(A/N)- Okay, so heres the new chapter, yay! :)

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Book 4

Air

Chapter 3:

The Investigation

-Part 1-

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Outside the Fire Nation, Out at sea. (early afternoon)

After searching for a bit, Aang and Katara found a boat and got into it, sailing out towards the mysterious lights. As they approached the area where the source was, there were no waves whatsoever, just flat ocean with the occasional small wave.

"Are we in the right place? It's so calm here." Katara asked, looking around.

"Yeah, this is the right place alright, the lights are obviously coming from right over there in the ocean." Aang said, pointing to an area in the ocean.

The calmness all changed when a very large whirlpool formed from that exact spot in the ocean, pulling Aang and Katara's boat in very fast.

"Gah!" Aang and Katara yelled, as their boat quickly jerked forwarded, making them fall to the floor.

Aang helped Katara up and he tried to bend their boat back, so that it wouldn't get sucked in to the whirlpool, but he couldn't. It was as if the whirlpool was using bending against them. It started to downpour, raining painfully on the couples' faces. Aang quickly wrapped his arms around Katara and held her to his chest, trying his very best to keep her safe from harm.

Suddenly, Katara's eyes opened wide and she gasped, looking over his shoulder, "What is that!?" she yelled, pointing up at the sky at a large waterspout forming from inside the whirlpool, going up.

Aang turned around right as the waterspout hit their boat, sending Katara and Aang flying into the ocean, only speeding up how fast they were getting sucked in.

Aang tried his best to keep his head above water but it proved to be very hard, so he went under, desperately searching for Katara, praying to the spirits she wasn't sucked in yet.

He saw her, half-unconscious, about ten feet away so he lunged forward using his waterbending and grabbed onto her, swiftly pulling her up and out of the sea.

Aang looked down at her as she slowly started to wake up, "Are you okay?" Aang asked her, looking straight into her eyes.

Katara coughed and then replied, "Yeah, I'm fine," smiling.

They swam as fast as they could, fighting the current, to a piece of the boat that had now been ripped to pieces except for a few larger boards. They grabbed on, and Katara said, distressed, "The boat is gone! How are we gonna get back?!"

Aang pushed back using waterbending and replied, "I don't know, this is wearing me out, but I'll improvise,"

Katara clung to him tighter, "Usually when we improvise, things go wrong!"

Aang turned her head to face him, "Just trust me!"

"I do…" Katara mumbled.

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Somewhere on the ocean between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, on Appa (early afternoon)

"This is so great!" Sokka exclaimed, practically bouncing up and down in his seat, "I'm gonna get boomerang back!"

Suki giggled and placed a kiss on his cheek, "I know you will," but then she thought about it a little more, "But where are you going to find it? I'm pretty sure you weren't going to pay specific attention to the exact spot you were in that area. It could take days, or weeks, maybe even months to find it!"

"My instincts tell me I'll be able to find it, they will lead me right to boomerang and my space sword," Sokka said, laying back.

"I hope so," Suki said, also laying back, "You love them so much."

Sokka turned and smiled at her, "But not as much as I love you,"

Suki blushed and smiled as Sokka gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

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Fire Nation Palace, Fire Nation. (early afternoon)

"Ok," Toph said, walking back and forth in front of the three children, "My name's Toph and I am in charge of you three until Aang and Katara return from their mission, or if Zuko returns from his 'bandit meeting'. So, we are going to play a game,"

Usagi raised her hand, "Yes, Usagi?" Toph asked, sensing from the vibrations that she raised her hand.

"What kind of game?" Usagi asked.

"Yeah, what do we do?!" Noboru added.

"It's called the quiet game, you-," Toph started, getting interrupted by Boyou.

"MY MOM LOVED THAT GAME!"

"Well, good. So you're familiar with the rules?" Toph asked, bending over and looking straight into the boy's face.

"Yup, my mom used to play that with me, before she died…" Buyou added, mumbling at the end.

"Well, then this will remind you of her, and it will be fun!" Toph said, smiling.

"I guess…"

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Outside the Fire Nation, Out at sea. (early afternoon)

"We have to get out of here, Aang, we can come back later when we get Appa back from Sokka!" Katara yelled over the loud cracks thunder and rain.

"Way ahead of you!" Aang yelled, holding tightly onto Katara and entering the avatar state, making there be a bright white light in the middle of darkness. He bent the whirlpool and the waterspout completely frozen and power launched him and Katara through the water, then exiting the avatar state.

Aang quickly made an ice raft and Katara and him climbed on.

"Whew…..what a rush…" Katara said, squeezing the water from her hair.

"I'll say," Aang said, laying down on their raft, the water had calmed down and the lights went away.

Katara laid down beside him and said, "We should be getting back, I can see the Palace in the distance, and Zuko and Toph are probably waiting for us,"

Aang sighed and said, "Let me just rest a bit before I start bending again, it was hard to keep us both from getting sucked in or just drowning."

Katara scooted closer to him, "Okay, you did good, I'm so proud of you,"

Aang smiled and Katara and him slowly drifted into sleep.

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"Wow" Toph exclaimed, "You guys are doing pretty good!"

The three children were sitting in a circle, talking in their own version of sign language. While Toph was sitting back, relaxing on a lounge chair with a fruit drink.

Usagi stood up and walked over to Toph, she carved in the floor, 'Hou do we win?'

Toph put her hand to the floor and felt for the vibrations of what the kid wrote. "Uh, sorry, Usagi, but I don't read," she waved her hand in front of her face for effect, "I'm sorta blind."

Usagi started to mope towards her friends but Toph then said, "Okay, we'll have a time out, what do you need?"

Usagi turned around and said, "I want to know how we win the game,"

"Oh," Toph said, her eyes widening, "Well…uh," she hadn't really thought of that, but then she came up with an idea, "It's such a good, fun-to-play game, that everyone wins!"

All the kids turned to each other hopping up and down, "We all won! YAY!"

"Ok, now do you guys wanna go play on the beach? I'm bored…" Toph said, pointing towards the beach.

"YEAH!" they all shouted in unison.

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Aang woke up to a dark sky and rain falling hard on his face, waves were beginning to form, and they weren't the nice calm ones that gently rock your boat. They were the kind that go over your boat and get you in a shipwreck. (Ahhh, isn't weather nice. :)

Their makeshift ice raft tilted up and Katara, who was just now waking up, started to slip off. Aang quickly grabbed a hold of the side of the ice and grabbed onto Katara's arm and pulled her up, "Hang on!" he yelled, and Katara did so, trying her best not to slip off.

Aang almost slipped and yelled, "I don't think having a slippery ice raft in the middle of a bad storm is that good!"

"I agree with that!" Katara yelled in reply, tightening her grip on the ice.

Aang then came up with an idea, "Let go!"

Katara turned to him, shocked, "What!? Are you trying to kill us?!"

"You said you trusted me earlier, why not now!" Aang yelled as a small wave crashed on them as a larger one started to form ahead of them.

"I…I don't know," Katara said, closing her eyes and thinking it over, she then looked up at Aang and hesitantly said, "Okay,"

"When I count to three, we both let go, okay?!" Aang told her.

Katara bit her lip and replied, "O-okay,"

"One!" Katara bit her lip harder as she prepared to let go. The wave got bigger and was starting to head towards them.

"Two!" She eyes Aang who hardly looked scared about letting go, he turned to her and smiled. The wave drew nearer.

"Three!" Aang yelled as they let go, at the same time the wave crashed onto their ice raft.

Katara sunk underwater and slowly opened her eyes looking for Aang; he swam up to her and held onto her as he bent a cocoon of air around them, pushing back the water. He froze the cocoon and bent the cocoon towards the beach of the Fire Nation Palace.

There was hardly any air in their cocoon and Katara was struggling with the fact that she couldn't breathe. Aang put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as if he was telling her they were almost there.

With a sudden jolt, the two crash landed on the beach and were knocked unconscious.

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"Okay now, guys," Toph said, as they all walked onto the beach, "I can't swim so don't drown. And if you do, I can't come in and get you, okay? Now. Go have fun or whatever."

"Okay!" The three kids once again shouted in unison.

Toph sat down and started making gigantic sand sculptures of random things, while the three kids splashed around in the water, and making tiny sand sculptures.

Usagi ran over to Toph, "How are you making such big sand sculptures so fast?" she asked in wonder.

"Well, I learned how to sand-bend," Toph said, bending the sand around to her will.

"You can really bend sand?! Can you teach me?!" Usagi asked happily, hopping up and down.

"Uh, sure, I guess, but it's pretty hard," Toph said, shrugging.

"Can I still try?" Usagi asked, her lower lip sticking out.

Toph sighed, saying, "Fine,"

But right as Toph said fine, an ice cocoon flew by and smashed into the walls behind them. Noboru and Buyou quickly jumped out of the water and ran up to the cocoon. Buyou knocked on the ice and looked through it.

"There's people in it!" he shouted, Toph and Usagi ran up as Noboru grabbed his mallet and started tapping the ice, trying to break it without hurting the people inside. It didn't take that long to break through because most of the ice was cracked from the crash.

Everyone but Toph looked in and yelled, "It's Avatar Aang and his girlfriend!"

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"So, we will send in more soldiers to gather the bandits?" General Shu stated, looking through a stack of papers.

"Yes, and hopefully that'll-," Zuko started, as a crash came out from the distance, "What was that!?" he yelled, running over to a window.

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Zuko ran out to the beach and saw everyone huddled over an ice cocoon, he ran up and looked in at the two unconscious teens inside, "What happened?" he asked in shock.

"We were playing and then BOOM! There was a big crash and we saw them over here!" Noboru yelled, holding his hands up in the air.

"Well, whatever happened, we need to get them to the infirmary," Zuko said, then calling the servants over to get them. They placed them on mats and carried them to the infirmary.

"I'll send a messenger hawk to Sokka, he should come back, just for another day." Zuko said, walking back to the palace.

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Sokka was startled by the messenger hawk landing on his lap and cawing loudly, "Okay, Okay, shhhh!" he said angrily to it. It stopped cawing and let Sokka take out the message, it read-

Sokka,

Your sister and Aang came back from their mission, but they were unconscious and they are now in the infirmary, I'm asking you to please come back and make sure they are okay.

Zuko

Sokka thought about it for alittle. Katara and Aang….or Boomerang and Space Sword.

He smiled and turned around, heading back towards the Fire Nation.

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"Uhnnnn," Katara groaned as she sat up, her head hurting really badly.

"Sounds like your awake," Sokka said, walking into the room smiling.

Katara smiled and put her hand up to her head, feeling for anything unusual. She was greeted by a very large bump there and she groaned in pain. Zuko walked in smiling and sat down on a chair.

"How ya doin?" he asked, putting a hand on her bump.

"Ow," Katara mumbled, "What happened, anyway?"

"You crashed, we ran and got you, here you are," Zuko said, smiling.

"I just got here like 5 minutes ago, so I really don't know what happened." Sokka said, chuckling a bit.

"Aang made that cocoon and he shot it out towards the beach, unfortunately he didn't slow down in time, and we crashed I guess." Katara said, "Well, I better get this healed, do you have any water?"

Zuko turned around and shouted towards the door, "Bowl of Water,"

In less than a minute, a servant came with a bowl of water towards Katara and kneeled down, handing it to her.

"Well that works," Katara said, giggling as the servant ran out of the room, "Being royalty must be fun,"

"Yeah, they come so quickly it's like they're lined up outside the hallway with everything I could possibly want," Zuko said, laughing, Katara and Sokka also starting to laugh.

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"Yeah, they come so quickly it's like they're lined up outside the hallway with everything I could possibly want,"

The head servant sighed and whispered, "He knows, back to your cabins."

All the rest of the hundreds of servants sighed and went back to their cabins, carrying everything Zuko could possibly want.

(a/n- that was random, I know)

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Katara took the water and healed her head, sighing in relief when the throbbing in her head went away, she got up and went over to Aang and healed him and he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

He looked up and saw that he was in an infirmary and he got wide-eyed, grabbing his head asking, "I don't have hair again, do I?"

Everyone laughed and stood up, leaving the room to meet with General Shinu to tell them about their mission.

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Once in the room, everyone sat down with General Shinu and their meeting began.

"So, what did you two find out about the lights, are they going to keep on going or did you successfully stop them," Shinu asked.

"Well, it wasn't that easy to do, General Shinu," Katara said, meekly.

"Yeah," Aang agreed, "When we got there, everything was calm and we saw where the lights were coming from, but as soon as we looked at it, a gigantic whirlpool formed in that exact spot and started to suck us in, we almost drowned,"

"So," General Shinu said, "The lights form whirlpools?"

"Not only that, sir," Katara said, "After a little bit, it started to rain and a giant waterspout formed from inside of it, it crashed into our boat and we still were getting sucked in, Aang saved me by going into the Avatar State and shooting us out of there, but then another storm happened,"

"After all of that," Aang finished, "We had to get out of there so we got ourselves in that ice cocoon and shot onto the beach,"

"Do you plan to return?" General Shinu asked, looking at Aang and Katara.

Aang and Katara looked at each other and nodded, then they turned to Shinu and said, "Yes, now that we have Appa back, it will be much easier to investigate the lights."

"Okay, but you should go after breakfast is served in the morning, it seems to have died down so you two can relax," he said, and Katara and Aang nodded.

"I'll go tomorrow too, I don't think there are any meetings tomorrow morning," Zuko said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Me too, I'll get my weapons later in the day, I think Piandao can wait another day," Sokka said, smiling.

Katara and Aang turned around and Aang said, "Thanks,"

"So that means I'm still stuck with babysitting duty?" Toph pouted, raising an eyebrow.

Buyou, Noboru, and Usagi ran up next to Aang, using their puppy-dog faces against him, "No, no! Anything but that! No!" Aang said, desperately trying to hide his face from the little kids' hypnotic spell. He managed to get it off his mind but Katara wasn't so lucky.

"Awww, Aang! We gotta now, that's so adorable," Katara said in a baby voice.

And, just like before, Aang turned to see Katara using her puppy-dog face that he just can't resist, so somehow, Aang got tricked into letting them go.

"Awwww! Fine….," Aang muttered.

"Yay!" the children yelled in joy.

Aang sighed and left for the dining room, dinner was going to be served soon.

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Katara joined Aang at the grand dining room and sat next to him. He smiled and took her hand in his and started to lean in to kiss when suddenly-

"WE'RE GONNA SIT BY YOU, AVATAR AANG!"

"Gah!" Aang and Katara shouted as the three kids piled up next to Aang, ripping right through the hand holding coupled, trying to get as close to him as humanly possible. Noboru and Buyou were on both of his sides and Usagi sat next to Katara and Buyou.

Katara grew sad and looked over at Aang, and he looked back, also looking sad, but also embarrassed. "What are you gonna have, Mister Avatar Aang?"

"Yeah, we're gonna get exactly what you get!" Noboru exclaimed.

"I became vegetarian just for this moment!" Buyou shouted with glee.

Usagi looked over from Katara to Aang and back to Katara, and scooted closer to Katara, "What are you gonna get, Miss Katara?"

"Oh, uh, I'm not sure yet," Katara smiled at the young girl.

"Is it okay if I get what you get?" Usagi asked, with big puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh, er, sure, I guess," Katara said, giving her an unsure smile.

"Okay, so, how long have you and Aang and Sokka and Toph, and Fire Lord Zuko been traveling?" Usagi asked Katara, "How did you all meet?"

"Oh, well, I came from the Southern Water Tribe-,"

"IS IT REALLY COLD THERE?!"

Katara's eyes widened at the sudden enthusiasm, but then she said, "Well, yeah, we have to wear coats all the time," Katara looked up at Aang, who was also being pestered with questions, "But I met Aang because me and Sokka were fishing, and we came across a gigantic circular iceberg and I used Sokka's mallet to break it open,"

Katara giggled at the memory, "And then Aang, this strange boy with tattoos," she looked up at Aang, and Usagi turned to look at his arrows, "he fell out of the iceberg and he said, 'I need to ask you something,' and then, 'please come closer', and then he said to me, 'Will you go penguin sledding with me?'" Katara couldn't help but laugh out loud, making everyone in the room stare at her.

She immediately looked up, blushing from embarrassment, "I uh….thought…uh, of something…er, funny?"

Everyone shrugged and went back to their own business, Katara sighed in relief.

"What's penguin sledding?" Usagi asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh, penguin sledding is a game that a lot of kids play in the South Pole, you get on the back of a penguin and slid down a hill really fast, it's a lot of fun," Katara said, smiling.

"Do you think you and Aang could take me penguin sledding sometime?" Usagi asked with pleading eyes.

Katara smiled, "I bet we could squeeze that in sometime,"

"Yay!" she yelled.

Katara looked over at Aang, who looked at her more embarrassed then before cause the kids were pulling on Aang's collar and at his arms, asking him numerous questions, "Could you possibly sit on the other side of me?" Katara whispered to Usagi.

"Sure," Usagi said, jumping from her seat and sitting next to Katara's left side.

Katara then asked Noboru very nicely if he could sit on the other side of Aang, he pouted a little bit before agreeing and moving over. Katara scooted next to Aang, smiling as he turned his head and blushed, also smiling at her.

"Where were we?" Aang asked, smiling romantically.

"I think I can remember," Katara said, leaning in, her eyes half lidded. Aang began to lean in and-

"OH! Such a happy couple!" Sokka yelled, as he squeezed a chair in-between Aang and Katara, causing them to grunt with frustration.

"Okay, so Aang, I've been given the honor of interviewing you, IN DISGUISE!" Sokka said, stoking his beard that he's kept since the time Aang went to that fire nation school.

Aang's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "How are you in disguise if I know who you are?!"

"You may know, and Katara may know, but everyone else, DOSEN'T KNOW!" Sokka stated, stroking the beard again.

Just then, Zuko walked up behind them and said, "Hey, Sokka,"

Sokka's eyes opened wide and he took off the beard in defeat, "It's pretty obvious isn't it,"

Katara and Aang nodded in annoyance. The food was served and the feast began, starting out with honoring the fact that they had the Avatar there as their honored guest. Aang said his thank-you's to everyone and he sat down, and everyone began to eat.

"What are you getting, Mister Avatar Aang!" Buyou and Noboru yelled, jumping onto Aang's lap.

"Oof! Uh….Veggie…Egg rolls and noodles….with rice," Aang sputtered out as the kids continued jumping on him.

Katara asked them nicely to get off and they responded with, "Okay……RAID THE EGG ROLLS!"

All of the three kids ran onto the table towards the egg rolls, creating a huge commotion making Sokka get up to run and get them.

Aang smiled towards Katara and took her hand saying, "Come with me,"

Katara blushed and smiled, "Okay,"

Aang and Katara ran towards a hidden balcony and closed the doors to the dining room, "Whew," Katara breathed once they got the door closed. They both walked over to the side of the balcony and looked at the sun setting, you could just see the sliver of sun that was left in the sky.

"This is a romantic setting," Katara said to Aang.

"Yeah….It sure is," Aang said, wrapping his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him.

Katara turned to him and smiled, blushing bright red, Aang started to lean in and Katara followed and they kissed, locked in each other's embrace until the need for air was too much. Then they broke apart and laughed, they still weren't used to the kissing thing.

They went back to the dining room and pushed Sokka into another seat (Totally dissing his plans of interviewing Aang) and scooting next to each other, going on with the feast, holding hands the entire time.

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Later everyone went to their rooms, falling asleep so that they could be wide awake for their mission in the morning.

Katara was fast asleep in her room, the sun had set and the moon had risen, when all of a sudden, Aang jumped into her room from the window.

He walked over to her with his staff and gently put his hand on her shoulder to wake her up. Katara stirred and with a small, quiet groan she woke up and lazily turned to Aang. When she saw Aang standing next to her she almost gasped, but Aang covered her mouth with his hand and shhh-ed her. She sighed when she realized it was only Aang.

She yawned and sat up, "What are you doing here? How did you get up here? The door's locked."

Aang smirked happily, "Airbender. Glider. Open window. I have my ways,"

Katara smacked her face, "Duh…Aang, I'm half asleep, you can't blame me,"

"I know," Aang chuckled, "But come on, I have something to show you,"

Katara buried her face in her pillow and her voice was muffled by it, "Can't it wait till morning…it's sleepy time,"

Aang chuckled and grabbed her arm, slowly and gently pulling her up out of her bed, he stood her up but she fell over onto him. Thankfully, he caught her and turned around, telling her to get onto his back.

She yawned and did so, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and her legs wrapped around his middle. He walked over to the window and jumped out, gliding up to the edge of the volcano that the palace was in.

"Close your eyes," Aang told Katara.

"I'm already doing that," Yawned a half-asleep Katara.

Aang smiled and landed, carefully letting Katara off of his back, he guided her over to the edge to sit down and she did, yawning once more and not opening her eyes.

"When do I get to open them, I'm gonna fall asleep if I don't, and I don't necessarily wanna die falling down the side of a volcano, asleep," Katara muttered, yawning at the end.

Aang yawned and said, "Yawning is contagious,"

So there they were, Katara closing her eyes and Aang keeping his over in a battle of yawns.

Katara yawned.

Aang yawned.

Katara yawned.

Aang yawned.

(a/n haha, I just yawned)

They both started to laugh and Aang said, when I count to three, I want you to open your eyes, okay?"

"Okay," Katara replied.

"Okay, one, two, three!" Aang said, smiling.

Katara opened her eyes and saw the mysterious lights floating all around the night sky, she gaped at it with a smile on her face as she said to Aang in amazement, "Wow, Aang! It's so beautiful! It's so….Amazing, there's not a thing to describe it!"

Aang blushed and put his hand over hers, "But it's not even half of what you are,"

Katara turned to him and blushed madly, "You….you really think I'm beautiful?"

"Katara," Aang breathed, "Didn't I tell you a few days ago? When I woke up in the iceberg, I thought I was dead and you were my angel, you can't get more beautiful than an angel," then he chuckled, "You're the one exception,"

Katara blushed even more so, she felt like all of the blood in her body flowed up to her cheeks that moment, "Wow, Aang. You really have a way with words," She smiled.

Aang smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "I love you,"

Katara smiled back and whispered in his ear, "I love you, too,"

She laid back and realized how tired she really was; she curled up in a ball and fell asleep, Aang laid down next to her and started to stroke her hair.

After about ten minutes, he picked her up and jumped down to Katara's room, careful not to wake her up, and gently set her down on her bed. He pulled her covers up and kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Katara,"

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Okay! So, there's another chapter, and it came in 16 days earlier than last time! :)

Tell me what your favorite parts of this chapter were, what you think I should have more of, etc. I love to hear what you guys think!

Haha, I think it's funny that I started writing this story EXACTLY 72 hours(3 days) ago, and now I'm finished with it at that same time, 10:!4PM, 3 days earlier. What is up with that…

Okay, well, I hope you liked the 4 chapter of my story(Even though it's Chapter 3: The Investigation-part 1)

Buh Bye, and now, as Katara would say, "It's sleepy time"

-AangKatara777