Aang was hugging Appa while the rest of us talked.

"Look," Sokka said "we escaped from the Dai Li. We got Appa back. I'm telling you, we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We're on a roll."

"One good hour after weeks of bad luck isn't really a roll" I pointed out.

"We can build on it." Sokka said "if we want to invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we'll need the Earth King's support." I had to admit, he had a point.

"What makes you think we'll get it?" Toph asked "I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang."

"I know, but I've got a good feeling about this. This time will be different." Sokka said.

"Sokka," Katara said "Long Feng is in control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful. I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us."

"I'm with Sweetness" Toph said "I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se." She raises her arms and opens her eyes wide. "And I can't even see!"

"Yes!" I cried "let's just leave and come up with something different."

"But now that we have Appa back, there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth." Aang pointed out "about the conspiracy and the War."

"See? Aang's with me." Sokka throws his arm around Aang and smiles. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place. We have to try."

"Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change." Katara admitted and Sokka and Aang both smiled.

"I don't trust the new positive Sokka." I said and Toph pointed at Sokka in an accusing manner.

"Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he!?" She accused him.

We noticed a few ships in the lake."That's probably the Dai Li searching for us." Sokka said and turned to Katara. "So?"

Katara thinks for a moment before looking at her brother "let's fly!"

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We fly toward the Palace, but since we no longer have a saddle, we have to hold onto Appa's fur for dear life. I briefly glance over at Toph to see her yell something but I can't tell what it is. We get closer to the palace. And we slow slightly so that Sokka can sign to me without worrying about falling off.

"There it is!" He says, signing along with his words "that whole thing is the palace! The Earth King's chamber should be in the center!

"We have to be careful." Katara pointed out "Long Feng's probably warned the king that we're coming."

"Why would you assume that?" Sokka asked "if you ask me, I think we're just gonna sail right in and-" A giant rock flies over and almost hits us. "Aahh!"

"What was that?" Toph asked.

"They're throwing rocks at us!" I (hopefully) yell. Gosh I hate flying. I can never tell if I have the right tone or not.

We dodge a few more rocks. One gets launched right at Aang, but he destroys it. Another launches at us head on and I bend it out of the way. Aang then launched himself from Appa to the front of the palace and used earthbending to knock back the palace guards. Appa lands and roars at the captain's ostrich horse, which causes it to drop the captain and run off. As we continued toward the Earth King, more guards appeared and launched cubes made of earth at us. Toph, Aang, and I use earthbending to block the attacks, while Katara uses waterbending to knock out the guards.

Katara turns around and strikes down more guards with her waterbending, though closes her right eye in a sympathetic flinch for a moment as she does so. As more guards rush toward us Toph uses her earthbending to flip the tiles of the walkway, trapping them between them while I create a colleam of earth under a couple of guards' feet and use them to launch them up in the air.

Sorry!" Katara yells "we just need to get through to see the Earth King!"

More guards appear on the opposite end of a bridge and launch two giant statues at us. Toph and I create an igloo out of earth to block the statues. Katara creates an ice ramp to jump to the other side of the bridge and water-whips the guards into the water. Aang freezes them in the water as the rest all jump across. More rocks fly towards us as guards are coming down a giant staircase. Toph uses earthbending to change the stairs into a ramp, causing them all to fall. Aang and I then use earthbending to escalate themselves up the stairs.

"Seriously, we're actually on your guys' side!" Sokka then pauses for a moment. "Sorry." More guards come and Aang and Toph push them away with earthbending. "In there!"

We then enter the palace.

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A/N: One thing that I don't think that I've mentioned is that (most of the time) whenever Gaang talks they sign along with their words so Anna can understand them (and they can understand her). While lip-reading and her Earthbending hearing can work in a pinch signing is what works best for them. 

Anyways, thoughts on this chapter? I hope you guys all like. I'm really excited since we're getting so close to book 3 (which is my favorite). I don't want to share too much but that's when a lot of the character development happens. 

Stay safe everyone.

-Isabel