For goodness sake, I'm going to work ahead. I'm off to see the new Godzilla again because a friend hasn't had the chance yet this Friday so I have to get this done before than or miss my deadline. Works for me. This should be a unique little thing for me as it's not just going to set up some plot points for me, but it also might be pretty different from the source material. Let's see.

Tom had used up a lot of energy in the Library itself. He had probably overestimated himself with the idea that he could just run off and catch up with Aang and his glider. Still he pressed on in the direction Toph had pointed out. He ran fairly aimlessly through the dunes, hoping he was staying on track. There were faint lines in the sand Tom was hoping were the tracks of the Sandbenders' sand sailers, but he couldn't be sure with the wind shifting everything around.

It took him a while, but Tom was finally able to spot something actually useful. It was still a ways off in the distance, but it was pretty clear that that was his goal. After all, what else could kick up a dust cloud that size?

With the renewed vigor that came with the affirmation that he was indeed going the right way, Tom raced toward the sandy cloud that stood just a bit before the horizon. It probably took longer than it felt given how sweaty Tom was by the time he got there, but for the sake of maintaining his adrenalin, he didn't dwell on it. He got to the sand cloud itself, but between the whipping wind and the thick veil of dust, he couldn't make anything out other than some number of benders had to be responsible for the unnatural event.

He had just gotten to the cloud when a sand sailer burst out of it, toeing a tied up Appa on a sled behind it. Tom threw a fireball at the Sandbender in the back of the vehicle, but he knew he wouldn't hit him. Tom's target was the rope connecting Appa to the sand sailer. With the lead he put on his shot, his relatively slow projectile met its fast target. The low quality rope burned through almost immediately, causing Appa to slide to a halt and the Sandbenders to go flying off their suddenly much faster sand sailer.

Tom's first goal was to get to poor Appa, who was tied uncomfortably and looked like he might have taken a stray attack to one of his legs and was hurt. Tom's rush to his furry friend was stopped short, however by a blast of sand from the now very angry Sandbenders. Tom meant to roll out of the way, but with all the exertion in the past… wait, how long did it take for him to run all the way out here? In any event, his tumble to safety turned more into an uncoordinated flop into the sand. Before that show of matchless athleticism could continue, the towering cloud of dust was blasted away in every direction by a mighty gust of wind. Tom had to cover his face to keep the mini sandstorm from blasting him.

When he looked up, he saw Aang and Katara where the center of the cloud used to be. "Look!" Katara called, pointing to the stalled Sandbenders, "I think the rope broke!"

"That was mine," Tom said, his hand popping out of the little bump of a sand dune he had become.

"You okay, Tom?" Aang asked.

He may have been tiered, but Tom hopped back to his feet all the same. "But of course."

The Sandbenders started their attack again, but Aang was able to block their attacks with his airbending fairly easily. "It's over!" Aang declared, "Just leave Appa alone and leave before you get hurt!"

The Sandbenders didn't look any more inclined to back off, readying another volley of sand. Tom just smiled at them. "Hey, Aang. What do you say we put on a show for them?"

"Sounds great. What do you have in mind?"

"Just kick up a good dust cloud and close your eyes," Tom said cryptically, "This is probably going to be one of my brighter ideas." Aang just shrugged as he kicked up a cloud of dust and he, Katara, and Appa closed their eyes. When the dust cloud reached its peak, Tom bathed it in flames and covered his own eyes. Just as they shut, the light intensified almost enough to show through his eyelids. It only lasted a second, but it was long enough to blind the Sandbenders if all their screaming was any indication.

When Tom opened his eyes he saw the Sandbenders scrambling for their sand sailer. His little trick didn't quite have the effect he hoped it would since the only harm done to them was to their eyes, but it got rid of them all the same.

"One of your 'brighter' ideas? Really?" Tom turned to Katara, who was giving him an almost disappointed look. "That was a Sokka level pun, Tom."

Tom just smiled and shrugged. "What? Aren't I allowed to have a little fun once in a while?"

Katara rolled her eyes, but smiled back. "By the way, what did you just do?" Tom's answer was to walk over to where the sand that got kicked up was and pick something up. He blew on it, presumably to cool it off, and handed it to Katara. She looked it over and found it to be a clear, rounded, irregular object. "Is this glass?"

"Yup!" Aang, who was trying to untie Appa as quickly as possible said. "I saw some firebenders doing lightshows by melting sand into glass before I got frozen."

Tom frowned, "Aww. I thought I was being original with that one…" He picked up another piece of glass and rolled it in his hand. "And it didn't give them the thousand paper cuts from hell treatment like I hoped it would either. At least the caught the sun or that would have been embarrassing."

"I didn't know glass was made from sand," Katara said, admiring the glass piece in her hand. "You must have good schools where you're from."

Tom gave a coy shrug, "With my attendance record, I wouldn't know." Aang finished untying Appa and the Sky Bison gratefully hopped off of the wooden sled he had been bound to. But after just one step, his wounded leg gave out and he collapsed. "He okay?"

Aang examined the wound for a moment. "It's not pretty, but he'll be fine. I don't think he'll be flying for a while, though." Aang hopped over in front of his furry friend and gave his nose a hug. In spite of the painful injury, Appa still gave the airbender a great big lick. "I'm glad we caught up with you too, buddy," Aang laughed.

"We should probably get him out of the sun," Tom said. With his adrenalin wearing off and exhaustion catching up with him, he looked like he was about to fall over. "I'll see if I can scrounge up something."

Before he even took a full step, Katara blocked him. "Oh, no you don't. You look like your about to pass out. Again. Go sit in Appa's shadow and I'll take care of giving him some shade." Tom was going to respond, but she gave him a cross look.

Tom could only groan and start toward the side of Appa opposite the sun, "Yes, mom~." Katara just rolled her eyes and got to work.

Katara was able to use the rain catchers and the wood from the cart Appa had been spirited away on to make a canopy to shade Appa. Meanwhile, Aang tended to Appa's leg. Something with a dull edge seemed to have cut a shallow, but fairly large wound, but Aang was able to clean and dress it fairly easily.

A little bit later, Sokka and Toph were able to catch up and join the makeshift camp. With everyone together, they got ready to turn in after the long day against the bright and colorful setting sun.

Even after how tired he had gotten over the course of the day, Tom still managed to have trouble getting to sleep. With nothing else to do, he just tended the campfire, watching the color of the flame dance and change.

"So. You can see the future?" Tom's head snapped toward the voice, confirming its owner to be Toph. "And here I thought seeing with my feet was unique."

"How did-" Tom stopped and thought about yesterday. "Bad eyes, good ears."

"I'd have thought you were crazy if not for the bandits and the sand thing," Toph said lightly, "I didn't even know I could do that." There was an uneasy pause as they just watched each other (with whatever senses they watched with). "So you got a reason you don't just tell the others about your psychic powers?"

"I'm not psychic," Tom explained. He sighed and tried to come up with a simple explanation. Of course he couldn't find one. "I'm from a… I don't know, a different dimension, different planet? Whatever it is, I'm not from this Earth. And where I'm from, Aang's life is a work of fiction. That's how I knew stuff. Other than me being here, I've seen all this before."

"Except Appa was supposed to be taken away by the Sandbenders, right?" Toph asked, to which Tom nodded. "Cool. I wish I knew what was going to happen next."

"You're just taking this at face value?"

"Well, you're not lying, so I know you believe what you're saying at least."

Tom gave her a questioning look, "Wait, how do you know I'm not lying?"

"I thought you said you knew this story."

It took a second, but again the answer came to Tom. "Oh, right. Heart rate and breathing." He chuckled a bit, "I forgot you were a human lie detector."

"So why not tell everyone?"

Tom thought about it for a second. If he told them now they'd believe him with Aang and Toph backing him. "Well… I guess I don't want to change too much. If it wasn't a secret than we could just avoid half the story. But there are some important things along the way that I'd rather not miss. And besides, if I change too much, I won't know what will happen in advance anymore."

"True. But then why save Appa? Isn't that a pretty big change?"

"Maybe. But some changes are worth making. And as it turns out, I may not have messed with the order of events all that much. I'm not happy about Appa getting hurt, but at least we're still walking to Ba Sing Sei like we're supposed to."

"Makes sense to me," Toph said as she got up to go back to bed. She took a few steps before turning back to Tom, "Still, secrets like this have a way of coming out all on their own eventually."

Tom smiled, "I hope to be disappeared off to another dimension by the time that happens."

Toph nodded and returned the smile, "You tell me how that turns out." With that she returned to bed, leaving Tom alone again to contemplate the campfire.

This is interesting. This is pretty much what I wanted (though again I'm splitting an episode up due to time). Que sera sera. This one was actually uncommonly fun for me since it was pretty much mine start to finish. Not really much else to say other than I'm glad it isn't 11:53 pm right now. Oh, and before anyone says it, I will explain why Appa can walk but not fly if his leg is hurt in the next chapter. That's not a slip up on my part.