I'll Walk You Home pt. 57

Chapter 21

Home Again

Sokka sat at his work table in the library and stared at the tray marked IN that had been given to him by Butler Hong. The Tray marked OUT was filled with the scrolls he had worked on yesterday. He had even answered Ty Lee's letter. They weren't the problem. That's why he was staring at the tray marked IN.

There was only one letter in the tray, and it was from Suki. He had been putting off reading it all yesterday, and the day before. He reached out and pulled it from the tray and set it on the table.

He stared at it for another minute before he finally picked it up and broke the seal. He still didn't unroll it, instead placing it back on the table and staring at it again.

He was still staring at the scroll when the door to the library opened and the Grand Duke came in.

"Ah… Good I'm glad you're here." Lao said as he closed the door and came over to the young man. "There is something we need to discuss."

"Of course your grace." Sokka said standing and bowing to the older man.

The Grand Duke politely returned the bow, but then just stood for a moment collecting his thoughts.

"I… Until I heard those stories that Rong told…" Lao said, looking into the young man's eyes, and then looking away. "I… I never realized…"

The Grand Duke seemed to come to a decision and turned his face up to hold Sokka's eyes with a hard look.

"When we spoke before…" Lao began again. "You seemed like an intelligent earnest young man. But now, after hearing all those stories from Rong, I have a different, perhaps more complete view of you and your life. I hadn't realized it before but you really have traveled the world. You've been to all the nations, north, south, east and west. You are from a strange land whose customs are only rumors and myths to me. And then to hear of all these young women you have… had… relations… relationships with. I have to wonder just what your intentions towards my daughter are."

Sokka made to answer but was stopped by a gesture from the older man.

"I know we spoke of this before." Lao continued. "But how can I trust you now that I have heard all these stories about all these girlfriends, many of them about intimate relations with all these girls. Please let me finish."

This last was said to stop the young man from speaking again. Sokka nodded in assent.

"My daughter loves you." The Grand duke continued. "Of that I am sure. And I love her. My one goal is to make her safe and happy. So towards that end I will take you at your word. That you love her, and that your intentions are honorable."

"Thank you, your grace." The teen said with a small bow.

"But let me also say." The Grand Duke went on, with a strained tone to his voice. "I know how men treat girls, young innocent girls who fall in love with them. How young men use them, tell them of their undying love, but when it comes down to choosing between, career, or family, or duty. The men will abandon them. Cast them aside as… unworthy, of no consequence."

Lao looked away at this but then seemed to draw himself up and stepped in to the young man.

"While I might not be a warrior…" The older man continued. "…who can challenge you on the field of combat. I am a rich and powerful man, and if you abandon, or betray, or hurt my daughter in any way for whatever reason. I will use all my wealth, and all my power to crush you."

The accusation that Sokka would betray someone who had said that she loved him made the young man's blood scream in his veins. He didn't know why but Lao's insult had reached down to his core. Like a hand tearing at an open wound in Sokka's soul. Without even a thought, his left hand dropped casually to the hilt of his sword. His right hand moved to the grip of Spring Rain. He took a half step forward on his right foot, closing the small distance between the two men.

The Grand Duke stepped back realizing for the first time that the young man before him was actually taller than he was, though he was the older of the two.

Sokka felt his face grow hot with rage. All he could see was the older man before him. Lao had a strange, frightened look in his eyes. It was that look that stopped the warrior. He pulled his emotions back, got his breathing under control as he had been taught by Sifu Piandao. But the pain was still there. The pain and the guilt forced him to speak.

"You are correct." The young man said holding the elder's eye. "You are not a warrior. If you were… one of us would be dead by now. You hoped to frighten me. But if you were a warrior you would know that to someone like me fear is nothing new. To a warrior fear is a constant companion. To someone like me fear is my life, fear of death, injury, pain, and even stronger the fear of failure and ridicule."

Sokka turned away releasing his grip on his sword collecting himself.

"You are right." He said turning back to Lao. "I've been to many places and met many people, kings and peasants, fighters and fishermen. And in my travels I have learned a few things. I know I am young and have many more things to learn. But let me you tell you the one thing I am sure of. That fear is weak. It is weaker than anger, or remorse, or any emotion you can name. The strongest thing in the world is love."

"I have seen people confront their greatest fears and overcome them out of love. I saw a young woman, a non-bender, take on a platoon of fire benders to allow the boy she loved to escape, even though she knew she was betraying her family and her nation, and had no chance to escape.

"I saw a young couple travel for days, weeks, through terrible danger for the love of their unborn child."

When Lao made to speak he was silenced by a dangerous look from the warrior.

"I was there when a young woman, who loved life more than anyone else I have ever met give up that life. Not because she was afraid, but because of the love she had for her people and the world."

"Fear is weak. Love is strong. And my love for your daughter is stronger than any threat you can make."

"Because I love her, I will never betray, or abandon, or hurt Toph in any way." Sokka said closing in on the Grand Duke again. "And nothing you can say or do will change that."

The young man turned and stepped away from the elder after that.

"Grand Duke Lao." The warrior finally broke the silence between the two men. "This is your house and your family. Obviously I am not welcome here. Toph is not yet of age. I will leave, but I will not abandon her. And when she comes of age I will ask her to marry me. That decision will be Toph's and Toph's alone, and there is nothing that can change that. Not duty, or career, or even family, yours or mine."

Sokka went to the table and snatched up the scroll that had been lying there and pushed it into his robe.

"If you would be kind enough to have these scrolls sent out for me I would appreciate it." He said indicating the letters in the tray on the table.

The Grand Duke made no reply, but seemed to be lost in his own thoughts

Sokka walked to his back pack by Hawky's stand. The bird gave a forlorn little squawk, having picked up on the emotions that had been filling the room.

"For some." Lao finally said.

Sokka stopped and turned to the older man, not understanding what his grace meant by the comment.

"For some, your grace?" The tribesman finally asked.

Lao looked up at the question and found the eyes of the younger man. Sokka was surprised to see tears in the Grand Duke's eyes.

"For some…" The older man said. "…like you and the people you spoke of love is stronger. For others they never overcome their fear. Or fears really, some of us have so many fears…"

Lao's voice faded for a moment and he had a faraway look in his eyes not seeing the younger man at all. But then he seemed to recover himself and looked the tribesman in the eye again.

"Forgive me?" Lao said bowing to the warrior. "You are right love makes us do many things. Some of us, like you, are strong enough to follow our hearts. Some of us are not. And we regret it the rest of our lives."

"My mistake was thinking that we are alike, you and I." Lao went on still holding Sokka's eyes with his own, though a note of great sadness seemed to enter the older man's face. "I thought you are much like I was when I was your age, but obviously I was wrong, and I can only hope that you will forgive me for acting as if we are the same. I have misjudged you a second time, and for that I am truly sorry."

"Your grace." The tribesman said returning the bow. "You were acting out of love for your daughter, how can I not forgive you?"

"Yes…" Lao said with a smile. "Love and fear make us do many things…"

"Yes your Grace." Sokka agreed, still unsure of where he stood with the Grand Duke.

"Please call me Lao." The Grand Duke insisted, then he added with an embarrassed smile. "And I hope you will find it in your heart to excuse a frightened father, and stay with us until it is time for you to go of your own accord."

"Of course… Lao." The young man answered with a bow.

"You know…" The Grand Duke said returning the bow. "Speaking of fear, you can be quite intimidating when you want to be."

"Me? Your Grace?" The tribesman asked with a silly confused look on his face.

"Yes you!" Lao told him, with the smile growing a little on his face. "I have never met anyone quite like you. So genial and amusing and yet so… well dangerous in an instant. I suppose that's why I always seem to misjudge you. You are a very unique young man."

"Oh… Not me your grace." Sokka said walking toward the older man. "You have me confused with Zuko or someone. I'm just the silly goofy guy."

"Perhaps you were that man, though I doubt it, but you are not that man now." Lao told him. "Please call me Lao. I hope that we can become friends. I would much rather have you for a friend than as an enemy."

"I hope you are my friend." Sokka said with a small bow. "I love your daughter."

"Yes… You do." Lao said returning the bow.

"You said you don't know any water tribe customs." The tribesman said. "Well let me introduce you to one of them. When two friends meet they clasp each other arms, like this."

Sokka held out his right arm, crooked at the elbow his hand straight out and open just above waist height. Lao mimicked the action and felt the strong hand of the warrior grabbing his forearm just below the elbow. He followed the younger man's lead and grabbed him in a like manner.

"That will take some getting used to." The Grand Duke, who rarely made physical contact with anyone, commented as they shook arms.

"Just like me trying to call you Lao." Sokka replied.

They broke the grip and there was a small embarrassed silence between the two of them.

"Well I better be getting to work." Lao said turning and moving towards his desk.

"Yes, your… Lao" Sokka said with a bow turning back towards the table.

The two sat down, the young man pulling the scroll from his robe and looking at it for a moment.

"So…" Lao finally asked in a lighter but still curious tone from his desk. "If you don't mind me asking, just how many girlfriends have you had?"

"Officially? Before Toph, only the one." Sokka said unrolling the scroll.

Minh looked up at the sky and frowned. She had been watching the sky all morning, and frowning all morning.

The column was still in the agrarian outer ring stopped by the side of the road to rest the mounts. The gate to the lower ring was perhaps an hour or less to the north.

She looked up and down the column. The troopers were in good spirits. There had been no trouble and the civilians they had passed had waved, many even cheering and joining at the end of the column to turn it into a kind of parade. This was a good thing. The more people, the better the chances that the ruling council wouldn't try something.

Far down the line she could see his majesty and Yun Hee, closely followed by the first squad of second platoon, moving back up the line after talking to the civilians that had joined the rear of the column. The young monarch and especially his companion seem to do well with the civilians. During all the rest stops the two would go and meet and speak with the civilians.

The general checked the surrounding country side. Still no troops. That was strange. She would have guessed that there would be mounted patrols at least, moving between the gates. The commanders in the city were obviously more concerned with the population and not the open country. All the signs were that the ruling council was looking inward at the people who lived in the city.

Thinking of the council caused her to study the sky again, which caused her to frown again.

"No hawks." Lieutenant Ho observed, as he walked up to his commander.

"You'd think the sky would be thick with them by this point." Minh told him.

"More help from your boyfriend?" Ho asked.

For reply all he received was a sour look from Minh, which he answered with a small laugh.

"Well whatever the reason, let's be thankful." Minh finally conceded.

The two were quiet for a moment or two studying the wall before them and the troops and civilians around them.

As the king and his entourage came up to the carriage Minh and Ho joined them with a bow.

"Have you learned anything new, your majesty?" The general asked as she helped the monarch into the carriage.

"No, we heard the same complaints as before." Kuei answered. "The ruling council is pretty much hated by everyone living in the city. Between food shortages, martial law, curfews, and army patrols and check points everywhere, especially in the lower ring, the people are almost nostalgic for the Fire Army occupation. But they don't say anything in public since people who do have a tendency to not show up the next day."

"We did hear one new rumor." Yun Hee said, after taking her seat across from the king. "One very brave man told us that there is a rumor going around that all the Dai Li agents that were arrested after the liberation, have been released, after swearing personal allegiance to one of the generals on the council. The rumor didn't say which general though."

"Yes the rumor said these Dai Li were acting as a secret police force." The king took up the story. "They are dressed as everyday civilians watching for any protests or dissent. When they see or hear anything against the council they are the ones who make the speaker disappear. It is even rumored that their old headquarters under Lake Laogai has been reopened."

"Well that's not good." Minh observed.

"Ma'am, we should get the column moving again." Ho reminded his commander.

"Right." Minh agreed. "Well your majesty, miss, our next stop will be in the lower ring."

"Thank you general." The king said.

Minh, followed by Lieutenant Ho moved up to their places ahead of the carriage. The general took the reins of her orse from sergeant Gok and patted his neck, the animal smacked its beak together twice making a loud sound.

"Hey Klick-klack." The general said patting her mounts neck.

She had named him for the sound he always made with his beak every time he saw her.

Turning to sergeant Hu she said,

"Sergeant, you may mount the column."

"That's a tall order sergeant." Lieutenant Ho observed as he moved next to his general in line. "I hope you're up for it."

"I'll certainly give it my all, sir." The sergeant replied.

"You two are disgusting." Minh noted with an exasperated tone.

"We're men." Ho explained laughing. "It comes with the plumbing."

"I believe it." The general said with a smile on her lips. "Sergeant, if you please."

"Yes ma'am." The sergeant said with a bow, and then in a loud voice, he called out to the command.

"Attention Company! FALL IN."

There was bustling and shouts from the civilian portion of the procession as they hurried to get aboard their wagons and carts. The troopers were already standing by their mounts in their proper places.

Minh just shook her head.

"Civilians!" She moaned.

Ho just laughed again.

"Prepare to mount." Hu called again. "Mount."

Aang was totally super bored. It was his normal condition during meetings of the Ruling Council. Each meeting started with poor Secretary Shi reading his notes about the last meeting, which was usually just the day before, so reading about it seemed really pointless to Aang.

Then everyone would talk about what Gen (Gen was Secretary Shi's personal name, but everybody called him Secretary Shi, except for Aang who really didn't use family names very much, after all he had been taught that everyone was different, and that your family wasn't very important, after all the Airnomads would drop their children off at an Air Temple when they were four or five, and hardly ever see them again, the monks would teach the kids how to bend and how to be Airnomads, and when you were ready you would leave the temple with your air bison and start your life as an airnomad, and sure you might meet your parents or maybe even a brother or sister out in the world, though it would be tough to recognize them after all those years, but family wasn't that important, Aang didn't miss having brothers and sisters, Monk Giatso had been like his father and Sokka was his brother and Toph was his sister, sort of, anyway Aang always called Secretary Shi, Gen, since that was his name after all, but no one else on the council did).

Aang looked up and saw that Minister Yao was still talking, so he dropped his chin onto his left arm, which was flat on the table, and tried to think of something else.

Katara… Yes he could think about Katara all day and not get bored. He was surprised by how solid she was. When he would put his arms around her she was solid under his hands. You would think she would be soft, with all those lovely curves. Especially when they were waterbending and she was in her under wraps. All that beautiful wet dark skin and how her waist curved out onto her hips and out into her chest, and her long hair flowing around her shoulders and head, her lips were soft, so soft, he loved kissing her lips, and her chest was soft, when she hugged him from behind and he felt her soft chest on his back, that was wonderful, and her hips were sort of soft, when he hugged her from behind there was softness over the hard muscle of her hips, with his hands on her stomach, no softness there, well maybe just a little, touching her wet dark skin, running his fingers over the top of her wet under wrap, her warm skin, and soft hard hips pressing up against him…

"Minister Yao…" General Fong said interrupting the older civilian's prepared speech, as well as the young Avatar's thoughts. "We've heard this all before, and just as before this is not the time to turn the administration of the city over to civilian authorities."

"General Fong, I must insist that there will never be a better time." Minster Yao rebutted. "The Fire Army is gone, the Ministry of Justice has been reconstituted, the civilian guard, and the Night Watch have been reformed and are already patrolling the city. There is no longer a need for Martial Law."

"On the contrary Minister…" Fong interrupted again. "This is the worst possible time to withdraw the troops. Unrest is growing in the city. Soon there may be open revolt against the edicts of the military."

"Perhaps general the unrest you are so worried about would end with the withdrawal of your soldiers, and the opening of the markets." The older civilian argued.

"The markets are a breeding ground for conspiracy and rebellion." Fong countered. "All large assemblies of the populace must and will be dispersed by my troops wherever and whenever they are discovered."

"Perhaps we could put the question to a vote?" General How suggested.

He was the senior military officer on the council and disliked debate. He also seemed to like the only two civilians on the council. The two civilians were Minister Yao and Aang. All the other members were generals.

The vote was finally taken to end Martial Law, and it was defeated the only votes for were Aang's and Yao's. Even that took half an hour, even though everyone at the table knew the outcome.

Aang rested his chin on the back of his left hand and looked across the long expanse of the polished dark green marble table. A little smile caressed his lips. Everyone sitting at the table had sokkas in front of them. They called them dry pens or some of them had started to call them nats for some reason. Aang had always and continued to call them sokkas since his friend had invented them.

The wonderful thing about sokkas was that they were round, and they rolled really well on a polished stone table. It only took a little breath of wind to start them moving.

"Now, that the question of ending Martial Law has been settled, hopefully for the last time." General Fong addressed the council. "I would like to reopen debate on my motion to declare his majesty the King as missing presumed dead and to make this interim ruling council a permanent ruling body for the kingdom."

"And how do you propose that the members of this permanent council should be chosen?" Yao asked in a scathing tone.

"The current members would hold their positions for life. And when they died their first born sons would inherit their place on the council." The General explained in a reasonable tone to the rest of the table.

"That would be completely unacceptable." The minister declared. "With that method you might have young boys on the ruling council."

Everyone looked to the Avatar at that comment.

"I'm thirteen." Aang said in answer to the looks, his chin still resting on his hand. "Actually I'm one hundred and thirteen so I'm the oldest person on this council, perhaps in this city."

"What would you prefer?" Fong asked the civilian. "Would you have the general staff chose the council, or perhaps the nobles of the kingdom? No… better yet why not have the people choose the council? That's what you are suggesting. That would only lead to chaos and riot. The peasants and common people don't have the interest or the intelligence to rule themselves let alone to choose the rulers of the kingdom. Why most of them aren't even benders. You can't ask the cattle who they want to herd them. The only way to insure stability and order is to have a lifelong membership passed down from father to son. We are born to lead, just as the people are born to be led."

"Well there we have it." Minister Yao said throwing up his hands. "You have nothing new to say. I request that General Fong's motion be tabled until he can come up with a new argument at least."

"I think we should talk about this a little more, at least until lunch." General How suggested.

There were nods of assent from the other officers at the table.

"Why don't we take a short recess to let tempers cool, and then we can take up the question again?" How proposed.

Everyone muttered agreement and many began to leave the table for the buffet along the wall of the chamber.

Aang stayed in his seat looking at General Fong. An aide had approached the general as soon as the meeting had recessed, and had handed Fong a note. From the general's reaction it must have been important. Fong wrote something down on the same piece of paper and handed it back to the aide, but an errant wind, surprisingly strong, tore the paper out of the senior officer's hand and it fluttered up to the ceiling and then down onto the floor on Aang's side of the table.

The young Avatar picked up the note.

"Is this yours General Fong?" The boy innocently asked holding up the paper.

"Thank you." Fong said as he snatched it from the boy's hand, folded it and gave it to his aide. "Right away."

The general told his aide. Her looked back but the boy Avatar was already up and walking toward the buffet line.

The aide looked at the note as he left the council chamber. Below where the aide himself had written…,

"The White Lotus is on the move. Know operatives are moving from all parts of the city to the south eastern gate into the lower ring."

…Were the general's instructions.

"Send a special operations team to the gate at once. Any action against the Ruling Council is to be crushed."

The aide carefully folded the note and placed it in an inside pocket of his robe. He hurried to the communications section to send out the general's orders.

Katara sat on the couch in the main room of their house in the upper ring. She was re-reading the letter from her brother. Iroh had said his majesty might be arriving today, but Sokka in his letter said it would probably be in a week or two. She felt her brother was probably right. They would have heard something before now if the king was coming to the city.

She looked at the section asking for Aang's help. It made sense. Kuei had hardly ever left the palace, and had only been seen by a small number of ministers and high nobles. If someone on the ruling council wanted to, they could declare him an imposter and have him arrested and the people of the city wouldn't know any better. But as her brother wrote,

"If the Avatar acknowledges his legitimacy then the council would have to accept him or face a revolt of the entire population."

The sudden and insistent knocking at the door pulled her from the letter which she stuffed into her sleeve and moved to the door.

"Oh Miu, you're late today." The waterbender said opening the door.

"Sorry, really busy day." The young woman said rushing into the house.

"Would you like some tea?" Katara asked closing the door and following the business woman to the table.

"Sorry, no time. Is the Avatar here?" She asked, pulling a series of four small sacks out of her shoulder bag and placing them on the table in the center of the room.

"No… Aang had to leave early for a meeting…" The waterbender replied in a concerned tone. "Miu what's going on? You seem really frazzled."

"He's here!" She answered, taking a breath to steady herself. "Your brother's guest is here. He came through the South Eastern outer gate early this morning and should be entering the lower ring anytime, maybe even right now."

She had started in a collected manner but by the end of her little speech her excitement had grown to the point that by the end she had her hands balled into fists and her voice had grown high and tight.

"The king is in the city?" Katara asked.

"Yes!" Miu answered "But this is the dangerous part. If the Ruling Council declares him an imposter and shoves him into prison the people will just go along with it. They won't know any better. Is there any way you can get a message to the Avatar?"

"I don't know." Katara told her. "It's hard to get messages to him when he's in the council chamber."

The sound of coins dropping onto wood caused both women to look to the table were Momo was searching in one of the small sacks and dumping large silver coins onto the table to reach the bottom.

"Momo!" Katara scolded. "There's nothing to eat in there. What is in there?"

"It's money for your trip." Miu explained. "Your brother thought you would need some so his letter instructed me to drop off one hundred large silver for you today. There are twenty five in each bag."

"We may not be taking any trip." The waterbender said looking at the coins.

"Or we may all be taking a trip to Lake Laogai." The business woman remarked with a rueful smile. "Can't you send the Avatar a hawk with a message?"

"We don't have any hawks here." Katara answered.

"I can send one from the office." Miu said searching furiously for an answer. "It will probably end up in a central message center and it will be intercepted by the army, but it's worth a chance."

"No…" Katara told the other woman. "I'll think of something, I just don't know what. I wish Sokka was here."

"Me too!" Miu agreed. "I need to get back to the office. Are you sure you don't want me to try a hawk?"

"Yes, it would be intercepted and we'd be even worse off." Katara said with conviction. "Don't worry, I'll think of something."

"Right!" Miu said and moved to the door.

The business woman stopped before opening the door and turned to the waterbender who was deep in thought.

"Is this what it was like during the war?" Miu asked.

Katara was desperately trying to come up with a solution of how to let Aang know about the king. She was thinking that she could carry the message herself. The only problem was the time it would take to get through all the checkpoints and to walk all the way to the palace. She could not fly over them the way Aang could.

"Sorry, what?" The waterbender asked.

"When I was growing up we didn't know about the war." Miu explained. "Then when I got older and was in university, there were rumors but we never talked about it. And then the occupation happened so fast that we hardly had time to react. Then the city was liberated and the war was over. I was just…"

"Yes?" Katara asked.

"Well I've never done anything like this before." The young woman said a little embarrassed. "To be part of something big, so big it could change everything. I don't know if I'll be celebrating, or in prison, or maybe even dead before this day is over. Is that what it was like for you during the war, except everyday was like this?"

"Not every day." Katara answered with a small smile. "But sometimes, yes it was like this."

"Funny…" Miu said almost to herself. "I should be terrified but I've never felt so alive."

The two women smiled at each other. Miu bowed to the waterbender and pulled the door open and was gone.

If only Aang was here! She told herself, still desperately trying to find a solution.

The ringing of the coins hitting the floor grabbed her attention again. It was the lemur. He was dumping out another bag of coins looking for a treat.

"Momo! No!" Katara cried.

The animal gave an indignant cry and flew off the table onto the back of one of the chairs.

"Momo!" The waterbender said in a quiet tone of realization.

The way she said it made the lemur give a frightened little squeak. Momo was sure this was not going to be good.

…

Agent Ye picked up his dry pen and made a note in his book. The woman from NAT Enterprises was leaving the Avatar's house. He made a note of the time and the woman's name.

She was a little late today, he noted. He also noted that she had dropped off something since her bag was much lighter and appeared empty as she moved down the street.

This was not unusual. She often left money and letters for the Avatar and his waterbender. She had been followed early on in the surveillance of the house, but it was found that she was harmless completely unconnected with the Order of the White Lotus.

Ye settled himself in his chair and continued his watch. The people who actually lived in the house they were using for the surveillance ignored him. They had been to Lake Laogai.

To be continued

Disclaimer:

"Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.

Author's notes:

Hi All,

I apologize again for taking so long for getting this chapter up. Yea... you wait four months and this is all you get. I have more written but it needs a lot of work. Actually this needs more work but I felt I had to get something up.

I would love any feed back on this chapter. The scene between Sokka and Lao especially.

Once again thank you for all the very generous, and sometimes not so generous reviews for this story. You guys keep me going, and I am very grateful.

Thanks so much for reading.

***** NEW FANART *****

There is wonderful work done by ASKNEKOLE on Tumblr, she also has a DeviantArt account as "mLegend24" Please check out her wonderful work.

I am so honored by all the fanart done for this story.

FanArt; Sicksketch has done some wonderful sketches over on Tumblr. Please take a look, just search under the tag "ill walk you home" and you will find them.

Fanart on Deviant Art; There is fanart for the story on DeviantArt; Totalfanboy21 has a great picture of an older Toph and Sokka inspired by the story and Abi-chan14 and Cutubulla as well as Kawayui-Kage have created Fanart for the story. I am really honored that talented artists have liked the story so much that they have actually made art based on it. Please check them out.

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Thank you all so much for sticking with my story.

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Once again thank you to all those who have added this story to their alerts and especially their favorites, and a very special thank you to all who have added me to your author alerts and favorites. That is a real honor for me. I hope I have not disappointed you with this chapter.

Thank you to all for reading

All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.