Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or anything associated with it except my fanfiction.
Everyone was lounging on the chairs and couches in the living space, bored out of their minds. Aang was off with the King, honing his earthbending and just getting beat up by his old friend in general.
"There's nothing to do," Suki moped.
Ty Lee agreed. "My aura isn't as pink anymore. It's got more of a grey color in it now," she said.
Suddenly, Aang burst into the living room where everyone else was, dust once covering him flying everywhere. The others got into coughing fits. "That lesson with Bumi was awesome!" Aang crowed.
He was met with a thunderous silence as Sokka merely groaned and rolled over on the sofa - to be greeted by the ground and a very loud "Owww!"
"Oh..." Aang blushed. "sorry."
"Yeah, you should be." Everyone gasped and turned towards Katara.
The development in the Avatar's lover was tremendous and very unusual, even with the unusual circumstances the group had endured over the past few weeks. Katara did not act like her normal self at all, snapping unexpectedly at the worst possible times, and doing other things. They had clued in Ty Lee to Katara's condition - not that they had much choice, as the first question the acrobat asked them was about why Katara's aura was so green and sickly as opposed to her usual blue. As with the rest of them, Ty Lee was confused as to what was wrong with Katara, but she literally had to be chi-blocked by her own leader to convey the message that none of them were to confront the waterbender about her predicament.
"Uhh... sweetie... is everything fine?" Aang asked tentatively.
"Yes Aang... everything's fine... except for the fact that we're in here bored out of our minds," drawled Katara. She never drawled. She was supposed to be fiery, passionate, and to the point, not the laid-back woman they had become accustomed to after such a short period of time. Obviously the trauma and stress did not help any of Team Avatar, but the changes in Katara were too drastic to be explained simply by the catastrophes that had occurred.
Suki added, "And it's only noon. Forget lasting until Toph and Iroh arrive. It'll be a miracle if we make it past the next hour!"
"Actually... about that... I was gonna ask if you guys wanted to spar with me and the king," Aang said. Ty Lee immediately perked up.
"OmigoshImsoexcitedfinallysomethingtodo -" Ty Lee snapped her mouth shut at seeing almost everyone looking at her with lifeless eyes. "Oh... sorry..." she apologized. "I'm just so excited to be doing something else!"
"You mean getting put in another jennamite jail to be suffocated in?" Sokka joked. "Yeah, not happening."
"Yeah, I don't know if going to him is a good idea..." Katara yawned. Sokka mouthed to the others "That was her opportunity to say that with my big mouth and stomach I could eat rocks all day long, especially ones so sugary." Everyone snickered despite the gravity of the situation. Katara's snapped at them. "What?" she asked, perplexed.
And then, without warning, they all dissolved into laughter. Even Katara joined in. Perhaps it was just that the pressure got to them. Or perhaps they realized the juxtaposition of their grey boredom with the heavy action sure to be occurring elsewhere what with Azula's plans. Whatever it was, the group laughed so hard together that even Aang was gasping for breath.
"Oh, spirits," Katara said, wiping a tear from her eye. "That felt..."
"Amazing," Ty Lee chirped. "I think all the gray is gone!"
Suki sighed contentedly. "I'm feeling pretty good right now... like I could face anything..." she said driftingly.
Finally, Sokka made the ultimate decision for the group. "Let's go and get trapped in some rock candy," he announced to their enthusiastic cheers.
More days passed. Nothing happened. The Fire Nation was still laying siege to Omashu. Reports had came out of infiltration of the Fire Nation's Royal Palace, but Zuko's letters quickly dispelled any rumors that may have reached them.
The lessons with the crazed earth king were fun and invigorating - for a while. Eventually, the one-on-one duels, two-on-one battles, and the Team-Avatar-versus-Momo-and-Appa fights got old, and the days had become as gloomy as the storm that had just passed.
Katara was in a frenzy with not being able to waterbend during the full moon. Sokka was feeling the effects of rationing during a siege, and sleep for all was difficult at night due to the incessant rumbling of Sokka's stomach. Suki couldn't even find the heart to finish her Kyoshi Warrior form practicing. And, perhaps most disturbing of all, when Ty Lee brought up the suggestion of trashing the city like she did at a certain Ember Island Party, the group was actually indecisive, and it took an entire day to finally dissuade themselves from carrying out the task. At least since they had something new to do that day, that day wasn't so monotonous... or tedious...
Sighing, Sokka went to the window, saying, "I wish Hawky was here, just for some company." a messenger hawk flapped to the window, and Sokka said hello to his pet bird. "Whaddya say, Hawky?" Everyone, including Sokka, realized what he had just said. "Wait a minute. HAWKY?" Sokka grabbed the poor bird and hugged him with all his might. "You came back! Just like boomerang always does!" And then his eyes went wide. "Wait a minute... that only means one thing..." he looked into the canister on Hawky's back. "YES! OUR DAYS OF BOREDOM ARE OVER!"
He read the message, and his eyebrows scrunched. "What does this even say? askibidobah?" Katara snatched it from his hand, and frowned. "Yeah, you're right, Sokka. What does this even say?"
The scroll was passed throughout the room, and no one could meet heads or tails of the message. Then Aang lit up.
"Hey! I know this! This was written in traditional calligraphy! Only..." he trailed off. "This is an elaborate code, that I don't know how to crack."
Sokka grinned. "Don't worry Aang, leave that to me. Just write it how we'd normally read it!"
"Well..." Aang quickly took a feather and an inkpot and started writing. Sokka grabbed the sheet when Aang was done, and, ignoring Aang's indignant protests, looked at the sheet of jumbling characters before grinning and saying, "Oh this is simple. It says..." Sokka's face scrunched up. "Open... the door...?"
Everyone stared at each other for a blank moment. Then their eyes widened, and they raced to the door. When Aang and Ty Lee - the nimblest of the group - got there before anyone else, they flung the door open, and all of them greeted two familiar and very welcome faces.