Chapter 61: Aang's Idea of Downtime

Sokka said, "Aang, I gotta say, this feels like a real waste of our time."

The boy shushed him. "Just wait, Sokka."

The Avatar was sat cross-legged on the ground with the others stood behind him. Zuko was leaning on his staff; he'd recovered, for the most part, but it was taking some time to recover his full strength. Besides, he'd become weirdly attached to the staff. Sokka had been adding to the carvings; there were now crudely-done flames coming from the butt of the staff, along with what looked like mountains up near the top. There was seemingly no rhyme or reason to what the Tribesman carved, or where; Zuko had even asked and Sokka had just replied, "Eh, I carve when the mood strikes me."

Toph was slouched up against his side. Occasionally she'd sigh and then lean more heavily against him. Zuko was half convinced that she was attempting to knock him down without really trying. She'd been delighted to learn that his own fighting style was not unlike an Earthbender's; Fire and Earth shared many characteristics, the main one being that they were much more overtly aggressive and offensive that either Air or Water. Ever since then she'd try and jostle his stance, just to see if she could; though she had eased up while he recovered from the wound Azula had inflicted upon him.

Aang picked up a flute from beside him. Zuko found himself wondering where the boy had acquired it, as he hadn't bought it from the last three towns they'd visited.

He began playing a simple melody.

The others watched as a series of gophers rose up from out of their holes and sang along with the Avatar's playing.

Aang lowered the flute, laughing merrily as the gophers sang.

The others just watched. The gophers went back down their holes.

Toph replied, "Was that it? We came all the way out into the middle of nowhere for some noisy gophers?"

Aang's face fell a little. Katara jumped in, "I enjoyed it. It was… fun. And educational. I didn't know gophers could sing."

Aang perked back up. Zuko said, "We are in the middle of nowhere though. We're only a couple dozen miles away from the borders of the Si Wong Desert. You know, Katara? That place you swore you'd never go."

He smirked at her. She scowled back at him. She sniffed. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Zuko."

He laughed. Sokka said, "Okay, fun's fun, but enough is enough. We should get back on the road and back to work."

Aang groaned. "But I've been working really hard with both Earth and Water. What more could we possibly be doing?"

Sokka frowned. "There's plenty we could do. We could look for weaknesses in the Fire Nation. Try and gather intel. Maybe even find you a Firebending teacher."

Aang groaned again. Katara said, "I don't know, Sokka; I think we could all do with a little downtime. In fact."

She reached over and pulled the map out of his bag. She spread out. "There." She said, pointing. "That's where I want to go for my vacation."

Sokka sighed and leaned over. He read, "'The Misty Palms Oasis'? Katara, this is like right on the edge of the Desert."

Katara looked up and met Zuko's gaze. She remarked, "Yes. It is. It sounds relaxing."

Zuko shook his head, still smiling a little. Aang said, "Yeah, Katara, I heard a lot about the Oasis a hundred years ago. The monks used to go from time to time and come back really relaxed. One even said that he thought it was the happiest place on earth."

Toph commented, "Wow, that's some Oasis."

Katara said, "That's where I want to go."

Zuko cleared his throat. "Uh, Katara? Yeah, I don't know what the Oasis was like a hundred years ago, but now? Yeah, it's not somewhere you want to go. Not somewhere any of us wants to go."

He tried to eye Aang and Toph without them noticing. Toph said, "What's the matter, Sparky? You got a twitch?"

Zuko coughed. "Something like that."

Katara shook her head. "Decision's been made, Zuko. We're going to the Misty Palms Oasis."