The Last Airbenders > Zuko

9

The trees in the forest were a beautiful red color. The dead, brown leaves were all stacked in piles on the ground. It was like we were passing into different seasons every other day, but traveling across the globe comes with huge varieties of nature.

After a while of sitting at camp and resting, we noticed that Momo had been gone for a suspiciously long time. We walked around the forest for a while, looking up into the trees to see if we could find him flying somewhere. At one point, we found the lemur in a cage, hanging by ropes in the trees.

Aang swiftly glided up the tree and broke the rope, releasing Momo.

"These are Fire Nation traps." Sokka claimed as he ran his hands down the cage. "You can tell from the metalwork."

I sighed. "Then we better hurry and pack up camp so we can leave."

Once we got back to our bison and sleeping bags, Aang and Katara started loading the supplies onto the bison before Sokka stopped them.

"Uh uh! No flying this time."

Aang blinked and froze. "What? Why wouldn't we fly?"

The Water Tribe boy took the bag out of Aang's hands and set it onto the ground next to him. "Think about it. Somehow Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It's because they spot Appa, he's too noticeable."

"What?" Katara scoffed. "Appa's not too noticable."

"He's a giant fluffy bison with an arrow on his head! It's kind of hard to miss him."

Appa groaned at that comment. I scratched his fluffy beard. "Sokka's just jealous because he doesn't have an arrow."

"I know you all want to fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe and walk."

His sister folded her arms. "Who made you boss?"

"I'm not the boss, I'm the leader."

"You're the leader?" Katara put her hands on her hips, annoyed with his claims. "But your voice still cracks." She added with a smug smile.

As if on cue, his voice cracked while he spoke up. "Well I'm the oldest, and the warrior! So I should be the leader."

I laughed. "Actually Sokka, I'm the oldest by a hundred and one years." I used my fist to cover my smile while he glared blankly at me.

"I forgot you were sixteen."

"A hundred and sixteen."

"Exactly, so if anything the leader should be Nara." Katara concluded as she folded her arms triumphantly. However her brother began ignoring her, and started walking down the trail with his backpack slung over his shoulders.

She rolled her eyes and looked at me. "Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?" I shrugged with a defeated look on my face. "I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl!" She yelled, teasing him.

He roughly flipped around to look at her. "I've kissed someone! You just haven't met her."

"You mean Gran-Gran? I've met our grandmother."

"Look. My instincts are telling me that we should just walk. So, suck it up."

"Alright then, we'll try it your way o-wise leader."

I pulled my heavy backpack on and tightened the straps. Aang followed me but had a bit of a quicker paise and swiftly passed me to walk ahead with Sokka.

"Who knows? Walking could be fun!"

***

"Walking sucks." The little airbender groaned with a slouched bag. "How do people get anywhere without a flying bison?"