Aang, Toph, Katara, Zuko, and Sokka were sitting in Appa's saddle flying to the Earth Kingdom, when Sokka said, "Now you finally have a earth bending teacher, a water bending teacher, and strangely, a fire bending teacher. So you're set! Let's go slay the fire lord now!" Sokka gestured air bending with his boomerang, Aang replied with a confused expression, "It's not that simple, I don't know if I'm ready yet, I don't know when the right time is, I don't even know if I'm going to kill him yet... I don't know anything..." Katara moved closer to Aang, put her hand on his soldier, and gave him a smile "You're going to be fine" she said. Aang clenched his fist and replied "No I'm not, I wish I had an avatar teacher, so I don't have to go into the spirit world whenever I have a question! Toph quickly lifted her head and blurted out "I think I may have the answer to your problem," Zuko turned around to join the conversation "Well what is it!" Toph mumbled "A long time ago my mum use to tell me stories, one of them was about a girl that studied the avatar, maybe she could help?" Aang's face began to light up with joy, "Well! Where is she?" said Katara "I'm not sure, I don't even know if the story is true or a myth" Toph replied. " Well thanks for that" Sokka said sarcastically "Let her finish" said Aang. "Well, the legend is that she was fascinated with avatars, so she spent all her time studying them, when she was 16 she realised that she had spent so much time chasing the avatar, that she forget about the people she loved. Zuko dropped his head and whispered "Sounds familiar" Toph continued "She was so sad that she bended herself into an iceberg, sort of like what Aang did." Zuko said, "How would we get her out?" Toph replied "Well people have tried to get her out with force, bending, melting the ice, but nothing seems to work." Katara looked at Aang "Maybe it's worth a try, if she could help Aang, we could use all the help we can get," Zuko looked at Toph "Where is she now?" Toph replied "She was from the northern water tribe, but the avatar she was studying was an earth bender, and it's an earth kingdom legend so I would assume the earth kingdom." Zuko's eyes darted to Aang "What do you think?" Sokka jumped up and said "Wait! Wait! Wait! Were seriously going to go into the earth kingdom, search the entire kingdom for someone who possibly doesn't even existence, and try to free her after thousands of other people have fail! Are you all crazy?" Aang stood up too, "Maybe we could just ask around a few markets? Just in case." Katara raised her head and said, "I'm willing to do it if you want Aang" Aang gave Katara a smile over his shoulder. "Ok everybody sit down, were going to have to make a small detour to get to the closest market" said Toph, Sokka sank back into the back of Appa's saddle and said "Could we at least get something to eat then?" Momo jumped on the top of his head and Aang giggled.
They landed in a forest near a line of food stalls, Aang turned to Appa and whispered, "You and Momo wait here, we'll bring you back some food." The gaang took off down the small dirt path that lead them to the market, Katara ran up to the first lady she saw and asked, "Hello, my names Katara, I was wondering if you knew anything about the legend of... Toph what was her name?" Toph stepped in front of Katara "Mei, the legend of Mei." The woman continued with what she was doing and barked back at Toph "No." Toph screwed up her face and said "Well! I-" she was interrupted by Aang pulling at her sleeve to move on. They continued to ask but no one was of help, Sokka gave up and went to get food for him, Appa, and Momo. At the second to last food stall the old woman working there explained "No Mei is definitely no legend, I seen her myself, the ice she's in hasn't melted or changed a bit." Aang moved in closer with anticipation and asked "Where is she?" the old woman replied "Hidden deep in that forest just there, I only found her by coincidence" Katara smiled at the old woman "Thank you so much" she said. The group made their way back up to Appa with Zuko slowly walking behind them, when they got there they found Sokka, Appa, and Momo eating. Aang told Sokka what the old woman said, they all agreed that Toph would wait with Appa and Momo, while the rest of them split up and searched for the girl in the woods. As Zuko was walking away, he stopped in his tracks, swung back on his heel and said, "Toph! why don't you just see if you can find her with your feet!" Toph replied, "I can only see earth Zuko, not ice..." Zuko's head dropped, he turned back around and began dragging his feet through the forest. At first Zuko was wandering through the forest looking at his feet with no intension of actually looking for the girl, but then he began to feel direction, as if he knew exactly where he was going, as if every step had a purpose. He felt so strange, and began running, until he came across a cold bit of ice. The ice was hidden in a cluster of old broken trees, he expected the ice to be a big block, but the ice was shaped like the girl, it was very detailed and almost looked like a ice human. He marvelled at the beautiful young girl trapped in ice until he began trying to free her, his initial reaction was to call for the group, but jealousy grew in him with the thought of Sokka or Aang saving the girl. Therefore, Zuko placed his hands on the sculptures arms and slowly began trying to melt the ice but with no reaction, he grew impatient and began chipping away at the ice with various objects he found lying on the forest floor. With no progress, Zuko flopped to the ground then formed a sitting position, he put his head in his hands and said, "There must be a way to get her out, maybe force isn't the answer." He grimly stood back up and stood face on with the girl, he placed his hand on her shoulder, then slid his palm down her arm to her hand and gripped it tightly. He moved in closer and stared into the girls dull eyes, he leaned in and gave the girl a soft kiss, at first, the ice was cold on his lips, but he soon began to feel warmth on his lips, then in his hand. The lips of the girl grew softer, and Zuko felt drops of water fall on him, he felt the sturdiness of the ice begin to disappear and the girl's body became more fragile. So Zuko wrapped his arms around the girls waist tightly still kissing her, the ice had completely melted and Zuko was drenched in water. He moved his head back to catch a glimpse of the girl, he though she was even more beautiful than when she was in the ice, her eyes were still close and she seemed weak. Zuko, still trying to figure out what just happened lifted her up into his arms and began walking her back to Appa.
Before long, Zuko found himself facing Appa with a stranger in his arms, as he approached, Toph popped up from behind Appa asking, "Who you got there?" Zuko look down at the closed eye girl and replied, "Well, I think I found... hey! Wait I though could only see earth?" A small smirk grew on Toph's face "Yeah, I can only see earth when I don't feel like walking through a forest searching for someone who might not even be real!" Zuko dropped his shoulders and sighed; he continued, "Well I think I might have found the girl in the 'myth' what was her name? Mei?" Toph twisted her face "What do you mean you think you found her? Were there 10 other girls trapped in ice out there?" Zuko climb up Appa's tail and gently placed the girl in Appa's saddle, resting her head on Sokka's sleeping bag. Ignoring Toph, Zuko said, "Has anyone been back before me?" Toph crossed her arms then replied, "No you have all been taking your sweet time." Zuko looked down at his left hand, running his finger along the creases, he looked up at Toph "How are we going to signal to the other to come back?" Toph climbed up on Appa and sat in his saddle "I don't know, I don't think any of us thought we would get this far." Zuko scratched he forehead, then shot three fireballs up into the air. Toph said over her shoulder "Thats not gonna get their attention" she rose from her seat tilted her head back a screamed "AANG! KATARA! SOKKAAA!" Zuko rushed over to Toph cupped his hand around her mouth and glared at her. Toph shook Zuko's hand off her and growled at him "What was that for!" Zuko frowned and said, "You'll wake her up!" Toph smiled "Sorry, didn't mean to hurt your..." Zuko stepped back "Don't!" Toph lean in "Your..." Zuko ran his hand through his hair "Don't!" Toph stood up and with a cheer said "Your girlfriend!" Zuko began to blush while Toph fell back over laughing. Zuko stood proud and said "I meant if you keep yelling like that you might attract fire nation warriors" At that moment Sokka spontaneously jumped out from the bushes, boomerang at hand, his face was full of worried as he said "What? What happened? Is everybody ok?" Zuko turned to face Sokka "Yeah? Whats the matter with you?" Sokka hung his head "Well I heard allot of yelling in this direction and I saw fire and, and, I don't know I'm so tired" Sokka barely made it up Appa's tail when he crashed down into Appa's saddle, as he adjusted his head to a more comfortable position, he caught a glimpse of the Mei. Sokka pushed himself into a sitting position and asked, "Whose that!" a grin grew on Sokka's face as a frown grew on Zuko's. "Nobody!" Zuko snapped "I mean shes the teacher Aang's been looking for but-" He was cut off by Toph "But Zukos fell in love with her already" Zuko's mind drifted back to when he first saw her in the ice, when he first placed his hand on her, and when he first kissed her, and he began to blush once more. Sokka folded his arms and mumbled to himself "Well that doesn't seem fair; you can't call dibs on girls, especially pretty ones." There was a rustle in a nearby bush, then Katara and Aang emerged into the sun light, "We couldn't find anything," Katara said in a soft voice. "Thats because we already found her," Zuko explained. Aang unleashed an enormous smile and said, "Really! Oh my spirit! I can't believe it!" Katara jumped a little, clapped twice, and asked, "How did you find her?" Zuko let a small smile out "Come one, I'll explain it on the way, but we need to get to a campsite since the sun is setting" Aang dance in one spot then replied "Oh Kay!" Then climb aboard Appa with gusto, Katara trailing behind him.
The gaang was sitting around a campfire with Mei sleeping closest to the fire, they began to worry about her, - especially Zuko- since the only time she moved was to breathe. Zuko had explained to the group what had happen in the forest, he left the part where he kissed Mei out, and replaced it with "Oh, I used a special fire bending technique that my uncle taught me" when Aang pleaded with Zuko to teach it to him, Zuko shrugged him off. Aang's excitement had watered down due to Mei not being conscious, Katara offered to try to heal her so Toph bended a table sort of structure, and the team lifted Mei up onto it. When the gaang plopped her down onto the table, he arm extended off the table and gracefully fell in front of Zuko. Katara began bending the blood in her body, moving her healing water from ankle to elbow to knee until she concluded "I have no idea what is wrong" Aang's head fell into his hands, Katara continued "Theres nothing wrong with her, nothings broken, no wounds, shes still breathing." Momo bounced around happily; completely oblivious to what was taking place. The team was standing around the table looking down at their feet trying to think of something to do, or waiting for Sokka to think of something to do. Thats when Zuko ran his finger up the side of the stone table, no one noticed but him, he slowly moved his hand towards Mei's, eventually the tips of his fingers were touching her palm. Zuko moved in, he wrapped his large hand in hers, held it tight, and stroke the back of her hand with his thumb. He could feel her hand loosely in his, but her grip began to tighten, until she was holding Zuko's hand just as tightly as he was holding hers. Zuko moved back in shock, but was careful to not draw to much attention to himself, the girl's eyes slowly but surely began to open. Zuko smiled, not a slight smile, not a grin, not a smirk, but he smiled, big. Katara and Aang's mouths gaped, Sokka gazed at the young water tribe girl, Toph had no idea what was going on but she could guess from the long pause from the group, and Appa blew air from his mouth. The young girl's eyes darted around the unfamiliar faces, she looked deeply confused, Katara moved in closer and said, "Hi I'm Katara, and these are my friends Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph." Momo jumped up on the table and danced around at the girls feet "And this is Momo" Katara said giggling; the gaang all welcomed Mei, who had an expression on her face as if she had just seen flying turtle pigs. Aang began to regal her of how they found her, and how they freed her from the ice, but the young water tribe girl remained silent with a shocked look on her face. Katara then informed her about the legend, the war, why they needed her help, anything she could think of in hope that the girl would say something. Finally, the girl sat up, she brushed her hair out of her face as said, "Uhhh." Katara moved to her side, while Sokka and Zuko fought for the other, Aang lean in, Toph was'nt too interested in anything that was going on. Zuko tripped Sokka and rushed up next to Mei, she scratched the back of her head and asked innocently, but with genuine curiosity "So, who was the one that actually freed me from the ice?" Toph threw her arm in Zukos direction "Him", Mei turned her head to see her saviour, once she did she stared at him for a solid minute, Zuko staring back at her, and both of them flushing with redness. The group just stood there with puzzled looks on their faces. "Um, ok so... are you alright? do you need anything?" Katara questioned. Mei shook her as if she had just woken from a day dream, "oh yes please, i would love some water thanks." Katara trotted off to gather some water, then Mei turned her attention to Aang "So, you need my help?"