silver soul | avatar, the last air bender

chapter sixteen

The sand benders eventually escorted the gang out of the desert, mostly as an apology for stealing Appa. Naia wondered how they didn't know it was the avatar's bison, as Appa was the last flying sky bison in the world and it belonged to Aang, the last air bender in the world. Aang spent most of that time flying around on his glider, searching for Appa. Naia knew it was no use to search for him, as he was probably in Ba Sing Se now. However, it was probably better that Aang didn't spend much time with the sand benders, considering the fact that he probably would've killed them if Katara didn't step in.

It was the angriest Naia has ever seen Aang. Aang was usually peaceful, but became tempestuous and violent when one of his loved ones was in danger. Naia couldn't even judge him though, for it was the exact same way she reacted when Yue died. Since the ocean spirit killed Zhao for her, she was about to kill Zuko before Sokka stepped in. Anyone who would've crossed her path at that time could have ended up injured or even dead. Zuko was lucky that Sokka stopped her.

Tensions started to ease once they made it out of the desert. Toph was glad to be back on solid ground again, and Naia never thought she would miss greenery this much. Since Sokka wasn't high on cactus juice anymore, he became more serious and started caring more about the maps and how to get to Ba Sing Se.

The group stopped their travels to take a break. Naia thought it was much deserved, considering the fact they were basically walking for two days straight in the desert. They found a waterfall that fed into a small lake and decided to rest there. Naia was glad that the group seemed to be more relaxed. Aang, Katara, and Naia decided to strip down to their undergarments and go for a swim. Toph was splashing her feet in the water, and Sokka was sitting on a rock and examining all the maps he stole from the library.

Katara somehow convinced Naia to climb to the top of the waterfall. Naia stood, overlooking the valley and sighed. The Earth Kingdom (minus the desert) was quite beautiful. The land was much different than the North Pole and she appreciated it greatly.

"Want to do a water bending bomb with me?" Katara asked, a goofy smile on her face.

"What's that?" Naia asked.

"It's like a canon ball, but with water bending!" Katara explained excitedly.

Naia nodded, the corners of her mouth twirling into a small smile."I guess there's a first time for everything," She said. Naia was just glad to see Katara was less stressed out. While they were in the desert, Katara was much more serious. It honestly kind of concerned Naia. Katara was still quite young, but she always acted like the oldest out of the group.

The two girls giggled and shouted, "Water bending bomb!"and jumped off of the cliff, doing about a couple flips in the air. At the last second, Naia softened her landing by bending the water around her to go up and out, causing the biggest splash of water she's ever seen.

When Naia's head emerged at the surface of the water, she heard Aang and Toph's laughter. She started to giggle herself, seeing how far the splash reached outside of the lake. Naia felt so glad to be back in the water again, however, nothing compared to the feeling she got when swimming in the ocean. The ocean felt more like home to her. She swam back to the shore and saw that Sokka was grumbling on about something.

"Sure, five thousand year old maps from the Spirit Library. Just go ahead and splash some water on them," He complained, holding out one of the maps that was dripping water onto the ground. Sokka looked like he was going to complain again but stopped once he saw Naia emerging from the water.

Sokka watched as Naia chuckled lightly and pulled her long hair to the side, wringing it out. "Sorry," She said innocently. Thrusting her hands forward, she used her water bending to dry the maps and Sokka's clothing.