I do not own ATLA
AN: set sometime after "Bitter Work" and "The Library"
Also, AU
not edited
Jae picked up a pendant, bringing it close to her face to inspect. Shiny, very shiny. And pretty. Was that a real jade? She eyed it speculatively, wondering how much gold was in the chain.
She sighed. Did it matter? She didn't have the money to buy anything anyways. All she had was enough to buy supplies, like food, string, fabric and any other necessities she might need.
On second thought... her eyes flickered back to the swirled gem. Could she steal it? Jae checked her surveyed the market discreetly. There wasn't nearly enough people to successfully nab the piece without raising suspicion on herself immediately after, but if she blended and moved fast enough she could probably do it.
She'd need to distract the merch – oh, nevermind. He was eyeing her suspiciously.
Jae grinned sheepishly, scratching her head and putting the pendant back on it's hangar. Her grin turned lopsided as she moved away, sending one last longing glance to the necklace.
Now what to do. Jae looked around with interest. It was pretty plain to be honest, there wasn't much going on. Jae honestly loved wandering, to be able to explore and travel the world, but sometimes, there was just nothing to do.
She scratched her head, feeling lost, before her eyes stumbled upon the sight of the local tavern. Ahah! Jae hurried towards it, opening the door and taking a peek inside. It was mostly full, noisy with the sounds of gambling, laughter, the whispers of the rumour hill, and orders for food and drinks being thrown around.
The room was slightly dim, but Jae spotted a free table made her way towards it, dancing around the waitress walking and argument that was a few nasty insults away from a full brawl. Jae's grin came back and she shook her head. Gotta love the Earth Kingdom.
Ordering tea, dumplings (without meat of course) and sauce, Jae observed the those in the tavern before deciding it was safe. She pulled out her favourite sword handle, placed it on the table, then a map, one that was old with cracks and folding lines it. Places were circled and crossed out on the page, names and notes written all over.
This map symbolised the life of a nomad.
Jae, since she'd turned twelve was old enough to visit the world on her lonesome, had rarely stayed at one town, watering hole, or village for more than two weeks. Often times she'd double back, but only when she could, and when she was sure it was safe.
Despite all that her mother had said, Jae was of the opinion that this was the life of a nomad on the run. From nothing. As much as her parents went on and on about how dangerous it was for their people to stay in a single place, to permanently settle, Jae didn't believe them.
They could nag her as much as they wanted about the conspiracies and the theories but it had no effect on Jae's ears. Still, she followed their rules. If Jae had to guess, her parents were probably on the other side of the continent right now.
She hummed curiously, wondering where she'd go next. Would it be worth it going to Ba Sing Se? Getting a passport would be hell, and the paperwork made her wary. She could change her name, they'd never know, but the picture...
An empty patch on the map caught her eye. The Si Wong Desert.
She stared at it curiously. She shook her head. Nah. Jae hated the desert just as much as she hated sand. That didn't deter her from crossing the minor dry seas when she had to, but she'd rather not cross that one in particular.
The waitress came back with her order and Jae poked at her meal, eating in small bites. Pulling out a worn leather back notebook she flipped through the pages.
A loose piece of paper was folded between the pages and she plucked it out. Before Jae had first started her journey across the globe she'd written up a list of things she'd wanted to do. Most were crossed out, but a few remained unmarked.
The Eastern Air Temples for one. Even though her ancestors had come from their specifically.
Last Jae had heard Senge had established a little niche for himself there. The image of a tall, lean boy with black, short curly hair, green eyes and a permanent scowl flickered through her mind. She wore a shit eating grin of satisfaction. Yes. Jae knew just where to go.
Writing a note in her book and circling the area with her pencil, Jae started to pencil out the safest and most efficient route she could take.
Halfway in between biting a dumpling and sketching a sketching a lion turtle out of boredom on the corner of her map, the tavern's door swung open, letting rays of light illuminate the dim room.
Jae glanced at them, looked back down, before her whipped right back up. Water Tribe.
She raised a brow unconsciously. Well, that puts the theory that Water Tribesmen couldn't survive in the desert to flame. Haha. Jae shook her head at her own joke, once again focusing on the route. She'd have to double back at a few villages, and hire a boat, but it could work.
Jae sipped on her tea, happy to finally be done with it.
She folded her map, stuck securely into her bag, put in her notebook back, and then took out her drawing pad. She liked the atmosphere inside the tavern, and while it wasn't desert outside instead of just really dry, Jae would rather not be out there.
In the midst of all this, the newcomers – four of them though Jae could only see from the angle that she was at – had stared, offended, and anxiously tried to talk their way out of the trouble they'd gotten into with the rowdy bunch of men that were seconds away from initiating a good for fun brawl.
Normally Jae would have let them continue...
But the one that was nervously rambling sounded no older than a child, maybe eleven or twelve, and was helping their situation less and less by the second.
It was only when the leader of the bunch of men, an earth bender that looked the part – pure, solid muscle and as tall if not taller than the door – got up and looked ready to hit did Jae deign to intervene.
Jae loved children, and she couldn't stand for somebody, anybody making a move on them if they weren't mentor and student.
Jae stuffed her last two dumplings in her mouth and flung her dish at his head. It cracked, shattered against his head and fell to the floor in silence, like the cheering and whistles for a fight in the room.
Everyone froze. The leader turned around slowly, everyone in between Jae and the man ducking out of the way.
Jae raised an eyebrow. "Picking on a bunch of kids? I figured a mature adult like yourself was smart enough to do so. Guess not."
A vein on the leaders head pulsed. Jae hid her grimace behind a sip of her tea. Gross. She liked muscles like any other girl, but that did not look good. The leaders face bursted red like a tomato in the visible effort it took him to reign his anger.
"They insulted my brother of here," he gritted out, like that justified him almost pulling them into a fight. "if you're gonna talk shit, expect to get hit, huuhh."
Jae's gaze flickered behind him, catching sight of a little black haired girl that was with the Water Tribe kids. She looked down. Her shoes were open. An earth bender? Maybe. Jae then noticed her blindness, the mist fogging what could have been green eyes.
Jae's anger skyrocketed through the roof. Amongst the nine that currently wandered, and the thirteen that had their own territory, Jae, for all her normally happy, generally sheepish and airy personality, was the one who's anger defied the standard that their ancestors had set.
When Jae got angry, she got angry.
"You think you're so righteous fighting against kids? All because they accidentally insulted your honour?" Jae practically hissed, pushing her chair back as she stood. Jae wasn't as tall as this guy, but she'd been told by many people that she had the glare of the desert sun.
The idiot actually tried to correct her. "It was my broth–"
"I don't care who's honour it was! They were trying to apologise! If you you're so eager to fight the first person who insults you then here!" Jae threw her sauce right at his face (with a little bit of help. She was on the other side of the room after all).
He sputtered. His friends gaped while others gasped, and the kids behind him snickered quietly.
The leader wiped his face and glared. He dived towards her, knocking aside tables and chairs as people cleared the way, yelps ringing in the air. "You little bit–!"
Jae snagged drawing pad and all of her equipment stuffing them into her rucksack as quick as lightning with one hand and swiped her sword handle off the table with the other. She placed that in her belt. There were too many people, Jae accessed, ducking underneath a thick arm of toned muscle.
She couldn't possibly bribe or threaten all of these people to keep silence. So she dodged and ducked and danced her way around the man, striking blows his weak spots, jabbing with her knuckles at several of his pressure points. Chi blocking wasn't her favourite form of defense but it was damn sure efficient.
With a last striking blow via dish/es smashed atop his head, the leader went down with a grunt. Jae panted, adrenaline and fire rushing through her veins.
She looked up from the man on the floor with a lopsided grin.
"OWowowooW!" Jae winced, sending teary puppy eyes and a pout towards the tavern's owner. It didn't work.
He threw on to the floor outside the tavern, gave a stern look that said to not come back, and shut the doors with a loud thud.
Jae dropped in the floor letting out a gusty sigh. Looks like she'd make her journey towards the Eastern Air Temples now. Jae groaned, falling back against the ground. And she hadn't even gotten around to gambling!
What was she gonna do now? Jae didn't have the money to hire a boat, and she certainly couldn't just fly there.
She rubbed her eyes and jumped from on to her feet in a single action. Turning around, ready to go back to the market and stock up on some water and food she froze.
Her mouth dropped open.
The four kids she'd defended were in front of her. That didn't surprise her – Jae was expecting a thank you at the very least.
It was the fourth kid, the one that she hadn't seen that stopped her heart in it's tracks, made her lungs expel all breath, let her stomach climb into her throat.
Jae's mind was blank.
"HI! Sorry about that back there, we were just asking fordirections and Idunno buthetookitthewrongwayandgotangry!Wedidn'tmeantocausetroubleforyou–thanksagain, by the way...haha..." The kid mumbled sheepishly, a childish grin lighting up his face.
Jae's mind was blank.
What?
The Water Tribe girl facepalmed and send Jae an exasperated look. "Sorry, about him. He's... just a little excited."
"Excited, yeah right, you'd have thought he was told that Appa was having babies." The Water Tribe boy said jokingly, the little possible earth bender pinching his side.
"Lame." she scoffed.
If Jae's mind wasn't so blank and her tongue didn't feel so heavy she'd have agreed.
"But anyway," the kid continued as if his friends hadn't said anything, grey eyes brightening in a way that should have been impossible. "we watched you beat up that guy and we–"
"–he–"
"–wanted to know where you learnt how to fight like that." The kid looked expectant, rocking on his heels.
The first thing Jae registered was dear spirits, he was blinding her retina's. He should have been thrown into jail for what he was wearing. Yellow. Orange. Jae almost had a seizure.
"Ancestors," Jae breathed out, as a swear or an answer she wasn't sure. She lifted a shaky hand, pointing to his forehead then hers. Her eyes must have been as wide as the ocean. Shock didn't even cover what she was feeling."Is-is t-t-that w-what I–?"
The kid clapped his hands on his head in confusion, tilting it upwards as though if he looked up high enough he'd be able to see it. "Is what?" He frowned, large eyes looking at her imploringly.
"I think she mean's your arrow?" The Water Tribe boy but in, an expression of amusement – and well hidden suspicion – on his face.
"Ohhh." The kid said, nodding his head.
A beat of silence when he didn't answer, seeming to think something through. Jae took her chance then and snatched one of his wrists in a flash, jumping to the side of the sudden rock spike that slid out of the ground and dragged the kid down the street, ignoring the calls of his friends and his own yelps.
A few more rock formations and even a water whip Jae expertly weaved around the buildings and people, belatedly noticing that out of the four of them the kid was the only one not actively resisting.
It was in the shade of a building, away from most if not all wandering people that Jae stopped, letting go of the kids hand and spinning on her heel to face him. Footsteps echoed until his friends appeared around the corner, expressions of outrage on their faces.
"Hey what the hell?! Who d'you think you are?" The Water Tribe boy snapped, breathing heavily.
Jae stared at him evenly, serious in a way she couldn't remember ever being. Angry, pissed, irritated, maybe. But not serious. Jae thought this situation called for it.
Her eyes – grey, sometimes silver sometimes stormy, and just like his – flitted towards the kid rubbing his wrist. She eyed him specutevily, ignoring his friend's remarks. He was short, bold, wore clothing that should have been illegal, a staff rested comfortably on his back, and he had tattoos. Arrow tattoos.
"So," Jae finally regained her ability speak, head tilting to the side in curiosity. "you're the Avatar, right?"