Destined Girl

Ch.10: Bato of the Water Tribe

Aang and I followed Sokka, who was running down a steep hill.

"Hold up1" I howled. Aang and I finally caught up with the water tribe warrior. He found something on the ground, it looked like it was the sharp end of a spear. He stared at it.

"Its burnt" he said finally, showing us the scorched weaponry. I took it in my own hands and studied it, Aang looked over my shoulder.

"Well how's about that" I said as I stole a glance at my brother, he grinned.

"Wait," Sokka said. "There was a battle"

I saw Sokka running up to a tree that was scratched by what could be swords. He then pointed down the hill.

"The warriors drove the Fire Nation soldiers down the hill and they retreated" Sokka explained. He soon broke off into a spring, we followed close behind.

"What's going on?" came Katara's confused voice.

"There was a skirmish out here" I told her as we followed Sokka. We stopped when we reached the shoreline.

"Then what?" Aang asked, engaged in Sokka's logical explanation. Sokka bowed his head and his tone of voice changed.

"Nothing," he said sadly. "It ends here"

"Glory," I said as he at the spear. "Must have been some battle"

"Hey look!" Katara hollered. She pointed at something that caught our deepest attention. We ran as fast as we could over to it. Stuck behind a fairly large boulder, was a small ship.

"This ain't an Earth Kingdom ship" I pointed out.

"No," Sokka said as he examined it. "It's a water tribe boat"

"It looks like the one from Dad's fleet" Katara exclaimed. Sokka turned to her.

"It is"

I glanced at the siblings then at my brother. I put a hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"Nice explanation" I told him. He slashed me a grin.

"Dad might be here" Katara said as I removed my hand from Sokka's broad shoulder.

"Dad" he muttered. His smile grew a bit wider in hope. I walked up beside Aang. Katara and Sokka began talking about the probability of their father around.

That night, Aang and I were sitting on Appa's forepaws, leaning back on Appa's coat of fur. We were gazing upon the stars silently, until I broke the stagnant silence.

"Its nice to see our companions happy" I spoke up.

"I agree" he told me. "They have been missing him a lot lately"

"Understandable" I replied. He chuckled slightly, my eyes were still plastered on the bright dots that dotted the sky. The soothing sound of the waves crashing against the shote, I felt a little gust of wind whisper in my hear. My nose took in the smell of the salty sea air and I found myself closing my eyes. That's when I heard a snap of a twif and my eyes shot open. I noticed Sokka get up and take alarm. HE stood up straight as the figure appeared to us.

"Sokka?"

The man had the same shade of skin as Sokka, he had blue eyes and long brown, messy hair. His shoulder seemed to be wrapped in gauze from an injury.

"Bato?" Sokka's voice cracked. Katara was awake an quickly recognized the figure.

"Bto!" she said with glee.

"Who now?" Aang's voice came, half awake. Sokka and Katara hugged their friend.

"Aa,g Saro," Katara introduced. "This is Bato, a friend of our dad's."

I extended my hand as Bato reached and shook it.

"Please to meet you" I said as I shook his hand firmly. "That's my brother, Aang"

"Hey-"

Katara cut Aang off.

"So what are you doing out here?" she asked Bato in a rush. I walked over to Aang. He looked at me as Bato explained everything.

"Is dad here?" Sokka asked. Bato shook his head.

"Your father and the rest of the men left a few weeks ago" Bato explained. Katara and Sokka frowned. I felt bad for them. "Come with me"

Bato put his arms around Sokka and Katara, he looked back and offered us to come. We accepted, following close behind.

As Sokka, Bato and Katara talked, Aang and I began making conversation ourselves, we were talking about my life.

"Sam's a good lad" I said. "Though he doesn't get very good marks"

He cocked an eyebrow.

"Doesn't do great in school" I clarified after I cleared my throat. He nodded in understanding.

"What about Timmy…Tammy…Tommy" Aang as he tried to find the right name. I chuckled.

"Third name," I answered. He smiled and nodded. "Well like I told ya before, Tommy's a bit of a hot head"

He was in a fit of chuckles.

"But I love him," I said. "Brotherly manner"

He only nodded again. My feet stomped into the sand and left footprints that was soon covered up from the wind blowing sand across the barren land. We entered a small village, I looked around. The smell changed from satly air to fruity and other nice scents.

"What smells nice?" Sokka asked. I looked at the old women surrounding fairly large barrels, contained the scent.

"The Abbies create perfume" Bato explained. We came to three abbies.

"Welcome Avatars" they greeted as the bowed in content. We bowed back. "It is such an honor"

"thank you" we both said in unison.

"If you need any help-"

Sokka cut Aang off this time. Aang looked at me and rolled his eyes, I shrugged and gave him a confuse look. We entered a small hut.

"It looks like home!" Katara gasped. There was a fire burning in the middle of the bamboo flooring and was surrounded by animal pelts. Many belongings were hanging to the bamboo walls and something smell like food. Sokka and Katara sat down on the maps around the fire. I crouched down and looked at a pelt, it looked like a bear hide.

"Nothing's home like animal pelts" I said as I glanced up at Aang, who seemed to be creeped out. I got up on my feet. "A bit strange"

He nodded, the three continued talking as Aang and I took a seat. Katara handed both of us a bowl of what seemed to be steamed prunes. I looked at the floating contents , Aang sniffed his and wrinkled his nose, he set it aside as Momo attacked it. I took one bite and set it down, forcing the food down my throat. We sat cross-legged, in silence.

"I'm expecting a report from your father soon" Bato said. "I hope you can stay so if it does arrive you can join me"

"We love too" Sokka said. Aang and I looked at each other, concerned. We got up and made our way to the door. We walked in the still, peaceful night.

"They're thinking about leaving us" Aang said in fear. "Leaving us!"

I put my hand on his shoulder, stopping us from walking.

"They probably won't" I assured him.

"I don't know" Aang replied as we continued to walk towards the beach. "They're great friends"

"Ah,"I said. "If they do leave, it ain't forever"

He gave ma smile. We arrived at where the boat was. Aang airbended himself unto the railing of the ship. I was stomping out the remains of the fire. I looked at the ocean, we were something come up to us. I put my hand on my handle in alarm. A man one what seemed to be an ostrick horse, looked at us as I removed my hand.

"Do you know Bato of the Water Tribe?" the man asked. We both nodded as he pulled a scroll from his cloak.

"Message," he said as he handed it to me. "Please deliver it for me"

We nodded again as the man rode off. I opened the scroll and looked at it.

"What is it?" Aang asked as he heard my gasp. I handed it to him. He looked at it and his eyes bulged wide. "Oh no"

I sighed as he bowed his head.

"We better deliver it" I said. Aang wrinkled his nose in anger as he crumpled it up and slid it into his shirt.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused.

"I can't risk losing them," he told me. I shook my head.

"Bad karma" I told him. "It'll come back around and bite you in the ass"

"Not if they don't find out" he told me. I narrowed my eyes and bowed my head. I turned and began to walk back to the village, leaving Aang there, hoping he would change his mind. I opened the door to the hut and walked inside, the three were still talking. This time about ice dodging.

"What is glory's name's that?" I asked as I took a seat. For the first time in hours, Sokka and Katara talked directly to me.

"It's a test when a boy of 16 proves he's a man by dodging icebergs and glaciers" Sokka said. I nodded.

"You do it yet?" I asked. He sook his head.

"Well I think its time" Bato said to Sokka. Aang came back in shortly after. I shot him an glare which he seemd to ignore. "Tomorrow I will take you ice dodging and your friends will join you"

My jaw dropped slightly, Sokka smiled. That night, Aang and I were huddled in a corner of the hut, our backs faces each other. Bato reunited with Katara and Sokka seemed made me dream of home. My eyes shot open. I looked around me, Aang was hovering above me on his knees,.

"Time to go" he said, softly. I sat up and yawned. We walked out ohf the hut as I slid my sword on my sash. The day was nice, sky was clear revealing its light blue sky. The birds flew and sang, the ocnea seemd to be calm as well. I saw the waves as I felt the ocean spray. I looked at Aang whi looked on. I still felt guilty for knowing Aang was holding the important message and I wanted to come clean. But It's best to stay silent. I heaved a deep sigh. My eyes were halfway open and I still felt sleepy. When we got the small boat out to sea, we awaited orders.

"Aang, Saro take the sail" Sokka ordered us. "Katara take the rudder"

We went to our posts, Sokka waited at the bow. We were head on at the rocks that we would need to dodge. Sokka shouted the orders and responded by following his requiets. Aang and I tugged on the rope leading it to the sail. Bato just watched.

"Send air into the sail!" Sokka shouted.

"Aang!" I shouted at him.

"On it!" he replied. He flicked his wrist and a small gust of air flew into the sail, the boat picked up tremendous speed and it felt as if we were gliding on the water. The feeling felt good, I felt the ocean spray hand the wind howling in my face. I just focused on the sail. My hair flew with the strong gust of wind as I kept my eyes on the ocean, grasping the rope.

"Rudder turn right!"

I saw the rock coming at us at full speed.

"Rudder to the left! Lighten the Sail!"

I let the rope slide against my fingers a bit as I quickly gripped it again. The rock began to move away from us. I smiled at our achievement.

Another 15 minutes passed and we were at the beach once again. I jumped off the boat and Aang and I exchanged high fives. Bato came up to us, he held what looked like paint in a small pottery bowl. He dipped is fingers into it.

"Sokka," Bato began. He set hisfingers on his forehead and made a mark. "Mark of the wise"

Sokka smiled as Bato came up to Katara.

"For Katara," He said making the same action. "The Mark of the brave"

He came up to me.

"For Saro," he said as I felt his cool fingers brush against my skin. "The mark of the trusted"

I gave him a smile, he made his way to Aang and gave him the same mark. I saw him frown, I could see it in his eyes. He wiped the mark off his forehead. He looked at me and I nodded.

"Tell 'em" I mouthed silently. Aang looked at Bato.

"I can't be trusted" Aang began to say in shame. The three looked at him, he slid his hand into his shirt and pulled out the ball of paper. He held it out, his eyes closed in guilt. Sokka snatched it right out of his palm. He opened it at rapid speed. Katara looked over his shoulder, she put a hand to her mouth in shock. Sokka furrowed his eyes at Aang, I could see the anger. I looked at Aang with sad and hurtful eyes, the way he looked made my heart break.

"Why?" Sokka demanded.

"I-" Aang couldn't finish.

"Why did you keep this?" Sokka demanded. Katara just stood there as the raging Sokka marched up to my brother. I quickly stepped in between Sokka and Aang. I put a hand on sokka's chest and gave him a shove.

"Lay off will ya?" I howled at him. Sokka glared at me. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Its alright Saro" Aang's voice said. He walked up to Sokka as I backed away. "I was afraid you would leave me- leave us"

Sokka shook his head and shot him a killing glare, earning one from me myself.

"Well," he stated. "We are!"

He stormed off. He stopped however and glanced over his shoulder.

"Are you coming Katara?" Sokka asked. She looked at the both of us, I stood there, my eyes narrowed. Her eyes were in soft expression than Sokka's. She looked away.

"Yes" she said as Sokka, Katara and Bato walked away. I looked at Aang. I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We ain't alone" I told him. "We got each other"

He gave ma small grin as the others left. We came back to the village to gather our belongings. Aang was tightening the reins on Appa's horns as I gave the friendly beast some last minute hay.

"Ready to take air?" I asked him. He nodded.

"I suppose we should" He told me. "You have the map?"

I showed it to him when he glanced over his shoulder. I handed the parchment to him and airbended myself and settled on Appa's back. I saw Katara, all ready to go, walk up to us.

"Good luck" she told us.

"You too" we said in unison. She walked away.

"So which ways north?" Aang asked, loud enough for Katara to turn around and hear. I pointed in that direction.

"I reckon that way" I said. I studied the map, "Wait, no, that way!"

"Are you sure?" Aang questioned me.

"Hey I'm the one with the map!" I cried.

"You don't even know where north us!" Aang told me.

"You don't either! We're in the same boat boy!" I said.

Aang chuckled a bit at my comeback as Katara turned back around and walked over to Bato and Sokka. Sokka still looked pretty angry at us, but we shrugged it off. They departed as we watched them walk away.

"Glory," I said as my voice lowered. He looked at me, raising a brow. "Never mind"

"Like you said before, we got each other" Aang said. I smiled, he probably knew what I was going to say. An Abby walked up to us. She looked pretty disappointed.

"I reckon we should set off" I said. She nodded.

"That would be best" she said. Aang snapped the reins as Appa slowly walked out of the village.

"I'm an idiot," Aang said as we arrived at the beach. I noticed that he hung his head and I can hear the guilt and sadness in his voice. I frowned upon this and closed my eyes. I shook my head and looked at my right. We were about to take off when the Abby ran back at us.

"Avatars you must leave!" she cried.

"We know! We know!" Aang hollered. "Everyone wants us gone!"

"No a girl with a monster came along with a man with a scar he seemed to track you with a necklace" the women replied.

"Necklace?" Aang asked as he looked at me. I shrugged, confused. His eyes quickly widened. "Katara!"

"All be damned" I said. He hopped off Appa and snapped open his glider.

"Saro climb on" he told me. I got on the back of his glider and hung on. He airbended himself off the ground. We soared the air as I held on tightly, the wind brushed at me as I looked around. We arrived at the village, a big beast was circling around rapidly. The owner of this beast held a whip and two people were sitting behind her. I saw Sokka and Katara on the beast's back as if they were knocked out. Aang flew around as the beast swat his tongue. It nearly hit us.

"What the hell is that?" I asked over the roaring wind in my ears.

"Whatever you do dodge the tongue!" he warned me. "I'll let you off, get Katara and Sokka!"

"On it!" I shouted. He flew over and I jumped off, I drew my sword and landed in front of the beast. A man stood up, he was Zuko, the scarred face boy. He put his hands together and unleashed a full fire blast. I jumped out of the way, I stumbled to the ground, on my back. The beast tired to hit me but I dodged the attacks, I pushed myself off the ground as I picked up my fallen sword. I swung my sword around until it hit the beast's paw. He growled and jumped on his hind legs, sending Sokka and Katara off to the ground. The woman swung her whip around and I slammed my blade against it. The abbies dragged Katara and Sokka away. Aang sent a gust of air at Zuko who flew off the beast and slammed into the ground.

I ran to help Aang as Zuko came up. He scoffed and gave a roar, he came at us with a strike of fire. I swung my sword creating an air shield to deflect the attack. I then stabbed the air sending a direct attack at Zuko. He flew back and I looked at Aang.

"Nicely done" he told me. I smiled. Zuko grumbled and got back up, ready for round two. I got into another attack position but Aang sprang forward and swung his staff, sending air at Zuko. He dodged it with a fire and sent a ball of hear right at us. I swung my sword but the attack was so strong, I flew back and slammed against the wall.

"You are no threat to me" Zuko told me. He turned to Aang. "All I want is him"

Aang's eyes widened as Zuko attacked him. I began to get my strength back as I got on my feet. I picked up my sword. I saw the beast about to attack Aang.

"Aang watch out!" I shouted. Zuko and Aang sent at an attack at the same time. The attacks combined and exploded against each other, sending Aang and Zuko flying in the air and landed on opposite huts on the roofs. "Aang!"

The beast came at me as I prepared an attack. I heard a low growl and I saw Appa hovering above me. Appa attacked the beast as I sprinted towards the rooftop. I airbended myself unto the green roof and ran to my brother. He was beginning to come around. I slid the blade back into my sheath. I knelt on one knee against his side, putting my hand on his knee.

"Aang get up" I ordered as I shook his knee slightly. He began to move as Zuko came at us. He sent an attack as I stomped the roof, and sent an air bust through my mouth and hands. Zuko flew back as I helped my brother up. Aang went at Zuko and swung his arm upwards sending another gust at him. Zuko jumped out of the way and the fight went on.

I helped my brother every way I could as we fought in sync with him. Zuko and Aang were fighting on top of a well which I found impressive as they fought with stepping. Aang dove into the well and Zuko hurled a fire ball that was blocked with a huge spout of water. I smiled as Aang came out of the well, getting soaked with the water, falling on him like rain. I laughed when Zuko landed face down on the ground. The beast was defeated during all of this and we soon took off on Appa before any more harm could come. Aang and I were laughing about our first fight of many as a team.

"Whew!" I howled in laughter. "That gazer you sent was great!"

"You did great yourself" he told me. I blushed a bit. Aang's facial expression changed as he glanced over his shoulder.

"So where do we go?" Aang asked his friends, confused.

"To the North Pole" Sokka answered. I smiled. Aang turned to face us, he swung his arms over the saddle.

"I thought you wanted to see your father" Aang said as his voice cracked. I smirked.

"You're our family too," Sokka said, referring to the both of us.

"Plus you need us and we need you" Katara said. I looked at my brother.

"I wish I could give you a piece of home Katara" Aang said.

"It's alright," Katara admitted.

"Still, a little trinket" he said. He pulled something out of his sleeve. "Something like this?"

She looked in awe as I smiled. She grabbed the necklace.

"My mother's necklace" she said as she tied the choker around her neck. She looked at Aang. "How-"

"Zuko wanted me to give it to you," he said. He grinned widely, his eyes closed.

"Will you give him a kiss next time you see him?" Katara asked in a playful tone.

"Sure thing" Aang replied. Katara leaned forward and kissed his cheek. I saw his blush as he twiddled his thumbs. I couldn't help but chuckle as we soared on.

As a family.

To be continued.