The sky had turned completely dark, and the air's chill was unpleasant and stifling. It was hopeless, completely and utterly hopeless.
It had all started out perfectly, of course. They knew the plan, they had a direction and they were going to stick to their guns come hell or high water. But somewhere along the line, everything had changed and now they were trapped.
Sokka balled his hand into a fist, frustration welling in him as he whirled around to face his companion.
"I cannot believe you got us lost, Zuko! See, this is why I need to hold the map at all times, the minute I let you take it we ended up in the middle of nowhere!"
"It's not my fault!" Zuko snapped. "Your map's faulty, there's too many trees and rocks around here for me to know which ones we've already passed and the map doesn't show all of them!"
"No, you just didn't read it right," Sokka insisted, and Aang sighed.
"Look, I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems right now. Maybe we're closer than we think!"
The two elder boys exchanged a look. Most outsiders would see Aang as being hopelessly naive and idealistic when he should be more worried, but the Airbender's instincts had a history of being closer to right than wrong.
"I don't know," Zuko said. "I think we might have to stay here overnight, it's too dark to see that far in front of us anyway."
"We can use Firebending to light our way," Aang suggested.
"No, because that's stupid," Sokka retorted. "Firebending is stupid, and so are-"
"Ahem! Firebender standing right here," Zuko cut in. Sokka shrugged.
"See?"
"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Zuko glared at him. "Just face it, Sokka, your map got us lost!"
"No, you got us lost!"
They stood there arguing until Aang gave a loud whistle, kicking a large chunk of earth between them.
"I know it's late, and we're tired, and this is all very frustrating. But we're not gonna get through tonight by fighting, so let's just try to get along until then," he said, even though the look on his face also told them he could easily kick both their butts if they annoyed him enough.
"...fine." Sokka sighed. "Sorry, Zuko, I guess I should've looked for a better map."
"And I should've let you hold it," Zuko said. "But we should still stay here until the morning, it's too dangerous to travel even with Firebending to light the way."
After Aang made them an earth tent and Zuko gathered enough leaves to form makeshift pillows, they laid down and slept until the sun rose the next morning.
*
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