The Girl He Won't Remember

Chapter 9

Dear Katara and Sokka,

I'm such a coward for not being able to break the news in person. I'm leaving. I -

I scrapped the sheet of paper, tossing it over my shoulder into the cloudy abyss beneath us. I sighed, pulling out another sheet and trying again.

Katara and Sokka,
I know we've been reunited for a short time, but it's time for me to leave. I can't bring myself to say goodbye because 'goodbye' sounds too permanent. I need to go on my own journey to -

I balled this attempt as well, tossing it away. Maybe this isn't worth it, I thought. I'd no way of sending a letter anyway. I slid the items back into the bag from which it came.

It was pointless.

"Something on your mind?" Katara's voice startled me. She slid beside me and leaned her back against the pile of bags. "You haven't said a word in hours."

I shrugged. Was this the right time for me to announce my plan to depart from the group? Maybe - but I'd no intention of taking this opportunity to do so. Disregarding her concern, I asked, "So, Aang, what is Omashu like?"

"It's great," he grinned.

"Indestructible. King Bumi and I used to get into so much trouble together."

"I wonder how much has changed since then," I thought aloud. We landed three hours later, but we had to walk the rest of the way. Climbing uphill was excruciating --- for me, anyway. Remember my fear of heights? Well, upon reaching the top, I was granted the surprise of peering over a ledge.

Not only that, but once we laid eyes on the grand city of Omashu, we were greeted with Fire Nation flags and banners adorning the buildings and sky.

"So much for indestructible," I muttered. Sokka elbowed me in the side.

"I can't believe it," Aang frowned. "I knew the war had spread far, but Omashu seemed....untouchable."

"Up until now, it was," Sokka replied. "Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left."

"This is horrible," Katara said, joining Aang at his side, "but we have to move on."

Aang looked down. "No. I'm going in to find Bumi."

"Aang, stop," Sokka frowned. "We don't even know if Bumi's still ---"

"What?" Aang glared. "He's still what?"

"---around..."

Katara chimed in again. "I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people who can teach you earthbending!"

This whole argument seemed trivial, if you ask me. It was a lose-lose situation. If we kept going, Omashu would still be under Fire Nation siege, and something could happen to Bumi --- if it hadn't already; but, if we went into the city, it was almost guaranteed that a soldier would spot the difficult-to-hide air nomad arrows.

But, of course, we went anyway. We climbed down into the trench around the city, where drains and pipes would eventually empty. Aang lifted the lid, and we climbed in, swishing through the nauctious stench of sewer water. Aang looked back at me every so often, silently asking what he wouldn't say aloud: Have you told them yet?

I shook my head and he continued on, pushing up another lid that released us into the center of a street. I hadn't realized until then that the sun had set. We all climbed onto the street, trying our best to not make any noises that would catch attention.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought," Katara said with a half smile.

"Speak for yourself," I said. "I probably won't get the smell of stank off of me for days."

There was a moaning behind me, followed by the emerging of a slimy human-shaped blob. With a whip of my arm, I bent a stream of water from a nearby barrel and sprayed the monstrous thing. I shouldn't have been surprised to find out that it was Sokka. It's always just Sokka, ever since my investigation of the missing food when we were children. This time, Sokka wasn't alone. On each cheek was a small, five-legged, purple friend. As soon as he realized, he began to panic in his typical Sokka fashion. Aang sprung forward and held Sokka still as he gently pulled off each pentapus.

"Stop making so much noise," Aang said. "It's just a purple pentapus."

"Hey!" A man yelled from down the street. We looked over to see a group of Fire Nation soldiers approaching us. "What are you kids doing out past curfew?"

Before I had even blinked, Aang had arranged his clothes in a way that hid his arrows, and Katara and Sokka used tarps as cloaks to hide their Water Tribe attire. I had begun to panic in fear that I wasn't properly disguised...

...until it dawned on me that I was already wearing Fire Nation attire.

"Sorry!" Katara flashed her sweet, trustworthy smile. "We were just on our way home." We all turned away to leave, but the soldiers didn't seem convinced.

"Wait," the man scowled, gesturing to Sokka. "What's the matter with him?" Sokka's face and neck were decorating with red spots from the pentapus' suction cups.

Thinking quickly, I replied, "He has pentapox, sir." When he leaned in for further inspection, Katara added, "It's highly contagious!"

The soldier recoiled as if Sokka was going to bite. "You're free to go," he said, then the soldiers were running away to rid themselves of the fictitious disease.

Aang smiled at the pentapus he had set on a barrel. "Thanks, sewer friend."