Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

Its A Long Long Way To Ba Sing Sei.

 Sokka paces back and forth in front of a stubby round cactus growing in a ravine just outside of the Shi Wong Desert. Behind him, the rest of team avatar mill about their regular morning routines with Katara and Aang preparing breakfast over a large pot, Zuko and Yue are taking this morning to train in the nearby river. Sokka's curiosity was drawn to the cactus when he noticed a bird pecking at the cactus and finding a fruit that it flies off with. Deciding to investigate further, he draws his sword and begins cutting off the thorns determined to find the secrets of the spiny plant. "What the hell is your husband doing?" Zuko asks as he surfaces from the water after Yue had dunked him with her bending. "Is he fighting the cactus?" Zuko asks as he turns his attention to the water tribe warrior. Yue turns and stares as he slices the top half of the cactus off and grabs it from the ground. "Oh no, don't tell me he's going to eat it." Yue says before they hear Sokka call out to them.

"Hey, the cacti have water in them, and little fruits." He says as he pulls off one of the prickly pear pods. "Hey Aang, come try this." Sokka says, causing the airbender to immediately lose interest in Katara's cooking and bolt over to him.

"Think we should stop them?" Yue asks, turning to look at Zuko who merely shrugs at the question. She quickly turns her attention back to Sokka and Aang before speaking up. "Sokka, honey, I don't think it's a good idea to drink the water in the cactus. It's probably gonna make you sick, you too Aang." However her warning meets them a bit too late as Aang had already bitten into the bright red cactus pear and Sokka has just downed the entire makeshift bowl worth of cactus juice.

"Woah! Yuyu! Zuko! You gotta try this! It's really thirst quenching!" Sokka yells as he bolts over to them. He stands in front of the two with a wide grin on his face and offers the cactus cup for them to drink out of.

"I don't think so." Zuko says as he bends the water out of the cactus and dumps it into the stream. Sokka stares at him in disbelief for a moment before the cactus juice and his face goes blank.Suddenly his eyes dilate and he begins twitching and shaking his head. As if casting a magic spell, Sokka suddenly raises the half of the cactus above his head and begins wiggling his fingers in front of it and repeating a mantra. "Drink Cactus Juice, It'll quench ya." He says before dropping the cactus, getting onto his belly and doing the worm for a few paces continuing to repeat himself. "Nothing's quenchier." He continues before suddenly appearing in front of the two offering them the empty cactus bowl and exclaiming "It's the quenchiest!" He grins with a wide smile on his face as the two stare in bewilderment. Behind him, Aang is sprinting around in circles before slamming full speed into a rock and falling flat on his back. "Yeah... those two are tripping balls." Zuko says before walking out of the stream. "Who lit Toph on fire?" Sokka exclaims in bewilderment while looking at Zuko.

"Hello! Are you all refugees?" A male voice echoes through the canyon almost startling Katara and Iroh who were still in the middle of cooking breakfast. Zuko turns his head and is met with the sight of a small family of earth kingdom natives, dressed in green robes with gold accents wearing backpacks that look filled to the point the seams are threatening to burst. "I apologize if we startled you, we've been looking for another group to caravan with." the man continues and Zuko notices that the woman beside him is heavily pregnant.

"We're heading to Ba Sing Sei too, and you're more than welcome to join us." Katara says before noticing Aang stumbling around and Sokka making sand angels in the dirt. "Oh and don't mind those two, they thought it was a good idea to drink the water inside one of the cactuses over there and eat the fruit from one." Katara is slightly embarrassed to be explaining this.

"Alright then, We were just going to stop to rest for a while but we ran into you all. We're trying to make it to the walled city before my wife has our baby." The man explains, Zuko continues to study the young man's face and thin beard. He can tell by the way he speaks the man is nervous to just be around them. "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Than and this is my wife Ying, and my sister Goma." Than introduces his small group.