The Guider Effect ☼ Zuko || ATLA

His

Days had gone by since Rein was involuntarily made a member of the Freedom Fighters. The group refused to let her travel alone, terrified that something bad could happen to her and their future in peace would be no more. Rein wasn't mad about it either, she enjoyed the company. Each member had a different set of skills when it came to maintaining their camp and every day she would spend time learning their trades. She refused to sit and wallow in her self-pity, Kireina had to push forward and train hard just like her brother.

Her first day at camp was spent with Longshot, a boy of very few words. Rein felt guilty for purposely almost killing him so she wanted to change that friendship dynamic immediately. The morning started by warming up using targets marked amidst the campsite. The younger boy taught Rein the proper stance and after a few shots, she was hitting bullseyes left and right, leaving the crew of misfits shocked.

"Must be because of my airbending..." She whispered to Longshot. Instead of replying, he simply grabbed some supplies before motioning her to follow him into the woods. Surprisingly, Rein didn't mind that Longshot was basically mute. It meant that he was always listening and that hit deep with her. As the day bled into night, Longshot taught Rein how to shoot fruit down from trees and differentiate between poisonous and nonpoisonous berries, roots and seeds.

The moon beamed down on the two as they stumbled back to camp. Kireina was exhausted, wanting to do nothing more than sleep in her hammock amongst the trees. She made a beeline towards her nook but like clockwork, Jet blocked her path.

She rolled her eyes and threw her head back, preparing to throw a child-like tantrum. "I don't have time to sing kumbaya tonight, I have a very important meeting with my pillow that I can't afford to miss."

Jet chuckled, "I came to tell you that I put your dinner aside if you're hungry. It's not much but we can only work with what we got around these parts." On queue, her stomach growled loud enough for Jet to hear. With a cheesy wink, he led Rein to a covered basket containing a bowl of what seemed to be a vegetable soup of sorts. She thanked him and slurped it up in record timing, leaving her ample time to go to sleep.

On day two Rein was rudely awoken by Smellerbee who had placed multiple insects on her face to wake her. Kireina squealed and flipped off her hammock, falling roughly three stories between the trees. At the last second she airbended a pillow of air to soften her fall. Smellerbee sat cackling on the branch containing Rein's hammock, enjoying her shenanigans.

"Bad move, Smelly." Rein scowled, charging back up the tree towards the girl. Smellerbee's face morphed into fear as she realized Kireina was getting payback.

"I surrender! I surrender!" The young girl screamed causing Rein to halt.

"What? You can dish it out but you can't take it? What a bore." Rein sneered and hopped off the branch she was on, fluttering to the ground angelically. Jet watched from the other side of camp as he prepared for the day ahead of him. Today he would scout the trail leading to Ba Sing Se, he felt the need to take Kireina there. There was some unexplainable force that pushed him every time he was around her, when she was close all he could think about was her. Haunting thoughts that felt like they were always there in the back of his head. He felt as if he was a part of her and vice versa. He felt connected to her and the same could be said about the rest of the Freedom Fighters.