AN: Damnit, another late chapter! See, this is why I told you guys I wasn't making promises. Ah well, it's here.
In other news - I had my state writing test today. I was bored out of whatever I have as a mind!
Okies, enjoy.
Chapter Thirteen: Hanu
They had been flying for hours now, but they would continue until Appa grew too tired.
"Did you guys here that?"
Katara peeled one sleepy eye open. "Sokka, you've been saying that for the past ten minutes. Will you just go to sleep?"
"No Katara, I'm serious. It sounded like someone was saying 'Great Gods, I'm going to die!" the one a few minutes ago was 'Shasa help me, my fingers are going numb!'."
"Is it truly neccesary to keep us awake with your dilusions, peasant?" Zuko spat.
"Oh, shut it you pampered prince!"
"Water Tribe filth!"
"Fire Nation scum!"
"Guys, please!" Aang shouted, just as Zuko was about to continue the pathetic name-calling. "I've said it once, I've said it one million times, harsh words won't solve problems, action will!"
"Yeah, and the last time you said that it nearly got two people killed." Sokka mumbled to no one in particular.
Through every argument the gang ever had, Iroh simply sat and drank his tea. Yet, this time he finally decided to speak up.
"I believe Sokka is right."
Zuko stared, dumbfounded, at his uncle.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Oh no, Prince Zuko not about that!" Iroh hastened to say. " What I meant was that I believe that I heard the voices too."
"Then where are they coming from?" Katara was now fully awake and curious.
"They could be coming from those islands down there." Aang suggested.
"No, no, they sounded closer..." Iroh stroked his beard in thought.
As realization pricked at thier minds, they each scrambled to the side to check over the bison. Seeing nothing, Sokka grabbed the reins and Aang brought forth his glider, jumping off the side of the giant bison.
He soared over the islans first, then around the bison, but still he could find nothing.
Puzzled, the group set up camp on one of the small islands for the night, and slowly drifted of into sleep.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"P - Princess Zula?"
The Fire Nation soldier's voice faltered in his nervousness and he figited as he waited for his leader's reply.
"Yes, what do you want?" Zula snapped.
"W - Well, you see, I - I came to tell y - you that - "
"Spit it out!"
"Tomorrow is the Fire Nation's annual festival, and the crew was wondering, since we'll reach Lunro by then, if we could have the - " He took a sharp intake of breath, " the day off."
He squinted his eyes shut and prepared himself for the worst : fireblasts, flying furniture, being thrown overboard. Yet, when the princess's wrath did not come, he opened his eyes ever-so-slightly.
She was turned away from him, still pouring over maps and charts. She seemed to actually be considering it!
"Fine. I actually believe the crew has earned a day off."
The soldier stood straight as a wide grin stratched across his face. "Thank you much, Princess Zula!"
Just as he was about to exit the room he stopped. "Will you be attending, Princess?"
There was a long silence that filled the room, and the soldier considered just leaving.
"I'll think about it."
Nearly jumping with joy and relief, he sprinted to the men's barracks to alert them of the news.
I have got to be losing my mind...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Pft, he's lying!"
"No no, it's the truth!"
"Why would Zula want to actually give us a day off?"
"If you didn't think there was hope in it then why did you send me to ask her?"
The soldier that had spoken with Zula, a young boy who couldn't be over seventeen, was on his bed in the baracks, telling the men of their day off.
"We didn't think you would come back in one piece." Mumbled the man beside him.
Although he shot him a glare, his leaf-green eyes couldn't match the same intensity of the golden ones the rest of the men had. He wasn't like the other men, they all knew it.
They all believed he simply had brown hair and green eyes because his father had fallen for an Earth Kingdom woman. They all believed he had truly grown up in the Fire Nation and was loyal to them to the end. They all believed that he was a non-bender named Hanu.
How naive they all were.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Hua, I can't feel my arms!" Shuin whispered to her sister.
"Neither can I, so deal with it."
"That Sokka person is a tad bit overprotective don't you think?"
"Can you really blame him?"
"I suppose not."
It was by pure luck that they had not been seen by the airbender earlier that day. The tail of the bison was in just the right place at the right moment to hide the both of them. Once the bison had landed, the gang had set up camp and went to sleep right away, so it was quite simple to dash into the safelty of the forest. That is, if you don't count the aching stiffness that haunted their throbbing limbs.
"Do you think the fortune teller was correct about everything she predicted?" Shuin questioned as she searched for the stars the the canopy of the woods.
Hua sighed, a deep, long sigh. "I don't know Shu. It's hard to say. After all, she did predict some pretty wild things."
"Only that we would hook up a Water Tribe peasant and the banished Fire Nation prince, and some other stuff about who we would fall in love with."
"It's more difficult than it sounds, Shu."
"Oh Hua, don't worry about it. The fortune teller said it be, so it will be!" Shuin's eyes sparked with hope.
"You know I don't believe in fate and fortune."
"I know, just get some sleep for now, okay lie huo jie."
"Alright, mei shui jie."
"Good night, Hua."
"Sleep tight, Shuin."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AN: Okies. There it is.
Faithful Readers of Katara's Cinderella Story - I have the first chapter for the sequal written, but I'm going to wait until I get the second one done too before I post it. Thanks much.
Cookies to the person who can guess what "Hanu's" role will be in this...
Lie fierce
Mei beautiful
Jie Bend or in this case bender
huo fire
shui water
beauiful water bender, fierce fire bender
Until next I Update
- JAAF