isolated,, sokka

ix.

"are you sure you're okay? if you need katara to make a stop to change your bandages, we can—" sokka's rambling was cut off by zhavia shaking her head for the sixth time now.

"sokka, she helped me right before we took off. i promise, i'm fine. if anything, are you feeling better?" zhavia asked, trying to divert his worry for her into something else. the group of four had recently taken off on appa as soon as sokka and katara were feeling better, knowing zhao was probably on their trail and they needed to get as much distance between them as quickly as possible.

"well, i'm a little tired because katara decided to not let us sleep, but besides that i feel better than ever." sokka grinned, looking at zhavia who was currently across from him on appa's saddle.

"i was trying to avoid aang or zhav getting taken again." katara rolled her eyes at sokka's verbal complaint, but a playful tone was present in her voice to show that she was joking. she was the one currently flying appa— the only one awake to do so. aang had used up a lot of his energy in escaping, and so did zhavia. on top of that, her injury was sore and she was trying to brush it off like it didn't hurt. sokka was just tired from getting over his sickness and couldn't bring himself to fully sleep on appa.

"speaking of which," sokka mumbled as he turned to face zhavia and aang— the latter who was half-asleep, "how'd you guys get out?" that questioned had bugged his mind throughout the night.

"we had help," aang tiredly mumbled, "this swordsman got me out, and then zhavia came along and helped us fight our way out." his eyes were shut as he replied to sokka.

"who was it?" katara asked curiously from in the front leading appa. zhavia looked over to aang who opened his eyes, she met his gaze and he shook his head.

so, to respect aang, zhavia shrugged. "he was wearing a blue mask, so we couldn't see his face." zhavia replied, which was a partial truth. sokka and katara both seemed to believe it enough, not that they would have a reason to distrust what their two friends were saying.

a yawn escaped zhavia's lips, her eyes blinking tiredly as she laid her back against appa's saddle and attempted to keep her eyes open. it was to little avail, seeing as she looked at the black sky it deepened her want to sleep.

"you should get some rest, all of you," katara looked back to see her three friends all sleepy, "i'll find a nice campsite for us to stay the night at, and wake you up when we get there."

"sounds good to me." sokka plopped down next to zhavia and threw his arm over his eyes. zhavia thanked katara as she moved to her side and closed her eyes to hopefully get a few hours of sleep in. aang was already out cold in the back end of appa's saddle, so he didn't need much convincing to stay that way.

hours later, the four found a nice campsite and sleepily set up the tent. all four being sleep deprived, nobody bothered to lookout for food or set up a fire— and figured they could wait until morning to do so.

so when morning struck, zhavia was the first one awake. she had gotten enough hours of sleep to hold enough energy to go throughout the day without a lethargic feeling.

the others needed sleep, and so when she exited the tent she quietly walked over to the lake next to them and laid against the sand. her feet cooled off in the water, and it helped her calmly wake up. she glanced up at the clouds, smiling softly at the peace she currently felt from the sight.

"you know, we were all really worried about you when disappeared." sokka's voice drawled out, causing her to glance backwards in his directions and sent him a small smiles

"i'm sorry," zhavia sighed, closing her eyes for a few seconds before sitting up, "i shouldn't have been walking around alone, but i didn't realize it would go so badly." she admitted, and sokka immediately shook his head at her response as he sat next to her and put his feet in the cool lake water.