End of the Beginning

Chatper 37

And so we walked miles and miles away from Wolf's Cove, following any sort of trail that could lead us to Gilak and the Earth King but ... there was nothing. Aside from the long winding tunnels that we had come across. However, the moment we entered we all knew we were unprepared, and poor Toph was already showing signs of minor frostbite in her hands after trying to locate Gilaks army several times. In the end, we just turned back to head to the city.

"Team Avatar! Any progress?" Dad asked, sitting up from the couch as Bosco roared.

"I'm afraid not," Aang replied, shaking his head.

"Thod and his crew left footprints, but they lead into a maze of underground tunnels," Katara added

"Tunnels that go on for miles and miles..." Toph emphasized, "I could feel them,"

"It'll take us days to search through all of them."
Sokka said, crossing his arms.

"Maybe weeks," Zuko said, lost in thought for a moment.

"We came back to check on you guys and regroup," I said.

"And on Basco. Look what we brought you buddy! Some yummy dried fish! You want some fish?" Katara said, trying to cheer Bosco up. And surprisingly it worked, he seemed to be in brighter spirits as Momo dangled the fish in front of the bear's snout.

"Listen, team. We'll rest for a little bit, but we need to get back out there as soon as we can!" Aang announced.

"Yeah, No disrespect to the Earth King but, that guy won't last long in a freezing tunnel!" Sokka said, worriedly.

A hawk squawked loudly outside the window, causing me to avert my attention, "No kidding," I breathed out, opening the window to see a the messenger hawk settle on the windowsill for me to grab the sheet it carried on its back.

"It's a message from Gilak," I paused, feeling my hands begin to slightly shake. I tried my best to keep my composure as I quickly read each word on the page. And although most of my worry was masked under a blank face everyone knew, any message from Gilak isn't a good one.

"What is it?" Katara asked, looking over to try and read the letter but I instinctively moved away a bit.

"He says he wants to make an exchange, King Kuei's life ... for Dads,"

Dread grew on Katara's face in an instant, forcing me to look away to see Dad's reaction. He didn't seem too surprised, honestly, what else could have been expected? They had already tried to take him once.

"Can I see it?" Sokka asked, holding his hand out.

I nodded and passed the letter to him, "Gilak wants to meet at The Bridge of No Return," He said.

"The Bridge of No Return?" Toph asked.

"An old rope bridge up in the mountains, not far from here," Katara replied.

"It was a way for our tribe to deal with criminals back before the war started," I informed.

"If you did something really bad the tribe would make you walk across and then make sure you never ever came back," Katara added.

"It's the most dangerous terrain in the entire South Pole. As long as you make sure no one crosses back from the bridge, nothing stays alive on the other side for too long. Not even animals," I finished.

"Yikes,"

"So Gilak wants to meet at the bridge," Sokka continued, "Him and his army on one side, Dad and team Avatar on the other. He'll send Thod and a couple of his disciples over, we have to willingly allow them to Chi block all of our benders,"