Katara shut and opened her eyes deliberately several times, and put her hand to her forehead. The world seemed to spin a little for a second, causing her other hand to grab onto the edge of Appa's large saddle instinctively, hoping to stop her from falling off, in case they WERE spinning out of control.

But from the movement of the air around her, she was pretty sure that they weren't. Then the spinning seemed to slow and then stop. Her grip on the saddle loosened, and she let out a breath she didn't know she'd held in. She kept her eyes closed for a moment, then slowly opened them to see the world looking as it had and as it should. 'Thank goodness,' she thought, relaxing.

"You okay there, Katara?" Toph asked, her unseeing eyes not turning to the waterbending girl, but addressing her all the same.

"What?" Katara asked, picking her head up from her position laying down, to look at Toph?"

"Your heart rate went up for a second and you were tensing up," Toph elaborated.

"Oh..that," Katara said. She'd forgotten just how much Toph could feel, even while they were on Appa. "I think it must be the Sun getting to me," she told the group. "I just got a little dizzy for a second."

Aang got a concerned look on his face. "Maybe we should set down for a while," he suggested.

Katara turned her head toward Aang and smiled. "Don't worry about me Aang. It was nothing really. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"I'm with Aang on this," Sokka said, wiping his brow. It's hot up here and I can practically feel my flesh burning." He grabbed some of the skin on his arm and pulled at it to punctuate his point. "I wanna sit under some shade," he said, getting a dreamy look on his face, as he imagined how cool it would be.

"They've got a point," Toph admitted. "And we're up this high for much longer, all that hot air in Sokka's head might make him float away." She smiled, already knowing the effect of her words on their target.

Sokka's face took on a look that told everyone he was not amused, while Katara and Aang chuckled.

Aang looked down at Appa from where he sat on the bison's head, and grinned. "Alright buddy, take us down!"

Appa responded with an enthusiastic growl, as he began to descend through the clouds.

- - - - - -

Now on the ground, the group slid down Appa's furry body and spread out to find a comfortable place. Toph set up a tent of rock slabs over her and made herself a body indention in the ground to lie in. Aang, meanwhile, had lain his glider, wings out, against the side of Appa, and was laying against the bison under the shade it provided. Sokka was leaning back against a tree, enjoying the shade it provided. And Katara...thought she would want to take position under a tree like Sokka had, but found herself strangely envying the setup that Toph had constructed. This was strange, as she never could recall particularly liking the way the earthbender set up her "living arrangements" before.

But Katara wasn't an earthbender, and she didn't really feel like asking Toph to repeat the process. Katara was sure that it was just some strange notion anyway. She looked around the area they'd landed in and spotted a boulder, halfway out of the ground. She smiled slightly and walked over to it. She sat down and leaned back against it, letting out a breath, happily. She had no idea why being so close to the earth and rocks gave her such relief. Sure she'd always liked and appreciated the ground, but she felt unusually glad to be back on the earth. She shrugged and figured it was just from being in the air so much lately.

Katara put her hand behind her head, put her right foot up on her knee, and smiled. She felt quite good.