A special task

Suki is a mess and we have to do something about it

In the span of five minutes, I had managed to freak myself out. I was landing on Kyoshi island in ten minutes and I was almost having a panic attack. I left the fire nation with the sad truth weighing in my gut; I was going to go on a mission with Katara. While flying over Omashu I considered king Bumi, but he was very old, and not a very err practical person.

For a crazy second I considered taking Azula. She was a very powerful bender, then I remembered she was crazy and killed me, literally ended my life. But hey, Ty Lee says she's doing better, Azula hasn't bitten a guard in weeks! I hope Ty Lee still doesn't have a crush on her, I don't see her ever becoming sane.

That being said and for other obvious reasons, I couldn't bring Azula, I had to take Katara. That's when the panic set in. I was going to have to ask Katara, ask her to risk her life to help me, which was embarrassing enough. Then another thought occurred; she could say no! Not only would I be rejected, but I'd have to do it alone.

Suddenly my whole attitude shifted. I needed Katara to come with me, I wasn't sure I could do it alone. Things were pretty bad between us but... she has to say yes, she just has to. I saw a familiar Kyoshi statue and pulled the reigns for Appa to land. Immediately I was greeted by the whole village.

"Aang!" I knew exactly who the shrill voice belonged to.

Immediately a short girl burst through the crowd and threw her arms around my neck.

"Oh I've missed you so much!" She screamed as I winced.

Behind us more girls in Kyoshi warrior- outfits started giggling and I felt myself blush. She finally unattached herself from my body, but not without giving me a kiss on the cheek. I scanned the crowd until I found Oyagi. I bowed my head at the village leader and he did the same.

"Avatar Aang, so good to have you here. Feels like yesterday Suki tied you up to the Kyoshi statue. Say how old are you?"

I was still extremely embarrassed from when Koko had given me a kiss on the cheek, and I tried not to appear so flushed.

"Eighteen sir" I answered and I heard disappointed sighs from the crowd. I did one last scan, and to my dissapoitment I didn't see Sokka, or Suki ( or Katara). Oyagi clapped his hands.

"Well let's get you situated." And he led the group back to to the village.

The group of girls in Kyoshi uniforms trailed behind the group, following me.

"So" I gestured at the group.

"You're Kyoshi warriors now?"
Koko nodded.

"Every girl on the island becomes one, it's my dream."

"So you get trained to be a Kyoshi warrior at fourteen?"
A couple of the girls blushed, like being fourteen was a bad thing. Koko cleared her throat.

"Well I'm fifteen in 5 months anyways Aang, but normally training is at sixteen, things are different this year .."

Her voice wavered like there's something she wasn't telling me.

"They just need more recruits this year, that's all." Said one of the girls I knew to be Nisa. Finally we got to the village and Koko frowned.

"Sorry Aangy, the girls and I have to go train with Suki now."

I tried not to groan at being called "Aangy" , but then my face brightened.

"With Suki? Can I come, I need to talk to her."

The girls squealed and led me away. If Suki was here, so was Sokka, and I'm like 99% sure Katara spends the summer months in Kyoshi island. Sokka told me that two years ago, so that may not even be true anymore, but he might know where she is.

I came into the training room, where not too long ago I saw Sokka wearing a dress. When I came inside I was overwhelmed by what I saw. First, I saw Suki sobbing onto Sokka's shoulder. I'd never seen her like this, it was horrible. Then I saw Katara, bent down next to Suki, her hand on her shoulder. How many times did Katara comfort me like that when we were kids? When I told her about my past, when I told her I was scared, when we kissed in Ba Sing Se...
Katara was the first one to notice I was here.

"Aang?" She asked slowly. From beside me I felt all the girl rushing to Suki.

"Master Suki are you alright?" Koko asked bending down beside her. Sokka coughed wiping his misty eyes. The attention wasn't on me, and I was grateful.

"Where's Ty Lee?" Nisa asked her voice shaking. Until now I never noticed how much she reminded of my of Ty Lee. A while ago Ty Lee told me she had a lot of sisters. She said her parents kept having girls all the way up until she was eight. Could Nisa be..

Suki just shook her head crying, and the girl named Nisa started crying too. Sokka motioned for me to come outside, and so did Katara. I followed them outside and Sokka started to explain.

"People are going missing Aang. We didn't notice it at first, but this is the sixth Kyoshi warrior to go missing. No one knows what happened to them, they just vanished."

I sighed rubbing my temple.

"Then it's getting worse than I thought."

Katara then broke her silence.

"You knew why this was happening and didn't tell us?!"

"You never told me about the Kyoshi warriors!" I snapped back.

"So why haven't you put away the people that's been doing this then?"

"GUYS!" Sokka said drawing our attention back in. He took a deep breath, seeming very annoyed with the both of us.

"Like I said, we thought the girls were just running away, so we didn't say anything. Then more and more started leaving without any explanation and we grew worried."

He looked at Katara with an angry expression then continued.

"Some of us thought you might be busy with avatar-stuff, so we called the United Forces, which did nothing."

Great, so Katara didn't want me here so she put everyone at risk by not calling me first. I forgot just how selfish she was. I opted saying that aloud but instead I settled for:

"You REALLY should've told me" I grumbled.

Katara looked liked she was about to say something, but Sokka cut in.

"Well you're here now, do you have a plan?"

I nodded.

"Well what's happening to the Kyoshi warriors is small part of something bigger. Something much bigger. I can't get them back unless I directly tackle the heart of this operation."

Here's the part where I wanted to run away, or even free Azula out of prison to help me. Neither were options since Ty Lee was counting on me. I had to get her out of wherever they were holding her hostage. I made a mental note to send a letter to Mai informing her that she might want to postpone her wedding, if she wanted Ty Lee to be there. Now I forced myself to turn to Katara and look her directly in the eye.

"And I can't do this alone. I-I need your help."