The Thief |Sokka

EIGHT

The silence of the forest was a calming ambience. The gentle pass of the wind through the leaves and the melodic song of the birds along with the various sounds other animals made and the continuous sound of the water from the stream was enough to quiet even the most preoccupied mind. Jaya could see it was affecting her company. They had become less weary, their expressions mostly relaxed as they sat and talked among each other. On the third day of their stay there, Hakoda had taken it upon himself to catch some fish for them with Jaya's watchful eyes always on him, and after they had eaten and they were pleased, the Duke, Haru and Teo had headed to the stream and began splashing each other in a sort of game.

"They seem like children," Jaya spoke from where she sat beside Hakoda on a vine.

"They are children," he mused as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "And so are you."

"There's no such luxury when you are at war," she muttered, "your thoughts aren't fitting for your age then. Perhaps they will never be."

Hakoda sighed but didn't refute her. They kept on looking at the rest of their company until the Duke and Teo seemed to group up against Haru and started splashing him with twice as much water. He spluttered and raised his arms in an attempt to protect himself. Jaya's lips twitched into a smile.

"Jaya!" Haru called out as he attempted to defend himself although it was futile. "Jaya help!"

"I guess I have no other choice," she said to herself as she stood up, ignoring Hakoda's slightly amused smile as she walked over to the company and with a short battle cry, launched herself into battle with Haru as her ally.

Later they were all shivering around the fire as the night's chill set in. They had taken off most of their damp clothes so they could dry and had scooted as close to the flames as they possibly could. Despite the cold, though, the playful spirit remained.

The Duke lifted his head to look at Haru and Jaya. "We definitely won."

Jaya instantly laughed as Haru let out a sound of indignation. "What do you mean, 'you won'? We dominated you."

"No you didn't," Teo protested.

"Yes we did," Haru insisted.

"No you didn't."

"Yes we did."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes we did!"

Jaya chuckled to herself as she leaned back only to touch Hakoda's leg. She pushed herself off at once, the apology almost tumbling off her tongue when he spoke.

"It's alright. Lay back."

So she did. She allowed herself to relax against him as she watched Teo and Haru bicker, the Duke watching on with a small, satisfied smile. She felt a hand running through her hair a short moment later, and turned to see Hakoda looking at it with a small smile on his lips. She didn't have the chance to ask him before he was explaining.

"I used to braid Katara's hair when she was little. Now I fear I am out of practice."

Her lips curled into a smile. "That's alright. You can still try."

She turned back in her front to let him work as he wished, preoccupied herself with watching the rest of the company bicker, piping in only when they deemed her opinion necessary. Not too long afterwards, Hakoda tapped her shoulder.

"It's done."

"Thank you," she smiled at him and headed to the water to admire the braid. She hummed the moment she saw it. "This is nice, Hakoda. It will probably get ruined while I sleep but it's still pretty good."