nothing to lose | zuko x oc

06

"how could you let the make appa!" aang yelled at toph from afar as vada was looking at koa's wing.

it was broken and bloodied, and the eagle wold also had a few scrapes on his face.

"i couldn't! the library was sinking and you were all still inside!"

"you could have come get us! I could've saved him!"

"i can hardly feel any vibrations out here! the sandbenders snuck up on me and-"

"You just didn't care! you've never liked appa! you wanted him gone!"

vada has finally had enough. she was already sick and tired of aang yelling at toph who actually saved all of their lives.

"enough." she said, stepping in between them. "toph saved our lives and you will be grateful for it." she told the boy, but sokka spoke. "who's gonna save our lives now? koa's hurt and can't fly us out of here." he said.

vada grimaced. he wasn't making the situation any better.

"that's all you guys care about, yourselves." aang hissed and stomped away and sat on the sand.

"we can't afford to be fighting right now." katara countered. "we're all concerned, but we have to get out of the desert. "

"I'm going after appa."

and then he was off on his glider.

vada sat down with koa for a moment, taking out some water and beginning to work on his broken wing. it might take a week or so to heal if she can fit in regular sessions.

"we have to get our information to ba sing se." katara said from next to vada. sokka sighed. "you think if we dig out that owl, he'll give us a ride?"

vada shook her head. "no. but we have limited water." she said and looked at the position of the sun, and guessing where north and south was.

"if we want to get out of the desert quickly, we should head east. but then it'll be a longer trek to ba sing se." she explained.

"which will be the fastest way to ba sing se?" katara quizzed,looking around. vada sighed. "that would be if we go straight north. or slightly northeast. but we'll have to travel across the entire desert."

katara nodded and vada bent the water she was using to ease koa's pain back into her pouch.

"the let's head north." katara said and they all followed her.

~

"so what did happen to your hair, vada?" katara asked the older girl, pointing to her hair.

vada, who finally remembered about it, took a lock of her hair and examined it.

it was pearly white, like brand new snowfall in January. vada gasped, inspecting the hair closer.

"what the heck! is all my hair like this?" she questioned, blue eyes wide. katara nodded, "it reminds me of another girl I knew. her hair was also white."

vada nodded, an image of her cousin flashing through her mind. "princess yue of the northern water tribe." she said.

the younger waterbender looked at her strangely. "you know her?"

vada shrugged. "I grew up in the north. I didn't know her personally, but she was always out in the city with her cousin." she lied. she knew yue very well, as she was the cousin.

she would never tell anyone that, though, seeing as she was disowned and brought shape upon her family.

"oh yeah, yue talked about her cousin once, her name was.. uh... vee? I think."

vada almost snorted. but she was thankful that yue didn't use her real name.

"katara? can I have some more water?" toph asked from behind. katara nodded, "we should conserve it, though."

she bent four balls of water. one for Momo, vada, sokka and toph.

vada shook her head and bent the water towards katara. "you have it. I'm not thirsty right now."

katara then drank the water an vada gave some of her own bending water to koa. "sorry boy, but we have to be careful of how much we drink.

the beast whined, but he seemed to understand and gulped the water down.

then, vada closed her pouch and began to walk on.

somehow, sokka had found a cactus and drank some cactus juice (bad idea, vada knew very well what drinking cactus juice could do.) Momo had also drank some of it and was flying around crazily.

"can I get some of that cactus?" toph quizzed hopefully. "no, trust me, you don't want to."

~

aang came back once the sun had set. vada took a moment to work on koa's wing as the others did what they did.

she was so worried about him, because he uses his wing's for transportation, hunting and even just playing.

she wasn't an animal healer, but she did want to try and fix his wing. rather sooner than later, so that he could fly and play again.

"i think we should rest here for a while." katara stated, earning a thankful smile from the healer and the eagle wolf.

she continued working on koa's wing until katara told everyone her plan. "well travel during the night when it's cool, and rest during the day." she said.

vada benr the water back into her pouch and petted koa's head. "well get out of here, buddy." she reassured the tired eagle wolf.

~

they were later awake and moving again, all getting up to walk again..

aang looked up at the moon his eyes widening and a smile growing on his face, "appa!" he yelped, causing everyone to look up.

"appa? why would princess yue need him? she's the moon, she flies by herself!" sokka yelled.

vada didn't know if it was his cactus high. "what does he mean by that?" she turned to katara.

"oh, the moon spirit was killed so yue gave her life for it to live again. and then she became the moon spirit." katara said nonchalantly.

"so she's dead?" vada questioned sadly, but katara shook her head. "no, now, she's the moon spirit."

the white haired waterbender looked up to the moon with a somber face.

that's one way to find out that your cousin turned into the moon. some guy high on cactus juice.

"let's get moving, guys." she said,

as they walked, toph suddenly tripped over something. "ow! crud!" she yelped. "I'm so sick of not feeling where I'm going!"

koa bent down and picked the blind girl up off the ground with his teeth.

"what idiot buries a boat in the middle of the desert?!"

"a boat?" katara questioned, staring at the piece of wood. "believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations." the earthbender grimaced. aang lifted his staff and airbent the sand away from the boat.

before he did, though, koa had used his good wing to cover vada and katara from the sand.

the so-called boat was actually a sand sailer. "it's one of those sand sailers! aang, you can bend a breeze so that we can sail it! we're gonna make it!" katara yipped as vada got onto the steering post, looking at the little compass.

"this thing doesn't point north." she said. "where else would it point?" katara questioned.

"around twenty degrees northwest. I could be wrong, though."

katara shrugged and everyone got on the sandsailer, beginning to glide it.

as they headed in the direction the compass pointed, vada had given everyone the last of her drinking water, and she had worked on koa's wing for a while with her (very little) bending water.