Dun dundundun dundun dundundundun dun daaaaaaaa! (failed attempt at fanfare) Welcome to Book 2: Changes! If you haven't read book 1, I'd recommending doing so before reading this as it might make slightly more sense then... maybe, maybe not.
Anyway, I'm sorry for the wait, but here it is! I really hope you like this and enjoy reading it.
I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender but I do own my character Eira and the changes she makes in the story. (But I wouldn't be posting it in fanfiction if I did own it, and who would believe I owned something as great as Avatar?)
As always, please review and tell me what you think!
Chapter 1: Trying and Failing
As Eira felt the gentle rocking of the hammock and the waves rocking the boat, she felt like she should be sleeping. She felt like she should just be resting peacefully, but her eyes just couldn't close. It was weird. True, she didn't sleep very well generally but this was bad even by her general sleep standards.
At least she wasn't having nightmares… but then again, her thoughts weren't much better. All she could think about was her family or what had happened at the North Pole. She still felt weird about the fact she felt nothing when Zhao was killed by the Moon and Ocean spirits. Eira knew she should be feeling something. Anger, relief even happiness, but… nothing.
Eira turned over on her side and stared at the wooden walls of their small cabin in the dark, still not feeling tired at all. Eira inwardly groaned in frustration, for once actually feeling annoyed that her phone or something hadn't been in her pocket.
Sure it would've been very weird for everyone around her and practically useless but it would give her a way to pass the time at night when she couldn't sleep, like she did when she was at home… Then again, she arrived in this world by falling into a pond and then crashing into Artic waters from the sky so it would probably be broken by this point even if she did bring technology.
Behind her, she saw Aang stirring so she quickly closed her eyes and pretended to sleep so he wouldn't notice her.
She listened to the creaks of Aang's footsteps as he walked out slowly and she also heard Katara's hammock move and her whisper.
"Aang…?" Katara also got up and creaked out and Eira turned over again in her hammock. Aang must be thinking about him and the Avatar state. He was pretty scary with the amount of power he possessed. He single-handedly pushed back the Fire Nation, and it was practically the entire navy force!
Eira was frustrated with herself for not being able to remember the first three or four episodes of the second season. She basically only remembered what happened after Toph joined the group. She remembered that there was a scene with an arsehole general threatening to kill Katara and Aang going into the Avatar state but Eira completely forgot what happened in the next couple of episodes.
There was an episode with hippies though, and Eira did remember that the answer was to turn off lights or something.
Yeah, the next couple of days were going to be full of surprises… Eira couldn't exactly tell if this was a good thing or not. Doing things that wasn't shown in the show, such as spending three days on this boat, weren't exactly bad and Eira did seem to deal with it well.
She just liked knowing what she was getting into and knowing how to protect her friends.
o.O.o
Eira must've drifted off to sleep because when she next opened her eyes, Aang and Katara were back and there was sunlight beaming in through the small door.
Eira sat up, a bit shakily thanks to the hammock and rubbed her arms to try and get some feeling back into them, she must've slept on them or something.
Since it was now a lot warmer than it was in the North Pole, Eira had removed the extra shirt from below her tunic but she'd cut off the lower part of the sleeve so she still had something to cover the scar on her forearm.
She'd heard somewhere that in a fight people were likely to target injuries they could already see and noting that in the next month or so, she'd be facing Azula. She didn't want to take any chances.
There was a knock on the door and everyone else woke up.
"We've almost arrived at the drop-off point. Be ready to leave soon." It was Pukiq, one of the warriors travelling to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe. He was the youngest and the one who was most likely to do the tedious tasks such as messenger boy.
Eira gently dropped down from the hammock and picked up her bag which was leaning against a wooden wall.
Everyone else was getting up at their own pace so Eira decided to go and have some food before they departed.
As Eira made her way to the deck, she noticed that lots of people were already awake. She didn't understand how the Water Tribe people who ran the ship could do it through the night, sure they rested during the day but it must be so boring.
Eira got some bread and some water for a plain simple breakfast to have while she waited for everyone else to wake up.
Appa was calmly resting on the deck, his saddle being loaded by some Water Tribe people. Katara was the first one to wake up, closely followed by Aang and then followed by Sokka a while later.
It was amusing to watch Sokka trudge over to their table, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as Katara tried to hold in laughter. His clothes were misaligned and messy and his dark brown hair was out of place.
As he sat down, Katara giggled as she took a bite of her food. It was some sort of Water Tribe meal that looked so slimy Eira could barely look at it, never mind eating it. Water Tribe food without being able to eat meat wasn't very appealing. It was one of the reasons she'd been eating plain food for the last three days.
"Nice to see you, Sleeping Beauty." Eira commented sarcastically, prompting another giggle from Katara.
"Hah hah! Very funny." Sokka retorted sarcastically as he yawned and stretched out again. "So, we're leaving today, right?"
Eira nodded.
"Yep, then we're going to fly to General… Fong's base?" She said, temporarily forgetting the name of the general. "Then he should be escorting us to Omashu." I don't really get why, though. Eira thought. We could just fly to Omashu and cut out all of the nonsense in-between. Eira took a sip of water as Aang looked around excitedly. He was incredibly excited at the prospect of learning earthbending, especially from Bumi. Eira forgot why he learnt it from Toph and not Bumi but it was because something dangerous happened.
They all finished their food, talking their small talk as they all tried to wake up fully and when they did, they saw Pukiq walk up to them.
"We have arrived at the drop-off point. You best be leaving now."
"Thanks, Pukiq." Katara said as she stood up.
They all walked over to Appa but as they were about to leave, Master Pakku stopped them. He stood in front of the group, the two people flanking him, holding several items.
A man passed Master Pakku a small conical blue flask on a leather necklace and he held it out for Katara.
"Katara, I want you to have this. This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis. The water had unique properties. Don't lose it." He said, handing it to Katara. She accepted it respectfully and hugged Pakku, who looked slightly surprised by the sudden display of affection.
"Thank you, Master Pakku." She said, walking back to Appa and climbing up his tail to the saddle.
Aang stepped forwards and Pakku handed him a box of scrolls.
"Aang, these scrolls will help you master waterbending. But remember, they're no substitute for a real master." Pakku informed. Aang looked up at Katara, a slight blush forming on his face and Eira smiled. He was so sweet. Aang then jumped up onto Appa's head and Eira stepped forwards to Pakku.
Pakku handed Eira a scroll and Eira took it graciously.
"Eira, this scroll is a map. This should help you on your journey."
"Thank you, Master Pakku." Eira said, walking up Appa's tail and sitting down on the saddle. She was quite surprised to get something off Master Pakku. The list of interactions between them was next to zero.
"Sokka… take care, son." Sokka's disappointment was clear as Master Pakku patted him on the shoulder. Sokka, dismayed, walked up Appa's tail and sat down in a huff on the saddle.
"Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here. General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There, you will be safe to begin your earthbending training with King Bumi." Pakku said.
Aang nodded and flicked the reigns.
"Appa, yip yip!" Appa slammed his tail down and shot up into the sky.
"Say hi to Gran-Gran for me!" Katara shouted as they flew off.
It was refreshing to be back in the sky and that was again a weird thing. She never went on planes back in her world and when she first travelled on Appa, she couldn't take the height but now… it felt reassuring to be up in the clouds.
Eira looked over the map and saw that only a couple of main cities were actually marked on the map which was quite annoying but they could still use it. It was kind of weird to see just how small their world was compared to her own. Only four main landmasses and four "countries" compared to the seven continents and roughly two hundred or so countries. And they managed to travel from the South Pole to the North Pole with all of their distractions and side-tracks, at least a fifth of travel on foot.
Thankfully, travelling to General Fong's base didn't take much time, only an hour or two. They'd made their way inland and as Eira looked over the edge of the saddle, she saw an interesting area.
The mountains had formed a couple of lines and where the lines of rock met, rested a circle with a small base inside it. Walls connected to the base travelled along the lines of rock and with the white a gold colour scheme, it looked pretty.
"I see the base." Eira announced, pointing to the fortress.
Aang nodded and moved the reigns to direct Appa down to land at the base. Appa landed in the courtyard to see General Fong and lines of his army behind him.
General Fong looked very weird. His dark hair was tied up on the top of his head and had a long beard. He wore a version of his army's uniform but wore a dark green cape and weird animal skulls on his shoulder and his feet were exposed to help his earthbending.
"Welcome, Avatar Aang!" He said, arms extended in a welcoming gesture. They all jumped off Appa and stretching all stiff due to not flying for extended periods of time in ages.
"I am General Fong, and welcome, to all of you great heroes! Appa, Momo, brave Sokka, wise Eira, the mighty Katara…"
Katara crossed her arms, her expression clearly pleased.
"Mighty Katara? I like that." She said softly. It defiantly suits you. Eira thought. Below, the earthbenders were sending small spheres into the sky and they all exploded into fireworks.
"'K, that's pretty cool." Eira said as she watched the fireworks. She hadn't expected earthbenders to be able to use fireworks in that way.
"Not bad, not bad." Sokka commented, soaking up the admiration. His voice sounding as if he was expecting to be treated like such a hero. Then again, Eira was never really one to want or expect hero worship.
"Please, this way." General Fong said, turning to walk inside the base.
The inside was certainly expansive. The ceiling was incredibly high, held up by large columns and there was a line of tiles in the shape of the Earth Kingdom symbol that lead to a fancy desk and a massive earth Kingdom banner.
General Fong stood behind of the desk and they all knelt on a marble tile a couple of metres away.
"Avatar Aang, we were all amazed at the stories of how you singlehandedly wiped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole." General Fong stroked his beard in thought "I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility."
Aang didn't really agree.
"I try not to think about it too much." He said shrugging casually.
"Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now." General Fong said calmly and everyone was taken back in shock.
"What?! No I'm not!" Aang protested, clearly shocked. Katara held up her hands in reasoning.
"Aang still needs to master the four elements." Katara explained.
"Why?" General Fong asked. "With the kind of power he possesses, power enough to destroy hundreds of battle ships in a matter of minutes, he could defeat the Fire Lord now."
"But sir, the thing is, Aang can only do those things when he's in the Avatar State." Sokka said, his tone slightly confused.
"See, it's a special state where-" Aang began but General Fong sliced his hand through the air, cutting him off.
"I'm well aware!" He said sharply. "Your eyes and tattoos glow and you're able to summon unbelievable power. Without you, we'd be slaughtered before we even reach their shores."
He looked at the map behind him and traced his finger from his base location to the Fire Nation. "But with you leading the way, as the ultimate weapon, we could cut a swath right through to the heart of the Fire Nation." Now that comment really annoyed Eira. She always hated it when people treated others as "weapons" just because they were strong.
"Aang is not a weapon. He is a person. The reason Aang had that much power was because the Ocean and Moon spirit merged powers with him as well." Eira said. "Aang can't trigger the Avatar state at will, and I doubt he'd be able to until he masters all elements and becomes a fully realised Avatar."
General Fong looked irritated at Eira's outburst and Aang, Katara and Sokka looked at her obviously confused at her surprising amount of knowledge but it did seem to make sense to them.
"So it's decided. I'll help you figure out how to get into the Avatar state and then you'll face your destiny." General Fong said, clearly just ignoring what Eira had just said.
Eira stood up, annoyed.
"No. Aang needs to master all four elements first! It's unlikely that he'd be able to master the Avatar state without becoming a fully realised Avatar!"
"Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on." Then General Fong gestured to Aang and then to the window. "May I show you something?"
After casting a nervous look at his friends, looking for support, Aang slowly walked over to General Fong and looked out of the window.
Eira crossed her arms. She didn't like where this was going, now this was looking familiar and Eira remembered a bit more about the episode. They were just going to waste time trying to get Aang into the Avatar state. Eira didn't really want to go through with this and watch General Fong trying, and promptly failing, to get Aang into the Avatar state.
Eira sighed. She had to show support to her friend. It was only natural that he didn't want to witness even more people being injured in the war. But it was so frustrating because Eira knew that he could do it in time. Sure people would be hurt, it was a fact of war, but they could still do it in time to save the Earth Kingdom and the rest of the nations from Fire Lord Ozai's wrath.
Eira looked over at Aang and she was Aang look back unsurely. Eira tried to communicate her support and disapproval at the same time silently but she wasn't sure if Aang got the message.
Eira, Sokka, Katara and Aang were directed to two rooms where they'd be staying. One room for Katara and Eira and one for Sokka and Aang and after looking around, they all gathered in Aang and Sokka's room.
Aang looked nervously around the group, as if thinking over what he was about to say as he sat on his bed.
"I told the general I'd help him, by going into the Avatar State." He admitted. Katara looked at him, clearly shocked.
"Aang, no! This is not the right way!" She protested, clearly disapproving. Sokka was the opposite to his sister. He lied on his back, arms behind his head and he didn't look bothered at all.
"Why not? Remember when he took out the Fire Navy?" Sokka asked, his eyes widening as he remembered it. "He was incredible!" Eira looked down at her feet awkwardly.
"Yeah, but that wasn't all him. The Ocean and Moon spirits contributed a lot to that victory and… while Aang was incredible, he was also pretty terrifying. That kind of power, if uncontrolled, can be fatal to a lot of people." Eira said softly, looking up at Aang. "General Fong's treating you as a weapon, Aang, and I know you're much more than that."
"But Eira, I'm just being realistic. I don't have time to learn all of the elements." Aang said. Eira got up and turned towards the door.
"The thing is, Aang. You do have time." She said, leaving the room and waking over to the room for her and Katara. I know you have time.
Eira didn't have fantastic sleep. She felt awful about Aang. Katara had entered their room silently just after Eira but she could tell that she was fuming. She'd probably spent a while trying to speak sense to her brother and Aang but one of them was a stereotypical male who loved the idea of just "glow it up and blow it up" and the other was a twelve-year-old boy who had the weight of a war on his shoulders so it wasn't a surprise that she didn't make any progress.
General Fong had sent someone to wake them up for the first try of getting Aang into the Avatar state… Oh joy!
They were all knelt behind Aang as he, General Fong and some sort of tea man sat around a table.
The tea man poured some sort of powder into the tea pot and tipped the contents of the pot into Aang's cup.
"This rare chi-enhancing tea is a natural stimulant. In an ordinary warrior, it improves strength and energy ten-fold. In you, it may induce the Avatar state." The tea man explained but Eira was only half-listening. Her head was resting on her hand as she looked out at the scenery around them.
Yeah, no. It won't. This is just a waste of time. Aang looked curiously at the tea cup as he picked it up.
"Ten-fold energy, huh?" He muttered, drinking the tea. There was silence for a while and then Aang went crazy. He scooted around on an orb of air and flew around the courtyard. Eira stayed still, not fazed as Aang quickly scooted past, causing her scarf to flutter in the wind.
"What a surprise, it didn't work." Eira muttered sarcastically.
"I guess he could talk the Fire Lord to death." Sokka said tiredly. Aang zipped around faster and faster before slamming into a column and falling backwards.
Then they moved to another section of the base to try out Sokka's idea.
Aang sat in front of Sokka and Eira and Katara sat to the right of him.
"Maybe I can shock you into the Avatar state." Sokka said. Aang beamed up at him.
"I love surprises!" Aang said cheerfully as Katara covered his eyes, making sure he couldn't see Sokka grabbing Momo, who squawked in protest, and stuff him in his shirt above his head.
Katara uncovered Aang's eyes as Sokka towered over Aang and raised his hands creepily as Momo, who looked like he'd replaced Sokka's head, screeched at Aang. Aang cried out in fear as he almost fell back but then he stopped to looked at his tattoos.
"Nope. Still not glowing." He said, holding up his hands to prove his point. Eira sighed again. They were getting nowhere but General Fong apparently had more ideas as he lead them to another room.
They managed to dress Aang in a stupid get up with a Water tribe cloak, an Earth Kingdom hat with leaves growing out of the top and a piece of a Fire Nation army uniform over Aang's airbender clothes. Eira smirked. Lucky for them Aang was wearing airbender clothes or this plan would be pointless.
The room was dimly lit and Aang stood awkwardly in front of an elderly man, who was apparently an "oracle" and holding a jug in front of a wooden bowl.
"You are wearing a ceremonial piece of clothing from each of the bending nations. Now I will join the four elements into one!" He announced grandly, pouring the water from the jug into the bowl. "Water!" Then he picked up some dirt and threw it in. "Earth! Fire!" He grabbed a torch from beside him and threw it at the bowl before putting it back. He grabbed a pair of bellows and blasted the bowl with it. "Air! Four elements together as one!"
The oracle picked up the bowl and threw it at Aang, coating him with the mud,
"This is just mud!" Aang said, clearly annoyed at having mud thrown in his face.
"So… do you feel anything?" The oracle asked quizzically. Aang raised a finger, catching their interest but as his nose twitched, Eira tried to get into a defensive airbending pose because as he sneezed, as an airbender, he caused the mud to fly everywhere, coating Fong, Sokka and Katara.
"We have to find a way." Fong said, wiping the mud away from his face.
"Why? We've wasted enough time trying this?!" Eira said sharply. "It's clearly not going to work." Eira then stormed out, frustrated. They'd wasted nearly an entire day doing this when they should just be travelling to Omashu and she was even more annoyed to see that it was already sunset.
Eira walked over to her room and threw herself onto her bed, eager to rest and she quickly fell asleep, only to slightly wake up when Katara walked in.
No one was sent to wake them up so Eira managed to sleep in for once and she had to admit it was nice.
"Hey, Katara. You also not watching General Fong trying to get Aang into the Avatar state?" Eira asked, sitting up.
"Yeah… I can't understand why he's still doing this." She muttered.
"I'm not entirely sure either. General Fong's plan is stupid, if Aang goes into the Avatar state, it's unlikely that he'd be able to control it long enough to get to the Fire Nation." Eira said. They both sat in silence for a while and Eira didn't feel right. Like, she should be watching their training sessions.
"I'm.. I'm going to get some, uh, food." Eira said, quickly walking out of the room, grabbing her glider, just in case. Eira ran up to General Fong's war room and was shocked when she saw a desk being flung at Aang and when two Earth Kingdom soldiers grabbed her arms from behind, forcing her to drop her glider.
Eira struggled, trying to get herself out of their grip.
"Sokka! What's going on?!" She asked, her mind still a bit fuzzy.
"General Fong's attacking Aang!" He yelled, in a similar situation to Eira. A huge hole was blasted in the wall where the desk had been thrown at Aang.
Eira tried to crane her neck to see if Aang was okay but she found her movement incredibly restricted.
"What are you doing?!" Aang asked, clearly alarmed as his voice managed to be heard from inside the room. General Fong stood at the edge of the hole in his wall and looked down.
"I believe we're about to get results." He said slyly and Eira's eyes widened. Ohhhh… This is the part where he goes berserk… She thought in realisation.
From outside, Eira could hear a lot of fighting. It sounded incredibly one-sided fighting. Almost the entire base was focused on attacking Aang.
Eira struggled more and she looked down at the two soldiers' feet and smiled slyly. She quickly jumped up and slammed the heels of her boots into their feet, using her airbending to make her descent onto their feet even more powerful and as the hopped back in pain, she lashed her feet out again but this time it connected with a more… sensitive part.
Sokka, catching on, quickly did the same and as Eira ducked to snatch her staff off the floor, she and Sokka ran out of the room to make their way down to the courtyard where Aang was being assaulted.
The whole area was in chaos. The Earth Kingdom emblem-shaped tiles had been earthbent out of the walls and they were being sent at Aang, who somehow managed to dodge them. Aang landed on top of the coins and quickly jumped off, trying to escape their fighting.
He airbent an airball and scooted up the wall, two soldiers on ostrich-horses following closely, spears in hand.
Sokka and Eira just watched in horror as the fighting went on, Eira holding her hands in front of her mouth in horror as Aang narrowly avoided being skewered by the spears.
"We need to help him." Eira said, still horrified as they ran down the steps and ran into Katara at the base of the stairs.
"What's going on?" Katara asked frantically, he blue eyes wide in confusion and fear.
"The general's gone crazy! He's trying to force Aang into the Avatar State!" Sokka explained, pulling out his boomerang and throwing it at a man on an ostrich-horse.
Katara unplugged her water skin and threw it forcefully at another man as Eira flicked open her glider and flew over to another, kicking him in the head and knocking him off his steed.
"Uh… Sorry." Eira quickly apologised as she looked down at the man.
Behind her, Sokka was approaching an ostrich-horse cautiously, moving slowly towards it, hands outstretched.
"Good…bird…horse thingy…" He muttered nervously as he tried to mount it. Katara snapped a spear in half by striking them with water but as Sokka was taken away because of the ostrich-horse quickly galloping away, Katara and Eira were left in the centre and Eira was suddenly aware of how surrounded they were, the coins all angled to be launched at them and General Fong standing a couple of metres in front of them.
Eira tensed, trying to angle herself as if to protect Katara.
"Maybe you can avoid me… but they can't." General Fong threatened and Eira almost growled.
Katara quickly tried to water whip General Fong but he turned the water to mud by sending earth into it and then, without really thinking, Eira sent Katara flying up with her airbending and as Eira got ready to jump herself, just a split-second after Katara, Eira's legs buckled as the ground she was supposed to be jumping off caved in around her and Eira sank to her knees.
Well, this is crap. Eira thought as she pushed her arms against the previously soft ground and she found, to her dismay, the ground was as hard as stone again. And this is just perfect.
Katara was thrown up onto a circle and Eira was quickly starting to panic as she began to sink even deeper into the ground.
Being buried alive was one of the methods of dying Eira absolutely hated the idea of. The thought of a rapidly diminishing air supply, the darkness, the pressure of being underground. Just the thought of made Eira's heartrate skyrocket.
"I-I can't move!" Eira said, panic rising in her voice as she struggled. Aang looked at her, terrified and he clenched his fists.
"Don't hurt her!" Aang said, sending a gust of wind at General Fong but he created a wall of earth to protect himself. Eira cried out as she sank deeper into the ground, now up to her waist in earth. She couldn't even feel her legs and it was terrifying. She was about to be buried alive!
"Eira! No!" Sokka yelled, trying to ride up on the ostrich-horse but General Fong sank the animal's feet into the ground and sent Sokka flying into the air and winding him as he was stopped by landing in the centre of one of the coins.
Aang looked desperately at General Fong as Eira tried to get out but it was becoming increasingly difficult.
"Stop this!" Aang yelled, clutching General Fong's arm. "You have to let her go!"
"You could save her if you were in the Avatar state!" General Fong said, his voice clear of emotion.
"I'm trying… I'm trying!" Aang said, tears brimming in his eyes as Eira was sank up to her chest. Luckily, it felt like her heart was nowhere near her chest as it was beating in her throat.
Eira let out a strangled gasp as she sank. She really didn't want to pile more pressure on Aang by asking for his help but she was really starting to panic. The earth was compacted around her chest, restricting her breathing and a sheen of sweat was forming on her forehead.
"A-Aang! I-I'm sinking!" She stuttered, her fast breathing interfering with her speech.
"I don't see glowing!" General Fong said demandingly. "Go into the Avatar state or the last of your kind is gone!" YOU EFFING BASTARD! Eira thought angrily, He was really threatening to kill some of the last of Aang's nation.
General Fong clenched his hand into a fist and Eira sank down to her neck.
"Please! Stop!" Eira cried, absolutely terrified. Aang fell to his knees next to General Fong, begging now.
"You don't need to do this!" Aang said, tears nearly falling down his face.
"Apparently, I do." Fong said scornfully and then… everything went dark as Eira was pulled under. Eira couldn't breathe and she was quickly losing consciousness. She couldn't form a rational thought. She was underground. Completely submerged by hard earth. She couldn't escape.
As Eira was about to finally about to black out, she was sent flying upwards and as she saw light, she took a deep breath. As oxygen filled her body, Eira blinked and saw Aang in the Avatar state. Air flying around him and his tattoos and eyes glowing. He looked so other-worldly and powerful it was terrifying.
"Avatar Aang! Can you hear me? Your friend is safe!" General Fong said, gesturing to Eira. "It was just a trick to trigger the Avatar State and it worked!" He said, a maniacal smile on his face and as Eira looked back at Aang, she saw him in his orb of air and slam down into the ground, causing a flurry of dust to spread around the courtyard, sending General Fong flying backwards and slamming him into a wall but somehow missing Eira who managed to stay still, rooted to the ground.
As the dust cleared, Eira saw the place in ruins. The large earthy coins were embedded in the walls and the neat, clean walls and floor were shattered and broken.
Wow… I know Aang's powerful, but seeing it first-hand is so much different. Eira thought, in awe of Aang's power.
Aang stood still, not moving as he stayed in the Avatar state and Eira got up slowly, still a bit dizzy from the lack of oxygen and panic. Eira looked around at herself and was incredibly surprised to see that she was completely unharmed. She looked around and saw Sokka and Katara were also unharmed.
It was practically impossible, but it was true. Katara walked up to Aang as did Eira as the glow slowly faded and he fell to the floor.
Katara reached down and hugged Aang, and Eira looked at him concerned. Aang opened his eyes, clearly weakened and he looked at both Eira and Katara regretfully.
"I'm so sorry. I hope you never have to see me like that again…" He said.
"Ha! Are you joking?" General Fong said triumphantly as he approached the trio. "That was almost perfect." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "We just have to find out a way to control you when you're like that."
Aang looked up at him angrily.
"You're out of your mind."
"I guess we'll figure it out to the Fire Nation." General Fong said. And then, his timing almost perfect, Sokka rode up behind the general on the ostrich-horse and struck him on the head with his club, knocking him out cold.
"Thank you!" Eira said gratefully. "Why didn't I think of that before?" She muttered under her breath. The soldiers around them looked at each other awkwardly and then at the group.
"Do you still want an escort to Omashu?" One of them asked and Eira glared at them.
"I think we're going to be fine." Eira said and they soon got all of their things ready and they all boarded Appa and flew off and Eira sighed in relief. She was getting increasingly happy to leave these places. She wasn't having the greatest of experiences lately and she doubted they were going to get a lot better as they were getting closer to the end.
Yay(!) Another crazy army person/politician (the show has a lot of them, don't they) and it's time to add being buried alive to Eira's near-death experiences.
I hope you liked Book 2 and I'll be posting the next one soon.
Please review and follow to see when I post the next chapter!