Wandering Firebender

Fifty Three: Tour of the North

Elio's eyes slowly fluttered open. He rubbed his eyes and looked outside. The sun was high up in the sky. It took him a little while to realize it, but when it dawned on him, he quickly got up and rushed to grab his clothes.

"Aw crap, I overslept! The master's gonna be pissed!" Elio groaned as he got dressed, throwing on his parka and his boots.

Elio hurried out the front door of his lodge. As soon as he stepped out, he ran right into a guard who had been posted outside of his door. They both fell onto the snow and Elio rolled to the side with a grunt, "Sorry! I didn't know you were there!" He quickly apologized as he sat up.

"It's alright," The guard said, clearly a little annoyed as he got back to his feet. "Where are you going in such a rush?" He asked Elio curiously.

"To training. I overslept." Elio answered, getting to his feet. He started to turn around so he could hurry off.

"Hold on!" The guard stopped him, holding his hand out, "You aren't required to show up to waterbending training today." He said. Elio gave him an odd look.

"What do you mean?"

"Your friend vouched for you. I'm not sure what happened yesterday, but the chief gave permission for you to rest today." The guard explained. Elio's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, I see...that's very kind of him." He said, not expecting that.

"Oh, also, your friend? She's been trying to see you. Visitors aren't allowed on the palace grounds without special permission, so she's been waiting outside for you." He informed him.

"Cindra's waiting for me? Got it! I'll go see her right now! Thanks for letting me know!" Elio said, waving to the guard before turning around and hurrying off.

"Please don't run on the palace grounds!" The guard shouted to him.

Elio quickly made his way to the stairs that led down from the palace grounds to the training grounds. Sure enough, he saw Cindra sitting on the steps watching as Master Hazo led a waterbending class. All of the students were children.

"Good morning, Cindra!" Elio greeted her pleasantly, coming down the steps and sitting next to her. Cindra quickly looked over.

"Elio? Hey, you're finally awake! How're you feeling?" She asked right away, looking him over.

"I'm okay. Feeling a lot better after sleeping it off. You didn't get in too much trouble, did you?" Elio asked. Cindra waved it off.

"It's not a big deal. There's no way I wasn't gonna step in. Anyways, Ansel and I were only forced to do a few extra drills. I don't really care. But I'm glad that you're feeling better." Cindra said with a smile.

"Much better now, thank you. I appreciate you helping me out. Because of you, the chief has given me the day off from training today." He informed her with a chuckle.

"Ooh, really?! You know what we should do then?"

"What?"

"I can give you a tour of the tribe! There's so much here that you gotta see!" Cindra brought up excitedly. Elio nodded in agreement.

"That sounds like fun. Let's do it!"

"Great! Come on, there's no time to waste! It's already almost lunchtime!" She said as she stood up. Elio chuckled and stood up as well.

The two of them made their way around the ongoing class so they could enter into town. As they walked around, Master Hazo gave Elio a glare. Elio stared back with a neutral expression for a couple seconds before directing his attention forward again.