I Am Not the Last Airbender {ON HOLD}

Chapter Thirteen

Recap:

            “This.”

Don’t ya just love me?  I’m so detailed.  :)

---

            He never even saw it coming.           

I didn’t even think, I just moved.  In an instant I was out from behind the tree and waving my arms like a crazy person.  Water rose from the shoreline and charged the unsuspecting visitor.  Under the cover of darkness, the strand of liquid approached the man.  I raced after it, trying to remember my short training and to stay calm.

            Fluid wrists.

            Gentle thoughts.

            Soft fingers.

            When the water touched him, he yelped, but soon he was encased in a tomb of ice up to his next.  I could tell he was struggling by his strange neck thrashing movement something.  I don’t know.  It just looked weird.

            “Come on,” I whispered to Macco.  We advanced on our stalker.  He was frozen with his back turned to us, so when I spoke again, he squirmed around, trying to turn his head around.  Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t an owl.  180⁰ was not in his cranium capacity.

            “Who are you?”

            “Uh—I—uh—” he stuttered.  He sounded younger than your average Fire Nation soldier.  Perhaps he was in training.

            “Answer her,” Macco growled, trying to sound macho or something.  I grinned at him.

            “I—I’m not here to hurt you,” he stammered again.

            “Even if you were, you weren’t doing a very good job at it,” I said snobbishly.  Macco snickered.

            “No one sent me here,” our stranger said close to a whisper.  “I left by myself.”

            “But why did you sneak up on us?” I questioned him, continuing my interrogation.

            “B-because…”

            “Because why?” Macco demanded.

            “Because it was the only way I could help you!” the boy suddenly burst out.  It was then that I decided I needed to see his face.  Macco and I walked around and faced him.  He was young, perhaps him his mid to late teens.  His jaw line had a slight shadow, as if he were on the verge of stubble.  His face was distorted with anguish, pain, cold, or drama, I didn’t know.  I wasn’t sure if I could trust him.  He seemed genuine, but at the same time he hadn’t given us a real answer yet.

            The boy inhaled sharply when he saw us step out of the darkness in front of him.  It was then that I looked down to admire my waterbending handiwork, that I saw his hands glowing through the ice just before they went out, his eyes wide.

            “Hey!” I cried.  “You’re trying to convince us you wanted to help us and yet you’re trying to break yourself free?!  What kind of psychopath would think that would help someone trust them?”

            Our stalker’s eyes widened and a gust of wind blew his hair into his face.  He tried to flick it away with a head swoop, but it failed.  Epically.  He better be glad I wasn’t a fire bender, or I’d burn those locks right off the top of his head.  I was fuming.

            Apparently Macco was too, because he whipped out his sword and held it to the guy’s neck.  I was shocked.  Who was this kid?  But I couldn’t complain.  It was a welcome change.  “Now, give us a straight answer,” Macco said harshly into the boy’s ear.  “Why are you here?”

            The firebender gulped against the blade.  It didn’t look comfortable, but that’s what you get for sneaking up on us!  “I—I thought I could help you on your mission!”

            Macco and I looked at each other slighting confused.  We didn’t even know what our ‘mission’ was.  How could he?  “Oh yeah?” I asked him.  “And how could you do that?”

            “Well, I could help you get through Fire Nation territory much easier and safer.  Having another bender on your team wouldn’t help either.”  Macco pressed his blade harder at this semi-insult.

            “We don’t need another bender,” Macco seethed.

            “How are you going to get to Ba Sing Se?” our captive questioned.  Macco and I looked at each other again.  I stepped behind him next to where Macco was standing.

            “What?” I mouthed to him.

            Macco shrugged.

            “What should we say?”

            “Just go with it,” he mouthed back.

            I nodded and walked back to face the firebender.

            “How did you know we were going to Ba Sing Se?” I asked, trying to sound suspicious, when I really was just curious.

            “Because that’s where all the airbenders are.”