Making Sense of It: Sukka (on hiatus)

Chapter 16: Suki

After dessert, Suki had to leave abruptly, just realizing she had a book report that was due by midnight. She said a quick goodbye to Aang, Katara, and Sokka, the latter of whom seemed distracted by something, but Suki didn't have time to delve into it. Instead she biked home and got to working on her report. The book was 35 years old, contained many outdated references, and dense text that she found herself reading over and over. Eventually, she finished the report (at 11:45 pm) and was just settling down to go to sleep when she got a notification on her phone.

I'll just check it tomorrow, she thought, before drifting into a dreamless slumber. 

Suki was awoken by the doorbell ringing. Even though it was around ten, she was quite disgruntled, since she was counting on this Saturday to catch up on all of the sleep that she had missed that week. She stumbled down the stairs in her oversized t shirt and pajama bottoms, her hair sticking out at quite a few different angles, and was greeted by Mai on her front porch, looking put together as always.  

"...Hi," she said after a moment, "Sorry if I caught you at a bad time-"

"No it's fine!" Suki said, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Okay, I texted you, but you didn't respond, um, this is kind of short notice, but some of my art is featured in this gallery event. I'm supposed to bring three people, and," Mai sighed. She seemed more awkward than Suki had ever seen her before, "Two of my regular guests are... gone, so maybe you could bring Sokka or something and-"

"Of course," Suki interrupted, "I'd love to." Mai nodded.

"It's at 4 o'clock, I'll text you the address," she said, before shutting the door abruptly. Suki watched from the window as Mai walked out to her car and drove off. Suki ran upstairs to text Sokka.

Hey do you want to go to Mai's art show with me later today?

It's platonic, Suki reminded herself, It's fine. This isn't a date, we're just hanging out. She didn't get a response for an hour, and started to worry. Suki drank a glass of orange juice, and reviewed the typos in her book report (there were a lot) hoping that it hadn't been graded yet. At eleven thirty she got her response.

Sure, what time? Sorry it took me so long, I was asleep.

Suki sighed in relief. 

It's not a date, she reminded herself as they made plans for Sokka to pick her up at  3:30, it's not a date. 

~~~

Even though it wasn't a date, Suki wasn't sure how she should dress for the event. Was the art show going to be formal or informal. She wasn't sure, so she settled on her nicer forest green coat over a white blouse with black leggings and not quite knee high boots. As an afterthought, she grabbed a scarf from the coat rack as Sokka knocked on the door. Thankfully, he was dressed similarly to her. A nice looking jacket, a button down shirt, and dark jeans that looked like they hadn't been worn that much. His face turned red as he saw her.

Probably just from the cold, Suki thought, IT'S FROM THE COLD, SUKI!"

"Hi," she said.

"Hi!" Sokka said, out of breath, "Katara finally let me use the car, so we can drive." Suki smiled as she got in the car. 

"Okay," she said, "So it's in the area by Ember Meadows, just a little north of there it looks like." Sokka nodded. 

"Have you seen Mai's art before?" he asked, "I would imagine that it's morbid, and gory."

"Don't be rude," Suki said, elbowing him, "I haven't seen her art either, but honestly, that's probably what it's like." 

The studio was looked like it had once been a huge mansion, but had been converted into an exhibit. Mai and Zuko were waiting out front.

"Wow," Zuko said, "I'm impressed that you actually dressed nice."

"Don't patronize us," Sokka said with a smirk.

"Thanks for coming," Mai said, "You guys can look at whatever you want. My exhibit's in the southwest wing, if you want to see it."

Despite what Zuko had said, most of the people at the art show were better dressed than Suki and Sokka were, many of them wearing suits and ties. Oddly enough, Zuko and Mai were still sitting outside.

"Let's go to Mai's exhibit," Sokka said, "The suspense is killing me." Suki agreed, and the walked past abstract pieces and landscapes and portraits, to the southwest wing. There was almost no one in this gallery, and Suki wasn't sure why. There wasn't anything morbid or gory, nothing like that at all. The first thing that she saw was an oil painting of a girl in blue, standing against crashing waves, unwavering, unflinching. 

She heard Sokka mutter, "Katara?" Suki looked at the other oil paintings. There was a second picture that followed the first, showing Katara with who had to be Aang, accepting the tide together. There was a portrait of who was undeniably Zuko, touching his scar, firelight glinting in his eyes. There was everything from a simple piece of a boy, smiling with his dog, to two girls locked in an embrace under city lights. Suki was in awe of all of it, she felt herself overcome with emotions that she didn't think art could make her feel. 

"Suki, look," Sokka said quietly.

And then she saw it. On the far wall was the largest painting of the bunch, more surreal than the others. It depicted a rocky, snow-covered hillside, overlooking an endless, foggy abyss. Sitting on the edge were two figures leaning on each other, facing away from the viewer, so you could only see them from the back. Still, Suki knew who they were, just like she had known it was Ty Lee and Azula in the city painting. 

"It's us," Sokka said, more to himself than anyone else. Suki nodded, and looked at him. Would it be so bad to tell him how she felt?

"I'm sorry I didn't ask first," Mai said, approaching them, stopping Suki's thoughts, "I just, I saw you, talking at the lake a few months ago, and I just got inspired, I knew that this was going to be my best painting yet."

"I think it is," Suki said.

"I think so too," Sokka agreed. Mai looked at both of them.

"I need to go do... something," she said slowly, before leaving the room. Suki was so immersed in the painting that she didn't realize Mai shut the door quietly behind her.

~~~

Thank you for Reading! I'm actually really proud of how this chapter came out.