I desperately climbed behind Sokka up the rope that was our only way out of the ancient library which was now caving in on us. Sokka had hit the large owl creature but we had no idea how long it'd stay out for and, with the walls crumbling around us, we didn't want to stick around to find out.
We had been searching for this place for days in the scorching heat, hoping it would hold information on a weakness of the fire nation. We had been accompanied on this journey by a professor who was knowledgeable in the library and its history. Our search for information on the fire nation had led us to a large planetarium which revealed to us that the best time to strike the fire nation would be during a solar eclipse. During this eclipse the nation's firebenders would be rendered useless with the absence of the sun to power their bending. After discovering this, Wan Shi Tong had overheard us and was infuriated by our actions, accusing us of taking advantage of the library's knowledge.
This is how we ended up narrowly escaping our deaths as Aang flew all four of us on his glider out of the library. We were practically thrown to the ground and I coughed up sand before turning to see that the remains of the library were now completely gone, sunken underground. I jumped to my feet and checked to make sure no one was left behind (other than the professor who had chosen to stay in the library forever). I noticed Toph sitting on the ground with her head in her hands and wondered what was wrong.
Aang approached the girl, "Where's Appa?"
Toph shook her head and Aang gasped. She explained that some sandbenders had taken Appa while we were in the library. Shit. Not only was the beloved bison gone but we were now stranded in the middle of the vast desert. I frantically looked around but all I saw was expansive desert sprawling out for miles and miles. The sun was high in the sky and I was already sweating beads down my face. This was definitely not good.
Aang yelled, "How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them?"
"I couldn't," Toph defended, "The library was sinking, you guys were still inside, and-"
"You could've come to get us! I could have saved him!"
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-"
"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa, you wanted him gone!" Aang accused, cutting off Toph once again.
I finally decided to get between the two, "Aang, that's enough. We're all upset that Appa is missing, but it is not Toph's fault. She saved our lives."
"Who's gonna save our lives now," Sokka questioned as he looked out at the endless desert surrounding us, "We'll never make it out of here."
"That's all any of you guys care about, yourselves. You don't care whether Appa is okay or not," Aang took out his glider.
Katara spoke up, "We're all concerned. But we can't afford to be fighting now."
"I'm going after Appa," Aang said before he flew into the air, his form quickly receding in the distance.
Katara called after him, but it was no use. I walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "We better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."
Everyone nodded and we began the first of many steps that we would take while traversing this desert. Sokka tried to lighten the mood as he walked beside me, "You think if we dig out that giant owl, he'll give us a ride?"
"I suggest you start digging now then," I smiled and Sokka poked my side and I elbowed his arm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had been walking for hours and all of our faces were red with heat and exhaustion as we traversed the desert. Sokka hadn't been making the journey any easier with the effects of the cactus juice causing him to act hysterical and hallucinate. Katara was holding Momo, who was also a victim of the cactus juice, while I was stuck wrangling Sokka to make sure he didn't get himself killed. I had now opted to practically carry him on my back, making the heat even more excruciating as his sweaty body was flush against mine. He was rambling incoherent nonsense in my ear and I had finally had enough before I released him, dropping him on the ground.
"Okay Sokka, no more piggy-back rides."
Sokka pouted, "But whyyyy???"
"You're too heavy and you're making this heat worse."
He groaned, "You're a meanie! Just like your stinky fire-boyfriend!"
"I'm not a meanie! And he's NOT my boyfriend," I crossed my arms and Sokka began to poke my sides and face while chanting 'meanie' and 'boyfriend' over and over again. After about a minute of enduring that I finally sighed, "How about this, I'll let you hold onto my shirt and it'll be like follow-the-leader."
Sokka's eyes lit up, "Can't I hold your hand instead? Pleasssssseee."
"Ew, Sokka no."
"But Fire Queen (Y/NNNNNNNNN)," he groaned and I was beginning to lose patience, becoming very tempted to punch him in the face and leave him stranded here.
"Fine."
Sokka then grabbed onto my hand, his sweaty palms instantly making me regret my decision as I grimaced. He began swinging our arms back and forth, the movement growing more and more aggressive as he did so. I didn't mind too much, it was better than having to carry him on my back. We walked for a few more minutes before we saw a large sand-cloud in the distance.
"What is that?" Katara asked.
Sokka let go of my hand and raised his arms, "It's a giant mushroom! Maybe it's friendly!"
"Let's just keep moving," Katara grabbed Toph's hand to lead the way, "I just hope Aang is okay."
I turned back to Sokka to see he was waving his arms around, "Giant friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!"
I facepalmed and took his hand back in mine as we continued walking. He hung his head low, complaining about leaving his 'friend' and I had to distract him by telling him old fire nation fables. I felt as if I was babysitting a child but it was kind of endearing whenever Sokka would ask questions about the stories I told. It made me remember fond moments when my mother told me these stories and I found myself smiling as I spoke, despite the grueling circumstances we were in.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It was sunset and the retreating of the sun barely aided in lifting the heat off our backs as we trudged on. I closed my eyes while walking, trying to convince myself that heat was only in the mind and it wasn't that bad. I began to think it was working when I felt a gust of wind hit my face. I opened my eyes and saw Aang flying towards us on his glider. I felt relieved to know he was okay but dejected when I realized Appa wasn't with him. Katara was first to approach him when he landed.
"I'm sorry Aang. I know it's hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here."
Aang looked away from Katara, "What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it"
"Come on Aang, we can do this if we work together, right, Toph?"
Toph spoke bluntly, "As far as I can feel we're stuck in a giant bowl of sand-pudding. I got nothin."
"(Y/N)? Do you know how to get out of here?"
I raised my hands in surrender, "No idea, sorry."
"Sokka, any ideas how to find Ba Sing Se?" Katara looked to her brother who was sprawled on the ground.
Sokka had a blissful smile on his face as he pointed up, "Why don't we ask the circle birds?"
Me and Katara looked to the Buzzard-Wasps that were circling above us. I shifted my gaze to her and we spared glances at our friends around us. Toph was exhausted, Aang was falling into a depression, and Sokka was still high as a kite on cactus juice.
I nodded at Katara and she returned it before announcing, "We're getting out of this desert, and we're gonna do it together. Aang get up."
I pulled Sokka up and took his hand, "Everybody hold hands, we can do this."
I grabbed onto Katara's hand with my unoccupied one and she began marching us through the desert.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had finally been able to get some rest after settling in for the night on a small dune. Me and Katara had spent most of the night figuring out where we should go based on the map of the stars we got from the library. I had finally insisted she get some sleep while I kept watch. Everyone was sleeping soundly and I looked over to Aang. My heart ached for what he was going through, losing his closest and oldest friend was something that I didn't wish on anyone. I assumed that he's feeling what I had felt whenever I first began to live with Isano. Back then, any time I would think of my life back home, especially Zuko, my heart would begin to burn with pain. I noticed Aang slightly shifted in his sleep and scooted over to where he slept. I began to rub his back to sooth him and his breathing relaxed.
A few hours later, Katara awoke and told me to wake everyone else up stating that we needed to get moving before the sun rose. I stood and walked over to Sokka, shaking him awake as Katara went to wake up Aang and Toph.
I heard Aang yell, "Appa!"
I looked up to where his gaze was fixed and saw a bison-shaped silhouette against the moon. Sokka stared at the moon, perplexed, "Why would Princess Yue need Appa? She's the moon. She flies by herself."
It turned out to be only a cloud and we packed up our things and continued our seemingly never-ending walk. Toph tripped on a sharp piece of wood, causing her to fall and we all turned to face her.
"Crud, I'm so sick of not feeling where I'm going," she complained as she rubbed her feet, "And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?"
Katara ran forward, "A boat?"
"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations."
Katara examined the piece of wood and looked to Aang who was already in position to airbend the sand away. When he did, he revealed a huge glider and for the first time all day I felt hope swell in my body. I jumped onto the glider and exclaimed, "It's one of the gliders the sandbenders use! And look, it's got some kind of compass on it!"
Katara met me where I stood and smiled, "I bet it can get us out of here! Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're gonna make it!"
We all boarded and began speeding through the desert, Katara and I acting as guides while Aang steered. I looked at the map and the compass, "I don't think this compass is pointing North. It does not match with this chart at all."
"Take it easy little lady," Sokka chimed in a cool voice, "I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here."
I shook my head at the boy, hoping the cactus juice would wear off soon, slightly worrying about the long term effects the plant may have on him. I heard Katara gasp and whipped my head forward to see we were heading straight for a giant rock.
"That's where the compass was leading us to. That giant rock, it must be the magnetic center of the desert," Katara explained.
"A rock," Toph pumped her fist in the air, "Yes, let's go!"
Katara smiled, "Maybe we can even find some water there!"
"Maybe we can find some sandbenders," Aang spoke morbidly as he guided the glider towards the rock at an increased speed.
We scaled the rock and Toph immediately began rolling on its surface, "Ahh, finally solid ground."
We all began to take in our surroundings and all noticed the caves that littered the top of the rock. We all entered the closest one and Sokka inhaled deeply, "I think the cactus juice is making its way out of my system. And look," he scooped up the honey-like substance from the wall and stuck it in his mouth before immediately spitting it out, "Ugh, it tastes like rotting penguin meat. Oh I feel woozy."
I slapped the back of his head, "Spirits, Sokka you've been high on cactus juice all day and then immediately stuck the goop on these cave walls in your mouth, do you have common sense?"
"I have a natural curiosity,"
"More like natural idiocracy," I retorted, smirking.
Toph cut our argument short, "I don't think this is a normal cave. This was carved by something."
"Yeah look at the shape," Aang remarked and I looked around and realized that the cave's walls were rigid and precise.
"There's something buzzing in here," Toph added, "Something that's coming for us!"
We immediately high-tailed it out of the cave, only to be surrounded by almost an entire swarm of buzzard-wasps when we exited. I got out my sickles and we all immediately began fighting the large creatures. I swiped and slashed at them with my sickles, cutting a few which caused them to retreat back into their cave. Suddenly, one of the buzzard-wasps grabbed Momo and began carrying him away from us.
Aang deployed his glider, "I'm not losing anyone else out here."
Aang took off after Momo and the rest of us made our way back down to the glider. We had to rely on telling toph where to shoot rocks to ward off the flying animals, since most of us were unable to fight at the moment. No matter what we did, more and more of the buzzard-wasps kept coming, I thought we were going to be done for. Until a large wall of sand materialized and sent all of the creatures back into their caves. The wall returned into the ground and revealed a large amount of sandbenders, surrounding us on all sides. Aang landed in front of us and I caught a glimpse of his face which showed a quiet rage.
The lead sandbender immediately began questioning, "What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer? From the looks of it you stole it from the Hami Tribe"
I stood in front of the kids, "We found the sailer abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen, and we have to get to Ba Sing Se. We have urgent news for the king."
I noticed the head sandbender's eyebrows unfurrow until the man beside him yelled, "You dare accuse our people of theft, while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer?"
"Quiet Ghashiun! No one accused our people of anything," the head sand bender reprimanded the young man, "If what she says is true, we must give them hospitality."
"Sorry father."
Toph spoke in a whisper, just loud enough so we could hear her but the sand benders wouldn't, "I recognize the son's voice. He's the one that stole Appa."
"Are you sure?" I looked over to her small frame.
"I never forget a voice."
Aang immediately rushed forward, his staff drawn, "You stole Appa! Where is he? What did you do to him?"
The young man spoke desperately, "They're lying, they're the thieves!"
Aang used his staff to direct a large gust of wind at one of the gliders, causing it to split in half. His face was taken over by fury as he questioned, "Where is my bison? You tell me where he is now," Aang destroyed another glider, showing that he meant business.
The older man looked to his son, "What did you do?"
"It wasn't me," the son spoke, his guiltiness revealing in his tone as he spoke.
Toph cut in, "You said to put a muzzle on him!"
"You muzzled Appa?" Aang then went into the avatar state, his tattoos and eyes glowing. He sent a particularly strong gust of wind to the final glider and destroyed it.
The young sand bender looked terrified, "I'm sorry! I didn't know it belonged to the Avatar!"
Aang's voice was distorted as he demanded, "Tell me where Appa is!"
"I traded him to some merchants. He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now. They were gonna sell him there," Aang's stare remained cold and the young boy pleaded, "Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can."
A large dome of air surrounded Aang and the sand around us began to swirl about rampantly. Sokka grabbed my arm and announced that we needed to get out of there. I nodded and pulled Toph onto my back and Sokka pulled us away from Aang who was now floating in the air. I watched as Katara approached Aang. Sokka took a step to go after her but I held my arm in front of him. He looked at me confused and I signaled him to watch. We all stared as Katara grabbed onto Aang's wrist, before pulling him down into a hug. The wind ceased and all that was left was the crumpled form of Aang, crying into Katara's shoulder.
A/N: Hi everyone! I just wanted to apologize if it seems like the past few chapters have had a lot of time skips! I'm trying to get the Gang out of this desert and onto more Zuko since that's what you all are here for. But trust me, there will be more Zuko soon. Just wait until they get to Ba Sing Se! I'm super excited for what's to come! As always, thanks for reading!