The Desert.

The wind blows loudly around them the endless expanse of sand dunes and open sky. The gang were each looking in a different direction. After barely managing to make it out of the library and escaping the enraged spirit, they learned that Appa had been captured by sandbenders. Kasumi mentally cursed herself. She suspected that those Sandbenders were up to no good, but she didn't expect that they would follow them all the way out here just to capture Appa. Had she known, she would've waited outside with Toph, but her curiosity for more knowledge got the better of her.

Aang is clearly still angry approaches Toph in an aggressive manner "How could you let them take Appa Why didn't you stop them?!".

"I couldn't! The library was sinking! You guys were still inside and-" Toph began but was cut of by the enraged Aang.

"You could have come to get us! I could have saved him!" He shouted.

Toph tried to explain but Aang did not make it easy "I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck upon me and there wasn't time for-".

"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" Aang snapped.

Katara approaches the two in an attempt at peacemaking, and places an arm on Aang's left shoulder "Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives".

"Who's going to save our lives now? We'll never make it out of here" Sokka said.

"That's all any of you guys care about: yourselves! You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!" Aang stalks off, sulking angrily.

"ENOUGH!" Kasumi shouted in a rare moment of anger "Aang, had it not been for Toph we all would've been trapped and maybe even dead by now. If that happened, there would be no way to help Appa, and shouting at everyone isn't going to help".

"You're right, standing around arguing isn't going to help. So I'm going after Appa" Aang said as flies off.

Katara calls after him, running towards the spot from which he took off "Aang, wait!".

Kasumi watched Aang fly away in disbelief. He just left them... he left them out in the middle of the desert. Sure Kasumi could understand why he was so worried about Appa, but it was still no excuse to just leave them to fend for themselves. Kasumi felt angry about this. For the first time since she met him, Kasumi was disappointed at Aang.

"We'd better start walking. We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba-Sing-Se" Katara said.

"You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?" Sokka asked.

"Even if we could, I think he would rather eat us than help us... well, mainly you because Sokka" Kasumi said before walking away with the rest. Sokka pouts and follows.

They walked through the desert for a while, growing weaker from the heat. They are clearly hot, dry, and tired. Sokka tries using Momo and his wings as a hat. As he slows, Toph bumps into him, knocking Momo off Sokka's head.

Sokka breaths hard "Can't you watch where you're-".

"No" Toph answered simply.

"Right. Sorry" Sokka said sheepishly.

Katara turns to encourage the others "Come on guys, we've got to stick together".

"If I sweat any more, I don't think sticking together will be a problem" Sokka said as the sweat from him an Toph made their clothes stick together. He tries to gently pull himself and Toph apart, but Toph cuts to the chase and knocks Sokka down, disconnecting them.

"Katara, can I have some water?" Toph asked, sounding like the young girl she was, no trace of her normal confidence or cocky nature.

"Okay, but we've got to try to conserve it" Katara bends water from her bag and suspends it between her and the others. She then directs it to each mouth except her own.

Kasumi held up a hand "Don't worry about me. Unlike the rest of you, I was trained to survive without substance for a longer period of time".

Sokka swishes the water a bit, and then swallows with a face. He clearly is not impressed with the taste "We're drinking your bending water? You used this on the swamp guy!".

"It does taste swampy" Toph agreed.

Katara motions her sense of helplessness "I'm sorry, it's all we have".

"Not anymore! Look!" Sokka makes a discovery, pointing to a large cactus a little off their path. He walks up to it, cuts a piece off with his knife, and drains the liquid content into his mouth. Momo does likewise.

"Sokka, wait! You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" Katara grabs Toph's wrist and runs over to Sokka and Momo.

"There's water trapped inside these!" Sokka holds up some cactus for Katara, but she backs away, pushing Toph back as well.

"I don't know..." She said.

"Suit yourself. It's very thirst-quenching, though" Sokka said... but then he suddenly began acting strange "Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!".

Kasumi sighed "Seems like the substance in the cactus can play tricks on the mind. It's clearly not safe to drink".

Katara takes the proffered cactus bowl and pours it to the ground "I think you're right".

"Does that mean I can't have some of that cactus stuff?" Toph asked.

"Not unless you want to turn in to Sokka" Kasumi said.

"Now that would be worse than dying of thirst" Toph said.

Kasumi managed a weak smile before Katara spoke "Come on, we need to find Aang".

"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka asked.

Kasumi shook her head. But an ocean would be nice right now. They continued to walk for a bit until a large mushroom cloud of sand appeared behind them.

Katara turned around "What is that?".

"It's a giant mushroom! Maybe it's friendly!" Sokka said.

"Let's just keep moving. I hope Aang's okay..." Katara said.

"I doubt he thinks the same way about us. He left us to fend for ourselves while he look for Appa who is already gone" Kasumi said in a bitter tone "If this is how he is going to act, he can stay away".

"You don't mean that" Katara said, hoping Kasumi was just talking out of anger.

"I don't really know anymore" Kasumi said.

"Friendly mushroom!Mushy giant friend!" Sokka waves his arms back and forth. Kasumi sighs and began dragging him away.

It is now nearing sunset, and Katara, Sokka, Toph and Momo are still trekking across the desert. A shadow passes over head and Aang lands behind them, kicking up a small cloud of sand.

"Well, look who decided to come back" Kasumi muttered. This was an unusual behavior for her, and it was clear that her and Aang shouldn't talk at the moment

Katara approaches Aang as he kneels "I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now, but we need to focus on getting out of here".

Aang looked down hopelessly "What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it".

"Come on, Aang! We can do this if we work together. Right, Toph?" Katara asked.

"As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'" Toph answered.

Kasumi sighed "I'm afraid I don't have much experience when it comes to wandering through deserts".

Katara looked at her brother "Sokka? Any ideas how to find Ba-Sing-Se?".

Sokka and Momo are both lying on their backs and staring at the sky. Sokka smiles blissfully and points upward "Why don't we ask the circle birds?".

They look up to see several buzzard wasps circling above the them. Katara looks left and right at everyone. Aang is still sulking, and Toph staggers a bit.

"Ugh... We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up. Everybody hold hands. We can do this. We have to" Katara instructed as she took Aang's staff, who in turn held Toph's hand, who held Kasumi's hand, who in turn pulled Sokka along.

After a while, the sun was setting and stars have appeared in the sky. Everyone was getting more and more tired and it was clear they couldn't keep going for much longer.

"I think we should stop for the night" Everyone behind Katara, minus Kasumi, sighs and falls to the ground.

"Is there any more water?" Toph asked.

"This is the last of it. Everyone can have a little drink" Katara opens her water flask and bends out an orb of water. Momo leaps at the water and tries to drink it, causing it to fall to the sand below.

Sokka panics and scrambles towards the wet spot in the sand "Momo, no! You've killed us all!".

"No, he hasn't" Katara places her hand over the moist sand and bends the water out of it.

"Oh, right. Bending" Sokka said.

Katara bends the water back into the flask and gives it to Toph "Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library".

Sokka reels back and clutches his bag full of scrolls "What! I didn't steal anything! Who told you that?!" He then pointed an accusing finger at Momo "It was you! You ratted me out!".

Momo covered his eyes and let out noises that sounded exactly like crying, he was clearly hurt and upset by Sokka yelling at him. Kasumi motions the poor winged lemur in to her arms and rubbed his head as he cried in to her chest.

"Sokka, I was there" Katara said as she takes Sokka's bag.

"It doesn't matter. None of those will tell us where Appa is" Aang said. Kasumi was beginning to lose patience, Aang had completely lost track of his priorities.

Katara pulls out one of the scrolls and unrolls it, revealing a star map "No, but we can find out which way Ba-Sing-Se is. We can use the stars to guide us. That way we can travel at night when it's cool and rest during the day" She noticed everyone was already laying down "Just try to get some sleep. We'll start again in a few hours".

Kasumi sighed as she laid down to get some sleep. Somehow this had been more taxing than most other things in her life. The only other thing that tested her like this was when she was on the run from her own clan.

They slept for a while and Momo is burying the dreaming Sokka under the sand and patting it down. Momo jump away as Katara approaches Sokka to wake him up.

"Come on, get up. We need to go" She said and Sokka drowsily sits up.

Toph sits up and smacks her lips "Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud. Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much".

Katara goes to wake Aang up, but he interrupts her before she can touch him "I'm awake. I couldn't sleep".

"Well, we need to get moving if we want to get out of this sand pit" Katara declared.

Aang looked up and suddenly smiled "Appa!".

Sokka looked up "Appa? But why would Princess Yue need him? She's the moon! She flies by herself!".

A closer look at what was thought to be Appa reveals it to be nothing more than cloud, much to Aang's disappointment.

"It's just a cloud. Wait! A cloud!" Katara holds up her water pouch to Aang "Here, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch".

Aang gives Katara an angry look before snatching her water pouch and taking off on his glider. In two passes, Aang quickly collects the cloud moisture. He throws the pouch down to Katara and lands.

Katara peeks into the pouch "Wow... there's hardly any in here".

"I'm sorry, okay! It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing! What are you doing?" Aang points his staff at Katara. She looks back with shock.

At that moment Kasumi couldn't take it anymore, she grabbed Aang's staff before forcing him down in to the sand, keeping him pinned and glaring in to his eyes "I'll tell you what we've been doing. Fighting to stay alive! And I can tell you what Katara has been doing. Keeping us together! You left! You left us to fend for ourselves. While you were looking for Appa, you left us to die out here. If we die out here, there will be no one left to help Appa, but you didn't care about us, you only cared about your pet! You were willing to leave us to die, just to find him!".

Aang wanted to argue... but Kasumi's words cut deep. He was still angry, but deep down he knew Kasumi was telling the truth. He did leave them.

Kasumi ripped Aang's staff out of his hands, her words were colder and she said more than she meant to, but she was at her wits end "I will be holding on to this from now on. At least until I can trust that you won't abandon us again. Katara, tell us where to go".

Katara was a little scared by the whole situation but managed an answer "We need to head in this direction".

"Lead the way" Kasumi instructed.

Katara begins reading the star map and continues to lead the group. After a few moments of walking, Toph suddenly trips and falls. She rubs her stubbed foot. Next to her is a wooden object sticking out of the sand.

"Ow! Crud! I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going! And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert?!" She said in annoyance.

"A boat?" Katara asked.

"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations" Toph said.

"Think we can dig it out?" Kasumi asked.

"I can... but I need my staff" Aang said holding out his hand "I won't fly away again... I promise".

Kasumi hesitated before she sighed and tossed the staff back to him. Sokka sighs as Aang steps forward and swings his staff in a wide, horizontal arc, kicking up sand. When it clears, a sand glider like the ones used by the sandbenders is seen.

"It's one of the gliders the sandbenders use! And look! It's got some kind of compass on it! I bet it can point us out of here! Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're going to make it!" Katara said happily.

Everyone turns to see Sokka laughing and as he buries Momo in a pile of sand. He turns towards the others and gives two thumbs up as well as a large grin.

Later, Aang is driving the sand glider forwards by bending powerful gusts of air into the sail. Katara is standing on the upper platform and navigating using the compass and star map.

"The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts" She said.

"Take it easy little lady. I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here" Sokka said dreamily as he was sitting behind Katara and holding Momo by the tail.

Katara gasps when she sees a giant rock sticking out from the sand in the distance "That's what the compass is pointing to! That giant rock! It must be the magnetic center of the desert".

Toph smiled happily "A rock? Yes! Let's go!".

"Maybe we can find some water there!" Katara said in hope.

Aang had a dark look "Maybe we can find some sandbenders".

Kasumi heard him and hope she wouldn't need to stop Aang from doing something he will regret. They finally arrived at the rock and climbed on to it.

"Ahhh... Finally! Solid ground!" Toph falls flat on her back and moves her arms and legs back and forth, creating an earth angel in the rock surface.

Kasumi smiled "Good to see you can "See" again".

"Very funny" Toph said in good nature, before they decided to explore a nearby cave.

"I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice. And look!" Sokka grabs some of the sticky substance on the wall and he and Momo eat it. He quickly spits it out and makes a disgusted gagging noise "This tastes like rotten penguin meat! Awww I feel woozy".

"What did you think it was gonna taste like?" Kasumi asked with a face palm.

Katara looked irritated "You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and then you just lick something you find stuck to the wall of a cave?!".

Sokka held up his hands in defense "I have a natural curiosity".

"That could've been pociones for all we know. Try to think next time" Kasumi said, making Sokka gulp in worry.

"I don't think this is a normal cave. This was carved by something" Toph said.

"Yeah... look at the shape" Aang greed.

"There's something buzzing in here. Something that's coming for us!" Katara said.

"It's a nest! Everyone get out!" Kasumi shouts.

Everyone runs back out of the cave as buzzard wasps fly from the caves and attacked. Several of the creatures emerge from the cave and begin flying above and screeching. Aang swings his staff down at one that approaches and blows it back with a gust of air. A buzzard wasp lands near Toph. She senses it and bends a pillar of rock up from beneath it, sending it flying.

Another buzzard wasp flies between Toph and Sokka. Toph stomps the ground and pops a boulder into the air. She lifts it and smashes it down inches away from Sokka.

"What are you doing?! That rock almost crushed me!" He shouted.

"Sorry, I can't tell where they are in the air!" Toph called back as a buzzard wasp flies past them.

"I got this one" Sokka began swinging his machete wildly back and forth.

"Sokka, there's nothing there" Katara said.

Sokka looks back and forth, realizing he's been attacking the air "I guess my head's not as clear as I thought".

"We have to get out of here! I'm completely out of water to bend!" Katara said.

Momo is crouching on the ground behind Aang and Katara. He is suddenly snatched by a buzzard wasp. Aang watches as the wasp flies towards the rising sun with the winged lemur.

"Momo!" Aang called out.

"Aang, give me a boost!" Kasumi called out as she was running, ready to jump.

Aang bends some air under her feet and gives her a boost as she dashes forward and landed on the buzzard wasp's back. The creature tried to shake her of, but Kasumi pulled out her dagger and cut it's head of. With Momo free, Kasumi leaps back to the rock and follows her friends and they get away from the nest.

"Toph, shoot a rock right there. Fire!" Katara ordered, and Toph stomps down and pops a cluster of rocks into the air before shooting them forward with a double palm strike. The rocks make a direct hit with the buzzard wasp.

"Yeah! You got it! She got it, right?" Sokka asked, still not sure if his mind was clear yet.

"Yes. Now let's move" Katara ordered as they continued on their way down.

"On your left!" Katara shouts and Toph smacks a rock and shoots it at another buzzard wasp, which shrieks on impact

Several more buzzard wasps are hovering around the foot of the rock and the sand glider. Suddenly, gigantic pillars of sand burst upwards, scaring of the swarm of wasps. They fly upward and back to their hive. The team shield their eyes. When they open them, several sandbenders are surrounding them. They stood ready in case a fight broke out.

The leader of the sandbenders, a bald man with a beard confronts the group "What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer? From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe".

"We found the sailer abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba-Sing-Se" Katara explained.

A younger sandbender next to the leader steps forward and raises his voice and clenches his fist "You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer?"

Toph narrowed her eyes when she hears the young sandbender's voice.

"Quiet, Gashuin. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality" The leader said.

"Sorry, father" Gashuin said.

Toph's eye widens upon realization of who the young sandbender is "I recognize the son's voice. He's the one that stole Appa".

"Are you sure?" Katara asked.

"I never forget a voice" Toph answered.

Aang takes several steps towards the sandbenders and brandishes his staff threateningly "You stole Appa! Where is he What did you do to him".

"They're lying! They're the thieves!" Gashuin said defensively.

Aang swings his staff down and obliterates a sand sailer with a blast of air "Where is my bison?!".

"Calm down Aang! This isn't helping" Kasumi said.

"You tell me where he is now!" The sandbenders watch in shock as Aang swings the end of his staff upward and destroys another sand sailer.

The leader looked at Gashuin "What did you do?".

Gashuin looked worried "I-It wasn't me!".

Toph glared "You said to put a muzzle on him!".

"You muzzled Appa?!" Aang's eyes and arrow glow as he begins to enter the Avatar State. He twirls his staff around and demolishes one of the few remaining sand sailers.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!" Gashuin said in fear.

Aang spoke in an unearthly voice "Tell me where Appa is!".

"I traded him! To some merchants! He's probably in Ba-Sing-Se by now! They were going to sell him there! Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!" Gashuin said in panic.

"Aang! Listen! We need their help or we can't find Appa!" Kasumi shouts, but her words barely had any effect the enraged Avatar.

Katara makes her way through the fierce wind and grabs Aang's wrist. He looks down at her with anger and hate, but is only met with Katara's sad expression. Katara brings Aang back to the ground and hugs him by the shoulders. Tears are streaming from Aang's glowing eyes, and Katara is doing her best not to let go of him. The wind finally dies down. Aang leaves the Avatar State and lets his head rest against Katara.

Kasumi put a hand on Aang's shoulder "Aang... we will find Appa. I promise".

It was over for now. But there was no telling the challenges they would face now that they couldn't fly anywhere they go.

.

Well look at that. It didn't take several months for a new chapter to come out this time. Maybe because this chapter was a little easier to write.

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Tell me what you think.