Naya and the Last Airbender

xviii. The Journey to Ba Sing Se - Part i

A/N: hey everyone!! i just wanted to say i am sooo excited for the end of this book and book 3! its def going to be an emotional rollercoaster hehe. anyways, please tell me if you like the story! i was thinking about making a sokka fic (an oc w different powers) and a korra fic for the next akshata. let me know if you'd like to see that! happy reading :)

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I quietly practiced my airbending as the rest of my friend relaxed. Well, all of them minus Sokka relaxed. My brother was too busy staring at a map and planning out what our next move is going to be. More specifically, how we were getting to Ba Sing Se, the greatest Earth Kingdom city.

I threw kicks and punches into the air. Aang, while encased in a thick block of ice, smiled at me approvingly. "Your airbending is really coming along Naya. I'm glad you're such a natural," the Avatar complimented.

"Thanks Aang. If only waterbending came to me this easily," I sighed.

In terms of earth and air, I was progressing nicely. I've focused more on mastering those than getting my basic waterbending training down. Although Katara didn't agree, she understood why I did it. Aang has already mastered two elements and is working on his third. I've only mastered firebending. Although Earthbending was a close second, there was so much more for Toph to teach me.

"Waterbending bomb!" Katara shouted from a cliff above. She launched herself off the edge and landed in the water. A huge tital wave rose in her wake. Aang and Yue, who waded peacefully i'm the water, were thrown out of the river and Sokka's maps got drenched. My koala otter scurried into my arms.

"Sure, 5,000 year old maps from the Spirit library. Just splash some water on them," Sokka said.

"Sorry," Katara chuckled and bent the water off of the parchment. The four of us gathered around Sokka as he laid out a map on the ground.

"So did you figure out what route we're gonna take?" Aang asked.

"Okay, we just got out of the desert so we must be around here. And we need to go to Ba Sing Se, which is here. It looks like the only passage connected the south to the north is this sliver of land called the Serpent's Pass," Sokka explained.

"That doesn't sound pleasant," I chimed in.

"You sure that's the best way to go?" Toph questioned.

"It's the only way. I mean, it's not like we have Appa or Bonbi to fly us there," Sokka said.

A frown formed on my face, but I pushed down the thoughts about my dragon. Aang and I came to the consensus that we needed to suppress our feelings about our animals. One small slip up, and we could end up like we did in the desert. I was ashamed, to say the least, that I got that out of control.

"Shush up about them. Can't you at least try and be sensitive?" Katara scolded.

"Katara, it's okay. We were upset about losing Appa and Bombi before, but now we just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se and telling the Earth King about the solar eclipse," Aang said.

"Yeah. Our duty is to the people and we need to complete this mission before we worry about anything else," I added.

"Oh, well, okay. I'm glad you two are doing better," Katara said. Although, I could hear something wavering in her voice.

"Then to Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions," Sokka confirmed.

We all stood up, but were quickly alarmed when we heard a voice behind us. "Hello there, fellow refugees," a man that was in between two women greeted. Sokka made a face as they all approached.