1. Chapter 1

_**And here we are… Book Two! I can't tell you all how pleased I was with the outcome of the first one and with everyone's reactions. As some of you might have noticed I took down one other story of mine that never went anywhere but am using a few of the ideas from it. I really hope you all enjoy this new adventure! It will start us off where we left off last.**_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 1<strong>_

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><p>The sun hung lazily in the sky above The Jasmine Dragon. Appa was napping outside as Momo lurked from his back to the roof, hunting large bugs. As for the group, they were sitting inside, drinking a new blend of tea that Iroh had invented. It had been but a month since they had decided to travel the world once more, and plans were already set in motion. Plans of who would do what, who would stay where to help run what, and where they were going had been charted. They had only delayed their trip for so long to wait for Sokka's leg to fully heal, and to pass the time had stayed in Ba Sing Se so as Toph could help rebuild the city.<p>

"It looks like progress is certainly being made quickly." Iroh sat down into a cushiony chair, sipping his tea. "It looks like you all will be able to begin your journey soon."

"They can totally finish up here without me. Everything is practically done anyway!" Toph lounged back, her feet resting upon the table edge.

"That's great!" Aang perked up, "So where should we go first?"

Zuko opened the map up, pointing at a place to answer Aang's question.

"There's a village being rebuilt down near the Nan Shan River. I say we stop there first, and keep going south from there. We can go to Omashu, and then visit Kyoshi Island and take it from there."

Zuko turned his gaze to Katara, giving her hand a soft squeeze.

"I know that's a little close to Whale Tail Island…are you okay with that?"

Katara tensed up slightly before exhaling, nodding her head.

"It's fine. I've put that all behind me now."

"As long as we don't go to Gaoling, I'm fine!"

"Toph….don't you think maybe it's time for you to at least talk to your parents?" Aang attempted to reach out for her hand, which she quickly snapped away.

"No Twinkle Toes, I really don't." Toph stood up and stalked outside, signaling the end of the conversation.

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><p>The Gaang had left early the next morning and flown for practically all day long. To the relief of a tired and hungry Appa, they had decided to land before sunset, to make camp and sleep for the night. Sokka slid down from Appa's back, surveying the woods around them.<p>

"Alright, it'll be sundown soon and honestly, we don't really know what's out there, so we gotta be careful. So I'll go with Suki and we'll collect the wood, Toph and Aang can set up the camp, and Katara and Zuko can get some water. After that, dinner!" Sokka smacked his lips together as he rubbed his stomach before securing his sword onto his back and marching into the woods.

"His mind is always on food isn't it?" Suki placed her hands on her hips, watching her husband walk into the woods before following him.

Everyone else set about their duties, Katara and Zuko quickly finishing their duties of water collection and took instead to wading in the cool refreshing water. Zuko swept a hand across the water to send a wave towards Katara, who bended a wall of water infront of herself, blocking the attack. With a smirk, she held her other hand behind her back, snaked up a stream of water behind him, and grabbed his ankle, pulling him down. He sat in the water, sputtering and spitting while Katara began to skate toward him, not paying attention to his hand sneaking up. In one swift move, he grabbed Katara's ankle, tripping her. She attempted to keep herself up by bending a large wave but only washed the two off onto the shore.

They landed in a tangled heap, Katara on top of Zuko. They looked to one another before breaking out into loud laughter. With a devious smirk, Zuko wrapped his arms around Katara's waist and ran back into the water, tackling her in with a loud splash. The two sat there in the shallow banks, staring into one another's eyes as Zuko wrapped his arms around her more tightly, kissing her cheek. Their time alone only lasted for mere seconds before Sokka yelled over loudly.

"Food!"

Katara giggled quietly as they stood, heading back over to the fire.

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><p>"That tree branch was not there the first time I walked by!" Sokka grumbled, rubbing his newly bruised eye.<p>

"Just like you didn't trip on it, right?" Suki chided, nudging Sokka.

"I did not trip! I was…telling that ant-beetle a secret!" Sokka crossed his arms, looking stubborn as the entire group burst out into laughter.

As was customary the group's dinner was filled stories and laughter, which would, as had become custom, lead them well into the night.

Toph had earth bended a tent for each person, in 2 staggered lines, placing the guys in the front, the girls in the back. As luck would have it, it wasn't until they were all ready for bed that the noises had set in.

Screeching animals, thumps, crunches, a cacophony of sounds echoed around them as shining eyes could be seen here and there in the brush.

"It's alright guys. It's just... scary forest noises from a scary...unfamiliar...haunted...forest." Sokka's voice became more and more high pitched as the noises increased.

It took one last loud screech from the dark forest for Toph to quickly earth bend herself and her friends into one straight line in one large earth tent. Sokka sighed, relieved, as she closed off the remaining side walls, leaving several windows open at the top of the tent.

"Thanks Toph."

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><p><em><strong>Alright, A short first opening chapter, with of course, Sokka humor! Hope you all like and continue to read :) RxR OH! And for any Harry Potter fans out there…check out my new one-shot; Secrets He Had to Share! <strong>_


	2. Chapter 2

**Aaaannd...chapter 2! :) Apologies for my grammar mistakes as of late. My laptop has been lagging, and when I type a word, it doesn't always go through. I try to catch them through proof-reading, but sometimes my mind moves before the words! Hope you all enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

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><p>The group had woken up much later than intended, to Sokka's extreme dismay, and he spent the whole of breakfast berating everyone for sleeping in and not caring to get up early.<p>

"I'm sorry…weren't you the one that was snoring away when we all woke up and wouldn't actually get up until Toph kicked your sorry butt ten feet in the air?" Katara chided, clearly fed up with her brother's non-stop complaining.

"Well-I-you! GAH!" Sokka got up and stormed up, muttering under his breath.

"Come on, we'd better get going before his all-mighty-grumpiness has his head explode." Suki laughed, standing to clean up their breakfast while the others went about rolling up sleeping bags and loading up Appa's saddle. 

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><p>The group quickly reached the Nan Shan River, where they chose to stop to eat before continuing on to the village Zuko had mentioned. They chose to walk for the remainder of the way, as they were so close anyway, and Appa had been working double to carry them all lately. All was silent when suddenly Toph's head shot up, her eyes wide in fear.<p>

"Katara watch out!" she twisted her heel into the ground, forming a hole under Katara into which the water bender fell, an arrow sinking itself into the trunk of a tree, exactly level with where Katara's head had been just mere moments ago. Zuko rushed over to help Katara from the hole, pulling up to level ground.

"It came from over there." Toph pointed up a large hill covered with brush. "I heard it before I felt them."

Everyone's attention snapped to where she had indicated, but saw no one.

"Are they still there?" Zuko looked to Toph who ran her foot across the ground, surveying. When she did answer, her voice was a whisper of disbelief.

"No…it's like they just…disappeared."

"Toph, that's impossible. People can't just poof into thin air. Are you sure your feet are working?"

"I'll poof you into thin air if you keep it up Snoozles. I don't know where they went. I only felt them for a second to begin with."

"We might not know where they are…but I do know who they are." Zuko's voice called over as he examined the arrow in the tree, ripping it out of the tree trunk. He turned to his friends, revealing the arrow he held. Along the dark wooden body were intricate carvings and symbols, and Zuko's voice was grave as he spoke. "The Yu Yan Archers."

"Those guys again!" Aang shouted in disbelief, clamping a hand to his forehead. He could remember all too well the archers that attacked him when he was on his quest to find medicine for Katara and Sokka when they had been so sick. 

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><p>"We can't be for sure if it's that same group." Zuko spoke quietly; he had just been told the story of the first time Aang had met the Archers.<p>

The group had ridden Appa to Omashu, deciding it could be potentially dangerous to head into a village they knew nothing about especially after being attacked, and landed in Omashu very late into the night. They found themselves very fortunate that Bumi had taken control of the city once again and it had returned, more or less, to its former glory. He had welcomed them warmly into his home, asking no questions as to their late arrival or their worried expressions. Once able to sit and to think things through more fully, Zuko questioned Aang as to how he knew about the Archers. Aang relayed the story of how, when he had first met Sokka and Katara they had fallen sick and he rushed to find a cure for them he had been attacked by the group of archers.

"That was a long time ago Aang… it could be them. But it could be an entirely different group all together. For all we may know, they could just be posing as the archers."

"Whoever they are, why did they try to attack Katara?" Aang asked.

"Because of this." Sokka, who had up until now been silent, spoke up, holding up a thin piece of parchment.

"Where did that come from?"

"Inside of that arrow. I didn't see it at first, but if you looked really closely, there was a slit in the body." He handed over the arrow to Zuko who examined it himself. Sure enough, there was a small line along the body, thin enough to look like the grain of the wood.

"I was picking at it and it just sort of popped open. I found this rolled up in there."

Sokka laid the paper in the middle of the table to show the rest of the group. It was but a small strip of parchment, but the dark words written in untidy scrawl could be easily seen.

_The world will never work peacefully together. The Fire Nation will not work with underlings. Give up now._

"Hello? Blind girl here!"

"It's a threat.." Aang's voice was soft as he answered Toph.

Sokka slumped back in his chair, as did Katara and Zuko.

"So how are we supposed to know who this is? I mean…It's gotta be from someone fire nation. Sorry Zuko." Aang apologized, wincing at his harsh words.

"What for? You're right. I knew we'd run into trouble, with people not wanting to trust one another. I just never really thought we'd have this."

"So what now? I mean…do we really want to try to go back to that village? Or just go somewhere else?" Suki asked as she looked around the group.

"For now?..." Zuko sighed, running a hand over the back of his neck. "We sleep on it. We've been up all night. We might as well get some sleep and think of something in the morning. Maybe Bumi's heard something about a rogue group."

"Zuko's right. We won't get much done if we're all exhausted." Katara stood up, stretching out her sore muscles. After almost being hit by an arrow, she felt she fully deserved a good night's rest. Tomorrow they could figure out their next move. But for now, a feather-soft mattress was calling her name.

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><p><strong>And there you have it folks! Chapter 2! Who could be after our friends? Find out next time! RxR!<strong>


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