A. N. : This chapter hurt to write, honestly. This story isn't exactly a happy one, but some things just hit a little harder than others, you know ? I promise it will get better, though.
Jet is way too stubborn.
They found a village along the coast, not too far from camp – or, well, Jet found it while Aang bent clouds to hide Appa – and they've been arguing about what to do ever since.
Aang thinks – reasonably, in his opinion – that it would be better to land nearby and go there immediately. Suki needs clothes, and they all need food. The sooner they buy everything, the better.
But Jet insists that Aang's clothes will attract too much attention, and since he is explicitly forbidden from going anywhere on his own – not that he wanted to in the first place, he adds, probably lying – they should go back, report, and decide on what to do together with everyone else.
It's been like, twenty minutes. Aang is beginning to think he's going mad.
And then he finds it. The perfect argument. How he didn't think of it earlier, he has no idea, but hey, he has it now !
He'll just take off the jacket, and wear his headband with the plain side visible ! That way, no one will recognize his clothes as a school uniform !
He stands there, hands on his hips, waiting for Jet's reply. When it doesn't come immediately, Aang has to restrain himself from punching the air. The wise doesn't rub petty wins in his friend's face, lest he wake up one day with all his clean underwear hidden all over the Temple. Or something. No personal experience on that front, nope, wasn't him !
The Abbot's face when he realized it wasn't just one monk, but everyone's underwear that had gone missing, though… Truly, one of the greatest pranks Aang ever witnessed. Even if it was born of petty grudges.
Even if no one but him remembers it.
Ah, happy thoughts, happy thoughts ! Aang found a good argument, and Jet finally agrees to go buy things right now – thinking about it, he adds, they're probably the only ones who can be on shopping duty anyway, since Zuko is too recognizable, Katara won't leave Sokka, Suki still looks like an evaded prisoner, and Toph is under house arrest the same as Jet. Aang nods.
Shopping is a happy thought, right ? Plus, maybe they'll meet some nice people in town, make some new friends. That would be sweet.
It feels like an eternity has passed since he was in school. He wonders how all the children there are doing. Hey, maybe once he's stopped the war, he could go back to play hide and explode with everyone !
He changes his clothes while Jet hides Appa with leaves and branches. Or, well, tries to hide Appa. It doesn't look like many people hang out around here anyway, there's no path or anything, so it will probably be fine.
Preparations all done, they start heading for the village. Aang tries to get Jet to hand him some of the money, but Jet refuses to budge on that point. Katara's orders. Aw ! How come Katara doesn't trust Jet to not cause trouble if he goes on his own, but he's allowed to handle the finances ?
One of life's greatest mysteries, really.
The village, once they arrive there, looks like a pretty odd place. Large, simple wood houses that look more like boats than anything Aang's ever seen in the Fire Nation. Local architecture ? He'll have to ask Zuko when they come back.
The shops look pretty normal on the other hand, although none of them have more than one floor – something Aang has only ever seen with rich merchants that have their homes away from their workplace.
The few people he sees all go back inside the second they notice him and Jet. They're watching us, Jet says, pointing to the faces in the windows with his chin.
Something is wrong.
Aang couldn't see very well, it only lasted for an instant, but – he thinks the last person he saw, who took just a little longer than the others to hide, was wearing the traditional long braids of Sea Walkers.
But that's impossible, of course. Sea Walkers spend their lives at sea, as free as the Air Nomads, only ever touching the ground when their ships need big repairs. Ukon had never even seen a tree from up close before Aang took him for a ride on Appa along the coast.
Jet says they should leave – if they're already attracting that much attention by just walking, staying here could be dangerous – but Aang doesn't listen. He needs… he just needs to be sure.
He needs to see.
It's one of these things he can't run away from, he thinks.
Aang enters the clothes shop, Jet following closely – he's nervous, and he keeps on whispering that it's a terrible idea, but he doesn't leave – and is welcomed by a man fidgeting on a stool.
Braided hair, the length of which says he married a long time ago, or at least very close to his adulthood ceremony. A long skirt with none of the many colors that should be decorating it as proof of the family's trade relations – only Fire Nation red. His tattoos show rare fish and symbols that Aang doesn't know how to read – the only things he can make sense of are the family mark, although he has no clue which family's it is, and the lightning decorating the man's left shoulder. An important event, probably the one that caused the scars on his entire left side and his missing eye.
He smiles nervously, and Aang sees Ukon's dad in the dimples that form on his face.
We're looking for clothes for my little sister – Jet's voice isn't enough to break the spell on Aang and allow him to move again.
Something is wrong.
Something is wrong in the way the shopkeeper bows and keeps his head too low, in the way he tries to tell Jet they only have Sea Walker clothes as gently as possible, like he's expecting Jet to get angry or something.
Something is wrong in the way the houses look like ships and in the way they're houses, on land.
The man is taken aback when Jet says that clothes are clothes, it's not like they're sacred robes or anything, right ?
One time, Aang and Ukon exchanged clothes while the adults traded fruits for textiles from the Earth Kingdom. The skirt felt light around Aang's legs, and it reminded him of sails. It was nice. On the other hand, Ukon thought monk garbs were too restricting and hot and didn't show his brand-new tattoos and –
Gyatso and Ukon's dad had laughed a whole lot when they saw the result. Ukon's dad had even gifted Aang a scarf to hide his shaved head, so he could look like a real Sea Walker even just a little.
His cousins are in charge of the shop normally, the man says, cutting through the memories. He doesn't know the pricing. So… therefore…
Aang thinks he just wants them gone.
Jet shrugs, says it's a shame, and grabs Aang by the arm to drag him out.
The traditional goodbye escapes Aang's lips as he crosses the threshold. May the wind always blow in your sails, he says, praying for the answer to follow, for the ritual may it carry you far to accompany him outside.
But nothing comes.
He just lost something he didn't even know he had, he thinks.