Chapter 5

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Chapter 5 After many days of traveling, we stopped for a rest on an open prairie. Everyone felt like we needed a break. Aang had been training hard, practicing both Earthbending and Waterbending. So everyone chose a vacation spot. Everyone except me, that is. "There's no time for vacations, Aang," I said. "Even if you do master all of the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation. We need information. We need intelligence. And we're not going to get that taking vacations." I was voted down, of course. What a shock. I was the only one who wasn't either teaching or learning. Mr. Not-A-Bender here. Next, for Katara's vacation, we traveled to some place called Misty Palms Oasis. Well, the "oasis" was actually a dump—a rundown cantina with some lowlife Sandbenders hanging around like annoying bugs. Good choice, Katara. This was way more important than planning our strategy against the Fire Nation. But it was in that flea trap that we met Professor Zei, an anthropologist and professor from Ba Sing Se

University. He was searching for a lost library run by some spirit called Wan Shi Tong. The place was supposed to have books from all over the world, which meant that they might have some useful information or maps of the Fire Nation. "For my vacation, I choose finding that library," I said eagerly. Off we went, flying on Appa, with the professor guiding the way. We flew over the desert, which was one vast sea of brown. There was nothing but sand for miles.… Then I spotted something sticking out of the sand. "Down there. What's that?" We landed and found a tower jutting out from the sand. I looked at Professor Zei's picture of the enormous library and realized that the thing we were looking at was the top spire of the building! "This is the library," I announced. "But it's completely buried in the sand!" Toph used Earthbending to determine that the inside of the library was still completely intact, then we climbed up the spire and slipped in through a window. We left Toph to wait outside with Appa. The place was huge! I had a really good feeling that we were going to find what we needed on the Fire Nation. And then an enormous owl showed up.

"Are you the spirit who brought this library into the physical world?" I asked. "Indeed. I am Wan Shi Tong, and you are obviously humans, who, by the way, are no longer permitted in the library." "What do you have against humans?" Aang asked. "Humans only bother learning things to get the edge on other humans. So who are you trying to destroy?" Uh… how did he know? Was it written on our faces? I had to fake him out. "No, no destroying. We have come here to seek knowledge for knowledge's sake." Yes, that's a pretty good answer. But the owl wasn't so easily fooled. "If you are going to lie to an all-knowing spirit being, you should at least put a little effort into it," he said. I had to cover fast. "I'm not lying," I said. "I'm here with the Avatar, and he's the bridge between our worlds. He'll vouch for me." "We will not abuse your library, good spirit. You have my word," Aang assured him. I held my breath as we all waited for his response. "Very well," the spirit said. Whew! Now we just had to find something that would help us defeat the Fire Nation.

What I found was even more than I could have hoped for. First I discovered a burned scrap of paper with a date and the words "The Darkest Day in Fire Nation History." Then one of the owl's assistants, a fox, led us to a mechanical planetarium that showed the position of the sun, moon, and stars on any given day. Using this amazing machine we figured out that the date on the paper was the date of a solar eclipse— a day when the moon blocks out the sun. And during a solar eclipse, Firebenders lose their bending abilities. This was it! This was the way to beat the Fire Nation! "We just have to figure out when the next solar eclipse is happening," I told the others. "Then we've got to get that information to Ba Sing Se so the Earth King can plan to invade the Fire Nation on that day. The Fire Lord is going down!" Just then there was an uncomfortable silence and I felt someone behind me. When I spun around, I saw the owl towering over us. "Mortals are so predictable," the owl said. "And such terrible liars. You betrayed my trust." "We're just trying to protect the people we love," I replied. "And I'm going to protect what I love. I'm taking

my knowledge back. No one will ever abuse it again." The owl began flapping his wings and the library started sinking into the desert. Oh, no! He's destroying the library. And he's going to take us along with it! We ran from the planetarium. But then I realized that we needed one more important piece of information: the date of the next eclipse. "Sokka, let's go!" Katara called. "If we leave this place we'll never get the information we need," I said. "Aang, come with me!" While Katara and Momo tried to distract the owl, Aang and I hurried back to the planetarium. There we checked every day between now and the time that Sozin's Comet—the comet that will give the Fire Nation unlimited power—returns. In a few minutes we had the date. "That's it! The solar eclipse. It's just a few months away. Now let's get this info to Ba Sing Se!" Aang and I met up with Katara and Professor Zei, who decided to stay and sink with the library. I think he's crazy for wanting to stay, but I guess he really loves to read. We, on the other hand, had to get out. Aang flew us back up the spire and out the window.