15
Everyone stood in silence as they looked at their surroundings, nothing but sand for miles. Sokka looked out at the huge expanse before them hopelessly as the group behind him began to speak.
"How could you let them take Appa?" Aang demanded angrily of Toph, "Why didn't you stop them?"
"I couldn't!" Toph said, "The library was sinking! You guys were still inside! And-"
"You could've come to get us!" Aang said, marching over to her, "I could've saved him!"
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here!" Toph said, "The sand benders snuck up on me, and there wasn't time for-!"
"You just didn't care!" Aang shouted, "You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!"
"Aang, enough!" Hoshiko said, coming over to Toph's defense, "Look, you know Toph did everything she could. She saved our lives!"
"Who's gonna save our lives now?" Sokka asked, turning to them, "We'll never make it out of here."
"That's all any of you guys care about! Yourselves!" Aang growled, stalking away from the group, "You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"
"We're all concerned," Katara said calmly, "But we can't afford to be fighting now."
After a moment of silence, Aang said, "I'm going after Appa!" He jumped up into the air and opened his glider, flying away. Katara ran after him, calling his name, but he didn't seem to hear.
"We'd better start walking." Katara said once he had disappeared, "We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba-Sing-Se." She began walking through the sand, Sokka, Hoshiko, and Toph walking after her, and Momo gliding onto Sokka's shoulder.
"You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?" Sokka asked.
"Sokka?" Hoshiko said.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Shut up."
An hour of walking through the scorching desert, not many people can stand that. And, nobody really did. Everyone hated the heat, and Hoshiko worried that she would die of heat stroke if she kept walking. She looked around at the others and saw that all of their faces were flushed, and they were all covered in sweat. Sokka put Momo up on his head and pulled out the lemur's wings to give himself some shade. Toph bumped into him and made Momo fall off his head, Sokka scowled at the earth bender.
"Can't you watch where you're-" He stopped, realizing how stupid that was going to sound.
"No." Toph said bitterly.
"Right, sorry." He said, rubbing at his neck embarrassedly.
"Come on, guys." Katara said, "We have to stick together."
"If I sweat anymore, I don't think sticking together will be a problem." Sokka said, struggling to detach his shirt from Toph's. She reached up and pushed him off of her, making him fall into the sand.
"Katara, can I have some water?" Toph asked. Katara seemed to waging a mental battle before nodding.
"Okay, but we've gotta try to conserve it." Katara said, she pulled out her bending water and separated some of it into four orbs and bent each one into a different person's mouth. Sokka swished the water around in his mouth before he swallowed it.
"We're drinking your bending water?" He asked, he smacked his lips together before he exclaimed in disgust, "You used this on the swamp guy!"
Hoshiko's face contorted to one of disgust, sticking out her tongue, "Ew! Katara!"
"It does taste swampy." Toph commented idly. Momo made a displeased growl at the taste.
"I'm sorry, it's all we have." Katara reasoned. Sokka looked out into the distance and smiled.
"Not anymore! Look!" He pointed to a cactus that was growing a few feet away. He ran over to it, sliced off part of the top, and began drinking some of its juice.
"Sokka, wait!" Katara said, grabbing Toph's hand as she and Hoshiko rushed over, "You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" Momo quickly dug into one himself as Sokka threw away part of the cactus and opened up another part of it.
"There's water trapped inside these!" He said, holding it out to his sister, who backed away from it.
"I don't know…" She said, looking at the juice unsurely.
"Suit yourself." Sokka said with a shrug, "It's very thirst-quenching, though." Hoshiko watched as his pupils suddenly became dilated, and he began sweating a little more. Then, in a very strange voice, he began to say, "Drink cactus juice! It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier! It's the quenchiest!" Hoshiko and Katara exchanged uncertain looks before Katara reached out and took the piece of cactus from her brother's hand and pouring out the juice.
"Okay, I think you've had enough." Katara said. Sokka walked over to Toph and stared at her.
"Who lit Toph on fire?" Sokka asked, Hoshiko groaned, realizing he was hallucinating. She and Katara looked up as they saw Momo flying around in circles and then face planting into the ground. Katara knelt down and picked him up.
"Can I get some of that cactus?" Toph asked, Hoshiko put her hand on the earth bender's shoulder.
"I don't think that's such a good idea." She said, Katara nodded and she began to walk, the other two girls following her.
"Come on," She said, "We need to find Aang." Hoshiko looked back when she realized Sokka wasn't coming and ran over to him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him along with them.
"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka asked, awed. Hoshiko and Katara let out a groan. This was going to be a long walk.
They all stopped once they heard a loud booming noise and looked behind them. They closed their eyes to keep the sand out of them as a huge gust of wind came from nowhere. It only lasted for a second, and when they looked at what might've caused it, they saw a huge, brown mushroom shaped cloud forming in the distance.
"What is that?" Katara asked, looking at it.
"What? What is what?" Toph asked, looking around.
"It's a giant… Mushroom…" Sokka said, in awe as he looked at it, raising his arms up, "MAYBE IT'S FRIENDLY!" Katara grabbed Toph's hand.
"Let's just keep moving." She said, walking away from the mushroom cloud, muttering to herself, "I hope Aang's okay."
Hoshiko noticed that Sokka wasn't following them again and saw him waving his arms back and forth as he chanted, "Friendly mushroom! Mushy, giant friend!" She walked up to him and grabbed the back of his shirt, dragging him along.
They walked on for hours and hours, until the sun had begun to set behind the sandy dunes. Katara led the group because Toph couldn't see in the sand, Sokka was still hallucinating off the cactus juice, and Hoshiko was being bugged by him more and more, asking when she had horns in her head, or if she had tentacles hidden under her shirt. They looked up as a shadow passed over them and saw Aang on his glider. He landed near them, and Katara went over to his side.
"I'm sorry, Aang." She said gently, "I know it's hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here." She put her hand on his shoulder and he turned away.
"What's the difference?" Aang asked hopelessly, "We won't survive without Appa. We all know it."
"Come on, Aang!" Katara encouraged, "We can do this if we work together! Right, Hoshiko?" Hoshiko shrugged.
"As much as I hate to say it, I agree with the hopeless guy." She said, "I don't know if we can keep going without that big fluff ball."
"Toph?" Katara asked, looking toward the blind girl.
"As far as I can feel," She said, "We're trapped in a giant bowl of sand-pudding." She kicked some of the sand, "I got nothing."
Katara turned to her brother as he lay on his back on the sand, "Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba-Sing-Se?"
"Why don't we ask the circle birds?" Sokka asked, pointing at the sky. The group looked up and saw four buzzard wasps circling the group ominously.
"Oh, that's comforting." Hoshiko growled sarcastically. Katara looked around her, she saw Aang, despondent, depressed, and hopeless, kneeling on the ground where he landed. She looked to Toph, who stumbled in her footing in the sand. She looked to Hoshiko who was staring hatefully at the buzzard wasps. Then she looked to Sokka, who looked blissfully content in his hallucinogenic state. She let out a huff and summoned up all the courage she could.
"We're getting out of this desert, and we're gonna do it together." She declared, "Aang, get up." She pulled him up from the ground, "Everybody, hold hands. We can do this. We have to." Everyone did as they were told, Katara holding onto Aang's staff, his other hand in Hoshiko's, her other hand in Toph's, Toph's other hand holding Sokka's, and Sokka's other hand was holding on to Momo's tail, laughing as he glided against the tiny current of wind they made as they moved, flapping his wings every few seconds. They walked away from the circling bird-bugs and trudged through the sand, making their way out of the desert.
Dusk quickly became night, and the five of them were still being led by Katara through the cold night. They reached the top of one of the dunes, everyone but Katara seemed exhausted.
"I think we should stop for the night." Katara said, with sighs and groans of relief, everyone fell to the ground against the sand.
"Is there any more water?" Toph asked, Katara walked over to her.
"This is the last of it." Katara said, opening her water pouch up, "Everyone can have a little drink." She bended the water out of the pouch. Once it was in the air, Momo jumped through it, making the water splash into the sand.
"MOMO, NOOO!" Sokka shouted in a lamenting voice, "YOU'VE KILLED US ALL!"
"No, he hasn't." Katara replied calmly, bending the water out of the sand. Sokka looked at it in wonder.
"Oh, right." He said with a loopy smile, "Bending." Katara put the water back in the pouch and handed it to Toph, so Momo wouldn't be tempted to jump through the water again if she bended it out.
"Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library." Katara said, kneeling down. Sokka instantly jumped up, clutching his bag to his chest.
"What? I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?" He asked quickly, when Momo ran up to him, he pointed his finger at the lemur accusingly, "It was you! You ratted me out!" Momo ran over to Hoshiko and hid behind her tail, covering his eyes with it to try and hide from him.
"Sokka, I was there." Katara said dryly as she took the bag from him and pulled out some of the charts and maps he had taken.
"It doesn't matter." Aang said despondently, "None of those will tell us where Appa is."
"No, but we can find out which way Ba-Sing-Se is." Katara said, pulling out a star chart, "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 looked back at the group to see them all lying on the sand, eyes shut and breaths calm. She sighed, "Just try to get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours."
Sleep was a welcome reprieve from all the traveling they had done. Hoshiko snuggled herself into the sand and let the wonderful, sluggish sensation of sleep overtake her.
Hoshiko stood alone in the darkness again. It was Kagemi's domain. How she hated the place. She waited for the shadowy entity to appear, but she didn't. Instead, the place was silent. Was she sleeping? Was she gone? Where was the shadow attached to her soul? She heard nothing in the darkness. Utter silence.
It irked her.
She searched the darkness for someone, anyone. Frantically, she started to run, searching for some being to offer her comfort of some kind, but she found no one. Her heart beat erratically in her chest as she searched. She felt a chilling hand touch her shoulder and looked to see the shadowy figure of Kagemi looking at her. She smiled a terrifying smile, showing all her teeth, and raised a clawed hand up high.
"You did it once, you'll do it again!" She exclaimed, and brought the claw down at her.
"Hoshiko." The Shinjun's eyes shot open at the sound of her name. She looked to see Katara was gently shaking her awake, "Come on." She nodded and sat up, watching as Katara went over to her brother and gently shook him awake from the sand-bed Momo had made for him. "Get up, we need to go." Sokka yawned as he got up. He looked over at Toph as she sat up as well, smacking her lips.
"Yesterday, my mouth tasted like mud." She said, "Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much." Hoshiko said nothing as she stood, patting and wiping off any sand on her body. Katara moved over to Aang to wake him up.
"I'm awake." Aang said before she touched him, "I couldn't sleep."
"Well, we need to get moving if we want to get out of this sandpit." Katara said, Aang nodded and turned his gaze to the moon, eyes widening and face brightening as he saw something float by it.
"Appa!" He exclaimed.
"Appa?" Sokka repeated, wrinkling his nose in confusion, "Buy why would Princess Yue need him?" He started rubbing Momo's tail against his face, "She's the moon, she flies by herself!" As 'Appa' moved closer to the moon, they saw it wasn't Appa that was there, but a small cloud in the desert night sky.
"It's just a cloud." Katara said, Aang's smile disappeared and he became downcast again, "Wait… A cloud!" Katara's face brightened a little and she held out her water pouch to Aang, "Here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch!" Aang scowled at her and snatched the pouch out of her hands. He opened his glider and took off into the sky. Everyone looked as they saw him bend one half of the cloud away, then the other half. It was only a few seconds later that he came back down, throwing the pouch at Katara. She opened it up and looked at what he got, "Wow, there's… hardly any in here."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Aang snapped angrily, making everyone jump at his sudden fury, "It's a desert cloud, I did all I could! What's anyone else doing? What are you doing?" He jabbed his staff at Katara, who looked at him with wide eyes. Hoshiko stepped in front of her and grabbed Aang's staff.
"Okay, you need to calm down." She said.
"Why should I?" Aang demanded, Hoshiko glared at him, a defensive growl sounding in her throat.
"Because you're acting like a complete jackass!" Hoshiko said, taking a step forward.
"Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Aang retorted. Hoshiko roared loudly, stepping up to him and glaring down at him.
"How about I kick your skinny ass out of this desert?" She growled, showing her elongated canines as she gritted her teeth.
"You want to challenge the avatar?" Aang asked.
"No, I want to challenge this child!" Hoshiko snarled. Aang yanked his staff out of her hands and pointed it at her, she took her own fighting stance, ready to battle against him in the darkness.
"Guys!" Toph shouted, getting their attention, "Enough. You can kill each other later, once we get out of this desert and we're all okay." Hoshiko and Aang glared at each other one last time, before turning away.
"Let's just get moving." Katara said, bringing out the star charts, and using them to map her way, "We need to head this direction." Everyone followed her as they went through the desert. They didn't get too far over one of the dunes before Toph tripped on something and fell face-first into the sand.
"OW! Crud!" She cursed, "I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going!" She gently rubbed the foot she tripped on, glaring in the direction of the strange thing pointing out of the sand that caused her to fall, "And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?"
"A boat?" Katara repeated, looking at the thing she tripped on and running over to it, trying to dig it out of the sand.
"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations." Toph grumbled irritably. Aang walked over to where Katara was digging out the boat, holding his staff in his hands. Katara looked up at him, and moved out of his way as he let out a huge gust of wind, making the sand fly up and away from it to reveal a familiar structure.
"It's one of the gliders the sand benders use!" Katara exclaimed as she ran up to where the one who guides the glider would stand, "And look," She tapped the strange compass at the head of the glider, "It's got some kind of compass on it. I bet it can point us out of here!" She looked down at the young air bender, "Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're gonna make it!" Everyone looked over at the only member of their party who wasn't there, and saw Sokka burying Momo in the sand like he had done to him earlier. He gave them a thumbs-up and Hoshiko smacked her forehead with her hand.
He was never drinking cactus juice again.
She would make sure of it.
Hoshiko sat next to Toph as they rode on the glider. Katara stood at the head, directing Aang which way they should go, though she was mainly following the compass needle on the glider. Sokka sat behind her, still in his hallucinogenic state, using Momo like a kite, holding his tail as he glided against the air. Aang stood in front of the sail, making a powerful wind that blew the glider along.
"The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north, according to my charts." Katara said, comparing the needle to the night sky.
"Take it easy, little lady." Sokka said in a dazed voice, "I'm sure the sand-folks who built this baby know how to get around here." Katara rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to what was in front of them. She gasped as they came closer to a giant rock standing in the sand.
"That's what the compass is pointing to!" Katara said, "That giant rock!"
"It must be the magnetic center of the desert." Hoshiko mused as she looked at it.
"A rock?" Toph repeated, a smile breaking out on her face, "Yes! Let's go!"
"Maybe we can find some water there!" Katara said, looking at the rock hopefully.
"Maybe we can find some sand benders." Aang growled lowly. Although no one seemed to hear him except Hoshiko, who wasn't at all surprised at what he said.
The morning sun was beginning break out over the desert sky as they came closer and closer to the rock. When they stopped the glider, Toph was the first one off and demanded which direction the rock was. Hoshiko led her to it, and once she touched the rock she immediately bent a path of earth for them to travel up to the top of the rock. They all walked up and Toph seemed to be in utter bliss as her bare feet hit the stone.
When they reached the top, she sighed happily and fell against the rock, "Ahh! Finally!" She moved her arms back and forth in the rock, making something of an angel impression, "Solid ground!" Hoshiko looked around them and saw a number of odd caves surrounding them.
"Come on," She said to the others, "If we're going to find water, that's the best place to go." Everyone followed her as she went into the cave.
Sokka let out a deep breath, "I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice." He said, he looked at the goop hanging off the cave walls, "And look!" He scooped some up and ate it, and gave some to Momo as well, who was sitting on his shoulder. They both spat it out the moment they tasted it and Sokka glared at it, "It tastes like rotten penguin meat!" He groaned and leaned over, "Oh, I feel woozy." Hoshiko's eyebrow twitched irritably at him.
"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day, and then you suddenly decide to lick something you find stuck on the wall of a cave?!" She asked him angrily, tired of having to deal with his hallucinating self.
"I have a natural curiosity." Sokka said, Hoshiko clenched her fists, sorely tempted to hit him.
"I don't think this is a normal cave." Toph said, dragging her hand along the wall. "This was carved by something."
"Yeah…" Aang agreed, looking at the walls of the cave, "Look at the shape." Everyone looked to see it made something of a hexagon shape through the whole cave. Hoshiko suddenly got a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing only one kind of creature that could make homes of that shape.
"There's something… buzzing in here." Toph said, for lack of a better word, "Something that's coming for us!" Everyone began to hear the sound of buzzing as it came closer and closer and ran out of the cave. An entire hoard of buzzard wasps came out after them, screeching at the intruders who dared to come inside their hive. They easily surrounded them and began to approach. Aang shot the first one away with air bending, and when one of them landed, Hoshiko used shadow bending to knock it away. One flew by Toph and Sokka, and Toph lifted up a rock to try and squish it, but she missed, and nearly squished Sokka instead.
"What are you doing?" Sokka demanded, "That rock almost crushed me!"
"Sorry!" Toph said quickly, "I can't tell where they are in the air!" Another beaked insect flew by them and Sokka dashed after it.
"I got this one!" He said, he used his machete to slice at it, but it was already gone. Sokka kept slicing at the air in front of him.
"Sokka, there's nothing there!" Hoshiko shouted, he stopped and looked back at the others with a shrug.
"I guess my head's not as clear as I thought." He said, Hoshiko rolled her eyes.
"We have to get out of here!" Katara said as she looked at all the buzzard wasps, "I'm completely out of water to bend!" A loud screech caught everyone's attention and they saw one of the wasps carrying Momo away from them.
"Momo!" Aang exclaimed, he gritted his teeth in determination, "I'm not losing anyone else out here!" He opened his glider and flew after the wasp. Katara looked back at Hoshiko and Toph.
"Come on," She said, "We're going down." The three of them followed Katara as they went down the path they had bent for themselves. Hoshiko looked up as a wasp approached them and knocked it away with shadow bending. At the same time, another was approaching and she didn't see it coming. Katara went behind Toph and turned her in the direction of the wasp, "Toph, shoot a rock right there." Toph bent up a few rocks, "Fire!" She shot them at the wasp and it went down.
"Yeah! You got it!" Sokka cheered, he looked over at his sister, "She got it, right?"
"Yes." Katara answered, "Now let's move." They all ran down the path with Hoshiko and Toph leading the way, seeing as they were the only ones who could bend at the moment. They knocked away wasp after wasp until they reached the sandy ground again, but Toph stayed on the rock for as long as she could so she could bend at the wasps so they could safely reach the glider (With Katara directing her, of course.)
"On your left!" Katara said, Toph shot a rock at her left and knocked down another wasp. Hoshiko swatted away one that tried to come down at them from above. This wasn't good. Even if they did make it to the glider before the wasps got them, she would be the only one able to bend, and she couldn't take on an entire hive by herself. When their backs seemed to be against the stony wall, a huge wave of sand burst upward, scaring away the wasps and sending them back into their hive. When the four of them looked to see what had happened, they saw an entire troop of sand benders standing there. Aang came down from above them, glaring hatefully at the sand bending reptilians.
One of the reptilians came up, removing the wraps from around his face that protected him from the sandy wind. Another came up beside him, doing the same thing. The first one was revealed to be a rather middle-aged one, with deep wrinkles set in his scales, and a dark blonde beard covering his face. The other was his son, his bright yellow hair tied back in a ponytail.
"What are you doing in our land with a sand bender sailor?" The older man asked, "From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe."
"We found the sailor abandoned in the desert." Katara said, "We're traveling with the avatar." She gestured to Aang as she said this, and the man's harsh stare softened, "Our bison was stolen, and we have to get to Ba-Sing-Se."
"You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailor?" The son demanded angrily. Toph and Hoshiko's eyes narrowed. Toph because she recognized his voice, Hoshiko because she was curious as to his sudden outburst about theft when Appa was mentioned. Guilty conscience much?
"Quiet, Gashwin!" The leader said to his son, "No one accused our people of anything! If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality!"
"Sorry, father." Gashwin muttered, looking away shamefully. Toph's eyes widened when she was certain of where she had heard the voice.
"I recognize the son's voice." She said quietly to the others, "He's the one that stole Appa."
"How can you be sure?" Hoshiko whispered.
"I never forget a voice." Toph said. Hoshiko chalked up her reasoning to the fact her blindness handicapped her sight, but not her other senses. She felt a small breeze flowing behind her and she looked to see Aang's air bending was reacting to his emotions, anger in particular. He stepped forward, wielding his staff at the sand benders.
"You stole Appa!" Aang growled, pointing his staff at Gashwin, "Where is he? What did you do to him?"
"T-They're lying!" Gashwin said to his father, "They're the thieves!" Aang lifted his staff up and brought it down, using air bending to destroy one of the sand sailors they had used to get here.
"Where is my bison?" He demanded in a dangerous tone, glaring at the son. When he didn't respond, Aang only grew angrier, "You tell me where he is now!" He lifted the staff up from the ground and destroyed another sailor.
"What did you do?!" The father asked Gashwin, glaring at him accusingly.
"It wasn't me!" The son said.
"You said to put a muzzle on him!" Toph said, pointing at the son.
"You muzzled Appa?!" Aang snarled out. Hoshiko's eyes went wide in fear as she saw his eyes and tattoos begin to glow. His fury had pushed him into the avatar state! He used air bending to destroy the last of the tribe's sailors with a powerful gust of wind.
"I'm sorry!" Gashwin said quickly, "I didn't know it belonged to the avatar!"
"Tell me where Appa is!" Aang demanded, his voice sounding like a thousand voices, making him all the more intimidating.
"I-I traded him! To some merchants!" Gashwin said quickly, "He's probably in Ba-Sing-Se by now… They were gonna sell him there…" Aang's glare didn't soften and the reptilians backed away in defense, "Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!" The small air current around Aang grew more and more powerful, bringing up sand as it swirled around him.
"Just get out of here!" Sokka said to the reptilians, grabbing Toph's hand as he ran away, "Run!" Hoshiko quickly followed him as the wind became more and more powerful. She ran until the sand that had been kicked up became too much for her to go any further, making a terrible sandstorm that surrounded them. She protected herself against the powerful wind and squinted her eyes to see that Katara had not followed them. She tried to call out to her, but it was impossible over the sounds of wind. She watched as she stepped closer to Aang, reaching out and taking his wrist. She pulled him away from the orb of air he had made and into her arms. After a moment, the wind began to die down, and suddenly, it was gone. The only thing left of Aang's anger was shown in Katara's arms, as the glowing disappeared, and showed Aang being held in her arms with tears drying on his cheeks.
When the reptilians saw it was safe, they came closer. When Aang began to awaken, they stepped back, fearing his fury. Aang showed no anger to them, except for the occasional dirty glare at Gashwin, but other than that, he was unemotional.
"Well, now what?" Sokka asked, "We can't all fit on the sand sailor we found."
"Gee, you think?" Hoshiko asked sarcastically. Sokka glared at her.
"So not the time, Hoshiko." He said. One of the reptilians stepped forward, removing some of the wraps from his own face.
"Hoshiko?" He repeated, catching her attention, "As in, Hoshiko of the Siela tribe in the eastern Earth Kingdom?"
"Yes?" Hoshiko said unsurely, looking at the reptilian, "Do I know you?"
"You mean you don't recognize me?" The reptilian asked, removing his wraps completely, showing a young male face with blonde hair and long bangs, one of them covering one of his amber golden eyes. Hoshiko's eyes widened in shock.
"Makozo!" She exclaimed, then smiled, "I don't believe it!"
"You know him?" Toph asked, Hoshiko nodded, walking over to him.
"Makozo is Xana's eldest brother." She said, clapping his hand in hers in a rough friendly way, "He would come with her sometimes when she came to visit us. It's good to see you!" He pulled her into a one-arm hug that only lasted a moment.
"You, too." He said, "What luck! To come across you in this sandpit, surely it's a sign."
"No kidding." Hoshiko said. "How is everyone?"
Makozo shrugged, "Can't complain." He said, "How is my baby sister?"
"She's doing well from what I last heard." Hoshiko said, "So… about escorting us out of the desert…?"
"Oh, of course!" Makozo said, turning to the leader, "If that's alright with you, Chief."
He nodded, "Yes." He said, "But we will have to return to our tribe to fetch more sand sailors for you us to take you out."
"I think we'll be alright until then." Hoshiko said, turning to her friends, "Right guys?"
"I think so." Katara said with a nod, Hoshiko nodded back and looked at Makozo.
"Lead the way, my friend." She said with a smile. Makozo smiled back and led her to the sand sailor their group had ridden on.
Katara, Toph, Aang and Sokka looked around at the reptilian children as they swarmed around them, grabbing their clothes and inviting them to play games with them.
"Sorry," Makozo said, "It's the first time they've ever seen a human." Hoshiko giggled when a pair of girls began playing with Katara's braid. She smiled as they sat her down and began undoing her braid to re-style her hair. Aang let some of the kids see his staff they were so interested in. Toph let the kids look at her milky eyes and tried to see if she was blind, and Toph let them think she couldn't see their hands waving in front of her face, even though she could feel it just fine. Sokka shouted angrily at the kids when they took his weapons, but his animated reaction was very comical to them and they would tease him by playing 'keep away' with his boomerang. Some of them fawned over Momo, scratching behind his ear and petting his back.
Hoshiko giggled behind her hand as she watched them play with her friends. Makozo gently nudged her shoulder and nodded toward one of the tribe's teepees. "Come on." She followed him inside and looked around at the inside. The walls of the teepee were surrounded with pillows, and the sandy floor was covered in a tribal style carpet. In the center of it was a teakettle boiling over a small fire. He pulled a couple of teacups out of a box and smiled at her, "Gin-sing tea?"
"My favorite." Hoshiko said, sitting on one of the pillows near the kettle and Makozo sat opposite her. He poured tea into each of the cups and handed one to her.
"Cheers." Makozo said, clinking his cup with hers.
"Cheers." Hoshiko said. They both took a sip of the tea and Hoshiko sighed contentedly, "Good stuff."
"Thanks." Makozo said, "So, what have you heard about Xana?"
"She's in a Shinjun encampment outside Ba-Sing-Se." Hoshiko said, "Or, that's where she's headed at least. That's what I last heard from her."
"Uh huh…" Makozo said thoughtfully, taking a sip of his tea, "And before that?" Hoshiko looked at him questioningly.
"You don't know?" She asked.
"Xana hasn't sent us a single letter since she left the tribe." Makozo said, looking down at his tea with a sad smile, "I guess she really wants to be separated from our cultures…"
"Well, can you blame her?" Hoshiko asked, "You were putting her into an arranged marriage with someone she hated. She couldn't stand the idea of forced marriage, so she ran away." Makozo sighed.
"I know." He said, "I tried explaining that to dad, but he won't hear anything about it." He looked back up at Hoshiko, "When you see her, will you tell her that all her brothers are on her side about this?"
"Of course." Hoshiko said, "Xana would be so happy to hear that." The reptilian smiled.
"Well then," He raised his cup up, "To accepting changes." Hoshiko smiled and raised her cup as well.
"To good friends." She said, they both drank to their toast, and spent a good few minutes simply chatting. Hoshiko heard about everything that had been happening since Xana had left, and Makozo heard about Hoshiko's adventures with the avatar. Everything after that was just idle chatter that was broken when Sokka burst through the opening of the tent, looking worn out and clutching his weapons to his chest.
"Hoshiko, the sailors are ready." He said, "Let's go." Hoshiko huffed out a sigh.
"Fine." She said, she looked back at Makozo and stood, "I'll see you around, Makozo."
"You too." Makozo said, standing up as well, he followed her and Sokka out of the tent to the spot where they were being escorted out of the Si Wong desert. Toph sat on one waving to the kid reptilians who waved back. Aang was waving goodbye along with Katara, who was sporting a new desert-flower style braid that actually didn't look that bad on her. Hoshiko climbed up on one of the sailors and waved goodbye to Makozo. "Say hi to Xana for me when you see her!"
"I will!" Hoshiko called as the sailors took off. The kids ran after the sailors for a little bit, waving goodbye to their new friends as they left the desert for Ba-Sing-Se.
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