Entwined

Chapter 12

As Katara watched the tattooed boy, Zuko came up beside her. "What's going on?"

"You might want to put that on," she said, pointing to the tunic in his hand. With that, she stepped out of the building, intent on joining the villagers. Her curiosity increased the speed of her stride.

She heard Zuko catch up to her, and for a few moments he matched her stride until he stopped.

"Come on," she said, spinning around to look at him. The look she saw on his face unnerved her. His eyes had widened a good fraction, his jaw twitching with his mouth set in a hard line. He was tense, unusually so, even for him. He looked angry and irritated, and for some reason that escaped Katara, he even looked a bit sad.

The firebender shook his head. "You go," he told her. "I'm going to train."

Katara started toward him. "But we just finished sparring!" she said, but he was already walking away, back toward the training area. She shook her head, then turned back to the scene that had gained the attention of the entire village.

The way that the boy greeted Suki, and the other warriors with warm familiarity was unmistakable. He was clearly popular with the villagers, especially among the younger girls that were currently clinging to him. Katara chuckled as the tattooed young man attempted to gently pry his adoring fans off of him. Katara found herself moving closer, drawn by the cheerful energy that seemed to radiate from the newcomer.

"Back so soon, Aang?" Katara heard Suki say.

Aang opened his smiling mouth to reply, but was cut off by high-pitched shouts of, "How long are you staying Aang?!" and, "Please don't leave again!" from the young female villagers.

Aang grinned sheepishly at the attention. "Well-"

The ground abruptly shook with such force that Katara almost tripped along with the other villagers. Alarmed shouts filled the air as the ground next to the massive flying beast began to rise on the air, molding into a series of steps that ascended until they hit the edge of the furry creature's saddle.

A short, barefooted, green-clad girl with a deep frown marring her elegant features stepped onto the makeshift staircase and stomped her way to the ground. With a quick kick the earth went back into itself. It was silent as everyone took in the scene before them.

"What are you all looking at?" the girl demanded as she crossed her arms. Her milky green eyes quickly snapped to Aang. Katara was astonished as she suddenly realized the girl was blind. "And wipe that stupid look off of your face, Twinkle Toes!"

As Aang hastily did as he was told, Suki cleared her throat. "Toph, welcome back to Kyoshi. It's a pleasure, as always."

Toph smirked. "I'm sure it is. Now, as much as I'd love to catch up over tea and all that, we're actually here with an urgent matter."

Aang then became serious. "We found one of your missing persons on the outskirts of a southern town in the Earth Kingdom." A few gasps rippled through the crowd. Aang continued, "He's stable and resting, but he has many cuts and a few broken bones, I think."

Suku began to bark out orders before Aang could even finish, calling for the village's doctor and gathering some people to bring the injured man into one of the buildings.

Katara was pushed out of the way as people rushed past her, and even though she felt the need to help in some way, she didn't want to be any trouble. This led her back to her bunk, where she lay back and closed her eyes, wondering what Zuko was up to.

Her rest, however was short-lived, as a sharp flick on her forehead caused her eyes to snap open.

As Katara rubbed her throbbing forehead, she recognized the short, ebony-haired girl next to her cot to be the earthbender that had arrived earlier with the airbender.