Life Travelling Through Fiction

When we began walking this morning I had expected it to be more of the same. I thought maybe if things got exciting maybe we would run into some very unlucky bandits. I had not expected to run across 10 Kiyoshi warriors wrestling a Sky Bison. Which I guess means Aang still lost Appa. God, I just hope they didn't piss off Wan Shi Tong too much this time. Although the Kiyoshi Warriors and I are assuming this is Appa. I personally haven't ever found another air bison, but they do exist. If this is Appa it means Aang lost him, if it isn't it means I now have to deal with a random angry 2-ton sky bison. I'm not even sure which option I prefer. Ty Lee and Azula get into fighting stances as I approached the situation. Azula shifted awkwardly when she realized she wasn't actually in fighting shape. As I approached, it became clear that the sky bison was hurt and had been trying to sleep in a cave. The Kiyoshi Warriors must have stumbled on to him assumed he was Appa and started to try and help him. The bison freaked out and now they're in a standoff.

"APPA! Calm down!" The thrashing stops so I guess I was right in assuming this is Appa. The Kiyoshi Warriors turn to notice me for the first time. With Appa now longer acting so aggressive they calm down, but are still tense until one of them runs over and hugs me. I let out a grunt as she collides with me, but I just hug her back.

"Silva! I can't believe you're here. It's so good to see you again."

"Missed you too Suki. So... Aang lost Appa somehow and you girls just happened upon him?"

"Well after you guys left the Island it felt a little dull. Some of us decided to leave and help people. We've been helping everyone we could on our way to Ba Sing Se. What about you why aren't you with Aang?"

"Well he really took to water bending, so I felt I didn't need to be there for him anymore. I left to do my own thing, but then I found the perfect fire bending master for Aang. Azula! Ty lee!" I raise my hand, waving them over. They approach from the forest getting some nervous glares from the Kiyoshi Warriors "We were vaguely going towards Ba Sing Se to meet up with Aang"

"So they're Fire Nation?" She asks with a bit of anger.

"Well yeah. Not a lot of fire benders part of the water tribe." I retort. That had ended that line of thinking. Together we moved back towards the group. Then I slowly approached Appa.

"Hey, there big guy. It's going to be okay. I'm going to heal you up then we'll find Aang" I tell him as I raise my hand peacefully. I don't know if he can understand me but he fully calms down then lays down awkwardly trying to avoid his injuries. I move to examine the injuries and they're honestly not as bad as I had feared. There are no deep wounds and most of the damage is spread out on to his legs in the form of a lot of minor cuts. His torso wasn't fully avoided though, but it was mostly limited to bruising. He would probably be able to heal this on his own given a week or two if it weren't for the infections. A good amount of the cuts have gotten infected. It was the infections that really got him riled up. The cuts are bad, but the infections have made them especially painful. I unclasp my waters in and begin healing him. Nothing is life-threatening, so I begin with the minor injuries. The bruising and non-infected cuts are at a level of injury that I can easily heal completely. The infections are significantly more involved.

As the minor injuries disappear Appa's pained tension soothes somewhat and he begins to fully relax. I move on to the infections next. This isn't something I can normally help with, but I wanted to try something. Instead of just using my own water to heal I use the blood already pulsing the wound as well. I begin to channel healing energy through his blood hoping to fight the infection. I feel something, but I'm not sure it worked. I healed the cuts but was concerned about disease. I have no idea how long the cuts were infected, so I take it one step further and focus my helping efforts not just on the blood flowing through one area, but all of his blood. It's tricky and takes significantly more effort then blood bending a person, but I think it's working. If I wasn't blind I would be able to see Appa glow slightly, but it's subtle enough that if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't notice. I don't know if this has fully cured him, but at some point, he got comfortable enough to fell asleep. I give him a good belly rub and leave him to his well-deserved rest.

I had been so focused on healing Appa, I hadn't noticed what else was going on around me. The Kiyoshi Warriors had set up a large camp and are now hanging around with Azula and Ty Lee. Ty Lee is killing it. Ty Lee and the Kiyoshi Warriors are just cl.i.c.k.i.n.g. Azula keeps trying to act like a wallflower. She slowly slinks away from the conversation only for Ty Lee to force her back into the spotlight. Azula is on her back foot without her fire bending and the inherent respect of a princess. She isn't used to talking to people as social equals. I can tell being awkward and uncomfortable is starting to piss her off. Not because she's being forced to talk to people, but because she's bad at something. She hates that more than anything. But even as her perfectionist blood boils, every time Ty Lee comes to get her she smiles just a little.