A/N:(edit: 7/1/07) OMG, I want to say thank you to all my reviewers, old and new. I really love seeing familiar pennames in the little review box. It makes me feel happy, so yah. Thanks to all of those people who have stuck with me throughout 'The Journey Begins', and now this story.. THANK YOU :)

Okay! here we go


Book Two – Water and Air

Chapter Three - Thirst

"Get up, Katara! Breakfast!" Sokka suddenly hollered from outside the thick mesh of the tent Katara was blissfully sleeping in. Katara didn't budge from her slumber, so Sokka continued to chant her name in sing-song. Aang was starting to get annoyed because Katara wasn't waking up to stop her brother with his vexatious banter.

"Katara!" Sokka called for the twentieth time. Aang stood impatiently and began to march towards the tent Katara was in. Sokka began to get excited at the slight fact that maybe Aang was going to wake Katara up loudly and rudely.

"Yeah, get her Aang!" Sokka urged loudly as he rubbed his hands together quickly as Aang disappeared into the tent. On the way in, Aang rolled his eyes before he fixed his gaze on Katara, her form comfortably laid on top of her sleeping bag.

There was no need to cover up during the night; the air was always nice and warm, especially inside the fairly large tent Aang had propped up the night before.Aang gently sat down next to Katara with a small smile as he laid a warm hand upon her shoulder, he then softly began to call her name and shake on her delicately. Soon enough, Katara's eyes began to flutter open before she gazed up at Aang sleepily.

"Sokka made breakfast again... and you better come out here before he eats it all," Aang chuckled as Katara sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Like the other time he made breakfast for us?" Katara croaked with a small laugh as she continued to idly rub her eyes. Aang let out a small laugh and nodded before he began to crawl towards the opening flap of the tent. Katara slowly followed him and stepped out into the warm, morning ocean breeze. She went over to Sokka who was making breakfast in a dilapidated cooking pan over a small, flickering fire.

"Oh, come on! I thought you were going to start yelling at her or something," Sokka complained as he threw his hands up in the air. Katara shot Sokka an irritated glare as she sat down on a lone tree stump near the little fire that the food was cooking over. She then sighed softly and looked down as she fiddled her fingers. Aang sat down on the dirt next to Katara with a small smile.

"I wouldn't yell at her, she was in a deep sleep... how would you like it if I did that to you?" Aang chuckled as he made himself comfortable. Sokka sighed softly before he glanced at Katara.

Sokka noticed the look on Katara's face; it was almost one of misery. He then began to realize that the two had been arguing a lot lately, and he knew Katara was not one to carry out long arguments for days on end.

Sokka sighed softly and stared at his sister apologetically, and, just as he was about to say something, an apology, anything, the pan of cooking food before him began to sizzle over the searing fire. Sokka gasped and quickly pulled the cooking pan away before he began to blow on it, causing a small fire in the pan to ignite.

"That's a great way to put out a fire, Sokka, just blow on it," Aang laughed as Sokka finally blew the small fire out after a few moments.

"HEY, it worked, didn't it?" Sokka yelled as he pointed to the pan, Katara quickly looked up with a small smile.

"It's also another way to get spit all over our food," Katara giggled before she stood. Sokka blinked a couple of times as he stared at his sister. He then sighed softly and set the pan of perfectly good food down. It was burnt a little, but still salvageable. Sokka began to prepare three plates for everyone before he noticed Katara start to stroll away from the camp sight.

"UH, Katara, where are you going? I have been up all morning making this breakfast," Sokka complained as he held her full plate up. Katara turned and quickly glanced at the table where Sokka was holding up the food for her. Sokka was surprised to see Katara slowly shake her head and begin to step further away.

"What? You don't want any?" Sokka asked sadly, making a big attempt not to start an argument. Katara shrugged softly and turned around.

"I-I'm just not hungry. I'm going to go look for a stream to waterbend...I'll be back later, okay?" Katara said softly with a small smile as she slowly began to stroll into the forest. The two boys were silent as they watched Katara disappear into a set of palm trees and bushes.

"...Why didn't she just go down to the beach to waterbend? I mean, there's more than enough water there, right?" Aang questioned as he set his empty, clean plate down. Sokka quickly shook his head.

"She's skipping breakfast?" Sokka questioned to himself before he stole a glance at Aang, "Something's up."

------

Katara aimlessly strolled about the diminutive palm tree forest, searching for a stream, river or body of water of some sort. She knew that this whole island was surrounded by miles of ocean water, but, for some reason, she needed to be close to something calm, something unlike the raging waves of the ocean on the sandy beach. Even though the calm was what she wanted, she couldn't find it to save her life.

She felt as if her element was literally calling to her, urging her to go through a bending form, all of them if not one. She also felt like her hands needed to do something, as if they itched for attention or something to do, and, since she couldn't bend water that she couldn't find, her stomach began to ache and moan.

Katara gripped her upper stomach and let a soft whimper escape her lips. She could feel her forehead begin to dot itself with sweat and she felt as if her legs wouldn't be able to work for much longer. She suddenly felt the teasing ache in her stomach grow, and, at that, she let a soft cry escape her lips as she gently doubled to the ground.

She had no idea what was happening, but, whatever it was, the very depths of it all was basically screaming at her to find a source of water near her if not anywhere on this dang island. Katara began to pant slightly as she looked up and examined her surroundings.

Everything was spinning in chaos so quickly that Katara couldn't even see the dirt below her. She groaned loudly, knowing that this type of thing has happened in the past. Not here, not now, Katara thought as she began to push herself to her feet before she shook her head and blinked a couple times.

Katara was surprised to see that within those few simple gestures, the complicated spinning of everything had stopped. Katara sighed impatiently as she wiped little beads of sweat from the crown of her head away before she quickly turned around and immediately began to head back to camp in hopes of being near Aang and Sokka so that nothing tragic would happen to her.

She figured what had just happened was the beginning of the transformation into another Vyntresser form, but she didn't want to stick around in the middle of a forest by herself to find out. She knew that if she was around Aang and Sokka, it would be safe to suddenly pass out, seeing as that was what seemed to happen before every transformation into an animal form.

Katara grew nervous when the dizziness came back and blurred her vision. She began to run as fast as her legs would take her, arms and hands pushing and shoving their way through thick tree vines and tall bushes. She suddenly had the feeling that she was lost, so she stopped running and gazed up to the spinning treetops in hope of miraculously standing still, to gather her blurred thoughts and, above all, to re-gain a steady footing and finding her way back to camp. She took a sharp, deep breath before she gazed about her surroundings.

She shakily let Aang's name fall from her lips as tears of worry and fright escaped her beautiful eyes. She continued to stumble before she, yet again, doubled to the ground, every inch of her body and mind literally craving the element she knew so well. There was nothing she could do but lay on the cold ground, feeling as if she was being eaten from the inside out.

- - -

"How am I supposed to know? She just took off and didn't tell us where she was going!" Sokka hollered to the young monk who sat on the lone tree stump that Katara was sitting at about a half an hour ago.

"Well, I'M going to go look for her, I'll be right--"

"NO! I'm coming with you," Sokka protested as he stormed into the same set of trees Katara vanished into. Aang quickly followed him with Momo on his shoulder.

"Sokka, what if she's hurt? W-what if something bad happened to her?" Aang worried as the two walked. They were both silent for a few moments before Aang continued, "W-what if she's in another Vyntresser form?"

With no warning at all, Sokka whirled around and harshly gripped the yellow collar of Aang's airbender clothes. Aang gasped and stared up at the older boy who angrily glared at him.

"You two were at it again, weren't you!" Sokka screamed in Aang's face. Aang felt as if he wanted to shrink into a hole and die. Aang didn't answer Sokka's question, and this act only succeeded in Sokka tightening his unforgivable grip on the young air bender's shirt, almost to the point of choking him.

"Weren't you!" Sokka yelled again in Aang's face. Aang let out a small choke as Momo jumped off of his shoulder and flew off to the trees.

"S-Sokka, I-"

"Don't talk to me," Sokka said harshly as he shoved Aang away, causing him to tumble to the ground. Aang gasped for air and rubbed his throat softly before he quickly loosened his collar and pushed himself to his feet.

"This is all your fault!" Sokka hollered over his shoulder as he quickly whipped out his machete and began to harshly thrash it around, cutting any kind of foliage that so dared to be in his way. Aang sighed softly and looked around before he quickly took off in a different direction than Sokka. He wasn't really planning on being mauled by Sokka or his weapon any time soon for something harmless that he and Katara had done the night before.

Aang quickly pushed his way through the shrubs and trees, forcing everything out of his way before he suddenly caught a glimpse of something across the leafage. He could've sworn it was Katara, but he only caught a little glimpse of her blue kimono. Aang quickly began to head that way, praying that it was her.

- - -

Katara began to pant heavily from the feeling of drowning in her own perspiration. She shakily pressed her upper arm to her forehead and wiped away the sweat that dripped from there. She took a deep breath as she looked around, feeling more and more confused as to why she wasn't turning into an animal at this point. Usually, I'd just pass out, and, five seconds later, I'd be in a Vyntresser form, Katara thought, but... why is this taking so long? Katara's mind continued to reel as she panted ...and why does it hurt?

Katara suddenly heard something to the right of herself. The bushes rustled quickly before she heard someone's voice echoing to an endless chant in her ears in a deep, eerie manner. Katara's eyes widened and she began to feel a twinge of fear form in the depths of her heart. She, without thought or feeling of anything, scrambled to her feet and instantly took off into a whirl of utter confusion. Her surroundings only consisted of different shades of green and brown with no substance, no shape, no nothing, but Katara was still determined to get away from whatever was now chasing her.

It continued to yell out something, something so familiar yet, at this point, so foreign to her. Katara let loud whimpers full of worry escape her lips as she harshly pushed her way through the thickness of everything, the forest, the vines, the twigs that seemed to reach out and cling to Katara's watertribe clothes.

Katara eventually saw light streaming in through the blur of leaves and vines, so she began to run faster once she saw the blueness of the ocean slowly seep into her line of vision. As she smiled in her victory of finding water, she suddenly found herself coming to a cliff. The longest cliff on the island that was a sheer, straight drop to the cold ocean water.

Without thought or control of her mind, Katara kept running, finding that she had literally thrown herself off the cliff. As she plummeted to the ocean far below, she felt so tranquil dropping through the air, so at peace, so happy, at least until everything faded and went black.


A/N:HA cliffie! I love it, aw it's so sad... but whatever, keep reading to find out! ;) lol

Please R&R, tell me what you all think:)

- Katara -

Mohalo ;)