The group was quiet as they flew through the earth kingdom. Katara was reading one of her scrolls, Sokka was sharpening his machete, Mai twirled one of her knives in between her fingers, Ty Lee petted and scratched Momo's ears as he laid down in her lap, and Azula laid down flat on her back and stared up at the clouds and day dreamed.
"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked. Azula sat up to see what the fuss was about. Looking down, she saw that Aang, who was flying them, was slowly descending towards the swamp that laid below them. Aang seemed to either ignore Sokka's question, or just simply didn't hear it. "Aang! Why are we going down?" Sokka asked a bit loud, which seemed to get Aang's attention and snap him out of whatever trance he was in.
"What? I didn't even notice." Aang said as he wiped his eyes. "Are you noticing now?" Sokka asked as Appa continued descending down to the swamp. "Is something wrong?" Katara asked. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think the swamp is…..calling to me." Aang explained. "Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka asked. "Five minutes, that's all I ask, is that you go five minutes without talking about food." Azula said annoyed. "Whatever." Sokka mumbled.
"No I….I think it wants us to land there." Aang said. "Land WHERE, exactly?" Mai asked. "Yeah, no offense to the swamp but I don't see any land there to land on." Sokka said. "I don't know, Bumi said to learn earth bending, I would have to wait and listen…. And now I'm actually HEARING the earth….You want me to ignore it?" Aang asked. Everyone looked down to the swamp below. "Yes!" Sokka said simply. "I don't know. There's something ominous about that place." Katara said. "Yeah, I have to agree with Katara Aang. That place is giving me the creeps." Azula told Aang. "I second that statement." Mai commented. "I third it." Ty Lee added. Momo cowered away from the sight of the swamp and Appa then let out a groan. "See? Even Appa and Momo don't like it here!" Sokka told Aang.
"Okay. Since everyone feels so strongly about this….bye swamp. Yip Yip!" Aang flicked the rains and made Appa ascend. After a moment, some loud and strange sounds could be heard behind them. Azula and Sokka turned around to see what it was and their eyes widened in horror at the sight of its source. "Uh Aang! We have a problem!" Azula shouted as the tornado that had formed was gaining on them quickly. Aang flicked the rains hard and tried to out fly the tornado, but the tornado seemed to get faster the more they flew. "HANG ON TO SOMETHING!" Azula screamed as the grip of the tornado started to pull them into the air and Sokka almost went flying out of the saddle. Katara grabbed him by the wrist and tried her best to hold on tight while Azula, Mai and Ty Lee held onto the saddle as tightly as they could.
Aang jumped up from Appa's head and enveloped everyone in a giant air bubble to try to outlast the tornado and keep everyone in the saddle causing Sokka to fall to safety. Aang focused as hard as he could but the strength of the tornado proved to be too much. Aang's concentration failed and his air bubble faded, causing everyone to fly immediately out of the saddle. Azula held on for dear life, as if her very soul would be damned if she let go. Her friends weren't so lucky, as Mai and Ty Lee went flying away instantly. As the tornado swung Appa around and around in circles, Azula's grip could hold on no longer, and through the air she went. The tornado through them through the air and into the trees of the swamp, to the murky waters below. Katara and Sokka landed with a thud onto the ground, while Aang used his bending to cushion his fall. Upon standing up, Sokka found himself slammed right back down onto the ground as Mai landed on top of him. "Sorry!" Mai said as she stood up. Sokka stood up and was about to speak when Ty Lee fell through the tree line and landed head first onto Sokka. "Sorry! Are you okay?" Ty Lee asked as she helped Sokka up. Before Sokka could say a word, Azula came crashing down onto Sokka's head, sending them both into the ground.
"Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang asked. Aang used his bending to hop up to the top of the trees to get a bird's eye view of the whole swamp to try to find Appa and Momo. "You okay?" Azula asked as she helped Sokka to his feet. Sokka, instead of answering, looked up franticly for anyone else ready to fall on him. "I think he's fine." Mai said, earning an annoyed glare from Sokka. "Sokka you've got an elbow leech!" Katara said. "WHERE?! WHERE?!" Sokka shouted as he flailed around franticly. "Where do you think?" Katara told him. Sokka looked to his right elbow to see the leech and grabbed it forcefully and ripped it off. "WHY DO THINGS KEEP ATTACTCHING TO ME?!" Sokka shouted as he threw the leech to the side. Aang then came back down.
"Did you find them?" Ty Lee asked. "No. And the tornado…..it just disappeared." "What do you mean?" Ty Lee asked. "I mean it was just gone. Like it was never there to begin with." "That's weird." Katara said. Everyone became silent for a moment. "So now what?" Ty Lee asked. "I guess we just…start walking?" Azula proposed.
2 minutes later
"We better speed things up!" Sokka said as he pulled out his machete and began cutting vines that were in his way. "Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp. "Aang these are just plants! What, you want me to say, please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth?" Sokka asked agitated. "Actually Sokka, I think Aang's right. This place gives me a very bad feeling." Azula told him. "Yeah. This place almost feels….alive. And not in a natural way." Ty Lee added. "I'm sure there are lots of things that are 'alive' here. And if we don't want to get eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can." Sokka told everyone before turning back around to cut down more vines. Azula could swear that eyes were looking at her through the distant vines and trees. A shiver went down her spine as she looked around. "You okay?" Katara asked. "Yeah, this place just gives me the creeps is all." "I don't wanna know what just touched my leg." Mai commented.
5-6 hours later
The group had been walking for spirits know how long, the sun had gone down and the swamp became dark. Ty Lee lost count of how many leeches she had to pull off of her. "APPA! MOMO!" Katara shouted. "There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night." Sokka said as bugs began buzzing around his head, forcing Sokka to try swatting them away with his machete. Suddenly a noise was heard off to the side followed by smoke. "What was that?!" Katara asked as she jumped a little. "Nothing, just swamp gas. Look there's nothing supernatural going on here." Sokka said dismissively as the smell of the gas made everyone cringe. "I unfortunately have to agree with hi-"
SCREECH!
Azula was cut off by the sound of an animal screeching loudly. The sound frightening everyone and making everyone jump. Mai had even drawn some of her knives and Ty Lee looked like her soul left her body. The animal was a small bird in the distance. It made another screech and then flew away. "I think we should build a fire!" Sokka said. He got to work right away cutting some branches to use as kindling.
"Sokka, the longer we're here the more I think you shouldn't be doing that." Aang tried to tell him. "No I asked the swamp. It said this was fine. Right swamp? No problem Sokka!" "Sokka I swear to Agni…" Azula mumbled. "He's not very bright, is he?" Mai whispered to Azula. "He has his moments of brilliance, but for the most part. No, no he isn't." "I think he's cute." Ty Lee whispered. Azula briefly glanced at Ty Lee for a moment at her comment about her brother before looking back at Sokka.
5 minutes later
Everyone had set up 'camp' as best they could in a giant hollow tree. Sokka had gathered the wood and Azula used her bending to light the fire. Everyone sat down by the fire. "Well isn't this nice. All of us just camping in the middle of nightmare land like a bunch of crazy hermits." Azula joked. "Definitely not how I expected to be spending my time." Mai said with a small grin. "Hey Azula? Can I ask you a question?" Ty Lee asked. Azula looked at her. "Sure. What's on your mind?" Azula asked. "What was it like in the South Pole?" Ty Lee asked. Azula looked back into the fire and let out a small chuckle. "I've been meaning to ask that to myself actually" Mai added.
Azula smiled. "It was beautiful. It wasn't much to look at but, still. Ice and snow everywhere you looked. Just a small collection of Igloos and tents." Azula told them. "Sounds boring." Mai commented. "Quite the contrary. Snow ball fights, penguin sledging, beating up Sokka." Katara and Ty Lee laughed at that last one while Sokka gave Azula a glare.
"At first, the cold air was unbearable at times. Eventually, I grew to love it. The people were amazing too. At first they were afraid of me, and most wouldn't even look at me. But as time went on, they treated me like family. Speaking of family, the woman I was sent too, Kanna? She was the best. I remember when I was young, we were stuck inside during a blizzard. Kanna tried to entertain all of us with stories about water tribe spirits. Everyone had heard these stories a thousand times. I eventually got so fed up with the stories that I said 'No one cares about some old spirit Gran Gran.' You should have seen the shocked faces everyone gave me." Azula said with a laugh.
"I still can't believe you said that. And I was there!" Katara joked. "Katara is the reason I came to see the place so much like home. She taught me how to be really happy there." Azula and Katara gave each other a smile. "Her and Niyok." "Who's Niyok?" Mai asked. "Niyok is someone who I met in the tribe. A good friend of mine. I think the two of you would like her." "Well then I can't wait to meet her!" Ty Lee said happily. "Sounds like you had a great time." Mai said.
"I did." Azula's smile faded. "Until my stepfather Hakoda, and the other men from the tribe left to fight in the war, and Zuzu showed up two years later." Mai's eyes widened a bit at the mention of Zuko. "He took Aang, and we had to act fast to get him back. We were in so much of a hurry to get Aang back that I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Niyok. Guess I have a bad habit of not saying goodbye to my friends." Azula said sadly. Ty Lee put a hand on Azula's shoulder. "Don't say that. You had your reasons, and they were good reasons." Ty Lee told her. "Thanks Ty Lee."
Ty Lee took her hand off Azula's shoulder. "You know. Hearing you say all this. It makes a lot of things make sense." Azula looked at her with a bit of confusion. "What do you mean?" "Well it's just, you're….different. In a good way I mean! You're a lot….happier." Ty Lee said with a smile. "I kinda like the new you." Mai added. Azula let out a laugh. "Thanks guys."
The group fell into silence after the conversation had ended, until Katara spoke. "Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" "I've been feeling that all day! It's like every tree is an eyeball staring into my soul!" Azula said. "Oh don't be so dramatic, we're all alone out here!" Sokka said dismissively. Sokka then began swinging at a bug that was flying around his head. The bug then suddenly glowed into a big bright ball of light. Azula had to put a hand up to shield her eyes. The bug then flew away and as it did, the illumination of dozens of eyes began to appear in the tree lines. Followed by the sounds of animals growling in the distance. As the bug flew away, the illumination of the eyes faded away as if they were never there. Looking at where they were, yielded no results as if what they had just seen was in their minds. Had it not been the reaction of everyone else, Azula might have questioned whether or not it WAS in her mind. "Except for them!" Ty Lee said out of fear. "Right, except for them!" Sokka said as everyone huddled up with each other, and squeezed each other tightly.
25 minutes later
No one knew how it was possible, but everyone had managed to fall asleep. Their fire having gone out while everyone slept with their backs against one another. However, as they slept, something mysterious made its way towards them. Vines moved seemingly on their own as they advanced on the sleeping group. The vines wrapped themselves around each member very carefully so as to not wake them. When their grip on each member was secured, the vines quickly tightened their grip, waking everyone. The vines pulled them away in different directions. Everyone screamed in fear and panic as everyone was pulled away. Azula desperately struggled against the vines, but each one was wrapped tightly against her whole body as she was dragged away into the thick fog that had formed around them while they slept. Azula realized she couldn't break free using raw strength and used her fire bending instead, summoning fire daggers into her hands to cut herself free. Once she WAS free, she wasted no time running for her life. More vines started appearing out of nowhere. Azula swung her hands around like a mad man using her fire bending to slash and cut at the vines as she tried desperately not to get grabbed by them again.
However, the more vines she cut, the more seemed to appear. More vines wrapped themselves around her ankles and yanked her to the ground. The vines then pulled her quickly across the ground and deeper into the swamp. All Azula could do was cry out and dig her fingers into the dirt and mud as she was pulled into the fog.
Azula was pulled through the water and mud and foliage of the swamp. Until suddenly the vines lifted her up in the air, and without breaking their momentum, released their grip on her and threw her through the air. Azula slammed into the murky swamp water below, landing flat on her back. Azula picked herself off the ground, grunting a bit from the slight pain from her landing. Azula looked around to see that she was all alone. Even the vines that had taken her were nowhere to be seen.
She suddenly felt something on her elbow. Looking down at her elbow, she realized the strange feeling was an elbow leech. A bit startled, she grabbed the leech and ripped it off. She grunted in frustration as she then threw the leech through the air. "I HATE THIS PLACE!"
10 minutes later
"KATARA! TY LEE!" Azula shouted as she walked through the swamp. "HELLO?! ANYONE?!" Azula shouted. "Are you looking for someone?" A voice suddenly said to her from a distance. Azula instinctually turned around to face the source of this mysterious voice. Only, there was no one.
Azula stood where she was for a moment in silence. "Hello? Is someone there?" Azula called out. "Someone?" The voice asked back in an almost mocking manner. A sudden shiver ran down Azula's spine, as she could swear that she knew that voice from somewhere. "Who's there?!" Azula shouted, getting into a fighting stance. She waited for another response but none came. Just the silence and natural noises of the swamp….until.
SPLASH!
The sound of someone splashing into the swamp water was heard suddenly behind her. The noise making Azula jump slightly from the surprise and she turned around as fast as she could. In the distance she could see someone. A man. She couldn't get a look at his face but she could tell from his clothes that he was Fire Nation. The stranger walked to Azula. "Who are you?" Azula called out. The stranger made no response. "Hey! Who are you?!" Azula called out again. Azula received no response as the stranger walked even closer. "HEY! ANSWER ME!" Azula demanded. The stranger still gave no response.
A sense of dread suddenly came over her as the stranger came closer and has still not uttered a sound. Something about this was wrong. VERY wrong. Azula summoned fire to her clenched fists. "Stop right there! Don't come any closer!" The stranger ignored her and kept walking. "I'LL HURT YOU I MEAN IT!" Azula shouted. The stranger didn't even so much as flinch as he skipped no beats as he kept walking closer to Azula.
Azula thrusted her right fist forward and blasted a stream of blue fire at the creepy stranger. However to her shock, the flame seemed to have no effect. Once again, the stranger didn't skip a beat in his approach to Azula, as if nothing had happened. Azula stood there in shock as her hands shook slightly from the sense of fear that now took her. She tried to step backwards to put distance from herself and this stranger, but she tripped on a tree root and fell to the ground. She looked up, the stranger finally getting close enough for her to see his face.
As Azula looked up at the stranger, her eyes slowly widened in a sense of shock unlike anything she had felt before.
"Lu Ten….?"
Standing before her was her long since dead cousin. The son of her uncle Iroh. Who had died years ago in the war.
"You never did mourn for me, did you?" Lu Ten asked. Azula struggled to find words to respond with. "I…..I….It wasn't…..I wasn't…..It wasn't like that, I…." Azula rubbed her eyes. When she looked back up. Her cousin was gone, and she was alone again. Azula stood up as quickly as she could. "LU TEN?!" She shouted. Azula stood where she was as she questioned if what she had seen was real or not. Still, the words spoken to her still rang clearly in her mind. Azula let out a sigh and shook her head. After that she walked on through the swamp.
10 minutes later
Azula walked through the swamp water with a new strong sense of unease. Every tree felt like a pair of eyes watching her closely, and her encounter with her dead cousin still played clearly in her mind. She could hear his words clear as a bell in her head. It made her remember how she used to be as a kid, back in the Fire Nation. The old her who wouldn't have known empathy if it smacked her in the face. She could even recall the conversation she had with Zuko after the news came about her cousins' death. Azula cringed as she recalled the unpleasant memory.
Flashback
Zuko was playing around with the knife that Iroh had sent him in the mail from Ba Sing Se. Azula rolled her eyes. "You waste all your time playing with knives. You're not even good." Azula said mockingly. Zuko turned to her annoyed. "Put an apple on your head and we'll find out how good I am!" Azula ignored him as she walked up to him. "By the way, uncle's coming home."
"Does that mean…we won the war?" Zuko asked. "No. It means uncle's a quitter AND a loser." Azula said as she walked off. "What are you talking about?! Uncle's NOT a quitter!" Azula turned back to her brother. "Oh yes he is! He found out his son died and he just fell apart! A REAL general would stay and burn Ba Sing Se to the ground. Not lose the battle and come home crying." Azula told him with a smug smile.
"How do you know what he should DO?! He's probably just sad his only kid is gone…..forever." Zuko said sadly. Before Azula could respond, their mother came in. "Your father has requested an audience with Fire Lord Azulon…best clothes, hurry up." Zuko rushed out of the room while Azula snickered. "Fire Lord Azulon, can't you just call him grandfather? He's not exactly the powerful fire bender he used to be. Someone will probably end up taking his place soon." Azula said casually. Her mother's face turned agitated. "Young lady! Not! Another! Word!"
Azula rolled her eyes and ran off to her room to get changed. However, as she ran past her mother, she heard her say something that would stick with her the rest of her life. "What is wrong with that child?"
Flashback end
Azula stopped walking as she finished recalling the memory. "What WAS wrong with me….?" Azula mumbled to herself. Her fists clenched at her sides as she recalled how she used to be so many years ago. "I'm sorry Lu Ten." Azula whispered to herself as a tear ran down her face. Azula dropped to her knees and she began to silently cry. "I'm sorry."
Suddenly, noises and people shouting could be heard in the distance. Azula shot her head up in the direction of the sounds. The voices sounded like…"Guy's?" Azula wiped the tears from her eyes as she stood up and ran to the source of the voices.
"Hello? Hello?!" Azula shouted as she reached the source of the sounds. Sure enough, it was her friends. Aang, Sokka and Katara. The three of them stood on what looked like a giant tree root. Mai and Ty Lee were nowhere in sight. "Azula!" Katara yelled. "Guys! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Azula said as she used her fire bending to propel herself up to them. As soon as she landed on the giant root, Katara ran up to hug her. "We've been looking everywhere for YOU!" Katara said.
"Hello?! Is someone there?!" A voice called out before Azula could respond. Everyone looked over to the source of the voice. "Ty Lee?! Is that you?!" Azula shouted. Ty Lee and Mai then came out together and stood on another tree root across from them. "Azula! Guys!" Ty Lee shouted in excitement. Ty Lee used her acrobatics to leap from the root to the one everyone else was standing on. Mai slid down and used her knives to help her climb up.
"We've been looking all over for you guys! This place is freaky!" Ty Lee said as Sokka helped pull Mai up. "I've been looking everywhere for you too." Azula told her. "I was chasing some girl?" Aang said with uncertainty. "What girl?" Katara asked. "Cheating on my sister before you've gone your first date, are we?" Azula asked with a smug grin. "AZULA!" Katara shouted in embarrassed rage. Azula put her hands up in defense as she giggled.
"Not like that! I just heard laughing and saw a girl in a fancy dress." Aang explained. "Well there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations." Sokka joked with a hint of agitation to his voice. The group went silent for moment.
"I saw my cousin, Lu Ten." Azula said. There was sadness in her voice. "Lu Ten? But didn't he die in the war almost a decade ago?" Mai asked. Azula folded her arms and looked off to the side. "Me and Mai saw YOU. But from when you were a kid." Ty Lee said. "I saw mom." Katara added. "Katara." Azula said with concern, and put a hand on Katara's shoulder. "Look we're all just scared, and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here." Sokka told everyone.
"Who'd you see?" Mai asked. "I thought I saw Yue…..but that doesn't prove anything!" "Who's Yue?" Ty Lee asked. Sokka looked away and clenched his fists, before letting out a sigh. "It's okay Sokka. I'll tell her." Azula said. "Yue was the princess of the Northern Water Tribe. She died during the evasion. Sokka and her were very close." Azula explained. "I see." Ty Lee said sadly. "Look I think about her all the time! And you saw mom, someone you miss a lot! Same thing for Azula with her cousin." Sokka explained. "But what about me? I didn't know the girl I saw." Aang asked.
"And what about us? We saw Azula, and she's not dead." Mai pointed out. "And all of our visions led us right here." Ty Lee added. "Where's here? The middle of the swamp?" Katara asked. Aang looked off in the distance and then looked straight up. Everyone looked over in the same direction and realized what they were looking at. A tree, a giant tree. The root they were standing on was connected to this tree. A tree so massive it had to be at least a thousand feet high. It didn't look like a normal tree either. It looked like a big bundle of very thick vines and roots all clumped up together.
"Yeah…the center…it's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it!" Aang said. "It's just a tree, it can't call anything!" Sokka said in agitation. "For the last time there is NOTHING after us, and there's NOTHING magical happening here!" Sokka told them. However, the universe loved to prove Sokka wrong, and now was no exception. In that moment, what could only be described as a monster, emerged out of the water. A monster made entirely out of what looked like thick vines. It had a face that was made out of wood.
"SCATTER!" Azula screamed, making everyone run in different directions. The creature shot out his left arm at Sokka and snatched him up in its vines. The creature then slammed Sokka to the ground, picking him back up and slamming him back down again. "SOKKA!" Azula yelled as she watched her brother get the daylights kicked out of him. "LET EM GO!" Azula shouted in rage as she ran up and with both fists, blasted a stream of fire at the arm of vines holding Sokka. The monster dropped Sokka, its arm on fire. The monster slammed its arm down into the water to extinguish itself and with its other arm, shot out a bunch of vines straight at Azula and punched her into the air sending her flying backwards.
After landing, Azula took a moment to shake her head to stop it from spinning and ran back as fast as she could back to the fight. As soon as she got close she saw Katara and Aang go flying overhead in the opposite direction. Azula stopped to look up at them as they went by, quickly turning back towards the monster just in time to see more vines shooting right into her sending her flying backwards yet again.
1 minute later
"Azula? Azula, wake up!" Azula had been knocked out by the second blast from the vines. She started to regain conciseness as Ty Lee began patting the side of her face. She woke up sitting against a tree. "Get up! Hurry!" Ty Lee pleaded as she began to pull Azula up. Azula shook her head and she regain her bearings. "THERE'S SOMEONE IN THERE! HE'S BENDING THE VINES!" She heard Sokka shout.
Azula and Ty Lee ran back to Mai standing next to Sokka while Katara and Aang fought the monster. Aang leaped forward and blasted the monster with a powerful wave of air, causing the weakened monster of vines to completely fall apart. "Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?!" Aang questioned. As he spoke, everyone ran up to stand behind him, ready for another fight.
"Wait! I didn't call you here." The man in the middle of the mess of vines said as he bended them off of him to reveal himself. Everyone gave each other a glance before looking back at the man. "We were flying over and I heard something calling to me. Telling me to land." Aang told him. "He's the avatar. Stuff like that happens to us, a lot." Sokka added. The man's face filled up with surprise and realization. "The Avatar?! Come with me!" The man said. Everyone looked at each other cautiously.
2 minutes later
The man led them up the massive trees trunk. "So, who are you then?" Katara asked. The man bended a vine that was in the way. "I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it. Like this fellow with his big knife." he said, making Sokka put away his machete. "See, completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it!" Sokka said. Azula rolled her eyes. "Oh the swamp IS a mystical place alright. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan grove tree." The man said as he sat down in front of everyone. "I heard it calling me. Just like you did."
"Seems real talkative for a tree." Mai said sarcastically. Azula elbowed her. "See this whole swamp's just one tree spread out for miles…branches spread, sink and take root, and spread some more….one big living organism, just like the entire world!" The man told them.
"I get how the tree is one big thing but, the whole world?" Aang asked. "Sure. You think you're any different from me? Or your friends? Or this tree? If you listen hard enough you can hear every living thing breathing together, you can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots, and we are all branches of the same tree." The man told them.
"But what about our visions? We all saw things in the swamp that shouldn't have been possible." Ty Lee asked. "In the swamp we see visions of people we've lost. People we loved. People we think are gone, but the swamp tells us their not. We're still connected to em. Time is an illusion, and so is death." The man explained.
"But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met." Aang asked. "You're the avatar, you tell me." The man replied. "Time is an illusion…so….it's someone…I WILL meet?" The man smiled and nodded. "But what about me and Mai? We both saw the same thing. We saw Azula, but she's not dead she's right here." Ty Lee asked. The man kept his smile as he looked at her. "How exactly did you see her?"
"As a child." Mai answered. "Hmm, interesting. Was there anything that had happened to her during that time?" The man asked. "Well….." Ty Lee suddenly had a realization. She looked over at Mai and the look on her face told her that they were both thinking the same thing. "Yes actually. There was an incident. Azula needed to get away from…bad people. Her uncle helped her escape to someplace better….. but by doing so, they faked her death so that no one would come looking for her. Me and Mai spent years thinking she was dead." Ty Lee confessed.
"Then there's your answer. You spent a long time believing that you had lost her, and despite learning that truth and seeing that she's still here, there's a part of the two of you that still believes otherwise. That still hasn't let go of the lie that the illusion of death has given you. The swamp is telling you that the friend you knew all those years ago isn't gone. She's still here beside you, just like she used to be." The man told them. Azula looked at her friends. "Guys, is this true?" Mai and Ty Lee said nothing and looked away at the ground. Azula felt a pain in her chest at the sight of her friend's grief. Azula stood up and sat in between the two of them and wrapped her arms around them.
"You guys are NEVER loosing me ever again. I promise." Azula told them with confidence. Her two friends both looked at her and the three girls gave each other a smile.
Sokka stood up from where he sat. "Sorry to interrupt the wholesome and heartwarming moment, but we still need to find Appa and Momo."
"I think I know how to find them." Aang said. He then leaned forward and placed his hand down on the ground. "Everything is connected." He whispered to himself. The tattoo on his hand then glowed. Aang was silent for a few moments.
"What's he doing?" Mai asked. "Shhh. Whatever it is, he needs to concentrate to do it. It's just avatar stuff." Azula whispered to her. A moment later Aang stood up. "Come on, we've gotta hurry!"
6 minutes later
As everyone approached where the swamp locals were passing through with their boats, Aang and Katara ran ahead to ambush them. The plan was to scare them into releasing Appa and Momo, who they had caught with the intention of eating. Katara blasted them with water and broke one of their boats while Aang blasted one off of his boat with his air bending. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" One of them yelled. This was when everyone else began running up as back up. Azula got there and was surprised to see that the locals were water benders.
"Hey, you guys are water benders." Katara commented. The swamp bender then had a giant smile on his face. "YOU TOO?! THAT MEANS WE'RE KIN!" Katara looked a little uncomfortable at this comment. It was at this moment that the swamp bender noticed the plant bender next to all of them.
"Hey Huu! How you been?" The man who was apparently named Huu grinned before responding. "You know, scared some folks, swung some vines. The usual." "Huu?" Sokka asked confused at the man's weird name.
2 and a half hours later
Everyone sat around a fire on the edge of the village where the swamp locals lived. They released Appa after learning he belonged to the avatar. Momo sat in Azula's lap as she petted him and scratched his ears.
"How you like that possum chicken?" one of them asked. "Taste's just like artic hen." Sokka told them. "So why did you guys want to eat Appa so badly? I mean, you got plenty of THOSE things running around." Azula asked, pointing to the catfish gator behind the two locals. "You want me to eat old Slim? He's like a member of the family." The skinny one told her, before feeding Slim a fish.
"Here you go Slim." Ty Lee said happily as she tossed a cooked beetle at Slim. It just bounced off his nose and Slim turned his head at Ty Lee and snarled at her, causing Ty Lee to back up in terror. The skinny local just laughed. "Oh he don't eat no bugs! That's people food."
"So where'd you say you was from?" The fat guy next to him asked Katara. "The South Pole." Katara told him. "Didn't know there was water benders anywhere but here. They got a nice swamp there, do they?" The fat one asked. "No, it's all ice and snow." The two locals looked stunned for a moment. "Hmm, no wonder you left." The fat one said.
"Well I hope you realize now that nothing strange is going on here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp." Sokka told everyone. "What about the vision's?!" Katara pointed out annoyed. "You had one too didn't you?" Mai asked. "I told you, we were hungry. I'M EATING A GIANT BUG!" Sokka said as he held up a giant cooked fly and then took a bite out of it. "Okay now that's just gross, I don't care how hungry you are." Mai said disgusted.
"But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?" Aang asked. "That's avatar stuff, that doesn't count. The only thing I can't figure out is how you made the tornado that sucked us down here." Sokka said to Huu. Huu looked surprised. "I can't do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants. "Well no accounting for weather." Sokka said with annoying stubbornness. "Still, there is absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp." Sokka said sarcastically. Azula just sighed and face palmed for a moment at her brothers annoying stubborn ignorance before taking another bite of her food.