Legal Notice: Even in the farthest reaches of the desert, I don't own this.
Chapter 12: The Desert
"Aang, I don't remember what I did!" Kana screamed back at him.
"Because of you, Appa's gone!" he yelled, "Toph would have been able to protect Appa if it wasn't for you!"
"Me?" she snarled, "It's because of you, I warned you not to abuse Wan Shi Tong's trust, but the moment I left, you did the opposite of what I said!"
"So you're protecting him, is that it?" he hollered.
"That's our job," she shrieked back, "and if you haven't realized that yet, than you're obviously not ready to be the Avatar!" Aang's face twisted down into something terrifying, something she had never seen before. It was bestial; it was the look of someone who could win the spirits games.
"I'm going to find Appa, if we die, you can all blame Kana." He snapped out the wings of his glider, and leaped from the sand, leaving everyone stranded in the desert.
"Aang, wait! We have to stay together!" Katara shouted, but he just kept going. Kana turned to Sokka in a fury, blue eyes spitting fire.
"You," she snarled, stalking forward, "I told you to stay away from anything to do with the Fire Nation!"
"The intelligence was worth, we found out there's a solar eclipse coming that's going to stop all Firebending!"
"You just made an enemy out of an all knowing spirit, Sokka! Do you even understand what that means?"
"I don't care what that giant bird does to me, it's worth it to stop the Fire Nation."
"Wan Shi Tong doesn't take revenge, he teaches lessons." Kana shook her head furiously, "I hope for your sake this lesson doesn't involve someone you care about."
"We need to get going," Katara murmured moving between them, "we have to get this information to Ba Sin Se."
"You think if we dig out that giant owl he'll give us a ride?" Before anyone could react, Kana spun around, and slapped him across the face.
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"Fire of the Dragon." Kana said, looking from the great owl to the book he had handed to her.
"Written by your pas life Houjin, it is said that she was the most powerful firebender to ever exist."
"So this is the history of her life than?" she asked.
"No this is the journal used to document her studies. Some of her life has been recorded in this to help explain her findings though." Kana glanced back at Wan Shi Tong, opening the book in her hands. The calligraphy was written in a flowing script that devoured the page. Not only did she recognize the feathery stroke of the brush that made the markings on white as her own, but she recognized this wasn't regular calligraphy either.
It was woman's speech. Something only taught to girls in secret, passed from one mother to the other. It was used mostly in times of war, as a way to communicate without being censored. Taught by the Air Nomads from the Eastern and Western Air Temples it was the most used form when two women wrote to each other. Kana herself had actually been taught by Hariti, it sent a slight pang to her heart at seeing this.
Orange fire is the first fire produced by Firebenders, and it is often the only one people try to master. It is the combination of all emotions working together in harmony, mostly it is made up of the red and yellow flames, but on occasion another color could be mixed in as well. It isn't the most effective – though it works quite well obviously – however it is the safest.
Any other fire has dangerous risks to accomplish, only masters of the mind and body could achieve success. It has taken me a lifetime to master the fires I have, and all of the power that comes with it, including lightning. There is one flame that has eluded me, and though I could go on about my inability to complete this journal, I will try to be as much help to the next person who reads this.
Just like any beginning, I will start off on the first – or rather the second – fire that comes naturally to every Firebender. The red fire of rage. It comes the most often, and is close to being the most powerful, but it is near unsustainable. Every person harbors that deep feeling, the bottomless pit that rest in one's heart, but the human body is physically incapable of sustain such destructive power… Or maybe I just don't want to.
"It seems that your friends are unable to stay true to their word. Come with me, child." Wan Shi Tong droned, shocking Kana from the pages of the book. The great owl glided out of the room holding the books of her and Aang's past lives, and she wished she could read them all. But she let out a sigh while leaving, and in the corner of her eye she saw a fox peeking at her.
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"Can't you watch where you're –" Sokka started, breathing hard before seeing who he'd run into.
"No." Toph snapped at him
"Right. Sorry." He coughed.
"Come on guys, we've got to stick together." Katara said turning, obviously forcing false enthusiasm into her voice.
"Katara, we're in the middle of the desert with only two pouches of water. Your optimism gets rather upsetting." Kana groaned.
"Besides, if I sweat anymore I'm not sure sticking together will be a problem." Sokka commented, trying to pry himself off of Toph's clothes.
"Kana, can I have some water?" she asked, shoving him away with one hand.
"We have to preserve our water," Katara interrupted before Kana could assent, "here, open your mouths." Everyone did as she said, and an orb of cool liquid was placed on their tongues.
"You too, Katara." Kana told her softly, making the other girl take a reluctant swig from the water skin.
"We're using your bending water?" Sokka asked before shouting, "you used this on the swamp guy!"
"Look, I'm sorry, but it's all we have." Katara apologized, causing her brother to pout until he saw something green.
"Not anymore, look!" he grinned, pointing to a large cactus a little off their path. He walked up to it, cut a piece off with his knife, and drained the liquid content into his mouth along with Momo.
"Sokka, wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" Katara grabed Toph's wrist and ran over to Sokka and Momo, Kana trailing behind them.
"There's water trapped inside these!" Sokka held up some cactus for Katara, but she backed away, pushing Toph back as well. He turned to Kana then, offering her the same. She took it from his hands, and sniffed the inside slightly. It smelt sweet.
"I don't know..."
"Suit yourself. It's very thirst-quenching, though. Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!" Katara took the proffered cactus bowl from Kana and poured it quickly to the ground with one of her mothering looks of aggrivation.
"Okay, I think you've had enough."
"Who lit Toph on fire?" Sokka asked, poking her in the head, as Momo spun in a circle in the air and dive bombed to the ground.
"Can I get some of that cactus?" Toph questioned Katara, knowing Kana would just give her, her own look.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Come on, we need to find Aang." Katara sighed; about to pull her brother away, before Kana stopped her.
"I think we should take the cactus juice."
"Are you crazy, after what it did to Sokka?"
"I'd rather have one of us sane and the others delusional if it means we're all alive." Kana responded, taking a bending stance. "Here, take my water."
Kana bended the water into Katara's water skin before guiding as much cactus juice as possible into her own pouch. She cored it, and sighed as Sokka tried to hug, saying something about a fuzzy bender, whatever that was.
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"Sokka, what did you do!?" Kana screamed from the doorway of what Wan Shi Tong called the planetarium.
"You are not the only human that is predictable, child." The great owl drawled, moving closer to everybody."You betrayed my trust. From the beginning you intended to misuse this knowledge for evil purposes."
"You don't understand. " Sokka argued, "If anyone's evil, it's the Fire Nation. You saw what they did to your library. They're destructive and dangerous. We need this information."
"You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified? Countless others before you have come here, seeking weapons or weaknesses or battle strategies."
"We had no choice. Please, we're just desperate to protect the people we love." Aang pleaded to the spirit, whose feathers were beginning to ruffle.
"And now I'm going to protect what I love. It's time to fulfill your end of the bargain child. Protect my library." Kana felt her limbs stiffen in pain as she slammed into the door frame of the planetarium. She could feel the anger building, the hatred of millions. She grunted once, before losing herself in the glow.
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"I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here." Katara said, when Aang descended from the sky.
"What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it." He groaned hopelessly.
"Come on, Aang! We can do this if we work together. Right, Toph?"
"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'."
"Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba-Sing-Se?" Sokka and Momo were both lying on their backs and staring at the sky. Sokka smiled blissfully and pointed upward.
"Why don't we ask the circle birds?"
"Kana?" Katara pleaded, face falling in defeat. Kana turned her eyes to her, then to everyone else, and finally to the buzzard wasps circling overhead. They were all hopeless – except the hungry buzzard wasps.
"Our biggest problem is the sun and heat," she said slowly, "Toph and I could make a tunnel under the sand, and with my Firebending I can light the way as well."
"Aang could help too." Katara exclaimed, pulling Sokka and Toph to their feet.
"If he wants." Kana said between clenched teeth.
""You think I don't want to help get us out of this desert?" he growled at her, and she turned her back on him.
"I didn't say that." She hissed tightly, ending the conversation by bending a sand tunnel.
"Let's wait until the sun goes down to keep going, we should all try to get some rest." Katara murmured, placing a careful hand on both of their shoulders, and leading them both inside. They didn't go much farther than getting out of the sun, so that there would still be a bit of light before sitting down. Kana didn't hesitate to take out Fire of the Dragon, and flipping to where she had left off.
"Is that from Wan Shi Tong's library?" Aang asked in an accusatory tone.
"Yes," she snapped raising her chin defensively, "the one he gave me in exchange for protecting his library. The library you destroyed."
"I didn't destroy it, you and that crazy bird did!" he screamed at her. Kana just snarled at him, then turned back to her book.
"Learn to pick your fights, Twinkle Toes," she heard Toph say, "don't take on someone who has more experience than you, and on a moral basis, don't fight friends just because you're angry."
"It's more than that, Toph. It's her fault Appa's gone." He spat out venomously, and she blocked out his voice with gritted teeth. It wasn't her fault, it was his. She glared down at Fire of the Dragon and flipped through the pages.
Yellow, this fire has to do with joy and happiness. It is no wonder that I discovered this on my wedding day.Kana was sad to say that she wasn't ready for that fire. Maybe someday, just not today. Green has to do with ambition, greed, and jealousy. I saw a little girl, about five and she was nothing short of a prodigy. It looked as if she might even one day surpass me.She was practically raised by an Air Nomad, they valued excluding oneself from material values which green had to deal with. That was out to, and her temper was beginning to wear thin.
She crossed out color after color because there was something always wrong with it. Orange she could already do, but the others: red, yellow, green, purple, blue – she stopped. There was only one sentence. What I gained from going to Wan Shi Tong's library; the root of all knowledge.
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"For the last time, I don't want to snuggle." Toph said, leaning against Appa, who had just groaned. Suddenly he got to his feet, stomping the ground. "The library's sinking. The library's sinking!"
Toph slammed her fists into the stone walls of the building, trying to keep it from burying itself into the ground. She felt a strange pulling on her ankles from the sand, and realization hit her hard in the gut. She knew what this was, she had experienced the same thing in the water before. It was a whirlpool, which could only mean one thing. Kana was sinking the library.
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Kana and Aang weren't speaking, or even looking at each other. They even had the rest of the group between them, Sokka leaning heavily against Kana muttering into her ear. She liked it though, it kept her mind occupied.
"Kana," Katara murmured, shifting to walk alongside her, "You need to talk to him."
"No." she said resolutely.
"He's running from the problem, you're trying to find a different way around the obstacle, one of you has to compromise."
"And you think it should be me?" Kana snapped, making Katara recoil from the pure venom in her voice.
"I thought you would be the one who would be willing to confront the problem." She croaked. She'd never seen either of them so angry without being in the Avatar State.
"Well I'm not! I'm not someone you run to as a second option that you only use because it didn't work out with him."
"Oh come on little lady, don't be on fire in the middle of the ocean, that's bad for your health." Sokka giggled.
"Kana, I didn't mean-" Katara tried.
"Just shut up, Katara!" Kana yelled, making everyone turn to stare at her. "Why do you always need to fix things?"
"I don't-"
"Well not everything can be fixed, and this is one of those things, so drop it!" Kana tried to stomp away, but Katar caught her shoulder.
"No, I won't." she said with steel in her voice. "You two are more than family, you couldn't bear to be without each other. Remember when you woke up on Appa, and Kana wasn't there?" she asked, leveling her stare at Aang. "You were out of your mind, it took everything we had to convince you she wanted it that way. You wouldn't even talk to me or Sokka until we reached the Souther Air Temple."
"And Kana, remember when you went into the Avtar State at the North Pole, and how you felt when you discovered you had hit Aang?" Katara glanced between the two of them, trying to make her point. "What happened to Appa was a tragedy, but we can't let it tear us apart."
"I'm not ready to forgive." Aang whispered, unable to meet Katara's eyes. "Not yet."
"But you'll try?" she probed, and he nodded. She looked to Kana with so much pain, it nearly broke her heart that she had caused it. She nodded once, and the tension from Katara's shoulder left almost instantly. "Okay… Sokka, let me see the scrolls you took from the library."
Sokka reeled back and clutched his bag full of scrolls to his chest in a panic. "What! I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?!" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Momo. "It was you! You ratted me out!"
"Sokka, I was there." Katara sighed, taking the bag from him/
"It doesn't matter. None of those will tell us where Appa is." Aang whispered.
"No, but we can find out which way Ba-Sing-Se is. We can use the stars to guide us. That way we can travel at night when it's cool and rest during the day." She said before sighing. "Just try to get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours."
They all sat on the ground, curling into themselves. Toph was the only one between Kana and Aang, it wasn't what Katara wanted, but it was more than she expected. If asked, Kana would say that it was only for the Waterbender's sake, but that was a lie. The anger was gone, and all that was left was a dull sting right in the middle of her chest. A hole with ragged edges. I think I prefer anger. She thought to herself.
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"Aang, you have to keep her distracted when she breaks through!" Sokka shouted, turning the dials on the stone calendar. The door to the planetarium was shut tight, and they could hear the sound of Kana trying to beat her way in. Brandishing his glider, it felt as if all of Aang's nerves were on fire. He didn't want to have to fight her, she didn't know what she was doing while in the Avatar State.
Suddenly the noise on the other end of the door went silent. "I got it!" Sokka whooped, "The day of the solar eclipse!" just as he finished, the wall exploded in front of them, and they were met with to hateful glowing eyes. Aang blasted a gust of air at her, and Kana went flying backwards. He grabbed Sokka's wrist, and ran as fast as possible.
Yet even with their head start, both boys could hear her right behind them, it was only a matter of time before she caught up! With a kick they were in the air, carried by the orange wings of the glider. Together they flew as fast as possible to the exit blocked by a rabid Wan Shi Tong.
With a burst of sudden inspiration, Sokka let go of Aang, diving through the air and slamming a stole tomb into the owls skull. There was a jet of fire blocked by a water whip from Katara, signaling that Kana had caught up. "Everyone up!" he shouted, helping his sister up the rope.
They only got halfway before Wan Shi Tong began to awaken, the rope detaching from the windowsill. Aang soared down, catching it, and started to head towards the window. Sokka could practically feel his hear explode as he watched Kana run up the owls back, and grab the end of the rope.
She raised a fist to blast him with fire, but before she could, they flew through the window, and the glow left her eyes.
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"Ahhh... Finally! Solid ground!" Toph sighed, falling flat , creating an earth angel in the rock surface.
"I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice. And look!" Sokka exclaimed grabing some sticky substance off the side of a cave wall, giving some to Momo as he eats it. He quickly spit it out and made a disgusted gagging noise. "This tastes like rotten penguin meat! Awww I feel woozy."
"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and then you just lick something you find stuck to the wall of a cave?!" Katar shouted, irritated.
"I have a natural curiosity."
"More like a natural stupidity!" Kana snapped.
"I don't think this is a normal cave. This was carved by something." Toph said, shifting from foot to foot.
"Yeah... look at the shape." Aang agreed.
"There's something buzzing in here. Something that's coming for us!" Everyone ran back out of the cave as a buzzing noise started echoing from the caves. Toph and Aang screamed as buzzard wasps flew from the caves and attacked, Aang tackling Toph to the ground to keep a wasp from getting her.
Several of the creatures emerged from the cave and began to screech. Aang swings his staff down at one that approaches and blows it back with a gust of air. A buzzard wasp lands near Toph, sensing it she bends a pillar of rock up from beneath it, sending it flying.
Kana brings out a whip of water, slicing one in half with a surgical precision. "I'm out of water to bend!" Katara shouted.
"Take mine!" Kana yelled, passing the liquid over to her friend, and sliding seamlessly into a Firebending stance.
"Momo!" Aang screamed, "No, I'm not losing anyone else out here!"
"Kana, come on, we're going down!" she ran forward towards everybody, shooting blasts of fire at anything that got too close. They made it halfway down before pillars of sand rose into the air, scaring away all of the buzzard wasps.
"What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer? From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe." a man said, removing his mask.
"We found the sailer abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se." Katara exclaimed. A younger sandbender next to the - obvious - leader stepped forward, and raised his voice, clenching his fist.
"You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer?"
"Quiet, Gashuin. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality." the man snapped.
"Sorry, father."
"I recognize the son's voice. He's the one that stole Appa." Toph whispered, making Kana's back stiffen.
"Are you sure?" she hissed.
"I never forget a voice." she answered, and Aang took several steps towards the Sandbenders, brandishing his staff with a snarl.
"You stole Appa!" he shouted, "Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"They're lying! They're the thieves!" Gashuin shouted. Aang swung his staff down and obliterated a sand sailer with a blast of air, in a blind rage.
"Where is my bison?! You tell me where he is now!" The Sandbenders watch in shock as Aang swung the end of his staff upward and destroyed another sand sailer. Kana rushed forward, grabbing his shoulder, but he just blew her away, back into Sokka.
"What did you do?" the leader yelled at his son.
"I-It wasn't me!"
"You said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph shouted, pointing with a snarl.
"You muzzled Appa?!" Aang screamed, eyes and arrows beginning to glow as he began to enter the Avatar State. He twirled his staff around, demolishing one of the few remaining sand sailers.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!" Gashuin pleaded.
"Tell me where Appa is!" Aang demanded, his voice echoing in a monstrous tone.
"I traded him! To some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now! They were going to sell him there! Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!" the Sandbender said, recoiling with fright. The air around Aang slowly began to pick up and spin around as he finally fully entered the Avatar State, pulling in the sand, creating a vortex around them.
"Just get out of here! Run!" Sokka yelled, grabbing Toph by the shoulders and pulling her away from Aang. Katara, however, stays and faces the danger with Kana paralyzed next to her. Aang slowly lifted from the ground, the sand tornado growing larger, and spreading quicker. Katara made her way through the fierce wind and grabbed Aang's wrist. He looked down at her with anger and hate, and that's when Kana's heart breaks.
She was scared, just as he was when she was in the Avatar State. He was right, this was all her fault. She should have fought against Wan Shi Tong, she should have never allowed something like a contract made between one of her past live, and a spirit make her nearly kill someone she loved. The pain in her chest spread from a gaping hole, and became everything that she was. She would never hurt him, she didn't know if she could survive without him by her side. She had never let the thought that someday she would have to kill him completely go. But she did now, the pain in her chest all-consuming, it was the ultimate teacher. The root to all knowledge.
Katara brought Aang back to the ground, hugging him by the shoulders, Sokka and Toph letting their hands down from shielding their faces. The wind started to become less violent as Kana made her way through the still violent gales, wrapping her arms around him as well. Tears streamed from his glowing eyes, both Katara and Kana holding onto each other, doing their best not to let go of him. The wind finally died down, and Aang slipped out of the Avatar State, his head resting against Katara, Kana supporting his weight.
"I'm so sorry, Aang."
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This is a lot longer than I expected. I thought it'd only be around 2,000 words, but it's double that! Guess it just comes to show that the characters like to take over. Also, HBDLFHIOASBDFKDJANS MY FRIEND DREW PICTURES OF KANA! GO TO MY PROFILE AND LOOK AT THEM!
No character questions