The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 37 | He Always Says "I'm Fine."

Thank you for being patient with me, it makes me happy knowing I have such understanding readers. My hiatus is still not over, and my grandfather has both good and terrible days, but... we're getting there. Hopefully.

Your Author,

-Jenna

•───────•⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☾☼☽∘∙⊱⋅•⋅•───────•

Aang and Sokka watched as Ayaan allowed himself to be cuffed by the quiet, trembling Wǔ. They were too far away to hear anything that the blessed child was saying to him, but they noticed that the disguised spy calmed, nodding his head. They left into the distance soon after, disappearing from their sight.

The two didn't know what to say as they made their way from their hiding place. They knew that he was going to attack them, they knew that Ayaan was angry. He had told them he was. But this...

'This is why he apologized to us before it happened.'

It was a massacre. A completely one-sided assault. They could see what Katara had been saying before; Ayaan could easily take all of these guys out. It was nothing for him. The four groaning, crying, and broken men before them were nothing but punching bags for him.

It was a miracle that he didn't just kill them, as he proved in that moment that he could have easily... very easily... done so.

'I shouldn't feel bad for them.'

Sokka knew he shouldn't feel a shred of pity for these men. They'd done horrible things to this village and its people, and they made jokes about it. There shouldn't be a single ounce of feeling toward their suffering right now. He should be like the villagers currently coming out of their homes. He should be feeling relief that a bit of justice had been rightfully given to these bastards, but...

'It scared me.'

Ayaan's anger scared him. It was the first time he'd truly seen it displayed. More often than not, Ayaan did not let anyone see when he wasn't alright. Anger, sadness, pain, he didn't want anyone to see him like that ever. This was especially true in regard to his family.

After their mother's death, Ayaan began hiding away from them. When it first started, he obviously wasn't as good at it. There were times that Sokka would see that he was hurting, or follow him when he went to the river.

Sokka sought him out much more than Katara did. She distracted herself by taking up chores with their grandmother while he tried to keep up his warrior training.

Maybe that was why he could see it much more clearly than anyone else the longer they were on this journey.

As the years passed, Ayaan's skill in hiding grew, to the point one couldn't tell anymore if they weren't looking for it. What his grandmother told him about Ayaan being a fortress that lets no one in... Sokka was becoming painfully aware of its meaning.

Yes, he'd been terrified watching that unfold. But it wasn't their screams of agony or the snaps of their bones that scared him. It was his brother's silence during the entire ordeal. It was his ruthlessness.

It was his gaze.

'The color of his eyes was different again.'

Usually, they were grayish-blue and calm. Since Omashu, he'd been keeping better tabs on his brother's subtle shifts in mood and demeanor. Steadily, he was getting better at reading them. The happier he is, the more they seem to sparkle. One could see it when Momo was on his shoulders or he was pampering Appa. He didn't need to smile to express his joy.