CHAPTER ELEVEN
( AUNT WU'S PREDICTIONS )

THE DAYS FOLLOWING FLO'S midnight panic attack ended up being more normal than she thought it would be. Things didn't change much at all. Big things, at least. The trio of friends now slept closer to Flo. It wasn't a lot, but it was noticeable. Before, she purposefully kept her distance, but after that night Aang, Katara and Sokka shifted closer. They also tried to rope her into more conversations, especially Aang, and Sokka kept spitting out lame jokes and puns to try and get her to smile, or laugh, and Katara happily told embarrassing stories of her brother.

At one point during the week, a bad storm occurred. During it, Aang ran away and Sokka was stuck on a boat with an old man because both were convinced that it wasn't going to storm. Flo went with Katara to find Aang, who explained what had happened right before he got stuck in an iceberg and admitted to not wanting to be the Avatar at first, which also explained the recent nightmares of his. (Speaking of nightmares, both Flo and Aang had yet to speak to one another about them, but once or twice when they've woken up because of the nightmares they simply sat in one another's company until one or both fell back asleep). Flo let Katara take control of that situation; she wasn't good at comforting others (shocker) and she didn't want to accidentally make Aang feel worse. Then they saved Sokka and the old man from the storm.

The very next day, Sokka got sick and then so did Flo and while Aang searched for something to help them, Katara stayed behind since she was starting to come down with the illness as well. Next thing the teenagers knew, they were cured by frozen frogs. During the entire week, they didn't run into the Prince of the Fire Nation or any soldiers. Well, at least that was what Flo thought until Aang explained what happened while he searched for the frozen frogs. Flo suddenly wanted to never get sick ever again, and maybe thank whoever the Blue Spirit was for keeping Aang alive.

Now, the group sat by a river. The tent was made, and the fire they had going a bit ago went out a few minutes ago, only a sliver of smoke coming from the pit. Katara, Aang and Sokka all sat around it. Aang was making something, while the two siblings just sat in silence, most likely bored. Flo, though, climbed the large boulder off to the side and now sat at the top. It hadn't been easy. Despite it being slanted, the rock was also slippery in some places from being close to the water, and there had been many failed attempts before successfully getting to the top. She was honestly pleased with herself, finally feeling truly better and more energized than the previous week or so.

Flo focused on making more arrows as she sat there. Once in a while she would glance down at the others, or watch Sleemo and Momo play around with one another, and sometimes she might make eye contact with the others. Aang waved at her once, grinning widely, and Katara reminded her to not fall from that high. Sokka tried to follow her up the rock but after failing so many times, he gave up and sat with the others, possibly pouting. Flo ignored whatever weird warmth that overcame her when he smiled at her, big and goofy, a few minutes later.

There was a splash or two in the water. Then Katara shouted, "Look!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked out to the water. Not a second later, a fish jumped out and then back in.

"He's taunting us. You are so gonna be dinner!" Sokka exclaimed, and raced for his fishing pole beside the tent. He went to cast the line, only for nothing to happen. He did it another couple of times before finally, "Hey! Where's the fishing line?"

"Oh, I didn't think you would need it, Sokka," Aang said and held up whatever he had been making. A necklace, Flo realized before climbing down the rock with her newly made arrows.

"Ah, it's tangled," the older boy complained.

"Not tangled – woven," Aang corrected. He airbent himself into a standing position and then turned to Katara. "I made you a necklace, Katara. I thought since you lost your other one..." He trailed off and held up the necklace with a smile.

As Flo set the arrows down by her things, she watched as Katara smiled while she went over to Aang. "Thanks, Aang. I love it," Katara told him.

"It's pretty. Looks like you did a good job," Flo complimented. Aang grinned widely at her in thanks.

"Great, Aang. Maybe instead of saving the world you can go into the jewelry making business," said Sokka. By that point, he was back at the water's edge.

"I don't see why I can't do both."

As the fish jumped out of the water again, Sokka threw the pole at it. He missed. The fishing pole stood straight and then sunk completely into the water as the fish jumped once again. "Stop taunting me!" Sokka drew out his knife from behind his back and ran into the water. "Flo, get in here, I need my hunting buddy's expertise!"

Flo's brows lifted slightly yet she didn't say anything. Instead, she grabbed one of her older arrows and her bow and sighed, and then followed Sokka into the water. "Flailing around like that, you won't catch it," she told him while Aang and Katara talked up on the shore.

"But it's taunting me! I'm angry at it!" He lunged into the water with his knife, missing the fish once again.

She sighed heavily. "Thought you wanted my hunting 'expertise'?"

Sokka groaned. "Just help me!"

"No please?"

"Flo."

"I'm trying! Stop flailing around– what the heck." Flo held onto the bow and the arrow she knocked on it carefully, annoyed as Sokka simply dove into the water after sheathing the knife. Then, he popped back up, the fish in his arms, and Flo aimed her arrow at it.

"...because both look great!" The two teens heard Aang compliment Katara.

Sokka smirked. "Smoochie, smoochie! Someone's in love," he teased, and didn't hesitate to pucker his lips and lean toward the fish, acting as if he was about to kiss it.

Right when Flo let go of the arrow to shoot it, the fish wiggled out of Sokka's grip and whacked the boy in the face. The arrow missed and lodged itself into a rock as Sokka fell backwards into the water. The fish then swam and jumped in Flo's face, causing her to yelp and jump in surprise, only to slip and fall into the water as well. Flo popped through the surface and sputtered, spat out water; one hand gripped the bow deathly tight. As Sokka resurfaced as well, she glared at him.

Sokka crossed his arms and pouted. Flo mumbled something about getting out of the water, and did just that as he begrudgingly followed.

"Stop teasing him, Sokka," Katara told her brother. "Aang's just a good friend," she said and rubbed his head before doing the same to Momo. "A sweet little guy – just like Momo."

Aang's shoulders slumped. "Thanks."

Flo crossed her arms over herself and went over to her things. She put her cloak on and then settled the quiver of arrows and bow on her back. She froze as a growl was heard, and Aang used his airbending to get to the top of the rock she sat on earlier.

He pointed in the direction the growl was heard. "Someone's getting attacked by a platypus bear!"

In an instant, the three of them ran down the side of the river bank to get to the man and the platypus bear. Aang got there first, and Flo, Katara and Sokka weren't too far behind him. They shouted different ways to get away from the bear at the man, though he didn't listen. He wasn't even scared, which baffled Flo, because she had a run in with a platypus bear once and it was not fun. At all. Would not recommend it. The platypus bear only stopped attacking the weirdly calm man when Appa walked up behind it and roared, startling the predator so badly it laid an egg. The platypus bear quickly left to the river and swam away.

Sokka quickly ran for the egg. "Mmh, lunch!" he exclaimed and picked it up. He turned to the calm man with a smug expression. "Luck for you we came along."

"Thanks, but everything was already under control," the man said. "Not to worry, Aunt Wu predicted I'd have a safe journey." He then folded his hands in front of himself and bowed.

"Aunt who?" Aang asked.

"No, Aunt Wu. She's the fortune teller from my village. Awful nice knowing your future," the man said, smiling happily.

"Wow, must be," said Katara. "That explains why you were so calm."

Sokka was quick to argue. "But the fortune teller was wrong! You didn't have a safe journey, you were almost killed!"

The man just continued to smile, which unnerved Flo. "But I wasn't. All right, have a good one!" He started to leave, but stopped and turned back to them. "Oh, and Aunt Wu said if I met any travelers, to give them these." He hands Aang two objects, both long and thin and wrapped neatly. Finally, the man left, and Flo eyed him warily before looking at the thin packages.

"Maybe we should go see Aunt Wu and learn our fortunes. It could be fun," Katara suggested.

"Oh, come on, that fortune telling stuff is nonsense," Sokka said.

Flo took one of the packages when Aang handed it to her. Aang hurried to unwrap the one he still had and Flo took her time. "Maybe," she mumbled.

"What do you mean maybe?" Sokka instantly asked incredulously, voice rising an octave.

She shrugged. "I dunno. I'm skeptical but..." Her eyebrows rose after she finished unwrapping the package.

"What do ya know? Umbrellas!" Aang grinned. He popped open the umbrella he held and quickly held it over himself with closed eyes only to open them as thunder sounded. Rain instantly started to pour down on them, and Flo struggled with her umbrella for a moment before she finally opened it and held it like Aang.

Meanwhile, Katara waterbent the rain above her in an arch until she stood beside Aang under the umbrella. "That proves it!"

"No it doesn't!" Sokka held the egg over himself in a poor attempt to deflect the rain. "You can't really tell the future."

"I guess you're not really getting wet, then."

Just then, the egg slipped out of Sokka's grip. He tried and failed to catch it; the egg landed and cracked on his head. Flo let herself smirk in amusement. "Looks like you're having scrambled eggs for lunch," she said.

Sokka huffed in annoyance, though he purses his lips into a frown to keep from smiling at Flo's little joke. He was in a sour mood and too stubborn to let anything properly amuse at the moment. Even on the walk to the village, he refused Flo's offer to use the umbrella with her, only complaining about the fortune telling nonsense.

+++

"Aunt Wu is expecting you."

That's not creepy at all. Flo refrained from making a face, though she and Sokka did share a look that easily conveyed one another's thoughts. Katara, on the other hand, clearly didn't think anything of it, if her wide and excited eyes were anything to go by. Aang seemed to be on the same page as the waterbender, at least for the moment.

The four of them walked inside of the building as the herald opened the door, and once they're inside he closed it. Flo looked around, barely taking note of the young girl in a pink kimono as she walked to them. It was a nice place, she had to admit. Maybe more than nice; at least to her standards. She was assuming Aunt Wu's place was a little more than nice. From being dirt poor, and then living in the woods, and now traveling via flying bison, Flo bet her concept of nice homes wasn't all that impressive. All of that didn't deter from the fact that Flo felt awkward inside the building though. In fact, it probably added on to it.

"My name is Meng, and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant," the young girl introduced herself.

Flo looked at her and her large, stiff braids. When they made eye contact, Flo gave a slightly forced smile.

Meng politely smiled back, and then she looked to Aang, who stood hunched over with a bored expression. "Well, hello there," she greeted.

Aang rubbed his nose. "Hello."

Flo stepped away from the two at that and sat down on one of the seating pillows carefully. Katara followed suit, as did Aang, and Sokka stayed standing for a moment.

"Can I get you some tea, or some of Aunt Wu's special bean curd puffs?" Meng asked Aang.

"I'll try a curd puff."

The girl held out her hand to stop Sokka. "Hang on a second," she said. Meng bent down to address Aang once again. "So what's your name?"

"Aang."

"That rhymes with Meng! And you've got some pretty big ears, don't you?"

The airbender quickly became confused. "I guess..."

"Oh, don't be modest," said Sokka, now sitting. "They're huge!" He spread out his arms wide, which earned him a frustrated look from both Aang and Flo. When Aang pressed his hands over his ears, the archer kicked Sokka's side. He quickly turned to her. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Be nice," was all Flo said. She then pulled her legs up to her chest and comfortably wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Well Aang, it is very nice to meet you," Meng said. She ignored the others' conversation. "Very nice."

"Likewise."

With that, Meng left, presumably to get the bean curd puffs. Sokka slouched and leaned back on his hands with one leg stretched out. "I can't believe we're in this house of nonsense," he said.

"Try to keep an open mind, Sokka," Katara spoke up. "There are things in this world that just can't be explained. Wouldn't it be nice to have some insight on your future?"

"It would be nice to have some bean curd puffs."

Right at that moment, Flo's stomach decided to growl loudly in hunger. Flo's eyes widened drastically as the others slowly turned to look at her, and she subconsciously wrapped one arm around her stomach.

Katara and Aang both started to laugh, and Sokka grinned. "See! Flo's stomach agrees with me!"

Flo half heartedly rolled her eyes. She hoped the embarrassed blush on her cheeks wasn't that noticeable, but one glance at how Sokka was still amused, she doubted that her hopes were true. Her stomach growled again, quieter this time. Sokka still heard it, and snickered. Her cheeks flushed pink some more. Luckily, he was unable to say anything as Meng came back in just as a young woman exited one of the rooms.

"Oh, Meng! Aunt Wu says I'm going to meet my true love! He's going to give me a rare panda lilly," the woman told the girl.

"That's so romantic," Meng said dreamily. She looked over her shoulder and to Aang. "I wonder if my true love will give me a rare flower."

Aang noticed her staring and smiled. "Good luck with that."

The woman giggled, then said something to Meng that made the girl quickly push her away with red cheeks. Meng brought the curd puffs over. She nearly tripped, but Aang steadied her, making her blush before she quickly moved away. Flo watched, amused.

"Enjoy your snack!" Meng said, and left without another word.

Sokka took the plate of bean curd puffs from Aang just as an older woman walked in. Her hair was done up and dark grey with lighter streaks near the temples. Purple eyeshadow covered her eyelids, and she wore red lipstick that matched with the red in her mostly golden yellow kimono. Flo didn't need anyone to tell her that that was Aunt Wu.

"Welcome young travelers," Aunt Wu greeted the group. "Now, who's next? Don't be shy."

When Aunt Wu looked straight at her, Flo instantly avoided eye contact and looked at both Sokka and Aang, both of whom looked uninterested. They boys looked away from Aunt Wu as well. When neither her nor Sokka said anything, Aang looked at Katara. She eyed her three friends.

Katara immediately started to stand. "I guess that's me." She walked to Aunt Wu, and the two left the room and went down the hall.

Once they were out of sight, Flo sat criss-cross and took the curd puffs from Sokka. He made a small sound of protest but let her take it anyway, but not without grabbing a handful and stuffing his face. Flo tossed one into her mouth, happily humming at the taste.

"Not bad, not bad," Sokka said with a mouthful of food. He took a few more, ate two, and then offered the third to Aang.

"I'm good on puffs," Aang said. "So... What do you think they're talking about back there?" he asked. He rubbed the back of his head as he stared in the direction Katara had left with the fortune teller.

"Boring stuff, I'm sure," Sokka replied when Flo didn't. He picked up a tea cup and held it up with his pinky out, eyes closed. Flo stuffed a puff in her mouth to keep from smiling at his antics. "Love. Who she's gonna marry. How many babies she's gonna have." He sipped the tea, unaware of Aang's panicked expression, though Flo saw it clearly.

"Yeah... Dumb stuff like that. Well I gotta find a bathroom!" Aang jumped up and ran into the hall.

Flo watched him, but quickly returned to the bean curd puffs. She tossed one in the air and caught it in her mouth with ease as Sokka laid down on the other pillows, head propped up by his hand and elbow. It was quiet between them for a moment. After eating another curd puff, Flo handed them off to Sokka.

"So," he started, sitting up to eat. He swallowed before continuing. "Do you believe in this nonsense?"

Flo shrugged. "Dunno," she said. She watched as he placed the curd puffs down, only for Momo to run over and snatch the bowl away. The lemur ran off to the other side of the room where he ate the puffs with Sleemo. "It would be cool, I guess," she admitted, and looked back at the other teen.

He hummed. "Do you want to know your future? Like, I dunno, your... Husband, mayhaps?" He wiggles his eyebrows in an attempt to get some sort of reaction from her. It didn't work.

She refrained from correcting him at the moment – that, if (which was a very big 'if') she ever got married, it might very well be a woman or someone else entirely – and just shrugged.

Sokka sighed. "Oh, c'mon, there has to be something."

"Not really," she said. A lie, but he didn't need to know that. So, she moved the topic from herself. "What about you?"

He thought for a second. "I guess it would be nice to know if the war ends," he admitted.

Flo couldn't help but agree.

+++

Aunt Wu seemed to be an actually nice person. Flo hadn't really thought she wasn't, but she never exactly met a fortune teller before, so her mind pictured an ancient old, sketchy lady with secret intents to harm her customers in the long run. Of course, Aunt was weird, at least in Flo's eyes, but not as sketchy as she first thought, nor did she seem like someone to sabotage the lives of others. It was just that, Flo didn't know whether to believe all the mumbo-jumbo fortune teller nonsense. She had a distant memory of one of her sisters talking about it, believing in it full heartedly, and although Flo couldn't remember whether it was Ju-Li or Lei, she did distinctly remember everyone else being as skeptical as Sokka, though less harsh.

Flo wanted to believe, really. Like she told Aang that one time and Sokka moments beforehand, it would be cool if someone could tell the future of other people. But then again, it wouldn't exactly be cool to get lied to about how your future might pan out, so. Yeah. Flo was skeptical.

Did that stop her from following Aunt Wu into the room where the woman told fortunes to others? No. Despite her apprehension on the situation and the woman's abilities, Flo was still very curious. Her past was full of loss after loss after loss, which had been followed by pain, and nothing really followed that because she isolated herself by running away instead of being taken to an orphanage or one of the Fire Nation colonies. She wondered what Aunt Wu had to say about her future. Was it as terrible as her past? Better? Worse? Did a future for her even exist? If she did, would she get a family again?

So she lied to Sokka about not really wanting to know anything, big deal. She wasn't about to unleash her dark thoughts about how she wondered if she might follow in most of her siblings' footsteps and die as a teenager because of the war all over the world. Flo frowned as that thought raced around in her mind again. Today wasn't the first time something like that popped into her mind. It happened every so often. Just as quickly as it came to her though, Flo got pulled back into the real world as Aang ran out of Aunt Wu's room excitedly.

"Flo, you gotta go get your fortune told! It's great!" Aang yelled.

She blinked rapidly. "Uh, why?"

"I just told you: it's great!" He wore a wide, happy grin as he stood in front of her. He spread his arms out as if he were presenting some sort of prize.

She heard Aunt Wu chuckle at the boy as she walked into the main area just as Katara said, "Don't let Sokka's anger influence you, Flo. It really is fun!"

Flo licked her lips and hesitantly flicked her eyes over to the woman. She then looked at Aang, who looked just a split second away from begging. The teen relented. "Fine," she said. "I'll go."

"Yes!"

"Ugh."

"Yay!"

Flo stood with Sleemo in her arms. Sleemo then lazily moved to perch on her shoulder. Both the girl and the hawk-cat froze when Aunt Wu made a sound at the back of her throat, followed by, "Ah, I am sorry, but no animals are allowed in the room when I do readings."

"Oh," Flo mumbled. She faltered for a moment. She was used to Sleemo following her everywhere – with the exception of Omashu because Flo hadn't wanted to lose Sleemo to anyone who wanted to 'collect' rare breeds – and it shouldn't be that big of a deal, really. And it's not, Flo thought. Flo knew. So, she turned a bit and addressed Aang. "Hey, you mind–?"

He beamed. "Of course!" Aang stuck out one arm. "Come on, Sleemo! It's time the two of us bond." Sleemo easily went to the airbender. Suddenly, Momo flew to Aang's other arm, obviously jealous of the sudden attention.

With that, Flo followed Aunt Wu into the separate room.

"Little brother?" Aunt Wu asked conversationally when she closed the door shut.

Immediately Flo became confused. "Huh?" she said, because she lacked manners and the last sane adult she talked to was... Haru's mother. Even then, she didn't even speak to the woman that much, if at all. Wow, she thought.

"The boy with the arrow tattoos," Aunt Wu explained. "Is he your little brother? It's obvious you're not blood related, but adoption is a thing."

Flo's brows shoot up to her hairline. "Oh. No." She paused. "Uh, ma'am."

When the old woman hummed thoughtfully, Flo's brows furrowed as confusion filled her once again. She didn't ask why Aunt Wu asked what she did or what Aang or she did to make Aunt Wu think he's her little brother, and sat down by a fire with burnt and cracked bones.

"Would you like to know anything specific? Both of your friends did. I'm assuming you do as well," Aunt Wu said.

Flo bit back the urge to correct her, to say that they weren't her friends; it became a habit to do so, though now it felt as if she did just that, that it was some sort of lie. "Um," she started. Shrugged. "I guess... Whatever they wanted to know."

Aunt Wu hummed thoughtfully. "So love, then?"

She instantly felt her cheeks start to warm. "...Sure."

"It is quite a popular topic – everyone wants to know about their true love, it seems," Aunt Wu told her with a smile. "No surprise a beautiful young girl like you feels the same."

Flo tensed and awkwardly chuckled. "Uh-huh." She shifted slightly. "So..."

"Pick a bone." An urn of bones was thrust into her line of sight. "Throwing one into the fire is the most reliable way to tell fortunes. Like I told your bro– excuse me, sorry," she chuckled, "your friend, the bones never lie." Once Flo picked a random one, medium in size, Aunt Wu continued. "Now, put it in the fire."

Flo hesitated, uncertain. Then, finally tossed it into the fire and both of them watched as it started to crack. And crack, and crack some more. Big and small, wide and thin.

Flo wondered what type of bones Aunt Wu used.

Aunt Wu hummed. She sounded pleased. "The bone you picked has all good things," she said. "Let's see... Ah, very nice. Your true love has a warrior's heart – oh, and you've met already! How wonderful!"

Flo nearly choked on air. Her cheeks reddened, even more so when the only person she could think of was Suki, or one of the other Kyoshi Warriors. Which wasn't a bad thing at all when Flo actually thought about it.

"This fortune is being very persistent about how he will not abandon you, either. Very intelligent, too."

'He'. Okay. What.

"You will live a happy life with friends and family alike. A reunion is definitely in your future as well – it is important to your life's journey."

May she repeat: What. "Reunion?" Flo asked. "With who?" There was no one she could think of to have a reunion with. She already had one with her ex and looked at how that turned out.

"Well, your family, of course," Aunt Wu said as if it were obvious.

A brick of dread fell deep into her gut. "Oh," she forced out and hoped she didn't sound as out of breath as she felt. "Of course."

"There's more, if you would like to hear it?"

Flo suddenly felt sick. "No. I'm- uh... I'm good, thanks," she stumbled on her words, wincing slightly.

Aunt Wu smiled kindly. "Always a pleasure."

+++

Fifteen minutes later, while the other three walk around the village once they left Aunt Wu's place, Flo made a beeline to the entrance of said village. She left, walked a few feet into the woods, and then puked up the bean curd puffs from earlier into some bushes. She took one glove off, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and then wiped her hand on the grass. She made sure her hand wasn't dirty before putting the glove back on.

She climbed one of the trees and sat on a sturdy enough branch. Sleemo soon found her and kept the girl company as she sat there, filled with dread and fear and panic. She still had her doubts about Aunt Wu's fortunes being true, but that didn't dissuade the inner turmoil about how there was the slightest chance what the woman told her might come true.

And she said the bone had all good things – what a load of bullshit.

Flo stayed on the branch for a long while, stuck between believing Aunt Wu like Katara and Aang, and silently siding with Sokka about it all being nonsense. No one came looking for her, surprisingly, so she stayed put. She thought. Tried not to panic. Things had finally started to look up a little bit, so to be told that she would have a reunion with her family – all of whom were dead – made her figuratively and literally sick. Her stomach rolled at the thought, and she curled in on herself, groaning.

Eventually, after thinking some more, Flo came up with the idea to visit Aunt Wu again, because she couldn't really think it out by herself and since Aunt Wu said there was more to her fortune, maybe Aunt Wu would tell her the rest of it to clear things up. Maybe. Hopefully. With that, after an unknown amount of time went by, Flo got out of the tree and walked back to the village with Sleemo at her heels. She went to Aunt Wu's place, only to see Katara already standing at the door.

"Katara?"

The girl turned her head to look at Flo, a bit surprised. "Flo. Hey, where have you been?" she asked.

"Thinking," Flo said honestly.

Katara nodded, okay with the answer, and faced the door again with a glare. Before she could say anything though, Aang and Sokka walked up. "Hi, Katara. Hi, Flo," Aang greeted while Sokka stood with his hands on his hips.

Katara thrusted a hand out in anger. "Can you believe she won't let me in? And after all the business I've given her?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips like her brother. Flo immediately knew what Katara had been doing while she was gone.

"But she doesn't even charge," Aang said.

"I know, but still."

"Well, we have other things to worry about," Sokka butted in before either of the two younger ones had a chance to continue the conversation.

Flo frowned. "We do?"

"Aunt Wu was wrong about the volcano," he said as if it explained everything. And it might to Katara and Aang, but it didn't to Flo.

At the obvious confused look, Katara explained, "Aunt Wu predicted the future with the clouds earlier. Said the town won't be destroyed by the volcano this year." She pointed to said volcano that Flo just noticed was starting to smoke a bit. Her brow lifted in disbelief while Katara continued, this time to Sokka. "Sokka, you've tried to convince me she was wrong before. It's gonna take an awful lot to change my min–."

The sound of a small eruption cut Katara off. The little bit of smoke became a large plume of smoke and ash. It rose high in the sky, dark and ominous. Flo felt a little bad for a bit of relief she felt at the prospect of the village being in danger. That feeling was replaced with worry, and rather quickly too. An entire village was in danger. Again. The four of them ran from Aunt Wu's place and to town square where they immediately tried to warn the people.

"Everyone! That volcano is going to blow any second!" Sokka shouted. "Aunt Wu was wrong!"

An older girl near the front of the crowd spoke up. "Yeah, yeah, we know you don't believe in Aunt Wu, Mr. Science-and-Reason-Lover."

"If you won't listen to him, maybe you'll listen to me. I want to believe Aunt Wu and her predictions as much as you do, but my brother and Aang saw the lava with their own eyes," Katara told the crowd.

The weirdly calm man who nearly got killed by the platypus bear spoke next. "Well, I heard Aunt Wu's prediction with my own ears."

Aang used his airbending to stand on the edge of the roof of the building they stood beside. "Please listen to us! You are all in danger! And we have to get out of here. You can't rely on Aunt Wu's predictions. You have to take fate into your own hands!"

The volcano let out another explosion, and Sokka pointed towards it. "Look! Can your fortune telling explain that?"

"Can your science explain why it rains?" a random man asked while a few people around him started to disperse.

"Yes! Yes, it can!"

"And what about you?" Flo turned her head to see the same older girl from earlier. She was looking at Flo expectantly, waiting for a chance to mock her like she did Sokka. "You haven't said anything."

Flo stayed silent for a moment and just stared at the older girl. She breathed, then out. And said, "You're all idiots if you can't see that the volcano is going to erupt. I don't exactly want to waste my breath explaining something so simple and obvious to a bunch of idiots."

The girl looked taken back. She quickly scoffed and changed her expression to a sneer. "I could say the same thing regarding the truth of Aunt Wu to your friends, here. Especially that one. He is the idiot. Not us."

Flo bristled. "Excuse me?" Her shoulders became squared, she stood straighter, and her brows lowered, lips curling downward. She took a step forward. Sokka quickly noticed she wore the same look she had when with Jet, and as much as he wanted to see if Flo would punch a stranger, they had more important things to do. "I don't really care who's right, you do not insult–."

"Okay!" Sokka exclaimed with a forced laugh. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Enough of that, let's go! It's fine, seriously, let's find Katara and Aang." He pushed at her shoulders and forced her to walk away. "We gotta deal with the exploding volcano first. Then you can defend our honor, got it?"

Flo grumbled. "Fine," she bit out.

+++

Turned out, dealing with the exploding volcano meant sneaking into Aunt Wu's home and stealing her little cloud fortune telling book thing. The plan was that Katara and Aang would fly into the clouds on Appa and with their bending abilities shift the clouds into the right symbol. On the ground, meanwhile, Flo and Sokka would find Aunt Wu, lead her to the town square, and show her the changing clouds. It worked.

Within minutes, everyone believed that the village was in grave danger and that there was a very high chance that the volcano might definitely destroy their homes if they didn't figure out a way to keep the lava away. The next plan, thanks to Sokka, was to dig a trench around the village and to the river. Flo really didn't think it would work completely, only that it would help a little bit, but that didn't stop her from digging with everyone else as fast as possible. Even the animals helped. Appa carried large boulders to the earthbenders, and Momo flew around and placed smaller rocks on the edges of the trench. Sleemo even attempted to dig along with the people.

Gradually, the sky got darker – both from the sun setting and the clouds of smoke and ash from the volcano as it continued to let out explosions every so often. The top started to become bright and orange as lava began to overflow the caldera and down the mountain. And every time, the ground shook with the force of the explosions. Once the trench connected to the river, Aang ordered the people of the village to evacuate. He stayed, along with Flo, Katara and Sokka, and watched as the volcano erupted with scorching hot lava. Ash rained down on them, but in the moment none of the kids seemed to mind.

Flo peered over the edge of the trench with the others as lava filled it too fast for comfort. "This doesn't look good," she mumbled.

"It's too much!" Katara shouted. "It's going to overflow!"

The ground shook when another eruption came from the volcano. It was so strong that Flo nearly slipped, but Katara quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her close. Flo didn't hesitate to latch onto Katara's arm as well. Quickly, they ran from the ledge of the trench, Sokka beside them, but Aang stayed. When they got to the buildings, the three stopped and watched. A burning boulder from the volcano landed in the trench of lava. It sent a wave of lava up, threatening the village, but Aang acted fast. He jumped high, gathered a bunch of air, and used it to harden the lava before it could cover the village. It created a curved wall around everything.

"Man... Sometimes I forget what a powerful bender that kid is," Sokka said.

Katara started. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"Nothing. Just that Aang is one powerful bender."

Flo, curious, snuck a glance at Katara. She turned and looked back at Aang, a look in her eyes Flo couldn't exactly explain.

"I suppose he is..."

+++

The next day, the village was safe. The volcano still smoked but it seemed to no longer be a threat. Everyone was back in the village and most of the people stood in the town square, Flo included.

Aang stood in front of Aunt Wu. He sheepishly smiled as he looked at the ground, one hand holding Aunt Wu's book. "By the way, we kinda borrowed your book," he told her.

"So you messed with the clouds did you?" she asked as she took it back. Her eyes landed on the three teens behind Aang, various looks of guilt and sheepishness on their features. Instead of being mad, she laughed. "Very clever!"

"No offense, but I hope this taught everyone a lesson about not relying too much on fortune telling," Sokka said to the crowd.

"But Aunt Wu predicted the village wouldn't be destroyed, and it wasn't. She was right, after all."

While Sokka suddenly appeared in the man's face with a seething, "I hate you," only for Katara to guide him away, Flo got figuratively punched in the gut. She sucked in a sharp breath of air. The man was right: Aunt Wu hadn't been wrong. The fortune teller hadn't exactly been wrong about anything – the situation just didn't go the way everyone thought. Flo felt her hands start to shake, so she crossed her arms. She forced herself to walk to Appa and climbed into the saddle. She hid her relief when neither Sokka nor Katara asked if she was okay when they glanced at her.

After talking to Aunt Wu some more, Aang finally joined them. They said their goodbyes to the villagers, and soon enough Katara guided Appa into the air with a simple, "Yip, yip!"

The other three started to converse with one another, but Flo kept to herself, filled with dread and fear once again.

***

A/N— Flo: *finally catching a break*
Aunt Wu: you're going to reunite with your (dead) family!!!
Flo, suddenly having a crisis: what the fuck

Lmao :)

Anyway! We get to see pissed off!Flo again next chapter, so. Take that as you want. Also you guys get meet Leiko in the next chapter too! She's the big sis of Denji, aka the main character from my Suki fic, Ocean's Calling. But anyway it's like....1 AM where I'm at right now so I'm gonna go to bed now lmao. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!