Bella [AANGXOC]

Chapter 112: Disappearance

"No one can make tea like Uncle. But hopefully I learned a thing or two. Would you like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" Zuko poured us all a cup of tea.

It'd only been a couple weeks before Zuko finally started brightening up and relaxing. Aang, Toph and Sokka seemed perfectly content with the team, and even Katara was less irritable.

"Sure," Katara replied.

"I like jokes!"

"Bring it."

"Okay, well, I can't remember how it starts, but the punchline is 'Leaf me alone—I'm bushed!'"

Silence.

Zuko sat down in our circle, "Well, it's funnier when uncle tells it."

"Right. Maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing," Katara smirked.

At least she's not insisting he poisoned the tea, anymore.

"It's nice to get a chance to relax a little. It hardly ever happens," Toph said.

Everyone else agreed with her. I did too, but it won't be like this forever. If we get too comfortable, we won't be ready for when something happens.

Something always happens.

We chatted around the fire for a while with our after-dinner-tea.

Aang and I seem to be playing a game where we catch each other's eyes as much as possible, Zuko and Sokka have wandered off somewhere, and Momo slept soundly in my lap. A nice ending to a nice day.

Hopefully the next storm is far ahead.

~

Bright and early in the morning, Zuko and Sokka nowhere to be found, and a suspicious note in Momo's hands. The odd experiences never seem to lose us.

"What does it say?" Toph rubbed her eyes.

Katara held the note up and read off it, "Need meat. Gone fishing. Back in a few days. Sokka and Zuko."

A sleepy smile broke over Aang's face and he started heading back to his sleeping bag.

"...One more thing. Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone. Do 20 sets of fire fists and 10 hop squats every time you hear a badger frog croak."

Seems plain enough. They went on a guy trip. They could've told—

A loud croaking noise echoed through the temple.

Aang groaned, "Nobody else has homework."

Not today I don't.

~

"There's no right way to do it. Just breathe, focus and surrender to the spiritual energy around you."

I nodded, but sometimes I'm not sure if even Aang understands what he's saying.

But when I see him while he's meditating, I realize he understands every word. And every word is completely genuine.

I don't think I could try any harder to make this work.

In an effort to relax me, we moved the meditation spot out of the temple and next to the waterfall. This made it easier, because I could focus on something specific: the sounds of rushing water.

I still felt like I was missing something, but I'll take any kind of progress. Especially if it's the kind of progress that makes Aang happy.

He says I'm trying too hard, and maybe he's right. But I don't know how not to try.

~

Two full days now, and we hadn't seen Sokka or Zuko.

It's quite a long fishing trip they're taking. Especially because Aang needs to learn firebending before the comet—which doesn't give them a lot of time—and his firebending teacher has chosen to spend that time on a fishing trip.

Something seems fishy.

"Maybe they just got lost," Toph suggested.

Katara frowned, "They have a map."

And what kind of fishing trip would prompt someone to get lost?

"Maybe they aren't really on a fishing trip," Haru suggested.

"What else could they be doing?" I turned and asked Katara.

She shrugged her shoulders.

Whatever it is, they better hurry up or we may try to follow their trail.

~

It was on the night of the third day that we saw Sokka and Zuko finally return, in a vessel quite different from the one they left in.

Very different, in fact, a completely different airship. It wasn't as big as the ones we saw at the invasion, but it was huge. And entirely made of metal, with a dragon head carved on the front.

It was definitely not a fishing trip.

"What are you doing in this thing?" Katara asked, bewildered.

They were wearing odd clothing too. Zuko in dark red and torn clothing, and Sokka in some shiny metal armor.

"What happened to the war balloon?" She asked them.

"It kinda got destroyed," Zuko answered.

"Sounds like a crazy fishing trip," Aang smiled.

Zuko and Sokka shared a look.

"Did you at least get some good meat?" Toph groaned.

"I did. The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood," Sokka smiled.

Before any one of us could ask him to clarify, three other people stepped out of the airship.

They were all dressed in the dark red rags, Suki, some guy, and—

Katara and I ran to hug him.

"Hi, girls." I could hear his smile in the words.

"How are you here?" Katara asked him once we pulled away, "What is going on? Where did you go?"

What is going on?? Who's the new guy?

Sokka rubbed his neck, "We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison."

Smart.

Hakoda pulled us three into another hug.

~

It was late. Midnight if I had to guess. I was awake, like I had been the whole night. Kept up from my loud thoughts.

The only sounds at this hour were the soft snores from Momo, and the breath of everyone asleep in the temple: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Haru, The Duke, Teo, Suki, Hakoda, and New Guy.

Quite a large group now.

The perfect time to slip away for a day or two.

If Aang, Sokka, and Zuko could do it. I could manage it too.

~

So how is everybody?