Fire Nation tanks were lined up around the camp… no where to run, no where to hide. They, being Aang, Katara, Sokka, and the newly acquired Amara, had to stand and fight… not that they had a choice. Now, if you are reading this, I am sure you know of Aang, Katara, and Sokka. But if you don't, then I suggest you go off to read something on Tyto Alba, or possibly Ara Macao. Or perhaps you'd have fun reading about Canis Lupis or Strix Occidentalis? Either way… I am sure many of you don't exactly know who Amara is. Now, if I told you she was a firebender, you would surely know she was of the Fire Nation, right? Wrong. Sorry, but she is no murderess killer like the lot of them. In fact, she hates the Fire Nation more than she hates… well… things she hates.
The fact is that at this moment, Amara was actually helping them in defeating the oncoming tanks. A firebender helping Aang? Nope, that's no typo. Amara was a full blooded firebender, yet here she was, helping them.
And even as the tanks edged closer to them, the blonde firebender was defending the group. She was, in fact, an ally. Katara herself was using some nice waterbending, and had already taken out some of the tanks, while Sokka threw multiple weapons, mostly consisting of his boomerang. Aang had taken this chance to practice some waterbending of his own, and ended up in drenching a few troops wielding flames from the inside of the tank. Amara preferred her own firebending methods; a combination of kicks and punches that released yellow and red flames, a lick of blue at the center of the hottest ones, careful to keep the fire away from the others.
Four tanks had closed in on the young airbender though, and Amara turned to see the fire heating up inside them, Katara too realizing this, and assisted in taking them out, her only source of water being the spilled liquid from the containers. As the waterbender shot ice daggers inside the tanks, Amara blasted a fireball and redirected a flame away from Aang, Sokka himself struggling to fend off the oncoming battalion. "Aang, get out of there!" Amara shouted and proceeded on blasting away another flame, Katara taking out a second tank.
A slight silence passed around them as the battle seemed to come to a halt, the tanks stopped moving and the group pausing, knowing well to wait for what may happen next. But the tanks merely filtered around them, and moved on to somewhere off in the distance, and Katara stared as Sokka sat in the grass, Amara herself scoffing at their cowardly retreat. "Our camp is destroyed, the tanks almost killed us, and now we're stuck in the middle of no where without food or a map. Now what?" It was always like Sokka to speak of the obvious, but he had a point. Appa was tired from smashing a few tanks himself, and even if the flying bison was fit to fly, they had no idea where they were, or where the nearest town was. Usually this wouldn't be that big of a problem, but without food, and without a nearby stream for water, there was going to be problems.
The fur-lined sleeping bags sat side by side in the clearing under the moon's watchful eye, singed and torn, a flame flickering on the hood of one, before a soft wind turned it into smoke that lined the stars. A few fruits were smashed, left to the ants and meadow mice to feast on, and the water had been flooded everywhere, four containers either singed or ripped open. Black soot was everywhere, yet had ceased from falling from the sky, and all the group could do was wait.
Aang never did speak to Amara though, even when the firebender offered to go out and search for water or food. It was a bitter silence, and Katara and Sokka knew why, but treated Amara like nothing happened, for her sake. Perhaps it will be better by morning… Amara thought as she wandered off into the thick brush, hoping to find berries of some sort, or maybe look over to see a stream. But she found no such thing, and only dared to venture deeper, until she came upon a small cluttered forest of trees. No fruit hung from them, not even leechy nuts. Only the green leaves rustling in a soft whisper of the wind. A deep sigh came from the girl as she walked forward, following the trail of what looked like a rabbit, knowing well that it could lead her to water. But the footprints ended at the edge of a hole, the rabbit's home, and Amara couldn't even hear the slightest drop of water, or the sound of the liquid running over smooth, river rocks.
With a heavy heart and aching legs, she wandered back to the wrecked camp, empty handed as her blonde hair, usually found in a pony tail, slipped from her hair tie and fell loosely around her shoulders, shaking her head as Sokka opened his mouth to speak, but the silence still hung around like a ghost, wandering through them and taking hold of the still air. Aang glanced over at Amara and whispered something barely audible. "You lied…" he said harshly, then turned around and lay down in the grass, closing his grey eyes and tried hard to sleep as Amara stared, no expression on her face; no look of hurt or regret, but deep inside screaming. I'm sorry, she thought briefly and took her place far away from the group, laying softly in the grass and looked up at the glimmering stars that dotted the sky.
I'm sorry.