A/N: I just realised, I've been forgetting my disclaimers, so:
I DO NOT OWN A:tlA!!
Chapter Ten; Differences
"Come on out, little lemur. That hungry guy won't bother you anymore."
Aang approached the drape, parted it, and walked through. He drew a sharp breath, startled at what he saw. Heaps of firebender uniforms and skeletons covering the floor of the decaying building.
"Firebenders? They were here?" he said, surprised. Then his gaze was drawn to the skeletal remains of an airbender monk, bathed in sunlight, who had apparently fallen in combat fighting against great odds.
"Gyatso..."
He fell to his knees, devastated, not noticing as Sokka came in behind him.
"Hey Aang, you find my dinner yet?"
Noticing Aang on the floor in tears, Sokka backtracked.
"Aang, I wasn't really going to eat the lemur, okay?" He saw the skeleton and put two and two together. "Oh, man... come on, Aang, everything will be all right. Let's get out of here."
Sokka put his hand on Aang's shoulder as the arrow on Aang's head began to glow incandescent blue. Aang's face was filled with anger as Sokka gasped and looked on in alarm.
The whole southern side of the temple was shaking on its foundations before Sokka managed to calm Aang down. They gave Gyatso all the burial they could, scratching out a message on the stone above his grave.
Here lies Gyatso, teacher and friend.
Katara loved the feel of silk. The material just shimmered over her skin, so smooth and soft, the cloth just a whisper against her body. Her minimalist childhood had made her wary of wealth, but this was a luxury she revelled in.
That night, Katara lay on the bed, naked as the day she was born, reclining on the silk sheets, revelling in the feel of it against her skin. It was sinful, this decadence, and she almost purred with the headiness of the intensity of the sensation. Her skin prickled and goosebumped as she writhed on the bed.
Gold eyes were watching her, and Zhao stepped in the room, his footsteps muffled by the carpet. Katara didn't know he was there until the bed dipped as he knelt onto it. Then, Katara opened her eyes and smiled; that smile she saved just for the privacy of the bedroom, when it was the two of them and there were so many more secrets.
"Beautiful," Zhao's voice was husky with want.
Katara's blue eyes darkened with lust, and she reached to cup Zhao through the material that covered his hard member. "So are you."
With a groan, Zhao covered Katara's body with his sturdy frame. The silk robe was stripped off and pooled, forgotten, onto the floor.
Aang was revealed rather - explosively - as the avatar in the small town that Haru lived in. Aang got away when the soldiers closed in, but Sokka was taken aboard the ship with the other benders. He orchestrated a daring escape plan with Haru's father and some other benders, sneaking into the furnace room and bending the coal to the decks.
Aang helped, but got a nasty burn on his leg for his troubles. Sokka made him promise to stay away if he ever got captured again. Sokka reckoned that his life wasn't worth it, but Aang disagreed. He still promised though.
"Do you see what I mean, sir?"
Zhao regarded the young woman as she moved through the various katas. Yes, he could see what the instructor meant. Her form was perfect, but she had a certain malleability- to flex and conform, to twist, to be what was required. It was disconcerting to watch her bend and flow with the water she carried in her hands, but not entirely unpleasant.
"Yes, I see. Try to refine her technique."
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It's my birthday today! Yay me!
