"That could've gone a lot worse." Sokka pointed out, floating on the water, hands behind his head. They had quickly left Fong's company after several... incidents. Now, they were resting by a lake, practicing waterbending and taking the time to wash themselves a little.

          "Worse?" Katara asked. "He sucked me into the ground, and over 100 Earth Kingdom soldiers bit the dust before Aang and Y/N realized I wasn't dead." Y/N snorted, taking a sip from her water canteen with a satisfied smile.

          "Fong peed himself." She giggled. Sokka looked over at her, frowning.

          "Fong peed himself? I peed myself, Aang was in the Avatar state, and your eyes were going red." He yelled, throwing up his hands. "You guys totally overreacted."

          "Yeah, I was angry, don't act like you knew she was fine. You were screaming like a rabid ostrich horse." Y/N waded into the water, joining Aang, who stood there uncomfortably. She began bending the water, passing it back and forth with the Avatar to warm up.

          "That part doesn't matter. We are all alive, it could've been worse, but we still need an earthbending teacher for Aang." Sokka said, laying back down to drift of the surface of the water. Katara waded into the water, joining the warm up, passing the water around in a circle, and switching up the direction once in awhile.

          "How are you feeling, Y/N?" She asked, adding some more water, making the volume of the sphere bigger as Aang passed it along.

          "Actually, pretty good. I think the craziness yesterday helped me sleep for the first time in days. I think I'm almost 100% again, thanks to you. I had no idea you had healing powers." Y/N passed the water, adding more and more as the sphere went around the circle.

          "Me neither, I only found out recently." Katara frowned, looking over at Y/N. "Sorry I couldn't heal the scars, though. I never learned if there was a special technique to make them go away." 

          Y/N subconsciously touched her throat, almost dropping the water. She hadn't gotten any scars before she left home, but now she had several. 

          One round splotch, barely visible, right at the top of her throat, from where Zhao had held a fire. Tendrils of black and white up her right leg, where the tentacles had touched. Little ragged white marks in various places from debris cuts.

          "It's alright." She replied with a smile, glancing down at her leg. "The jellyfish one looks really cool, don't you think?" 

          "It does look really cool." Aang spoke up for the first time, looking at the patterns of line across her shin and calf. "If I survived a jellyfish sting like that, I would want it to scar. The pattern is awesome, and it's a great story to tell." 

          Y/N smiled at him as she passed the water. The kid was so genuine and happy, even in his sober moments, like now. It made her wonder why he liked a grouch like Katara.

          She had noticed the Avatar's little crush almost immediately, aside from the whole Fong-killed-Katara-fiasco, he constantly gave her those looks. Katara had her moments, Y/N guessed, and overall she was very stubborn and determined, annoying, but admirable traits.

          Aang would be good to her, and hopefully the other way around.

          "Y/N." Y/N was snapped from her thoughts when she accidentally lost focus, dropping the water as Katara waved a hand in front of her face. "Y/N, if you want to train with us you need to pay attention." 

          "Sorry." Y/N responded quickly. "Go on, almighty waterbender teacher of the Avatar. I am only a student."  Aang snorted, and Katara shot him a glare, at which he straightened.

          "I'm going to teach you a new move today, Aang." Katara ignored Y/N's comment, raising her hands to make multiple tendrils around her. Aang copied easily, following her movements until he had eight tentacles around him.

           "What's wrong, Y/N? Having trouble?" Katara asked with smirk, looking at her sister, who stood there, staring at the water.

          "No, no, just thinking. I don't know how I'm gonna make all eight move separately." Y/N brought up one hand, making a mini version of the tentacles, grunting in frustration as she tried concentrating on making them all do separate things. It was difficult, not being able to concentrate on one.

          "You aren't supposed to, dummy." Katara laughed. "The point of the octopus move is to have the water readily available. You only move one to three tentacles at a time. The rest are supposed to stay up so you can react faster."

          She demonstrated, showing how to keep the others up and moving as she bent a few around at a time. Y/N ignored her, focusing on her little mini version.

          "Y/N, I'm the teacher. You can't move all eight independently. Look up and watch how Aang is doing it." Katara explained patiently, gesturing to Aang.

          "Did you know that part of controlling the flames when firebending is the position of the fingers?" Y/N asked absentmindedly, earning a frustrated sigh from her sister. "I didn't for awhile. It's like playing a stringed instrument, each finger needs to be just so, or perfectly aligned. It gives a new appreciation for the firebending art."

          "She isn't paying attention, Aang, we'll move on." Katara began explaining the tentacles, Aang catching on quickly.

          "No, Katara, I am, I'm just pointing out the key to figuring this out." Y/N interrupted, copying her sister and raising her own water tentacles from the pool. "It's the firebending thing. The fingers." 

          She moved slowly, carefully thinking and planning out, then lashed out, all eight tentacles doing something different. 

          Smacking Sokka, Katara, and Aang in the face, picking up two rocks, tearing branches off a tree, and lifting her into the air.

          "Hey!" Sokka sputtered. "What was that for??" Y/N grinned, about to respond, but she then spotted a small group of people walking towards the lake, wearing strange clothing. One was holding a stringed instrument, and singing.

                             —|➖◾️➖|—

          "I don't see how this could ever go wrong." Y/N said, putting her hands on her hips. They all stood in front of a dark cave entrance, which didn't look too promising. "So, Chong, this is the secret tunnel shortcut. It'll get us to Omashu faster? Seems safe."

          "Yes! But I will warn you, the legend says the tunnels form a labyrinth protected by a curse. Only those who put their trust in love can navigate through the maze; those who do not will be forever lost." He said ominously. The sound of perusing Fire Nation tundra tanks were getting louder.

          "Good enough for me, I guess." What on earth does that mean? Do I trust in love?  It doesn't mean literally, right? Y/N walked in, Sokka nervously following with the rest behind him. 

          They hadn't been in the cave for more than five seconds when the tanks behind them fired, hitting the entrance. The ground rumbled beneath their feet as boulders and dirt fell in, causing all of them to lose their footing. By the time things settled, it was impossible to see in the pitch black cavern. They were trapped.

          "Oh, what could go wrong?" Y/N mocked her own sarcastic comment. "Off to a great start everyone. Sokka, do you have the torches?"

          "Yeah. Woah! Cool! Your scar glows, Y/N!" Sokka responded, laughing. Y/N glanced down and saw he was right. Her jellyfish scar was visible in the darkness. It didn't give off enough light to see anything around it, and it was barely visible even in the complete lack of light. 

          "Huh. Weird. Light a torch already, I'm gonna trip and die." Y/N prompted, and there was a small spark, then the cave lit up with the flickering orange light of Sokka's torch. She took it from him, looking around the cavern. There were three possible paths.

          "We have over a 66% chance of picking the wrong one..." Aang piped up matter-of-factly, making Y/N's shoulders sag. "What does our uh, trust in love say?"

          "SECRET TUNNEL!" Chong broke out in song, heading towards a random path, his friends following and singing along. Y/N would never get this song out of her head.

          Off to a great start.