The Thief |Sokka

TWENTY

There was unrest in the air. It was the first thing Jaya realised, hidden under the covers as she were in her room on the west side of the house. She had chosen this room specifically so that no sun would hinder her sleep even though she already knew she would be waking up early after all the years of Aang urging her to rise with the sun, but it was clear even now that her wish to potentially sleep in was not going to be fulfilled. Even in her sleep, she could recognise the voice, filled with tension, far away that she could not understand what he was saying and yet close enough she knew the timbre of it, was Sokka's. If it were anyone else she may have turned on her other side and gone to sleep. But she stopped herself. This was Sokka being upset. She knew, if their positions were reversed, she would rather he came out to see what was bothering her to support her. 

It was hard rising from her sheets—perhaps the softest she had ever laid on—but she endured with Sokka's best interest in mind. The shirt she wore to sleep had moved during the night, just enough so that it had hiked up her thighs and one of the sleeves had been pushed off, revealing part of her shoulder, amidst her pale skin a stripe of blue rising, the arrow stretching on from her palm to meet with the one travelling her spine. She paid it no heed. Her bare shoulder was covered by her long, dark hair smoothly as she rose, her shirt fell to cover her thighs once more. She rolled her head as she walked over to where she had left her clothes last night, her movements gentle and lethargic still.

She was like that every morning. Aang had once said in the mornings she moved with the grace of a waterbender when they were called to manipulate their element – she had told him he was being a true best friend for trying to make her feel pretty when she had just rolled out of bed. He had chuckled. She still thought he had been only half-serious back then, but now she wondered whether there was some truth in his statement. Not because when she woke up she resembled a waterbender, but because she moved so slow none of her usual nervousness was detected. She called it laziness. He jokingly referred to it as grace. 

Jaya got dressed mechanically, even debated on whether she should wear her shoes before she gave up her stalling with a sigh. Brushing her hair was yet another tedious task she forced herself to do for the sake of looking a tiny bit presentable, and then finally she left her room. The shouts had stopped by now, although she still headed to the living room, one of their shared places, in hopes Sokka was there. When she got there, though, she only found Aang and Toph.

"Good morning!" Aang greeted her enthusiastically at once. "You are up later than you are supposed to, even Toph got up before you!"

"You say that like I am supposed to be bothered," Toph folded her arms in front of her chest and looked away. 

Aang blinked. "It was just a fact." 

"I thought I could maybe sleep in for a while," Jaya replied, taking Aang's attention away from Toph for a moment. "Do you know where Sokka is?"

"In his room," Toph told her, "you just missed him."

Jaya nodded, already leaving. "Thank you. I'll see you-"

"Toph and I were thinking of going to the palace to annoy the King's Advisors," Aang cut her off, looking excited still. "Are you in? It was Toph's idea."

Of course, it was Toph's idea, Jaya thought to herself as she frowned over at him. "I am not sure whether that's right. How is it going to make things better for us?"

"It's not like they'll let us see the King anyway," Toph scoffed. "What harm can it do?"

"I thought he had meetings."

"There's no way Kuei is busy enough to not accept me," Aang reasoned. "I have been thinking and I am sure this is his Advisor's doing. Who knows, maybe he doesn't even know we are here."