The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

i. X

(What's this? I can upload during the day instead of 2 in the morning? :O)

Katara P.o.V.

"Those clouds look so soft, don't they? Like you could jump down and you'd land on a big, soft cottony heap."

Azami snickered. "You know there is a way to find out Katara."

"Yeah, maybe you should give it a try," Sokka smirked.

Katara rolled her eyes back at the two. "You're hilarious." Facing away from the two, she secretly let a smile cross her face. It had been really nice the past week, with Sokka and Azami finally getting along a lot of tension in the group had disappeared. They'd even managed to free a village of Earthbenders a few days ago from a Fire Nation prison, although Katara had unfortunately lost her necklace.

Suddenly, without warning, Aang leaped off of Appa's head, yelling "I'll try it!" 

The three teenagers quickly ran to look over Appa's side to watch as Aang yelled in excitement, falling towards the clouds beneath them. Soon he fell out of view, and the three looked around for him as he swooped back up behind them on his glider, landing back on Appa. "Turns out clouds are made of water," Aang chuckled.

He quickly used his airbending to dry himself off, and Katara looked ahead of them to see a massive patch of black on the otherwise green terrain beneath them. "Hey, what is that?" she asked.

The group all looked ahead to see a massive expanse of burnt land, lending the appearance of the very earth being burned by fire. "It's like a scar," Sokka muttered.

Katara looked towards Azami and Aang, both on her left, to see a troubled expression on both their faces. Aang quickly leapt up to Appa's head, and set them down in the burnt forest beneath them. There was barely any wind that day, leaving the area in an eerie silence where there should have been the sounds of life.

"Listen," Sokka whispered. "It's so quiet. There's no life anywhere."

Aang and Azami had both walked a little farther from Appa, and Katara watched them both, concerned. "Are you two okay?" she hesitantly asked.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka suddenly exclaimed, spotting footsteps in the ash nearby. "Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for-" Katara quickly shushed him, worrying for the two benders. "What?" Sokka complained. "I'm not allowed to be angry?"

Katara simply pointed ahead of her, seeing Aang and Azami standing in a nearby clearing. Aang's body was incredibly still, showing almost no signs of life except for his light breathing, while Azami's shook with barely controlled emotion. Aang knelt in the ash beneath him, letting out a deep sigh.

"Why would anyone do this?" Aang questioned, ash falling from his fist. "How could I let this happen?"

"Aang, you didn't let this happen," Katara insisted. "Neither of you did. This has nothing to do with you."

Azami's head whipped around as she glared at Katara, her eyes threatening and full of pain. She seemed to barely be able to control herself from screaming at the waterbender, while Aang simply leaned his head back. "Yes, it does," Aang sighed. "It's the Avatar's job to protect nature, but I don't know how to do my job."

"That's why we're going to the North Pole," Katara encouraged him. "To find you a teacher."

"Yeah, a waterbending teacher," Aang scoffed. "But there's no one who couldd teach me how to be the Avatar. Monk Gyatso said that Avatar Roku would help me."