The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

ii. II

"Neat tattoos," he remarked, observing her arm, before losing interest again, leaving her utterly bewildered.

To say these guys were weird might just make Azami's list of top 3 underrated statements of the century. Granted, for her that didn't mean much, but still. In the past twenty minutes, they'd already been told over ten different stories - mostly through songs - and the weird dancing woman from before had now managed to braid dozens of strands of Appa's hair.

As Chong finished yet another song, Sokka started walking over to them, finally dressed. "You should hear these stories, Sokka," Aang exclaimed. "These guys have been everywhere!"

"Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead," Chong smiled. "But where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs."

Aang looked over at Sokka with an excited expression, oblivious to the non-benders skeptical one. "They said they'll take us to see a giant nightcrawler!"

"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow," one of Chong's companions sighed.

"Ohhkay," Sokka muttered, clearly fed up with the nomads. "I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy, I guess it's up to me." The waterbender in question sent him an unamused look as Lily braided her hair with flowers, having already done the same for Azami. "We need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows."

Chong deadpanned at him, laying down even further against Appa's leg."Whoa, sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever," he chuckled. "You're worried too much about where you're going."

"You've gotta focus less on the 'where' and more on the 'going'," Lily advised.

Sokka remained unamused. "Oh. Ma. SHU."

"Sokka's right," Katara agreed. "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe."

"Sounds to me like you're headed to Omashu," Chong gasped in shock. At this, Sokka just facepalmed so hard it left a mark behind, and honestly? Azami was starting to feel the same way. This really was just a huge waste of their time. "There's an old story about a secret pass right through the mountains."

Azami just rose an eyebrow in disbelief. "Is this real?" she questioned. "Or just another legend?"

"Oh, it's a real legend," Chong assured her (which was not reassuring at all). "It's as old as earthbending itself." He started to play his dramyin, the other nomads starting to dance awkwardly while Katara and Aang bopped their heads to the music. Meanwhile, Azami just groaned in annoyance, preparing for yet another ridiculous song from them.

"Two lovers, forbidden from one another," Chong sang, and Sokka crossed his arms as he grumbled something to himself. "A war divides their people, and a mountain divides them apart. Built a path to be together... Yeah, I forget the next couple lines, but then it goes... Secret tunnelll! Secret tunnellllll. Through the mountains! Secret, secret, secret, secret TUNNELLLL! Yeah!"

The nomads, along with Aang and Katara all clapped, while Azami and Sokka both just remained disinterested. "Yeah, I think we'll just stick with flying," Sokka announced. "We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground," Aang agreed. "And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable."

Long story short, flying did not make Appa comfortable. At all. Their path to Omashu was littered with Fire Nation soldiers, who had hundreds of catapaults ready for use. Try though she might, Azami could barely stop only a fraction of all the fireballs sent their way, and after a rather terrifying twenty minutes of trying to slip past, they gave it up as hopeless.