Behold the first chapter taking place in Book Two! Are you as excited as I am? Enjoy!

The Swamp

Tara flew straight ahead, her eyes fixed on a fluffy white speck. Below her was just about the biggest swamp she had ever seen. It began what seemed like a half-hour ago and she could still see it on the horizon in front of her.

Things hadn't really been going that great since they left the Northern Water Tribe. First a crazy Earth Kingdom general almost killed Katara in order to get Aang in the Avatar State. Keep in mind he was supposed to be our escort. Then the gang was forced to get lost in an underground 'love' tunnel with a bunch of hippies. It was lucky the Fire Nation was distracted by Appa when they attempted to fly over the mountain containing the tunnels. Tara made her way to the other side scot-free. Of course then the gang found out Omashu had been taken over by the Fire Nation. King Bumi was supposed to teach Aang earthbending but he was busy locked in a metal cage.

Which led to where they were now; aimlessly searching for an earthbending teacher. Yeah, things were going great.

Tara couldn't help feeling another unwanted adventure was coming on, though. She turned her gaze down towards the humongous swamp. The more she looked at it the more her mind wandered away. A couple minutes later, she was descending onto the marshy ground.

"What the spirits?" she exclaimed as her feet made contact with a spiraling tree root.

Quickly, Tara grabbed the wing of her flier as it began to slip off the small area. How did she get down here? The place seemed sort of creepy up close. She carefully dragged her flier off the root and onto a larger expanse of real land. The ground made squishing sounds with every step.

With a sigh, the firebender looked up. Immediately, she was amazed that she made it to the ground without getting caught in the vines that were everywhere. Then she realized that she had no idea where Sokka, Aang, and Katara were.

"Not good." She said to herself.

Tara planted her hands onto their perch on her flier and took to the skies but was almost instantly locked in a knot of vines. She managed to grab her whale-bone knife from her pouch and cut a few of the annoying bonds. Unfortunately, they were the wrong few. With a snap, the firebender fell into the water below. She stood up, now drenched, and saw her predicament.

Tara was trapped in a pretty large swamp with only a knife. Her flier, along with all her supplies, was hanging in the air unreachable. And to think I thought things couldn't get any worse.

In frustration, she stabbed her weapon into the closest tree root. Breathing heavily, she turned her gaze into the forest.

"Hello?" she called hopefully, "Does anybody live here? Anybody at all? Anything at all?"

No answer came. Then suddenly, her sopping wet flower fell from behind her ear into the water. Tara sighed as she stared at the fresh white flower that she had picked this morning flow downstream.

Wait. Swamps didn't have currents, did they? She didn't think so. Seeing it as a sign, she grabbed her knife from its previous spot and ran after the flower. The firebender splashed through the water at top speed. Soon she was about a foot behind it but slowed down. She thought it best to follow it rather than pick it up. The white shape floated left and right. Tara had to climb over large roots a couple times and had to duck under them even more.

Then suddenly it stopped. The firebender skidded to a halt but got caught in the muddy bottom. She fell backwards into the water and scrambled back to a standing position. Freshly wet, Tara stared at the flower as it floated. She waited a few moments more for something to happen. She glanced around the surrounding area but saw nothing. Great. Now what? What did I expect to happen anyway? She looked at her knife still clutched desperately in her hand. There were red-hot sparks flying from her other hand that was balled in a fist.

"Calm down, sweetie. It's okay."

Tara's eyes flew up to meet the voice. She screamed and fell once again into the water. She had seen… no, it couldn't have been. The firebender looked back up and she was still there.

It was her mother smiling down at her. She was just how Tara remembered her. She had a relatively skinny face with high cheekbones which were adorned with freckles. Her golden eyes shone with reassuring comfort. She wore a long red robe with a golden flower design. Her black hair just brushed against the top of her shoulders. She had on golden chain earrings.

"Now we can match." Tara remembered her mother laughing on the last birthday the firebender had had with her whole family. She had given her her own pair.

Tara dropped her knife and sent her hands to her earlobes. Nothing hung there. They didn't match her water tribe get-up. Tears began to gather in her eyes and eventually spilled over.

"Oh, don't cry my little firebender." A new voice echoed.

Suddenly, her father materialized next to her mother. Tara gasped and staggered back a little more.

He looked like he used to. Short, raggedy black hair covered his ears. His clothing was simple and just the tiniest bit dirty. It was a maroon colored tank with a golden trim. His pants were a bit poofy and had the same coloring. He already had a few definite wrinkles and a broad chin. And his dark brown eyes sparkled as he talked.

"You know you're the spitting image of your mother." He smiled.

Tara simply stared in awe but her mother's grin grew even larger.

"We are so very proud of you." She added.

"I…" she struggled to find words. It was unbelievable. It wasn't possible.

Salty tears continued rolling down her cheeks as she started towards her parents. But she ran right through them which made her fall back into the water. Tara sat up and looked around desperately for them. But there wasn't a sign that anyone else had even been there.

Tara cried harder into her arms. She wasn't sure how long she was there before she noticed the sky was darkening. Night was already falling. The firebender wiped her eyes even though she was wet all over. Her stomach growled but in truth she didn't really feel hungry. Silently, she decided that she would explore in the morning.

Tara created a tiny ball of fire, about the size of a marble, and weaved it between her fingers. She stared at the orangey light as it slowly became the only source of light. The vines and trees obscured the moon from shining down to her. It wasn't long before her strength ran out and the firebender fell asleep with her head resting on her folded arms.

"Tara." A voice came accompanied with a small shake of her shoulder.

She opened her eyes slowly and yawned. It looked like dawn was just ending. Then she saw the worried face of someone familiar.

"Sokka!" she cried and jumped up.

She held the warrior in a tight embrace.

"Yeah. Hi, Tara." He croaked, "Loosen up, will ya?"

The firebender let go of him and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry, I thought I was lost." She managed a laugh.

"Hm. You dropped this."

Sokka held out her white flower, its petals still drooping from the weight of water. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to her. Tara took the bloom from his hand gingerly and simply looked at it.

"Something happened, right?" He said carefully.

She nodded somberly but never looked away from the flower.

"I saw my parents." Tara whispered, "They were happy. My father, his eyes… he hadn't changed."

A single tear made its way down her face.

"I almost believed they were real before they… disappeared."

"I saw Yue." Sokka said, though it sounded like it was hard for him to do so.

"As the moon spirit?" Tara asked, finally looking up at him.

Sokka had told her the story just a few nights before. It was still a hard topic for him.

"Sort of. But I'm sure it was just a hallucination."

"I don't think so. My flower brought me to this specific spot. That's not natural."

"We're just… hungry. That's all."

Tara shook her head but didn't say anymore. She didn't want a fight now.

"Where are the others?" She changed the subject.

"I don't know. I was looking for them when I found you. Where is the rest of your stuff, anyway?"

She had a short laugh.

"My flier, and everything else, is hanging by some vines… somewhere."

"Great," the warrior said sarcastically, "We lost Appa and Momo. Maybe they'll get together and have a party."

"Kind of unlikely, don't you think? I'm going to try and find my flier. I'm not going anywhere without it."

Tara began to slosh through the water in the direction she thought was the right one. On the way, she spotted the glint of something shiny and grabbed her whale-bone knife straight from its watery grave.

"Are you coming?" She called.

"Uh, alright. For a little bit. But then I've got to find the others." The warrior responded as he ran to catch up with her.

Such typical Sokka. So easy to manipulate. The pair crashed through swamp water with Tara leading the way. They didn't talk much but she could hear Sokka mumble complaints once in a while which, of course, made her laugh. Eventually, the firebender spotted a large form hanging in the air.

"Found it!" She claimed as she picked up her pace.

"Huh? Oh!" the warrior yelled as he took off after her.

Soon they were both standing underneath Tara's flier.

"Someone's got to climb up one of those vines," Sokka said as he pointed towards a close-by clump of still hanging vines, "and then cut the ones keeping your flier up."

"Sounds like a job for a thin, agile—"

"Alright, I'll do it."

"I was talking about me, Sokka."

"I'm thin and agile!"

"Yeah… I guess. But I'm more-so; at least on the agile part. Climbing is one of my specialties."

"Where did you learn that in the South Pole?"

"I didn't. It was part of archer training. Duh."

"Oh. Uh, okay. You can do the climbing."

Tara smirked and walked towards the clump of vines. She stuck her knife into her pocket. Then she carefully chose what seemed to be the strongest one. But then she thought better of it. She grabbed the whole clump of green. With a grunt, she jumped and planted her other hand around them higher up. The firebender tried to dig the sides of her feet into the vines. It sort of worked but not as well as usual.

She continued the climb until she made it to the same height as her flier. Tara expertly moved her body so the vines would swing from side to side. Choosing her timing right, she jumped onto the hanging flier. The added weight snapped a vine or two but didn't do so much damage.

"Watch it!" Sokka called from below, "It almost fell right on top of me!"

"Oh, suck it up. It did not." The firebender smiled.

The warrior grumbled but didn't respond again. Tara's smile only broadened, soaking in the rare moment. She pulled out her whale-bone knife and paused to look at it. Sokka, himself, had crafted it himself for her. It had been a birthday present the year before the men of the Southern Water Tribe had left. The knife had been only the second weapon he had made without help from his father.

Tara sighed softly at the thought of those times. Wanting to get rid of the saddening memory, she tore the whale-bone knife through as many vines at once as she could. In short, it wasn't the best idea.

The remaining plants snapped and the whole structure fell to the swamp's floor. The firebender screamed in surprise as her long hair whipped upwards. The flier crashed into the water and Tara was quickly drenched once again.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked as he sloshed towards her.

"I'm fine, really." She answered with a slight laugh, "It just surprised me."

She climbed off the flier, untied her supply sack from the foot ledge, and assessed the damage. Her extra two sets of clothing were soaked but would dry fine; her food looked okay except for the bread which was hopelessly soggy and gross. Tara dumped water out of her quiver but it didn't hurt her bow and arrows. Her flier was surprisingly undamaged especially for such a fall. Thank the spirits!

"Well, if everything looks good then I should be trying to find Katara and Aang." Sokka stated matter-of-factly.

Tara's eyes fell but she understood. It was obviously important.

"Yeah." She responded half-heartedly, "I'll follow a bit behind. I don't want to get lost. How's that sound?"

"Great. Whatever."

The warrior was already heading into the direction they came. Once she could only see a speck of him, the firebender grabbed the hands ledge of her flier and began walking tiredly after him. It was a while later that Sokka ran into his other companions; literally. They smacked right into him.

Tara couldn't hear their conversation from where she was but their expressions told the story. First Sokka was upset. Then Katara was upset. Pretty normal. Aang was ignoring then and seemed to change the subject. Then the warrior got all timid but kept talking. Katara's face softened. It was clear that they must've all had their own episodes in the swamp.

This place certainly was weird.

Aang pointed towards the biggest tree imaginable, seriously this was one big tree, and said something. Then Sokka got upset again which meant he was speaking logic. And then, of course, a giant vine monster attacked.

Oh good. Something crazy happened. I was beginning to think this event would go on without any action.

All three members of the gang ran in different directions and began attacking the monster with everything they've got. Sokka, naturally, got caught in its green-y clutches. This happened often and didn't even faze Tara who was simply watching the gang fight off the creature. The firebender just watched the whole thing unroll. Sure, she could help but that would result in revealing herself and it wasn't the right time for that.

When battles didn't involve fire, which happened a good amount of time, there wasn't much she could do secretly. And when fights did have fire being thrown around all she could really do was slow it down a bit; a trick she adapted from Katara's waterbending moves.

So, in reality, Tara wasn't being lazy; just practical. And anyway, the avatar gang always won. How could they not? There was always a pattern for this kind of stuff. If things did go bad, the firebender wouldn't hesitate to help, but spirits forbid something bad would happen!

Eventually, the battle got a bit interesting. The more vines Katara and Aang water-sliced off the monster, the more random body parts you could make out. She saw an arm and a leg numerous times before more plants covered them. In the end, Sokka was freed and the vine creature was revealed to be just a waterbender; a weird waterbender at that.

He wore only leaves and seemed a bit chubby, although how, in this deserted land, he could've become fat is beyong her knowledge. His name was Hue. The guy turned out to be some kind of soul-searcher, you know the type. The gang all sat down with him under the humongo tree and talked a bit. Tara carefully placed her flier under some loose vines and followed.

"I reached enlightenment right here under the banion grove tree." He said, "I hear it callin' me, just like you did."

Then Sokka decided to be Sokka.

"Sure ya did. It seems real chatty."

"See this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink and take root and then spread some more – one big living organism, just like the entire world." Hue ignored the warrior.

"I get how the tree is one big thing, but, the whole world …" Aang wondered.

Oh, no…

"Sure. You think you're any different from me, or your friends, or this tree ? If you listen hard enough you can hear every living thing breathing together, you can feel everything growing. We're all livin' together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree."

Things just got spiritual. Katara looked confused too.

"But what did our visions mean?" she asked.

Never Mind.

"Folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not." He responded calmly, "We're still connected to'em. Time is an illusion and so is death."

"But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met." Aang pointed out.

"You're the Avatar. You tell me." Hue smiled.

Aang put on his thinking face and seemed to mull this over.

"Time is an illusion… so, it's… someone I will meet ."

Leaf Man smiled even broader. Sokka frowned and stood up. Yes! Thank you, oh mighty warrior!

"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo."

Practical guy strikes again!

Aang's eyebrows scrunched together.

"I think I know how to find them." He said as he placed his hand onto the closest tree root and concentrated deeply. At least it looked like he did. "Everything is connected."

Tara thought she saw the arrow on his hand glow slightly and suddenly a blue shiny light shot from the root he was touching. The light crawled along the ground at lightning speed heading straight for the firebender. Her eyes grew wide and, without thinking, she jumped to the side crashing into the water. The light zoomed by with hesitating.

Tara stood up dripping.

"Why am I always getting wet!" she mumbled as she shook herself off.

Shortly later, Aang air-ran right in front of her sending a wave of water on top of the firebender. Of course, then Katara rode a waterbending wave after him and another wave crashed. Tara sighed and walked behind the closest tree which was luckily large enough to cover her whole body. She could hear Sokka as his legs trampled through the swamp water and Hue's calmer footsteps sloshing through.

The firebender stuck out her arm with her hand in a 'thumbs up' sign, signaling the warrior of her whereabouts. The louder splashes stopped briefly but soon started up again. Eventually, they grew distant and Tara snuck a peek behind her; no one in plain sight. She stepped over to her flier, brushed off the foliage, and grabbed the nearest hand-hold. Dragging the contraption behind her, she slowly followed the path of destruction leading to where the gang had gone.

Eventually, she made it to a camp full of people wearing only leaves. In truth, it was a bit traumatizing. During the journey, it became night. A fire was blazing and Tara took a deep breath of the comforting element. The gang was circled around the campfire along with Hue and two other leaf-people eating large bugs. No matter what, I'm not eating that.

In her hiding spot, the firebender had a supper composed of still damp meat and a handful of berries. After she ate, with her flier hidden, she climbed up the tallest tree and rested on a branch for a while. At that height, the moon was truly beautiful. The sparkling stars complimented its brilliance and the whole scene almost took her breath away. She was able to sleep for a nice amount of time before it was time to awake once again.

"Tara!" Sokka yelled nervously into the trees.

Her eyes shot open and the firebender made her way to the ground.

"Hey, Sokka." She greeted tiredly.

"What a day, right?" he commented.

"Yep."

Tara stared at the warrior. His gaze was pointing towards the sliver of moon you were able to see through the swamp's thick canopy. His eyes showed the sadness echoing. She hated seeing him this way.

The firebender grabbed his arm.

"Come on!" she cried excitedly.

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Just follow my lead." She told him hopefully.

Tara returned to her tree and climbed all the way to the top. When she reached the highest strong branch, she stopped and checked on Sokka. He was almost three quarters of the way up and struggling. The firebender couldn't help but laugh at the sight. She sat with her legs spread out across the long branch and leaned her back against the trunk. The warrior soon stood below her, his hands clutching Tara's arm for balance.

"Okay…" he said while still breathing heavily, "what?"

The firebender was grinning ear to ear and just couldn't stop smiling so she simply bobbed her head towards the sky. Sokka looked confused at first until he glanced upwards. Immediately, he gasped. His eyes locked with the moon that looked close enough to touch. It was like you could see every crater in its surface. But the glow behind it, oh the glow, it was simply amazing to look upon. Tara saw every star imaginable and it was like the sun had never gone to sleep. It was just that bright.

Sokka stared at the beautiful sky for a few minutes more.

"Thanks, Tara." He stated.

"Anything for you, oh mighty warrior." She smiled, "I know how much you miss her."

Sokka finally tore himself away from the moon and looked at her.

"Yeah." He whispered.

The firebender took a deep breath.

"I know that we're kind of focusing on this right now but… I was wondering."

"Anything."

"You saw… Yue. Katara saw your mother, right?"

His eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah."

"Do you think..." Tara swallowed nervously, "Do you think my father is… dead?"

Sokka seemed to contemplate the suggestion.

"I don't know, Tara. Aang saw someone he would meet in the future. So there is really no way of knowing."

The firebender nodded. Of course, there was no way of truly knowing. She had just thought… it was a strange thought, is all. Suddenly, another thought hit her.

"Sokka," Tara started with a smile, "do you believe in the magical swamp now?"

The warrior frowned hilariously.

"No! I never said that!"

"It was more implied, but it was definitely there."

"No way! It's not possible, obviously..."

Well, that did it. Sokka was going off on a rant about science again. Tara smiled and laughed the whole time, genuinely enjoying his comments. Yes, things were turning around it seemed. Just look at this particular event. It had almost no plot what-so-ever.

OH MY GOSH. I finally finished. I'm so sorry for the wait, readers! I was banned from the computer for a week (don't ask) and I had a bit of a road block about this chapter. I've always known I've wanted to do this one because of the whole vision thing that I just had to explore. As you probably already know, The Swamp actually doesn't have a very detailed plotline. The purpose of the episode is mainly for the visions. I began writing this chapter expecting it to be quite short. I have compared my othe chapters to it know and have dscovered that it is actually my longest. Oh, well. That's good, right? I hope it's not boring at times. I just hope you guys like it!

REVIEW! Please, oh please, review! It's just awesome to hear feedback! Really!

I promise to have the next chapter ready sooner! Thanks for reading!