Book Four: Air

As Chan kicked at Sokka Jerrel moved forward with great speed and kicked Chan's base leg from under him, then he elbowed Chan in the gut at the base of the ribs. "Legs; diaphram!" Jerrel watched as Chan flew into the crates and Barrels.

IC: General Narrative

Maku did not have time to react. The water struck him, head-on, and he was sent hurtling overboard.

Chan grunted as he pushed himself out from beneath the crates and barrels. He watched as Maku was sent off the boat. The former soldier also could not see Kara. Frowning, he held up his arms. There was only one logical thing to do.

"You outnumber us, and we are finished. I surrender."

***

IC: Suki

"I don't know. I wouldn't really want to be greeted by any of those guys," said Suki, speaking honestly. Wuong had seemed okay enough, but it was obvious his first alliance was not to balance or compromise, but to the colonies. "Maybe we'll get lucky and have someone we like."

"You do?" Sokka asked, blinking in surprise. He hardly knew the meaning of surrender.

Chan nodded. "I do. As a soldier, I recognize a losing battle. I will not risk the lives of my comrades further, not when it is obvious there is nothing more to be gained." He knelt to the deck. "All I ask is that I have a chance to find Kara. We can use the life-boat to pick up Maku. You can then leave us to float towards the docks. The ship would be yours."

Jerrel still held his stance. "She may be below deck, grab her and go." Jerrel said in a serious tone. He, for one, had wanted to put Toph's captors through a much more painful and humiliating defeat than this, but this was better than anything else.

Chan only nodded. He walked, slowly, below deck. A few moments later he emerged, this time with an unconscious Kara in his arms. He nodded at the group again before lowering the lifeboat and sailing from the sloop.

He picked up Maku later and, as promised, they headed towards the docks about a mile from where the sloop rested.

"Well..." said Toph. "That was fun."

Then, groaning, she raced over to the railing and threw up over the side of the ship.

"Mistress Toph!" Jerrel freaked out seeing toph expunge her last meal overboard. "Where is it, I have those stomach settlers somewhere." Jerrel searched his satchel frantically.

Aang looked up at Suki as he bit the side of his cheek before finally letting go as he sighed loudly. "You're probably right, I'm just being worried for nothing. "Maybe they'll just give us two rooms at an end and we can wear disguises and explore the city!" The Airbender exclaimed with excitement as he thought about the idea of just getting to explore and have a good time. And of course Aang was sure that wearing disguises would just make the whole thing feel nostalgic.

IC: Suki

She could only smile. "Maybe if we have some time," she said.

It was hard to remember, sometimes, that Aang, even though he was the Avatar, was still a kid. She would keep him on task, but Suki would never keep him from having fun. She had a feeling it helped combat his feelings of stress.

Their ship docked, and they walked down the gangplank into the city. Suki took in the sights with a knowing eye.

"That must be the governor's house," she said, pointing at a building. It had been burned. "Well... It was the governor's house."

***

IC: Toph

"Ugh..." Toph staggered back and plopped to the deck, moaning and holding her stomach. She was very pale. "I hate ships."

IC: Azon

Azon stood.

"Hmm, it seems we've forgotten one last person to throw overboard."

He approached Jerrel from behind as he searched for the stomach settlers and siezed hold of his shirt with both hands and lifting him over his head.

"Come on stalker," he said, approaching the side of the ship.

"Off you go."

"Hey!" Jerrel said raising his arms and dropping to the deck, sliding out of his shirt. "I'm not going anywhere!" His back was covered in scars, they were all in different healing stages, ranging from year old scars to scars that seemed to have been there for only a few weeks. "I can still be of help. Plus I don't plan on getting punished for not be able to protect the only daughter of the Bei Fong family again.

"Yeah, just leave him alone, Azon," said Toph, waving a bland hand in their direction. "You can't get rid of the guy, anyway." She leaned against a create and closed her eyes to rest. Her stomach was still upset.

IC: Azon

The Sage tossed the shirt back to Jerrel.

"Fine, we already have one person who will blindly run into a certain trap with a foolish outlook on the situation in order to save Toph...we might as well have one more."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking up towards the sky.

"Hmm...if all the mercenaries have left...than who is supposed to be steering the ship?"

"I have no idea," Sokka said as he approached Toph and looked her over, "How about we call Appa?" He searched his pockets, "I know I have Aang's bison whistle somewhere."

Jerrel caught his shirt and put it back on, then headed toward the helm. "I can try steering the ship, unless anyone else wants to do it?" Jerrel asked looking around.

Toph felt terrible but couldn't help but smile. "Like I said before, Snoozles," she said, still smiling. "What else do you have in those pockets?" She sprawled out on the deck. It helped combat the sea-sickness. "And how 'bout we just sit here and wait for Appa to come? I really don't want to go on a cruise, thanks."

Sokka grinned at Toph, "What can I say? I'm amazing." He grinnedas he found the bison whistle and some jerky from when he and Toph went to that meat place. He blew the whistle and offered Toph some jerky as he ate some himself.

Once smell of the jerky sent Toph back to groaning and, with an "urk," hanging over the railing and relieving her stomach of what was left of her long-ago dinner.

Thankfully for her, Appa arrived not long after Sokka used the whistle. The sky bison moved slowly, because of his burn wounds, but he was much too loyal to his friends to hang back. He soaked in the water beside the sloop and waited on the group.

IC: Azon

"Appa!" said Azon, jumping over the side of the ship and landing on the Sky Bison's fur covered head. He sat cross legged, staring down at Appa's eyes.

"Wounds not too bad? That's good..."

Appa gave a low roar and Azon smiled.

"Yes, yes we did, in fact Lady Katara knocked him overboard..."

A closed mouth growl and Azon tilted his head.

"What? Oh, yes, yes, we're headed back, don't worry. Although we have picked up another passenger."

Sokka grimaced when he saw Toph barf, "Sorry."
He then turned to Appa and said, "It's good to see you, boy."

IC: Azon

Azon watched Appa give Sokka a roar before looking back at the Sky Bison.

"What? No, I didn't hear...what? You did?!"

Azon began to laugh and turned to give Sokka a quick look before looking back down at Appa.

"Head to foot?! That's great! Oh, what a first impression! Oh yes, I can see it clearly; he looks so funny and...sticky!"

He laughed, giving Sokka another look before laughing harder.

Sokka glared at Azon and said, "You know, I'm about one inch from pushing you into the water. Where were you when we were trying to escape?"

IC: Azon

"Oh calm down, Snot Man," chuckled Azon, scratching Appa's fur.

"Ordinarily I would lie, but Toph has told me honesty is a foundation of trust so...I took away Kara's Waterbending."

He leaned down to scratch Appa lower on his head before rubbing his chin in thought.

"Although...it was rather frutiless because I did end up returning it to her."

"How did you do that?" Sokka asked with a sigh. Sometimes bending was just too weird.

Jerrel walked over to the side of the sloop and introduced himself to the large sky bison. "Hello...Appa was it? Thank you for taking care of Toph in my abscence."