The late afternoon air was brisk and chilly as I sat in the boat. A couple days ago Sokka had tricked me into coming along with him and Katara on their little fishing trip and sadly today was not one of their 'lets get along' days.
"You know, not that I don't love you guys, but remind me why I'm here again?" I asked just to break the silence. Sokka snorted with his eyes still on the water.
"That would be because you don't have anything better to do." He replied in a snotty tone before flashing a smile my way to show he was kidding. "Think of it this way Neela, if you had to stay in the village without me you would complain about how bored you were because no one would talk to you."
I gaped in indignation and huffily replied, "That is so not true, I could have stayed with Katara. Right Katara?" I glanced back to see her nodding thoughtfully.
"She's right Sokka, besides aren't you the one that's always saying you catch more fish when you're alone? Why are we here anyway?" Katara asked, not noticing how Sokka deflated as she spoke.
"Can't a guy want to spend the day with his two best girls?" He whined loudly with a blush that threatened to take over his whole face. Laughing I hugged him from behind.
"Aww Sokka, aren't you just the sweetest?" I joked while watching him get all flustered. Suddenly Katara leaned over the boat and yelled, "Look Sokka! Fish!" causing Sokka to jump and look around the water again.
"AHA! You're not gonna get away from me this time." He stared intently at the water.
Laughing quietly, I leaned back and allowed myself to get comfortable. This is the only reason I ever let Sokka convince me to come fishing-to see him fail spectacularly. First he gets all intent, like he is right now, stalking his prey. Then he raises his weapon comically slowly, and that's usually when-
"Look Sokka!" Katara exclaimed, "Look, I caught one!"
"Shhh Katara." He whispered, "You're going to scare it away."
I glanced over at Katara just in time to see Sokka's spear to burst her little water bubble, all over us. I squealed, but couldn't control my laughter.
"Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" Sokka asked rudely. My laughter died away as I quickly predicted what was about to happen next.
"Uh guys-" I started nervously but was cut off by Katara.
"Ugh it's not magic, it's water bending. And it's-" She started but Sokka interrupted her.
"Yeah, yeah. An ancient art unique to our culture blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying if I had weird powers I'd keep my weirdness to myself."
"Sokka!" I smacked him on the shoulder.
"You're calling me weird?" Katara asked, ignoring me. "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water." She said smugly as Sokka was doing just that. Abruptly our small boat crashed into a little ice in the water and jolted us from the argument. The ice we crashed against started us down a fast current that lead to even more large pieces of ice. Sokka quickly took control of the paddle while Katara tried to map our way through the ice. This reminded me of a scarier, smaller version of ice dodging.
"Sokka?" I asked nervously, grabbing onto the sides of the small boat.
"Hold on tight, both of you." He called back to us.
"Sokka go left!" Katara called out, seeing a calmer current. Sokka started heading that way but in the end the current won out forcing us to collide with two large pieces of ice at once. We were tossed out, screaming the whole way. Landing with a thud on a rather large piece of ice, I collected myself and tried to stop shaking. Sokka, who had landed on top of me pushed off and looked us both over, silently making sure we were alright.
"You call that left?" Katara asked sounding just like her brother. Slapping my forehead I prepared myself for the next sibling argument.
"You don't like my steering, well; maybe you should have water bended us out of the way." Sokka bit back sarcastically.
"So it's my fault?" She asked angrily.
"I knew I should have come alone. Leave it to a girl to screw things up." He said, not looking at either of us. I officially sat back and let Katara verbally abuse him since that one was out of line. I watched Katara get angrier and angrier before she finally exploded.
"You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained-ugh! I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" She flailed her arms angrily. In the distance a cracking sound formed but this was too good to look away from. Sokka even seemed to look like he was sorry or scared really. "Ever since mom died," she continued "I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been out playing soldier." She accused.
With more flailing and a larger cracking sound I finally looked up and saw what Sokka must have been seeing. An ice berg was slowly coming apart, and it seemed Katara was spurring it on.
"Uh, Katara?" Sokka tried in a small voice.
"I even wash all the clothes," she carried on indignantly, "Do you even know how smelly your socks are? Not pleasant!" She flailed again, causing the biggest cracking noise yet. I got up and got ready to grab her and run if it fell.
"Katara settle down." I said in my best warning voice.
"NO. That's it! I'm done helping you. From now on you're on your own!"
And with that the glacier burst open. Grabbing Katara, I shoved her back down on the ice and grabbed onto the side of it with the arm that wasn't holding her. Sokka next to me was looking around trying to see if we were in any real danger. Other than a small wave we were fine. After a second I relaxed and let out the breath I had been holding.
"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish." Sokka accused Katara.
"Sokka!" I yelled at him. "That's it! Both of you."
They both looked at me guiltily for a second before we were all distracted by something glowing in the water. Freaking out I stood up, noticing them do the same. A giant round, glowing, ice berg thing emerged from the water. There was a human like shape in the middle that seemed to be the source of the glow. Looking closer it looked like a young boy. Suddenly his eyes opened and the glowing got even more intense.
"He's alive. We have to help." Katara said determined, taking her brothers club from his back.
"Katara, get back here." He said frantically. "We don't know what that thing is."
We had to run to catch up with her, jumping from ice block to ice block in the water until we reached the giant glowing thing. Immediately she began beating at the ice, trying to save the little boy or whatever it is. One particularly hard blow to the ice and it broke open releasing air pressure that blew us off our feet. A strange glowing beam of light shot straight up as Sokka grabbed hold of Katara and I. slowly the boy-thing walked out, the glow receding before he promptly passed out. Katara leaped forward to catch him while Sokka decided to poke his head with the back side of his staff. Stifling my laughter I dragged his arm away from the kid.
Nodding thankfully to me, Katara then gently set him down and watched as he began to stir. His eyes finally shot open with a gasp, "I need to ask you something." He said to Katara.
"Okay?" She asked trustingly.
That girl trusts way too easily I thought unhappily.
"Please, come closer." He asked with his voice raw from disuse.
"What is it?" she asked while coming closer.
We're going to have a little talk about stranger danger when we get back to the village I thought.
"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" He asked cheerfully, his voice apparently normal again. Everyone blinked collectively. That was the last thing anybody expected to hear the kid say.
"Uh, sure, I guess." She said, probably questioning his sanity.
I gaped at him, "Really? You come out of an iceberg and that's what you want to ask?" Was this guy for real?
The kid seemed to just float up to a standing position and Sokka stumbled back.
"What's going on here?" The kid finally asks.
"You tell us," Sokka said angrily, "how'd you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?" He asked, poking the kid again. The kid lazily waved the staff away,
"I'm not sure," he said before gasping suddenly and climbing over the ice. We shared a look before walking around it. "Appa, are you alright?" Was all the warning we got before we turned the corner. Who's Appa? I wondered.
He was apparently talking to the giant furry thing with a huge saddle. Okay, now I'm seeing things.
"Wake up buddy," The kid told it before jabbing at its mouth until it woke up with a groan. "You're okay!" He laughed. I rubbed my eyes a few times in disbelief. This thing was huge.
"What is that thing?" Sokka asked.
"This is Appa, my flying bison." The kid chirped happily.
"Right…and this is Katara," He gestured to his left, "my flying sister."
Appa started growling and twitching, and I backed away from Sokka knowing he would be the target of some unexpected catastrophe that I did not want to be next to. I was proven right about three seconds later when the bison sneezed all over him. I couldn't hold my laughter in as Sokka dropped to the ground and tried to wipe the snot off himself while making these grossed out noises.
"Don't worry" the kid said nicely, "it'll wash out. So do you guys live around here?"
"Don't answer that," Sokka demanded, pointing his staff at the kid. "Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the fire navy."
"Sokka, you're being paranoid again." I told him gently, even if a little unsurely. The kid seemed harmless.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the fire navy, you can tell by that evil look in his eye." Katara said while getting in between the two. The kid smiled at that. "The paranoid one is my brother Sokka, and that's Neela. You never told us your name."
"I'm ah-ah-ah-ugh-ah-uh-ACHOOO!" He sneezed and shot up in the air. Once back down on the ground he smiled, "I'm Aang." He sniffled.
I gaped at him, pointing from him to where he was at least fifteen feet up.
"You just sneezed. And flew ten feet up in the air," Sokka pointed in disbelief.
"Really? Felt higher than that." He questioned. I silently agreed with him. But hey what do I know?
Katara gasped, "You're an air bender!"
"Sure am." He nodded, like that was something you see every day.
"Giant light beams; flying bison, air benders…I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Sokka complained. He turned around dramatically and walked to the edge of the ice berg only to stop and stare at the water.
"Hey Sokka, did you forget that you crashed your boat?" I asked innocently.
"It was a canoe. And yes." He groaned.
"Well if you guys are stuck," the kid started, "Appa and I can give you a lift." He offered while air bending to the bison's reigns.
"We'd love a ride. Thanks!" Katara spoke for all of us. I gave her the evil eye as she rushed off to the bison. Yes, we'll definitely have a little talk once we're back home.
"Oh no, I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster." Sokka refused.
Katara laughed smugly, "Are you hoping some other monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death?"
Sokka opened his mouth to argue but then thought better of it for once and gave in. He looked to me, but I was eyeing the bison skeptically. It seemed to be eyeing me back.
"Neela, are you okay with this?" He asked concerned.
"It doesn't look like we have a choice." I told him sadly. We walked to the furry monster of doom and Sokka climbed up first so he could help me up. Sitting on the back of the saddle, I sat uncomfortably between the siblings yet again. Katara, as always, was the picture of childhood joy. Sokka, as always, was the picture of skepticism.
"First time riders hold on tight. Appa yip yip." Aang called back to us. The bison rolled and moved and growled, prepared to take flight and finally jumped up high in the air-and fell back into the icy water.
"Wow… that was truly amazing." Sokka deadpanned as Aang tried to get Appa to fly. Katara shot him a nasty look and moved over to Aang. Taking advantage of the extra space, Sokka spread out. Moving me like a rag doll, as always, to between his legs, he settled us so we could both get warm and I could take a small nap on the three hour trip back home.
"Appa's just tired." Aang insisted, "Let him get a little sleep and he'll be soaring through the sky, you'll see." He informed us. Then he stared at Katara with a small little smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?"
He deflated and spluttered, "Oh I was smiling?" He asked sincerely which made Katara smile again and Sokka to groan into my hair. I laughed and closed my eyes, not willing to pass up any kind of sleep. Slowly the world drifted off with only the sound of Sokka's steady breathing in my ear.
I woke up to the sun shining in my face. I rolled over with a groan and scrunched my eyes shut as hard as I could.
"Wakey wakey princess." Sokka cut through the silence quietly.
"NO." I grumbled, pulling the sheets over my head.
"I've got fooooood." He persuaded.
I looked out cautiously to see him kneeling beside me with his hands behind his back. "What kind of food?"
"Good food." He pulled out my favorite breakfast but kept it out of reach. My eyes lit up and I nodded excitedly. "Thought so." He said smugly before turning away so he could set up breakfast while I threw on some over clothes.
I stuck my toe out of the covers to make sure it wasn't too cold and was happy to see that it was even warmer than usual. Getting up I threw on my pants and coat while wondering, "Did I sleep in?"
Sokka turned around when he was finished placing the food and began eating with a nod. "Yeah, you never sleep well so I decided not to wake you up. I took care of your morning chores with the ladies so don't worry about that."
"Thanks Sokka, you are amazing. Seriously is it my birthday?" I was kidding…mostly.
"Ha ha." He deadpanned, " No I just really can't remember the last time you slept so well. Besides, that Aang kid took my soldiers from me."
"I was hoping that was a dream." I finally dug into the food and savored every drop.
"Nah. The worst part though is that the whole village just loves the guy. I don't get it."
I gave him a sharp look. "Hey. Rule #1: no talking about the villagers in my tent."
"Sorry." He muttered, "I just don't understand how they can accept a complete fucking stranger but they won't…ugh." He trailed of quietly.
"They won't accept one of their own?" I sighed. "Sokka…It's okay. I mean I kind of get it, with the war and everything. Eventually, they'll have to accept me."
We shared the mean silently after that, not really having anything else to say. The silence was broken a few minutes later when a loud whistling sound was heard and shortly followed by a loud boom. Sokka and I shared a look before running outside.
The sky was yellow as we rushed to the southern gate where everyone was standing. In the distance you could just barely make out Aang and Katara.
"What happened?" Sokka asked fiercely. The women of the tribe finally noticed our presence and shifted as far away from me, and by extension, Sokka, as possible.
"The air bender set off that flare." Sokka's gran-gran told him. Sokka was so mad he stopped talking completely and turned to face the two returning with his arms crossed. My breath hitched at the look in his eye, I've never seen him so mad before. I didn't bother to try to calm him down before the two showed up. He's never listened before and he's never given that fuck off vibe before.
Slowly Katara and Aang got here, stopping a few feet away.
"I knew it!" Sokka accused, "You signaled the fire navy with that flare. You're leading them straight to us aren't you?"
"Aang didn't do anything, it was an accident." She told him snappily and Aang nodded vigorously.
"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well…we boobied right into it." Aang said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"Katara you shouldn't have gone on that ship," Their gran-gran scolded, "now we are all in danger."
"Don't blame Katara, I brought her in there." The kid took the blame, starting to realize how bad this was. "It's my fault."
He hung his head and Sokka jumped in, "AHA the traitor confesses! Warriors away from the enemy, the foreigner is banished from the village."
"Sokka, you're making a mistake!" Katara tried.
"No. I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him." He said angrily.
"Aang is not our enemy. Don't you see? Aangs brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun." Katara argued.
"Fun? We can't fight the fire navy with fun." Sokka wasn't letting up.
"You should try it sometime." Aang said to try and break the tension.
"Get out of our village now." Sokka told him, obviously having enough.
"Grandmother please. Don't let Sokka do this."
"Katara you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right, I think it best if the air bender leaves." Her gran-gran told her.
"Fine! Then I'm banished too. Come on Aang, lets go." Katara said dragging him away.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka asked angrily.
"To find a water bender. Aang is taking me to the north pole." Her voice was shaking now.
"I am? Great." The was confused but completely willing to just take her away.
Sokka groaned. "Katara! Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?"
They stopped, and whispered to each other before Aang got up on Appa to get ready to leave. Katara, I was happy to note, was still on the ground a few feet away. "It was nice meeting everyone." He said nicely.
"Let's see your bison fly now air boy." Sokka said snottily. I touched his elbow gently and shook my head when he looked over to me. He huffed but nodded.
"Come on Appa, you can do it. Yip yip." Appa got up but before he could move Li cried and ran up to Katara.
"Aang don't go. I'll miss you." Li said in the sweetest little voice. It was more than a little heartbreaking as it reminded me of when she said that to her father almost two years ago when he had to leave for the war.
"I'll miss you too." He replied sincerely. Katara and Aang shared a moment and then he was leaving. I went back inside the village as Sokka started shouting orders to the little kids. I went back inside my tent for a quick prayer, the way my mother showed me. I only ever do it inside my tent as the village doesn't like to be reminded that I share my mother's fire nation religion. It's not even fire nation-not really. My mother was part of this fire nation rebellion group and she picked it up there.
Inside the tent, I closed off the entryway and was incased in near darkness. Only the barest of sun filtered through the thickness of the tent and I used that to find my way to the altar. The altar of prayers my mother once called it is a metal stand with three medium sized incense atop it. Once lit, you gather the smoke in your hand and guide it to your face, speaking your prayer aloud. It only took a minute or two and then I was free to go outside and watch over the tribe.
Sitting outside my tent I started sharpening my mother's old weapon. Shaped like a sickle, the sharp blade was made for agility and damage. I had the awful feeling I would need it soon. I watched the villagers as they all seemed to have lost hope already, lifelessly doing chores. And then there was Sokka, strolling through the village like he owned the place. Well, I thought, with him being the oldest male he pretty much does. He was heading to his little fort but when he saw me he quickly detoured.
"Neela, what are you doing?" He asked with a tired sigh.
"Sharpening my mother's weapon. Just in case." I told him without even looking at him.
"Neela...please look at me." He begged quietly. Reluctantly I looked up. "Look, I know you can swipe the floor with me anyday, but we're talking about fire nation soldiers. Experienced soldiers. Promise me you won't try to fight them. I just couldn't forgive myself if you got hurt." His eyes bore into mine intensely and my heart spluttered. In that moment, with his warpaint on, I could picture the man he will be in a few years.
I nodded slowly. "Sokka I-" The ground shook and out of the late afternoon mist came the massive fire navy ship. Sokka and I took off at a run and met with the villagers as the front opened up and soldiers poured out. I held myself back from running to Sokka as the leader kicked him aside.
The soldiers filed in front of us, their leader coming forward and pacing in front of us.
"Where are you hiding him?" He demanded. He sounded very young and very angry. I wedged myself in between Katara and her grandmother, ready to defend if I needed to. After a moment of intense, if confused, silence his hand shot out and grabbed onto gran gran. Faster than I ever knew I could move my hand shot up and removed his arm from her person.
"Get your grubby little hands out of this village." I told him quietly.
Well thats chapter one. Let me know If I'm doing ok or if I'm doing poorly. Before I posted this someone told me I use WAY too many comma's when writing so if you notice anything like that seriously just let me know.