Disclamer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. If I did, I would be writing more episodes. ANYWAYS.

The gaang began to pack up

The gaang began to pack up. The new members of the group, Hakoda, Suki, and the ex-prisoner held their own weight, but when they finished packing, the ex-prisoner gave his thanks and left.

I airbended the saddle onto Appa and helped the rest of the gaang up onto the saddle "Yip yip Appa!" I said excitedly, wondering what good things would happen today. Appa groaned and took off.

I looked back after Appa leveled off and studied the group. As usual, my eyes wandered to Katara. I sighed and turned around.

I wasn't very into getting yelled at Sokka, and didn't want to give him a chance to make fun of me, or worse, let Katara see me blushing.

I made a few course corrections before I let my mind wander. Just like my eyes, it wandered to Katara. I sighed again and focused my mind back to keeping Appa on Course

"Whats wrong?"

I jumped in surprise "Oh, hi Katara." I said. I hadn't seen her sit next to me..

She wasn't taken off subject. "Hi Aang, what's wrong? You seem a bit down lately."

She was right, I had been down. I went to one of my people's temple to hide and what happens? Combustion man comes and blows it up. All the damage done to the temple was my fault.

She must have read my mind because the next thing she said was "It wasn't your fault Aang. I know the monks would have been proud of you."

I looked into her Ocean Blue eyes and smiled. "Thanks Katara." I replied. She always knew how to cheer me up.

I steered the Sky Bison to the ground on an uninhabited island. The rest of the gaang had begun to unload their stuff. Katara got out the cooking supplies, and Sokka went to go get food while the others set up the tents.

I walked further into the forest and began to gather fruit. Knowing Sokka, he'd come back with nothing but meat and I'd have to go out and get fruit anyways.

I laughed to myself before walking back to camp with my arms full of fruit. I set them down next to Katara. She looked at me and smiled before pulling out her knife and cutting the fruit up.

I turned away before she could see me blush. I always blushed when she smiled at me.

The fruit were delicious and by Sokka's reaction, so was the soup Katara had made.

After awhile, the group moved off to their separate sleeping bags and fell asleep outside of their tents. I watched the dying embers while lying down and dozed off to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and went off to practice waterbending by the beach. Everyone else woke up an hour later and began packing up.

Katara came over and joined me for a little while before interrupting.

"Aang, everyone looks ready to go. We should probably get going."

I stopped and smiled before heading off to the rest of the gaang. Everyone climbed onto Appa and he took off on his way to Kyoshi Island.

It was Sokka's turn to guide Appa so I went and sat next to Toph and Katara. I listened to the rhythm of Appa's airbending and fell asleep.

I woke up and saw Katara sleeping next to me. I couldn't fight the blush working its way to my face after realizing I was holding Katara's hand.

I quickly let go of her hand and moved my own back to my side.

She woke up and saw my blush, making me blush even more. She laughed before heading to the side of the saddle to see the scenery.

I came up next to her and looked out at the sea. In the distance I saw Kyoshi Island.

It looked like it was still under Earth Kingdom control. I could just hear Sokka breath a sigh of relief. I knew he was thinking about Suki's home. I looked back to see Suki blushing. She heard too.

The Sky Bison landed and his passengers got off. A small crowd had formed, but it seemed that foamy mouth guy had already passed out. I laughed, seeing the foam all over his mouth.

One of the women showed us to a house where we'd all be sleeping and Suki left to go to her house.

The next morning I woke up and stretched. The house that the gaang was sleeping in was large enough for them all to sleep in one room.

I stopped stretching when I saw Katara sleeping next to me. I remembered going to bed opposite her.

She mumbled in her sleep before opening her eyes and getting up. I watched as she sat up in confusion, obviously wondering how she had gotten to the other side of the house.

Suki burst in from the entrance. "Have you guys seen Sokka lately?" She asked.

"No, we thought he would be out hunting." Katara said a little bewildered.

"I went to his normal hunting spot and all I found was this." She said, holding a note.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"It says Ambushed, mine, save." She replied, horror in her face.

"That's it?" Suki nodded. "Well we'd better get going, I remember seeing a mine on our way into the Fire Nation." I stated.

Suki nodded again. I looked at Katara. She was writing a letter, telling the rest of the group that they'd be back in a few days. She seemed to be taking it pretty well, but I could see that she was scared for her brother.

I felt that Toph should also come and woke her up. Just out of the corner of my eye I could see Katara look at me, she scribbled out something in her letter.

Toph woke up grudgingly, but I finally got her up and packing.

I didn't wake Zuko, he and Katara would just get into a lot of fights. We silently made our way past the rows of houses to Appa. He groaned eager to take flight again. I smiled half-heartedly and climbed on, helping the others before taking Appa's reigns.

"Yip yip." I said and we took off.

Katara sat down next to me. "Hi Katara." I said

"Hi Aang." She said, sounding down.

"Are you ok Katara? You seem down." I said

"Nothings wrong Aang, leave me alone." She said heatedly. I was surprised, but didn't give up.

"Katara, I know something's wrong. Maybe if you tell me you'll feel better." I persisted.

She looked at me… and started crying. I hugged her at a loss of what to say.

Eventually, her cries waned to sobs and finally to sniffles. "Thanks Aang."

"Woa, don't look at me, I barely did anything." I said, slightly sarcastic. She laughed in that weird way you laugh after crying and went back into the saddle.

I could see the island. It was spewing out a dense cloud of black smoke. I sighed. Great job, mighty Avatar. I said to myself.

A ship was anchored out in the water and smaller boats were ferrying new prisoners to the island. The boats landed on the beach and the prisoners got out. The prison master was walking up and down the line of prisoners. He stopped at Sokka. I could tell he was yelling at Sokka and Sokka didn't care.

The next thing I saw was the prison master on the ground and Sokka laughing. He was tackled to the ground and dragged away.

"See Katara? Sokka will be fine. Look, he still has his sense of humor." Katara laughed a bit, it sounded anxious and forced. She turned back to look at the island.

I landed Appa on the island. It was near the Fire Nation homeland. The island was small, but the entire center was blackened with a giant drill digging into the ash. I could just make out other holes in the earth.

Toph jumped down and punched her hands into the ground, trying to feel the earth better. "There's a wall surrounding the mine system." She said.

"Well there goes plan B" Suki said.

"What was plan B? I didn't even know we had a plan A." I said.

Suki looked at me and fell over laughing. I started laughing too. "Well" I said after everyone recovered. "What's plan C?" I asked.

Suki looked at me for a while before replying. "Plan C… Plan C is… Plan C is I go in there as a prisoner, and Sokka and I escape."

"Woa, hold on there. No one's going in there." Toph said.

"Well, why not? It seems like a pretty good plan to me. They've managed it before." I said.

"Most of the wall is natural. I think that the mine is sitting on a volcano, and by the looks of it," she said, gesturing to a geyser of steam suddenly spew out of the ground not too far off. "It's waking up."

"Well then, that's all the more reason that Suki should go in and rescue Sokka. We can't have our idea guy getting toasted." I said, a bit surprised by the geyser.

"No Aang, we should just get on Appa, fly over, and pick up Sokka before the volcano erupts." Katara said.

"Aang's right Katara, Suki can get him out before the volcano erupts. I don't think it will be for another day or so anyways. Besides, the mine is probably surrounded by catapults" Katara's shoulders sagged in defeat and Suki smiled.

"Thanks Toph, I'll be fine." Suki said happily.

"Suki, take this." I said, handing her my bison whistle. "Blow on it when you need us to pick you up."

"Thanks. I'll make sure that we come back before the volcano erupts." Suki said before running into the forest.

Suki's POV