I barely managed to catch the rope from the recoil of my hidden move, hanging on by one hand as I panted heavily.
Below me, the ashes of the great Spirit drifted down through the endless library.
Ah... this right arm's cooked for now, I thought grimly, trying to move it.
Nope. It hung limply at my side, refusing to respond.
You know, if I had a nickel for every time I've crippled my arms over the past few weeks, I'd have two. Which isn't a lot, but it's surprising it's already happened twice—
"R-Renji! Are you alright?!" Katara shouted from below.
Ignoring the burning pain, I looked down to meet her gaze.
"Get up here, now!" I yelled. "Aang and Sokka can make it out on their own—we need to help Toph!"
With only one functioning arm, I hauled myself up the rope as quickly as I could.
Eventually, I reached the top.
Hooking an arm over the ledge, I pulled myself through the opening and rolled out.
Below, Toph stood with both feet planted firmly in the ground, straining to keep the entire library from sinking back beneath the desert with her own two hands.
While...
"Appa!" I roared.
A group of Sand Benders swarmed the sky bison, forcing a muzzle over his mouth while tightening harnesses and restraints around his massive body before hauling him onto a large sand yacht.
I hit the ground, stumbling slightly as a sharp lance of pain shot through my useless arm.
"Ugh!"
Toph's head immediately snapped toward me.
"Ren, what happened—?"
Her question cut off as her Seismic Sense painted a rough picture of my condition, eyes wide open.
I tried to push myself forward, raising my left arm to steady myself—only for my legs to give out beneath me.
I hit the sand face-first.
My body wouldn't move.
I-I ran out of Chi? Now, at such an inconvenient time?
A sharp gasp echoed from above.
A heartbeat later, bullets of water rained down on the Sand Benders.
"Let him go!" Katara shouted.
Water pellets slammed into several drifters, knocking them off their feet. The others reacted quickly, raising whirling domes of sand around themselves. Katara pressed the attack, freezing her water into razor-sharp shards of ice, but there simply wasn't enough of it. Each volley grew weaker than the last.
"Ge-Get... Aang..." I forced it out; my voice came out as little more than a rasp as I strained to push myself off the ground.
"Aang! AANG!" Katara immediately echoed, moving back into the opening as she climbed a few steps down the rope. "AANG!"
"I... can't..." Toph gasped through gritted teeth. "Hold... on... much... longer...!"
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, staining her chin as every muscle in her body trembled under the weight of the library she was holding above the sinking sands.
By the time Aang emerged from the opening with Sokka in tow, the Sand Benders had already hauled Appa far into the desert.
The sand yacht was already out of sight.
Aang froze, his face drained of color at the realization.
"Aang!"
My shout snapped him from his daze.
"Southwest!" I barked. "It's only been about seven minutes! They've encased themselves inside a moving dome of sand to block Katara's ranged Water Bending. If you leave now, you can still track them!"
He stood there, staring at the sunset, opening and closing his mouth, failing to find words.
I slammed my fist into the sand.
"GO!" I roared.
"GET APPA!"
"We'll rendezvous back here once you've got him!"
"MOVE!"
Without another word, Aang unfurled his glider.
A gust of wind burst beneath his feet as he launched himself into the sky, racing after the Sand Benders before disappearing over the dunes in the blink of an eye.
============================================
"Th-Thanks," I said to Katara with a wince as she carefully began healing my right arm.
I already knew it was just backlash from pumping an excessive amount of Chi into a single limb—but I didn't expect it to be this bad.
"You okay?" I turned to Toph while the healer in our group focused on her healing.
She sat in the sand, unusually quiet.
"... Mmn."
My gaze lingered on her for a moment as Sokka paced nearby, visibly anxious.
"How long has it been? Aang's still out there, and without Appa, we're never going to reach anyone in time to deliver news about the solar eclipse."
We all fell silent.
Who knew that Fire Benders could lose their Bending when it was time for the solar eclipse? That revelation was rather shocking.
If word of it spread... if the Earth Kingdom could unite and strike at that exact moment when all of their troops couldn't use their destructive Bending? It would be a clean sweep.
The problem still remained—until we heard the familiar sound of a glider approaching.
"That's Aang!" Sokka shouted.
A moment later, Aang landed in the sand near us with a gentle thud.
... Alone, with no Appa in sight.
Shit.
============================================
Under the scorching sun, the only sounds were Sokka's heavy breathing, our footsteps dragging through the sand, and a thick, suffocating silence between us.
Without warning, Toph bumped into Sokka.
He stopped abruptly, catching his breath.
"Hey, can't you watch where you're—"
He paused mid-sentence.
"No."
"Right. Sorry."
I stayed quiet, my arm secured in a makeshift brace.
The injury was mostly superficial now—Katara had healed the worst of it, and the rest would recover on its own.
But my attention wasn't on my arm.
It was on Aang.
He walked ahead of us, head lowered, silent the entire journey.
"Here, time for a quick water break," Katara announced from the front as she uncapped her waterskin pouch and Bent up mouthfuls of water.
"I used too much earlier while trying to—" She paused briefly. "In any case, we need to conserve what we have. This has to last us."
I shook my head at the floating blob of water.
"Save the water. I can go until the next break."
She reluctantly agreed, Bending the water back into her pouch as the group took what little they could. There were simply too many mouths to feed.
At this point, our main priority was finding a way out of the desert, even if it pains me to leave Appa behind.
"... You used this on the swamp guy!" Sokka complained after gulping his mouthful, immediately grimacing.
"It does taste a bit swampy," Toph added.
Even Momo let out a small, disapproving cry.
Katara spread her hands helplessly.
"I'm sorry, but it's all we have left."
While they continued talking, I quietly walked over to Aang and sat beside him.
He stared at his hands, face blank—lost somewhere far away.
"... I couldn't find him."
He spoke for the first time in hours, his voice empty of the innocence and excitement that normally filled his voice.
Seeing the young boy in agony, I simply raised my good hand and rested it on his shoulder.
His body trembled beneath my touch.
There wasn't anything I could say.
So I stayed with him until it was time to move again.
We had to keep moving forward.
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NEXT UPDATE: 23 July, Thursday
A/N: Sorry, I had a lot of things to do IRL. I posted a short update in the latest announcement on Patre0n talking about it.
Please enjoy this replacement chapter from last week's!
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