A/N: Wow, it has been a minute. I was very busy working a bunch of jobs and leadership and friends and school and certifications. I officially finished school a few months ago (I finished early). I started work. With everything that was happening, writing was just something that couldn't be done. I can only do so much and unfortunately everything I was doing was just more important. I understand some are mad about the hair thing. I will not be removing it though because that is the point. I want to explore the different cultures and how they think in this world. This team comes from all over and their traditions are different. Learning about each other is so important especially during and after a war. Aang traveled but it was 100 years ago. Things are different. I hope it explains some of it. Enjoy!

Ch. 4 First Words

The first two days Ky was perfect. He went to each member willingly and was content to sit on Appa as they flew. He slept well and was quiet and happy. Sokka hadn't even complained about him. Then on the third day, it seemed like the honeymoon phase was over. He only liked Katara and would not allow Sokka or Aang to touch or hold him. He cried when they were flying, wanting to crawl around and grab things even after being given things. It seemed like he had been getting used to who he was around and his environment and in two days he had figured out who he liked and where he wanted to be and what he wanted to do. He was up a couple of times throughout the night and only Katara could rock him back to sleep. Katara was exhausted. She loved babies and had helped many new mothers when the men went off to war in the village. However, none were away from their parents for days on end with different environments and schedules every day. Katara and Ky were both exhausted. For the last three nights, Ky fell asleep not because he wanted to, but because he was too tired not to.

When she woke up on the seventh day of Ky first coming to them, her body screamed at her as if it were a month. Ky was an early riser, which Katara credited to his being from the Fire Nation. He had been waking up tired lately and was often needy. She slowly sat up and saw to her surprise, Ky still asleep. Katara stood and stretched before going to the small river they decided to camp at.

She had been working on her healing since learning about the body's energy flow at the North Pole. Burns were different than cuts and she had learned where the injury on the body mattered a lot. She had wanted to learn to fight, but she also had wanted to learn to heal. Unfortunately, the Northern tribe did not allow both. When the people of the Nothern Water Tribe had decided to travel to the South, she had vowed to return to her village. She wanted to transform the Southern Water Tribe into a place for waterbenders to learn and utilize waterbending in its fullest forms. She was a master, but she was far from being ready to teach a whole village, especially ones accustomed to the traditions in the North. She still had lots to learn and study. So, she bended the water out of the river and drew it to her heart. Like the healers showed her in the North, there was no need for a cut or even a living person to track energy pathways in the body. The heart seemed to be the center of all of it from what Katara could tell. At least she could feel the chi the strongest. Depending on where the cut was determined what path to pull from when healing with bending. In fact, one thing she had learned from the healers before she stopped attending was the most basic but important lesson. The heart was not the best to draw from and should be avoided at all costs. Not only was far from where common injuries were, it was also such a vital part of the body that it could put a strain on a person. Yagoda had instructed all of them that it only be used in dire circumstances or when the injury was by the heart. If the injury was by the heart, there was nothing to lose, and it was often still the strongest place to take energy from. There was no good way to redirect energy from other places in the body for an injured heart that didn't hurt more than the heart. Katara spent the next 15 minutes tracing pathways and enjoying the cooling water on her skin. Finally, she looked at the boys and decided they would wake up soon and be hungry.

Starting breakfast without a needy whiny toddler or brother was a nice change of pace. Katara spent the time basking in the silence and double tasking without having a baby on her hip. She fed Appa and Momo and gathered their non-meal belongings together onto Appa. Aang began to stir and Katara made sure to grab his attention as he sat up with one finger to her lips and the other pointed at Ky. Aang nodded and quietly got out of his bed roll and packed it up. He got a bowl and filled it with rice, ignoring the meat. Katara grabbed her portion after, and they ate together in comfortable silence. Sokka had to be shaken awake and protested with a few noises and a nudge with the blunt of his machete. Even with the noise, Ky didn't wake. Sokka was starving as always and ate almost everything left from breakfast. Only Katara's protest that Ky needed some when he woke stopped Sokka. They packed everything up quietly and Katara carefully removed him from her bedroll and cradled him. She climbed onto Appa's saddle and Aang let out a quiet "yip yip" and Appa rose into the air.

Ky slept for another hour before waking up. He seemed to enjoy waking up in Katara's familiar arms and didn't cry. However, once he was up, he was up. After he had eaten, it was harder to keep him entertained. Sokka was sharpening his machete and Aang was focused on driving. So, Katara entertained Ky by making water shapes for him. Usually, water needed to be kept in her pouch, but they were flying over a forest and with trees came water nearby.

"Hey, Aang. Is there a reason we're landing?" Sokka asked. Katara looked and realized they were much lower than before. Aang didn't seem to hear.

"Aang, is there a problem?" Katara said, about ready to shake him. Aang seemed to come to his senses. Appa didn't fly higher though.

"I didn't even notice."

"Why are we still going down?" Sokka asked looking over the edge for something in the trees. Katara looked over and noticed they were getting dangerously close to the trees. It wasn't exactly a forest. There was fog and Katara could feel the humidity and water. It was everywhere.

"I don't know. I know it sounds weird but I think I'm being called."

"Well it is about dinner time. Is it telling you where we can get a meal?" Sokka asked, patting his stomach.

"I think it just wants up to land… It's a swamp!" Aang said. They had visited a lot of different places Katara had never been to. She'd never heard of a swamp before. There was more water present than any of the places they had been to since the Northern Water Tribe. Katara could see better down below, and she couldn't spot any land. All the trees were submerged in water. She had never seen anything like it. It wasn't like an island surrounded by water. The water was just there. She wouldn't mind landing to explore.

"There isn't any land to land on in this 'swamp'," Sokka said confused.

"Bumi said I needed to wait and listen to learn earthbending. Now I'm hearing it. I'm supposed to ignore it?"

"Where is the earth? It's just water and I think there's a better place to practice. Let's get out of here," Sokka said. They were even closer to the ground and Katara could see the water. It didn't seem to end, and it wasn't clear. Katara agreed with Sokka. The place started feeling ominous.

"I don't know, Aang. I'm getting a weird feeling," Katara said. They were getting closer to the ground and Ky had begun to fuss. Momo disappeared into one of the tied down sleeping rolls and Appa gave a groan. Aang looked back at them and seemed to snap out of his daze briefly.

"I guess I'm out numbered. I guess we don't lose anything by not going. Come on Aapa. Yip. Yip," Aang pulled on the reins. Appa began to rise back into the air. Katara felt more settled the higher up they got. They were almost up to the clouds as usual when suddenly a huge, dirty gust of wind Katara didn't even know could exist without Aang's doing appeared. Katara squeezed Ky tighter to her. She wasn't getting a good feeling about this swamp. It began to move toward them and Katara could feel the strong gusts of wind. It picked up trees and debris and all of it was getting into her mouth, nose, and eyes. She opened her eyes to check on Momo who was thankfully still in the bedroll and was now shaking. She blindly reached for a cloth and covered Ky's head against her chest with it to keep the dust out. As she looked up, she saw Sokka leaving the saddle. She moved quickly, making sure to not leave the saddle like him and reached for his hand. However, he was off the saddle and Appa was being pulled into the wind.

"Aang! Sokka! I only have one hand," Katara shouted still holding tightly to Ky. She coughed after yelling, feeling the grime in her throat. Her grip was slipping more and more. Aang looked over and quickly jumped on the saddle and encased all of them in air. It was like a spherical shield and Sokka immediately plummeted into the saddle. Katara sighed with relief. They were inside the spinning, moving wind and they were spinning with it. She checked Ky and saw him smiling. He seemed to love the movement and got a thrill from all of it. It didn't completely surprise her since he loved to move and climb and was easily bored. He was small though and she worried it would have adverse effects on him. The safety didn't last long though. The ball seemed to shrink every second. Then suddenly their protection was gone. Sokka and Aang are thrown roughly from the saddle. Appa was sucked back out of the wind and Katara was left in it by herself clutching onto Ky. She held his head, making sure at least his head wasn't thrown around. The wind moved a little more before slowly dying down and dropping her about 2 feet into the water. Katara immediately began to check Ky over who was still happy as a clam. He began to make babbling noises and smiled up at her. Now she was surrounded by water and what was akin to clouds on the ground. She called out for her brother and Aang and received a loud screech in reply. Katara looked around frantically for the cause of the sound. Then she spotted it; it was a bird. She sighed in relief. It didn't settle her completely because if there was a bird in the swamp that could make such a noise who knew what other creatures were present. The quicker they got out of the swamp, the better. She began to tread the water knowing the others were all in different directions and moving to find at least one would be better than none.

Usually, when she had Ky, she could set him down. They were surrounded with water and the tree roots were uneven for him. So, she had to keep him in her arms, and she was growing tired. She was about to sit and relax against a tree when she saw it. In the distance was the silhouette of a woman about her height, maybe just a bit taller. She moved closer to the girl and saw more details. Was it her? The woman was wearing the custom blue cloth of the women of the Southern water tribe. Her hair was down, and she could see two beads in her hair pulling back hair loopies. Then she spotted it. The beads were blue with a brown, swirling design that made the blue look like waves. It was a design Katara could recognize from anywhere. Her father had gifted the beads to her mother years ago and she remembered watching the way her mom's eyes had sparkled that day and thinking she wanted to find someone who loved her like her parents loved each other someday. It was her mom. This place had called to them and made sure they didn't leave because it had something to give. Perhaps it was only going to give Katara one last conversation with her mother, but one just one word from her mother she never got to say goodbye to or hear goodbye from would be enough. Katara ran and shouted to her mother as she did. However, when she reached out the hand not holding Ky to grasp her mom's shoulder, all she grabbed was the botton of a rotted tree trunk.

What was the purpose of this place? What kind of cruel spirit joke was it to separate everyone from each other than torture her with her mother. Her mother was dead, and she was kidding herself thinking her mother was there. She remembers seeing her mom's burned and mangled body on the floor of their igloo. She'll never forget the few seconds she gazed upon her beautiful mother dead in their own home by the hands of the people who had waged war on the world for year before her father shoved her out of the tent with tearful orders to find Sokka and do something with him for a little while. Before, the war was fairly removed from them. The raids had stopped before she was born, and they only received news from the occasional earth kingdom traders, and they stopped coming a year before her father and the men left. They were most likely taken over by the fire nation. Until her mother died, she had only heard stories about the fire nation. She didn't think the fear and disgust that gripped her when she saw a fire nation ship would ever leave her. The worst was when another ship invaded her village and threatened everyone with words, fire, and physicality. Katara had wondered if Zuko's visit would end in the same sort of destruction. She knew what the fire nation could do, and she still hoped that maybe this place with trees, water, and an eerie feel would have mercy on a world at war. That a place like it could be a place of comfort. It didn't though. Even places with other elements present weren't safe from the war. It was just as cruel as the rest of the world and sought to remind her of it. Her mother was dead, and she couldn't change a thing about it and for the first time in years of holding back to be strong for those around her, she allowed herself to cry and grieve.

A small finger reached up to Katara's face after a bit and touched a tear that had just fallen. She still had Ky in her arms. Katara wiped her eyes and smiled at the boy. He didn't seem to like crying and held the wet finger up to her.

"I'm fine, Ky. I'm just sad about my Mama. Don't worry, I'll make sure to get you back to your Mama as soon as I can. You shouldn't be without her. You're too little," Katara said through fresh tears. She wiped them away with the back of her hand to keep them from falling. Ky just looked at her oblivious and innocent.

"Mama," Ky repeated. Katara laughed a throaty laugh. It was the first word she had ever heard from him.

"Real soon. I promise," Katara said. Ky repeated the word. Katara wasn't sure if Ky knew what it meant but his first word was momentous. She began to move away from the tree that she thought had been her mother when a blur flew past her and splashed into the water getting her and Ky wet. Katara bent the water from them and raised her defenses ready to stop whatever was there. The person emerged from the water. It was Aang. She had never been so happy to see him. A few seconds later, Sokka appeared walking backwards with his machete up.

"I'm not afraid of you. Come out wherever you are! I heard you," Sokka shouted. Katara sighed.

"It was us, Sokka, and we're behind you," Katara said, unimpressed. Sokka spun around and fell into the water by surprise. He came up with a large slug like creature stuck to his elbow, "You've got an elbow leech on you, Sokka."

"Where? Where? Get it off" Sokka shouted spinning around.

"Where do you think?"

"Why do things keep sticking to me? First Omashu now this!" Sokka screeched as he pulled the leech off. Ky seemed to find it hilarious and began to laugh loudly, "Sure laugh at my misery, kid. Everyone does."

"What happened? Why were we all in different places?" Aang asked.

"I don't know. I've been looking for you guys," Sokka said.

"I was chasing some girl," Aang said. Katara frowned. Was he chasing her mom thinking it was her? Had they all seen her mom?

"What girl?" Katara asked almost urgently.

"Some girl next to a flying pig in a fancy dress. She was laughing," Aang said with a confused frown. Katara deflated. He hadn't seen her mom. It was just her.

"This swamp air must be bad if you're seeing things Aang. We need to find Aapa and get out of here."

"I'm still getting that feeling the swamp wants us here guys."

"Sokka's right, Aang. I thought I saw Mom," Katara admitted. Sokka looked at her with sympathy and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know what is happening. It could be the place or the fact we were separated or that we are all hungry and tired. Maybe that's why we all saw stuff," Sokka reasoned.

"You saw someone?"

"I thought I saw Yue. It doesn't mean anything. I think about her all the time, and you think about Mom all the time. It would make sense that they would show up when our minds are all messed up."

"What about my vision? I've never met the girl I saw. All our visions led us to here though. Back together," Aang said, looking around.

"Where are we? The middle of the swamp?" Katara asked. If the swamp had led them to this place, it had to be somewhere significant. Aang turned around and looked up. Katara followed his lead and gasped. It was the biggest tree she had ever seen in her life. It looked like thousands of trees twisted and bound together. They were only standing on one root, but it was so large that it kept them high from the water. However, it wasn't even the biggest root. The one next to them was even bigger. There were no trees in the South. Some of the traders used to bring wood back in the day but she had never seen a tree until she left the south. She knew thought that a tree this size was uncommon even to people used to trees all their life. It was beautiful and mystical.

"Yeah. The heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here," Aang said

"It's just a tree. How many times do I need to tell you? Not everything is a good spiritual sign. Trees can't call anyone. It's just a normal swamp. We need to find Appa and get out of here," Sokka ranted with his arms raised and waving everywhere. Ky who seemed to be finding Sokka's antics funny laughed and threw his arms into the air and yelled nonsense back at Sokka before giggling again. Katara smiled at him and pet his head. This had been his best and calmest day by far since the second day having him. It was a relief especially with everything that was happening to them.

Before Aang or Katara could reply a huge splash was heard and felt by all of them. Katara and the others turned around to be faced with an ugly, giant swamp monster. It was dark pale green like the vines from the swamp and looked to be made from the vines. It had arms and legs and even a huge face made of wood. Katara began to run, holding onto Ky as she did. She needed to put him somewhere safe. A monster chasing them was not ideal for a baby. She found a root that was more hidden and some vines. She turned to see where the monster was and could see it was holding onto a struggling, fighting Sokka. She needed to get over and help quickly. She took the vines and worked quickly to tie Ky to the thin part of the root. She made sure it wasn't too loose for him to get out or too tight to not allow him to move. He sat and looked at her with his big eyes.

"I'm sorry, Ky. I have to go help Sokka. I'll be back for you as soon as I can," Katara kissed the baby on the head goodbye. She turned to go, waterbending the water up to her so she wouldn't need to jump down.

"Mama," Ky called as she took off. Katara didn't have time to correct him. She needed to help the others. She used the water to propel herself to the monster. She shot some water at the arm holding Sokka and managed to make a large hole in the plant. She was about to launch another to take the arm off when she saw the vines extend and the monster heal itself. The monster turned its attention to her. She ran up to it, parting the water as she did to giver herself a good place to plant her feet and prepare her stance to attack. It used the arm not holding Sokka to swat her away before she could even offensively attack it. She fell into the water with a hard impact. She took a second to breath and get her balance. She got back up to see Sokka no longer in its arms. In the few seconds she was down, the monster had begun to essentially start to eat Sokka from its stomach. She saw Aang on the monster's head creating a wind tornado to twist the whole vine body. While it was happening Katara hoped it would be a kind of distraction to whatever kind of monster is attacking. She froze as many of the vines she could around Sokka before sending a huge jet of water to blast Sokka from the monster. With Sokka free, Katara didn't need to worry about where she hit the vine monster. She began a furious cutting attack using a movement she thought would create the fastest most powerful cutting motion to ensure the vines couldn't put itself together.

"There's someone inside the vines. I think he's bending the vines somehow," Sokka shouted at Aang and Katara. Sokka didn't tell them where the man was so Katara picked the most logical place to give one final blow. The face had acted as a sort of shield thus far. Katara hit it and knocked it and most of the head vines from the monster. The man wasn't at the head though and the arms had rejuvenated. An arm shot out and shoved Katara against one of the tree trunks. The impact caught Katara by surprise and took the breath out of her. It didn't last long before the vines let her go and became limp like vines naturally were. Aang had delivered the final blow and expose the man.

"Why did you call us to your swamp if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang shouted at the man. The man was wearing almost no clothing. He had leaves and a bit of cloth covering the most important area of his body for decency. The most she'd seen was a man with his shirt off which she really only saw when she left her village. The cold in the South made walking around causally with anybody part besides the head visible almost impossible. She'd never seen a man so exposed. Briefly she thought she would prefer the man behind the vines. At least if covered all of him.

"Kill you? I don't want to kill no one. And I didn't call you here."

Why would you attack us then? You seemed like you wanted to kill us or is this the swamp people's way of inviting people for tea?" Sokka said throwing his arms in the air. With the immediate threat gone, Katara was itching to get back to Ky, but she could tell it wasn't the time. Everything was too unpredictable, and she didn't feel comfortable letting the man know where Ky was.

"I protect the swamp from folks who want to do harm. I left your friends alone until they started attackin' me."

"We were protecting Sokka. If you didn't call me who did? I heard a voice or something calling me to land hear."

"He's the Avatar," Katara explained gently.

"Stuff like this happens all the time. We didn't hear it either," Sokka said. The man stepped out of the pile of vines and gesture them to follow him. Aang looked at them and shrugged before following. They didn't go far. In fact, the man led them back to the large tree they had all been guided to together.

"The swamp can be a very mysterious place. In fact, I reached enlightenment under this banyan-grove tree. I heard it calling me," The man explained, sitting and touching the tree almost reverently.

"Sure, it seems real chatty," Sokka retorted. The man just looked at him almost sadly.

"Look around. This whole swamp is just the banyan tree spread out over miles. The branches and roots go on and on and sink and rise and intertwined together. It all meets up here as one breathing organism. Just like our whole world." the man explained to the whole group. What Katara thought was hundreds of trees twisted together, was really just one tree. The way the man put it was beautiful. What Katara first thought was a collective bunch of different separate things tangled together was really one thing. One late thing that had different parts that spread in different directions. For her whole life, she had lived in a whole separate world unconnected to any land and lived differently than the rest of the world. As she traveled the world, she had begun to see the influences each culture and land had on the other. The people while different, all had things in common regardless of culture and location.

"I get the one whole thing, but the whole world?"

"Of course. You think you're any different from me or your friends or even this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together in sync. You can even feel everything growing if you stay still long enough. We're all living together on this earth, even if most folks don't act like it especially now. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree. We spread out as we grow but we all come from the same place," the man said. He spoke her thoughts beautifully. For so long, especially after her mother died, she only saw the Fire Nation as the enemy and as faceless adults in army uniforms. Ky had shown her differently. It reminded her they were people and they started as innocent babies. They didn't become evil on their own. The world was cruel, but it didn't start that way. The war had been going on for 100 years. The cruelty was perpetuated not bred. Sokka had struggled to see Ky's innocence, but Katara hadn't, and it had only been because of physical appearances. She loved babies and couldn't resist. If he had been older, would she have hated him or been hesitant with him? It shook her world view. She knew eventually and hoped that the world would come back together like this soon. The Fire Nation had a lot of problems and the people in it had a lot of problems, but Ky gave her hope for the Nation. They didn't come into the world bad. Aang needed to bring balance to the world by defeating the Fire Lord and then working to bring balance and stability to the nation itself. The swamp called to him to show him the importance of bringing the world back to its center. It was his job and destiny as the Avatar and Katara knew he could do it despite his age and immaturity. Katara sat and let the information sink in. The only thing she didn't understand was why it spoke to her and Sokka if it had wanted to speak to Aang.

"But what about our visions?" Katara asked.

"In the swamp, people see visions of those lost, people that were loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp reminds us they're not. We're still connected to those even after their time. Time is an illusion and so is death," the man explained. For a man who dressed the way he did and sometimes spoke the way he did, was very wise. Katara touched her necklace.

"What about my vision? I've never seen the person in mine," Aang said.

"You tell me, Avatar."

"Time is an illusion? So, I will meet her?" Aang questioned. The man nodded and Aang seemed content with the answer.

"Great, we've had our great life lesson but are we forgetting Appa and Momo? And what about the kid? Did we lose the kid? Oh boy we lost the kid. We are going to make some Fire Nation people very unhappy. Come on we need to leave this place," Sokka ranted. He was standing and looking all around with his machete in hand as if he didn't know where to start looking.

"Calm down, Sokka. I put Ky down somewhere safe."

"I think I know how I can find Appa and Momo," Aang said. He put his hand on the trunk of the tree and closes his eyes. He breathes deeply and said, "Everything is connected. Come on we've got to hurry!"

Aang jumps up and begins to head in a seemingly random direction. Katara turns to the man and bows to him.

"Thank you…"

"Huu."

"Thank you, Huu. Sokka, why don't you got that way past four trees and get Ky for me. I don't trust you with the machete and the swamp. We don't need it getting angry again. I'm going to join Aang. I think he might need my waterbending help. Please," Katara pleaded. Sokka grumbled but headed in the direction towards Ky. Katara ran and caught up to Aang on a high branch.

Aang was Infront of more men wearing a little more than Huu but still very little sitting in canoes. Instead of leaves they had all cloth and they were wearing leaf hats. One was singing lowly. Aapa was behind being pulled by the canoes while trapped in a large net. Aang was quick to attack. He used water to split one canoe and blew one of the people off the other. One person stayed on the canoes and was quick to defense.

"Attack," The man shouted. He bent water up into a huge wave to knock them off the branch, but Katara and Aang stopped him. They began to push and pull the water in almost a back-and-forth dance.

"You guys are waterbenders," Katara said around the wave. She thought there were only benders in the Water tribes. She wondered how the swamp waterbenders got to the swamp.

"So are you. That means we're kin!" the man said. Even though Katara knew everything was connected it was still a hard lesson to fully accept and she couldn't help but grimace just a bit. She was already related to Sokka.

"Mama!" a voice called out. Katara instinctively turned her head at the voice. Ky had a trek of tears running down each cheek and was squirming out of Sokka's arms. Huu was beside them. Katara ran and took Ky from Sokka and hugged the boy to her and kissed his cheeks and wiped the tears from his face. Ky gave a small smile and snuggled into Katara's chest.

"I know. I'm so sorry for leaving. You're okay. We're okay. Look we found Appa," Katara said, pointing at the sky bison.

"Appa," Ky repeated in a hourse voice from crying and probably screaming. Katara smiled.

"Let the animals go Due and Tho. They're them pets," Huu said. Appa was let free from the net and Momo out of a bag.

"After all the attacks you all must be hungry especially the small one. Come join us for supper," Huu invited. Everyone agreed even Sokka who was too tempted by food to decline. They don't really have a village, but they have set up a camp on a large root. There were several fires going and a large cookfire with another waterbender stirring a pot. Katara went over and watched how it was done to get some tips for her own cooking. Some meat and food were being cooked over the campfires and Sokka seemed to be eating and joying what looked to be an animal leg. Katara watched Sokka talk to who she thought was Due. Due threw an animal a fish and Sokka followed with a bug. The bug bounced off the animal and it didn't seem happy with the bug.

"What's that boy doin'? Everyone knows catgators don't eat bugs," The waterbender stirring the pot said. Katara smiled and got herself a large bowl she could share with Ky and joined the others at the campfire.

"So, you're a waterbender. From where?" Tho, she believed, said.

"The Southern Water Tribe. It's in the South Pole," Katara explained. She spooned some of the found onto the wood spoon for Ky who had decided not to be picky that night. He was probably too tired to care. It had been a crazy and probably scary day for him.

"Didn't know there were other waterbenders. You got a nice swamp too?"

"There are waterbenders in the North at the North Pole too. I didn't know there were waterbenders not at the Poles. We don't have swamps. The North and South Poles both have water and ice. That's about it."

"No wonder you left. Swamps are better," Tho said simply. Katara couldn't argue. She loved her home, but She enjoyed meeting new people and explore cultures and lands. She was surrounded by water back home but not like the swamp. Though with the dirty water and the visions, she didn't know if she liked the swamp much either.

"See, nothing weird here. Just a bunch of swamp dwellers," Sokka said, waving a giant bug around as he spoke. Katara frowned in disgust.

"What about the visions?"

"We were tired and hungry. I'm eating a bug the size of my head," Sokka said. He took a bite but didn't seem to enjoy it and made a face. The little boy in Katara's lap laughed, causing Katara to giggle.

"What about how I found Appa and Momo?"

"Avatar stuff doesn't count. You do weird stuff all the time. The only thing I don't get is how you got the tornado to suck us in, Huu."

"Tornado. I didn't do no tornado. Ther's no water. I only bend the water in the vines," Huu explained with a shrug.

"That's how you did it? You can bend plants?" Katara asked. She'd never thought of it. They didn't many plants at all back home.

"Of course. You water plants. They have water in them. They're mostly water. That's all you put in them."

"Wow! I'll have to practice that," Katara said. It could help her when there were no bodies of water nearby. Vines in a swamp had to be different though since they were always in water. They might be easier. She could try with other plants though.

"Well, weather is unpredictable," Sokka relented. They thanked the swamp people for feeing them before agreeing to stay the night for safety and fly off in the early morning.

A/N: So, I officially hate writing fight scenes. What we see in five seconds on screen can be pages long to be realistic. I hope I did okay with it, and I hope future scenes don't stop my motivation. I am so happy to have this story be what I finally come back to after my hiatus. I'm still pretty busy. I'm moving and starting up training classes. I also still have a pretty active social life and sometimes I'll plan to write and then end up hanging out with friends. I have already started the next chapter, so I hope to have it up in under a month.