Avatar: The Last Airbender

Part 21 (The Desert) [Book 2]

"How could you let them take Appa!?" Aang hollered, glaring at Toph's back. "Why didn't you stop them!?"

"I couldn't!" Toph shouted back. The wind had picked up, blowing sand all over the place. It was making it hard to see and hear each other, much less Appa. "The library was sinking! You guys were still inside, and-!"

"You could have come to get us!" Aang yelled, approaching her and pointing an accusatory finger at her. "I could have saved him!"

"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck up on me, and there wasn't any time for-"

"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa, you wanted him gone!!" Aang accused.

"Aang!" You shouted, glaring at the boy. "You know that's not true! I'm sure Toph did her best."

"She saved our lives." Katara reminded.

"Who's gonna save our lives, now?" Sokka questioned, gesturing at the endless sea of sand. "We'll never make it out of here."

"That's all any of you guys care about! Yourselves! You don't care whether Appa's okay or not!"

"Aang!! Knock it off!" You hollered, approaching him. You pointed an accusatory finger down at him. "Don't you dare suggest something like that again! We all love Appa, not just you! So you'd better pull yourself together, because we need to find a way out of here before we all die one way or another! Do you understand!?!"

Aang fell silent, sitting down on the ground.

"We're all concerned." Katara assured softly. "But we can't afford to be fighting now."

"I'm going after Appa." Aang declared, pulling out his glider.

"Aang, you have no idea where he-" Before you could finish, the Avatar had flown away. "He's going to get lost out there." You mumbled.

"We'd better start walking." Katara said. "We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se." She began to walk away.

"Do you think if we dig out the giant owl, he'd give us a ride?" Sokka asked, following his sister.

You grabbed Toph's hand and pulled her along with you to make sure she didn't get lost. "I doubt it, Sokka."

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You felt like you've been walking forever. Your face felt hot, and your feet were dragging, getting sand in your shoes.

Sokka placed Momo on his head and opened the creature's wings, trying to get some shade.

"Katara? Can I have some more water?" Toph asked softly.

"Okay, but we're going to have to conserve it. We're getting low." She replied, bending the water into four orbs.

"I'm fine, Katara." You lied, holding up a hand.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I just had some of mine a little while back."

Katara put the fourth orb back in her pouch, and bended the other three into Toph, Sokka and Momo's mouths.

Sokka swallowed, a disgusted expression on his face. "We're drinking your bending water?" His face contorted into one of horror as it dawned on him. "You used this on the swamp guy!!"