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Ty Lee and Mai recently met a girl, new in town. She was gorgeous and smart, and funny and… obviously, they told everything about her to the polycule. They just forgot to share her name. It wasn’t on purpose, it just sort of happened.
Today they wanted to introduce this amazing girl to their partners. She was already waiting with Ty Lee at the coffee shop, when they arrived she was sitting with her back to them and just as they walked in she laughed at something Ty Lee said.
Sokka felt like he was punched in the stomach or hit by a train. All of the air in his lungs escaped him and he felt like he was dying and being born at the same time.
“Is everything alright?” asked Zuko, concerned.
“Yue?” is all Sokka was able to say.
The beautiful girl turned back at the sound of her own name, in a voice that sounded so familiar yet so foreign.
”Sokka?” she instantly recognized him, even though he had changed so much over the years. Tears started to pool in her eyes and they ran to each other to finally embrace.
After they finally let go Sokka asked “What happened?? You disappeared from the face of the earth?”
“You guys know each other?” asked Ty Lee, even though it was pretty obvious by that point.
“Yue was my girlfriend before I met any of you, we were very young and so full of love and then she just didn’t come back from Christmas break one year. Not a word, no answering my calls. They even moved out of their house. The whole family completely disappeared,” explained Sokka, voice breaking a little bit.
“I’m so sorry Sokka there was nothing I could do, you must have suffered so much because of me but I wasn’t allowed to contact you and when I could, I couldn’t find you. I even went to your old house but someone else lives there now,” said Yue honestly and full of remorse, almost desperately.
”Ok, let’s sit down and you will tell us as much as you’re comfortable with,” announced Mai, gesturing to the empty table.
After everyone settled in Sokka started the conversation again. “What happened? You said you weren’t allowed to contact me but your dad liked me I… I thought something happened to you, Yue. I knew you didn’t die because there would’ve been a funeral but I wasn’t always able to convince myself,” he said, tears in his eyes.
Mai rubbed calming circles on his back to help ground him while Yue started talking, and talking, and talking. She warned them that it was a long story but they didn’t expect this. No one could.
Turns out, when she was sixteen she witnessed a gang killing so she, and her family, were put in witness protection overnight and she wasn't even allowed to say goodbye. The process finally ended two years ago but by that time she lost all contact to everyone she knew. She still decided to come back to the city and try to find at least Sokka, but half a year ago she finally gave up and decided to move on with her life.
There was a lot of tears and hugging and apologies, and eventually they exchanged all the stories that they missed and laughed together till they got kicked out of the closing cafe.
~~~
“This is the foyer,“ said Sokka, excited to finally show Yue their house. “You can leave your shoes here,” –he pointed– “and in the future, here is the place for coats.” he pointed to a rack already half full of coats.
“I love this calligraphy, what does it mean?” Yue said, pointing to a framed fan with japanese calligraphy.
“You like it? Mai did that,” said Ty Lee proudly.
“We have a ton of her calligraphy around the house,” explained Suki. ”It’s just so gorgeous.”
Mai blushed slightly and turned her eyes away.
“What does it say though?” Yue asked.
“It says “leave by nine,” said Sokka, scratching his neck in embarrassment.
“I love it,“ laughed Yue. ”Do you take commissions?” she asked, turning to Mai.
“Oh, whyyy, no, I mean, I can write you whatever you want. I do Japanese, Mandarin or Korean, but I’ll have to consult the latter two with Suki and Zuko first,” Mai laid out after her initial surprise.
“Wow! You know so many languages; I just know English and a few innuit dialects with various degree of proficiency,“ said Yue, her eyes sparkling in awe.
“Not that I don’t want to make Mai blush even more but maybe we should walk into the actual house and not just stay here?“ Offered Zuko.
“Great idea “said Sokka, walking into the house. They turned left into a big room.
“This is the dining-living room,“ announced Suki. “We were considering having it as separate rooms, but me and Sokka decided it would feel overwhelming, like the house was even bigger than it is, and because of the semi open kitchen we can spend time together even if someone is currently cooking,” Suki finished.
“Which happens more than you’d think,” interjected Sokka, thinking of many fun, if chaotic, nights they’d all spent together hovering around the oven.
“The kitchen is huge…why semi- open? Looks pretty open to me,” asked Yue, turning her head to the side.
“Because of this,“ grinned Sokka as the others put up Japanese screens to separate the two rooms.
“Oh wow they’re gorgeous” said Yue.
“It’s like, the one piece of decor we actually bought and didn’t make ourselves,“ laughed Ty Lee, ”’Cause it’s by our artist friend On Ji”
“Wait you mean you made all of this origami?” Yue pointed to the walls.
“Yeah, though it was mostly Ty Lee,” supplied Suki.
“We also made the cushions,” said Sokka proudly.
“How are you even real, people?” said Yue, laughing slightly in disbelief.
“We try,” said Ty Lee, hugging Suki from behind with a wide grin.
“Ok I feel like we will never end this tour at this rate, and I want to know why you made me bring spare clothing,” asked Yue.
“Ok so on the other side of the house is another living room that we don’t really use, and Zuko’s office,” said Suki, opening the right doors.
“Our office,” corrected Zuko.
“True,” said Sokka. ”He just uses it the most cause he’s working here while we’re at work.“
“What is that on the desk? “asked Yue, peaking in through the door.
“Please come in, it’s a rubber turtle duck,” said Sokka proudly. ”I made it for Zu for our first anniversary together.“
“You know how computer people would talk to rubber ducks to solve code problems?” asked Mai ”This is a help for Zuko when all of us are busy.”
“And occasionally for Sokka but he mostly just calls me,” said Zuko with a proud smile.
“It’s super cute,“ said Yue, looking at the duck closely ”Does it have a name?”
“Ducky,” Zuko answered, blushing. To save him from embarrassment, Mai gestured for them to go upstairs.
“The door at the end of the hallway is our bedroom,” said Mai.
“Alaskan king size bed, baby,” said Sokka proudly.
“Yeah we have two of these, the other in the second room on the right. We thought we might want to sleep separately, but turns out we don’t. It’s still useful for guests though,” explained Zuko.
“We also have 3 spare bedrooms with regular size beds and a workout room here” explained Suki gesturing to various doors. “ we can show you them later but first our pièce de résistance” she said slowly opening the door behind them” our craft room”
The room standing before them was quite big, it could easily fit 10 people. There was a sewing machine, a pottery wheel, a calligraphy station, a painting station, a shelf of origami paper and a cutting table with fabric underneath. On the shelf there were some pieces of pottery drying in different phases of being finished.
“Wow,” breathed Yue, slowly taking everything in. ”Can I live here? Like, in this room?” she finally asked, which aroused a laugh from everyone.
“Sure,“ said Mai with a warm smile. ”But first we will show you how to do pottery.”
~~~
Zuko brought in a teapot of Labrador tea that had steeped for ten minutes.
“I’ve never made Labrador tea before, but I hope you like it. Uncle said it's commonly drank up north,“ Zuko said, setting the tray down gently on their intricately carved table, formerly found on the side of the road but now restored, with love and care by all of them.
“Oooh that's so lovely, let me try it,“ said Yue, grabbing her favourite cup, the one that sokka handmade for her with little snowflakes and a full moon on the side.
“We only drank it when we were sick, but I would recognize this smell anywhere,” said Sokka, taking in the aroma, closing his eyes for a moment and thinking fondly of his father.
“It's really good, the flavor is more prominent than I remember,” said Yue. ”Have you made it with 80 degree water? My dad always forgets and ends up putting in scolding water,” she laughed, thinking of all the unfortunate burned blends that her father was known for.
“Oh, yeah I have but I still have some of it so if you want I can make it the way your dad does,” said Zuko quickly and nervously.
“No need, yours is better,” said Yue, with a smile causing Zuko to blush. “Now I want Labrador tea meat, maybe next time.”
“Yes! Meat!” said Sokka excitedly, springing up from his chair as he kissed Zuko on the cheek. “But for now let's make the bannock and pemmican.”
“What should we do chef?” asked Suki jokingly, turning to Sokka.
“Measure out three cups of flour, three tablespoons of baking powder, a bit of salt and mix it thoroughly.”
After a few moments it was done and Mai added the hot water to the mixture. Mai started to push her sleeves up with purpose to which Sokka gently but firmly grasped her wrist.
“Hey, don't kneed it, it should just stay there like this for 10 minutes,” corrected Sokka. “While it does that we can focus on the pemmican.” He paused for a second with his finger to his lips. “Actually maybe one of you can be on bannock duty and cut out pieces with a glass after it's done waiting, then just brown it on both sides on an oiled medium heat pan. It won't be as good as done over a campfire but it will do.” Ty Lee volunteered to do just that.
“Ok so how to make the pemmican?” asked Suki.
“You said you dried the meat, right?” asked Yue.
“Yes, it's been in the oven for about eight hours now, so it should be good,” said Sokka, smiling and opening up the oven to show the drying meat.
“So we have to throw it into a blender and grind into a powder,“ she explained. ”Do you want to add dried fruit?”
“Yes,, we prepared dried cranberries,” said Mai, handing Yue the small bowl. She threw it into the blender when the meat looked decently powdery.
“Now just heat the rendered fat and mix it,“ said Sokka.
“How long is it good for? It looks like a lot,“ said Zuko.
“First of all, you underestimate my love for meat. Second of all, years, it can be edible for years so we are good,” said Sokka confidently.
~~~
Zuko took out the bamboo mats in anticipation of their guest arriving. Suki plated the rice that had just finished cooking. Mai and Ty Lee were busy cutting up various vegetables and meats. Sokka was still deciding which Hawaiian shirt compliments his eyes best.
Yue arrived just as Sokka was walking downstairs so he was the first by the door.
“Hello gorgeous,“ he said, hugging Yue.
“Hi, wow! It already smells so good in here,” said Yue, breathing in the scent. “What did you prepare for our sushi night?” Yue asked, walking into the spacious kitchen.
“Everything,” said at least three people at once.
Yue laughed and said “I don’t know what else I expected to be honest.” She went to wash her hands and asked “So… How can I help?”
“Everything is already prepared, now you just have to choose your ingredients and roll” explained Sokka with a smile.
“Oh, but I don’t know how to?” said Yue unsure.
“I can show you!” volunteered Mai, Ty Lee, Suki and to the surprise of everyone, even himself, Zuko.
Yue laughed again saying “Settle down, there’s enough of me to go around. I don’t know, maybe all of you can show me how you do it and I’ll try to pick up tricks from each one of you?”
“You should start with Mai, she’s the best at this,“ decided Sokka as an impartial judge, gesturing to the black haired beauty who was already standing at the counter and placing down a rolling mat.
And so the rolling began, by the end of the night everyone was tired and stuffed with delicious sushi. Afterwards they all watched a movie and some couch cuddling and everyone went to sleep, the polycule together and Yue to her own room.
In the middle of the night Yue felt thirsty so she went down to the kitchen for a glass of water.
“Oh, you’re awake too?” she said quietly, noticing Zuko looking through the cupboards.
“Yeah I couldn’t fall asleep so I came to make myself some of uncle’s sleepy blend tea,” said Zuko with a small smile. ”How about you?”
“I just came here for a glass of water but I’d love to drink tea with you, if you don’t mind that is,” she added meekly.
“Of course I don’t mind, we can sit together and talk for a bit or read books next to each other, as you wish,” Zuko said, assembling the teapot.
“I’d love to talk,” said Yue, reaching for another cup and putting it next to Zuko. He was busy measuring the water temperature to make sure it’s just right.
“Could you find a cup you’d like?” asked Zuko.
“I already did, it’s here “ said Yue with slight confusion, pointing to Zuko’s left side.
“Oh, sorry, I’m legally blind in that eye,” Zuko said apologetically.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,” said Yue quickly with regret.
“It’s fine, it was years ago and you couldn’t have known,” Zuko said with a shrug.
“Tell me to shut up if I’m overstepping, but how did this accident happen?” asked Yue.
“ It was no accident, or rather, his name is Ozai and he was my father,” Zuko laughed briefly.
Yue looked at him horrified. “ What do you mean it wasn’t an accident!?” she asked, raising her voice slightly, not enough to wake the others but her hands were shaking a little as she held her cup tightly.
“Well, short story is that my dad was a big oil company owner, and he didn’t like when we talked back. One day he was boasting about how he paid off a bunch of politicians to build a pipeline over native land. Well, and I couldn’t take it any more, I said that those people deserve peace and their land is sacred to them and he... didn’t take it well,” Zuko said, absentmindedly brushing over his scar. ”He held my head over the stove; I don’t remember much after that. I know he went to jail for child abuse but to be honest I don’t remember anything from that period,” Zuko shrugged finally and poured them both tea.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you,” said Yue wiping away the tears in her eyes. ”May I hug you?”
“Sure,” said Zuko, opening his arms. ”But it’s really fine now, I have a loving family,“ he gestured to the ceiling with his head ”and I appreciate having you in my life as well.” He finished with a small smile.
“Do they know?” Yue asked in a hushed tone.
“Yes, Mai and Ty Lee knew me at the time and they both said that if my dad didn’t go to prison they would end him for me, and I believe them. Sokka learned after a night of too much drinking, and I told Suki when we started dating so she knows what she’s up against.”
“I’m so happy you have them, and that they have you,” said Yue, finally letting go and moving properly back into her own seat. “Thank you for telling me.”
~~~
“Have you ever tried bracelet making?” asked Yue.
“I have,“ said Ty Lee, proudly raising the arm of Mai with a small red, white and black bracelet on it, to which Mai blushed and smiled proudly.
“Oooh, very cute, I love the patterns you used, and the little heart shaped beads are a nice addition,” complimented Yue.
“My favourite part is the little knife charm,” pointed out Mai.
“She would never admit it, but Mai always used to joke she has a knife up her sleeve,” laughed Ty Lee.
“It’s no joke,” said Mai, producing a small throwing knife, which was quickly embedded in the side board.
“Mai, we talked about this, you aren’t supposed to intimidate people,” said Ty Lee with mock disappointment, shaking her head.
“We had new waiters at work today, and I thought it’s better to have it just in case someone can’t mind their manners,“ said Mai with a small smile, knotting her hands together passive aggressively.
Sokka picked up a string. “How are we doing this?” he asked, ready to start.
“I thought maybe we’ll sit in a circle and everyone will make a bracelet for the person on their left?” suggested Yue.
“Or we can all make bracelets for everyone?” said Ty Lee excitedly (not thinking of the possible consequences).
“Maybe let’s start it off the way Yue described it, and we can always do more sessions in the future,“ said Zuko, slightly intimidated.
“Sounds good to me,” admitted Suki, sighing in slight relief that she didn’t have to make 6 bracelets (at least not today).
“Ok first I printed out some designs with instructions so we don’t get lost. Pick one design and how many colors it says at the top,” explained Yue, gesturing to the paper placed neatly on the table. ”I mean, you can choose fewer colours but then the design will change.”
After that everyone got to work choosing between different designs and thinking about how they can add a special touch to their bracelets.
“Everyone ready?“ asked Yue, holding a bunch of clipboards. ”Then you just each grab one of these,” she passed everyone a board. ”And tie your strings like this,” she presented the technique above her head. ”Now you just attach it to the clip at the top, and then I’ll go to each one of you individually and help you decipher the instructions,” said Yue with a smile, already starting to make her way around the table
“I can help, I think I understand them,” said Ty Lee, flipping through her and Zuko’s instructions.
“That would be awesome,” said Yue with a bright smile. ”I don’t want to keep you all waiting.”
After a moment or two everyone was hard at work and Yue started to hum a song absentmindedly. Shortly Sokka, and Ty Lee picked up the melody, as they began to recognize it, and started singing with her:
“Would things be easier if there was a right way?
Honey there is no right way
And so I fall in love just a little ol' little bit
Every day with someone new”
Before they knew they were all singing together, laughing and making heart eyes at each other.
As usual on a Friday evening, the polycule could be found in the kitchen, this time they were making Unadon because Mai bought them a really nice-looking batch of Unagi.
“I have been thinking-” said Sokka, taking out the ingredients and measuring them. ”-I… we... I think we should talk about Yue. She’s becoming a bigger and bigger part of our lives and..” he trailed off, passing the cups to Ty Lee. She dutifully mixed together soy sauce, mirin, sugar and sake in a saucepan on medium heat.
“You know you’re right, we probably should talk about Yue,” said Suki, preheating the oven, the light from inside the oven highlighting her darkening cheeks.
“Who wants to go first?” asked Mai, measuring rice and water in the rice cooker. Rather quickly, all eyes turned to Sokka.
“Fine, I’ll go first,” Sokka said, exhaling heavily. ”I… I still love her. I’m not saying she has to join our polycule, but I’d like to date her if she’s interested. Even if you guys don’t want to,” he said, looking down worriedly and twiddling his thumbs.
“Are you kidding me? I soooo want to. She is so smart and funny and pretty,“ said Suki, and the others nodded vigorously.
“And she brings so much joy to our life,” added Zuko, looking over wistfully.
“She does,” chimed in Ty Lee. ”And she sings so beautifully when she focuses on something.”
“Mai do you agree?” asked Sokka, brushing the unagi with the sauce they prepared.
“Absolutely, we should ask her to date us,” said Mai decisively. ”The only question is how,”
“I may have an idea,” said Sokka, putting the fish into the oven with a smirk.
~~~
After a few movies, it finally got sufficiently dark. Sokka took a bowl of muktuk, Mai and Ty Lee grabbed the onigiri while Suki and Zuko grabbed their own weight’s worth of blankets. Yue was responsible for the two thermoses of tea they prepared earlier together with everything. When they got to the roof and everything was ready, they huddled close together and covered themselves with blankets.
“Can’t believe I’m stargazing with you again,” said Yue, looking at Sokka fondly and reaching for his hand.
“I can’t believe it either,” said Sokka, grabbing Yue’s hand in his and squeezing gently.
“Have I ever told you the tale of two lovers?” asked Sokka.
Everyone but Yue shook their head.
“Actually, I can tell you that tale because after we split up I took up astronomy as a hobby. It reminded me of Sokka and how beautifully he spoke about stars. He used to say that no matter what, no matter where we are we can look up to the stars and find our way back to each other,” said Yue tearing up.
“Aww,“ said Ty Lee, coming in to hug her. ”I didn’t know you could be that romantic sugar,” she added looking at Sokka. ”I mean I knew, but I didn’t know you were always like this”
“Yeah, I used to stay up all night every day, dreaming about meeting you again,” Yue said on the verge of full-on crying. Everyone got up and hugged her together for as long as she needed it.
“Who wants to hear the tale of two lovers, we can tell it together,” Sokka said, still holding Yue’s hand.
“There was a fearsome warrior who lived in the south. One day he came on a huge expedition to travel north to the other side of the globe. The journey was long and difficult but at last the warrior reached the beautiful icy city,” said Sokka, letting Yue take the over.
“There he met a young princess, she was beautiful as the moon herself and she quickly fell for the warrior,” said Yue with a voice full of hope.
“But the princess was bound to another,” said Sokka with sadness in his voice.
“And people up North didn’t like Southerners,“ added Yue.
“The warrior asked the princess to marry him, but bound by her duty she refused and ran into the freezing night,“ said Sokka, building the suspense.
“The young warrior followed to find her, but the weather was unforgiving and the very next morning they were both found in the snow,” said Yue grimly.
“But the gods above seeing how true their love was gave them one more chance, changing her into the moon and..” Sokka trailed off.
“And him into the sun, and finally, in the sky, they could be together,” said Yue.
“Shining brightly on all couples whose love was frowned upon,” finished Sokka, looking around at his lovers. He took a deep breath and took hold of both hands of Yue’s into his. ”Yue, I thought it was just the memory of you, but now I know that from the very first moment I met you, through everything we went through and everything we will go through …I love you.“
“We might not know you as long as he does, but you stole our hearts too. All of our hearts,” said Mai, accompanied by nodes from everyone else.
“I…I don’t know what to say,“ said Yue.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer us now, if you want to, any of us could drive you home so you can sleep on it. There is no rush,” said Sokka.
“And if you decide you aren’t interested, nothing has to change, it’s all up to you,” added Suki.
“No, it’s ok, I don’t need to think about it. I just wasn’t expecting it to happen today,“ Yue said, wiping a tear from her eye. ”Gods, I’m such a mess,” she laughed briefly. ”Yes, Yes I want to try it too,“ Yue said, jumping to wrap her arms around Sokka’s neck.
“Besides, we technically never broke up,” laughed Yue, wiping her tears.
~~~
After all of the food they made was already plated on the tableware handmade by the polycule. They resumed their regular game from the last session. Aang and Toph as DMs recounted the happenings of their previous sessions with a lot of commentary from the players.
“...And finally you reach the North and are standing in front of the door to the last school of the Northern way of fighting,” finished Aang with a smile.
“I knock on the door,” said Ty Lee- the halfling monk “-and ask to be taught by the master of this school.”
“Very well,“ said Toph with a smirk. ”The older man who opened the door, proudly straightened his back, and then his face was twisted with disgust as he noticed who was standing on the other side. He said “I am the master, and this is one of the most prestigious and oldest schools in the world. We don’t teach silly girls like you,” he spat out every word “I can teach those two men but hell freezes over before I let a woman do anything other than make me tea.””
“I’ll show you a frozen over hell,” said Suki, in character as a fighter half orc. “I want to hit him with my great axe!”
“Ok roll to attack,” said Aang, and Suki did.
With disbelief in her voice, she muttered ”Nat one”.
“You run at the master with full speed but when swinging the weapon you miscalculated and hit yourself in the head, throwing yourself to the ground,” said Toph with satisfaction in her voice.
“I’ll go next,” said Ty Lee, already ready to throw her dice, clacking them in her hands like a colourful nerdy stim toy.
“No, I’ve got this,“ says Yue, flipping her hair with pure fury in her eyes. Everyone took a double-take not expecting it from the high elf cleric.
”I cast control water, whirlpool at level 6,” she said, throwing her dice on the table with a flourish.
Toph: “Oh dang! With a roll that good you can choose an extra effect.”
Yue: “I want to freeze him.”
Toph: “Delicious.”
“With that the master smirks and says “Fine, you want to learn to fight so bad? Study closely” and frees himself then launches into an attack - casting water whip at 5th level”
“Roll dexterity check.”
“16 plus 4.”
“Ok he misses,” concluded Toph, matter of factly.
“You can’t knock me down,” said Yue in character, quirking her eyebrows in challenge and rolled for a hit. “Does 17 hit?” asked Yue.
“It does,” confirmed Aang.
“21 points of melee damage,” said Yue.
“Well I’m impressed, you are an excellent fighter,“ said the older man gruffly in Toph’s voice.
“- but you still won’t teach me?” enquired Yue as the tenacious half elf.
“No” added Toph with a smirk.
After a few more exchanges a cacophony of dice could be heard behind the DM screen as everyone held their breath for the verdict.
“Roll to dodge!” said Aang frantically.
“Combined with my dex that’s… 22,” said Yue smugly.
“Okay you’re fine then,” said Toph, as Aang sighed in relief alongside the rest of the table.
“Hmm, does 19 hit your spell save DC?” asked Aang nervously, gesturing with his hands.
“Nope!” replied Yue, who’s character remained unscaved. She asks to attack again, with fire in her eyes.
“Natural 20,” said Yue triumphantly.
Aang looked at his notes and said “You hit the master with your magic so hard he drops to the ground with a satisfying clunk and doesn’t move for a few seconds.”
“YES!” exclaimed Sokka, wrapping his arms around Yue who was sat next to him. “Can I kiss her?”
“Aww, yes.” said Aang.
“Roll for persuasion, loverboy,” corrected Toph.
“Ha! 19+5,” said Sokka.
“Ok, you two can kiss,” said Toph, rolling her eyes as Aang punched the air happily
“I love love!” he said.
“Can we all hug?” asked Ty Lee, looking around at her nodding lovers.
“Yes,” said Aang with a smile
“AHEM!” said Toph loudly to grab everyone’s attention. “We are in the middle of a battle here, get your head in the game!”
“Oh right” said Aang and continued. ”After a moment the master gets up with great difficulty and says “Ok,ok, I’ll teach you but on one condition,” he said.
“What is it old man?” said Yue, still full of anger.
“ “Don’t let her get close to me again,” he said exhausted,” finished Aang, and Toph nodded. The party cheered and clinked glasses in celebration, getting ready for new challenges that lay ahead - knowing they will face them together.