Chapter 4

The next thing Katara noticed was that she was upright and her hands were bound. She struggled, but hit her back against something. She opened her eyes to get a glimpse of the surrounding area, but it was just as dark as before. She opened and closed her eyes several times, but nothing. It was just as dark with them open as it was with them closed. Oh my god, she was blind! That thought made her struggle even more, she panicked against the thought of being helpless. She suddenly felt her shoulder hit something hard next to her.

"Nnngh! I'm here!" She heard.

"Sokka? Sokka is that you?" She felt him move.

"Katara I'm blind!" It was that moment that she remembered what happened.

"Sokka, I think we've been captured by someone! We're not blind, they must've just put blindfolds on us."

"Captured? Oh…the tree! That's right! These men most likely are very skilled, elite, and strong, especially to have captured a great warrior, like myself."

Someone laughed. "A great warrior like yourself? You must be joking.."

Katara started at that. Who was there? And was that voice…?

"For your information I am the best warrior in my village!" Sokka replied with indignation.

That person laughed again. "Best warrior in your village? You must be the only warrior in your village."

She almost could feel the look on Sokka's face. "I resent that! I would challenge you at any moment."

"Oh really?"

Katara was certain now. That voice, it was a—

"GIRL?" Sokka exclaimed. A moment later, Katara felt something on her face and the blindfold was gone. In front of her stood several girls, one of whom holding her blindfold, all wearing makeup on their faces as well as matching green outfits. Sokka was still spluttering beside her, so she asked the obvious question.

"Who are you?"

The girl with the blindfold gazed at her and ignored the question, "where are you from?"

"The south pole."

The girl burst into laughter at this. It seemed to snap Sokka out of his reverie. "What's so funny?" He remarked, angrily.

"It's just, that was really funny. I mean nobody's seen or heard from anyone down there for so long." The girl kept smiling, "so where are you really from?"

"The SOUTH POLE." Sokka yelled angrily.

This time the girl didn't laugh. "The joke's lost its humor, boy."

"We really are from there," Katara said before Sokka could say anything. "My necklace is from my Grandmother and she said it's traditional for the water tribes." The girl had a confused look on her face. "What necklace?" She asked.

Katara was speechless. Something about the look on her face must've made the girl decide they were trustworthy, because she cut the rope that had them bound. Katara immediately felt her neck, before turning to Sokka.

"It's gone."

"Calm down. It can't've gone too far, right?"

"Sorry to interrupt this catastrophe, but you still haven't told me who you are," she interrupted.

"We told you, we're from the Southern Water Tribe. My name's Sokka and this is my sister, Katara."

"You really are from the water tribe?"

"Look at us, what do you think?"

The girl and Sokka glared at each other for a moment before Katara cut in. "Who are you?"

The girl turned around. "My name is Suki and these," she motioned to the warriors wandering around behind them, "are the Kyoshi warriors."

"I thought Kyoshi was an island," Katara responded.

"Yeah. Kyoshi is an ISLAND," Sokka added unhelpfully.

Suki glared at him. "Kyoshi was taken and burned down by the Fire Nation during the war, thank you so much for reminding me of that painful memory. We relocated here to act as law enforcement around the remainder of the Earth Kingdom."

"If that's true then what are you doing here?" Sokka and Suki were glaring at each other, completely ignoring Katara's existence.

"I'm going into town to try to find my necklace," she said as they completely ignored her.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" Suki yelled at Sokka.

"Well, I would otherwise I wouldn't have asked!"

Katara slipped away from them as they continued to yell insults at each other. She walked towards the town and started wandering around looking for some market place or something similar where she could ask people if they found her necklace. She wandered into an area with stalls and people wandering around trying to buy and sell things. For a moment she was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people but after a few seconds she was determined again and set out to find someone who would help her. She marched up to the nearest stall.

"Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me."

"Buy something or step out of the way, missy. I'm a very busy salesman."

She looked around in disbelief. He was a cabbage merchant and there was nobody around his stall. Everyone seemed to be giving it a wide berth, actually.

"Look I just need help finding something I lost-"

"Find it elsewhere, missy." Clearly he wasn't going to be of any help to her at all. She turned around and started to walk towards a different stall, when she spotted it. Her necklace. In the hands of some hooded figure. They and looked at her as if they felt her staring, but the next moment they spun around and ran in the other direction.