I purposefully let Sokka slam me down onto the saddle, his boomerang pressed tightly against my throat.
Toph immediately lurched forward. "Hey! Hands off my butler, you oaf!"
But Katara caught her by the arm before she could shove him away. "Toph, wait!" she urged. "We have to know who they were!"
Sokka's grip tightened slightly. "You knew her, so talk. Who was she? And who were the other two with her?"
Feeling the edge of the boomerang dig further into my throat, I grabbed the other end and pushed it away, relieving the pressure on my neck.
"... It's complicated."
After a second, Sokka finally released me from his hold. I rubbed at my neck before staring at the three of them.
"Actually, how do none of you know who she is?" I asked flatly. "Have you guys been living under a rock?"
Aang awkwardly raised his hand a little. "... Um, does an iceberg count?"
Right. Trapped in ice for a hundred years, and the other two living in the tundra. "... Fair enough."
I pointed back toward the distant mountains we'd escaped from.
"That was the princess of the current Fire Nation regime." I dropped the bomb on them.
Heavy silence surrounded the atmosphere before Sokka muttered a quiet, terrified 'meep.'
"We were attacked by royalty?!" Katara's face paled.
Aang looked stunned. "But why?"
Toph, meanwhile, frowned thoughtfully.
"Ohhhh," she said suddenly. "That Azula."
The rest of the group turned toward her instantly.
"You know her?!" Sokka squeaked.
"She looks really different from back then," Toph muttered, tapping her chin. I stared at her. "My lady, it's been five years. Anyone would've changed by then."
"... Wait." Katara narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why do you know the Fire Nation princess?"
That immediately drew a groan from me as I covered my face with one hand.
"I got forced into a fight with her once."
"We went to the previous Fire Lord's funeral," Toph explained with a tired yawn. "And she challenged him to a spar. If it weren't for daddy Fire Lord, Ren would have won."
"Well, clearly she's an entirely different person now," I added grimly, thinking back to the blue lightning she had generated. Just remembering it made my skin crawl.
"She was already a monster back then. Five years later, she's probably become a demon to fight against now."
"As for the other two, I have no idea who they were. Sorry."
Processing everything I had just dropped onto them, Katara hugged herself after handing everyone a cup of water.
"Still, I can't believe they followed us all the way from Omashu. Zuko has chased us since the start; now we have a crazy blue-flamed Fire Bender, a person throwing flying daggers, and that girl with the fighting style that takes away Bending after us."
Just then, a bright light crested the horizon.
"Oh no," Sokka lamented. "The sun is rising! We've been up all night with no sleep!"
Aang, still holding the reins, tried to calm him down. "Sokka, we'll be okay—"
"Are you sure?!" Sokka snapped, bloodshot eyes wide open. "I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep now and something happens? Something ALWAYS happens!"
"You'll be okay; I've gone without sleeping for three days straight before, with no side effects." My attempts at reassurance were completely ignored as he comically cried a manly tear.
Katara glanced toward the shifting sky, then back at the exhausted group.
"Every time we land, those girls are always there. So we just have to keep flying."
Aang's grip tightened slightly.
"... We can't keep flying forever," he said quietly.
Seeing the mood of the group sink further, I hesitated before moving close to Aang.
"Aang," I whispered. "When we land, try to find a lake big enough for Appa to fit in."
Aang blinked. "A lake? Why?"
"It's Appa," I said, straight to the point. "He's leaving a trail whenever we fly."
The young Avatar opened his mouth, but I raised a hand to stop him before he could explode angrily.
"Just trust me," I pleaded. He needs to learn how to listen patiently. "I'll show you the evidence. Land in a lake the next time we can safely do so, and you'll see it for yourself."
He stared at me for a moment before turning to face forward. "Fine. You better have something to prove it."
============================================
"You're right," Aang admitted. "It's his fur. It's leading a trail right to us."
As gentle waves of water washed over the large sky bison, clumps of shed hair broke free almost immediately. I picked up one of the drifting clumps and flicked it aside.
"We need to clean him," Katara said, already raising her hands as water began to swirl around Appa. "Aang, help me control the flow. Renji, could you help brush out the stubborn patches?"
"Got it," I replied.
It's a good thing we established sleep cycles early on, I noted silently as I worked alongside Katara and Aang to clean off the remaining fur on Appa while Toph and Sokka slept. Without rest, everyone's judgment would start slipping—and I feared it wouldn't take much for someone to snap and do something they'd regret.
"I'm sorry for doubting you," Aang said after we'd managed to clean most of Appa's fur, storing the clumps aside to avoid leaving any trace of our passage. "I was about to yell at you earlier. Appa's been flying us tirelessly all day, and I thought you were being rude to him—"
I stopped him with a pat on the shoulder. "No hard feelings, Aang. I understand. Really."
My eyes then glanced at Toph's sleeping form.
With my decision made, I approached Katara. "Katara, about Toph—"
"I..." Katara stopped what she was doing and sighed. "It's not that I don't like her, but... She didn't help us at all when we set up camp a few times now, and it feels like she's only looking after herself."
I shook my head slightly. "That's not it."
"She's been taken care of her entire life," I explained. "Everyone around her was overprotective to a drastic degree. Everything was always done for her. It has always made her feel trapped in a cage."
"And now she's finally out of that. Free at last. That's why she does everything herself. Her tent, her luggage, all of it, as much as she can handle. She thinks that if she starts asking for help—or letting people do things for her—she'll become a burden and return back to that cage."
I met Katara's gaze. "In her mind, that's the only way to keep her independence. If she only ever takes care of herself, then no one can take that freedom away from her again."
Listening silently, Katara's expression slowly softened as the words settled in.
"I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't," I said lightly, trying to ease the tension. "You two only met yesterday."
Katara let out a small breath, somewhere between a sigh and a reluctant laugh.
"Plus," I added. "She doesn't know how to exist in a group yet. You three are the only company she's ever had her age, other than me."
Katara nodded slowly, then patted her face lightly before giving a resolved look. "Thanks, Renji," she said. "I'll look out for her. She doesn't have to figure everything out by herself."
I let out a small smile.
"And that's all I'm hoping for. Thank you, Katara."
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NEXT UPDATE: 18 June, Thursday
A/N: Very late, sorry! Here you go!
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