Don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender
"Kanya! Tell us what happened… did he hurt you? How did you get away?" Katara began to bombard her older sister with questions. "Katara calm down" Sokka said, "we all want to know what happened" he finished. Kanya gave him a look of thanks as she pulled out a needle to try to sew up Sokka's pants. "Zuko kidnapped me because he realized I have the powers of the avatar. I travelled with him and his uncle until we got to Omashu. There I saw you all and ran to you before Zuko could stop me. I overheard that he didn't want to be seen because of the girls that were fighting you. The leader is his sister and she is ruthless." Kanya explained slowly as she repaired the pants.
"I'm sorry for not protecting you better" Sokka admitted as he pulled his pants back on. "Me too" Aang piped up from his spot on Appa's head. "It's not your fault guys, and it really wasn't that bad being with Zuko" she admitted sheepishly before turning away from the group.
Kanya had fallen asleep as Appa began a slow decent towards the swamp below. Aang righted his bison before Sokka's raised voice alerted and woke Kanya. "What's going on?" she asked as she turned to see a tornado swirling towards them. Kanya yelped before she leapt over to grab Katara and Sokka. The whirlwind overtook them as Aang and Kanya kept an air bubble surrounding them. As the winds wiped harder Kanya fell to her knees exhausted and Aang soon lost his grip. They went flying through the air and into the swamp below.
Kanya landed several feet away from her companions so she quickly scrambled through the swamp to get to them. "The tornado just disappeared" Aang announced as Kanya emerged from the vegetation. "Well we better start moving" Sokka said as he began to hack through the swamp. "Sokka!" Kanya scolded, "I think we should be nicer to the swamp" Aang put in as Sokka continued to cut the plants.
"Sokka, why won't you listen to us?" Katara asked as she moved forward to grab his arm. "Because I don't plan on getting eaten by the creatures that live in this swamp. We need to find Appa, and we need to find him now." Sokka said as the others began to call out to their lost buddies.
"I don't think we're going to find them, we should try to set up camp" Kanya said as the sun began to dip low. They all sat and began to listen to the sounds of the swamp. A loud screech echoed through the trees making them all jump. "Maybe a fire will make us less jumpy" Sokka suggested as he moved to chop some wood. "I really don't think you should be doing that" Aang said, Kanya nodded "I get a bad feeling every time your blade hits the tree" she put in.
"No, I asked the swamp if I could do this and it said it was fine" Sokka replied as he pretended to make the branch talk.
A little while later they all sat around the fire together. "Does anyone else feel…" Katara paused as she looked around "like we're being watched" she finished as the other scanned their surroundings. "Oh no, we're all alone out here" Kanya said trying to calm the group down. "Except for them" Aang said as glowing eyes materialized all around them. They all grabbed onto each other as the fire began to dwindle.
As the fire wan down to its embers the group had fallen asleep. The swamp began to move around them slowly the winding vines moved towards the four sleeping forms. Aang and Kanya were the first to wake, sensing the vines wrapping around their arms as they had already wrapped around the rest of their bodies. "Sokka! Katara!" Kanya yelped as their eyes sprung open and they were all yanked in opposite directions.
Kanya rolled several feet after the vines flung her and receded back into the swamp. She lay still trying to catch her breath and take in her surroundings. As she stood a branch snapped off to her left, she turned quickly and went to face the sound. Kanya didn't get angry often, she had to stay calm for her younger siblings, but she was fed up and ready to fight whatever was in the swamp. She could see a blue glow in the distance and she charged after it.
"Hey! Stop right there!" she screamed at the figure as she began to run and she realized the shape was of a women. Kanya ran right up to the woman, "who are you?" she demanded. "That's not important right now Avatar Kanya" the figure was a beautiful women with a royal stature and dressings. "H-how do you know who I am?" Kanya asked as she took a step back.
"Word that a second avatar may be in the world is rapidly spreading across the world. I have a message for you Kanya. You must stay strong through all of the hardships you will face, I know it will be your most difficult task but you will see it through to the end. I also have a message you must share with Avatar Aang after he finds an earthbending teacher. You have already met the person who will teach you both firebending. Your teacher hasn't yet developed into the man he will be, so you must wait. You will know in your heart when he is ready to teach you" the women patiently explained as Kanya calmed down.
"But who is he?" Kanya pressed wanting to know who her teacher would be. The women slowly began to step backwards, "he is Prince Zuko, my son" Ursa said as she burst into tiny blue lights that then disappeared into the trees.
Sokka thrashed through the trees trying to shake the image of Yue from his mind. He slipped on a wet patch and tumbled through some vines to land right by Kanya's frozen figure. "Kanya, what are you doing? I've been looking everywhere for you!" Sokka shook his sister until she shoved him back. "Wait… did you hear that?" Kanya asked as her ears perked up. She grabbed her brothers arm and ran through the web of vines to find Katara and Aang.
"Where have you two been?" Sokka demanded as he moved closer towards them. "Running around looking for you" Katara retorted, "I was chasing some girl" Aang interjected.
"What girl?" Kanya asked.
"A girl in a white dress" Aang answered.
"I- I thought I saw mom" Katara said as she looked at Kanya and Sokka.
"I saw a woman who knew I was the Avatar" Kanya admitted.
"We're all just hungry and tired. That's why we saw stuff" Sokka said as he rolled his eyes.
"So you saw something too" Katara interjected.
"I thought I saw Yue, but that doesn't prove anything. I think about her all the time, and you saw mom, someone you miss a lot" Sokka explained
"What about us?" Aang asked.
"Yeah, we both saw people we've never met" Kanya said, "and it led us all to this spot" she finished.
"We're at the center of the swamp, and it's been calling us here!" Aang said excitedly.
"All that's here us a giant tree… nothing magical is happening and no one is after us" Sokka said exasperated.
As Kanya look at the large tree a huge shadowed past over her and large monster made of vines appeared.
The monster, wearing a wooden mask, quickly tried to grab at Sokka. The monster was able to grab him as Katara skated across her frozen water to try to stop him. The monster swatted her away as Kanya moved forward to try to grab Sokka. Her bother was slowing being sucked into the chest of the monster. As Kanya was swatted away Aang moved forward to try to cut through the vines.
Katara ran forward again as the monster was distracted. She froze the vines around Sokka as Kanya blasted a column of water to break Sokka free. Aang went flying through the air as Katara and Kanya gritted their teeth with determination. They began swinging large water slices chopping away at the vines as the monster tried to move forward.
"Hey, there's someone inside bending the vines!" Sokka exclaimed.
Katara fired a blow straight to the face of the monster, snapping the wooden mask in half and revealing the man within. Aang came rushing over, "Why are you trying to kill us? I thought you were calling me to the swamp" Aang accused. "What? I never called you here" the monster man said innocently. "But when we were flying over I could hear the swamp calling too" Kanya said. "They're the Avatars… so weird stuff happens to us a lot" Sokka interrupted. "Avatars? You should all come with me" the man said as they began to walk through the swamp.
"So, who are you?" Katara asked as they moved towards the big tree in the center of the swamp. "I'm Hue, the protector of the swamp" he said, "I went after you all because of his big knife" he said as he gestured towards Sokka.
"See" Sokka started, "nothing mystical he was just protecting his home."
"Oh there's no doubt this swamp is a mystical place. It's sacred." Hue countered. "See this whole swamp
is actually just one tree spread out over miles… branches, spread and sink and take root and then spread some more – one big living organism, just like the entire world."
"The whole world?" Aang asked.
"If you listen hard enough you can hear every living thing breathing together, you can feel everything growing. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree." Hue explained
"So what did our visions mean?" Katara asked.
"The swamp shows many things. People we've lost, loved, that we think are gone or even people we may meet in the future" Hue replied.
Aang and Kanya's faces perked up at the mention of the future.
"Well this is all great, but we still need to find Appa and Momo" Sokka said.
Kanya looked down at the roots of the tree, "I think I know how we can find them" she said.
Aang looked over at her, "everything is connected" he said as he leaned down to touch the roots of the tree. His arrows glowed slightly before he lifted his hand, "we've gotta hurry!" he announced.
The gang ran through the swamp and found Appa being dragged behind to waterbenders. They quickly stopped them and took Appa and Momo from their boat. The two waterbenders talked with Hue as the gang all scrambled on to Appa's back. "Thanks for your help Hue" Aang said as Appa began to hover over the water. "Anytime" Hue said with a smile, "oh wait, take some food with you" Hue grabbed a bag out of the boat and threw it up to Sokka.
"Now let's get out of here please!" Sokka said as Appa slowly flew out of all the vines and trees.