Gyatso and Kara: Prodigies of an Avatar

Chapter 27- The Swamp

One by one, each person on Appa walked off of the air-bison watching the floor cautiously. Each foot sloshed into the muddy swamp floor making a horrible "Slish" sound. Each foot except for that of Kuzon, however. The little boy's small hands were firmly wrapped around Appa's white and gray fur.

"Kuzon, let go of Appa." Katara pleaded with her son placing her hands on her hips and looking him in the eyes.

"No," He shook his head, burying it into the mammal's fur.

"Mom, why don't we just guide Appa to Tho, Due, and Huu with Kuzon on Appa?" Kara suggested trying to eliminate another time consuming conversation with her brother. The sooner they got to Tho, Due, and Huu, the sooner they could leave the swamp, and the sooner they could see the Avatar.

"You know what, that's a good idea." Katara sighed, starting to lead Appa forward in the muck.

"Wait! I'll watch Kuzon on Appa." That came from Li, whose boots had been punctured in Songhua, letting gallons of goop seep into his toes.

He jumped onto Appa, and the rest of the group continued walking until they heard the sound of a banjo in the distance. Definitely Huu playing the tune that Chong had taught him when he visited the swamp about ten years back.

"Is that Huu?" Katara yelled to the shadows with a nostalgic smile. Her eyes were bright and happy, for she was ready to see her old friends.

The banjo music came to a halt, and an old, fat man came out of the shadows. Huu stood before the group, banjo in hand as well as a handful of miscellaneous insects.

"Mama Avatar!" Huu said smiling and opening his arms, ready for a hug.

Katara gave him a tight embrace. The elderly man was like a grandfather to her, and she hugged him as if he was. As they hugged, Huu looked up with his light hazel eyes at the several teenagers (and toddler) in front of him. Memories flashed in his mind of the young children that they used to be. Kara, who was three feet tall when they had first met, was now five feet and eight inches tall-she had the tall gene, like her father who stood at six feet and three inches. Topaz, the small and stringy girl with a big attitude was five feet and six inches, and no longer stringy, but a healthy girl with fat on her bones. Kyoshi had the biggest transformation of all. She was tall and chubby as a little girl, with long, bright red hair that went all over the place. Now, her hair was more auburn and down to her shoulders, while her height was a small five feet and four inches compared to her tall friends as well as the thinnest build of them all.

"Oh, my little caterpillars!" Huu laughed releasing Katara from her hold and running to the girls. He had to look at them for a couple of seconds, but figured that if he did, he wouldn't stop, so he just hugged all three girls as tightly as he could.

"Mr. Huu, it's been such a long time!" Kara wheezed as the older man started to squeeze her-and the rest of the girls-tighter.

"Yeah, long time no see." Topaz added, also short of breath.

"I've missed you-all three of you caterpillars. . . I can't even call you butterflies caterpillars anymore!" Huu loosened his hold on the girls feeling them tense up even though he wanted to hold onto them forever.

"Mister Huu," A small voice peeped from Appa.

The old man looked up to see the youngest member of the group looking down on him from the massive bison. The little boy's pale gray eyes were curious and confused at the same time. One more question popped into his head.

"Is that the young lad that was brave enough to come here from the Fire Nation when he was just a little one?"

"That's me, Mister Huu!" Kuzon said with a smile to show that his two front teeth had fallen out of his mouth. He looked absolutely adorable, just like his father before him.

"Uh . . . why aren't you down here, son?"

"I'm too short to stand in the mud, stuff." He replied with a bit of a lisp and then turned over again, hiding behind Appa's fur.

"Okay," Katara chuckled sheepishly brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Why don't we get going?"

"Get going is exactly what we should do." Huu said and turned motioning to where the headquarters was located.

After all of the hellos and how are yous, the teens of the group were pretty bored at the swamp. They all sat in a circle on Appa trying to entertain themselves, but nothing that they tried did the trick.

"Guys, what are we supposed to do now?" Li sighed collapsing backwards with a slap. He had become so dramatic in trying to do something funny that he just looked freaky.

Topaz gave the loudest groan that she could and cocked her head back matching Li's drama, but she was better at it than her friend was-she had more experience. She made a "phllp" noise with her lips and rolled her head over devising a mischievous plan.

"I think that it is rule breaking time to tell the truth. Rule number one, specifically."

"Pazzie, we can't do that." Kyoshi objected touching the devious teen's shoulders firmly.

"I'm definitely in." Kara interrupted, not even listening to her cousin. She slipped her shoes back on and slid off of Appa.

"Anything to kill my boredom." Li groaned as he followed Kara off of Appa.

Topaz was next, but Kyoshi didn't budge one bit. She stood her ground, crossing her arms in defiance. Her face was pure disappointment. Her rose colored lips were curled and yellow, while her eyes were fiery.

"C'mon, Oshi! Somebody has to supervise us, right?" Topaz pleaded with her friend. She slyly nudged Li to add something that would encourage his significant other.

"Ow," He mumbled, and then, after another nudge, talked on. "Kyoshi, would you really just sit on Appa and wait for us to come back for God knows how long?"

Kyoshi flinched not once. Her light blue eyes turned so icy that Li felt like he was at home. Yet, he challenged on.

"I dare you to come-no! I bet you won't even have an ounce of the guts to get off of-"

"Shut up, you seagull!" Kyoshi jumped off of Appa and went up to Li, looking him strait in the eyes. She pressed her index finger to his chest roughly and took a deep breath.

"You do not tell me what to do! I make my own decisions, and I am not your little toy! I don't care about how scared you are of Topaz; whos bark is bigger than her bite anyways. And, you know what, I will go with you because I want to spite you, not because I approve of what any of you are doing."

She looked at him as well as her cousin and best friend icily. A flood of guilt poured onto each of them, and they looked down wishing that they hadn't tried to persuade her into coming with them after all.

"Kyoshi," Topaz started, but was interrupted sharply by the girl who she was speaking to.

"Shut up, Topaz." She spat walking before all of them. She was headed in the left direction, not looking back. Kyoshi only stopped to check if her peers were still following her. They stood in their tracks.

"Well, come on! You guys wanted to go so bad, move your feet!"

The three other teens had nothing other to do than follow her as she walked, and figured that they should seize the moment. Kara walked with an inspiring bounce in each of her steps. Kara's bounce quickly turned into a high skip, which turned into a fast run.

"Kara!" Li yelled out running after her. "Why are you running through the wilderness?"

"This isn't the wilderness, Li. It's a swamp!" She replied breezing past Topaz, and then Kyoshi. Her hair blew in the wind, and almost gave her the same feeling that she felt when she was air-bending.

"You aren't even looking at where you are going, cous." Kyoshi said sighing as she joined her other friends in jogging after her. Sometimes Kara acted more like Kuzon's age than 15 years old.

"I'm letting the great tree lead me!" Kara laughed doing a 180 and starting to run backwards.

"Operate in wisdom!" Kyoshi huffed as she increased her jogging stride to a fast run. Though thin and strong, she was not great in athletics except for combat, and the running was tiring her out.

"I am, Oshi! I am cool, and balanced, and loving this feel-" Kara was silenced. She fell through an old animal trap that went down to the waterfall made from weathered rock.

The cool breeze suddenly became frantic as the teen tried to bend, but the fall had turned her backwards and helpless. The wind blew her hair upwards, but her body fell down. It took her breath away. She tried to move her eyes to prepare for the end of her fall, but they couldn't look down that far.

The sound of running water crept into her ears and she closed her eyes terribly frightened. Waterfalls meant rocks, and rocks meant a hard and deadly landing. God help her.

Her body landed in the green and brown water with a loud pat. Everything went black for her.

.....

"What was that?" A thirteen year-old girl turned away from the boy that she was talking to suddenly.

"Rika, what are you talking about?" The boy asked turning his sea blue eyes to follow hers.

The teens power-walked to the oldest boy in their group to ask him if he heard the fall; but he was already running into the water looking for the girl that fell inside of it.

"Iroh, why are you in the water?" Rika yelled to him, but she immediately regretted asking the stupid question.

"Oh, I don't know, saving somebody!" He replied rolling his daring golden eyes.

Iroh swam under the filthy-which was hard for him, on account of his being a fire-bender, and reached for the girl before she hit the rocks at the bottom of the falls. The water was so nasty that it blinded him, and as much as he tried, he couldn't grasp her, and she was falling fast.

'Come on, come on, hand!' Iroh thought reaching with all of his might. He still couldn't get a hold of her.

Out of the blue, a surge of adrenaline went through his body. His legs violently kicked forward, and he got a firm hold on her hand. Even in the water they were so soft to the touch that they vaguely reminded him of somebody.

He lowered his hands to her arm, and then her waist, brought her up and pulled her body close to his. As they made their way to the end of the falls and towards the air, Iroh's body yearned for air. He pushed through the water and took a great gasp when oxygen hit his cheeks.

"I-I got her!" The boy coughed swimming to land. His eyes looked to his friends and brother, and were pleased to see the smiles on their faces. He was Iroh the Great.

Once the boy got the girl to land, he laid her down on the swampy beach and struggled to stand up. He didn't realize how tiring swimming could be.

"Gyatso, can you do your water-bending thingy and you know . . . revive her?"

"I don't know how to do that!" Gyatso cried pulling his dark brown hair.

"Relax, Gyatso. I'll do what I was trained to do." Rika grumbled kneeling besides Kara.

The thirteen year old stretched her fingers upwards and downward, and then took a deep breath. She started bending from Kara's chest and moved the water up, and through the mouth. Kara came coughing awake, but was seriously delirious.

By the time that she could wake up, everybody was in front of her.

"Hey, hey, give the chick some space." Iroh said pushing his friends away. Ironically, he stayed and looked at her. Why did she look so familiar?

Her rain grey eyes fluttered open, and the first thing that she saw was Iroh smiling above her.

Where am I? 2. Who is the hottie?

"Hey, pretty . . . do you have a name?" Iroh asked backing up from her just a bit.

He is totally

"Gorgeous." She said matter-of-factly, not keeping her thoughts to herself.

"Hello, Gorgeous."

Oh, yeah. How was that? I think that it was pretty awsome! What do you think?