It was, without a doubt, the ugliest cat-owl Sokka had ever seen.

Its fur might have been orange, once, but it was next to impossible to tell under the vague muddy green muck that coated its entire body. Red eyes glared. Its tail puffed out to three times its size like a separate wild creature of its own. Those claw-tipped wings flapped angrily like a raccoon-goose on cactus-juice (and spirits, didn't that sound like the beginning of a particularly disastrous limerick).

"Oh, absolutely not," Sokka said.

Aang looked devastated, even beneath all the layers of glowing water. "But Sokka! Look at her! She's hurt, we can't just leave her behind—"

"Hold still," Katara scolded distractedly. Aang's next protests were silenced when he was forced to shut his mouth, or else choke on a mouthful of water as Katara worked to heal that nasty scratch on his cheek.

"Seriously, Aang, this is not a good idea," Sokka sighed, resisting the urge to facepalm. "That thing is obviously feral. You won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord if a cat-owl snuffs you first!"

Toph, lounging nearby beneath her rock tent, snickered unhelpfully. "Fire Lord Ozai versus crazy cat-owl. Now that's a rumble I'd pay good yuan to see!"

Aang tilted his head. "But Toph—"

He broke off with a gargle as Katara's healing water started to patch up his bitten tongue. It wasn't like he'd accidentally bitten his own tongue, either, like a normal person. No, the culprit was now crouched near the bushes, growling loudly enough to make a fully grown sabre-toothed moose-lion think twice before approaching. If Sokka hadn't known better, he would've thought that blasted cat-owl was part of some convoluted Fire Nation plot specifically concocted to off the last of the airbenders.

(Though really, a part of him was still on edge. Enemy birds were maybe a bit far-fetched, even for him. Enemy cats, on the other hand…)

"Enemy what?"

"Shit!" Sokka jumped and nearly punched Zuko in the face when the firebender materialized behind him. Zuko blocked it easily, the jerk. "Make some noise next time, asshole!"

Zuko's brow was furrowed in a way Sokka had once found frightening, but now knew was only Zuko's way of looking confused. Zuko wore that expression a lot. "What did you say?" Zuko demanded. "Are there other enemies we should be looking out for?"

Then he looked past Sokka's shoulder, and his good eye widened. "Spirits, what happened to Aang?"

"That happened," Katara said dryly, turning her head slightly to indicate the ball of murderous rage still hissing in the bushes. The glow of the water was fading as she patched the final scrapes, and Aang straightened up, wincing.

"Twinkletoes somehow dug up a cat-owl during our earthbending lesson," Toph clarified, grinning. "It went off on him like a rabid rabiroo when he tried to pick it up. I nearly thought he'd go into the Avatar State, hearing how he screamed!"

"I wouldn't do that!" Aang gasped, scandalized. "I would never use my abilities to target the innocent."

"That thing's hardly innocent, if you ask me," Sokka grumbled, giving the cat-owl a glare. Then he froze, and blinked, because his eyes were deceiving him; that couldn't be Zuko setting down his dao and approaching the cat-owl with measured, cautious footsteps, extending his hands toward it even as the furry menace outright snarled and puffed up more,how was that even possible for such a tiny creature—

"Zuko, buddy," Sokka called nervously, fingers itching for his own sword. "You probably shouldn't get too close to it. I've seen what that thing can do."

Of course Zuko ignored him and walked even closer to his impending doom. Sokka tried again. "Seriously, dude, this is tactically unsound—"

Aang, now fully healed, alighted at Sokka's side with a burst of airbending. "Come on, Sifu Hotman! You can do it!" he cheered, and clearly Sokka was the only one in this group with preservation instincts. Toph was already sitting up and digging her toes into the dirt, the better to enjoy the show, and even Katara had a curious gleam in her eye. Sokka's space sword was in his pack, all the way across the clearing, so he loosened boomerang in his belt should worst come to worst.

Faster than a cobra-mongoose, Zuko lunged forward and grabbed. The cat-owl yowled fit to wake the dead, Aang screeched, Toph leaned forward in gleeful anticipation, Katara was already uncapping her flask for round two of impromptu healing and Sokka absolutely did not yelp—

And Zuko… somehow managed to avoid the flapping wings and flailing claws, not to mention the gnashing fangs, and pinned down all those murder limbs in one swift, decisive movement. In a heartbeat, he had the cat secured beneath one arm as he stood back up.

And staggered, because the creature was still struggling and spitting and doing its best to enact brutal revenge upon its captor. "Can you stop staring and get me a blanket or something?" Zuko said tersely in response to Sokka's gaping.

"What, are you planning to sleep with it? I have to say, Zuko, that's an even worse idea than picking that menace up in the first place—"

But Aang was already bouncing over with an extra rain-cloak from the supply packs. Zuko accepted it with a nod and wrangled the cat into it, getting its legs and wings inside, wrapping it up, and securing the loose cloth within the folds. In seconds, the cat was swaddled in his arms, as snugly as a newborn baby bundled in the warmest sealskin blankets the Southern Water Tribe had to offer. Though Sokka had never seen a baby make such a murderous expression before.

Zuko gave the dumpling-wrapped cat-owl a critical once-over before turning to Katara. "If I hold it still like this, would you be able to heal it?"

Sokka squawked and brandished his boomerang again. "Don't even think about letting my sister anywhere near that weapon of mass destruction!"

"Sure," Katara agreed easily, because Sokka was positively surrounded by maniacs.

What followed were some of the most nerve-wracking minutes of Sokka's life, but both waterbender and cat-owl came out the other side intact. The same couldn't be said of the hapless rain-cloak, which would need replacing the instant they found a village where they could restock their supplies.

Sokka had thought that was that. The instant Zuko loosened his grip even slightly on the sourpuss, it shot off into the bushes faster than an arrow from a Yuyan archer's bow. This should've meant the cat-owl was gone forever, off to torment some other unhappy soul, but nothing in Sokka's life was ever that easy.

It started that evening at dinner, when Aang reached into the pot over the fire and pulled out a half-cooked steak.

Sokka narrowed his eyes as Aang settled back down beside him. "I thought you were vegetarian."

Aang glowered right back at him, but on his round face it came out as more of a cute pout. "Of course I am."

"Then explain to me why you've hogged one of the biggest steaks from the deerpig I spent all afternoon hunting."

"Oh, this?" Aang fidgeted, glancing down at the steak as though seeing it for the first time. "I, uh. I need it for a thing."

On the other side of him, Toph snickered into her congee. "You need it for a thing."

"Yes." Aang nodded decisively. "An Avatar thing. That only I would know about, because I'm the Avatar. So there."

"I studied everything there was to be known about the Avatar for three years," Zuko said, which made Katara roll her eyes. "I don't remember hearing about any ceremonies involving steak."

"Aang," Sokka said, as Aang was opening his mouth to protest. "You haven't been feeding that cat-owl from earlier, have you?"

Aang laughed nervously, because anyone with sense could tell he obviously had been. "Cat-owl? What cat-owl? Nope, no cat-owls here. Not even any kitten-owlets."

"There's a small animal hiding in the bushes over there," Toph informed the rest of them, wiggling her toes in the earth. "It's definitely the same cat-owl."

Sokka threw up his hands. "For spirits' sake, Aang! Why in La's name would you waste your time on an animal that tried to kill you?"

"The monks taught us to show mercy to every living being, down to the smallest spider-fly," Aang said hotly, clutching the plate with the steak closer to his chest as though to stop Sokka from grabbing it. "I couldn't just leave her to starve!"

Katara, bending her soup into her bowl, tilted her head at Aang. "Why can't she just hunt for herself? I healed her up pretty thoroughly earlier this afternoon. Nothing's stopping her from going off on her own."

Aang sagged somewhat and glanced back at the now conspicuously hissing bushes. "I don't think she knows how. I think she used to be someone's pet, but something happened and she lost her home."

"Huh," Zuko said. "That kind of makes sense. I thought her fur looked more well cared for than you'd expect from a wild animal."

"Its fur was literally green before Katara washed it," Sokka said.

"Exactly," Toph spoke up unexpectedly. She sniffed as Sokka looked at her suspiciously. "I don't need to see to know that wild animals usually have no problem staying clean on their own. It's only the fancy pets with long fur that have a hard time washing themselves without their owners to take care of them." She shrugged. "My family owned a long-haired hamstercat when I was little. Its fur was super soft, but it also shed everywhere. They had to take it to the groomers every week just to keep it all under control."

"Had?" Katara asked. "What happened to it?"

"I happened," Toph said sourly. "My parents decided they couldn't risk me getting scratched, so they sold it to merchants in the next town over when I was five."

"That's it," Aang declared suddenly, bouncing to his feet with a determined expression. "It can't be a coincidence that we came here just in time to help a lost pet that would've died if we hadn't shown up. We're adopting that cat-owl. It's fate."

"It's not fate," Sokka cried, "it's a frigging cat-owl! That would probably eat you if it ever got a chance! Spirits, Aang, it nearly killed you a few hours ago!"

No one listened to him, of course. They rarely ever did.