on the door like normal people?”

There was a big break in the conversation, and then three voices were clamoring again.

“I should be the one to knock because I’m a real Water Tribe warrior!”

“I should knock because I got the mark of the Trusted in a test!”

“I should! My name reads as ‘Trusted One’ in the Earth Kingdom script!”

“Really? I thought it was because your mom and dad tried to name you after what they had for lunch and couldn’t pronounce ‘tofu.’”

“Hah! Zing!”

“Stay out of this, ponytail boy!”

“It’s a wolf tail!”

“Sure it is. If wolves had ponytails.”

“Stay out of this, arrowhead!”

Katara slapped her own forehead, strode forward and rapped the door with her knuckles three times. The others went quiet quickly.

The response wasn’t immediate, but it was fairly fast. The door smashed open, hitting one wall and scaring them all back a pace. On the other side were a pair of soldiers in leather armor. At first they looked like Fire Nation, but their armor was gray and braided old-style, not machined. They carried broadswords rather than spears, and were unmasked.

“Umm, hello.” Sokka waved genially.

The soldiers had their swords leveled horizontally. Both were mustached and middle-aged. Light streamed in from behind them, but it was impossible to tell from what or where because it was just too bright.

“Alarm! Alarm!” one shouted.

“Don’t move!” the other added helpfully.

Aang crossed his arms. This wasn’t a very warm welcome. “Could you just tell us where we are? And who you are?”

From the radiance behind them, there stepped a figure. It wasn’t fast, but everything about its arrival registered as abrupt. For one thing, he was dressed in clothes so white they blended with the light itself. His hair was a shade none of them had seen before, so dazzling it was almost a platinum color. He had a face that was so slender it would have been womanly if it hadn’t been atop such a tall, stately frame. The boy could have been anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five; he was too fine-featured to tell.

He had one hand in front of himself. At first it seemed that he was carrying a jewel, or a glass sphere, but a closer look showed it to be levitating, and even more perfect than anything that could be crafted or cut by tools. It was water, and he was bending it.

“This is Bai Shan,” he explained with no trace of menace in his voice. Still, he aimed the sphere at them, and they knew it was a threat. “And we are its children.”

***
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 3
***
NEXT TIME: Bai Shan still exists, but in what form? Who’s this waterbending stranger? And what other plans does June have for her latest conquest?

THE LETTERS SECTION:

(Welcome to the letters page, where we take the time to respond to some of the reviews posted. Read along, won’t you?)

TheDarkOne: Enjoying the story just like the other one. I just wish you'd give Irun *Iroh and Jun* a chance ^_^ Please? For a fan? ;)

(Thanks for reading, and, uh, I like that pairing too. In fact, I like it even more than the Zuko/June pairing we’ve got going here. What does that mean to the story? Well, you’ll have to keep reading!)

chu chu: This is now my favorite story on this site seriously. I wish it would go on forever.

(Er, I don’t know if I can do that, but I promise there’s more to come. I’ve got grand plans – but don’t worry, there’ll still be M/F smut in every chapter. And hopefully some sexy side-stories I can put up, too. Also, any new original characters won’t come to dominate the story. The Avatar and friends will play second fiddle to nobody!)

bait you in: Amazing, this kind of writing is of professional caliber. You have a lot of talent you know.

(That’s just a nice compliment I wanted to thank you for. So, there you have it… unless you’re being disingenuous to ‘bait me in.’)

0.o: Wow, this is great. I've always been a Tokka fan, but your next chapter interests me much more. You're a great writer and Kataang is my favorite pairing, but all Kataang smut is usually crap. I cant wait to read yours, you've written everything else so well. So update already. PS, in 'Feel It', that part about Katara masturbating... yeah. Uber-hotness. PPS, 'Bai Shan' is an actual city, but I'm sure you knew that already, right? ;)

(Thank you, and yes I know that Bai Shan is a real place. However, the name ‘White Mountain’ applies to a lot of things in manyt places. Why, here in America we have places called that in Alaska, California, Wyoming and New Hampshire, among others.)

corncurlz: Can't wait for the nxt chapter.

(Had to address this. There’s no reason to worry – I enjoy writing this fic and will continue it to completion. If there are long breaks I hope you can live with it, but know that if I’m not writing, it’s only because I can’t. On that note, I hope to have more for you, and soon!)
***
(This fanfiction was not produced for profit, and without the permission of Viacom, its subsidiaries or other authorities of Avatar: The Last Airbender trademarks and indicia. Apologies to Messrs. DiMartino and Konietzko.)
***
(Anyone and everyone can hit me up at [Gunwild@mail2world.com]. Season’s greetings, and stuff!)
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In Bai Shan