Chapter One

It had been another long and boring day traveling on Appa to another small town where Aang could show his support to a peaceful restoration of the world, one village at a time. Katara had been with him for three months and it was already wearing a bit thin. She loved Aang, but without a buffer of her brother, Toph or Zuko, his childishness could be a bit grating on the nerves. But it wasn't just Aang. They never stayed more than a day or two and they were always in a different bed. Not to mention the fan clubs. Those were the worst.

Every so often they would come across a town that had an Avatar fan club and the girls were relentless. Some had shirts with his picture on it, some begged for autographs, others tried to recreate the western air temple and they all vied ruthlessly for Aang's attention. Often during introductions, Katara had to assert that she was the Avatar's girlfriend when Aang wouldn't or forgot to. He was ever growing and maturing physically, which only made the fan girls more tenacious. Whenever they entered the territory of one of these fan clubs, Aang insisted on staying with them for the night. He loved the attention, showing off some of his air bending moves or recounting their adventures and Katara had long since given up on trying to be a part of things.

She always got roughly elbowed to the back of the group and Aang never seemed to notice until much later when she had given up and already gone to bed. A few times, she had even gone out and slept with Appa, leaning her sleeping bag up against his warm fur. Whenever Aang remembered her, he would seek her out and try to get her to join in all the fun but she only received cold glares from the fan girls and her feelings were already hurt from his clear obliviousness. They would leave the next day and she would hold a grudge, but she could only hold it for so long because Aang would gush about how great the clubs were and how at home they made him feel and Katara would feel guilty and quietly agree. Yup, the fan club towns were definitely the worst.

Just as luck would have it, that night they were staying in one of the small villages that had one of these clubs. After too much oh-ing and aw-ing Katara got fed up and decided it was late enough to go ahead and sleep outside with Appa. Aang had grown to accept that she would sleep there rather than inside with all the club members, but he had yet to understand why.

"Hey Appa." Katara greeted as she dug her bed roll out of the saddle sitting next to him. "It's too crowded in there for me. I'd rather look at the stars out here with you." She told him, too embarrassed to admit her jealousy out loud even if it was only to a flying bison. He gave a low groan and settled in to sleep.

"Good plan." She mumbled and spread out the bed roll next to his fuzzy side and settled down for the night. She could hear the girls giggling from inside but they were soon drowned out by the sound of badger frogs from the river on the edge of town. Slowly lulled by the sounds of the calm night, she drifted off to sleep.

She didn't know what time it was but it was still dark when Appa shifted and began growling, rousing her from sleep. "Appa?" she asked blearily rubbing her eyes. "What is it boy?"

She climbed out of her bed to get a better look at what had disturbed him. She was just walking up to his side when something flew at her out of the darkness and wound around her torso, trapping her arms at her sides. She only just managed a strangled cry when another thing raced towards her, binding and wrapping around her legs, causing her to trip with a whoosh of sound as the air was knocked from her lungs.

Gasping for breath she turned her head to catch a glimpse of movement. The shadows at the edge of her vision shifted, becoming a dark figure lurking towards her. She stared hard, trying to make sense of what was going on. Before the figure could come into the moonlight and any closer Appa spun, launching the form back into the forest with his tail and a loud bellow. Appa came back to sniff Katara as a bedraggled, shirtless Aang stumbled from the club house.

"What is it boy?"

"Aang!" Katara yelled.

"Katara! Are you okay?" He rushed to her side and began to untangle her from the bola that had kept her bound. He helped her to sit up as he disentangled her legs. "What happened?"

"I don't know." She spluttered and he held her, his skin warm against hers as she shivered from the cool night and what had transpired. "It just came out of nowhere and then… I don't know. Appa knocked it over there." She pointed to the trees.

"Stay here." he said, standing and facing where she had pointed.

"Aang…"

"Stay here." He repeated. "I'll be right back." He flashed her a reassuring grin before whizzing into the trees. She could hear branches and leaves rustling for a bit and then it was eerily quiet. Fully awake and alert she had found her water skein and clutched it, watching the trees and listening. A flash of color and Aang was bent over before her, panting.

"I didn't find anything."

"But it was there!" She cried distressed.

"I know, but whatever it was, was gone before I got there." He brushed some hair behind her ear before gently taking her hand. "Come one." He gently tugged her.

"But-"

"You need to get some sleep Katara. Don't worry," he told her to ease her stressed expression. "I'll keep an eye on you."

She nodded wearily now that the adrenaline was spent. She allowed him to lead her through the maze of sleeping bodies to his bed roll in the middle of the room. He gestured for her to take it and she crawled beneath the blanket thoroughly exhausted. Aang sweetly tucked the blanket under her chin before making himself comfortable watching the shadows from his seated position at her head. He bent to kiss her forehead.

"Sleep." He crooned in her ear and she shut her eyes, hoping to escape the events of that night. Aang had plenty of time to himself to ponder who or what it had been and why it had attacked Katara of all people.