The Warrior and the Prince

4: Avatar Roku

 We watched as Aang attempted to get Appa to fly away and leave us behind, claiming that he didn't want us to get hurt, however Appa was refusing to move anywhere. "Please don't go Aang, the world can't afford to loose another Avatar," Katara said sadly.

"But I have to talk to Avatar Roku to find out what my vision means!" Aang defended.

"What vision?" I whispered to Sokka who shrugged his shoulders.

"I need to get to the temple before the sun sets on the solstice, and that's today!" Aang jumped on top of Appa, however I pulled at the reigns, stopping him from moving.

"We're not letting you go into the Fire Nation Aang. At least, not without us," I smirked at the boy. Together the three of us climbed up and onto the saddle as the village wished us good luck. We flew away from them, and due to the speed Appa was flying at, they soon became a spec in the distance. Appa was flying so fast that I had to hold on to the saddle tightly in fear of falling off the back. Together, Katara, Sokka and I were on the lookout for Fire Nation ships as we crossed the border.

"Aang! We've got trouble!" I shouted, spotting a Fire Nation ship following us quickly. "It's gaining on us!" The ship below us suddenly sparked a flame, and from it a large fireball was heading straight for us.

"FIREBALL!" Katara yelled out, and Aang managed to swerve Appa out of the way just in time.

"Is it Zuko down there?" Sokka asked, squinting and looking towards the ship.

"Who's Zuko?!" I asked loudly but Sokka wafted my question away.

"Aang, we have to get out of range before he shoots another fireball at us," Katara shouted.

"Can't you make Appa go any-," I stopped as I saw what was in front of us. There was a whole blockade of Fire Nation ships, and I knew that now we were in danger.

"If we fly North then we can go around the blockade," Aang suggested.

"We won't get to the island in time for the solstice though!" Sokka said.

"That's why I didn't want you to come! It's too dangerous!" Aang shouted.

"And that's exactly why we're here. Lets run this blockade!" Sokka said confidently. Aang nodded, turning back to Appa and whipping his reigns again. Appa managed to fly even faster as we headed towards the blockade. Tens of fireballs were suddenly launched straight at us, but thankfully Appa was incredibly agile for his size and we managed to dodge almost every one. Appa did get brushed by one however, so Katara quickly put it out with her water bending.

More and more fireballs were sent our way, and suddenly due to Appa's sharp turning, Sokka managed to fall off. He disappeared through the clouds but we still heard his screaming and immediately dropped to catch him. Thankfully he was alright as Katara pulled him to the saddle, however Appa still had to move quickly in order to dodge the never ending fireballs that were being sent our way from the blockade.

Aang managed to use his air bending to block a particularly large one being sent straight for us, and after that one we were finally through and on the other side of the blockade. "We did it!" Aang shouted happily.

"Yep, now we're just in the Fire Nation, we should be safe here," I said sarcastically, trying to act calm but my heart was still racing from that attack. "So who's Zuko and why would he be attacking us?"

Katara explained that Zuko was the banished Fire Nation Prince who was desperate to hunt down the Avatar, which would supposedly restore his fathers honour and allow him to return to the Firelords side. Throughout Katara's description of him, Sokka liked to add little details like 'the idiot prince' or 'he has anger issues' which made me laugh.