Chapter 23:
"How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them?!" Aang demanded.
Toph explained how people had approached, sand benders by the sound of it, and had dragged Appa away. Aang was angry and currently taking things out on Toph because of it. Freya was staring out across the desert as the five stood in the sun, now standard in the desert. Sand spread on for mines.
"I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and—" Toph explained. She had held the tower up to stop the library from sinking, taking them with it.
"You could have come to get us! I could have saved him!" Aang stalked towards the girl as the sand was blown up around them.
Freya said nothing as Aang was irrational. No Toph had the hold up the library, if she hadn't they'd have been stuck inside. If that was the case, Appa's rescue could have been a lost cause.
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck upon me and there wasn't time for—"
Toph can hardly feel anything, she's blind, how was she able to help Appa? Or even come and find the four in their chaos to save Appa? Freya asked. Appa's best case was for the four to leave the tower so they could save him. First we need to get out of this desert. she reminded herself.
"You just didn't care!" Aang shouted, cutting off the girl "You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" he raged.
"Aang, stop it." Katara turned Aang away from the blind earth bender "You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."
"Who's going to save our lives now? We'll never make it out of here." Sokka believed
"That's all any of you guys care about: yourselves! You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!" Aang shouted.
Katara opened her mouth but sand suddenly exploded and Aang jumped backward to face Freya. who's hand was forwards. He looked at her surprised.
"How dare you!" she shrieked at the avatar, surprising the four. "How dare you say I don't care! But how are we supposed to help him if we're stuck in the desert! We need to get out and find him! How dare you take your emotions out on us!" Aang saw Freya's amber eyes and grit his teeth. "Appa is just as important to me as he is to you Aang! Don't you dare ever say I don't care!"
"We're all concerned," Katara intervened as she looked at Freya "but we can't afford to be fighting now." Aang stalked off away from her, turning away from Freya also.
"I'm going after Appa." and he opened his glider. Katara ran forwards as Aang launched up into the air.
"Aang, wait!" she called. He didn't listen.
Freya huffed, smoke leaving her nose before she turned and began to walk across the sand. Katara watched her, slight scrutinising in her expression.
"We'd better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba-Sing-Se." Katara said and she began to follow Freya, Sokka and Toph with her.
"You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?" Sokka asked as he followed.
They walked through the heat, their cheeks becoming flushed as the sun beat down on them and the sand spread on for miles.
Sokka grabbed Momo and put the lemur no his head, opening his wings for shade. As he did Toph ran into him and Momo fell forwards off the boy's head.
"Can't you watch where you're—" Sokka cut off in his complaining
"No." Toph cut him off
"Right. Sorry." Sokka mumbled. Katara turned around to Sokka and Toph behind her, Freya still ahead.
"Come on guys, we've got to stick together." Katara reminded them. Sokka began to push on Toph as his clothes seemed stuck to her.
"If I sweat any more, I don't think sticking together will be a problem." he confessed. Toph put her hand on Sokka's face and pushed, the boy fell to the sand.
"Katara, can I have some water?" she asked.
"Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it." Katara took a bending stance and opened her water skin. She bended the water out and it moved into three balls, each flying into Sokka, Toph and Momo's mouths.
"We're drinking your bending water?" Sokka clicked his tongue, tasting the water. "You used this on the swamp guy!" he complained
"It does taste swampy." Toph agreed. Momo pointed to his mouth, opening it for more.
"I'm sorry, it's all we have." Katara admitted to the animal. Sokka suddenly beamed as he looked over the sand. Freya had stopped and stared at the three slightly annoyed. The heat wasn't affecting her as much as it was the others but she was annoyed still from Aang and just wanted to keep moving.
"Not anymore! Look!" Sokka pointed and ran over to a cactus as he drew his machete.
Momo chased the boy and Katara grabbed Toph to follow quickly
"Sokka, wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" she believed as Sokka cut off the top of the cactus and tipped the water into his mouth. He cut more of the cactus and he and Momo indulged in the liquid.
"There's water trapped inside these!" Sokka held some of the cactus up to Katara and she backed away a few steps, moving Toph with her.
"I don't know…" Katara worried
"Suit yourself. It's very thirst-quenching, though." Sokka assured. He grinned before the smile dropped from his face. Sokka seemed to pause as Freya watched from the distance and she saw his pupils dilate.
"Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier." Sokka began to move across the sand like an inchworm as he advertised the cactus juice. "It's the quenchiest!"
Katara took the cactus from her brother annoyed and tipped it out onto the sand.
"Okay, I think you've had enough." she decided
Sokka moved to stand beside Toph and pointed at her.
"Who lit Toph on fire?"
Katara turned to Freya and the girl simply watched them with her arms crossed. Momo flew in circles in the air before he dive bombed to the ground.
"Can I get some of that cactus?" Toph asked, catching the younger water bender's attention.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Come on, we need to find Aang." Katara decided as she picked up Momo. She pushed Toph forwards as Sokka continued to stare at the sky. Katara had to double back and grab her brother to get him moving.
"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka wondered and Freya turned to keep walking as the others moved towards her.
"Uhhh…" Katara sighed annoyed.
They walked. And walked, in silence. Sokka continued to hallucinate and spoke weird things he saw from the cactus juice but the three just ignored him. They climbed a mountain of sand before Freya looked around at it all. She stopped and Katara looked at the older girl before following her gaze, in the distance was a rise of sand, having been blown up as if something had hit it. A wave of sand and wind washed over the four.
"What is that?" Katara wondered
"What? What is what?" Toph asked, not being able to see or feel what seemed like an explosion. Sokka looked at it blankly before he suddenly looked at it in awe.
"It's a giant mushroom! Maybe it's friendly!" Sokka beamed excitedly.
"It's Aang." Freya responded, finally speaking since Aang had flown off. Katara looked shocked and then worried. "He's removing his frustration by air bending at the sand. He hasn't found Appa." Freya simply turned and continued to walk. Katara watched the cloud of sand before she sighed.
"Let's just keep moving. I hope Aang's okay…" she mumbled before grabbing Toph's hand and continued to walk.
"Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!" Sokka waved his body from side to side as he stared at the dust cloud.
They walked and the sun began to set, casting very large shadows of the four over the sand. Freya was still leading the group and Sokka was lazing behind with Momo on his head. A shadow passed over the group and Katara stopped to look up. Aang removed the fans from his staff and landed on the ground in a heap of sand as Katara ran forwards. The airbender said nothing and didn't turn towards her.
"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, placing a hand on his shoulder. The boy shrugged her off.
"What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it." Aang said hopelessly
"Come on, Aang! We can do this if we work together. Right, Toph?" Katara turned to the girl hopefully.
"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'." Toph admitted as she kicked the sand and then shrugged.
"Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba-Sing-Se?" Sokka was lying on the ground beside Momo, staring up at the sky. He rose his arm blissfully and pointed.
"Why don't we ask the circle birds?" he said airily. Large bug like insects were circling above them.
Katara looked at Sokka, to Toph who stumbled and Aang who was still crouched depressingly on the ground.
"Freya." she turned to the girl hopefully and Freya turned to Katara, her eyes were still blazing amber.
"We're getting out of this desert." she said fiercely. "We're going to find Appa, and we're gonna start by finding some Sandbenders." she turned back to the desert. "They're going to pay for taking Appa." she said angrily. Katara's eyebrows furrowed before she looked determined.
"We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up." she commanded "Everybody hold hands. We can do this. We have to." Katara took Aang's staff and Freya's hand, pushing the girl forwards to continue leading as Aang grabbed Toph's hand and Toph dragged Sokka who held Momo's tail as he chuckled. Momo flew in the opposite direction, being dragged backwards.
They walked for hours, Katara kept everyone but Freya walking, the girl continuing to stalk forwards as though it distracted her. Katara watched her, having not forgotten what happened in the library and wondered what to say.
The sun just peaked over the ridge of the sand, glowing the horizon as darkness had set over the sky. The air had cooled down considerably and it made walking easier without the constant heat and beating sun. Katara eventually stopped and everyone but Freya beside her were slopping on their feet exhaustedly.
"I think we should stop for the night." Katara decided.
The three behind her instantly collapsed down onto the ground with an exhausted grown. Freya and Katara turned to them, Katara with surprise.
"Is there any more water?" Toph wondered
"This is the last of it." Katara admitted
"We still have mine Katara." Freya reminded her. The two stared at one another before Katara simply nodded.
"Everyone can have a little drink." she agreed. Katara opened her flask and pulled the orb of water out. Momo suddenly jumped straight through the water and it fell all over the sand with a splash. Sokka panicked and scrambled along the sand to the wet spot.
"Momo, no! You've killed us all!" he cried out desperately.
"No, he hasn't." Katara lowered her hand and pointed at the water before drawing it up. The water rose up out of the sand and Sokka looked more relaxed.
"Oh, right. Bending." he remembered. Katara put the water back into the water skin and then handed it to Toph.
"Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library." Katara suddenly said. Sokka reeled back and clutched his bag full of scrolls.
"What! I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?!" he demanded offended. The boy suddenly turned to Momo and pointed an accusing finger at the lemur. "It was you! You ratted me out!" Momo put his hands to his eyes and started to cry.
"Sokka, I was there." Katara reminded him before she took the bag. Aang glanced at it with the girl.
"It doesn't matter. None of those will tell us where Appa is." he said as Katara took a seat.
"No, but we can find out which way Ba-Sing-Se is. We can use the stars to guide us." she opened a scroll to reveal a star chart. "That way we can travel at night when it's cool and rest during the day." she explained as Freya sat down. She turned to everyone who was lying on the ground already. "Just try to get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours." she decided.
Freya stared at the sky as the silence fell. She couldn't fall asleep though. Her body was hot, and not from the heat of the sun, from the anger that boiled inside her. Her eyes remained amber from her anger and she began to take some calming deep breaths to release the tension she felt. She didn't close her eyes, when she did she pictured terrible things that could be happening to Appa, each one worse than the last.
She managed to drift off slightly but she was awake before Katara was. The girl moved over to her after a few hours past. They stared at one another for a minute before the younger girl finally spoke.
"Freya, what was that?" she asked "Back in the library?"
"You're going to have to be more specific." Freya said before she sat up. Sokka had been buried in the sand by Momo and Aang had his back to them as Toph laid on her back.
"You fire bended." Katara remembered "But how? You're a water bender?" Freya looked at her and Katara was looking at her amazed, she glanced at Aang.
"I don't know how it works." Freya said as she got to her feet. "But I've always been able to bend both elements." Katara stood as well
"But how? If your parents were of the water tribe…"
"My mother was of the water tribe." Freya said, correcting her. "My father however was a Fire Nation General and a fire bender." Katara's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you tell us?" she demanded, now starting to get slightly irritated. "Couldn't you trust us?"
"Katara you're mother was killed by a fire bender and you and Sokka didn't like them. Your father either. How would you have reacted?" Katara stared at her "I came back to a time where the Avatar had been gone for a hundred years. The next avatar after Air will be born into the Water Tribe, everyone would have assumed I was the Avatar. I've never been able to move the other elements. And don't think I haven't tried, cause I did as a child, just in case." Freya said.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter." she decided.
"Freya you should have told us!" Katara said "I mean Aang's going to need a fire bending teacher, if he knew—"
"Aang does know." Freya cut her off and Katara looked surprised "I used to spar with Aang with both elements back when I knew him, before the storm and before the ice." Katara glanced at Aang still on the sand. "My fire bending was suppressed for more than a hundred years. I didn't feel happy or comfortable bending in the South Pole. I sent more time practicing water bending than fire bending and so water is my strong suit. I am still learning firebending, it does not provide as much help as my water does in some situations. There was no point in telling you."
Katara looked almost hurt as the girl moved down the sand dune. She watched her before pursing her lips and turning to the others.
"Come on, get up. We need to go." she rose her voice slightly and she patted Sokka who awoke and sat up drowsily and Toph did the same while smacking her lips.
"Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud. Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much." she said tiredly as Sokka turned and grinned at the girl.
Katara moved over to Aang but the boy spoke as she raised her hand.
"I'm awake. I couldn't sleep."
"Well, we need to get moving if we want to get out of this sand pit." Katara said after a minute.
Aang sat up as something caught his attention and everyone followed his gaze to see something moving over the moon. It looked like Appa.
"Appa!" Aang called joyfully.
"Appa? But why would Princess Yue need him? She's the moon! She flies by herself!" Sokka said happily as he rubbed Momo's tail to his cheek.
The shape however was just a cloud. All hope vanished and Aang hung his head.
"It's just a cloud." Katara said sadly before realisation reached her face. "Wait! A cloud!" the girl turned to Aang "Here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch." she handed him the pouch and Aang snatched it before he flew into the air. Aang flew past the cloud once before he dropped the pouch at Katara and landed.
Katara peered into the container and frowned. "Wow… there's hardly any in here."
Aang snapped. "I'm sorry, okay! It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing! What are you doing?" he shouted pointing his staff at Katara.
Freya took several breaths and closed her eyes to calm herself as Aang continued to snap at everyone around him. Katara looked back at Aang shocked before she had an answer.
"Trying to keep everyone together. Let's just get moving. We need to head in this direction." Katara had the star chart open before her and she lead the way through the sand.
Eventually she folded up the map and she and Sokka lead the way as Aang trudged along behind Toph, his head hanging. Freya was ignoring the boy and simply followed Katara silently as Momo had perched himself on top of Sokka's head.
Toph suddenly tripped forwards with a gasp and landed with a thud in the sand. Everyone turned to her surprised.
"Ow! Crud!" Toph grabbed her foot in her hands and rubbed it as she complained. Something wooden was sticking out of the sand. "I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?!" she demanded
"A boat?" Katara asked as she moved forwards towards the wooden point.
"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations." Toph assured. Katara began to look at the wood and brush off the sand as Sokka sighed and Aang stepped towards Katara and the boat. The younger water bender stepped aside as Aang lifted his staff and with a swing of it wind went everywhere and sand was blown into the air. A sand glider was left standing on the sand before them.
Katara climbed up onto the boat as the others followed her.
"It's one of the gliders the sandbenders use!" Katara beamed as she moved to the helm of it. "And look! It's got some kind of compass on it! I bet it can point us out of here!" Katara tapped the compass but it didn't move. "Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're going to make it!"
Aang didn't smile and Freya looked determined as the others turned to Sokka. The boy had buried all by Momo's head in sand and he held his thumbs up to them childishly with a wide smile on his face.
"Someone get Sokka on the glider." Freya spoke and she climbed up beside Katara. "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can find some information and get Appa back." she said quickly. Aang looked at her as she tapped the compass before he floated Sokka up onto the boat and took his position before the mast.