I would like to thank everybody who favorited, reviewed and read. You guys are the greatest! I hope this chapter tides you guys over since I'm still writing the next one. Hopefully that'll be finished soon, but I'm going through a heck of a writer's block.


"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka said with a sigh.

"I know it's near water," Aang offered helpfully. Sokka looked at the ocean they were currently in the middle of.

"I guess we're getting close then," Sokka said dryly.

"Really!?" Touya said, sitting up abruptly and looking over Appa's saddle. "I don't see anything."

Sokka sighed and smacked his forehead. "That was sarcasm Touya."

Touya frowned and gave Sokka a glare before lying back down. Sokka wished he could relax, but someone had to be the voice of reason. Aang was too breezy, and Touya was content to follow the little airbender to the ends of the earth. Between the two of them, they would frolic without a care in the world, leaving behind a trail of ripped clothes that strangely intense Fire Nation girl would follow. Sokka didn't want that to happen, so he was mending Touya's torn pants. He didn't understand how his little brother managed to nearly tear off a leg off of his pants between riding the hopping llamas and the hog monkeys. Sokka squinted at his uneven stitches and scowled. If only Nulia were here, she'd show Sokka how to make even stitches. Sokka glanced up and saw Aang intently looking at the top of Touya's head. Something went off in the airbender's brain and he quickly turned to Momo.

"Momo, marbles please," Aang asked the lemur. Momo twittered before diving into Aang's shirt and handing him something. "Hey, Touya, check out this airbending trick!" Aang held his hands together and spun two small swirling air marbles. Sokka was impressed, but he had to admit that Aang had a habit of impressing him.

"That's great Aang," Touya said blandly, still gazing at the sky.

Aang let his hands drop and pouted. "But you didn't even look."

With great effort, Touya lifted his head off of Appa's saddles and turned towards Aang. "That's great Aang," Touya repeated with just a hint more enthusiasm.

"But I'm not doing it now."

"Okay." And with a plop, Touya lied back down.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Don't mind him, Aang," Sokka said. He couldn't stand to see the dejected look on Aang's face. "Your trick was really cool."

Aang perked up and gave Sokka a bright smile. Sokka returned the smile and resumed stitching Touya's pants. Eventually Sokka finished mending Touya's pants and looked at his handiwork. The stitches were crooked, but once Touya put them on, nobody would notice.

"Alright Touya, your pants are fixed," Sokka said, throwing the pants at Touya's face. Touya grabbed the pants and without getting up, Touya impressively shimmied his pants back on. All of the sudden, Appa lurched to the left and Sokka had to hold on to Appa's saddle to stay on. For a moment, Touya was suspended in the air before Sokka grabbed his leg and yanked him back down to Appa. "Aang, what are you doing!?" Sokka yelled to Aang, but the wind swallowed up his words and the only response he heard was Aang's whoops of joy.

Sokka peeked over Appa's saddle and saw the impassive sea grow larger and larger. And then, just as suddenly as the lurch started, Appa suddenly stopped, just skimming the ocean and continued to fly. "WHAT WAS THAT AANG!? I COULD HAVE FELL!" Touya yelled.

"Relax Touya," Aang said. "Look at where we are!" Aang pointed and the water tribe siblings looked in the same direction. They saw a small island covered with snow-capped mountains.

"Where are we?" Touya asked. Sokka took out a map and glanced at it. He had marked off the small islands they had already visited, and the South Pole was easily identifiable. But there were dozens of small islands off the northeastern coast of the Southern Water Tribe.

"I have no idea," Sokka said bluntly. Sokka looked and saw Aang intently looking at the small island. "Aang, we took a pit stop yesterday. Let's get a little more flying done before we camp out."

Aang ignored Sokka and landed Appa on the snowy banks of the island. The airbender leaped off of Appa and headed towards the shore. Sokka and Touya climbed off the large bison and Appa clambered to Aang's side.

"Come on Aang," Touya whined. "At this rate, we won't get to the North Pole until spring!"

"But Appa's tired already. Aren't you boy?" Aang said. Appa huffed in disagreement. "I said, aren't you boy?" Aang repeated and in return, Appa let out a grumbling yawn that was obviously fake. Touya scowled.

"Real convincing Appa," Touya accused. Appa groaned and flopped to the ground with a lackadaisical look. The two engaged in a battle of wills, visible only through their passionate eyes. There was no way Touya was going to lose this monumental conflict with a ten-ton magical monster. But Appa was the undisputed champion and his flames of bisonly youth were too much for the waterbender to bear. "Okay, okay, I'll rub your chin," Touya sighed while scratching Appa's chin. The bison groaned loudly and even seemed to smile. Sokka blinked as he tried to process what he just witnessed. Then he closed his eyes and sighed. He wasn't even going to try to understand. He opened his eyes and saw Aang watching the shore, eyes seeking out something that he didn't care much about. Suddenly Aang found what he was looking for and pointed towards the ocean.

"Look!" Aang cried. Touya and Sokka looked and they saw a huge fish jump thirty feet into the air and fall back in with a large splash. Sokka's mouth dropped open and Touya's eyes grew even wider. "That's why we're here," Aang said, taking off his clothes, much to Touya's embarrassment. "That's an elephant koi and I'm gonna ride it."

Touya's face brightened and he turned to Sokka. The withering glare on Sokka's face made the request die on Touya's lips and the waterbender crossed his arms and pouted. "I can't ride it Aang," Touya mumbled sullenly.

The airbender didn't look too perturbed by the lack of a riding buddy. "That's okay, Touya. You have to watch me!" With that, Aang relieved himself of all of his clothes except for a pair of dull orange briefs and ran into the ocean. "Cold!" Aang cried before diving into the ocean.

Sokka blinked slowly and sighed. Touya still looked upset at not being able to ride the elephant koi and was still pouting. Sokka rolled his eyes and watched Aang dive into a deeper looking part of the ocean. A few seconds passed before Aang appeared again, with an elephant koi under his feet and a fin clutched in his hands. Earlier surliness all but forgotten, Touya was ecstatic. "Wow Aang!" he cried, waving to his friend and grinning widely. "He looks pretty good out there, doesn't he?" Touya asked Sokka.

Sokka shrugged. "I guess. I don't see why he has to do all these dangerous stunts," Sokka sighed. "Who is he trying to impress?"

Touya shrugged and then joined Momo in jumping up and down and cheering Aang on. Sokka shook his head. Not only did the lemur appear out of nowhere, Appa was no longer on the shore. Sokka looked around and wondered how a ten ton bison managed to disappear, not once, not twice, but every single time Sokka managed to look away. A groan reached his ears and Sokka turned to see Appa trying to chew on some rocks. "For the love of—Appa, don't eat that!" Sokka ran off and grabbed Appa's reins and yanked him away from the rocks. Appa didn't budge.

"Take the rock out of your mouth," Sokka demanded. Appa groaned and gave Sokka a look, a look that Sokka saw regularly on Touya. The look that haunted Sokka's dreams and his waking moments. That look that said 'I know what you're saying and I recognize it, but I'm not going to do what you say because shut up.' Sokka was very familiar with that look. "I thought we were friends, Appa."

The bison groaned and continued to chew on the rocks. Sokka scowled and stuck his hand into Appa's mouth. Appa rumbled out a complaint, but he opened his mouth and let Sokka take the rocks out of his mouth. "This is your fault you know," Sokka mumbled. "You're over a hundred years old, you should know better! I bet you aren't even hungry."

Appa spit out the rest of the rocks and Sokka's arm, but then he turned and tore a small tree out by the roots. Sokka sighed and hit his forehead with his palm. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you?"

"There's something in the water! Sokka!" Touya's distressed voice reached his brother's ears. Sokka sighed and narrowed his eyes at Appa.

"Spit it out. We aren't done yet," Sokka said before running back towards the beach. "What's wrong?"

"Aang's in trouble! Aang!" Touya cried, jumping up and down and waving his arms. Momo was doing the same, chattering excitedly.

"Get back here!" Sokka cried. Aang met their gazes and he gave them a big grin before lurching off the elephant koi fish. Sokka watched in horror as the fish was dragged under the ocean's surface. A large fin jutted out of the water, mimicking Aang's. The water tribe siblings watched in shock as Aang saw the fin and scrambled away. With a speed that could only be augmented by airbending, Aang ran (Sokka would wonder how exactly Aang was able to run on water), barely escaping the fin and whatever deadly creature it was attached to. Aang spiraled out of control once he hit solid land and collided right into Sokka. Sokka let out a grunt as they both hit the tree and let out a soft wheeze. Aang jumped up, seemingly not hurt at all and started pulling on his clothes.

"What was that thing!?" Touya asked.

"I dunno," Aang replied with a nonchalance he didn't have a few minutes ago.

"Well, let's not stick around and find out," Sokka said, pulling himself to his feet. "Time to go—"

When his hair was peppered with more grey than brown, Sokka would forever look back on this day as simultaneously being the best and worst day of his life. With every retelling, the story would become more and more exaggerated until it barely contained any semblance of truth. Whenever Sokka would launch into his tale, his grandchildren would roll their eyes and shake their heads at their silly grandpa Sokka.

Right before Sokka was going to suggest leaving and never looking back, several figures fell down from the tops of the trees. Sokka had barely enough time to register the people surrounding them and grab his machete before two arms grabbed him from underneath the arms. He saw Touya go into a sloppy waterbending pose before a figure pulled his hood and the rest of his body onto the ground. Aang was also quickly subdued and the figures even stuffed poor Momo into a small sack.

Sokka's hands lashed out desperately and smirked as he scratched a face, but his hands were quickly restrained with rope. His torso was being wrapped as well and the last thing he saw was a white painted face before a strip of cloth fastened itself over his eyes. Once his captors were sure he wasn't going to escape, Sokka was pushed roughly to the ground. He heard Aang and Touya groaning beside him.

"I think we'll be staying a while," Aang said weakly. If Sokka's arms were free, he'd smack himself on the head. After a few long moments, Sokka felt himself being yanked to his feet and led towards somewhere. The only things constant where the rocky terrain his feet kept stumbling over and the harsh shoves of the person behind him. After a long trek, Sokka felt someone in front of him yank on his parka harshly and shove him against a pole. Sokka didn't move as his was tied to the pole. He couldn't see them, but he supposed that Aang and Touya were tied next to him as well.

"You three have some explaining to do," said a deep and gravelly voice. Sokka turned towards the voice and shrugged. He was about to reply with something snarky when a clear voice that reminded Sokka of bells interrupted him.

"And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you in the water with the Unagi."

Sokka guessed the Unagi was that creature that ate all those elephant koi fish. Sokka did not want to end up there. He opened his mouth to speak, when he was interrupted yet again.

"Show yourselves you cowards!" Touya's high pitched voice rang out. With a rough yank, the blindfold was torn off Sokka's eyes. He squinted against the bright sun and saw the people who had ambushed them. They were five girls, dressed in various shades of green. They had black armor wrapped around their torsos and golden hairpieces. Sokka guessed the one in front was the leader, not only because she was in front, but because her hair piece was the most golden and ornate one of all. Each girl had white faces, with bold red streaks across their eyes. For some reason, they looked really familiar to Sokka, as if he had seen them before. Especially the girl in the front with the ornate hair piece.

"Who are you?" Aang asked.

"Yeah and where are the men who ambushed us?" Touya said.

The girl with the ornate hair piece stepped up. "There were no men," she said with a scowl. She was the same girl as before, with the clear bell-like voice. "We ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"There's no way a bunch of girls took us down," Touya said.

"Why not?" asked another painted girl.

"Because the men who ambushed us were ugly!"

A stunned silence fell over the girls, Aang and Sokka. The leader blinked, before grabbing Touya by the collar and roughly shaking him. "The Unagi is going to eat well tonight!" she said angrily.

"No, don't hurt him! He's only eleven," Sokka offered as an apology. "He's just a kid, he can be an idiot sometimes."

The girl gave Sokka an appraising look, before scoffing and releasing Touya.

"It's my fault," Aang admitted sadly. "I wanted to ride the elephant koi. I'm sorry we came here."

The girls turned to look at a man Sokka didn't notice before. He was dressed in clothing similar to Sokka's parka, with fur lining the collar of it. He had a thick grey beard and small periwinkle eyes. For someone who didn't have a lot of hair covering his forehead, the man had an impressive ponytail that stood straight up and long grey hair flowing in the back.

"How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" the man asked in a voice that sounded identical to the gravelly one earlier. "Kyoshi has stayed out of the war so far and I intend to keep it that way!"

"Says the guy with an organized military force," Sokka muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" the leader asked threateningly.

"I know Kyoshi!" Aang said, seemingly in reply to the girl. The man blinked.

"How could you possibly know her?" the old man asked. "She's been dead for centuries."

Aang looked up. Sokka followed his gaze and saw that the pole they were tied to was actually the base of a statue. It was faded from years of exposure and neglect, but Sokka could recognize who it was in a heartbeat. He had seen her statue in the Air Temple Sanctuary, and he had seen her face paint reflected on the girls in front of him. It was one of Aang's past lives.

"I know her because I'm the Avatar," Aang said. For the second time that day, the girls and the man were shocked into silence. The girl with the ornate hair piece was the first to recover.

"That's impossible!" she cried. "The last Avatar was an airbender born a hundred years ago!"

Aang gave her one of his patented grins. "That's me!"

The man's face twisted into a snarl of anger. "Throw the imposter to the Unagi!" he commanded the girls. They took out their fans and approached the trio.

"You know it'd be really cool if you did some airbending right now," Touya said, speaking up for the first time in a while. With a flourish, Aang jumped into the air. He flew above the statue of Avatar Kyoshi and gently floated to the ground. Everyone's mouths dropped, except for Sokka's and Touya's and the man pointed at Aang in awe.

"It's true….you are the Avatar," he said. Aang nodded. During his little stunt, a group of spectators, all wearing blue, Sokka noted, had gathered around the statue and were staring at Aang in awe.

"And to further prove my claim, check this out," Aang said seriously. He reached into his tunic, held his hands together and copied the air marble trick from earlier. The crowd burst into cheers, with one guy starting to scream and flail about wildly. His mouth filled with foam and he collapsed onto the ground, while the rest of the spectators continued to cheer.

"Uh, is he going to be alright?" Sokka asked the girl with the hairpiece. She looked towards where Sokka was seeing and sighed.

"He'll be fine," she said flippantly. Despite her words, she went over to the foaming mouth guy and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Fomu. People are watching," she said before dragging him off towards the village. Sokka had the strangest feeling that she was embarrassed. He wondered why.


Breathe In.

Breathe Out.

Breathe In.

Breathe Out.

Breathe-

"Azula?"

The candle's flames spiked dangerously, mirroring the furrow on Azula's brow. She refused to acknowledge the one who had rudely interrupted her mediation. It took her forever to purge her mind of aimless thoughts and she was finally getting the hang of this meditation thing. The presence didn't leave and after a few minutes Azula was annoyed.

"The only reason you should be interrupting me is if you have news about the Avatar," Azula snarled without turning around.

Yu Lee rolled her eyes. She had just come from a long debate, in which everybody compared the pros and cons of interrupting Azula's meditation. In their defenses, Ty Lee burst into tears and Wei used his patented turtle duck eyes. The combined forces of watery grey eyes and sparkling golden ones—how did a twenty nine year old man pull that off!?— were just too much and Yu Lee volunteered herself. Ty Lee's tears dried up immediately and she cheerfully gave her sister a grin before running off into the ship's bowels. At least Wei didn't let up his turtle duck eyes until she left. Yu Lee supposed her two immature companions were right in forcing her to go. Out of everyone, she was the most capable for these kinds of things.

"Well there's news," Yu Lee said. In response, Azula raised an eyebrow, but her eyes remained closed and she didn't turn around. "You aren't going to like this, 'Zula."

"You're the one who taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader," Azula said. "You always keep your cool, so I can as well. I can take whatever you tell me."

"The Avatar's missing and we have no idea where he is," Yu Lee said without any reservations.

"WHAT!?" Azula screeched and the candle's flames shot up to the ceiling. Yu Lee sighed and stepped back. "Remember your breathing," Yu Lee reminded.

Azula snarled for a few moments before taking a deep breath. With each deep breath, the flames eventually returned to acceptable to candle levels and Yu Lee stepped back into the room. Although Azula looked calmer, Yu Lee could tell the princess was still annoyed.

"Why haven't we been able to find him?"

"Well," Yu Lee said, approaching the small desk in front of Azula and opening the scroll. "As you can see, there have been multiple sightings of the Avatar, but he's impossible to track down."

Azula looked at the map and saw dozens of marks documenting Avatar sightings. They were haphazardly spread out along the southern islands of the Earth Kingdom and Azula struggled to make heads or tails of it.

"He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering. With each passing day, I respect the Avatar more and more," Azula said, with a touch of reverence in her voice. Yu Lee rolled her eyes in return. Azula rolled her eyes at her friend's outfit. Yu Lee, who was normally rather vain, seemed to wear the same outfit every day. Just because they were at sea didn't mean that they had to forgo regular hygiene. Of course, to the uninformed outsider, it looked like Azula was wearing the same outfit every day, but she was really wearing several different variations of the casual outfit worn by many nobles. They weren't in style anymore, but some things were important, like finding the Avatar.

"I think you may be overestimating the intelligence of the Avatar, 'Zula," Yu Lee said. "I think he's just lost."

Azula scoffed. "Don't be upset because you've been outsmarted, Yuie." Azula smirked when a flash of annoyance flitted over Yu Lee's face. Yu Lee was as stoic as the docile current of a stream, and as far as Azula could remember, she had always been that way. Where Ty Lee was flighty and exuberant, Yu Lee was steady and composed. Yu Lee rarely showed her true feelings and Azula felt a sense of accomplishment when she broke that mask.

"We're currently up against a twelve year old boy, and two Southern Water Tribe members—" Yu Lee started.

"They're peasants! It's that awful and stupid ponytail boy with the walking skeleton for a grandmother! And the boy with the terrible hair!" Azula snarled. Yu Lee raised an eyebrow, but continued.

"Either way, I highly doubt they're deliberately throwing us off their trail."

"Afraid you aren't the smartest anymore?"

"Are you saying that the 'stupid ponytail boy with the walking skeleton for a grandmother' is smarter than me? Because that's what it sounds like, Princess Azula."

Azula flushed red and shook her head. "No! I'm not saying that at all! He's a stupid peasant!"

Yu Lee raised an eyebrow and Azula felt a bead of sweat crawl down her neck. The other girl unraised the eyebrow and gave the princess a smug smile. "Good. Since we've established that I'm smarter than the Avatar, we're going to use my intelligence to come up with a plan to capture him," Yu Lee said while rolling the map back into a scroll.

"I'll get Ty Lee and Wei and we'll meet in the navigation room," Azula said, forgetting all about her meditation. There were more important things to do than look at a bunch of candles and breathe. Azula stood and exited the small meditation room and headed to the deck to find the commander of the ship.

"Where is Commander Taizong?" she asked the two soldiers who were ignoring their duties. They jumped and looked at Azula with wide guilty eyes.

"Where's the commander?" one asked.

Azula scoffed. "I'm so happy to know that the Fire Nation teaches its best soldiers to mindlessly parrot my words back to me," she spat. "Yes, you fool, I asked for the location of Commander Taizong. Or were those words too big for you?"

The men fidgeted nervously and avoided Azula's harsh gaze. One soldier, a man older than herself but younger than Wei, met her eyes first. "The commander left to buy some supplies, p-Princess," he said nervously. "The cook complained about the lack of meat, so the commander went shopping."

"And he couldn't order one of you fools to do it?"

The men shook their heads. Azula sighed and rolled her eyes. "Very well then, you two can go clean out the barracks and when you're done with that, you'll clean the chamber pots. I heard they're really disgusting this time of year." She smirked at the twin looks of horror on the soldiers and strode towards the edge of the deck. She peered over and saw a few servants packing boxes onto the ship. Azula was about to ask the servants about the whereabouts of Wei, when a familiar head of hair ran towards the ship. Wei ran onto the deck, out of breath and eyes lit up with excitement.

"Azula, Azula!" Wei exclaimed. "Where's Ty and Yuta? I have great news!"

"Um….deeper in the ship?" she replied hesitantly. "We're supposed to be meeting in the navigation room." Where was the meat he was supposed to buy?

"Then what are we waiting for?" Wei asked. He grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the bowels of the ships. In nearly no time at all, Wei had pushed her into the navigation room, where Yu Lee and Ty Lee were huddled closely and whispering to each other. Ty Lee wore a serious expression that looked out of place on her face. Sometimes, Azula had the feeling that the Ty Lee that she knew and the Ty Lee that Yu Lee knew were two completely different people.

"Stop talking about boys, we have serious things to talk about!" Wei teased. A shadow seemed to fall over Ty Lee's face, but she quickly covered it with a bright smile.

"We were talking about Yu Lee's booooyfriend," Ty Lee teased.

"What boyfriend?" Wei asked. He gave Yu Lee a stern look. "You're too young to have a boyfriend, Yuta! Is it one of the men here? I've told you about soldiers—"

Yu Lee rolled her eyes. "I don't have a boy—"

"He's tall, brooding and handsome," Ty Lee teased. "And he's waiting for her with open arms, a bouquet of fire lilies and a marriage proposal for when she comes back!"

Wei's face paled and he looked stricken. He ran his hand through his hair, nervously muttering things about 'marriage proposals' and 'having to burn someone's d—

"Didn't we have serious things to talk about?" Yu Lee asked, with her cheeks pink and arms crossed.

Wei huffed. "Fine, but this isn't over. I want you to tell me everything about this boyfriend." He motioned for Azula to take a seat at the large table in the middle of the room. He took a chair at the head of the table and looked to the three teenagers in front of him.

"I have some information from a very reliable source," Wei started, giving each girl a pointed look.

Ty Lee was rapt with attention, but her sister was slouched in her seat with her arms still crossed. Azula was pretty curious about what her commander had to say. After being dragged across the deck and uncomfortably listening to Yu Lee's romance life, she wanted to know what was so important! She only hoped she didn't look eager. As princess of the Fire Nation, she had a reputation to uphold.

"I was shopping for Chao—"

"Who's Chao?" Azula asked.

"The cook," Wei replied smoothly. "So I was shopping for Chao and I come across this reputable fish seller. So we're haggling fish prices, and he asks me, 'son, have you heard?' And being the concerned and involved man I am, I ask him, 'no, I haven't heard a thing.' Then the man's face gets all bright and he leans towards me, as if we're sharing a secret together. He comes to me and says, 'the Avatar is on Kyoshi Island!' I'm stunned of course, but I quickly recover and buy all of his stock. So while the servants were loading all of those boxes of fish, I ran onto the ship, found Azula and dragged her here."

Azula nearly squealed with joy. A small high pitched squeak managed to escape, causing Ty Lee to look at her strangely, but that wasn't important.

"We know where the Avatar is!" Azula yelled. "Wei, ready the rhinos. Ty Lee, go alert the crew. Yu Lee, find Kyoshi Island on a map! He's not getting away from me this time!"


Ever since Aang's arrival on Kyoshi Island, the villagers were hustling and bustling to make Kyoshi Island a shining gem in the middle of the ocean. Left to exposure for at least eighty years, the Kyoshi statue was finally being cleaned and with each passing hour, a new coat of paint. There were sweepers in the streets, and Appa even had two groomers doting on him while he ate a bunch of hay. These villagers were really happy that Aang had arrived, and so was Aang. He was getting an obscene amount of attention from everybody and the airbender was utterly glowing. On the other hand, Touya had become surlier and surlier until the boy barely talked. Any attempt to figure out what was wrong would lead to a shrug and stuffing his mouth with food.

The old man, whose name was Oyaji, had set up a table of food for breakfast. He had told them that they were staying in his house, the biggest and most elaborate house on Kyoshi Island. Since Aang was the island's honored guest, it only made sense that he and his friends stayed in the mayor's house. Sokka thought Oyaji was being very kind, if not a little opportunistic. Either way, the feast in front of them was irresistible and it was strange that Touya wasn't eating a thing.

"Touya, are you okay?" Sokka asked. "You aren't eating."

"'M not hungry," Touya muttered.

"But you're always hungry!" Aang said, feeding a few grapes to Momo. "Are you mad because we got captured by those girls?"

Touya shook his head and looked impassively at the large table of food in front of him. Not even Momo's attempts to give Touya a half-eaten grape seemed to take the waterbender out of his funk.

"What's wrong Touya?" Sokka asked again, with a frown on his face. Touya shrugged and continued staring at the food.

"Yeah, why are you so upset?" Aang chimed in. "It's great here! They're giving us the royal treatment."

"True," Sokka agreed. "But don't get too comfortable. It's risky for us to stay in one place for very long." His thoughts turned back to the crazily intense princess from before. He didn't want to see her again, especially if she was going to throw fire around.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Aang reassured the siblings. "Besides, did you see how happy I'm making this town? They're even cleaning that statue in my honor!"

"Nice to see you excited about being the Avatar," Touya muttered. "I'm sure it won't go to your head."

"Come on, you know me better than that!" Aang said with a huge grin. "I'm just a simple monk."

Touya didn't say anything else, but Sokka noticed his brother frown. Maybe he'd just let the two of them work out whatever was going on. Touya tended to take offense to something trivial and be in a funk for days. That happened once when Touya slipped on the ice and Senka didn't help him up. For days, Touya sat home and ate everything in sight.

"Well," Sokka stood. "I'm going to talk to the Kyoshi Warriors about beating up fire nation soldiers." He looked at his sulking brother and Aang's bright face. "Just eat something, okay Touya? We'll be leaving soon enough."

Sokka got another shrug in reply, but at least Touya finally took the grape Momo was trying to shove into his mouth. He walked through the door, passing a few girls trying to get a glimpse of the Avatar. The streets were lined with large and leafy trees. There were few trees in the Southern Water Tribe, and none of them ever had leaves or were tall. They were small, gnarled and always covered with a film of frost. That led to their village using mostly snow, stone and bone for supplies, not wood like Kyoshi seemed to use. Nestled in a small house surrounded by a grove of trees, Sokka heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like the girl with the headpiece.

He poked his head inside and saw the girls preforming some sort of fan dance in perfect unison. They all stopped when they saw him. "Sorry ladies," Sokka said sincerely. "I didn't mean to interrupt your dance lesson. I was just looking for a place to practice beating up the Fire Nation." The longer he talked, the more nervous he seemed to get. Sokka could feel his cheeks slowly start to heat up.

The girl with the headpiece raised an eyebrow and looked somewhat amused. "Well, you're in the right place," she said, closing her fan. "Sorry about yesterday. I didn't know you were friends with the Avatar."

"It's all right. I mean normally I'd hold a grudge." His cheeks got even redder when he noticed all the girls were staring at him. "But I'll make an exception," he rushed.

"I should hope so," the leader said dryly. "We wouldn't stand a chance against a big strong man like you?"

"Um," Sokka blushed. He was sure that he was bright red through his dark skin. "I am the best warrior in my village but—"

"Wow! Best warrior huh?" the leader looked back at the other Kyoshi Warriors with mock wide eyes. "In your whole village? Maybe you'd be kind enough to give us a little demonstration."

"Oh well….I mean…." The words that every other warrior in his village was under the age of ten died on the tip of his tongue.

"Come on!" the girl cajoled. "Girls, wouldn't you like him to show us some moves?" The other girls nodded and giggled at Sokka. He made to protest, but half a dozen giggling girls were very persuasive.

"If that's what you want, I'd be happy to…" Sokka said unenthusiastically. He walked back until he was several steps away from the girl with the headpiece. "Alright, you'll stand here and try to block me."

Sokka fell into a fighting pose he learned from Nulia, while the girl didn't move at all. Sokka felt a little worried, but he doesn't let that stop him from punching her. In an instant, her arm had blocked his punch and a fan was dug into his shoulder. Sokka bit back a cry of pain and rubbed his hurt shoulder.

"Good block," he ground out through the pain. The girl just gave him an arrogant smile. Up until this point, Sokka had a grudging respect for the girl and her Kyoshi Warriors, but that smile… His mind flashed back to a smug smile made worse by piercing golden eyes. He would not fail again.

"Let's you if you can handle this!" Sokka yelled while throwing another punch. The girl dodged, but this time Sokka was ready. She moved to the left, and Sokka swiped out his leg and tripped her. The girl spent only a second on the ground before she flipped up and sent her own jab. Sokka dodged and tried to roundhouse kick her, but she ducked under his leg and pushed him off balance. He fell on the ground with a hard thud.

He got up, not as fast as the girl, but fast enough that she was a little surprised at his wild charge. She spun out of his way and grabbed his arm. She tried to push him around, but Sokka stopped that with a swipe of his other arm. The girl let go and leaped back, and Sokka charged again. She got ready to tackle him head on, but Sokka feinted at the last second and threw another punch. It barely grazed the girl's nose as she grabbed his arm again. This time Sokka was only able to watch helplessly as the girl tossed him to the ground, right on his face.

"Anything else you want to teach us?" She said mockingly.

Sokka rolled over and looked the girl in the eyes. They were such a pretty color, not quite the blue of the Water Tribes. There was something else there, lurking in the color of her eyes, something Sokka couldn't find a name to, but it was on the tip of his tongue. "You're the one who wanted me to teach you," he said accusingly. "I just wanted to practice!"

The girl's eyes narrowed and she scoffed. "You came in here, acting all high and mighty because you're a man who could take on all of us ugly dancing girls!"

Sokka blinked. He wasn't thinking that at all. He actually wanted to learn from them because they were capable warriors. But then her words hit him. "Are you mad because Touya thought you guys were men?" he blurted out. Upon looking at the girl's indignant face, he thought that maybe pointing out a girl's insecurities weren't the best idea when she could beat him up and his face was two inches away from her feet.

"Where we come from, women aren't allowed to be warriors," Sokka said, sitting up and putting some distance between his face and her feet. "That's the men's job. Men are supposed to hunt, build things, protect the tribe and all that, while the women cook, clean, mend clothes and other stuff like that." With every word he said, he saw the girl get angrier and angrier. "But then the men left and then there was nobody to hunt or build or protect the tribe, except for me, a fourteen year old who could barely spear a fish. They left us defenseless and without resources." He felt the bitterness that he had tried to push deep into his heart settle itself at the back of his throat. He took a deep breath and continued, not looking at the faces of the Kyoshi warriors.

"So the women had to hunt and spear and protect the tribe, and they did. In addition to all of the 'womanly' duties they already had to do, they took over the men's jobs. A woman taught me how to fight with my fists and we taught ourselves how to effectively use the weapons we were left with," Sokka said, and then he added in a whisper, "Especially since I learned how to use a machete from a fisherman and not a warrior. But we made it work. So no, I don't think I'm better than any of you, especially when you showed me otherwise."

Sokka shook his head and stood up, ignoring the sore parts of his body. "Sorry for wasting your time," he muttered, turning to leave.

"Wait!" the girl said, putting her hand on his hurt shoulder. Sokka winced. "Sorry," she apologized. "Do you want a few lessons?"

Sokka's eyes widened. "I would be honored…but what about—"

The girl shook her head. "With your skills, there's no way you can stand up to any fire nation soldier. If I'm going to trust the Avatar's safety with you, you better know how to defend yourself."

"Even if we are ugly," a Kyoshi warrior giggled. Sokka felt his face heat up.

"We normally don't teach outsiders, especially boys, but we're going to make an exception, right girls?" the girl asked. The others nodded their agreements.

"But that means you have to follow our traditions," the same Kyoshi warrior said.

"And we mean all of them," another said darkly. Sokka gulped.


"There she is girls," Aang said to the group of girls who had taken to following him. "Me in a past life, Avatar Kyoshi." The statue had been fully repainted and the effigy of Avatar Kyoshi looked just as bright and bold as she did in life. A weird feeling of pride welled up in Aang's chest, but that was quickly replaced with a warm and fluffy feeling. Aang always felt most at home when he was surrounded by lots of people. The fact that they were all girls and full of adoration for him helped a lot.

"You were so pretty!" Koko gushed. Out of all his fangirls, he liked Koko the best. That's why he let her hold Momo. Aang turned around and saw all the awe-filled faces of his fangirls, but someone was missing. "Excuse me for a second," he told the girls before running off towards the rest of the village. He missed the look of disappointment on their faces. He looked around until he saw a fuzzy head peeking out of a blue parka. He ran up to Touya and poked him in the back. Touya turned around with a surprised look once he saw Aang. The waterbender offered his friend a big smile.

"Hi Aang! You want to help me bring this back to our room?" Touya asked, holding up a large pot of vegetables. "Sokka said we were leaving soon so I wanted to get prepared, but it's a little heavy."

"Well actually I can't," Aang said apologetically.

"What do you mean you can't?" Touya asked, the smile slipping off his face.

"I promised the girls that I'd give them a ride on Appa," Aang said. "I actually wanted you to come with us. It'll be fun!"

"Watching you show off for a bunch of girls doesn't sound fun to me," Touya frowned. He turned away from Aang and resumed filling the pot with more vegetables.

"Neither does carrying that basket," Aang retorted.

"It's not my basket!" Touya said angrily. "I just told you, Sokka said we're leaving soon before that crazy fire nation girl finds us again!"

"I don't want to leave Kyoshi yet. I can't but my finger on it but," Aang turned around and saw that his group of fangirls had followed him. He gave them a grin and they waved back. "There's something I really like about this place."

Koko stamped her way over to Aang and gave Touya a distrustful look. "What's taking you so long, Aangy?" she asked sweetly.

"Aangy?" Touya asked. "You're just a simple monk, huh? I thought you said you wouldn't let this Avatar stuff go to your head."

"It didn't," Aang replied scathingly. "You know what I think? You're jealous."

"Jealous!?" Touya squeaked. "Jealous of what!?"

"That we're having so much fun without you."

Touya glared at Aang and opened his mouth to say something, but shook his head instead. "Whatever," he said, going back to his vegetables. In a huff, Aang grabbed Koko's hand and dragged her towards the horde of fangirls. Aang kept looking back at Touya, expecting the younger boy to look back and stop Aang, But Touya didn't look back once.


"I want the Avatar alive," Azula said as the shore of Kyoshi Island came into view. From the corner of her eye, Azula thought she saw a large fin descend into the water, but paid no mind to it. Her focus was on this Kyoshi Island and the Avatar it supposedly held. A few minutes later, the walkway was being lowered and Azula mounted her komodo rhino. She led her beast onto the sandy beach and looked at the soldiers gathered behind her.

"I want three teams of rhinos to storm the island," she said in a clear voice. "I will lead one team. Ty Lee, you will lead the second and Commander Taizong will lead the third." She looked and saw the pink-clad acrobat nod her head while Wei did the same. "Yu Lee, you and a small team of soldiers will stay with the ship, just in case the Avatar flees towards the beach."

"Understood," Yu Lee said with a nod. Azula nodded back and looked at the three teams of soldiers. "Alright," the princess said. "Let's go capture the Avatar."

Azula urged her komodo rhino forward and from her peripheral vision, she noticed Ty Lee and Wei disperse into the forest. She led her team into the main village, which was deserted. The only thing that stood out was a large and vibrant statue of a woman with face paint and golden fans. "Come out, Avatar!" Azula shouted. She looked around and only saw the frightened faces of villagers hiding in their houses.

"You can't hide from me forever!" Still no reply from her elusive target. "Find him," she commanded the three soldiers behind her. "Burn it all down if you have to."

The men nodded and rode their komodo rhinos deeper into the village. The village was very quiet, not even the hiding islanders were making any noise. It was too quiet. Azula was about to tell her men to pull back when two men were knocked from their rhinos by several green blurs. They were dressed in the same green garb as the statue and had the same painted faces. Azula growled and went to stop all who dared defy her, but was stopped by a painted warrior headed straight for her. Azula sent out a blast of flame, which the warrior deftly dodged. She jumped and tried for an aerial attack, but Azula quickly turned her rhino. With a mighty sweep of its tail, the warrior was knocked away.

With a smirk, Azula threw another punch of fire towards the warrior, but another one appeared out of nowhere and with a golden fan, blew her flame away. Azula scowled and raised her hand again, but paused. Past the green dress and the face paint, this warrior looked familiar. She narrowed her eyes when they met stormy blue-grey ones.

"It's you!" Azula cried, recognizing that color. It was the peasant that cut her hair and hit her in the head with that thing. "You stupid peas—" She didn't see the warrior who kicked her off her rhino. She was too concerned with the stupid peasant and his dumb make up. From her position on the ground, she felt her rhino run away and scowled. Komodo rhinos were good beasts of burden, but they were easily spooked.

She jumped up and saw the two painted warriors and the peasant ready to fight her. With a lurch, Azula punched a strong flurry of flame towards the two painted warriors. One flew into a house while the other was slammed into a pole. The peasant charged, fans opened, but Azula kicked out a sweep of fire. The boy jumped, showing an agility Azula didn't remember from their last encounter, but Azula was ready. She punch a flaming fist into his face and the peasant fell, hands wrapped around his head.

"That's for cutting my hair," she spat at his fallen frame. "Nice try Avatar, but these peasants and your stupid friend can't save you!"

"Hey!" cried out a high pitched voice Azula recognized in a heartbeat. She turned and saw the Avatar further up the street.

"Finally, you make your appearance," she said smugly.

The Avatar had a serious expression on his face and his staff was held in front of him, like a sword. "Once I'm done with you, you might want to help your friend with the hair. He's in a little predicament," the Avatar mocked. Azula scowled and she sent several fire balls towards the Avatar. He dodged them both and flew towards her. She kicked the staff out of his hands and sent another ball of fire his way. The Avatar dodged and picked up a golden fan that had fallen from a warrior's hand. He spun around, creating a powerful gust of wind and used the fan to push it towards Azula, who couldn't dodge it in time. She was pushed back into a house and immediately was in pain. Azula almost felt sorry for the warriors she threw. Was this the kind of pain they were feeling? She couldn't tell if she had been in pain for only a few seconds or hours.

"There's no time to say goodbye," a clear voice said. The voice reminded Azula of bells ringing and other pretty things. She was a little jealous, her voice wasn't that musical.

"How about apologies?" said the peasant's voice, a deeper contrast to the clear one. Azula pushed herself up into a sitting position and saw the peasant and the warrior he tried to protect.

"For what?"

"For insulting you. Just because you're a girl, doesn't mean you aren't a warrior."

The warrior, who seemed to be a girl, smiled sadly. "I am a warrior," she said, leaning in and giving the peasant a kiss on the cheek. "But I'm a girl too. Now go. We'll hold them off." The peasant blushed and started to run towards where the large flying creature had just landed, but he stopped.

"Um, I never got your name," he told to the girl. "I'm Sokka."

"Suki," the girl replied. "You were staying in my house after all." She gave him a wink and then fell into a fighting pose as other soldiers tried to capture the creature before it flew off. The peasant—Sokka, his name was—nodded and climbed onto the creature. The Avatar said some nonsense words and the creature groaned and flew into the air.

Azula pushed herself up and pointed to the soldiers trying to engage the painted warriors. "Back to the ship!" she said weakly. "Don't lose sight of them!"

A small cough caught Azula's attention. She saw Ty Lee and her komodo rhino stride in. "Um, Azula? Wei's stuck in a tree and we don't know how to get him down."

"And why did you need to tell me this!? The Avatar is getting away!" Azula snarled. "Tell him to climb down, or do it yourself! Can't you fly?"

Ty Lee's eyes grew wide and she gaped like a fish. "Um…" she started. "He's afraid of heights and everything's on fire."

Azula opened her mouth to retort, but she looked around and noticed that the entire village was indeed on fire, even the statue of the fan woman.

"Well what am I supposed to do about it?" Azula asked.

"Put the fires out?" Ty Lee asked with a shrug. "Didn't the Fire Lord say that we're supposed to not cause a lot of damage to the places we conquer?"

"Who cares what he said! We need to find—"

"Yeah the Avatar whatever," Ty Lee said flippantly. "Wei's still stuck in the tree and we need to put out these fires."

Azula frowned and sighed. There was no winning with Ty Lee. "Fine. Get Yu Lee."

All the while, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors seemed really confused at the interaction in front of them. They locked eyes with the fire nation soldiers who just shook their heads and shrugged. "This happens all the time," said a young soldier. The other men nodded. "We like them watch them argue. It's entertaining."


Sokka watched Kyoshi Island become a small speck in the distance. The smoke trails from the fires were still visible. Sokka wished he could have done something, but what could he do? Nothing, except for wiping off the face paint Suki had so painstakingly put on.

"We did the right thing," Touya said weakly, clinging to the pot of vegetables he managed to pack on Appa.

"You were right," Aang said. "Look what I brought to that place. They got their town destroyed trying to protect me."

"They're brave and they're strong," Sokka said in a strong voice. "If we had stayed any longer, that girl would have destroyed the whole place. Since we're gone, they'll leave Kyoshi Island and follow us." With the paint off of his face, Sokka climbed over and patted Aang's shoulder.

"We have to be more careful," Touya said and Sokka was happy that the boy seemed to be out of his funk. "We shouldn't stay in one place for too long either." Sokka and Aang nodded.

"Where do you want to go next Aang?" Sokka asked. He handed Aang the map and the airbender unfurled it. He studied the map with a seriousness that seemed out of place on his child-like face.

"How about Omashu?" Aang offered.

"We're from the Southern Water Tribe Aang," Sokka said bluntly.

"Right…" Aang replied. "Omashu is a city in the Earth Kingdom. I used to always go there to visit my friend Bumi."

"Okay, let's go to Omashu," Touya shrugged. "It's not like we have a destination in mind or anything."

"Perfect!" Aang said enthusiastically. Touya opened his mouth to say something but decided against it.

"Whatever," Touya muttered, surly again. Sokka sighed. They were in for a long ride. He flopped back onto the saddle and looked at the clouds. Once they stopped for a break, he would have to change back into his blue tunic. Green was a lovely color, especially on the Kyoshi Warriors, but he felt more comfortable in his native blue. Sokka found his thoughts turning back on Suki. He knew she was alright, she had proven that she could take care of herself, but Sokka couldn't help but wish they had more time together. She taught him how to use the golden fan as an extension of his arm and how to use his opponent's energy against them. She was graceful and smart and beautiful and strong and Sokka liked that. Maybe they'd meet again. Sokka turned and looked at Touya. His brother was scratching Momo's belly and looking out into the ocean. Sokka smiled and turned to Aang. The airbender was looking out into the horizon, holding on to Appa's reins tightly. Sokka thought it'd be best if he took a nap. That always seemed to make the journey go faster.

"Sokka, wake up!" Touya yelled into his brother's ear. Sokka shot up and flailed about wildly.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he said thickly.

"We're here!" Aang exclaimed, jumping off Appa and gliding onto the snowy ground. He pointed to a pyramid made of buildings and strange snake-like pathways. At the base of the pyramid city, there was a tall wall at the base and the entire city looked like a mountain.

"How long was I asleep?" Sokka asked Touya, but Touya was already climbing down Appa and running to Aang's side. Sokka sighed. "Well at least it's you and me now Momo," Sokka said to the lemur. Momo chattered and climbed onto Sokka's shoulder. Sokka climbed down and led Appa to the cliff where Aang and Touya were currently marveling at the city of Omashu.

"Wow," Touya gasped. "We don't have buildings like that in the South Pole. They don't melt, Sokka!"

Sokka nodded. That was a side effect of having buildings made of stone instead of ice blocks and wood, but he didn't say that. Let his little brother be marveled by the Earth Kingdom.

"Come on let's go slowpokes!" Aang said. "The real fun's inside the city!" Aang twirled his staff and used a gust of air to fly ten feet into the air.

"Wait a minute!" Sokka said. Aang stopped and landed a few feet on the slope of the cliff. "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar. We don't want a repeat of Kyoshi Island, so you need a disguise."

Aang's face fell and he pouted in a very Touya-like way. "So what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "Grow a mustache?" The trio pondered for a bit, before Touya got a very devious look on his face.

"I've got a great idea!" he said.

"What?" Aang asked.

"Just stand still and close your eyes," Touya said, running towards Appa. Aang shrugged and closed his eyes. Sokka saw Touya run his hands through Appa's fur, shaking loose long strands of fur. Sokka had an idea about where Touya's plan was going, but he kept his mouth shut. Aang still had his eyes closed and he looked very nervous. Touya kept shaking off loose bison fur until he had a large pile at his feet. Touya took the bulk of the bison fur and tied it together with a rope that Sokka had never seen before. Instead of wondering where Touya got that rope, Sokka walked over and helped Touya tie the fur in a way that it wouldn't slip out of the rope. They took the bundle between themselves and put it on Aang's head. Then Touya took a smaller piece clump of fur and stuck it under Aang's nose.

"Ugh this is so itchy," Aang said as he opened his eyes. He scratched his scalp and looked at Appa. "How do you live in this stuff?" In response, Appa turned his head and sassily snorted at Aang. The airbender frowned.

"Well now you look just like my grandfather!" Touya said. "Or you would if I had one."

"Aang is technically a hundred and twelve years old," Sokka pointed out. Aang rolled his eyes and grabbed his staff nimbly, before leaning heavily on it and shuffling forward.

"Let's get to skippin' you young whipper-snappers. The big city awaits!" Aang said in an old, raspy voice. Sokka and Touya looked at each other, but followed Aang towards Omashu anyway. Appa, with Momo lounging on his head, plodded behind the humans.

"Hey Appa," Touya said to the bison. Appa groaned in a way that sounded like 'I just saw you three and a half seconds ago, my condition has not changed.' Touya seemed to understand and instead of pursuing any other further conversation, Touya just scratched Appa's snout. Not content to be ignored, Momo started chattering excitedly and jumped into Sokka's tunic. He poked his head out and looked at Sokka expectantly.

"All the snacks are on Appa," he said dryly. Momo chattered sadly and made his way back to Appa's head. Sokka watched the lemur dig into the packs and shook his head. He only hoped that Momo wouldn't find Touya's secret stash of smoked meats. After the debacle with the smoked seal jerky, Touya managed to charm a bunch of smoked meats out of Oyaji, and stowed them away in a place Aang couldn't get them and burn them. "Appa, you stay here and look after Momo, okay?" Sokka told the bison. "We can't really smuggle you guys into the city." Appa groaned in affirmation and plopped right on a snow-covered patch of grass. Sokka gave Appa and Momo a quick pat on the heads and ran to catch up with Aang and Touya.

"You guys are going to love Omashu," Aang said in his normal voice. "The people here are the friendliest in the world."

"ROTTEN CABBAGES!?" screamed a harsh voice. The trio snapped their heads toward the voice and saw a very angry-looking guard with a cowed-looking merchant. "What kind of slum do you think this is?!" The guard took a cabbage from the merchant's cart and threw it on the ground. He then stomped and a rock jutted out of the ground and launched the cart over the cliff.

"No!" the cabbage merchant cried, flinging himself towards the cliff. "My cabbages!" The water tribe siblings looked at Aang.

"Friendliest people in the world, huh?" Sokka said dryly.

"Was that before or after that guy threw those cabbages?" Touya asked.

"Just keep smiling guys," Aang hissed as they approached the guard and the city's gate. Touya gave an uncomfortable grimace that could barely pass for a smile. Sokka just raised an eyebrow, not amused. The guard saw them and used his earthbending to hold a bolder over their heads. Touya blanched.

"State your business!" the guard said harshly. Aang, leaning heavily on his staff, ran underneath the rock and right to the guard. Aang pointed a thin finger right in the man's chest.

"My business is my business young man," Aang said in his old man voice. "And none of yours!" Aang pointed his finger into the guard's face then. "I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!"

Touya and Sokka just watched in horror as Aang threatened the guard. The guard looked at Aang in horror too, nervously looking at the finger centimeters away from his eyes. "Settle down old-timer," the guard said in a much kinder voice. "Just tell me who you are."

"My name is Bonzu… Pippinpaddleopsicopolis, the third, and these are my grandkids," Aang said, waving towards Touya and Sokka.

"Hi. Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the fifth. Nice to meet you," Sokka said with a friendly wave.

"And I'm Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the sixth! But you can call me Touya," Touya said with a huge grin.

The guard rubbed his beard pensively while he appraised the Pippinpaddleopsicopolis family. "You seem like a responsible young man," the guard told Sokka. "See that your grandfather….and your brother stay out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu!"

"We will!" Sokka said, fake cheer saturating his voice. Touya waved at the guards as they approached the gate. The guards slowly opened the gate using earthbending. Sokka peeked into the small gap to see a glimpse of Omashu, but he just saw a bunch of cream-colored stones.

"Hey!" a guard said, grabbing Touya's shoulder. Touya blanched and looked at the guard with wide eyes. "You're a strong young boy. Why don't you show some respect and hold your grandfather's bag for him?"

"Good idea!" Aang said, throwing the bag at Touya's head. Touya grumbled as he caught the bag and shuffled his way through the now-open gates.

"This is the Omashu delivery system," Aang said in his normal voice. He pointed to the intricate system of chutes and the tubes connected to them. "Earthbending brings the packages up and gravity brings them down."

They saw a team of earthbenders on a platform with a large stone tub. The tub was filled with various produce and they watched as the earthbenders bended the tub into several different tubs. Finally, an earthbender pushed it off the platform and into a chute, where it whipped past Sokka's face.

"So they get their mail on time, big whoop," Sokka said, unimpressed.

"They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes," Aang said with a mischievous look in his eyes. "He'd always say 'Instead of seeing what they want you to see, you have to open your brains to the possibilities.' Where I saw the mail system, he saw the world's greatest super slide!"

"That sounds dangerous and like it's going to get us into trouble," Sokka said.

"Bumi sounds amazing!" Touya gushed.

"Yeah," Aang agreed. "He was a mad genius."

"The guard said specifically that we had to stay out of trouble," Sokka tried, but he knew his words were falling on deaf ears.

"Just one ride," Aang said, approaching a discarded crate and jumping into it. "And then we're off to the North Pole, airbender's honor."

Touya brightened and climbed into the crate behind Aang. Sokka tried glaring at Touya again, but seeing as he hadn't been able to ride the elephant koi fish, Touya was going to be stubborn and ride the mail system. That left Sokka with one option. With a deep sigh, Sokka made his way into the rear, wondering how a crate that looked so small on the outside managed to fit all three of them. Not very well, considering how Touya's body was pressed uncomfortably against his own.

"This sounded like fun at first, but now that I'm here…" Touya said, peering at the deep drop they were hanging off of. "I'm having second thoughts."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before we got into the crate, Touya," Sokka said tersely.

"Hold on!" Aang yelled, before leaning forward and tipping them into the chute. Whenever someone would ask Sokka how riding the mail system was like, Sokka would say it was like penguin sledding on the highest and steepest mountain ever. The wind whipped through Sokka's wolf tail as they slid down the chute. Touya was screaming at the top of his lungs, only being drowned out by the sound of Aang's laughter and the roar of the wind. Sokka grit his teeth and squinted his eyes against the wind, only to widen them when he saw Momo peep out of Aang's wig and hold on to the strands of Appa's fur for dear life.

After seeing a strange glint out of the corner of his eye, Sokka turned and was faced with several long, sharp and deadly looking spears in a crate going the same speed. He tapped Touya's shoulder and once his brother turned around, they let out a terrified scream. They out-slid the weapons, but before Sokka could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw that the two different chutes had become one and the weapons were right behind them. "Aang! AANG!" Sokka yelled.

"Don't worry I got it!" the airbender said and he leaned right and left, tilting the crate just enough that they fell out of the chute and onto a green tiled roof. The siblings screamed as the crate continued to descend despite being off the chute. They hit the ground, interrupting a squad of soldiers and fell right into another chute. "Aang, do something!" Touya cried. "Use your airbending!"

"That's a great idea!" Aang replied. "That'll make us go even faster!"

"That's not what I meant!" Touya cried as Aang used the wind to increase their speed. They dropped straight down, right in the way of a mailman earthbending crates to their destinations. They flew right past the man and into a crate of scrolls. Sokka felt himself floating and turned to see the crate flying right next to him. He looked around and saw nothing but the sky. The wind stole his terrified yelp and he felt himself being pushed right into the crate. Touya's ashen face looked just as bad as Sokka felt, but their ride wasn't done yet. They fell onto another roof, ripping tiles and fell right into the living room of a man with a large vase. "Sorry!" Aang cried as they shattered the vase and slid out of his house.

"My cabbages!" Sokka heard a familiar voice wail. "You'll pay for this!" Dimly, Sokka thought he already was paying for it. Touya and Aang had fallen right on top of him and he felt nothing but pain.

"We'll take….two cabbages….please…" Sokka wheezed out, before blacking out.

Sokka woke up to several obnoxious and insistent pokes to his face. "Sokka, wake up!" Touya hissed, his finger ready to strike again.

"What?" Sokka groaned, his chest sore and his lungs bruised.

"Quiet," a deep and imposing voice said. Sokka looked and saw four guards looming above him. In that instant, Sokka realized he was flat on his back and with a lot of effort, he managed to stand. The guards said nothing, but pushed him, Aang and Touya into a richly decorated room. At the head of the room, saw an old man dressed in strange clothes and wearing flashy jewelry. But even stranger than the clothes and the jewelry, was the two-pronged hat on the man's head. It reminded Sokka of the tusks on elephant whales, but those creatures were so rare, Sokka had only seen one once. The man's gaze skimmed over Sokka and Touya, but he became very intrigued and curious when he saw Aang.

"Your majesty," the deep-voiced guard said. "These juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses and malicious destruction of cabbages."

"Off with their heads!" the cabbage merchant yelled. "One for each head of cabbage!"

"Silence!" the guard yelled, quieting the merchant immediately. Sokka wondered when the merchant even arrived, but his body was in too much pain for him to wonder for long. "Only the king can pass down judgment," The guard finished.

"What is your judgment, sire?" Another guard asked. The king hmmed and stared at each of the trio in turn. Sokka kept his eyes averted out of shame and pain. When the king's gaze fell on Touya, the waterbender gave a large, charming and dazzling smile, the same smile that many fell prey to. The king then looked at Aang, who looked away sheepishly. After a few moments, the king was still looking at Aang, who was looking very nervous.

"Throw them…" the king trailed off. Sokka hung his head sadly. He was pretty sure that taking care of his brother didn't mean getting them both thrown into jail. "A feast!"

"Huh?" Aang asked. The guards looked just as surprised as Aang, but they bowed and led the guests out of the throne room. A few guards escorted the distraught cabbage merchant out of the castle and another led them down a long hall. Sokka tried looking for rooms, but the halls were solid rock. The guards led them into a room with a long table filled with food. "Your feast," the guard said stoically, before leaving.

There were three chairs set at the end of one table, and one chair at the other end. The three looked at each other quizzically and sat down in the three chairs. Momo jumped out of Aang's shirt and onto the table. He scurried through the plates of food before finding a few crackers to munch on. After a few moments, the king joined them. With a chuckle, he stood behind them and gave a crooked smile.

"The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts," he said while patting Aang's head. "So I hope you like your chicken with no skin." He grabbed the leg of chicken on Aang's plate and waved it around.

"Thanks, but I don't eat meat," Aang said uncomfortably.

"How about you?" the king said, turning to Touya and putting a large hand on his shoulder. "I bet you like meat." He shoved the chicken into Touya's mouth, muffling his startled cry. The king left to sit at the other end of the table as Touya started to chew the chicken.

"This is actually pretty good," Touya said, taking another bite.

"Is it just me or is this guy's crown a little crooked?" Sokka whispered to Aang. Aang shrugged.

"So tell me young bald one," the king said again. "Where are you from?"

"Uh… I'm from Kangaroo Island," Aang lied.

"Kangaroo Island, ehh?" The king said. "I heard that place is really hopping." A guard coughed dryly as silence settled among the table.

Sokka burst into laughter. "That's pretty funny! Here I got one," Sokka said. "What did the snowy wolf bat say to the penguin otter that stole his girlfriend?" Everyone blankly stared at Sokka.

"'I hope you can bat her up! Get it!? Because he's a bat!"

"That wasn't funny Sokka," Touya said. A guard coughed again.

"Ha!" The king said, but then he gave a big yawn. "All these good jokes are making me tired," he said. "Guess it's time to hit the hay." The king then reached into his sleeve and threw a chicken leg right at Aang. Aang panicked and caught the chicken with his airbending. The guards gasped. "There's an airbender in our presence," the king said. "And not just any airbender, the Avatar."

Aang gasped and quickly dropped the chicken onto his plate. "Now what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pippinpaddleopsicopolis!" the old man said with a sly smile.

"Okay, you caught me," Aang said, rising from his seat. "I'm the Avatar, doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe." Aang peeked under the table. "Everything checks out. No firebenders here, so good work everybody!" Aang pulled Sokka and Touya close. "Love each other, respect all life," he said, dragging the siblings out of their seat and towards the exit. "And don't run with your spears. We'll see you next time!"

The guards blocked the exit and pushed the trio forward. "You can't keep us here!" Touya said. "Let us leave!"

"Lettuce leaf?" the old king asked, and then he grabbed a piece of lettuce from his plate and chewed it.

"We're in serious trouble," Sokka noted. "That man is a master of puns."

"Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly challenges, but for now, the guards will show you to your chamber."

An older looking guard with a hat turned to the king. "My liege, do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?" he asked.

"The newly refurbished chamber," the king replied.

"And that's….which one?"

"The one that used to be the bad chamber, until the recent refurbishing."

"Haven't we been calling that one the 'new chamber?'"

"We really should number them," the king conceded. "Take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!"

The guards took them back to the long hallway and after walking for a few moments, they earthbended an opening. They were pushed inside and the wall was quickly shut behind them. Sokka looked at the plush green beds in the middle of the circular room and the green hammocks hanging from the ceiling.

"This is the bad chamber?" Touya asked. "This is so nice!"

"That guy did say it was recently refurbished," Sokka said.

"That doesn't matter!" Aang cried. "We're prisoners and we're surrounded by rock!"

"I wonder what the three challenges are going to be," Touya mused.

"We aren't going to stick around and find out," Aang said. "We'll have Momo go through the air vents!" Aang pointed to a small round hole in the middle of the wall. Sokka looked at Momo, who had found his way into their room, onto a bed and was currently licking a half-eaten apple.

"Are you sure that's going to work?" Sokka asked, noticing Momo's huge belly.

"Of course it will," Aang said, grabbing Momo off the bed. "Momo, we need you to find Appa and bust us out of here." Momo trilled in confusion. Aang bounded to the air vent and pushed Momo into it. "Come on boy, get Appa!" Aang said, pushing Momo into the vent. Or trying to. As Sokka had feared, Momo's huge belly had caused the lemur to get stuck. Aang sighed and flopped back to his bed.

"How was Appa supposed to save us anyway?" Touya asked, lounging on his own bed.

"Appa is a ten ton flying bison," Aang said dryly. "I think he could figure something out."

"A ten ton flying bison that's easily noticeable in the skies," Touya retorted.

"There's no point in arguing now," Sokka said, stopping their argument in the bud. "Get some sleep Aang. You're going to need it for tomorrow."

The boy nodded and closed his eyes. Sokka turned to see Touya already fast asleep and drooling on his pillow. He head Momo struggling out of the air vent and he felt a small weight settle by his head. Sokka smiled and scratched behind Momo's ears. "Goodnight Momo," Sokka whispered and he felt himself dozing off for the second time that day.

Sokka awoke to feel himself being yanked roughly off the bed. In his sleepy haze, he heard a deep voice from farther away say, "Geez kid, you need to lay off the skinless chicken." Sokka kept blinking and through the darkness, he saw a guard heft Touya over his shoulder. In his half-asleep shape, Sokka giggled. Touya was a little heavy, but he had the mobility of a giant boulder when he was sleeping, which meant none at all. Touya was a very heavy sleeper. That guard was in for a workout.

"Come on kid, let's get you to the king," the guard holding Sokka said. Sokka was half-dragged outside of the room. Sokka blinked again and the old king was there in front of them, wearing an elaborate purple robe.

"Now that we're all here, I have an important question to ask of you," the old man said. He turned to Sokka, who was almost fully awake. "Would you rather have the fern ring or the indigo?"

"The what now?" Sokka asked.

"Fern or indigo?"

"What the hell is a fern?" Touya asked, hanging from the guard's shoulder.

"I think it's some kind of plant," Sokka replied. Touya gave Sokka a blank look. "You know. That green stuff you don't like to eat."

"I know what plants are Sokka!" Touya said. "I'm not stupid!" Touya turned to the old king. "I want the blue ring!"

The king nodded and handed each guard a jagged ring, before walking away. The guard holding Touya decided he had enough and dropped the boy onto the ground. With his hands free, the guard earthbended a wall, blocking their view of the king. With a grumble, Touya got up and walked over to Sokka.

"I want to go to the North Pole," he whined. "I want to learn how to waterbend. I'm sick of having to hide all the time."

"I know," Sokka sighed. He ruffled Touya's wolf tail. "After Aang wins these challenges, we'll go straight to the North Pole and get you a teacher, okay?" Touya nodded.

All of the sudden, the wall opened and the king was in view again, but this time with an angrily looking Aang. "So, I will give your friends some special souvenirs." The guards took Sokka's and Touya's hands and shoved the rings on their fingers. True to the king's word, Touya got the blue ring and Sokka watched as it seemed to tighten around his finger. Sokka quickly turned to his finger and tried to yank his ring off.

"Those delightful rings are made of pure jenamite, also known as creeping crystal," the king said with a smile. "It's a crystal that grows so fast, your friends will be completely covered by nightfall. Terrible thing really."

"It's already creeping!" Touya cried. "How do you stop it?!"

"If the Avatar cooperates, I can stop it," the old king said.

Aang sighed, but gave the king a determined look. "I'll do what you want." And Aang did. The old king's challenges proved to be just as strange as the king himself. Seriously, what kind of king loses his lunchbox key in an underground waterfall? Not only was his key suspended underneath a waterfall, but the entire cavern was filled with pointy rocks! Aang was smart and used the pointy rocks to his advantage, but that was only after almost being skewered twice.

Finding Flopsie was a little easier, but with the creeping crystal slowly encasing his entire body and the body of his brother, Sokka couldn't really appreciate the tender moment between pet and owner. When Flopsie jumped to lick the old king, Touya fell backwards and couldn't get up. That was a little funny. Then for the final challenge, Aang and the old king fought in an impressive duel of opposing elements. Sokka was so entranced by the fight. It was the first time he had ever seen such an impressive display of earthbending. The guards had eartbended, but those were more mundane tasks, the king was truly a master. And Aang… Sokka knew Aang was good at airbending, but to hold his own and even defeat such an earthbending master… Sokka thought Aang was a master himself. Sokka would remember the details of that fight for as long as he would live.

"Now," the old king said, seemingly not out of breath from the duel. "I have one question for you."

"That's not fair!" Aang cried. "You said you'd release my friends if I finished your tests!"

"That's true, you did say that," a guard said.

"But what's the point of tests if you don't learn anything?" the king laughed. "Answer this question and I will set your friends free. And from the looks of them, I'd say you only have a few minutes left."

Sokka turned to look at Touya's body, which was almost completely encased in crystal. "What's the question?" Touya asked.

"What….is my name?" the king asked, before walking off into a long hall.

The trio blinked after the king. "How am I supposed to know his name?" Aang cried. "Where the challenges supposed to be some kind of riddle?"

And then the answer hit Sokka like a bag of rocks. "I got it!" he cried. Aang and Touya turned to Sokka with twin looks of shock. "He's an earthbender, right? His name is Rocky!" Someone coughed. "You know, because all of the rocks."

"We're going to keep trying, but that is a good back up," Aang said.

Touya rolled his eyes. "No, it isn't!"

"Everyone's a critic," Sokka muttered. "Alright, since it's not Rocky, let's go back to the challenges. You got a key from a waterfall, saved his pet and had a duel. What did you learn?"

Aang looked pensive and rubbed the arrow on his head. "Everything was different than I expected," Aang said. "They weren't straightforward and I had to think differently than I usually would to solve them." Then Aang's eyes brightened and he gave the siblings a smile. "I know his name."

In seemingly no time at all, Aang, Sokka and Touya managed to make their way to the throne room, where the king was wearing the green outfit from yesterday. "I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges. As you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities," Aang said. The king started to laugh with an odd snort. "Bumi, you're a mad genius." Aang ran to give the old king a hug.

"Oh Aang," Bumi said wistfully. "It's good to see you. You haven't changed a bit. Literally."

"It's really nice that you two have been reunited a hundred years later," Touya started. "Really, I'm happy for you. But I'm about to be covered in creeping crystal if someone doesn't do something quick!"

King Bumi snorted and broke the crystals using his earthbending. The pieces flew everywhere and Bumi caught one. "Jenamite is made of rock candy," he said as he took a bite. "Delicious!"

Touya blankly blinked at King Bumi. Then Touya's face turned red and he frowned, but Sokka put his hand on his mouth before he could have a meltdown.

"Why did you make Aang do all those challenges instead of just telling him who you were?" Sokka asked, ignoring Touya's incessant licking of his palm.

"It's pretty fun messing with people," Bumi chuckled. "But I do have a reason." Bumi turned to Aang with a grim look. "Aang, the world has changed in the hundred years that you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world, but you have much to learn. You have to master the four elements and defeat Fire Lord Iroh." At Aang's downcast look, Bumi gave Aang a crooked smile. "It looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation." Out of the corner of his eye, Sokka saw Momo glide in and curl up on Aang's head. And Sokka wondered, where had Momo been the entire time?

"And you'll need Momo too," Bumi said. "Especially Momo." Touya pouted behind Sokka's hand.

"Thank you for your wisdom, Bumi," Aang said. "But before we leave, I have a challenge for you."

"Oh?" Bumi asked.

Aang gave Bumi a big grin. "Would you ride the mail rails with me?" Bumi blinked and then laughed and laughed and laughed.


"Do you have any fans?"

"Nope! Go Kyoshi!"

"Seriously? Seriously?" Azula muttered, holding a bucket of water that Ty Lee and Yu Lee were using to douse the fires that had erupted on the main street.

"I think it's cute," Yu Lee said, ignoring the stares from the villagers. "If old fuddy duddy uncle could see you now, he'd be so proud of you 'Zula."

Azula scoffed. Her men were sitting in a circle with the painted warriors—well unpainted warriors now. They had wiped the makeup off their faces and Azula discovered they were all girls around her age. The leader, Suki, was even prettier without her makeup. Her hair shone auburn in the setting sun and her eyes twinkled with mirth as she won another card from a soldier. Azula wanted to tear Suki's pretty hair out. It didn't help that the other Kyoshi warriors kept staring at her and her two friends.

"Do you have any sparrowkeets?" Wei asked the warriors. They giggled and shook their heads. "Aw, come on Emiko, I know you have a sparrowkeet on you!"

A warrior with black hair and brown eyes giggled and shook her head. "Nope, go Kyoshi, Commander," she said with a large smile.

"I can't believe this," Azula muttered. "We're supposed to be feared by everyone in the world! We're supposed to be looking for the Avatar, not playing a children's card game!"

"You burned their village, the least you can do is help them out," Ty Lee said morosely.

"Well if they had just given me the Avatar when I asked, nothing had to be burned," Azula spat.

"You can't expect everybody to do what you want," Ty Lee retorted harshly. "That's not how the world works."

"I'm the princess of the Fire Nation!"

"The banished princess," Ty Lee scoffed. Yu Lee, who had been quietly dousing the flames, turned and glared at her sister.

"Ty Lee, that's enough," she said sternly. "You need to apologize."

Ty Lee threw her bucket onto the ground, and turned on her sister. "No! Why should I?" she asked. "You drag me around the world for three years and you expect me to keep holding my tongue?"

"I expect you to show iPrincess/i Azula some respect," Yu Lee said. "You didn't have to come."

Ty Lee rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Like I had another choice."

Azula watched the two sisters stare each other down and felt like an interloper. She was intruding on this moment. Azula had heard them argue before, but not like this. Even during their most heated disagreements, they were always on the same page.

"You've always had a choice, you always have a choice," Yu Lee retorted. "Don't you dare play the victim. You don't get to."

"Why not?" Ty Lee asked. "Oh, I forgot. It's so you can be all 'woe is me, poor Yu Lee,' like what you've done for years!"

"And you're just as bad!" Yu Lee cried, raising her voice for the first time.

"Hey, why don't we just finish this," Azula said hesitantly. "And then we can go find the Avatar."

"Why don't you just stay out of this," Ty Lee spat nastily, whipping her head to face Azula. "This is a family matter, but you wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Azula gaped and felt heat prickling at the back of her eyes. Ty Lee had been a little mean earlier and she was often dismissive of what Azula said, but the nastiness in that round face shocked Azula. The game of Go Kyoshi had stalled and everyone was watching the altercation between the three girls. In addition to the tight and uncomfortable feeling in her chest, hot embarrassment flushed her face. Azula didn't want to show weakness in front of the Kyoshi warriors or Wei, but she couldn't help the tears that welled in her eyes. Yu Lee was saying something in clipped, angry tones and Ty Lee was screaming back, but she couldn't hear over the sound of her own distress.

"Children, that's enough," Wei said in a harsh tone. He stood in the middle of the sisters and pushed them apart. "Ty Lee, go to the ship first."

"But—"

"Now." Gone was the Wei who was nonchalantly flirting with an enemy soldier. Commander Taizong had appeared and he wasn't going to tolerate any disobedience. Ty Lee scowled and stomped back to the ship on her own. Then Wei turned to Yu Lee. "She's your sister, Yuta and the only one you're going to get."

Yu Lee rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I have six more Wei," she said.

"That's not the point," he replied. "You'll never have another Ty Lee. Little feuds like this aren't worth it. Don't hold grudges."

"You're one to talk," Yu Lee muttered. Wei didn't say anything in reply, he just gave her an unreadable look. He sighed and headed back towards the soldiers.

"It's time to pack up and go. Men, say goodbye, we need to resume the hunt for the Avatar," Wei commanded. He strode away from them and headed towards the ship. The soldiers grumbled and packed up the cards. They waved at the Kyoshi warriors and villagers and followed their commander.

Yu Lee sighed and uncrossed her arms. "Are you okay 'Zula?" she asked, concern obviously lacing her voice.

That snapped Azula out of her reverie. "Yeah," she said aggressively, wiping her eyes. "I'm fine." Azula could see that Yu Lee didn't believe her at all, but Azula didn't care. "Let's just go," she said. "We're hours behind the Avatar. We'll never catch him at this point." She turned to leave and she heard Yu Lee's soft footsteps behind her. She was glad to get off this stupid island, with its stupid painted warriors and burning buildings, the stupid arguing and Suki's stupid pretty face. The faster she got away, the better everyone would feel and the faster things would go back to normal.

"Thank you for helping us," Suki said. Azula didn't acknowledge the girl's appreciation, but Yu Lee did. She was always doing that, covering for Azula and making things better. Whenever Azula destroyed something, usually her brother's belongings, Yu Lee always took the blame. Maybe Azula should have felt more appreciative, but she was the princess of the Fire Nation. It was to be expected.

"Azula," Yu Lee said once they had arrived at the docked ship.

"What?" She replied. "The Avatar won't catch himself."

"Don't let what Ty Lee said get to you, okay? She just misses home. We all do," Yu Lee said sadly.

"It's been a long three years," Azula said, but that didn't forgive anything. "For everybody, but especially me. You have no idea how hard it is to be me. I just want to go home."

"Everything will be all right," Yu Lee said. Azula felt arms wrap around her chest and a warm body at her back. Azula closed her eyes and stopped thinking for a bit. "I promise."