αιι Μθτλεr

ᵗʰⁱʳᵗᵉᵉⁿ

ᵇᵃᵗᵒ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵃᵗᵉʳ ᵗʳⁱᵇᵉ ²

˳༄꠶

          𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙩. When they entered the tent, Sokka had run up to her and (attempted) to pull her over to Bato. But she let him drag her along and be formally introduced to him. After all, he was important to Sokka, so he was important to her as well. 

"Oh! Bato, Bato! This is Rhea. My girlfriend!"

When he said girlfriend, he puffed his chest out and closed his eyes with a proud expression. Giving him an amused look, she hit his chest, making him deflate and wheeze. She walked over to Bato and tilted her head at him in greeting. 

Like she said, she doesn't bow. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bato. Sokka and Katara frequently talk about their father and you."

Bato smiled and bowed his head to her as well. "Please to meet you as well, Rhea. Sokka's been talking about you as well since he's been here." He raised his eyebrows and looked at Sokka in a taunting manner. "Though, I'm surprised he managed to get a girlfriend with his father's wit."

"We all are," Katara said with the same expression as Bato.

The boy was steaming at the ears. "Yeah, well, jokes on you; I have one!"

Rhea just rolled her eyes. She brought Aang forward from around her leg and held him in a presenting manner. By that, I mean she lifted him up from under his armpits and presented him lion king style: "And this is my beautiful son Aang."

Aang waved at Bato with a closed eye smile.

"Haha, nice to meet you as well, Aang." 

Rhea smiled slightly before dropping Aang on Sokkas back and sitting beside Katara, who handed her a bowl of what looked to be sludge. Smile gone, Rhea looked at her in question.

"Stewed sea prunes! Water tribe delicacy." Katara talked about the sludge-like it wasn't a pile of mush, which made Rhea question her sanity. 

"Dad could eat a whole barrel of these things!" And there goes the boyfriend. He never stood a chance. . .

Aang takes a bowl of stewed sea prunes and sniffs it but looks away in disgust and sets it aside. Rhea plays it safe and doesn't sniff it, just setting it aside and taking a pear out of her bag. Using a chopping motion with her hand down the middle, she cuts it in half. Aang took one while she had the other.

"Bato, is it true that you and Dad lassoed an Arctic hippo?" Katara asked as she wolfed down the horrid grub.

"It was your father's idea. He just dragged me along. Well, the hippo did the dragging!" Momo, sitting by Aang, starts to eat the stewed sea prunes that he set aside but ends up spitting it out.

"Hey, I ride animals, too! There was this one time when I rode a giant eel, and I-"

"So, who was it that came up with the Great Blubber Fiasco?"

Her eye twitched.

Now, Rhea knew he was excited to finally talk to one of his tribesmen after so long, but cutting off Aang so abruptly was rude. 

Bato chuckled to himself. "You knew about that?"

"Everyone does!" 

"We don't."