Tossing down one of the tents to Sokka Thyra paused then reached out towards Appa's fur, taking a fistful then gently pulled a clump of fur away from him, blinking as she opened up her fingers then watched as the strands flew away on the breeze.
"Hey, you guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft." Toph said, wriggling her toes onto the ground where Appa's fur had dropped down to make a thick, soft blanket.
"That's not grass. Appa's shedding." Sokka informed her bluntly as Aang set up the tent with a simple airbending trick.
"Oh, gross!" Katara yelped in disgust, lifting one foot off the ground to balance on a patch of green grass as Appa opened his mouth to yawn loudly, Momo flying around everyone's heads before settling on Thyra's shoulder, making her smile at the little lemur before she jumped down and picked up a large jug to go and get some water.
"That's not gross, it's just a part of spring. You know, rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat!" Aang said, patting his buddy fondly as began to settle.
"Ah, the beauty of spring." Katara drawled sarcastically, making Thyra smile and shake her head as Appa sneezed, sending large amounts of hair everywhere. "Ew stop, Appa, stop!" Waving her arms rapidly Katara tried to brush herself off from all the fur that now covered her dress.
"It's not that bad, Katara." Sokka informed her as he clustered some clumps together to then position it on his head. "Look, it makes a great wig!"
"And a great beard!" Aang agreed, dropping down to the ground with more clumps of fur stuffed up his nose to make a beard and Thyra flinched slightly in disgust. Her brother was just weird. It seemed Katara was just as unamused.
"I'm just glad we finally have another girl in the group because you two are disgusting." She said to them. "Now that we outnumber you boys, you have no chance."
"Excuse me." Toph said as she walked forwards, hiding her hands behind her back. "Does anyone have a razor?" She questioned before lifting up her arms with a proud grin, large plumes of Appa's fur clustered down her sleeves. "Because I've got some hairy pits!" The boys both stared before falling into fits of laughter and Thyra gave a chuckle before heading off to the nearby stream to fill up the jug.
When Thyra returned, however, she noted a slight tension in the air and she paused, looking to see that Toph had isolated herself away from the others, who were all grouped around the fire. "Alright. What happened?" She asked with a sigh, walking forwards and put down the jug to then fold her arms and give them all a stern look she remembered her mother giving her whenever she'd got into trouble with the other street kids.
"Ask her." Katara growled, thrusting out a hand to point towards Toph who growled back before a rock shot up from the ground and closed her inside, shutting her off from everyone else.
"I see." Thyra said, looking over at Toph's tent made from rocks then looked at Katara. "I'm guessing things are a little heated between you two, right?" She questioned and Katara glared further into the fire. "Look Katara, Toph is just adjusting to the outside world. We need to give her some space to get used to doing things her own way before we can start working efficiently as a team. I know it might feel a little frustrating, but trust me. Everything will be okay." Katara sighed, relaxing slightly before finally nodding her head.
"Okay." Satisfied Thyra gave a smile before starting to make some herbal tea, boiling the water whilst humming a song for everyone and she gave a knowing smirk as the rock wall at the front of Toph's tent slowly crept down so that she could listen too.
They all went to sleep peacefully that night, however were startled awake when Toph suddenly yelled. "There's something coming toward us!" Instantly Thyra was on her feet, springing into a battle stance as her eyes scanned their surroundings.
"What is it?" Aang questioned sleepily, rubbing his eyes as Sokka and Katara emerged from their tent. Toph walked forwards to the middle of the camp then knelt down, feeling the ground to sense the vibrations of something moving fast towards them.
"It feels like an avalanche…but also not like an avalanche." She answered as Sokka's face dropped, unimpressed by the complicated answer.
"Your powers of perception are frightening."
"Should we leave?" Katara wondered and Aang nodded his head, Thyra already moving to pack everything away.
"Better safe than sorry." He said wisely and everyone hurried to get their things together, waking Appa to then soar up into the night again. Thyra moved over to the back of the saddle and squinted into the darkness where plumes of smoke leaked upward into the sky.
"What is that thing?" Katara yelped in shock, staring as the tank like machine became visible and everyone watched as it slowly became smaller and smaller, Appa leaving it far behind the faster he flew. They didn't stop until they had landed on some high ground, a hill where they believed they would be safe.
"Ah, land, sweet land!" Toph sighed with relief as she launched herself out of the saddle and rolled around on the ground, smiling before she propelled herself to her feet then slung her bag over her shoulder. "See you guys in the morning!" She called but Katara turned around.
"Actually, can you help us unload?" Toph blinked then looked at her with a frown.
"Really? You need me to help unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?" She questioned before snorting as Sokka blinked then sniffed his own sleeping bag before making a face of disgust before falling over from the stink.
"Well, yeah. That and everything else. You're a part of our team now and..." Katara began but Toph cut her off with an irritated tone and expression, pointing forcefully at Katara who recoiled slightly.
"Look. I didn't ask you to help unload my stuff. I'm carrying my own weight." She declared and before it could go any further, Thyra leaped down and gripped both their shoulders, separating them by force.
"Alright that's enough." She ordered as she glared at them both. "Katara, get your stuff unloaded and go to bed. Tough-stuff, listen to me." Katara was about to complain when Thyra gave her a deadly expression, warning her not to argue so Katara silenced herself and stormed off, unpacking her own sleeping bag and the tent so Thyra turned to Toph. "I cooled the flames once, but this attitude has got to change." Thyra told Toph simply, folding her arms and loomed over the smaller girl, though the intimidation was lost on her. "Whether you like it or not, you're part of this team now, and we're more like family, which means you've got to start pulling your weight. You may not want help with your stuff, but you don't have any stuff that you'd need help with, however we do."
"So? That's not my problem." Toph replied sharply but Thyra ignored the attitude slap back.
"It is your problem tough-stuff, because here we all help one another. You can't be a part of this group and work alone. If we get into trouble, we help one another out. If we have something, we share it. The point of us all being a team is that we protect one another and watch each other's backs." Toph was silenced, though her face was still stony as Thyra held out her hand to signal she was dismissed. "Now go to bed. I want to see a better attitude by morning." With that she turned and walked away, seeing that Aang had already set up her blankets for her.
"Wow. I'd hate to be your kid." Sokka said as Thyra approached. "You're scary."
"It's called discipline." Thyra answered. "Something that you would benefit from learning, Sokka, then maybe you'd be able to control that stomach of yours and stop eating all our supplies three days before they're due to run out." She snapped back but then sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."
"Nah that's okay. I've had worse from Katara. Now she's scary." He snickered as his sister shot him a glare before turning over in her sleeping bag to block out Sokka's smirking face. "Well. Night!" He called cheerfully before instantly falling asleep the way only Sokka could.
Thyra lay down and had managed to drift off into sleep when Toph's tent collapsed and her voice rang out across the camp. "That thing is back!" Thyra groaned and blinked herself awake before quickly getting up, spinning around but couldn't see anything threatening.
"Well, how far away is it?" Sokka asked, mumbling from under his cover. "Maybe we can close our eyes just for a few minutes…" However Thyra could now see the tall smoke plume in the distance and it was getting steadily closer so she kicked Sokka awake.
"Get up. We're moving out." She announced and everyone packed up the camp once more. Appa took off into the night, flying away from the creepy machine that was somehow able to track them even when in the air.
"Seriously, what is that thing?" Katara questioned as Thyra guided Appa, Aang being too sleepy to concentrate and he leaned against his sister, groaning tiredly.
"And how does it keep finding us?" Toph added, turning back as Thyra looked over her shoulder.
"Whatever that thing is, it's after Aang, so this time we're going to lose them for sure." She decided then flicked the reins, guiding Appa higher to travel with cloud coverage, hoping it would keep them out of sight.
They landed this time in the mountains, Appa collapsing from all the long night flying exhaustion and everyone else fell out of his saddle, Sokka already wrapped up in his sleeping bag. "Okay, forget about setting up camp. I'm finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep." He told everyone as he wriggled his way towards a comfortable looking spot then started to snore loudly, drooling as well.
"That's good, because Toph wasn't going to help anyway." Katara announced snidely and Toph glared upwards as she spread out over the ground.
"Oh, I didn't realize baby still needed someone to tuck her in bed." She snapped back and Aang groaned, slapping his face before sighing as he too collapsed on the ground.
"Come on guys, there's something after us and we don't even know what or who it is." He said and Katara turned over to look at him.
"It could be Zuko. We haven't seen him since the North Pole." She reasoned and Toph tilted back her head curiously to look at them.
"Who's Zuko?" Sokka poked his head out from within his cocoon of a sleeping bag.
"Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world." He answered before face planting the dirt, trying to go back to sleep.
"What's wrong with ponytails, ponytail?" Katara teased with a smirk and Sokka jabbed a finger towards his own ponytail, not lifting his face from the ground.
"This is a warrior's wolf tail." He informed her proudly and Katara gave a little smile.
"Well, it certainly tells the other warriors that you're fun and perky!" There was a moment of silence as Sokka failed to think of a comeback for that.
"Anyway, whoever's chasing us, they couldn't have followed us here, so now would everyone just shhh!" He demanded, hissing through his teeth, rolling onto his back where Momo then jumped onto his chest and began to chitter down at him. "No, Momo, sshh! Sleepy time." He mumbled as Momo jumped off and faced the land over their ledge, chirping in warning with twitching ears, making Thyra sit up again and peered out through bleary eyes. "Aw, don't tell me..."
"That's impossible. There's no way they could have tracked us." Aang said as he and Katara got up but Toph only confirmed their worries.
"I can feel it with my own two feet!" She exclaimed as Thyra got up and walked towards the edge to then stop and look down, seeing the cloud of smoke as it got closer and closer.
"Let's get out of here!" Katara called but Aang stopped her.
"Maybe we should face them. Find out who they are. Who knows, maybe they're friendly." He suggested but Sokka slapped a hand to his face with a tired expression.
"Always the optimist."
"Little brother, since when has anyone who's been chasing us over miles of land been friendly?" Thyra reasoned, arching an eyebrow at her brother before turning to look back at the machine as it ground to a halt. A hatch opened and three giant lizards crawled out, bearing a rider each. The same three girls that the gang had met before.
"It's those three girls from Omashu!" Thyra groaned, smacking a hand to her face.
"Great. Three crazy girls chasing after us. This night could not get any worse." Everyone looked at her and she shrugged her shoulders. "What?! I get cranky and sarcastic when I'm tired. Let's just get out of here before they catch up. I am not in the mood to battle with the pink trapeze girl."
"We can take 'em. Three on three." Toph said and instantly Sokka turned a glare at her.
"Actually, Toph, there's five of us."
"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't count you two. You know, no bending and all." She said, making Sokka's face go red with anger before he furiously waved his arms at her.
"I can still fight!"
"Me too. I can hold my own." Thyra agreed as Toph smirked.
"Okay. Three on four plus Sokka." Sokka was not impressed and it showed in his face. As the girls sped towards them, Toph began to bend the earth, huge rocks shooting out the way to impede them but their skilled mounts simply climbed over them, still surging through their path and climbed up the mountainside.
"Well, we wanted to find out who they were. We found out. Now let's get out of here." He said and instantly he ran over to Appa, Aang and Katara following. Toph stomped down her foot, adopting an earthbending stance then ploughed out her hands, forcing a large wall of earth to stand between them and their pursuers before Thyra swept Toph up onto her shoulder, making her yell in surprise as Thyra carried the smaller girl on her shoulder then ran up Appa's tail before settling down in the saddle.
"Appa, yip yip!" Aang called and instantly the sky bison lifted off the ground to carry them away.
"I can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu." Katara said, shadows beginning to appear under her eyes.
"I still think we could've taken them." Toph defended grumpily.
"Are you kidding? The crazy blue firebending and the flying daggers are bad enough, but last time we saw them one of those girls did something that took my bending away. That's scary." Katara said and Thyra nodded in agreement as she drew out the blankets again.
"And besides, we're all tired and that would be a huge mental and physical disadvantage. Now try to sleep all of you. Aang and I will keep watch for a while." She said, wrapping a blanket around Katara who smiled and touched Thyra's hand and leaned her head against the older girl who smiled at the affectionate contact before going over to Toph and wrapping her up too, however just then the sun began to rise.
"Oh no, the sun is rising! We've been up all night with no sleep."
"Sokka, we'll be okay." Aang told him confidently but Sokka went insane, slapping his face as his eyes went wide.
"Are you sure!? I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep now and something happens? And something always happens!" He yelled frantically so Thyra grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him backwards to the ground before tossing a blanket over him.
"Then I suggest you get some sleep before I knock you out by force." She told him as Katara lifted her head.
"Every time we land, those girls are there, so we'll just have to keep flying."
"We can't keep flying forever." Aang told her simply, glancing down at Appa as he yawned loudly. The others all caught up on a little sleep along with Thyra, who then forced herself to get up and take over the piloting so that Aang could get some rest.
"Just try and stay awake buddy. A little longer, that's all we need." She encouraged softly, reaching down and stroking Appa's face as he groaned. Gradually the others all woke up, but were still exhausted.
"So, what's the plan?" Aang questioned with a yawn, stretching upward.
"Don't know...too tired to think." Toph answered, trying to curl up and hide away.
"I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short break. Maybe we should land."
"Yes! Sleep!" Sokka cheered in agreement, however just then, gravity suddenly forced its hand down upon them all and they dropped without warning, causing everyone to scream loudly and grab onto the saddle to remain anchored to Appa.
"What's going on?!" Toph yelled over the roar of the wind as Aang managed to angle himself towards Appa's head.
"Appa fell asleep! Wake up, buddy!" He yelled, Thyra gripping on by the reins as her body was tossed up into the air. Suddenly Appa snapped awake and abruptly started to fly again, however his tiredness still hung heavy on him and their altitude continued to drop, plummeting down at a slope and they tore off some of the treetops in Appa's uncontrolled descent before finally, he crashed into the ground and slid to a stop, growling softly.
Everyone groaned in unison, going lax with relief as the solid ground kept them from falling any further. "Appa's exhausted." Everyone got down, blankets and sleeping bags at the ready.
"Okay, we've put a lot of distance between us and them. The plan now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep." Sokka informed everyone as he and his sister settled down side by side.
"Of course, we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn't have such issues." Katara announced and Thyra groaned inwardly, throwing her blankets over her head to try and block out the argument that Katara was starting.
"What?!" Toph practically screamed, spinning around to face Katara as Aang tried to appease everyone.
"Alright, alright! Everyone's exhausted. Let's just get some rest."
"No! I want to hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?" She demanded to know as Katara gave her a sarcastically placid face.
"I'm just saying, maybe if you helped out earlier we could've set up our camp faster and gotten some sleep and then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!" She yelled at Toph who clenched her fists tightly.
"You're blaming me for this?!"
"No, no! She's not blaming you!" Aang answered, trying to get between them but then hissed behind his hand towards Thyra, but she was already fast asleep. "Thyra! Get your big butt over here!"
"No, I'm blaming her." Katara answered, making Toph even angrier.
"Hey!" With one hand she flung Aang away, glaring at Katara unwaveringly though she was unable to lock her eyes directly onto Katara's. "I never asked you for anything. I carry my own weight!" Toph announced proudly. "Besides, if there's anyone to blame, it's sheddy over here!" She flung out her hand at Appa, which instantly made Aang mad.
"What? You're blaming Appa?!"
"Yeah! You wanna know how they keep finding us?" She questioned before grabbing a fist full of fur from Appa's flank, opening her palm to let it float away on the breeze. "He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!" Aang snapped, angry at Toph blaming his sky bison and started to rage at her in fury.
"How dare you blame Appa?! He saved your life three times today! If there's anyone to blame, it's you! You're always talking about how you carry your own weight, but you're not! He is! Appa's carrying your weight! He never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us!"
Toph stood for a second before starting to walk off, kicking her back to shoot it up into her arms.
"I'm outta here." She announced however Sokka wisely got up and flung out his arms, trying to stop her.
"Wait." Toph tapped the ground simply and the earth underneath Sokka's feet shifted, moving him out of her way and she continued walking until finally, she was out of sight. Suddenly it dawned on Aang what he had just done and he collapsed to the ground with a groan.
"What did I just do?! I can't believe I yelled at my earthbending teacher. Now she's gone." Suddenly he glared at Thyra's sleeping form. "Thanks a lot sis." He shot at her but it fell on deaf ears.
"Take it easy Aang. Thyra's been up all night making sure we were all safe. She even let us sleep whilst she steered Appa, so she's way more tired than any of us." Katara reasoned gently, her temper finally calming down. "If anyone's to blame it's me. I started this, and I was so mean to her."
"Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks." Sokka said, earning a look from them both.
"Thanks, Sokka."
"No problem." Katara rolled her eyes before sighing, looking up after where Toph had disappeared.
"We need to find Toph and apologize."
"Okay, but what are we going to do about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?" Aang questioned and the three of them worked together to clean Appa's coat. After a while, Aang woke up his sister and although Thyra was reluctant to leave the land of sleep, she got up and helped out, scrubbing Appa's fur to get rid of as much of the shed fur as possible.
"Toph was right. Appa's fur was leaving a trail right to us. But now that he's clean, no more trail!" Aang said brightly as the others all gathered around, Thyra rubbing her face to try and stay awake.
"Are you sure that he's okay to fly?" Katara asked and Aang patted his friend's wet shaggy head.
"He'll be fine as long as we leave his saddle and all our stuff here." Aang said before bending down and scooping up a load of the fur. "I'm going to use Appa's fur to make a fake trail and lead the tank off course." He said and Thyra quickly pulled him into a hug.
"Be careful." She told him quietly, holding him close before smiling against his head. "And stay awake, little brother. As much as I would love to, I doubt I'd be able to catch you if you fall mid flight."
"I will." Aang gave a grin before stepping back to watch as Thyra jumped onto Appa's back then the sky bison took off as she held the reins, giving the command to go. They kept low in the air due to Appa being too tired to fly any higher and the water tribe siblings leaned over opposite sides of Appa, searching the grounds.
"Toph couldn't have made it too far." Sokka said optimistically but then Momo started to screech in warning, jumping up and down so Sokka moved over to Appa's haunches to look over the ground. "What is it, Momo?" He asked then peered over. "Oh no…Thyra!" He yelped and her head snapped around as Katara hurried over and looked down.
"How did they find us?" In answer Thyra snapped on the reins, wearing a determined look on her face.
"Come on Appa, yip yip! I know you can do it!" She called but the bison began to angle downwards, groaning as his energy began to deplete.
"Appa, come on! We need to go faster!" Sokka yelled, gripping onto the saddle as air rushed at them at the steep descent Appa was making, Thyra fighting to try and level him out.
"He's too tired!"
"Not good, NOT GOOD!" Sokka practically screamed, clutching his face to hide away from the inevitable impact.
"Everybody hang on, this is going to be a bumpy ride!" Thyra called back over her shoulder as the river ahead of them grew wider and bigger. "I'm going to try and get us across that river!" Appa's body crashed into the treetops, ripping them from the trunks of the pines as he continued to fall toward the ground.
"Come on, Appa, just a little further!" Katara encouraged, gripping onto Appa's fur to keep herself grounded as Appa finally ploughed into the river but flapped his tail to keep them moving, crashing against the water before finally washing up on the opposite bank, groaning wearily as Thyra sighed with relief then collapsed against him.
"Well done buddy." She murmured, hugging him with widespread arms as Sokka laughed in celebration.
"We made it! We're safe!"
"You did it, Appa!" They flung their arms around one another, however when Katara gasped, Thyra looked up to see the two girls riding their lizards over the water, continuing to chase them down. With mastered movements Katara sent a wave at them, letting it climb high however one of them swiftly moved out the way whilst the other leaped off her ride gracefully, flying into the air before landing in the trees.
Katara flicked open her water skin and instantly commanded the water that was concealed within, making a water whip and launched it at the pink wearing girl however she dodged almost too easily before Katara had to dodge her fast punches, aiming to disarm her of her waterbending.
Thyra was already running forwards, even as the other girl reached the bank and threw some silver spikes straight at Katara however Sokka suddenly slid into the way and swiped them away with his club before flinging his boomerang at the girl. She jumped out the way then lunged straight for Katara as the other girl the switched opponents to Sokka.
Thyra grabbed a rock from the ground and as the black haired, knife wielding girl flung a shuriken straight for Katara, aiming between the eyes, she paused to time the movement before throwing her rock in a curve, smirking as it smacked the shuriken out of the air, allowing Katara to make her attack.
Seeing that Sokka was now in trouble, Thyra leaped over, using the trees to circle around Katara and her opponent as Sokka's left and right arm were paralysed. He swung them uselessly, blinking in shock before glaring at the girl and tried to kick her but she only hit a pressure point there as well.
Finally Sokka flung his head forwards, attempting to head butt her however when the punch struck Sokka's thick skull, the girl squeaked and ripped back her fist, shaking out her fingers before glowering daggers over at Sokka who deadpanned. "Good try, but no."
"Sokka!" Thyra called and she spun him out of the way, facing the girl and instantly began to exchange blows, using her feet to slide Sokka back over the ground as he lay there uselessly.
"Yeah! Go get her Thyra, you show them who the vegetarian butt kicking champ around here is!" He cheered and Thyra rolled her eyes but continued to defend, sliding out her foot then held her arm firmly at a right angle, her palm flat to block an attack before moving backwards, allowing the girl to come at her.
Suddenly the girl dropped to the ground and flung out her foot, forcing Thyra to jump with a roll of her body, swinging both legs around in a full circle to land again however her opponent moved like lightning, striking first Thyra's arm before moving around to her back and with three strikes, Thyra fell to the ground with a cry of pain, falling onto her side and couldn't even move.
"I thought when Ty Lee and I finally caught you guys it would be more exciting. Oh well, victory is boring." The raven haired girl sighed despondently with a roll of her eyes, making Thyra angry.
"Next time catch up with us when we're wide awake, then you'll have a battle that'll keep you interested." She glared at the girl. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Oh we're so sorry! We didn't introduce ourselves." The pink girl, Ty Lee, giggled before slinging an arm affectionately around her friend. "This is Mai and I'm Ty Lee. The other girl who's been chasing you is the princess, Azula. We're after the Avatar." She explained with a bubbly character, making Thyra blink in surprise as Ty Lee bounded over to her. "Are you an airbender too? You're wearing their clothes." She prodded Thyra who only narrowed her eyes dangerously.
Suddenly a blast of air struck Ty Lee and Mai, causing them both to scream as they were flung into the river and instantly washed away by the fast flowing current. Appa gave a bellowing roar before moving over to Sokka, Katara and Thyra, who all smiled at him.
"Thanks Appa. I don't know what we'd do without you." Sokka told him gratefully and the bison instantly slathered Sokka with his slimy tongue, making the girls both laugh as Katara managed to free herself.
"Come on, we need to go find Aang and see if he needs help." Katara said and Thyra tried to move. Her legs twitched and slowly, she managed to slide into a sitting position where Appa moaned at her with worry, pressing his face against her and she smiled into his warm fur.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. It won't be long until the effects wear off." She said then managed to climb to her feet, using Appa for support as Katara helped get her brother onto Appa's back. "Come on Appa, yip yip!" Appa flew into the sky and together, they followed the trail Aang had left behind to an old abandoned town where bursts of fire could be seen.
"Is that Zuko?" Katara blinked in surprise as the figure of a tall boy disappeared into a building.
"Hey…what happened to his ponytail?" Sokka demanded to know but Thyra was already bringing Appa down, turning her focus to finding Aang.
"Okay, let's all spread out. It looks like Azula is after Aang as well as Zuko. Talk about sibling rivalry." Thyra said before jumping off of Appa, landing on the ground as Sokka and Katara copied her example. Thyra ran and hid behind a door, looking out from a small crack.
Katara had caught Azula's attention and was now escaping from several fire blasts of electric blue, the princess surging around the corner and made to chase after Katara but then Sokka jumped forwards and sliced the air with his club, however the princess expertly ducked out of the way.
Azula growled and clenched her fists before taking up another firebending stance however Thyra instantly ran forwards gracefully then flicked over the princess's head, gliding overhead before slicing her foot down and knocked her hand aside to then spin and slam her other foot against her chest, flinging her to the ground.
The princess hit the dirt with a grunt then flipped from her hands onto her feet once more, the two girls facing one another with battle stances, eyes burning fiercely as Katara, Aang and Sokka paused, watching them silently.
"So, you're the useless sister of the Avatar." Azula said as the two began to circle one another, holding their hands up. Thyra's eyes narrowed intensely as Azula smirked. "If you weren't so pathetic, then you would be able to airbend, then your brother wouldn't be the only one left. Such a shame." Her patronising tone ignited a flame in Thyra that rarely ever saw the light of day. She truly hated this girl, she was pure evil.
"At least my brother and I care and love one another." Thyra replied as the circling stopped and she took a different stance, making Aang's eyes widen in shock. She'd switched from defensive into attack stances, something Aang had never seen his sister do. "Now bring it on. Let's see how royalty fights in this century, but I'll warn you. I'm used to better." This sparked off Azula's rage and instantly she yelled, slamming her hands forwards and launched her powerful attacks.
Thyra spun out of the way, kicking up her feet before moving and powered her hand forwards, aiming to strike Azula's shoulder but the princess blocked and the two began to fight one another intensely, using all their battle knowledge against one another.
Azula was pushed back by the older girl, who kept a calm expression on her face as the princess was backed into an alley, where she started to retreat. Without warning she was shoved forwards by a rock, revealing a small figure behind her. "I thought you guys could use a little help." Toph said with a little smirk and both Thyra and Katara smiled at her.
"Thanks." Azula tried to run, realising that she was outmatched and outnumbered, blasting fire at those gathering to surround her however as she turned down an alley, she slammed into a rather rotund belly and she was flung backwards.
Thyra raced through but skidded to a halt when she saw Iroh and Zuko, who also closed in on Azula as she was backed up against a wall of a broken building, flames roaring brightly and hotly all around as it began to consume the other buildings. "Well, look at this. Enemies and traitors all working together. I'm done." She announced, raising her arms up in defeat. "I know when I'm beaten. You got me. A princess surrenders with honour." She announced and Thyra took a step forwards, slicing a hand out with a dark expression.
"People like you have no honour, Azula. You do not know when to stop, and eventually you will consume yourself with your own fire." She informed her wisely before adopting her defensive stance again. "I will not let you take my brother. You will have to kill me first." However as Thyra said those words, a sickening smirk crept up on Azula's lips.
"Very well. As you wish." She said darkly before striking out. The blast of blue flames struck her distracted uncle directly in the chest and flung him backwards and Zuko yelled in horror. Thyra stared at the attack but before she could do anything, Azula then swept her hands around in a guided motion, electricity crackling at her arms before launching the attack directly at Thyra.
Aang shouted in fear as he watched uselessly as his sister was struck directly with the lightning, causing her to scream in pain and the force flung her backwards, straight through the door of a burning building as heat suddenly flared up around her.
Thyra stared with wide eyes as the building suddenly crumbled, caving in on itself and the rubble came tumbling towards her. Her body paralysed from the lightning strike, Thyra could only stare uselessly as the walls caved in around her and when a beam struck her head, the entire world around her went black after a painful flash of bright white, the last sound of her brother screaming her name.
Aang had blasted Azula with airbending at the same time Toph, Katara and Zuko had also attacked however Azula deflected with a burst of powerful firebending and when the explosion settled, she was gone from sight. "Thyra!" He yelled, spinning around and charged towards the flaming building however Sokka and Toph wisely grabbed his arms.
"Aang it's too dangerous." Sokka told him as Katara tried to help Iroh but Zuko wouldn't let her anywhere near his uncle. "Aang…I think she might be…"
"No! NO! Thyra answer me!" Aang cried desperately, tears streaking down his face but even as he tore himself free, the flames became even more devouring, bursting brighter and hotter than before and flung Aang back to the ground. "Thyra?! ANSWER ME!" Aang roared and suddenly, his eyes and tattoos began to glow.
Rage burned within him like the fire of a dragon, the air whipping around him in a powerful gust before he blasted the flames with them, however their uncontrolled strength only spread at Aang's attempt to douse them.
As Aang began to yell loudly in fury, Katara grabbed him by the ankle and desperately tried to calm him down. "Aang please! There's nothing we can do, not even Toph can sense Thyra in there. There's too much rubble, we need to leave before Azula comes back with reinforcements!" Katara called up and slowly, Aang's anger subsided, replaced only with the shallow emptiness of grief.
The glow disappeared and he fell into Katara's arms, faint and hardly awake, but still he cried, gripping onto Katara as Appa landed on the ground, allowing them all to climb on board. Katara held Aang close but threw one last glance to the burning building where Thyra had been flung inside by Azula.
She'd taken a lightning strike straight to the chest, there was no way she could have survived that, let alone an entire burning building falling on top of her. Katara looked to her water skin then pressed her eyes shut, hiding her tears. There was no way she could even try to put out the flames with such little water.
Inside Aang felt like a flower being struck with a winter frost despite it being the middle of spring. It froze his insides to the core, the icy pain like a shard of cold steel being lodged into his heart. First Gyatso and his people, now Thyra. His last link to his real family and the life that he had used to know was now gone. Taken by Azula.
With dark eyes Aang clenched his fists tightly, suddenly feeling dark and a wild rage smouldered within him, glowing red hot like coals ready to be ignited at a moment's notice.
Azula will pay.