Appa's Lost Days

Writer: Elizabeth Welch Ehasz Director: Giancarlo Volpe Guest Stars: Paul McKinney (Ghashiun), Dwight Schultz (Trainer), Brian George (Guru Pathik), Jennie Kwan (Suki)

Overview
''After being abducted, Appa performs in a Fire Nation circus, and after escaping fights with a boar-q-pine. Suki and her Kyoshi warriors help him recover from his injuries, but they are attacked by Azula and her team and he flees. A mysterious guru provides him with aid on his search, telling him to go to Ba Sing Se, but he is captured by Long Feng.''

Synopsis
This episode spans a period of four weeks, from the end of "The Library" to just before "Tales of Ba Sing Se", detailing Appa's adventures after he was captured by the Sandbenders outside of Wan Shi Tong's library.

The Episode begins with Appa's capture in the earlier episode. Sandbenders attack Appa with intent to capture him, while Toph, her hearing hampered by the sand, and divided by the need to prevent the library from sinking, is unable to help.

The Sandbenders drag Appa away, until Ghashiun, the leader of the group, orders Appa's saddle ransacked for any valuables, but nothing more valuable than Sokka's club is found. Appa tries to fight back once more, destroying one of the sand sailers, but Ghashiun is unfazed, as that sailer had been stolen from another tribe in the first place. He tosses the supplies on the saddle away, and continues with his plan to sell Appa to a group of Earth Kingdom merchants with beetle-like hats.

After a little debate, the merchants decide to buy Appa, giving the Sandbenders a small chest with the money. The merchants start to drag Appa into a position so they can secure him on a caged sled, but once Appa is fastened into the sled, Aang blows his whistle during his search for Appa. Appa hears the whistle and begins to struggle, lifting the entire sled off the ground. The merchants decided to shoot Appa with some Shirshu spit darts fired from a blowgun. The darts land in Appa's foot and he falls quickly to the ground. Before he is unconscious, he sees the giant cloud created by a frustrated Aang as he hears the two merchants discuss selling him for parts.



Appa next wakes up inside a small cage, along with several other animals. A firebender talks to him and seems sympathetic, but it immediately becomes apparent that he is an Animal Tamer who intends to break Appa to his will. He begins by feeding the other animals, but not Appa. Instead, he lets out a Vulture Griffin and shows how Appa will "earn" his food by sending the Vulture Griffin through hoops. While the Animal Tamer is performing tricks, Appa slyly sucks in air, pulling the cabbages from the cart to his mouth. The Tamer furiously threatens Appa with fire.

That night, the circus is performing in a Fire Nation town. Appa tries to pull a bale of hay closer to him to eat, but it is much heavier than a cabbage. A small boy, waiting for his father to return with some "sizzle crisps," disobeys his father's orders not to move and helps Appa by moving the hay close enough for him to eat. He stays with Appa, only leaving when the Animal Tamer comes back. The Animal Tamer speaks to the circus' Ringmaster of how Appa is not "ready" to perform and how he needs more time, but the Ringmaster tells him that a circus is "the home of Fear and Danger," and that Appa will perform that night.



During the show, Appa is introduced as "The Wind Buffalo," and dressed in a garish costume and makeup. The crowd laughs at the sight of Appa, and the Animal Tamer attempts to get Appa to fly by shouting, "Up." Appa spins around, and the crowd laughs more, only infuriating the Animal Tamer, who strikes at Appa with a whip of flame. Appa flies up and goes through a burning hoop and stands up on a high-rising platform, then flies through another hoop. However, Appa's costume catches on fire, and he slaps the hoop to the ground, striking the Animal Tamer on the head and knocking him to the ground. The crowd laughs again. Appa lands and sees the boy who helped him earlier, who reminds him of Aang. The boy yells at Appa, telling to escape, and as Appa flies up, the Animal Tamer gets back up and is about to strike Appa with the whip, only to have Appa send him flying through the Circus tent. Appa manages to slip through an airhole at the top side of the tent and escapes, leaving behind his costume for the small boy to watch and smile.

Appa flies back to the spot where the library was, only to find it completely buried. He tries to dig it out, but decides it a futile effort and flies off. Feeling hungry, Appa lands to find food. He starts to move towards a giant purple egg, and just as he is about to eat it, a bipedal lizard runs off with the egg held above his head. He then turns over and goes to eat a cactus, scaring away a jackalope in the process. However, Appa eats the whole cactus and gets a mouth full of thorns for his trouble. Appa lifts off again and finds himself in the Buzzard-Wasp nest that Aang and the gang traveled to, quickly earning the ire of its inhabitants. Appa manages to fight them off and collapses in the sand, trying to get at the honey on his feet.



That night, Appa wanders into a farm, where he goes into an open barn and eats some hay and water. Appa then collapses, exhausted, on the ground, dreaming of his past: At the Eastern Air Temple, an airbending nun is preparing several children to bond with a group of young Flying Bison. She gives each of them an apple, telling them how to choose a bison carefully, because a bison is a companion for life. One of the boys is Aang, who soon finds Appa and offers him the fruit; Appa happily devours it before pushing Aang over and licking his face. Aang laughs, saying how this must mean the two will be together forever. The scene switches to Aang, sleeping with the group during "The Serpent's Pass", who is having the same exact dream as Appa.

Appa is startled awake by a farmer who, frightened of Appa's immense size, is attacking him with a pitchfork. The man's wife, drawn by his cries, comes to the barn with a torch to check out what is going on. Appa, now frightened of fire due to his time with the Tamer, rears up and backs into the barn, damaging the wall before flying out straight through the roof and flying off. Appa's path takes him directly over the Serpent's Pass, where Iroh sees him in the sky. Zuko, awakened by his uncle's reaction, asks him what is going on, but Iroh decides not to tell him about it.

Appa continues to fly, finding his landing in the middle of a forest. Exhausted, he lands in front of an overgrown doorway. As Appa tries to stand up, a Boar-q-pine comes charging out of the passage, tackling him and sending them both tumbling down the hillside. Appa is stuck with several quills but manages to fight off the boar, claiming the ruin as his own.



The next day, the Kyoshi Warriors are out picking berries when one notices the damage caused by the fight, as well as several clumps of white fur. Suki, recognizing the fur as Appa's, finds him still sleeping. Appa, however, is now frightened of people and is reluctant to let her get closer, despite the gift of fruit she leaves him. Suki gathers the rest of the warriors and calms Appa down by telling him how she wants to help him and return him to Aang. The girls remove the quills left from the boar and clean his fur, but their celebration is short-lived as a blast of blue flames knocks a tree over. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee show up, still perusing the Avatar. The Warriors of Kyoshi defend Appa, but Azula and her friends are far more formidable opponents than they've faced before. Grabbing a burning branch, Suki uses it to get Appa to leave and search for Aang. Still frightened by the fire, Appa flies off, as Suki turns to engage Azula in combat.

Appa flies far away, passing over a group of Water Tribe ships, where Katara and Sokka's father sees him flying above. He eventually makes his way back to the Eastern Air Temple, where he remembers his early days, playing with his siblings as a calf. As Appa walks around, he stumbles upon an old man who he thinks is Aang. After tackling him and licking him happily he finds that the man is not Aang, and he backs away and growls at the man. The man, who calls himself Guru Pathik, understands that he is not the person Appa expected, and he simply lies back, looking at Appa ever so often, and receiving a growl in return. Eventually, night settles in, and Appa falls asleep. The Guru reads Appa's energy, remarking on how Appa is so full of Love and Trust, but at the same time Fear is moving into where Trust should be. He also tells of how he had a vision of Aang and Appa years ago, and decided to come to the Eastern Air Temple and wait for the two. He then leaves Appa to rest, saying how Appa must let the clouds in his mind part and be at peace.



Come morning, Appa finds him meditating with a group of animals surrounding him. Appa decides to leave the man alone, and after flying around a bit, he comes to rest next to the guru at the top of the Temple. The Guru gives Appa a note, which he ties to his horn, and then proceeds to tell Appa about how much his energy and Aang's is intertwined. As he tells Appa this, he puts his hand to Appa's forehead, and tells Appa where to find Aang. Appa flies off, heading off to Ba Sing Se.

As Appa flies into Ba Sing Se, we see two Dai Li members on the rooftops, then sliding off the roof. Appa continues to fly around, until suddenly he hears something. Under the gaze of three Pygmy Panthers, Appa lands in the middle of the city, where, deep in the shadows, he sees a man blowing a whistle. The man, however, is revealed to be Long Feng and after a swift and powerful Earthbending move, captures Appa underground, leaving only a single footprint in the mud, that the Panthers will lead Momo to find later that night.

Series Continuity

 * Although Sokka's club is seen being discarded by the sandbenders he can be seen using it in later episodes, for example when attacking the Earth King's palace.
 * The parasol sent to Team Avatar in "The Fortuneteller" makes a reappearance in this episode.
 * The way Guru Pathik puts his hand to Appa's forehead to find Aang mirrors when Aang found out where Appa and Momo were in "The Swamp".

Trivia

 * On March 27, 2007, this episode received a Genesis Award from The Humane Society of the United States in the category "Outstanding Children's Programming," which the HSUS Genesis Award press release described as "...a mythical tale about animals held captive for human entertainment that resonates with the way animals are used in circuses today."
 * Katara and Sokka's Father Hakoda makes a small Cameo