*Bee*

Okay, remember what I said about hating running?

Well, now I hate walking, too.

We'd been walking for hours through a desert. As if that wasn't enough to get my blood boiling, everyone looked hopeless. Like we were as good as dead.

I was exhausted. We'd been riding on Appa for, what, five hours? I'd managed to get about thirty minutes of sleep. Then we had to get up and start walking through some sun-baked wasteland.

"This is humiliating," Katara said.

"Do you mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation," her brother said, "or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?"

"Both."

"Sorry, guys," the master of all three elements apologized, a lucky flying lemur on his head, "but Appa gets tired carrying all these people." He stroked the bison's face.

"I wonder how the rest of the troops are," Teo said.

"They're probably on their way to a prison. It seems like my dad just got out, and now he's going back in," Haru said. I wondered what he meant by that.

"I miss Pipsqueak," The Duke said. Poor kid.

"I miss not having blisters on my feet," Sokka said.

I glared at him. "The Duke, want me to carry you?" I asked.

He turned to me and his eyes lit up. I might not be as huge as Pipsqueak, but I was a bit taller than him.

Longshot looked at me, concerned. (You sure you can?)

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied. I was about to collapse, but if it was for that sweet little kid I found three years ago, stealing just to get by, I could deal.

(Really, I can do it if–)

"Longshot, I've got it," I snapped. Everyone but The Duke looked at me like I was crazy.

I ignored them. "C'mon, The Duke," I said, pausing and kneeling.

He ran behind me and scrambled on, his arms around my neck.

I hooked my arms around his legs, stood up, and kept walking.

Everyone still looked so depressed…

"Wanna hear a story?" I found myself asking.

They looked at me like I was insane. Again.

I shrugged as best I could with ninety pounds on my back. "It'd distract you."

They all looked at each other. Well, except Toph. She still just looked mildly surprised. And Longshot. But that's because he was still looking at me, more confused than shocked.

"This isn't gonna be a horror story, is it?" Katara asked.

I chuckled. "With this little guy? No way."

"I'm not little!"

"A gory battle?" Katara asked, not convinced.

I frowned. "No. It's just how I met a couple of the other Freedom Fighters."

"Go right ahead," Katara said.

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, Lady Katara," I said, bowing the best I could.

"Oh!" The Duke said. "Who are you gonna tell about?"

I smiled a little. "Well, first, Granyt." I took a deep breath. "Alright, I was nine. At this point we were just starting to discuss the plans for the hideout. We were living in the forest, but we actually slept on the ground. And, for the record, at this point I'd already started the eye makeup and paint. So I didn't look friendly." I hadn't cut my hair yet, though. But it really didn't make a difference, she was still terrified, so why bother saying that?

"Anyway, 'cause we didn't have any protection from the Fire Nation, or anyone else who might wanna get rid of us, there had to be at least three people on watch at all times. Well, since I was one of the first three to join, a lot of the times I'd be one of them.

"One day I was up in the trees, a bit farther away from camp than usual, when I saw someone. A girl about my age, in tattered green clothes, with messy brown hair in pigtails. The only remarkable thing about her was her necklace. She was wearing a piece of rock on a chain."

"Why?" Sokka interrupted.

I glared. "I'm getting to that. Anyway, she looked exhausted. I followed her for a few minutes, then she sat down next to a tree and hugged her knees to her chest. She looked terrified.

"I swung over to her tree and jumped down in front of her. Which really wasn't the best idea, 'cause she screamed, jumped up, and bent a very large rock in my direction.

"I managed to dodge it and yelled, 'Hey! I'm trying to help!' She didn't throw another one, but she still looked apprehensive. I sighed and said, 'Let me guess. You're alone.' She looked confused and still pretty scared, but nodded. I asked her name. She said, 'Holly.'

"I said it was almost good enough. She looked at me like I was crazy. I said we need something that fit her better. She was still staring, so I explained that everyone where I live has a name that whoever found them thought fit them. I told her my name was Bee.

"She asked where I was from. I said, 'An orphanage of sorts.' She looked nervous. So I said, 'An adult-free orphanage.' That seemed to calm her down a bit. I looked at her, tried to figure out a name. The thing that really stuck out was the necklace. I asked her where she got it. She said she made it. I asked why. She explained she was an earthbender, but sometimes she couldn't find bendable earth. So she made that necklace so, if that was ever the case, she wouldn't be helpless."

Toph looked thoughtful.

"I walked over and held out my hand. She slipped it off and handed it to me. I looked at it closer and said, 'Is this granite?' She nodded. I smiled and said, 'Well, then, that's your new name. Granyt.' She thought for a moment, then said, 'I like it.'

"I got an idea. I grabbed a dagger from my belt and held it above the rock. I looked at her, to see if it was okay. She looked nervous. I said, 'I'm just gonna write something.' She asked what I was gonna write. I said, 'You'll see.' I scratched something into it–"

"Can you really do that?" The Duke asked.

I smiled a bit. "Yeah. My daggers are pretty sharp.

"Anyway, I wrote, "Property of Granyt". I handed it back to her. She looked at it and smiled, then seemed to notice something. She said, 'You spelled Granite wrong.' I shrugged and said, 'I know. It's unique.' She thought for a moment, then said, 'I like it.'"

"How'd you spell it?" Sokka asked.

For once, that didn't bother me. "G-r-a-n-y-t."

"Did you really mean to misspell it?" Katara asked.

I frowned and said, "Yes. Moving on, after that I showed her where we lived and introduced her to everybody, but that's a whole other story. But she's actually been one of my best friends ever since."

(Sweet,) I "heard".

I turned towards him. He was smiling.

I felt my face heat up and glared. "Shut up."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw everyone look at each other. Hey, it's not my fault they can't understand him!

(But, really, you make it sound like you two never fight.)

Alright, I'd give him that. "Fair enough."

I could've sworn I saw Sokka pantomime "crazy".

"So, who's next?" The Duke asked, distracting me.

I only thought for a second before I said, "Jewels.

"This was a year later. We'd started building the hideout, and, thanks to Granyt, we'd actually gotten quite a bit done. One day I was working on some plans with Granyt, Cinnamon, and Honey. Well, Honey was really just trying to keep up, but that's not the point. After a while, Cinnamon poked me. I looked up; she was looking at something behind me. I turned around.

"Longshot was standing there with a girl I'd never seen before. Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, dark skin, kinda pudgy, but pretty. She looked about my age. And kinda nervous. The thing that stuck out about her was kinda like Granyt–a necklace–but this one wasn't a rock, it was a bracelet on a chain."

"A bracelet on a chain?" Sokka interrupted.

I frowned. "Yes, a bracelet on a chain. Moving on! It was really small, a baby bracelet. But it looked expensive. Instead of beads, it had actual jewels.

"That automatically made me kinda defensive. None of us had been all that rich. Some of us had had more money than other, but there was no one with enough money to buy a bracelet with actual jewels. She'd never be able to adapt to living in the trees, stealing to survive. Then I noticed how she was dressed. Her clothes weren't as torn up as ours, but they definitely weren't expensive. Just a plain green and brown tunic and pants the same colors. Besides, if she were rich, wouldn't she have gotten a bigger bracelet?

"I got up and walked over. I said to Longshot, 'You found her?' He nodded and told me it was the Fire Nation. Again. My thoughts? Welcome to the club.

"I asked her name. She said, 'Veronica.' I frowned, turned to Longshot, and said, 'You haven't named her yet?' He shook his head. I said, 'Well, go on. You find 'em, you name 'em.' Yeah, he had no idea what to call her.

"So I rolled my eyes and took over. I tried to think of something that fit. And, again, my eyes went straight to the necklace. And I thought of 'Jewels'.

"Later on she told me about herself. She never knew her parents. The necklace is all she has left of them. She was raised by a fisherman and his wife. That day the Fire Nation had come, destroyed her town, and killed her family. She's actually an earthbender, but she wasn't a great one, 'cause she didn't have anyone to learn from. We're still good friends, but she's closer to Granyt."

"They were nice stories," Katara said. Gasp! Was that a compliment?

"Uh… thanks. But you know they aren't really 'stories', right?"

"What do you mean?" She looked confused in a very cutesy way. Bleh.

I managed not to roll my eyes. "I mean they actually happened. 'Story' implies it's fake."

Now she understood. "Well, I liked them anyway." Geez, why is it so hard for me to hate her?

"So, you still hang out with them?" Teo asked.

"Yeah, why?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, you just don't seem like the type." Wait, what?

I shook my head. "Right."

"You never told me how you met them before," The Duke said in my ear.

"I didn't?" I could've sworn I did.

I felt him shake his head.

All right, at this point my arms were about to fall off.

"Hey, The Duke?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I set you down?"

"Oh! No, go right ahead."

"Thanks," I said, kneeling. He slid off.

"Hey we're here!" Toph said. Perfect timing. "I can feel it!"

"Uh…" Katara said. "I think your feet need their eyes checked."

I finally looked around we were standing on a cliff, the ground rising up again several hundred yards out. There was nothing that even vaguely resembled shelter.

"No," Aang said. "She's right! We are here!"

Sokka looked around and shrugged. I just wanted to see this place.

"Wow!" Toph said. "It's amazing!"

AN - See? See, I'm alive! I just don't update here often! That and I didn't have a computer for several months! Well, expect a flood of updates, people!