Chapter Eight: Not So Bad After All


"Goodnight." Li said to Xlo as she shut Xlo's door. The sky was already darkening and Li had brought Xlo to her tree house.

Li lit a small light on her finger to guide the way back to her tree house. She'd be sure to take the door knob out and put the lock inside so she could lock it; not others.

As she was about to go into her house she heard a rumble and looked around. She shrugged it off and stepped inside. She heard the noise again and realized it was her stomach. She looked around the room for her sack that had food in it. Gone.

Li slapped her forehead. How could she be so stupid to not take it with her? She should've known that somebody would steal it. She was going to have to find food somewhere else.

Li left her tree house and started down the bridge. She was looking for a zip line to take her to the next level. She heard talking and laughing up there, so she figured there was food. She soon found one hanging near the edge and grabbed it. She gave it a tug and was pulled up.

Li jumped onto the bridge, getting the hang of it. She looked in the direction where the laughing was coming from and she saw a table with a bunch of kids sitting at it, talking and most importantly- eating. Li saw Jet there.

Despising him as she did she didn't want to barge in. When they weren't looking she turned into a bird. It looked a bit like a cockatoo. It flew up into the branch of the tree that the area was attached to and watched them from above. All were boys of different ages. One was huge and next to him sat one that looked like he was eight. He wore a fire bender's helmet that was way too big for him. Another wore a straw hat and had a bow and arrow next to him, and a quiver strapped to his back.

The cockatoo listened intently to what they were saying. It hoped that they would say where they got their food. They did, and the cockatoo didn't like what it heard.

"It was genius taking the girl's food. Who would know that she would eat so much?" said the eight year old.

"Yeah. Not much meat though." said the larger one. Li didn't like meat too much. She'd been most of those animals so why would she want to eat them?

The cockatoo squawked angrily at them, not realizing that it was a stupid thing to do. They looked up at it in confusion. Jet looked at the bird for a few seconds before saying, "Longshot, shoot it."

The kid with the bow who was apparently Longshot loaded his bow and took aim. She bird squawked again in fear and attempted to fly off. It was too late though. The bird was shot in the wing and fell to the floor. Longshot was about to shoot it again when it turned back to Li. The arrow was deep in her arm.

"It's the girl! Run before she turns into a jaguar!" the little one cried and tried to run off.

The larger one grabbed his hand before he could run off and pulled him back. "She's hurt."

Li wasn't paying attention to any of them as she tried to get the arrow out of her arm. It hurt horribly and was in deep. She was keeping back the urge to release tears. It would lead to even more mocking and that was her least wanted problem.

"Dark bender! Dark bender!" called a boy. He kicked Li and hurt her. She was about nine when this happened. Tears were streaming out of her eyes.

What was worse was that nobody was coming to help her. Many of the other air benders were cheering the boy on as he picked on the young girl. The boy was larger than her, possibly he was eleven. None of the monks were nearby to stop this dreadful act.

Li got angry. She couldn't take this anymore. Her hands clenched into fists and she punched him straight in the face. Her fell back but soon got up again to return the blow. Li though was no longer there. A jaguar with sharp teeth was glaring at him. It pounced and stood over him and roared in his face. It then ran off up the many stair ways to escape.

Li would never forget the words that the air bender screamed at her. "You're a dark bender and that's all you'll ever be!"

Jet reached down to help her only to have his hand slapped away. Li jumped up and glared at him. "You did this to me. This is your fault!" she screamed into his face. Now she didn't care if tears rolled down her cheek. They could all tell that the pain was that bad. Most of them had experienced it before.

Li held her wounded arm close, blood starting to leak out. With one final glare she ran off down the bridge to the end. She had not yet figured out how to get down a level so she was stuck on this one.

The bridge abruptly ended about ten yards away from the others. Li stopped at it and sat there, letting her feet dangle over the side. She started to attempt at removing the arrow, which was not an easy task. It was her first time being shot. Back at Yushii Village, she was evasive enough to avoid arrows, seeing as it was her home town. But this was an entirely new place, so she hadn't been careful enough. Thus she wound up with an arrow in her arm.

She put a hand on the arrow and let a white glow emerge from it. The arrow soon slipped out of her arm after that, but she was still in pain. "Maybe I should just leave this place and go somewhere else." Li thought out loud. The only reason that she'd want to stay would be Xlo, but she could take Xlo with her, couldn't she?

"You're going to leave already?" asked a voice. Li knew instantly who it was. It was Jet. She turned back to face him, but didn't stand up. Loathing was in her eyes, and he could see it.

"Why would you care? You've called me inferior, locked me in a house, and now you told your friend to shoot me. And to add to that you stole my food! I never should've come here"

"Well, I called you inferior because I think that most girls are. Hey, I'm a boy." He said, using his gender as an excuse.

"Then why'd you lock me in the tree house?" Li asked. She wanted an explanation for each of his sins.

"I actually only wanted to see if you'd be able to get out."

"What about my food and shooting me?" Li asked him, hatred still in her voice.

"I didn't know that you were that bird. How was I supposed to know? And the food, you had so much. It was enough to feed us all. We don't have as much food." Jet explained.

Li felt the fresh wound on her arm, holding it tightly. It slowly started to heal as a white light emitted from her hand. She winced slightly. Every time she healed she felt weak for having to heal at all, plus it made a slight burning feeling. She didn't reply to him, she could tell that her voice would crack or she would say something stupid.

The wound stopped healing, but it was still fresh. It did not disappear as it should've. It hurt still, and Li had to wrap it up in something to keep it from opening up. She had nothing.

Jet noticed that, and removed his own. They were clean, meaning that they would work. He kneeled down and started to wrap her arm without her consent. Li didn't resist, but let him. Her eyes followed each wrapping movement until he tied the not that would keep it on.

"Thank you…" she said, her face gaining a tinge of red.

"Don't mention it." Jet said, standing up and walking off.

Li held her arm, the pain now gone. She stared up at the moon and felt a small smile form on her lips. "Maybe he's not so bad after all…" she whispered into the air.


Chapter eight and the longest one yet. Sorry it takes so long to actually understand the title. 