A continuation of the previous one. :D
The Sacred Text -Part Two-
Before Suki could read anymore, Aang lunged at her, using airbending to propel himself forward extremely quickly, his figure reduced to a blur. Before Suki could figure out what had happened, Aang was hanging on the rafters, holding the book high, out of everyone's reach. "Hey!" Sokka exclaimed, trying to reach for the book. Aang stared down each individual, his face annoyed.
"We can read it, but only if we skip my childhood. I'd rather not relive my cowardice," he said, waiting for a response. Katara agreed almost immediately, and the others followed. Sokka narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms. He didn't steal the book to just skip over certain parts. But he knew that if he didn't agree, he wouldn't get to read any of it. "Fine, fine," he said, throwing up his arms in defeat. "Let's skip to where Katara and I come in," he said, plopping down on some cushions as Aang glided down from the ceiling. Suki sat next to Sokka, taking his hand and giving him a small smile.
Aang sat criss-crossed on the floor, with Katara beside him, leaning over to read over his shoulder. Zuko and Mai pulled themselves on top of the railing, resting their backs on the posts. Aang cleared his throat, and began to read.
Chapter Three -The Boy In The Iceberg-
It was deep in the middle of the winter, and members of the Southern Water Tribe had long since packed in the fishing boats and built up the fires, trying to stay warm through the harsh winter. But one pair of siblings decided to brave the cold and the severe weather to go exploring. A young, fourteen-year-old Katara, the only waterbender left in the Southern Water Tribe, tried desperately to keep a simple ball of water hovering in the air.
"Hey!" exclaimed Katara. "That's a lot harder than it looks!" She looked from face to face, her own growing red with embarrassment. Aang stared at her until she scowled and sat back down. Aang continued.
With her, was Katara's older brother, Sokka. Sokka was a non-bender, but he didn't let that dampen his spirits! He was one of the only of-age boys left in the Southern Water Tribe, and he was skilled with his trusty sword, which he carried with him daily, just in case the Fire Nation decided to attack.
"What!" Sokka cried, lunging for the book, but Suki held him back. Everyone stared at him. "I didn't carry around a sword before we met Aang!" He held up his boomerang, and hugged it close to him. "It was my trusty boomerang that I've had with me!" He coddled the boomerang for a moment longer before sitting back down. Aang sighed a bit, and lifted the book back up.
Thankfully for Sokka, the Fire Nation would attack soon. "Sokka, look!" Katara exclaimed, focusing hard on her floating water bubble. Sokka, too busy admiring his reflection in the smooth water, ignored Katara. Katara, irritated, felt a spark go off inside of her. Why wasn't her brother paying attention to her? She'll make him pay attention, if she has too.
Aang stopped reading at that moment, looking over at Katara, who blushed and shrunk halfway behind Aang. "Katara," Zuko smirked, jumping down from the railing. "Weren't you a spunky little one?" Katara narrowed her eyes, standing up and crossing her arms. "The author is just trying to make our lives seem more interesting so people won't get bored and stop reading," she defended, looking down to Aang for help.
Aang opened his mouth to speak, but Zuko interrupted him. "Yeah, maybe. Or you secretly have anger issues," But Zuko had crossed the line. Katara, furious, ripped the book out of Aang's hands. He did nothing to retrieve it, opting to sit back and enjoy the show. Sokka's eyes were darting back and forth between the two, all thoughts of the boomerang error erased from his mind.
Katara opened the book, flipping viciously through the pages. "Let's just skip to the part where you're introduced, shall we?" she spat. Aang and Suki sighed, their shoulders slumping. "I wanted to read the part where I come in," Aang complained. "It is my biography, after all," But Katara was paying him no attention. She skimmed the pages until she found the chapter on Zuko.
"Ah ha!" she exclaimed quite crazed, jabbing her finger on the page. Zuko held up his hands, his face mortified. "Katara, please,'' he plead, but Katara wasn't listening. She began to read, vehemently spitting half the words out. "The Son Of The Fire Lord," she said.
Overshadowed and outperformed by his older sister, Azula, Zuko was a kindred spirit, a child who was always one step behind. While his mother cared for him and gave him the proper care, his father began to develop a distaste for the heir to the throne. As Zuko grew older, and fell further behind his sister in all aspects of his education and fire-bending, Fire Lord Ozai lost more and more patience. And so, in a culmination of all of Zuko's failures, his father challenged him to a duel, in which Zuko was defeated and henceforth banished from the land, stripped of all honor. The only way that Zuko would be able to regain his honor would be to capture the Avatar. And so, accompanied by his Uncle Iroh, Zuko set out on a three-year-long mission to find and capture the elusive Avatar. Little did he know that over time, his feelings about his home, the Fire Nation, and that of his father, would change.
Katara had calmed down about a quarter of the way through the paragraph, her voice and face becoming softer and gentler the more she read. She realized quickly that Zuko's narrative was not funny or over-exaggerated in any way. As she finished the paragraph, she looked slowly up at Zuko, feeling very foolish indeed. Zuko looked merely crestfallen. He leaned back up against the railing, letting Mai wrap her arm around his shoulders.
Katara swallowed, glancing down at Aang. "I'm sorry, Zuko. I thought it'd be just as messy and full of factual errors like ours were," she said softly. Zuko shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not surprised, honestly," he admitted. "I'm sure the author was able to get his hands on a lot more information on me than he was on you guys," Katara hesitated, before closing the book and walking over to Zuko to give him a small hug. He hugged her back, and when Katara stepped back, she looked at the cover of the book, running her hand over the symbols.
"Maybe we should each just get a turn to read this on our own, where we can be embarrassed in private, and nobody can make fun of us," Katara suggested. Aang jumped up, taking Katara's hand. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," he said, giving her a cute smile. Sokka frowned. "But that takes the fun out of it," he whined. Suki shushed him, pressing her finger to his lips. "Don't worry, Sokka, we can read it together. That way I can laugh at you and you can complain to me," she said, kissing his cheek. Sokka grinned.
Katara scanned the room. "Who wants to read it first?" she asked. Surprisingly, Mai took the book from Katara. Katara looked at her, a bit confused. "What?" Mai said in her raspy voice. "I like to know what people are going to be reading about, especially if it's going to involve me, eventually," Katara couldn't deny her this, so she shrugged her shoulders. "Alright. Enjoy, I guess," she said awkwardly, before looping her arm with Aang's, both of them gliding off to be on their own. Suki guided Sokka away, patting his back as if were a child. When Mai and Zuko were alone, they leaned close to each other. Zuko rubbed his temples a bit.
"Hey," Mai said, catching his hand. Zuko looked at her, his eyes sad. "I'm sorry," he groaned. "I'm being a baby, I know. But it's just going to be hard to read about all of my mistakes," Mai looked at him, opening the book. "Yeah, it will be hard," she said. "But it'll be funny to see how many errors this author makes when it comes to the others," She smiled at Zuko, who chuckled and gave her a small kiss.
"Yeah, I guess so,"