CHAPTER 6: Jungle rhythms
"Be like water, my friend."
The group of friends were all hunched together near the edge of a serene pond tucked away behind a curtain of leafy vines from a Banyan tree in the southern part of the meditation garden.
The air was filled with the gentle rustle of leaves and the distant chirping of birds.
At the center of the group lay their friend, the monk with blue arrow tattoos, nestled on the soft grassy bank, his head resting in the lap of the Water Tribe girl who was currently waving her hands in fluid movements, a focused gaze on her face.
She was channeling the energy of the pond, drawing forth shimmering tendrils of water from its surface. With precise movements, Katara directed the tendrils of water to envelop Aang's body, forming a cocoon of shimmering liquid around him. The water seemed to pulse with a gentle, soothing energy.
Aang's eyes were closed, and his face still bore traces of pain, but his body had finally stopped twisting and jerking. However, he was still not conscious, and that made the Water bender nervous.
There was an uneasy silence between them.
It was as if they all held their breaths, anxious for Aang to respond.
"And you're sure that he's never acted like that when in the Spirit World?" someone voiced.
"No, Zuko," Sokka answered between the fingers of his hand that was covering his mouth in a contemplative manner, his brows furrowed.
Sokka looked up from Aang to Katara, then back at Aang.
"I've only seen him sit completely still when he's meditating. The only times I've seen someone move their body like that is when…"
He quieted down as if he ran out of words, a deep furrow over his forehead.
A short sigh left Katara's lips, her hands still flowing over the still body of her friend in her lap.
Zuko looked at Sokka, then at Katara, then at Toph, and back at Sokka.
"When what?" he pressed.
"Blood…" Sokka started, but he was cut off by Katara.
"No," she interrupted in a small voice. "I can feel that his muscles are still contracting slightly, but… There aren't exactly any benders here besides us. That wasn't bloodbending. I would know."
A strange silence then hovered between the group of friends, as Toph, Zuko and Sokka exchanged wary looks.
Zuko reached up his hand to nudge Katara's shoulders as to offer consolation, but she soon sighed out again, before she shrugged off his hand in frustration.
"This is not working, guys," she groaned before she let her hands fall down to her sides in defeat. "He's not responding enough to my healing. It's as if his body is blocked by something, but I don't know what it is."
The four friends all looked down deep in thought, while Toph made soft splashing sounds as she moved her feet in the cool water of the pond.
"I wish that guru guy was here," she uttered as if speaking to herself. "He would probably know what's up with Twinkletoes."
"Yeah," Sokka concurred as the croak of a reptilian bird sounded out from the sky above them. "He could probably just sense into Aang's energy and then, puff, paff, the Avatar's back."
He made some weird movements with his hands, as if performing an intricate magical ritual.
Toph snorted.
Katara looked contemplative, before she answered: "Yeah, but he's not here, is he? I just wish that there was something I could do."
She cupped Aang's face in her lap, her eyes deep with love and concern for her dear friend.
"Well," Zuko rasped, "What if he's still around? I know he's not here at the temple and all, but what if he's somewhere near? Like in a nearby village or something. He must've come from somewhere."
"You're right!" Sokka exclaimed as if waking up from a slumber, the tone of his voice suddenly filled with excitement. "We should go look for him, further down the mountains!"
Both Sokka and Zuko rose to their feet in quick movements.
"Sure... You guys go ahead," Toph said, her voice thick with irony while she waved her hand at them. "Leave behind the one bender who would actually be able to sense if there were anybody around."
Sokka's face fell, realizing that she was right, and his posture slanted slightly as if disappointed.
"What'd'you think?" Zuko asked as he let his hand rest on the top of Katara's head.
With her eyes closed, Katara nodded her head at him.
"We might as well try."
Soon, Toph and Zuko were on their way to the bison grazing field east of the garden to find Appa.
And while Katara was certain that there were not any villages near The Eastern Air Temple, the Earth bender and the Fire Lord sitting atop the flying sky bison would soon scout a small chimney of smoke that curled lazily over the canopy of the forest below them.
And at closer inspection they would come to find that the smoke came from a small village of nomadic huts nestled among the trees below.
After having descended down below the trees, Toph and Zuko crawled down from Appa that was already nibbling away at some ripe bananas that hung low from a tree nearby.
Beneath the canopy, the forest felt like a jungle.
The air seemed dense and humid here, filled with a heady perfume of foliage. With each inhalation, the two friends were greeted by a rich tapestry of aromas: the earthy musk of damp soil, the sweet fragrance of blooming flowers, and the pungent scent of decaying vegetation.
The air was alive with the sounds of the eastern jungle, a cacophony of chirping insects, melodious bird calls, and the occasional rustle of unseen creatures moving through the undergrowth.
It hummed with the energy of life, vibrating with the unseen rhythms of the forest.
It was as if they had entered a completely different world.
As sunlight filtered through the dense emerald canopy overhead, dappling the forest floor in a patchwork of light and shadow, Toph bent down to touch the earth with her hand.
Zuko waited patiently for her to break the silence between them.
"Yeah, there's people here alright. Not a lot. But there's some up ahead."
"Let's go," Zuko rasped, and the pair was soon making their way through the thickness of the forest until they reached a sunlit clearing.