Wandering Firebender

Three: The Fugitive (Part Two)

Katara came rushing back to the group, her hair a wild mess and her eyes wide in fear. Aang and Sokka saw her and immediately rushed to her.

"What's wrong? What happened? Where's Elio?" Sokka questioned.

"W-We were attacked by earthbenders! They took Elio! He's a firebender!" Katara quickly summarized as she placed her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

"What?!" Aang and Sokka both exclaimed at the same time.

"Where is he now?" Aang asked.

"I-I don't know. He held them off with a fire wall, but they're probably taking him back to town." Katara explained quickly.

"Unbelievable! And you trusted that guy! Of course, I knew something was off," Sokka was quick to point out. "Still, we need to be more careful. Come on, Katara, let's get on Appa and get out of here."

"Wait, we're just gonna leave him behind?!" She realized.

"Well, yeah... Woah woah, wait. You wanna help someone from the Fire Nation? You are aware that we are at war with them, right?" Sokka protested.

"Sokka! He needs help! He's not bad! He bought us our food for crying out loud!" She argued.

"He probably was just trying to earn our trust so he could get information and report back to the Fire Nation. We can't trust him. We should just go. If earthbenders took him, it's probably because he did something wrong, or-or he's a soldier!" Sokka determined.

"That is ridiculous, Sokka! The Fire Nation doesn't even know where we are yet," She pointed out. "Besides, we scouted the town out before we landed and we didn't see any Fire Nation soldiers here. We didn't even see Zuko, for crying out loud!"

"Katara, I don't expect you to understand, but we're in Fire Nation controlled territory now. Not everyone we meet is going to be on our side; we need to be careful who we trust. If he's a firebender, he's with the Fire Nation. End of story." Sokka waved his hand.

"How can you be so heartless?! We don't know for sure! Help me out here, Aang." Katara pleaded.

"Yeah, Aang, you're the Avatar, what do you say about this? Do we help the enemy or not?" Sokka asked. Aang's eyebrows furrowed nervously.

Looking between them, they both made valid points. And he wasn't sure who was truly right. However, maybe that fact was reason enough to step in as the Avatar. And besides, Katara seemed to be pretty sure that he could be trusted...

"Um... I'm sorry, I can't really say too much about him. I didn't get the chance to speak with him. But Katara does have a point. We don't have all the facts. I think that it's only right that we make sure we do before we make our decision." Aang determined.

"B-B-But-" Sokka stammered.

"Sokka, I am the Avatar. It's my job to maintain peace in the world, not condemn a group of people. You might be right or Katara could be right. But if she is right, we'd be abandoning an innocent man who needs our help. What happens to him would be on our hands." Aang expressed his thoughts.

"You picked a real convenient time to bust out with the ancient monk wisdom, Aang," Sokka groaned. "You really think that someone from the Fire Nation can be anything but evil?" He asked both of them.

"I don't know," Katara answered honestly. "But we should hurry to town if we're gonna find out."

"For generations, the Fire Nation has been terrorizing the world," The leader of the earthbenders spoke before the whole town. They were circled around him in the center of town. Elio was placed on his knees with two earthbenders guarding him.