The Thief |Sokka

TWENTY-SIX

The fire was coming closer. There was no time for proper technique or thoughts, only instinctual movements. Jaya slashed a hand to the side, the flames parting easily, redirected elsewhere. She didn't look to see what the others had done. With the imminent threat extinguished, she pushed Sokka behind her, lowered her stance, and began her attack.

There had been a time when her power had been unrestrained, untameable, but this time existed no more. The fighting style that had resembled a firebender's, the greatest perhaps sign that her bending had not been cultivated enough, existed no more. Now, her attack was indirect. She moved around the flames just slightly before she cast her own attack, mindful of Sokka behind her. Over the sound of the flames sizzling, she could hear Aang and Zuko fighting. She dared look to the side, only to see Sokka was no longer beside her. She had no time to wonder where he was. She turned back ahead, barely missed a fireball sent her way. Then she really got to fighting.

She rushed to the side, further away from the group as she redirected an attack. And with no friend of hers in the back, she started fighting back. Jaya jumped over a fireball, twisted out of the way of another. She let herself be swayed, like a leaf in the wind, avoiding the scorching flames. And at her return, she struck.

She jumped over the flames, kicked air out of her feet while in the air. She turned in the air so as to land on her feet, twisted out of the way. She propelled a gust of wind forward – an outlaw hit a palm tree, didn't rise again. Jaya didn't relent. They paused, glanced at their fallen comrad. She sent consequent rushes of wind at each of them, watched as one by one they met his fate. And then she looked up, to see how her friends were doing. She was pleased to see the last man fall when she looked.

The moment Aang had finished with him, he looked up. The tension seemed to leave his body as soon as he met her gaze. She walked over, being quick to appraise all of them for any injuries. She stopped beside Sokka who was standing in front of one of their attackers that was not uncoscious yet.

"Call for guards," Zuko told Mai a couple of ways away. 

"Not on her own," Aang instantly protested, and Jaya turned to look at him at once. They shared one last look and then he rushed after Mai.

"Who sent you?" Sokka commanded the man in front of him, his tone harsh like Jaya had never heard him. She turned to look at him as he leaned down in front of the man, grabbed his robes, and shook him when his question was left unanswered. 

"The outlaws will never stop," the man gasped out, his eyes darting from Sokka to Jaya, then to Zuko, and remaining there. His glare was fierce, alight with hatred. Jaya cautiously looked around as he spoke again. "We are everywhere."

Sokka shook him a bit but there was nothing more he was willing to say. Jaya turned to Zuko. "Those are the outlaws you were speaking of. The ones that attacked Sokka, Katara and Akira."

"They are the ones," he confirmed.

Sokka let the outlaw go and stood up. "I thought you sent someone there to take care of it."

Zuko pursed his lips. "Obviously, they were not in just one place."

Numerous footsteps were heard coming closer and they all turned to the source only to see Mai and Aang come back, a few dozen guards with them. Jaya was a bit surprised they had managed to gather everyone so quickly, but she didn't say a word as she moved to the side and let them take care of it. Zuko and Mai withdrew to speak to the guards, and at their insistence, she, Aang and Sokka returned to the house.

It seemed like an unspoken worry they all shared the moment they entered, that somehow one of them had made his way inside. They looked everywhere, searched thoroughly, moving from the ground floor to the floors above. Their search proved futile and so they gathered together once more. Sokka let out a sigh as he glanced from Aang to Jaya, and she moved to him willingly, fitted herself underneath his arm as she tried to comfort him. And it was then, when she was this close, that she noticed the discolouration on his arm, the skin raw and bothered. She pulled back at once.