Meeting the Blue Spirit

It had been a hectic few weeks. They had gone through the Great Divide where they guided two groups who wouldn’t stop fighting over something that happened one hundred years ago. Then just last week a storm happened and Aang revealed to them why he was frozen in an ice berg in the first place. He had run away from the Southern Air Temple, where he lived because he did not want to be the Avatar. Amaya could sympathize with this of course because when she found out that she was the Princess of Four Elements, she didn’t want to believe it, but as time went on she learned to accept it and she assured Aang that he one day accept being the Avatar. Amaya meanwhile was slowly improving on her airbending. She could now make huge gusts of wind come out of her hands and run fast, but there was still more get through. They were now in the mountains with runes where Amaya and Katara were caring for Sokka. Sokka had grown ill since the storm last week and not only that, but he was also delusional.

“How’s Sokka doing?” asked Aang after returning from his search for the ginger root.

“Not so good,” Katara said sadly. “Being out in that storm really did a number on him.”

“No kidding, he kinda looks like a fish sweating to death,” Amaya pointed out.

“Amaya you say the nicest things,” Sokka sniffled.

“I couldn’t find any ginger root, but I found this map,” said Aang as pulled out a map. “And there’s an herbalist institute on the top of the mountain.”

“So what we just ask them for some plants and dizzy here is all better?” inquired Amaya.

“Well, yeah they might be able to find a cure for him,” Aang explained and Amaya nodded her head in agreement.

“But Aang, Sokka is no condition to travel,” Katara argued. “He needs more rest I’m sure he’ll be better by tomorrow.”

Katara then puffed out a hoarse cough.

“Not you too,” said Aang.

“Relax it was just a little cough, I’m sure—” Katara tried to say, but was interrupted by another cough that was worse than the first.

“That’s how Sokka started yesterday!” Aang argued. “Now look at him he thinks he’s an earthbender!”

They all turned to Sokka and saw that he was imagining he was beating up a rock.

“In that case how ‘bout I just stay away from your breathing areas for the day,” said Amaya as she walked back next to Aang.

“A few more hours and you’ll be talking non-sense too,” Aang stated. “I’m going to find some medicine.”

Aang went over to the archway to fly off on his glider, but then was stopped by the lightning and thunder that went off ahead.

“Uh, maybe it’ll be better if I just go on foot,” he said closing up his glider. “Keep an eye on him guys.”

Amaya ran quickly ran up to him and said, “I’ll come with you too, Aang, you never know what can be out there.”

“Sorry Amaya, you’re gonna have to stay behind just in case Katara gets worse,” advised Aang.

“Ah man, but I guess since you’re the Avatar, you the one who gets to have all the fun,” she moaned.

“Great, glad you understand,” said Aang cheerfully.

“But if you’re gone too long, I will come after you,” Amaya shouted sternly before he ran off into the mountains.

“Don’t worry about it Amaya, I’m sure he’ll come back safely,” reassured Katara. “Besides he’s only getting medicine, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Yeah and maybe he’ll meet some Fire Nation soldiers on the way, that would be nice,” Sokka said happily.

“You know, I’m sure whether to believe you or the delusional idiot over there,” said Amaya.

“That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said,” Sokka replied to the insult.

“You should rest Katara, it might help,” advised Amaya.

Katara did as she was told and laid down. For the next few hours Amaya was busy taking care ill Katara and Sokka. Luckily Katara wasn’t delusional as Sokka yet, but Amaya was getting worried about Aang. Somehow she could sense something was wrong, but she didn’t know what.

“Amaya could you get some water,” Katara asked weakly, holding up the canteen.

“Sure I’ll be right back,” said Amaya as she grabbed the canteen from Katara’s hand.

Amaya went down to the nearest river and filled the canteen with water. On her way back she noticed that it was getting dark and Aang still hadn’t arrived back yet. Her mind was now made-up if he wasn’t back with Katara and Sokka by the time Amaya came back-up there, she would go after him. It wouldn’t hurt to look, Amaya thought, besides Katara seems to be in good enough condition to take care of herself and Sokka. It was also her job to protect the Avatar, and not only that, but he was her friend. Aang and the rest of his friends have grown on her over the past few weeks. Amaya made her way back up to where camp was and unfortunately Aang had not arrived back yet.

“Here’s the water, Katara,” she said handing it to Katara.

“Thanks,” she said weakly.

“Listen I need to go check on Aang, I’ll be back soon,” Amaya stated. “Rest while I’m gone, and drink as much water as you can.”

“Ok, have fun,” Katara replied before she coughed some more.

Amaya knew now that Katara was slowly becoming just as ill as Sokka. The old Katara would’ve argued and said, “Don’t Amaya, Aang knows what he is doing he’ll be back.” Amaya figured she better hurry. She didn’t bother taking her staff with her since she didn’t know how to fly on it and a small storm was going on outside. Amaya ran as fast as she could, using her airbending. She ran through the mountains and up the long staircase to the herbalist institute. Amaya barged in the small hut and saw an old lady and her cat relaxing together.

“Sorry to barge in like this,” said Amaya almost out of breath, this had been the first time seriously used her airbending. “But have you seen a kid, between four and five feet tall, bald head with arrow, and uh…cheery personality?”

“Ah yes, he just here an hour ago,” she answered.

“An hour ago?” repeated Amaya. “Where did he go?”

“I believe he went down to the swap to get frozen frogs for your friends to suck on,” she smiled.

“That should be a pleasant experience for them,” Amaya muttered to herself and then said, “Anyway thanks.”

She ran down to where the swaps were, but there was still no sign of him. Amaya looked around the swap for clues on where he might be. A few minutes later she found a ripped piece of Aang’s clothing punched in by and an arrow. She looked closely at the arrow and saw it was made in the Fire Nation. A horrible thought suddenly came to her mind.

“The Fire Nation’s captured Aang!” she said in fear.

Amaya turned around to search the area for Fire Nation camps, but was stopped by a blue masked stranger. At first she held a startled face, but soon gathered her strength and put on a straight face.

“Look (who-ever-you-are) I don’t have time to deal with you,” she said sternly. “I need to find my friend and if you just so happen to know where he is then great, if not you can just scatdattle.”

Amaya tried to walk off, but the stranger pulled on her arm and pointed in a different direction.

“Look I can’t read your mind, you’re going to have to speak up,” said Amaya, but he still was silent and pointing in that same opposite direction. “Fine then, I’ll play charades with you just as long as it helps me find my friend.”

He let go of her arm and ran the opposite direction. Amaya followed him, but she still wondered whether she could trust him or not.

“So, how are things in your life?” she asked randomly as they were running through the forest, but he didn’t answer. “Ok, fine I’ll talk, you listen.”

“Everything’s going okay for me, I guess. If you count being destined to protect the Avatar, I mean I know it’s a big job and everything, but it feels like I’m babysitting the kid. Don’t get me wrong, Aang’s a great kid; he’s talented, smart, and more gifted than he knows plus he’s my airbending teacher, but I still don’t see why he would need protecting. Besides I’m probably losing a friend out of this and he was the best one.”

The stranger looked at her and Amaya couldn’t tell if he was annoyed that she was dumping all of this on him or if he was sympathizing with her.

“Again with the silent treatment,” she sighed. “Sorry if I can’t shut, I tend to have a big mouth and sometimes I can’t shut it. I just thought since you don’t respond to anything, it would be nice to talk to somebody who just listens.” A silence then came between them. “We better move on.”

He led her to a Fire Nation fortress where Aang might be held captive. They sunk under carriage that was going to enter the fortress and hoped not to be seen. Once the carriage had stopped the one of the soldiers were checking the carriage. Amaya saw the man’s footsteps reaching closer to check the bottom of the carriage; she knew they were done for. Just then Amaya felt a hand grab a hold of her arm and pull her into the carriage. She opened her eyes expecting to see a soldier staring at her, but saw the stranger instead.

“All clear,” said the soldier and the carriage started to move again.

“Good thinking, slick,” Amaya commented, but he put a hand over her mouth signaling she should be quiet for the rest of the journey. The carriage stopped again and Amaya followed the stranger through the fortress. They sunk past where Zhao was making his speech on how the Avatar was captured and that they’ve won the war. Amaya meanwhile was trying to hold back a comment that was trying to escape her mouth. They soon reached the back of the fortress where they climbed down the wall and ran through the sewers. Once they were out of the sewers they met a soldier on the way. The stranger took care of it using chains to hang the soldier. Another came and this time Amaya gave it a try. The stranger grabbed her up on the ceiling as two more came. They each took care one and ran into the hall ahead. Unfortunately there still one left and he shot fire at them. The stranger grabbed a bucket of water and splashed it at the firebender and brought him down. He was the first to run inside of Aang’s prison and Amaya could hear Aang screaming in fear.

“Maybe I should’ve walked in there first,” Amaya muttered to herself as she went into Aang’s prison cell.

When she walked in Amaya saw that Aang had already been released by the stranger.

“Amaya, what’s going on?” Aang asked as he rushed to her.

“Well, let’s see I am currently playing charades with this guy and so far he’s helped me save you,” explained Amaya.

“Oh, hey where’s he going?” asked Aang and Amaya turned around to see that the stranger had gone through doors already.

“I think he’s telling us to hurry up,” she said before following the stranger.

Amaya walked down the hall with the stranger until she noticed Aang wasn’t with them.

“My frogs!” she heard Aang shout down the hall. “Come back and stop thawing out!”

“C’mon kid, hurry-up unless you want to be caught by the Fire Nation!” Amaya hissed as both she and the stranger grabbed Aang.

“Wait, my friends need to suck on those frogs!” begged Aang.

“You got more?” she asked.

“No,” he answered.

“Then we need to get out to get more,” Amaya said roughly.

They went back the way they had come in through the sewers. They followed the stranger through the outside perimeter of the fortress. The alarms suddenly went off, when they were making their way up the rope the stranger set up.

“THERE ON THE WALL!” shouted one of the guards.

Suddenly, one of the other guards on top of the tower cut off the rope and all three of them went tumbling down. Luckily, Aang was able to use his airbending to break their fall. Once on the ground, all of them broke into a run. Just as the gates were slowing closing Aang and Amaya were able to blow the guards out of the way and get through the doors, but the stranger was still behind. They looked at each other face to face and read each other’s expressions: they should help him. Aang took a spear from one of the guards and broke it into a staff. He blew out the guards that were fighting the stranger and pushed him up the wall with his airbending.

“Amaya, hold-on!” called Aang and Amaya quickly grabbed one of his legs as he lifted himself off the ground.

As they flew over the wall, the stranger grabbed on to Aang’s other legs. While Aang was trying to fly over to the other wall, the stranger and Amaya were fighting off the spears that were hitting them. They finally fell when they reached the top of the wall where more guards were waiting for them. Amaya quickly got up to fight off one of the guards with her airbending, but the guard cornered her and she was nearly off the wall. The stranger came to her rescue by taking out the guard for her using his dual swords.

“Thanks,” she said and he nodded his head.

Aang soon blew all of the guards away, but unfortunately more came up from the bottom of the wall using ladders.

“Amaya, try this,” he said while demonstrating an airbending move causing all of the guards on that ladder to fall back to the ground.

Amaya did exactly what Aang did and knocked down more guards. Aang quickly grabbed two of the ladders and ordered them to jump on his back. Amaya jumped after the stranger and held on to his back as they were jumping over the walls. They were over the second to last wall and Amaya could see that they were going to make it, but one of the firebenders set the ladder on fire and they were forced to jump off. Aang tried to keep hold of the top of the wall, but slipped. The stranger tried to do the same, but slipped too and it was too late for Amaya to even try. They fell down to the ground, but the stranger quickly got-up at the ready. Amaya quickly got up to block the fire being shot at them with Aang to protect the stranger.

“Stop!” said Zhao. “The Avatar and the Princess must be captured alive.”

Unexpectedly, the stranger put his dual swords against their necks, threatening to kill them. Amaya had no idea what this guy was planning, but she figured she’d better go along with this in a time like this.

“Open the gates,” Zhao ordered.

“What are you doing?!” said one of the guards.

“Let them go!” he ordered.

The gates slowly opened and the stranger escorted Amaya and Aang out of the fortress. They walked farther and farther away from the fortress and Amaya was wondering why Zhao had given up so quickly. Amaya had fought with this guy many times before and knew that he was persistent in what he wanted. Suddenly, an arrow hit the stranger and knocked him to the ground. Aang and Amaya stared at him on the ground and noticed his mask was slightly off. She bent down at the stranger while Aang made a dust cloud and noticed the side of his face had a scar. A thought suddenly came to her mind.

“No, it can’t be,” she said doubtfully before Aang completely removed the mask, revealing the face of Zuko.

Aang was taken aback while Amaya just sat there in confusion. First Zuko is her best friend in the whole wide world, then he turns his back on her and becomes hot-headed, and now he helped her save the one thing that would regain his honor back. Their promise was still there, they were still friends, but this was just confusing to Amaya.

“C’mon Amaya we need to go,” said Aang hurriedly.

“Help me,” said Amaya as she got up to carry Zuko. “Carry his stuff.”

Aang did as she ordered and they ran off before the solders could get to them. They ran into the forest and stopped when Amaya couldn’t take Zuko’s weight anymore. It was still dark, but the sun was just starting to perch from the mountains.

“Dang, that guy’s heavy,” said Amaya as she put Zuko down.

“How long do you think he’ll be out?” Aang asked.

“Probably ‘til the sun’s fully up,” she answered. “Are you okay?”

“Physically, yeah, but mentally…”

“Yeah, same here,” she said.

“I did I have a friend in the Fire Nation a hundred years ago,” Aang mentioned.

“Yeah, but that was before this guy was born and before the war started.”

“I know, but wait aren’t you still friends with him?” asked Aang.

“That question is getting harder and harder to answer,” she muttered, “but yes.”

“When you first met Zuko, did you know what your destiny was?” he asked curiously.

“No, I didn’t find out until I was thirteen.”

“I guess you were kinda in the same state I was when I found out,” said Aang.

“Yeah, except I had to leave the next day,” Amaya said, rubbing the back of her neck. “Plus I didn’t have much of a childhood like you did.”

“Ok, you’re right on that, but wait who’s watching Katara and Sokka?!” Aang said with concern.

“U-uh, Katara,” she answered uneasily.

“Katara?!” he repeated. “But she’s sick too!”

“Hey, she looked in good enough condition to take care of herself and Sokka when I left,” Amaya reasoned. “And to add on to that, I was worried, I had to see if you were okay.”

“Then how did you find out I was captured by the Fire Nation?” he inquired.

“One of the archers left an arrow behind and that drew a few clues for me,” explained Amaya.

“Oh, what do we do now?”

“All we can do is wait,” she sighed.

“No, Amaya, I’ll wait with Zuko while you go back to take care of Katara and Sokka,” he stated.

“Sorry, Aang, but I don’t trust him alone with you,” Amaya said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” he reassured. “Besides Katara and Sokka are the ones who need you right now.”

Amaya took one long glance at the sleeping Zuko and looked at Aang. She sighed and said, “Ok, I’ll go, just be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” he smiled.

“Alright, I guess I’ll see you back at camp,” Amaya said, not that convinced.

“Yeah, bye,” he said. “By the way, could you not tell Katara and Sokka about this?”

“Why not?” inquired Amaya.

“I just want to tell them when I’m ready,” explained Aang.

“Ok, if you say so, just don’t wait too long,” she said before speeding off back to camp.

Amaya ran off back the way she came when she left to find Aang. When she got back the sun was fully up and Katara and Sokka looked worse than ever. Sokka was still shivering and Katara was in a daze.

“Amaya you’re back,” Katara said weakly. “Where’s Aang?”

“He’ll be here soon,” she said tiredly. “I hope.”

“Does he have our medicine?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’ll bring it up as soon as he can,” Amaya said with a long yawn. “Now I’m going to sleep, wake me if you need anything.”

Amaya headed towards Appa furry tail and laid down to rest. As tired as she was, Amaya couldn’t sleep knowing the fact that Aang was alone with Zuko. All she could think about was the things she said to him when they were rescuing Aang, but how was she supposed to know who was under the mask. Zuko was the most confusing person that Amaya had ever met. Her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if I hadn't updated any my stories in a while, school's been pretty rough.

Please review.