"Alright, let's see what Kara is up to this time," Toph grinned as she rubbed her hands together with glee.
"The last time around, we found out she could bend both water and fire, right?" Sokka asked Aang, who confirmed it with a nod.
"Huh?" A look of confusion crossed Zuko's face.
"Oh right, you weren't there that time. She also called you a handsome jerk," Sokka added.
"That's nice," Zuko said drily before sitting back and waiting for Katara to begin the chapter.
The wind whistled through the icy terrain around us. Everyone was in shocked silence as they all stared at one person: me. Nobody said anything, for they had just seen something unexplainable – a waterbender bending fire. Even I could not totally comprehend what had just happened.
"In short, this is basically a recap of what happened in the last chapter," Aang concluded. "Understandable, I guess."
"But strange for people who're reading this directly after the last chapter," Katara pointed out. "I mean, the last chapter ended with everyone staring at Kara after she firebent, and here we get a repeat of the same scene."
"Meh, who cares?" Toph shrugged. "I'm just sad the wind wasn't strong enough to blow her off her feet and dump her in a pile of snow or something."
"Ooh, now that'll be cool – literally," Sokka laughed, then stopped when he found everyone staring at him. "What? I said it'd be cool for Kara – you know, falling into the snow and everything."
"Uh, okay, sure," Zuko said hesitantly, although his eyebrows were still raised.
The young man who had just arrived at our village with a troop of firebenders and a Fire Nation navy ship now stepped towards me, the angry red burn wound on his hand standing out from his pale skin. It hurt to look at it, and it hurt even more to know I caused it when I didn't even know how I did it. He stood over me, his amber eyes that were previously filled with shock now with a determined glint in them. "You're coming with us."
"Okay, I need someone to explain this for me," Zuko spoke up. "When did this happen? How did my hand get burned? And how did this all start in the first place?"
"Alright, let's see." Sokka tapped his chin thoughtfully. "This happened back when you came to our tribe looking for Aang after he bust out of that iceberg, your hand got burned when you were fighting Kara and she punched her fist towards you in self-defense and shot a fireball instead, and I'm still not entirely sure how all this began anyway. There, is that better?"
"No."
"Good. Now on with the story, please."
"No, she's not!" a voice shouted. We all looked up to see Aang zooming towards us on the back of a penguin with his staff in hand. As they came towards us at top speed, he raised his arms and formed a cushion of air before them, slowing down their advancement so they would not slide right into us. The penguin slid right between me and the young man, and Aang got off its back. The animal stood up, gave us all a confused look, then simply turned and waddled away.
"Wait, didn't Aang actually knock Zuko head over heels so he ended up in the snow headfirst with his helmet landing on his butt?" Sokka questioned.
Toph snorted. "I'd love to see that happen."
"Yes, it did happen," Katara smirked as she glanced at Zuko's sullen expression. "Too bad the author skipped that part."
"I miss the penguin," Aang sighed.
Aang looked towards me. "Are you okay, Kara?"
"So what, he comes all this way on a penguin just to ask our oh-so-perfect imaginary sister whether she's okay?" Sokka grunted.
"Apparently it doesn't matter that a troop of firebenders were present, because Kara's the reason he came back at all," Katara added.
"That sucks," Toph concluded briskly.
"Indeed. And he didn't even knock Zuko into the snow to boot."
"How about I come with you to the South Pole next time so you can relive the wonderful experience of watching me fall into the snow?" Zuko grumbled at a smugly smirking Sokka.
"I'd like that. But for now, I'd be content with the penguin returning to knock Kara into the snow instead."
"I second that," Toph grinned.
Before I could reply, Katara had already run forward to throw her arms around him. "Aang, I'm so glad you're back! Please don't go away!"
"You know Aang, usually it's the other way around – you're a total knockout for her," Toph observed.
"Yeah, it's a big change in your relationship dynamic for sure," Sokka agreed.
"Well, as long as we all know I'm not that likely to be so sappy over him then everything's okay. Of course, I might get a little sappy," Katara smiled as she winked at Aang, who blushed slightly.
"Save the lovey-dovey for later, please? We're in the middle of something here."
"Okay, Sokka."
"No, he has to go away!" I cried, suddenly realizing the danger Aang was in now. Didn't my sister realize that the reason why all these firebenders were here was to capture him?
"And here we have dumb Katara again," Katara muttered.
I quickly got to my feet and stepped forward, blocking Aang from the young man. "Take me if you want; don't hurt any of them!"
"Oh, isn't she brave?" Sokka fake-swooned as his sister nodded in agreement.
The scarred teen simply shoved his way past me, narrowing his eyes at Aang as he was wrapped in Katara's embrace. Aang gently pushed Katara away from him before turning to the young man. "Looking for me?"
The young man stared at the shorter Aang incredulously. "You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?"
"Well, there is that. Being the Avatar who'd evaded the Fire Nation for a hundred years, you'd expect him to be more awe-inspiring," Sokka pointed out.
"Or at least a little taller," Toph added.
"It was a bit of a surprise at the time," Zuko admitted.
"Do I really look that pathetic?" Aang said sadly.
"Don't worry Aang, I'm sure you're terrifying enough," Katara reassured him. "Besides, we've already seen you in some rather frightening forms before."
"Yup," Sokka agreed. "Like that time at the North Pole when you morphed with the Ocean Spirit? I gotta admit, that giant glowing fish form was pretty scary."
"Thanks," Aang grinned.
My eyes widened. "Aang is the Avatar?"
"No way," Sokka said, although his eyes were wide open as well.
The young man looked from Aang towards me, eyes going back and forth between us. "We take them both. One of them has to be the Avatar, and it would be unwise to leave the other behind."
"Yes please, do take Kara with you," Sokka cried at the book. "You'd be doing us all an enormous favor."
"Too bad she doesn't really exist," Toph smirked, "otherwise we could've just smuggled her into the Fire Nation and she could've just taken out the Fire Lord with her overwhelming perfectness."
"And a few dozen Fire Nation troops while she's at it," Katara added while grinning.
"And then she'll duel Azula, and Azula will fry her alive with lightning while she gets driven insane by the overwhelming perfectness!" Aang finished, and everyone started laughing.
"That would be interesting to watch," Zuko grinned, then he suddenly paused. "Wait, considering you said she once called me a handsome jerk, does that mean she'll take me out as well?"
"Probably, but first she'll make you fall completely in love with her and have you wrapped around her finger before finishing you off," Sokka speculated. "You sure got it bad, buddy."
"I appreciate your sympathy, Sokka."
"No!" Katara cried, a shout that was echoed by the villagers, but the scarred teen simply fired another blast of fire at them, causing them to cry out in fear. If we didn't go with them, we wouldn't be able to protect them at all.
I steeled myself and stepped forward towards the young man. "Fine, I'll go with you. But, you must promise to leave everyone alone. Do we have a deal?"
"Hey, that's what Aang was supposed to say! This lady's stealing lines!" Sokka shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at the book.
"Well, she's already stolen my waterbending, my necklace and even my boyfriend; it's not that unexpected," Katara stated.
"True."
The young man paused briefly before nodding once. Aang shook his head frantically. "Kara, you can't go with them!"
"I'll be fine," I reassured him, although I was not sure if I would even come back alive.
"I hope she doesn't come back at all," Sokka remarked.
"Hey Sokka, if you hate her so much, why are you still listening to her story then?" Toph asked.
"Because I want to find out how she dies. She has to at some point," the Water Tribe teen grinned.
"And what makes you so sure she's going to die? She's so perfect, she might be immortal," Katara pointed out.
"Oh yeah, right." Sokka looked downcast for a minute, then his face brightened up again. "Well, at least I can see her try to seduce Zuko! That's fun!"
"You just love to watch me suffer, don't you?" Zuko groaned while Sokka nodded his head enthusiastically.
"I'm coming too!" Aang stepped towards the young man as well, but Katara tried to hold him back.
"No, Aang! Don't do this!"
"Don't worry, Katara, it'll be okay," Aang said, using the same reassuring tone I'd just used, although it didn't sound very convincing as the soldiers started to push us towards the ship roughly. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back."
"Speaking of which, Appa could've just shown up then and knocked the entire ship into the sea before flattening Zuko and his soldiers," Sokka said. "Even if he can't fly, he can easily squash a few firebenders."
"Appa's not for squashing firebenders," Aang deadpanned.
"Yeah, but it would be fun. Just imagine it: he swoops down, they scream in horror and blooey! They wind up stuck to his big furry bottom like dead bugs," Sokka grinned.
"And he said he was getting worried about me," Toph said as she shook her head disbelievingly while her friends stared at the Water Tribe teen with disturbing fascinations.
It was with a start that I remembered Aang's animal friend. If he really could fly, like Aang said before, he might be able to come rescue us! But I didn't have much time to think further on that as we boarded the ship. The young man walked in front us, staring determinately ahead. "Head a course to the Fire Nation. I'm going home."
As the bowsprit rose back up, I took what I believed to be my last look at my home. I saw the villagers gathered before the ship, their eyes raised towards us. In front stood my family: Katara looking towards Aang with tears filling up in her eyes, Sokka with a morose expression on his face, and Gran Gran staring at me with eyes full of sadness. Then the bowsprit snapped into place, and I was left in the dark with only the memory of my grandmother's sad eyes.
"And that's the end of chapter three," Katara said as she closed the book, "and we still don't know how Kara can bend two elements."
"In fact, this chapter was simply a modified version of events that already happened before," Sokka pointed out. "The basic plot remains unchanged, with only a few different details – not to mention skipping Zuko's butt sticking out of the snow with his helmet on top."
"I don't mind passing that over," Zuko spoke up.
"Yeah well, that's your personal opinion," Sokka replied. "But really, I was expecting the author to explain a few things in here, yet instead we get a short chapter that feels rather empty, as if there's not much content at all."
"Like it's just filling a hole in the story," Aang summed up, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"Well then," Toph said finally as she got up from the couch she had been lazing on, "I think we've had enough stories for today. Wanna hit Iroh up for a cup of tea?"
"Sure," Katara answered as they all got up to leave the upstairs lounge, leaving the book on the low table.
And that, my friends, is what is known as a filler chapter. I thought I'd include it in here, considering that The Tale of Kara is basically a 'How Not To Write A Fanfic' example. I had a great time on my vacation, and now I'm back and raring to go! See you in the next chapter!