Katara awoke early the next morning. Her sleepy gaze drifted toward where Orzala had been sleeping the night before, and her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed the spot was empty. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes as she looked blearily around the barn. The princess's stuff still remained, so Katara assumed she had just slipped out for a moment.
Sokka turned to her, eyes widening when he saw she was awake. "Hey," he muttered, rolling up his sleeping bag slowly.
"Hey, where's Orzala?" The boy only shrugged.
"Who knows? But you'd better find her soon, or we'll be leaving without her." Katara frowned, but stood and prepared to go find her friend. "Oh and Katara!" She turned, barely catching the water basin that he threw her way. "Fill this up while you're at it."
She threw him an irritated look, but did as she was told, carrying the basin to the water pump that resided outside of the barn. As she bent the water into the basin, her eyes drifted upwards. Her eyebrows furrowed as she caught a glimpse of sand in the grass not far from her. Then her eyes fell on Orzala's satchel. With a frown, she picked up the basin and walked over to collect the bag.
"That's odd," she murmured, "Orzala never goes anywhere without her satchel..." Her eyes drifted upwards once more, this time meeting the weary gaze of Haru's mother. She gasped when she saw the tears that streamed down the old woman's face, and her eyes widened with realization. The basin slipped from her fingers, shattering at her feet.
"W-what happened?" She stuttered, feeling her heart rate increase as she made her way to Haru's mother. She felt as if her heart was climbing up her throat. The old woman shook her head.
"They came for him at midnight- Orzala had just come in to grab a snack and they were talking- and suddenly they were dragging him away and Orzala was trying to fight them off and-" the old woman's breath caught as she looked at Katara with sad eyes. "She wasn't ok, Katara..."
Katara felt her eyes sting with tears, and her she began to sprint for the boys. "Sokka!" She screeched, bursting through the barn doors. The boy shot up, concern flooding his veins as he took in his sister's panicked appearance. "They took them!" She began to sob, clutching her head in her hands. "They took Haru away! And Orzala-" she cut herself off, another strangled cry escaping her.
Aang dashed toward her, feeling his blood run cold. "What?"
"The old man turned him in to the Fire Nation, and Orzala was trying to fight them off when they got here and- oh this is all my fault! I forced him into earthbending!" Sokka frowned, walking to his sister and wrapping an arm around her to comfort her. She immediately turned into him, crying into his shoulder.
"Slow down, Katara. When did this happen?" She sniffled quietly.
"Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight." He felt himself deflate.
"So it's too late to track them."
Katara's shoulders shook, but she stood tall and pulled away from her brother, walking to the barn doors. "We don't need to track them," she growled, attempting to steady her voice as she wiped her eyes. "The Fire Nation is going to take me right to them."
Aang and Sokka shared a confused look. "And why would they do that?"
"Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending."
At first, Sokka let out a loud laugh, but it quickly faded out when he met Katara's stony gaze. "Wha- Katara, you're not serious?! Do you know how dangerous that is?" She scowled at him.
"Just about as dangerous as Orzala taking on five firebenders on her own!" Her scowl fell as she shook her head. "She's not ok, guys. Haru's mother said she was hurt pretty bad..." Sokka felt his heart drop, but he quickly pushed it away. Aang looked terrified.
Sokka sighed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose before facing Katara again. "You better have a fricken amazing plan to pull this off." Katara gave a small smile.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Y'know, Katara, at first I thought you were crazy. But we might actually pull this off!" He told her, grunting as he rolled a boulder over to the air vent. "There are ventilation shafts all throughout this mine. All Aang has to do is send a current from that vent to this one and: viola! Fake earthbending!" He smiled, looking quite proud of himself. Katara smiled as well, and she turned toward Aang.
"Aang, did you get all that?"
The siblings frowned upon realizing that the airbender was paying no attention at all. "Sure, sure. I got it!" He exclaimed, continuing to play with a butterfly. Sokka felt irritation begin to build in his chest.
"Do you remember your cue?" He prodded, making Aang roll his eyes slightly.
"Yeah, yeah. Just relax! You're taking all the fun out of this!"
"By 'this' do you mean intentionally being captured by an army of ruthless firebenders?"
"Exactly!" He smiled at the siblings. "That's fun stuff!" Sokka scoffed. As he crossed his arms, he noticed three firebenders walking their way. He immediately straightened.
"Here they come!" He called. "Get into your places."
Katara squared up to him, subtly sending him a smirk as she ran into him. The eldest sibling huffed, dramatically shoving his finger into her face. "Get out of my way, pipsqueak!" He bellowed.
"How dare you call me pipsqueak, you giant-eared cretin!"
Sokka gasped. "What did you call me?!"
"A giant-eared cretin!" She countered. "I mean, look at those things! Do herds of animals use them for shade?"
"You better back off!" He told her, getting close to her face. "Seriously," his voice was a whisper, "back off!" He had to resist the urge to rub his ears in embarrassment.
"I will not back off! I bet elephants get together to make fun of how large your ears are!" Sokka shrunk away, a self conscious look on his features, before getting angry again. "That's it, you're going down."
"I'll show you who's boss, earthbending style!" Katara dramatically punched her fist into the air, sliding toward the boulder and past her brother. However, nothing happened, and she frowned. "I said earthbending style." Aang jumped up with a gasp, sending a large current through the vent. The boulder began to levitate, revealing Momo behind it. The Fire Nation soldiers gaped at the animal.
"That lemur! It's earthbending!" The siblings looked at them, and it took all of Sokka's strength not to facepalm at their stupidity.
"No, you idiots, it's the girl!" The soldiers all exchanged an sheepish glance.
"Oh. Yeah. Right."
"I'll hold her!" The boulder dropped back down as Sokka grabbed his sister's shoulders. "You've got 12 hours to find Haru and Orzala. We'll be right behind you." She nodded slightly, letting him know that she had heard him before they took her away. He and Aang stood side by side, watching as she disappeared with their enemy.
Sokka rubbed his ears for a moment, thinking back on Katara's comments. He frowned. "Momo, you have some big ears."