Aana stood in her brother's room, his farewell scroll addressed to Monk Gyatso grasped in her hands. She didn't know how to react to what she had just read, a million thoughts swarmed in her head. How could Aang do this to her? She knew that he had been under a lot of stress, even if she didn't know why, but that was no excuse to run away and leave her behind! A tear rolled down her cheek. Frantically, she threw the scroll back down and ran out of the room, to where Appa usually was. It was just after sunset; hopefully she could get there before Aang left.
Out of breathe and a little light-headed from running, Aana came to where Appa was. "Oh thank god, Appa, you're still here!" a sigh of relief came out with the gasps from running. She threw her herself on Appa, hugging his fur. Appa turned his head toward her and gave an affectionate nudge and grunt. She looked around. Aang was nowhere in sight. Maybe he had changed his mind! Was he going to stay after all? She felt a small flicker of hope, but it soon faded. Appa had his saddle on and it already had a pile of supplies ready to go, which meant that Aang had just gone to fetch something real quick and would be back soon.
She couldn't let Aang go, but if she tried to talk to him he would just wave away her warning dismissively and if she asked to come with him he would leave while she was too busy to protest. That left only one choice.
Pulling back her long black hair, Aana grabbed hold of some of Appa's fur, climbing into the saddle. She didn't have much time to hide so she turned to the most obvious hiding place, under the blankets. She tried to make herself as small as possible, hugging her own small shoulder bag of supplies, so it didn't look like the pile of blankets was a breathing lump.
Footsteps could be heard walking up to Appa; Aana recognized them as her brother's instantly. It looked like she hid just in time. "There, there Appa, it'll be okay…" his tone didn't match his words, "We'll be back soon. I just need to clear my head." He sounded so broken. Aana wished her brother would tell her what was wrong… She heard Appa's fur rustle as Aang climbed onto his head. She drew her knees in closer. "Yip, Yip!"
The all too familiar sensation of taking off into the sky overtook Aana. Now all she had to do was wait until they were too far from home to turn back and she could come out of hiding. Then maybe she could talk some sense into her brother.
A while later Aana opened her eyes. She must have drifted off at some point. Wondering what had woken her, she lifted a corner of the blanket and peaked through. A horrible storm was raging on, the dark clouds loomed in the sky, foreshadow a debacle. Aang was struggling to keep to keep the reins in his hand as the wind thrashed them back and forth. Appa was thrown violently toward the ocean by a strong gust of wind. "AAN-" the water smothered her before she could finish calling out to her brother.
She was falling toward darkness. Every breath she took betrayed her, stabbed at her lungs, and only took her down further. The blankets weighed her down. Desperately she clung to Appa, but it was no use. The water was too strong for her too handle and she could feel her grasp slipping…
Right when she had given up a blue light, originating from her brother engulfed her and their surroundings. The water around them swirled into a ball and she could see a shell of ice forming around them. 'What's going on?' she thought? What was happening to her brother? She exhaled all the water in her throat just in time for the whole thing to freeze, and her entire world was devoured by darkness.