What's up, y'all. It's Goldeath, back with another epic chapter for The Shadowbender! I'm sorry that I've been on hiatus for so long, but I've had so many ideas floating around in my head that it's like a f'ing hurricane up there. Thanks to shadowrose6x for helping me out in that regard. But anyway, I think this one is gonna be pretty long, so get ready, 'cause this chapter explains some stuff. It should've been longer, but I didn't want to keep ya waiting that long (hehe). But it doesn't matter. Here's Desert Tales, people.

Welcome back.

Chapter 9: Desert Tales

"Alright," I said. "Why are we watching Aang raise gophers with his flute again? It ain't the most amazing thing in the world, guys!"

"This is my mini-vacation, Loki," Aang said, smiling. "It's good to do something relaxing, even if it's only for a little while. Don't worry, you'll have your turn."

"That's not what I- oh, forget it," I grumbled. Toph chuckled lightly, and I turned around to glare at her. As usual, she was unfazed as she continued to laugh. I growled. I was not in a good mood.

Aang turned to Katara after he was done with his damn gopher music. "Okay, Katara. Your turn to pick your mini-vacation." He pulled out the map and laid it on the prairie floor. Katara pondered for a moment, looking over the map with a careful eye. Finally, she paused and pointed to a symbol resembling a fountain of water.

"How about the Misty Palms Oasis." she said. "That sounds refreshing, and it's not too far from here."

Aang perked up. "Oh, yeah! I've been there! It's a pristine natural oasis, and since I usually don't use the word 'pristine', that means it's pretty-"

"Dead," I interrupted. Aang looked puzzled, and I blew out a long sigh. "Aang, you haven't been there in over a hundred years. It could have dried up by now."

"Come on, how much could it have changed?"

Ten minutes later, we stood at the entrance of the now run-down oasis. Dust and sand had settled like second skins on the shacks that were spread out across the area. Shady characters lurked everywhere, and in the center, where the giant fountain of water was supposed to be, there was a tiny mound of ice.

Toph shifted her feet a bit and blew out a huge sigh as she started to walk. "Nice choice, Sugar Queen. Nice choice."

Sokka and I chuckled as Katara fumed, but we followed Toph all the same. After looking around a bit, we saw a bar (oddly). It had no sign, and bandaged men were loitering around the entrance.

As we walked up, one of the men stopped us, and smirked at the others. He spat at our feet, as if daring us to get past him. And I was more than happy to oblige. I was next to him before he could even register that I was there, and, making a motion with my hand, the ground swallowed him whole. Toph and Sokka were laughing maniacally and Aang's face was one of pure shock.

"Loki!" Katara scolded. "Bring him up right now!"

I sighed, and (reluctantly) shot him out of the ground and about twenty feet into the air. He landed on a rooftop, which, due to the state it was in, immediately collapsed. Looking around quickly, I pushed the others inside, me following close behind. I was not paying for damage if I could help it.

As we entered the shack, Sokka frowned. "Hey," he asked. "What are we here for anyway? Can't we just move on to Ba Sing Se to get it over with?" It was then he saw the fruity drink on the table. His eyes traveled to the man behind the bar cutting up fruit, and he quickly connected the dots. Sokka started to grin. "But I guess a drink of that fruit stuff first wouldn't be too bad." With that, he rushed over to the bar and ordered six drinks, taking two for himself. Fat ass.

The rest of us sat down, waiting for Sokka's large order to be complete, but I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching us.

"Toph,do you-"

"Yeah, someone's watching us, but as you can see, I can't actually see him." She cracked a small smile.

The sides of my mouth twitched as I tried not to laugh. "Did you just try to make a pun?"

She grinned even wider, and I chuckled quietly to myself. A complete puzzle to me, yet so damn intriguing. That didn't happen often.

It wasn't before long before a man approached our table and sat down. He wore a hat on his head, and wore proffessor's garb as well, the type I've seen in Ba Sing Se 100 years ago, albeit a bit modified. He was dressed strangely for traveling in the desert, but I don't think I could talk.

"Well, my word," he said quietly to himself, looking at Aang. "It's an Air Nomad." He observed Aang closely, even running his hand across his head and measuring it. Sokka and I were just about to have another 'nigga moment' when we were stopped by Katara's menacing glare.

"Um, excuse me? May we help you?" she asked.

The man jumped as if startled, and turned towards the rest of us. "Oh, I'm sorry! So, so sorry! My name is Professor Zhang, Head of Anthropology at Ba Sing Se University. Now tell me, which of the Air Temples do you hail from?" He continued to scrutinize Aang. We were getting really close to that moment right about now.

"Uh, Southern Air Temple. Now could you please tell us what you want?" I could see that even Aang was getting a little ticked off now. Looks like even a... semi-pacifist has his limits.

"No, forget that," Sokka said, forgetting that he was on the verge of one of his moments. "You're a professor, right? Do you have a map on you?"

Zhang was a bit puzzled, but obliged. Pulling out a map, he handed Sokka a map, which he then spread out. He trailed his finger around and his mouth slowly dropped in surprise. "Are you telling me that there's no Fire Nation on this map? Why doesn't anybody have an accurate map?"

Katara leaned forward a bit. "It looks like you've taken a lot of trips through the desert, professor."

"Yes, I have. Finding lost civilizations, ancient artifacts- I've done it all. But I keep coming up short of the crown jewel- Wan Shi Tong's library.

"Wait, you spent years walking though that damned desert just to find some dude's library?" Toph and I said in unison.

"Look here, little lady." Toph's eye twitched at that. "I have traveled everywhere and let me tell you that the library and the information it holds is more valuable than anything else in the world. And I don't think I need to tell you that knowledge... is priceless."

I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Yeah, sounds like good times."

"I think 'desperate times' is more like it," said Toph, shaking her head.

Then a memory came back to me, and my eyes turned completely black. No one seemed to notice as I was thrown bodily down memory lane.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I was in the library, running for my life while Rinca, Scar, and Dhalia scooped up as many tomes as they could. Suddenly a black, winged form flew over us, its black eyes swiveling to look in our direction. It was Wan Shi Tong, He Who Knows 1000 Things, and he was going to kill us if we didn't escape.

"He's gaining on us!" Scar yelled, moving as fast as he could to avoid the great black owl that flew right behind him. I still didn't get that. What spirit in their right mind would turn into an owl of all things? A cheetilla? Sure. A liger? Why not? But an owl? Hell no.

I looked to my left and saw the exit, like the light at the end of that damned tunnel you can never get out of. "Put some more energy into it! We're almost there!" Our muscles stretched and contracted as we made a mad dash for the giant ornate doors. Dhalia jumped over a claw that grabbed for her leg, and Scar dived and rolled out of the way of the owl's sharp beak. With a final burst of speed, we made it out of the library. Scar brought up a rock wall to block the damned owl from getting out, and we all plopped down on the desert sand.

"Tell me," Dhalia started, her sizeable chest heaving for air. "What... the hell... did we just do that for? I'm ready to go down fighting, not getting devoured by a giant owl!"

"Calm down, Dhalia." I pulled out a book and a map of the Light Nation. "This is what we came for. These books," I said, gesturing at the books in each of our bags "were just for us. I mean, come on Dhalia. Aerialism and Acrobatics?" I smiled. "Really?"

Rinca grinned as Scar started to chuckle. Dhalia rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I bet you that Scar took a picture of some nude woman or something."

Scar fumed. "For the last time, I don't do that!"

"Oh, so you run that way now?"

Scar sighed and laid back. "Dhalia, one of these days, your gonna find yourself tied to a spit and I'm gonna be the one who's turning you over a fire."

Dhalia and I busted out laughing as Rinca shook her head. "You wish," she said. "But I don't think you want another scar on your face."

"Loki! You okay?" Toph was leaning over me, a worried look etched onto her face. It now occured to me that she actually cared, if only a little , about what happens to me. I got up off the floor with Aang's help, and I sat down on my chair.

"I'm fine," I reassured her. "No need to get worried, you know." I looked around and saw that the others weren't convinced, not even the professor. "Hey! I'm fine, alright? Now where are we going next?"

"Sokka chose his vacation- the library," Aang said. "Looks like we're going there next, so get your stuff and let's get moving."

In five minutes, we were flying on Appa over the desert sands. Zhang gave Sokka a picture of what the library was supposed to look like, and he pulled out a telescope to find it. My eyes sweeped the desert landscape, searching for even a glimmer of light on marble. You'd think that finding a giant library would be easy, but apparently it isn't.

After what seemed like hours, Toph yelled out. "I see it!" she said excitedly. We all looked out into the desert, hoping to see the magnificent library. But all we saw was sand, and we glared at Toph with narrowed eyes.

"That's what it'll sound like when one of you spots it," she said, grinning. I snorted when she waved her hand in front of her eyes. At least her jokes were getting better. My eyes drifted back out of focus, but then I spotted something in the distance, an object that seemed like a tower.

I tapped Aang to get his attention. "Tell Appa to land over there," I said, pointing to the tower in the distance. He nodded, and Appa began to descend towards the sand.

When we slid off of Appa's saddle, we all looked up at the tall monument... well, excluding Toph. But something wasn't right, and Sokka checked the picture again. His brows were knitted together it concentration, trying to figure out what was wrong. Then it hit him.

"This isn't the whole library," he muttered. "It's buried underground, which is why we're only seeing the highest tower." He sighed. "Now how the hell are we supposed to get in?"

Aang looked up, and his eyes widened. "Hey there's a window up there," he said, pointing to the top of the tower. "We can get into the library that way!" Appa whined and took a step back, and Aang looked at him with sympathy. "It's alright, buddy. I'm never gonna take you underground again."

"Well I'm not going," Toph said, stepping back to Appa.

"What do you have against books?" Katara asked with a dab of irritation in her voice.

"I've held books, Katara, and let me tell ya, they don't exactly do it for me," she replied, eyebrow raised.

Katara blinked, and then blushed, a sheepish expression on her face. "Oh, right. Sorry about that."

"No problem. Call me if you find something I can listen to, 'kay?"

"Are you coming, Loki?" Aang asked, though I bet he already knew what my answer would be. I gave him a simple head shake, then hopped up on Appa.

Sokka wore a puzzled expression. "Why isn't he coming?"

"There's some bad blood between me and this library," I said. "I don't want to hinder you by creating a disturbance."

"But why would you-"

Aang put a hand on Sokka's shoulder. He shook his head, telling him to let the subject go. Sokka sighed, but relented. He took a hook rope from his bag and threw it up to the window. The hook caught on the window sill, and after a few experimental tugs, he started to climb. Pretty soon everyone was up there, but before they descended into the library, Aang turned back to us.

"Take care of Appa," he said. I nodded my head and made a shooing motion, telling him to go inside. Eventually, he went down as well, and it was just me, Toph, and Appa. There was a brief silence as Toph and Appa stared each other down. They looked away, then looked back at each other.

"So... what's up?"

About two hours passed before I suddenly sat up, my breathing erratic. A deathly chill had come over me, and my insides felt numb. It was like turning into a block of ice from the inside out.

And just as soon as it started, it was over. My breath came in ragged gasps, and my eyes trembled as they darted this way and that. That was a bad premonition, and whatever it was, it was gonna happen soon.

I was spared from waiting.

With a deafening roar, sand started to spiral in every direction, the grit efficiently rendering me blind within seconds. I heard Toph wake up, coughing and spitting out sand.

"Loki!" she called frantically. "Come down, I can't see you!"

I hopped down from my perch on Appa's saddle, but as soon as my feet touched the ground, I was blasted into the air, clipping the spire off of the tower. Landing on the other side with a barely discenable thump, I slowly got to my feet, my body straining to keep upright. Suddenly, vibrations shook the sand into a frenzy, and the library's sole tower started to sink into the depths of the desert. Within seconds, a quarter had already disappeared.

"Loki!" Toph called again.

"I'm fine," I said, my voice carrying a hint of strain. "But the library's sinking. The others are still inside, so you have to keep it above ground!"

"On it!" A sharp thud echoed even in the din created by the storm, and the library stopped going under.

I ran back to Appa, and for a second I was frozen in place. Half a dozen Sandbenders appeared out of nowhere and, after bracing themselves, threw weighted steel cables over Appa, pinning him to the ground.

"Aw, hell no!" Sand enveloped my hand as I went through a motion, and a second later, two Sandbenders fell to the crack of my whip.

"Let the bison go before I bury you forever!" I threatened. They didn't move, so I took the initiative and took a step towards them. "I'm giving you one last warning. Let... the bison... go. Now."

"Loki, I need a little help here!" The rumbling started up once again as Toph strained to keep it above the sand.

"I'm somewhat busy over-" Suddenly, my eyes turned black as my swarmed with memories. I felt myself being dragged down into the darkness and I fell to my knees as my legs went numb. "Crap! No, not now!" But a second later, I blacked out for the second time that day, and sand rained around me like raindrops as my whip collapsed on itself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I lay facedown on the cold earth, my body cold to the touch. My breath came out as steam as my eyes faded back to their original colors. To say I was disoriented was an understatement. Slowly, I lifted myself to my feet and looked around.

My friends were scattered all around me, unmoving but breathing. That changed when Scar's body spasmed, and he desperately gasped for air. His uniform was badly singed, but other than the fact that he was embedded in a stone wall, he seemed to be fine.

Coughs wracked his body before he spoke. "Yo, Loki," he called, his voice surprisngly clear and strong. He planted his feet on the ground and with a great amount of force, he pulled himself out of the wall. "D'you know where we are?"

I gave the room we were in a once over. The room was devoid of almost anything of use, save for several beds and a large, circular wooden table. In addition, a wall was missing, probably because of our rough "landing" (if I should even call it that). Walking over to the jagged hole, I poked my head out into the open air, but there was nothing to see. Just... clouds. Then it hit me.

"An Air Temple," I said, half to myself. "I never thought I would ever be in one."

"Nobody does, Loki, and you better shut up unless the next words coming out of your mouth are the ways to cure a migrane!" Dhalia shakily got to her feet, along with everyone else. "Now, can you please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"Yes, I would like to know that as well." A man no older than twenty-five looked around the room. "If you take out the table, it could be our barracks. Including the hole in the wall of course. They always did give us the crapiest things." He sighed deeply.

This man was Alistair, and although he looked young, sometimes you could see the wisdom of a century in his eyes. He was tall, but not outrageously so, and he was well muscled and lean. His uniform was damaged less so than the rest of ours, probably because he used Waterbending to escape the brunt of the explosion.

And with that simple thought, it all came back to me- the War of Twilight, the ambush on our city.

The complete annihilation of every Shadowbender and Lightbender and their nations.

I was overwhelmed with emotion for a split second, then my face returned to its neutral expression. "Odd. I'll-"

"We have company," Rinca whispered, and her head tilted towards the door. We all looked, and there in the doorway stood an Air Nomad, who looke to be about twelve years old. Laugh lines around his eyes were prominent, and even now he seemed to have a bit of a smile. His blue arrow markings stood out in the dark.

"Hello, who are you?" the boy asked.

Loki.

"I'm Loki, and these are my friends," I answered. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have a few extra beds we could sleep in for the night, do ya?"

His eyes lit up. "Of course we do! Just let me check with Monk Gyatso!"

"Hey, kid!" Scar called. "What's your name?

Loki! Loki!

The boy smiled wider. "It's Aang."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Loki, wake up, dammit!" The yelling continued until my eyes were fully opened, my pupils dilating at the sudden sunlight. Wind lashed across my face and grit stung my eyes once again. We were on a boat of some sorts, that much I knew. But in a desert?

I sat up quickly, and immediately lied back down. "How long was I out this time?" I asked. It was then I saw the tears in everyone's eyes, and knowing something was wrong, I repeated the question, more forcefully this time.

Katara sniffled quietly. "A whole day."

"We thought we had lost you," Aang said, the fear evident in his voice. "I thought-"

"Wait." I looked around and my eyes widened. "Where's the professor? And... Appa?"

Toph looked down, as if in shame. "They're gone. Zhang is in the library deep below the ground and Appa... the Sandbenders took Appa."

Then I realized what they had been going through while I was out- Aang's grief for losing Appa, Toph's guilt over the same thing, Katara's exhaustion from trying to hold the team together. Even Sokka, who was now asleep on the deck of this so-called boat, was tense, his sleep uncomfortable and fitful.

I got up and immediately I was hugged by Toph. For a girl, she sure was strong. But then again, I've learned not to underestimate the female race a long, long time ago.

Holding her in my arms, I rocked back and forth, swaying to the motions of the boat. Katara eventually joined us and, after stopping the propulsion of the boat, Aang did, too.

And there we stayed, in the middle of the desert, together.