Chapter 11: Sandbenders
"What's out here?" Sokka asked as we stood on another rocky climate. Aang had woken up early in the morning to wake us up. He even woke up earlier than me. I was tired when I woke up, but I could have had it worse. Sokka had to be carried on to Appa. We tried asking him why he woke us up, but he wouldn't tell us. All he told us was it would be worth it, and so we spent an hour in the air until we found this savanna landscape. It was quite different. Then we watched as he sat down with a flute.
"A lot, actually. There's hundreds of little..." Toph said after she put her hand on the warm ground.
"Shh! I know you can see underground but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch," Aang scolded.
"Toph seeing," I said chuckling, and rubbed the sleep out of my eye. Toph heard me, and gave me a swift hit to the arm. Aang played his flute, and a groundhog-mole popped out of a hole mimicking the note he played.
"I'm putting an orchestra together," Aang said cheerfully.
"Orchestra, huh? Well, la-di-da," Sokka said, and waved his hands back and forth. I laughed when the groundhog-moles mimicked him. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans."
"We did make plans. We're all picking mini-vacations," Toph informed him.
"When? I didn't hear anything about mini-vacations," I told her confused.
"Oh, that's because you day dreaming. About what? Not sure," Toph said, and I blushed. I had been day dreaming a lot yesterday after I came back from the Fire Nation colony.
"There's no time for vacations," Sokka argued.
"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara, and I still have to work with Alec next week for firebending training. I've been training my arrow off!"
"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara said and walked over to Aang.
"Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation. Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house? Knock, knock. Hello, Fire Lord? Anybody home? I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war," Sokka snapped, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, we'll finish our vacations and then we'll look for Sokka's intelligence," Katara said.
"Are you sure Katara? That will take a while," I said, and we all laughed. Aang went and got the map from the supply bag. He opened it up, and faced it towards Katara. The map looked new and showed the general area.
"Your turn, Katara. Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?" He asked. She put one finger to her chin thinking, while gazing at the map.
"How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing," She said.
"Oh, yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word "pristine"" Aang told her. I walked over, and looked on the map.
"Let's go then," I said, and thirty minutes later we were there. I jumped off of Appa expecting a huge oasis with an ice spring, but when we walked towards the oasis to see, in disappointment, that the ice spring was just a chunk of ice. I looked over the oasis from the entrance. It seemed like an old run down village rather than an oasis. Only a few huts were open, and hardly anyone was around.
"Must've changed ownership since I was here," Aang said sheepishly, and shrugged his shoulders. We decided to just look around, but as soon as we walked through the sign falls behind us. The place was pretty old. We found a small bar, and walked in. It was cooler inside than out. I took in my surroundings, and saw a man playing Pai Shoi, people talking, and a man making smoothies in an ice cup. The smell of fruit filled the air as I walk over to a younger bar tender. He looked like he was in his late teens. He gave me a dashing smile as he saw me coming.
"Can I have banana coconut?" I asked.
"No problem," He said as he took out a pair of swords, and cut the fruit from the ceiling. He then slid the cut up fruit in to an ice cup. He added a straw and a tiny umbrella.
"Thanks. How much?" I asked as I took the drink. He put his swords away, and rested his elbow on the counter.
"It's free for the pretty lady in front of me," He said, and winked. I turned a deep red, and scratched the back of my neck.
"Uh… T-thanks." I wasn't sure what to say so I turned around and went to the table I saw my friends at. There was another man with them too. He wore white, and looked native to the area. Sokka looked down at the map on the table with great interest. Toph sat on a chair with her feet on another, while the others looked over Sokka's shoulder.
"So what happened?" I asked and sipped my drink.
"Zei, this is Alec. She's also an airbender," Aang told the man wearing white. His eyes grew bright. Then before I could properly introduce myself he had an object measuring my head. I tensed, and tried to make sense as to why this stranger was touching me.
"Another one," Zei said in astonishment. Once he took the object away I backed up. "Tell me which temple do you descend from?"
"The Fire Nation," I answered. He looked at me questioningly. I was wearing my green cut Kyoshi dress that obviously looked Earth Kingdom.
"What, no Fire Nation? Doesn't anybody have a good map of that place?" Sokka complained as he scanned the map. I eyed Zei as I walked towards Sokka. This man was weird.
"You've made a lot of trips into the desert," Katara said as she trailed her finger along the map.
"All in vain, I'm afraid. I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Wan Shi Tong's Library," Zei said.
"You spent years walking through the desert to find some guy's library?" Toph asked in disbelief. I raised in eyebrow. I couldn't even believe it.
"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge is priceless," Zei corrected.
"Hmm, sounds like good times," Toph said sarcastically, and drank her drink.
"Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his "foxy" knowledge seekers."
"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka asked intrigued. I swatted him on the back of the head for that.
"I think he means they look like actual foxes, Sokka," Katara informed him.
"I know that," He said sheepishly and rubbed his head.
"You're both right. Handsome little creatures. Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves," Zei said. He then took out a map of the library. It was beautiful with fine architecture even in the drawing.
"If this place has book from all over the world do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?" Sokka asked, and I sipped my drink.
"Why don't we just go to the Fire Nation and get one?" I asked. Everyone stared at me like to see if I was serious. Even Toph turned her head to look at me. "Or not?"
"I wouldn't know. But if such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's Library," Zei said, unfazed by my comment.
"Then it's settled. Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation at the library!" Sokka said dramatically pointing his finger in the air.
"Then it's my turn!" Toph said with a smile.
"Wait. What about me?" I asked setting down my drink.
"I already called it. You're last," She said with a grin, and I pouted.
"Of course, there's the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert and almost died each time. I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross," Zei said.
"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?" Sokka asked. So he's a Professor. I thought. I was wondering why he had a bunch of maps, and pictures
"A sky bison!" Zei shouted, and we walked out of the bar leaving our drinks. When we walked out of the oasis we say Appa growling at four men wearing dingy white clothes. They slowly started backing away, and I wondered why those men were there in the first place. Zei stepped forward shooing at the men.
"Sandbenders, shoo, away from the bison!" Zei shouted at them. They saw us, and backed away. They went on their sand sailers, and left. Once they were gone. Zei walked around Appa trying to get a good view of him, but Appa was still on edge, and growled.
"It's okay, boy," Aang said, and pet his nose. Appa instantly calmed, and let the new person pet his fur.
"Amazing," Zei said. The introduction was short so we went onto Appa to look for the library. I sat on the left side with Toph, and crossed my arms. The warmth of the sun was familiar to the warmth of the Fire Nation. I enjoyed my native weather; I haven't felt in a long time. Zei sat on Appa's head, and Toph and Katara were looking over the side. My eyes were closed resting.
"Hey Hothead. What do you think?" Sokka asked. I opened my eyes to see Sokka shirtless. He wore his shirt on his head like a hat. He sat up straight, and started flexing the little muscles he had. I laughed. He came closer, and flexed his arm next to me. "I've been working out. Nice, huh?"
"Really," I laughed, and patted his arm. He smiled and backed away with a bigger ego. I smiled, and looked over the saddle. All I saw was sand for miles.
"Does this place even exist?" Toph groaned in frustration.
"Some say it doesn't," Zei said as he took notes.
"Shouldn't you have mentioned that before?" Toph whined, and fell backwards on the saddle. We spent most of the day flying, and I was starting to miss land. My eyes slowly started closing when I heard Toph.
"There it is!" Toph exclaimed. We all looked at what she was pointing at, but then we looked at her in annoyance. I couldn't believe I fell for that. "That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it."
"It shouldn't be this hard to spot a giant, ornate building from the air," Katara said.
"It is for Toph," I mumbled, but Toph heard me. I received a swift blow to the arm. I hissed, and rubbed the sore spot.
"Down there, what's that?" Sokka asked, and pointed to something that stuck out of the ground. I narrowed my eyes to get a better look, and Aang flew down. We hopped of the saddle, and walked towards the huge tower in front of us. The first thing I noticed was that my feet sunk in the sand, and when I tried to walk it was harder. I looked up at the tower. It was made out of white brick and looked to be old, and very old. Like it had been there for years.
"Forget it. It's obviously not what we're looking for," Katara said turning around, but as she did we saw a fox running towards the tower. It was strange. It looked like fox, and nothing else. He ran up the wall and in to the building.
"What is that?" Sokka asked. He had taken his shirt off his head a while ago, and put it on.
"I think that's your 'foxy assistance'," I mocked.
"Oh, we must be close to the library!" Zei said in excitement.
"No, this is the library look!" Sokka announced, and took the drawing Katara was holding. "It's completely buried."
"The library is buried? My life's ambition is now full of sand," Zei said dramatically falling to his knees. Then he pulled out a shovel. "Well, time to start excavating."
I looked down at him like he was crazy. Which was probably true. Toph stepped forward, and put her hand on the brick.
"Actually, that won't be necessary. The inside seems to be completely intact, and it's huge," Toph said, and took her hand away. Then Sokka came up with a plan.
"That fox thingy went in through a window. I say we climb up there and give it a look!" He said.
"I say you guys go ahead without me," Toph said crossing her arms. She stepped back to show she was serious.
"You got something against libraries?" Katara asked as Sokka started getting some rope.
"I've held books before. And I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me," Toph said, and just to add more effect I waved my hand in front of her face. Of course she did not see it.
"Oh, sorry," Katara apologized. Sokka tied the rope he found to his boomerang, and threw it in to the window. He pulled on it a few times to make sure it would hold his weight, and it did. One after another they climbed the rope. Sokka was going to climb up when he saw me standing there.
"Alec, are you coming?" He asked.
"No. I rather stay here. Books remind me of school," I said, and shrugged my shoulders.
"Take her with you. I don't need a babysitter," Toph said defiantly.
"Don't worry you can look after me, and Appa," I said, and she grinned. I guess she liked being in charge. Sokka nodded his head, and climbed up the wall. I watched until I couldn't see them. Then I went over to Appa who was lying down on the warm dirt. I sat down next to him, and leaned my weight on one of his arm.
"So why were you happy yesterday?" Toph asked. She came near me, and dropped her weight on the ground. She sat down, and played with the sand. I had to think about what she was talking about for a second.
"Huh?" I asked.
"You came back from that Fire Nation place all happy, and people aren't usually happy unless something happened. Spill it. I want to know," She said. Then it made sense.
"There's nothing to 'spill'," I said trying to sound convincing, but my voice cracked. I was a good liar but I knew Toph could sense if I was lying.
"I might not be able to see well on sand, but I can still tell your lying," Toph declared with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, and leaned back. I wasn't going to tell her anything. I closed my eyes, and enjoyed the sun's rays. I really did miss the Fire Nation weather. "How long do you think it will take them?"
"I don't know. A while I guess. Sokka'll probably be looking through every map to find the right one," I said.
"Do you like him?" Toph asked. I opened an eye to look at her.
"Who? Sokka?" I asked. I sat up, and looked at her.
"Yeah. You two spend a lot of time together," She said. I waved my hand like it was nothing.
"Were just best friends," I confessed. Sure we spent a lot of time together, but that didn't mean anything. Did it? I thought to myself.
"Are you sure? He seems to like you," She pressed. I chuckled awkwardly. The thought of Sokka liking me was a little weird.
"Why do you like Sokka?" I asked trying to see through her questions. She recoiled backwards.
"Ew. No," She said disgusted, but then she relaxed. "I was just giving you a heads up."
"A head ups on what? That's like saying I like Aang. Me and Sokka are friends," I said again.
"Yeah, right," She said sarcastically.
"What is that suppose to mean?" I asked, but she stood up, and walked away. There wasn't anywhere that she could go so she went to the other side of Appa. I sat back with a huff, and crossed my arms. There was no way Sokka could like me more than a friend. I thought. Could he? I shook my head, but then I started thinking. Sokka was always there trying to comfort me when I was sad, and tried to keep me safe. Toph and Aang even had to drag him out when I chose to stay with Zuko. He laughed at my jokes even when they weren't funny. We joked around, and had fun. He was always my go to friend, but then there was that time in the cave when we almost kissed. That didn't mean anything. We were just going to do it to get the nomads to stop singing. Thanks to Agni and the bagermoles we didn't though. I couldn't imagine doing that.
I played with the sand as I thought about my mini-vacation. I thought about going to the Fire Nation, but that wasn't mini. We would have to take a few days just to get there. Then there would be the thing about disguises, and dying. That didn't sound mini to me. Vacations were suppose to be fun and relaxing. I wanted to go somewhere that was like the Fire Nation almost. The only thing this place reminded me of the Fire Nation was the weather. I sighed. This would take some time.
"Favorite color?" I asked. Me and Toph had been waiting for an hour, and got bored. We started asking random questions. I was pacing around, but the sand slowed me down. I really wish we were out of this desert, because I was getting sun burnt quickly. Toph laid on her stomach playing with sand. Her long bangs protected her from the sun.
"Is that a real question? Green; of course. You?" She asked.
"Not sure," I said. She snapped her head in my direction, and stared at me.
"How are you not sure?" She said, and I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't really think about colors much, or which I liked best. I looked up at the sky, and thought about taking Appa on a joy ride. Then as if he was reading my mind he roared. I looked at him, and smiled, but then the earth started to shake. I fell on my stomach from the sudden jolt. When I turned to the cause I say the library.
"The library's sinking!" I yelled. It was slowly going down, and our friends were in there. If it sunk into the ground then they would die!
"Sinking? The library's sinking!" Toph repeated and jumped to her feet. She ran towards it, and tried to hold on to it. I jumped to my feet, but slipped, because the ground kept shaking. Toph let go of the library, and made the ground underneath her solid. Once she did she had a better grasp on the library. The ground stopped shaking, and I stood up. I wasn't sure what to do, but Appa was going crazy.
"It's okay," I said trying to sooth him, but he knew something was wrong. Right when I thought it couldn't get worse it did. A dust cloud washed over us, and I had to close my eyes to make none would get in to my eyes. I coughed and looked to faintly see three sand sailers. My eyes widen as soon as the dust cloud was gone.
"Who is it?" I heard Toph ask, and I guess she couldn't see that great.
"Sandbenders," I shouted. I tried to sound the way I saw Zei did earlier. "Leave!"
"And who's going to make us?" One of them said as they stopped their sand sailers.
"Me, and I suggest you leave. Now," I said getting in to my fighting stance. They looked like they were ready to laugh. I stood close to Appa, and I watched as they surrounded us. They held bags of sand connected to rope, and swung it around dangerously.
"Move away from the beast, and we won't hurt you," He threatened.
"Alec," I heard Toph warn through clenched teeth. I shook my head, and went deeper in to my stance.
"Okay then," He said, and he was the first one to throw his roped bag. That started a chain reaction of everyone doing the same. Appa roared as the sand bags went over him. My first reaction was to airbend them away. Some flew back in to their sand sailers, and I knocked a few more down. They saw what I was doing, and started attacking me. I had to dodge the sand bags, but when I jumped up one wrapped around my ankle. I slammed in to the sand, and was dragged away. The sandbender that got me tried to restrain me, but I freed my ankle. I jumped up, and airbent him back.
Then I felt a hand around my forearm. One of the sandbenders pulled me away, and held me with an iorn grip. I tried to pull away, but I couldn't. I looked at the sandbender to see a toothless smirk. When I was going to airbend him away he lifted his arm that wasn't holding me, and punched me in the face. I flew backwards at the impacted. I held on to my bleeding nose in shock, but I quickly got up when I heard Appa roar for help. I took my stance, and started fighting. This time I tried to make sure I didn't get too close them.
I looked over to Appa, and he was being suppressed by rope. I ran, and jumped on to his saddle. I took out my dagger that was around my waist, and cut the rope. I was only able to cut two before I was grabbed by the back of my dress, and thrown off. My dagger flew out of my hand and in to the sand. I landed hard, and as I was getting up I was kicked. A shooting pain went up my side, and all I could do was groan.
"Just take the girl, and muzzle the beast!" Their leader ordered.
"Alec!" I heard Toph yell. She obviously couldn't see what was going on, and was worried.
"I'm fine!" I yelled, but right after I said that I was kicked again. I heard Appa's desperate cries, and I knew I had to keep going. I rolled over when I was going to get kicked again, and rose to my feet. The sand was already hard to walk on, but my burning side made it worst. I took controlled breathes as I fought the sandbenders. I tried to see through the dust cloud, but I couldn't. I was basically aiming at anything. Some of the sandbenders were getting closer to me as well. I showed no weakness on my face as I fought against them, but they were getting close. I was no longer just fighting to defend Appa, but myself.
I turned around to see one right behind me. He was the same one that had punched me. If they all knew how to fight like that then I was no match against hand-to-hand combat. He brought his fist back to swing at me again, and the only thing that came to my mind was to duck. I wasn't quick, and got hit anyways on the shoulder. I fell to the ground, and held on to my hurt shoulder. I used one hand to support myself, but before I could get up my hand started sinking.
"No," I said, and started to struggle. I tried to pull my arm out, but the quick sand harden making it impossible to move. I turned my head side to side looking for Appa, but when I saw him he was wrapped in rope.
"Appa!" I yelled, but I couldn't move. I stared at him as the tears rolled down my face. There was nothing I could do. I kept my eyes on him, and I faintly saw Appa being dragged away. When he was gone I collapsed. I laid trapped there looking at the moving sand. Tears mixed with blood dripped on to the ground.
Then I felt as the ground shook, and heard Sokka's voice.
"We got it. There's a solar eclipse coming," Sokka shouted. His voice woke up some of my senses, but I could hardly move.
"Alec! Where are you?" I heard Toph's frantic voice. I tried to lift my aching body.
"Alec? Where is she!?" Sokka shouted. The alarm was laced in his voice. I spit a bit to get the blood out of my mouth, but the bitter taste was drying it quickly.
"Help!" I called out. I heard footsteps coming towards me, and I looked up to see Sokka. The worried look on his face was evident. He skid to his knees, and was next to me.
"What happened?" Katara asked. Her, Aang, and Toph were right behind him. Sokka tried to lift me up, but my arm wouldn't move.
"Stop. My arm is stuck," I told him, and he stopped. Toph ran over, and softened the sand. Sokka helped me get my arm free, but it was numb, very numb. The throbbing pain shook my whole body as I sat up, and I groaned. With my other hand I wiped my nose, and lip. When I looked down I saw blood cover my hand. Sokka looped his arm under mine for support, and some of the pain was gone. Sokka slowly helped me up to my feet, but when I was standing he didn't let go. I knew if he did I would just fall back down.
"Where's Appa?" Aang asked. I watched as he looked around. He looked to both me and Toph for the answer. Toph shook her head, and covered her ears while I looked him in the eyes. A stray tear ran down his face once he put two and two together.
"I'm so sorry, Aang," I whispered, tearing up.
What did you think of the fight scene?
The poll is now closed and most of you chose: FINALLY! SOME ALEKO! I've been waiting for that kind of stuff!
I'm sorry. I was going to post this on Thursday, but the internet at my house isn't working. So I'm using the school computer :/
Til next time
- Alec