Sokka woke up that morning with little on his mind other than food. After a quick yet filling breakfast he went to check on the camp's surroundings. The group had a system in place. He took first watch, Katara took second, and Toph took third, strange as it was to let a blind girl look after the camp during the night.

They had packed their things and kept them nearby just in case they had to flee at a moment's notice. Sokka didn't like the idea of running, but when one had to survive living another day was preferable than an immediate death. So far there was no danger, but Sokka had a nagging feeling that something was wrong. The forest was eerily quiet. Not even the birds were singing. And there was heavy scent of smoke.

To reassure himself that no one was nearby he moved a bit further from the camp to climb a tree. As he reached the top it didn't take long for him realize what was happening.

"Oh no," he muttered, quickly climbing down the tree.

He rushed back to the camp as fast as he could. The forest was burning. If they didn't move now, they would all burn with it.

"Fire! The forest is burning!" Sokka yelled as he climbed up another tree, hoping and expecting that the others could hear him from the camp.

What he didn't expect was that someone else would hear him.

Meng was sleeping high up on a nearby tree when she was roused from her dreams by the yelling. She was still a bit drowsy, but pinpointed the source well enough. She didn't need to look far after all, not when the boy was directly below her. Without a moment to lose she took her weapon, a boomerang, out of her sheath and jumped down onto the boy with a fierce war cry. She had him right where she wanted him.

Sokka was momentarily stunned when he heard that terrible noise. Within moments a girl was on him, grappling him as they fell. She attacked him with her fist first, and then used the boomerang to try and cut him with the edge, clumsily using it as a knife.

"So you're the one who took it!" he yelled.

She was certainly persistent, with Sokka struggling to defend himself as they plummeted to the ground. She even managed to head-butt him, breaking his nose in the process as blood trickled from his nostrils.

As the ground came closer Sokka finally managed to gain the upper hand. In a quick and desperate move he shifted his weight with all his might, putting the girl's body in front of him to cushion his own fall. She struggled but as they hit the dirt her body took the brunt of the impact and they both rolled down a slope, enduring rocks and cuts from twigs along the way until they lost consciousness.

o0o0o0o

Sokka was the first to regain his senses and found that the girl that attacked him was still clinging to him, bruised and completely knocked out. He struggled to free himself since they had lodged themselves in awkward positions between several rocks, but after some time he managed to get free.

He took his boomerang back as a well-earned trophy and scanned his surroundings. Other than few small boulders there was open space all around. How he went from falling from a tree to waking up here was beyond him really. He was just glad he was alive.

"Damn… where am I?" he muttered. "I gotta find Katara and Toph. I hope they're all right."

With uncertainty and fear plaguing his mind he set out back into the surrounding forest at a brisk pace, hoping to find his sister and friend.

o0o0o0o

Meng awoke up to a crushing headache and a shattered body writhing in pain. She could feel the sting of the cuts on her scalp and apart from the unbearable bruises covering her body she was growing increasingly aware that she could feel her leg. Sitting up on her elbows was a painful struggle that only worsened things.

How her friends were able to find her was nothing short of a miracle. She could hear Suki and Foamy call out to her from a distance away. Meng could barely focus her eyes in them when they came near.

"Meng! Meng, what happened!? Spirits, are you okay?" Foamy said, rushing to her side.

"Terrific," she muttered, trying to manage a smile.

"What happened to you? When you didn't return to the camp we tried looking for you!" Suki said, kneeling beside her to check the wounds.

Meng gritted her teeth through the pain. "Got lost… found a tribute climbing a tree… tried to kill him… found myself here. I… I can't remember much after that."

"All right, look, we can't stay here, not with that fire going. Can you walk? Can you stand?" Foamy extended his hand and tried to help Meng up.

"Yeah… I think I-," she muttered, but an excruciating pain from her leg brought her back down, making grind her teeth. "Argh! Oh, my leg, my leg! I… I can't move it!"

"What? How bad is it?" Foamy said.

"I-I don't know, I can't feel anything," Meng whimpered, tears trickling down her cheeks. "Just get me out of here."

Suki looked over the wound. A bit of bone broke the skin and fabric of her pants, blood staining the cotton. They had no supplies on them to treat that kind of wound. Meng was a goner.

Eyes narrowing, Suki gave Foamy a knowing look. With grief he nodded reluctantly, knowing the futility of their friend's survival.

"That wound… It looks bad, Meng," Suki said, her hand going for her fan. "Real bad. I don't know if we have the supplies to treat it."

"So what?" the girl said, looking toward her friend defiantly, "Just get me up and we can go!"

"You'll just slow us down, Meng," Suki muttered, without any hint of compassion. "I'm sorry…"

She quickly unfurled her fan and with one swift cut sliced open her friend's throat. Meng's eyes widened before the life left them. She sank back to the ground, blood coating her neck.

"Spirits be with you, Meng," Foamy said, dipping two fingers into his friend's blood, painting a design over his face. "What now? We gonna go after the guy who did this to her?"

Suki knelt down as well, dabbing her fingers in the blood and painting her lips with it, making her own gruesome design.

She looked off into the distance, noting tracks in the dirt that moved away from the body. "Lets go get him!"

o0o0o0o

"I told you those fans would be bloody! Suki has just scored a kill on Meng by slicing her neck with her fan. Kyoshi herself would be proud."

"And she also used the victim's blood to fix her makeup. That's sooo Kyoshi!"