"Hey Katara, watch this!" The young avatar Aang called out to his waterbender friend.
He took out his marbles and made them spin in a circle.
"Double speed! I've been practicing."
"That's great, Aang." Katara said as Aang beamed.
Sokka rolled his eyes. He knew if there was anything Aang loved more than life, it was impressing Katara. He took a bite of his lunch, fish. Katara had cooked it for everyone but Aang didn't eat any because he was a vegetarian. He stuck with the potatoes and nuts Momo had gathered.
Aang grasped Appa's reins tighter against the wind and shivered. It was cold up in the clouds, but he urged Appa to fly higher still, in case Zuko's ship was near.
Aang was now pretty much freezing cold, up so high in those clouds. Katara and Sokka had their winter coats on, and Katara felt bad that Aang didn't have a coat, so she invited Aang to come sit with her under a sleeping bad to keep warm.
"We're high enough now that I doubt any firebenders could spot us." She said kindly, "Sokka will go up front and steer Appa for you."
Aang climbed up next to Katara and wrapped himself in a sleeping bag. He leaned against her so that he wouldn't fall.
"Great." Sokka complained, "I get to steer Appa and freeze to death while you snuggle with your boyfriend."
Katara and Aang's faces grew red.
"Aang traveled a long journey last week to get you those frozen frogs to suck on so you could get better, and you can't even do him a favor and steer Appa while he has a break?" Katara yelled at Sokka, her face growing redder from anger and embarrassment.
All this time they had forgotten that no one was steering Appa. He swerved just below the clouds, just enough for Katara, Aang and Sokka to see their worst nightmare and for their worst nightmare to spot them.
It was Zuko's ship. Aang jumped to his feet and ran to Appa's reins so he could fly him to safety. But It was too late. Zuko was very determined. He had his men shoot a bunch of cannons all at once and before anyone could even blink, Appa had been shot down.
All Aang remembered in that moment was falling fast through air, too fast to even think, blood splattering everywhere. Then he felt the splash. His side painfully hit the water first and then he sunk...
His Avatar powers kicked in and the water began spinning all around sending him and his friends up on a gigantic wave of water. Gasping for air as he broke the surface, he looked around and what he saw frightened him.
They were near shore, and Zuko's men were docking the boat, while the other men readied to capture Aang when he left the water.
"Aang!"
Katara was above water and conscious and she too had noticed the huge problem that lay ahead.
"Aang!" She called again, "How do we get out of the water without being captured? And where's Sokka?"
"He's here." Aang called back, swimming over to Katara with an unconscious Sokka in his arms, and Momo clutching to the top of his head.
Aang was close to tears. "Katara, Katara, Appa is floating over there and he's covered in blood!"
"Oh my gosh." Katara gasped, looking and relising the truth. "I'm so sorry Aang."
"We have to see if he's alright!"
"Wait." said Katara soothingly, taking Aang's hand in hers. "First we have to waterbend ourselves out of here and revive Sokka. Not to mention we have to get past the firebenders first."
"But what about Appa..."
"I know it seems wrong to leave him Aang but he's breathing...look, he's alive and floating, I think to conserve energy... and we can't possibly waterbend while holding a ten ton bison. I'm sorry."
Aang closed his eyes and blinked away his tears. "On the count on three we push toward shore." He directed Katara, getting into his waterbending mode and pushing all other thoughts aside, or at least, trying to.
"One, two...three!"
Both Katara and Aang bended the water at the same time, with all their force, sending them toward shore.
"Here they come!" Katara heard Zuko yell, to ready his men for the capture of the Avatar.
This, Katara thought, was not going to be easy.
And she was right.