𝑴𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑻𝑨𝑰𝑵𝑺 || 𝑨𝒂𝒏𝒈 (𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 2)

The Library

Standing in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere, Sokka, Katara and Jade looked around in confusion. Everywhere they looked was dry earth and small patches of grass and weeds. In front of them was a small group of holes in the ground. Aang sat in the middle of this group of holes with crossed legs and a flute in his hands.

"What's out here?" Sokka inquired.

Toph knelt down, placing a hand on the ground beneath their feet. "A lot actually. There's hundreds of little --" 

"Shh!" Aang stopped her, looking back over his shoulder at them. "I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise." He held his flute. "Just watch." 

He held the instrument to his lips and played a note. Jade blinked when a groundhog popped up from one of the holes and mimicked the sound. Katara and Sokka shared glances while Aang laughed.

"Yeah!" He played another note. A second groundhog popped out and also copied the noise. Aang chuckled and repeated the action, causing another groundhog to pop out. The Avatar threw his arms in the air. "I'm putting an orchestra together!" 

"Orchestra, huh?" Sokka cocked an eyebrow. "Well, la, de, da." 

Three groundhogs consecutively popped up and mimicked his dull notes. Momo hopped into one of the holes in attempt to chase the groundhogs, disappearing under the earth. He peered back up in confusion.

Aang went on playing his flute. Katara and Jade laughed as Momo and Miko ran around the field of holes in attempt to catch the groundhogs as they poked their heads up and sang. After a few more notes, however, Sokka walked up and stuck his finger in the other end of the flute, plugging it.

"This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about?" He pointed out. "We should be making plans." 

"We did make plans." Toph replied. "We're all picking mini vacations." 

"There's no time for vacations."

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can." Aang stated. "I practice hard everyday with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off." 

"Yeah," Jade nodded. "There's nothing wrong with trying to have fun in our down time, is there?"

Sokka looked back down at Aang, crossing his arms. "Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation." He pointed out. "Should we just head west until we reach the Firelord's house? 'Knock knock? Hello, Fire Lord, anybody home?'" Katara and Jade shared a glance. "I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're gonna win this war." 

Aang played one final note on his flute. A groundhog popped up from the hole where Sokka stood. Racing Momo to the hole, Miko reached it first and wormed her head inside.

They watched as she attempted to pull her head back up, only to realize his head was stuck in the narrow space. Sokka reached down and grabbed her body, pulling with all his might and grunting from the effort. The spirit's head finally popped out, only for Sokka to fall backward on the ground. Miko landed right on top of his face.

Jade fought off laughter while Aang floated to his feet.

"Alright, we'll finish our vacations, and then we'll look for Sokka's intelligence." Katara smirked. Aang and Jade laughed while Sokka pushed the puppy off his face and glared at them. 

Aang leaped over to Appa and pulled out a map of the desert. He returned to his friends and unrolled it, holding it out in front of the older waterbender.

"Your turn, Katara. Where would you like to go on your mini vacation?"

She bent down and scanned the map. "How about the Misty Palms Oasis?" She pointed to a spot with quite a bit of blue for a place in the desert. "That sounds refreshing."