The start of season 3, the beginning of the end. Thank you for reviewing Book 2, you really helped inspire me to continue and start with this.
I hope you enjoy :D
Chapter 1- The Beginning
"So… what know?" Toph asked as they flew further and further away from Ba Sing Se.
The atmosphere around them was thick and heavy. No one had said anything after Kuei and Toph wasn't one to stand the silence.
The sun had completely set and they were flying aimlessly through the darkness. It was a cloudy night, so they couldn't see any stars. They could barely see the moon.
It was also pretty cold but Eira didn't feel it. She didn't know whether it was from the breathing technique Aang taught her that regulated your temperature, or just the fact that she was starting to feel numb.
"We…" Sokka gripped the reigns tightly. "We should head over to Chameleon Bay, where our dad is," he said. "We'll have to tell them what happened. We can make a plan after that."
Eira felt awful as she stared at Katara holding Aang. He was alive, of course he was. Katara healed him in the show and it would only be a few weeks at most until he woke up, but Eira couldn't help scolding herself. With her it was three-on-two against Zuko and Azula. Aang shouldn't have needed to go into the Avatar state. He shouldn't have needed to come back to Ba Sing Se at all if it wasn't for her.
Her nails dug into her arm. She was so stupid! Why did she even have to check on Azula?! There was nothing gained from it and it would've given her at least a bit more time. They could've received the Fire Nation's reply in that time and she would've helped make a positive difference in the war. But no. What did she contribute at all in their journey? Nothing. She was just a stupid tag-along who couldn't help even if she wanted to.
Eira cursed the spirits. She added nothing to this world. She was pointless. Aang would have children. More airbenders would be in the world even without her.
Her eyes felt heavy from exhaustion and crying, and she drifted off into an uneasy sleep, slumping against the side of the saddle. She felt Toph fall sideways onto her in the same way, leaning against her shoulder as sleep took them.
o.O.o
"Gah!" Eira was jolted awake by the impact of Appa landing on the ground. It was still night and by the position of the moon, Eira guessed it was about 2 or 3 am. Eira yawned. "I guess we're here?"
Chameleon Bay was pretty, even at night. It was a small sandy area surrounded by hills, creating a good cover. The water washed gently against the shore and the few boats docked bumped into each other with small thunks as the waves moved them.
A collection of tents were pitched away from the water and a small fire pit glowed brightly. About half a dozen men were surrounding Appa and even with limited light, Eira could easily guess that they were the Southern Water Tribe men.
"Sokka!" A tall man ran over to them and hugged Sokka as he climbed down Appa.
"Dad… we failed," Sokka admitted quietly, voice cracking slightly.
Hadoka, Sokka's father, looked up to the saddle and his eyes widened as he saw Katara holding Aang, and Kuei and Bosco.
"I see. You should all come inside the tent," he said. "You need rest."
Appa lowered his tail for everyone to walk down. Eira helped Katara with Aang and they both carried him to one of the tents.
It wasn't the best place for a vegetarian and animal-lover like Aang. It was just like Bato's tent, covered in animal pelts, leather, and fur. Luckily, Aang wouldn't wake up in it. Katara gently lowered him onto the roll mat and set a blanket over him. She still looked a bit misty-eyed, but she had recovered a lot of her strength. Eira hadn't.
She walked out of the tent without a word and was about to go back to sleep but a man stopped her.
"My name is Hadoka," he introduced. "I'm Sokka and Katara's father. You must be Eira."
Eira nodded.
"I know. Nice to meet you," she said blankly. "I'm sorry, but I'm really tired. I can't really talk now."
Hadoka nodded in understanding.
"Either way, it's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Sokka and Katara."
Eira nodded again and went into the tent, falling asleep instantly.
She dreamt of her family and they seemed to respond to what she did just like before but when she woke up, her memories of it were blurred and her head hurt. It felt annoyingly like déja vu.
"Now, can you please tell me what happened?" Hadoka asked after breakfast. He and Bato were sat in front of Sokka, Eira, Toph, and Katara in the main tent. None of them looked like they had had good sleep, with dark shadows under their eyes and muted expressions but Sokka began to talk.
"Azula, the princess of the Fire Nation, had invaded Ba Sing Se," he said. "She talked the Dai Li into helping her and together they caught Eira and tried to attack the Earth King. Toph and I managed to rescue him while Aang and Katara went down to fight Azula."
"During the fight, Aang went into the Avatar state and Azula shot him with lightning," Katara said. "I managed to heal him but…" she trailed off as she looked back at the tent entrance. "He hasn't woken up yet."
"It'll take him weeks," Eira said in a small voice.
Hadoka sighed.
"I was scared of that," he said. "With Avatar Aang in this state, I'm not sure how much we can do, but we need to regroup and focus."
He held out a map and spread it out in front of them. He pointed to where they were.
"We've been in Chameleon Bay for a while," he explained. "We've been tracking the Fire Nation's movements. Now, I know we won't have the forces for an all-out invasion like we initially planned, but the eclipse still robs the firebenders of their powers. It's a huge tactical advantage. We can still use it."
Sokka leant over the map.
"We could launch a smaller scale invasion," he said. His eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers as he thought of something. "We know people in these places," he said pointing to areas around the Earth Kingdom. "They're on the way. We can send messages to them, or recruit people for the invasion."
"What skills do these people have?" Hadoka asked, interested.
"Well, the people here can see waterbending to move plants. They're really strong and good with it. And the people here." He pointed his finger at a different place. "There's this one guy who's a genius inventor. I have a few plans. He could make them work."
Hadoka nodded, then frowned.
"Our boats wouldn't be able to make it past the Fire Nation. Their ships are stationed everywhere around the area." He thought deeply. "But we should be able to sneak through to send a few messages. We'll be able to deal with the Fire Nation after that."
"How long do we have left?" Toph asked. "Do we have time to do all of that?"
"The eclipse is in… about a month and a half away," Sokka answered.
Eira's mind started to wander. She didn't have much to add and not much could get between Sokka and his dad whilst planning.
The "meeting" lasted about an hour as Sokka and Hadoka worked through the details and eventually they left the tent.
The next couple of days felt too fast and too slow at the same time. Everyone was packing up the camp and putting things back on the boat and they said their goodbyes to Kuei, who had decided to leave with Bosco on a journey of self-discovery to learn how to be a normal Earth Kingdom citizen. Not that there was much of an Earth Kingdom anymore.
The Fire Nation had responded to the letter, sending troops and troops to Ba Sing Se along with airships and tanks in an attempt to storm the city to rescue Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, only to find that Ba Sing Se was already theirs. These reinforcements made it impossible to even get near Ba Sing Se so they decided to leave as soon as possible after the news reached them.
"Look out!" One of the men hissed. A silence washed over everyone on the ship. Out of the mist in the sea, a dark steel Fire Nation ship emerged.
It cut through the waters and sailed right past them. Katara subtly thickened the mist around them, creating a cover. The boats all stopped, hoping and praying that the ship would not notice them. This had become an annoying routine and it was increasing in frequency as they sailed around the Earth Kingdom, trying to get messages out to people they knew. They could barely move an inch without a Fire Nation ship suddenly appearing and stopping them again.
The boat passed and everyone sighed in relief. Toph groaned loudly and hugged the side of the boat.
"Can we stop doing this? My stomach can't take it anymore," she complained.
"I wish we could, but the ships will only increase in number," Hadoka said.
"Then we should try and take one of their ships," Sokka suggested cheerfully. "We should wait here, Eira and Katara can whip up a bigger cover and we can hijack the next ship that passes. It's easier to blend in than sneak past."
Hadoka thought deeply, contemplating their skills and chances.
"Sokka's right," he announced. "Our Water Tribe boats will only hinder us. We will wait under cover, and attack a Fire Nation ship. Prepare our weapons and supplies. This may be dangerous."
May? Eira thought glumly. Appa growled, mimicking her thoughts. Appa had being floating and swimming behind them. He had been itching to fly, but he was clearly worried about Aang and he was too big a target to miss.
Eira stood next to Katara, staff ready to help with the cover. Katara glanced back at the boat. Aang was sleeping inside the cabin.
"He should be fine," Eira said. "He won't wake up for another week or two."
Katara looked down at her feet.
"I know, but I'm still worried about him."
"I am too."
"Positions!" The man hissed again.
Katara raised her hands and spread them out, the water turned to mist and completely covered the boats. Eira twirled her staff and it spread further and further, going high enough to cover even the deck of the warship.
"Now, now!"
Katara took a deep breath and launched the boat upwards in a massive wave. Eira jumped up and off the boat, landing on the deck silently, her impact making no sound. The others followed suit, even if they were a lot louder than she was.
Eira snuck through the hallways of the ship, having bad memories of Zuko and Zhao return to her as she did, and occasionally peaked through doors to try and find the control room.
"It's this way," Sokka whispered, pointing to the left corridor. Eira nodded and slowly opened the heavy metal door. It creaked.
"Who's there!?" A loud voice boomed. Eira took a deep breath and darted it, standing sturdily on the ground and moving her hands apart slowly. The three men in the room staggered and collapsed as the air thinned, each one landing on the floor with a large thud due to their armour. Eira breathed out and the room returned to normal.
"You know, that trick is awesome," Sokka commented, tying up the three men together. "If a bit scary."
Eira didn't respond. She hadn't been taught it by Aang, but after observing how Katara could change the state of water from mist or ice, she wanted to see if she could change air pressure and stuff. Turns out it worked best with earthbender-like forms.
Sokka quickly analysed the room and smiled as he saw the wheel. He rubbed his hands together in excitement and turned it.
The ship lurched to the side and Eira almost fell over, trying her best to regain her balance. Sokka held onto the wheel for support and the three men fell onto their faces.
"Sokka!"
"Sorry."
"So, what's the signal?" Eira asked.
"Oh yeah, it's…" Sokka's hand hovered around the room, before settling onto the rope dangling next to him. He pulled it and an ear-splitting HOOOONK sounded out. Sokka pulled it again, smiling like a child. "I've always wanted to do something like that."
Eira looked out of the front window onto the deck. A pile of guards was forming in the centre, with a couple of Southern Water Tribe men standing guard and smiling happily.
Katara swirled a stream of water around them and froze it, binding them all. One of the men looked up through the window and waved, giving them the all clear.
"That was easy," Eira commented. She honestly hadn't expected it to be that easy.
It was just a quick matter of Katara lifting the boats up onto the deck and unloading everything. Luckily, there were quite a few cabins that were supposed to house all of the workers so everyone had a place to sleep and there were also a lot of spare uniforms. Perfect for disguises.
Eira, Katara, and Toph wore simple Fire Nation cloaks as the uniforms didn't really fit or suit them, but Sokka and the other men wore full Fire Nation Uniforms. It took a while to get used to. Eira almost blasted Sokka off the ship because she forgot he wasn't actually from the Fire Nation. Along with the disguise, Eira started to dye her hair black like when she went to the Earth King's party. It was just easier for everyone and Eira didn't want to be the reason for them being found out.
"Hello, Momo," Eira said as she sat on the deck for some fresh air. Momo curled up on her lap happily and chittered. Another week had passed and Aang still hadn't woken up. To be honest, Eira was getting scared. She had no idea whether or not the situation had played out differently due to this part not being covered by the show so she had no real frame of reference for whether or not things were okay.
"Ah!" A young boy's voice echoed through the open door inside the ship and Eira jumped. Was that…
Aang sprinted out of the ship, onto the deck. Bandages were still covering his torso and his head was covered with short dark brown hair.
"Aang!" Eira jumped up and ran over to him but he turned around sharply, eyes wide with fear. "Aang, it's me, Eira," she explained. "You're okay, you need to rest."
"What?" he said, confused. "But you look like you're Fire Nation. We're on their ship. Wh-What happened?"
"Twinkle Toes! That's got to be you!" Toph and Katara came barrelling through the open doorway, beaming.
"Aang, you're awake!" Katara exclaimed happily.
"Are you sure?" Aang rubbed his eyes. "I feel like I'm dreaming."
Katara hugged Aang but he was still looking overwhelmed.
"You're not dreaming, you're finally awake," Katara reassured him.
Sokka walked over, in full uniform complete with the helmet and joined his sister in hugging Aang.
"Aang, good to see you back with the living, buddy!"
"Guys!" Eira shouted. Aang looked like he was hyperventilating. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Katara and Sokka jumped away from him, just in time for Aang to faint. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the floor, the two siblings catching him before he hit his head.
Everyone, including Appa surrounded them.
"Katara, what happened?" Hadoka ran over to them and Katara gestured helplessly to Aang.
"He just woke up, but he fainted again."
"He's overwhelmed and exhausted," Eira said. "We need to take him back to his room. He needs to calm down."
Sokka and Katara quickly carried him back to his cabin and rested him down on his bed.
"I knew we should've taken this stuff down," Katara muttered, pulling down the Fire nation posters and other decorations.
Eira nodded. That was one of the first things she did with her cabin. It was rather impossible to sleep with massive red banners of the Fire Nation hanging around.
"He should wake up soon, Sokka take off your helmet," Eira said.
Sokka quickly threw off his helmet and set it on a small table behind him. Katara knelt next to Aang's bed and frowned sympathetically.
"This must be a lot for him."
Aang rolled over, groaning quietly and blearily opening his eyes.
"Katara?" he murmured.
"Yes, Aang. Are you feeling alright?" Katara asked.
"My head's killing me," he complained, sitting up. Katara passed him a simple robe to cover his bandages. "Why are we on a Fire Nation ship?" he asked. "Why does everyone look like this? And why am I the only one out of it?"
"You just need to take it easy, okay? You got hurt pretty bad." Katara smiled at him, trying to raise his spirits. "I like your hair."
"I have hair!?" Aang raised his hands to his head and recoiled at the feel of his hair. He stared at his hands. "How long was I out?"
"A few weeks."
"We decided to sail to the Fire Nation, but we needed a disguise," Sokka explained. "So, that's why we're on this ship."
"And my hair didn't exactly look Fire Nation," Eira added, gesturing to her now black hair. She looked at Katara and Aang and nodded to herself. "I'm going to leave you guys alone. I think after that, you need a healing session." Aang looked too weary to continue further.
"Yeah, we'll talk more later," Sokka said.
o.O.o
"…we've been travelling west ever since. We crossed through the Serpent's Pass a few days ago and we've seen a few Fire Nation ships but none have bothered us," Sokka concluded. Aang listened intently as Sokka went into detail about their situation and thankfully, he was taking it a lot better than before. At least he didn't look like he was about to faint.
"So what now?" he asked, turning to Hadoka. Hadoka was poised over a map while sitting down on a crate as a make-shift chair. They were all out on the deck and this area had become one of their primary planning spots.
"We're working on a modified version of the invasion plan," he explained.
"Sokka's invasion plan," Katara corrected. Eira found it strange that Katara was lacking the animosity with her father that she had in the show but after listening around, she's apparently gotten most of it out yelling at him when she went to see him with Sokka.
"Yes, Sokka's plan. Without the Earth King's armies, we won't be able to mount the massive invasion we wanted, but the eclipse still leaves them vulnerable, especially with a large portion of their troops being sent off to the Earth Kingdom and Ba Sing Se in particular."
"So, it'll be smaller, but we're collecting a ragtag group of allies and friends from around the Earth Kingdom. We already ran into Pipsqueak and The Duke." Sokka gestured to the large and small duo. Pipsqueak was casually eating a bowl of noodles, The Duke sitting on one of his large shoulders.
"Good to see you again, Aang!" The Duke said cheerfully.
"And the best part is," Sokka continued. "The eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage!" His voiced dropped to a whisper. "We have a secret… you!"
"Me?" Aang exclaimed.
"Sokka!" Eira snapped. "Not now."
"What is it?" Aang asked, looking between the two. "How am I your secret?"
"I'm sorry, Aang, but I know you won't react well to that information. It's not important at the moment," Eira said, trying to brush off his question. "You need to rest and recover first."
"Eira, he can take it. It's a good thing," Sokka insisted. "Aang, the whole world thinks you're dead." Sokka smiled and Aang's face sank into an expression of despair.
"The whole world thinks I'm dead!" Aang jumped to his feet, gesturing with his arms. "How is that a good thing?! That's terrible!"
"No, it's great!" Sokka said, approaching Aang and still smiling. "The Fire Nation won't be hunting us anymore and they won't be expecting anything on the Day of Black Sun."
Aang stumbled backwards, holding his head.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. You have no idea. This is so messed up," Aang said.
"Ship in the east!" A man called out. Eira looked to the side and, sure enough, another Fire Nation boat was sailing towards them.
"I'll handle this," Aang said. "The Avatar is back." Aang flicked open his glider and promptly fell to his knees, grunting in pain.
"Aang, they don't know that we're not Fire Nation," Katara explained calmly, helping him back up. "We can settle this without any problem."
Aang stared at the approaching ship, beads of sweat on his face. Then, he looked away in resignation, and closed his glider.
"Just stay calm!" Hadoka ordered, putting on his helmet. "Bato and I will take care of this."
Pipsqueak and The Duke went over to Appa and lead him over to the small hiding place they'd made as Katara, Sokka, and Toph lead Aang down into the small ammo room under the deck, staying in the entry so they could still see what was going on.
Eira jumped up and sat next to the window to the control room, hiding herself in the small overhang that she'd found a good vantage point.
The other Fire Nation ship sailed in parallel to their ship and after anchoring, two soldiers laid a small plank across. What looked like the other ship's captain passed over onto their boat, accompanied by the two soldiers, to talk to Hadoka and Bato.
"Commander, why are you off course?" he demanded. "All Western Fleet ships are supposed to be moving toward Ba Sing Se to support the occupation!"
"Actually, we're from the Eastern Fleet. We have orders to deliver some cargo," Hadoka quickly lied. That was their cover. Simply delivering cargo.
"Ahhh ... Eastern Fleet. Well, nice of Admiral Chan to let us know he was sending one of his ships our way," the captain said grouchily.
"I'm sure Admiral Chan meant no disrespect, sir," Bato offered.
"I mean how hard is it to write a quick note and send a hawk our way?"
Hadoka and Bato quickly glanced at each other.
"We'll send… two hawks next time. Just to make sure you get the message," Hadoka said, bowing to the captain.
The captain bowed back and turned to leave with his soldiers. One of them whispered in his ear and Eira noted his surprised expression but he continued walking back to his ship.
"They know!" Toph popped out of her hiding place and dug her hands into the metal of the ship. The metal creaked and warped in a fast shock up to the bridge, sending it flying forwards, pushing the two ships apart.
Katara jumped out and raised her hands, creating a massive wave to send their ship speeding away and Eira ducked down to bend the created mist into a fog, covering the opposing ship. They departed quickly, travelling at a speed they had never tried in the ship.
Everyone stared at the mist-shrouded ship in the distance, tense and waiting for their move. Out of the mist, a shadow was getting bigger and bigger, taking shape into a-
"Fireball!" A large rock lit on fire came barrelling out of the mist, clearly aimed wildly as it flew right over them.
"We need to clear out of here!" Hadoka ordered, signalling to the control room. The men inside were doing their best to try and turn around and sail off but they were clearly panicking.
"Load the Toph!" Toph yelled as Pipsqueak placed a bolder in front of her and The Duke pointed her in the right direction. She punched her fist at the rock and it launched itself at the other ship, striking its deck cleanly.
Pispqueak loaded more rocks in front of her and Toph sent them flying at the fireballs filling the sky. They collided with explosions of dust and fire, stopping them from getting to the ship. None of the fireballs were well-aimed due to the mist cover but that was fading quickly.
A harpoon shot out at their ship, piercing the hull. Water flowed in the boat began to rock but Katara quickly froze it, blocking the water.
"We need to get away!" Sokka said, standing in the entrance of Aang's hiding place.
"No, duh!" Toph retorted, preparing to launch another boulder.
"Watch out!" Pipsqueak and The Duke pulled Toph out of the way right as a fireball flew right at them and hit right where she had been standing, destroying all of her ammo.
"I can't just do nothing!" Aang protested, trying to push past Sokka.
"Aang, no!" Sokka insisted, taking Aang's staff from him. "You're still hurt, and you have to stay secret. We can handle this."
Aang's frown deepened. He snatched his staff back and sat down, frustrated.
Eira felt sorry for Aang but she couldn't focus too must on him as she and Katara were trying to put out the two more fireballs that had dented the deck floor.
Katara raised the water against the side of the ship and Eira turned it to mist, spreading it around them and putting the fires out.
"How are we doing?" Toph asked.
"Things couldn't get much worse," Sokka admitted. A massive serpent burst out of the water with a big crash as the water flew up around it. It roared as it snapped its tongue around, trying to focus it's weird seahorse eyes at whatever disturbed it.
Sokka and Eira stared up at the thing in horror.
"The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?" Sokka shouted above the noise.
"You make it too easy!" Toph said, trying to keep steady as the boat began to rock backwards and forwards.
Eira held her staff tightly in her hands, preparing to defend the ship but thankfully she didn't need to. One of the fireballs from the other ship collided with the serpent's head and it whipped its neck around, turning to face its attacker.
It screeched at the ship and dove at it. It took no time with tangling it up with its body, trapping it.
"Thank you, the universe!" Sokka said in relief.
"Now's our opportunity!" Hadoka said, motioning more to his men. The boat picked up steam and they sailed away as fast as possible.
Eira sat down, taking a deep breath of relief, and Aang walked out of his hiding place and stormed into the ship, probably going back to his room. Eira found herself staring at the door. She wanted to say something. But what?
Eira spent the rest of the afternoon not doing much, still refusing to listen to herself and talk to Aang. What happened at Ba Sing Se felt like a dumbbell was resting on her chest, making her feel heavy and seeing Aang look so upset at something she'd tried to fix, but ended up happening anyway added even more.
"Hey, Eira!" Eira flinched, looking around for the voice. She looked down from her little place and saw Sokka, Katara, and Toph. "Get down there, we're going into town to find some food," Sokka called. Eira jumped down, landing lightly on a small cushion of air.
"Is Aang coming?" she asked.
"We're just going to ask him," Katara said.
"Alright."
They all went to Aang's room and Eira knocked on the door, but Sokka, Katara, and Toph went in without waiting for his response.
"Hey, Aang! We're going into town to find some food," Toph announced.
Aang sat up on his bed, smiling slightly. His stomach growled.
"Well, I am pretty hungry. Maybe dinner's a good idea," he said.
"Here," Sokka said, extending his hand to Aang and offering a red bandana. "Tie this around your head. It'll cover your arrow."
Aang stared at the bandana in disgust. He huffed and crossed his arms, lying back down on his bed.
"I'm not going out if I can't wear my arrow proudly!"
"Aang, be practical," Sokka pleaded. "Come on, Eira changed her hair so we wouldn't be noticed.
"Sokka," Eira shot him a glare and he stopped.
"You guys go," Katara said, putting a hand on Sokka and Eira's shoulders. "We'll catch up to you."
They weren't particularly happy with it, but the three of them left Katara and Aang.
"Sokka, you're being tactless," Eira commented as they walked away.
"You're blaming me?!"
"No, but you're not helping Aang. Be sensitive for once."
"But it's true! He can't just go into the Fire Nation with a massive blue arrow on his forehead giving him away. It's the only advantage we have with the Earth King's forces out."
"But now Aang feels like he's failed. He'll do something stupid and reckless and I'll know it's my fault," Eira said.
Sokka and Toph looked a bit taken aback.
"How would it be your fault?" Toph asked.
Eira sighed and brushed her hair back out of her face.
"Like I told you, I saw a lot of what's happening now before I got here," she said. "In Ba Sing Se, I saw that it wasn't going to be Suki."
"But why didn't you say anything?" Sokka asked.
"Because it changed when Suki actually came to Ba Sing Se before leaving. I thought there was a chance it would be her but when it wasn't and it turned out to be Azula like I saw. I told the Earth King and they actually go caught." Eira laughed humourlessly. "Imagine what would've happened with the Fire Nation's princess as a bargaining chip as well as a full invasion plan with the Earth King's forces."
Sokka looked wistful as he imagined the scene.
"That does sound great. The war would almost definitely be over by them."
"Exactly, but the Dai Li broke them out and I got myself caught, leading to the exact same situation I saw with Ba Sing Se gone. Don't you understand? Aang got hit by Azula and is feeling guilty over something I practically caused."
"Come on, Eira. You can't blame yourself for that! From what Katara said the Dai Li were swarming you. There was no way you'd be able to fight them all off," Sokka said reassuringly.
Eira clenched her fists and gritted her teeth as a wave of hatred and fear washed over her.
"I should've told the Earth King to disband them." She took a deep breath and unclenched her fists, more relaxed. She smiled at Sokka and Toph. "I guess I'll tell him after the invasion."
"Yeah, the Fire Nation is going down," Toph agreed.
Just like when she told them about how she saw everything ahead of time, Eira felt a lot lighter. Talking really did help.
They changed the subject to small talk as they walked down the ship to the dock and as they did Katara ran out after them. She looked disappointed and Aang wasn't with her. Eira's heart sank.
"You didn't convince him, did you?" Eira said.
Katara shook her head.
"He needs time."
No one felt the need to add anything after that and they continued their walk into the town. Buying the food was surprisingly easy and quick. Eira suspected that Sokka's military armour helped them get faster service. Eira didn't exactly like it, but the faster they could leave was always better.
"What did he say?" Eira asked Katara as they picked up their supplies from a stall. "I mean, just before you left."
"He said that… he needs to redeem himself. He needs his honour back," she said, visibly saddened.
Eira cursed under her breath and hit her head with her palm.
"I forgot!" she hissed.
"What?! What is it?" Katara asked, worried.
"Aang's going to leave. We need to get back."
"What? How do you-oh." Katara covered her mouth in realisation. "Is this one of the things you saw."
"It was getting fuzzy with the details, but Aang runs away. We need to get back."
Katara nodded and after gesturing her worry to Sokka and the direction of the boat the two of them ran off back.
Eira held Katara's hand as they ran and with her airbending she decreased the resistance so they could get their faster. They got to the ship in no time and after dumping their bags on the deck Katara and Eira entered Aang's room, without knocking.
His room was dark and his glider was gone. Momo was chittering unhappily on Aang's empty bed and what Aang had done dawned on Katara.
"Oh no…"
Katara ran back out of the room, eyes full of tears and Eira followed her, feeling heavy once more. Why couldn't she remember it sooner! She knew Aang left! She just forgot when!
"What's wrong, Katara?" Hadoka was comforting Katara on the deck. No one else was around in the darkness of the evening.
"He left," Katara said, trying to wipe tears from her eyes.
"What?"
"Aang. He took his glider and disappeared. He has this ridiculous notion that he has to save the world alone, that it's all his responsibility and he doesn't need us."
Hadoka hugged his daughter.
"Maybe it's his way of protecting you," he suggested.
"But he's not! He's injured and I can help him, but he just left. We should all be doing this together."
"We'll find him. Aang is strong and so are we." Hadoka tried for a smile. "We'll find him. Just like how you found me."
o.O.o
"Aang! I see him! It's Aang!" Sokka called out as they ran across the rocky hot land towards Aang. He was lying near the base of a volcano, just not unconscious.
Katara sprinted over to him and wrapped him in a tight hug.
"You're okay!" she cried happily. Everyone gathered around Aang for a group hug. Even Momo and Appa joined them.
"I have so much to do," Aang muttered as he detached himself from the hug. Katara smiled at him.
"I know, but you'll have our help."
"You didn't think you could get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation, did you?" Toph asked, smiling mischievously.
"What about the invasion?" Aang asked, still bewildered at the sight of them all.
"We're going to join up with my dad and the invasion force the day of the eclipse," Sokka explained.
"For now, we're going to travel through the Fire Nation to get into position," Eira added. She held out the broken staff in her hands gingerly, as if it was about to burst into flames. "We… also found your glider."
Aang looked sadly at the broken object but he took it, eyes closed with acceptance. He walked up the base of the volcano and looked down, the orange light of the lava illuminating his face.
"It's okay. If someone saw it, it would give away my identity. It's better for now that no one knows I'm alive." He threw his glider onto the molten rock and it caught fire, slowly turning to ash.
Eira nodded.
"Nice to see you back, Aang."
Thanks for reading this chapter.
Please review and tell me what you think :D
Eira will now be in the Fire Nation, disguise and all. I'm actually excited!