The Fire Prodigy {ATLA}

{25}: Blending In

"I think I see a cave below," Aang said, kind of beating the purpose of being disguised under a makeshift cloud.

"Sh! Keep quiet!" Sokka complained.

"You're not being quiet by telling him to be quiet," I observed.

"I... Urgh!" Sokka complained, just before we revealed ourselves and landed by the shore, behind some large boulders. "Great job with the cloud camo, but next time, let's disguise ourselves as the kind of cloud that knows how to keep its mouth shut!"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want a bird to hear us chatting up there and turn us in," Toph taunted him with a laugh.

"Hey, we're in enemy territory. Those are enemy birds," Sokka replied. The birds squawked at him, making the others laugh.

I smiled, shooing them away before turning to Sokka. "Well, they seem to like you."

We then continued walking a bit more into the beach until we reached a small cave. Appa and Momo followed closely behind, and I had a sad feeling wash over me as I realized that this was the second time I was preparing to live inside a cave in hiding. The last time hadn't ended so well.

"Well, this is it. This is how we'll be living until the invasion begins. Hiding in cave after cave after cave after cave..." Sokka began before Katara interrupted.

"Sokka, we don't need to become cave people. What we need is some new clothes," Katara noted.

"I agree with Katara. It'll be easier to move around undetected if we get you guys to look like Fire Nation locals," I said. "And we will need to get out there to get supplies, anyway. Easier to do that if we all blend in."

"But where are we going to get all-new wardrobes for all of us?" Aang asked with a frown.

I smiled. "Leave that to me."

A little while later, we were all hiding behind some rocks, gawking down at a Fire Nation house's lawn filled with hung clothes from its habitants. There must have been quite a large family living here, because there were plenty of different styles and sizes of clothes to choose from.

"You want us to steal?" Katara asked, sounding surprised.

"You see, I don't like the use of the word stealing... Think of it as a nice donation to a great cause: saving the world from the Fire Nation's tyranny!" I said, trying to sound convincing.

"I don't know about this. These clothes belong to somebody," Aang said warily.

Katara, however, seemed to change her tune rather quickly. "I call the silk robe!"

We all followed her lead and before hurrying towards the hanging clothes and taking as many garments as we could possibly carry. I chose a couple of silky dresses that resembled the kind of clothing I used to wear whenever I performed in the past, thinking it would be nice to feel like myself a little bit. The others however chose very interesting outfits that felt very different to what they would usually wear.

As soon as we got back to the cave, we all changed into our new attires.

"Ta-dah! Normal kid," Aang said, presenting himself smiling and pointing to his headband.

"Hm ... I should probably wear shoes. But then I won't be able to see as well. Sorry, shoes!" Toph then pulled off the soles of her shoes and threw them away. "Finally, a stylish shoe for the blind earthbender."

"You guys all look great. Including you, Sokka," I said with a smile. "I know you weren't really excited about the idea, but those Fire Nation clothes suit you."