fire & lightning

chapter nineteen

"How could you let them take Appa!" Aang screamed at Toph. "Why didn't you stop them?"

"I couldn't!" Toph defended herself. "The library was sinking! You guys were still inside, and-."

"You could've come to get us!" Aang interrupted. "I could've saved him!"

"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here, the sandbenders snuck up on me."

"You just didn't care!" Aang's face was turning red. "You never liked Appa!"

"Aang, stop." Katara and I spoke in unison.

"I did everything I could." Toph frowned.

"Toph helped save our lives by holding the library, we could've died. She was strong enough to do it." I tried reasoning with Aang.

"Well, look." Sokka approached us. "Who is going to save our lives, now? We'll never make it out of here without Appa." He was right, we were stuck in the desert and had no idea where to go, or how to leave.

"That's all any of you guys care about, yourselves. You don't care whether Appa is okay or not."Aang sat down in the sand.

"We're all concerned!" Katara expressed. "But, we can't afford to be fighting right now."

"Aang, you know how much I love Appa. I shed a few tears myself when Toph told us what happened. Please, think positive. Appa is okay, i'm certain." I assured, hoping Aang would calm down.

"I'm going after Appa."

"Aang, wait!" Katara ran up to him, but was too late when he leaped into the air with his glider, taking off.

"We'd better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse." Katara demanded, even though she didn't exactly know where to go.

"Yeah, we need to get that information to Ba Sing Se." I agreed, then began walking further through the desert with Katara, Sokka, Toph and Momo.

"Do you think if we dig out that giant owl, he'll give us a ride?"

"Sokka, I think this is a bad time for your sarcasm." I turned over to him, giving him a look that said 'really?'

"There's always a time." He glanced at me and shrugged, then continued moving.

By now, we were all panting and sweating. The desert was extremely hot, all we had was a bit of Katara's water.

"I'd really want- - ow! Toph, can't you watch where you're going?" Sokka lost his balance when Toph bumped into him.

"No!" She yelled.

"Right, sorry!" He quickly apologized and scratched the back of his head.

"We need to stick together, guys." Katara sighed, not wanting to hear Toph and Sokka bickering.

"If I sweat anymore, I don't thinking sticking together will be a problem." Sokka joked as his shirt stuck to Toph's, caused by the moisture of the sweat. Toph blushed then punched Sokka, making him fall into the sand.

A thought occurred to me, and a part of me liked the idea of the two of them in a relationship. Just the way they interact reminds me of an old married couple. Not to mention when Zuko and I were kids, I would punch him to show affection, not thinking anything of it. So, the more I thought about it, Toph and Sokka began to look adorable together.

"Katara, can I have some water?" Toph begged.

"Okay, but it's my bending water. We need to try to conserve it."

Katara gave each of us a sip. After swallowing it, we all began to gag.

"This tastes like swamp!" Sokka complained.