[Earth on Fire] Zuko x OC

Chapter 12: The Cave of Two Lovers

"You guys are gonna be done soon, right?" Sokka asked irritably. "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today."

"What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy?" Katara retorted, smirking at Sokka floating in the pond on a leaf, Momo curled up on his stomach.

"I could be ready in two minutes," Sokka declared. "Seriously, whenever."

"Oh, lighten up, naked guy," I snickered, lifting up the leaf that was covering my eyes. He moved the mop of hair out of his eyes to glare at me, and I returned by sticking my tongue out good-naturedly.

We were taking a short respite from our journey to Omashu on the banks of a beautiful river surrounded by cliffs. The sun was shining, the weather was warm, so Katara decided it was the perfect time and place for some waterbending practice.

Which, of course, meant Aang and Katara practiced waterbending while Sokka and I drifted around lazily on giant leaves.

I stretched my arms above my head and yawned hugely as Katara corrected Aang's stance; I smirked slightly as I saw Aang's blush. He was so head over heels for her, it was pretty cute. I sighed longingly and settled back down in my leaf, enjoying the cool water as it lapped across my body.

Our relaxation was interrupted as we heard faint strains of music float through the trees. As we watched curiously, a group of people clad in the strangest clothes I'd ever seen emerged, dancing and twirling their way towards us. In the front of the group was a man with tan skin and long brown hair, who was playing a pipa and singing in a low, soulful voice.

"Don't fall in love with the traveling girl, she'll leave you broken, brokenhearted."

Sokka let out a yelp, falling into the water as Momo overturned his leaf in an attempt to greet our new visitors. At the noise, the man in the front stopped and caught sight of us, grinning instantly.

"Hey, river people!" he called.

"We're not river people," Katara said.

"You're not?" he questioned, brows furrowing. "Well then, what kind of people are you?"

"Just... people," Aang said. I flipped off my leaf and waded through the river to join them.

"Aren't we all, brother?" the strange man grinned. I smiled back instinctively, startling when Sokka bumped into me as he stalked past Aang and Katara, looking quite menacing with his mop hair and underwear.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm Chong," the man introduced himself. "And this is my wife, Lily. We're nomads! Happy to go wherever the wind takes us." He let out a cry, playing some sort of riff on his guitar.

"You guys are nomads?" Aang asked, a grin breaking out on his face. "That's great! I'm a nomad!"

"Hey, me too!" Chong cried.

"I know," Aang said, perplexed. "You just said that."

"Oh," Chong replied, bemused. "Whoa, nice underwear." He grinned, catching sight of Sokka, who blanched and skedaddled away, using Momo to cover himself up. I giggled, hiding my amusement behind my hand.

"You guys wanna chillax for a little while?" Chong asked once Sokka had dissappeared, presumably to find his pants. "Looks like you got a bison who could use a'braidin!" Katara and I glanced at each other and grinned.

"That sounds awesome!" Aang said enthusiastically. So, a few minutes later, once we'd all dried off and changed, Lily and her friend Mimi offered to braid our hair, while Moku, Lily's brother, adorned Appa's fur with flowers.