Ch 37 the headband
Lin looked over a rock formation and looked at the various clothes. Holding her hand up, she counted down from three to one, then motioned for the kids to steal the clothes. Lin quickly joined them and grabbed an assortment of clothes to wear as well.
With the new clothes on, they blended right in the fire nation. Lin cringed when Aang greeted people by the term 'hotman'. The term was clearly outdated by the past 100 years.
"We're going to a meat shop?" Aang asked.
"Come on, Aang. Everyone here eats meat. Even the meat eat meat." Sokka said, as a cow-hippo swallows a pile of fly-blown fish.
"No thanks. I'll get some lettuce out of the garbage." Aang said.
Lin pulled a face of disgust at that.
Lin was half-way thru her steak when she noticed Aang was missing. She stomped on the ground to use her seismic sense, but she still couldn't find Aang. She looked left and right, then quickly cut her steak into smaller hand held pieces with her knife via metalbending and put the pieces in a small bag.
Lin left the group and searched for Aang, while eating the meat from her bag. She wasn't one to waste her meals. Following her seismic sense, she found Aang as he was being led to a school.
"Figures. He grabs the clothes of a student." Lin muttered, and headed back to the cave.
"Where's Aang?" Katara asked.
"Out." Was all Lin said. Aang should explain the situation when he comes home.
And come home he did.
"Where have you been? We've been worried sick." Katara said.
"Yeah. And you didn't go out to search for him." Lin replied, resting against the wall of the cave.
"I got invited to play with some kids after school." Aang said.
"After what?" Sokka asked, quickly standing up.
"I got enrolled in school." Aang said.
"Enrolled in what?!" Sokka asked, then keeled over.
Lin only chuckled at what was going on.
"You find this amusing, Lin?" Katara asked.
"I do." Toph said.
Sokka recovers and talks down Aang's idea.
"Aang, I'm not trying to shoot down your idea, but it sounds terrible." Sokka said.
"Yeah. We already got clothes. What do you need to go to school for?" Toph asked.
"Every minute I'm in that classroom. I'm learning new things about the fire nation. I already have a picture of Fire Lord Ozai." Aang said, showing a picture of the fire lord.
"It's still too dangerous." Sokka said.
"I guess we'll never find out about the secret river then. It goes right to the Fire Lord's palace. We were supposed to learn about it in class tomorrow..." Aang said.
"I am a fan of secret rivers. Fine. Lets stay a few more days." Sokka said.
"Flamy-o, hotman!" Aang said in excitement, then ran out.
"Flamy-o?" Sokka asked.
Katara shrugged her shoulder in a 'I don't know manner.'
Lin only remembered when Korra and Mako broke up. She heard a commotion and walked into the office saying "What the flamy-o happened here?"
Next day, Aang came back with bad news.
"Guys, I need some help." Aang said.
"What is it?" Lin asked.
"I got in trouble at school, and I need to meet with the headmaster. He says he'll need to meet with my parents." Aang said.
"Good luck with that." Toph said.
"Exactly. But I have an idea. Katara and Sokka can come with me as my 'parents'." Aang said.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"It's the only way that'll work." Lin said.
Aang, Katara, and Sokka headed to the school for the meeting, while Toph and Lin stayed behind.
"Sokka chose a funny beard." Toph said.
"Where did he get the hair for all of that?" Lin asked.
When the trio came back, Sokka talked right in Aang's face.
"That's it. No more school for you, young man." Sokka said.
"I'm not ready to leave. I'm having fun for once, just being a normal kid. You don't know what it's like, Sokka. You get to be normal all the time." Aang said.
"Ha, ha." Toph mockingly said, causing Sokka to scowl.
"Listen, guys, those kids at school are the future of the Fire Nation. If we wanna change this place for the better, we need to show them a little taste of freedom." Aang said.
"Good idea." Lin said.
"What could you possibly do for a country of depraved little fire monsters?" Sokka asked.
"I'm going to throw them a secret dance party!" Aang said.
"That's a terrible idea." Lin said.
"Go to your room!" Sokka said, pointing deeper into the cave.
They spent the rest of the day getting the cave ready for the dance party. Lin remembered being told about the party and always wondered what convinced Aang to throw the party.
The students came in, and Lin looked over their heads in search for any potential threats. Finding none, she put away her Dao swords.
"Ladies and gentlemen, The Flamey-os! Yeah, this ought to get everybody moving." Aang said, as the music started playing.
"Now what do we do?" Shoji asked.
"Now you start dancing." Aang said.
"Maybe it's different in the colonies, Kuzon. But we don't do that here." Shoji said.
"Sure you do. You have for generations. It just so happens that I know several classic fire nation dances. A hundred years ago, this was known as "The Phoenix Flight." Aang said, running around in a circle, squatting and kicking his legs in the fashion of a folk dance.
"And this is the "Camelephant Strut." Aang said, hopping from one foot to the other, eventually somersaulting thru the air and landing in front of two girls. He somersaults backwards and lands on one foot.
"Who knew twinkle toes could dance?" Toph asked.
Lin downed her drink and quickly walked to Aang. If anything the police force taught her, is that you had to be aggressive and direct to claim your prize.
"Want to dance, Kuzon?" Lin asked.
Aang only smiled and started dancing with Lin. Lin stopped for a second.
"One minute. Got to get the right music." Lin said, and quickly headed to the band.
"I want a fast paced salsa." Lin said, and the band started to perform just that.
Aang and Lin started to dance to the rapid paced music, and the two just focused on each other.
"You can see the chemistry between the two. They dance as if they've been doing it forever." Toph said.
"I know." Katara said, slightly jealous.
Aang dipped Lin and upon lifting her, he twirled her around and continued the dance. It ended with the two in each other's arms, gazing into each other's eyes.
"Thanks for the dance." Lin said.
"Anytime." Aang said.
Lin sat down, and Katara danced with Aang.
"So, you enjoyed the dance?" Toph asked, sitting down from dancing with another student.
"I did. A bit tired though. Aang has plenty of energy for it." Lin said.
"Yeah. And you're conserving energy so you can continue the 'dance' with Aang in private, right?" Toph asked.
"Fuck you." Lin said.
"Nice. But you should save it for Aang. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to return the favor." Toph said.
Lin gripped her temple, at her ends wit with Toph's jabs. She quickly lifted her head and faced the entrance of the cave.
"We got company." Lin said.
As Katara and Aang finish the dance, Lin grabs Aang.
"We need to leave, now." Lin says, and pulls Aang to the back of the cave.
"Hey, wait up." Katara said, as she followed, Sokka and Toph following behind.
Aang creates two walls of rock to close the tunnel's entrance, preventing anyone from following.
"We're safe, Sokka. You can take the moustache off, now." Katara said.
"Oh no I can't. It's permanently glued to my face." Sokka said.
"Way to go, Dancypants. I think you really did help those kids. You taught them to be free." Toph said.
"It was just a dance." Aang said.
"It was more than that. You showed them a small piece of what we're fighting to protect. I admire that." Lin said.
"Thanks." Aang said.