The Girl He Won't Remember

Chapter 6

When Sokka and I returned to the others, we came back to something that didn't strike me as much of a surprise: Appa's fur was braided and decorated with pink ribbons, Katara was having her hair decorated with yellow lilies, and Aang was wearing a crown of pink flowers.

"Hey, you two should hear some of these stories," Aang beamed excitedly. "These guys have been everywhere!"

"Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead," Chung paused the plucking of his instrument's strings. "But where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs."

Aang grinned again. "They said they'll take us to see a giant Night Crawler!"

"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never ending rainbow!" Said the third part of Chung's trio, whom we hadn't been introduced to.

Sokka sighed. "Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara's busy, I guess it's up to me. We need to get to Omashu — no sidetracking, no worms, and definitely no rainbows!"

"Whoa," Chung chuckled. "Sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever! You're worried too much about where you're going."

Lily looked up from braiding Katara"s hair. "You've gotta focus less on the 'where', and more on the 'going'!" 

I felt myself shudder. Hippies truly scared me. I looked over at Sokka, whose eyebrow was twitching. Irritated, he said, "No — we're going to Omashu! O-MA-SHU!"

"Sokka's right," Katara said. "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe."

"Sounds like you're headed to Omashu," Chung said. Sokka slapped his palm against his forehead, leaving a red mark. "There's an old story about a secret pass," Chung continued, "right through the mountains."

Aang looked at each of us in excitement. Katara's eyebrow perked up. "Is this real, or a legend?"

"Oh, it's a real legend," Chung said, causing Sokka's lips to quiver in agitation, "and it's as old as earthbending itself." He plucked at the strings again, and his wife brought her flute up to her lips. How did I know that a song was coming?

"Two lovers,

forbidden from one another.

War divides their people, and a mountain divides them apart.

They built a path to be together — "

Chung stopped. "And, uh, I forgot the next couple lines. Then it goes something like: SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN! SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNEL!!"

Sokka wasn't amused, and I was more than relieved that their song was over. Normal people don't break out into song, but these people were far from normal. "I think we'll just stick with flying," he said. "We've dealt with the Fire Nation before; we'll be fine."

"Yeah," said Aang as he stood up. "Thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground. We need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable!" The young Avatar's eyes seemed to light up whenever he talked about his bison in the exact same way that General Iroh lit up at the mention of tea.

"You've gotta keep nature happy, brother," Chung replied wistfully.

"Great," Sokka said as he tossed our belongings into the saddle. He wasn't even trying to hide his desire to escape these singing nomads anymore. "Well, it was nice meeting you all, but we've gotta go now. Important Avatar business, you understand." The four of us were boarded upon the bison's back and were soaring up into the sky. "Finally," Sokka sighed in relief after a while.

"Oh, come on, Sokka," Aang smiled. "They weren't that bad. They were actually really nice!"

"Don't worry about him," Katara teased. "Mr. Grumpy Pants just wanted to feel in charge."

"I am not!" Sokka shot back defensively, then looked at me. "You agree with me on this, right?"

I looked from him, to his sister and the Avatar, and back again. I shrugged, looking at the others again. "I'm gonna have to side with Sokka on this one. It is crucial that Aang gets to Omashu to train with King Bumi, where it's safe. Maybe it is best that we don't get sidetracked by some free-spirited naturalists, or anything else that comes up." I stopped, sniffing the air. "Do you guys smell smoke?"

"It's probably just a campfire," Katara said. Aang nodded in agreement.

I shook my head, crawling to the edge of the saddle and sniffing the air. "No, this is different." I looked back to see them all giving me a strange look, one that was both intrigued and concerned that I could decipher what the smoke could or couldn't be emitting from. "Living in the Fire Nation required me to learn how to tell if a fire was an attack or just a harmless celebration." I shrugged. "Everything there ends up on fire one way or another." 

"You've become an interesting person, Saki," Katara smirked, playing with the flowers in her hair.

I smiled and turned my attention back to the smell. Just as I'd turned to look in front of us, a blazing orb was soaring in our direction. Luckily, Appa swerved from its path on his own. "Fire Nation soldiers!" I shouted, though it wasn't necessary. It was quite obvious who was trying to shoot us out of the sky. Before we knew it, more and more fireballs were ascending through the air. Aang hopped into his place on the crook of Appa's neck and took hold of the reins. The rest of us gripped onto the sides of the saddle as we whipped around and zigzagged to evade each fireball that rained down. If it hadn't been for my years on the ship, I would've already been sick. Not to mention the dizziness was making my pain even worse, and everyone's screaming was definitely not helping. 

Soon enough, we had landed right back where we started, covered in ash and faint burn marks. We trudged through the woods, finding Chung and his gang leaning against tree trunks and large protruding roots. Their music ceased abruptly as soon as they caught sight of us. "Secret Love Cave," Sokka groaned in defeat. "Let's go."