Hi! This chapter is much more interesting then the prolog. 'Italics' in signal quotes is a thought unless it is not with single quotes, and then it's a flash back. I have borrowed the outfits from the episode 'The Headband' just to say, Exactly the same day, too. Just after the leave the volcano. I also borrowed lines from the deformed short : The bending battle. PS. I didn't put it in last chapter but Sora means "Sky" in Japanese. Thanks to my beta iamtheblindbandit for fixing all the mistakes!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last Airbender, Sadly…
----- (Aang's POV) -----
This was the third healing session that day. It was a little embarrassing; having my burn hurt me so much. Late afternoon made the place dark, all except the glow of the water that Katara was bending into my back. I just stared at the ground.
I'm so grateful that Katara was blessed with such natural healing abilities. If she didn't, she'd have scars from burns all over her palms, the rest of the group would be very beat up, and I'd be dead. I was pulled away from my morbid reverie by a quiet voice behind me.
"Better?" Katara asked softly, her voice gentle. She had removed her warm hands and the healing water away from my back.
"Thanks a lot. That's much better," I replied with a sad smile. I was glad for these moments, when we were together. It made me feel like I was a part of the family, something I had never known. Monk Gyatso was the closest thing I ever had to a father, and yet, this was different. I suppose I must have had a father a long time ago, as well as a mother, but they left me to the monks at the Air Temple.
I would have to thank them though. If they hadn't given me my life at the Air Temple, I would never have met Appa, Monk Gyatso, Kuzon, Bumi, even Katara, Sokka, and Toph.
They were staying in a cave Toph and I had carefully bent into the side of a grassy hill. The hill was on the coast of a small island, one of the smallest in the Fire Nation. The island was one big mountain covered in forests as far as the eye could see.
There were two small towns; and our hideout was near the smaller of the two. There were only about two hundred people on the island all together.
The cave had needed light and fresh air, so I bent elephant-rat sized holes in the ceiling, which was something Toph would nave never thought of. The excess earth from the process of making the cave was crushed in to a small bolder that took one Earthbender or a team of Katara and Sokka to get it away from the cave's mouth so we could move in and out of our temporary home.
Toph was sitting in the corner petting a purring Momo. Sokka was sitting next to her sharpening his boomerang, club, and his wale bone dagger. Unfortunately, Appa had to fly back to Chief Hakoda's boat. If people saw us riding Appa, we would be captured instantly, and turned over to the Fire Nation. Yet, it was a mark of how much I cared for the ten-ton flying bison that I carried the bison whistle with me everywhere I went.
"Sooo…"Sokka's voice rang through the stillness, making everyone jump. It had been pretty quiet for the past hour. "What's the next step?" he asked.
"Aren't you 'Mr. Plan Man' Snoozles? Why are you asking us?" At Toph's comment, Katara giggled, I grinned, and Sokka glared at Toph.
He sighed. "I'm open to everybody's thoughts. I'll base my decision on what everybody else thinks."
"I'd like to get out of this cave and move," I said, my Airbender instincts begging for me to be free, out in the open. "But it's not very safe."
"Okay. That's a start, lets keep thinking," said Sokka encouragingly.
"I like what Aang said. Let's find a way to make it work," Katara replied. She was silent for a moment, obviously thinking. A slow grin reached her lips as an idea settled into her mind. "Sokka, why didn't we get caught on dad's taken ship?"
"Because we were dressed Fire Na-…We're going shopping?" Sokka asked with excited confusion.
"Yes Snoozles, but no. We're not, she is," said Toph, pointing at Katara. "So hand over your clothes." Both of their jaws dropped, as did mine.
"Huh?" We asked confusedly. Why was Toph asking Sokka for his clothes?
"Snoozles is the only one with a disguise. So if he went shopping for us, he would get miss-matched colors, and we'd stick out more than if we walked out in these clothes. Sugar Queen is the only person for the job, so hand them over," said Toph simply.
"Hey!" Sokka yelled sounding offended. "I can dress fine!" he whined, crossing his arms.
"She's right though. Hand over the disguise Sokka," said Katara and Sokka, with much grumbling, got changed and placed the fire nation outfit into Katara's out stretched arms.
When Katara had fitted herself into the disguise, she took her best estimate of everyone's sizes. Grabbing the moneybag, she moved to stand next to the boulder at the opening of the cave, which Toph bended away. She walked towards the small town, trying hard to look like a regular Fire Nation girl.
Sokka and Toph just sat there doing what we were doing before they started to talk, but I was seeing my limits for Earthbending. I could do some Water and Airbending, but this hurt so badly! 'How am I going to face the Fire Lord now? I can barely bend!' I thought. I knew Toph could tell how much it hurt me, but I put on a tough mask so Sokka couldn't tell.
Toph let Katara in about an hour later. She had bought two new identical outfits for each of us and a map of the Fire Nation. (See The Headband and on for what they look like. A/N Aang's outfit is not a school uniform in my story). The best thing she bought was a bright red headband that covered my arrow on my forehead. Everything fit perfectly and we looked like genuine Fire Nation kids.
"Thanks, Katara", said Aang. Sokka grumbled at this.
Katara sighed. "I'm glad I was able to buy something. I felt like I had the most money in the whole place. There were people just sitting in the streets, and it brought tears to my eyes. We should help them."
As always, I was amazed at her kindness and compassion. Before I could say anything, however, Sokka cut me off.
"They will be better off when we take out the Fire Lord," he said. "But we can't do that if we don't get to the palace in time for the eclipse. We need to get moving soon, since we only have a couple weeks."
Katara nodded sadly, upset that she couldn't do anything for them.
Sokka, oblivious, continued. "I suggest we travel through the woods, to the other side of the island. There's a ferry there, so we can ride to the next island. I heard that there are also a lot of firebenders there too. Maybe we can get Aang a Firebending teacher."
"The 'lot of firebenders' part isn't to comforting, just so you know, Snoozles." Toph said, pushing Sokka over. "Last time I checked, firebenders shoot fire, usually at us. I can't see them coming, and unless you guys are paying attention directly to me, I get burned."
"Normally, Toph, you would, but they think I'm dead. They won't be looking for a dead person, so they won't be expecting us like usual. Besides, we have our Fire Nation disguises. We'll blend in," I said with a lofty tone in my voice. They could probably tell that I was excited to get out of this depressing cave and do something.
"We should get some sleep, we're going to be traveling a lot and since we don't have Appa to ride…"Sokka went and slumped over to his sleeping bag.
After a moment, Katara also walked over to her sleeping bag. Toph scooped up Momo and walked to her corner. She didn't need a rock tent in the cave, so she just slept on the floor. I stood a little confused. I had always slept on Appa, and now that he was gone, I had nowhere to sleep. Katara looked up at me. She gave me a look that said 'What are you waiting for?' Then after a few seconds her eyes filled with understanding.
"You'll see him soon enough," she said softly. She started to dig through her bag. She pulled out an old, worn, woolen blanket. She held it out to me. I saw Sokka's eyes widen over Katara's shoulder. "You can use this tonight. We'll get you your own sleeping bag before we leave tomorrow."
"Bu-Ka-that's Mom's blanket! How did you get that? I didn't even know it was still in one piece!" Sokka frantically. Then he said, sounding hurt, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know, actually. I don't even think dad knows. I found it in the box of mom's stuff that was given to me." Katara bit her lip, but handed me the warm blanket with a smile in her eyes.
'She gave me her mom's blanket!' I thought. 'And she didn't even tell Sokka she had it! She must really trust me.' This put a smile on my face. "Thank you Katara. I'll give it back to you in the morning."
She smiled too. "You're welcome." As she said this, her eyes met mine, and we didn't look away. It was only me and her, alone, with no other cares in the world. Sokka's grumbling about me being Katara's boyfriend behind us made Katara rip her eyes away from mine to glare daggers at Sokka.
My cheeks turned faintly red. Boyfriend, I thought.
----- (Sokka's POV) -----
I was a little mad at Katara the next day, but I was so busy helping to pack up the camp I didn't have time to show it. 'Why didn't she tell me about Mom's blanket?' I wondered. 'But she let Aang borrow it…'
"Hey Snoozles! Don't just sit there. Get packing!" Toph ordered. 'Is she ever rude to me?' I wondered sarcastically as I started to pack. After an uneventful hour, we were all packed up and ready to go. We were all dressed up inconspicuously Fire Nation. Aang had a soft smile on his face as he returned Mom's blanket to Katara. He thanked her for letting him borrow it. She said, "Your welcome, Aang," then carefully folded it and put it in her bag.
"We better get moving if we need to stop at town. It is a little far away," said Katara.
We set off in search of town. Katara led the way. She dragged us over a couple hills and through a river before we got there. She was right; we did have the most money in town, and we didn't have a lot of money. The little money we had was left on the Fire Navy ship when dad took it. We asked some people if they knew a place in town where we could buy camping supplies. Most weren't sure, but three people described the same place, so we went to take a look.
The store was the right one. It was filled with sleeping bags, tents, and things of such nature. Aang went to look at sleeping bags wile Katara went to look at a tent for him. Toph and I just stood there.
"Hey Toph, do you want a sleeping bag? It was really cold last night and it's bound to get colder further up the mountain," I said.
"Sure, why not? It's good to have one just in case," she replied but stood still.
"What are you waiting for?" I asked her. She frowned and waved her hand in front of her face.
I flushed. I always forget that she's blind! "Oh, sorry. Do you want me to pick one out for you?" She nodded.
"Can you get me a green one? And one that wont scratch my feet," she added shyly.
"Sure," I said as I went over to join Aang, with Toph right behind me. "How's this?" I asked as I held one out to her for her to feel.
She ran her hands over the soft fabric, biting her lip in thought. "That's great. Thanks, Snoozles."
We trudged through the crowded copse of towering poplar, beech, and various other trees in our search for the other side of the island. The woods were dense. I used my club's sharp edge as a machete to cut a path as I went. Everyone followed closely behind me. I grunted every time my club made contact with something. After a while, I stopped mid swing.
"What's up, Sokka?" Katara asked. She had collided with my back, almost knocking me over.
Rubbing a spot between my shoulder blades where she had hit, I grumbled a bit.
"What was that Snoozles?" Toph asked mockingly. I was almost sure she had heard me the first time
"There's a road…" I replied, defeated. I hung my head in embarrassment. Trust me to be hacking at vines and such while there's a road running parallel to our path.
There was a road all right, but it was a small and messy one. As we started down it we all tripped over roots, vines, fallen branches and logs. From the looks of the place, no one had taken this rout in a while. After a half an hour, the floor cleared out a bit and our pace quickened.
"I wonder what Prince and Princess Hot Head are doing," said Toph lazily, kicking obstacles out of her path with Earthbending.
"I hope Iroh burnt them to a crisp," said Katara, her voice full of venom.
"I don't think he will have," replied Toph quietly. "Remember what I told you in Ba Sing Se, about him giving me tea? Most of the time he talked about his nephew. Of course, he hadn't told me he was the angry, hot headed, Prince of the Fire Notation who was obsessed with capturing the Avatar. You could really tell that Iroh loves him. I don't know about Azula, though."
Everything became really quiet, as Katara pondered this. The leaves rustled and a light, warm breeze picked up. All the time we'd been in the Fire Nation it was very hot.
Soon, we were drenched in sweat, and huffing and puffing as we walked. It didn't help both that we were carrying our campsite on our backs, and in Toph and Katara's case, the heated argument they were having.
"Everyone knows water is the best element in the world!" insisted Katara.
"Great. You can freeze people, but in this heat it won't help much if you need to lock someone up. Earth will keep someone lock up for as long as needed," Toph retorted.
Aang and I were trying our hardest to keep out of this fight. It was easy for me, no bending and all, but in Aang's case, being the Avatar wasn't helping his cause.
"Twinkle Toes, tell Sugar Queen that earth beats the pants of that sissy element." Toph's head shot in Aang's direction.
"Umm…" I could tell he wished Toph didn't drag him in to this. "Well…I think their both great elements." Whew, he dodged that one.
"But water can heal people, even save them from death. Life is better than a rock," Katara said as Toph's face reddened with anger. She opened her mouth to reply when-
"But water evaporates when in close contact with heat. So fire is better than water," a voice said strongly.
All our heads shot towards the source of the voice. There, on an ostrich-horse was a teenaged girl, draped in a blood red cloak with the hood up. She had heard the whole thing. We were discovered.