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Imprisoned

A/N Imprisoned is one of my favorite episodes so this was super fun to write

"I won't be joining you," Bumi said as the guards loaded supplies into Sang's saddlebags. "When the time comes, I'll be there. But for now, I've got a kingdom to run!" He did his usual snort-laugh. Then he turned serious and pulled out a white lotus tile from a Pai Sho game. "If you see Kuzon or Hama, give them this. And tell them Anuri and I send our regards."

---

Now the trio were camped out by an Earth Kingdom town, waiting for Sokka to return with their meal.

A twig cracked, and Katara whirled around to face the threat. Sokka stepped out of the woods, holding a bag.

"Great, you're back!" Rina called. "What's for dinner?"

Sokka opened the bag. "We have a few choices. First, round nuts. And then some kind of oval shaped nuts. And then rock-shaped nuts. Actually, I think these might be rocks. Dig in!"

Katara rolled her eyes. "Seriously. What did you get?"

Sokka searched through the bag, but before he could find anything, the ground rumbled.

Katara jumped to her feet. Rina looked around, ready to airbend at a moment's notice. Tikaani's fur turned yellow from surprise.

"It's coming from over there!" Rina yelled, pointing towards a mountain pass. She and Katara sprinted after the sound.

"Shouldn't we be running away from huge booms?" Sokka called. "Not towards them?"

Rina and Katara caught up to a boy standing in a ravine, bending boulders into the rock walls. "An earthbender," Katara breathed. Maybe he could teach her to earthbend.

"He looks dangerous," Sokka hissed. "We best approach cautiously."

"Hello there!" Katara called, walking up to the earthbender. "I'm Katara. What's your name?"

The boy gasped and dropped his boulder. He sprinted away, knocking boulders onto the path to block them.

"Nice to meet you!" Rina called after him.

"Pleasant guy," Sokka muttered.

"I just wanted to say hi..."

"Wait!" Rina realized. "That guy was probably running towards a market, right? Which means a village. Which means no nuts for dinner!"

The girls sprinted after the boy.

"Hey!" Sokka called. "I worked hard for those nuts!"

---

The trio made it to a mining town not too far away. Katara looked around, scanning the village for the boy she'd seen. Finally, she caught a flash of his brown hair and changed course.

The boy looked behind him and spotted Katara. "Wait!" She shouted. "I just want to talk!"

The boy made it to a house and slipped inside. Katara ran in after them to see him frantically talking to an older woman, maybe his mother. "You," she gasped. "You're the earthbender."

The woman gasped.

"No," the boy said nervously. "You must have confused me with another person."

"She didn't," Rina said, running in with Sokka. "We saw you earthbending."

The boy flinched.

The boy's mother gasped and rushed to shut the window. She looked at her son in horror. "They saw you doing what?"

"They're crazy, mom," the boy insisted. "I mean, look at the way they dress!" Katara self-consciously fiddled with the hem of her dress. She'd removed her parka, since the Earth Kingdom was much warmer than the South Pole. Rina examined her airbending jumpsuit, fowning.