Several trips occurred over the few weeks that we camped at the temple, including one to a Fire Nation prison courtesy of Sokka, who brought back Suki, his father and some random guy called Chit-Sang. I was glad to see Suki again, walking forwards with a smile. "Long time no see, I'm glad that you're alright." I said to her, making to bow politely however she just laughed and hugged me tightly.
"Come on, friends don't greet each other like that!" She teased me and I relaxed, chuckling as she began to help Sokka explain all about what had happened at the Boiling Rock, however when Sokka started to talk about Zuko's girlfriend showing up, I felt my stomach plummet and before I knew it I was walking away stiffly, going over to where I had dropped my broom and picked it up again so that I could continue sweeping through the temple, wanting to try and make it look a little more like I remembered. So I guess it didn't take long for Zuko to get over me and start dating someone else, let alone that dreary girl who was always trying to stab us with sharp objects.
Seriously! It was like this guy purposefully did everything he could to make me hate him more and more. Shaking my head I stomped away to another part of the temple, pretending that the thought of Zuko with another woman didn't hurt me deeply inside. We had a few days of blissful peace together, something that probably made us all drop our guard because early in the morning, when everyone else was asleep, I awoke to the sound of an explosion.
Immediately I was kneeling upright and bending the air to push back the rocks that had collapsed from the blast, keeping Appa from being crushed as Momo shrieked and dove into the folds of my toga to hide. "Everyone up!" I bellowed, leaping over my head and gathered Teo up into my arms as he looked around fearfully. "Don't worry, I got you." I assured him calmly as The Duke wheeled his chair forwards and I placed him in it. Once he was safely undercover with Haru, Chit-Sang and Hakoda, I raced forwards to see what was happening.
I should have guessed it would have been Azula, we should have moved on days ago to minimize our chances of being caught. Damn it. I ran forwards and joined Aang, helping him to deflect the bombs whilst Haru and Toph formed a tunnel behind us. "Come on, we can get out through here!" Toph pointed so Aang leaped back to get Appa whilst I held off the onslaught, backing away slowly as I retreated, however when I heard my brother shout, Zuko ran past me.
"What are you doing?"
"Go ahead, I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit." Yeah no kidding, you idiot.
"Zuko, no!" Hitting back the last fireball I turned and grabbed onto Appa's reins as well, trying to help Aang pull him into the tunnel but our furry friend refused to go.
"Come on! We have to get out of here!" Sokka yelled as he and Katara came to help, all of us pulling on the reins but he wasn't budging one bit.
"I can't get him to go in there. Appa hates tunnels!" Aang yelled over the noise as Toph continued to try and hold the tunnel and keep the temple from collapsing around us.
"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here." Katara reasoned and as if to prove her point, another fireball came crashing down however I blasted back the flames to keep them from swarming us, running past Appa to keep on parrying the attacks with hit after hit.
"We need to split up." I heard Sokka announce before he turned back to the other group. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."
"No! The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!" Hearing the tearfulness in her tone I glanced back, seeing Hakoda embrace her securely before I had to quickly look back and deflect a collapsing pillar, shooting the chunks back out into the open and airbent them back at the ship to hammer them back, giving us some time as they needed to recover from the unexpected hit. Those rocks were heavy, my arms were starting to ache from the sheer willpower I needed to lift them.
"It'll be okay, it's not forever." Hakoda embraced his children one last time before Aang called for me to come back so I leaped in the air, landing in the saddle as the others turned to the tunnel. I looked back to see Teo waving to me, looking scared and his hand was trembling so I smiled to him and straightened, bowing in farewell and it seemed to comfort him as he nodded his head and allowed Haru to wheel him away.
"I can clear that away and we can fly out through there." Toph announced as she pointed a wall before earthbending herself up onto Appa.
"I'll give us some cover. You ready Aang?" I questioned and when he nodded his head I began to twirl my staff and pulled the air into a thick cloud, swirling it around us to create a thick cloak that kept us from view before it then spread, seeping throughout the entire temple and into the skies. With Toph bending the earth away and formed a shield over Appa's head, we flew out into the open and instantly I swirled the cloud cover forwards, sending it directly over the airships so that their view was obscured and we flew into the skies, looking back to see Azula and Zuko still fighting.
Random shots of fire exploded from the ships and Aang quickly pulled Appa out of the way and circled him back around, flying under the belly of the ship where Zuko fought his sister, the both of them blasting the other off and they fell. The wind howled as I carefully stood up on Appa's back, circling my hands to create a long cyclone which then wrapped around Zuko's foot and I dragged him towards us, allowing Sokka to grab him by his arm and pull him safely onto the saddle however he quickly turned to look at his sister.
"She's not going to make it." There was fear as well as disbelief in his voice, however Azula managed to straighten herself out and propelled herself onto the cliff with a fire blast, catching grip and stopping her descent. All of our hearts plummeted forlornly. "Of course she did." Turning away we flew away from the temple in the opposite direction to the others, keeping all attention fixed on us as I created us more cover in the clouds though they grew dark and stormy with rain. Thankfully it held off and when we landed for the night, the skies were clear once more.
"Wow. Camping. It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?" Aang said cheerfully as we all finished setting up camp and sat around the fire. Momo chattered on top of my head having finally emerged from within my toga as I had bribed him out with food.
"If you really want to feel like old times, I could chase you around a while and try to capture you." Zuko offered and I couldn't help but smile a little. Okay, that was a fairly funny. Never knew Zuko had a sense of humour, being so serious and uptight all the time. Sokka stood and raised his cup, making us all look to him as he made a toast.
"To Zuko. Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he would be our hero." Everyone except Katara and I raised our cups, answering together in agreement so I turned my head pointedly and lay back on the ground to gaze at the stars, listing them off in my head to pass the time.
"I'm touched. I don't deserve this." Zuko said warmly however his words struck a nerve with Katara who put down her drink and walked away.
"Yeah, no kidding." Everyone watched her leave, the atmosphere plummeting quickly as Sokka frowned.
"What's up with her?"
"I wish I knew." With a sigh Zuko got up and followed her, probably to try and smooth things over but I doubted he'd get anywhere. Once he was gone I sat up and began to clear everything away as everyone else announced they were tired and were going to bed. I collected up the dishes and washed them, leaving them piled up with the rest of our belongings before I went over to where Toph lay in her earth tent and placed a blanket over her.
"Goodnight tough-stuff." I said affectionately and I caught her smile as she pulled the blanket closer. "You sure I can't get you something to lay on?"
"There's nothing more comfy than a good pile of dirt." She assured me, making me chuckle as I ruffled her hair then leaned in, kissing her cheek and tucking her in. I know she didn't like displays of affection, however I think she didn't mind it so much when it was me, especially when no one else was watching. After what happened at the air temple, I wasn't happy simply going to sleep so I watched over everyone as they slept, sitting on a large rock and keeping a careful eye on my surroundings. The air was turning colder and I could feel it, but it didn't bother me.
My head drooped at some point, tiredness overcoming me however when I felt something being placed around my shoulders my head shot up again, wide awake and the hands quickly disappeared. "I just thought you might be cold." Zuko's voice quickly explained and I blinked, rubbing my eyes and looked to see he'd brought me a blanket. Instantly I hardened myself against him, turning away.
"Airbenders don't feel the cold." I responded and flung the blanket back at him without even looking, not wanting his charity.
"Right." He responded dejectedly. "Sorry." It was true, I could use my chi in my body to keep me warm, a little like how firebenders could use their own inner fire to heat themselves. When Zuko turned away my face fell, feeling a little guilty even though I didn't want to.
"Thank you, all the same." I heard him stop and look back but I did not turn around, continuing to sit in my meditation pose as I watched over everyone, wanting to make sure that Azula hadn't followed us. Saying nothing more Zuko continued to walk away and from then on, I was left in peace. It remained awkward between us, however I could see his relationship with everyone else beginning to gradually change. After Zuko helped Katara hunt down the man who killed her mother, she finally accepted him into the group, leaving me the only one who still did not trust him completely. After all, this could just be an elaborate ploy to get us to drop our guard. Even so, he was beginning to earn everyone's trust and I think they even came to like him. He wasn't completely a bad guy, after all, just an incredibly stupid one. After I returned from a trip to town with Suki, Aang smiling waved to me.
"Hey Thyra! Maybe you should go on a life changing fieldtrip with Zuko too!" He suggested jokingly as he and Sokka told everyone again about their journeys with the prince however I simply lifted my nose and walked forwards without breaking pace.
"I'll pass." Instantly the mood was dampened but I didn't care. I wanted nothing to do with him. At most, I'll give him food but that was all the interaction we had these days. He gave me the space I needed, not trying to talk to me anymore and that was totally fine with me. Once we'd finished saddling up Appa and had the supplies on board, we flew off to find somewhere safe to hide from the Fire Nation until Sozin's Comet arrived.