Naya and the Last Airbender

xxiv. The Earth King

"I'M so happy you're back," I whispered to Bonbi as I hugged him. Yue sat on his neck and closed her eyes while I held him as tight as I could. "It really sucked without you."

My friends gave Aang and I some space to hang out with our animals while they conspired. I glanced up, seeing that they were in deep conversation. I could only imagine what they wanted to do next— probably something like confronting the Dai Li.

"I found my mom, here in Ba Sing Se," I told the dragon to catch up with him. He lifted his head. "Well, not my birth mother, she's long gone. But Kanya, the woman who raised me. She works with the Dai Li..."

Bonbi growled at my words, only enforcing the idea that she could only be up to no good. It made me sick to think about her working with Long Feng, the worst of the worst.

I looked at my friends again, only to see Katara's mannerisms grow more aggressive. I quickly jumped off of my dragon and jogged to where they were.

"—need to leave and put this horrible place behind us," I heard Katara as she came into earshot.

"I'm with sweetness. I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se and I can't even see!"

"Wait, no we can't leave yet. I need to speak to my mom— ask her about all of this. And if it comes to it, say goodbye," I said.

"Yeah, we can't just make Naya leave her mom after years of not being together. Imagine how you'd feel if someone did that to us and Dad," Sokka said to our sister.

"You're right, I'm sorry Naya," Katara said as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Now that we have Appa and Bonbi back there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth about the conspiracy and the war," Aang added happily.

"If we're staying for a little while longer while Naya confronts Kanya, we should do what we came here for. We have to try," Sokka convinced.

"That doesn't sound too bad. Just don't take too long talking to your mom, Naya."

"I don't trust the new positive Sokka. Long Feng brainwashed you, didn't he," Toph shouted at my brother.

Aang quickly glanced towards the lake, grabbing our attention. He ran towards the water as he stared out at the three ships sailing around.

"That's probably the Dai Li searching for us, so?"

"Let's fly," Katara said with a newfound type of determination.

+

I gripped onto Bonbi's neck as we flew. Yue was snuggled in my lap while my friends were on Appa. My flight, easily, was much more enjoyable than theirs. Riding bareback on a furry animal was nothing more than terrifying. Luckily, I had an extra advantage of being on Bonbi's sturdy scales. Though, I made sure to grab on just in case.

I glanced down at the palace below. My friends talked
amongst themselves, probably over what we should do next. They were out of earshot for me due to the wind whirling in my ears. They were busy in deep conversation, meaning they didn't notice the huge boulder heading our way.

"Guys!" I shouted as I jumped up and shot a gust of air at the rock. It just barely missed Bonbi's side.

Rock after rock soared in the air as our animals dodged them overhead. With each rock that came too close, Aang and I did our job in protecting everyone by bending them away.

Bonbi and Appa dove towards the ground. Aang and I jumped off our animals and slammed into the ground, creating a wave of rock that threw the Earth King's guards around. Once everyone else was off of Appa, we began to run towards the palace.