Chapter 3: The Detour
On the way to Omashu Appa was flying north over the Foggy Swamp. There was no sign of the Fire Nation in sight and the bison was making good time. Suki was cleaning her fans and Katara was looking at the map. Aang was feeling something strange coming from the swamp, and was slowly guiding Appa down without realizing it.
"Why are we going down?" Suki asked.
"What? I didn't even notice," Aang said.
"Is something wrong?" Katara asked.
"This is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me," Aang said. "I think it wants us to land."
"But there's nothing in there," Suki said. "Just trees, bogs, and cat-gators."
"And this place seems ominous," Katara said.
"Alright," Aang said. "Bye swamp."
Suddenly a tornado formed out of nowhere and chased Appa. Aang tried to guide Appa away from it, but the tornado followed every turn. It closed in on Appa and Katara was almost pulled out of the saddle by the wind. Aang tried to make a sphere of wind to shield them from the tornado, but it wasn't enough. Inside the tornado Aang, Katara, and Suki were pulled off Appa and then thrown into the swamp.
"Everyone okay?" Suki asked as she pulled herself out of the water.
"I'm fine," Katara said.
"Where are Appa and Momo?" Aang asked.
Then Katara looked at Suki, and noticed that her warrior's makeup had started to run from being in the water. "Suki, you might want remove your makeup."
Suki placed a hand on her face and noticed what Katara saw. "And I just put it on too," she said. She wiped it off her face and didn't bother to replace it.
Aang climbed the nearest tree to get a better view of the swamp. He couldn't find Appa or Momo, and the tornado had vanished as well. He returned to the others and they started to move through the swamp to find Appa. Suki unsheathed her katana and started cutting through the vegetation with it to clear a path.
"Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp," Aang said.
"The longer we take getting through this the more likely we won't get out of here," Suki said.
As they moved through the swamp there was no sign of Appa. Night fell and they were forced to make camp. When all three of them were asleep several vines started to move and wrap around them. At once they were pulled away in different directions, waking them up screaming.
Aang freed himself by using airbending to push the vines away. Katara forced the vines off her and then used waterbending to clumsily force back more. Suki got a hand to one of her fans and used it to cut the vines apart.
When the vines stopped moving Suki looked for Aang and Katara. They weren't in sight so she started hacking through the vegetation again while calling out for them. Then she heard a boy yelling, as if something very annoying had happened to him. Suki turned towards the voice, and in the distance was a boy in blue clothing.
"Who's there?" Suki asked. The boy started to run, and Suki followed him. The creatures in the swamp almost seemed to laugh as the boy passed, though Suki couldn't make out what he was saying. Suki had almost caught up with the boy when he faded away. Then she heard something moving through the vegetation nearby, and suddenly Aang and Katara fell through it and into Suki.
"What was that for?" Suki asked.
"Hey I've been looking all over for you!" Katara yelled.
"I was chasing some girl," Aang said.
"What girl?" Katara asked.
"I don't know," Aang admitted. "I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress."
"Weird," Suki said. "I saw some strange boy and everything was laughing at him."
"I saw my mom," Katara said.
"Strange," Aang said. "All our visions led here."
"The middle of the swamp," Katara said.
"The center," Aang said. "It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here."
Suddenly a massive creature made out of vines emerged from the water. Everyone screamed and then ran as the creature attacked with long arms made of vines. It grabbed Katara and started throwing her around, requiring Aang to use a blade of wind to cut her loose. The creature extended one arm and hit Aang, then grabbed Katara and moved away. Suki jumped onto the arm holding Katara and then cut it apart with her katana.
Free from the vines, Katara threw as much water as she could at the creature. It stumbled back and Suki started slashing at it with her katana while Aang struck with wind blades. The creature repaired the damage to itself by summoning more vines. Aang jumped onto the creature and created a whirlwind to disorient. Suki tossed her fans to Katara and together they started cutting the creature apart while Aang kept it busy. The creature tossed Aang away, but in doing so one of the cuts revealed a short round man inside it.
"There's someone in there!" Suki yelled.
Then the creature grabbed Katara and Suki, wrapping them in think vines. Aang moved in and sent several large wind blades to cut through the creature. It remained intact but then Aang put everything he had into a large windblast to break the vines along the cuts, breaking it apart and revealing the man inside.
"Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang demanded.
"Wait!" the man said. "I didn't call you here."
"We were flying over and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land," Aang said.
"He's the Avatar," Suki said. "I should have expected stuff like this to happen."
"The Avatar," the man said. "Come with me."
The man led everyone up the large tree in the center of the swamp, and along the way he introduced himself as Huu. He explained how he achieved enlightenment under that tree, then shared his world view with them. How the entire world, like the swamp, is one living thing even if people don't act like it. Then he explained how the swamp shows visions of people that have been lost or loved, people believed to be gone but still exist in their loved ones.
Aang and Suki questioned the nature of their visions, having never met those people. Huu said that time is an illusion, and Aang realized those were people they will meet.
"This is interesting, but we still need to find Appa," Suki said.
"I think I know how to find them," Aang said. He placed a hand on the tree, and then said "Everything is connected." The swamp showed him the path to Appa, and saw that the locals were attacking him. "We've got to hurry."
The locals were moving through the swamp with Appa in a giant net behind them. They were unaware of an impending attack, and were caught off guard by one of Aang's windblasts. The windblast destroyed one of the skiffs, prompting a local on another boat to strike back. The local bended the water and threw it at Aang. Katara bended some of the water away and the rest was deflected by a gust of wind from Aang.
"Hey, you're a waterbender?" Katara said.
"You too?" the local asked. "That means we're kin?" This comment disgusted Katara.
Both sides stopped fighting, and then Huu introduced everyone. To prove there were no hard feelings the locals invited Aang and the others to dinner. They ate possum-chicken, which Katara noted that it tastes like Arctic Hen.
"So how did you do that thing with the vines?" Suki asked Huu.
"I just bend the water in the plants," Huu explained.
"You must be a master waterbender," Katara said.
"Well I don't want to brag, but I suppose I am," Huu said.
"Hey Karara," Aang said. "We could learn waterbending here. We don't have to go all the way to the North Pole."
"Hey you're right," Katara said. "Huu, will you teach us waterbending?"
"Sure," Huu said. "It's the least I can do to make up for attacking you earlier."
Meanwhile, at the South Pole, Sokka was doing the laundry for the village. He had a whole new appreciation for the things Katara did, and wished she had stayed home. Then he heard a bird screech overhead, and then saw a messenger bird land next to him. He took the message and the bird flew off, and then he read the message.
"WHAT!" Sokka yelled, getting the attention of Gran Gran.
"Is something wrong?" Gran Gran asked.
"Katara's with the Avatar," Sokka said. "I thought he was just an airbender. How could I have missed it? I should have gone with them."
"Then go," Gran Gran said. "We'll be fine. You're sister needs you."
"Okay, I'm going," Sokka said. He grabbed as much food and supplies that would fit on a canoe and went out to sea. I'm coming to help sis he thought.