Book Four: Air

Chapter 1

Aang aroused from his huge, fancy, king-sized bed in the Earth King's palace. He awoke to something sloppy and wet touching his face; Bosco was licking him excessively. "Aw, c'mon Bosco, get off of me," he said, gently pushing the bear away. As Aang lifted his head up from Bosco's direction, he looked over at the door to see Katara looking at him. He smiled, remembering that they were together now. It took one whole year, but now Katara was his. He remembered when she had ignored him and thought of him as a "little brother". Those times were over now. He no longer yearned to hold Katara in his arms, now he could.

"Good morning, Aang," Katara said, blushing, remembering that they had kissed yesterday at the Jasmine Dragon. How could she forget? She prayed that Sokka, Toph, Suki, Zuko, or Iroh hadn't seen them. She was pretty sure Sokka hadn't, because if he had Aang wouldn't be awake right now.

"Good morning Katara."

"Oh yeah, Aang, the Earth King said he needed us at an important meeting early this morning. You have to get ready. I'll wait for you in the hallway," Katara told him as she gently shut the door behind her so Aang could get dressed.

Aang groaned. Wasn't the war over? Why did they have to get up so early and work all day? They were supposed to be living in luxury. He unwillingly put on some pants and tossed his yellow shirt onto his back. Then he put his air nation necklace around his neck and walked out the door to find Katara waiting for him. He grabbed her hand as they walked down the hallways to Earth King Kuei's meeting.

They walked through a big fancy door and quickly let go of each other's hands and took two seats next to each other. They looked across the room to see a sleepy Sokka with his arm around Suki. Kuei was sitting on a chair in the center that was elevated higher than the rest. Firelord Zuko was also there, sitting next to Mai. Many other faces they recognized were there, such as Hakoda, the other Kyoshi Warriors, most of the Freedom Fighters, and lots of other people. Everyone was here except for… "Where is Toph?! She was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago!" the Earth King shouted at one of the many generals around the huge table.

"Sorry Your Highness, but I just sent four of my loyal attendants to go and fetch her."

Kuei still did not look pleased but he seemed to calm down a bit and lean back into his regal chair. Suddenly, the huge door burst open, three of the attendants dragging Toph into the room. One of them was lying unconscious on the floor. "I thought the stinking' war was over!" Toph shouted, "I don't want to go to some stupid meeting! I'm so tired!" The attendants flung Toph right into one of the chairs next to Suki. Everyone seemed to stare at her and Sokka gave her a funny look. She looked down at her feet embarrassed. Her hair was a mess; it looked like it was almost four feet high. Also, she was still wearing her sloppy clothes that she slept in.

"Well, on that note, let's get this meeting started," Kuei announced, "Okay, so the war is indeed over, and, thanks to the Order of the White Lotus, Ba Sing Se has also been re-conquered by the Earth Kingdom, but one-hundred years of war has left the world very scarred. There are many things needed to be done and many places to go to begin to rebuild the world and create an admired era of peace. Does anyone have any suggestions on where we should focus on helping first? We will not all be in the same place, but we will all split up into fairly small groups."

"How about all the forests the Fire Nat- I mean Ozai burned down?" Aang suggested, remembering the Firelord sitting in the same room as him.

"Hmm… The environment is very important to our world, but not a need we need to take rushed action on. I think we will send some troupes there now, but turn our focus to that later," the Earth King commented.

"We could try to find more innocent Fire Nation prisoners and set them free," Zuko thought out loud.

"Yes, that is very important and will need quick action taken upon it. But, we have already released most of the prisoners. Still, I will send some people to go and double check."

"What about all those sick and injured people in the outer ring of Ba Sing Se? We're already in Ba Sing Se and people could die if we don't revive them soon enough. Ozai's invaders brought many foreign diseases here that the people aren't immune to," Katara recommended.

"That is a good idea Katara. I suggest you, Aang, Zuko, Toph, Sokka, Mai, and Suki go there right now. I will arrange for a private, exclusive train to take you there immediately. Thank you for your input, and I will send a messenger hawk to you when it is time for the next meeting," Kuei said as he patted Bosco on the head and waved them good bye. The Aang Gang left the meeting room and walked out the big, fancy door.

"Hey Toph, that reminds me," Sokka said as they were walking towards the train, "Where's Hawky?"

"Uh…" Toph stammered, then smiled, "He was fighting with Momo and Appa got ticked and ate him." Toph still hadn't heard back from her parents. She had sent that letter several months ago. Maybe they really did hate her.

Sokka smiled as she punched his arm, "Sure, I believe that."

They then reached the train and all sat down. Sokka sat down quiet slowly, because he had not yet fully recovered from his leg injury that he had gotten during Sozin's Comet. Earth benders on the side of the train bended the rock tracks to make the train ride down them. Aang and Katara sat next to each other, quietly talking and Zuko and Mai did the same.

"So… just like old times, right?" Sokka said, remembering his travels with all these people (excluding Suki and Mai) all over the world.

"Yeah," Zuko responded, "Just like old times…" He hoped not. He didn't want to see any more violence, cruelty, or betrayal. He winced, thinking of what he had done to his uncle. But then he sighed, and released all the pain out. That was behind him now. He had restored his honor.

Finally, the train reached the most outer ring of the city, right by the wall. The Earth King planned to remove the rings of Ba Sing Se soon; they divided all the citizens of the city.

As they got out of the train Aang said, "I think we should split up. We could help more people that way. I'll go with Katara, Zuko, you go with Mai, and Sokka, Suki, and Toph can go together. Meet back here in half an hour." Everyone agreed and went their separate ways.

Katara and Aang quickly walked down the rough, damaged road and knocked on the first door they saw. They heard shouts and rustling, then a ragged woman peeked out the door and barked, "What do you want?"

"Hello. I'm the Avatar and this is my friend, Katara," Aang replied calmly, "We just wanted to know if you needed any help."

"No," the lady said as she slammed the door in their faces.

Katara, being her sassy self, flung the door back open and said, "We just offered you help, and you just slam the door in our faces?!"

"Yes," the woman answered.

Katara fumed and said, "Forget it Aang! She's not worth helping." But then she looked into the woman's beaten down house and saw a child leaning over the bed of a sick boy. At this, Katara calmed down a bit and showed her sympathy. "I'm sorry for barging into your house, but all we really want to do is to help."

"Fine," the woman snapped, letting them inside more. She sighed and sank down into a ripped up chair.

Katara rushed to the little boy's side, and asked the other child next to him what happened. "Little Timmy got sick," replied the young girl that was sucking her thumb. Katara sighed. She prayed that she could help Little Timmy. She looked back to see Aang talking to some other children there and the lady weeping in her chair. Katara unscrewed the cap from her water pouch and bended some water so it surrounded her hands. She then touched the little boy's chest and the water glowed a bright blue color as she used her healing abilities on him. Timmy coughed and sat up. He looked at Katara with hurt, but happy puppy eyes and murmured, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Katara replied, happy to have helped. The children Aang had talked to seemed a lot happier as well. Even the grumpy lady seemed a bit relieved. They had done a good job.

Zuko and Mai walked down the streets, observing each house as they passed it. Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko spotted a grimy looking man laying face-down in a sewer. He walked towards the man and tapped his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay to you?!" the man cried, suddenly sitting upright, revealing a scarred face and a mouth with hardly any teeth. Mai almost puked, but kept her mouth shut.

"What happened?" Zuko asked pitifully.

"Those dang Fire Nation soldiers burned down my house!" he screamed, "I wouldn't leave, so they burned my face and beat me! And I have no idea where my wife is! She ran, like I told her, when they came. Now she's gone…" The man then began to weep as he slumped back into his gutter.

"It's okay, we're going to help you," Mai reassured him.

"You guys might need a little help with that," a voice from behind them offered. Zuko and Mai whipped their heads around to see June leaning over them.

"That would be appreciated," Zuko agreed.

"Well then, do you have anything with your wife's scent on it?" June asked, addressing the homeless man.

"Er… she gave me a lock of her hair before she left…" the man replied unsurely as he handed it to her.

June grabbed the lock of hair and called, "Nyla." The Shirshu sniffed the hair and got the scent. June, Zuko, Mai, and the man hopped onto him and he ran incredibly fast. The old man cowered and screamed as he clutched Mai's waist. Zuko looked at him uneasily.

Out in the distance, the group saw a small tent made out of grass and a lady right by it. "That's her! That's my wife!" the man shouted joyously. June pulled Nyla to a stop and let Zuko, Mai, and the man off.

"Thanks June," Zuko praised.

"Don't mention it. You owe me," she answered as she rode away on Nyla's back.

The man rushed over to his wife and grabbed her in his arms and hugged her. They were both sobbing with joy and the man looked back at the younger couple and said, "Thank you. Thank you so much…"

Toph, Sokka, and Suki patrolled the outer ring of Ba Sing Se, looking out for anyone in need. Occasionally, if they saw a beaten down house, they would knock on the door, but they were mostly abandoned. On about the fourth house that they knocked on the door, the door just fell down, because the hinges had mostly fallen out and were weakened.

"Is anyone home?" Suki asked softly. There was no response, so Sokka and Suki started to walk away but then Toph stopped them.

"There's someone in there!" She said, shocked. Just then, they heard a faint cry coming from inside the building.

"Let's go check it out," Sokka advised. The trio walked inside and looked almost everywhere in the house. Then, they came to a corner of the building and saw that part of the roof had fallen down. One of the pillars that had used to be supporting the roof was collapsed on the floor, and underneath it was a young girl about the same age as Sokka.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked, stunned and concerned. All the girl could do was let out a small whimper of pain. "We're gonna help you. It's going to be all right," Sokka reassured, "Toph, can you try to earthbend her out from under the pillar?"

"No problem, Snoozles," Toph replied. She stamped the stone floor with her bare foot and suddenly a part of the floor shot up into the air and lifted the pillar. Then Sokka hastily pulled the girl out from underneath it and Toph let the pillar crash to the ground again.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked the girl again.

"I-I'm fine…" the girl replied softly, "Tha- thank you for saving me…" Then she weakly sat upright and gave Sokka a kiss on the cheek. Suki gave her a death stare and Toph sadly looked at her feet. Sokka's whole face was bright red and he mumbled something like "um… your welcome…". Then Toph and Sokka carried the girl to the nearest hospital.

"Uh… I think it's time that we go meet up with the others now," Suki suggested. It was still a bit awkward after the kiss.

"Erm… Yeah…" Sokka replied, dazed.

In a few minutes, the whole group was back at the train station.

"How'd it go for you guys?" Zuko asked everyone.

"We did pretty well. We helped a lot of sick people," Aang replied.

"Sokka here was kissing on the job," Toph answered, making him blush. Suki looked very uncomfortable. Toph smiled at that.

"I guess we all did a good job today. Good work out there Team Avatar!" Sokka congratulated.

"Sokka, enough with the nicknames!"