“Okay, first we gotta get through- OW!” Sokka’s sentence was interrupted by a rock being thrown at his head. He looked behind his shoulder and frowned. Aang and Toph were snickering, and Katara looked like she was trying to contain her laughter. “Okay, who did that? I’m not mad, just disappointed.” 

“It was me.” Toph said with a giggle.

“I’LL GET YOU, YOU LITTLE—” Sokka started crawling to the other side of Appa, only to be interrupted by Katara, who created a wall of water to prevent him from moving further. “Grah! Whatever!” He begrudgingly retreated, resuming his position by the map.

The rest of the gang’s laughter echoed in the sky. Katara bent the water back into her pouch. The group of friends were travelling to the Fire Nation capital on the back of Appa the sky bison. With her laughter coming to an end, Katara noticed something. She had to use the bathroom. Pretty badly, actually. She decided to raise her need. “Sokka, I need to use the bathroom. Let’s bring Appa down.” When they first started their journey, she felt weird about peeing outside, but she quickly got over it, as there were often no toilets on the way to the Northern Water Tribe— or on the way to Ba Sing Se and Capital City, for that matter. 

“Uh, yeah, no.” Sokka retorted.

“What!? Why not!?” 

“We’re on a tight schedule, remember? Two potty breaks a day. We’ve already taken both.”

“Ugh, do you have to call them ‘potty breaks’? We’re not five. Anyways, I didn’t go at the last one.”

“Well, you should’ve peed when we were there last; it was only half an hour ago!”

“I didn’t have to go then! And I drank a bunch of water from the spring!”

Sokka rolled his eyes. “If you really need to go, you can just go off the side of Appa.”

“Absolutely not!” Aang and Katara both shouted in unison.

“Why not?”

“She’d get it all over Appa!” Aang argued.

“Not to mention, I’m a girl.”

“What does that have to do with it?” Sokka questioned.

“It means I have a 50-50 chance of falling off if I try to go off Appa.”

“I like those odds!” Toph added unhelpfully.

Katara rolled her eyes. “Besides, at least I have trees when we’re down there. There’s nothing to cover me up. Everyone would see my… everything. Well, except for Toph.”

“I would still hear it.” 

Katara blushed. “All the more reason to stop.”

Sokka groaned. “Well, you’ll just have to hold it. You said it yourself: you're not five.”

Katara glared at him. “GAH! YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT, Y’KNOW THAT!?”

“So you keep telling me, but I’m the one who’s going to get us to the capital before the eclipse.” 

She growled and stopped talking, beginning to shift her weight around. “Hey, Katara!” Toph called. “You can make it!”

“Thank you, To-”

“Just think about your bending. Imagine you’re down by a river, practising with Aang.” Katara’s bladder panged. “And there’s a massive waterfall nearby pouring endless droplets—”

“Okay, that’s enough, Toph!”

“You know, when you're in the water, you don't have to get out to—” Toph was interrupted by a large clump of water falling on her. 

“I said that's enough, Toph.” 

Toph looked like she was about to add something but decided to stop reluctantly. The things she said caused Katara’s desperation to speed up significantly. She tried to ignore the images Toph had put in her head, but her head was now full of pictures of waterfalls and rivers. As she crossed her legs together, Aang looked at her sympathetically. He wanted to say something but decided to leave her to her own devices.

Katara ground her teeth. She was dumbfounded at how she had allowed herself to get so desperate. Sure, she didn't have to go at the spring, but she still should've tried after all she had to drink.

Toph had a regretful look on her face. “Hey, Katara?” Katara looked up. “Sorry for making fun of you. It wasn't that funny.”

Katara smiled. “It's okay. I guess the whole situation is pretty funny.”

“I agree!” Sokka stated.

“Wasn't asking you, lemur breath.” Katara said coldly. Momo chattered angrily. “Sorry, Momo, that was an insult to your breath.”

Sokka grumbled something unintelligible. Katara continued holding, mostly in silence, for the next half-hour. The time went by slowly because there was little to do thousands of feet in the air. Usually, she would just make random shapes with her bending water to pass the time, but that wasn’t an option in her current situation.

Slowly, her desperation became more intense, eventually resulting in a leak. She let out an involuntary whimper, causing her teammates to look at her. “Ugh… I’m… I’m sorry, Aang!” She climbed out of Appa's saddle onto the edge of his back.

“Katara!?” Aang looked at her, shocked.

“Look away, please!” Katara requested. 

Sokka complied, but Aang and Toph didn’t. “What, no, I—” Aang saw Katara reaching under her dress. He looked away with a blush. “Just… please don’t get any on him, please.” Appa grunted.

Katara pulled her panties down to her knees and looked up at the saddle. While Aang and Sokka looked away, Toph had her head towards her, looking bored.”Toph, look away, please!”

“I’m not ‘looking’ at anything.” 

She felt another leak roll down her legs, as she no longer had anything to catch it. She was desperate to let go, but  “Please, just do it, Toph!”

Toph rolled her eyes and turned her head to the side. With that, Katara pulled her dress up and went into a half-squat, careful not to fall off. She took a deep breath and let go… or at least, she tried. She awkwardly stood for a few seconds, trying to let go to no avail. “And here I am thinking I got over my pee shyness.” She thought.

“Hey, are you done yet?” Toph asked. “You pee quieter than I thought you would.”

Katara blushed. “I can’t go. Can you all cover your ears? Especially you, Toph?”

The rest of the gang covered their ears, Toph looking even more annoyed. After a few seconds, she gasped and began to pee. The yellow liquid fell down to the surface below, missing Appa by a hair. She let out a big sigh, feeling her bladder deflate. However, as she did, she lost focus on her footing and slipped off with a yelp. 

Toph’s eyes widened. The two boys didn’t see or hear Katara falling off, but Toph felt the weight being removed from Appa. She tugged on Aang’s shoulder. “Aang, Katara is falling!” 

Aang removed his hands from his ears and quickly ran over to the saddle's edge, looking over the edge. “Oh no!” He assumed a basic air-bending stance and pulled Katara back up.

“Nice save, man!” Sokka, who had noticed the commotion, said. “That could’ve ended really baaaaaadl—” His voice trailed off as Katara came into view. Her panties had fallen down to the surface below, though luckily, her dress had fallen back into place. The problem was, however, that she had never stopped peeing. The front of her dress was stained, turning it a darker shade of red. There were trails of urine running down her legs, falling to the surface below. Katara was crying, unable to contain her embarrassment. When she finished, Aang sat her down on Appa’s saddle. 

“Are you alright?” Aang asked softly. 

“Y-yeah, I’ll be fine.” Katara said, voice shaking.

“Do you want us to land Appa so you can change?”

Katara thought for a moment before nodding her head no. “I can just do this.” She raised her hands, and the pee came off of her legs and clothing and formed a yellow ball. Katara blushed furiously at the fact that she had to do that, but it was better than staying in wet clothes. 

“Well, at least you learned a valuable lesson!” Sokka said, going back to Appa’s reins.

“What!?” Katara said, so angry she nearly dropped her “water”.

“Now you know to go when there’s a break!”

Katara’s face turned red, this time not from embarrassment but from anger. Then, a sinister smile formed on her face. She took aim at the back of Sokka’s head and threw the liquid. 

Needless to say, Sokka was suddenly okay with taking another break.