Thanks to NatNicole for reviewing, and to answer your question: Rin may have a bit of fun during this chapter, but I'm waiting until later for a "fun" chapter. One thing to note, line breaks usually indicate a change in scene.

Chapter 6: The Deserter

"It's getting late," Sokka said, covering his mouth as he yawned. "We should find somewhere to sleep for the night."

"I'm pretty sure there's a village nearby that we can stay at," Rin said, watching the sun approach the horizon as they walked down the path through the forest. She spotted a kiosk sitting on the side of the road.

"Hey, what's that?" Katara asked, running up to the kiosk and looking at a large poster plastered on the side. "Oh, this should give us a good idea of what's in the area."

"See if you can find a menu. I'm starving," Sokka said. Rin felt the same way, as she hadn't eaten since morning. Her stomach started to emit a slow gurgling sound, as if it was alive and crying for sustenance. However, the feeling didn't bother her. Rin had dealt with hunger many times before, and she could do it again with ease.

"We'll find something to eat here," Aang said, pointing to the poster, which showed , among other things, a red dragon surrounded by balls of fire. "The Fire Days festival hosts Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, and magicians. It'll be a great place to study some real firebenders.

"I think we get enough studying from Zuko chasing us around," Sokka said from the other side of the kiosk. "Besides, look at this."

"Hey, it's a poster of me!" Aang exclaimed as he went around to Sokka. Rin followed him and saw that the other side of the kiosk was plastered with various posters, each depicting a person. Aang's picture was among them.

"Yeah, a wanted poster," Sokka said, removing the poster from the kiosk and reading the list of offenses. "Wanted for destruction of property, injury of Fire Nation soldiers, threatening the well-being of the Fire Nation, and being the Avatar. Can bend all four elements, approach with extreme caution."

"I don't think we should go to the festival," Katara suggested, taking the poster from Sokka.

"I have to learn firebending at some point," Aang reminded the group. "This may be my only chance to watch a master firebender up close."

"Well," Katara muttered, rubbing her chin. "I guess it won't hurt to check it out."

"What? You want to walk into a Fire Nation town when they're all fired up with their, well, fire?" Sokka exclaimed.

"We'll put on disguises," Katara said. "If it looks like trouble, we'll leave."

"Right, because we always leave before we get into trouble," Sokka said sarcastically. "Rin, you're usually reasonable, convince them to not go to the festival."

"Actually, considering that there's a festival, it's probably the safest time to go into town," Rin explained. "Everyone's going to be either drunk or partying."

"See, it'll be fine," Katara said, before something on the kiosk caught her eye. She took another wanted poster from the wall and looked at it for a second, before turning to the group. "Rin, is this you?"

"Let me take a look... yup, that's me," Rin confirmed, nodding as she studied the picture, which depicted herself wearing a brown tunic. The poster captured her appearance perfectly, though to be fair, it wasn't hard, since she looked like any other female Earth Kingdom peasant or refugee on the continent. They did get her short brown hair along with her unusually light skin color, but she usually wore her cloak over her head and body, so it didn't really matter. "So, what did they accuse me of?"

"Can't you read it yourself?" Katara asked, annoyed.

"Nope. Can't read," Rin replied, looking up from the poster to Katara.

"Seriously?" Aang asked. "You never learned how to read?"

"Why would I? I've never needed to read, and I've never really had the opportunity to learn while I was on the road, anyways," Rin explained. "So, can someone tell me what's on my poster?"

"Well, there's a lot of things," Katara said. "Thievery and highway robbery, for one."

"Guilty," Rin said.

"Uh... destruction of property," Katara continued.

"Well, I guess if you count livestock as property, sure" Rin replied. "I was hungry. Also, I've probably destroyed a few merchant stalls over my travels."

"Aiding a wanted criminal..." Katara read. "Oh, that was for breaking Aang out of prison, right?"

"Not necessarily," Rin muttered. "It's a long story."

"And this last one... public intoxication?!" Katara exclaimed.

"Again, a long and rather embarrassing story. I'd rather not talk about it," Rin explained. "Anything else besides crimes?"

"Nonbender, armed and dangerous," Katara read. "Approach with caution. Huh, I'm surprised that murder isn't on here."

"I already told you, I'm not a murderer. Maybe a bandit or thief, but not a murderer," Rin replied. "At least, not yet. Now that I'm part of the war effort, that might change sooner or later. So, are we going to the festival?"

"Hold on a minute. We need something to conceal ourselves," Sokka said, digging through his bag. Looking back towards the posters, Rin noticed the mask of the blue spirit, the same mask that Zuko had been wearing back at the prison.

Well, the Fire Prince is a fugitive from the Fire Nation. How ironic, Rin thought as Sokka pulled two blue cloaks from his bag.

"What about me?" Aang asked. "I don't have anything to hide myself with."

"Think of something," Rin answered. The group set off back down the trail, towards the town.

Eventually, the forest path opened up to a hill overlooking the village. The town seemed to already be in the middle of the festival, as the streets were bright and Rin could hear the commotion of the crowds from her position on the hill. Aang signalled the group to stop before they went down the hill.

"Appa, Momo, you guys hide up here while we go to the festival," Aang commanded. Momo fluttered around for a few seconds before diving into a bush, while Appa trying to cover himself behind the same bush. Rin stifled a snort as she watched the bison try to conceal himself behind the small shrub.

"Ready your disguises," Aang called to the rest of the group. Rin watched as Katara and Sokka put on their cloaks and pull their hoods over their heads, concealing their faces. Meanwhile, Aang simply pulled the back of his robe over his face, which ended up making him look like a hunchback.

"Now everyone looks like me," Rin mumbled, putting her hood up. "And Aang, was that seriously the best thing you could come up with?"

"I didn't have much to work with," Aang argued. "Besides, it's fine as a disguise, right?"

"It's like you're whole different person," Sokka said sarcastically as Katara giggled at Aang's attempt at disguise. As they proceeded down the hill and approached the village gates, Rin spotted a few guards milling around the festival.

"Remember, if you don't want to be suspicious, just relax and have fun," Rin instructed as they entered through the gates. "That's what everyone else is doing."

"That's not going to be enough. I think we're going to need new disguises," Katara said, pointing to the people milling around the festival. Sure enough, almost everyone had a painted mask covering their face, making Rin's group stand out among the crowd.

"Where are we going to get masks like that?" Sokka asked, just as Rin pointed to the left. Sure enough, there was a salesman sitting by the side of the street, selling many different face masks. "Well, that was easy," Sokka muttered as they went up to the booth.

"We'll take four masks," Aang said, handing over a few coins as each member of the group selected a mask for themselves. Rin chose a plain red mask that she had seen a lot of other people wear, as she didn't want to be identified by her mask in case something went wrong. She put the it over her face and turned back to the group, who already had their masks on..

"I'm surprised that you didn't just go and steal them," Katara muttered.

"And attract attention to myself? Besides, it's a festival. I want to relax for once," Rin said, leading the group down the street. Soon, Rin heard Sokka's stomach start to rumble, reminding Rin of her own hunger. Fortunately, they were in the middle of a festival, so she assumed that finding something to eat wouldn't be a problem.

"Hey, there's some food over there," Aang pointed out, leading the group to a booth. Placed on a small table were small bags of steaming red flakes, which Rin instantly recognized as fire flakes. She debated on whether to get a bag or not, but a growl from her stomach won her over. With a sigh, she approached the booth behind Sokka, who seemed to be delighted at the prospect of food.

"Best fire flakes in town," the man behind the booth proclaimed. Sokka stared at the flakes for a moment, and Rin swore that a fountain of drool would come spilling out of his mouth if she removed the boy's mask.

"I'll take it," Sokka said, grabbing a bag and throwing a coin onto the table before quickly removed his mask and dumped the flakes into his mouth. He let out a shout of pain and immediately started panting, trying to scrape the hot flakes from his mouth. Rin tried to hold back a laugh, but ultimately failed as she saw Sokka's pained expression.

"Hey, it's really spicy! You try it!" Sokka argued as he saw Rin giggling.

"Flaming fire flakes, who would have guessed," Katara said.

"Fine, I'll try it," Rin said, paying the booth owner a coin and taking a bag of fire flakes. She lifted her mask and upturned the bag into her mouth, chewing slowly as the group watched her. After a few seconds she swallowed the flakes, turning towards Sokka and giving him a smug grin.

"How?" Sokka asked. "You're not even sweating!"

"I once stole an entire sack of fire flakes," Rin explained with a smile. "It started as one of the worst weeks in my life, but I got used to them. This is nothing."

"That's cheating!" Sokka claimed, but Rin simply grinned and put her mask back down over her face, prompting Sokka to do the same.

"Hey what's that?" Aang asked, pointing down the street at a crowd of children sitting in front of a small booth. As they approached, a small wooden figure jumped up from behind the booth, which caused the children to cheer.

"It's a puppet show," Katara said. As they drew closer, Rin saw that the puppet was dressed in red robes and wore a small crown.

"Don't worry, loyal citizens! Nobody can surprise the Fire Lord!" the puppet shouted as another puppet, dressed as an Earth Kingdom soldier, appeared with a rock, causing gasps from the children. The Fire Lord puppet immediately turned and blew fire, roasting the soldier puppet and getting cheers from the children.

"Just a bunch of propaganda," Rin muttered, leaving with the rest of the group. As they proceeded down the street, Rin spotted a booth sitting by the side of the street and tapped Aang on his shoulder. "Hey, go on without me. I'll meet up with you in a minute. Don't get into any trouble, okay?"

"Okay, be back soon," Aang said. Rin separated off from the group and walked up to the booth, where a bundle of bottles was sitting on a table.

"Best sake in town, ten coppers," the man behind the booth said.

"One bottle," Rin asked, taking the coins from her bag and giving them to the man while grabbing a bottle of sake. As she walked away from the booth she took out her knife and used it to pry the cork from the neck of the bottle. She pocketed both her knife and the cork and proceeded to start drinking straight from the bottle.

Haven't had anything like this in a long time... Rin thought as the burning liquid poured down her throat. She wandered around the festival for a while, looking for Aang, Sokka, and Katara, before finding them lingering in front of a large stage.

"...but there's a large crowd, so there must be something good," Rin heard Aang say as she caught up to the group. "Oh, Rin, you're back. Where did you go off to, anyways?"

"Nowhere really, just bought something and started looking for you guys again," Rin replied, following the gaze of the crowd around her. Everyone was looking towards the stage, where a performer was shooting large fireballs through the air. Rin took another swig from her bottle, which caught Katara's attention.

"Rin, is that... are you drinking?!"

"Yeah, do you think I bought this bottle just for show?"

"But you're only... wait, how old are you?"

"I dunno. Does it really matter though?" Rin took another gulp from her bottle before turning to watch the firebender on the stage. "Besides, I've had sake before. I can handle my drink. Want some?"

"No, and I really don't think you should be drinking," Katara said, pushing the bottle away. Rin shrugged and started gulping down the fiery liquid as the performer finished his act on stage.

"For my next trick, I'll need a volunteer from the audience," the performer said. Aang immediately started jumping up and down, raising his hand in hopes that the performer would call on him.

"What are you doing?" Sokka whispered as he pulled Aang's hand down.

"I wanted to get a closer look," Aang muttered.

"We're already right in front of the stage," Rin said. "How close do you want to get?"

"We shouldn't be attracting attention to ourselves," Katara advised, just as the performer pointed towards her.

"How about you, little lady?" the performer asked as Katara backed away. "Aww, she's shy. Let's give her some encouragement!"

The crowd started cheering as one of the bystanders pushed Katara towards the stage. As the performer hoisted her up and sat her down in a chair, Rin tried to take another gulp from her bottle, only to realize that she had already drunk every last drop. The sake was starting to take effect, as she started to feel lightheaded and tipsy.

"I call this one Taming the Dragon!" the performer shouted, tying Katara to the chair and shooting a stream of fire out into the sky, which formed the shape of a dragon. Rin decided not to pay much attention to the act, instead focusing on her feet, which were starting to stumble over themselves.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked, grabbing Rin and holding her upright.

"Yeah, I just lost my balance for a moment," Rin replied as her cheeks started to turn red. "Hey, hold on to me for a bit longer, will you?"

"I'm pretty sure you're not okay," Sokka muttered. "Are you drunk?"

"What? No! Well, maybe. Just a little. Probably. Yeah, I'm probably drunk," Rin admitted, leaning against the elevated stage in front of her. Suddenly, she felt a blast of wind, followed by Sokka grabbing her and bringing her up onto the stage.

"What happened?" Rin asked, suddenly alert again as she heard shouts coming up from the back of the crowd. Turning around, she saw a group of guards forcing their way through the people towards the stage.

"I think it's time to go," Sokka said, looking around for an exit. Suddenly, a cloaked man appeared from behind the stage and waved to them.

"Follow me! I can get you out of here!" he called, motioning for the group to come with him. They ran off the stage and into an alley, with Rin stumbling behind them. As the guards came close, the man threw a bomb that covered the area in smoke, allowing them to escape back into the festival.

"Aang, what did you do?" Rin asked as they ran through the streets.

"It's not my fault!" Aang shouted. "It looked like Katara was in danger! The performer lost control of the dragon!"

"You're the stupidest Avatar alive!" Rin shouted back. "Did you seriously think that the guy actually lost control of a goddamn flame dragon that he made himself? It was all an act, you know!"

"I know, but at the time..." Aang said before taking a bison shaped whistle from his pocket and blowing on it. Oddly enough, Rin couldn't hear any noise from the whistle..

"What was that supposed to do?!"

"It's calling Appa! He'll be here soon!"

"If I can't hear it from here, I don't think that bison can hear it from all the way out there!"

"Just wait, you'll see!"

As they ran through the street, a group of soldiers appeared ahead of them, blocking their path. With a grunt, the cloaked man pulled the fuse from another bomb and threw it at the soldiers, leading the group into an alleyway. Unfortunately, it was a dead end, as a large cart of fireworks was blocking the exit.

"Looks like we're trapped," Katara said, turning back towards the soldiers.

"Not really," Rin replied, jumping onto the wheels of the cart. However, as she tried to reach up and grab the top of the cart, she lost her balance, causing her to fall flat on her back. "Never mind, we're trapped."

Maybe I should've saved that drink for later, Rin thought as the soldiers drew closer. Suddenly, Rin heard Appa's roar coming from the sky.

"Appa, down here!" Aang called. The bison touched down and whipped its tail at the soldiers, blowing them out of the alley and onto the street. The group climbed into Appa's saddle, flying away as the soldiers tried to catch up. The cloaked man threw one last bomb at the fireworks cart, causing it to explode and fill the sky with lights.

"Yeah!" Rin shouted, throwing her empty bottle down towards the town and hitting one of the soldiers in the head. Luckily for him, his helmet took the brunt of the impact, and the soldier was only knocked to the ground. As she sat back down, she felt a wave of sleepiness come over her, so she laid herself down onto Appa's saddle and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, Rin was asleep.

Shit, not again.

Rin woke up from her sake-induced slumber, feeling as though a battleship had parked itself on her head and was constantly rocking back and forth. She immediately regretted her decision to drink the night before. As she opened her eyes, the sun flashed into them, causing her headache to intensify. Suddenly, a feeling of nausea surged up from her stomach, and she threw up onto the dirt floor to her side.

Oh god, it hurts. Just kill me now.

After spewing the orange-brown stew from her stomach, Rin wiped her mouth, taking a look around the room. It was a small hut, with just a few mats placed on the ground. She saw the group's stuff, including Aang's staff and Sokka's club, leaning against the side of the hut, indicating that they were nearby. However, she had no idea where she was.

"Hey Rin, are you awake?!" The pain from Rin's headache rose exponentially as Sokka shouted into the hut.

"Gaaaah! Sokka, be quiet!"

"Sorry."

Sokka entered the hut and closed the door behind him, cutting off the sun and allowing Rin to relax her head. Upon seeing the vomit sitting next to Rin, he pinched his nose and grabbed a rag hanging from the wall to clean up the vomit.

"Are you alright?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah, just the aftereffects from the sake. I always tell myself that I won't drink again but..." Rin trailed off, then turned to Sokka. "So, what happened while I was asleep?"

"Well, the guy who rescued us last night? He's an ex-Fire Nation soldier. Apparently, he works for some high rank firebender who deserted from the army," Sokka explained. "Some guy named Jeong Jeong. This is his hideout. Aang's going to learn firebending from him."

"Huh. This headache feels like shit, can you get me some water?" Rin asked.

"Yeah, give me a second," Sokka said. He grabbed a canteen of water sitting off to the side of the hut and gave it to Rin. She uncapped the canteen and started drinking the water in small sips, slowly making her headache fade away.

"So, what are we supposed to do while Aang learns how to firebend?" Rin asked.

"I dunno," Sokka replied, grabbing his fishing rod from the side of the hut.. "Katara's practicing her waterbending. I think I'll just go catch some fish or something."

"Well, go ahead. I'm going to get my stuff and meet you guys outside," Rin said. As Sokka exited the hut, Rin looked around for her cloak, before realizing that she was wearing it the whole time. She grabbed her bag and took a piece of bread out, taking small bites as she followed Sokka outside. The first thing she noticed was the sun, as it was unusually hot for the morning. Looking around, she saw that the hut was situated on a small hill, with a path leading down to a few other huts and, eventually, a river at the bottom of the hill. A thick forest surrounded the area, providing ample cover for the hideout. Down by the river, Rin saw Aang standing on a rock, posed in a horse stance, with an old Fire Nation man watching him.

Aang immediately noticed Rin coming out of the hut and waved to her, breaking his stance. "Hey Rin, you're finally awa-"

"CONCENTRATE!" the old man yelled. Rin assumed that this was Aang's firebending teacher, as the Avatar immediately yelped and jumped right back into his stance. Rin went down the hill to meet the old man, who turned towards her.

"So you're Jeong Jeong?" Rin asked. Upon closer inspection, Rin saw that the man had a large bush of white hair on his head, along with a large frown on his wrinkled face.

"That I am," the man said. "And you are?"

"Name's Rin. I'm traveling with the Avatar right now," Rin explained.

"Hm. Now if you would excuse me, I need peace and quiet so I may teach-" Jeong Jeong started to say, before stopping abruptly and staring at Rin. His face froze, and his eyes seemed to show a feeling of disbelief. After a few seconds of neither person moving, Jeong Jeong suddenly turned to Aang. "Avatar, follow me. We are moving on to the next stage of your lessons."

"What was that?" Rin asked to nobody in particular as Aang and his teacher walked off into the woods. She dismissed it as one of the usual "old man antics" she had seen before, and wandered off to search for Katara and Sokka. After wandering down the riverbank, she saw Katara pulling a globe of water through the air, with Sokka fishing from a rock further down the bank.

"Hey," Rin called, catching their attention.

"Well, look who decided to wake up this morning," Katara said.

"It's not my fault," Rin argued. "I had a headache."

"That's because you drank an entire bottle of sake last night," Katara said. "So technically, it is your fault."

"Can't argue with that," Sokka added. "Why did you drink last night, anyways?"

"I did say that everyone would either be partying or drunk, and I didn't really feel like partying," Rin explained. "So, the Avatar's gone off to learn how to firebend. What now?"

"Just do whatever," Sokka said. "We'll just stay long enough for Aang to learn firebending, then it's off to the North Pole."

"I'm going to go explore around the place," Rin said, turning around and heading back down the riverbank. As she got back to the huts, she saw Jeong Jeong walking back to his hut on the river, alone, without Aang.

I wonder what he's doing, Rin thought, watching as the old man entered the hut. She leaned over against the wooden sides of the structure, cupping her hand against her ear to listen.

"To think she's joined up with the Avatar..." Rin heard Jeong Jeong mumble. "How ironic. I must inform the Grand Lotus at once."

What's he talking about? Rin thought, listening intently for more. However, the only thing she heard was the rustling of paper, followed by silence. Suddenly, she heard a gust of wind blow by, followed by footsteps from behind her.

"Hey Rin, what're you doing?" Aang asked as he came down from the forest.

"Eavesdropping," Rin replied. "Shouldn't you be training?"

"Well, Jeong Jeong told me to breathe on top of a mountain and just left me there. I'm starting to think that he just wants to waste my time. I want to learn firebending already!" Aang explained.

"He's in his hut right now. Go talk to him," Rin suggested. Aang went through the door of the hut, leaving Rin leaning against the side. She put her ear to the wall once more, listening in on Aang's conversation with the old man.

"Why are you here? I never told you to stop!"

"I've been up there breathing for hours!"

"You want to stop breathing?!" Jeong Jeong's comment forced a snicker out of Rin, which she suppressed an instant later.

"Who's there?" the old man shouted in her direction, making Rin jump away from the wall. It seemed that he had heard Rin snickering, but he didn't pay her much attention, as he went right back to talking with Aang. Rin started walking back down the riverbank, but stopped as she heard footsteps coming out of the hut.

"So, are you going to learn firebending now?" Rin asked. "We don't have all week, we need to head to the North Pole."

"Jeong Jeong said that I had to learn restraint so that I could handle fire," Aang explained. "It should be simple enough."

"That's great. I'll go tell the others," Rin said, walking back down the riverbank. Looking back, she saw Aang sitting cross legged on a rock in the middle of the river, meditating. Further down the river, she saw Katara and Sokka doing the same things she left them doing. As she drew closer, Sokka pulled a fish out of the river, pumping up his fist in triumph.

"Woo hoo! First catch of the day!" he shouted. However, as Sokka removed the fishhook from the fish's mouth, it turned and smacked the boy in the face with its tail, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the river with a large splash. The fish swam away, while Sokka dragged himself onto the shore, soaking wet from head to toe.

"That was pathetic," Rin muttered.

"Hey! The fish fought back!" Sokka argued.

"And apparently, it won," Rin replied. "Anyways, the Avatar's about to have his first firebending experience. You guys want to watch?"

"Sure," Katara said, walking past Rin and heading back towards the huts.

"Eh, why not," Sokka muttered, grabbing his fishing pole and following his sister. Rin trailed behind them, eventually seeing Aang still meditating on the rock. As they got closer, Jeong Jeong came out of his hut and stood in front of Aang.

"We're going to work with fire now," he declared.

"Oh yeah!" Aang shouted, jumping up and flipping around in the air before seeing the disapproving look on Jeong Jeong's face. "I mean, let us begin."

"Concentrate on the fire," the old man said, grabbing a leaf from the wind and burning a small hole in the middle before handing it to Aang. "Keep the flames from reaching the edge of the leaf for as long as you can."

"Seriously?" Aang groaned, shifting into his stance and holding the leaf from both ends. Suddenly, a man came running down the hill, stopping next to Jeong Jeong.

"Master, there is trouble," he said. Jeong Jeong's eyes widened, and he took off running behind the man.

"Hey!" Aang shouted. "What's going on?"

"Concentrate!" Jeong Jeong shouted over his shoulder, before disappearing into the woods. Aang sighed and started concentrating on the leaf. Sokka cast his fishing rod to the river again, intent on catching and keeping a fish. Katara resumed her waterbending practice and Rin, having nothing better to do, watched Aang as he focused on the leaf.

"This is the worst firebending instructor ever," Aang complained. "All he does is leave me alone to concentrate or breathe."

"I'm sure there's a good reason," Katara said, dropping her water into the river and walking over to observe Aang's practice.

"Since he's a firebending master, I think he knows what he's doing," Rin added.

"But I'm ready to do so much more!" Aang shouted, before grumbling and focusing on the leaf again. Rin noticed a different aura around the boy then before - it felt hotter, brighter. As if he was trying to burn the leaf, rather than save it from being burned. In a few seconds, her feelings turned out to be true, as the leaf was incinerated and replaced by a burning fireball, suspended in the Avatar's palm.

"I did it! I made fire!" Aang shouted with glee, staring at the small flame in his hand.

"That's great, Aang, but you should take it slowly," Katara advised.

"Not to mention that you just failed your test," Rin reminded him. "You should probably go get another leaf so the old man doesn't find out." Despite the advice from the two girls, Aang started playing with his flame, making it grow to the size of his head.

"Now that's firebending!" He said, shooting a stream of fire into the air.

"Aang, be careful! You're going to hurt yourself!" Katara warned.

"At this rate, I think he's going to hurt us before he hurts himself," Rin muttered, watching Aang juggle the flame around himself. If he heard Katara's warning, he didn't show it, as he continued to gleefully play with the ball of fire.

"I wonder how the performer did it," Aang wondered out loud, holding the ball of fire over his head. Suddenly, he pushed outwards, creating a rapidly expanding ring of fire that launched itself towards the two girls. Rin's experience with firebending got her to instinctively duck and roll under the blast, coming up kneeling next to the river unscathed. A cry of pain, however, told Rin that Katara had ended up differently.

"Katara, I'm so sorry!" Aang shouted, leaping from the river to the shore and running up to her. Rin looked over and saw the girl sitting on the ground, crying and clutching her red, blistered hands to her stomach.

"Oh sure, block the fire with your bare hands," Rin muttered, taking her bag from her back and digging through it to look for bandages. Meanwhile, Sokka dropped his fishing pole and ran over to Katara's side.

"Katara, what's wrong?" he asked. Seeing Katara's burnt hands, he looked up at Aang with an angry look on his face. "What did you do?!"

"I'm sorry! It was an accident!" Aang pleaded, reaching out to Katara. Sokka leapt over his sister and onto Aang, pinning him to the ground.

"I knew we shouldn't have done this!" Sokka shouted. "Look at what you did! You burned my sister!" As Sokka shouted at Aang, Katara got up and ran down the riverbank.

"Hey! Get back here!" Rin shouted. However, it was to no avail, as the water tribe girl ran into the woods and out of sight. As Rin finally found the roll of bandages in her bag, Jeong Jeong came running out of the woods.

"This is all your fault!" Sokka shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the old man.

"I know," he replied. "Now pack your things. You must leave."

"I'm sorry! I didn't..." Aang pleaded to Sokka as he ran off to get his things. As Aang lay there on the ground, Jeong Jeong stood over him, giving him a disapproving stare before he marched off into the forest.

"Hey, get up," Rin said, grabbing Aang and pulling him to his feet. "Go pack up your things, and if the water boy didn't get them, Katara's things too. I'll go get the water girl."

"Okay," Aang said, sniffling as he ran off back to the hut. Rin took off into the forest, in the direction that Katara had run off.

It's just a burn, it can't be so bad. Why did you have to run off like this? Rin had experienced major and minor burns over her travels, from the likes of firebenders to campfires, and she had handled most of them pretty well. Katara, on the other hand, didn't seem to be able to handle being burnt.

"Finally," Rin muttered, finding a set of footprints in the forest floor. She followed the trail through the forest, which led her directly to another part of the riverbank - and into Katara.

"Hey!" Rin shouted as their collision was prevented by a quick sidestep. "Don't run off like that. I have bandages, you know."

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine," Katara said, holding up her hands, which were now covered in streaks of delicate new skin.

"Well, you were crying like a baby a minute ago. What happened?" Rin asked.

"I stuck my hands into the water, and they started healing themselves," Katara explained. "Oh, and Jeong Jeong is holding off Zhao and his firebenders! We need to get back now!"

"Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Rin shouted, sprinting back through the forest with Katara. They made it back to the huts, where Sokka was loading everything onto Appa.

"Katara! Are you okay?" He asked, jumping down from Appa.

"I'm fine. We need to get out of here," Katara replied. "Where's Aang?"

"Down there," Sokka said, pointing down to Jeong Jeong's hut. Katara ran down to get him, while Rin running after her. They entered the hut, where Aang was sitting behind a row of candles.

"Jeong Jeong told me that I wasn't ready, and I didn't listen," he muttered. "I'm never going to firebend again."

"You'll have to learn eventually," Katara said.

"No. Never again," Aang muttered.

"Are you still worried about Katara?" Rin asked. "She's healed, don't worry."

"Really?" Aang asked, turning around. "How?"

"I'll explain later," Katara said. "Right now, we have to go. Zhao and his soldiers are attacking."

"What? Where?" Aang asked, jumping to his feet.

"By the riverbank. They've captured Jeong Jeong," Katara explained.

"I have to help him!" Aang shouted, running out the door. Rin and Katara followed him outside, where they saw him rushing off into the forest.

"I'm going to go with Aang," Katara said, running off in Aang's direction before Rin grabbed her by the back of her collar.

"Nope. You've gone through enough today, seeing that this is the first time you've been burned this badly," Rin declared. "Besides, the Avatar can probably take care of himself."

"Wait, how did you know this was my first time being burned?" Katara asked.

"You cried like a bitch and ran off," Rin explained. "I assumed that you've probably never been burned before, at least like this."

"Hey!" Katara shouted. "What did you call me?"

"What? It's true," Rin said, heading back up to Appa. Katara reluctantly followed behind her as they climbed onto Appa's saddle, where Sokka was waiting.

"Let's hope you're right about Aang," Katara said.

"You tell me, you know him better," Rin replied as they watched plumes of fire spring up from the river, far away in the distance.

"There he is!"

Upon hearing Katara's shout, Rin looked down towards the forest, seeing Aang sprinting towards them. "Wait up!" he called, waving to the group.

"Let's go!" Sokka yelled as Aang jumped onto Appa's head. They immediately took off, leaving the forest behind them.

"Wait, where's Jeong Jeong?" Aang asked

"He disappeared. They all did," Sokka explained, looking down at the hideout, which was completely devoid of people. As the ascended into the sky, Katara noticed something on Aang's arm.

"Aang, you're burned," she said, pointing towards a red blotch on Aang's forearm. "Here, let me get that for you." She pulled a globe of water from her waterskin and molded it over her hands, before placing them over Aang's burn. The water glowed white and, after a few seconds, dripped away, leaving a patch of new skin.

"Wow," Aang muttered. "Where did you learn that?"

"I guess I always knew," Katara replied. "Now let me heal your arm. You still have the gash from the shirshu."

"Oh, so you always knew, huh?" Sokka asked as he unwrapped the bandages around his arm to reveal that the gash had scabbed over. "Well, thanks for all the first aid over the years. Like when I fell into the greaseberry bramble! Or when I had two fishhooks stuck in my thumb!"

"Two fishhooks?" Aang asked.

"He tried to get the first hook out with another one," Katara explained with a giggle, wrapping Sokka's arm in a veil of glowing water.

"Sokka, I'm not sure whether to consider you as competent or stupid," Rin muttered. "You always have me thinking that you're one, then you switch back to the other."

"I'm done here," Katara said, collecting the water back into a globe. The scab on Sokka's arm slipped off, revealing a streak of new skin. "Rin, let me get your leg."

"Fine," Rin muttered, unwrapping the bandages around her leg. However, once the bandages came off, she was surprised to find that, instead of a large scab down her leg, there was already newly formed skin where the gash should have been. The only evidence that she had gotten hurt was dried clumps of blood clinging to the bandages. "Wait, did you ever heal me before?"

"No, I just found out that I could heal a few minutes ago," Katara said. "Maybe you didn't get hit as badly as Sokka was."

"Maybe," Rin muttered. It was the best explanation, but for some reason, she felt that it wasn't the truth. She shook off the feeling, knowing that it was better to appreciate good fortune rather than question where it came from. Looking back, she watched the forest fade away into the distance as they soared onward, towards the North Pole.

A/N: We're getting close to the North Pole and the end of first book! I have things planned, don't worry. Also, I have no experience with being drunk or having a hangover, so if you have experience and find that the contents of this chapter are inaccurate, I'd like to know.

Please review, and if you liked the story, follow/favorite. It lets me know that my story is being read and appreciated.