𝕍𝕖𝕟𝕦𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕂𝕪𝕠𝕤𝕙𝕚 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕣: 𝕊𝕠𝕜𝕜𝕒 𝕩 𝕆𝕔

Chapter 25- The Library

Aang's sitting in cross legged in a prairie on the ground looking over a vast open savanna landscape. The landscape is mostly barren save for small shoots of grass which bend in the breeze. A range of mountains can be seen in the distance. The ground in front of Aang is littered with holes.

Sokka, Toph, Katara and I stood behind Aang. The Avatar is holding a thin wooden flute in both hands.

"What's out here?" Sokka asks.

Toph puts her hand on the ground. "A lot, actually. There's hundreds of little..."

Aang turns around and silences Toph. "Shh! I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch." He blows a note on the flute. A groundhog-type creature pops out of a hole in the ground and mimics the note. "Yeah!" He plays another note and another groundhog mimics it. "I'm putting an orchestra together."

Aang plays four notes and Momo tries to catch the groundhogs that pop up. Katara giggles as she watches the amusing sight. Aang plays another note as Sokka runs up to Aang and plugs the flute with his finger, causing nothing to play.

As Aang's cheeks swell with air, the Avatar looks at Sokka with a sad expression.

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

"We did make plans." Toph says, referring to our earlier conversation we all had. "We're all picking mini-vacations."

"There's no time for vacations." Sokka says, making my eyes roll.

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. Even Venus has been showing me some of her Kyoshi warrior moves. I've been training my arrow off!" Aang states.

I poked my bottom lip out as I approached Sokka. "Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?"

"Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation." Sokka gestures to the side, sarcastically. "Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house?" Sokka knocks on an imaginary door. "Knock, knock. Hello, Fire Lord? Anybody home? I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war."

Aang plays a note on the flute and a groundhog pops up underneath Sokka and sings the note.

Katara giggles. "All right, we'll finish our vacations and then we'll look for Sokka's intelligence." Aang laughs.

Aang opens a map, showing it to Katara and I. "Your turn, Katara. Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?"

Katara points at the map. "How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing."

"Oh, yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word pristine. It's one of nature's wonders."

We ended up near the Misty Palm Oasis, which didn't look like anything Aang described. It had a small ice spring in its center.

I turn to Aang. "Are you sure, we're in the right place?"

"Must've changed ownership since I was here." Aang laughs sheepishly.

We walk through the entrance and the hanging sign falls down as we walk past the small ice spring. We walk into a bar and pass five sandbenders hanging around outside.

One sandbender spits at Sokka's feet. Sokka looks at the man angrily. The man utters a raspy groan, slurps, and chuckles.

I grab Sokka and pull him into the bar, which is filled with weary travelers.