Silver

It was warm and humid in the evergreen forests of Gi Loa, an Earth Kingdom village.It was noon in mid summer, the thick trees helped keep some shade from the blazing sun. Song birds were chirping and fluttering about as the zebra deer were grazing on the cool green grass away from the dirt trail. A mother zebra deer and her baby were grazing peacefully before she shot her head straight up at the sound of a twig snapping. She heard a whining voice as she nudged the rump of her baby to move along to avoid the possible danger ahead. As they pranced off into the trees, the voice got louder as more footsteps were heard. Soon a young Southern Water Tribe man appeared wielding his sword as he groaned, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"How much walking do we have do?! A forest should not have to be long!" He moaned. His sister, only a year younger than him came from behind him, rolling her eyes as she swept her dark brown hair to the side of her face.

"Sokka, you're 19 years old. You would think by now you would stop acting like a baby." She said. Sokka shot a stern look back at his sister.

"And you, Katara, would think that with you being 18 years old you would stop being a bossy stuck up know it all." Sokka said back with pride. Katara grunted as a tall and slender Air Nomad stepped forward from the bushes holding a map with a flying lemur on his shoulder. He glared at Sokka.

"Hey! That's my girlfriend you're talking about!" He said. Katara smiled at her boyfriend and she kissed his cheek before holding his hand. Sokka moaned again.

"Don't remind me Aang." He said pretending to gag. They continued to walk on the dirt trail, trails of sweat dripping down their faces as they trudged through the heat. The smell of pine and dew filled the air and the sounds of birds, forest animals and the water in the nearby river flowing down fast wasn't enough to distract them from their aching feet.

"Let's take a break, I can't be the only one with aching feet. There is a river, a perfect spot." Katara said as Aang and Sokka nodded in agreement. They brushed past the forest bushes to see a cooling pond that was connected to the river. The willow trees that grew around the outer edge of the pond were flowing with the gentle breeze, leaving little leaves in the water. Katara removed her shoes and slipped her feet into the soothing water. She sighed in relief as Sokka did the same while rolling up his pants. Aang sat on a nearby rock, reviewing the map once more as his lemur Momo flew over into the bushes to snack on some berries. Katara blended some of the water into her water satchel as she looked at Aang, getting out of the water and walking towards him.

"We haven't seen anything suspicious yet, but we have to make absolute sure that they are not hiding out in this forest. Mayor Wun is counting on us to find the bandit group that has been harassing their village. We only have 3 more miles of forest left to scout." He said as he rolled up the map. Sokka whined again.

"3 miles?!" Sokka exclaimed. Katara raised a brow in his direction. Before she could say anything, an arrow shot straight past Sokka's face as it hit the water. They all jumped back in surprise as Sokka walked into the water to retrieve the arrow. It had a symbol of a silver lotus on the tip. Sokka's eyes widened as he turned to Katara and Aang. He looked in the trees, watching the unusual movement of the leaves.

"Ambush!" Sokka yelled as 10 men jumped from the tree tops, landing in the water as it splashed on the three. Sokka quickly drew his sword as the men took their battle stances. Two were in front of Sokka as 3 surrounded Aang. 2 men stood in front of Katara as the other 2 men stood behind her. They were a variety of sizes, some were big and muscular while others were small and lean. Some had scars from unknown causes and some had unique tattoos and piercings. Their anger and fury radiated off of them, all were so different but had the same tattoo of a silver lotus on various parts of their bodies. Katara stood her ground as she darted a quick glance to Aang who nodded in her direction. He clenched his fist as Katara began to bend a ring of water around her, her heat beating fast as the water ring took form, ready for her to do with it what she wills to. The man in front of her swung his heavy metal chains at her, attempting to wrap them around her head. Katara dodged them, bending backwards as the flew past her, an inch above her face. She formed water whips as she managed to move her arms to whip him in his chest, causing him to move back a bit. Aang was taking advantage of his environment and as 2 men charged at him, he formed a wall on each side of him, pushing it back against them as he formed 2 other walls behind each man, trapping them in an earthy enclosure. They struggled but it was to no avail. Sokka threw his slick boomerang to the left of him, swinging his sword at the men to get them to back up. The boomerang spun high above ground before making a sharp turn to hit the one man up his jaw while coming back to hit the other man straight in the temple of his head. While they were caught off guard, Sokka tripped them by swinging his leg around, knocking them down to the ground and hitting their heads hard with the edge of his sword, knocking them out cold. Aang froze the other man surrounding him while Sokka picked up his boomerang and joined Aang to go help Katara. Katara was whipping her tentacles of water, knocking them down as they sprung back up. One man shook his head and glared at her.

"The other two don't matter, we just need the girl!" He yelled in a deep, angry voice to the other men. Katara stopped shipping for a moment and stood in confusion for a moment.

"Huh?" Katara said as a big, callused brute grabbed her right wrist. His grip was tight as the veins in his hands bulged out, determined not to let go. He began to drag her before Aang stepped in and erupted a long flame from his hand, thrashing it towards the brute's face.

"Let her go!" He said in a serious tone. Even though Katara was determined to defeat this guy, she did love seeing Aang being protective. The guy backed up, still not letting go. With his other hand, the muscular man his sledgehammer, swinging at Sokka and Aang. Sokka ducked while Aang jumped over it. They charged at him, bringing in an aura of full force. He had to dodge Aang's attack and Sokka's sword, so he tried to duck under and jumped to the side before being kicked in the stomach. He grunted as he tumbled down, still keeping his grip on Katara. Katara tried to bend ice shards at him but he tucked her other hand behind her back, making her in a painful stance to even move. Aang saw this and tried to hurl slabs of rock at him, making sure to miss Katara. He tumbled under them before he mistakingly hit a tree. Katara flung back from this, still in the brute's grip. A loud snap was heard, the brute finally letting go as he pulled himself up. The other lean guy came up to him.

"Retreat! We will be back another day for that healer! The Silver Lotus never gives up." He said loud and clear. The men still conscious and free, broke the others loose and helped carry them back into the forest. The ran fast, not even leaving footprints in the dirt. Aang tried to run after them before hearing Katara scream. He darted his head back, seeing Sokka holding her under the pine tree the brute was hit on. He ran towards her, stopping and kneeling down to see tears coming from her eyes.

"Look." Sokka said bluntly. He revealed Katara's right hand, her dominant hand, the wrist black and blue and swollen like a plum. They soon realized that was the snap, it wasn't a tree branch or even a firework from the village close by.

"He broke her wrist." Sokka stated. Aang soon got furious, huffing air in and out before hearing an engine the distance. Wind was erupting from a mile from them as a giant black blimp with a Silver Lotus symbol on the side. It whirled up as it lifted from the ground and turned west, facing away from the three. It flew off, Aang knowing it would be pointless to try and catch them without a solid plan. He looked back at Katara who tried to sit up, wincing at the pain.

"I-I can't move it." She said, trying to touch her swollen hand. Aang saw her hurting, wishing that it was him instead of her with all of his heart. He hated to see her in pain, he knew it was unavoidable but still it was the worst feeling for him. Sokka stood up and inspected the same arrow from earlier.

"Can't you heal yourself?" He asked. She sat there in silence for a moment before shaking her head, using her left hand to wipe the tears from her face. Aang helped her stand up, holding her left hand before giving her a kiss on her lips. She felt comfort when Aang kissed her, like all the pain melting away just for that moment. She kissed back before separating.

"I can't. I need my dominant hand. I guess I will have to let it heal the regular way." She grabbed some bandages from her satchel, wincing as she wrapped her hand tightly, slipping in two narrow splints on each side before tying it up. It still hurt her, a throbbing pain that seemed never ending, though not as much now that it was wrapped.

"We need to head back to the village, tell them what happened. Maybe we should also head back to the Fire Nation, if the Silver Lotus is familiar at all to the White Lotus." Sokka stated. Aang nodded in agreement. Sokka tucked his boomerang away as Aang pulled out his bison whistle, blowing into it but no sound coming out of it that they could hear. Katara stood there, looking at her wrist. Aang looked back on her with worry before holding her left hand again, lightly squeezing it. Katara met his gaze and gave a small smile.

"I'm fine sweetie, it's just, they said 'get the girl' and came after me… why would they want me?" She said looking off into the trees, trying to figure out this puzzle. Aang sighed.he kissed her cheek, making her blush and smile a little.

"I don't know, but I do know that I would never let them take you." He said holding her head to his chest. Katara was at ease, at least for now. She knew that she was a very skilled Water Bender and was of great use in a fight, but she always knew Aang would never let anything bad happen to her, or wouldn't let the other person get away with it at least. So a grumble was heard as they saw Appa flying towards them in the distance. He soared gracefully, landing softly on the earthy terrain below, Momo perching on top of one of his horns. Sokka his the palm of his hand on his forehead.

"We could have used Appa this whole time?!" He exclaimed. Aang helped Katara get on top of Appa, making sure she was comfortable before shrugging at Sokka.

"Appa needs breaks too, and besides, it was a beautiful day for a walk." He said smiling. Katara giggled a little as Aang hopped up on Appa's head. Sokka rolled his eyes and climbed on top, joining Aang and his sister. Aang took hold of the reigns tied to Appa's horns, lifting them once and letting them back down again.

"Yip yip!"