o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"Does anyone know what the Avatar looks like?" I asked, sidestepping a large and jagged-looking rock. "So far, I've pictured him as a short old man with a beard, very Yoda like."
"I do, I've seen him. He's incredibly tall, like a tree. He has green skin and-"
"Ha, ha, Toph, very funny." I rolled my eyes. "Do you know, Lee?"
He pursed his lips before answering. "He's short, you got that part right. But he's not old, at least not physically or mentally. He's only twelve."
"Technically, he's one hundred and twelve."
"One hundred and twelve?" I questioned in shock.
"It's a long story, but you'll be able to ask him about it soon." Toph nudged my shoulder with a smile.
"But he looks twelve." Lee cut in, irritated that we were sidetracked so easily. "And he's got an arrow tattoo on his forehead."
"Great, we're looking for a tattooed up twelve year old…" I muttered.
His lip twitched in what could have been a smile. "You know… There have been wanted posters in every town we've passed through."
"Oh."
His lip twitched once more, a slight curve appearing on him.
I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Ever since the fight, we had been getting along very well. We haven't fought or argued once (well, we have, but nothing that was serious), and he even taught me a few more fighting techniques. I had never guessed that Lee was funny either, not joke-telling funny, but unintentionally so. His face, when not angry or doing that annoying blank-faced thing he does, was very expressive. He seemed to react to everything we say, and he had a strange habit of flipping his hair out of his eyes, sometimes it looked like a nervous twitch.
Multiple times I wanted to tell him to just cut his hair, but I could never do it. It didn't seem to be my place, and every other man I have ever seen in this world has had long hair. Plus, I bet long hair would look good on him.
Toph yawned and stretched, arching her back, and Lee had to stop walking so she wouldn't fall off his shoulders. I still found the whole situation comical. Yesterday, after the fight, I thought Toph would have given him a day's rest, but as soon as we ready to go, she was right back on him. I felt sorry for him at first, thinking he would tire out and have a difficult time continuing on, but that pity soon turned to admiration. That boy was strong. Very strong. I hadn't noticed how fit he was until now. He had strong legs, muscular arms, and from what I could tell from the hole in his shirt, he had a nice set of abs. Most boys his age, at least in my world, were video game playing couch potatoes, but he was a warrior.
"Toph, this is wrong." Lee said, grabbed her under her arms, and put her on the ground.
"Whoa…" Toph put her hands on the ground and snapped her head up to him. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
I gave them a questioning look and glanced around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We had been walking through a grassy field and now we were nearing a grove of tightly packed trees a mile or two away.
"What is it?" I asked. My hand found its way to the blue pendant necklace, rubbing it nervously. Had Azula come back? Did we catch up to Ty Lee and Mai?
"I can't believe this!" Lee shouted, his voice angry, but his face held a hint of relief. "What now?"
Toph stood up and looked at him. "I don't know…" she grumbled.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" I pleaded, confused and worried.
Lee sighed. "I've been following that beast's footprints the entire time, but they are heading into that forest."
"So?" I asked.
"The beast weighs at least a ton. It's huge! It can't possible go in there, let alone walk through it." He explained, sounding exasperated.
"But you said-"
"That the foot prints lead into the forest?" he cut me off, finishing me sentence. "Well, they can't be. They must be fake, a decoy or something."
"But why would they go through so much trouble?" I asked.
"So no one would find him." He brought his head back and stared at the sun. "You saw Azula, people like her are after him all of the time."
"What now?" I repeated Lee's question, more to myself to anyone else. "We can't just turn around and go back; we don't have that kind of time…"
Lee looked back down and kicked at the dirt. "Where's the nearest town? We'll go in and get a bit of rest before we decide what to do."
Toph knelt down and placed her palm on the ground. "There's a town not too far from here, just a few miles."
I glanced up at Lee, his face showing nothing but frustration. "Yes, rest sounds good, let's go. Lead the way, Rambo."
Toph cleared her throat and tapped her foot on the ground. With a roll of his eyes, he placed Toph back atop his shoulders. She pointed the way, and we were off. Maybe while were there I'd buy Toph a bridle and some reins for Lee…
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"Here, take these and get something to eat, we'll meet back here in a half an hour." I handed Lee and Toph a small handful of strange looking coins.
"Sweet!" Toph yelled and started walking off.
"Don't buy sweets!" I yelled after her. "And don't go too far!"
"Okay, mom!" She yelled back at me and disappeared into the crowd.
Lee turned to leave, and panic raced through me. "Wait!" I called after him.
He stopped and turned back towards me.
"Don't leave me alone." I practically commanded. "I have no idea what kind of food is good, and I haven't a clue how much these coins are worth."
He sighed and glanced around, probably considering handing me off to someone else. After a moment, he looked back at me. "Come with me."
I smiled in thanks and fell into step with him. "Where can we eat?"
"I'm headed towards the market."
"Where's that?"
"Usually it's in the middle of the town."
I nodded my head and stepped around a group of children. "So…" I started. "Where are you from?"
Lee looked at me and then back down the path. "Far away."
I could tell he didn't want to talk about it, so I fell silent.
We continued walking along the pathway in the general flow of traffic, and while I smiled politely at the people we passed, Lee seemed to grow more and more uncomfortable. I was about to question him when he smoothed his hair over the side of his face, presumably to make sure his scar was covered. He never seemed to enter a town without his face covered.
"Why do you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?"
"Cover your scar like that." I prompted.
He sucked in his bottom lip and stayed quiet.
"It's not like it looks bad." Girls like scars, I almost told him, but his expression changed my mind. His face went from looking calm, albeit a little annoyed, to agitated and angry.
"What'd I say?" I muttered.
"Just drop it." Lee retorted, a harsh bite to the tone of his voice.
"Okay, okay, geez." I sighed, sounding suspiciously like Toph, and when I looked back at his face it was perfectly blank. Apparently his scar was a very sensitive subject although I didn't know why. I thought that regardless of his scar, he was still handsome. Maybe he got it young, I knew first hand that kids could be brutal, so maybe he got teased a lot. I tapped my nails on my necklace and decided that I would have to bring it up sometime later.
Suddenly, my nose was assaulted with the hearty smells of cooking meat and spices. It was like I walked into a wall of delicious smells.
"The good thing about the Earth Kingdom is that they have food from all three nations." Lee told me, most likely in reaction to my obvious delight. His voice was still a bit tight, but I could tell he was making an effort, so I respected that. "There's a lot of regional Earth Kingdom food too."
"I think I'll just follow my nose." I inhaled deeply and smiled, if I didn't get food into my mouth soon, I'd start drooling.
Lee followed me as I walked through the market, passing food stall after food stall. I eventually settled on a simple stand that sold spiced fruits and grilled vegetables, because seriously…who wants more meat after eating nothing but meat for the last few weeks? Apparently though, Lee didn't feel the same way. Before I had even noticed Lee had left, he was by my side with a meat kebab in hand.
"Let's find somewhere to sit." I said and looked around until I found a flat bench-like thing to sit on.
Like usual, Lee was silent, and not wanting to sit in quiet for the next twenty minutes, it was up to me to talk. Still, he'd come a long way from his short answers and ignoring me. "I still don't believe that we followed those fake footprints all of the way here. It just seems… I don't know. How did we not realize?"
"I was thinking about that too…" He sighed and leaned back so his head was resting against the wall. "But we were a few weeks behind them, so we knew the prints weren't fresh, but we didn't think they were that old."
"I guess it was a smart thing to do, it fooled us and Azula, but now were really screwed."
"Yeah, they could've been through this town months ago."
"When I first met up with Toph, we followed them out of the town, but the Avatar had probably been flying the entire way, why hadn't I seen that?"
"It's not your fault." He said quite awkwardly. "We thought he had walked too, there were a lot of forests on the way, so to me, I believed that he had used the trees as cover."
"Makes sense." I commented. "There are a lot of people after him."
"Yeah…" he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I wonder how long it's been since he passed through here."
"Me too…"
"Oh well, we'll never know."
I glanced over at him and shook my head, if he wasn't going to do it, then I was. I picked the first child I could find and called him over. It was a little boy of about six that had a mess of brown curls atop his head. He wiped at his face, smearing dirt on his tan cheek. "Yes?" he asked politely.
I smiled at him as Lee looked on with confusion. "Can you tell me when the Avatar passed through here last?"
He looked at us suspiciously. "Why?"
"We were just wondering." I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile.
He pursed his lips, but apparently he decided to trust me. "Yesterday, ma'am."
My face froze, and my brain completely stopped. It took a good ten seconds before either I or Lee could react. "What?!" We both shrieked. Well, I shrieked, Lee just yelled.
The boy jumped and glanced back towards the crowd as if plotting his escape. "Yeah."
I looked at Lee, a giant goofy smile on my face. "Does this mean that-"
He cut me off. "-That they were in the grove?"
"But how could Toph not have known?" I asked Lee.
"I have to go." The little boy ran away like I was going to eat him.
"Thank you!" I called after him.
"We need to find Toph." He muttered, his voice serious, and his face suddenly worried.
"Yeah." I got up and stretched, the smile never leaving my face. I was finally going to meet this Avatar fellow, maybe then I'll be able to go home. That was all they wanted me to do, right? They told me to find the Avatar and then they left. But why would I have to even meet him? Was there something more? My smile faltered as my mind continued to bombard me with the possibilities. Was this some kind of medieval quest? I should have pushed for more answers, and if I hadn't thought I was dead, I probably would have. And then what would happen, they'd take me home… right? That was what they promised, and these spirits wouldn't go back on their word, right?
"C'mon, where should we look first?"
"The alleyways." He muttered in a monotone.
I snickered, but knew that it was a good suggestion. "Very well then, let's go."
Lee was quiet as we searched for Toph, this was not unusual, but this time it was different. He looked nervous and sick to his stomach. "Are you alright?" I asked.
"I'm fine." He grunted.
"You look a little sick." I pointed out, but that wasn't all, he looked very pale.
He looked at me then glanced away. "I'm just a little nervous… The Avatar is a very powerful boy."
I scoffed. "We have no reason to be afraid of him… It's not like were hunting him."
"Yeah." He murmured.
Surprisingly, it did not take long to hind Toph. We found her exiting an alleyway near the end of the market.
"Toph!" I yelled and ran up to her. I grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a big hug. "The Avatar was here just yesterday! He's probably still in the grove!"
"What?" she asked, pushing away from me.
"Yeah, we asked someone and they said he was just here! Why didn't you feel him?"
She looked angry at my question. "We were more than a mile away! Even the strongest vibrations get weak at that distance! I thought they were animals."
"Well, let's go!" I grabbed Toph's arm and pulled her towards the town's main gate with Lee following slowly behind.
She sighed. "But I didn't get a chance to eat!"
"What were you doing all that time then?" I yelled behind me, weaving in and out of the people.
"Making money." She chuckled.
I stopped. "What do you mean?"
"I made a few bets and took a few chances. They paid off."
"So you took the money we gave you for food and gambled with it?" I asked, my mouth agape. Just then Lee caught up to us and stood, waiting.
"I guess you could say that." She said nonchalantly.
I made a strange grunting noise and sighed. "We don't have time for this." I grabbed Lee's wrist and started pulling him along as well.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"They are definitely in there." Toph crossed her arms and Looked at me. "Are you ready?"
I nodded my head swiftly.
"Are you ready?" Toph asked Lee. There seemed to be more meaning behind her question, but I had no idea what it was.
Lee looked at Toph, and nodded his head slowly. "Let's go."
I took a deep breath, steeled my nerves, and walked through the trees, thinking the whole time about what I would do when I got there. What would I say? "Hello, my name is Katara, but you can call me Kat. I was sent here by spirits, but I have no idea why." Yeah, that didn't sound insane at all.
"Where are they?" Lee asked his voice tight with worry.
"Just ahead." She told him.
I smiled. "Good, because-"
Toph's eyes widened. "Wait! No, don't go th-"
My ankle was abruptly jerked out from under me; I fell backwards and smacked my head on the hard dirt ground. In a split second, I was hanging from a tree by a rope. "Ow! What the hell!?" I yelled, rubbing the sore spot on my head.
Toph burst into laughter, while Lee just stared at me, mouth agape. "Are you okay?" he called.
I grumbled a stream of curses and uncorked my water skin. With one fluid movement, I used the water to cut myself free. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought it though very well, and immediately began falling twenty or so feet to the ground. I hardly had time to scream, before I hit something hard and solid, expecting it to be the ground and hurt like hell, I braced myself for the pain to come, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes and was face to face with Lee. I threw my arms around Lee in gratitude, but before I could speak, Toph's voice shot through us like a bullet.
"This isn't good… They're coming, and I don't think we'll be getting a very welcome greeting." Toph got into a bending position and waited.
I jumped out of Lee's arms, and he slunk back some. "Don't fight, promise me, Toph." I said, looking her straight in her sightless eyes. The last thing we wanted was for him to think we were the bad guys.
"I don't think we have much of a choice right now."
"Don't fight." I commanded her.
Her eyes narrowed briefly, but she nodded her head. "If I get attacked, I will not hold back." She walked away from me and found a tree to lean on, out of the way and in a hidden spot.
I nodded in understanding. "I don't expect you to."
I only heard quick footsteps for a moment before two figures burst into view. I singled out the Avatar quickly, the arrow on his showing bright and proud. He was shorter than I expected, and he looked surprisingly young. I took an uncertain step towards him, expecting him to stop, but he made a direct beeline towards Lee. I opened my mouth to call out his name, but he pulled his staff forward and a gust of air burst from its tip, surprising me and pushing Lee further into the trees and out of sight. He charged after him, and I saw Toph follow.
"Wait!" I called, but had no time to do anything else. The second figure, a dark-skinned boy wearing blue like myself, ran for me. His speed wasn't great, but the sword he carried was black and harsh. I had a split second to react; he swung his sword at me, the heaviness of his sword making it soar through the air with great momentum. I dove out of the way and rolled back to my feet, using the defensive maneuvers Lee had taught me. "Stop!" I yelled, but he didn't pause once.
Swing after swing, slice after slice, he came at me savagely. The weight of my waterskin was against my hip, but I didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary, the last thing I wanted was to attack him.
I tried to take a quick glance at where everyone disappeared to, but the boy raised his sword over his head and swung it down, aiming to kill. I could only move a fraction of an inch, and the heavy blade cut into my bicep. Pain exploded in my arm, and I cried out, falling to the ground. Blood quickly saturated my sleeve. I looked down at the gash on the side of my arm, and started to feel queasy. The combination of shock and adrenaline flowing through me slowly began to take the edge off of the pain.
"Please." I begged, applying pressure to my arm. I didn't want to fight him, but if he didn't stop, I would have to and that would jeopardize everything. He faltered in his step for a second, but his face hardened over, and he came at me once more. From my position on the floor, I rolled out of the way, missing the blade by an inch.
He would kill me if I didn't fight back, I told myself. So I did what I had to, I uncorked my waterskin and got into a bending position. He charged at me, sword out, a look of concentration in his blue eyes.
Without warning, I quickly bought out a stream of water and snapped it at his head. It hit him with a loud smack, and he was pushed back a few steps. He looked at me wide eyes for a second and then he looked at the string of water in my hands. His glare scared me. "Traitor." He growled.
Before I could even question him, he charged. I waited until he was close and used the water to encase his arms and hold him subject to my control. My arm pulsed, but I held him steady even through the pain. His face was inches apart and he was heaving from exertion, but I was finally able to see his eyes. They were exactly like mine. Not just the color, but all of the different tones of blue, all of the specks or dark and light. Everything was the same. For a second it was like looking into a mirror, and I could tell he was as shocked as me. I slowly let the water fall to the earth, releasing him from my hold, but neither of us moved. It was like we made a silent pact not to attack.
"Who are you?" he asked, and searched my face.
I searched his too. I felt as if I had met this boy before.
His eyes traveled to the blue pendant around my neck and his expression changed to shock. He stared at it, dumbfounded, mouth agape. "My-my mom's…" He sputtered and stopped, mouth opening and closing with nothing but air escaping his lips. He reached up and gripped my shoulders. "Where did you get that?"
"I-I found it." I whispered, not lying because I didn't think I could do it even if I wanted to, this boy felt… I don't know, it's too hard to explain.
"This was my mother's." He whispered. He reached out and touched me necklace gently, his touch so light I wasn't sure if he even did it. A big gust of air escaped from his lungs as he stared, transfixed, at the necklace.
I was frozen, shocked at the intense connection I felt with this boy. I could do nothing but stare at his eyes, his face.
His head came down slowly, gradually, and he rested his forehead on the stone pendant. He seemed to be shaking, but it could have just been my eyes playing tricks on me.
He stared up at me, eyes glistening, only pride held his tears at bay. "Who are you?" his voice was a low, quiet rumble. His tone holding only raw emotion.
I swallowed deeply at took a calming breath before answering. "My name is Katara."
His lips opened, letting a sharp intake of air back in. his hand found its way to my face and cupped my cheek lightly. Normally, this would have freaked me out, I had known this boy for no more than tem minutes, and the majority of those had been spent fighting…but he was…different.
Tears finally began to leak down his tan cheeks, a drastic change from the warrior he was. A small laugh escaped him. "I knew it, Gran Gran was right."
Without warning, he pulled me into a deep hug. He squeezed me hard, causing my arm to burn with pain and for blood to leak onto his shirt, but I didn't mind the pain. I felt compelled, no… There was a driving force in my mind that told me to hug him back. I reached around and pulled him tight to me, hugging him back with all of my strength, pressure began to well behind my eyes, the same pressure that meant I was about to cry, but it wasn't from the pain… I felt loved. This was a different love, one that I have never felt before. I was confused, scared, and in pain, but I knew that this strange boy loved me.
He pulled away all too soon, and stared me straight in the eye, "Was he with you?"
It took me a second to realize who he was talking about. "Yes, he's with me."
"Shit." His shoulders sagged, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me further into the forest, yanking my injured arm and causing me to grunt in pain. I considered stopping so I could heal it, but I had to wait, I needed to make sure Toph and Lee were okay. "Do you trust him?" he asked.
"Yes." I answered.
"Shit!" he yelled again, this time louder. "I have to stop Aang…" I detected a hint of bitterness in his voice.
We found them quickly by following the sound of yelling.
I saw Toph first, she was resting against a tree, watching Lee and the Avatar. She turned to us and gave us a knowing smile. "You better hurry." She warned.
I picked up my pace and ran past Toph, expecting to see blood and violence. What I saw surprised me. Toph had obviously gotten involved. The Avatar had been restrained, his arms were being held between two long posts of rock, fists disappearing into the rock. His feet were submerged in the dirt. His face was livid with anger and filled with hate.
Lee's shirt, which already had the singed hole in the middle, was torn down the side with a long slash, his skin red and puckered underneath.
All was quiet, both boys starting into the others face until the Avatar noticed the boy I was with. "Sokka!" he yelled.
Sokka ran towards the Avatar, but I didn't miss the suspicious glance he sent to Lee. "Aang, we need to-"
"Get me out of here!" he yelled.
"No, Aang…" he glanced at me, suddenly unsure. I gave him a pleading look and he gulped, turning back to Aang. "Did he attack you?"
"No! But he's with them!" he yelled, body shaking, eyes glistening with tears. "They'll do it again, they'll hurt him again!"
"Aang…" Sokka glanced again towards Lee. "I don't think so; I think we need to talk to them."
"Why?" Aang looked at Lee. "Zuko gave us no reason to trust him, why do it now?"
"Zuko…? I questioned. Why did that sound so familiar, and why were they calling Lee Zuko? Suddenly, my mind pictured a man with a giant hideous scar covering his whole face. He had red eyes, like a monster. But that image faded into one of Lee. Was Lee this Zuko, the prince of the Fire Nation? My mind couldn't comprehend this. They couldn't be the same people. The prince was a monster, too bad for even the Fire Nation to handle. Lee had done nothing bad. But Zuko was after Aang, and that would explain why the Avatar attacked him without a second to loose.
Lee was Zuko… He had to be.
"Aang…" Sokka looked at me, rousing me from my thought. "I think she's my sister."
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"What?" I whispered and stared into the shocked faces of the Avatar and Sokka.
Aang looked back at Sokka. "Are you sure? I didn't think…"
Sokka nodded. "I know."
I looked at Lee- No, Zuko, and decided to ask him my question while Aang and Sokka talked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You wouldn't have trusted me!" he yelled defensively.
I shook my head at him. "I knew nothing about this world and Fire Nation politics when I first met you. I wouldn't have cared."
"I didn't know that!" His brows furrowed with worry.
"I told you everything…" I wasn't even angry at him, I was disappointed. I trusted him with my secret, but he didn't see fit to tell me his. How could I trust him again when he kept such a big secret from me? "How could you not think I'd trust you?"
He sighed and shook his head. "I didn't mean to-"
I turned away and ignored him; I didn't even want to look at him right now. I was with Toph in a few steps. I placed my hand on her shoulder and watched Aang and Sokka talk quietly back and forth. Only a few sentences reached our ears. "I know, but I have to trust my sister, she wouldn't be traveling with-" The rest of his sentence was too low for us to hear.
Toph nudged me in the ribs. "He really believes he's your brother…"
I nodded. "I know, and you know what the weird thing is? I believe him." I told her honestly, there was no other way that could explain what happened between us.
She nodded. "You know…I knew Lee was Zuko."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, and glanced back over at Zuko. He looked miserable, he had to be. He lost my trust and I could tell that he didn't have the best relationship with Aang and Sokka either.
"I didn't want to out him." She looked at me. "What if I had told Lee about your secret?"
It sucked that she was right. "What do you think is going to happen?"
"Well, if a few seconds, they're going to ask me to let the Avatar go. I'm surprised they haven't done so already." She smiled her trademark lopsided smirk, and we both waited.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Aang spoke. "Can you let me go now?"
"Will you promise not to attack Zuko?" Toph asked.
I scratched my head with my hurt arm and I could feel the dry blood on my arm. I had almost forgotten about it, but now that I was looking directly at the wound, it started pounding again. I still held off healing it, I wanted to know what was going to happen first.
"I won't attack him." He promised.
Toph walked up to him and kicked at the posts. They both crumbled and fell to the ground. Next, she grabbed him by the shoulder and Pulled up, yanking his feet out of the dirt. "There you go."
I walked up to the Avatar and waited, unsure of what to do or say. Sokka was by my side in a second, and started talking. "We're going to go to our campsite so we can talk."
I nodded in understanding. "Okay."
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Their campsite was a shabby thing, it was disorganized and dirty. Things were scattered all around, and personal possessions looked like they were thrown into their tent. Within a few minutes, I was itching to clean it.
All of us sat around the unlit fire pit and waited. No one knew what to say, and no one wanted to break the silence.
"Avatar Aang…" I began, hoping the words would come to me.
"Just Aang." He corrected.
"Aang, I was told to find you by the spirits." I held my breath, hoping he wouldn't think I sounded crazy.
"I know… I was visited by them too, they told me someone would find me. They told me you would help me."
"I have no idea what I could help you with."
"Well, she is a water bender, she could help you practice!" Sokka added, and patted my arm.
"Oh god!" I cried out in pain and clutched my arm. I had forgotten all about the cut again, and now it was bleeding.
"Sorry!" Sokka yelled. "It's all my fault…"
"No, no, no. it's okay, really." I told him, fighting back the tears. "Do you have any water around? I used all mine up when we fought."
Aang pointed to a clay pot, his face tight with worry. "It's in there."
I pulled half the water out and made it into a glove over my hand, with a bit of concentration I was able to make it glow a bright blue. With a sigh of relief, I put the glove on my cut. I watched the skin mold itself back together quickly, and felt the pain go away. When I looked up again, Aang and Sokka were staring at me wide eyed.
"You're a healer?" he asked, a spark suddenly in his eyes.
"Yeah, not a very good one though." I admitted.
Aang was on his feet in a split second. "I need your help then!" He ran over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me towards the shabby tent. "My pet Momo got hurt."
He knelt down and crawled into the small tent, I followed him nervously, knowing I had prove myself an asset. Bundled into a blanket was a monkey like animal, with white fur and black circles around its eye. It was actually very cute in a weird way, but it didn't look like it was doing too well. It was breathing shallowly, and its fur was damp with sweat.
"What happened?" I asked.
His eyes started to water. "We were attacked on our way here, and he got hurt."
"Where is he hurt?"
He pulled the blanket off of the animal and I nearly fainted. It had a large cut on its chest, and a gaping wound in its side. "Mai and Ty Lee." I said breathlessly.
Aang sniffed. "Yeah." His voice was choked with emotion. "I thought you were with them… That's why I was so angry… I'm not usually so-"
"Its okay." I rubbed his back and tried my best to comfort him. "I'll see what I can do."
"Can I watch?" he asked with pleading eyes.
"Yes."
I called water towards me and pondered the best course of action; this animal probably lost a lot of blood, so I had to work quickly. I made a healing glove and placed it on the small cut first, that would be the quickest and easiest. Using all of my concentration, I closed my eyes and used my senses to guide the healing, healing the flesh and skin. I opened my eyes and smiled. The first cut was completely gone; no evidence of it was left.
"Wow!" He exclaimed.
"I know. I never get used to it." I smiled at him, but then remembered the second cut.
"This was a knife wound. Did she throw a dagger at him?"
"Yeah… She attacked us, and Momo tried to distract her."
I flinched; I remembered exactly how it felt to have one of her daggers in my skin. I used the same water to form another glove and placed it on the wound. Using the water as an extension of myself, I was able to tell exactly how deep it was. The wound was about two inches deep, but for the size of the animal, that was massive. The water worked its way into the wound and swept out all of the dirt that had gotten inside. I took more water from the clay pot and used it in place of the dirty stuff. I placed the glove over the wound again and examined it using my waterbending.
I noted to myself that I could use the blood to expand my sight within the body. From my limited knowledge, I could tell that there was no internal bleeding of any sorts, but a few veins were cut through. I healed those first, and reconnected them. I went to work on the muscle next. Thank the gods her daggers were sharp, it was a clean cut and was quite easy to heal. I smiled to myself and healed the last layer of skin, suddenly aware of the sweat that was beading on my forehead. I was exhausted, but none of that mattered anymore when the animal opened its large green eyes and let out a weak chirp.
"He'll be fine, just let him rest…he lost a lot of blood." I whipped the sweat off of my brow and smiled with satisfaction.
"Thank you so much! Later today, I'll introduce you to Appa, he's grazing right now." The Avatar was so happy he jumped at me and gave one of the most heartfelt hugs I have ever received in my entire life. As soon as he let go, all of his attention went to the cooing animal.
"I'm not here for the Avatar!" I heard Zuko yell from outside the tent.
I quietly excused myself and went outside to see what was going on.
"Why should I believe you?!" Sokka retaliated.
Zuko groaned. "If I were after him, don't you think I would have attacked already?"
Sokka put his hands into claws. "Maybe you're just waiting until the middle of the night to attack."
"Since when have I ever had enough patience to wait?" Zuko shouted. I almost laughed at that one.
His mouth opened, but nothing came out. "That's true." He said after a while.
"Sokka," I began "He's not going to hurt the Avatar."
"How do you know?"
"I just do." I shrugged. "And Toph, the one laughing at you guys right now, she can tell if people are lying. She trusts him, so you can too."
"How can you tell if people are lying?"
"Long story short, I can monitor a person's heartbeat."
"How?" he asked again.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I use earth bending to feel vibrations."
"You're an earth bender?" Aang asked from behind me, surprising everyone but Toph.
"Yeah." She answered nonchalantly. "Don't you remember? I did restrain you."
"Oh yeah…" he blushed. "I was kind of distracted at the time."
I placed my hand on his shoulder. "It's understandable." I told him, trying my best to comfort him again. I didn't know what it was about this boy, but I didn't want to see him distressed, it made me uncomfortable just thinking about it.
"How good are you?" he asked.
"I'm the best earth bender in the world." She said pointedly, already knowing what his next question would be.
His brows furrowed, and I could tell he didn't know whether she was joking or not. I decided to give him a hand. "She really is."
He knelt in front of her. "Then can you teach me to earth bend?"
Her smile was ear to ear so I could tell she had something up her sleeve. "Only if you let Zuko stay too."
"What?!" Sokka shrieked.
"Deal." Aang told her.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o