𝑺𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑹 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

11 ~ misunderstanding

Guren kept his feet submerged in the water as he sat on dry ground. The sun was particularly strong that day, and it was beginning to annoy him with how warm it was.

"Aren't you going to come inside, Guren?" Katara called out from a little way ahead of him.

She was teaching Aang Waterbending for the last hour or so, and they seemed to have been having fun.

"I'm good right here!" He gave her a little wave and tilted his head back, closed his eyes and tried to ignore the sun as much as possible.

And then he felt water splash him. The sudden coolness of it made him flinch, and, as he spluttered and blinked, through blurry eyes, he saw Sokka standing in front of him, water dripping down his hands.

He had a smug smile on his face. "What? Scared of a little water?"

Guren knew he was taunting him, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to retaliate. "Now you're asking for it...!" Without wasting a second, Guren was on his feet and heading straight for the other boy. Along the way, the water on him began sizzling, soft steam rising from his clothes and skin, completely drying by the time he reached Sokka. Seeing the mild widening of the boy's eyes, Guren reached his hands forward and slammed him back by the shoulders hard enough to send him into the water.

"Sokka!" Katara's concerned tone rang out. She ran up to them and stopped beside Sokka. "What are you two doing?!" Looking between them, she zeroed in on Guren. "Did you push him?"

Guren paid her no mind and instead watched as Sokka stood up, completely wet, and turned to Guren. He didn't say anything, but the unspoken words were obvious enough to make Guren grin.

Seeing that, Sokka scoffed and walked away.

"Teach your brother some manners." With that, Guren bent down and grabbed his shoes and discarded pieces of clothing, before he stepped out and dried it all off.
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Guren was minding his own business, watching Katara continue teaching Aang, when one of the icicles went flying in his direction. Whipping his hand upwards, his knuckles hit the icicle and broke it apart, but not without scraping his skin first. Seeing the blood begin to trickle, he quickly slammed his palm atop it and felt the all-familiar heat trying to escape from under it.

"Are you alright?!" Aang landed in front of him, concern written clear over his features.

Lowering his hand, Guren nodded. "I'm fine. Watch out next time," From the corner of his eye, he saw Sokka. "If it were Sokka instead, he'd have gotten seriously injured."

Sokka heard him and looked in his direction.

Guren bit back a sneer.

"That's a relief. I'm sorry!" Aang awkwardly hovered in front of him.

Ah...

"I said I'm fine," Perhaps he was a bit too harsh, seeing as though Aang practically made himself even smaller when he heard Guren speak. "Now scurry off, Katara is waiting."

With another apology slipping past his lips, Aang went back.

Breathing out in relief, Guren moved his hand and saw that it had stopped bleeding, leaving behind nothing but an already forming scab. He was lucky.

_

Not even an hour later, they found themselves in the company of...nomads.

And then the others got side-tracked.

The nomads kept singing stories about various legends, and Guren wanted nothing more and nothing less than for them to shut up so they could be on their way to their intended destination without further side-tracking.