A/N: I do not own Avatar.
. : I Chapter Thirty Seven I : .
Katara's happy smile faded as fast as it appeared. She looked down at her knees, shocked, sad, and annoyed all at the same time. Aang and Sokka were silent for a few moments, waiting to see what their friend was going to say next. But all she managed to choke out when she got up was, "Really?" then walked over to the diminishing fire. Aang wasn't going to settle with that answer, though, and tagged along side of her. "Isn't that great, Katara? We can get to a nearby Earth Kingdom Iroh told me about. It'll be great!"
Katara offered him a fake smile. "Yeah, but how will we get there?" she asked, bringing up the fact that Appa was about a hundred miles away from them at the moment.
"It's taken care of!" Aang shrugged it off with a wave of his hand. "Iroh sent Zuko out to retrieve him. He'll be back soon. And as soon as he gets back, we're leaving." He said this in a stiff voice, trying to convince her that this was a very good thing.
Katara shrugged, kicking a large cloud of dust over the fire, diminishing the embers. "I'll pack up my things." She sighed in a hollow voice, walking over to her pack on the other side of the campsite.
"You do that!" Aang shouted back at her. Katara huffed and walked faster until she reached her pack. Aang walked over to Sokka and plopped down next to him. "Whuth's whith hewr?" Sokka asked, his voice muffled by the roll that he'd shoved in his mouth whole.
Aang looked sadly over at Katara, then watched as the fire prince walked through the clearing, Appa straight behind him. He didn't overlook the fact that Zuko couldn't keep his eyes off his waterbending friend. He grumbled something under his breath, then turned his head the other way. Sokka offered him a piece of his roll, but he shrugged it off.
Sokka looked from Aang to the roll and smiled. "More for me!"