Princess of the Fire Nation

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Lian opened her eyes slowly, feeling the cold wind against her face. She looked up, expecting to see a roof over her head but instead she saw nothing but open blue skies. She sat up quickly, realising she was sitting in a saddle with Katara and Sokka, as Appa flew over a large swampy terrain. Aang sat on the head of the bison, holding the reigns.

"Sleeping beauty is finally awake" jokes Sokka.

Lian just ignores him, tiredly rubbing her face. "How long have I been on Appa?"

"A few hours" replies Katara cautiously. A few hours. That was enough time for Azula to send word to the Fire Nation about her betrayal.

Lian looks over at the swampy area before, lost and confused. She had no idea what she was going to do now. Perhaps she could find her father and Zuko, would they even welcome her?

"Avatar, please could you drop me off at the nearest village" says Lian calmly, although inside she felt anything but calm.

"Then what?" questions Sokka. "Wait there until the Fire Nation captures you? You're a traitor to them now."

Lian looks away, not wanting Katara or Sokka to see the pain in her eyes. That's exactly what she was now. A traitor. She had lived her whole life as a Princess, she didn't know how to live any other life. Even during her travels, Lian always had respect and wealth, now she had none of that. She didn't even have any money on her.

"I'm sorry Lian" says Sokka softly as Katara looks on sympathetically. Lian nods vacantly not knowing how to reply, Sokka didn't exactly say anything that was untrue.

Their conversation is stopped as the trio begin to feel Appa descending, heading lower into the swampy lands below.

"Hey, you takin' us down for a reason?" asks a confused Sokka but Aang just looks on towards the swamp, zoned out.

"Aang!" says Katara, touching his shoulder with concern. Aang noticeably flinches before turning to look back at Katara. "Why are we going down?"

"What?" responds Aang, wiping his forehead. "I didn't even notice."

Appa continues to descent and Lian looks down towards the swamp, nothing about it looked welcoming.

"Are you noticing now?" asks Sokka.

"Is something wrong?" says Katara, moving to sit beside the Avatar.

"I know this is gonna sound weird, but... I think the swamp is... calling to me" murmurs Aang looking down towards the swamp with determination.

"It is telling ya where we can get something to eat?" asks Sokka dramatically, holding his stomach and acting as if he hadn't eaten in months. Lian just chuckles at his behaviour.

"No, I... I think it wants us to land there"

"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on" responds Sokka with Katara nodding in response.

"I don't know... Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

"Yes!" exclaims Sokka.

"I don't know... There's something ominous about that place" agrees Katara, looking down nervously at the swamp.

The lemur, Momo, chitters in response and Appa groans as they continue to descend.

"See Even Appa and Momo don't like it here" says Sokka, taking the sound as confirmation that they too didn't want to land. "What do you think Lian?"