PARADOX

Chapter Fifteen: Some things can't be changed

I was sleeping soundly, once again, leaning against Appa's side. It seemed to be my favorite sleeping spot. When Aang's half choked scream, that turned into a sob woke me up with a jolt. I scrambled to my feet hurrying over to his side. I knelt down and picked him up gently holding him against my shoulder. He leaned against me but didn't let go of the tears I knew he was hiding.

"Aang? Do you want to talk about it?" I ask looking over his head at Katara who had also woken up at Aang's scream.

He shook his head negatively burying his head in my shoulder. "Its nothing." He muttered into my shoulder. I sighed holding him like I had for my younger brothers when we were younger. He closed his eyes and relaxed into my side.

I immediately noticed when he fell asleep. His whole body lost all the tension it had.

"Go back to sleep." I ordered Katara softly. She looked at Aang with concern as she went back to her sleeping bag.

With a huff of exertion I picked up Aang shifting so he was laying in my arms comfortably. Then I softly walked back over to Appa. I set Aang down gently sitting beside him and moving his head so it rested in my lap. That way he wouldn't have a sore neck when he woke up the next morning.

I gently set my hand on the top of his head lightly. I turned my head slightly so it was half buried in Appa's fur. I was used to sleeping like that from the naps I had used to take on the bus on the way to school. I slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was woken up when Aang slipped out of my arms. I peeked out from underneath my eye lashes. He had moved to a rock that was mostly flat and sat legs crossed and hands fist-ed and pushed together. He looked exactly like the statue of Monk Gyatso in the Southern Air Temple. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply and evenly. I watched as slowly the tenseness in his shoulders went down. He was still tense but not nearly as much. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Aang could take care of himself for a little while at least.

I was shaken awake an unknown amount of time later. The sun was higher up than it had been when Aang went to meditate. It was probably mid-morning. I looked up at Sokka's irritated face.

"If I'm not aloud to sleep, you're not aloud to sleep." He grumbled. I smacked his hand off of my shoulder lightly. "I'm up, I'm up." I grumbled back grumpy from being woken up so rudely.

Our group had a quick breakfast, soup again. I was getting sick of soup. Then we all clambered onto Appa's back.

An hour later we were walking through a market. Katara was looking at the fruits. She shook the melon she had in her hands. It sloshed loud enough for me to hear and I was several feet away.

"I don't know..." She said skeptically. "I don't like the sound of that swishing."

"Swishing is good. It the ripe juices swishing around." The sales lady tried to get a sale.

"No, it means its overripe." I said from where I was standing several feet away.

"What would you know?" The lady snapped.

Katara set the fruit down. "That's okay, I just realized we don't have any money." She said.

Sokka who had a basket full of fruit had it snatched out of his hands and was kicked in the butt by the irritated lady.

We walked to the docks where Appa was resting in the water, Sokka was rubbing his butt as if the kick had hurt. It was more of a pat than an actual kick. He was supposed to be a warrior, be able to take pain.

"What do we do now?" He whined. "Out of food and no money."

"Why don't you get a job, wise guy?" Katara asked.

"We shouldn't go out there. The fish can wait, there's going to be a terrible storm!" An old woman's voice caught our attention.

Shit, that was this episode. Damn it all.

"Ah, you're crazy. It's a nice day. No clouds, no wind, no nothing. So quit your nagging woman." The man argued back.

"Maybe we should find some shelter." Aang suggested nervously.

"Are you kidding, shelter from what?" Sokka asked.

"My joints say there's gonna be a storm a bad one." The woman said her voice sounding slightly more whiny.

"Well its your joints against my brain."

"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul that fish, cause I ain't coming."

"Then I'll find a new fish hauler and pay him double what you get. How do you like that?" He retorted.

"I'll go!" Sokka volunteered before I could stop him.

"You're hired." The man said quickly.

He turned to look at our disapproving faces and said "What? You said get a job, and he's paying double."

"Double of nothing is still nothing." I commented.

"What do you mean nothing?" Sokka asked suddenly.

"The lady is obviously his wife. Why would he pay her? They share everything anyway." I replied.

"Double? Who told you that nonsense?" He asked ignoring what we had just told Sokka.

"Besides, it is going to storm." I added. "I can feel the water pressure in the air changing. Its gonna be a doozy too." I told them.

"How can you do that?" Sokka asked skeptically.

"Well, when its going to storm the pressure in the air increases and the water starts to come closer together to form clouds. I've become very in tune with my bending because it was one of the few things that I could use in an emergency." I answered thinking back to one time I'd used my bending to save my life.

Flashback:

I was pulling an empty sled through the thick snow of the middle of the South Pole.

Kovu was trailing at my heels loyally. He was nearly two now. He had his thick winter coat on, which was only a layer more than the summer coat. Probably cause the temperature only changed slightly in the summer. Mostly because the sun warms our bodies even if it didn't raise the temperature of our surroundings.

Kovu was following but he seemed disturbed by something.

"What's wrong, Kovu?" I asked out loud as I stopped to wait for him. He whimpered and looked up at the sky, to the north of us. I had no clue what he was trying to tell me but I knew it must be important. I turned to go back. We had been walking for nearly two hours and we hadn't seen any signs of Carribou-goat anyway. We would just have to deal with fish and snowberries for a couple days until we could go hunting again.

Kovu eagerly followed happy that we were turning around.

We had walked for an hour before we were hit by a large blizzard.

I struggled to pull the sled behind me trying to lead Kovu through the storm.

We finally stopped exhausted. I panted trying to catch my breath even though each breath sent a stabbing pain in my lungs.

Kovu whined as he started to dig into the snow with his sharp claws.

I took a deep breath and pulled the snow around me creating an igloo around Kovu, the sled and myself. I shivered as the lack of motion allowed the cold to settle into my bones.

Kovu whined looking at my shivering form before walking around me three times and laying down around me like an oversize throw rug. I buried myself into his warm black fur. He was warmer than me, he also produced more heat than me. We huddled together in the small igloo for what seemed like years. Gradually the air around us warmed enough for us to sit comfortably without shivering. I could still hear the wind whipping outside. So we fell asleep against each other. It was warm enough we wouldn't freeze and we would need the energy to get back to our home.

We were holed up in the igloo for a day and a half. Luckily I had packed enough jerky for lunch and supper so we had enough to ration to last.

End Flashback

I learned to pay much more attention to the weather from then on. I gradually gained a talent of telling the weather due to the pressure of the water in the air as well as the volume.

"Sokka maybe this isn't such a good idea. Look at the sky." Aang said staring at the gray storm clouds collecting in the sky.

"I made a promise. I can't back out just because of some bad weather." Sokka said packing stuff on the boat.

"The boy with the tattoos has some sense. You should listen to him." The old woman said.

"Boy with tattoos." The man repeated turning around. "Air bender tattoos. I'll be a hog monkey's uncle. You're the avatar ain't ya?" He said.

"That's right." Katara said. Both of them grinned. I didn't I knew what was coming.

"Well don't be so smiley about it." The man said. "The avatar disappeared for a hundred years. You turned your back on the world." He said jabbing a finger at Aang's chest.

"Don't yell at him. Aang would never turn his back on anybody." Katara defended.

"Is that right, huh? Then I must've imagined the last one hundred years of war and suffering." He retorted sarcastically.

"Aang is the bravest person I know." Katara said putting her hand on her chest. "He has done nothing but help people and save lives since I met him. Its not his fault he disappeared." She defended. "Right, Aang?" She turned to Aang for support. But Aang had backed off and as she asked he turned and flew off on his glider.

"That's right, keep flying." The old man yelled after him.

"You're a horrible old man." She yelled jumping onto Appa. "Appa yip, yip." she commanded.

A large wave hit the old man caused by Appa's tail slapping the water.

"Hey, they left without saying good bye." Sokka complained.

"Your friends ain't very polite are they?" The man asked ignoring the fact he had been being rude just seconds ago.

"I'm still here and can hear everything you say." I told them bluntly.

The old man handed off a crate to Sokka, "get below deck." He ordered Sokka.

"Are you coming, girly?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I might as well try to keep the ship from capsizing when the storm hits." I said bluntly letting him know exactly how I felt about this little adventure.

I jumped over the side of the boat landing lightly on the deck.

We set off quickly after that. Apparently the man really wanted to fish.

It started raining as soon as we left. Not sprinkling, but pouring rain. I created a large ice umbrella over our small ship.

The waves grew rougher and rougher the farther we got out. The man refused to go back though. I attempted to soften the waves but we were still getting tossed roughly. I quickly grew tired as I redircted the waves away from the boat. I used air bending to redirect the wind.

Finally the old man had us onto ropes that were attached to the mast.

I still tried to reroute the waves, but it was getting less and less effective.

"I'm too young to die." Sokka complained.

"I'm not but I still don't wanna." The old man added.

Just when I thought we were going to be overwhelmed by the storm, Aang and Katara came swooping in on Appa.

He dropped down onto the ship and cut the falling mast in half with water bending. Then he told us to hang onto the rope and used air bending to yank us up onto the saddle.

The old man spat out a mouth full of water with a blush.

Then a huge wave towered over Appa and came down over us.

I barely had time to gasp in a breath before we were under. My eyes closed as I held onto the saddle tightly. I felt the water around me change and suddenly we were moving towards the surface.

We burst out of the water and I took a deep breath immediately. I looked back down and saw Zuko's ship with him looking up at us. Then we were out of sight.

After a short journey we were in a cave where the old man's wife waited and hugged the old man glad he was alive.

"You owe this boy an apology." The woman ordered the man.

"Er... Well... How about instead of an apology I give him a free fish and call it even?" He asked.

"Actually, I don't eat meat."

"Fish ain't meat." The man replied.

"You are going to pay me right?" Sokka asked holding out his hand.

The old man slapped a fish into Sokka's hand.

Sokka immediately made a distressed noise.

I snickered. What kind of hunter couldn't deal with dead animals?

I missed whatever Aang said to Katara and vice versa. I was too busy watching the old woman berate the old man for his stinginess.

Then the old man walked over to Aang and thanked him for saving his life.

"Do you hear that?" Sokka suddenly asked. "It stopped raining."

We looked at the ocean and indeed it had stopped raining the sun shone brightly on the water casting glares.

Appa took in a deep breath and I dropped to my stomach just before he sneezed sending a wave of snot over our heads. Apparently the others had the same idea.

"Appa!" Aang, Katara, and Sokka scolded.

Discretely I bended all the water out of my clothes and hair sending it back down to the ocean below. Then I did the same for the rest of the group.

I guess there were somethings that were bound to happen anyway. The storm was one of them. Hopefully bending the water out of our clothes and hair would keep us from getting sick but I doubt it.