Day 2: Summer Nights

"There better be a good reason for which you made me sneak out in the woods in the midnight like a freak," Jinora whispered while airbending her way through the unexpectedly thick vegetation.

"I always have a reason," Kai said from a few meters away.

"Sweetheart, I can barely remember the times you had, and actually, neither the times you didn't, so that's not a good thing."

"Believe me, you're going to like this. And why are you whispering? There's only the two of us around here. You're not going to wake anyone up."

They were indeed alone in the woods, walking through a clear and silent night, which made Jinora slightly uncomfortable. I'd like to wake myself up. "You do know we're leaving tomorrow, right? When are we going to sleep?"

"We'll have plenty of time, it's not going to take too long if you cooperate. Watch out for this branch, by the way," he said ducking the said obstacle.

Jinora took a look around at the trees that looked far more menacing in the dark, but strangely also more peaceful with all the lemurs sleeping in them.

Lemurs?

"Kai," Jinora whispered again, "there are lemurs around here. We're not alone." Suddenly, the island felt a bit more crowded.

"I never said I had a good eye sight in the dark, but anyway, they're not the only interesting things around here."

The teenager carefully blew a bent branch out of their way to reveal a clearing. It was sprinkled with floating light particles, swirling and brightening up the forest in a mystical fashion.

Jinora stepped closer and widened her eyes. "Fireflies? My... They look so lovely," she spoke in fascination, her eyes sparkling in the light of the swarm of luminous bugs.

"I told you I had a reason. See this," Kai said and handed Jinora a jar the size of a sleeping lemur. "We're going to catch a few."

"This is why you brought the jar with you?"

"What did you expect?"

"I thought you had treats in it or something," Jinora chuckled lightly.

"Nonsense. I ate them all. So, this is how we're going to operate – "

"I get it that it's fun and all to catch fireflies, but you'll release them afterwards, right?"

"Sure," Kai spoke with his most halcyon voice. "Now listen to me..."

Shortly, dozens of miniature air whirls started being launched as improvised nets towards the unsuspecting fireflies, moving along with two arms crazily carrying an open jar to swallow all the insects. Hardly breathing from constant running while holding the jar, Kai stumbled over a twig and fell quite like a plank while managing to put the cap on.

"Spirits, are you okay?" Jinora asked worryingly running towards him.

"Yeah. The fireflies are fine. Can I keep 'em in my room until we release them?"

"Sure you can, but be more careful with all your energy." She helped Kai stand up and pecked his cheek. "I had fun."

Kai lifted the jar so that it was filtering the light of the full moon, casting a blend of white and golden light upon their faces.

"It's so beautiful," Jinora spoke fondly, hypnotized by the image. She giggled and brought the fireflies closer to her. "Nature is spectacular and full of little gems like this." She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "But we still have to go to sleep. You don't want to be late on the beach, right?"

"Beach?" he said widening his eyes. "Uhm, sure. Can't wait to cross the ocean half-asleep."

"And that's why we're going to fly back to the temple now," she said getting ready to fly.

"Jin, I think you're forgetting the fact that we're in our jammies, and we didn't bring our gliders either. That's why we had to march through the forest."

Suddenly, Jinora descended from cloud nine and landed on the overly run over grass of the clearing. "That's...that's great. Sleeping here seems more convenient, actually."

She did sleep in her own bed, carried by a never-running-low-on-energy Kai all the way back to the light-bathed temple. But somewhere in the middle of the forest, a firefly had to fly through the night on its own.