Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or the Wu Xing ideals that Aang speaks of.
A/N: As I'm sure its completely obvious, I set this as a magic verse. The chosen symbol of the all capable shamans should be completely obvious why it was picked.
Acid fell from the sky. No one had been able to figure out why it rained acid in these parts, only that every now and again, the rain went from water to flesh eating acid. No matter how brave they all were, they certainly had no plans of being caught in the rain. When the sky began to cloud, they all scurried into the Inn seeking shelter. They all sat in one room, because with the day not even half gone, there wasn't much to do other then talk to one another.
"How about another word game," Sokka suggested.
"I'm fairly certain we have played all of them," Toph told him.
"I'm sure I could come up with one."
"If you do, I might have to dislocate your shoulder," Katara said.
"Well, what do you want to do?" Zuko asked.
"Five things in your bag then," Toph suggested.
"Last time Sokka spent the entire time going over how many weapons he kept," Zuko pointed out.
"Well we make sure to only say five."
"I'll go first then," Katara said.
She ticked them off on her fingers as she said, "I've got Blue water. I have Bandages. There are a few other vials of regular water. And some herbal leaves. Lastly a necklace pendant that I'm trying to find a necklace to."
No one seemed surprised at the contents of her bad. Everyone had grown fairly used to Katara being the healer and as such, she seemed to have mostly healing supplies on hand. Aang was sure that if they let her, she would probably be listing off a lot more healing supplies that she carried in her pack.
"My turn next," Toph said excitedly. "I have my champion belt from the earth mage tournament that I won. I have a few choice rocks that I managed to find on a lake bottom when I nearly drown. I also keep a small chunk of meteorite in my bag. I still have some scales from that green dragon we offed ages ago. Let's see... Oh, I also have the invisible armor in there too."
"You still have that armor," Sokka asked.
"Of course, it was the best I made."
"Well, I still have the talisman you made in my bag. I also keep my boomerang in there. My sword is in there too. I keep a length of rope. And I should also have hand ax.
"I thought you got rid of that Talisman ages ago," Toph said going a bit red in the face.
"It matches my sword perfectly. No way. I'm keeping it. Besides, it might be handy to turn into a girl again some day."
Toph turned to face out the window. Everyone knew she was simply trying to hide her blushing face. Nobody called her on it.
"I suppose I'll go next," Zuko volunteered.
Everyone turned to face him curiously.
"I always keep my mask. I have a pouch of tea. My twin swords. A flame hair bauble I picked up..." Zuko trailed off mumbling something.
"What was that," Sokka asked.
"What's the last item?" Aang asked.
Toph looked a bit sheepish saying, "You have anything else you can list beside that?"
"I wouldn't even list my mask as its always on me, but you know I don't carry anything. It's the only other thing."
Aang, Katara, and Sokka stared at him all wondering what the last item was.
"It's okay, Zuko. You don't have to tell if you don't want to," Katara said trying to play peace keeper.
Aang stared at him evenly saying, "If you tell, I'll tell you what I've been working on collecting in my bag over the last year."
Zuko suddenly knew how the cat felt when curiosity killed it. He wondered if he should just give up and not say and live on curious what Aang had. The temptation to know what Aang could possibly be working on for a year was more powerful then he realized though. Aang was a flighty person. He hardly managed to hang on to a marble for a month and that was the longest surviving thing he could think of.
"You've been working on it for a year?" Zuko asked.
"Nearly a year, and its something I've been doing here and there when I was sure I wouldn't get caught," Aang admitted.
Curiosity won out, but embarrassment and worry set in. He had managed to hide it from them for years. He waited for the proper time, but it never seemed to come. He knew once he revealed it, none of them would forget it either.
He heaved a sigh and said, "I have a necklace."
"That isn't such a bad thing," Sokka said.
"Its got a circled pentagram pendant on it," Zuko finished.
Aang's eyes went wide. Katara's nearly as much. Toph went back to looking out the window. Sokka stared between them lost.
"What does that mean?" Sokka asked.
Without taking his eyes off of Zuko, Aang explained, "A pentagram is a five pointed star, in this case, with a circle around it. It represents the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Its shown to represent the elements in the controlling, generative, or destructive cycle. There are those that say placing a circle around it is the Shaman's way of showing that they have complete dominion over all the elements."
Zuko reached down and clutched at the mask that was hanging off his belt. Aang knew it was a sign that Zuko was looking for strength in what he was going to say next. Aang cut him off.
"Well, I suppose that means its my turn now. I told you if you said, I would tell you what I got, but I suppose it would be a bit better to show you really," Aang said quickly as he rose to his feet and ran to grab his bag.
He reached in and fumbled around a bit before he pulled looked down and smiled at something only he could see in the bag. He walked over to Toph first and placed something in her hand. He gave one to Katara next, followed by Sokka. Lastly, he handed one to Zuko before pulling out his own. Zuko knew he wasn't imagining the way Aang's hand seemed to linger on his.
Zuko finally looked in his hand and saw a wood carving. He could see in the fine details that it was a little carving of him. He looked up at Toph and saw her turning a small carving of herself in her hands. He fought the urge to drop his jaw and he saw Katara and Sokka doing the same. He turned to Aang amazed and saw him hold up a little version of himself.
"Aang, these are amazing," Katara said.
The rest joined in nodding agreement.
"They are not really finished yet. I've been working on them for this year when I've been on my own. It wasn't easy to hide it from you guys, but I really wanted to surprise you with something I've done."
"I'm certainly surprised," Sokka said.
Katara handed her mini self over to Aang and Toph followed after. He collected the rest with a big grin on his face. They watched as he lovingly packed them in his bag.
Toph tilted her head to the side and said, "The rain stopped."
Zuko watched the extra care Aang made in making sure that mini him and mini Aang were beside each other in the bag and thought that Toph couldn't be more right.
FN: Prompt: The five items in your pocket (#45 of 50)