VIII Embarkment

Aang awoke with a start the next morning.

At least he thought it was the next morning, it was so hard to tell with no windows. He rubbed his forehead tiredly anyway and looked around. The fire pit in the middle of the room was charred and cold, and the piece of floor that was previously occupied was now empty. The parka that served as Tiao's mattress and blanket was gone and all evidence of her being there had vanished, including her torn rags and her small knapsack.

"Maybe it was all a dream." he said to himself hopefully, remembering the trouble he had had with Katara the night before.

He raised himself up to a sitting position and the blankets that covered him fell over Momo, who was sleeping peacefully on his lap. He didn't remember putting the blankets on himself...or falling asleep for that matter. But he was still too groggy from being awoken so quickly, and as he left the mattress, his blood pressure dropped and he had to sit down again.

Once he had recovered he picked up his robes and parka, and lazily put them one, missing his sleeve several times in the process.

He grabbed his staff and walked out into the corridor. It was quiet. So he took advantage of it and tip-toed out of the palace, avoiding any social confrontations during his mentally slowest part of the day.

He stepped outside the door and sunk into the snow that had fallen during the night. The sun was just beginning to rise, so his vision had to adjust to the still dark village. He walked a few paces before spotting something in the distance, covered by a low built house. He jogged a few more paces and turned a corner. A figure, no more than several metres ahead of him, had a large rope of water curved around their body.

Aang sighed, even through the darkness, the graceful twists and turns were obvious to him.

"Katara." he said just loud enough for the person to hear. The figure turned at the voice and almost immediately directed the water rope right at him, making Aang having to deflect it. When he looked up again, however, the figure was gone. He could only frown to himself as he had to re think whether or not the previous night's events had actually happened.

Aang had returned to the palace only to find that everyone else was stirring. There was no sign of Katara or Tiao, but he had found it best not to think about it.

Pretty soon though a cheerful white haired girl in a blue parka came bounding up the slopes.

"Good morning everyone." she said a little too happily, and everyone glance sideways at each other.

"I don't suppose any of you have seen my knapsack? I need to put this back in there but I can't find it anywhere."

She held up a similar vile to the one that had contained cactus juice. The only difference was that this one was almost empty with only a slight ring of something dark red lingering in the bottom.

Suki walked forward and uncorked it. She didn't even need to put her nose to the mouth to know what it was. The rest of the Gaang could tell this by the way she was laughing.

"Tiao where did you get this?"

But the girl didn't even answer before falling backwards into the snow. As Suki helped her up with an arm hung over her shoulder, the others took the liberty of inspecting the vile. It was Aang who recognised it first, but his reaction was the opposite of what the Kyoshi warrior's was.

"Its Dragon Whisky! Why do you have Dragon Whisky?"

His voice had risen and Sokka and Suki looked at him in amazement. Not only because he knew what it was, but because he had reacted so harshly to it. But Aang quickly realised and shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I didn't sleep much last night."

But Tiao wasn't listening. She was holding her head up with one had as she was supported by Suki with the other. She seemed almost asleep and completely oblivious to what was happening.

"Aang why don't you go get Appa. I'll get Katara and then we can head off."

Aang nodded to Sokka's suggestion and walked off towards the stables. Sokka walked back into the palace and straight to Katara's room. But his sister was already up and closing her door when he got there. She looked well rested, and a small bag that sat at her feet told him she was already packed and ready.

"Wow Katara, you're organised huh?"

"We said we'd go in the morning." she said holding the doorknob until she heard a reassuring click. "Its morning...so lets go."

Sokka knew by her tone that she wasn't in the mood, and he was smart enough to know not to test his theory's about her. So he only shrugged and walked back outside. Katara followed and threw a small leather bag at Tiao, who in her incapacitated state, let it hit her and fall to the ground."

"There it is!" she exclaimed, trying to bend down to pick it up and almost falling on her face in the process.

Once Aang had returned with Appa, they had all lapsed into silence, and that was how they remained during the beginning of their trip. No one dare speak even though Katara seemed to have forgotten the previous night...they knew she hadn't. Even Tiao, as the cold wind whipping against her sobered her up, could sense the intensity between them.

It wasn't until the ghostly shapes of the icebergs on the ocean stopped and the sun was high enough for them to see where they were, did the mood lighten up a bit.

Finally Aang turned from his position on Appa's head and looked at Tiao. "So...you like Dragon Whisky."

Tiao looked up and forced a small smile. "Yea. Its...umm...spicy."

Aang nodded and turned back around. They fell into silence again. This time, Katara broke it.

"So what are you going to do once you get to the Earth Kingdom?" Tiao seemed to really think about how to answer before she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. I haven't been there since I was a child. Who knows how much it has changed. I mean, there could have been a war there and I wouldn't of known about it." Sokka had to hold in a sudden outburst as she continued.

"After my father died, I felt so cut of from the rest of the world."

Aang and Sokka, who hadn't known about this previously, looked at her in surprise. But Suki and Katara just nodded in an understanding way. Sokka looked at Suki accusingly but she only smiled and replied 'girl talk'.

Tiao then removed her parka and folded it next to her. The fur trimming ruffled in the wind, but its weight prevented it from going anywhere.

"Anyway," she started bring back everyone's attention. "that's why I joined the fire nation army."

There was almost certainly a faint thud as everyone's bottom jaw hit the saddle. They all stared at her momentarily before regaining themselves, which was when they realised that they were now ascending. In Aang's surprise, he had yanked at the reigns which Appa had thought as an instruction to rise.

Sokka pulled out his boomerang and nudged Aang in the arm, which incidentally brought him back to reality. He evened out the reigns and went back to paying attention to the sky in front of him. At least now he had thought of more questions to ask here once they had met up with Toph.

Again, thanks to EmiieRoxs for another helpful review. :D

And also to Anti Sora. Keep the love coming guys ^_^