I Don't Own Avatar the Last Avatar
It had gone well enough, I think. I'll admit I have no idea what was going on in my kids' minds, but they seemed to jump at the chance to have another kid to talk to, even if it wouldn't last to long. Rina seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with all the events but seemed to settle in well enough, even if it took a little while for her tense shoulder's to relax properly. I think the nice breakfast had something to do about it.
Today was a resting day in between traveling, which was nice as everyone got to know each other, at least that was what the kids were doing. I on the other hand was mostly just playing the supervisor in this situation while Inaru seemed to be trying to break Rina out of her shell. If I had to guess, it might not turn out for the best but I didn't want to dissuade her from it on the off chance she got the alone waterbender to open up.
Speaking of her, I noted that she was keeping a painfully clear eye on me, looking over towards me every couple minutes or whenever I would speak up to tease one of the kids. She didn't trust me but that was fine, I didn't mind, for a time I didn't even trust myself either, so how could I ask her to trust some random adult firebender, especially with the war going on. That damn war, I would wish it would end already but with how it's been going, I know I wouldn't like the end result if it ended anytime soon.
So I just kept my space, acting as nice and open as I always have been, choosing not to comment on the sweeping look she gave everyone when I started the fire to cook something for lunch, like she was expecting a reaction to the elemental use. I wasn't sure what she figured would happen but whatever it was it didn't, no one even blinked, well besides Ran who once again commented on how that was so cool.
That had sparked an interesting conversation up as Buo and Bahi instantly started talking about how earthbending was superior. I just laughed along with everyone else at the conversation which quickly became Ran gushing as he watched the two that were probably only a year or two old than him lift and move earth around like it was nothing. They were showing off honestly, but the happy looks they had on their faces at all the compliments made it so I just smiled myself and focused back on meal making.
Though I did make sure to keep an eye on them to make sure that they didn't accidentally hurt the new boy. Some times it just happens with nonbenders, you don't really think about it much but we can hurt them bad if we slip up. Especially as kids. At that thought the image of a crying girl, clutching her burnt hand played across my eyes for a moment before I snapped out of it as I stirred the pot in front of me that was steaming some items in boiling water.
It was relaxing a bit to just stir the pot, with how mindless the task was, absently I reached down into it and pushed some of the corn around so it would be properly cooked. It was out of how use I was to noticing her reactions at this point that I had seen it. Rina had jumped up a bit and looked at me with a hint of worry as I pulled my hand away from the boiling water and flicked it a bit to dry it off some. Right, sticking your hand in boiling water isn't normal. It didn't hurt me any sure but that was because I knew and had mastered heat distribution a long time ago. It's a technique that most firebenders knew something about, it's how we didn't burn ourselves from our own bending.
Not seeing any reason to worry the girl, so I turned and held out my hand to show her my hand was fine. She blushed from being caught out before looking away a bit to quickly. I held back chuckling and instead reached down and laid my hand against the pot and heated it up a small bit. The water was boiling but it didn't feel as hot as I thought it should be for how much heat was under it. I didn't want to under cook it any.
I had to be a bit careful, making sure I didn't melt the side of the metal on accident. Regulating my flames temperature was always a bit more difficult for me. I could do it but there was a reason that during my time in the military that I was known for my golden colored flames in battle. Because it was my natural setting, just that much heat, that lowering it was harder to do. But I've always been pretty good at control so it just took a bit more effort but nothing impossible.
Lifting my hand away from the side, I looked up at the sky for a moment, noting the clouds beginning to slowly form over head. It was going to rain soon, I could just tell. I wasn't sure if it was a bender thing, but I could feel the heat in the air that always seemed to come right before most storms. It was kind of nice in that sense of warmth but it was also not. I didn't like being rained on, I barely liked being wet honestly.
I remember being teased about it as a kid, being called a catowl of all things but I still don't really like water to much. Just the idea of being covered in the stuff against my will just seemed dreadful. It also made bending so much harder during storms, with the heavy clouds blocking me from the sun and the water naturally dousing my flames, clinging to my clothes and skin, with the slick mud covering my boots, it just wasn't fun.
This means I'll have to get Buo and Bahi to make us a tent or two made of earth so we don't get drenched in water during the night if it rains then. One bonus of having two earthbending kids is that it cuts down on all the items we need to carry around, which normally meant what I was carrying on my back while we traveled. I would really have liked a cart or something, but that cost more money than I wanted to spend on something that I could do myself, not to mention the upkeep on the animals.
Still, as I thought about it, I looked over to the two new kids and more importantly looked at the packs on their backs. They were no where near big enough to hold a tent for two, honestly there probably wasn't any shelter in those bags at all. Sure Rina was clearly a waterbender, but looking back on our little exchange, I doubt she's got all that experience in it, and most certainly not near enough to divert water droplets for an entire night, even if she stays awake during the entire thing.
That was just a sure fire way to get a cold, and with the seasons already turning to the colder climate, it would be all the more easier for one of them to get sick, and if they haven't eaten that much recently... I sighed as I looked down at the food for a long couple minutes, I had already made my decision but now I have to come up with a way to get them to agree to it, at least for a few days for the weather to pass by. I didn't need more bodies, more kids, on my conscious than there already were.
It's kind of annoying that Rina is so closed off, I doubt she would have taken me up on the offer for food at all if it wasn't for her little brother. I guess that's what I'll have to focus on, kids getting colds can be very dangerous without medicine nearby and judging by her experience, I doubt Rina knows the healing arts via water bending. If I promise her, her own tent with her brother to keep an eye on him, I think I might be able to convince her.
Of course it all depends on how soon it might rain, it feels a little far off I think. It might take a day or two before it hits, it's hard to know for certain, if I was a waterbender with my current skills then I think I would know with a lot more certainty but I wasn't so I just had to assume. I honestly didn't even know if waterbending worked like that. I don't have as much experience with that type of bending compared to earthbending and obviously firebending.
I still know a few things. In my younger years I had taken to studying the other elements for a short while, and I had fought against a number of waterbenders in the past, and had met a few in my travels. I wonder if I could convince her to stay a bit longer by offering lessons, I mean I'm a master in firebending, and I know way more about earthbending than I think I'd have ever needed to when I was younger, so really what's learning about the last element going to hurt?
Hell, if I was the Avatar then I would be like the worse one ever, I've been teaching one without being able to bend a single stone. Oh well, it's not like the avatar's even live anymore, almost one hundred years of conflict shows that the cycle has been broken pretty painfully obvious. Some times I wish I was back during that time, just to see the airbenders. I've always found bending to be so important, and knowing that I'll never see one of the four core elements kind of is sad.
Of course, they all are dead from a genocide, so I feel like there are more things than just that to be sad about, the culture, the teachings, the life styles, it's all gone. It was sad. Over the years I've spent traveling, I've come to quickly appreciate cultures and ways of life, so to know that a quarter of the world was just gone, with no hope to ever have it back. Honestly even if I've never known an airbender, I could still feel that loss, even now.
The air temples are suppose to still be intact, I think, I've heard rumor of stuff a thing but it's not like I could get to them, with how high into the clouds they are. I might be able to manage it on my own, using fire to propel myself up to help climb the steep sides, but that wasn't a trip that I would be taking anytime soon. As I thought about it, I looked over at the group I was traveling with, such an interesting bunch. An old childhood friend, two kids that I had adopted, and if things which right, for a little while an anti-social water bender and her hyperactive little brother.
I've never led a normal life, really, from the start it was training until I dropped, mastering firebender, fighting on the front lines, leading men, rising the ranks, betrayal of all I knew, running away, living on the road with two stranger kids for years and slowly becoming a father figure to them while traveling from place to place. It says something when the last few years of my life were the more normal than the starting years of my life.
Another chapter and another day, it's interesting that I'm beginning to realize just how many character's I've made. I mean, none of my MCs are the same, even when I reuse the same character they aren't copies, and all OCs have at least some original aspect to them in some way or another. It's interesting, I think it's just because I don't like repeating myself, it's why like none of my stories are the same, hell even the single rewrite story on my page doesn't even have the same plot to it, I changed it almost completely but just kept the same starting concept. I'm also thinking about posting some of the stories I have saved on my computer but haven't touched in like months just to have them on the page. Anyway, See ya.