Chapter 1 - A short rest

Dawn made its way over the mountainside. The morning was still and quiet. The only sound to be heard was the occasional chirping of a bird-frog in a nearby tree. The Sun was rising over the horizon giving off crisp rays of light that glowed through the cloud cover. As the darkness fled into the shadows, four figures became visible on the valley below.

The Avatar and his friends were sound asleep tired from a month of unexpected surprises. Aang’s eyes slowly began to pry open. As his sensitivity to light faded, it became evident to him that the day had started at last. Aang took a moment to enjoy the sunrise, but he quickly began to pack his things onto Appa’s saddle which was lying next to the tremendous bison. Appa began to stir, awakening from his deep sleep. Momo, who was lying on Appa’s back, began to chatter angrily in his sleep obviously disturbed by his unstable bed.

Aang considered waking the others up for a second. He walked up next to Katara. She was gave an occasional turn or moan but she seemed peaceful. “No, let her sleep” Aang thought to himself.

It was only the other day that Toph had taught him earthbending. To him, the feeling was still new, and the expansive possibilities that lied ahead made him desperately want his next lesson. After all, he was the Avatar and this was an only recently discovered extension to his bending abilities. To master earthbending was the only thing that mattered at the moment. Well, one of the only things.

Katara began to stir. She opened her crystal blue eyes and stretched her arms.

“Aang? How long have you been up?” Katara asked as she rolled up her sleeping bag.
“Not long” Aang answered.
“I guess you’re anxious to learn earthbending” Katara said.
“Um, not really” Aang said trying to sound relaxed. Inside he felt quite awkward discussing earthbending with his waterbending teacher.
“Really? Its all you were talking about yesterday” Katara asked surprised.
“Well, I am excited. Its just, I still enjoy learning waterbending with you” Aang said trying to sound subtle. He had forgotten earthbending completely, suddenly Katara teaching him was all he wanted.
“We’ll continue to practice Aang. Don’t worry” Katara answered politely.
“I know.” Aang answered.
Suddenly Aang plucked up the courage to ask her, “Maybe we could, um, practice some more later on today?”
“If you’d like to, all right. Just don’t forget to train with Toph. That’s the most important thing right now.” Katara answered.
“I won’t. I’m going to learn some defensive techniques today.” Aang conversed.
“Sounds interesting. Well, we better wake the others up now”
“Good idea” Aang agreed.


Sokka remained asleep, completely engulfed in his sleeping bag, while Toph slept in a large stone tent. Aang approached Toph’s tent cautiously hoping to not wake her in a bad mood. Finally he knocked on the wall of the tent. The whole tent suddenly shattered and was absorbed in the ground. “What do you want?” Toph asked sleepily. “Its morning” “So?” “So its time to get up” “Why?” she said with an annoyed tone. “Because you can’t sleep all day” Aang said. “Yes, I can” “No you can’t” “Watch me”. Toph turned over and remained motionless. Aang waited until he heard her breathing become more casual. She had fallen asleep again.

Aang decided to give her another ten minutes, earthbending could wait. He’d just have to wake Sokka instead. Appa had already woken up, along with Momo who was drinking from a nearby pond. Katara meanwhile was bending water from her pouch to put out the campfire. Aang gave a light kick on Sokka’s sleeping bag. The bag didn’t move. Aang whispered, “Sokka, time to wake up”. The bag failed to move. “Sokka!” The bag didn’t budge. Finally Aang took a deep breath and blew a great wind that lifted the bag a few feet in the air until it dropped upside down. The bag began to squirm and mutter angrily. The bag unbuttoned and a very angry head burst from its narrow opening. “WHAT?” Sokka demanded furiously. “Get up”, Katara said from across the campsite. “Five minutes”, Sokka said. “Sokka, its time to get up” Aang said. “An opinion of yours I don’t share.” Sokka replied. “Come on Sokka” Aang said. The bag remained motionless and light snoring could be heard from inside it.

Twenty minutes later, Toph’s newly constructed tent collapsed into the ground and Toph emerged shaking the dust off her feet.




“Now concentrate. This isn’t about you “being the boulder”, this is about you showing that rock who’s boss” Toph told Aang.

Aang focused as hard as he could on the rock that sat in front of him.

“Keep you’re stance. Arms in front, legs firmly connected to the ground”

Aang stretched out his arms and concentrated on the boulder. Suddenly it began to rise into the air.

“I’m doing it! I’m an earthbending master” Aang thought proudly to himself. The boulder continued to rise. Four feet into the air, ten feet, now fifteen. Suddenly a small dragonfly landed on his forehead. “Hey” he said. The boulder ceased to float and crashed hard into the ground. The ground quaked and far off several cave ins could be heard.

“We’ll just have to work on you’re concentration a little more. Pretty good though” Toph commented.

“Thanks” Aang said.

Sokka was now well awake from the earthquake. After a good stretch, he brought out a map he had just retrieved from his backpack. As the gang grouped around him, he unrolled his map on the ground. Sokka said, “Look here". He pointed to an object on the bottom left of the map. “This town here is Toromu. Its small, but we can get food and supplies there. Its eight miles to the west, we can be there in a short flight.” “Is it safe?” Katara asked. “Its Earth Kingdom all right, no need to worry. But I would advise we go soon, I could desperately use some breakfast.” Sokka’s stomach began to growl furiously. “Okay then” Katara said. “If it’ll stop Sokka’s stomach from sounding like that, I’m in”, Toph said. “Sounds like a plan” Aang said. “Okay, then we’ll need to pack” Katara added. Toph rolled up her pack and with a kick to the ground, the earth struck the pack knocking it perfectly onto Appa’s saddle. “I’m ready” she said.

Soon enough, the tremendous Air bison took flight ascending higher and higher into the clouds.