The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book One: Water | 3 | The Discovery

Art drawn by me!

A 15-year old Sokka ran up to a tall young man with silver white hair who was training silently in the open snowfield. Said young man was doing his warm-up, simple movements to properly stretch his body. He was readying himself for his hunting trip, wanting to get something nice for the village. They'd only been eating dried meat and he wanted them to have something better, even if just for today. Although much taller than Sokka, with a good amount of muscle filling out his southern pole attire, this young man was the now 17-year old Ayaan.

"Ayaan, you gotta show me how to do the thing." Sokka begs. Ayaan, not sure what he meant, raised his eyebrow when he looked towards Sokka. His younger brother, able to read his brother's many silent mannerisms, answered the unspoken question.

"You know what I mean! That cool trick you did with the spear. The one where you were like 'WHOOSH'" He waved his hands around him, "and then 'CRACK'!" He did a movement similar to a punch, but way too animated for it to have any effect. "Ya'know?—The Thing, Ayaan! The Thing!"

"Ah." He figured out what Sokka was talking about. He took out his spear.

It had the base of one of the traditional fishing spears one would be able to find abundant in the village, but Ayaan had strengthened it with the help of the village weapons' smiths over the course of many years. The bottom of it was like that of a club, while the spear's blade was a bit larger and jagged than their fishing spears. It had a bit of weight, but it was balanced and easy for Ayaan to carry.

After their mother died, he never let it leave his side.

The spear was the first weapon he'd ever picked up, and he took to it like a fish to water. With the relentless training he did against any beasts he could find in the south pole, he'd become better than any of his tribesmen when it came to his spear arts.

"This?" He tossed the spear in the air, watching it flip before he grabbed it, letting the natural rotation it had attained maneuver seamlessly around his body. Because of the momentum the spear had, the air seemed to 'whoosh' in that direction; wherever it stopped, it would 'crack' as it spit the air. Masterful hand movements that could barely be seen, this move was as easy as breathing to Ayaan. His body, trained to the point of instinctually following his wants, moved with the spear as if it were an extension of his body.

His many movements were like the currents of a fast flowing river, many subtle moves that compensated for every obstacle he might face, always changing direction, beautiful like a dance. But lethal, like the rivers he sailed in his canoes that forever broke the ice that flowed through them. It was the only way Sokka could describe Ayaan's spear art.

There was no way for him to properly describe that feeling he got from watching Ayaan practice with his favorite weapon. After Ayaan finished demonstrated he pointed to it to signal his unspoken question. He wasn't sure why Sokka wanted to learn something like this, he was just spinning his spear.

Ayaan had no idea how amazing he was.

"That's it! That's the thing! Please teach me!"

"Okay." He agreed simply. If Sokka wanted to learn his moves, he'd show him as many times as he wanted to see them. For Ayaan, it was not hard.

"Yes!" Sokka's wide smile brought out a small on of his own. Ayaan liked making him happy, but it was not hard to please Sokka thanks to his preference for training his body over training his waterbending.

"Let's go hunting." Ayaan stated simply. Sokka was confused by this.

"Hunting? Why? We have so much stored seal jerky even I can't eat it all. We shouldn't have to go hunting again for a while, at least."