First Fic. Now be a good little somethin' and review! Credit to redwritingbarron for an idea.

Introduction

"A-A-A--" Katara reared her head back, itchy pulsing all through her nose, preparing for a big one.

"DUCK!" Sokka yelled. Spinning around frantically, he grabbed fistfuls of Toph and Zuko's clothing, hitting the floor just in time. Zuko fell face first into the soft, loamy dirt while Toph landed solidly on her hands and knees.

"Pttew. Fuh." Zuko spat dirt frustratedly. Things like this always seemed to happen to him. From his pile of earth, his amber eyes peered up angrily at Sokka. Tiny flares of flickering flame shot from his nostrils, scorching a couple blades of grass in their wake.

"Sokka, what the hell wa--"

In the split second before Zuko got cut off, one thought crossed Sokka's frenzied brain:

SHXT! FORGOT TO GET AANG!

"CHOOOOO!!" Katara bellowed, head lurching forward with the strength of her sneeze. Her long brown braid slapped her blanketed back, and she shifted uncomfortably.

"EUUUUAAAGH!" The avatar, the brunt of the blow, was summing up his gooey fate in one long vote of discomfort. "Ew! Ew! Ew!" He quickly broke into little yelps of displeasure, and soon was elevated to hysteria, tiny feet bouncing in place, his usually serene face a twisted mask of disgust and alarm. He started shaking his hands at hyperspeed, trying to get the goopy globs of mucus Katara had catapaulted from her nose off of him.

"AHHHHH!" He wailed, running around in circles, accidentally lifting himself into the air a couple times, but he didn't seem to be paying attention. "SO! GROSS! YYAAAUH!"

Toph started a kind of low chuckle at the Avatar's hilarious, high-pitched wails and frantic footsteps in circles. Zuko glanced over at her, sure she would be laughing even harder if she could see Aang's miserable facial gestures. Zuko himself was doubled over in laughter, clutching his stomach with one hand, pounding the earth with his fist, tears welling up in his eyes. Sokka was right beside him, rolling around in the dirt, skinny arms doing an eclectic dance above his head.

Katara,for her part, looked rather annoyed and unpleasant, bundled in blue blankets from head to foot.

"Sa'ie Aag."

She tried to apologize to the 112 year old, who had now calmed down slightly, currently busy trying to take the snot off of his clothing and throw it to the ground. The blobs of gook congealed into shiny little green blobs after meeting the earth. Aang grimaced.

He looked up, unable to stay mad at Katara…even if he might be wearing nasty globby green for the next few days. Her big blue eyes had bags under them, her usually put together hair was taking up the air around her in a kind of frizzy, ratty halo. Her shoulders sagged. She wasn't smiling.

"Don't worry about it, Katara…hey guys?" He said, turning to Sokka, Zuko and Toph, who had stopped laughing so hard a few moments ago and were now wiping the tears from their eyes.

"What, what? Wait a second, man," Sokka said, flicking the final tear drop into the grass. His blue eyes swiveled to face the avatar, but Zuko spoke first.

"Yes?"

"I think something's wrong with Katara." Aang admitted, pointing a finger at the girl sneezing softly to herself atop a tree stump.

"No shxt, Sherlock?" Toph grunted, rising to her feet and smacking him upside the head.

Aang in turn winced, but let it go.

"Yeah, I think there actually is something wrong…" Sokka affirmed, him and Zuko moving around Katara, prodding and peering at her like a foreign object. Katara looked tiredly at them. "Hey sis?" Sokka squeaked, poking his sister in the arm. His blue eyes were huge. "You sick?" Katara looked at him through half-lidded eyes, sneezing a little. Zuko took a few steps back, glancing at Aang's clothes.

"Doh, I'b fie." Katara protested, wiggling into a standing position and trying to walk, clutching the blankets tighter around her. "Le's go." She wheezed, her congested voice making it extremely difficult to understand her. She tried hobbling forward, but tripped on her blankets, landing in the dirt with a dull thud and a moan.

"Ugggggh."

Aang's face appeared over Katara's, his big bald head blocking out the sun.

"Hey Katara? You're sick. You should rest." Katara tried a nasally response, but Zuko cut her off with a finger waving, as if she was a small child.

"We'll take care of the food for the next few days, okay?"

Katara, too sick to speak, nodded and let her eyes get heavy. It wasn't long before they were completely closed and she was sleeping like a log.

Toph sighed.

"I guess we'll set up camp, um, around her, or something… Sparky!" She barked, jabbing a small, fleshy finger in Zuko's direction. Zuko's brow furrowed. 'Sparky' did not suit a warrior. Sokka giggled. "Sparky," Toph continued, "pitch a tent right 

here."
"Pff. PFFFT. S-Sparky!" Sokka tittered, giggles coming out in little fits over his hand clamped over his mouth. Zuko stuck his nose in the air and spun on his heel, striding away.

"Hey. Hey you. Hey you, Chuckle-head." Toph affirmed, with each 'hey you' taking a heavy step closer to Sokka until she was right up in his face, marbled and glassy eyes completely psyching him out.

"Um, yeah?" He squeaked, all laughter dissolved at the sight of her weird eyes and her annoyed tone.

"Go haul firewood."

"But we're in the middle of the woods!" Sokka exclaimed in disbelief at such a ludicrous request. "Can't I chop down a tree or somethi—"
"I said go. Haul. Firewood."

" But I—"

"HAUL IT, CHUCKLEHEAD!"

"Hauling!" Sokka cried, spinning on his heel and heading up a shallow hill. The grass spread out beneath his feet, still wet from morning as his shoes fell heavy on them. He trekked out of the camp and into the tall, thick trees around, muttering 'haul. Who hauls, anyway? I like collecting. Yeah, go collect firewood.'

"And you!" Toph spun around as Aang was just trying to edge out of the clearing as silently as possible. "Twinkletoes, come here." He winced when he felt her lock onto him, edging closer to his young master in anticipation.

"Yeah, Toph?"

"You cook. Dinner's in two hours, okay?"

"Um okay."
"Good." Toph locked her arms behind her head, walking off so breezily, chin tilted to a sky she could not see.

"Hey Toph?"

"What, Twinkletoes?" She called over her shoulder, still walking away.

"What're you going to do?

"Nap, of course!"