It's amazing I can find just about any excuse to procrastinate when I should be writing. In any event, this is the beginning of the second act of Dragon Knight. This was one of the first chapters I had a real concrete plan on and it hasn't changed much over time. I never thought I'd get here, so I'll just get on it.

A few days passed as Appa soared toward Omashu. It would have been quite a long way on foot, but they were making excellent time flying over all the mountains and other topography that they would have had to traverse. Still, the group didn't want to exhaust themselves, so they decided to take a break in a nearby river before making the final push to Omashu.

While Sokka, Appa, and Momo relaxed, the other half of the group was hard at work honing their bending skills. Katara and Aang stood in the shin high waters near the shore, the former tutoring the latter in various waterbending forms. Tom sat Indian-style near a natural stone arch by the river. He was making good on his promise to himself to take his training more seriously. His Pressure Barrier was merely a stepping stone to the technique Tom hoped to create, but to do that, he'd have to master the Barrier perfectly if he had any hope of his idea not backfiring.

To do this, he using a modified version of the leaf exercise that Jong Jong had taught him. He held the little, easily burnt leaf gingerly with both hands as the furious heat of his Barrier swirled around it. The heat was close, any closer and it would have auto-ignited. This closeness was matched by the rest of the Barrier that wrapped around his body. It took almost no effort to hold up so little of it; no wasted heat, no wasted energy. The way he was, he could have spent the whole day like that and not broken a sweat. It still wasn't perfect yet, though. It took all his focus to keep the Barrier like that. A single lapse in concentration and the leaf would burst into flame. The leaf burst into flame as the sound of cheerful music approached from the nearby path. "Wonderful," Tom mumbled to himself, "we have guests…"

"Hey, river people!" the leader of the colorful group of musicians addressed as he and his companions approached Aang and the other in the water. Tom remembered them from the show. They were five what amounted to hippies in traditional Chinese garb. It… oddly worked for them now that Tom was paying them the slightest attention.

"We're not river people…" Katara corrected politely.

"You're not? Than what kind of people are you?"

"We're just… people," Aang supplied tentatively.

That seemed enough for the man, "Aren't we all, brother~?"

By now, Sokka had the chance to get up from his relaxed position and point an accusing finger at the happy and colorfully dressed man, "Who are you?"

"I'm Chong," he said without missing a beat, "And this is my wife Lily. We're nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us!"

"You guys are nomads?" Aang asked enthusiastically, "That's great, I'm a nomad!"

"Hey, me too!"

"I know… You just said that…"

"Oh," Chong said, not really seeming to get it. Still he moved on to address Sokka; "Nice underwear…" Sokka quickly decided it was time to get dressed.

"Dude," Tom said sarcastically, "Can I have some of whatever it is you're smoking?"

"Sure thing, brother. Gift of the earth and all that, right?" Tom paused a beat. He didn't actually expect to get an answer, let alone "yes".

Tom, being the only one who didn't go into the river and therefore was the only one dressed, was left to keep their new friends company. It was… tolerable. Chong and his group were constantly, insufferably happy, but they were also constantly happy. So that was something. After everyone was properly dressed, Sokka made a point of packing as quickly as possible. Aang, Katara, and even Appa spent the couple of minutes letting Chong's friends arrange their hair with flowers (or, in Aang's case, just make a flower wreath for him). Tom insisted that he rather not be touched, and instead spent the time practicing his archery with the bow he took from the Yu-Yan archers.

He was a good shot with a bow even against moving targets, but he always had to remind himself to lead the target. That was fine when one is practice shooting, but not something acceptable in the heat of battle. With the bow slung over one shoulder, he'd toss a small piece of wood into the air. With a quick motion, Tom would flick the bow into his hand, knock an arrow and fire. He hit most of his shots, getting a round of applause for each, and on the occasions where he missed, he'd get words of encouragement. You know what, Tom decided in his head, we could do worse for temporary companions.

Finally, Sokka said it was time for them to leave. Chong and his group wanted to show them some of the wonders they had seen in their travels, but Sokka had one and only one destination in mind; "O-ma-sha!"

"Sokka's right," she admitted, "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe."

"Well, then it sounds like you're headed to Omashu," Chong decided. Sokka facepalmed. "There's an old story about a passage… right through the mountains…!"

"Is this real, or a legend?" Katara asked cautiously.

"Oh, it's a real legend," Chong assured unhelpfully, "And it's as old as earthbending itself." With that, Chong and his companions began a new song, much to Sokka's chagrin. The song was a cheery one that sounded vaguely like the beginning of Romeo & Juliet. Except there was a mountain or something. Chong stopped for a second in the middle of the song, "…Yeah, I forget the couple of lines, but then it goes: Secret Tunnel~! Secret Tunnel~! Through the mountain~! Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel~~, yeah…"

Needless to say, Sokka was unmoved, "I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before."

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

"Yeah, I'll go for the cave, I think," Tom said knowingly.

Sokka did a double take, "What? Why?!"

"I'd put money on it being the better route."

"Oh yeah? You think going through some secret cave is faster than flying there on Appa?" Sokka scoffed.

"What's say we make a race out of it?"

"Fine! You're on!" Sokka rushed into Appa's saddle, "Come on, Katara, Aang! Before he gets a head start!"

"I don't know…" Aang said, unsure. He recognized that confident grin on Tom's face.

"What? Don't you have faith in Appa?" Sokka's goading was all the persuasion Aang needed and they were off like a shot.

"Are you really going to separate from your friends like that?" Chong asked.

Tom just smiled, "Give it, like, twenty minutes. They'll be back."

Twenty minutes later: "Secret Love Cave, let's go…"

I've actually been tossing around whether or not to end this here, but ultimately, I think this fits. When I get back around to it and fix up this story, I'll probably combine these two, but given the current pace I think this fits well enough.

And I'd make another comment about how I find ass-kissing reviews insulting and would prefer to get helpful critiques or nothing at all, but apparently even boldface ALLCAPSRAGE can't even get the message across to some people. Though I'd also like to say to the very few people who have listened and acquiesced, I sincerely and wholeheartedly thank you.