XML Xpath tag issues

I'm new to creating XML payloads with TSQL and am having some issues. I'm trying to create a payload that has multiple row detail nested a few rows deep. Output needs to be formatted this way will be multiple sotransitem elements ... I thought i had it all until i realized i needed to have multiple sotransitems. i addressed this by added a subquery to get all the rows for sotransitems. SELECT TIH.INVOICE_NUM AS "operation/content/create_sotransaction/billto/invoicenumber", TIH.INVOICE_CUSTOMER_NAME "operation/content/create_sotransaction/billto/customername", (SELECT TIL.LINE_ITEM_ITEM AS "sotransitem/unit", TIL.LINE_ITEM_QTY AS "sotransitem/description" FROM dbo.tblapproved_invc_line AS TIL WHERE til.LINE_ITEM_INVOICE_NUM = '230065942' FOR XML PATH(''), ROOT ('sotransitems'), TYPE) FROM dbo.tblapproved_invc_hdr AS TIH INNER JOIN dbo.tblapproved_invc_line AS TIL ON TIH.INVOICE_NUM = til.LINE_ITEM_INVOICE_NUM WHERE til.LINE_ITEM_INVOICE_NUM = '230065942' FOR XML PATH (''), ROOT('request') This query gives me all the data, but instead of inserting the data into the xml in the existing create_sotransaction, it causes all the nodes to close then opens a new set of . I've tried and my google foo is weak. How would i embed the subquery results without triggering the closing tags of the already open elements?