His feet sunk into the soft sand. With every step, he came just a little bit closer to his camp, where his brother resided. Hopefully he wouldn't have been a dragonfly and actually start an adequate camp fire. No, never mind, that was too much to ask for. Nobody could teach his brother that.

His rucksack was heavily weighed down by the gigantic platypus bear egg. Dragons, this egg is heavy, he thought wearily.

Soul trudged along the coast steadily, approaching an, unsurprisingly, dark campsite.
"Wes! I thought you were making a fire," Soul called out casually. He slid the leather sack off his back and dragged it across the ground.

"I was, dear brother, and I still am," Wes sniffed indignantly. He wrinkled his nose slightly and turned back to his problem at hand "But the wood is damp, so I'm drying it. My fire can't burn wet wood, now can it?" He turned back to the wood, slowly brushing his hand across the wood to dry it.

"Give it to me," Soul reached out and tried to grab the log, but Wes only turned away. "Hey! Come on, you're my older brother? Hear that word, older?" Wes grumbled and shuffled away.

"Yes, I have, and I have no need for it," Wes huffed and went back to the redundant task of warming the log.

"For someone so old," Wes growled warningly, "you can be really stupid." Soul blasted a jet of fire from his fist, igniting the other logs in the fire pit. The heat blast was so powerful (much more so than necessary) it dried out the lumber upon impact. Wes stared blankly.

"I don't care, I can still control my fire better then you," Wes walked to Soul's forgotten rucksack and flipped it open. Looking inside, he lifted up the edible treasure lying within "A platypus bear egg! I can't believe you were able to get a hold of this!" Soul smirked triumphantly and brushed his hand to his chest.

"All you need is speed."

Wes rolled his eyes and took out a tiny frying pan. Setting it on a metal sheet that was balanced above the fire, he cracked the egg and poured a bit into the pan. Taking out a spatula, he sat down on a nearby rock and waited.

Soul took a seat on a rock on the opposite side of the fire, watching the fire keenly. "Remember when we found out we could fire bend?" he asked softly. It was barely heard over the crackling of the fire and the lapping waves, but Wes heard.

"Yeah. I remember. I found out before you," Wes chuckled at the memory "I guess setting my girlfriend's flowers on fire wasn't a bright move." Soul looked up and smiled.
"I remember that! You came home sobbing like a baby that day," Soul grinned, the firelight shading his face to the point of getting a particularly evil look.

"I did not!" Wes chuffed. He raised and irritated eyebrow as his younger sibling burst out laughing.

"You totally did!" sibling in question grinned. "I can remember you crying to mom about it. 'Mom, I set my girlfriend's flowers on fire!'" Soul cracked up and rolled on the sand uncontrollably.

Wes stared and flipped the egg patties, "I'm getting married."

"So?"

"You'd have more luck finding a Sun warrior than you would finding a wife. No, your wife would be a Sun warrior!" Wes started laughing at his own joke. Soul simply scowled.

"I didn't have a pregnancy scare with my fiancé," Soul sulked from his spot in the sand.

"I wasn't the one to try and date a flower pot," Wes gritted his teeth. He would never get over that.

"You swore you would never bring that up again!" Soul screeched, pointing his finger at Wes wildly.

Wes blinked in a rather owl-like manner while looking at the offending finger "I wouldn't point that around wildly, if I were you. With your level of control on your powers, you might's well be pointing a cannon at me. I don't know about you, but I really don't feel like getting myself burned to death by my dragon moose brained brother."

"Maybe I want to burn your ass off," Soul remarked as he seated himself upon his rock huffily.

"Try me. I bet it would just backfire and blow up in your face," Wes scoffed.

"Are you trying me or something?"

"Maybe I am. Oh look! The first batch of egg patties are done!" Wes squealed (in a ratehr girly way).

"Yeah, now shut up and pass me my food," Soul rolled his eyes.

"Typical teenager. What would you like your food served on, sand or dead fish that washed up here yesterday?" Wes gave Soul a pointed look.

Soul scowled at Wes before lifting himself up to lope over to the supply sack. Fishing in the bag for few minutes, he eventually pulled out a couple of plates, he slumped over to the fire and plopped one in the sand. The other was held out in a sign of waiting.

"And cutlery?" Wes looked up at Soul innocently. Soul let out a cry of (young adult) anguish and slumped back over to the supply sack.

Soul came back a bit later, holding out the cutlery angrily. Wes plucked the cutlery out of his hands and slid a few egg patties on Soul's plate. Soul sighed in pleasure and took his place back on his rock.

"Teenagers, so easy to please. Give them food, sleep and friends and they're happy," Wes sighed dreamily. "I remember those days. Back before I turned twenty seven."

"We get it, you're twenty seven. Any thing else you'd like to say?" Soul grumbled over his food, which consequently spewed everywhere.

"You're disgusting."

"I take pleasure in watching you cringe," Soul deadpanned.

"Teenagers…" Wes rolled his eyes and ate his food.

"For the last time," Soul sat himself up straight. He leaned towards his brother and gestured with his fork "I am not a teenager, I am a young adult. For Zuko's sake, I'm nineteen! That classifies as young adult."
Wes waited for Soul to fill his mouth before he answered "I don't really care."

Spewing the food into the fire, Wes guffawed as Soul started rambling incoherently.

"I hate you Wes," Soul seethed.

"And I hate you to," Wes beamed. As he poured in more of the egg into the frying pan, Soul bit his lip.

He looked up at the dark skies above him, simmering in the irritation of the recent triffle. His brother really could rub him the wrong way. Then again, nineteen years of living with someone can so that to you. Soul smirked as he thought of Wes's wife, and how she would have to deal with him. Hmff... That would be fun to watch.

Speaking of which, how did Wes truly know he would love his fiancé? He had married her after only a year of living with one another. Soul wondered if the marriage would really work out well. Not that he didn't trust his brother's opinion (unless he felt his brother was up to something), it just seemed a bit rushed.

Yet Wes seemed genuinely happy to be with his girl, and when given the chance to talk about it, would go on for ages about how he was excited to be able to have a child with her. Not that they hadn't already nearly done so.. Though if that child had been born... Well, no good things would have come out of that.

In fact, how did one find who they fell in love with. They might just end up breaking your heart. Really, was it worht it?

As Soul pondered this, he realized that he could just ask his brother. His brother claimed to love this girl more than any other, and that she was the most lovely thing to come across. Deciding his course of action, he straightened up and looked at his brother, "What's it like to be in love?" He asked. Wes looked up in surprise.

"Well, it's a wonderful, horrible thing," Wes tried to explain. "It's wonderful, because you feel happy around that person, and you feel at ease," Wes leaned back, the shadows of the fire dancing across his face.

"But it's horrible, because to see that person hurt breaks you a little bit. It's an excruciating pain when they reject you, and when they leave, they take a little bit of your heart with you that you can never get back."
"Is it worth it," Soul asked softly, "Worth the pain to be in love?"

Wes smiled a little bit, "Yes."

Soul smiled a little bit as well. The two brothers ate their food slowly, peacefully munching on the egg.
Soul stared up into the sky, thinking about how far they were from home. But that is the life of travelling musicians. One does not stay in on place for long before moving to the next town. Pity that town was so far away, and as Wes had predicated when they first set out, a "Two days trip, unfortunately."

Wes and Soul had left their home on, strange reasons.

Soul had left after he had gotten sick of his parents criticism of his bending, and Wes had tagged along to make certain that he was safe. It had taken a while to gather their supplies, but when they had, it was a rewarding experience to say the least.

Though unlike Soul, Wes had plans to return home after one circulation of the nations to his fiancé. Compared to his brother, she was short, and petite. Wes was broad and tall, with a shock of white hair and flaming eyes, like Soul, though he was on the thin side, built for stealth and agility.

Wes's fiancé bore black hair and amber eyes, like many of the fire nation. Wes would always have a hand on her shoulder, or on the small of her back in public.

Oddly enough, Wes was a tad shorter than Soul. Soul was at a staggering height, whereas Wes was a bit more contained (though still tall, a common trait in the Evans family). Wes was shorter and had a stronger build, full of muscle and strength. Soul was on the thins side, for agility and speed. The two only bore the resemblance of skin, hair and eyes. Even to open their jaws (a fearsome task, to say the least as one would be in a high risk of being bitten), their teeth would differ greatly. Soul, unlike any other person he had ever met, had sharp, jagged teeth.

"Should we play a small song before bed?" Wes asked, interrupting Soul's thoughts.

"Sure, just let me get my zither. Want your erhu?" Soul asked, turning over his shoulder as he walked away.

"I said we, you flutter bat brain!" Wes grinned.

Soul snorted and grabbed his brother's erhu. Taking it to him, they sat at the campfire before plinking their instruments, checking the instruments were in tune and adjusting if necessary.

"The East Is Red?" Wes asked, and Soul nodded. Together, they started the song. It was soft and peaceful, with the slightest touch of sadness.

Soul watched his brother play, and waited for his chance, and started singing. His voice was deep, yet controlled so it would not overpower the song and ruin it, but enough so that its presence was evident. Soul sang softly, and watched as his brother played. Soul played the zither, quick fast notes and small gaps for his brother.

If one were to overhear, they might have come a bit closer to listen to the beautiful music that the brothers produced, but on that riverbed under the dark, starry skies, not a single soul heard the music that was played.

Not a single soul, besides the brothers.