Open Your Mind

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Early morning sunlight streamed across Xiaodan's face and she scrunched up nose, opening her eyes slowly then raising her hand to block the sunlight with a soft groan. The dualbender pushed herself up onto one elbow and blearily looked around, taking in her sleeping friends and comrades before looking over to where Aang was snoozing peacefully on Appa's foreleg.

Covering her mouth with her hand as she yawned, Xiaodan sat up all the way then sluggishly got to her feet, ruffling her already sleep-rumbled hair. She shuffled quietly past the others, heading over towards the fountain where she splashed some of the water on her face before she began combing her wet fingers through her tangled hair. Several birds fluttered around the fountain, splashing in the water, and she watched them quietly, enjoying the rays of sun that penetrated the thick morning fog that layered the canyon and sky. Carefully, she stretched one hand out and smiled when one of the birds landed on her fingers.

Behind her, Aang woke slowly, contentedly, opening his eyes and yawning widely as he stretched. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up, smiling after he let his hands drop into his lap and he saw his sister standing beside the fountain, haloed by the sunlight and stroking the chest feathers of the bird perched on her finger. He called out a soft good morning to her and she turned look at him, smiling sweetly in greeting as the bird flew off to join its friends in frolicking in the water.

"Morning." Xiaodan whispered in reply as she approached him, leaning against Appa's leg.

Suddenly a loud humming filled the air and the birds all took off, chirping loudly in distress. The two Air Nomads looked towards the fountain in surprise as something flew through the geyser that erupted from the broken fountain, heading straight towards them.

Immediately Aang leapt into action, snatching his staff up from beside him and jumping off Appa's leg. He twirled his glider, airbending the object back off the cliff where it exploded.

"We're under attack!" Xiaodan shouted as more of the bombs hurled through the air towards the pagoda from the low hanging clouds in the canyon. She thrust her hands forward, blowing another bomb back into the canyon with a small air vortex. She saw her brother running towards the edge of the courtyard and she cursed, running after him. "Aang!"

Xiaodan skidded to a stop, staring in disbelief and shock alongside her brother as three Fire Nation airships rose up from the clouds. A canon fired from one and Xiaodan instinctively ducked away as the blast destroyed a bridge connecting the group's pagoda to the one on the left. She grabbed Aang's arm and hauled him back towards the sleeping area where the others were already waiting for them, "Come on!"

The two dove inside the chamber as more bombs were hurled at them and Aang quickly twirled his staff, airbending the doors closed to protect them. The bombs exploded against the doors, shaking the very foundation of the room and Xiaodan glanced up, staring at the ceiling as it shook and began to crack.

Another bomb blast caused a piece of the ceiling to dislodge and Zuko dove forward suddenly, "Watch out!"

He tackled Katara out of the way, the two rolling away just as the piece of ceiling landed in the space where Katara had been standing moments before.

"What are you doing?!" Katara demanded angrily, glaring up at Zuko from over her shoulder.

"Keeping rocks from crushing you." Zuko replied drily.

"Okay, I'm not crushed." Katara spat sarcastically. Yeah things between her and Xiaodan were doing much better since their talk a couple days ago, but that didn't mean she still didn't trust the former prince or had to act nice to him. "You can let me go now!"

She shoved his arm off her and stood up, rushing over to the others. Zuko rolled his eyes and muttered, "I'll take that as a thank you."

"Good, 'cause that's probably all you're gonna get." Xiaodan quipped as she stopped beside him, grabbing his arm and helping him to his feet, having run over as soon as she saw him push Katara out of the way of the falling debris. "C'mon, the others are over here."