"Water." "Earth." "Fire." "Air." "Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony." "Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked." "Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them." "But when the world needed him most, he vanished." "A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar... an airbender named Aang." "And although his airbending skills are great." "He has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone." "But I believe Aang can save the world." "Book Two:" "Earth Chapter Two:" "The Cave Of Two Lovers" "You guys are gonna be done soon, right?" "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we wanna make it to Omashu today." "What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy?" "I can be ready in two minutes." "Seriously." "Whenever." "So, you were showing me the octopus form." "Right." "Let me see your stance." "Your arms are too far apart." "See, if you move them closer together you protect your center." "You got it?" "Oh... yeah." "Thanks." "Okay, let's see what you got." "You make a fine octopus, Pupil Aang." "Don't fall in love with a traveling girl." "She'll leave you broke and broken hearted.." "Heh-hey!" "River people!" "We're not river people." "You're not?" "Well then what kind of people are ya?" "Just... people." "Aren't we all, brother?" "Whoo..." "Who're you?" "I'm Chong, and this is my wife Lily." "We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us!" "You guys are nomads?" "That's great!" "I'm a nomad." "Hey, me too." "I know... you just said that." "Oh." "Nice underwear." "I didn't find anything to eat." "I can't live like this." "I wasn't meant to be a fugitive." "This is impossible!" "Uncle what are you doing?" "You're looking at the rare white dragon bush." "Its leaves make a tea so delicious it's heartbreaking!" "That, or it's the white jade bush, which is poisonous." "We need food, not tea." "I'm going fishing." "Hm, delectable tea?" "Or deadly poison?" "Hey, Sokka, you should hear some of these stories." "These guys have been everywhere." "Well, not everywhere, Little Arrowhead." "But where we haven't been we've heard about through stories and songs." "They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler." "On the way there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow." "Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here but since Katara is busy I guess it's up to me." "We need to get to Omashu." "No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows." "Whoa, sounds like someone's got a case of "destination fever," heh." "You're worried too much about where you're going." "You've gotta focus less on the "where" and more on the "going."" "O... ma... shu..." "Sokka's right." "We need to find King Bumi... so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe." "Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu." "There's an old story about a secret pass..." "right through the mountains." "Is this real or a legend?" "Oh, it's a real legend." "And it's as old as earthbending itself." "Two lovers, forbidden from one another..." "a war divides their people... and a mountain divides them apart." "Built a path to be together." "Yeah, and I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes..." "Secret tunnel!" "Secret tunnel!" "Through the mountain!" "Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel!" "Yeah!" "I think we'll just stick with flying." "We've dealt with the Fire Nation before." "We'll be fine." "Yeah." "Thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground... and we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable." "Launch!" "Secret love cave." "Let's go." "Zuko, remember that plant I thought might be tea?" "You didn't!" "I did." "And it wasn't." "Yaaahhhh" "When the rash spreads to my throat I will stop breathing." "But look what I found!" "These are bacui berries... known to cure the poison of the white jade plant." "That, or macahoni berries that cause blindness." "We're not taking any more chances with these plants!" "We need to get help." "But where are we going to go?" "We're enemies of the Earth Kingdom, and fugitives from the Fire Nation." "If the Earth Kingdom, discovers us, they'll have us killed." "But if the Fire Nation discovers us, we'll be turned over to Azula." "Earth Kingdom it is." "How far are we from the tunnel." "Actually, it's not just one tunnel." "The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love... so they built a whole labyrinth." "Labyrinth?" "!" "I'm sure we'll figure it out." "All you need to do is trust in love." "According to the curse." "Curse?" "!" "Hey-hey, we're here!" "What exactly is this curse?" "The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves." "Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever." "And die." "Oh, yeah, and die." "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song." "And die!" "That's it!" "There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" "Hey, someone's making a big campfire!" "That's no campfire, Moku." "That's Fire Nation." "They're tracking us." "So all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?" "That is correct, Master Arrowhead." "We can make it." "Everyone into the hole!" "Hold on!" "It's too dangerous." "Haven't you heard the song?" "Just close them in." "The mount will take care of the rest." "It's okay, Appa." "We'll be fine." "I hope." "We will be fine." "All we need is a plan." "Chong, how long do those torches last?" "Eh, about two hours each." "And we have five torches so that's..." "ten hours." "It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" "Ohh, right." "I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been." "Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through." "You two must not be from around here." "We know better than to touch the white jade... much less make it into tea and drink it." "So where are you traveling from?" "Yes, we're travelers." "Do you have names?" "Names?" "Of course we have names." "I'm..." "Lee." "And this is my uncle, uh..." "Mushi." "Yes, my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him Junior." "Mushi and Junior, huh?" "My name is Song." "You two look like you could use a good meal." "Why don't you stay for dinner?" "Sorry, but we need to be moving on." "That's too bad." "My mom always makes too much roast duck." "Where do you live, exactly?" "Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to." "This doesn't make any sense, we already came through this way." "We don't need a map." "We just need love." "The little guy knows it." "Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map, also." "There's something strange here." "There's only one explanation." "The tunnels are changing." "My daughter tells me you're refugees." "We were once refugees ourselves." "When I was a little girl, the Fire Nation raided our farming village." "All the men were taken away." "That was the last time I saw my father." "I haven't seen my father in many years." "Oh." "Is he fighting in the war?" "Yeah." "The tunnels... they're a-changin'." "Ah, it must be the curse." "I knew we shouldn't have come down here." "Right." "If only we listened to you." "Everyone be quiet." "Listen." "It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" "No!" "It's a wolf-bat!" "Yeah, it's no use." "We're separated." "But at least you have us, heh heh." "Noooooooo!" "Can I join you?" "I know what you've been through." "We've all been through it." "The Fire Nation has hurt you." "It's okay." "They've hurt me, too." "Oh, don't let the cave in get you down." "Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown." "When the tunnels are darkest that's when you need a clown, hey!" "Don't let the cave in get you down, Sokka!" "Aang, look!" "We found the exit!" "This isn't the exit." "No... it's a tomb." "It must be the two lovers from the legend." "That's who's buried here." "These pictures tell their story." "They met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages." "The villages were enemies so they could not be together." "But their love was strong and they found a way." "The two lovers learned earthbending from the badger moles." "They became the first earthbenders." "They built elaborate tunnels so they could meet secretly." "Anyone who tried to follow them would be lost forever in the labyrinth." "But one day the man didn't come." "He died in the war between their two villages." "Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of her earthbending power." "She could have destroyed them all." "But instead she declared the war over." "Both villages helped her build a new city where they would live together in peace." "The woman's name was Oma and the man's name was Shu." "The great city was named Omashu as a monument to their love." "Love is brightest in the dark." "Oh, great!" "Your plans have led us to another dead end!" "At least I'm thinking of ideas and trying to get us out of here, Moku." "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, we're thinking of ideas?" "'Cause I've had an idea for, like, an hour now." "Yes!" "We're all thinking of ideas!" "Well, then listen to this, if love is the key out of here... then all we need to do is play a love song." "How are we gonna find our way out of these tunnels?" "I have a crazy idea." "What?" "Never mind, it's too crazy." "Katara, what is it?" "I was thinking... the curse says we'll be trapped... in here forever unless we trust in love." "Right..." "And here it says 'love is brightest in the dark' and... has a picture of them kissing." "Where are you going with this?" "Well... what if we kissed?" "Us kissing?" "See?" "It was a crazy idea." "Us... kissing..." "Us kissing." "What was I thinking?" "Can you imagine that?" "Yeah, heh, heh." "I definitely wouldn't wanna kiss you!" "Oh, well I didn't realize it was such a horrible option." "Sorry I suggested it!" "No, no, I mean... if there was a choice between kissing you and dying..." "Oh!" "What?" "I'm saying I'd rather kiss you than die." "That's a compliment." "Well I'm not sure which I would rather do!" "What is wrong with me?" "Even if you're lost you can't lose the love because it's in your heart." "Thank you for the duck." "It was excellent." "You're welcome." "It brings me joy to see someone eat my cooking with such... gusto." "Much practice." "Junior, where are your manners?" "You need to thank these nice people." "Thank you." "I know you don't think there's any hope left in the world, but there is hope." "The Avatar has returned!" "I know." "What are you doing?" "These people just showed you great kindness." "They're about to show us a little more kindness." "Well?" "We're gonna run out of light any second now, aren't we?" "I think so." "Then what are we gonna do?" "What can we do?" "Hey-hey, you saved us, Sokka!" "No, they were trying to get away from something." "From what?" "Hey, those things are music lovers!" "Badger moles, coming toward me." "Come on guys, help me out." "The big bad badger moles who work in the tunnels... hate the wolf bats but love the sounds." "It's made of some kind of crystals." "They must only light up in the dark!" "That's how the two lovers found each other." "They just put out their lights and followed the crystals." "That must be the way out!" "So... um..." "Let's go!" "What about Sokka?" "Sokka!" "How did you guys get out?" "Just like the legend says, we let love lead the way." "Really?" "We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way." "Why is your forehead all red?" "Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you." "I think that kid might be the Avatar." "So, are you guys gonna come to Omashu with us?" "Nope." "Okay." "Thanks for everything, Moku." "Sokka, I hope you learned a little something... about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey." "Just play your songs." "Hey, good plan!" "Even if you're lost you can't lose the love... because it's in your heart." "Ooooohhhh..." "The journey was long and annoying... but now you get to see what it's really about... the destination." "I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O..." "Oh, no..."