Naya and the Last Airbender

vi. The Swamp

          MY eyes were on the land below us. It was decorated in trees and vines. There was nothing spectacular about it, except for the loud hum that sang in my ears as I stared at it. Something gravitated me towards the swamp, and I had no control over what.

"Uh, guys? Are you landing?" Sokka asked. His voice was murmured among the humming. "Why are we going down?" Sokka asked louder.

I shook my head and snapped out of the trance. Aang did too. I looked over at him, trying to figure out why we were so entranced by the land. There had to be something Spiritual about it.

"What? I didn't even notice," Aang said.

"Neither did I," I added.

"Well are you noticing now?" Sokka questioned.

I looked down to see that we were indeed lowering altitude. My mind told me to listen to my brother, and direct us back on our path, but my body willed me to keep going down and explore the wilderness below.

"I know this is going to sound weird but I think the swamp is calling to us," Aang told.

My eyes were glued down below. "Yeah, maybe we should land there and see why," I mumbled.

"Absolutely not. Let's get something to eat," Sokka argued.

"I think it wants us to land there," Aang said.

"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on," Sokka piped up.

Aang hesitated, trying to decide between his mind and his heart. "I don't know. Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen... and now Naya and I are actually hearing the earth. Do you want us to ignore that?"

"Maybe it's the Spirits telling us something. I still have a lot to learn about the Akshata," I added.

"Yes," Sokka said curtly, responding to Aang.

"I don't know... There's something ominous about that place," Katara mumbled, growing visibly uncomfortable.

Everyone, even all of the animals, were not happy about the swamp. Yue hid under my shirt while Bonbi groaned in protest. The same was with Appa and Momo. Aang and I were the only ones who thought the swamp was a good idea.

"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this... bye swamp. Yip yip!" Aang said.

I nudged Bonbi's side and both animals lifted higher into the sky. Something grew in my gut warning me not to do that. The earth made a loud rumble and I turned around, seeing an enormous tornado head straight towards us.

"Holy Spirits!" I shouted.

"You better throw an extra yip! We gotta move!" Sokka screamed.

The tornado unnaturally came barreling towards us. My eyes widened as I steered Bonbi to avoid hitting into Appa and falling into the tornado. We weaved and turned and my stomach formed a knot at how much diving and turning we did.

Suddenly, Appa came crashing into Bonbi. With the tornado right behind us, I felt the wind suck us into the funnel. My arms couldn't grab onto my dragon's reigns and I found myself flying into the tornado in circles. My friends also fell off of Appa as we were circling into the funnel. My stomach lurched in my throat and I covered my mouth to avoid throwing up.

Then, we were thrown out of the wind funnel and into the swamp.

I was able to soften the blow with my airbending. Aang and I landed land more gracefully while Sokka and Katara splashed into the water.