Disclaimer: One day, when I'm rich and famous, I may own Avatar, as I'm neither, I lack ownership.
A/N: I swear, I was only mildly inspired by Firefly. Cookies to people that know the episode.
"I'm telling you, if we go in there like this, it will start an angry mob!" Katara complained.
"Katara, it's been two years since we have been here. I'm sure the people don't remember us by now," Sokka tried to retort.
"If you guys don't at least pull your hoods up and try to keep a low profile, I swear I wont even bother to save you or heal your wounds after wards," Katara threatened.
Zuko and Aang pulled their hoods up in unison. Katara would never actually leave any of them to suffer, but she certainly didn't make idle threats either. They had too often been on the receiving end of her anger over the years and had learned that when she took a firm stance on something, it was simply best not to oppose her.
Toph followed shortly after with Sokka reluctantly joining last. Toph's personality had clashed against Katara's for years. Even at this point in time she found issue with being given orders, but had come to accept that it simply was Katara's mother hen nature. Their relationship had recently been one of give and take and things had settled a lot between them. Sokka on the other hand felt that as her brother it was his right to challenge her at every possible moment. He loved his sister, but he wanted her to know that people were not always willing to follow advice, even when it was perfectly good.
They followed a passing group of wagons into the village. It was larger then a lot of ones they usually frequented. Most of the towns they had been to only had one Inn or potentially two, but this town had four. All of them located in the center of the town. It was that fact that had gotten them in to trouble in the past. An angry sea serpent had actually hunted their scent all the way onto land and to the village center where it had destroyed the better part of the village including all the Inns.
Blending in with all the bustling people they made their way to the town center where they grabbed some rooms at one of the Inns. Katara made it a point of going to pay for them all. The rest of the group grabbed a back corner table. They tried to keep to themselves and made everything simple when the bar maid asked their orders.
"No angry mob yet. Either they don't know us or they really have forgotten about us," Toph said in a hushed tone to the group.
"Could be either at this point. The only way to know is to pull down our hoods and find out," Katara said.
She slapped Sokka's hand as he tried to pull his hood down. She shot him a glare and he left it up. It might have devolved into a real situation except the small stage the Inn had set up suddenly filled. A man took center stage and another sat in a chair behind him with a lute. They turned themselves toward the Inn's entertainment.
It was only a moment before the man burst into song. Aang wasn't paying much attention to the words, only to the man's voice. It was light and he seemed to sing with an accent. Zuko was busy listening to the tune the lute played. The instrument playing a song far more playful then Zuko's taste in music. Toph and Katara shared shocked looks while Sokka criticized the non rhyming words.
"What's wrong?" Zuko asked picking up the vibe between Katara and Toph.
"Are you listening to the song at all?" Katara hissed at him.
"I'm trying hard not to," Zuko admitted.
"You might want to start considering your part is coming up next," Toph told him.
Zuko actually tuned into the words the man was singing and pulled his hood up more to cover his face. Aang seemed to sink further down in his chair. Sokka seemed the only one who hadn't noticed.
"I think we better get out of here," Katara said.
"I want to hear the rest of the song," Sokka complained.
"Sokka, you know the rest of the song, just think back to two years ago," Katara tried to quietly yell at him.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"They are singing about us," Zuko whispered to him.
Sokka seemed to listen to a verse and mulled it over before he looked back at them with wide eyes.
"Hey! He is singing about us!" Sokka whispered excitedly.
"It's about time you got it!" Toph said.
"He was kicked in the head by that one horse," Aang reminded her.
"That was nothing. Remember the time I-" Sokka began only to be cut off by a glare from Zuko and Katara.
"We have to get out of here without bringing attention to ourselves," Katara pointed out.
"Why? You are the one who said to listen to the song, they seem happy about it. That is not an angry or sad tune. We sound like heroes," Sokka asked.
"Sokka, a giant sea serpent attacked their town, because we were here. It destroyed their city square and instead of sticking around and paying for it, we slipped out in the middle of the night after the battle was won. That is why," Zuko pointed out.
"Yeah, but that guy just said they sold pieces of the serpent and made way more then the damage was worth and visitors came from all over making them even more money. It did wonders for their town. They are even singing about us," Sokka said a bit too loudly.
The bar maid that was bringing over there food shrieked excitedly.
"You guys are the Heroes!" She yelled excitedly.
The music stopped and all eyes turned on them. Murmuring could be heard all around. The bar maid quickly set down her tray on the table and ran to the front door and started shouting about how the Heroes had returned.
Katara quickly stood and the rest followed as she ran out of through the kitchen door and then out the back door to the Inn. They made it out with shouts from people behind them.
"Scatter!" Katara called to the group.
Toph and Sokka took off to the right. Katara ran straight ahead and Zuko and Aang took the last escape route to the left. They ran on trying to get out of town from the mob of people that seemed to be forming to follow up behind them. Aang laughed. Zuko gave him a dirty look.
"Hey, at least its not an angry mob!"
FN: Prompt: Hearing a bard sing your tale (#19 of 50)