Last of Our Kind

Sorry for the wait, I am very busy because of final exams and everything. The title is a reference to one of my favorite love songs; if you don't know which song it is, then get out of my sight. There's going to be a bit of Yukka (Yue and Sokka) love in this chapter; they are one of only a handful of canon pairings that I support. I had this idea that Suki and Yue will hate each other at first (maybe even get into a cat-fight over Sokka), but they will end up becoming friends by the end of the story.

As for Sokka's feelings about Suki, well, I think they were kind of rushed in the original show; Suki kissed Sokka on the cheek after only knowing him for a day. My plan is that Sokka thought Suki was cool and kind of pretty when they met, but he was just caught a little off-guard when she kissed him and doesn't feel much more than a strong respect and admiration for her.

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or the following quote.

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close."
―Pablo Neruda,100 Love Sonnets

I Still Believe

It was a bright, warm afternoon. The Gaang had stopped to rest beside a river so that Aang, Katara, and Wenona could practice their Waterbending. Yue had never gone swimming before as the arctic weather did not provide suitable conditions for such an activity; therefore, she was a little nervous about getting in the water, and about walking around in her bindings.

"Kindly remember, Princess, that modesty is a luxury that travelers like us can't always afford," Wenona had stated.

Yue was still uncertain, but she followed the example of the other two girls when she saw how indifferent they were to wearing only their bindings. Yue had also asked if she could participate in the Waterbending practice and the others were only too happy to help her train.

Sokka had decided he was going to rest for a while and had gotten a large leaf from a nearby tree and used it as a floatation device so that he could drift on the water with Momo sleeping on his stomach; though he did occasionally glance up to see his girlfriend practice her Waterbending. Keng remained on shore fixing some of the holes in the others' clothes; he was actually not in that much of a mood to play around in the water; in fact he was thinking back to a few months ago when they were at the Makapu Village and had met the Fortuneteller, Aunt Wu, and her assistant Meng.

Keng smiled at the memory. He couldn't help but think fondly of the cute girl with the funny pigtails and the pink kimono.

"You guys are gonna be done soon, right?" said Sokka. "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today."

"What, like you're ready to pack it up and go right now, Naked Guy?" Wenona drawled.

"I can be ready in two minutes. Seriously, whenever."

"So, you were showing me the Octopus Form," said Aang.

"Right," said Katara. "Show us your stance."

Aang took up his position and the two sisters observed.

"Hmm, bring your arms in a bit and keep your elbows bent," said Wenona. She moved over to help him adjust his stance.

Aang felt a bit awkward by the attention. He still hadn't entirely recovered from when Sokka gave him and Keng 'the talk' and he wasn't sure how to feel about girls since then. Sure, he thought Wenona and Katara were both very pretty, and he had had a bit of a crush on Wenona at first; but now it was just kind of uncomfortable.

"Much better," Wenona said, stepping back. "Now, Aang, Katara, I want you two to show me what you've got."

Aang and Katara began their sparring session. Aang created a wall of water-tendrils that grabbed the icicles that Katara threw at him. After a minute, Aang had one of the water-tendrils wrapped around his opponent's leg, ready to pull her down. Katara conceded defeat and smiled.

"You make a fine octopus, Pupil Aang," she said as Aang Waterbent a large mass of water around himself to more closely resemble and octopus.

Yue applauded, hoping that she would become advanced enough to do Bending like that. For most of the morning, she had just been going through the basics; Wenona had told her that what she lacked in skill she made up for in energy and power.

The group was suddenly disturbed by an approaching sound of music. As they looked up at the nearby path, they saw a group of people in brightly-colored clothing coming their way.

"Don't fall in love with the travelin' girl,

She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted…"

The lead musician trailed off when he caught sight of the Gaang.

"Hey, river-people!" he exclaimed happily.

"We're not river-people," said Katara.

"You're not? Well then what kind of people are ya?"

"Just…people," said Keng.

"Aren't we all, Brother?"

Sokka, who had fallen off of his leaf-floatie, marched up to the strange newcomers.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm Chong. And this is my wife Lily. We're nomads; happy to go wherever the wind takes us." Chong then played a loud note on his lute.

"You guys are nomads?" Aang said happily. "That's great! I'm a nomad!"

"Hey, me, too," said Chong.

"I know. You just said that."

"Oh." Chong then took notice of Sokka's attire. "Nice underwear."

Sokka, embarrassed, grabbed Momo off of his shoulder and used the lemur to hide his state of undress before shuffling off to find his clothes.

The former Fire Nation general stared with rapt attention at the beautiful white and orange flower in front of him. His nephew soon stumbled into the clearing looking thoroughly vexed.

"I didn't find anything to eat," Zuko complained. "I can't live like this. I wasn't meant to be a fugitive. This is impossible!" He kicked the grass angrily and then realized his uncle wasn't listening. "Uncle, what are you doing?"

"You're looking at the rare white dragon bush," Iroh explained. "Its leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking. That, or it's the white jade bush which is poisonous."

"We need food, not tea. I'm going fishing." Zuko marched off.

"Hmm, delectable tea, or deadly poison?" Iroh muttered to himself.

After the Gaang had found their clothes, they started talking with the nomads who were more than eager to share their stories. One of the nomads was braiding flowers into Appa's fur, while Lily did something similar for the girls.

"Your hair is so lovely," Lily said as she wove light blue flowers into Yue's snowy locks. "I don't think I've ever seen white hair on a young person before."

Even Wenona, a very rationally-minded girl, found it hard not to like the nomads and their easy-going natures. She had even gotten out her liuquin guitar and played a few songs with them.

Aang and Keng both immediately liked the nomads; they were such fun-loving people who knew so much about the world that the two boys were absolutely fascinated with them.

Sokka had soon gotten fed-up with hanging around the really weird nomads and decided it was time to make his sentiments known.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang said cheerily. "You should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere."

"Well, not everywhere, Little Arrowhead," said Chong. "But where we haven't been we've heard about through stories and songs."

"They said they'll take us to see a giant night-crawler," said Keng.

"On the way," said a portly man in pink robes, named Moku, "there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow."

"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara and Nona are busy, I guess it's up to me," said Sokka, ignoring the glares from his sisters. "We need to get to Omashu; no sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows."

"Sokka, couldn't we make an exception?" Yue asked, giving him the best pouty-face she could.

Sokka squirmed uncomfortably.

"It's so hard to say 'no' when you make that face," he whispered to himself. He gave himself a shake. "I'm sorry, but I have to put my foot down here. Time is of the essence and we need to get to Omashu."

"Whoa, sounds like someone's got a case of Destination Fever," Chong teased lightly. "Heheh, you're worried too much about where you're goin'."

"You need to focus less on the 'where' and more on the 'going,'" Lily added.

"O-Ma-Shu," Sokka enunciated.

"Sokka's right," said Katara. "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn Earthbending somewhere safe."

"Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu," said Chong, causing Sokka to slap himself on the forehead. "There's an old story about a secret pass, right through the mountains."

"Is this real or a legend?" said Wenona.

"Oh, it's a real legend, and it's as old as Earthbending itself." Chong began to play his lute and sing.

"Two lovers,

Forbidden from one another,

A war divides their people,

And a mountain divides them apart.

Built a path to be together…

"Yeah, I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes:

Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel!

Through the mountains!

Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!"

As the others applauded, Sokka scowled in an unconvinced way.

"I think we'll just stick with flying," he said. "We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground," said Aang. "And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable."

About half an hour later, the Gaang had returned to where the nomads had been sitting waiting for them. The Gaang's clothes were badly singed and they looked much worse for wear.

"Secret love cave, let's go," Sokka mumbled dejectedly to the nomads.

With an expression of irritation, Zuko trudged back the clearing where he had left his uncle. Fishing had not been a very successful experience for him and all he was able to bring back was a single, minuscule anchovy.

"Zuko, remember that plant I thought might be tea?" Iroh said without turning around.

"You didn't," Zuko replied.

"I did. And it wasn't." Iroh turned around to show that he was covered in a nasty, red rash. "When the rash spreads to my throat, I will stop breathing. But look what I found." He held up a branch with a bushel of pink berries. "These are bacui berries, known to cure the poison of the white jade plant. That, or maka'ole berries that cause blindness."

Zuko grabbed the branch and threw it away, trying very hard to resist throttling his aged uncle for his foolishness.

"We're not taking any more chances with these plants," Zuko stated firmly. "We need to get help."

"But, where are we going to go?" Iroh asked as he scratched the rash on his skin. "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom and fugitives from the Fire Nation."

"If the Earth Kingdom discovers us, they'll have us killed," Zuko said thoughtfully.

"But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula," Iroh added.

The two exchanged a look and nodded.

"Earth Kingdom it is," said Zuko.

"How far are we from the tunnel?" said Sokka as the group made its way through some old ruins.

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel," said Chong. "The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth."

Sokka stopped dead in his tracks.

"Labyrinth!" he exclaimed.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out."

Sokka gave him a suspicious glare but continued walking.

"All you need to do is trust in love," said Lily. "According to the curse."

Sokka froze as the others walked past him and then gave a frustrated groan.

"Curse?" he whined.

"Sokka, don't tell me you're scared," Wenona said.

"I am not scared," he retorted as he caught up with the group.

"Sokka," said Yue softly, "would you like to hold my hand?" Truth was, she wasn't that scared, but she knew Sokka wouldn't admit that he was.

"Yes, please." He eagerly took his girlfriend by the hand.

They soon approached the entrance to the cave. The walls ahead seemed to be lined with statues and there was a warning engraved into the lintel of the entrance.

"Hey-hey, we're here," said Chong.

"What exactly is this curse?" asked Wenona.

"The curse says that only those that trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever."

"And die," added Lily.

"Oh, yeah, and die. Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song." He played a sharp note on his lute. "And diiiiie!"

"Well, we certainly won't have any problem finding our way through," said Yue. "Will we, Sokka?"

"I don't know," said Sokka obliviously. "I don't like the idea of us going through some cursed hole."

"Are you saying you don't trust in love?" she said suspiciously.

"Think very carefully about how you answer that, bro," Keng warned.

Luckily for Sokka, he was saved from having to answer the question by one of the nomads noticing something in the distance.

"Hey, someone's makin' a big campfire."

"That's no campfire, Moku," said Katara seriously.

"It's Fire Nation," Sokka continued. "They're tracking us." Sokka turned back to the nomads. "So, all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?"

"That is correct, Sokka my friend," said Chong.

Sokka exchanged a quick glance with Yue, who smiled at him reassuringly.

"Fine," he said with a sigh of resignation. "Everyone into the hole."

They all quickly made their way inside, Appa following very reluctantly. Right behind them, several Fire Nation tanks pulled up, only to stop at the cave entrance.

"Hold on!" the captain shouted. "It's too dangerous. Haven't you heard the song? Just close them in; the mountain will take care of the rest."

At his command, the tanks launched spikes into the rock lintel and yanked it down; causing a rock-slide that sealed the Gaang and the nomads inside the cave. Chong lit one of the torches and they all stood staring at the pile of rubble as Appa tried pawing at it in a desperate attempt to get out.

"It's okay, Appa," Katara reassured the creature. "We'll be fine. I hope."

"We will be fine," Sokka added, his arms around Yue who was actually worried now. "All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?"

"Uhh, about two hours each," he replied.

"And we have five torches, so that's…ten hours," Lily said, lighting up all four of the extra torches.

"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time," Wenona said, grabbing the torches and putting them out.

"Ohhh, riiiight."

"I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been," said Sokka, grabbing some paper and ink from his bag in Appa's saddle. "Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."

They all began to walk into the dark tunnel ahead of them. Keng was clutching very tightly to Katara, afraid of what might be hiding in the darkness. Yue, who had absolutely no experience with cave exploration or situations like this, was practically glued to Sokka's side; she tried her best not to show how nervous she was now that they were trapped and kept trying to remember the curse's warning to trust in love.

Zuko and Iroh had managed to find their way to a small town where the locals pointed them in the direction of a medicine house. A young woman who was working there was perfectly happy to help the two strangers, asking for no payment in return.

"You two must not be from around here," said the young woman as she applied a healing salve to Iroh's rash. "We know better than to touch the white jade; much less make it into tea and drink it."

"Hehehe, whoops," said Iroh.

"So, where are you traveling from?"

"Yes, we're travelers," Zuko said suddenly.

"Do you have names?"

"Names? Of course we have names. I'm…Lee and this is my uncle, uh…Mushi?"

Iroh shot Zuko a glare.

"Yes, my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him 'Junior,'" Iroh added, getting a bit of payback.

"Mushi and Junior, huh?" said the girl. Behind her back, Zuko glared at his uncle and made a throat-cutting gesture. "My name is Song. You two look like you could use a good meal. Why don't you stay for dinner?"

"Sorry, but we need to be moving on," said Zuko.

"That's too bad. My mom always makes too much roast duck."

"Where do you live, exactly?" said Iroh suddenly.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," said Katara.

"This doesn't make any sense," said Sokka. "We already came through this way." He began to pace while examining the map.

"We don't need a map," said Chong calmly. "We just need love. The little guys know it." He pointed towards Aang and Keng.

"Yeah, but we wouldn't mind a map also," said Aang.

"There's something strange here," said Sokka. "There's only one explanation. The tunnels are changing."

That's when a loud rumbling sound shook the cave.

"My daughter tells me you're refugees," said Song's mother as they all sat down to dinner. "We were once refugees ourselves."

"When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our farming village," Song explained. "All the men were taken away. That was the last time I saw my father."

"I haven't seen my father in many years," Zuko said softly.

"Oh. Is he fighting in the war?"

Zuko set his bowl of noodles down on the table and paused for a moment.

"Yeah," he said simply.

"The tunnels, they're a-changin'!" said Chong fearfully. "Ah, it must be the curse. I knew we shouldn'ta come down here."

"Right, if only we'd listened to you," Sokka said dryly.

"Everyone, be quiet," said Katara. "Listen."

A low, eerie moan seemed to be echoing up from the darkness. It seemed to be getting closer, and closer. Then, without warning, a large, hairy creature with glowing red eyes swooped down upon them.

"It's a giant, flying thing with teeth!" Chong exclaimed.

"No, it's a wolf-bat!" Moku shouted.

Sokka waved the torch at the wolf-bat, trying to scare it away. In the confusion, the wolf-bat knocked the torch out of his hands and it dropped at Appa's feet. Appa reared in pain where the torch had struck and began to stamp; he bashed against the tunnel walls and caused the rock to loosen. Rocks started falling and Aang had to air-blast the others out of harm's way. Unfortunately, with all the debris falling around them, Aang didn't notice Katara, Wenona, and Keng were further away until the dust settled; Wenona had seen her youngest siblings were about to be crushed and had dashed forward to get them out of the way.

Katara, Wenona, Keng, and Appa were separated from the rest of the group by about thirty feet of rubble.

When Sokka realized that his brother and sisters were trapped on the other side, he began clawing desperately at the rocks until he realized his efforts were pointless.

"Yeah, it's no use," said Chong. "We're separated. But at least ya have us."

"AHHHH!" Sokka resumed his frantic digging, only for some rocks to fall on his head.

Zuko sat outside on the porch meditating. He didn't look up when the door slid open and Song stepped out to approach him.

"Can I join you?" she said.

He didn't answer.

"I know what you've been through," she continued. "We've all been through it." She sat down beside him. "The Fire Nation has hurt you." She moved to touch his scar, but he caught her hand to stop her. "It's okay. They've hurt me, too." She lifted up the right leg of her pants to show nasty, red burn marks.

Zuko stared at the injury and then glanced up at her. He never really stopped to think about how the war had affected people of the other nations before. He had always been so focused on his pain, his problems, that he had forgotten what the war had done to people other than himself. He found himself thinking of the Avatar; what must it be like for the Airbender to know that he is the last of his race? And the Water Tribe peasants, he had seen the pathetic hovel that had been their home; had the Fire Nation been responsible for that, too?

It was strange, thinking about other people's pain. Seeing the scars on Song's leg made it that much more real. Zuko shook himself; he shouldn't feel sympathy for these commoners, they were beneath him, they were his enemy. What did it matter to him if they got caught in the crossfire?

Somewhere, in the back of Zuko's mind, he thought he heard the voice of someone telling him not to be so callous. However, he simply brushed it off.

"Oh, don't let the cave-in get you down.

Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown.

When the tunnel is darkest that's when you need a clown, hey!

Don't let the cave-in get you down, Sokka!"

This had been going on for quite some time and Sokka was about ready to start beating on some nomads. Yue was the only one who managed to keep him calm; Aang just seemed to encourage them when he wasn't worrying about the others.

"Sokka, just let them have their fun," said Yue. "It won't hurt to keep our spirits up, will it? What have you got to lose?"

"My self-respect, my sanity…my lunch," Sokka replied sullenly.

Yue simply smiled and kissed his cheek.

Wenona, Katara, Keng, and Appa walked for what felt like hours until they reached a part of the tunnel with an ornate doorway.

"Guys, look!" Wenona exclaimed.

"We found the exit," said Keng.

They tried to pry the door open but it wouldn't budge. Then, Appa, who was completely fed up with being underground, charged full-steam at the doorway, dislodging it. The circular stone rolled out of the way. However, instead of bright sunshine and fresh air like they were expecting, the room before them was deep, dark, and musty, as though no one had been in there in many, many years.

"This isn't the exit," said Katara.

"Ya think?" Wenona said with a note of annoyance, more at the situation than her sister.

"No, it's a tomb," said Keng.

The three made their way down a set of stairs and approached the dais where two stone sarcophagi rested. Keng noticed there was something carved on the dais and brushed away the dust.

"These must be the two lovers from the legend," he said.

"These pictures tell their story," said Katara. She began to read off the inscriptions. "They met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages. The villages were enemies, so they could not be together. But their love was strong and they found a way. The two lovers learned Earthbending from the badger-moles, they became the first Earthbenders. They built elaborate tunnels so they could meet secretly; anyone who tried to follow them would be lost forever in the labyrinth. But, one day, the man didn't come; he died in the war between their two villages. Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of her Earthbending power; she could've destroyed them all.

"But, instead, she declared the war over. Both villages helped her build a new city where they would live together in peace. The woman's name was 'Oma' and the man's name was 'Shu.' The great city was named 'Omashu' as a monument to their love." The three noticed something behind them and Katara lifted the torch to reveal a large statue of the two lovers kissing. "Love is brightest in the dark."

"Aw, great, your plans have led us to another dead end," Moku complained.

"At least I'm thinking of ideas and trying to get us out of here, Moku," Sokka retorted.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," said Chong. "We're thinkin' of ideas? 'Cause I've had an idea for like an hour now."

"YES! We're ALL thinking of IDEAS!" Sokka shouted impatiently.

"Well, then listen to this. If love is the key out of here, then all we need to do is play a love song."

Sokka slapped himself on the forehead as Chong started playing his lute again.

"This is neat and everything, but how are we going to find our way out of these tunnels?" said Keng.

Suddenly, Wenona started chuckling. Her siblings turned to stare at her.

"Sorry, it's just something occurred to me about the story," she said. "You know how Oma and Shu were the first Earthbenders but no mention of badger-moles ever teaching other people how to Earthbend is mentioned?"

"Yeeees," Katara said uncertainly.

"Well, just think about it for a minute. If no one else learned from the badger-moles, and Oma and Shu were the only Earthbenders in existence at the time, and Earthbending is something passed down from parents to children…I think it means that Oma and Shu's romance was something a little more physical than is mentioned in the pictures."

Katara realized what Wenona was implying and grimaced at her.

"You are so crude, Nona," she admonished. "That is in very bad taste, especially considering we're in a tomb."

"Sorry for not seeing the world through your happy rainbow vision, Kit-Kat. Pfft, I just think the 'forbidden romance' thing is the funniest of all story themes."

"What's wrong with it?" Katara said defensively.

"Well, no offence meant to anyone, but if you're screwing around with the enemy, putting who knows how many of your countrymen in danger, then you deserve whatever bad thing happens as a result. Besides, forbidden love is so overdone and I doubt it happens all that often in real life."

Wenona started walking out through the other entrance to the tomb.

"Wait a second," Katara called after her as she and Keng followed. "What do you mean by that? What kind of romance do you think should happen?" Katara demanded.

"The kind that is actually realistic and doesn't involve loss of life because of it," said Wenona evenly. "Boy and girl forbidden from being together because they are supposed to be enemies but falling in love regardless is just stupid. I'd prefer a love story where the two lovers actually have a decent chance of ending up together, rather than just having a couple of secret flings in a dank cave."

"Like what?" asked Keng.

"Like a guy and a girl who, despite a former resentment of each other, actually realize they are meant to be after working together for a common goal and developing a friendship, or at least a friendly rivalry."

"Come on, Nona, like that's ever going to happen," said Katara.

The three marched on in silence with Appa following close behind.

"Thank you for the duck," said Iroh as he and Zuko were about to leave. "It was excellent."

"You're welcome," said Song's mother. She handed him some food supplies. "It brings me joy to see someone eat my cooking with such…gusto."

"Much practice," said Iroh, patting his stomach. He bowed to the two women, who bowed back, but he noticed that Zuko was already starting to walk off. "Junior, where are your manners? You need to thank these nice people."

Zuko gave a respectful bow.

"Thank you," he said before turning away again.

"I know you don't think there's any hope left in the world," said Song. "But there is hope. The Avatar has returned."

"I know."

As Zuko and Iroh walked away and the two ladies reentered their house, Zuko stopped and noticed the ostrich-horse grazing in front of the shed. With only a fleeting sense of guilt, Zuko untied the creature from its post and mounted it.

"What are you doing?" Iroh said quietly. "These people just showed you great kindness."

"They're about to show us a little more kindness," Zuko replied. There was a moment of silence. "Well?" Zuko reached down his hand to help his uncle up.

Iroh bowed his head in defeat upon realizing there would be no dissuading Zuko. As the two men road off, Song watched sadly through the crack in the door.

"We're going to run out of light any second now," Wenona said somberly. "Which means we're probably going to die lost in the dark."

"That's not comforting, Nona," Katara said.

"What are we going to do?" said Keng.

"Well, at least we have each other," Wenona pointed out.

"I guess you have a point," Katara conceded. "The curse did say that love was the key to getting out. It didn't say it had to be romantic love."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, we're family and we love each other. So, I guess we'll go down together."

The three smiled sadly and sat down against the cave wall, huddled up together like they did back home during snowstorms, and waited for the light to go out. The three closed their eyes and thought about what they would miss. Wenona felt the heat of the torch in her hand slowly fading. Then, like a faint whisper, it went out.

For a moment, everything went totally dark. Then, a sudden sensation of light radiated through their eyelids and they all snapped into awareness. Thousands of greenish crystals covered the roof of the tunnel, lighting the way forward.

"We're going to die down here with them, aren't we?" Sokka muttered to Aang.

"C'mon, Sokka, I'm sure everything will be fine," Aang replied. "The others are probably already outside by now."

Sokka gave Aang a skeptical look.

Suddenly, a sound like that of the wolf-bat from earlier echoed around them; only this time it sounded like there were more of them, much more. That's when dozens of wolf-bats shot past them. Sokka flailed his arms in a frantic attempt to ward them off.

"He-hey, you saved us, Sokka," Chong said once the last of the wolf-bats had gone.

"No, they were trying to get away from something," Sokka replied.

"From what?"

The ground suddenly started to shake and then, from out of the side of the tunnel, a giant badger-mole appeared, blocking their exit. Then another burst in behind them, cutting off their retreat. The two creatures Bent the earth behind them to cut off any route of escape. Sokka stumbled back and tripped; as he tried to back away from the badger-mole in front of him, he accidentally struck his hand against the lute that one of the nomads had dropped, causing a note to play. The creature froze and looked at him curiously. Sokka realized what had happened and picked up the instrument, playing random notes.

"Hey, those things are music-lovers," said Chong.

"Badger-moles, coming towards me," Sokka sang. "Come on, guys, help me out."

Picking up on the cue, Chong began to sing.

"The big, bad badger-moles,

Who Earthbend the tunnels,

Hate the wolf-bats,

But love the sounds…"

"It's made of some kind of crystals," Keng observed. "They must only light up in the dark."

"That's how the two lovers found each other," Katara continued. "They just put out their lights and followed the crystals. That must be the way out."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Wenona. "I am sick and tired of this cave."

"Race ya to the exit,' said Keng.

It didn't take long for them to find the way out, though Appa ended up winning the race. The bison let out a loud groan of relief and stretched, finally free of the confines of the cave.

"What about the others?" said Keng.

In answer to his question, a loud rumbling was heard and two badger-moles burst out of either side of the cave exit, carrying the rest of the group on their backs.

"Sokka, Aang, Yue!" Katara called out happily.

Sokka and Yue slid off their badger-mole, while Aang Airbended himself down.

"How did you guys get out?" Sokka asked.

"Just like the legend says," replied Keng. "We let love lead the way."

"Actually, it was more like glow-in-the-dark crystals led the way," Wenona corrected.

"Really?" said Sokka. "We let huge, ferocious beasts lead our way." He turned and waved at the badger-moles, which turned and reentered the caves.

As the Gaang shared a group hug, Katara noticed something.

"Why's your forehead all red?" she asked Sokka.

"Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you," said Chong. "I think that kid might be the Avatar." He pointed over at Aang who was saying goodbye to the other nomads.

Sokka's reaction was to slap himself on the forehead for the hundredth time that day.

"So, are you guys gonna come to Omashu with us?" said Aang.

"Nope," Moku replied shortly.

"Okay. Thanks for everything, Moku."

Chong, meanwhile, had removed his flower lei and put it around Sokka's neck.

"Sokka, I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey," he said before pulling Sokka into a hug.

"Just play your songs," Sokka muttered.

"Hey, good plan!" As he walked away, Chong strummed his lute and began to sing. "Even if you're lost, you can't lose the love because it's in your heart…"

The Gaang made their way over the few hills that separated them from their goal. They were about to reach the top of the last one when Sokka spoke to them.

"The journey was long and annoying," he said. "But now you get to see what it's really about, the destination. I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O…oh, no," he cut off when he looked down at the city.

Omashu had been conquered by the Fire Nation.