"This is it! The official rendezvous point for the invasion force." Sokka said. It was a vast area of barren space, some koala sheep sleeping around.

"How did you pick this place?" Toph asked.

"Before we split up, my dad and I found this island on the map. It's uninhabited, and the harbors surrounded by the cliffs seemed like the perfect secluded place." Sokka said.

"Nice choice, Sokka." I said.

"And we're here four days ahead of schedule." Katara said.

"Wait! Four days? The invasion's in four days?" Aang said, anxious. Sokka yawned.

"Whatever. That's like four days from now. Let's just calm down and-" Sokka fell asleep and began snoring. I caught him before he fell onto his face. I rolled my eyes and placed him on the ground.

"Sokka's got the right idea, Aang. We're here. We're ready. The best thing we can do now is get plenty of rest." Katara said, lying down.

"I guess..." Aang said. We all curled up and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, at the Fire Nation Palace, Zuko was getting dressed and ready, with help from his servants.

"Fresh fruit, Prince Zuko?" The first asked. Zuko put out his hand and shook his head respectfully.

"May I wash your feet, sir?" The second offered. Zuko respectfully put his hand out and shook his head again.

"Head massage?" Asked the first. Zuko shook his head again.

"Hot towel?" Zuko looked at the towels for a moment, then took one. He wiped his forehead, then walked out of the room. The two servants bowed behind him. Zuko then walked out the palace gates, with Fire Nation citizens waited for him. One woman became overly excited at seeing Zuko, and was taken away by the palace guards.

"Prince Zuko, is something wrong? You didn't take the palanquin." The first servant said.

"I'm just going to Mai's house. It's not far."

"It's not a prince's place to walk anywhere, sir." Zuko looked to the distance, then walked over and got into the palanquin. The servants picked it up and walked over to Mai's house. Zuko looked out of the palanquin's curtains and saw Mai, who was standing by the doors to her house, who waved and walked inside.

Aang was banging his fists against a tree, which woke up Sokka, Toph, and Katara. I was already up, but knew not to go over to him. Katara looked at me, but I just shrugged. She decided to go talk to Aang.

"Hey. How long have you been up?" Katara asked.

"A couple hours. I got a lot more skills to refine if I'm gonna fight Ozai." Aang stopped, panting.

"You know, there is such a thing as over-training." Katara said. Aang hit the tree one last time, which sent a vibration throughout his body and made him fall down, with all of the leaves off the tree collapsing on him. Katara just gazed down at him, and Sokka, holding his map, and Toph, who was facing the other direction, look out from behind her. Aang came out from under the leaves and walked around Katara in a fighting stance.

"You don't get it, do you? My form is bad, I'm sloppy, and I still don't know any firebending. Not even the basics." Aang said, left eye twitching a little bit after saying that. Katara brought Aang's hand down, with a forced smile on her face. Sokka, lying down, still looked at the map.

"That's okay, Aang. The eclipse will block off firebending anyway. You don't need to know it. Plus, it's a stupid element."

"Okay, well I still have to work on everything else. I better spend the whole day training." Aang said. Aang bowed quickly toward Sokka, then toward Katara, and then rode off on an air scooter. Sokka moved the map up in front of his face to hide behind it. I sighed and got up to practice my forms, in both physical and elemental sense. Not before long, the blue sky changed to a starry night. Aang was walking back from his training, now exhausted. Everyone else was asleep, accept me. Aang rubbed his eyes and yawned before collapsing.

I stayed up, hugging my knees, humming a familiar song under my breath. I couldn't sleep. Because in a few days, I'd see Zuko.

"Tell me, if you could have anything you want right now, what would it be?" Zuko asked Mai.

"Hm... A big fancy fruit tart, with rose petals on top." Mai said.

"You know, being a prince and all, I might just be able to make that happen." Zuko said. Mai chuckled.

"That would be impressive." Mai said.

"Do you think you could find a fresh fruit tart for the lady, with rose petals on top?" Zuko said to the servants.

"Excellent choice, sir."

"I guess there's some nice perks that come with being royalty." She pushed Zuko to lay down with her. "Though there's annoying stuff, too. Like that all-day war meeting coming up."

"War meeting? What are you talking about?" Zuko asked, sitting up, followed by Mai.

"Azula mentioned something. I-I assumed you were going, too." Mai said.

"I guess I wasn't invited." Zuko said. The two looked away from each other.

I sat atop a nearby cliff and looked out over the water, frowning in thought. I heard yelling and looked over the side to see Aang frantically running about, waking Sokka, causing Toph to spit on Katara, and making Sokka begin climbing. I rolled my eyes and rolled over onto my back. I closed my eyes and tried reaching out to my mom and dad. I had been developing some sort of trick that made it possible for me to travel into the Spirit World without leaving the mortal plane.

"Avery? What're you doing here?" Hei-Bai asked. I hugged the panda spirit and let out a huge sigh.

"I'm soooo stressed out!" I said. "I needed to get away from the GAang before I bent a rock through their heads."

"That bad?" Hei-Bai said. I huffed.

"You have no idea." I said. I sprawled on my back and closed my eyes.

"Tired?"

"I can't get any shut eye with Aang running around like a headless chicken-duck." I said. "I'm taking a nap where I can."

"Sleep well." Hei-Bai said, curling up next to me and keeping me warm.

"Hello, Zuzu. If you've come for a royal hair-combing, I'm afraid you'll have to wait." Azula said to her agitated brother.

"So I guess there's a big war meeting coming up, huh? And apparently I'm not welcome there."

"What do you mean? Of course you're welcome there!" Azula said.

"Oh, yeah?! I guess that's why no one bothered to tell me about it!"

"Oh, Zuko. Don't be so dramatic. I'm certain Dad wants you there. You probably just weren't invited because it's so obvious you're supposed to be there."

"Well, were you invited?"

"Of course! I'm the princess."

"And I'm the prince!"

"Exactly, so stop acting like a paranoid child! Just go to the meeting." Azula said. Zuko groaned in annoyance.

"Forget it! I'm not going!" Zuko said. He turned and walked out.

"Zuko, it's just a dumb meeting. Who cares?" Mai said.

"I don't."

"Well, good. You shouldn't. I mean, why would you even want to go? Just think about how things went he last meeting you went to." Mai said. Zuko sighed.

"I know."

"You know what will make you feel better?" Zuko turned his head slightly. "Ordering some servants around. I might be hungry for a whole tray of fruit tarts. And maybe a little palanquin ride around town. Double time."

She turned Zuko's face to look at her, but he quickly looked away, making Mai let go of him. Mai sighed and walked away, giving up on cheering her grumpy boyfriend. But what she didn't know, was that her grumpy boyfriend was thinking about his almost girlfriend.

I awoke and snapped to the mortal plane at once as I heard Aang screaming. I shot up and slid down the side of the cliff face, rushing over to Aang.

"What happened?" I asked.

"It's the nightmares. They just get worse and worse." Aang said.

"Looks like it's time for another..." He turned around and put his Wang Fire disguise on and voice. "therapy session."

"No. That won't help. Nothing helps. There's only one thing I can do! I'm going to stay awake straight through to the invasion!" Aang said. Aang started shaking upon this, and everyone behind him was shocked, except for Toph, who just smiled. Sokka's Wang Fire disguise fell off him. I only sighed, walking away.

Mai was waiting for Zuko after the meeting, who was exiting.

"So, how did it go?" She asked. They walked on together.

"When I got to the meeting, everyone welcomed me. My father had saved me a seat. He wanted me next to him. I was literally at his right hand." Zuko said.

"Zuko, that's wonderful! You must be happy." The two stopped at a picture of Ozai. Zuko gazed at it.

"During the meeting, I was the perfect prince. The son my father wanted." He looked down, eyes closed. "But I wasn't me."

It was nighttime, and Aang was tired. A mist of fog surrounded koala sheep wool. Aang looked at it and began touching it.

"Oh, look. Another hallucination. An imaginary bed made out of clouds."

"Hey! It's real! We spent hours working on it." Toph said. I was in shirshu form, so I could only grunt. "Well, mostly Katara and Avery."

"We made it for you. A good night's sleep will probably take the crazy away. We hope." Sokka said.

"Look! You guys keep telling me that I need to sleep, but I can't! The invasion's tomorrow!" Aang said.

"Aang..."

"No, Katara! There's still so much I haven't learned. I don't need sleep. What I need is practice. Quick, hit me!" He began to wobble.

"I'm not going to hit you."

"You want me to do it?" Toph asked. Sokka nudged her back. Katara approached Aang, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, you've been training for this since the day we met." She moved behind him, talking over his shoulder. "I've seen your progress. You're smart, brave, and strong enough."

"You really think so?"

"We all do. You can do this. You're ready." Sokka said.

"You're the man, Twinkle Toes!"

"Thanks, guys." He nodded, then yawned and rubbed his eyes. Katara aided him to the bed, where he laid down.

"Avery even agreed to be like a stuffed animal for you." Sokka said. I curled around the young monk and whined deep in my throat, telling him he'd be fine. A little after, he fell asleep. And he smiled.

So, what'd you think? Avery's apparently a good stuffed animal when it comes to panic attacks.

Disclaimer:...

So, what'd you think?