Chapter Seven
The King of Omashu
The ride on Appa after the events on Kyoshi Island was relatively quiet- and maybe a little tense.
Sokka and Lian had reverted back to their old habits of either completely ignoring one another- or bickering and insulting one another until either Aang or Katara broke them up- which usually resulted in Lian fire bending out of anger (which had already singed some of both Katara and Sokka's hair) or Sokka threatening with his boomerang gripped in his hand and pointed directly at Lian- who usually just provoked him by imitating him or just ignoring him altogether.
Today, just minutes before they were supposed to reach the city of Omashu, the two were already at each other's throats after Sokka had snapped at Lian for fire bending again.
"Oh just shut up!" Lian groaned as Sokka continued to rant about the many things that could go wrong if Lian happened to catch the saddle on fire. Most of them ended with a fiery plummet towards the ground below- but a few of them had some more creative endings, like the one where Aang would air bend the fire out but accidently blow them all off resulting in them all falling to their deaths. Lian had been quick to remind him that she could fire bend to slow her descent, and the flurry of scenarios turned into an avalanche of snippy and anger fueled insults.
"No! Not until you stop fire bending on Appa!" Sokka shouted back, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke. Lian narrowed his eyes at him as Katara rubbed her temples from her spot nearby, and Aang sighed loudly.
Lian suddenly gave a less than convincing sniffle, and then reached up to rub her nose.
"I think… I think I feel a sneeze coming on…" She said between short breaths. Sokka and Katara raised an eyebrow at Lian at her dry tone, and Aang turned slightly from his spot on Appa's head. Lian's head was held back slightly, and her expression was twisted with the discomforting tingle of the sneeze. "Ah- ahhhh- " Lian paused, and suddenly smirked at Sokka- whose expression turned sour. "ACHOO!"
A burst of flame came from her sneeze, and lashed out towards Sokka, who gave a girlish scream in surprise, and flattened himself against Appa's saddle face first as the flames from Lian's fake sneeze flew well over his head, and into the sky above them. From a distance, the flames were big enough to be seen from the ground.
Katara and Aang looked stunned for a moment, and then exchanged a look with one another as Lian gave a halfhearted wipe to her nose, and looked down at Sokka with a smug look on her face as he pulled his face off of the leather saddle with a discomforting peeling noise, and turned to glower at Lian, who was halfheartedly wiping her nose with the back of her hand and making feeble sounding sniffling noises.
"Oh I'm so sorry, Sokka. I had no idea that would happen!" She cooed with a sickly sweet voice that grated against Sokka's ears as Katara slowly reached over, and bended a small amount of water over small flame that had caught on the very tip of Sokka's hair.
Sokka growled, and without warning, he gave a guttural cry of frustration that even made Lian jump- and reached up and pulled at his face. Obviously, he had had enough.
"I AM DONE!" Sokka yelled as Aang peeked over the edge of the saddle. Momo peeked over Aang's bald head a moment later, his large ears pressed back against his head. Lian and Katara just sat there with their blue and amber eyes wide. Sokka pointed a finger at Lian so close that it actually brushed against her nose, causing the fire bending girl to lean back with surprise, her hands gripping the edge of Appa's saddle with shock.
"I am done with your stupid fire bending, your stupid hood, your stupid face, your stupid, freaky hair…" Sokka's arms flailed about as he screamed at Lian, spit flying every which way and that, his eyes wide and livid and his muscles tense. But what he said next- could have possibly been the worst thing he could have possibly said. "Your Dad had every reason to be ashamed of you!"
Those ten words hit Lian like a slab of earth hurdling through the air a mile a minute- and everyone on board felt their own breath hitch- Even Sokka, whose expression softened as soon as he realized what he had just said, and how deeply it had cut Lian. The usually strong fire bender suddenly looked as though the world had been pulled out from underneath her, and as close as Sokka was to her, he could see tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill over the edge.
Lian grit her teeth, and took a sharp, shaky breath, and looked away from Sokka for a moment.
Sokka quickly looked towards his sister, who was still watching the scene with a stunned and confused expression. What Sokka had said definitely was definitely not meant for their ears- and not even Lian's.
Sokka looked back towards Lian, who was now glowering at him with such a look of hatred that he felt a pang of fear in his chest- and gulped loudly. Tears were still filling the bender's eyes, but it was as if she willed them not to fall even in their precarious position on her eyes.
Sokka gave Lian a sympathetic look, and then began to reach towards her as he bit his lip, and then let it go so that he could speak.
"Lian-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Lian swatted his hand away. But to his surprise- Lian's hand burned his skin, and he yelped in pain as he withdrew his hand, and finally realized that it was suddenly very warm around Lian. Sokka caressed his hand as he looked towards Lian, and finally noticed a single tear fall from her eyes, and then turn into a small puff of almost unnoticeable steam. She had warmed her skin up so much that her tears didn't even get a chance to fall.
Sokka moved towards her again- and with one swift movement, Lian brought up her foot, and brutally kicked him in the chest, sending him towards the edge of Appa's saddle where he barely kept himself from toppling over the edge.
No one protested Lian's actions, not even Sokka, who was taking the brunt of them. No one spoke a word as Lian pulled up her hood and desperately pulled it over her face, and turned away from them all, silent tears still evaporating off of her skin as she cried.
Sokka felt guilt rise in his chest- just like the bird nest had settled in Lian's only a few days ago, and looked away from the girl's silently crying form, and looked over the edge of Appa as Katara finally mustered up the will to glare at her brother.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sokka shot his sister a look, and Katara stopped, her pointed finger poised mid-air, prepared to deliver a lecture, and her expression of fury fell.
He looked sorry. Sokka had never looked sorry in his life. Not even when he had destroyed their father's best boomerang or cut off half of Katara's hair.
Something had changed.
-0-
By the time the four had reached the outskirts of Omashu, the air around them was still tense, and Lian and Sokka still wouldn't look at one another, but the young Avatar Aang was still as chipper as ever, as if the confrontation between Lian and Sokka had never even happened. It grated against Sokka's already on edge nerves, but Lian tried her best to put on a happy face for the boy. She knew it wouldn't be fair to Aang if she took her feelings out on him.
Because Sokka deserved the sharp end of that spear- not Aang.
Appa landed and without a word, everyone climbed and bended their way off of Appa's back, and the ten ton sky bison grunted with approval.
Lian made her way around Appa with her hood still pulled up over her head, a shadow cast over her puffy eyes.
Sokka cast the girl a secretive look as he followed Katara and Aang, who were already walking ahead, and Katara cast a warning glare at the back of her brother's head when she noticed his movement in her peripherals. But the look that she saw on Sokka's face was only what she could identify as regret, but none the less- she couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for him, and turned away.
Sokka continued to watch as Lian walked past Appa's head, and the furry beast nudged her hand as she passed by- causing his mouth to drop open as Lian jumped in shock, and held her hands close to her chest away from Appa's mouth and nose.
He couldn't believe it. Even Appa was trying to cheer Lian up- and he wasn't too fond of her due to her fire bending. Appa hated fire.
Lian blinked a few times at the sky bison, and then lowered her hands, and relaxed her tensed muscles. Sokka gave a quiet chuckle as Katara and Aang finally reached the edge of the cliff, and Lian turned herself to face Appa.
"Can I help you, Appa?" Lian asked quietly as she raised a tentative hand, and ever so slowly, began to reach towards Appa's snout.
To both her and Sokka's surprise, Appa promptly placed his nose under her hand, and affectionately moved his head back and forth so that Lian's hand was petting his nose. Lian's amber eyes flew wide open, and Sokka gaped.
Lian blinked several times as she watched the sky bison rubbed his nose underneath Lian's hand, and then stopped to look up at Lian, curious as to why she wasn't moving her hand, or even reacting.
For a few moments, Lian just continued to stare at Appa, but then, a small smile began to grow on her lips, and soon enough, she beamed at the beast, and pet his nose with both hands.
"Thanks Appa." She whispered to him as she pet his nose lovingly, and then gave him a kiss right between his two giant eyes. Appa grunted in approval as Lian gave him one last pat on the nose, and then turned away from him to follow Aang and Katara- just to spot Sokka watching, and come to an abrupt halt, with her eyes locked on him in shock.
Sokka tensed like a frightened animal, and then looked away from Lian nervously. Lian only continued to stare for a moment, her expression one of subtle hurt and confusion, before looking away, and continuing her walk towards Aang and Katara. She passed right by Sokka with her ochre eyes trained straight forward, practically blotting out any acknowledgement of Sokka's existence.
As Lian passed by him, and finally joined Aang and Katara, he watched the back of her hood bob up and down with every movement, and sighed silently.
Then he wondered if anything could feel worse than this.
-0-
"I am not going down that thing." Lian shouted after Aang finished his insane proposal.
Aang's lower lip shot out right away, and his eyes looked like one of baby turtle duck. Lian had to look away, her lips drawn into a fine line and eyebrows furrowed to avoid his pleading gaze.
"Aw, come on, Lian! It'll be fun! I promise!" Aang begged as he moved around Lian so that he could see her face. Every time he got close, Lian swiftly turned her head. She knew that if he succeeded, she would succumb to the madness.
"Aang, I am not going to spend the last few moments of my life screaming bloody murder and flying off of a giant slide!" She shot back at him as she ducked away from his gaze once more.
Lian tried to dodge Aang's gaze once again- but this time, Aang got the best of her, and in the last second, he turned the opposite direction so that when Lian turned, she ran directly into Aang, whose puppy dog eyes were stronger than ever.
Lian yelped with surprise, and brought her arms up close to her chest as Aang began to pout even more, his eyes glistening with fake tears and his bottom lip quivering.
Lian looked back and forth between the slide, and Aang, and then finally locked her gaze on Aang- then sighed in defeat.
"Fine." She sighed as she looked towards her left, and then abruptly towards her right when she realized that she was staring directly at Sokka's feet. Aang cheered loudly as he snatched Lian and Katara's hands, and shouted for Sokka to follow them. Sokka frowned at this, but didn't say a word. He was too nervous about the slide to think about how Lian was ignoring his existence.
"One ride and then we're off to the north pole. Air bender's promise!" Aang chirped as they approached the slide and the stone bin that they would be riding in.
When Lian gathered the courage to peek over the edge, she nearly yelped with fright, and stumbled backwards into Katara, where she promptly snatched the water bender's sleeve in her hands, and clung onto the girl next to her as her teeth chattered and her amber eyes grew wider at the thought of sliding down that steep drop.
Katara began to move towards the bin, and Lian hesitantly followed with her grip on Katara's sleeve still tight, and made her way into the bin with her. Aang was in the front, Katara was behind him, and Lian and Sokka were squeezed into the back, where Lian was too busy being scared out of her wits at the height to even realize that she was no longer clinging to Katara's sleeve, but instead she had a vice grip on Sokka's arm. Sokka winced as her fingernails dug into his flesh- but he didn't want to say anything.
Aang began to bend air behind them
"This sounded like fun at first, but now that I'm up here-" Too late. The bin began to slide forwards, and as soon as it hit the perfect angle, it went flying down the mail chute, and Katara screamed the last few words. "I'm starting to have second thoughts!" Her words escalated into a scream just as Lian began to screech, one hand holding up her hood, and the other now gripping Sokka's bicep with her arm snaked around his arm.
Sokka was too busy screaming like a girl to notice just how tightly Lian was holding onto him. Pulled her hood over her eyes, and screamed over the chaos as Katara and Sokka began to shout something along the lines of: "SPEARS! SPEARS!"
"I don't want to die!" Lian screamed as she maneuvered her way under Sokka's arm, who promptly gripped the Princess in fear and continued to scream as Lian shoved her face in Sokka's chest, and wrapped her arms around him so tight that she probably left bruises.
"I'm on it! I'm on it!" Aang shouted over his passenger's screams.
Lian felt Aang moving the bin back and forth, and if it was even possible, she squeezed Sokka even harder, and he squeezed back.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She screamed over and over as the bin shook- and then finally flew off of the track, and freefalled, causing the passengers to sense the weightlessness- and the Fire Nation Princess to give another screech as she and Sokka gripped each other in fear, and Katara screamed with Aang's foot pressed on her face. "NOOOOOO!"
Just as Lian thought she was experiencing her final moments of life, Aang air bended the bin higher into the air to avoid crashing into the ground, causing everyone to scream once more.
"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die…." Lian repeated to herself over and over as she clung to Sokka for dear life, and Sokka continued to scream bloody murder into her ear.
"Aang! Do something! Use your airbending!" Katara shouted over the whistling winds and the screams of her friends. Aang's expression brightened, and he stood up with his staff.
"Yeah! Good idea! That'll make us go even faster!" Aang shouted all too cheerily as his friends continued to panic and scream.
Lian's eyes flew open at the word faster and she gasped loudly as Aang raised up his staff, and moved to blow a gust of air behind them.
"No! Not faster!" She screamed- but it was too late. Aang blew a gale of wind behind them, and the bin began to move so fast that tears began to prick Lian's eyes from the winds.
Sokka squeezed Lian tighter as they approached an earth bender raising up bins and moving bins off onto and off of the track they were on, and burrowed her face into her chest- she couldn't stand to watch.
But then, the bin suddenly hit the edge of the track, and the four were thrown from it- now flying through the air without anything underneath them.
Lian was pulled from Sokka when she was thrown from the bin, and screamed bloody murder the entire three seconds they were in the air- and continued to even after they were blown back into the bin and she was clamped back onto Sokka.
A few crash, bangs, and booms later-their ride had final ended, and Lian willed herself to open her eyes after slamming into what she believed to be the ground, and groaning in pain from being jostled around so roughly.
But when she saw what she was lying on top of, her breath hitched, and her ochre eyes widened in shock.
Sokka was lying on the ground underneath her- with the same expression of shock on his face as the girl began to scramble off of him, and backed straight into the knees of an Earth Kingdom guard.
Lian's eyebrows shot up at the contact, and she slowly looked up, just to meet her gaze with the soldier- who was glowering down at her. Before she could move, he reached down, and roughly grabbed her shoulder, and pulled her up without mercy, causing Lian to yelp in pain as her shoulder popped unpleasantly.
Sokka suddenly jumped up, and began to storm towards Lian and the guard as his sister and Aang were also taken into custody.
"You're hurting her!" He shouted as another guard snatched him from behind, and secured his hands behind his back with a pair of stone cuffs. Sokka struggled against the restraints as Lian turned her head slightly to glare at the man who had already earth bended a pair of handcuffs around her small wrists, and began to push her forwards roughly.
At one point, he pushed her too hard, and Lian stumbled forwards, and without her hands to break her fall, she slammed into the stone sidewalk face first with a cry- which was suddenly cut off when her face hit the stone. Lian felt dazed, and the pain in her head was unbearable.
"Leave her alone!" A voice shouted. It was difficult to think.
No, no, no, you can't pass out again, Lian… don't do it. Don't do it… don't.
"Leave…. Get away…" The voice faded away as Lian succumbed to her throbbing head's will, and her world went pitch black for the second time in three days.
-0—
YOU GUYS. I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE LAST SUNDAY.
My computer shit itself for the last time last week sometime and I lost EVERYTHING, so I had to start this chapter all over again (and I already had about 3,000+ words on the old document ;-;).
Please, please, please, read and review- and I'm so sorry for the poor quality of this chapter. I tried my best to remember what I wrote before and begged my old computer to work- but I failed miserably at both.
Thank you for reading!