The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

ii. IX

Azami P.o.V.

"How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them!"

"I couldn't!" Toph exclaimed, and much to Azami's surprise, the earthbender almost looked ready to cry - something she hadn't ever expected from her. "The library was sinking, you guys were still inside, and-"

Aang cut her as he marched up to her, looking rather aggressive with his staff. "You could've come to get us!" he snapped. "I could've saved him!"

"I can hardly feel any vibrations our here!" Toph yelled back at him. "The sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-"

"You just didn't care!" Aang screamed, and everyone flinched at the anger in his voice. "You never liked Appa, you wanted him gone!"

Thankfully, before he could actually attack anyone, Katara stepped in - and for once, Azami was grateful for the waterbender's more stern, motherly side. "Aang, stop it," she insisted as she gently pulled him away from the earthbender. "You know Toph did all she could. She saved our lives."

"Who's gonna save our lives now?" Sokka asked bitterly. "We'll never make it outta here."

Aang marched off, still looking angered beyond belief. "That's all any of you guys care about," he spat. "Yourselves. You don't care whether Appa is okay or not!"

"Aang, we all care about Appa," Azami desperately called out to him. The worst thing they could do right now would be to simply sit still and give up. "But frankly, we can't afford to be fighting right now. The best way for us to help Appa is to make it out of this desert alive, and-"

Before she could finish, Aang knelt down in the sand and whipped out his glider. "I'm going after Appa," he declared as he took off. Katara tried calling out to him, but it was no use, as the airbender raced off into the distance, leaving them all behind.

Sighing, Katara turned to face the others. "We'd better start walking," she announced. "We're the only ones who know about the solar eclipse - we have to get that information to Ba Sing Se." Reluctantly, she started walking out into the desert, the others following behind her.

"Do you think if we dug out the giant owl he'd give us a ride?" Sokka wondered.

Azami facepalmed as they continued walking. "Just so you know, this doesn't cout as my vacation choice, Sokka. This one's on you."

Hours passed with the sun still beating down on them, but the desert seemed to keep stretching endlessly - no Aang, no Appa, no sign of any civilization or life besides the footprints they left behind them. It didn't help that everyone was slowly becoming more irritable as well, constantly snipping at one another.

Case in point - Sokka decided for some reason now was a good time to pause, and Toph - who was now completely blind due to the sand - ran straight into his back. Scowling, he whipped around to face the earthbender. "Can't you watch where you're-"

"No," Toph snapped back, and Sokka's eyes widened sheepishly as he realized how stupid the question was.

Katara groaned, turning to face them while Azami continued towards her goal of turning her forehead bright red. "Come on, guys, we've got to stick together."

"Yeah, I don't think that's the problem here," Azami commented as she jabbed her thumb over at Toph and Sokka, who were quite literally stuck to one another.

After a moment of trying to peel himself off of her, Toph just simply grabbed Sokka's face and shoved him into the ground. "Katara, can I have some water?" she asked, almost pleading.

"Okay," Katara sighed as she pulled out her pouch. "But we've gotta try and conserve it."

Katara bent a stream of water into the other's mouths, but Azami turned her down - she, unlike the others, could regulate her body temperature without sweating, so she was nowhere near as thirsty. And, as the waterbender so rightly said, they needed to conserve it as much as possible.