Sokka leaned over the edge of Appa's saddle and looked down at the ground below. It was a green, brown, and yellow blur, broken up only occasionally by a farmhouse or a small copse of trees. But Sokka wasn't interested in the scenery. He was hoping to spot a small blob of blue down there. But he didn't.
Seeing nothing new, he leaned back with a sigh and looked at Aang. He knew that the airbender wasn't happy that Katara had gotten left behind, either. Katara's continued absence was weighing heavily on both of them.
They had tried to look for her in the swamp. But that place was awful. After that freaky tornado had sucked them into the creepy depths of that place, they'd been separated, spending a terrifying night alone. Sokka had eventually met up with Aang (after an incredibly freaky hallucination of Yue), but Katara was nowhere to be seen.
The two of them had tried to search for Katara, but they'd been attacked by a crazy vine monster. The vine monster turned out to be a swampbender, who led them to a huge tree in the center of the swamp. Aang had some wild Avatar vision that helped them find Appa and Momo, but not Katara. It was like she'd disappeared.
Aang told Sokka that he'd had a vision of a young girl and a flying boar in the swamp. The kid was convinced that the girl he'd seen was supposed to be his earthbending teacher. Although they were both worried about Katara, they knew that time was of the essence. They were on a deadline to defeat the Fire Lord before Sozin's Comet came, and he needed to master earthbending and firebending. The swampbender, Huu, promised to look for Katara, and if he found her, he would direct her towards Gaoling, their next destination.
Sokka and Aang had gone there and searched for Aang's teacher. They'd stumbled onto Earth Rumble VI, which had been the most interesting thing to happen to them since...well, Sokka didn't even know. But he had a blast watching the Boulder destroy the other wrestlers. It had even managed to take his mind off of his missing sister for a while.
But then...the Blind Bandit came out. She'd obliterated the Boulder in seconds, and when the organizer had offered up a pot of gold to anyone who challenged her and won, Aang had sprung into the ring. Of course, the kid didn't know a lick of earthbending, and the blind girl wasn't interested in talking so she was chucking rocks at him. Aang managed to knock her out of the ring...and chase her off. They'd won the gold, but that was the only good thing.
Luckily (or unluckily? Sokka hadn't decided), they'd tracked her down to the Beifong Estate. The incredible Blind Bandit was just a little blind girl, stifled by her parents. She'd kicked Sokka and Aang out, but he'd managed to get an audience with the girl's parents. That had ended badly at first, but then Aang and the girl got kidnapped by the Boulder and some tool named Xin Fu. Toph's parents had insisted that she was helpless, and even after she'd proven them wrong by kicking all those pro wrestlers' asses, they still didn't want her to earthbend. Her parents had even kicked Aang and Sokka out of their place!
Dismayed, down a sister and an earthbending teacher, he and Aang had set up camp outside of Gaoling. They had both been more than surprised when Toph had shown up and said she would be joining them, but that they should go, now.
They'd been travelling for nearly two weeks now, sort of bouncing around near Gaoling in hopes of finding Katara, while slowly heading southeast. Toph had told them they needed to put some distance between them and the city, but it wasn't easy leaving Katara behind.
"If your sister is half as amazing as Twinkle Toes says she is, I'm sure she's fine, Sokka," Toph remarked as she picked her toes—a nasty habit that even rivaled some of his...less than appealing habits.
Sokka's shoulders slumped. "I know, I know. She's a master waterbender, perfectly capable, but Katara's never been on her own." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Heck, I've never even been without her."
"Maybe we can circle back to Gaoling," Aang said, glancing back at them from his seat on Appa's head. "She might still be there, looking for us."
Sokka looked towards the north as a wave of dejection washed over him. "Either that, or we left her to die in the swamp."
"Don't say that!" Aang shrilled, a hint of panic in his voice. "She didn't die. She's Katara. She's way too strong for that. Huu and the others had to find her and help her out. But if she's on foot, maybe it's just taking her a little longer to catch up."
"Yeah, maybe," Sokka mused. He glanced back down at the ground. "I guess Appa flies a lot faster than she can walk, huh?"
"Maybe we can post up somewhere for a while, get started on your earthbending training," Toph commented. "That way we give her some time to catch up. Sokka, you can even take this flying furry monster out to look for her."
Sokka lit up. "That's a great idea!" He looked at the monk. "What do you think, Aang?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I think we can do that!" Aang looked around, then he pointed. "There! That looks like a good place to practice earthbending, right, Toph?"
"Oh yeah, sure, wonderful. I can feel all the rocks from here." She blew out a puff of air that blew her shaggy bangs out of her eyes. "I'm blind."
"Right," Aang said, color rising in his cheeks. "Let me just...take us down."
Appa began his descent. Sokka felt hope well in his chest. He hoped he would be reunited with his sister soon.