𝕍𝕖𝕟𝕦𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕂𝕪𝕠𝕤𝕙𝕚 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕣: 𝕊𝕠𝕜𝕜𝕒 𝕩 𝕆𝕔

Chapter 26- The Desert

The team and I were searching the vast sand ocean in all directions for Appa, as Toph had explained that the sandbenders had taken him away.

Aang turns around to face Toph angrily. "How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them‌?!"

"I couldn't!" Toph defensively shouts. "The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-"

Aang interrupts Toph as he walks over to her. "You could've come to get us. I could've saved him!"

Toph turns to face him slightly. "I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for –"

Aang snaps at Toph in a harsh way. "You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!"

My eyes widen. I felt a little frightened by the small monk now.

Aang looks extremely furious at Toph as Katara walks over to him. She puts her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. "Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."

Sokka was still looking out into the desert. "Who's going to save our lives now? We'll never make it out of here."

Aang irately walks away from the rest of us. "That's all any of you guys care about, yourselves! You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"

"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now."

"I'm going after Appa." Aang says in a cold, hard tone.

Aang flies off. Katara calls after him, running to the place he took off. "Aang, wait!"

I walked over to Katara and placed my chin on her shoulder as I hugged her from behind. "We better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse."

Katara nods her head. "Venus is right, we have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."

We all start walking in the same direction, Aang took off to, with Katara leading the way, followed by Toph, Sokka and I.

"You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, causing Sokka to run into me. "Sokka, it's no time for jokes right now. Read the room."

"Sorry." He lowly murmurs.

I give Sokka a small smile, before grabbing his hand and dragging him along with me.

Katara, Sokka, Toph and I were all exhausted and dehydrated, still wandering through the desert. Sokka stops to take Momo off his back and use his wings to create some shade, causing Toph to crash into him.

"Can't you watch where you're..." Sokka's eyes widen in comprehension as he sees who bumped into him.

"No." Toph replies.

"Right. Sorry."

Katara turns around to encourage the two. "Come on guys, we've got to stick together."

Sokka's clothes stick to Toph. He tries to free himself by pushing her away. "If I sweat anymore, I don't think sticking together will be a problem."

An irritated Toph places her hand on Sokka's face and pushes him to the ground, freeing them both. "Katara, can I have some more water?"

"Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it."

"I'll be fine," I murmured. "You can give it to them."

"Are you sure?" Katara asks.

I nod my head.

Katara proceeds to bend three small blobs of water out of her pouch and into the mouths of Sokka, Toph and Momo. Sokka circulates the water in his mouth before swallowing it.