The Traitor Princess

Chapter 34 - The Chase

"Hey! You guys picked a great campsite." Toph wiggled her toes in the mound of Appa's fur covering the ground. "The grass is so soft."

Eziri snorted and covered her mouth with her hand.

"That's not grass. Appa's shedding." Sokka informed her.

"Oh, gross!" Katara cried.

"That's not gross, it's just a part of spring! You know, rebirth, flowers blooming and Appa gets a new coat." Aang said cheerfully.

"Ah, the beauty of spring." Katara said sarcastically. Appa then sneezed and released a large cloud of fur. "Stop! Appa, stop! Ugh!" Katara coughed and waved her arms around.

"It's not that bad, Katara." Sokka bent over and faced away from his sister. He turned around with a pile of fur on his head. "It makes a great wig!"

Aang popped up with fur all over his chin. "And a great beard!" Behind the group, Eziri rolled around in a pile of fur.

"I'm just glad we have another girl in the group, because you two are disgusting." Katara said as she wiped some fur off her clothes.

Toph popped up with giant mounds of fur tucked under her arms. "Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? Because I've got some hairy pits!" Aang and Sokka started laughing with Toph.

Eziri walked out and stood beside Katara with a straight face. The firebender was covered head-to-toe in white fur. "Yeah, c'mon guys. Grow up." Eziri crossed her arms over her chest in mock-annoyance. The whole group burst into laughter. Aang sneezed and sent himself flying backwards into Appa, causing more fur to fall around everyone. They all laughed harder; even Katara couldn't help but chuckle.

–

Later in the evening, Sokka plopped down a stack of firewood in front of Eziri. She started to build a small fire pit. Aang worked on setting up the tent, and Katara gathered water into large pots. Toph sat propped up against her bag off to the side.

Eziri saw Katara eye the young earthbender before walking over. She finished stacking the firewood and walked over to help Sokka with the sleeping bags.

"Heads up–" Eziri motioned over to Katara. "I think your sister is about to pick a fight."

Sokka looked up at Katara and Toph. Katara's body language grew stiff as Toph created a small earth-tent. "Uh oh."

"I don't understand. What's the problem here?" They heard Toph say angrily. They didn't hear the rest of the conversation, but they saw Katara storm off and resume her task.

"Do you think we should get involved?" Eziri whispered to Sokka.

"I don't think so. Let them both cool off." Sokka whispered back.

–

Later in the evening, Aang and Sokka were taking off Appa's saddle while Eziri tended to the fire. There was a bit of wind that night so she was careful to keep the flames steady. She looked up from her bending and saw Aang drop the saddle right on Sokka.

"Oops, sorry!" Aang said as he rushed to pull up the saddle. Eziri left the fire and ran over to help.

"You okay?" She asked as she extended her hand to Sokka.

"Fine." He grumbled. Without thinking, Eziri pressed a quick kiss to his cheek to cheer him up.

Aang made an indistinguishable noise of shock. "Are you two finally together?"

Sokka just grinned at Eziri and started jumping up and down. "You lost! You lost the bet! Ha!"

Eziri finally realized what she did and groaned. "Ugh, now I have to ask Katara how to do her hair loopies."