Alas! Chapter 30! A big accomplishment for me, personally. You guys have stuck with me for 30 chapters. Thank you all so much. I love you! :D
I feel bad because chapter 30 is a lame-o chappy. I am sorry. I wanted it to be a more exciting one, but those chapters are on the horizon. (;
Chapter Thirty
The Definition of Useful
The wind washed over my body, its delightful coolness settling over me like a light, comfortable blanket. The sky around me was a soft gold hues, mixed together with rosy pinks and romantic reds. The cumulus clouds were large and fluffy, and as we flew through them, they encased us in dewy mists. The sun was rising ever so slowly, relishing in the morning sleepiness.
I yawned, running my fingers through my hair, gently picking through the knots and tangles until they were gone. From the looks of it, all of my friends were asleep, all except for Aang, who was at Appa's reins. I watched him carefully; his back was to me, his black hair ruffled and his clothing unfitted.
Standing up and taking a glorious stretch, I gusted myself over to him, taking a seat next to him. He glanced up in surprise, greeting me with a fatigue fueled yawn, closing his eyes tightly as he did so.
I smiled, "I'll fly Appa. You should go rest." I suggested gently.
Aang looked like he wanted to protest, but sighed softly and nodded, stumbling back into the saddle and curling up underneath a discarded blanket. I glanced over my shoulder to see that he was already nodding off into a deep slumber, his mouth puckered slightly in an 'o' shape as he breathed in lightly.
I moved over and took hold of the two reins, running my fingers over the calloused leather. The wind was chilled, and I knew it was going to be a pleasant day, temperature wise. Breathing heavily, I smiled as I felt perfectly content up in the sky with my element swirling gracefully around me.
My thoughts wandered freely, and settled on my brother. An aching sadness wilted on my heart, but I knew that he would be fine, that he would be married and raising a family soon. The thought of little mini Olins running around made me laugh.
Momo landed next to me, his large eyes searching and begging me for food. Petting him gently, I gave him some fruit, and he made a little noise before flying away, curling up on the now sleeping Aang. I closed my eyes against the wind, letting the coolness wash over my face, refreshing me.
"Uhmrrrr." A strange noise sounded from the back of the saddle, and I quickly turned around, snapping from my thoughts. I nearly laughed, seeing that the noise came from Sokka, who had just woken up, more or less. His hair was down from his usual pony-tail, and looked like a bird's nest.
"Morning, sleepy head!" I singsong cheerfully, causing the sleepy Sokka to drag his eyes to me, adding an enormous yawn.
The Southern Water tribe warrior groaned, struggling to a sitting position and stretching, closing his eyes as he did so. After doing that, he began to rummage through the food bags, his eyes widening. "Where's all the food?" He asked, dropping the current bag as stares at me.
"There should be some back there." I replied, involuntarily covering my own stomach as it rumbled. I was starving.
There were more sounds of rustling as he searched through the discarded bags again. "There is none."
I sighed, jumping back into the large saddle and picking up a bag. I stick my hand into it, feel around, and suddenly feel empty as to realizing that the bag itself is empty. "Umm…" I blinked, dropping the bag. "It looks like we're out."
"WHAT?" Sokka gasped loudly, his cyan eyes widening even more if possible, his head swaying from side to side as if he was dizzy. "No…food?" His lower lip quivered and Im actually afraid that he is going to start crying.
I moved over to him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder, "Sokka, it's okay. We'll just get more-"
"But I'm starving, Vinca! And you know how much time it's going to take off our schedule by stopping and getting food? Last night, we had two bags full! What happened to all of that food?" He demanded, his voice growing louder, his dark eyebrows coming together angrily.
"Ssh," I quieted him, "You're going to wake the others." I said, and he started to pout like a small child. "And, if I remember correctly, you ate a whole bag of food last night, leaving the rest to Katara, Toph, Aang, and I." I pointed an accusing finger at him, and his shoulders slumped. "Also, I'm pretty sure I just gave the last of our food to Momo." The last part I say more quietly, and a blush tints my cheeks.
"Aha!" Sokka stated, "Well, we can just eat Momo."
"No one is eating Momo," Katara's sleepy voice groaned, and Sokka and I both turned to see her eyelids fluttering open, leaving a light blue stare as she glared at Sokka.
Momo landed on my shoulders, nosing my hair. "I wasn't planning on it." I said in my own defense, while Sokka only shrugged, eying the flying lemur.
Sokka moaned loudly, flopping backwards onto his back. "So…hungry…"
Out of nowhere, a fist shot out from one of the blankets, punching Sokka in the head. "Shut up, Sokka!" Toph yelled, now shoving the whole blanket off of her, rubbing her sightless eyes sleepily.
All this commotion woke Aang up, who only yawned and joined me, sitting down next to me, stretching the fatigue away.
"Well," Sokka said, "Since everyone is up, how about we go get some food?"
Dressed up in our Fire Nation citizen disguises, we headed into yet another large town. Sokka eagerly led us all to a restaurant, ordered all our food without even asking what we wanted, and hauled us out to the outdoor seating, munching happily on his jerky.
I bit down into a strawberry, chewing thoughtfully as I gazed out across the city. Katara and Sokka argued quietly beside me, and Toph was telling Aang about some Earth Kingdom stuff. The day was gorgeous; I felt energized.
Suddenly, the conversation turned into a different topic; bending.
"Earthbending is by far the best." Toph proclaimed casually, and as if to prove the statement, she bended the earth around us into a mini earthquake.
Katara scoffed, rolling her eyes. "No, waterbending is!" She twisted her fingers, bending the tea from her cup into intricate braids, swirling them between her fingers.
"Airbending is the best!" Aang crowed, forming a ball of air in his palm, making it dance gracefully around his hand.
To my left, Sokka sighed, resting his head in his hands as the three benders argued on what element was the best. I was about to ask the Water Tribe warrior what was wrong when Aang popped a question:
"Vinca! What element do you think is best?"
I didn't really want to get sucked into this argument. "Well, all of the elements are great," I replied lamely, twiddling my thumbs.
"But what is the best?"
I glanced around the table, "Um…well…"
Aang smiled brightly, "It's air, right? Air is the best. Right Vinca?"
I shrugged nonchalantly, "I, personally like airbending the best because I am an airbender, but all the elements are wonder-"
"See!" Aang crowed in triumph, "Air is the best! Air is the best!" He chanted.
Katara glowered at Aang, and Toph sighed in annoyance. Sokka frowned.
"Sokka," I said, trying to draw the attention elsewhere, "What's wrong?"
Sokka picked at his remaining jerky, "You guys are all powerful and stuff…while I'm just…Sokka." He said sadly.
I shook my head, nudging him gently, "But you're powerful, too!" I insisted, "With your boomerang! You can do anything with Boomy!" I exclaimed, referring to Sokka's affection for the boomerang.
The boy smiled slightly, lovingly patting the wooden boomerang. "I guess…" He sighed, and while the conversation drifted elsewhere, I began to think of ways to make Sokka feel happier.
We were seated on the outskirts of the town, watching in awe as a meteor shower rained down around us. The normally dark night sky was lightened with the radiant meteors as they twinkled in space, so far away.
Aang was seated next to me, his hand occasionally brushing 'accidentally' over mine, with each time a new flock of butterflies raging in my stomach. Sokka was to my right and Toph to his right, and Katara to her right.
"Woah. This is amazing," Sokka breathed, his eyes widened and his mouth forming a small 'o'.
Toph shrugged, "Seen nothing once, seen nothing never."
A meteor appeared to be very close to earth and coming straight at us, but I knew it was just a trick of my eyes.
Until it was in front of us.
"Toph! You've never not seen anything like this before!" Sokka suddenly exclaimed as the meteor zoomed over our heads, nearly hitting Appa who was behind us. We all jumped up, watching the speeding meteor crash with a loud thud into the meadow outlaid before us.
Fire engulfed the area.
Aang immediately took hold of the situation. "We have to go put that fire out! It'll destroy the city!"
"I'll bend the water from the stream over there," Katara stated before jumping onto Appa, a determined look on her face. The flying bison rose into the sky with a roar before sailing across the field.
Toph nudged Aang, "C'mon. I have an idea." She said, dragging Aang along. The earthbender then began rolling slabs of earth over the fire to put it out, and Aang eventually got the rhythm and the two heartily worked together.
I awkwardly stood by Sokka, the 30-something flames warming my face even though I was yards away from it. I flinched as the fire sputtered and creaked when it expanded, my breathing becoming abruptly heavier as I inched away from the flames.
Sokka glanced at me, "What's wrong?" he asked, and I quickly looked at him, trying to regain my frantic breathing. But the flames - they were hot, too close, and I felt sick and dizzy and too stuffy.
"Nothing." I said, shaking my head, forcing myself to look completely away from the flames. "I just don't feel like being burned today." My words were unintentionally harsh and bitter.
The Water Tribe boy frowned. "Oh. Okay." He took a seat on the ground, and hesitantly I sat down as well. He continued frowning as his sister bended water and his friends bend earth. He bit his lower lip, grunting softly.
I gave him a look, "What's wrong?" I inquired, repeating his own words.
Sokka shrugged. "Nothing," He paused, and I knew that 'nothing' was wrong. "It bugs me that you aren't out there helping them put that raging fire out." He muttered.
"Air is oxygen, and oxygen fuels fire." I said simply, picking at the grass.
He made a childish noise, "So. At least you can bend. At least you are useful."
"Sokka." I sighed, "You are useful."
"Whatever."
"You are!" I insisted.
"Name one time I was useful." Sokka demanded.
I thought for a couple seconds before nudging him, "Remember the pirates? You threw your boomerang and hit a pirate for me. That was useful." I smiled.
He only shrugged his shoulders, but I could tell he was pleased.
About a week after that, we left the city and continued on to another. In the time we were in the city, Sokka trained under a sword's master, using the metorite"s minerals to form the only sword like it - affectionately named 'Space Sword', and he finally understands that even a nonbender like him is useful.
AN: I'm so sorry...for this filler chapter. I kinda wanted to get one up, because I've been thinking about doing a time-skip of about three or so episodes, because all the episodes are filler in my opinion. But, I really liked this chapter, based on the episode "Sokka's Master", mainly because it shows that Sokka is useful, not just a comic relief character. Anyway, another filler chapter might be possibly coming in your direction before we go into yet another big climax. Remember that the next big climax will take some time leading up to it, so beware.
Thank you all for the reviews. They are greatly appreciated and loved. (':