Naya and the Last Airbender

iv. The Return to Omashu

Sokka crawled out of the sewer covered in gunk. I puffed my cheeks and turned away, trying not to throw up at the sight of him. I listened to the sound of water splashing and then a gust of air, knowing my friends quickly cleaned him off.

"Really?" I questioned him and rolled my eyes.

Sokka gave me a look, then his eyes wandered to his skin. There were little pentapi sucking on his body. My eyes widened as did his, and he immediately started to thrash and scream. Aang moved him to the wall.

"Stop making so much noise. It's just a purple pentapus." Aang rubbed one and it let go of my brother's skin. Sokka mimicked the Avatar and the second one let go as well.

"Those are nasty, but cute," I said.

Suddenly, the three beside me stiffened. I looked ahead to see the Fire Nation approaching. Katara quickly moved and pulled my hood over my head.

"What are you kids doing out past curfew?" The guard questioned.

"We were just on our way home." Katara said. She grabbed me and Aang and turned us around very subtly. My heart raced at the thought of being so close to Ozai's subordinates. One glance at my face and they would instantly recognize me. I was on thousands of wanted posters around the world.

We got a few steps in before the guard called out again.

"Wait- what's the matter with him?"

Katara and I glanced at the back of Sokka's neck to see little red marks from the pentapus. "He has pentapox," Katara covered quickly.

I took a step back as the guard moved forward. "Uh, it's highly contagious."

Sokka took the guard's reluctance as a sign to act. He put on a face that showed he was very sick. He was surprisingly convincing.

"Ahhh... It's so awful... I'm dying..." Sokka groaned.

"And deadly," Katara added.

The guard backed up. "Wait. I think I've heard of pentapox. Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?" One asked. I tried not to laugh at the remark.

"We'd better go was our hands... and burn our clothes!" Another gasped.

The three of them ran as fast as they could in the other direction. I let out a sigh of relief and slumped against the wall. Sokka and Katara also relaxed as they left. Aang smiled at the pentapox and rubbed it.

"Thank you, sewer friend!"

I stood back up after my moment of weakness. "Okay, let's keep going."

Aang nodded. The three of us followed the Avatar through Omashu. Although it was different from 100 years ago, the routes were the same. Aang easily moved from place to place. We followed along, with the exception of stopping and hiding to avoid the Fire Nation. The four of us ran for a little longer until we came across more guards. Aang found a spot to hind behind so we could gather our thoughts.

"Let's find Bumi and get out of here," Katara said, winning a look from me. She knew the reason why I came here was to help these people, but for everyone else it was for Aang to find Bumi.

"Where would they keep him? Somewhere he can't earth bend. Somewhere made of metal," Aang pointed out.

In that moment Omashu felt infinite, and finding Bumi seemed like a needle in a haystack. Aang's words signaled for the rest of us to get up and keep searching.

We continued to walk along the edge of the building. My eyes were on the great city of Omashu. I was able to see past the destruction and everything about it was beautiful. The idea of the dirty being tainted by a war caused by my people angered me. And as I stared out at the city, it became noticeable that nobody was asleep. Even with a curfew, this place was the most active I've encountered during night. I could hear people from both below and above.