BUTTERFLIES! ━ prince zuko

𝖛𝖎𝖎. Golden Girl

𝖌𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝖌𝖎𝖗𝖑
golden girl
volume ii, chapter vii

❄️🦋💦

          THINGS ARE... NOT GREAT RIGHT NOW.

Duh.

     Appa was like, kidnapped while Toph listened helplessly because she was too busy keeping the library from sinking. Which Akiara's very grateful for. But then Aang went and got all mad about it — which, yeah, is understandable, but also like, chill out — and now he's gone, looking after Appa all alone. Too put the cherry on top, the rest of them are left to wander the desert aimlessly because they've got to get out somehow, they're the only people that know about the solar eclipse — which Sokka found out while Akiara was fighting the owl spirit — the information needs to get to Ba Sing Se.

     Of course, without Appa, they're pretty much lost. And probably soon-to-be dead.

So. Things are definitely not great.

Not to mention that the Si Wong Desert is a sea of seething sunbeams and dried sands. The heat is almost suffocating. The skies scream with cerulean heat, one that seems to sap all Akiara's energy straight from her bones. She's made for the freezing snows of the North Pole, and her body isn't thrilled to have been thrust into this inferno of misery.

     She's out of her bending water, too. She gave it all to Kiko to drink.

Kiko seems to be doing much worse than Akiara as they bake in the sweltering sun; he's so bad, in fact, that Akiara's resorted to carrying him now. She tries not to think about how Kiko's thick fur is sticking to her sweaty skin.

     The small group trudges along. Katara rations water to Toph, Sokka, and Momo. The sun beats down upon their backs.

     Then it happens.

     Driven by thirst, Sokka drinks cactus juice.

     "Want some?" His grin is too wide as he offers some to the rest of the group.

     Akiara's throat aches from how thirsty she is, but even she takes a step back. "I dunno... it could be poisonous, or something."

     "Suit yourself," he shrugs casually but his eyes are twitching strangely. Akiara blinks. "It's very thirst quenching, though."

     And so it begins.

Sokka officially loses it. One moment his eyes are completely blank, like he has no thoughts and his head is empty. Then he's shaking his head and rolling across the sand like an inch worm.

"Drink cactus juice!" Sokka's voice warbles. His eyes are practically bulging out of his head. "It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier — it's the quenchiest!"

Akiara stares at him.

"OK," says Katara and she takes the cactus bowl out of his hands, dumping the rest of the juice into the sand. "I think you've had enough."

Sokka stands up. "Who lit Toph on fire?"

Akiara looks at Toph. Toph is not on fire.

"Can I get some of that cactus?" Toph asks. Her voice is dry and scratchy.

"I don't think that's a good idea," says Katara firmly. "Come on, we need to find Aang."

     "How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka asks, his eyes wide with wonder.