Chapter 8: Moving on

We sprinted toward the slums. I tried to keep my head down, but Sokka waved happily to a lot of people along the way. Rumors about what happened spread faster than we ran, so there were a lot of excited cheers that followed us as we ran. When we neared the slums, I shouted at Azida and Lizz to take Aang and Toph and split up. Even though there was a lot of cheering, we were being glared at by a number of the richer merchants. I couldn't risk the authorities finding out where my family lived, not after this close call.

"Sokka, this isn't a parade!" Katara yelled. Her brother smiled at her and lowered his hand. We hid in an alley and waited until the hushed whispers stopped before I led the small group back to the roof. Raz clambered up the ladder on still-shaking arms,. I held the rickety, wooden structure steady for him until he got to the roof. Katara climbed next and Sokka started up before she had even gotten halfway up the ladder. I waited until they were all safely up and the street was empty before I followed them.

I was not going to sleep well these next few nights –the guards were going to be prowling the slums looking for us. I pulled the ladder up after I reached the roof. Lizz, Azida, Toph, and Aang were already there and the ladder would draw too much attention to our house. Leena had gathered all of the other kids, so I didn't have to worry about leaving anyone on the streets for the guards to find. Azida was sitting next to his brother. They weren't hugging, but I could tell that Daazi was relieved and comforting his twin. Raz had his arm around Kane's shoulders and was telling him a story in a hushed voice. Kane's nightmares were going to get a lot worse in the coming weeks, but he wouldn't keep blaming himself for letting his adopted siblings get caught. I smiled. We were going to get through this.

I turned to our food pile. Everything that we took or paid for –when there was enough money to pay for our food –was stored under an oiled cloth. I took the cloth off and began organizing it into rations.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked. He had managed to get behind me without making a noise.

I forced my shoulders to relax and released the growing flame in my palm.

"Organizing the food. We have enough to last us a few days, maybe a week," I trailed off.

"But that's only if you miss a few meals," Aang finished my thought. I turned to face him, "I know what it means to be a leader. I know what it means to want to protect everyone, no matter the cost." His gaze shifted to Katara for a second before he turned to me and blushed.

"Oh really? I was sure Sokka was the leader." I failed to keep the teasing tone from my voice. The boy was currently play fighting with Lizz and Zin. He squeaked when Lizz grinned at him and pulled one of her knives out of her boot. Aang looked at me and we both started laughing. Aang wandered over to Sokka who had been forced to the floor by Lizz and Zin. Aang laughed as Sokka shouted at him in a squeaky voice.

The sun was setting over the rooftops around us. The air grew colder as the maroon clouds burned in the sky. I lit the fire and started to roast vegetables and meats over the flames. The kids and Aang's group drifted toward the fire as slowly as fog drifts over the mountain tops. Katara helped me pass out the food and we all settled down to eat. I gave myself a small portion and I saw that Aang had given Leena half of his food. The boy looked at me and smiled knowingly.

"That never happened. If you're going to mess up the details, at least make everyone else do cool things too," Toph said from across the fire. Sokka was trying to tell Daazi a story, but Toph kept interrupting.

"Are you doing alright?" Katara asked. She was sitting next to me and it didn't look like she had touched her food at all.

"I'm fine," I said.

"It's all a little weird right?"

"You could say that. One minute we're fighting for our lives and the next we're sitting down and laughing."

Katara smiled at me, "so you weren't alright."

I sighed, "I'm fine. It's just," I trailed off, "lets just say that it's been a while since I've been that scared. I really didn't think we'd get there in time" The brunette nodded. I wasn't sure that she understood what I was talking about; Katara seemed like she was the emotional core of Aang's group, almost like its mother. She was probably always worried for other people, she was used to the feeling. My mind was still racing. We were lucky that the guards hadn't decided to teach Lizz a lesson for having knives, or punish Azida for mouthing off. Raz was unbelievably lucky that the Flames had a wimp of a leader.

Aang sat next to Katara, "Hestia, can you show us the way back to Appa?" Katara and I looked at the boy, he was grinning happily.

"But, Aang," Katara sputtered, "we have to be here! If the guards come back..."

"Katara, think about it," Sokka added, "more people makes this family a bigger target."

"That and we all know that with Sokka's appetite, the rations wouldn't last very long," Toph said.

"Are you sure you want to leave?" I asked. The small group was useful in a fight and would be missed by the kids. Momo was wrapped around my neck like a small scarf and he purred softly into my ear. I scratched the lemur's head and watched as Katara made water float out of a nearby stream and into a few water skins.

"No," Aang said, "but we should leave."

"No vacations for us busy folk, not when there're power hungry warlords after us," Sokka said. I giggled as his voice squeaked halfway through his speech.

"Aang, we should go," Katara's voice called out from the darkened forest. I could barely make out Appa's hulking form in the shadow of the trees.

"See ya around, Fire-lady," Toph punched my shoulder lightly. I returned the blow and the girl smiled at me before she stomped with one foot and launched herself into Appa's saddle. Katara pulled me into a hug and Sokka bumped my fist before they both climbed up onto the flying beast.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, we'll lay low for a while and see what happens from there."

The boy nodded and turned back to his pet, "I wont forget your kindness, Hestia."

"Don't thank me yet, there's always a chance that I could betray you. With the amount of trouble you seem to get into, someone's bound to come looking for a blind earth bender. Better keep an eye on her."

Aang laughed, "Toph's not the one that they'll be coming after."

"And why is that?" I raised an eyebrow and folded my arms across my chest. Aang smiled and jumped fifteen feet before he floated down to land on Appa's head. A gust of wind blew strongly from where he had stood beside me.

"Appa, Yip yip!" He called and the big white creature took to the air.

"Oh. That's why." I turned and walk through the shadow filled forest and back to the roof. I had a family to get back to, and new friends to think about.

A/N: Hey, guys. I'm so sorry that this is inexcusably late. On a different note, this is where the timeline of the story ends. After school starts, I may add some epilogue, but for all intents and purposes, this is finished. It's been a great experience. I have had so much fun contributing to this fandom and getting to hear from some new people. Speaking of which, shout out to Shiane Ventures. Sorry that I didn't update as quickly as I'm sure you wanted. I'll post the epilogues as soon as they're finished, so follow this story if you're interested in getting reacquainted with some of these characters in the upcoming months. If you don't, then thanks for staying with this for however long you have.

-Ananimous