I don't own Avatar. His loss.
Chapter Four"How long do you think he's been running?" Katara asked Aang, not taking her eyes off the boy lying on the blanket in front of her.
"An hour or two, at least," Aang said, also staring at him.
Katara leaned down and felt the child's forehead. "At least he doesn't have a fever," she said. "Otherwise, he's in pretty bad shape. He's got a lot of bruises on his legs there, you see? And look at his hands." She pointed to the dried blood that caked his palms and knuckles.
"There's no open wound, though," Sokka observed.
"That's not his blood then, is it?" Aang asked. They all just looked at each other.
His ragged and dirty clothing was green and brown; he was obviously Earth Kingdom. The soles on his leather shoes were nearly worn through, and there were many holes near the toes and heels. His hair was greasy, and his skin was covered in a thick layer of filth. He obviously hadn't cleaned himself in several days.
"He doesn't look much older than me," Aang said after a few moments' silence.
"Aang," Sokka said, "you're over one hundred years old; no one looks older than you."
"You're right," Katara said, ignoring her brother's joke. "He looks about eleven or twelve years old."
"I wonder how far he had to travel to get here," Aang said absentmindedly.
"From the looks of things, he traveled far, pretty fast," Sokka commented.
Suddenly, the boy sat up. He stared wildly around him, and when his eyes settled on Katara, Aang, and Sokka, he jumped back, nearly falling into the flames behind him.
"W-w-who're you?" he asked.
"We're not going to hurt you," Katara said. "My name is Katara, this is my brother Sokka, and this is our friend Aang."
"Hi!" Aang said, trying to seem friendly. "What's your name?"
"J-Jay" the boy said.
"What happened to you Jay? How did you end up here?" Sokka asked calmly.
"I was traveling in a small caravan," Jay said, settling down a little. "We were ambushed by Fire Nation troops. I ran as fast as I could, but I had to fight off one soldier after another for a day and a half."
"Ouch..." Sokka muttered. Katara elbowed him in the ribs.
"I haven't seen one for a couple of days now, so I'm pretty sure I lost them in the woods just north of here."
The four talked and listened for an hour or so before they decided to turn in for the night. Sokka gave Jay his sleeping gear for the night, and found a niche for himself curled up beside a fallen tree. Oddly, though, it was Jay who couldn't sleep. He, for all his running and exhaustion, decided to get up and go exploring.
He had reason to be proud of his Earthbending skills that night.
/chapter four