The Traitor Princess

Chapter 32 - The Swamp

Aang sat on Appa's head with the reins in hand. Sokka sat just behind him, sharpening his machete. Katara and Eziri sat at the back of the saddle. Katara was weaving Eziri's hair into an elaborate braid while the firebender had her nose stuck in the journal she took from the Northern Air Temple.

"Hey, Katara?"

"Hm?"

"What did Master Pakku tell you about that spirit water he gave you?"

"Not much. He just said it has special healing properties. Why?"

"The monk who used this journal was fascinated with spiritual energy. He has a section on spiritual hotspots and how the plants and animals are affected by it."

"Huh. That's pretty cool. Are these places like the one in the North Pole?"

"I think so...except they're all over the place. I haven't gotten through all his discoveries, but so far I've read about 4 of them. Here–" Eziri held the book up in the air so Katara could see his scribbled map.

"Wow, they are all over the place. Hey–isn't that one where we are?" Katara pointed to a large marked spot in the Earth Kingdom.

"Yeah, I think it is." Eziri pulled the book back into her lap and flipped through the pages to find the section detailing the area below them.

"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked Aang as they flew over a thick swamp. Aang didn't seem to hear him. "Aang, why are we going down?" Aang snapped out of his trance.

"What? I didn't even notice."

"Are you noticing now?" Sokka gestured to the swamp that was slowly getting closer.

Katara tied off Eziri's braid and scooted to the front. "Is something wrong?"

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me."

"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?"

"No, I...I think it wants us to land there."

"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on."

"I don't know. Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

"Yes." Sokka said as though it were obvious.

"I don't know. There's something ominous about that place."

"Hang on, I'm with Aang–" Eziri scooted up to the front with her journal. "The monk wrote like 15 pages on this place. I haven't read through all of it yet but it seems like it's pretty special. Maybe we should go check it out?"

Just then, Appa groaned and Momo hid inside Appa's saddle.

"See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here." Sokka argued.

Eziri pouted and Aang sighed. "Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this, bye swamp." Aang shook Appa's reins. "Yip, yip!"

Sokka turned around and saw a tornado headed right towards them. "You better throw in an extra yip! We gotta move."

Appa started flying faster to get away from the tornado but it just kept creeping closer. The wind picked up and pulled Sokka right out of the saddle. Eziri and Katara both reached their arms up and grabbed his hands before he was swept away. Aang bended an air shield around Appa to hold everyone in the saddle and protect Appa. However, the winds were too strong and Appa was pulled right into the tornado. One of his paws slipped through the air shield and sent everyone flying without its protection.