A.N. Here's the first part of The Library episode! Thanks for all the suggestions on the previous chapter (which you should check out if you haven't already) and as always, thanks for reading, voting, and commenting on this story! 

Azara stood quietly beside Sokka as they stared out at what appeared to be an empty and barren savannah. Aang sat cross-legged in front of a series of small holes with a wooden flute in his hands. "What's out there?" Sokka asked, as Aang remained focused on the holes in front of him.

"A lot, actually. There's hundreds of little—" Toph began to explain, leaning down to touch the ground when Aang cut her off.

"—Shh! I know that you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch," Aang reprimanded, before turning back to face the holes. Closing his eyes, he blew a singular note into the flute. A moment passed before a groundhog stood up from one of the holes and sang the note back. "Yeah! I'm putting an orchestra together!" Aang laughed before playing more notes, inciting more groundhogs to stand up and repeat the notes.

"Orchestra, huh? Well, la-di-da," Sokka huffed sarcastically, bobbing side to side, as Azara shrugged.

"It's pretty impressive, actually," she commented, causing Sokka to sigh dramatically next to her. She sent him a playful glare as she nudged him with her hip. "Well, when it's your turn to pick the vacation, you can decide on something more fun for you."

Aang continued to play more notes, Momo hopping around and trying to catch the groundhogs that appeared. As Aang played another series of notes, Sokka had finally had enough and stormed forward to plug Aang's flute with his finger. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans."

"We did make plans. We're all picking mini-vacations," Toph pointed out, sitting on the ground, her head resting on her head.

"There's no time for vacations," Sokka huffed as the rest of the group shared similar looks.

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off!" Aang pointed out, deciding to put down the flute for now.

"We all need a break, Sokka. The last thing we need is to get burnt out," Azara added, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara asked, walking over to stand next to Aang.

"Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have an accurate map of the Fire Nation. Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house? Knock, knock. Hello, Fire Lord? Anybody home?" Sokka mocked, leaning to his side before straightening up. "I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war."

"Sokka does have a point. I'm not exactly a successful cartographer," Azara agreed, recounting the numerous times she tried to draw the Fire Nation from memory for Sokka. She was sure that if he didn't care for her the way that he did, he wouldn't have told her that they were helpful.

"See, Azara agrees with me. That's got to count for something," Sokka insisted as Aang, Katara, and Toph shared looks, amused looks coming over their faces.

Aang played another note on his flute, causing the groundhog below Sokka to stand up and sing the note back. "Alright, we'll finish our vacations and then we'll look for Sokka's intelligence," Katara stated sarcastically, sending Sokka a look. Aang put away his flute and pulled out their map of the Earth Kingdom.

"Your turn, Katara. Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?" Aang asked, laying the map out in front of himself. Katara leaned over his shoulder and studied the map for a moment before deciding on her vacation spot.

"How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing," Katara decided, pointing at the map.

"Oh, yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word pristine. It's one of nature's wonders," Aang noted, causing Katara to nod.

Sokka and Azara shared unimpressed looks as they stared up at the Misty Palms Oasis. The sign on the entrance was barely hanging on by a chain, the entire place was dusty, even for a desert, and it was full of rather interesting looking characters. "Did the definition of pristine change in the last hundred years?" Azara questioned sarcastically as she noted the foxes licking at the remnants of the ice spring in the center of the compound.

"Must've changed ownership since I was here," Aang chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, before leading the way into the Oasis. Azara glanced around at the shifty looking individuals hanging around, hoping none of them were bounty hunters on the lookout for her or Aang. Following behind Toph into the bar, Azara paused as Sokka stopped behind her.

Turning around, she spotted Sokka standing in front of a sandbender, who smirked at the Water Tribe boy after having spat at his feet. Hoping to avoid conflict, Azara hurriedly tugged at his arm before he could retort something to piss off the sandbender and dragged him inside the bar. Standing with the rest of the group, they stared out at the relatively empty bar.

"One mango, please," a man dressed in desert clothing ordered at the bar. The bartender nodded and used his dual swords to cut chop up some mangos into a smoothy for the man, depositing the mixture into a refreshing ice bowl before putting a small umbrella in the drink.

"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," Sokka smiled before running over to the bar. Azara smiled and shook her head, before following Katara over to a table.

At the sound of a clang, Azara turned around to see the man dressed in desert attire drop his mango drink onto Aang. "No worries, I clean up easy," Aang assured the man before drying himself off with airbending. The man gasped in surprise.

"You're a living relic," the man awed, staring at Aang with amazement.

"Thanks, I try," Aang shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

"An Air Nomad, right in front of me. Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University. Tell me, which of the air temples do you hail from?" Zei asked, grabbing Aang's arm and studying his tattoos.

"The Southern Temple."

"Oh, splendid!" Zei pulled out an instrument from his pack and measured Aang's skull. "Now, tell me, what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"

"Uh, are fruit pies an agricultural product?" Aang asked, sounding unsure of himself.

"Oh, truly fascinating. This is one for the journal," Zei commented before pulling out a journal and writing something in it. Sokka approached with two mango drinks, handing one to Azara before walking over to Professor Zei.

"So, Professor, you're obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems to be a little dated," Sokka questioned, sipping on the mango drink.

"Certainly," Zei smiled before pulling out a map from his pack and handing it to Sokka. Azara stared out at the map as it was laid out on the table, noting the several markings through the desert.

"What? No Fire Nation? Doesn't anybody have a good map of that place?" Sokka groaned after examining the map.

"You've made a lot of trips into the desert," Katara noted, glancing at the marked paths on the map. Most of the lines started at the Oasis and cut through various cross sections of the desert.

"All in vain, I'm afraid. I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel: Wan Shi Tong's Library," Professor Zei explained dramatically.

"You spent years walking through the desert to find some guy's library?" Toph asked in disbelief, setting her dirty feet on the table.

"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady. It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge, and knowledge is priceless," Zei defended, but Toph didn't look impressed or moved.

"Hmm, sounds like good times," Toph replied sarcastically before sipping at her drink.

"Oh, it is. According to legend, it was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."

"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka asked, a smirk on his face, which caused Azara to shoot him a dirty look. Checking his hip with her own, Azara crossed her arms over her chest.

"I think he means actual foxes, Sokka," she stated as Sokka tried to smile his way through her glare.

"You're both right," Zei spoke up, raising a finger in the air. "Handsome little creatures. Wan Shi Tong and his knowledge seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read, so that we might better ourselves."

"If this place has books from all over the world, do you think they've got info on the Fire Nation? A map, maybe?" Sokka questioned, looking over at Zei with newfound interest.

"I wouldn't know. But if such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's Library," Zei nodded, causing Sokka to smile and set his drink on the table.

"Then it's settled. Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation at the library!" Sokka announced, pointing his finger dramatically in the air.

"Uh, hey, what about me? When do I get to pick?" Toph huffed, from her spot at the table.

"You've got to work here a little longer before you qualify for vacation time," Sokka replied, causing Toph to set her ice cup on the table loudly.

"Of course, there's the matter of finding it. I've made several trips into the Si Wong Desert and almost died each time. I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross," Zei sighed, looking down at his map.

"Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?" Sokka offered, causing Zei to awe again.

"A sky bison? You actually have one?" Zei asked, looking excited. They walked outside the bar but began to hurry once they saw Appa being cornered by some sandbenders. "Sandbenders, shoo, away from the bison!" Zei demanded as the group glared at the assembled sandbenders. The sandbenders, including the one that had spit at Sokka, stared menacingly at them before walking off to their sand sailers and disappearing into the desert.

"Nice guys," Azara huffed, hoping that this would be the last they would see of the sandbenders. After resupplying briefly, the group climbed onto Appa and set out into the Si Wong Desert. Azara laid down on the back of Appa's saddle with Toph, the heat becoming too much, even for her.

"Tell me, sky bison, are you the last of your breed?" Zei questioned Appa as he leaned over his side, causing the sky bison to growl in response. "Delightful! I only wish I spoke his tongue. Oh, the stories this beast could tell." Zei pet Appa's side when Momo hopped over and started chatting at him. "Shush, chatty monkey."

Momo deflated and hopped over to Azara, who pet him encouragingly. "It's alright, Momo, you can chat with me if you want."

"Wow shouldn't be too hard to find a place like this out here," Aang exclaimed, examining the scroll of the library that Zei had provided them with.

"Does this place even exist?" Toph sighed, lying on her back.

"Some say it doesn't," Zei replied with a peppy smile despite his statement.

"Shouldn't you have mentioned that before we left?" Azara pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

With every minute that passed, the heat started to eat away at them. Sokka had turned his shirt into a hat as Azara relied on Momo's ears to protect her head from the sun. There was no sign of the library, until Toph suddenly sat up and pointed out into the desert. "There it is!" she yelled, causing everyone to rush to that side of Appa. Noticing that there was nothing in the distance, they glared over at Toph for getting them worked up. "That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it." Toph smiled sarcastically before throwing her hand up and down over her eyes.

Another hour passed as Azara groaned, leaning on Appa's saddle. "It shouldn't be this hard to spot a giant, ornate building from the air," Katara stated as Sokka put down his telescope.

"Down there, what's that?" Sokka pointed towards a tower in the distance. Azara sat up and glanced over at the marker Sokka had pointed to, which was a tower sticking out of the desert sand. Appa landed in front of the tower, the group disembarking to study it closer.

"Forget it. It's obviously not what we're looking for. The building in this drawing is enormous," Katara sighed, pulling out the drawing again. Azara studied the library over Katara's shoulder before staring up at the tower.

"Doesn't that tower look similar though?" Azara pointed out as a shining light in the distance caught everyone's attention. Turning around, Azara's eyes widened as she spotted a fox with a scroll in its mouth.

"What kind of animal is that?" Sokka asked Zei as the animal approached. The fox ran forwards, towards the tower before jumping and running up the side of the tower. Within a few seconds the fox disappeared through one of the openings at the top of the tower.

"I think that was one of the Knowledge Seekers. Oh, we must be close to the library!" Zei exclaimed excitedly, clasping his hands together as Sokka walked up next to Azara and Katara.

"No, this is the library. Look!" Sokka glanced back and forth between the tower and the drawing. "It's completely buried."