THE SECRET OF ANIMARU ISLAND

Chapter Three: Unwelcome Intruders

"So…uh, Tora? How are you able to change into a tiger and back again? And that little girl, Rini?" Sokka asked curiously as he, Aang, and Katara followed Tora and Sai through the dense forest.

"It's actually very simple, Sokka. We're called animal benders," Tora announced. "We have the ability to morph into any animal of our choosing, and even in our normal forms, we can talk to animals. All animals can talk, but we're the only ones who can understand what they're saying…besides the animals, of course."

"I never heard of animal benders before," Katara reluctantly admitted.

"I have, Katara!" Aang revealed. "Most people think that the animal benders are just legend, those who have heard of them, at least."

"And that's how we prefer to keep it. The only people who knew the truth about our existence are those from the Earth Kingdom, since we live so close to them. In case you're curious about the lack of adults in our village, that's because most of them went off to aid the Earth Kingdom in the ongoing war," Tora explained. "They pose as animals, so their true identities will not be discovered by the Fire Nation. Being the oldest child out of all of us, I was put in charge of the village until our parents return to Animaru Island. That was well over two years ago."

Just then, the group noticed a white winged lemur gliding through the air, with a pear in one of his tiny paws. The lemur landed on Aang's shoulder and offered him the pear.

"Oh, thanks, Momo," Aang admitted as he took the pear from the lemur.

"Actually, I'm not Momo. He's still up in the trees, helping himself to some fruit," the lemur explained. "My name is Saru. It's a great honor to meet you, Aang."

"Saru, aren't you supposed to be helping Oumu gather nuts?" Tora asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, that's right. Sorry, Tora," the lemur apologized with a nervous chuckle before jumping off of Aang's shoulders and gliding further into the forest.

"Hey, Tora, could you teach me animal bending?" Aang asked curiously before taking a bite out of his pear.

"I'm afraid that animal bending is something that cannot be taught, Aang," Tora reluctantly told him. "It's something that you're born with. If animal bending could be taught, then the Avatar Cycle would include our people. From birth, we have the ability to communicate with animals. Between the ages of eight and ten, we're capable of transforming into our first animal form. A year or two down the line, and we're able to change into other animal forms. Even though we're capable of changing into any animal form we choose, we each have one animal we prefer above all others. Like myself, for example…I prefer the tiger. A tiger's quiet, fast, an excellent hunter, and a skilled climber, too."

As they reached an area covered with a variety of fruit trees, Aang, Katara, and Sokka were all amazed by the sight they saw before them. The children they had seen earlier, most of them younger than Aang himself appeared to be, were skillfully climbing the fruit trees, without any assistance from ropes, vines, or even each other. Some of the children carried large empty sacks with them up the trees. Once they had reached branches abundant with pears, melons, or bananas; the children formed a human chain, passing the fruit down the line and placing them carefully into the sacks.

"Oh, wow!" Katara gasped softly as she watched the children in amazement. "They're so agile…"

"We learn how to climb at a young age, around the same time we learn to walk and talk," Tora explained as she looked at Aang. "So, I heard that you originally came here to ride a wild rhino, Aang?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, but there are no real animals here, are they?" Aang asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"No, only the fish in the bay are real, I'm afraid," Tora revealed.

Seeing the disappointed look in Aang's eyes, Tora looked over at Sai. "Hey, Sai, why don't you give the Avatar a ride he'll never forget?" she suggested.

"Certainly, Tora," Sai replied as he stepped away from the others a short distance.

"Why Sai?" Katara asked curiously.

"Besides it being his favorite animal form, Sai is the only one out of all of us here who has been successful with taking on the form of a Komodo rhino," Tora explained. "Since the rhino is such a large beast, it's hard to take on that form, let alone hold onto it. Even I can't do it as well as Sai can. Only a handful of the adult animal benders from our village can accomplish this form, and they're the most experienced…"

Aang was no longer paying attention to what Tora was saying. His eyes were fixed on Sai as he morphed into the large three-horned beast he was hoping to ride.

"What are you waiting for, Aang? Climb on up," the rhino insisted in a deep voice as he knelt down on all fours.

"All right!" Aang shouted enthusiastically as he climbed up on the rhino's back and sat himself down on the beast's shoulders. "Katara, Sokka, you wanna come ride with me?"

"Uh…I'll pass," Sokka declined

"We're just going to watch, okay?" Katara added.

"Okay, guys. Let's go, Sai!" Aang shouted enthusiastically.

"Hold on tight, Aang! I don't plan on holding back!" the rhino cautioned the young airbender before he charged off into the forest, with Aang holding on tightly and screaming ecstatically to his heart's content…

"Why does the captain need to speak with me?" Zuko asked a bit irritably as he followed Iroh down a hall towards the control room of the warship.

"Well, we've been back out at sea for two days now, Prince Zuko, and you haven't given the captain any instructions on where to go," Iroh pointed out.

"Fine, then," Zuko muttered out loud as they entered the control room, where the captain was waiting for them.

"Prince Zuko, we have been heading westward for quite some time. According to my maps, we should be coming upon some islands shortly," the captain explained as he gestured towards some maps, which were all spread out on a table before him. "Would you care to stop at any of these islands to search them for the Avatar?"

"Hmm…" Zuko murmured thoughtfully as he walked towards the large window and gazed out the window in deep thought over his next move. "What about that island, captain?" he asked curiously as he pointed out a large island in the distance.

"This is very odd, Prince Zuko. That island is nowhere on any of our maps," the captain murmured thoughtfully as he studied his maps carefully.

"I don't care, captain. The Avatar has been seen heading in this direction, and it's very likely that he would land there," Zuko pointed out as he turned around to face the captain. "Set a course for that island immediately."

"Right away, Prince Zuko," the captain replied as he approached the steering wheel…

Meanwhile, just a short distance out in the large natural bay of Animaru Island, a large brown seal covered with dark brown tiger stripes broke the surface of the water, with a large fish in its mouth. The seal then waddled down the beach towards a tan horse lying down on all fours, who had two large woven baskets secured over her back, both filled with fish. The horse had a long blonde mane, a long skinny tan tail with a tuft of blonde hair at the tip of it, a white belly, cloven hooves, and long pointed ears tipped with white.

"Gokuin, I think that's enough fish for everyone," the horse pointed out as the seal carefully placed the fish he just caught into one of the two baskets.

"You can never have enough fish, Uma. Besides, we have three extra mouths to feed," the seal pointed out.

"Don't forget that Avatar Aang is a vegetarian, Gokuin. He doesn't eat fish or any kind of meat," the horse explained.

"In that case, there's more fish for me!" the seal admitted matter-of-factly.

The horse just shook her head and nickered softly as the seal started hopping back towards the water. Just as he got into the shallow end of the water, the seal suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked out intently at the water, with his long pointed ears perked up slightly.

"What's wrong, Gokuin? Do you hear something?" the horse asked curiously as she stood up and walked closer to the shoreline.

"I don't hear something, Uma…but I definitely smell something in the air," the seal replied as he sniffed the air. "Smells like…smoke, but not like smoke from burning wood. I think it's from burning coals. Do you smell it, too?"

"Yes, I can smell it…but it's not very strong," the horse agreed as she sniffed the air as well. "That cannot be good, Gokuin. Fire Nation uses coal to fuel their warships!"

Just as the horse finished speaking, there was a black dot that appeared over the water in the far distance.

"It must be Fire Nation. They're the only ones who travel in large black metal ships. What are we gonna do, Uma? Do you think they're heading this way?" the seal asked curiously as he looked up at the horse.

"I don't know for certain…but either way, we should let Tora know about this," the horse pointed out. "If that Fire Navy warship's heading for our island, not only are our lives in jeopardy, but so is the Avatar."

"You go tell Tora about this, Uma. I'll slip into the water and keep an eye on the ship until it's decided what we should do about it," the seal suggested as he looked back at the horse.

"All right, but keep yourself hidden, Gokuin. If the men aboard that ship even have half of a brain, they should know that seals are not native to these waters," the horse cautioned as she turned around and galloped back towards the forest, while the seal slipped into the water…

"So, did you two have fun?" Tora asked curiously as Aang and Sai, who was back in his human form, rejoined her, Katara, and Sokka.

"We sure did!" Aang exclaimed loudly as he shook his head up and down. "That was the best ride I ever had! Thanks a lot, Sai!"

"It was my pleasure, Aang," Sai replied.

"That's good to hear, Aang," Katara openly admitted.

"Hmm…that's an interesting boomerang you have there, Sokka," Tora commented when she noticed the boomerang in Sokka's holster.

"Umm…thanks," Sokka replied.

"Could I take a look at it?" Tora requested.

"Sure, I guess," Sokka replied as he removed his boomerang from the holster and handed it to Tora.

"Hmm…it's very lightweight and made of metal. One of the outer edges is sharpened…very fine craftsmanship," Tora muttered to herself as she looked over the boomerang in her hands.

"Uhh…yeah, I guess so. How do you know all of this?" Sokka asked curiously.

"My father makes weapons for a living," Tora explained. "I understand the work involved in making all sorts of weapons. Before he left with the other adults, my father made some extra weapons for us, in case we ever had to defend the island in their absence."

As Tora spoke, she spotted a large bunch of ripe bananas high up in the trees. "Sokka, would you mind if I give this a throw?" Tora asked curiously.

"No, of course not! Throw away!" Sokka insisted.

Tora held out the boomerang in front of her, aiming for the bunch of bananas. She then brought her arm back and threw the boomerang with all of her might.

"Sai, catch!" Tora shouted as the sharp edge of the boomerang sliced right through the stem that secured the bananas to the tree. Sai quickly ran forward and caught the bananas before they hit the ground.

Tora smiled a bit as she held her hand up high above her head and caught the boomerang. "Thanks for letting me borrow this, Sokka," she admitted with a small smile as she handed the boomerang back to Sokka.

As Tora turned away and headed further into the forest, Sokka's face became flustered yet again. "I'll never polish this boomerang again!" Sokka muttered to himself as he followed Tora, along with Aang and Katara.

"Hey, Katara?" Aang whispered to Katara. "Have you noticed that Sokka's been acting a little weird ever since we met Tora and the other animal benders?"

"It's nothing to worry about, Aang. Sokka's just acting like that because he likes Tora," Katara pointed out.

"But…I like Tora, too, and I'm not acting weird, am I?" Aang asked curiously.

"No, not like that, Aang. I mean that Sokka REALLY likes her," Katara explained.

"Oh…OHH!" Aang slowly realized as he nodded his head.

"Tora! Tora!" a girl's voice shouted.

Upon hearing her name, Tora immediately turned around, along with Sai, Aang, Katara, and Sokka. They saw a tan horse with a blonde mane galloping towards them, with two large woven baskets secured to her back that were filled with fish.

"Uma, what's going on? Where's Gokuin?" Tora questioned as the horse brought herself to a quick stop, panting heavily.

"Fire…Nation…" the horse gasped. "One of their warships…out on the horizon…Gokuin stayed behind…to keep an eye on the ship…"

"Oh, no!" Aang gasped out loud.

"Do you suppose they are after the Avatar, Tora?" Sai asked curiously.

"From what I heard, the Fire Nation has been searching even more relentlessly for the Avatar ever since it was discovered that he had returned," Tora muttered thoughtfully.

"Maybe we should leave now, Tora. That way, the Fire Nation won't find out about you and your people," Aang suggested.

"That wouldn't be best, Aang. Even though the ship is only in the horizon, a telescope would most certainly pick out a flying bison leaving the island from such a distance," Tora pointed out. "I'll go to the shoreline and check things out for myself. Sai, make sure that everyone continues with their tasks. I don't want to worry anyone just yet."

"Yes, Tora…but what will you do if they approach our island?" Sai inquired curiously.

"I have a plan, Sai. The Fire Nation is a bit superstitious, from what I heard. An ill-omened warning from a mystical talking tiger should do the trick," Tora revealed…