Chapter 6

I have great news everybody! I'M NOT DEAD! :D Hahahaha! I'm so so so sorry! I feel super duper terrible for not updating this story in so long. It's been like... what? a year since I last wrote? I'm going to try to make it up to all of you by making a really long chapter. :) I'm thinking maybe 3-4.5K words... Well, we'll see how far I can get before my fingers start cramping, shall we?

Enjoy!

PS: So so so so so so sorry

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"Okay, recap. So you three decided to go on some crazy adventure, after hearing Aang's frog medicine rescue story-"

"No, Bumi and Kya decided to go on this crazy adventure, and tricked me in to tagging along." Tenzin quickly interjected. His siblings rolled their eyes while Ursa nodded. "Okay, so Bumi and Kya decided to do that and tricked you into coming along," Ursa corrected herself, gaining a smile from the young airbender. "Then you guys went to get Lin because of... certain reasons." Ursa censored that last part, trying not to embarrass Tenzin. Kya and Bumi snickered as Tenzin's face turned crimson. Lin looked at the three siblings weirdly. She decided to ignore their reactions. They always were a weird bunch. Queer behaviour, for them, was a norm.

"Then you went to Ember Island to look for food, then picked me up." Ursa ended.

"Yep. That's about it. Any questions?" Bumi asked, shooting the firebending princess his typical smirk. "Yeah. I still don't get why you wanted to go on this trip. I mean, seriously, what's the point of all this?" She questioned.

"I dunno. I guess we just wanted to have a bit of fun." Kya started. "After hearing about all the exciting stuff our parents wen't through, we sort of felt like our lives were pretty dull in comparison." Bumi nodded in agreement.

"Well, I for one was completely satisfied with my life." Tenzin stated, crossing his arms in irritation. Kya, Lin, and Bumi all groaned. "Tenzin, I thought you were over this!" Lin said, exasperated. "Yeah, I thought you cooled down after your little talk with Lin." Bumi teased. Tenzin immediately shut up, completely embarrassed. Lin, remaining totally ignorant to the meaning behind Bumi's comment.

"Look!" Ursa called out, gaining the attention of the others. "The sun's rising!"

The children all looked to the east, taking in the beautiful sight of the dawn at its break. Ursa breathed in, feeling a familiar boost of power fill her body.

"Ursa... Ursa. Ursa!" Lin called her name, wondering why she wasn't responding. "Oh! Yeah? I'm sorry. Kinda zoned out there." Ursa confessed, letting out an embarrassed smile. Lin shook her head as she chuckled. "I was just asking why your dad was apologising." The earthbender repeated.

"What?" Ursa asked, clearly confused. "When we came to pick you up, your parents were knocking on you door. And, Mai was saying that your dad wanted to apologise." Lin answered, gaining the attention of the other passengers. Ursa felt a bit uneasy at the mention of that certain subject. She was quite touchy when it came to talking about her frequent fights with her father. The princess pondered on whether she would open up about the topic or not. They were her closest friends. Her only friends for that matter...

"Nah, it was nothing. He spilled tea on me during dinner. That's all." She lied. No matter how much she trusted these people, she just couldn't bring herself to fess up about the very personal issues of her complicated life.

"Speaking of dinner," Bumi started. "Where can we get some grub? I'm starving!"

"You think you're starving?" Tenzin asked his brother, with a very sour expression on. "You ate one whole steamed sea slug, 4 packs of sizzle crisps, 2 bowls of fire flakes, and my banana smoothie!" Tenzin argued, flinging his arms in the air. Bumi looked at his younger brother apologetically. "Sorry, Ten." He said shyly. The others laughed at the whole scene, lightening the mood.

"Bumi's right though. We should find a place to eat." Lin stated.

"Ursa, you're the princess of this place. Do you know a good place to get some breakfast?" Kya asked with a hopeful smile. Ursa felt it again: that extremely annoying, uneasy feeling. "Umm, I don't go out often." She tried to reply cooly. Kya sighed. She was feeling much too lazy to look for a place to eat.

"Guys!" Tenzin called out. "Look! There's a village over there!" He exclaimed, pointing his finger. They all looked down to the direction Tenzin was pointing at. Indeed, there was a village. Kya quickly pulled at Appa's reins, directing him to their desired destination.

Bumi's mouth watered. He could taste the delicious fire nation food already. "Mmmm! Where there's a village there's food! And where there's food... umm, There's food!" He exclaimed in pure excitement. The others rolled their eyes. "Okay, everybody, listen up. We need to budget our money, so that we won't get broke-" Kya was rudely interrupted by her overly excited brother. "Budget smuget! We've got enough yuans to last us a year!" Bumi stated, pulling out all the money, to show his sister. "Seriously, just look at all this dough-" The enormous grin plastered on his face was quickly wiped off when a gust of wind blew all the money out of his hands.

Silence.

"BUMI!" Everyone yelled in unison. It was in Bumi's nature to screw up, but this was just plain insane. Their income, their ticket to survival... gone.

"Fire Lord Zuko, I bring news of great importance."

"Does it have anything to do with Princess Ursa?" Zuko asked, irritated. "No, sir-" The guard answered. "Then I don't want to hear it!" Zuko quickly cut off his guard. He was most definitely not in the mood to hear of some minor political or economic issue. Finding his daughter was his top priority.

"But, your majesty-" The guard persisted.

"Not now!" Zuko yelled, nostrils flaring and fists clenched. "I told you not to bother me unless you have news about my daughter!"

The guard gulped. "Your excellency-" He tried once again.

Zuko let out a very frustrated growl. "What could possibly be so important?" He yelled, already infuriated with his guard's idiocy and incompetence.

"Fire Lord, the Avatar is here." The guard quickly stated, fearing for his life. Zuko's eyes widened. He definitely did not expect that. "What?" He asked, a tad confused. Had he heard correctly? Was Aang really here? What for?

"The Avatar, your majesty," The guard repeated. "Along with Master Katara and Master Toph."

"Let them in." Zuko replied, having the guard fetch his unexpected guests.

No one had spoken after Bumi's money incident. The four benders were too enraged and irritated to speak, while Bumi, on the other hand, was too embarrassed. They had already landed on a hidden spot near the village. But, all they had done in the past hour was idly sit and stay annoyed at Bumi. "Look, guys. I'm really, really, really sorry for-"

"Save it." Lin bitterly cut in, holding her hand up, signalling for him to shut his nonbending pie-hole. Bumi sighed, crossing his arms and widening his frown. Ursa saw this and began to pity him. "Come on, you guys. Cut Bumi some slack! The past is in the past. There's nothing we can do to get the money back now. I say we focus on thinking of ways to get earn more money, instead of staying angry at him." The young princess suggested, trying to create peace among the group. Bumi smiled and blushed at her remark. Ursa, the girl of his dreams, defending him like that. Such was the bliss the young nonbender felt within him... "Even though it's totally his fault we're broke and starving right now." She added, causing the his smile to quickly fade.

"Ursa's right." Kya stated, looking to her companions. "Yeah, it is totally Bumi's fault we're broke and starving." Lin agreed jokingly, earning her a glare from Bumi. She chuckled at this. "Just kidding. Gosh, Bumi, when did you start gettin' all sensitive?" Lin asked playfully. Bumi decided to ignore her comments. "So what do we do now?" Tenzin asked, in a serious tone. "I'm not really sure." Kya replied. The five children all took a moment to deeply ponder on how to earn some money. "Tenzin, mom doesn't happen to keep another emergency compartment for money in case the first one ran out, does she?" Bumi asked desperately. Tenzin looked at his brother with a dull expression. "If she did, don't you think I would have told you by now?" He asked, raising one eyebrow. Bumi looked down, mentally face-palming himself for his stupidity.

"Oh! I know!" Bumi yelled out in excitement, gaining the attention of the others. Even though he had majorly screwed up, they knew that he had to have thought of a really good plan to make up for it. He was, after all, the strategist of the group. They could recall dozens of times wherein he had effortlessly gotten them out of tough situations with the parents and many other fiascos. It was clear to them all that if Bumi had a plan, it'd be a genius one.

"We could perform for money!"

Their eager smiles faded. They did not see that coming.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

"Are you serious?" Lin questioned the young boy, her face plastered with irritation. Bumi shot her an annoyed look. "What? You got a better idea?" He asked. Lin opened her mouth to protest, but quickly closed it and looked away when she found she hadn't an idea of her own. Bumi smiled smugly. "Thought so."

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Hiya, my beloved readers! :D

I'm so very sorry! I know I said that I'd make this chapter really long, but alas, I have a plane ride to catch! I'm really sorry, you guys. :(( I didn't even get to proofread it. (so please don't be too pissed at me for the wrong grammar/spelling/spacing.) :P

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the future chapters, please do tell me through a review or PM. :)

Love ya! ^.^