AN: Hi, everybody it's the musical bender again, here with another chapter. I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry. I got busy and I felt like no one was enjoying this story. But, an amazing review from xoJaadiexo re-inspired me. So I managed to get this out. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to get another chapter out until Thanksgiving time, because I have school, and then soon play practices for 4 hours each day in November. So I won't have a life (not mentioning time to write this). Hopefully in the winter, I'll be able to update more frequently.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

"The Fortuneteller"

The group had been traveling steadily for a week. It was the first time in a long while that they had actually kept on track and out of trouble. Kai was still rather quiet, since the death of her parents, but the others in the group tried the best to support her.

It was early morning, and the group was lounging around a small lake, enjoying the rare warm weather. Most of them sat around the now died out fire, enjoying the last of their small meal. Kai, however, had taken her bowl and moved off to the group of rocks to the side. There, the girl held her empty bowl sitting gently on the lower rocks. Her uncovered feet skimmed the top of the water, making small ripples. She stared off into the distant unknown to the others, but lost in her own world. Her head didn't even turn when Katara shouted out, "Look!" pointing to a green large fish with whiskers.

"He's taunting us!" exclaimed Sokka, "You are so going to be dinner." He reached for his fishing pole, but found it was lacking something. "Ok, prank's up, where's the fishing line, Kai?"

She didn't respond and instead Aang butt in sheepishly, "It wasn't Kai. I didn't think you would need it, Sokka," holding up a woven necklace smiling.

Sokka groaned, "Aw, it's all tangled."

"Not tangled, woven! I made you a necklace, Katara. I thought since you lost the other one..."

"Thanks, Aang," Katara responded enthusiastically. "I love it!"

Sokka however had a very different opinion, rolling his eyes, "Great, Aang. Maybe instead of saving the world, you can go into the jewelry making business."

Aang shrugged his shoulders and replied innocently, "I don't see why I can't do both."

"Can you believe this kid, Kai?" Sokka called out to her. But again, she did not move or respond. The three kids looked at each other and Sokka nodded and waded through the shallow bank, to stand in front of Kai. Still, she did not recognize him until he said, quite loudly, "Kai, we were talking to you, please don't zone out."

Finally her eyes began to work again as they begun to move around, "What, what were you talking about?"

"What was the last thing that you heard us say?" he questioned.

"Ummm...something about where we were going next."
"That was almost ten minutes ago, Kai," he told her solemnly. " I know you're still upset about your parents, but you can't ignore us like this. We're just worried about you."

"I know, you've told me that. Aang's told me that. Katara's told me that."

"Then, come over here and sit with us and stop moping about. There's a fish that's been teasing me."

Her face tugged a slight smile, and slowly slid herself off of her perch. Sokka led her deeper into the water, where he had last seen the glanced towards the shoreline and saw that Katara was trying on some sort of necklace that it looked like Aang had made. He nervously fidgeted, wondering if she would truly love the gift he had made and understood its significance. "How do I look?" Katara asked curiously.

Aang blushed fiercely, extracting another smile from Kai, "You mean all of you or just your neck? Because they both look great?"

A splash to her side brought the attention away. Sokka had caught the squirming fish, "Smoochie, smoochie," Sokka teased. "Someone's in love."

The fish slapped him, and finally got out of his grasp. Kai covertly pushed him back for the last comment, as Aang was now stuttering. Sokka's eyes emerged from the water, and Katara replied annoyed, "Stop teasing him, Sokka. Aang's just a good friend. A sweet little guy, like Momo."

Kai mentally rolled her eyes, and Aang said disappointed, "Thanks."

Kai lent her hand to Sokka, and they started their way back to the shore. "What was that for?"

Kai just shook her head in response. She was not going to let Sokka's innocent face get to her. He deserved it, even he couldn't be that oblivious. Well maybe he could be.

They got back to the shore, with Sokka dripping all over everybody. Sokka was mumbling something to Aang. However, Aang's attention was somewhere else as Momo flew above him. A faint call could be heard from a distance and Aang pointed to the east saying, "Someone's being attacked by a platypus bear."

The group rushed off, with surprisingly Kai leading the way. They saw a middle aged man dressed in blue about half the height of the creature he was facing. "Get out of there," Kai yelled, "What are you doing? Run!"

"Well, hello there," he cheerfully greeted the kids, narrowly missing the incoming claw. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"Make noise, he'll run off," Aang called.

"No, play dead, he'll lose interest," Sokka butted in.

The bear swung his claws at the man yet again, who only dodged it, which only made the kids worry more. "Whoa, close one, haha."

Cupping her hands, Katara called, "Run downhill then climb a tree!"

"No, punch him the bill," Sokka demonstrated.

"And then run in zig zags," Aang yelled.

"Just run as the fast as you can," Kai finished.

"No need, it's going to be fine," the man calmly replied.

Kai let out a groan of frustration and decided to jump into action, when the platypus bear started throwing trees at the traveler. She landed between the two and quickly let out a air blast to push the bear back and scare it away. The animal quickly recovered though and reared back on his hind legs. Though this would probably deteriorate any normal or sane person, Kai stood there preparing for a fight. As the other part of the gaang looked at Kai incredulously, Appa landed behind the bear, and scared him away with his enormous size. It jumped into the river, but not before laying an egg, which Sokka quickly ran over and grabbed, licking his lips, "Mmmm lunch, lucky for you we came along."

"Thanks, but everything was under controlled," the man was unfazed by the recent endangerment of his life. "Not to worry. Aunt Wu predicted, I'd have a safe journey."

"Aunt Who?" Aang asked curiously.

"No, Aunt Wu. She's the fortuneteller from my village. Awful nice knowing the future."

Katara's face lit up, "Wow, it must be. That explains why you were so calm!"
"How can you say that, he almost got killed because he thought some lady thought that you would get to where you were going to safe. If it won't for us, you would've been nothing for but a bear's lunch!" Kai exclaimed.

"But, I wasn't, because you," he smiled."Aunt Wu must've known we would meet and you would protect does no good to dwell on the what ifs of life, and instead on what has happened. I thank you again, and have a nice day." He started to walk away from the group before turning sharply back to face them again, "Oh, and Aunt Wu said if I meet any travelers to give them this."

He handed Aang, a long wrapped package before scurrying away. "Maybe should go see, Aunt Wu and learn our fortunes," Katara suggested. "It could be fun!"

"Oh, come one," Sokka moaned. "Fortunetelling is nonsense."

The only response he got was Aang finally ripping the wrappings off the package and opening it up. "What do you know, an umbrella!"

"Come on guys, someone back me up."

As he said that though, the sky darkened and began to pour. Aang stood under the umbrella, while Katara bent a shield above her head. Kai let the water hit her freely though, as she felt it was refreshing, also because she knew that she could always quickly dry off later. However Sokka was not at all happy by the situation and Katara decided to gloat, "That proves it," joining Aang under the umbrella.

Sokka futilely held the egg over his head as some sort of protection, "No, it doesn't! You can't really tell the future," he stage whispered to Kai, "Back me up, Kai."

Shrugging her shoulders and crossing her arms she said softly, "I don't know Sokka, there are too many coincidences to not consider the possibility."

The group continued down the path that they were assuming went to the village of Aunt Wu. Aang and Katara were chatting, but Sokka was still cross. Kai was just silent. "Of course she predicted it was going to rain. The sky's been grey the entire day," he muttered.

Rolling her eyes at Sokka, "Just admit you were wrong and you can come under the umbrella," said Katara.

Sokka relented, "Look, I'm going to predict the future now. It's going to keep drizzling," he paused for a moment looking around. "See?"

However just as he was saying that, the rain begun slow falling until it stopped completely. The formerly grey skies cleared up and the clouds parted. Birds chirped and the sun shone done clearly on the group. "Not everyone has the gift, Sokka," Aang observed.

Katara and Aang continued to lead the group, when Kai silently dried herself off, and saw that Appa was about to do the same. She jumped high enough in time to not be hit by wet fur, but Sokka was not so lucky. He moaned, "Urgh," not satisfied with the position he was currently in. So he mirrored Kai's statue and crossed his arms and sulked silently.

The South Eastern Water Tribe girl though looked as she was unhappy because of the situation she was in, was actually unhappy because of the recent events yet again. These were the hardest of times for her. As during these times, when Katara and Aang were so wrapped up in something and Sokka was either sulking or focused on something independently. She felt that she could easily left behind, like how she has left her tribe. How she had left her tribe right in their time of need. How brave and noble was that? Would she ever be able to pay for her crimes?

Sure, others wouldn't call it crimes, but in Kai's mind it was the worst thing that she could do. Causing the genocide of her tribe seemed like a crime to her.

"So, which way do you think we should go, Kai?" asked Katara curiously.

"What?" she replied confused. She looked around and didn't even remember her surroundings. Instead of the narrow riverbed, they were now in a forest with larger than life trees. They were going uphill as well, instead of the flat path that she remembered being on last. Seeing the group was looking at her strangely she recovered saying, "The one Aang picked."

"And which one was that?"

The path split into two forks, figuring she had a fifty-fifty chance she pointed to the one closest to where Aang was standing, "That one."

"Ummm, I kinda didn't pick a path," Aang admitted sheepishly. "We were hoping you would pick because of all the times you traveled alone with Azimi you seemed to know you directions pretty well."

Katara's face softened a bit, "You zoned out, didn't you?" Kai looked at the ground and shrugged her shoulders. Katara huffed before scolding, "Sokka, I thought I told you to watch Kai to make sure she didn't do this."

"I'm not some thing to be watched," Kai angrily retorted. "You guys are treating me like a mentally unstable person."

"No, we didn't mean it like that," Katara quickly retracted. "It's just we're really worried about you and it hurts us to see you like this, and just want to help somehow. Do you understand?"

Kai looked at all of her friends, and for the first time since her parent's death, they actually seemed genuine to her. Not out of guilt they were acting, but rather they truly cared for her. When her world crashed all around her, they were still there. Kai acknowledged her friends with a small smile and a nod, pointing to the second path, "East is that way, if you wanted to know."

Katara smiled back, "Then, let's go that way. Come up here Kai and you can lead the way."

She obeyed Katara's command and soon the two girls were walking side by side, "So, are you excited to meet this Aunt Wu fortuneteller person?" Katara immediately asked.

"I guess so."
"Please tell me you're not like Sokka on this and just think she is some sort of crackpot."

"I can't really judge because, I've never met her. But, at the same time it seems like too many coincidences to be true."

"I can't believe that we could find out our futures. Oh I have some many questions to ask her," said Katara.

"It could be fun. But if my future is anything like the past couple of days, I don't think I really want to know about it."

"Oh, right," Katara responded awkwardly. A silence passed over them for a minute, until Katara spoke up again, rather slyly, "What if she says something about your boyfriend though? What was his name again, Shen?"

Kai blushed a bit, "Yeah, that would be nice."

"Aww, you like him a lot don't you?" she teased. "You have to tell me all about him. What does he look like? What is he like? How long have you two been dating? Is he a good kisser?"

"One question at a time."

"Sorry."

"Well, Katara, Shen is..."

The two girls happily chatted for the rest of their journey. Katara kept asking Kai one question after another, and only when they reached the village did she stop.

"It wasn't like that exactly, I mean he tried, but he didn't know I was allergic to the sage root, and he was just trying to do something nice. It's not like he wanted my face to blow up..."

"Aunt Wu is expecting you," a man interrupted.

"Really?" asked Katara, her face lighting up. She rushed inside and the three others brought up the rear.

It was a simply lit entrance room. Four pink pillows sat side by side, so the kids removed their shoes and sat cross legged on them.

A girl younger than Aang walked into the room holding a tray with some sort of food on it. She wore a brightly colored pink and purple robe. What was most eccentric about her though was that her hair, that was in braids, stuck out completely to the sides. "My name is Meng and I'm Aunt Wu's assistant," she spoke with the slightest of lisps. Her eyes lingered on Aang, "Why hello there."

"Hello," Aang replied, rubbing his nose absentmindedly.

Approaching Aang, she asked, "Can I get you some of Aunt Wu's special bean curd puff?"

"I'll try a curd puff," Sokka interrupted.

Meng only shushed him with a finger and turned back to Aang, who was inches away from her face. "Just a second, so what's your name?"

"Aang," he said simply.

"That rhymes with Meng," she exclaimed. "And you've got some pretty big ears, don't you?"

"I guess."

"Don't be modest! They're huge!" Sokka spread his arms to demonstrate.

Aang reached up to feel his ears as to measure them somehow, disturbed how big he found them. Kai tried to gently concile him by patting him awkwardly on the back.

Meng continued, backing up, "Well Aang, it was very nice to meet you. Very nice."

"Likewise," the Avatar replied pleasantly.

Sokka grumbled, "I can't believe we're in the house of nonsense."

"Try to keep an open mind, Sokka," Katara tried to reassure her brother. "There are things in this world that just can't be explained. Wouldn't it be nice to have some insight into your future?"

"It would be nice to have some bean curd puffs."

Meng re-entered the room with the previously requested snacks. A lady dressed in green, gushing ran up to her and said, "Oh, Meng. Aunt Wu says I'm going to meet my true love. He's going to give me a Panda Lily."

"That's so romantic," Meng commented dreamily. "I wonder if my true love will give me a rare flower."

"Good luck with that," Aang said, overhearing the conversation.

The woman laughed and whispered to Meng, "Is that the big-eared guy who Aunt Wu predicted you would marry?"

Meng quickly pushed the woman out of earshot and towards the door. She proceeded towards the group but tripped on her long robes. Aang reaches out to help her and they end up holding hands. Meng looks at Aang embarrassed and blushes. The young girl drops off the bead curd puffs and practically runs away, "Enjoy your snack!"

Sokka reaches over Aang's lap for a bean curd puff, and is in the process of devouring it as a old lady dressed in ornate yellow robes with much jewelry. Kai supposed that this must be the Aunt Wu who is revered throughout the village. "Welcome young travelers," she said, spreading her arms. "Now, who's next? Don't be shy."

Kai was leaning back against the wall, closing her eyes. Sokka's attention was focused on the puff. Aang just looked to Katara, who stood up, "I guess that's me."

By the time Katara had left, Sokka's mouth was full of the curd puffs. Still he tried to be somewhat polite and offered it first to Aang who shook his head, then Kai who silently took one. Aang was twiddling his thumbs as he asked, "So what do you think they're talking about back there?"

"Boring stuff," Sokka replied casually, examining a puff at the same time. "Love, who's she going to marry, how many babies she's going to have."

"Yeeeeah, dumb stuff like that..." Aang trailed off. "Well I've got to find a bathroom."

Aang got up suddenly and left the room. Sokka plopped onto his back. "What are you doing there?"

"I'm trying to meditate," the Avatar's Apprentice replied dryly.

"Oh, what for?"

"Well, Aang does it to clear his mind, maybe it'll do the same for me."

"Do you need me to be quiet?"

"Kinda."

Sokka looked around the room counting the cracks in the ceiling to waste time, as he heard Kai's steady breathing. "Uggh, I can't do this now," she groaned, opening her eyes."Instead of clearing my mind, it's just making it busier and busier."

Sokka shrugged, not sure how to answer that, and then decided to pick his teeth. Aang came back looking smug from the bathroom. ""Looks like someone had a pretty good bathroom break," Sokka noticed.

"Yeah...when I was there-"

Sokka held out his hands to stop him, disgusted, "I don't even want to know!"

Katara came back with Aunt Wu soon after, who asked, "Who's next?"

Sokka reluctantly stood up, "Ok, let's get this over with."

"You future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self inflicted," Aunt Wu predicted immediately.

Sokka stood dumbfounded, "But you didn't read my palms or anything."

"I didn't need to. It's written all over your face," directing her attention to Aang, "You there, come with me."

Aangfollowed the fortuneteller out of the room and Katara took her place next to Kai. "So, aren't you going to ask me about what Aunt Wu predicted?"

"I don't know, what if you told me and because of that it won't be true."

Katara pondered this for a minuted, "I never really thought of it that way."

"Then maybe I won't have a life of suffering," said Sokka.

"No, I don't think so because whenever you get hurt, it's usually your own fault. Like the blubber incident..."

"Aaaah! You said you would never speak of that again," cutting off his sister.

Katara rolled her eyes. A few minutes passed, and Aang came back with Aunt Wu, happier than before, and whose eyes drifted over to Katara. "Finally you," Aunt Wun announced pointing to the South Eastern Water Tribe girl.

Kai slowly pulled herself out of the lotus position, and she followed the fortuneteller through the doorway.

She shuffled down the hallway, until the older woman opened a door and walked into a rather small room. The walls of it seemed to glow as the lamps hung from the edges of the ceiling emitted light downwards reflecting against the orange tapestries. A low table was in the center of the room, and pillows were set up on either side of it. The older lady motioned for her to sit, and Kai picked the pillow that faced the door. The fortuneteller joined Kai after a few moments, bringing a pot over and placing it on top of a low holder. She lit a small fire underneath.

"Tea leaf reading is a reliable method as it not only can tell an act in the future will occur, but also approximately when. It also happens to unload a burdened mind, as I can see you have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kai immediately defended.

"I can see, just like your fellow travelers, that you have a burdened mind, most likely the result of something that has happened lately, as it is something that is very clear on your face," Aunt Wu replied calmly.

Kai just crossed her arms and looked down. The woman waited for a minute before pouring the tea first in Kai's cup, then her own's. The two sat there unmoving, letting the steam from the cups swirl all around them. "It would be better to tell me, for then to guess through your cup."

Kai again did not say anything. She first picked up her cup and took a small sip from it. She placed it gracefully down on the table. "My parents, I just found out, my parents are dead, they died along with most of my tribe."

"May, I ask how or who-" The woman curiously asked.

"Fire Nation," Kai interrupted curtly.

"Oh."

A silence overtook the two women, and Kai again reached for the cup and took another sip. "Well, aren't you going to say something? Try to make me see, it's not that bad. How this happened to a distant relative and they turned out fine." Kai said harshly.

"No," Aunt Wu responded.

"No?" Kai asked skeptically.

"Unless, you want me to, I will not offer false comfort." Kai raised an eyebrow. "I see that is no use for you. If I do you will keep thinking and dwelling on it."

"What's so bad about that? My parents died, I deserve some time to dwell on it. My life will be never be the same."

"True, it will not. It will be different, not necessarily better or worse but different. Only if you stop dwelling on it, could it be better."

"Why and how?" asked Kai now curious about what the old woman had to say.

"Dwelling on it leads to guilt, guilt leads to self pity, self pity leads to self hatred which will swallow you whole and not allow you to lead a normal life."

"I already don't live a normal life!" Kai said, raising her voice slightly.

"The responsibility you hold is not a death sentence, Apprentice!"

Kai's eyes widened at the last word and she grappled, "How...what...?"

"Yes, I know who you are. I have seen the posters of you and the Avatar, I would've known anyway because I can sense the power you two hold," said Aunt Wu. "I sometimes wonder why the spirits have chosen children to hold this responsibility in such a crucial part of this war, but I know better than to argue with destiny. Have you ever thought of a future? Of what would happen after the war is over?"

Her mind immediately lingered on Shen. Like all girls in love at that age, she had fantasized about her future with her boyfriend. She had already decided what kind of wedding she wanted to have, (a winter one, with snow all around her), but after the attack she had put those extraneous dreams on the back burner. Kai decided she could better use that time on focusing on her training and duty.

"Well of course," Kai meekly responded. "It's no good if I fail though, I need to focus on the present now."

"Still you came to me, and asked for your future to be read. All I can see though if you don't move past, whatever reason you have for it, your future is dim. If you choose however right now, your future may be more hopeful."

Kai stayed stone faced for a few minutes, only moving to sip her tea. Silence overtook the air and Aunt Wu let it run its course. Only when Kai put the cup down for the final time, did Aunt Wu make and interference, reaching over the table asking, "May I?"

Kai nodded silently again. "Let me see," the older woman said. She rotated the cup a few times and squinted at the tea remains. She declared, "As of right now, the cup indicates that you have an uncertain path, which means that all the rest of these predictions may or may not come true. Soon you will have an advancement, but it does not give any more information than that," she turned the cup again, " In the fifth month of this year, it seems that you will have a visitor in the middle of the month. Hmmmm it seems in the mid summer you will experience a large change, one that could lead you to a correct path. It seems like you may have a close call in the ninth month this year."

"Sozin's comet," Kai muttered under her breathe. "Well what else does it say?"

"That is all I can see as of now," the woman concluded.

"Nothing?" she asked again.

"Nothing distinguishable past that point ."

Kai did a mental huff. "You sure?"

"I'm positive, Apprentice. It seems that the fates have not decided which way you will go and what will be your outcome."

"I guess that's it then..." Kai pushed herself out of her sitting position, and started towards the door.

"Do not forget my advice, young Apprentice," the woman said behind as, as Kai was reaching for the sliding door. She turned gave a small nod, and yanked the door open.

Kai walked back to the lobby where her friends where. Katara asked, "So how'd it go?"

Kai gave a noncommittal shrug, "No big surprises."

They walked out of the house and entered the street. "Well now you got to see for yourselves how fortune telling is just a big, stupid hoax," Sokka ranted as soon as they crossed the doorway.

"You're just saying that because you're going to make yourself unhappy your whole life," Katara quipped.

"That woman is crazy," exclaimed Sokka, voice rising. "My life will be calm, and happy, and joyful"

He took out his frustration on a nearby rock, kicking it out of his path. It bounced off a hanging side in front of them and came back to hit Sokka squarely in the head. The force of the impact knocked him off his balance, "That doesn't prove anything!"

Katara giggled at her brother before commenting, "Well, I like my predictions. Certain things are going to turn out very well."

"They sure are," Aang added, leaning in towards Katara.

"Why? What did she tell you?" Katara asked.

"Some stuff. You'll find out," Aang sauntered down the road, relaxed with his hands behind his head, with as much swag as a skinny 12 year old boy could muster.

A group of villagers had gathered in front of a slightly raised pavillion, that signaled the middle of their town. All of the villagers eyes were focused on the sky. "What's with the sky?" Kai asked.

"We are waiting for Aunt Wu to come and read the clouds to predict the future of the entire village," said a man standing near the four.

Kai nodded, and Aang nudged her, pointing to the sky, "That cloud kind of looks like a fluffy bunny."

"You better not hope that's a bunny!" the same man commented. "The fluffy bunny cloud forecasts doom, and destruction."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Sokka exclaimed.

"I don't know Sokka, bunnies can sometimes be known as vicious killers, especially if they are extra fluffy," Kai said lightly under her breathe to Sokka.

"That doesn't even make sens- wait, Kai, was that a joke."

"Shut up," she said through gritted teeth.

"It was, wasn't it?!"

"Shhh, she's about to talk," pointing to Aunt Wu who had entered the pavillion, with a book in her hands.

Sokka responded by rolling his eyes and yet again crossing his arms. "Bending arrow cloud," Aunt Wu announced. "Good crops this year. Nice big harvest."An elderly couple ahead of them rejoiced and the fortune teller continued, "Wavy moon-shaped cloud...let's see, gonna be a great year for twins."

A pair of identical boys jumped and high fived yelling, "Yes!"

"And a cumulus cloud with a twisted nob coming off from it...the village will not be destroyed by the volcano this year," she concluded.

The crowd cheered all around them. Sokka pouted however. "These people are insane to put all of their trust into this one person."

"Well look at it this way, Sokka. You're dad's chief of your tribe and you put all your trust in his hands," Kai thought out loud.

Sokka looked horrified and then started to turn a bit purple, grasping for words, "That's not the same thing...my dad is not like her at all...he makes decisions based on strategy and evidence!"

"I'm just putting things out there," she said, backing away from Sokka a bit.

Sokka just groaned and walked away from Kai, possibly going to find Aang. She couldn't see Katara anywhere through the bustling crowd. She figured it would be best if she just stayed out of the dispersing and shoving crowd, and slowly made her way over to the edge of a street, and leaned up against the wall, a open water barrel next to her. Kai absentmindedly kicked a stone from one foot to another. "The responsibility you hold is not a death sentence," rung in Kai's ears.

Sure it wasn't her death sentence, it was the death sentence of others. She reminded herself that this knowledge was what tore her tribe apart. It was the the knowledge that killed the majority of the tribe, and scattered the other part of her tribe. Now Aunt Wu was expecting her to get on with her life as if nothing happened. To live her life like she was nothing special. True she was the happiest when people didn't know her identity. It made her feel safe and that she could blend in. Kai knew she couldn't live her life as a lie though. Somehow running away from the duty she was given seemed worse. She would be found somehow, somewhere, and would have to face all the people in her life that she had let down, by doing so.

It was such a tempting option though. No one was stopping her from leaving, right now. This fantasy of traveling the world was turning out to be so wrong. She wouldn't ever be able to pick up where she stopped off. Kai didn't have Shen patiently waiting for her when she got home from a tour. She didn't have a bowl of her mother's steaming stew waiting at her place at the family table, after a long day of training.

But looking at the children laughing and running about the street reminded her why she didn't. Kai could've easily been mistaken as one of those kids when she was young. She might still have the same demeanor at her age, if it weren't for destiny and stuff. She couldn't just leave these kids and everyone else to cower.

"Kai!"

Her ears perked up at the sound of her name. "Kai!" Aang was racing across the market with Sokka trailing behind. "We're going up the volcano to find this really cool flower. Do you want to come?"

"Sure," she said, coming away from the wall, walking to the two boys. "You're not mad at me?" she asked Sokka.

"Naw, Aang just needed some quality bro time. He's having girl problems and needed my expertise."

"I don't think that really work-"

"Nonsense, Aang," Sokka said cutting him off.

"So, I wanted to try something else."

"I still can't believe you're dragging us all the way up here for a stupid flower," he grumbled several minutes later.

"Not just any flower," he told the two. "A panda lily, I've seen it in action and boy does it work."

"Flowers are fine once you're married, but at this early stage, it's critical that you maintain maximum aloofness," Sokka advised.

Kai's eyes widened, "Is that the 'advice' he's been giving to you? Aang, that's not how it works."

"That's why she's been pushing away….huh...I guess that's why my heart is telling to get this flower, and Aunt Wu said if I trusted in my heart, I will be with the one I love," said Aang.

"What? Don't tell me you believe in that stuff too," Sokka complained.

"It's better than what you've told him," Kai thought.

` "Well, Aunt Wu hasn't been wrong yet. Why shouldn't she be wrong about love?" Aang reasoned. He jumped up in excitement pointing to a wilting red and white flower. "There! On the rim."

He ran up to the edge of the volcano, with Sokka and Kai trailing. He bent down to pick it, and that was when the two others arrived. As Kai looked over the edge, she saw that the lava was bubbling at the surface, rising at the same time. "Oh no," Aang whispered. "Aunt Wu was wrong."

"Those people all think they're safe. We've got to warn them," said Sokka.

"There's no time to walk," the Avatar determined, pulling out his glider. "Grab on!"

Kai and Sokka obeyed and soon they were in the air speeding towards the village. "There's Katara," Kai announced, pointing right outside of Aunt Wu's house.

They descended quickly landing in front of her, who was irritated and didn't notice them at first. "Hi Katara," Aang greeted.

"Can you believe she won't let me in?" she ranted, referring to the older woman. "And after all the business I've given her."

"But she doesn't even charge," Kai shyly pointed out.

Katara paused, "I know, but still..."

"Well, we have other things to worry about. Aunt Wu was wrong about the volcano," Sokka filled her in.

"Sokka, you tried to convince me she was wrong before. It's going to take an awful lot to change my mind-" But as Katara finished, the volcano behind them began to rumble and started to emit black smoke. "Oh no."

The four ran to the market where most people were at,and Sokka yelled, "Everybody, that volcano is going to blow any second! Aunt Wu was wrong!"

"Yeah, yeah we know you don't believe in Aunt Wu, Mr. science and reason lover," a random passerby called out.

Katara stepped forward and put a calming hand on her brother's shoulder, and spoke logically, "If you won't listen to him, maybe you'll listen to me. I want to believe Aunt Wu and her predictions as much as you do, but my brother, Kai, and Aang saw the lava with their own eyes."

"Well I heard Aunt Wu's prediction with my own ears," another villager argued.

Aang moved to step forward, but surprisingly Kai bet him to the punch. "I understand you're wariness to trust us, but you are all in danger.I can't stand to see your village destroyed...like mine...please we just want to help. You have to be proactive."

She took a step back, shaking a bit, and Katara put a soothing hand on her back. The volcano groaned again causing the ground to shake and almost causing Kai to lose her balance.

"Look, can your fortune telling explain that?" Sokka pointed out.

"Can your science explain why it rains?" a man asked.

"Yes, yes, it can!" he responded outraged.

The villagers grumbled again and started to disperse, much to Kai's dismay. "Don't they know they're just putting themselves into more danger?"

"They just won't listen to reason," Katara reasoned worried.

"But they will listen to Aunt Wu!" exclaimed Aang, unnaturally happy for this situation.

"I know, that's the problem," Sokka said.

"Well, it's about to become the solution," the young boy told them mischievously. "We're taking fate into our own hands. First, I need to borrow Aunt Wu's cloud reading book."

"How?" asked Sokka intrigued.

Aang led them away from the market, so no one could overhear his plan, and it turned out to be simple. Aang would first steal ("borrow without asking" as he called it) Aunt Wu's cloud prediction book. Then, he and Katara would fly up and make the symbol of volcanic doom using their bending. Kai and Sokka would try to show this to Aunt Wu. Before it was just Sokka, but Katara highly doubted she would believe only Sokka.

Currently the three kids of the Water Tribe were standing outside of Aunt Wu's house trying to keep a lookout, while Aang climbed up the roof to sneak into the house. Five minutes had already passed, and there was still no sign of Aang coming out. "Do you think he got caught?" Katara whispered to Kai.

"Naw, if he did we would've seen him because he would've been kicked out or something," Sokka comforted.

"You sure?" Kai asked, fidgeting back and forth. "I mean five minutes is a long time."

"He probably got stuck getting in there or he hasn't found it yet. He'll be fine."

"I know," she replied softly.

They heard a whisper from the side of the building closest to the forest, and the three rushed over. Aang was standing there with a book in his hand. "I got it."

"Great," Katara praised. "But what took you so long?"

"Oh, um, that, um, I ran into somebody, but it's all good. They actually helped me find this," Aang said rubbing the back of his head.

"Then let's get phase two into motion. The sooner we do this the better," said the Water Tribe warrior.

Aang and Katara nodded and ran over to Appa, who was all saddled up and ready to go. "Go, as fast as you can, we're heading to get Aunt Wu now," he said, once Aang and Katara were on the saddle.

Aang yelled, "Yip, yip," and took off.

"Come on," Kai said, grabbing Sokka leading him back to the front of the house.

They spotted Aunt Wu about to enter her home after her walk so they called out her name. She turned at the sound of it. "Ummm...we just wanted to say...ummm..thank you for reading our fortunes, they were really helpful," Kai tried to compliment.

"Really?" she asked, looking at Sokka.

Kai elbowed him discreetly in the ribs, so he spoke up, "Yeah, umm, I'll be sure to be sure to, ummm, be more aware of my actions in the future. You know so I won't get that self inflicted pain thing, ummm-Hey Aunt Wu look at the sky, the clouds are changing."

He lead her over to the pavillion. "That's very strange. it shouldn't...Oh my!"

Kai looked up in the sky and saw a looming skull in the pink clouds. Very appropriate for volcanic doom. Aang and Katara apparently had landed because he ran towards the pavillion yelling, "We can still save the village if we act fast. Sokka has a plan."

"Lava is going to flow downhill to this spot. If we can dig a deep enough trench, we can channel all the lava from the village to the river."

"If any of you are earthbenders, come with me," Aang commanded.

"I'm an earthbender," said one of the twins that had previously spoken up.

"I'm not," added the other.

"Everybody else grab a shovel. Come on! We gotta hurry!"

Kai took one of the shovels and lead a group closer to the river. While Katara and Sokka took people closer to the village. Kai marked out an approximate width that they should dig, and started herself. During the process, she would dig and then would use her airbending to push the removed soil to the side closest to the village. She went down the passage that they were creating periodically and do this to all the dirt that had been upheaved.

She flinched as the volcano made another grown, spurting out. "Dig faster," Sokka could be heard down the way.

Aang appeared above the villagers, "Everyone needs to evacuate ! We'll come for you when it's safe!"

That was Kai's cue, who yelled, "Everybody follow me!"

They had agreed that it would be best if one of the gaang would lead the evacuation so it wouldn't be as panicked. She began leading them through the village at a remarkable pace, towards the river where they had first come from. "If you're strong enough, then help somebody who isn't. We need to get everyone as far as we can away from here."

She knelt down and let a small girl mount her back. Jogging, she tried to get far away from the village. If they could make it across the river, they could be safe, because it was deep enough to stop the lava flowing.

Kai hesitantly looked back, and saw the black crowd creeping towards the villagers. They wouldn't have enough time, to make it across the river. She figured that they were out of the main range of the volcano, so she made a quick judgement call.

Kai had noticed a large cave up ahead, so she decided it would be best to be out of range of flaming rocks, particularly in an area that couldn't catch on fire too.

Finally, when everyone was inside, she was able to rest. She sat at the mouth of the cave, on the lookout for any of her friends. She was worried that something had gone wrong, or that one of them had gotten hurt.

Kai had tied one her armbands to a tree that surrounded the cave, to let her friends know where they were hiding out. As, she was on the watch, Kai felt a slight pull on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw the little girl she was carrying before. "I left my stuffed rabaroo back at the village. Can we go back and get it?"

"Not right now, it's not safe," she replied calmly.

"But she misses her mama," the little girl reasoned, pointing to herself.

"As soon as we get back, we can find her," Kai smiled at the little girl. "Don't worry my friends are protecting your rabaroo."

"Yay!" the girl hugged Kai, and then scampered off.

"What are we protecting?" a voice said from the mouth of the cave.

"Aang," she cried, getting up, and meeting her friends, hugging Aang when she got there.

He hugged back before announcing to the entire group, "Your village is fine. The lava stopped flowing, and you'll be able to go back there soon."

"Rabaroo is alive!" the girl yelled.

"I didn't see any rabaroos at the village-" Sokka started.

"Her stuffed one, obviously," Katara replied. "Right?"

Kai nodded in affirmation.

By morning, the smoke had lessened so the villagers were able to return to their homes. Katara, Kai, Sokka, and Aang were preparing to get back on the road soon, and the villagers happily supplied them, as they were in debt for saving their town.

Just as they were about to take off, and the whole village had come to see them off, Aang remembered sheepishly, "By the way, we kind of borrowed your book."

"So you messed with the clouds, did you?" Aunt Wu angrily snatched the book from Aang's hands. But then her face softened and laughed, "Very clever."

"No offense, but I hope this taught everybody a lesson on not relying too much on fortune telling," Sokka lectured the group.

"But Aunt Wu predicted the village wouldn't be destroyed, and it wasn't. She was right after all," mentioned a man from the crowd.

"I hate you," Sokka said through gritted teeth.

Kai grabbed his shoulders to prevent him from charging at the man, and instead led him to Appa, and made him get on. He climbed to the back of the saddled and pouted all alone. Kai only shook her head in dismay.

"Goodbye everyone! It was so nice to meet you! Tack care, Meng!" Katara cheerily called out.

Once again, they were off on their adventure.

Pretty, pretty, pretty please review. It makes me smile, everytime.