AN :
Time skips were very confusing for some of you, so I'll be using the corresponding book and episode titles whenever there's a time skip to make the timeline easier to follow.
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( Book 2 Episodes 2, 3 )
"Secret lovecave, let's go," Sokka says and leads the other two, equally dirty and disenchanted Aang and Katara past the relaxing others. I amble after them, whistling a tune from Monty Python's Life of Brian that I remember fondly. It's true in any universe, and still, looking at the bright side is rarely what I do. Today, though, it feels okay.
"Stop that, please," Sokka tells me. He doesn't know the song, but we are not on the same wavelength today. Or, no longer. We started out so well, so relaxed, so nice. Why not stay that way? To worry is to hurt twice.
I stop and start humming the Logical Song instead.
"How come you're not dirty anyway?" Aang asks curiously. He, out of the three of them, is the most cheerful. His disposition is hard to shake, even if he is a child with whims and frustrations, fears and angers.
"I just bended it away." The accompanying hand gesture ends in a gentle sweep over his arrowed head. He smiles.
"No you did not," Katara claims, "I can't bend it away."
"Oh, no not like that. I had some clouds and deflected all the dirt coming my way. Like a shield, only liquid and a bit poofy," I gesture in a circular, fluffy motion with both hands to show them what I mean.
They gape. What, do they think I'm not skilled enough for that? I can bend with my face, after all. This is nothing.
"You're high as a kite and you can still bend with such precision?" Katara asks, eyes wide.
I shrug. "Sure. Wouldn't have been a full Master by fifteen if not. I got a traditional celebration feast and everything," then my tone turns conspiratorial, "We have some interesting seaweeds that can be dried and smoked. So. Not the first time bending under influence, but don't tell Pakku."
"Wait, you're a full Master?" Aang questions, ignoring the last part of what I said. Which is just as well.
"Yeah. Didn't you know? Why else would I be given command over thirty benders for that wall outside the city?"
"Well you said you were friends with the Chief…" Sokka throws in there. True, but it's not like Arnook would give command to an incompetent just because he likes him. That would be idiotic.
"That's why Pakku looked at you and not at me on the ship when he said Aang needed a Master!" Katara bursts out, tearing me from my jumbled thoughts. Ah, so she's hung up on that. She might have to work on her self-esteem as a person instead of being special because she's the bender in the family.
Careful, self. No judging the teenage girl, please. We all grow, and you still have your own to do.
So I say: "Oh, yeah, surprised me, too. I'd originally figured I'd get in touch with your dad and help out a bit, but this is fun, too."
"What?" Sokka asks, "You need to tell us this stuff."
"I just did."
"No, earlier!"
"Why though?" I ask this for the sole purpose of being annoying. Also, this is making me feel guilty about only telling Aang about the comet so far. I should tell Katara and Sokka. But. I kind of don't want to. It's completely irrational, I know. They will find out, they need to know, it's just that I am not looking forward to more emotional support-giving. Who else is going to do it, though?
Aang, the sweetheart, steps up to the apparent task of making me feel like I'm part of the group, "Because then we can make decisions together. So, if you want to go help out with the war effort, we can find a way to get you there."
"Ah, but you're going to need to be with your earthbending teacher, Aang. And even if I don't stay with you forever, until you've mastered waterbending, it's probable that you'll benefit from my presence," I say reasonably. Good deflection. It's bound to wind Katara up.
"How?" she grouses, "So far, all you've done is sleep and talk about killing!"
"That's not true," Aang defends, slightly cross, even though she has a point, "He defeated General Fong and freed us! And he taught me how to bend with my face! And he stays awake at night to watch out for us."
Oh, he noticed that? Right, his nightmares are bound to wake him up. I don't give in to the urge to sigh. So much to do and there's no responsible adult in sight. There also wouldn't be if we had a mirror.
"Now, now. Let's all get along. We need to watch out for the curse," Lily tries to placate.
"Curse?" Sokka's jaw unhinges.
"Oh yeah," Chong says, "All you need to do is trust in love… Or you get lost in the labyrinth forever."
"And die," Lily adds.
"Right," Chong says and wriggles his fingers, "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song!" he ventures into the cave, plucks an accord and sings: "And dieeeee."
It echoes ominously. Heh, this guy has the best lines. Sokka has the best faces.
There should be a third trait everyone has, but someone's best at. Katara, probably. At being prissy.
Ouch, that's downright pathetic. Take out your underlying issues on a sixteen-year-old girl, why don't you?
"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" Sokka saves me from that train of thought. Let's hope it hasn't lost a caboose somewhere in the dregs of my mind.
The Chinese man points out a bonfire in the distance that looks suspiciously like the Fire Nation conveniently announcing their intentions to kill us. Katara and Sokka it seems, have the same thoughts as me.
"So all you need is to trust in love to get through the caves?" he glances surreptitiously at Katara who is frowning at the rising smoke like sheer willpower can stop the Fire Nation from advancing. Who knows, maybe she's onto something? She is pretty headstrong. There, I did not call her stubborn, just wilful.
"That is correct, Mr Arrowhead," Chong answers, no doubt catching the adoration on the Avatar's face when he looks at her.
"Then we'll be fine."
That's almost too sweet. No, definitely. I keep the bile in my stomach.
"Everyone, into the hole!" Sokka orders and we follow him inside. The air is surprisingly warm in these tunnels. I wonder why. Are these still active volcanic mountains? Does that sort of environment make firebenders stronger, like being surrounded by water at the North Pole gave me more of a sense of stability and belonging? I can bend just as well away from the ocean and all the ice, but I knew exactly what the area felt like and if the ice was structurally integral.
Would a firebender be able to tell the flow of magma? Or pinpoint heat signatures? Do they train firebenders to do that?
"Hey, Katara," I say in the spirit of getting along. "If you bend the dirt wet, you can get it off. But, like, you have to be careful. So. Try on a small patch first. It's very tricky to make the water force the more solid substance off, so it helps to make it wet."
"Oh, thanks!" Aang saves me from Katara's murderous-looking face.
What did I do? Did I explain something she already knows? Oh. Have I done a mansplain?
Aang tries to make use of the tip. But he ends up spreading the mud around on his trousers.
"Oh. Maybe I need to practise this more-"
We're not far in when the entrance collapses.
Appa groans and rushes at the settled rubble, trying to get through with sheer determination. Chong lights a torch. Good man. Katara approaches the flying bison and tries to calm him down.
"We will be fine. All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?" Sokka takes charge. Okay. Well, I believe in the power of love, Aang does, Katara does, and the nomads do, so we'll be fine.
"Eh, about two hours each."
"And we have five torches, so that's… ten hours," Lily lights the other four with a swipe on the ground. Pretty nifty, that. But not really what we need to appreciate right now.
Katara seems to think so, too and begins to bend her water to douse the flames just as Sokka stomps over to smother the torches. I manage to intercept her bending by looping it back into her water skin. No one but her and I notice and once she's done glaring at me, realisation crosses her features. If the torches are wet, they can't be lit. I'm not sure how the materials would interact with water, even if we extracted the liquid. She still sends a scowl my way.
I shrug. I'm not sorry. I'm very rarely sorry.
"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" Sokka shouts once he's stomped out the fire.
"Oh… right."
"I'm gonna make a map of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a puzzle and get through."
Good plan. So, does he go with something like 'ten paces in this direction' and 'a five degree slope upwards' to measure the distance and how the tunnels wind? Well, it doesn't really matter. We have the power of Love on our side.
In the spirit of that, I help Aang with the dirt on an unfortunate place on the back of his trousers.
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Don't forget to throw some power stones :)
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