The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 76 [~|~] Brainwashed

After Katara released Jet from the wall, the group made their way to a warehouse in the Lower Ring. Glancing around the room, Azara found that the shed was full of a bunch of random sacks and not much else. And most importantly, there was no sign of Appa. "This is the place I heard about," Jet explained, leading the way into the warehouse.

"There's nothing here," Aang noted, looking around with a questioning look on his face.

"If this is a trap—" Katara snapped, prepared to waterbend Jet through the side of the warehouse.

"—I told you, I work nearby! Two guys were talking about some giant furry creature they had, I figured it must be Appa!" Jet interjected defensively, throwing his hands in the air.

"He was here!" Toph called, running over, and picking up a clump of Appa's fur off the floor. Aang hurried over to her and grabbed the clump of hair from Toph, cradling it in his hand.

"We missed him," Aang sighed, slumping as he held the hair, rubbing his finger over it lightly.

"They took that big thing yesterday," an old man who was sweeping around the warehouse spoke up, causing the rest of the group to turn to him. "Shipped him out to some island. About time, I've been cleaning up fur, and various, uh . . . leavings all day."

"What island? Where's Appa?" Aang asked, running over to the man with hope in his eye.

"Foreman said some rich royal type of Whatetail Island bought him. Guess for a zoo or such. Though, could be the meat that'd be good," the man revealed, causing Azara to raise an eyebrow at the man. Sokka pulled out a map from his bag, Azara moving to help him find Whaletail Island.

"We've got to get to Whatetail Island!" Aang yelled excitedly, before pausing. "Where's Whaletail Island?"

"Far, very far," Sokka sighed, placing the map on the ground. "Here it is. It's near the South Pole, almost all the way back home." Sokka pointed at the small island on the map, nearly the furthest point south in the entire Earth Kingdom.

"It'll us forever to get out there," Azara sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Aang, it will take us weeks just to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom. And then we'll need to find a boat to get to the island," Katara reminded Aang, who shook his head.

"I don't care. We have a chance to find Appa! We have to try!" Aang pleaded, true hope in his eyes for the first time in weeks.

"Must be nice to visit an island. I haven't had a vacation for years," the old man replied gruffly as he continued to sweep behind Aang.

"Don't you have some more hair to clean up?" Katara argued, glaring at the man, who looked up at her with a bored expression.

"Shuffle on, I get you. No more need for Old Sweepy . . ." the man trailed off, walking to another part of the warehouse to clean up.

"You're right, Aang. Right now, our first concern has to be finding Appa. We can come back when we have him," Katara spoke, placing a reassuring hand on Aang's shoulder as she smiled softly.

"Alright, let's get moving," Sokka nodded, standing up and tucking the map away. He followed after Aang out of the warehouse, Azara walking side by side with him.

"I'll come with you," Jet offered, causing Katara to glare over at him, Azara not bothering to give the Freedom Fighter a second glance.