Chapter Four: Step Right Up!

The breaking of dawn brought with it a storm of motion. The camp's men rushed about, doing morning chores. A roaring fire was built, and a kettle put on. A bright banner decorated with cartoony animals was hung up, flapping in the wind. Food was shoved into cages.

Momo immediately started to gorge himself on the fruit, cramming apples and grapes into his mouth. Appa looked at his bale of hay and sighed. He sure hoped this was only the first course. Obviously these people had no idea how much a bison ate.

"Now, I would not eat all of that at once, if I was in your position."

Momo raised his head to gawk at the animal that had spoken.

A large bird stood on one leg in the next cage, observing Momo with sapphire eyes. It had a cone shaped beak and a brightly colored throat. The rest of its body was a tannish color, like sand.

"My name is Tanya, pleased to meet you."

"Hi," Momo was at a loss for words. The bird was at least as tall as Aang. It was the biggest fowl he had ever laid eyes on. "Say, what exactly are you?" Momo blurted. He hadn't meant for it to sound so rude, it had just come out that way.

Tanya laughed, and then said, "I'm a Giant Digging Grouse. And what manner of creature are you?"

"Me? I'm a lemur, and that over there is Appa, the flying bison," Momo pointed to his friend.

"Well, I'll be a hog monkey's uncle. Did you say a flying bison?"

Momo nodded.

"That is truly amazing!" Tanya exclaimed, "It must be wonderful to fly."

"You mean you can't fly? But you're a bird," Momo was confused. Weren't birds supposed to be able to fly? Did anything make sense here?

"Yes, well, unlike most birds I am unable to lift my mass off of the ground. My wings are too small." She ruffled a pair of stumps on her back, which were supposedly her wings.

"Oh," Momo tried to sound sympathetic, but it was hard to imagine not being able to fly.

Momo returned to his food and began cramming his mouth.

"That is not a very good idea, to eat all of that food at once," Tanya told him.

"Why not?" Momo mumbled around a mouthful of peaches.

"Well, they don't always feed us every day. Sometimes we'll go for a week or more without food," Tanya hung her head, looking thoroughly dejected.

"What!" exclaimed Appa, who had already eaten his meager share of hay, "You can't be serious."

"Ah, but I am," Tanya mournfully informed him.

"Da bird, she true," the rasping voice came from the cage next to Appa's.

All three animals turned to peer at its inhabitant. A red and gold lizard with fiery eyes was staring back. The specimen was long and thin, like a snake. All down its back ran a translucent membrane, sticking up like a sail.

The creature lowered its head and hissed, "They not feed us, not for long time," and saying that it flicked its tongue in a spiteful sort of way and turned its back on them.

"That's Tango, she's a Spike-scaled Lizard," Tanya explained.

"She?" Momo squeaked, looking surprised, "I thought it was a –oh, well, never mind."

The day passed slowly, growing ever hotter under the burning sun. Appa's tongue seemed cemented to the roof of his mouth, his fur was slowly cooking him, and they had only filled his water bowl twice. Momo's ears were drooping so low they almost touched the floor. Normally he didn't mind the heat all that much, but when you were in a metal cage with limited water and had people pointing at you, it was a little less bearable. On the bright side, his human was improving rapidly, and he could now understand phrases such as "Mommy, I want!" and "We should have gone swimming instead."

"Don't worry, Momo," Appa said, ungluing his tongue, "Aang will be hot on our trail by now."

Momo seemed to cheer up slightly at these words. Twitching his tail he said, "Yeah, he should find us within a couple of days!"

In the cage next to Appa's Tango let out a wry laugh. "Doubt he going find you. Not here soon, leave!" she barked.

"Whaddya mean?" Momo asked anxiously.

"She means that we don't stay in one place very long," Tanya said, "and that tomorrow we should be leaving."

At these words both Appa and Momo hung their heads, hopes crushed. How would Aang find them now?