Task: Your character(s) have always watched other people riding on the large green animals and wished they could too, though their loved one(s) wouldn't allow it. But what can you do when one of the person's passing by on an Eel Hound offers you a ride.
Prompts:
* (word) magnificent
* (colour) emerald
* (dialogue) "maybe this was a bad idea"
* (AU) College field trip
* (character) Tahno
Word Count: 831
Final 01
I am Tenzin, son of Avatar Aang. While my father and Fire Lord Zuko are off in the Earth Kingdom, creating a new country, I am studying with my siblings and friends at the Royal Fire Nation Academy. Today, we are on a field trip to the Ember Island Museum. I know this place inside-out because uncle Zuko used to take me here all the time when I was little. Nevertheless, it still excites me.
We reach an exhibit contained within a glass wall. It is a magnificent skeleton with powerful legs and a streamlined head. You can tell it is powerful, for the bones are thick - if the bones are too thin, they cannot support big muscles. This is, without a doubt, an Eel Hound, as I call out before reading the inscription at the base of the wall. According to legend, it is the one which carried Sokka, Suki and Toph during Sozin's Comet and helped them intercept Ozai's air fleet. I personally do not believe it. Sokka insists it's the truth, but we all know he likes to exaggerate. I wonder where Bumi gets it, I think sarcastically to myself.
Unfortunately, not everyone is as enthusiastic as me. Two people in particular, were hardly paying attention until they saw the skeleton. I hear my sister, Kya, whispering to my girlfriend, Lin. Lin is the daughter of Toph Beifong and a man whom I have never met. Kya whispers, "Hey, wanna bonk off and see the Eel Hound race?" Lin nods in response.
Taking Lin by the hand, Kya sneaks off from the main group. The supervisors are my older brother Bumi and Prince Zuko's daughter, Izumi. They were distracted; for Bumi was attempting to flirt with Izumi. Seeing thus, I leave after giving them a head-start and I trail behind. My father taught me in stealth, so they don't seem to notice. There was a chance that Lin could see me, for her mother taught her seismic sense - the art of seeing with your feet. In order to circumvent this, I created very small balls of air under my feet that make me undetectable. They don't seem to notice, anyway.
I follow them as they run through the beach, still holding hands. She's my girlfriend, not Kya's... calm yourself, Tenzin. An airbender must never get jealous. I still stalk them. That is, until I notice a child crying in the sand. I kneel down to look at him. I ask him softly, "What is your name?"
"Tahno," he replies between sobs.
"What's wrong, Tahno?" I ask him.
Standard problem, he lost his mummy. I help him find her before trying to regain my bearings. I have lost them, but I know where they are destined. I decide to cut them off and sprint to the eel hound racing stadium. I use airbending to accelerate myself.
"Maybe this was a bad idea..." I mutter to myself, "if they were planning on going elsewhere and kissing, they obviously wouldn't have come here."
Fortunately, they don't not seem to have planned that, for they arrive shortly after me. I hear them whispering, "Did you bring money?" and "No, did you?"
I walk up to the counter and order three tickets in a loud voice. I then turn to them and give them each a ticket. "Thanks, Tenzin," they respond in unison, with monotonous voices. I walk with them through the gates and take a seat in between the two girls. Lin doesn't seem to mind but Kya is fuming.
The race commences and large, emerald beasts emerge from their pens and charge forward at the whims of their jockeys. One of them is struggling, while another easily outpaces the rest and comes first. The losers are abused while the winner is showered with praise. How cruel. That, and they have to carry the wait of the jockeys.
Lin looks at me, "I want to ride on one of the eel hounds."
I look back at her, "Are you crazy? You could get hurt. Besides, it's cruel to the animals."
Lin looks visibly hurt. Woops. She has gone silent.
We walk out together and I hold her, "I'm sorry, Lin, I just don't want you to get hurt."
Then she says "Hold on, have you seen Kya?"
Why does she keep talking about Kya? Wait. Where is Kya?
I call out, "Kya!" Then, using airbending, I amplify my call, "KYA?"
She calls out from the distance, "Calm down, Tenzin, I'm coming!" When she arrives, she arrives on the back of an even larger eel hound.
Oh no.
"Lin, get on!" She calls out.
I hold Lin's shoulder, "Please don't."
She looked at me and said, "Don't worry I'll be fine... wait. Are you jealous?" She then giggles and pecks me on the cheek before earthbending herself up and onto the eel hound. Kya flashes me a dirty look and splashes me with water from her pouch as she rides off.
