Last of Our Kind
I am so sorry for the hiatus. I was on vacation and then I had writer's block and then school started back up and I had to go through the hassle of moving my stuff into the dorm. And now I'm back in class and have a ton of work to do. This semester I'm taking Cultural Anthropology, Roman History, Greek Art and Archaeology, and Sex and Culture.
I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
"'Spirit!' said Scrooge in a broken voice, 'remove me from this place.' 'I told you these were the shadows of the things that have been,' said the Ghost. 'That they are what they are, do not blame me.'"
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Shadows of the Past, Present, and Future
At a small Earth Kingdom town, an old man and a teenage boy sat beside the road with and ostrich-horse sleeping behind them. Zuko and Iroh had been travelling for about two weeks now; they had no food and no money left to live on and had been reduced to begging. Iroh was much more comfortable asking strangers for spare change, sitting there with his hat upturned on his lap to receive any coins, than Zuko was; as a matter of fact, Zuko found the whole predicament incredibly degrading.
"Spare coins for weary travelers?" Iroh recited for about the fifteenth time that day. A passerby threw in a couple coins before continuing on.
"This is humiliating," Zuko snapped at his uncle. "We're royalty. These people should be giving us whatever we want."
"They will if you ask nicely." A pretty young woman passed and Iroh made himself look as pitiable as possible. "Spare change for a hungry old man?"
The woman smiled and tossed a coin into his hat.
"Here you go," she said.
"The coin is appreciated," said Iroh warmly, "But not as much as your smile."
The woman giggled and continued on her way. Moments later a man with a set of dual swords strapped to his back stopped in front of them.
"How about some entertainment in exchange for…a gold piece?" he said.
"We're not performers," Zuko replied sullenly.
"Not professional, anyway," Iroh added, setting down his hat and standing up. He then began to sing:
"It's a long, long way
To Ba Sing Se,
But the girls in the city
They look so pretty…"
"Come on, we're talking a gold piece here," the man said, drawing his swords. "Let's see some action. Dance." He started swinging the blades at Iroh's feet, forcing him to dance as he continued his song.
"And they kiss so sweet
That you really have to meet
The girls from Ba Sing Se."
The man burst out laughing and Zuko fought back the urge to throttle him. It was bad enough they had to beg, now his uncle had been made to dance around and sing like a buffoon.
"Nothing like a fat man dancing for his dinner," the man said. "Here ya go." He tossed the gold coin at Iroh's feet and sheathed his swords as he walked on.
"Such a kind man," Iroh said as he sat back down.
Zuko simply glared after the man, plans forming in his head. There had to be a better way to get money than by humiliating themselves.
The Gaang was flying through the sky; it was a bit dark and gloomy as they soared over a murky swamp. It had been a while since they had left Omashu, but they hadn't had any luck finding Aang an Earthbending teacher. At the few towns where they had stopped, most of the Earthbenders were either too old or too young, and most of the older ones weren't even masters; the rest of the Earthbenders had gone to fight in the war. Katara tried to keep everyone's spirits up, as usual, while Sokka and Wenona kept bringing them back down with their sarcastic comments and pessimism, as usual.
Currently, everyone was in his or her separate space. Aang was steering Appa, Sokka was sharpening one of his knives, Katara and Yue were reviewing some Waterbending scrolls, Keng was mending a tear in one of his spare shirts, and Wenona was looking over the edge of the saddle, staring down at the swamp as they slowly got closer, and closer.
"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka said to Aang. "Aang!"
"Huh?" Aang replied, shaking himself out of his stupor.
"Why are we going down?"
"What? I didn't even notice."
"Are you noticing now?"
"Is something wrong?" Katara asked as she and Yue scooted over to them.
"I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is…calling to me," Aang said.
"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka replied.
"No…I think it wants us to land there."
"No offence to the swamp but I don't see land there to land on."
"I don't know. Bumi said to learn Earthbending I would have to wait and listen. And now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"
Sokka looked over the side of the saddle and said, "Yes."
"It does seem a bit eerie," said Yue. "Maybe we should keep flying."
"There is something ominous about that place," Katara added.
Momo and Appa made nervous sounds.
"See? Even Appa and Momo don't like it here," said Sokka.
"Keng?" Aang asked. "What do you think?"
Keng looked over the saddle at the swamp. Like Aang, he sensed some strange presence there that seemed to beckon to him.
"Maybe we should land," he said. "Perhaps whatever's down there could help us?"
"Or we could get eaten by a giant spirit monster," Sokka retorted sourly.
"Nona, what's your say?" Aang said.
"Huh?" Wenona replied as she shook herself from her own stupor. Like Aang, she had become momentarily enthralled by a force emanating from the swamp below.
"Do you think we should land?"
"I don't know. Perhaps we should, just to see if there's something down there?"
"No," Sokka protested. "No, no, no."
"Maybe we should take a vote?" Katara suggested. "All those in favor of landing in the swamp?"
Aang, Keng, and Wenona all raised their hands.
"All those in favor of leaving?"
She, Sokka, and Yue all raised their hands with Appa and Momo offering noises that sounded like agreement.
"Looks like we've been outvoted," said Keng.
"Okay, since most everyone feels so strongly about this…bye, swamp," said Aang, steering Appa away. "Yip-yip!"
Suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard behind them. The passengers in the saddle turned around to look and were terrified to see a huge tornado coming right towards them.
"You better throw in an extra 'yip'!" Sokka shouted. "We gotta move!"
As Aang frantically tried to steer Appa out of danger, the tornado just seemed to mimic their movements, finally catching them in its grip. Aang Bent a ball of air around them to try and keep them safe, but they were still thrown around and around in the tornado's wake, draining Aang's energy and causing the air-ball to rupture. Soon, they all found themselves crashing into the swamp below.
The members of the Gaang who had landed in the water stood up and rubbed the slight bruises and sore spots they'd gotten from the fall.
"Uh, excuse me!" an irritated voice called from above. Everyone looked up and saw Wenona caught in some of the vines. "A little help would be welcome if it's not too much trouble!"
Aang Airbent himself up and got Wenona free from the vines, carrying her safely back to the ground. Once they landed, Aang looked around and noticed they were missing some members of their group.
"Where're Appa and Momo?" he said.
He then darted back up the trees to get a better view of the swamp around them.
"Appa! Momo!"
Meanwhile, down below, the Water Tribe teens were still sorting themselves out after their fall.
"Are you okay, Keng?" Katara said as she fussed over a few scratches he'd gotten.
"I'm fine, sis," he assured her.
"Sokka, you've got an elbow-leach," Wenona announced.
"Where?! Where?!" he screamed frantically.
"Where do you think, Meat-Head?"
Sokka lifted up his arm and saw the huge, hideous parasite and yanked it off, throwing it off into the water.
"Why do things keep attaching to me?!"
"Maybe they just like you, Sweetie," Yue said fondly, patting her boyfriend on the shoulder.
Aang swung down to them on one of the vines.
"You couldn't find them?" said Katara.
"No," he replied. "And the tornado…it just disappeared."
The Gaang nervously looked on into the swamp ahead of them. How on earth were they going to get out of there? Sokka took the lead and began to slash at the vines in front of them.
"We'd better speed things up!" he declared.
"Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp," Aang suggested.
"Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say 'please' and 'thank you' as I swing my machete back and forth?"
"Maybe you should listen to Aang," said Katara.
"Yeah, Sokka," Keng added. "It just seems like this place is…I dunno…alive."
"I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here," said Sokka. "And if we don't want to wind up getting eaten by them we need to find Appa as fast as we can." He took another swing at the vines. "Nona, give me a hand here."
Reluctantly, Wenona took out her own knife and began to help her brother clear a path.
They pushed deeper into the swamp and soon night began to fall. The more Sokka and Wenona slashed away at the vines and foliage, the more uneasy the others started to feel. The rest of the Gaang kept calling out for Appa and Momo, but no response came.
"There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them," Sokka concluded.
"Looks like we're setting up camp here tonight," said Wenona. Her stomach gave a rumble. "And it seems we're going the night without food."
Sokka was suddenly attacked by a swarm of flies which he began to furiously slash at. Just then, there was a loud noise.
"What was that?" Yue said fearfully, clinging to Sokka.
"Nothing, just swamp gas," he assured her. "Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here."
Suddenly, there was a loud, high-pitched shriek and everyone clung to each other in fright. A rustle of wings indicated it was some sort of swamp bird.
"I think we should build a fire," Sokka announced. He then went over to some tree roots and began to cut off some pieces for firewood.
"Sokka, the longer we're here the more I think you shouldn't be doing that," said Aang.
"No, I asked the swamp, it said this was fine. Right, swamp? No problem, Sokka," he added in a funny voice.
Once Sokka had enough firewood, they set up their camp inside a giant, hollow tree. Keng was so scared he was shaking as he huddled up between his big sisters, and Yue seemed to be stuck like a limpet to Sokka's side.
"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" said Katara.
"All the time," said Wenona. "Why do you think I'm always looking over my shoulder?"
"Please, we're all alone out here," Sokka said skeptically. He then picked up his machete and sung it at another fly buzzing around his head. Suddenly, the tiny insect lit up in a ball of light and zipped off into the swamp, revealing dozens of glowing eyes focused squarely on them.
"Except for them," said Aang.
"Right," Sokka croaked. "Except for them."
That's when Wenona burst out laughing.
"You all are such wimps! It's just a few swamp animals," she said. "You wanna know what real fear is like?"
"Not really, Nona," said Katara.
"Oh, come on, this is the perfect time for spooky stories. Did I ever tell you about when Dad took me out on my first hunting trip?"
"Nona, I don't think we want to hear this," said Keng.
"I do," said Sokka, his voice trembling slightly. "N-Nona's right. We s-shouldn't be scared of a little swamp."
"Well, it was right after my twelfth birthday," said Wenona. "Dad decided I was old enough to learn how to hunt for real instead of just fishing or trapping small game. So, he and I packed up some supplies and took off onto the tundra. We were out there for a day when a terrible storm rolled in and we were forced to bunk down in a nearby cave." She began to stare into the fire as the memories came back. "It was so cold and the air had begun to thin. I kept hearing strange sounds out in the darkness of the blizzard. Dad said we had to be careful not to go too far onto the tundra because of the Dark spirits that live there. And above all we never go outside at night or respond to any voices we might hear."
"What do you mean 'voices'?" said Yue nervously.
"Of all the creatures that live on the tundra, the one we Southerners fear most is…the wendigo." There was a ripple that seemed to echo around them and into the swamp, stirring up the nearby animals. "Now, most of the wendigoes were defeated by great Water Tribe warriors, but there are a few that remain. They lure unsuspecting victims outside at night and then devour their flesh. If the victim is with a group, the wendigo will steal their skin and go back in their place. Then, it waits for everyone to fall asleep before it consumes them all in a savage bloodlust. Ripping them to pieces and crushing their bones with its razor-sharp teeth.
"Now, Dad and I were out there in that cave and I began to hear a soft cry in the distance. It sounded like someone in pain and my first reaction was to go out there and help whoever it was. But I remembered Dad's warning. So I just lay there, fitfully trying to sleep as the sounds got closer and closer. Eventually, it got so close I could swear it was right outside the cave, but I was so scared I couldn't bear to open my eyes. Thankfully, it passed by and the sound got further and further away. That day haunted me for weeks, the thought that I came so close to death seemed to be ever-present in my mind."
"You were acting odd then," said Katara. "I remember, you wouldn't talk to any of us."
"Dad was the only one who knew what I went through," Wenona continued. "He'd been wide awake through it too and I know that if I had made one move to go outside and see what was making that sound he would have pulled me right back in. After he left for the war, I was the most qualified to do the hunting and still I can't stand the thought of going out there by myself."
"That's why you always hunt close to the village, isn't it?" said Katara.
Wenona nodded sadly.
"I'm ashamed to say that I'm genuinely scared of that place. Hearing the wendigo's cry is torturous because it genuinely does sound like a human crying out for help, and it makes you think that maybe this time it really is someone from your tribe. It's a thought that can make you sick to your stomach that you let fear keep you from helping someone, or that your concern for others can be exploited so easily."
Keng hugged his sister in a reassuring way while Katara rested a hand on her shoulder. Sokka didn't say anything, now realizing exactly why Wenona had refused to take him out hunting on the tundra.
Eventually, everyone drifted off as the flames from the campfire dissolved into a few smoldering embers. They were all so deep in sleep they didn't notice the long vines moving steadily towards them, slowly wrapping around each one of them. Suddenly, they were jolted awake as the vines yanked them all in different directions. They all desperately tried to find something to grab onto so they could escape, but the vines were too strong and dragged them off into the darkness and fog.
After they had each escaped their vines, the Water Tribe kids and the Avatar all found themselves to be lost in the swamp just as the fog began to lift and a few rays of morning light shone through the dense tree line above them.
Katara wandered through the thick swamp water into a clearing. Light was coming through a large gap in the trees, revealing the vibrant colors of various flowers growing on the roots and vines. Katara called out for her siblings and friends, feeling very apprehensive about being alone. As she turned, she saw a figure standing in the distance.
"Hello?" she said, her fears leaving her for a moment. "Hello?" she asked again. "Can you help me?" As she got closer, she suddenly recognized who it was. The elegantly-styled black hair that looked like Wenona's and the long, blue dress sent a wave of painful memories back to Katara. "Mom?" she said, unable to believe her own eyes. "Mom!" She ran towards the figure, tears brimming in her eyes.
She reached out to touch the apparition.
"I can't believe-" she cut off as light touched the vision, revealing it to merely be a tall, thin tree stump. Katara was overcome with sorrow at the reminder that her mother was still dead and knelt down in the water, sobbing softly to herself.
"AANG!" Sokka shouted as he slashed through more vines. "Stupid swamp," he grumbled. "Dumb, ugly vines. KATARA! Ya think you're so tough, huh?" he snapped as he struggled through more vines. "NONA! YUE! KENG!" He gave a lurched and the vines broke, sending him sprawling face-first into the water. As he looked up, he saw a glowing vision before him. "Hello?" As he got closer, he saw that it looked like Yue. But that was impossible, Yue didn't glow like that or float in midair.
"Yue? This is just a trick of the light. Swamp gas. I hit my head running away last night. I'm going crazy."
"You didn't protect me, Sokka," the ghost-like Yue said in an ethereal voice.
Sokka rubbed his eyes and the vision disappeared, leaving only a shaft of light in front of him. Letting out a relieved sigh, he turned round and fell back with a yell as he saw Yue standing in front of him.
"Sokka, are you okay?"
Rubbing his head as he got to feet, he saw that it was the real Yue standing there and not the apparition.
"Yue, it's you!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "Thank goodness you're safe."
"It's great to see you're all right. Didn't you hear me calling you?" she said.
"No. But I saw you standing over there." He pointed towards the light. "You were floating and wearing a long, white dress and you seemed more like a spirit than a human."
Yue looked at him with a startled expression.
"I had a dream like that not too long ago," she said. "In it, Zhao had killed the Moon Spirit and I had to give up my life to save it. I ended up turning into the spirit and I looked just like you described."
"Well, we can't worry about this now," said Sokka. "We have to find the others. Come on."
"Hello?!" Wenona called out as she climbed up the huge tree roots. She scanned the area, calling out for the others.
That's when she heard someone chuckling behind her. She turned and saw someone standing behind her. Judging from the size and shape of the figure and from the sound of the laugh it was a young man. He had shaggy dark hair and she could see he had a short chin-beard. His clothes were a sort of dusty, reddish-brown color and she immediately got into a defensive stance on the possibility that he was Fire Nation.
"Who are you?"
As she focused her gaze on his face, which was hard to see in the darkness and at that distance, she was certain he had a crooked smile. Suddenly, he took off running.
"Wait!"
Wenona began to give chase, ducking under low branches and leaping over logs and stumps. As she followed him higher, she saw him jump onto the back of an animal and realized it was a cat-deer.
"Hey, come back!"
Something about the man was familiar, so familiar it was like a strong ache in her chest and a ringing in her head. She had to find out who this man was but he kept evading her with a skill she couldn't match.
"Please, just tell me your name!"
But the man just chuckled at her again.
Like the others, Aang was caught wandering through the swamp and calling out for help. As he trudged through the water, he looked up to see someone standing on a tall mound. The person appeared to be a young girl with a winged boar.
"Who are you?"
The girl giggled at him and darted away.
"Hey! Come back!"
Aang took off after the girl. Aang darted up into the trees, trying to catch the mischievous little girl. Each time he turned around, she would be on another tree or running across the ground below. Aang finally caught up with her at a clearing.
"Who are you?" he murmured.
He rushed forward, intending to stop her from running away again when he found himself colliding with a figure in blue. The two tumbled through the foliage, crashing into several others as they fell.
"Aang, what the Naraka?!" came a familiar shout.
"Hey, Nona."
"Would you two please get off of me," Katara grumbled.
"Ow, that's gonna smart," Sokka said as he and Yue stood up from where they'd been knocked down.
"Hey, there you are," came a delighted exclamation. Keng swung down on a vine to where the others were. "I've been looking all over for you guys."
"Yue and I have been all over looking for you," said Sokka.
"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you," said Katara.
"I was chasing some girl," said Aang.
"Really? I was following a guy," said Wenona.
"What girl?" said Katara.
"What guy?" Sokka added suspiciously.
"I dunno," said Aang. "I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress."
"That's like what I saw," Wenona added. "But when I turned around I saw a guy I thought looked familiar. I chased after him but he got on a cat-deer and rode away."
"Well, there must be a tea party and cat-deer race here and we just didn't get our invitations," said Sokka sarcastically.
"I thought I saw Mom," said Katara after a moment.
"Look, we were all just scared, and hungry, and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here."
"Wait, you saw something, too?" said Wenona.
"He saw me as a spirit," said Yue. "Like in a dream I had. But I didn't see anything myself."
"And that doesn't prove anything," Sokka interjected. "I was scared that something bad may have happened and it reminded me of being back at the North Pole during the siege. And you saw Mom," he said to Katara, "someone you miss a lot."
"I didn't see anything," said Keng. "I just kept hearing voices that led me this way."
"Mind playing tricks on you," Sokka repeated firmly.
"And what about me and Aang?" said Wenona. "We didn't know the people we saw."
"And all our visions led us right here," said Aang.
"Okay, so where's here?" said Katara. "The middle of the swamp?"
"Yeah, the center."
They all looked up at the giant banyan tree, standing tall and proud as the largest tree in the swamp. A strange sort of energy seemed to ripple off it, making everyone a little uneasy.
"It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it."
"It's just a tree," Sokka retorted. "It can't call anyone."
"Just like how the spirits at the North Pole were just a pair of koi fish?" Wenona replied with a smirk.
"For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magical happening here."
Just then, there was a loud crash as a huge swamp monster emerged from the water behind them. Everyone screamed and the monster began to lash out at them with its arms made of vines. The creature grabbed Sokka and started to toss him around, repeatedly smashing him into the water. Aang shot a blast of air to free his friend and the monster rounded on him. It knocked the young Avatar up into the trees with a loud thud and then continued its attack on Sokka who was trying to cut himself free from the vines. As the creature started to zoom away with Sokka in its grasp, the three Waterbender girls gave chase, slicing as the creature with ice-spikes. Unfortunately, each time they landed a blow, the monster just drew in more vines to fix whatever injury it sustained.
As the fight with the swamp monster continued, Aang rejoined the fray. Keng began to dart around to draw the monster's attention so the others could land a blow, but the creature didn't seem to buy into the trick. Katara managed to free Sokka by freezing the part of the monster that had him trapped and then blasting it off. Wenona and Yue then started to Bend large ice-shears to rip through the vines. As they continued their barrage, parts of the monster fell away, only to be regenerated with more vines.
"There's someone in there!" the Sokka declared as several sections of vines moved away from the center of the creature, revealing a human for a brief moment. "He's Bending the vines!"
Katara then sliced through the face of the monster, which turned out to be nothing more than a piece of face-shaped wood. Vines then shot out from the base of the creature and trapped Katara. That's when Aang jumped in and blasted away the remaining vines that made up the creature.
"Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang demanded.
"Wait," said a voice from within the mess of vines. Then, as the vines cleared, a short, portly man dressed only in a loincloth made of leaves stood before them. "I didn't call you here."
The Gaang exchanged skeptical looks.
"We were flying over and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land," said Aang.
"I heard it as well," Wenona added. "It's like it was pulling us in."
"He's the Avatar and she's the Water Source," Sokka announced. "Stuff like that happens to us a lot."
"The Avatar and the Water Source?" said the man in amazement. "Come with me." He gestured for them to follow him.
While they followed him up the roots of the banyan tree, Wenona and Sokka made sure to stay on their guard as the man had just tried to kill them. They soon reached the top of the slope to see an amazing view of the entire swamp all around them.
"So, who are you, then?" said Katara.
"I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife," the man said, looking at Sokka.
"See?" said Sokka. "Completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it."
"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place, all right. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree. I heard it callin' me, just like you did."
"Sure ya did," Sokka said sarcastically. "It seems real chatty."
"See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread, and sink, and take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism; just like the entire world."
"I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?" said Aang.
"Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every livin' thing breathin' together. You can feel everything growin'. We're all livin' together even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree."
"But what did our visions mean?" said Katara.
"In the swamp we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not, we're still connected to 'em. Time is an illusion, and so is death."
"But what about my vision and Nona's?" said Aang. "They were of people we never met."
"You're the Avatar, you tell me."
"Time is an illusion," Aang repeated to himself. "So, they're people we will meet?"
"Or someone you lost in another life," the man said to Wenona. "Just because the people you cared about wear new faces, it doesn't change what you feel for them. They exist forever in your heart, in every lifetime."
Aang and Wenona smiled at the man.
"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo," said Sokka.
"I think I know how to find them," said Aang, putting one hand to the tree root. "Everything is connected." His arrow suddenly began to glow and a strange sensation rippled through the air. After a few seconds, he stood up. "Come on, we've gotta hurry."
"Set my lines by the riverbed,
Caught ten fish and I killed 'em dead.
Cut 'em, and gut 'em,
And I tossed the head
In the water to keep 'em cat-gators fed."
The sound of Tho the Swampbender's singing echoed through the trees as he and his group made their way back to their village, pulling Appa along in a net and carrying Momo in a satchel as the boats crept through the water.
That's when a blast of water shot through and knocked the boats over. Aang and the three girls jumped up to one of the high roots and began to set the animals free.
"We're under attack," shouted another Swampbender by the name of Due. As he Bent a wave of water towards the kids, they easily repelled it, only to be struck by a realization.
"Hey, you guys are Waterbenders," said Katara.
"You, too?" said Due, stopping his attack. "That means we're kin."
Katara exchanged an awkward glance with her sister and Yue. That was when the others showed up with the swamp monster man.
"Hey, Huu, how you been?" Due said to the man.
"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual," Huu replied.
"Huu?" Sokka said incredulously.
Once the misunderstanding had been sorted out, the Gaang was invited back to the Swampbender village to have dinner. Sokka and Wenona were more than enthusiastic to sample the local delicacies, while the others were slightly put off by the offerings of giant insects.
"How you like that opossum-chicken?" said Due.
"Tastes just like arctic hen," said Keng.
"So, why were you guys so interested in eating Appa?" said Sokka. "You've got plenty of those big things wandering around." He pointed towards a large cat-gator that was nestled up by Due and Tho.
"You want me to eat ol' Slim?" said Due. "He's like a member of the family." He handed the cat-gator a fish.
"Nice Slim," Sokka said and chucked a large bug at the creature, which promptly turned and growled at him.
"Oh, he don't eat no bugs," Due chuckled. "That's people food."
"Where'd you say you was from?" said Tho.
"We're from the South Pole," said Wenona. "Yue here is from the North Pole."
"Didn't know there was Waterbenders anywhere but here. They got nice swamps in those places, do they?"
"Actually, they're both full of ice and snow," said Katara.
Due and Tho both stared at them.
"Hm, no wonder you left," said Tho.
"Well, I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going on here," Sokka said to the Gaang. "Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp."
"What about the visions?" Katara insisted.
"I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug." He held up said giant bug and took a large bite out of it.
"But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?" said Aang.
"That's Avatar stuff. That doesn't count. The only thing I can't figure out is how you made the tornado that sucked us down," he said to Huu.
"I can't do anything like that," said Huu. "I just Bend the water in the plants."
"Well, no accounting for weather. Still there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp."
Off in the distance, one of the swamp birds let out its loud shriek only to be suddenly swatted away by a tree root.