Aang looked out at the barren landscape. They landed in a valley. The mountains to one side hid the ocean, while the others hid everything else. He jumped off of Appa, slowly floating to the ground with Momo on his shoulder. He helped Katara off. Sokka climbed down and sighed.
"Well, here it is!" Aang exclaimed. "The Fire Nation."
"Now what do we do?" Sokka asked.
"Well, I was thinking we can get some kind of disguise, and…" Katara's voice trailed off, as she pointed to the shore. Sitting on some driftwood was a jet black bird. As she stared, it flapped its wings and cawed. On the underside of its wings was a red design, which seemed to be resembling fire.
"What's that?" Sokka asked.
"A bird, of course!" Aang blurted out and rushed towards it.
"Wait!" Katara cried. "It might be a trap!"
Aang still ran toward it. The bird looked at Aang and then took off.
"Great!" Sokka complained, "Now our lunch is gone!"
"Get a hold of yourself, Sokka!" Katara said. "I bet you'll find food somewhere here."
Sokka frowned and took out his boomerang.
"See that mountain over there?" Sokka asked, as Aang and Katara nodded. "If you look off to the right there's a gap in between that mountain and the next. There's smoke over there."
"And?" Aang asked.
"Well, that means whoever is behind those mountains has food."
"And they will be having your dead body soon, if you go there." Katara sighed, and put her hand on Sokka's shoulder. "I can't lose you like I've already lost my mom. You shared that pain, now I don't want to experience it again."
"Yeah, Sokka!" Aang added. "If you're going there we should all go."
"Thanks Aang, for enlightening us." Sokka said sarcastically.
"You're welcome." Aang said with a huge grin on his face.
"How about we explore this place for some food, as long as we promise to keep away from that smoke?" Sokka asked.
"Sure." Aang said. "I can go with Momo, and you can go with your sister."
Everyone agreed and they headed their ways.
Aang went up the mountain opposite the shore on his glider to get a better look. But before doing so, he found Appa some hay and let him eat in the shadow of a hill. As he went up the mountain, he could see Katara and Sokka walk through some tall grasses toward the ocean's mountains. He closed his eyes, and felt the wind beat his face. He thought about how he was "the chosen one", the Avatar. His destiny was to stop this war, but would he fulfill it? Would he master Firebending and challenge the greatest Firebender to get peace?
He finally reached the top of the mountain, and found a flat peak to sit on. He folded his glider and stared at the landscape before him.
In the distance he saw the Fire Nation's capital, and off to where Sokka saw the smoke, he saw a small building, It looked as if it were a cave, but it was black, as if scorched, and had moss growing in places. He also saw the strange bird circle it, and go into a hole in the cave.
Aang sat there, and breathed in the cold morning air. He laid back and soon fell asleep. Momo curled up on his stomach.
A few hours passed, and Aang still sat there snoring. He held his staff with one hand and had the other on Momo.
Suddenly, Momo got up, as he sensed someone near. Before he could turn around to see who was there, a hand grabbed Aang, and pulled him away from his cozy seat.