CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
( THE LOVER'S CAVE )

SPRING TIME MEANT A lot of things: warmer weather, baby animals, flowers, new plant growth in general, bees, other annoying insects, and the ability to get in the water without freezing to death.

Katara and Aang stood in the shallow area of a lake they found. She was in what was basically her under wrappings, but used them as an impromptu swimsuit. He was just in his pants. They were rolled up to his knees as a way to keep them from getting too wet. Sokka currently laid in a large leaf and floated around in slightly deeper areas of the lake. His hair was down and he used his under wrappings as a swimsuit just like Katara. Momo and Sleemo slept on his chest and stomach.

Flo wore an actual swimsuit. It was one she stole from a well off town during her time with the Freedom Fighters. It was nothing special. Just two pieces of dark green clothing; the top wrapped around her chest with no sleeves, and the bottom was more like a small skirt. Her hair was tied up into a low bun so it wouldn't stick to her skin with sweat.

She laid on top of an arched rock. It was mossy and grassy, so she used her cloak as a makeshift towel so the grass wouldn't bother her. She was on her stomach, using her arms as a pillow as tried to take a nap. Sleep was still hard to get during the night, but naps helped her from being exhausted all day.

Unfortunately, a nap did not seem likely this time. She decided to just rest anyway, and take advantage of not having to do anything at the current moment in time.

"You guys are gonna be done soon, right?" She heard Sokka ask. "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today."

"What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy?" teased Katara.

"I could be ready in two minutes. Seriously. Whenever."

"Well, Flo seems to be enjoying her sunbathing," she said. "Why aren't you pestering her about leaving?"

"I'm sure she can get ready fast, too. Right, Flo?"

"Don't bring me into your silly little arguments," Flo said without even opening her eyes to look at them. "As long as their waterbending lesson isn't too long, we'll be fine for time."

"So, you were showing me the octopus form," Aang said to Katara.

Flo partially tuned them out. She didn't bother paying attention to anything they were doing – until she heard music.

With furrowed brows, she pushed up onto her elbows and looked toward the woods. A man humming was soon able to be heard. It was familiar – both the voice and the music. It didn't take long for her to figure out why, or even put a name to the voice. She groaned, chin dropping.

"Don't fall in love with a traveling girl," Chong sang. "She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted."

Flo got up, grabbed her cloak and bundled it over her left arm, and climbed down the rock. She stood in the shallow water next to Aang as the group came closer. Chong, Lily, and Moku and the others looked no different than the last time she saw them ages ago. The singing group of nomads stopped when they saw Aang, Katara, Flo, and Sokka (who fell out of the leaf he was using as a float). The music died off.

"Hey-hey!" Chong exclaimed. "River people."

Lily made eye contact with Flo. "And our favorite vagabond."

She waved with one hand. "Hi, guys."

It's been a long time since she last saw them; it was a bit before she joined the Freedom Fighters. That certainly wasn't the first time she met them, though. She had been ten when did, during a week of bad weather shortly after she first ran away. They talked her into staying and traveling with them until things calmed down, and the moment the weather permitted it, she left. Ever since then they occasionally ran into each other over the years. Sometimes Flo intentionally sought them out when she was too hungry to steal or hunt for food, because she knew they would have something.

It wasn't often, though. Maybe a few times a year, but that was it.

They were...an interesting group of people, for sure. Flo was pretty positive that they were on some sort of drugs or something.

"Flo, it's good to see you!" Chong smiled. "You've grown, kid. So you're with these river people now?"

"We aren't river people," said Katara.

"You're not? Well, then what kinda people are ya?"

"Just...people," said Aang.

"Aren't we all, brother? Hoo!"

Sokka walked up, splashing water with each step. He pointed at Chong. "Who are you?"

"I'm Chong," he introduced. "And this is my wife, Lily. We're nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us." He strummed his instrument and sang gibberish.

Aang smiled. "You guys are nomads?! That's great! I'm a nomad!"

"Hey! I'm a nomad!"

"I know." said Aang. His smile went away as he raised an eyebrow. "You just said that."

"Oh." He looked at Sokka. "Nice underwear."

There was a short second where no one moved. Then, as quick as lightning, Sokka took Momo off of his shoulder and held the lemur in front of himself. He made a quick exit.

Flo shook her head. "Stop being so weird, Chong."

"No can do, tiny tot."

She made a face, annoyed and embarrassed at the nickname.

Katara giggled. She stepped closer to Flo. "Tiny tot?"

"I met them when I was ten," Flo muttered. "I was a small kid."

"I think the right term is scrawny," Moku said.

"But you've grown now!" Lily commented with a grin.

"And you have a wicked scar," noted Chong.

Flo stilled; her grip on the wadded up cloak tightened. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aang look at her. Her lips formed into a thin line and her brows lowered; she had succeeded in not thinking about it all day until now. It was a large, ugly thing that she didn't even intentionally look at unless absolutely necessary.

She placed her cloak over her shoulders so it covered the scar on her side, and walked off without a word.

"...Did I say something?"

+++

Flo didn't stop walking until she got to a spot that was a good distance from everyone else. She had grabbed her clothes on the way, and moved to change out of the swimsuit only to pause as she caught her reflection in the water. It's been a while since she's really looked at herself, took in her own appearance; probably not since Kyoshi Island, and that was a few or so months ago.

Back then she looked rough, thanks to injuries from the attack and how skinny she had been, unhealthily so. Now, she didn't have any injuries save for the healing bruises she got from the large earth coin that fell on her, and she was still skinny but her ribs weren't as prominent. If she had her hair out of the bun, she knew it would be a few inches past her shoulders and her bangs might need to be cut soon, and thanks to her lack of sleep she still had dark eye bags.

And then there were the scars.

The large one on her side wasn't as big or ugly as it could've been. The healers did what they could with the damage already done and with their hands full of other injured, worse off warriors who kept their attentions. There was the one on her right wrist. It was easier to look at than the other one; less ugly, smaller. Finally, there were the scars that Flo intentionally never thought about, and it was easy to do so because if they were out of sight, they were out of her mind – especially during the winter months.

But now? The fabric of the swimsuit bottom she wore hardly covered the small and thin, straight, pale scars on the upper part of her thighs and just above her hips. It was the same on her left forearm where she always wore the arm guard. She hated those scars worst of all.

They weren't noticeable unless you were close, which was partly why, other than to try to nap, that she climbed onto the arched rock in the lake. She didn't want the others to see or question them, and she most certainly didn't want to explain anything.

Besides, she didn't do it anymore, so there's no point in telling anyone, anyway.

Flo's jaw clenched and she glared at herself. Her left hand balled into a fist, and as she stepped away from the water, she absentmindedly rubbed at her forearm with her other hand.

Immediately, Flo shoved all those thoughts away as best as she could in that moment and got dressed – a moss green tunic with short sleeves and light brown on the edges, tan pants, a brown belt she kept her dagger and it's sheath on, brown boots, the bracer to keep her arm protected from her bow's string, and her fingerless gloves. She fixed her hair into the usual half-updo she did, and tried to figure out if she wanted to go back to the others or stay by herself for a bit longer.

She made up her mind quickly once she heard rustling in the woods to her right. Just in case it was a dangerous wild animal or, spirits forbid, a Fire Nation soldier, she ran to one of the trees and climbed it. She hid in the tree's foliage, and crouched on a limb.

Sokka stepped into the clearing. He tripped over a root and nearly face planted, but quickly righted himself.

The tension in Flo's shoulders eased away.

"Flo? Are you over here?"

When he got close to the tree she was in, she quietly broke off small branch and threw it. Sokka whirled around when it audibly landed.

"Uh. What was that?" Silence answered. "...Hello?"

Flo climbed down and landed on silent feet behind him. She watched in amusement as Sokka turned back around. Immediately, his eyes widened as he yelled, stumbling back. He tripped over his own feet and fell with a harsh thump.

She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing, and leaned over him with a raised brow.

"Why do you keep doing that?!" he yelled, one hand clutching at his heart.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she lied. She stuck out her hand, and he grabbed it without hesitation so she could help him back on his feet.

"Yes, you do! The- the sneaking up on me, and scaring me." He wagged a finger in her face, but his other hand didn't let go of hers. "I swear you do it on purpose!"

Flo didn't respond. Just let one corner of her mouth quirk up.

"You do, admit it," he said, taking a step closer and beginning to smile.

For a moment, Flo's brain stopped. All thoughts froze. She could only take in how close to her he now stood, and almost had to physically shake her head to get her mind working again.

"I think you just need to work on your spacial awareness," she said. She took a step back, and finally pulled her hand from his. Her arms crossed over her chest. "It's a good skill to have."

"I think you find scaring me funny."

"I don't find anything funny. I've never laughed in my life."

Sokka smirked. "See, I know that's a lie. You admitted you find some of my jokes funny at- at Yue's birthday celebration."

There was a split second of sorrow that washed through her at the mention of the princess, but she pushed it aside. Flo shook her head. "No, I didn't," she lied.

"Uh, yes, you did."

"Okay, then prove it."

He stilled. She raised an expectant eyebrow. "...Okay, well, I can't do that," he relented. "But! But you did call me a court jester. So, ha!" He crossed his arms and leaned forward a little as he stuck out his tongue at her.

Admittedly, Flo almost laughed at that simply because of how childish the action was. Something must have shown on her face, because Sokka grinned. She rolled her eyes, an action to hide the fact that she was avoiding eye contact. "I was teasing you. That doesn't mean anything," she said. Then, abruptly, she pushed his head away from her the same moment she stepped away. "Get out of my face. Why were you looking for me, anyway?"

He tried to push at her shoulder as retaliation, but she moved before he could even touch her. The motion almost sent him falling forward, but he steadied himself quickly and acted as if nothing happened, brushing invisible dirt off of his tunic.

"To tell you that we need to leave for Omashu," he said. His goofy demeanor shifted into something more serious at the mention of leaving. "We've wasted enough daylight already."

Her eyes lifted to the sky to check on the position of the sun. "We still have some time," she said. "We should still get there today as long as there aren't too many distractions."

"There should be no distractions," he grumbled.

"We would have to put Aang in a coma for that to happen."

"Like you would ever let that happen," he said, and walked beside her as they made their way back to the others.

+++

When they got to the group, Aang spotted them instantly and said with a grin, "Hey, guys. You should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere!"

The sight of everyone in flower crowns took Flo aback for a short moment. Even Appa had flowers in his fur, and some pieces were sectioned off and put into braids. Sleemo had a tiny one balanced precariously on her head between her ears; she was in Aang's lap as he carefully combed through her feathers.

"Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead, but where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs," said Chong. "I'm sure our vagabond friend knows some, too."

Katara looked at her curiously. "Do you?"

Flo hesitated. "Uh. No."

Her curious expression turned doubtful. "Uh-huh."

"They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler," Aang said excitedly.

Moku told them, "On the way, there's a waterfall that makes a never ending rainbow!" As he said this, he rolled onto his back and spread out his arms.

"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy I guess it's up to me," said Sokka. "We have to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows."

"Whoa, sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever." Chong chuckled. "You're worried too much about where you're goin'."

"You gotta focus less on the where and more on the going," said Lily.

"O. Ma. Shu!" He crossed his arms.

Flo walked over to Aang to pick up Sleemo. "I know you want to visit more places," she said to him, "but we really do need to get to Omashu today. That won't happen unless we leave right now."

He pouted. "Just one more stop?"

"No."

"But that's boring!"

Chong nodded in agreement. "Little arrowhead is right."

"It may be more fun, but Sokka and Flo have a point. We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe," Katara agreed.

"Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu."

Sokka smacked his forehead, and Flo couldn't stop herself from looking at the man like he was stupid.

"There's an old story about a secret pass... Right through the mountains."

Something about that sounded familiar. She tried to figure out why, and wracked her brain for any old stories she might've been told as a kid.

Katara dubiously asked, "Is this real or a legend?"

"Oh, it's a real legend alright. And it's as old as earthbending itself."

That made it click in her head. Flo blurted, "Wait, you mean the story of how Omashu became a city?"

Lily smiled and nodded. "Exactly that. You have heard it, then?"

"My oldest sister used to ask our dad to tell it to us all the time. It's a love story, or something."

Sokka groaned. "A love story?"

"And there's a song about it," Moku happily said.

Chong began to play his instrument. The others were quick to join and move side to side with the beat.

"Two lovers forbidden from one another," the man sang. "A war divides their people, and a mountain divides them apart. Built a path to be together. Yeah, I forgot the next couple of lines but then it goes... Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountain! Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!"

Everyone except for Sokka applauded. Even Flo clapped softly a few times, since Sleemo had moved to her shoulder during the short song.

"I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine," Sokka said.

Aang stood. "Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground. And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable."

+++

"Launch!"

Tens of fireballs came at them. Appa flew as fast as he could, and dodged all of them. Flo, Katara, Aang, and Sokka all screamed as the swarm of fireballs didn't stop. They turned around and flew away the moment they were able. When they landed, they all walked back to Chong and the other nomads, shoulders slumped and covered in soot.

Sokka pointed. "Secret love cave, let's go."

+++

Flo's chest was tight with anxiety. She wanted to say she didn't know why, but she did. Those fireballs had gotten too close for comfort, and the unfortunately familiar feeling of burning flames near her and the smell of smoke sent her mind whirling.

Now, she's always been cautious of fire – as was every other person with common sense – but she never considered herself afraid of it. Yet those fireballs being so close had her anxious in a way she hadn't been since the siege. If she thought about it too much, she began to feel faint phantom pains of being burned.

She wrapped one arm around her stomach and gripped the side her scar was on. Her eyes stayed on the ground as she walked, focused on not falling into a panic attack and putting one foot in front of the other. She didn't pay attention to any of the others.

"Labyrinth?!"

"I'm sure we'll figure it out."

The shout from Sokka and Chong's response caught her attention, and she looked to her left, expecting to see Sokka there. He wasn't. She frowned and stopped walking, then turned around. The group had stopped and were now a few steps behind her, but they started again after Chong spoke.

Sokka turned around and jogged a few steps to get back to Flo. "Did the story your dad tell ever mention a labyrinth?" he asked.

"Uh..." The corners of her mouth turned down as she thought, trying to shove away the anxious thoughts to really focus on answering. "I think so. I don't remember. It's been a while."

He groaned frustratedly. "Great."

"All you need to do is trust in love," Lily said. "...According to the curse."

Sokka stilled. Flo stopped after a couple more steps and turned to him. The others continued to walk by. He flailed and shouted. "Curse?!"

Flo reached to grab his wrist and pulled him along as she began to walk without a word. He moved to be at her side again and she let go.

When they made it to the cave, the group stopped at the wide and tall entrance.

"Hey-hey! We're here!" exclaimed Chong.

Flo nudged Aang, who now stood by her, with her elbow. She pointed to the words carved above the entrance. "What does that say?"

He looked to where she pointed. "The Lover's Cave."

"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked.

Chong answered, "The curse says that only those that trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in there forever."

Lily held up a finger. "And die."

"Oh, yeah, and die." He held the dramyin with both hands. "Hey, I remember the rest of that song." He strummed a low, dramatic note and sung deeply, "And die!" The sound echoed through the cave.

"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole," said Sokka.

Moku pointed behind them to a pillar of smoke. Flo turned with the others to see. It gradually grew closer and closer. "Hey, someone's making a big campfire!"

"That's no campfire, Moku," Katara told him.

Sokka said, "It's Fire Nation. They're tracking us."

"Looks like we're going in the cursed hole," Flo said. It earned her an annoyed look from Sokka, and she raised an eyebrow. "Am I wrong?"

He crossed his arms and grumbled. "No."

"So, all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang asked Chong.

"That is correct, Master Arrowhead."

"We can make it," he said determinedly.

Sokka motioned for them to move. "Everyone into the hole!"

Flo planned to wait until everyone else went in before she did to make sure no one got left behind, but Sokka grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him instead. She stumbled at first, having not expected it, but quickly regained her balance. Behind everyone, Appa protested through low groans, but followed anyway.

On either side of the cave walls were carved statues of either animals with human bodies in different poses with weapons in their hands, or of humans wearing some sort of animal mask. She couldn't really tell which as they went in deeper and light became scarce.

The cave began to rumble after they passed all the statues, and the sound of rocks falling met their ears. Everyone turned around to the entrance just in time to watch rocks fall and completely block out the light.

Chong lit a torch immediately. Appa ran to where the entrance used to be and stood up on his hind legs, pawing at the rocks as an attempt to dig them away. Sleemo forced herself into Flo's arms, causing the teen to let go of Sokka's hand so the hawk-cat wouldn't fall. Sleemo's ears and tail twitched unhappily.

Katara walked up to Appa. She petted his fur gently. "It's okay, Appa. We'll be fine." She quietly added, "I hope."

"We will be fine. All we need is a plan." Sokka turned to face Chong. "Chong, how long do those torches last?"

"Um, about two hours each."

Lily said, "And we have five torches, so, that's ten hours." She lit the remaining four.

Flo, who was standing right beside her, sucked in a sharp breath when the two in the hand closest to her got far too close, and she quickly moved away. As Sokka grabbed the torches and stomped them out, she walked over to Katara and Aang.

"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!"

"Oh, right."

He climbed Appa's saddle and searched for paper and ink. "I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."

+++

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," Katara told him.

He held up the map he's put together over the course of walking through the cave system. He held it vertically and horizontally a couple of times, then lowered it back down. "This doesn't make any sense. We already came through this way," he said.

"We don't need a map," Chong said as Sokka passed by him. "We just need love. The little guy knows it."

Aang said, "Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also."

"There's something strange here... There's only one explanation." Sokka rolled up the map and faced everyone. "The tunnels are changing."

Distant rumbling shook the cave. Momo chittered and hid under the orange shawl of Aang's clothes.

Flo looked around with a frown. "We came from that way, right? And we've been here before." She pointed in the direction they came from, then at two more tunnels. "Those weren't there before."

"The tunnels... They're a-changin'!" said Chong. He placed his hands on his head in a distressed manner. "It must be the curse. I knew we shouldn't have come down here."

"Right," Sokka sarcastically said. "If only we listened to you."

"Everyone be quiet. Listen!"

At Katara's order, everyone quieted and stopped walking again. Sleemo sat on her shoulder, head low and ears flat; she felt her tail hit her back as it twitched, and Flo eyed her cautiously when she growled lowly. Sokka took the torch and held it out as he faced deeper into the tunnel they previously started going down. Momo, who had moved to sit on his shoulder, flew off. He watched the lemur leave and fly into Katara's arms, then looked back into the darkness of the tunnel where the noise came from.

A snarling wolf-bat flew toward them out of nowhere.

It knocked Sokka down, but Lily ducked out of the way just in time.

"A giant flying thing with teeth!" shouted Chong.

"No! It's a wolf-bat!" Moku corrected.

As it came flying toward Katara, Sokka ran over and waved the torch to keep it away. Hot embers from the torch flew off and landed on one of Appa's feet, causing him to roar in pain and jump around. Loose rocks began to fall. That same moment, the wolf-bat got too close to Flo for Sleemo's liking, and she bowed her back and hissed before lunging at it. The two animals landed on the ground and rolled a few feet as they snarled and fought.

"Sleemo!" Flo ran over and yanked the wolf-bat off of her hawk-cat. It snarled and tried to swipe at her, but she threw it before it could. Unfortunately, it tried to fly back to her. Flo met it halfway and punched it square in the face mid-flight. It fell to the ground with a squeal, and shook its head. Then, it flew off.

Flo picked up Sleemo, ready to walk back to the others, when someone shouted her name. She didn't have time to react to it, or to even see who shouted it, because she was almost immediately tackled to the ground. They consequently rolled deeper into the tunnel because of the force of it. The sounds of rocks falling quieted, leaving behind a sudden and still silence.

Flo landed on her back, arms tightly and protectively wound around Sleemo. Dust and dirt settled nearby as she stared wide eyed up at Sokka, who now laid on top of her with one arm around her waist and a hand cushioning the back of her head. The torch he held earlier now laid just a foot away, giving them enough light to see each other clearly.

Her heart beat fast, both from almost getting crushed by rocks and the fact that their faces were mere inches apart. Loose strands from Sokka's wolftail tickled her face, that was how close they were, and just like before her mind was going blank and unfortunately she had no way to back up and put space between herself and him.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

It took a moment for the question to process. She was a bit more focused on Sokka moving his hand from the back of her head to the side of it, like he was checking for bumps or cuts. He moved her hair out of the way at her temple, on the side Prince Zuko had hit her to knock her out at Crescent Island.

She really hoped her face wasn't as red as it felt.

"Uh... No," she was finally able to get out.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

She sort of wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. This was way too much right now.

Luckily for her, Sleemo chose that moment to squirm  in her spot where she was stuck between them and meowed in protest. She forced her way out, and once Sokka pushed up some, she escaped. Sleemo stepped on Flo's cheek close to her eye and whacked him in the face with one of her wings.

"Gah! Sleemo," Sokka complained as he got off of Flo and sat up. He spat out a loose feather.

Flo sat up as well, and her eyes landed on the wall of fallen rocks that blocked the way to everyone else. Pushing away all thoughts and emotions of what just happened the best she could, she stood to her feet and cursed under her breath at the sight. Her eyes raked over the whole thing as she took a few steps closer, not really knowing what she was looking for but doing it anyway. Maybe a hole small enough for them to crawl through to the other side?

"Aang!" she called out. "Katara! Guys?" Neither answered. All she got in response was an echo of her own voice. Then, just to make sure the musical nomads couldn't hear her either, "Chong?"

Sokka came to stand at her side with the torch in hand. "I think it's too thick for the others to hear you."

She frowned. "They got out of the way, right?"

"I think so, yeah."

"You think?" She turned to face him.

"I was more worried about you," he explained.

"Why?" came out of her mouth faster than she could think.

"Uh, because you were about to get crushed by rocks?" He said in a humorous tone with an underlying seriousness, "You need to be more careful. Being aware of your surroundings is a good skill to have, you know."

"Are you seriously trying to use my own words against me?"

He smirked. "Yep."

She rolled her eyes. When she did so, something on the ground caught her attention. A familiar price of parchment was stuck under a rock. "Hey, it's your map." Going over to it, she bent down to pick it up. Only one corner of it was under a larger boulder, so she carefully tore it away. Sokka came over and looked over her shoulder once she stood. "Have any idea where we are?"

"No," he said. "Maybe here," he pointed to the middle most tunnel, "but with the tunnels changing I'm not sure."

"Great," she sarcastically grumbled.

+++

After standing there for few minutes trying to decide on whether or not they should even attempt at using the map, they made their way through the only direction they could go and did, in fact, try to figure out the map, and update it with the ink he still had. 

Flo held it and led the way, while Sokka held the torch and Sleemo, who forced him to. She tried to not make it obvious that she didn't want to hold the torch, but didn't really know how well she was doing that.

After about the third dead-end, she was ready to crumple the paper and throw it at the torch to burn it.

"This is getting us no where," she huffed. Giving into the urge, she balled up the map. She didn't throw it at the flame, though, but rather at the wall of dirt and rocks before them.

Sokka shouted. "Ah! My map!" He ran over to pick it up. Sleemo jumped to the ground, and he shoved the torch into her hands to un-crinkle the map with both hands.

Flo stilled, wide eyed. The anxiety and irrational fear that suddenly washed over her had her frozen and holding the torch with her arm straight out. All frustration of the situation vanished.

Then, a small ember fell from the torch. She involuntarily flinched and let go with a sharp inhale, moving a step backwards at the same time. Her other hand gripped her wrist, even though the ember didn't even touch her. The torch dimmed as it hit the ground, almost going out completely, but the flames were quick to brighten once again.

Sokka snapped his eyes over to her. "What? What just happened?"

"N-Nothing," she said. "I just, uh... There was a bug. It startled me."

"Did it sting you?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm fine, it just scared me. I wasn't expecting it."

He visibly relaxed. "Oh. Okay." He went back to smoothing out the map.

"I really don't think that will help us get out of here, Sokka," Flo told him. "The tunnels are changing too much."

"We have to keep trying. There isn't anything else for us to do." He picked up the torch and began to walk down the tunnel. She moved to walk at his side, and Sleemo pranced a few feet in front of them. "Unless you have any ideas?"

Nothing came to mind at first. But once she really thought about it, she did eventually think of something: "If there's an exit, wind might come through. But I haven't felt any."

"I haven't, either." He frowned. Suddenly, he stopped walking and turned to her as he asked, "Wait, what if you can earthbend?!"

"What? Sokka, when have I ever earthbended?"

"Never," he admitted. "But what if your bending abilities are, like, dormant or something?"

"I don't think bending works like that."

"You could try!"

"There were four earthbenders in my family. If I was one I would have figured that out by the time I turned a year old."

"But what if?" he insisted.

"Then we wouldn't be stuck in a stupid underground labyrinth."

He groaned; it was a bit on the dramatic side.

With a quiet sigh, she motioned to the torch. "Let's just keep walking. There isn't much of the torch left."

They started walking again, and after a few minutes decided to give the map one more shot. One unsurprising dead-end later, and they stopped looking at the map and took a chance by merely walking through the tunnels with no help.

"What could be changing them so quickly?" Sokka asked after a lull of silence.

Flo shrugged. "My guess is a badgermole, if it's not something to do with a spirit or magic or something."

"No way a badgermole did all of this," he said incredulously.

Her brows raised a little. "Well, yeah, these were partly made by the couple who met here before Omashu became a city, but how big do you think badgermoles are?"

This time he was the one who shrugged. "Probably about the size of an ostrichhorse. Why?"

"...They're about the size of the tunnels, Sokka."

His feet stilled and his eyes widened. "They're what?!"

"Yeah, they're huge."

"That's terrifying!"

Flo nodded. "I've never seen one, but everything I've heard about them describes them as these huge, blind animals with long, thick claws."

"Again: that's terrifying."

"I doubt they would hurt anyone," she said, and continued to walk.

He scoffed and jogged a few steps to catch up. "With our luck so far, I wouldn't bet on it... How do they even dig so fast?"

"My dad told us that they were the first earthbenders, and even taught Oma and Shu."

"So, Oma and Shu were the first human earthbenders?"

"I think so," she said.

Sokka didn't say anything in response at first. It was silent between them until he asked, "How does the rest of the story go?"

She looked at him, a little surprised by the question. "Why?"

"These tunnels were made by Oma and Shu, right? What if there's something in the story that will help us figure out how to get out of here?"

That wasn't a bad idea. Flo looked ahead, and thought back to the times Dad told them the story of Omashu's founding. "I'm not the best story teller, but alright," she said. "So, um..." She cleared her throat, a little nervous. "So there were two villages in a war against each other. Oma was from one village and Shu was from the other one, and they fell in love. But because of the war their relationship was forbidden, so they ended up meeting in secret.

"At some point they met the badgermoles – the first ever earthbenders. Oma and Shu learned from them, and used earthbending to create this labyrinth under the mountain so that whoever tried to follow them got lost. And they had this meeting spot within it, probably like the middle of the labyrinth something, I don't know, but that makes the most sense. Anyway, they met there over and over again.

"One day, Oma went down to their meeting spot but Shu never came. She soon learned that he died in the war. Because of that, Oma went out to the battlefield, and gave a powerful example of her earthbending abilities and declared the war over. The two villages later came together and named the new village Omashu in honor of the two lovers... Um, the end."

Just as she finished, they came upon two different tunnels. Flo and Sokka stopped walking and stared.

"Well, not only was that the saddest love story I've ever heard, but now we have to choose which way to go and hope it's not the wrong choice." He thrusted his hands out in frustration at the tunnels. "And the story gave us no clues to how Oma and Shu successfully made it through! How did they not get caught? Whoever followed them would have followed the light of their torches, and that defeats the entire purpose of the labyrinth..." He continued to rant in anger, but something he said had her tuning him out as she thought.

Her brows furrowed. Torches... The story never said anything about them. The badgermoles were blind; they lived underground and hardly ever came above to the light. They didn't need it.

"It was dark," Flo blurted out.

"—this is kangaroo-bull- what?" Sokka stopped ranting and faced her.

"It was dark," she repeated. "When Oma and Shu went through the labyrinth, it was dark."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so they probably used torches."

She shook her head. "No, because like you said, if they did that then the people from their villages would've had an easier time following them. Oma and Shu were taught by badgermoles. They're blind, Sokka, they don't need light!"

His eyes narrowed a little. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

She glanced at the torch. "Put out the light."

He looked at her like she was crazy. "We won't be able to see!"

"Look, I wouldn't suggest it if I wasn't sure of it. Don't you trust me?"

His answer was immediate. "Of course I do."

An abrupt fell over them.

Blue eyes bored into her dark brown ones, and then raked over her face.

"Are you, like, totally sure about this?" he asked.

She nodded rapidly. "It's not like the torch isn't going to go out soon anyway."

"Hm... True," he said, hand on his chin as thought. Then, he shrugged and said, "Alright, let's try it." He dropped the torch and stomped it out.

Darkness filled their sight. Neither of them could see anything, except for the faintly glowing embers from the torch. Nothing happened. And then–

A glowing, green light gradually grew brighter from above.

Flo titled her chin up to see what caused it. Crystals similar to the ones General Fung used at his base were stuck into the ceiling of the tunnel. There were enough to light up the entire area, creating enough light to see clearly. And they went straight down into the left tunnel. A lit path to the exit.

She couldn't hold back a smile.

"Whoa..." She heard Sokka say. "How did you know those were there?"

"I didn't," she admitted. "But I figured something similar like this would happen. They had to have had some way of finding each other in the dark without getting lost, too."

"Huh. That was really smart."

"I know, right? No one would think to go into a cave without any light source, so placing their own where no one would think to look–"

"I meant your idea, Flo."

She clamped her mouth shut and whipped her head back down to look at him. "It was the simplest idea ever. A toddler could probably come with it."

"Not in the way you came up with it. You figured out what to do by just re-telling a story your dad used to tell you," he said.

"Um. Thanks. But I mean... What else was there to do? 'Trust in love' or whatever it was Chong said?"

The next thing Sokka said caused Flo's mind to blank.

"Technically I did."

...What.

"What?" she said aloud.

"What?" he questioned back, genuinely confused.

Flo opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, feeling like she sort of looked like a fish as she tried to find words to say. "What– What do you mean you technically did?"

"Uh. That I technically trusted in lo– oh." Realization hit Sokka suddenly. "Oh shit."

Flo heard that wrong. She heard that wrong, right?

Shock filled her from head to toe. This was some sort of miscommunication. It had to be.

Sokka scrambled for something to say. All the while, his face gradually turned red. "I mean, uh, not– not like... I meant as a friend! Yeah, friend. Platonic love. Totally. Because that's a thing. Gotta love your friends, ya know?" He nervously laughed.

Words failed her. Flo had no idea what to say, or even what to do.

Not that Sokka gave her any time to, because he turned on his heals to the left tunnel where the crystals lead down. "Okay, let's go!"

He speed-walked down the tunnel. It took until he was a few feet away with Sleemo not far behind him for Flo to finally move, having felt glued to the spot as she processed those words.

Suddenly, Sokka turned around. "Well–" He froze when his eyes landed on her. "Nevermind," he rushed out, and turned back around. He didn't start walking again, though.

Flo slowed her steps as she got closer. "...Sokka?" she hesitantly called out.

"Actually!" He once again turned around. Flo stopped walking all together this time. She saw that he was visibly nervous yet determined, and she didn't move as he came closer. "Actually, I... I don't want to regret not telling you, or tell you too late. Yue told me about how it ended up being too late for her and her best friend, and right before the siege she told me I shouldn't wait until it's too late to- to tell you how I feel. I didn't agree with her then, but now..."

This was so out of the blue. It was sending her off kilter. Making her wonder if she somehow hit her head in the past few minutes and this was a weird dream or hallucination.

By now, he stood directly in front of her. She stood stock still, even when he reached for her hands, intertwining their fingers slowly and keeping them loose enough for her to pull away if she chose to. She didn't.

"You almost died during the Siege. And not even an hour ago you were almost crushed by rocks... You're not the only one scared to lose someone you love."

Her mouth parted as she tried to figure out how to use words again. Not that she knew what to say, anyway. Maybe tell him to shut up and take back everything he was saying so her emotions would stop warring against each other; the uncertainty and fear and the urge to physically and emotionally push him away versus her own still-growing romantic feelings for him (feelings that she just wanted to ignore, because that was so much easier).

When she finally got herself to speak, she couldn't make herself talk louder than a whisper. "What... What are you saying?"

"I love you, Flo."

It felt like a punch to the chest, hearing those words. It felt hard to breathe.

A faint, continuous thumping sounded down the tunnel. Like a large animal running.

Sokka looked behind her, and Flo took that moment to take her hands from his and turn to look down the tunnel as well. The sound grew closer and louder, and a form began to take shape in the green light. It grew larger and larger. It looked like a bison. It sounded like one, too, when it groaned.

Sleemo flew from behind them with an excited yowl right when the animal coming for them became recognizable.

"Appa!" Flo and Sokka exclaimed in unison.

The flying bison wasn't slowing down, though. He groaned loudly, like a warning.

Flo backed up, intentionally using her elbow to push at Sokka so he would move, too. They moved closer to the wall of the tunnel, and Appa ran by. Sleemo was right behind him, meowing loudly and happily. Flo decided to follow as well after she caught Aang and Katara in the corner of her eyes. She didn't want to have another conversation in the damn labyrinth.

When they finally, finally got to the exit Appa rushed out. He went up onto his hind legs and spread out the others. He fell backwards with a groan, basking in the sun and open air. Sleemo was next, flying high. She did a few circles, and then dove after a rodent that ran into the bushes. That didn't cause her to give up, though. She continued to chase and hunt.

The group of four were quick to follow. Flo came out first. She's never been so happy to see sunlight before.

"What about Momo?" Aang suddenly asked.

As if on cue, the ground rumbled and the wall of the mountain parted in two places on either side of the tunnel's exit. Dust and dirt and rocks blew everywhere. When everything settled, a badgermole was in front of them. Momo sat upon its back, but was quick to jump up and fly around as he chittered, heading towards Appa and Sleemo. A second badgermole had the singing nomads on top of it.

Flo went over to the second one, just to make sure none of the nomads needed help getting down. No other reason.

Sokka watched her but quickly looked away. He turned to Katara. "How did you guys find the way out?"

Aang walked up. "Just like the legend says. We let love lead the way." His shoulders lifted and he softly smiled.

Oh, he was so teasing Katara about this later. "Really?"

The boy's smile turned a bit more sheepish and embarrassed.

Katara asked, mostly shifting the topic away from them on purpose, "How did you find the way?"

"I had a stupid theory." Flo appeared out of nowhere at his side and scared Sokka. He shouted and jumped.

"Flo!"

Katara laughed at her brother's reaction.

"Turns out it wasn't so stupid."

Behind them the badgermoles made their exit. The nomads waved their goodbyes, and once the animals were gone Aang ran over. Flo intended to follow, but after Katara hugged her brother, she was quick to pull Flo into one as well. The older teen hugged back automatically without much thought.

Chong came over just as the girls separated. He leaned in close and said, "Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you. I think that kid might be the Avatar."

Sokka, looking completely and utterly done with the man, slapped his forehead. It left a red mark.

"So, are you guys going to come to Omashu with us?" Aang asked the others.

"Nope," said Moku.

"Okay. Thanks for everything, Moku."

"Little vagabond!" Lily walked over. She promptly placed a crown of pink flowers on Flo's head. "It's good to see that you have settled and found a home with these people after all these years."

Flo rapidly blinked a few times. Between Lily's words and what happened in the labyrinth, she sort of felt like crying from just being emotionally overwhelmed. Still, she didn't try to deny the woman's words. "Thanks, Lily," she muttered.

Lily smiled and walked away.

"Sokka, I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey," said Chong. He pulled Sokka into a hug.

"Just play your songs," Sokka grumbled.

"Hey! Good plan!" Chong exclaimed. He picked up the dramyin and began to strum and sing as he made his way to his group. "Even if you're lost you can't lose the love because it's in your heart. Oh, oh, oh..."

The song hit Flo's feelings a lot more than she would've liked.

Luckily, with the nomads leaving and song fading, it was easy for her to get a handle on her emotions. She could freak out later (or never). They were almost to Omashu. All they had to do was climb the rest of the mountain.

"The journey was long and...unexpected," Sokka said, and Flo took a chance and glanced at him since she was trailing behind. His back faced everyone as he lead the way. "But now you get to see what it's really about – the destination." He gestured with an arm as he reached the top. "I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O–" He abruptly cut himself off. "Oh no..."

Flo ran the last few steps. She looked on in horrified anger.

Smoke rose from various areas within the city. Bridges made of metal surrounded it on the outside. A large red flag with a black flame in the middle of it hung just above the entrance.

The Fire Nation has taken over Omashu.

***

A/N— I wish we got more of the song Chong sang at the end bc it honestly has so much Lost Arrow/Flo vibes

By the way, apologies for the long wait for this chapter. Back in August I hit my head so hard that I gave myself a mild concussion & now I have post concussion syndrome 🙃 meaning I can't use my phone/computer for too long, too often. It's honestly annoying more than anything lol

Another reason this took so long to write is bc the last like ~2k words of this fic Did Not want to be written. I changed things and went back & forth on how certain things played out so many times.

Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!! I've been eager to write this one & get it out since halfway through Part I lmao (but also there are other chapters I'm even more eager to write bc of character growth & [insert various spoilers here])

Thanks for reading! Let's hope the next update doesn't take me forever lol