A lovers burn

Chapter sixteen: The waterbending scroll

"Wait, wait, wait. One more time, just to make it all clear; you aren't in line to be Firelord anymore?" Sokka interrogated. Esme nodded, not speaking any further. "Well...Does anyone else know about it? Maybe we could just lie, you can still rule once this is all over." He suggested the hope returned to his voice.

"Zuko knows. So does my uncle." She admitted and ducked her head down, prepared for Sokka to go berserk.

"Why would you tell them?!" He shouted. Yup...She called it.

"Uncle already knew! And Zuko, I had to get him to trust me again." She fought back, "He was about to turn me over to our father. You know what would've happened if he did."

"And so you dropped one of the biggest secrets?! What are we going to do when the war is over? Zuko can't be Firelord, he'll be just as crazy as your dad!" Esme scoffed, anger building in her body.

"Don't talk about my brother like that! You don't know him!"

"Guys! Can you two shut up for five minutes!" Katara snapped at the both of them. Esme and Sokka's heads snapped over to Katara who watched Aang cautiously. "Aang, what's going on?" Esme's anger faded into guilt for not noticing her friend's anxiety.

"It's just, what Roku said to me. I'm supposed to master all four elements before Sozin's comet comes." He fidgeted with his fingers. Esme's stomach dropped. That wasn't long. If the astronomers' calculations were correct, they had till the end of summer.

Sokka leaned back and sarcastically answered. "Well, let's see. You pretty much master airbending and that only took you 112 years. I'm sure you can master three more elements before summer ends." Esme's eyes darted over to him, warning him to choose his words more carefully. He threw his hands up.

"I haven't even started waterbending and we're still weeks away from the North Pole! What am I gonna do?" His voice shot up. Katara scooted over and grabbed his arm.

"Calm down, it's gonna be ok." they turned to face each other fully. "If you want, I can try to teach you some stuff." Esme's smile widened as well.

"I can start teaching you some fire bending too! It'll just be the basics till we find you an earthbending teacher but, anything helps." She offered. Aang looked at both the girls and nodded. His anxiety fell at his friend's support.

"You two would do that?" His voice was soft, childlike. It reminded Esme of his innocence. To think, the one person who was supposed to restore the peace of the entire world, was a child.

"Absolutely. We'll need to find a source of water first." She glanced over the edge to see if there were any near them.

"Great, you three can go and splash around in a puddle." He rolled his eyes. Esme grabbed one of the apples she had stolen from her brother's ship and threw it towards Sokka. It slammed against his head and he shot up. "Hey! What was that for?" Esme snickered, and the other two joined in as well.

"Don't be a dick." She suggested.

The group flew for another 30 minutes before they caught sight of a secluded pond with a large waterfall. They all landed and hopped down from Appa's saddle. They all quickly got Appa's saddle off of him and Appa flew into the air while Momo landed on a rock. Appa splashed down into the water, drenching Momo.

"Aw, poor Momo." Esme cooed and walked over to the soaking wet and shivering lemur. She picked him up in her hands and warmed them. The lemur purred, curling into a tight ball as she brought him to her chest, warming him. Steam lifted off of the furry creature as his coat began to dry. "That feel better, buddy?" The lemur continued to pur.