XIV. The Determination of Friends
It was a long sleep, but their dreams were still filled with fragments of the battle long ago. It still haunted them and would not leave until they finally woke. There was no morning sunlight to lift the group's spirits; only darkness remained to greet them. The group ate a hearty breakfast, but there was a grim tone about them. The scars each of them bore were constant reminders to them of the hell they had suffered; the hell that Aang was probably still suffering. Yet, Sokka, Katara, Toph, Suki, and Mai found comfort in caring for Zuko's child. She smiled at each of them and was a pleasurable reminder of their dear friend. However, they were still missing one friend who may yet still be alive.
It is for that very reason that Katara broke the silence, "We have to find Aang."
The group's attention was focused on her. "Katara, believe me. We all feel the same," said Sokka. "But you can pretty much guess where he was taken."
The thought filled their hearts with dread. The memory of Mordor held nothing for them except pain and horror.
"Also we don't even know if Aang is still alive."
Katara banged her fists on the ground, "He's alive! I know he's alive!"
"Well even if he is. Mordor is like on the other side of the world. Without Appa to fly us the journey would take a ridiculously long time. And who knows what we would encounter on the road."
Katara's blood boiled, "Are you saying we should just abandon him?!"
"Nothing of the sort!"
Toph snapped, "Katara, you think you're the only one who feels this way?!"
"All of us miss Aang dearly but we can't be reckless or we may die for nothing," added Suki.
Katara calmed down. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just I can't shake my mind from it. Here we all are while Aang is suffering. He would never abandon us, nor we him."
Mai spoke, "We all feel the same way you do. We don't want to abandon Aang. However we need to be cautious about this issue. Besides." She gazed down at her baby. "We can't afford to lose anyone else."
Her words settled on the group. When they went to fight against the forces of Mordor they had acted recklessly and were overconfident in Aang's abilities. Their overconfidence was punished by an unforgettable amount of loss and grief. Many friends and loved ones perished as a result and it was practically all for nothing. If they planned to walk back into Mordor and enter the belly of the beast then they would have to do it with great caution and stealth.
"Well we still have some orc outfits. So we can probably sneak through their lines," Suki said optimistically.
Mai asked, "And what would my child pass for? Baby orcs don't exist and her crying would give us away. I'm sorry, as much as I want to help you, I can't leave my baby or take him into that accursed land."
"Don't worry Mai, we completely understand," Katara assured. "And it's actually for the better, we will not put Zuko's daughter in danger."
"However, I don't want to be left behind here so I'll accompany you to Mordor but I won't enter the land with my child."
"Fair enough," said Sokka. He stroked his scar that spread down his face and gazed around at the group. "So are we gonna do this or what?"
"You bet!" barked Toph.
Katara, Suki, and Mai nodded their heads in agreement.
"Alright. Then let's get a move on."
Determined to make the journey, the group packed up all the food and supplies they could carry. Each would carry packs except for Mai who had her baby put in a basket strapped to her back. Also they equipped themselves for protection against an attack. To Sokka's joy, Mai and Suki had his boomerang and a new sword for him. It was a two-handed, three and half foot steel sword stolen from a weapons caravan. Katara once again carried two pouches of water on her waist. Suki wielded fans and another curved blade suited to her fighting style. Mai would not walk through such a dangerous world with her baby unarmed and concealed a collection of daggers in her sleeves. Toph needed no weapon since her weapon was the ground beneath her feet. Once they felt ready and able, the five of them set out from the halls of the Southern Air Temple.
The Great Beast that had been left outside the temple was nowhere to be seen. The group suspected that it had gone back down the mountain, which meant that they would have to travel on foot. However, to make the descent quicker, Toph made an earth platform from the ledge. She then bent the platform down like an elevator. The rushing wind in their faces and the unstable shaking from the motion, made everyone uneasy.
"Can't you make this less shaky Toph?" Sokka complained.
"This isn't a wall Sokka the mountain has its own figure. Now shut up and let me bend!" Toph exclaimed.
At last they reached the bottom. Sokka felt a little woozy when it stopped. "If we were going down that way I wouldn't have eaten those pieces of meat," he moaned. Regardless of Sokka's unsettled stomach, the group continued to walk through the ravine.
When they reached a road Sokka spoke, "Hey guys, my instincts tell me we should stay off the road and cut across the landscape."
"Why's that?" asked Suki.
"Oh gee, I don't know maybe because as we're walking we may stumble onto an orc pack." No one argued there. "Toph, let us know if you sense any vibrations in the ground other than our own feet."
She nodded.
"But if we stay off the road how will we know where we're going?" Suki questioned.
Sokka smirked, "Simple, we know Mordor is off to the far east. So we'll just keep heading East."
This did not give the group reassurance since they had no idea how the land was organized. Nevertheless, they followed Sokka's advice and stayed off the road.
Katara leaned into Toph's ear, "Make sure you let us know how the land is shaped and which direction we need to go in."
Toph laughed, "Usually a blind girl is the last person to direct the group. Luckily, I'm a blind girl with eyes in her feet."
They pressed onward through the barren countryside. Days of travel led to weeks, and weeks eventually led to a month and a half. So far they had remained cautious and anonymous to any orc encampments that lay before them by not engaging them. They had to be sure to feed Mai's baby and prevent her from crying otherwise unfriendly ears may hear. The group had been successful in calming the child, however the food was running low and their feet felt like they were going to crumble to pieces with each step.
Once they were at the point of exhaustion, the group settled in a ring of rocks. Toph created an earth wall to shield them while they slept. Although there was no way of telling whether or not it was night or day anymore thanks to the spreading darkness of Mordor, the comrades of the Avatar drifted off into a much needed sleep.
Mai soon had to wake up in order to hush her crying baby who had apparently woken everyone else. The infant was rocked back and forth but would not stop crying.
Sokka grumbled, "What is that kid's problem? Why won't she just go to sleep?"
"Sokka," said Katara. "She's only a baby. Crying is only part of the development. It's how we all start out."
"I know that, but she can't be making such a racket all the time. Who knows what's out there?"
The baby was finally hushed after being given a drink. Sokka breathed a sigh of relief but then heard a growl.
"Toph will you do something about that stomach of yours?"
Toph snorted, "That wasn't me."
The growling soon became louder.
Sokka opened his eyes wide. "Then... who is it?"
Toph planted her feet on the ground. "Sokka above you!"
He turned around and saw a large, snarling warg leap down from the top of a boulder. The warg pinned Sokka down to the earth. As its mouth came closer for the bite, Mai hurled a dagger into the side of its skull. The beast collapsed on top of Sokka crushing the wind out of him.
"You've...gotta be... kidding me?" Sokka wheezed.
Suki and Katara helped pull him out from under the warg's body.
Suki pondered, "Where did this come from?"
Suddenly there was a howl in the distance.
Toph planted her feet firmly in the ground, "It was a scout. There's a pack of wargs heading this way!"
They all could hear the distant growls of the pack. Mai held her child close, who had begun to cry again.
"And who was it that said it would be less of a risk avoiding the road?!" complained Toph.
"No problem, no problem," Sokka assured with a weak smile. "Just raise the walls higher Toph and make a roof over our heads. It's just wargs they'll get tired eventually and leave."
Toph sighed but did as Sokka suggested. The walls were raised five feet higher and bent a roof from them. After it closed, the group was left in the dark. They could hear the snarling and clawing of the wargs from outside the walls. The baby continued to wail at its fear that they all shared. The wargs furiously clawed at the walls and circled around it in a frenzy. Suddenly, the crazy roaring and clawing stopped. What followed next was the sound of five other wargs.
Toph whispered, "Those new ones have orcs on their backs."
"Oh great," Sokka squeaked.
One orc that could be heard sneered, "What do we have here?"
"Just some rats playing hide and seek!" snarled a fiercer orc.
"Hehehehehe, then we'll just have to sit here until they come out."
Katara whispered a few words into Toph's ear. In agreement, Toph stomped her feet on the ground and caused the earth hut to fly apart in all directions. Most of the wargs and three of the orcs were crushed, save for three wargs and two orcs, who were stung by the impact. Sokka and Suki quickly whipped out their blades and impaled two of the wargs while Toph buried the last one underneath a boulder. Katara rained ice shards down upon the two orcs.
Mai exhaled as she rocked her crying baby, "That was too close."
"But hey look on the bright side," Sokka grinned.
"What bright side?" asked Katara.
Sokka stared down at the two wargs that he and Suki had killed. He then whipped out a small whale tooth knife that Suki had supplied him with and drooled, "Plenty of meat!"
Sokka dug into the wargs' hides and began skinning. With the exception of Toph, the group did not feel completely confident in the idea of eating warg. However, they were low on food and still had a long way to go. When the skinning was done, Sokka wrapped all the meat up in fur bundles he made from the wargs' hides. They had enough to feed on for their journey. Since everyone was in favor of leaving the area, Sokka gave each of them a bundle of meat to carry on their backs, then they pressed onward.
Three weeks of travel had passed, before they finally arrived at the beginning of the rocky maze of the Emyn Muil, facing the red sky of Mordor in the distance. The thunder of the sky and tremors of Mount Doom brought back memories of pain, tragedy, and death. Regardless, they all had a friend to rescue and continued to move down the hillside.
"Aang," Katara said quietly to herself. "Hang in there. We're coming for you."
Toph managed to serve as navigator through the sharp landscape. After many climbs and hikes through the ravine, the pain of their feet was unbearable causing them to settle down to rest. The warg meat supply had been depleted, leaving them with only four loaves of bread. Their water was even down to a single pouch, except for Katara's bending water. Yet aside from their harsh journey, the comrades of the Avatar could not help but feel a little accomplished for coming this far.