Aang the Brave

Chapter Six

They used to call pirates "the nomads of the sea." Of course, there are still pirates, and they're ruthless and cunning. But they don't hold a candle to the pirates of years past.

These were the pirates that created legends. Three-eyed Captain Ramori and his untouchable crew who terrorized the arctic waters. Tricky Tikki who, at fourteen, swindled some of the richest men in the world. The fearsome thirty day battle between Madman Makazu and Dirty Captain Yan. The month of red waters.

The only people who could be said to feel something like affection for these wretches of mankind were the Air Nomads. Perhaps they felt a sort of camaraderie with these pelagic wanderers. And every pirate knew that it was the best kind of luck to spot a flying bison while at sea.

Yes, there was something those pirates had that is lacking in today's pirates. Something forgotten. It's certainly not their conviction or their unforgiving viciousness. It's not their shrewd business savvy or their barbaric vulgarity.

Maybe it's luck.


"Ow, ow, ow," was the mantra Aang spoke under his breath, and I'm not a coward, was the mantra that buried itself in his mind until he fell asleep. When he woke up the side of his face that lay against the saddle was sweaty, and the other side was tender and sunburned. He was sure he had slept for hours and it must have been nightfall or close to it. He was glad to have slept through that awful day, lucky that he wouldn't have to deal with Yuka or Jinju until the next morning. He didn't know how much more mental anguish he could take. He opened his eyes.

It wasn't even noon.

He would've cried, but then he'd just prove Yuka right and, besides, salty tears would make the sunburn sting. His stomach hurt. There was the painful knot from having the wind knocked out him, and the deeper ache of hunger. Instead of crying, he moaned in self pity.

"Oh, you're awake." Jinju sat across the saddle from him, cross-legged. To Aang's surprise, there was no malice in his voice. "How d'ya feel?" He sounded sincere. Was it a trick? Would Jinju pounce on him when he least expected it?

He sat up and looked around. Thankfully there was no sign of Yuka. He and Jinju were alone on the saddle.

"I'm okay," he answered cautiously. "Where's Li?"

Jinju pointed towards Appa's head. "Up there. He said not to bother him unless we're dying." He raised an eyebrow at Aang. "You gonna die?"

"Not yet." He should be angry. He should be yelling at me or giving me the silent treatment. He has every right to. They were quiet for a while, and Aang looked around at the endless, glistening water. The sea was calm. The sun was merciless. He poked his cheek gingerly.

"Yuka's still back there," Jinju said, motioning to Appa's tail. "He shouldn't have done that to you. It was wrong." He paused, then added, "He's crazy."

"He's a jerk." They were quiet for a moment. Aang wondered if Yuka really had fallen into the ocean. He almost wanted to take a peek just to check, but then reminded himself that he didn't care about Yuka one way or another. Although they would be in a lot of trouble if they let him drown. Then again, the monks would probably be glad to be rid of him. What an awful thought! Aang wondered if Yuka knew how mean he was.

Jinju broke the silence. "Are you sure you're all right?" It was an innocent question, but it made Aang uneasy.

"Why are you being nice to me?" he asked suddenly. He couldn't understand. Aang was sick with regret over the way he treated Jinju, but Jinju seemed to have forgotten the entire incident.

"Huh?"

"After what I said to you...You don't have to be nice to me. Aren't you mad?"

"Oh," Jinju mumbled looking at his hands, and Aang wished he hadn't said anything.

"I didn't mean it. I don't hate you."

"Yeah." He rested his elbows on his knees and cradled his head in his hands. "I'm not mad at you. Just kinda sad."

"Because you lost your marbles?" Aang winced at the unintentional pun. "I mean, because you left them behind?" Jinju sighed in response. "I'll help you get some more," Aang offered.

He shook his head. "That's not it. You don't understand." His face scrunched up as he struggled to put his thoughts into words. "I mean, everybody likes you."

"Yuka doesn't like me." Jinju didn't laugh at Aang's attempted joke.

"Everybody always wants to play with you," Jinju continued. "And you get to be team captain, but I have to be the scorekeeper."

"I thought you liked keeping score," Aang said. "Because you like counting, right?"

"Yeah, but not all the time. Sometimes I wanna play." He tilted his face to the saddle, with a long sniff. "You have so many friends and I don't have any. And now I don't have anything."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." That was mostly true. Before this trip, and even during most of it, Aang had been just as guilty of ignoring Jinju as anyone else. He wasn't one of the people who made fun of him, but he didn't defend him and sometimes he laughed, too. Was that just as bad?

But Jinju said he wasn't mad at him, and Aang believed that. He thought about all the times at the Air Temple when Jinju was being teased. He never raised his voice, never raised a finger in defense. Maybe what Aang had perceived as cowardice, as feeble acquiescence, was something else. Jinju, he suddenly realized, floundering so far behind, had mastered everything about Airbending but the moves. Kindness, gentleness, acceptance. Jinju had perfected what Aang, Yuka, and even Li, had yet to learn.

"Next time we play Airball," Aang said, "I'll keep score, and you can play."

Jinju looked up, skeptical. "Really? You mean it?"

"Sure do." Although he might have a tough time explaining it to the rest of the team, he was determined to keep his promise.

With a sheepish grin Jinju said, "First you'll hafta teach me how to play."

So he explained to Jinju the basics of Airball as best he could, and in this way passed the rest of the morning.

--

"I'm so hungry I could eat dirt."

"I'm so hungry I could eat a month-old egg custard tart."

"I'm so hungry I could eat five month-old egg custard tarts."

"Gross. I could eat raw eggs."

"I'm so hungry I could eat...meat!"

"Yuck!" Aang rolled to his stomach and pulled himself to the edge of the saddle. Jinju followed. He pointed to the water. "I'm so hungry I could catch a fish right now and bite into it."

Maybe they were exaggerating. It wasn't like they had never fasted before. But fasting was something you did on purpose and for a reason; starving wasn't. Besides, there wasn't anything else to occupy them.

"I'm so hungry I could eat," Aang paused for ominous effect, "a human being."

"Me too," said Jinju. He smiled evilly. "Let's eat Yuka first."

Aang shook his head. "Bet he tastes worst than month-old egg custard tarts."

Propping his elbow on the saddle, Jinju mused, "Yuka said there're sharks in this ocean that are so big they can eat a bison whole. You think that's true?" He cast a worried glance at Aang.

"I doubt it. You can't trust anything Yuka says," Aang replied, although he thought it might be true. He'd ridden elephant koi that could've swallowed a bison whole. Who knew how big sharks might get? Better not to scare Jinju, though.

"But what if there are?" Jinju insisted. "I really, really don't wanna spend another night out here."

"Well, we could be gone by now if someone didn't have an attitude," Aang answered, just loud enough so that Appa was sure to hear. A moody murmur shook the saddle.

"Why won't he just fly already?" Jinju whined.

"He's tired and hungry just like us. Flying for miles and miles is hard work."

"But in the wild don't they migrate?" Jinju reasoned, sitting up. "So shouldn't he be used to it?"

"Well, Appa's not a wild bison. And besides, bison don't migrate—you're thinking of birds." Aang sat up too. "Bison usually stay near the mountains. They don't migrate naturally because then they'd have to cross the ocean, and there'd be no place for them to land. Of course, they're capable of flying long distances, but it just isn't likely if they're over water. Unless it's mating season, in which case the young males-"

"Okay, okay. They don't migrate, I get it," Jinju interrupted, apparently not in the mood for a science lesson. It was probably a good thing he interrupted, because Aang could go on about bison for hours if given the chance.

"But he listens to you. Can't you make him fly somehow?" Jinju asked.

"You try making a bison fly. We're not budging until he feels like it." That was the thing about training bison—temperament was everything. Appa was usually so agreeable—he was one of the temple's best bison—so Aang knew he must be really exhausted. "Besides," he added. "I don't want him to be too tired to race."

Jinju flopped onto his back, arms spread, long legs draped over the saddle. "Won't hafta worry about that if we never get there," he muttered.

--

Aang never imagined time could pass so slowly.

So hot. In the distance Aang could see the distinct line where the shade from a passing cloud ended. The wavering separation between relief and this torture. He was tempted to dive into the water again.

He raised a lethargic arm to the sky. "Look. It's time for afternoon meditation."

Jinju rolled his eyes. Neither of them moved.

--

"Hear that?" Jinju asked. Without moving Aang focused his attention on the only sound of any significance: the monotonous splash, splash, splash of the water. But there was something different about it. The two boys shared a silent glance before crawling to the edge of the saddle. They leaned over and looked down. The water swirled and bubbled around Appa's churning legs.

"He's swimming!" Aang exclaimed with a wide smile. "We're moving!" Jinju cheered, too.

Suddenly invigorated the two leaped up, dancing about the saddle and whooping. Aang shimmied forward to share the exciting news with Li, Jinju close behind. "Li, we're swimming! Appa's finally moving!" Aang announced.

Li, slouched messily against the bison's back, didn't even look at him. "I noticed," he murmurered dully. "I'm sitting right here."

"Aren't you happy? We're making some progress now."

"Oh, hurray. Let's sing and dance and jump for joy." He clasped his hands in front of his chest, voice airy and biting. "Please. We don't even know where we're going." His arms spread wide as if embracing the emptiness. "We could be anywhere. We could be going farther into the middle of the ocean. I don't call that progress." Finally he turned to point his carping, bug-eyed gaze at them. "And you don't look like you're dying."

Deflated, the two boys slumped back to the middle of the saddle. Aang remained standing while Jinju lay down and threw his arms over his face with a tired groan. Aang surveyed the waves. The swells were low, rolling hills of water. The sea was vast, and all at once the vastness was suffocating. In his mind Yuka taunted him. Coward. Coward. Do something.

Kneeling, Aang picked up his staff and opened the glider without his usual flourish.

"What are you doin'?" Jinju asked warily. He propped himself on his elbows. "Aang what are you gonna do?" he repeated when he recieved no answer.

Aang stretched his arms and legs before fixing his grip on the glider. "Li's right," he said stepping up to the edge of the saddle. "This is no good. We've been out here all day without getting anywhere, and we're not going to get anywhere just sitting around. There has to be something out there—land, people, a boat maybe."

"Do you see anything?"

"No," Aang admitted. "But I'm going to find something." It was the perfect line for a dramatic exit, but Jinju wasn't ready to let him go.

"You mean you're gonna leave me here with them?" Jinju hissed.

With a sigh Aang turned with his glider still raised. If he didn't leave soon he was going to lose his mind. "I'm coming back," he said trying to hide his annoyance. "I'm not leaving forever."

"But what if you get lost?" Jinju persisted. "What if you can't find your way back?"

Aang rolled his eyes at this, and didn't try to hide it. "How can you lose a ten-ton flying bison?"

--

How did I lose a ten-ton flying bison in the middle of an empty ocean?

He didn't know exactly how long he had been flying. He knew it was hours, but it felt like days or weeks. His arms shook as he struggled to keep the glider steady, and his palms slid on the smooth wood. He was good, but even he couldn't keep this up forever.

The ocean spirit must have had a sense of humor, because the water kept playing tricks on him. There were times when the waves moved with him and it seemed that he was hovering motionless in the air. There were times when the surges rose and stretched toward him and he thought he was falling. And there were times when the sea was glassy and bland, quietly smiling at some private joke.

The ocean was alive, but the air was dead. Not even the slightest breeze to lift him. Maybe the wind spirits were angry because he skipped meditation. Li had skipped today, too. What if Li's prayers and meditations were the only things appeasing the spirits, and now that he stopped they were punishing Aang?

Maybe he had lost his mind. He was really tired. And, he realized, he was really falling this time.

He tried to bend the heavy air around the glider, but his hand slipped and lost its hold. The glider jerked to the side at a sharp angle. He dived. The waves grabbed at his feet and pulled him down. He saw nothing but blue above and blue below, and for the second time that day the water engulfed him. He closed his eyes as he went under.

--

It was the strangest dream he'd ever had. Later, he would try to describe it to Jinju, but wouldn't be able to find the words.

He dreamed that he was the ocean. The waves and tides, deltas and rivers, ponds and streams all flowed into him, were part of him. He felt life in him, fishes and animals. He felt death. He felt frigid poles and equatorial warmth. Scurrying feet. Lazy arms. Appa bobbing far away, and a boat very close. All of this connected...to him.

It was impossible. He thought he was dying. If he was, then the spirit world sounded like voices yelling. Felt like strong hands. Was dark.


Note: Hi people! Huge thanks for each review of Chapter 5, and ginormous thanks to ardy for beta-reading, which I forgot to mention before. (Psst...! Go read her fics "Sabotage" and "Prison Conversations." If you haven't read them yet you're missing out!) That's all. The next chapter's much nicer to Aang. :-)