Balance | Old Version

Chapter 33

Elua's POV.

I carry a bag over to Appa and place it on his saddle, I look in front of Appa and see Katara. I jump off the bison and walk over to her with a sad smile on my face.
"Sokka shouldn't have said what he did, I'm sorry," Katara says with a kind smile.
"Don't be. You didn't say it," I tell her as I return the smile. "Sokka was right though, Aang and I never knew our parents. So, we don't really understand what it's like," I state, she looks at me sorrowfully as she pulls me into a friendly hug.
"I'll miss you," She says as we let go of each other.

"I'll miss you too," I say kindly, she smiles one last time and then walks back over to Sokka and Bato. I look over to Sokka for a moment, he seemed to have a hint of regret and sadness in his eyes. Before I can really tell, I turn away and jump onto Appa. I watch as all three of then walk away, leaving Aang and I to travel by ourselves. The Superior of the abbey approaches us.
"Guess we should be moving on," Aang says sadly as he hugs his knees.

"That would be best," She tells him. I sigh as I shake Appa's reins, who walks us out of the gate.
"I'm an idiot, Momo," Aang says gloomily. I look back at him and give him a small smile.
"You're not an idiot, Aang," I begin to say. "You just made a mistake," I tell him, but he still seems upset with himself. We stop at the beach to make sure we're ready to move on.
"Looks like we're going alone," Aang states as he tightens Appa's reins.

"...Yeah," I say gloomily.
"Avatar! Nadir! You must leave!" We hear someone shout, we both look up and see The Superior.
"Okay, I get it. Everybody wants me gone," Aang says angrily to her, but the look of fear on her face says there's something more to us needing to leave.
"A group of people came to the abbey looking for you," She tells us.
"Who?" I ask her promptly as I look down at her worriedly.
"A fierce-looking woman with a horrible monster and a young man with a scar," She states.

"Zuko!" Aang says as his eyes go wide.
"The beast was using the scent of a necklace to follow you," She explains.
"A necklace?" Aang asks in confusion, but it quickly hits us.
"Katara!" We shout as we grab our gliders. We open them and take off into the sky and quickly make our way towards the abbey. I look down and see a shirshu, many people on it's back, including Katara, Sokka, and Zuko. Aang and I fly down, the creature tries to hit us but misses and falls to the ground, knocking everyone off it. Aang and I land in front of Zuko.

"Aang! Elua!" Katara shouts happily as she and Sokka lay on the ground, seemingly paralyzed. A woman gets up and whips the ground. The shirshu gets up and roars as the woman jumps onto its back. They charge after Aang and I but before they can do anything, Appa knocks right into the shirshu, pushing it and the woman down. They crash into the wall of a building, making a hole through it. We smile at Appa, but it quickly turns to dread as we turn to face Zuko, whose hands are alight with fire. He fires a huge blast of flame at Aang, who blocks it by twirling his staff to break up the flames. We all send several blasts of air and fire, all of which miss or are blocked. Finally, we fire bursts together and we are all blown back onto the roofs behind us.

I quickly stand up and turn to my right, to see Zuko running at Aang and I. I take a bending stance and look down at Aang as he gets up groggily from where he'd fallen on the roof. His eyes go wide as he sees Zuko charging at us down the middle of the roof. He throws a blast of fire at me, I dodge and move behind Zuko as Aang flips over his head and lands behind him. We exchange strikes, and eventually, I knock Zuko off the roof. However, he is instantly replaced when the woman and the shirshu jump onto the roof and shadow us as we run. Appa uses his tail to create a wind that blows tiles off the roof as the shirshu passes. We jump off the roof and land in front of Zuko, who is standing in front of a well.

"You've got something I want!" Aang shouts to Zuko. I look at him confused, but then remember he has Katara's necklace. Aang and Zuko trade rounds again, with Zuko soon destroying some of the well. They jump around on the edge of the well, neither person able to achieve a crucial advantage over the other. Aang keeps trying to grab the necklace but misses each time, Zuko lunges after Aang ducks. As Zuko passes over him, Aang puts his foot through the loop of the necklace, catching it. I watch as he jumps into the well and disappears, with Zuko firing a huge blast of flames after him in frustration. Zuko is launched into the air with a jet of water as Aang waterbends himself out of the well. Aang lands on the ground and Zuko hits the pavement with a thud.

Zuko gets up and the fighting begins again, but this time Appa seems to have had enough and begins to advance threateningly on Zuko. Before Appa can do anything, the shirshu lashes him it's paralyzing tongue. Appa tries to stay up, but can't and keels over, paralyzed on the ground. Aang and I are dodge Zuko's fire blasts while also dodging the shirshu's tongue. I look up as Katara waterbends the perfume that the sisters of the abbey had made. She bends it into a huge wave and drops it on the shirshu. The monster shakes off the liquid, moving its head around in panic. It looks disoriented and ends up getting Zuko with its tongue, followed the woman on its back.

A Little Later.

We had left the abbey a few hours ago, Appa was flying through the sky as the sun was beginning to set in the distance.
"So, where do we go?" Aang asks as he turns to the siblings behind him.
"We're getting you and Elua to the North Pole," Katara tells him, Aang looks surprised.
"Yeah, we've lost too much time as it is," Sokka states.
"Don't you want to see your father?" Aang asks them unsurely.

"Of course we do, Aang," Sokka states. "But, you and Elua are our family too, and right now, you need us more," He says with a kind smile.
"And we need you," Katara tells him with a smile too.
"I wish I could give you a little piece of home, Katara. Something to remind you-" Aang starts to say but is interrupted.
"I'll be okay," Katara tells him smiling.
"Still, just a little trinket. Maybe something like...this!" Aang says as he proudly holds out Katara's necklace to her with a wide smile.

"Aang! Where did you get that?" Katara asks in shock as she takes her necklace.
"Zuko asked to be sure I got it to you," Aang jokes.
"Oh, that's so sweet of Zuko," Katara says dramatically. "Would you give him a kiss for me when you see him?" She jokes back, Aang smiles in amusement.
"Sure!" Aang exclaims. Katara leans over to him and kisses his cheek, making him blush and twiddles his thumbs nervously.
I look over to Sokka as he sits beside me, an apologetic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, Elua," Sokka says. "I shouldn't have said what I did, it was out of anger and it was wrong," He states, I smile for a second. "Forgive me?" He asks sheepishly.
"Of course, Sokka," I say with a small laugh. We sit in silence for a while as we watch the sunset.
"You know, I feel like I apologize to you a lot," Sokka says with a frown as he realizes how many times we've had a disagreement.
"That's because you do dumb stuff a lot," I say giving him an amused look, we both start laughing as we fly off into the night sky.