A bit of swearing in here, if that matters much, maybe not, but just in case and a lot of nastiness from Loesan who is turning into a character I despise over every other character that I've ever happened. I didn't plan him to be like, I actually planned him to be the nicer brother, but stuff sort of happened in my head and I wrote it and thought "Wow, this guy is actually an arse". Pretty excited for the moment when Kai and Anala meet again. It's not in this chapter ... or is it? (Probably not but who doesn't like a surprise?) Anyway, on with chapter five :D
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"Kaina, a word?"Loesan said as he grabbed her arm harshly. She was minding her own business, walking to Meili's tent to start her lesson when Loesan had rudely interrupted. He glared down at her, giving her the "I'm-better-than-you" look. She just raised an eyebrow at his arrogance and looked at him questionably. "What kind of game are you playing?"
She was confused, her whole face scrunched up, trying hard to think of an appropriate answer. Loesan, like his father and grandfather before him, was well known for his short temper. A simple answer would never please him, it had to be a full detailed response or he would grow very angry, very quick. Anala, however, was in no mood for his poor attitude towards others. "Is this a trick question?" she snapped, displaying her annoyance as clearly as she could.
"My father has assigned you to my battalion. I want to know what you did to get this little position," Loesan had backed her behind some tents out of the views of others.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Anala stated and tried to pull away from him but he gripped harder. His hold would surely leave bruises on her arms.
"I don't like it when people talk shit Kaina. Especially when it's coming from your mouth," he sneered. "So tell me, are you really the innocent little girl people say you are? Or are you actually the filthiest slut to ever walk this earth?" He moved closer to her face, baring his teeth in anger. "Because I'm pretty sure with curves like this," he grabbed her hips for empathises, "and a nice pair of boobs like these," she snarled as his hands moved to her breasts but was powerless to push him off, "I'm sure you'd be able to persuade any man into getting exactly what you want."
She went to slap him but he quickly moved his hands back to take hold of her wrists. "I'm not a slut," she hissed at him, spitting in his face. He snarled angrily and backhanded her but she didn't back down, only stumbling slightly where she stood. He gripped her face in a vice grip and pulled her to meet his eyes.
"Listen here," he snapped. "You have done nothing to deserve a place in my battalion, not even a spot to serve under me. I don't know how good your service is and how it could possibly persuade that old coot to let you in my battalion but I would defiantly love to find out." Anala was burning with rage. How dare he suggest such things? She wanted to hurt him but he was far too strong for her, and that is what terrified her most. She wanted to burn that malicious, suggestive smirk right of his ugly mug but she knew he could stop the attack. She would defiantly not benefit from a fight with him. He was about to say something else when thankfully, someone intervened.
"Loesan, your father wants to see you." Ming, the nurse was there, watching the exchange between the two with wide eyes. Anala recoiled in shame as she read the nurse's face. She thought there was something going on between the strange girl and the General's eldest son. Loesan glared at her and released his hold on Anala. Before leaving he pulled her close and whispered into her ear, to make sure that Ming wouldn't hear. "We're not finished here," she shivered involuntarily and almost fell when he left to go to see what his father wanted him for. Ming had stealthily disappeared from the scene and Anala dreaded what would come of it.
She straightened herself up and continued on her path to Meili's tent with her head held high, ignoring the burning pain on her face and around her wrists. She was confident Loesan wouldn't try anything else or wouldn't dare to.
She entered the ten and sat beside her teacher. She began to meditate and try to clear her head of all her thoughts. Each day they would begin with mediation before they would go out and practise bending. She was nervous but didn't show it. She was sure to keep herself emotionless at all times but she was sure her confrontation with Loesan had fractured her ability to keep her emotions hidden.
There was something about Loesan that terrified her. It was in his eyes, she could see the madness there, only in the early stages but still blooming. He acted like a child, always emphasising that things were his and no one had the right to take it away or alter it. She wouldn't put it past him to kill someone, she was sure he'd even kill his own family. And that's something she didn't like at all. It brought memories of her own family back into her mind.
"Are you ok?" Meili asked, brushing her fingers against the large bruise forming on her cheek where Loesan had hit her. She was sure he hadn't done it too hard. If he'd used his strength, he would have knocked her to the ground or possibly broken her jaw.
"I'm fine, just knocked it on a tree," Meili wasn't convinced and Anala didn't care. She knew the woman would find out sooner or later that Loesan and her had been together just minutes before she went into the tent to have her lesson. She'd put two and two together surely and figure out what had really happened. Meili was smart like that; she seemed to have a way of always knowing the truth. It was a quality Anala both admired and feared.
She just wanted to forget about the incident and focus on her bending. She'd heard a while back that Loesan and his battalion would be going off to destroy an important village over the mountains very soon. General Lanzo had informed her very bluntly that she was to go with them and fight. Everything Loesan had said was utter rubbish. If anything, she would have persuaded Lanzo into letting her not go. She sighed and concentrated, she needed to be prepared to defend herself against both her Earth Kingdom enemies and the enemies that were on her own side.
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"So, you and my brother? Who would have guessed?" Anala growled in irritation. She'd gone to the meadow to be alone and practise her bending, not to be interrupted by the brother of the devil. Ming had made haste to spread the word that Loesan and her were together. He was apparently courting her. Ming was particularly giddy about it. She boasted she was the first to see the couple together and how good they looked in each other's arms. Anala questioned the sanity of the people that surrounded her. What was so "romantic" about a man who has a girl in a defenceless position accusing her of being a slut and sleeping with his own father? What was so romantic about a man beating a woman and then making the suggestion of sleeping together? Anala failed to see anything romantic in this.
To make matters worse, once the news had reached the General and his eldest son, the old General had patted his son on the back in congratulations. Loesan, as confused as he was, quickly recovered and smirked at his father and explained he was "madly in love" with Anala. The only thing that could be worse would be if Lanzo turned around and made them quickly marry and make her have about ten babies.
"I have better things to do than sleep with your brother, Lamon," she said, punching through the air viciously, pretending the lying cheat was standing in front of her, just as defenceless as she was.
"Everyone's talking about it, why deny it?" Lamon said. Was that jealousy she heard? You wish, she thought to herself.
"Because it isn't true!" Anala screeched at him. Smoke billowed from her nose and mouth, which looked silly but she was in no mood to comment or laugh about it. She was not in love with Loesan, she didn't want to marry him and she didn't want to have his kids. Especially since the arsehole genetic seemed to be passed down from son to son. It would be better if he never bred. They both hated each other anyway, they both new it, the real tragedy was, was that no one else knew. "I know everyone's talking about it but it isn't true. I'd rather make love with a cactus."
"That's slightly harsh," Lamon noted.
"Exactly." Curse Ming for having such a large mouth and curse the fact that she was setting out on a possibly one-way trip over the mountains to destroy some village. She wondered why they just didn't go after Ba Sing Se. It didn't seem as though the people cared if one small town was blown to bits by the Fire Nation. There wouldn't even be anyone left once they had done their job.
"So... excited for your first battle?" Lamon asked, changing the subject that clearly made the both of them uncomfortable. Anala stopped her kicks and punches and turned to him.
"I'm actually pretty nervous since I don't know what the hell I'm doing," she said simply, making him laugh. He sat down on the ground and motioned for her to sit beside him. He then began to tell her of all the battles and fights his grandfather had been in and then proceeded to tell tales of his father. He avoided the subject of his brother though, which Anala was thankful for.
He told her that if things looked bad, you'd get out of there as quick as possible. Usually those situations wouldn't happen but in his first fight, he'd almost been crushed by a rock. It was Meili who saved him from being turned to mush. She become so injured from being hit on the side that she never went into battle again, instead, she had helped General Lanzo plan attacks and whatnot.
"I never knew that," Anala said quietly.
"She likes to keep to herself. I've known her for a while so it only makes sense I know a lot about her," Lamon explained, resting his head on his arms as he looked up at the blue sky above them. "She's like you in that way, she likes to keep her past to herself."
Silence settled between the two. They lay in the soft green grass just looking at the wide, cloudless sky. It was a silence that was in no way awkward, the two simply enjoyed the company of one another. "A lot of things have happened in my life," she said after a while. "I don't like telling people because... because I find it hard to trust others."
"You can trust me," Lamon said, reaching for her hand and holding it tightly in his larger one. She watched as their fingers entwined and looked back to him.
"Trust me when I say I don't love your brother." Instead of turning sour like she thought he would, he laughed at the statement for a long time, Anala eventually joining in the laughter. It was strange, laughing like that until her sides hurt but it felt nice to have someone around to keep her company for a while even though she could never trust him like he seemed to trust her. One step at a time, she lectured herself, enjoying the last of the power from the sun before it disappeared behind the mountains for another day.