Book 2: Serene

The Chase

We had made some distance from the Bei Fong manor, after traveling all day we had decided to set down camp as the sun began to set. As we started to unpack, our new companion Toph smiled, "Hey! You guys picked a great campsite. The grass is so soft."

"That's not grass," corrected Sokka as Toph wiggled her toes, much to Sokka's disgust, "Appa's shedding."

"Oh gross!" groaned Katara lifting her feet up, as I jumped down to help unload.

"That's not gross, it's just a part of spring!" smiled Aang as a bird flew to his head, "You know, rebirth, flowers blooming and Appa gets a new coat."

"Ah the beauty of spring." said a sarcastic Katara, just before Appa sneezed scattering his fur everywhere. Trying to brush it off, Katara flailed her arms around. "Stop! Appa, stop! Ugh!"

"It's not that bad Katara," said Sokka bent down with his back turned, "It makes a great wig!"

I facepalmed, seeing that Sokka had made a tall wig out of Appa's fur.

"And a great beard!" added Aang after making an Appa fur beard, as the two laughed.

After wiping off the fur from her clothes, Katara said, "I'm just glad we have another girl in the group because you two are disgusting."

As if on cue Toph walks up behind the boys, "Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? Because I've got some hairy pits!"

Toph lifted her arms to reveal a large amount of Appa's fur stuffed in her armpits. The three laughed, Aang then sneezes from the beard tickling his nose. Sending him flying into Appa, as he fell back to the ground, a large chunk of Appa's fur stuck itself to his back. The three of them laughed again, but this time Katara and I joined in.

After we unloaded Appa, my job is to try and find food that wasn't berries. Mainly for Sokka and I, since we weren't really the vegetarian type. I actually enjoyed this, it gave me a moment to collect my thoughts about everything that had happened. I needed to find Hisho and my people soon. After everything I've been hearing, with every passing second that I'm away, the more jittery I become. We should be getting closer to Ba Sing Se, once we get there I will have to part ways with everyone.

"Or do I have to?" I thought, "If I could explain to Aang and the others, they might be able to help!"

Smiling I started to head back to camp, but as I arrived watching them, my smile faded, "I can't do that."

If I tell them about who I really am and about my past, they would reject me. Even if I could convince them to help my people, I'd be distracting Aang from his training. No, this is something I have to figure out on my own. Aang has his destiny and I have mine.

Sulking back into camp, I saw Aang taking the saddle off of Appa with his airbending. Accidently landing it on top of Sokka. I made my way over to Katara who had finished gathering some water.

"Hey Katara," I greeted, "No luck on the wildlife, Sokka's gonna have to deal with berries for a while."

"Right," Katara responded very monotone like as if she was distracted.

"Katara?" I questioned, "Is something on your mind?"

"Toph and I got into a bit of a spat," she explained, "I was just trying to see if she could help with setting up the camp since she's traveling with us now."

"Well, you can't expect her to know the ropes right away," I explained, "I highly doubt she's ever had the chance to travel outside of her town. Give her time and she'll figure it out."

"Maybe you're right," she said, then made her way over to Toph. Toph had made her tent with two slabs of the earth, probably from her earthbending, "Hey Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I think we're all just a little tired and getting on each other's nerves."