Flannie shook Iva, trying to wake her up. So far, it wasn't working very well.
"Go away... I feel sick..."
"Want me to get the herbalist lady?"
"...mrgh."
Having spent many a sleepover with Iva, Flannie knew to take that as a yes.
"Hmm... need some more plum blossoms..."
"Miss herbalist lady? Iva seems sick."
"In a minute, Miyuki always gets another plum blossom in her breakfast..."
Later that morning, Breakfast
Amanda hurriedly checked over the last page of her homework, trying to pick out the spelling and grammar errors. Finding no more, she placed it in her bag and started eating.
"Where do you think Iva is?" asked Cema. Glancing up at the staff table, Amanda saw that the headmistress wasn't there.
"Don't know. Don't really care much."
Flannie stood up and tried to get everyone's attention. No one looked at her. Sighing, she whispered something in Aang's ear. He made a motion in with his arms, airbending the air around him and-
CRACK
The sound echoed throughout the building, and all the students immediately looked up towards the characters. Flannie cleared her throat.
"A few of you might be wondering about what has happened to Headmistress Iva. She is sick with a rare, spreadable disease. Please be careful for the next few days and take measures to not get sick. If you fear you are ill, got to the infirmary where the crazy herbalist lady will take care of you. That is all, go on to your classes now."
Later that day, during lunchtime, the cast of Avatar and Flannie assembled in the Staff Room.
"Is Iva going to be alright?" asked Katara, as she sat down.
"Honestly, I have no clue," replied Flannie, who brought over some hot drinks. "The herbalist says that it could be deadly."
"We should probably stay away from her then, we don't want to get sick," said Sokka.
"Yeah. Can't have the cast of an extremely popular show get sick and die. The creators would get really mad at me and Iva." As an afterthought, she added, "I wonder why they let us bring you here, anyway..."
"Well, we already recorded all the third season episodes, and Toph's on vacation. They probably don't need us around for a few months," said Sokka.
Suddenly, Aang, who had been drinking a cup of tea, started coughing violently. The tea cup fell onto the table and the tea spilled out over its surface.
"Aang!" Katara immediately moved over to Aang, trying to calm his coughing fit, but it did not work very well.
"Don't tell me he's sick now too," growled Zuko.
As Aang's coughing subsided, Flannie stood up. "Zuko, take Aang to the infirmary ."
"Why not the water tribe peasant?" "You're going to let Zuko near Aang?!" "Aang, are you alright?"
"Sokka, I need your wonderful research skills to help figure out how to cure him as soon as possible, and Katara can go along with Zuko to make sure he doesn't hurt Aang if you're so worried."
Sokka sighed, deciding that that was as good as it was going to get. He stood up and followed Flannie out of the room.
After lunch, Amanda started to head for her next class. Before she left the room, however, Flannie dashed through, pushed her aside, and sprinted up to the front of the room.
"Everybody! Pay attention! This is important!" Heads snapped towards her.
"I want everybody to go back to their room, take a hot shower, and stay in their room until further notice! We have identified this disease, and it is very serious. It's called AWS, and there is no known cure at this time. The only way to prevent it is to do thing related to Avatar - watch fanvids, look at fanart, read some fanfiction, make some of your own, watch an episode, whatever, as long as it's Avatar related. Now go!"
Amanda took a shower with water so hot it was almost painful, and then went back to her room to watch some fanvids. After a few hours of that, she pulled out an Avatar DVD and watched several episodes. By the time she was done that, it was late enough to warrant going to sleep.
The next morning, Amanda slept in. It was nearly noon by the time she woke up.
"I'm hungry," complained Cema. "I haven't eaten for nearly 24 hours!"
"Flannie said to stay in our rooms..."
"We'll starve to death by then!"
Amanda sighed and sat down in front of the computer. 'Might as well get started on my homework,' she thought.
By the time was getting dark, Amanda was starting to get slightly worried, wondering if they'd been forgotten about. Cema's complaining was testing her patience, too, and kept jerking her out of the story she was reading.
"I don't feel well."
"I get it!" Amanda snapped. "You're hungry! I am too, but we can't do anything about it!"
"No, not that... my head hurts badly." She suddenly broke out into a fit of coughing. Once it was over, she said, "Can you help me to the infirmary? I feel sick."
"Great. Another one."
Cema glared at Flannie as she entered the dark room. "I didn't choose to get sick."
Flannie only rolled her eyes. Amanda stood off to the side as the herbalist confirmed that Cema had AWS. Soon afterwards, Flannie dragged her out of the room.
"Um, miss Flannie?" Amanda called to her as she was leaving. "Can we have some food? We're starting to get pretty hungry."
Flannie stopped moving. "Knew I forgot something... ask Momo to get you all fruit or whatever it is you want." She stalked off.
Amanda did as she was told and then returned to her room.
When she woke up the next morning, there was an apple on her bedside table, along with a note saying that it was safe to go to breakfast.
She chewed her food slowly, concern for both Cema and Aang (who looked so weak and OOC, just lying on the bed like that) draining away much of her energy.
She had just swallowed her last spoonful of oatmeal when Sokka came running in, waving a piece of paper. "I found the cure!"
Flannie snatched the paper from him, her eyes scanning the paper quickly. "Sokka, you're a genius." She looked up at the rest of the room.
"I need a volunteer, to go on a dangerous mission to get this cure. They'll have to be decently fit, knowledgeable about Avatar trivia, brave, and actually have paid attention during lessons."
For a few moments, no one raised their hand. Then, slowly, Amanda raised hers.