AtLA Rewritten: Edition 1

Chapter 22

Finally they arrived to the island on the map that day. No other land was in sight.

Toph was the first to hop off of Appa. "Finally, ground!" she announced, hands on her hips.

Dai had woken up just before Appa landed and was was shortly behind Toph. "And water!" she chimed in, sliding down the beach until her feet were in the ocean.

Athlea slid off after her and glanced around, looking at the map before turning to Katara. "So who is going to go with who?" She handed the map to Katara.

"Aang, Katara, Dai, and me, obviously," Sokka said confidently.

Katara's answer was firm. "The water benders can go underwater. The rest of you stay here." She took the map, nodding thanks at Athlea.

"I have no say here. Zuko, Toph, and I will be on ground. Nothing can go wrong, after all. We're alone... I guess," Athlea said, shrugging and crossing her arms. "What do you say?" she asked, turning to Dai.

She turned toward her brother. "Sokka," she said sharply. "Stay here. We might need to split up down there, and we don't know how deep the library is. The deeper it is, the harder it will be to hold our bubble."

Dai glanced over her shoulder, blinking in surprise. "He can come with me," she said with a shrug. Katara glared at her. "Oh, come on," Dai said, returning Katara's look. "He's a grown-up. Kinda. He can decide what he wants to do and face the consequences of it. He doesn't need a babysitter." Katara blinked.

Sokka's eyes lit up. "Yes! See, I have potential!" He grinned, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

Katara sighed and uncrossed her arms. "Okay, fine," she agreed. "If you really insist on going. It isn't up to me." 

"Besides, you said we might need to split up. You go with Aang. I'll be with Dai, just so no one is alone. You never know, right?" He winked.

Her face turned red. "Right," she responded through gritted teeth. She clenched and unclenched a hand, and a stream of water hit him in the face. "Oh, my bad," she said, looking at her hand is if she didn't have control over it.

"Hey! I can defend myself just fine, Katara!" Sokka pulled out his boomerang. "See this? I've defended myself with this plenty of times!"

"And also lost it once," Toph commented with a giggle.

"Boomerang always comes back," Katara mocked her brother, giggling.

At the same time, Sokka added, "It came back to me, 'cause I'm it's owner," nodding pridefully.

"Shall we prepare to go down there?" Aang asked.

Katara bit her lip. "We shouldn't need more than the map. I don't want anything to get wet."

Aang nodded, approaching the water. "I think we should bring a few important scrolls back with us. We should start making the air bubbles and go in."

"Come on, Sokka." Dai was still at the waters edge. She pushed her hands forward, parting a massive amount of water.

Katara raised her eyebrows. "Damn." 

Sokka blinked a few times. "Oh, wow," he mumbled under his breath, approaching with Katara and Aang. 

"Oh, wow, Dai! That's... impressive!" the airbender exclaimed.

"Thanks!"

"So, uh, how do we do this?" Sokka asked, glancing between the others.

Dai glanced back at Sokka. "Like this." She pulled him forward by the shoulder, not too hard or too gentle either, and walked forward. She pulled some of the parted water around them, making a circle with her hands, and a bubble formed in front of them; she moved her hands along and the bubble rolled forward. "Come on, Katara, let's see what you can do."