Azara swam contentedly as Katara and Aang practiced waterbending behind her. Her hair was out of her updo and fanned around her head as she floated on her back. Starting to get cold, Azara stood up and walked to the edge of water, stepping up onto the shore.

"You guys are going to be done soon, right? We have a lot of ground to cover if we're going to make it to Omashu today," Sokka pointed out, laying in a leaf with his hair covering his face. Momo was draped lazily across his stomach.

"What? Like you're ready to go, naked guy?" Katara asked her brother smugly. Sokka sat up, pulling the hair from in front of his eyes.

"I could be ready in two minutes. Seriously, whenever."

"I'm ready whenever you guys are," Azara voiced, collecting her hair, and twisting the water out of it. She turned to grab a towel, her long hair fanning around her as she walked away. Sokka watched the movement with a light blush on his face, until Katara noticed and bended a small wave at him. Sokka shot his sister a look before returning to his relaxing.

Azara hummed to herself as she brushed out her hair, pulling it back into the braids and bun she wore in the Earth Kingdom when music started to echo around the clearing. Turning around to face the newcomers, Azara raised an eyebrow at the odd group of people approaching. They were singing and dancing, some playing musical instruments.

"Da, da, da. Don't fall in love with the travelling girl. She'll leave you broke and broken hearted," a man sang, strumming his instrument as he finished his song. The sound of Sokka falling into the water announced Team Avatar's presence to the group of nomads. "Hey, river people!"

"We're not river people," Katara corrected as Sokka pulled himself out of the water.

"You're not? Then what kind of people are you?"

"Just . . . people," Aang shrugged, as the man chuckled.

"Aren't we all, brother?"

"Who are you?" Sokka asked accusatorily, pointing a finger at the man in front.

"I'm Chong and this is my wife, Lily. We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us," Chong explained, before strumming his instrument erratically.

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

"Hey, me too!" Chong exclaimed causing Azara to raise an eyebrow.

"I know . . . you just said that," Aang replied with a deadpan tone.

"Oh, nice underwear," Chong complimented, turning to Sokka. The Water Tribe boy blushed, pulling Momo down to cover himself before shuffling away. Azara stifled her giggles at that, before turning back to their supplies and changing into her Earth Kingdom attire. Sokka moved beside her, hurriedly pulling up his pants.

"So, what do you think about them?" Azara asked, glancing over at the nomads as Aang and Katara got out of the water to speak with them.

"I don't like them," Sokka huffed, fumbling with his shirt.

"Definitely weird vibes," Azara agreed, fixing her boots before standing up. She glanced over as Lily began to braid Katara's hair with flowers. "You want to get your hair braided with flowers?" she joked, glancing up at Sokka as his hair fell over his eyes. Her eyes widened lightly as she reminded herself to focus on the mission ahead, and not Sokka's hair of all things.

"Definitely not."

"Probably for the best. It looks best when it's down anyways," she smiled before walking off, leaving a blushing Sokka behind her. She stood in front of the group of nomads, who were conversing with Aang and Katara. Sokka walked over a few moments later, his hair pulled back into a wolf tail again.

"Hey, Sokka, Azara, you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere!" Aang exclaimed as Sokka and Azara shared an unimpressed look.

"Well not everywhere, Little Arrowhead. But where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs," Chong corrected as he stopped strumming his instrument.

"They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler!" Aang smiled, the flower crown on his head shifting slightly.

"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow," Moku spoke, rolling onto his back as he spoke dreamily.

"That's great and all, but may I remind you about the last time we diverted to see giant animals you could ride, Aang?" Azara sighed, remembering Kyoshi Island and the subsequent incident with her brother.

"Look, I hate being the wet blanket here, but since Katara's busy, I guess it's up to me," Sokka sighed as Katara shot him a look. "We need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows!"

"Woah, sounds like someone has a case of destination fever. You're worried too much about where you're going," Chong remarked, as Azara pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You got to focus less on the 'where' and more on the 'going'," Lily added, holding her hands in the air, and accidently tugging on Katara's braid.

"We know where we're going, and we don't have time to focus on the 'going.' There's a war going on and the Fire Nation is probably already on our tail," Azara glowered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"O. Ma. Shu," Sokka enunciated, his frustration showing.

"Sokka and Azara are right. We need to find King Bumi, so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe," Katara stated, turning to Aang.

"Sounds like you're headed to Omashu," Chong deduced, causing Sokka to smack his forehead with his hand. "There's an old story about a secret pass right through the mountains."

"Is this real or a legend?" Azara asked, jutting a hip out to her side as she felt her frustration rising.

"Oh, it's a real legend. And it's as old as earthbending itself," Chong explained, before beginning to strum his instrument again. Lily and Moku joined in with their instruments as Katara and Aang bounced along with the tune. "Two lovers, forbidden from one another, the war divides their people, and the mountain divides them apart! Built a path together," Chong suddenly stops, thinking to himself. "Yeah, I forgot the next couple of lines, but then it goes . . . Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountains, secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!"

Chong falls back onto Appa as everyone, minus Azara and Sokka, clap for the performance. "That was lovely, but we really should be going. And we have a flying bison, so there's no need for the secret tunnel," Azara pointed out, tilting her head to the side.

"We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine," Sokka added, walking forwards.

"Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground. And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable," Aang nodded, a kind smile on his face as Appa growled in appreciation. Their travels were soon deterred by the Fire Nation, who were launching several fireballs at them. Azara screamed alongside the others as they narrowly escaped.

Sokka huffed, leading the group back to the nomads. "Secret love cave, let's go," he mumbled as Azara rubbed the soot off her clothes. As they walked along with the nomads, Azara continuously glanced behind for any sign of the Fire Nation. "How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked, walking at the front of the group.

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth!" Chong explained, causing Azara to stop, her eyes narrowing.

"Labyrinth?" she repeated, sounding exasperated.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out," Chong shrugged, moving along.

"All you need to do is trust in love . . . according to the curse," Lily smiled, walking alongside her husband. Sokka stopped, turning around.

"Curse!" he exclaimed as Azara groaned, knowing that this was not going to go well. They walked for a few more minutes before reaching a large, ominous opening in the mountainside.

"Hey, hey, we're here!" Chong laughed, throwing his hands in the air.

"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka questioned, reading the inscription on the side of the rock.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in them forever," Chong explained as Lily moved to stand beside him.

"And die."

"Oh yeah, and die," he nodded, before brightening. "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song! And die!" he sang in a low, ominous voice as he strummed a chord.

"Well, that certainly makes me feel better about all this," Azara grumbled sarcastically.

"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" Sokka snapped, stomping his foot as Moku pointed at an approaching cloud of smoke.

"Hey, someone's making a big campfire!" he smiled, but Katara corrected him.

"That's no campfire, Moku," she sighed, exchanging worried glances with the rest of the group.

"It's the Fire Nation. They're tracking us," Sokka announced grimly as Azara turned to the cave, an equally concerned expression on her face.

"Well, scary-looking cursed cave it is," Azara decided, Sokka and Aang nodding at her. They hurried to enter the cave. Appa was initially spooked, but eventually followed the rest of the group inside. Azara held up her hand, a small flame dancing above her palm as they walked down the corridor. The sound of rocks tumbling made the group spin around, only to watch the entrance to the cave collapse on them.

Appa rushed back, frantically pawing at the rocks. "It's okay, Appa. We'll be okay. I hope," Katara comforted as Sokka walked over.

"We will be fine. All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do these torches last?" Sokka asked, turning to Chong and Lily, who was holding several torches.

"Uh, about two hours each," Chong recited as Lily scraped the torches on the ground, lighting all of them. Azara rubbed her face tiredly as Sokka stormed forwards.

"And we have five torches, so that's ten hours!" she smiled as Sokka grabbed the torches from her hands, stomping them out with his foot.

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

"Oh, right," Lily mumbled, shaking her head as Azara stepped forwards.

"Well, worst comes to worst, I can firebend us some light," Azara mentioned, shrugging, and holding up her hand. Another flame burst from her palm, illuminating her and the surrounding area.

"No way, how do you do that?" Chong asked, walking over as Azara raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh, I'm a firebender," Azara replied in a deadpan as Chong stared at his own hands.

"Hmm, I lit a fire last week. Does that mean . . . I could be a firebender!" Chong exclaimed, flexing his hands, and waiting for a flame to appear.

"Doesn't look like it," Azara commented, pushing past him, and walking over to Sokka, Katara, and Aang. "We need to get out of here, now," Azara whispered, glancing over at the nomads, who didn't seem at all bothered by the change in events.

"I'm going to 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 it," Sokka stated, pulling a piece of paper out of his pack. Azara shared unsure expressions with Katara and Aang but shrugged in response as she had no better ideas.

Sokka led the group through the tunnels, stopping in dead ends and turning around multiple times. Azara and the rest of the group were quickly getting tired and the length of the torches indicated that they had been wandering around for the better part of an hour.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," Katara sighed as they stopped in front of another wall.

"This doesn't make sense, we already came through this way," Sokka huffed, studying the map he had drawn.

"We don't need a map. We just need love. The little guy knows it," Chong reiterated as Aang sighed and looked back over at Sokka.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also," Aang spoke as Azara looked over at the map with Sokka.

"There's something strange here. There's only one explanation. The tunnels are changing," Sokka deduced as the group shared surprised looks.

"What could be doing it though? Rocks just don't move on their own," Azara pointed out as Sokka rolled up the map. Suddenly, the walls began to shake.

"The tunnels! They're a-changing," Chong yelled out frantically. "It must be the curse! I knew we shouldn't have come down here!"

"Right, if only we listened to you," Sokka spat sarcastically as Azara turned to the group.

"Everyone be quiet. Listen," she ordered, turning back to the dark tunnel. A growling noise made Momo flee from Sokka's shoulder. Sokka grabbed a torch from Chong, walking closer to inspect the growling noise. Suddenly, a wolfbat flew out of the cave, startling the group.

"It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong cried out as the wolfbat landed in front of him.

"No, it's a wolfbat!" Moku corrected as the wolfbat took off down the tunnel again. Sokka attempted to swat at the emerging wolfbats with the torch, but the action ended up scaring Appa, who ran into the walls of the tunnel. 

Azara nearly stumbled to the ground as the tunnel shook, the rock ceiling starting to cave in on them. Azara gasped in fear before she was sent flying back by a gust of air from Aang. Skidding away from the rocks, Azara look up in time to see the tunnel collapse, trapping her and Sokka with the nomads and leaving Katara, Aang, and Appa on the other side. 

A.N. Double update! The next few chapters are going to have a lot going on (the rest of the Cave of Two Lovers, Return to Omashu, and The Swamp), so I hope you'll stick around! Thank you to everyone for reading, voting, and commenting on this story, it wouldn't be where it is today without all of you!