isolated,, sokka

iv.

the four had been flying on appa for around an hour now, heading towards the island in the fire nation. before they left, zhavia changed back into her fire nation clothes— feeling more comfortable in them compared to the borrowed water tribe attire from katara. "you know what might make you less nervous about flying on appa?" sokka asked, his question about as random as ever.

zhavia glanced towards him, tilting her head a bit as she waited for him to finish, "what?"

"if you flew him." sokka shrugged, and katara immediately sent him wide eyes and zhavia shook her head no.

"you think that if she sat on appa, without the saddle, and flew him over the ocean— that she'd get over her fear?" katara asked bewildered. sokka grinned and nodded.

"it makes perfect sense, just think about it. we're going to be flying for another few hours, at the very least. she just needs to get used to appa." sokka had a point, and zhavia couldn't deny that he did, but she still shook her head in protest of his plan.

"you hear that, aang?" sokka then yelled towards aang, who was the current steerer.

aang turned around and nodded, "makes perfect sense to me!" he grinned, looking hopefully towards zhav.

"i don't think that's how fears work." zhavia narrowed her eyes slightly, before sokka gave her a convincing stare.

"look, zhav, if you happen to fall off, appa will catch you." aang voices, surprising zhavia as he suddenly appeared behind her.

"you have to stop doing that." she grumbled, "katara?" she asked, hoping the other girl would convince the two to lay off.

"you're both right," katara shrugged, a small smirk playing on her lips as she received zhavia's death glare, "i don't want to scare you out of being on appa, but this might help you get used to it." katara explained, hoping that zhavia wouldn't send a fire blast towards her for agreeing with the others.

zhav let out a sigh, looking over towards appa's head as he let out a growl— seemingly agreeing. aang and sokka both laughed as she glared at appa, before she turned to them, "you promise that i won't fall off and die?"

"i promise." aang grinned, holding up his hand as if he were swearing to it.

"—and someone has to sit up there with me." zhavia said, mainly looking towards aang or katara because they had the most experience flying appa.

aang nodded, "i will." he said, taking her arm and dragging her towards appa's head.

zhavia stumbled a bit, but aang mostly kept her steady as she lightly pulled on his leash.

"c'mon boy, we have a long way to go. faster!" aang instructed, and appa let out a growl as he began to speed up in the sky.

"it's not too bad, is it?" sokka asked her with a smirk, but the glare she sent back towards him shut him up quickly before she glanced down towards the water.

it was quiet for a few minutes, zhavia slowly getting used to glancing around as she felt more at ease. her fear of falling wasn't as prominent as it was the first time she was on the flying bison, but she soon felt more comfortable sitting on him and not having the immediate reaction of wanting to throw up.

her peace didn't last long, as katara soon yelled, "aang, we have trouble!"

sokka's worried voice then piped up, "yeah, and it's gaining fast!" he voiced. zhavia narrowed her eyes a bit as she looked back at katara and sokka, where sokka then pointed to the ocean below them where a fire nation ship was speeding quickly.