Once Hama was arrested, the gang packed up their things quite fast and left on Appa that night. Katara did not speak, sitting against the very edge of Appa's saddle and looking down towards the ground. She didn't say a word since they got back from the woods. Naia left her alone for a few hours, but ultimately decided to go sit by her.
"Katara? Are you okay?" She asked gently.
Katara shook her head sadly. "What a sick, twisted way of water bending," She said, her voice weak. It was then that Naia noticed her cheeks were stained with tears. She finally looked up at Naia. "How did you know?"
Naia looked away guiltily. "I've known for some time," She answered honestly. "I found a small black book at the library, talking about a water tribe prisoner who escaped by controlling the bodies of others. I made the inference that they were able to do that because blood is made of mostly water. I didn't tell anybody because I knew it was some dark, dark shit."
"Have you ever done it before that?" Katara sniffled.
"Only once," Naia answered, looking into her eyes once again. "On Azula back in Ba Sing Se. You and Aang were knocked out, I had no other choice."
"I feel so disgusted with myself," Katara said, another tear falling from her eye.
Naia put her arm around her. "Don't. You did what you had to do to survive."
Katara rested her head against Naia's shoulder and eventually drifted off to sleep.
☽
After a full day of flying on Appa, the gang finally landed in their final destination before the invasion by nightfall. Naia looked around. It was a deserted island, with only koala sheep grazing the green grass. "How did you pick this place?" She asked.
"Before we all split up, my Dad and I found this island on the map. It's the perfect location to stay unnoticed but still close to the Fire Nation," Sokka explained.
"Great! And we're here four days ahead of schedule," Katara smiled.
Aang looked like he just saw a ghost. "Four days?!" He exclaimed. "The invasion is in four days?!"
Sokka yawned loudly. "That's in...like...four days from now," He said, setting up his sleeping bag.
Aang looked definitely freaked out. Naia put a hand on his shoulder. "Worrying about it now is not going to help you perform any better. Why don't you try to get some sleep?"
"I guess," Aang said hesitantly, sitting down on his sleeping bag.
Although Naia laid down and tried to fall asleep, it didn't work. She ultimately stood up and walked towards the edge of the cliff, looking out towards the water. The moon painted a portion of the ocean a silver color. Naia decided she wanted to go for a swim again. She found her way down the cliff by using the leveled rocks to step on. Once she made it on the beach, she took her tank top off and only left on a pair of shorts and dove into the water. When she resurfaced, she floated on her back, feeling the push and pull of the tide.
One thing Naia loved about the Fire Nation was that the water was warm enough to swim in. In the North Pole, she couldn't swim for longer than a minute. But in the Fire Nation, she could swim for as long as she needed to.
"Toph was right, you are always swimming," She heard a voice say.
Naia touched her feet down on the sand bank again and saw that Sokka was standing on the beach. She smiled at him. "You should stop standing there and come in. It's really nice."
Sokka did just that, stripping his shirt off. When he started to fumble around with the buttons on his pants, Naia blushed. He tossed them over to the side and waded through the water towards her. "Nice night, isn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah," Sokka agreed.
Naia leaned her head back into the water and floated again. She closed her eyes and sighed. "I could never do this in the North Pole. My body would have been numb by now," She said. When Sokka didn't respond, she opened one of her eyes to take a peek at him. He seemed to have something on his mind, as he just kept staring at her. "What are you thinking about?" She asked, standing straight up again.
"I would like to see your tattoo again," He said.
"Which one?" Naia asked.
"The one on your hip," He replied.
Naia's stomach erupted with butterflies. She pointed to the winter rose tattoo on her left hip. "This one?" She asked innocently. Sokka nodded. Naia smiled coyly at him as she pulled down her shorts, leaving her in only her undergarments. She tossed her shorts back onto the shore. Sokka inched closer to her and brushed his fingers over her tattoo.
"You're so beautiful," Sokka whispered before leaning down to bring his lips against hers. This kiss was different from other ones they shared. This one was more passionate. It deepened, with Sokka's hands traveling across Naia's body and her fingers playing with his hair. His hand traveled on the backside of her upper thigh. Naia took this as a cue to jump and wrap her legs around Sokka's waist. He supported her, his hands firmly holding her backside.
It was when they heard the shuffling of footsteps that ruined the moment. Naia quickly pulled away and looked towards the shore. Sure enough, she saw a figure walking down the cliff side. Naia quickly fell back into the water and pulled Sokka down with her. When they re-emerged, they saw a sleepy looking Aang stumbling around the beach. He clearly didn't see them, as he continued to walk in the opposite direction.
Naia sighed. It seemed like they could never get enough alone time. The two exchanged looks and shrugged before swimming back to the shore.
☽
The next morning, it was clear that Aang had not slept through the night. He had light purple bags underneath of his eyes and continued to punch a tree repeatedly. He claimed that he didn't know how to fight well enough. The group took it upon themselves to find alternative ways for him to relax. Katara tried to do a hot yoga session with him but he ended up getting a panic attack and they had to stop. Sokka tried to do a pretend therapy session but that didn't seem to help Aang much. Toph tried to give his a rough massage using rocks but that didn't help either. Aang didn't sleep for another night after that.
"Sokka! Get up! I need to know what day it is!" Aang shouted, shaking Sokka's shoulders.
Sokka quickly sat upright and hit his head against a rock. Naia grimaced. Toph sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. "We still have two days before the invasion," She grumbled.
"Sokka! You have to brush up on your climbing skills!" Aang said, pulling Sokka's leg. "In one of my dreams, you were running from Fire Nation soldiers and you had to climb a cliff. They got you because you were too slow!"
"But that's just a dream," Sokka said, standing up. "I'm a great climber."
Aang deliriously pointed at the cliff. "Then climb that cliff!" He commanded.
Sokka began to grumble something to himself and started to climb the cliff. Naia ran her hands through her hair. "You need to cut your hair!" Aang shouted.
Naia looked at him funny. "Why?" She asked.
"In my dream you hair got caught underneath the train tracks and—" Aang started.
"Aang, you really need to get a grip," Katara said, cupping his cheek with her hand. "You're unraveling."
"I-I'm losing my mind!" Aang said. "I know what I have to do...I have to stay up until the invasion!"
"Aang, you can't do that," Naia said. "You have to get your rest."
Katara wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Come on, let's take a walk," She said. Aang nodded as she led him towards the cliff side.
Naia sat and pet one of the koala sheep. Sokka sat down beside her. "Aang has gone crazy! He made me climb that rock wall!" He exclaimed. "Last night, he didn't even notice that we were down at the—"
Naia lightly shushed him, since Toph was within earshot. They didn't need the group to know about their secret little rendezvous. She put the koala sheep in her lap and continued to pet its soft coat. "I'm worried about him. The poor kid needs to sleep."
"He won't fall asleep," Sokka said.
"There has to be something we can do," Naia pondered. After a few seconds of thinking, it dawned on her. "Oh! I know!" She said excitedly. "Can you start shearing some of these koala sheep and start making Aang a bed?"
Sokka nodded. "Sure," He said. The two worked for about and hour and made a thick layer of soft wool for him. Aang and Katara returned from their walk, with Aang breathing heavily. He started yelling at Appa and Momo, as if they were in a brawl. It was as if Momo and Appa were speaking to him. Katara got him to snap out of it.
"Aang, I think I know what can help you," Naia said. She led him over to the bed they made from the wool.
"Oh look, another hallucination," Aang looked around.
"No, no, it's real," Naia said softly. Aang laid down and Naia covered him with a knit blanket. He quickly sat up and threw it off of him.
"No! Naia, I can't sleep!" Aang said defiantly. "The invasion is tomorrow! I don't need to sleep, I need to practice!"
"Aang, listen to me," Katara said gently. "You've been training for this since the day we met. I've seen your progress. You are smart, brave, and strong enough to take on the Fire Lord."
"You think so?" Aang asked.
"Of course," Sokka reaffirmed.
"You're the man, twinkle toes!" Toph said.
"Aang, you have given me hope during the darkest rimes in my life," Naia said. "I know you're ready."
Aang smiled weakly at all of them. "Thanks guys," He said before laying down. Naia covered him with a blanket again and unscrewed her water skin. "Just relax," She said. Naia used her healing abilities and placed her hands over Aang's ears. He was fast asleep in about a minute.
☽
The next morning, everyone started arriving to the island. Naia finally wore her dark blue water tribe clothes once again, smiling at them. It's been a while since she's worn blue and it felt good. She decided to leave her hair down, however, as she realized how nice it looked when it cascaded down her back in loose waves.
Naia got to meet more of the people that Aang and Katara met on their journey. There were people from the swamp, members of the Southern Water Tribe, pro earth benders from Gaoling, and other allies they made.
As much as she wanted to stay calm for Aang, her mind was a mess. This was it. She's never seen the Fire Nation palace. If something went wrong, her life would most likely not be spared. She began to thing to the worst case scenario, that her life would be cut short and she would have never seen her parents again. She also knew that when it came down to it, she would give up her life for any other member of the group. She sat at the edge of the cliff, feeling the breeze blow through her hair. Naia wanted to put on a brave face for the rest of the group, but her stomach was in knots.
"Hey," She heard Sokka's voice say. He sat down beside her with something in his hands.
"Hi," She said weakly. Naia looked down. "What is all of this?" She asked.
"Since you're a warrior, I thought we should both wear some warrior paint," Sokka said. Naia smiled softly. Only the men in her tribe were considered warriors, and only the men would sport the traditional face paint. She never thought she would ever wear it.
"Really?" Naia asked. "Sokka...I don't know—"
"You're a water bending master and sword fighting expert," Sokka said. "I think that deserves the face paint."
Naia smiled as Sokka began to dip his fingers in the black and blue paint, starting to make stripes on her cheeks and forehead. "How do I look?" Naia laughed.
"You look beautiful," Sokka said. Naia blushed, stealing the face paint from him and doing the same patterns on his cheeks.
Once she was finished, Sokka began to stand up. "It's almost time to tell the whole group the plan," He said with a small smile. Naia stood up as well. When Sokka turned around and started to walk, Naia hesitated. Sokka stopped walking and turned around. "What's wrong?" He asked.
Naia felt her throat start to tighten. She walked up to him threw her arms around him. The two shared a passionate but quick kiss. Sokka pulled away after a minute. "Don't do that," He said quietly.
"Do what?" Naia asked, feeling the tears start well up in her eyes.
"Kiss me like it's the last time you're going to," Sokka said. Naia looked at him with solemn eyes. "Don't be nervous," He said softly, grabbing her hands. His thumbs rubbed small circles on her hands.
"If something happens...to me," Naia paused, taking in a shaky breath. "Would you take me back to the spirit oasis and place me in the pond, so I can rejoin with Yue?"
Sokka's eyes widened. "Naia, nothing is going to happen," He reassured her, pulling her into a tight hug.
"But...if something does, can you promise me that?" Naia said, sniffling. "Please?" She whispered.
"Naia, everything is going to be okay," He stroked the back of her hair. "I promise," He said. When Sokka pulled away from the hug, he noticed the tears about ready to fall from Naia's eyes. He quickly wiped her under eyes with his thumb. "You're going to ruin my makeup," He joked.
"Oh, right. Sorry," Naia said feebly.
"It's okay," Sokka said. He held out his hand for her to hold, which she gratefully took. "Come on, let's go," He said softly.