Not much of an intro today except a quote:

Miya: Man I have a killer headache, what happened last night?

Lilly: Oh, Jane said something about Ane going to a mental institution and in the process of Ane coming forth with a rebuttal; you were hit in the head with her typewriter case.

-Pomegranate

Yue's eyes dissolved into tears as a second figure ran by. "Sokka?"

The scrawnier figure stopped in his tracks and turned, eyes wide open in shock. "Yue!"

"Is that really you Sokka!" Yue flung herself into the warm and familiar arms, suddenly falling apart. "I've missed you so much!"

On the other hand, the boy was more in shock than anything else; he stroked the girl's short, red hair with his shaking, calloused hands, pulling Yue into an embrace. "How are you here? You…died."

Yue sniffled, "Apparently, the Spirits have other ideas for what's in store for me. Why are you fighting Azula?"

"Azula? The Fire Nation Princess? Oh, she's been tracking us in that machine and Appa got hurt. Aang got mad so we're fighting, again." He sighed and breathed in Yue's scent, picking up a slightly masculine tone he hadn't detected before. "How did you find us?"

"I…ahhh…had some help."

"From who?"

"Umm…Zuko?"

"ZUKO?" Sokka gripped the girl by the shoulders, "Don't you know who he is!"

"Of course I do," Yue shook herself from the grip upon her shoulders, "I'm not stupid; I just needed a guide to find Aang." She considered Sokka's expression: a mix of disgust and concern, but then again, she had never really understood his relationship with Zuko.

"But you shouldn't be traveling with someone you can't defend yourself from! Much less a firebending prince; he must've had instruction since he was four!"

"I can defend myself!" Yue's demeanor changed, "You think that because I'm a Princess I'm weak and helpless!"

"No! I mean that even Katara loses to him, and she's a good bender. Most people don't even have a chance!" Sokka sighed and attempted to pull the girl closer to him, "Look, Yue…lets go help Katara and Aang, okay?"

The redhead nodded and both teens took off running towards the dust clouds that were sweeping over the deserted town. Sokka's head was swimming, why wasn't Yue being…Yue? And why was she even still alive? Maybe all those months of being dead had changed her, but maybe she was just acting cranky, like Katara was for a week out of every single month.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Yue was knocked backwards by a figure flying out of the dust.

Sokka slammed to a stop and pulled Yue up, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but…" she pointed a wavering hand at the other girl lifting herself from the ground, "Suki are you all right?"

"I guess," the warrior growled, lifting her shoulders and snapping her head to the right to hear a great cracking emerge from said joints. "Sokka? You know Tsuki?"

"Who's Tsuki?" the boy wondered, "That's Yue."

"Yue?" Suki sent a doubtful look at him, "No…" she turned to the redhead in question, "What in Spirits' names is going on here!"

Yue hesitated, "We…we need to go help Aang," she turned and hurried into the clouds of dust, disappearing from sight, and once she was tucked safely from view behind a collapsed wall, she curled up and began to sob silently. Why, just when her life had become so much simpler, did it have to become complicated again? She bit the soft cloth of her inner, lighter dress; why did Sokka have to act this way? Why couldn't he just go along with what Suki was telling him?

Or maybe this was just a bad time of the month; she had felt a little cranky all day. The girl sighed and immediately regretted it as she started to cough up the thick dust. Maybe Sokka was right-- she was too weak to be traveling with Zuko, but then again, maybe she was strong enough to defend herself from the hotheaded prince. Yue opened her canteen of water and bent a little down her throat, covering up her mouth directly after to keep any dust from reentering.

"Well, I am impressed," Azula growled, covering her face with one of her sleeves, "I expected the Avatar and a waterbender, but this is unreal." She raised one eyebrow at the sight of so many opponents; most of them were easy targets alone, but when they were all together at once…she would be having a more difficult time eliminating them. "Avatar, waterbender, Kyoshian Warrior, earthbender, and two firebenders. Oh yes, I am very impressed."

Toph and Iroh had returned not five minutes ago, and since then, the tides had changed. Now it was Azula on the defense instead of offence, just trying to avoid the multiple attacks.

"What? I'm not important enough to even be listed?" Sokka whined, "I'll have you know, among my people I'm considered a very powerful warrior!"

Azula rolled her eyes, tilting her head slightly as she did so and picking up a very sudden movement from behind, "What the-"

"You shouldn't talk so much highness," Yue growled, pinning the girl's arms behind her head, "It leaves you exposed."

"Whatever." A blistering heat built up inside the firebender, but because her arms were bent towards the sky, only a show of fireworks was released. "Girl, you are seriously pissing me off right now, so I am ordering you to let go of me!"

Yue grinned, unseen by the other girl, "Order…me? We are not so different then." She shifted her stance; the canteen around her waist was still open, and as she pushed the Fire Nation Princess,she pulled out all of her remaining water and bent it into ice shards heading directly for Azula's eyes.

She ducked, just barely managing to spare her eyes from being burst, but one of the shards ripped a bloody scar that cut along her cheekbone from the outer tip of her right eye to her hairline. "You…scarred me?" Azula's eyes contorted to pure fury and flames began to leak out of her mouth, "FOR THAT YOU WILL DIE!" She spewed flame out as she screamed.

Had Yue's hair been its original length, she surely would have caught fire, but instead, the girl weaved out of the anger-induced burst easily.

"PRINCESS AZULA!" Iroh roared, sparing Yue from a very fiery death, "You are outnumbered and will surely die if you continue to attack!"

Azula lowered her arms and backed away so that she could see the entire group that she been fighting, "I suppose you are right," she held her hands above her head, "So I will go about my way if you-"

"UNCLE!"

Zuko watched in horro as a slyly fired flame sped toward Iroh, moving so fast that even the Dragon of the West couldn't stop it. He let out a yell as he unleashed his own attack on his sister, not noticing the other three who were doing the same: Katara with her waterbending, Toph with her earthbending, and Aang with his airbending. He poured his eternal hatred for his sister into the attack, fighting back a snarl as Azula created a shield for herself and then vanished.

"He's the guy who acts like me?" Toph muttered; her blank eyes stared forwards as she sensed the vibrations of the heavy, desperate footsteps belonging to Zuko, as he ran to the elder man's side.

"How could she knock you unconscious uncle?" Zuko whispered, glancing out of the side of his eye as the Avatar's friends began to come closer, "GET BACK!" he threw a wave of fire at the encroachers.

Toph looked conflicted, and winced at the familiar voice that was moaning.

&&

The young girl kicked at the ground, sending a wave of rock and dirt through the forest, "Stupid Katara, stupid flying bison, stupid everything," she growled. Toph stopped suddenly, feeling the heavy plod of an older person ahead. She stuck her chin high and kept walking.

It wasn't long before she caught up with the old man, but he seemed to be walking briskly for his age, and he was singing. Something about the seasons and four loves, but that was a song that everyone knew, an old ballad.

"Excuse me young lady, would you mind helping me with my pack?" he asked in a slightly whimpering voice, "I don't need much help, just enough to get me to the next mountain," he pointed ahead, "It's about a mile," he added.

"Fine," she reached her hands out and nearly fell over taking the insanely heavy pack, "Agh! What do you keep in this thing?"

"Tea, lots and lots of tea. What is your favorite flavor miss?"

Toph shouldered the pack with a little difficulty, "I guess I like Mint."

"Ah, a good choice. A light delicate flavor that is terrific during the summer months." The old man smiled broadly, "Though I think you would enjoy Jasmine as well."

"Sure, whatever," Toph rolled her milky-white eyes as they plodded onwards, listening to the old man babble on about the similarities of Mint and Jasmine tea, adding in the subtle delicacies of Chamomile. Still, it was more fun than arguing with Katara, who always had to be right.

"-so you agree then, White tea is best for health?"

"Yeah..."

"Well then, I will stop here. Would you care to join me for some tea?"

Toph shrugged, "I don't have anything better to do." She carefully set down the heavy pack, "Are you sure that that thing's only filled with tea?"

"And the makings of tea, I have to bring the water and the kettle as well, and a back-up kettle in case the first breaks."

"Makes sense," she bent two seats and a platform for the tea from the ground, making sure they were flat. "So what kind are we having?"

The old man placed two sticks on the ground and leaned over to light them, "I was thinking a nice herbal tea, Echinacea perhaps. "And the trick to an absolutely delicious cup of tea is…" he peered around the deserted forestfor any person who might be out to steal his secrets, "…dried fruits!"

The earthbender held back a snicker as the kettle of water was placed over the fire, "It's hot enough already?"

"I have a secret with getting water to boil," the old man laughed as he measured out some dried leaves into two cups, followed by a slice of dried orange.

"What's an old man like you doing out here?"

"Looking." He sighed, smiled, and prodded the fire, "Ah, the water's boiling."

"Maybe you do have a way with water…are you a waterbender?"

"Similar to, but different from." He poured the boiling water into both prepared cups. "Here."

Toph growled, "Do you think I can't take care of myself? Because I'm blind I can't pour my own tea?"

"Why would I think that?" the old man wondered, pulling on his beard, "I simply poured it for you because I wanted to, no other reason." The girl stared at her tea doubtfully. "You know, you sound like my nephew, always thinking you need to do things by yourself, on your own, and without anyone's support. There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you help you. Not that I love you, I just met you."

She laughed, that sounded exactly like her, but it was nice to know that it wasn't just her that thought that way. "So where is your nephew?"

"I've been tracking him actually."

"Is he lost?"

The old man began to laugh, "Yes. A little bit. His life has recently changed and he's going through difficult times," his eyes softened a little bit, "He's trying to figure out who he is and went away."

"So…now you're following him."

"I know that he doesn't want me around right now, but if he needs me, I'll be there."

Toph smiled again and drank in the tea, "You're right, the dried fruit does make it better."

&&

"LEAVE!" Zuko yelled again, throwing another burst of fire out. Toph sighed, but followed the others out of the deserted town.

They had left behind the town for the forest, and the group was larger than it had ever been! Appa stared at the group with a doubtful eye, instead of three, or even four, here were six! Toph had returned, and Yue and Suki were joining up now. They were going to have trouble scraping food together, and Katara was considering diving up the team so that half would go by water and half would go by air, in order to lessen the load.

"Long day," Suki growled, staring into the fire, "I don't think I've gotten a full night's rest in a year."

"Well, maybe we'll be able to sleep in tomorrow," Yue sighed, "I never got this little sleep ever before in my life." She stood and headed over towards Appa, missing her cloak that had been left behind on the ostrich horse. "Mind being my pillow tonight buddy?" she yawned, lying between the bison's first two feet.

Okay, a little tough starting out, but it fell into order. Shorter than last week, but oh well. Next update Monday! Wish me luck in a Myrtle Beach tournament! Please Review!

-Aod