I'm back with a new chapter! Thanks to Luckygirl1013, Rosezelene Ersa, and Sullivanright for the reviews :) Thanks a bunch!
Either way, I've been wanting to write this chapter ever since I started. I hope you guys like it!
Chapter 15: Lake Laogai
Katara paced around the room anxiously, looking out of the window every couple of seconds. It was already past evening and it was getting later and later. It shouldn't take that long to just visit a teahouse or market or whatever.
"Maybe she just got lost," Sokka suggested as he relaxed on one of the plush chairs. Apparently he'd had a "fun" day, accidently being pretty good at poetry but then being thrown out and when he came back he was equally ranting and boasting about it. "The city is pretty big."
Katara ignored him. True, it was possible that she was just lost. As intelligent as she was sometimes she lacked any sort of sense but Katara knew that that was unlikely to be the answer. What if she'd gotten into trouble?
"Katara, it's Eira," Sokka said, trying to calm his sister down. "She can take care of herself…ish and even if she missed a train or something she probably had her glider with her. She could just fly back over here."
"But Sokka, what if she…" Katara didn't finish her sentence. They both knew what could've happened to her and frankly they didn't want to.
Katara continued her pacing and, fed up with it, Sokka went out of the room to go get some food.
In the distance, Katara heard some shouting. It sounded quite crazed in her opinion but it was a male voice so it couldn't be Eira. Katara sat down on the chair closest to the door and listened intently. The shouting had stopped. Katara shook her head to clear her mind. It probably wasn't important.
Katara kept on trying to convince herself that nothing was wrong, that Eira was fine, just a bit side-tracked, but nothing was working.
"Hey, Katara? Are you still up?" Katara turned her head sharply and saw Aang walking in through the corridor from their rooms. He was dressed for sleep and he was rubbing his bleary eyes.
Katara relaxed somewhat as she realised how tense she had been. She didn't bother to try and hide her concern though. Aang knew what was bothering her.
"Yeah. Eira's still not back yet."
Aang's face fell. "Really? What do you think happened?" He walked closer to where she was sitting and he looked out through the window into the dark street. Even the faint orange light of the lanterns was out now and only the moonlight illuminated the area so he could work out the basic silhouettes of the buildings around them.
"I'm worried she manged to get into trouble with the Dai Li," Katara admitted. "I think she might've lied about why she went out so she could do something stupid."
Aang shook his head adamantly. "She wouldn't do that."
"But she would," Katara corrected reluctantly. "Ever since we first met she was doing something stupid to try and help us. She pretended to be you so Zuko would capture her and leave you alone, she got herself attacked by that firebender in the Northern Water Tribe to stop him from hurting the spirits, and she even threw me out of the way so she got trapped by that general instead of me." As Katara said it out loud she realised how her suspicions and worries were becoming increasingly more realistic. "And the way she was talking to the head of the Dai Li when he was threatening us. I'm just worried that she got herself arrested."
Aang looked deeply troubled. "But if she did… what can we do?" That question hung in the air. Aang and Katara didn't speak for another few minutes, though they stretched out into what felt like hours.
"We should at least try and get some sleep," Aang suggested. "Who knows? Maybe she'll turn up in the morning." Reluctantly they both went back down the corridor to their rooms. Katara didn't get much sleep at all. Aang's point kept on flaring up in her head. What could they do? She doubted they could just go and ask. They'd probably be kicked out before they could do anything.
If she's not back, Katara thought sleepily, her tiredness catching up with her. We'll go looking. It felt strange that it was only that evening everything had felt so calm. A nagging thought was the last thing she remembered before drifting off. Why, Eira?
o.O.o
"She's still not back," Katara said sharply as she flicked in and out of all of the rooms, everyone else with concerned looks on their faces. Katara stormed out into the lounge and began pacing again.
"What should we do then?" Toph asked.
"I don't know," Katara admitted reluctantly.
"Only Eira could get into trouble getting tea," Sokka said, somewhat exasperated. The whole situation was ridiculous.
"Maybe she wasn't though," Toph said quietly.
Aang looked sadly at her. "No one would be out all night like that without something happening." He sighed. "We need to accept that as reality."
"No, not about that," Toph said shortly. "I was talking about why she went out. When she suggested the idea to me and Katara she was acting strangely and her heart was going super fast, as if she was lying."
"She wouldn't lie to us," Katara said.
"But she has! I seriously doubt that anyone could get arrested by getting tea. She must've been doing something else," Toph protested.
"That doesn't matter, though." Aang looked determinedly at everyone. Katara thought it was unlikely that Eira had lied to them. What would she have to lie about? She didn't know anything or anyone in Ba Sing Se… right?
"We should just go out and look for her," Aang said. "At least then we could find a clue or something."
"Yeah," Sokka said enthusiastically. "We shouldn't get all worried before we know anything. Let's go."
o.O.o
They first decided to look around the Upper Ring. They asked around the area but apparently no one knew anything. Nothing looked disturbed or strange, at least at first.
They were walking down the street on their way to the station when Toph suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"What is it?" Katara asked. Toph simply answered by pointing to the neat garden on the side of the road. It was filled with red, pink, and purple flower bushes.
"There's something there."
"I don't see anything," Sokka said, walking up to it. He poked around in the bush, pushing the flowers out of his way as he inspected it. "Wait, I think this is her bag." He reached inside it and took hold of the fabric item he saw and pulled it out.
It was muddy and slightly damaged but it did look like the dark green and brown bag Eira had bought in Omashu.
Sokka checked inside and found the papers and scrolls they'd found in the spirit library as well as a collection of papers that Eira had been drawing and writing on for months now, There was also a small travel stationary kit and… some clay shards?
"What are these?" Sokka asked aloud. The others gathered around him but no one had any suggestions.
"Did Eira write anything important? Maybe we can use that to see where she went," Aang said, reaching for a couple of the pages.
He looked at them intently but found that he was unable to read any of it. The only things he could figure out were a few of the drawings of places they had been. The writing was made of loopy lines vertically arranged on the page. It was unlike any of the calligraphy or symbols that he could read.
"How did we not notice she wrote in a different language?" Aang asked.
"What?" Sokka and Katara took a look at the writing and found that they couldn't read it either.
Katara took a step back to try and figure it out.
"It could be that language she was speaking. Maybe it's a different script?" she suggested.
"But she read normally, like us," Sokka protested. "Why change it?"
Sokka stuffed the paper and clay shards back in the bag and brushed it in a weak attempt to get rid of the mud and dirt.
"We can guess that something happened around here if her bag is here. I doubt she would just drop it," Katara said. She looked around at the road and nearby houses but she didn't see anything that would suggest any sort of unrest or attack.
"Let's keep going," she suggested. "We can go back to Appa and explore the other rings. For some reason I doubt we'll find much else here."
Everyone nodded in agreement and hurried back to the house, scooting around the side of the building to see the grassy rectangle that Appa had been staying in. When they first arrived it was a clean, finely cut lawn. Now it was patchy and uneven with some of the dirt showing where Appa had been grazing.
Aang ran up to the large bison and hugged his muzzle. Appa gave him a low growl in response. Smiling at the sight of his animal companion, Aang collected his saddle and hooked him up. Appa, while not particular unhappy with just being able to laze around, looked excited to be able to go and get some exercise, flying over Ba Sing Se.
Katara, Sokka, and Toph climbed onto the saddle and Aang leaped onto Appa's massive head and took hold of the reins.
Appa seemed to notice a lack of weight and gave Aang a confused bellow of sorts. Aang patted his head sadly.
"I know, Appa. Don't worry, we'll find her. Yip yip!"
Appa prepared to take flight but as he was about to take off he stopped. Aang peered over Appa's head.
"What is it?" Aang asked but his question was quickly answered as a young woman with dark hair and a green dress walked into their view. It was Joo Dee, the first one. She didn't look any different since the first time they saw her. Her face stayed fixed in blank, forced happiness.
"Hello, Aang, and Katara, and Sokka, and Toph." She spoke clearly and slowly, just as she always did.
"What happened to you?" Sokka asked quickly, jumping down from Appa's saddle to face her. "Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?"
"What? Jail?" she said with amused incredulousness. "Of course not. The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage."
"But you disappeared at the Earth King's party," Toph said.
"Oh, I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai, out in the country. It was quite relaxing," she explained.
Katara frowned. "But they replaced you with some other woman who also said her name was Joo Dee, and how would you go on vacation that quickly?"
Joo Dee paused, surprised. "I'm Joo Dee."
Aang looked at her suspiciously. "Why are you here?" he asked shortly.
"I'm afraid that the transportation of large animals throughout the city isn't permitted. You need proper clearance and permits to move large livestock."
"But we can't wait around to get permission for everything and, if you haven't noticed, one of our friends is missing!" Sokka protested. "Eira isn't here and we need to find her."
Joo Dee acted like she didn't hear Sokka's last comments.
"You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue with this."
"We don't care about the rules and we're not asking for permission!" Aang yelled angrily. "We need to find Eira and, unless you know where she is, stay out of our way! Appa. Yip yip!"
Aang flicked the reins and Appa leaped into the sky, knocking over Joo Dee with a gust of wind.
They were flying quickly away from the Upper Ring within seconds. Sokka looked back over the saddle and turned back to Aang.
"That might come back to bite us in the blubber," he admitted.
"I don't care!" Aang said, calming down from his outburst. "We need to find Eira. I don't care what they say."
Toph beamed widely despite her dislike of being back in the air. "Go, Twinkle Toes. Finally starting to grow a backbone."
Aang smiled sheepishly. "Thanks."
"So where first?" Sokka asked as he began trying to sort out the things in Eira's bag. It was surprisingly difficult to do whilst on a flying bison but nothing had blown off the saddle…yet. "I've tried to find something I can read in Eira's notes and stuff but the most I can use is the small little drawings she's done on some of them." He indicated to a small side doodle of Appa on a page of incomprehensible writing as an example. "The only noteworthy thing is that she drew like a bunch of Joo Dees and wrote something next to it, so maybe she knows what's going on there and tried to investigate it?"
Katara shook her head. "It wouldn't make sense. I mean, she told us about the Dai Li conspiracy. Why wouldn't she talk about that as well if she knew it?"
"Because it would make her look suspicious," Toph suggested. "She already knows a lot more than she's telling us. We know that for a fact."
"There aren't any leads aside from the clay shards in her bag and that she said that she was going to the "best" tea place in Ba Sing Se. We should try ask around for where that could be," Aang said. "Let's start in the Middle Ring and work from there."
"Why the Middle Ring?" Toph asked.
Aang shrugged. "It wasn't in the Upper Ring and I doubt it would be in the Lower Ring."
"Fair enough."
Appa began to descend down as they passed over the wall separating the Middle and Upper rings and landed in a small empty space near another smaller dividing wall.
Everyone jumped off Appa and looked around to see if anyone was near them.
Sokka twisted around to look off in the two different directions. "I think we should split up to cover more ground. Toph, I guess you could come with me."
Toph looked at him peevishly, crossing her arms and legs and she leant against a wall. "Why? You think I can't go looking by myself?"
"Well… you can't really…look," Sokka said. "Could you even describe Eira?"
Toph paused. "Fine."
The two groups split up, promising to meet up next to Appa after about an hour or so. Aang and Katara wandered together into an open square with a large fountain in the centre of it. The day was warm and sunny and next to the fountain the whole place was looking quite beautiful. Katara would've felt at ease if it wasn't for their lost friend.
It was all surprisingly empty. They didn't really see anyone at all as they walked through the different streets. When the asked about the tea shop most people just came up with personal favourites. None of them were new or sounded like where Eira would go and when they visited them, they found nothing.
"Maybe it isn't in the Middle ring," Aang said as they exited yet another shop where the owner had tried to pressure them into buying practically everything but then kicked them out when they said they weren't there to buy anything.
"Maybe," Katara mused quietly.
"Wait! You guys!" They turned quickly to their left at a familiar voice yelling at them. Katara quickly went into a defensive waterbending position and Aang's hand reached for his staff but they stopped in shock as they saw who were running towards them.
It was Longshot and Smellerbee, from Jet's gang! A boyish girl with shaggy brown hair and red face paint alongside a taller long-faced boy with small eyes and a quiver and bow hung over his shoulder were running towards them, looking worried.
Katara glanced at Aang and they both looked apprehensive. They hadn't really parted ways with Jet's group happily. Katara especially felt bitter about being tricked into destroying that village. Thank goodness Eira and Sokka cleared out the town first.
Katara scanned their surroundings for any sight of Jet or the others but she saw nothing. It was only those two.
"Longshot? Smellerbee? Why are you two here in Ba Sing Se? Where's Jet?" Katara asked, somewhat harshly.
They both stopped and exchanged looks. It was like a short silent conversion.
"We were going to ask you the same thing," Smellerbee said.
"What do you mean?" Aang asked, dropping his defensive pose completely.
"We came here to Ba Sing Se to start over, like all of the others. We had to abandon our tree fort and we all split up," Smellerbee explained. "We came here along with Jet but he started to stalk these tea guys he said were from the Fire Nation. He attacked them and got arrested by the Dai Li."
Katara gasped. "But why would he attack them?"
"He was being paranoid. It was like he couldn't rest with the very thought of firebenders being here. Either way, we split with him. We still heard about his arrest and wanted to check it out but then we heard something else," Smellerbee said vaguely.
"What?" Aang asked.
"Apparently a light-haired girl was looking for him. We assumed that was Eira so we tried to find you guys to see why," she explained.
"But…that's impossible," Katara said quietly. "There was no way she would know about you guys being here. We certainly didn't."
"The thing is, Eira's gone missing," Aang said in a hushed tone.
"What?"
"She went out and didn't come back. She said that she was going to get some tea." Aang looked down sadly. "I guess she was going to find Jet, if she was looking for him."
"But that still doesn't explain how she knew he was here!" Katara protested.
Aang looked up at Katara. "It's as Toph said, she does know some things we don't."
"But if that's the case how do we find her?"
"Psst!"
The four of them turned quickly to see an elderly shopkeeper looking in all directions before focussing on them. He looked frail with thin limbs and a slightly hunched back. His thinning hair was white and wispy and his eyes were dull and brown. "Psst! Over here."
Cautiously, they moved towards the old man, who had started to pretend to sort some of the fruit in a basket in front of his shop. "I couldn't help but overhear ya' talking about two missing people, a light-haired girl and a boy, right?"
Aang nodded.
"Well, I saw them," he whispered. "They were acting nervous. The boy started freaking out about something or other. Said they were heading out of town or somethin'."
"Did you hear where?" Aang asked quickly but the man shook his head. He looked nervous about something. They were about to leave but he reached out, slipping something into Aang's hand.
He shook his head vigorously and raised a finger to his lips.
Aang, a little startled, began to walk away a bit faster, trying to act natural as he kept the paper clenched in his fist.
"We should get back to Appa," Katara said adamantly. She looked at Smellerbee and Longshot. "You should come with us too. If we find Eira, we'll probably find Jet." The pair nodded and they all hurried back to the dividing wall were they left Appa.
Sokka and Toph were already there, looking bored as they leant against the wall, not really doing anything. The lack of emotion on their faces told Katara and Aang that they hadn't found anything.
"Katara, Aang, hey- Wait, why are they here?" Sokka pointed at Longshot and Smellerbee, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Who?" Toph asked, facing their direction aggressively.
"Their names are Longshot and Smellerbee," Aang said before Sokka could offend them. He looked seriously at Sokka. "They're here to help us look for Eira. Jet has gone missing as well. We'll explain later."
He jumped up onto Appa's head. Katara, Toph, Smellerbee and Longshot climbed up onto Appa's saddle, ignoring Sokka confused expression.
"Come on, Sokka," Katara called, shocking her brother from his stupor. Begrudgingly, he got up and they all flew back into the air.
As soon as they were high enough not to be heard or seen, Sokka turned on them.
"Explain," he demanded. "What do you mean they're helping us? And Jet? What does he have to do with this?"
Katara explained what had happened after they separated as Sokka and Toph listened intently.
"…So, Eira's with Jet. That's what she was really doing?" Sokka said.
Katara nodded. "That's what we think."
Sokka shook his head incredulously. "But why?"
"We don't know yet. I guess when we find her we'll ask her, right?"
Aang looked down at his still clenched hand and opened it, making sure the piece of paper inside it didn't fly away in the wind. Written on it was the words Lake Laogai. Aang's eyebrows knitted together in concentration.
"Wait, you know that man who saw Eira," Aang started. "I think he also knew more than he said." Aang presented the piece of paper to everyone.
"What does it say?" Toph asked.
"It says Lake Laogai."
Sokka's eyes widened in shock. "Isn't that where Joo Dee said she went on vacation?"
"Does anyone know where it is?" Katara asked. Sokka reached into both his and Eira's bags and sorted out the maps the two of them had, but he shook his head.
"No, there are quite a few lakes around Ba Sing Se. I wouldn't know where to start," he said.
Aang looked determinedly ahead of him. "We have Appa. We can check them out." He looked back at Sokka. "So, which direction?"
o.O.o
They flew for about half an hour, past the Lower Ring but not past the boundaries of the Outer Ring where Sokka said it would be most likely to be. They were out of the main city and to be honest, Aang was glad. The whole time in the city they were being watched and waiting for a meeting with the king that would never come. Hopefully after they found Eira and Jet they'd be able to finally get to see him and tell him about the plan.
The Outer Ring area was quite beautiful. It was a bit rocky but covered in greenery and the lake they landed at was crystal blue. The water shone in the sun and as they walked along the edge it rolled in and out on the stony earth.
Aang jumped off Appa and turned to Toph as she landed flat-footed on the earth.
"Can you see anything?" he asked quietly. Everyone else got off Appa and surrounded her as she bent down to get a better look, placing her palm on the ground.
"I see something beneath us, but it's unclear," she said. She got up and wandered over further down the lake. She bent down again to get another look.
"Wait! I see it! There's a whole network of tunnels under the lake!" she announced loudly. Everyone ran over to her.
"Are you sure, Toph?" Sokka asked.
"Can you see Jet?" Smellerbee looked at her expectantly. Toph slid her foot towards the lake and the water separated as a path of earth rose, revealing a circular slab of rock which she slid off with the same technique.
Everyone gathered around the hole and there was a small moment of hesitation between them all. Aang looked back at Appa nervously, who had plodded over closer to them.
"Appa, maybe you should fly to cover. We might be a while," he said. He checked his pocket for his bison whistle and nodded to Appa. Appa, understanding, slammed his tail into the ground and flew away towards the more forest-covered area that rested on top of a small rocky hill surrounding the lake.
With a deep breath, Aang lowered himself down the hole and jumped down, landing on a wet stone floor with a light cushion of air under his feet. With horrible curiosity Aang looked around the area and frowned. It certainly wasn't a pleasant place. The dark stone slabs covered the floor, walls, and ceiling under the dim green light of several black lanterns hung on the wall. It was silent if not for the small drips of water echoing throughout the tunnel.
Aang heard footsteps and flinched until he realised they were coming from above him. Sokka, Katara, Toph, Smellerbee, and Longshot were slowly making their way down the metal bars that made a ladder.
Katara landed next to Aang and looked around with a similar look of distaste.
"A part of me hopes Eira and Jet aren't here," she admitted quietly, trying not to make too much noise.
Aang nodded. He couldn't imagine what condition they'd be in if they were.
The other landed around them and Aang looked hopefully at Toph.
"I don't suppose you can see Jet or Eira now?"
Toph shook her head regretfully. "No. I don't know who this Jet even is aside from that he hates the Fire Nation and is their friend and Eira is too much like you, Twinkle Toes. She walks too lightly."
"Then I guess we should just continue through here," Aang suggested. With no alternative, they marched down the dark tunnel.
The green lanterns did very little to light their way but did much to add to the creepy atmosphere. They walked as quietly as they could and looked into any room they could to try and see if Eira and Jet were there but in some cases they regretted it.
Inside a square room there were a dozen women all standing shoulder to shoulder in front of a Dai Li agent with glazed looks in their eyes and faces. They were all dressed the same and in an identical way to Joo Dee but with different hairstyles and faces.
The Dai Li agent chanted in front of them in a slow calm voice.
"I am Joo Dee," he began. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se."
"I am Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se," they chorused.
"We're so lucky to have our walls to create order."
"We're so lucky to have our walls to create order."
Aang stepped back quickly, feeling sick. What if Eira was here?
"Let's keep moving," Katara said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Longshot and Smellerbee walked close to each other, silently supporting each other as the creepy atmosphere began to weigh down on them.
They reached the end of the tunnel with a large steel door taking up most of it. Aang took hold of the handle and pulled it, finding that it opened surprisingly easily despite its size and weight. It didn't even make a sound, not a squeak or creak. The silence filled Aang with a sense of foreboding.
They walked into a much larger cavern-like room filled with green light and metal hooks hanging from the ceiling and several barred exits around it. It was just a dim as the other areas but as soon as they all made it into the room, it quickly brightened, revealing the many Dai Li agents hovering above them and Long Feng standing in front of them.
"Now that's something different," Sokka commented blankly as he stared at the now apparent danger surrounding them.
"You have made yourselves enemies of the state," Long Feng announced. "Take them into custody."
The Dai Li agents dropped down, swarming them and firing their rock gloves at them. Toph shot rocks from the ground at them and the gloves exploded into dust. With quick motions she sent earth pillars at them and the Dai Li agents went flying through the air. Sokka ran forwards alongside Katara and the two of them started to fight off more agents as Aang, Smellerbee and Longshot were doing their best to fight off the others.
Rock gloves were sent flying towards Sokka and Katara but they quickly broke them up with a mixture of sword and waterbending. Two more almost hit them but they also exploded into dust with a shot from Toph.
Toph raised a large section of the earth, separating them from most of the agents.
"Run!" she yelled. She, Katara and Sokka sprinted towards the door, slamming two agents out of the way with their bending. Toph blew out the wall with earthbending and they ran through the debris, jumping over the door, not aware that Aang, Smellerbee, and Longshot were not following them.
Longshot shot arrow after arrow at the Dai Li agents, Smellerbee fought them off with her sword, and Aang was a powerhouse, fending off multiple agents at once.
"Long Feng is escaping!" he yelled as he knocked back two agents with his airbending.
The three of them chased after him through one of the barred exits into a room with many pipes of different sizes sticking out of the wall, many of them pouring with water. As they entered, the room sealed itself, the exit closing itself up.
Aang turned angrily to Long Feng who stood in front of them, still looking calm but Aang could tell he was getting aggravated.
"All right, Avatar, you've caused me enough problems. This is your last chance… if you want to see you friend alive," he threatened.
"You do have Eira and Jet!" Aang shouted. "Tell me where they are!"
"Agree to leave the city now, and I'll waive all charges against you and release your friend," he said.
Aang lowered his staff towards Long Feng. "You're in no position to bargain."
Long Feng's face held a trace of a smile. It only made his look more sinister. "Am I not?" His eyes bored into Aang's face with their dark intensity. "I believe you have not noticed that you are alone, Avatar. Your other friends have been separated and I believe they are facing quite a serious opponent. If you agree to leave now, they will be called off."
"Enough of this!" Smellerbee said angrily, glaring at Long Feng. "Where's Jet?"
"Jet has been troublesome. Disturbing the peace twice even after his re-education."
"What do you mean," Smellerbee demanded.
"If it failed once, we're not going to waste our time trying again. We have to maintain a peaceful Ba Sing Se. In that, Jet had no place. We had to dispose of him."
Aang's body went cold. It was as if his blood turned to ice. "You mean…"
"Jet is no more." Smellerbee and Longshot's faces fell, looking full of despair. Longshot's bow arm fell in shock, his face more expressive than Aang had ever seen before.
"I believe this is more reason to leave. If not, she will meet the same fate."
Aang's arm shook. "No, I won't let you!"
"You no longer have a choice in the matter. Agree to my terms or your friend will die."
With reflexes Aang would've thought were impossible Longshot fired his bow at Long Feng, eyes shining. The arrow flew towards Long Feng but the earth spiked up from the ground, blocking it.
"Fools," he growled as he fled, leaving through a hole in the wall which quickly sealed behind him.
Smellerbee shook with painful sadness as she stared at the wall he had just been through. Aang felt a horrible numbness. Jet couldn't be dead. Long Feng had to be lying.
"You need to go back," Longshot said a small quiet voice. "He said the others were being attacked. You should help them."
"But what about you?" Aang asked. Longshot didn't speak. He looked at Smellerbee and they both understood.
"Alright," Aang said. "But get out of here as soon as possible."
Longshot nodded and Aang, with only a brief glance back, ran out of the room.
o.O.o
"Wait! Where are Aang and the others?" Toph asked, stopping in her tracks. Katara and Sokka stopped with her and looked around, realising she was right.
"Do you think they're still back there?" Sokka said, looking back down to the tunnel. They weren't back, in fact, no one was there. No Dai Li agents, no nothing.
"Maybe they-" Toph began but she stopped.
"Toph? What's-"
"Duck."
"What?" To answer Sokka's question a foot slammed into his chest, winding him and sending his flying into the floor.
Katara and Toph lashed out at the figure but they fizzled out as they saw who was attacking them. It was Eira! Her dark blue eyes were glazed over and her long light hair blew around her eerily. She stood tall as her blank face glared at them.
Before they could adjust to the sight she punched a blast of air at them. Katara and Toph rolled out of the way to avoid it and Toph flung a pillar of rock at her.
"Toph!" Katara protested.
"What?!" Eira span out of the way and sent a gust at them, sending the two of them flying back.
"Eira! Why are you going this?" Katara asked, holding her ground. Why was she attacking them?!
Eira didn't respond. It was like she couldn't even hear at all.
Eira lashed out at them with bending Katara had never seen before. Katara iced the floor to try and trip her up but she simply glided along the wall and attacked from behind.
Katara fell forwards and skidded on the ice, burning her arms as she tried to protect herself.
"Stop this, Fairy Feet!" Toph sent more earth flying at her to try and stop her but with every attack, Eira just dodged and twisted into an attack sending air flying at Toph at gale force level strength.
Toph summoned a wall of earth as cover to avoid it and barrelled towards Eira, using it to avoid her attacks.
"Since when was she this strong?" Toph grumbled.
Eira rose into the air, over the cover, arms raised, and as she fell to the ground something went wrong. The air buzzed with energy and Toph collapsed to the ground. The air suddenly felt heavy and crushing as Eira seemed to push the air down and compress it over Toph.
Toph cried out as she struggled against the pressure and Katara's eyes widened at her pain.
"No! Stop! Can't you see you're hurting Toph!" she cried, running towards Eira but she didn't want to hurt her either.
As Katara struggled with what to do out of nowhere a heavy object struck Eira on the head and she crumpled to the ground, the air pressure returned to normal and Toph relaxed, exhausted. Sokka was stood there, arm outstretched as he had just thrown his boomerang and eyes wide as if he couldn't believe what just happened.
"Sokka!" Katara cried. "Why did you do that?!"
"She was doing something to Toph! I couldn't just let that happen!" Sokka retorted. "Something's obviously happened to her and she couldn't stay in that condition."
Sokka reached down to collect his boomerang and then helped Toph up onto her feet.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. 'M fine." Toph didn't look too hurt. Just a bit shaken. She looked down at Eira's now unconscious body lying on the floor. "I want to know what they did to make her do that."
Katara and Sokka picked her up and supported her together just as they heard more movement.
"It's Twinkle Toes," Toph announced happily. She was right. Aang was running towards them, but without the others.
"Aang!"
Aang stopped in front of him, a smile on his face as he saw them all but it faded quickly to form a quizzical expression as he saw Eira's unconscious body.
"What happened?"
"Long story," Sokka said quickly. "We will explain later but for now we need to leave."
Aang nodded and as they stood under the hole they entered in and before anyone could try and climb the ladder Toph stomped her foot and sent them all flying up as the floor rose beneath them.
As they adjusted to the light they began to run. Well, until they notice the legion of Dai Li agents in front of them.
"You think we can outrun them?" Sokka asked hopefully.
"I don't think it's gonna matter!" Aang said as he saw the Dai Li agents to their side rise up, creating walls and boxing them in.
Aang reached into his pocket and blew the bison whistle. The silent whistle seemed anti-climactic but it came through as Appa soared through the sky towards them. He smashed through the rock walls, scattering the Dai Li agents and Toph and Aang used the distraction to use their earthbending to shove the nearby agents into the water where Katara iced them in.
Appa was confronting Long Feng as they got to him and they smiled widely as Appa used his mouth to throw Long Feng aside by the leg. They hauled Eira onto the saddle and climbed aboard as Appa flew away, out of the range of the Dai Li.
Appa took them to the sheltered forested area he had been hiding in and everyone took a collective deep breath to recover from the experience.
"So… what happened to Eira?" Aang asked, concerned as he looked at her. When he pictured finding her he hadn't exactly thought they'd have to go through all of that.
Sokka, Katara, and Toph all looked nervous and unsure.
"We're not exactly sure," Sokka admitted. "As we were running out of that room, we noticed you didn't follow us but then, out of nowhere, Eira showed up and attacked us. She did some weird air pressure thing around Toph so I hit her with my boomerang." Sokka paused. "I think she's been brainwashed or something. She had the same blank look as those… Joo Dees we saw back there."
"What!" Aang shouted in shock. "What if it's permanent?"
"I don't know. Maybe Katara could heal her with her waterbending thing?" Sokka suggested.
Katara looked deep in thought at Eira. "I think the first thing we should do is wake her up. We can work from there."
She leant over and splashed Eira with water.
"Eira, wake up!"
Sorry for the cliffhanger, again-ish. I hope you liked this. I really appreciate the views and reviews you guys give me and I'm sorry for the waiting... I'm awful.
Anyway, please tell me what you thought! I love hearing from you :)