Alright, on with chapter 3! Oh! And I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Princess Azula had to admit she missed the royal life. She had to admit that being on that throne made her feel very much in power, even if she had her two annoying comrades and her very stupid brother hanging over her shoulder.

She told herself as she sent out those Dai Li officers to capture the Avatar that she would out-do her father at being the Fire Lord. She would be better than any other Fire Lord the world had ever seen. She would be cruel, vicious, and she would get what she wanted.

And right now, she wanted the Avatar.

She wanted to make sure he was barely alive before sending him to her father. And to get her brother out of her hair, she sent him ahead to "command" the officers into capturing the Avatar. What he didn't know was that she had given the army beforehand instructions to find the young monk, capture him, and bring him to her. In other words: Don't follow any commands of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.

……

The Avatar and his group landed just minutes after taking off from Miss Fay's home. It was too dangerous to fly during the day. At least right now it was too dangerous. They would travel on the ground until they reached the sea and then they would travel the rest of the way to Kyoshi Island.

Because of Aang's back, that day they were going to set up camp and stay there for the day and then tomorrow they would start walking.

As soon as they touched the ground, Toph jumped off of Appa, walked over to a clear spot by the edge of the camp, and made an earth tent; she slammed her door.

"What's wrong with her?" Aang asked, as Sokka and Katara helped him down Appa's back. Katara opened her mouth to say something but stopped. Instead, both the Water Tribe siblings kept quite and just helped him down.

Setting up camp was easy. With all the new people joining their small group they had at least two people on one job. The Earth King and Katara set up the tents, while Aang looked for firewood and Suki and Sokka looked for food.

When everything was all neat and ready it was close to lunch. "Sokka, what kind of food did you find?" Katara asked, sitting herself down on the ground. She sighed and watched all her other "family members" did the same.

"Well…" he trailed off. Sokka and Suki laid down the food bags and everyone saw that they were both full. And when Katara opened them, they were full of berries. "No meat…" Sokka mumbled to himself.

"Wow," Aang said picking up one of the bags. "How did you guys find all of these? I don't know about you but I didn't think Sokka had this kind of food gathering skill. Usually all he can find are…well…nuts."

Katara smiled and Sokka glared. Suki laughed quietly and the Earth King just sat there. "Do you think Toph'll come out soon?" Suki asked, reaching over to pick up a berry out of the bag.

"I'm not sure," Katara replied, looking nervously from Aang and then to the earth tent. "I think she might be to…upset to eat."

They all looked at Aang who, in return, put another berry in his mouth. "What?" he questioned. "Look, I'm trying to remember but I just can't. She shouldn't be upset about that kind of thing. I can't help it. She must be sensitive."

They heard a grunt and heard the earth shake as a pillar rose up from the ground and sent Aang flying. "Ow," he mumbled, rubbing his back.

He walked back over to the group thinking that maybe he should say something nice to Toph or do something to make her feel better. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't remember, but it must make her feel a little depressed. What if Sokka or Katara couldn't remember him? That would be the worst day of Aang's life.

He picked up a handful of berries and walked over to Toph's tent; he knocked on her door. "Go away, Twinkle Toes," Toph said harshly.

"How'd you know it was me?"

Don't answer to Twinkle Toes, it's not manly.

You're the one whose bag matches his belt.

She didn't reply. Instead, she opened up her door by slamming her foot down. "What do you want?" she asked again, her face twisted in anger and maybe just a hint of sadness.

"I thought you might be hungry so…" He held up the berries, a smile spread wide across his face. Toph rolled her eyes and took the berries and mumbled her thanks. "Can I talk to you? You know, about us? About how we met and stuff." Aang asked.

This obviously wasn't what Toph was expecting. Her eyes had widened and her face was flushed. "No—no," she stuttered at the thought of "them" (yuck). "Come on in."

Aang came inside the dark tent and they sat there for a while without talking. "What do you wanna know?" Toph asked.

"That night when we were at your house, what did we talk about? I mean like before we were kidnapped. Could you tell me please?"

She told him of what had happened. How she had explained the way her earthbending worked ("That's amazing," Aang whispered, just like he had that night), of how she wished she could be like them and get to go where ever she wanted. But she could leave her parents. They were all she had, after all.

She told him of how she became the Blind Bandit and how when he had pushed her out of the ring which meant she had lost what should have been her forty-third win.

She explained what happened when they were kidnapped and when they were saved and how she had taken down seven opponents by herself, because she loved fighting and because she must be (from winning against professional earthbenders forty-two times) really, really good at it.

And she told him that she had run away. And when she finally caught up to them, she said that her father said he changed his mind and said she could go.

And when she was finished, Aang sat there dumfounded. She really had a knack of telling stories, he observed. The way she made him feel: like he had actually been there, when she explained all the things he had forgotten.

"Thanks," Aang said, and he turned to leave.

Toph stopped him. "Twinkle Toes," she said her most serious voice. "We have earthbending to work on when we reach Kyoshi and just because you're hurt, don't think those lessons will be any easier."

Aang smiled and nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less," he said, walking out into the sunshine of the beautiful day.

"Good."

……

The next three days were very uneventful. All they did was walk and, well, walk. Aang blabbered onto Appa about all the things he learned, most of them being about Toph. It was almost, as if, Aang was still that goofy kid they had met in the winter.

During the past few months, he had been through a lot: meeting Toph, struggling to learn earthbending, losing Appa, and then at last fight Azula. He had matured a great deal, but now, he seemed just to be, in Toph's opinion, "Old, care-free, Twinkle Toes."

In a way, it made them all very happy, that he was happy. But, also, it made them think: what would happen if he didn't remember enough information to defeat the Fire Lord. He didn't remember all the waterbending he had learned, let alone earthbending. And they still had to find him a firebending teacher whether he could teach himself or not.

On the fourth day of walking, they set up their campsite. They were eating berries for the third time that day; it seemed that was the only thing there was to eat in the forest. But Aang, being his optimistic self, said that they were quite delicious and loved eating them.

"I'm going to get water," Katara declared that night, as she stood up and pulled her water skin over her back. The rest of her group shrugged and she headed off toward a river that she had heard running from the camp.

She pushed the branches out of her path and looked up at the night sky through the trees. Even though she had much to think about, she noticed how beautiful the sky was. How the hundreds and millions of stars danced right above her head.

The river was only a half a mile from the camp. When she reached it she sat down, running her fingers through the element that she knew more about than even herself. It was cold, for being summer, but at the touch it was cool and refreshing, especially after walking in the heat all day long.

She filled her water skin and sat there a while longer, enjoying the peace that hadn't seemed to come to her in a very long time.

And then she heard a sound, a rustle from the leaves. Immediately, she stood up, a whip of water by her side. And then, out of the trees, came a man, dressed in all dark gray and a mask that was blue and very familiar.

"Stay back," she demanded, in a very sturdy voice considering how terrified she really was. "Don't come any step closer."

He had just gone to take a stroll. He had just wanted to get some water. He had left his troops to take a walk he needed to clear his head.

They wouldn't listen. Not any commands that he had yelled did they ever follow. He would say rest and they would continue to walk not saying so much as "we're fine, sir," or "don't worry about us, the Avatar's our first priority."

And now, when he went to the small stream, he just had to run into her, that waterbender. It was a good thing he had put on his mask or he would in a lot worse shape than he was now.

He looked at her, not saying a word. He extended one arm and her water whip jerked forward. He shook his head just before she hit him and pointed toward the water.

She stopped immediately and dropped the water she was controlling. If it had been three months ago, Zuko would have attacked her but…ever since his sickness…he still couldn't decide what to do. So instead, he sat on the sand and motioned for her to sit also.

But she didn't.

She just stared at him. And then, as if realizing something, she ran off. Oh no, he thought, what if the Avatar told her I'm the Blue Spirit!

But the thought quickly went away. If they did come to attack him, the Blue Spirit would be gone, and besides he had over a hundred Dai Lee soldiers in a camp just a mile away, who were all looking for the Avatar and his comrades.

Katara ran.

She didn't know why, though. He had just motioned for her to sit down next to him. But something didn't feel right. She didn't know who that person was but she remembered seeing him on wanted posters just like Aang or herself.

He could be a criminal.

Or he could be like Aang.

It didn't matter. All she knew was that she couldn't trust him, at least not yet. She would go back to her camp, say nothing happened, and she would go to bed, without alarming the other people of her group of the man in the blue mask.

The next day, they were off again. They walked until they reached a very disgusting swamp and Sokka told the rest of the group that they could now fly all the way to Kyoshi Island.

Appa more than agreed. He tackled Sokka and licked him all the way up his face. They loaded everyone onto his back and took off, across the ocean.

They sat there for hours, not talking. Sokka was at the reins guiding Appa, while the rest of the gang was in the back, holding on to Appa's fur.

Toph was the one who broke the silence. "How much longer?" she complained, shifting herself on Appa's back. "Do you know how hot it is up here?"

"I know, I know," Sokka said, wiping his forehead. "We'll be there soon. It's just…Appa's is getting dehydrated. Maybe we should stop somewhere in the ocean"—

"NO!" Toph yelled as Suki laughed. "We are not stopping Appa in the middle of the ocean. Not as long as I'm alive and not swimming."

"Oh come on Toph," Suki said, putting a firm hand on the young blind girl's shoulder. "You did pretty good for your first time."

Toph snorted.

"I don't think we'll need to stop," Aang said pointing ahead toward the front of Appa. "There's Avatar Kyoshi, now."

They all looked ahead and saw the back of the Painted Lady, Avatar Kyoshi. Suki sighed, a pain of guilt stabbing at her side. Sokka smiled as did Katara, Aang, and the Earth King. Toph just sat there looking dead ahead.

They landed the bison and immediately heard cheering. The whole Kyoshi village was out and clapping and screaming for the Avatar's return. One man's mouth foamed up and he fell to the ground (he had done that three times before.)

Everyone else helped the gang off of Appa. The man named Oyaji came forward, greeting the Avatar by shaking his hand and saying, "Nice to have you back, Avatar."

"Thank you," Aang said, withdrawing his hand. "It's good to be back."

The man greeted the rest of the gang and he stopped when he saw the Earth King. "Nice to meet you," the Earth King said, "I'm Kuei." The man smiled and shook his hand saying that it was great that Kuei could be there.

He went to Sokka next, said his helloes and then he reached Suki. At first he didn't recognize her but then, "…Suki?"

Suki eyes went to the ground and off toward the side. Sokka poked her in the side with his elbow and she looked at him before quickly looking back at Oyaji.

She nodded and said, "Yeah, it's me. I just…I'm traveling with the Avatar because…because…can I talk to you in private?"

The man with the very spiky top knot nodded and led her toward a house that the Avatar and his group guessed was probably Oyaji's.

Sokka stood and watched her go. He knew what was going to happen next. And all he could think was: I'm glad she didn't ask me to go with her.

Okay there's another chapter. So review please! Next up…the Runaway!!