Azami P.o.V.

"How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them!"

"I couldn't!" Toph exclaimed, and much to Azami's surprise, the earthbender almost looked ready to cry - something she hadn't ever expected from her. "The library was sinking, you guys were still inside, and-"

Aang cut her as he marched up to her, looking rather aggressive with his staff. "You could've come to get us!" he snapped. "I could've saved him!"

"I can hardly feel any vibrations our here!" Toph yelled back at him. "The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-"

"You just didn't care!" Aang screamed, and everyone flinched at the anger in his voice. "You never liked Appa, you wanted him gone!"

Thankfully, before he could actually attack anyone, Katara stepped in - and for once, Azami was grateful for the waterbender's more stern, motherly side. "Aang, stop it," she insisted as she gently pulled him away from the earthbender. "You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."

"Who's gonna save our lives now?" Sokka asked bitterly. "We'll never make it outta here."

Aang marched off, still looking angered beyond belief. "That's all any of you guys care about," he spat. "Yourselves. You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"

"Aang, we all care about Appa," Azami desperately called out to him. The worst thing they could do right now would be to simply sit still and give up. "But frankly, we can't afford to be fighting right now. The best way for us to help Appa is to make it out of this desert alive, and-"

Before she could finish, Aang knelt down in the sand and whipped out his glider. "I'm going after Appa," he declared as he took off. Katara tried calling out to him, but it was no use, as the airbender raced off into the distance, leaving them all behind.

Sighing, Katara turned to face the others. "We'd better start walking," she announced. "We're the only ones who know about the solar eclipse - we have to get that information to Ba Sing Se." Reluctantly, she started walking out into the desert, the others following behind her.

"Do you think if we dug out the giant owl he'd give us a ride?" Sokka wondered.

Azami facepalmed as they continued walking. "Just so you know, this doesn't cout as my vacation choice, Sokka. This one's on you."

Hours passed with the sun still beating down on them, but the desert seemed to keep stretching endlessly - no Aang, no Appa, no sign of any civilization or life besides the footprints they left behind them. It didn't help that everyone was slowly becoming more irritable as well, constantly snipping at one another.

Case in point - Sokka decided for some reason now was a good time to pause, and Toph - who was now completely blind due to the sand - ran straight into his back. Scowling, he whipped around to face the earthbender. "Can't you watch where you're-"

"No," Toph snapped back, and Sokka's eyes widened sheepishly as he realized how stupid the question was.

Katara groaned, turning to face them while Azami continued towards her goal of turning her forehead bright red. "Come on, guys, we've got to stick together."

"Yeah, I don't think that's the problem here," Azami commented as she jabbed her thumb over at Toph and Sokka, who were quite literally stuck to one another.

After a moment of trying to peel himself off of her, Toph just simply grabbed Sokka's face and shoved him into the ground. "Katara, can I have some water?" she asked, almost pleading.

"Okay," Katara sighed as she pulled out her pouch. "But we've gotta try and conserve it."

Katara bent a stream of water into the other's mouths, but Azami turned her down - she, unlike the others, could regulate her body temperature without sweating, so she was nowhere near as thirsty. And, as the waterbender so rightly said, they needed to conserve it as much as possible.

A weird slapping noise filled the air, and Azami looked over in mild disgust to see Sokka smacking his lips together. "We're drinking your bending water? You used this on the swamp guy!"

"It does taste pretty swampy," Toph admitted.

Katara seemed more downcast than before as she tucked the small pouch away again. "I'm sorry, but it's all we have."

"Not anymore!" Sokka happily exclaimed as he raced off. Azami followed his movements, her eyes widening as she saw- oh no. Spirits, no. She couldn't handle this. Not now.

Sokka was drinking cactus juice.

The firebender raced over as fast as she could and slapped the cactus out of his hands, but it was far too late - he'd already drunk some of it, and so had Momo. "Sokka, you idiot!" Azami cried. "We don't have time for this! Stay awake, keep your eyes focused on me-"

"What are you talking about?" he wondered. "It's... very, thirst-quenching..." Sadly, Azami had to watch in horror as his pupils dilated massively, his movements and words instantly becoming more slurred. "Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya. Nothing's quenchier, it's the quenchiest!"

Yep. They were officially dead.

"Alright mister," Azami grumbled as she yanked him away from the remaining cactus plant. "I think you've had enough of that for this year."

Katara looked like she wanted to ask what was happening, but Azami sent out her best 'don't ask' look, and the waterbender seemed to get the message, quickly dumping the remaining cactus juice into the sand.

"Hey, princess," Sokka muttered, his words slurring even more. "Why'd you light Toph on fire?"

Azami groaned, grabbing one of Sokka's wrists firmly as she started dragging him after Katara. "Toph's not on fire, dummy."

Much to her dismay, since Momo had drunk some cactus juice as well, the lemur started flying in circles above their heads at an increasing rate until he faceplanted into the sand.

"Can I have some of that cactus?" Toph wondered.

Before Azami could explain how terrible an idea that was, she yelped in surprise as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind, followed by someone's chin resting on top of her head. "You're so warm, princess," Sokka breathed out. "And snuggly."

"Let go of me!" she protested, shoving his arms off of her. He pouted, and she just rolled his eyes at his antics - this was going to be a very long day. Shaking her head slightly, she reluctantly grabbed Sokka by the wrist and dragged him after Katara and Toph, who had already set out again.

Unfortunately, though, just because they were moving didn't mean that Sokka was back to normal - or, at least, whatever the hell he usually was, since it certainly wasn't normal. "Did you fall from the sky?" he muttered, staring at Azami as they walked. "Cause you look like an angel."

Very, very, long day.

Katara P.o.V.

Leading the others through the desert had been hard enough before, but the past hour had served to prove that things could always get worse. Whereas before she and Azami had to deal with Sokka and Toph's bickering, now the earthbender was often wandering slightly since she couldn't see where she was going, and Azami was having to put up with the wonderous results of mixing Sokka and cactus juice. Plus, the firebender was also clearly suffering from having turned down any water, but she didn't force the issue.

There were a lot of experiences on this trip that Katara would do again in a heartbeat - this certainly wasn't one of them.

Out of nowhere, she heard a distant boom sound, and turned just in time to be hit with a blast of sand in the face. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of a massive cloud of sand rising in the distance. "What is that?"

"It's a giant... mushroom," Sokka mumbled before throwing his arms up in greeting. "Maybe it's friendly!" He then turned excitedly to the firebender beside him, grabbing both her hands in his and kneeling down on one leg. "I gift it to you, my princess."

Azami ripped her hands from his grasp with a sound of disgust, before passing by Katara, a very clear look of 'your turn' written all over her face. As she grabbed Toph's hand and continued heading in the same direction as before, Katara just barely had enough time to witness her brother... she didn't even know what to say anymore. He was just flailing his arms around like a lunatic.

"Friendly mushroom!" he exclaimed happily, the lemur on his back clinging to him desperately as he continued to flail about. "Mushy, giant friend!"

Katara just sighed as she grabbed her brother by the arm and yanked him towards the others. They would get through this, and if no one else would hold them together, then she would.

As the sun started to set on the horizon, the sand took on a more blood-red color, everyone's shadow extending over twice as long as their actual body. They'd been walking aimlessly for hours on end, and Katara wasn't even sure if they were headed in a straight line out - she just had to hope they would make it.

Yawning, she was just about to suggest they call it for the night when suddenly a shadow swooped overhead, and Katara gasped as she saw Aang land down behind them looking exhausted. Instead of getting up, like she expected him to, he simply knelt there, unmoving.

"I'm sorry, Aang, but we need to get out of here" she offered as she gently tried to help him up, but he turned away from her.

"What's the difference," the airbender muttered defeatedly. "We won't survive without Appa. We all know it."

She knelt down beside him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders. "Come on, Aang, we can do this if we work together!" Katara then looked to the others for support. "Right Toph?"

"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand putting," the earthbender depressingly replied. "I got nothin'."

Katara then turned to the others. "Azami, Sokka? Any ideas?"

The firebender in question was busy wrestling to hold onto Momo's tail and keep him from flying off, while Sokka was in the process of making sand angels. "Why don't we ask the circle birds," he muttered in a sleepy tone, pointing to several swirling... things, above them.

Desperately, the waterbender looked to Azami for any options. "I'm a little busy here," she growled before Momo slipped from her grasp, again flying around the group in circles continuously.

"Hey princess..." Sokka slurred out. "Why are your eyes all yellow-y? And can you make those flashy lights with your hands again?" Azami simply sighed in defeat as she watched the lemur slowly make himself dizzy again, clearly worn down by babysitting the two of them.

Katara looked around with a sense of dread, taking in the defeated appearances of the others, and she let out a loud groan of frustration, burying her head in her hands for a moment. "We're getting out of this desert," she declared before heading around to pick everyone up. "And we're going to do it together. Aang, get up. Everybody hold hands."

Thankfully, Azami was still semi-focused unlike the others, and the two soon had everyone in a line, marching out into the night. "We can do this," Katara assured them, as well as herself. "We have to."

Even if she didn't care about any of their lives (which she obviously did), they were still the only ones who knew about the eclipse. The fate of the war rested on them.

They had to make it.

Azami P.o.V.

Okay, it was officially a stupid idea for Azami to turn down water earlier. Between the extreme dehydration and having to put up with Sokka's nonsense, her head was pounding like crazy when the sun finally set and Katara called for them to stop. Immediately, like everyone else, she collapsed straight into the sand, her eyes drooping with exhaustion.

"Is there any more water?" Toph asked tiredly.

Katara sighed as she nodded, pulling some water from her pouch. "This is the last of it. Everyone can have a little drink."

Azami barely managed to pull her head from the ground - which now somehow felt like it weighed a thousand pounds - just in time to see Momo leap into the small, floating ball of water, sending it into the sand below.

"Momo, NO!" Sokka screamed, the sudden noise making Azami wince slightly. "You've killed us all!"

Today, it seemed Katara was taking over for Azami, as she slapped her brother instead of the firebender. "No he hasn't," she snapped before bending the water out of the sand.

"Oh... right," Sokka muttered, clearly still high on that stupid cactus juice. "Bending."

Katara placed the water back in the pouch and handed it off to Toph, who took a small sip before passing it around. "Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library," the waterbender asked.

"What!" he cried, clutching his bags filled with scrolls to his chest. "I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?" He then gasped and jabbed a finger at Momo while glaring at the poor lemur. "It was you! You ratted me out!"

Katara deadpanned as she took the bag from him. "Sokka, I was there."

Azami reluctantly pulled herself up to join the waterbender in looking through the scrolls. There was some interesting stuff, but for now the two were focused on a map of the constellations that could be seen in the desert.

"It doesn't matter," Aang muttered, sounding even more defeated than before. "None of those will tell us where Appa is."

Azami's sleep-deprived brain wanted to chew him out for being so moody, but she had to remind herself that Appa's loss hit him a lot harder than any of the others. She'd known him for years, but Aang had literally raised him. Probably hadn't even spent a day without the bison since he originally got him.

Instead, she sighed as she forced herself to remain calm. "As I told you before, the best way for us to help Appa is to get out of here," she replied gently. "Right now, we need to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se, and then I promise we'll do everything we can to find him."

"We can use the stars to guide us," Katara offered as she looked gestured at the diagram. "That way, we can travel at night when it's cool, and rest during the day." The two glanced back at the others - Toph and Aang were already asleep, while Sokka was messing around with Momo. "You should get some sleep too. I'll take the watch for now."

Azami didn't have the heart to argue, instead just walking away slightly before laying down in the sand, sleep taking her almost instantly.

The temple burned.

All too familiar with the scene by now, Azami raced past the horror that surrounded her, heading straight for the small shack where she knew she would find her brother. Every time, she thought she could stop him and save either Gyatso or one of her friends, even when it became abundantly clear that was impossible.

Pulling aside the vines that hid it from view, she frowned as the room was far darker than normal, in contrast to its usual red lighting from the comet. She hesitantly walked in, only to panic as she realized there was no ground beneath her feet, and before she could even comprehend what was happening she collapsed into a bank of snow.

Groaning slightly, she pulled herself up to see something a little more recent - the spirit oasis at the northern tribe. The red light of the comet had transformed into the moon, and Azami was met with a familiar surge of power rushing through her. It faded, though, when the sky suddenly returned to normal.

Looking back to the center of the oasis, she watched as Zhao lashed out to kill the koi fish, her past self firing the lightning straight through his chest - only it was again too late. It was always too late to stop him. To stop any of them from hurting the people she loved.

Azami yelped slightly as she was suddenly dragged forwards by her feet, heading straight for the central pond. Whatever it was that had a grasp on her, it didn't let go as she was dragged into the pond's depths, a feeling of drowning suffocating any thoughts from her mind. She could barely hold her breath any longer as she was suddenly met by a pair of glowing eyes in the darkness.

She couldn't make out who or what it was, but when it spoke, she could hear it loud and clear.

"I knew I should never trust a firebender," the familiar voice echoed around her. She held her hands up to cover her ears, but it did nothing - the voice continued to resonate inside her head. "Your brother was right about you. You don't have an ounce of loyalty."

No, she thought bitterly. That isn't true! You said that wasn't true!

The light in front of her slowly began to fade, and her strength eventually failed as the water rushed into her, filling up her lungs faster than she thought possible. Her vision began to fade - not that she could see much to begin with in the darkness, but she could just make out a massive, centipede-like creature crawling around her.

"We burned the world, for you," the creature mocked, mimicking her brother's voice before laughing maniacally. "What a wonderful face to add to my collection."

Azami woke with a gasp, her eyes darting around wildly as she slowly came to - only to realize she was rather trapped at the moment. Glancing up slightly, she was shocked to see Sokka's snoring face, and soon realized he had his arms wrapped around her, hugging her to him while he slept.

Her initial instinct was to pry herself from his grasp, but before she did she realized - there was something strangely comfortable about this. For some reason, being here in his grasp was somehow calming her - she could literally feel her racing heartbeat already returning to normal. To her surprise, she could even feel her fatigue already calling to her again - normally, it took her hours to fall back to sleep, if she even did, but now it was almost like her body was screaming at her to stay where she was.

After hesitating for a moment - and checking to make sure he was asleep - she decided to give into it. She smiled slightly as she snuggled closer to him, resting her head against Sokka's chest as the soft thump of his heartbeat lulled her back to sleep.

Katara P.o.V.

Something Katara had never really thought about until now was how small her life used to be. For as long as she could remember, the south pole had been her entire world - leaving the village to go penguin sledding, or to see the old Fire Nation ship wreckage was an 'adventure' for her.

Now, staring up into the sky, she realized just how narrow her view used to be. Ever since meeting Aang and Azami, the scope of her world had increased beyond recognition - something this desert was making extremely obvious. Sitting on the sand bank as the others slept, she continued to observe the different constellations, not one of which she recognized.

This far from home, even the sky itself had changed. At least the moon remained constant, though - and tonight, she was met with a full one. It was always strange to her how its mere appearance empowered her, giving her strength, yet she'd never even really bothered to think about it until the north pole. She noticed it, of course, but it hadn't concerned her before then.

I wonder how Yue's doing, she thought. It hadn't really crossed her mind before what it must be like to quite literally be a moon-fish. If what she saw in that pond was anything to judge by, though - eternally swimming in a circle - she found herself being rather glad she was mortal.

She pushed those thoughts aside, though, as the moon continued to climb - whether the others liked it or not, they'd had several hours to rest, and they needed to get moving.

Ultimately, she decided to start with her brother, since he was probably still under the influence of that cactus, and even at the best of times he was a heavy sleeper. When she headed over to wake him, though, she had to blink several times as her mind tried to process what she was seeing - he was hugging Azami close to him as they both slept.

Katara had to fight down her laugh at that - she was sure the firebender wouldn't exactly be thrilled if she found out about this, so she was faced by a difficult dilemna - who to wake up first? If she woke up Sokka first, then she'd probably be the only one who remembered anything about this, as she highly doubted her brother would actually be remembering much of anything - that cactus juice was powerful stuff.

On the other hand, though, if she woke Azami up first, it would probably be super awkward and the waterbender would be able to tease her about it for weeks.

Hmm. Tempting.

Alas, Katara decided to be nice, and opted for waking up her brother first. Leaning over, she nudged his shoulder gently as she tried her hardest not to laugh. "Come on, Sokka, get up," she whispered.

"Huh?" Sokka muttered sleepily as he opened an eye, before looking down with a slight grin to see the sleeping firebender in his arms. He looked up at Katara, lifting a finger to his mouth in a 'quiet' gesture while hugging the girl even more tightly to him. "Shh, you'll scare her."

Katara couldn't suppress the soft giggle that left her at that, but unfortunately their situation wasn't quite as positive. "We need to get moving, so let her go."

"Aww," her brother pouted before reluctantly bringing his arms back to his sides and pulling himself up. "Why do you have to be so mean," he whined before walking off to... honestly, Katara had no clue where he was going, but it didn't matter right now.

You owe me for this, Katara thought ruefully as she then reached out to shake Azami gently. She just gave up some perfectly good teasing material for the firebender's peace of mind, purely out of the goodness of her heart. "Five more minutes," the girl muttered sleepily as she tried to roll over.

"Oh, no you don't," Katara grunted as she yanked Azami up into a sitting position. "We're getting out of this desert, and that means long nights. Suck it up."

The firebender yawned as she wiped her eyes, and nearby Katara heard a rustling sound as Toph also woke up. "Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud," she deadpanned. "Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much."

With the others now awake, only one person needed to be woken up - Aang. She reached over to shake him slightly, like she had with the others, but to her surprise he spoke before she even touched him. "I'm awake. I couldn't sleep."

"Well, if we want to get out of this sand pit, we need to keep moving," Katara encouraged him.

Suddenly, Aang looked up to the moon with a hopeful expression as something large, white and fluffy passed in front of it. "Appa!" Aang cried.

"Appa?" Sokka wondered as he started rubbing his face with Momo's tail. "But why would Princess Yue need him? She's the moon, she flies by herself!"

Unfortunately, no, it wasn't Appa. "It's just a cloud," she told him sadly before gasping in realization. "A cloud!" She eagerly pulled her water pouch off her torso and handed it to Aang. "Here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch!"

He took the pouch rather angrily, but she kept her cool as he stormed off - she knew what it was like to lose someone like this. She watched as he cleared the cloud away entirely in two passes, returning rather quickly and shoving the pouch into her hands. "Wow," she muttered, looking at the few drops that he'd collected. "There's hardly any in here."

"I'm sorry, okay!?" he snapped. "It's a desert cloud, I did all I could! What's anyone else doing? What are you doing?!"

Aang jabbed his staff towards Katara to emphasize his point, but she just sighed in exhaustion, having not slept at all. "Trying to keep everyone together," she whispered sadly. That task was getting harder by the minute, but she knew she couldn't give up on them. Right now, they all needed her. "Let's just get moving."

They set off yet again, following a constellation Katara had picked out - three tiny little stars, forming a fairly straight line between them. As she had hoped, the desert was far cooler at night, making their walk far less miserable, and as an added bonus Sokka was too sleepy to make any more absurd comments.

"Ow!" Toph suddenly yelled, and Katara looked over to see the earthbender sitting in the sand, rubbing her foot. "Crud! I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?"

Katara raised a brow at that comment. "A boat?"

"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations," Toph scowled. Curious, Katara knelt down beside the piece of wood jutting out of the sand, but before she could really do much Aang suddenly summoned a small tornado around them, which whipped away enough sand to reveal one of the skiffs the sandbenders had used, back at the misty palms oasis.

Azami joined her on the boat, looking around it in wonder. "Isn't this one of those gliders the sandbenders used?"

"I think so," Katara replied, noticing a small dial with a needle in it. "And look! It has a compass in it! I bet it can point us out of here - Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail! We're going to make it!"

An irritating laugh filled her ears, and the whole gaang turned to look at Sokka, who was in the process of burying Momo in sand. Well, at least he isn't saying annoying stuff anymore.

Azami P.o.V.

"Uh, Katara? I think we've got an issue here."

The waterbender looked over from where she was standing on the side of the skiff as they continued speeding along the dunes. "What's wrong?"

"This compass," Azami pointed out, gesturing to the small device. "I don't think it points north. See, according to this map of yours, that constellation should be in the east, and that's the northern star," the firebender explained as she pointed out the stars. "But this compass seems to be pointing us west, back into the desert."

Katara seemed understandably bothered by that. "Should we turn around?"

"Take it easy, little ladies," Sokka grinned from the back of the skiff, clutching onto Momo's tail as the lemur kept trying to get away from him. "I'm sure those sand folks who built this thingy knew what they were doing."

Azami groaned slightly, sharing a similar look of disappointment as the waterbender beside her. "Well, at least he shut up for a little while. Besides, I don't think it really matters," she observed, pointing to the massive rock ahead of them. "I think that's what it's leading us to. It must be the magnetic center of the desert."

"A rock?" Toph exclaimed happily. "Yes, let's go!"

Katara seemed optimistic as well. "Maybe we can find some water there!"

"Maybe we can find some sandbenders," Aang muttered darkly. Azami gazed at him sadly - in all the years she'd known him, she'd never seen him get like this. Even when he got frustrated, like he did regarding Jeong Jeong, he was never actually violent. Losing Appa was... changing him, and she really wasn't sure it was for the better. The sooner they got him back, the better it would be for both of them.

When they arrived at the rock, it didn't really offer much of value - they climbed to the top and watched the sunrise, but that wouldn't exactly help their survival chances. For Toph, though, she was ecstatic at being able to see and bend again, to the point of carving rock angels into the ground, something Azami hadn't even considered a possibility before now. That earthbender was nothing if not inventive.

The only thing any of them could find on the rock was a massive array of tunnels at the top, which looked strangely... carved, almost. Azami's gut was telling her to run, but like an idiot she and the others ignored it, heading on down into one of the tunnels.

"I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice," Sokka happily announced. I'll be the judge of that, Azami remarked. "And look!" he exclaimed as he immediately took some weird substance off the wall and shoved it straight in his mouth. "Agh, tastes like rotten penguin meat! Ohh, I feel woozy."

As she was now more rested, Azami cheerfully walked up behind him and slapped his head again, feeling almost nostalgic as she did so - this was becoming ritualistic at this point. "Ponytail, would you like to explain why you're putting random stuff in your mouth immediately after recovering from hallucinating on cactus juice?"

"I just have a natural curiosity," Sokka defended, looking sheepish.

"Uh, guys," Toph called out, sounding nervous. "I don't think this cave is a natural formation. It feels like it was carved by something."

Azami's eyes widened as she realized - how could she be so stupid? The octagonal shape of the tunnel, the yellow-ish goop on the walls... "Guys, we need to get out of here," she announced as they heard a faint buzzing sound approaching them. "Now!"

They all ran out screaming as Azami summoned a wall of fire to block the tunnel off, the screeching sound of a burnt buzzard wasp reaching her ears rather quickly. It was only one tunnel of dozens, though - maybe hundreds - and soon the entire swarm was flying out, charging angrily towards them.

She didn't feel great about it, but Azami sent blast after blast at the wasps, not really paying attention to what happened to them so long as they stayed away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sokka swinging at thin air with his machete, doing absolutely nothing. "Sokka!" she yelled at him. "There's nothing there!"

"Huh," he wondered, stopping his swinging. "I guess my head isn't as clear as I thought it was."

Azami rolled her eyes, allowing herself to become distracted by him again. "Maybe you shouldn't have eaten that weird honey th-"

She yelped as she was interrupted by several legs wrapped around her arms, lifting her up and away from the fight. The buzzard wasp that grabbed her was seemingly flying off into the middle of nowhere, but that didn't stop it from leaning its beak down to peck at her. Azami twisted her torso out of its way twice before kicking a flame straight up into its underide, causing the thing to screech in pain as it dropped her.

Panicking slightly, she realized that she was headed straight for the sand, but she was already familiar with this - she instantly summoned her fire again, using it to boost herself over to the rock, and she tumbled slightly as she landed on the same path they had climbed up in the first place.

"Stupid bug," Azami muttered as she winced - she was definitely going to bruise from that. In the distance, she saw Aang flying after another wasp, though she couldn't really make out why.

Instead, she simply watched as they became mere specks on the horizon, but it was still easy enough for her to see the massive gust of wind he sent barreling across the desert, ripping up the sand underneath it before slamming into the wasp, sending it straight into the dunes below.

Having sat and watched enough, Azami raced down the path, joining the others just in time to see huge walls of sand flying straight up, knocking out the rest of the wasps or sending them flying off. As the walls descended again, she instantly snarled and summoned fire in both hands, the sight of the sandbenders really aggravating her. They better be here to return Appa, or I'm going to take a page out of my nephew's book.

Aang seemed to share a similar thought process as he slammed into the ground before them, his face furious as he held out his staff. Two of the sandbenders stepped forward, unwrapping the bindings around their heads to reveal a middle-aged man and what looked like his son. "What are you doing in our lands with a sand sailor?" the elder man questioned. "By the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe."

"We found the sailor abandoned in the desert," Katara explained as she gestured to Aang. "We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."

The younger man stepped forward, an angry look crossing his face... yet something in his eyes seemed almost scared. "You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailor?"

Azami's eyes narrowed - he got defensive too quickly. She increased the size of her flames, to the point where she could actually make out a faint trail of smoke coming off of them.

"Quiet, Gashuin!" the elder man snapped. "No one accused our people of anything! If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality!"

Gashuin had the audacity to look abashed as he muttered a feeble apology, and beside her Azami heard Toph gasp slightly. "I recognize the son's voice," she whispered. "He's the one who stole Appa."

"Are you sure?" Katara asked quietly, sounding uncertain.

Toph nodded. "I never forget a voice."

The wind started to swirl around them as Aang angrily marched forward, and Azami's own rage faded slightly as sympathy for the young airbender started taking over. "You stole Appa!" the Avatar spat, holding his staff out threateningly. "Where is he?! What did you do to him!"

"They're lying!" Gashuin insisted. "They're the thieves!"

Aang ran forwards as he whipped down his staff, sending out a massive gust which destroyed one of the new sand sailors. "Where is my bison!" he demanded. "You tell me where he is now!"

The sandbenders gasped as they watched him destroy another sand sailor. "What did you do," the elder man asked in horror as he faced his son.

"I-it wasn't me!" Gashuin pleaded.

Toph marched forward, pointing straight at him despite being nearly blind. "You said to put a muzzle on him!"

"You muzzled Appa!?" Aang screamed, which was enough to push him into the Avatar state. Any fire left in Azami's hands went out as the winds picked up massively, and she along with everyone else backed up in fear as the Avatar rose up on a swirling cloud of sand.

"I'm sorry!" Gashuin panicked, his angry expression now twisted into raw fear. "I didn't know it belonged to the Avatar!"

Aang wasn't having any of it as he held his staff a mere inches away from the young sandbender's face. "Tell me where Appa is!" he demanded, his voice overlapping with the other Avatars speaking through him.

"I-I traded him!" Gashuin explained. "To some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now - they were gonna sell him there." Aang didn't move an inch, instead just standing there. "Please, we'll escort you out of the desert!" the pathetic bender begged. "We'll help however we can!"

They all watched for a moment longer before Sokka said what they were all thinking. "Just get out of here!" he exclaimed, grabbing Azami and Toph's hand as he raced past Aang, dragging the two girls behind him "Run!"

Azami looked over her shoulder as they all fled the growing sandstorm surrounding Aang, realizing in panic that they were missing. "Sokka, wait!" she cried. "We left Katara!"

He immediately froze, looking back in fear as he realized his sister was stuck with the raging Avatar. The two didn't have to say anything, merely glancing at one another briefly before racing into the swirling cloud.

For safety, of course, the two remained hand in hand, pushing against the winds, and only barely managed to break through into the eye of the storm, where they saw Katara hugging Aang tightly as they both cried. Slowly, his arrows and eyes began to fade, returning to normal, and the sandstorm fell with them.

In its place, what was left was a young airbender, sobbing into Katara's arms as he mourned his oldest friend.

A/N; Ngl, whenever I rewatch or reread this episode, the tonal whiplash I get is insane - yet somehow, the original writers managed to make Sokka on drugs blend perfectly with Aang grieving. How, I will never truly understand.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the little bits of fluff I threw in there, but buckle up for the future chapters - we're just getting started.

Btw - beginning and ending A/Ns will be returning as normal in future chapters, since I know you guys all love them so much, I just feel like taking them out is appropriate in between two-part chapters or when there's a much more sombre tone at the end of one. Idk why I'm even telling you guys this, ig I'm just desperate for content.

Oh, btw, Sumaya063 this one's for you xD