Blue Spirit // An ATLA AU

Chapter 15

They had just landed, and Aang was sitting ahead of them meditating. Yue looked at everyone confused, as she asked, "What's out here?"
Toph bent down, setting one of her hands on the ground. "A lot, actually. There's a hundred of little---"
Aang turned towards them, holding one of his fingers in front of his mouth. "Shh! I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise." He turned forwards, setting both of his hands on a stick he was holding. "Just watch." Turns out the stick was a flute, and the Airbender started playing it.

A gopher popped out of the ground, singing a note that was similar to the flute. Aang looked back laughing, he did it again, and another gopher popped out doing the same thing as the other one. The Airbender held his arms in the air, as he exclaimed, "Yeah! I'm putting an orchestra together!"
"Orchestra, huh? Well... 🎝La-di-da🎝" Sokka said sarcastically, moving his hands side-to-side as he said that.

Three gophers popped out of the ground, with one of them singing one note matching how the notes that actually sounded. "🎝Laah🎝" "🎝Diih🎝" "🎝Daah🎝" Yue and Zuko both chuckled at that, and Sokka threw them dirty looks. They vanished into the ground, as Momo pounced onto one of the holes, then popping out of a different one a moment later. The lemur looked around confused, as Aang started playing his flute again and the gophers started popping up and singing again. More laughs rang out from their group, as Momo kept running in between the holes, trying to catch the gophers.

Sokka got tired of it really fast, and he ran over to Aang, putting his finger in the bottom of the Airbender's flute. Aang looked up at him, and Sokka said, "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about?" He took his finger out of the flute, standing all the way up as he said the second part of that sentence. "We should be making plans."
"We did make plans," Toph argued. She tilted her head to the side. "We're all picking mini-vacations."
"There's no time for mini-vacations!" Sokka exclaimed, looking at the Earthbender.

Aang looked up at Sokka, stating, "I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off."
Katara walked over to her brother, asking him, "Yeah. What's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime?"
He ignored his sister, crossing his arms, and asking Aang, "Even if you do master all of the elements, then what?" Sokka brought his arms straight out. "It's not like any of us have a map of the Fire Nation. Hell, Zuko doesn't even know how the Fire Nation is spread out. The most he's been is like military bases, and those are places there we don't want to be at. So, should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house?" He turned away from the two Benders next to him, knocking on an imaginary door, while saying, "Knock, knock! Hello, Fire Lord! Anybody home?" He turned back, and glared at the top of the Airbender's head. "I don't think so." He crossed his arms again. "We need some intelligence if we're gonna win this war. And the type Zuko has is important, but not what we need."

Aang played another note on his flute, and a gopher popped out from underneath Sokka, singing, "🎝Laah🎝" Before going back underground, barely avoiding Momo. The Airbender used his bending to get back up to his feet, as Katara told her brother, "Hee hee! All right. We'll finish our vacations. And then we'll search for Sokka's intelligence." Aang let out a little laugh at that.

Aang pulled out a map, walking over to Katara, saying, "Your turn Katara. Where would you like to go on your mini-vacation?"

She pointed at the map. "How about the Misty Palms Oasis? That sounds refreshing." Aang tilted the map back so he could see it too, before commenting, "Oh, yeah, I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice ground." He looked up, locking eyes with Katara. "And I don't usually use the word 'pristine'. It's one of nature's wonders."

Sokka groaned as he walked back over to his soulmates. Yue smiled at him, before rapping her arms around his torso, leaning forwards and resting her head on his shoulder. Zuko let out a small laugh, before rubbing Sokka's head.