The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 57 | Jet II

A few hours had passed since their disagreement, the siblings taking time to cool off. No one was winning their dispute with how stubborn they both were. Neither was willing to give in even the slightest to the other. So Katara decided to keep herself busy with knitting a hat, and Ayaan with training, as usual.

In the distance, one could see Aang and Momo again playing with the ziplines. They were too much fun to ignore, the Airbender sliding down the many different routes the Freedom Fighters had set up. His newest friend, The Duke, had shown him the best places to zip from.

If they were ever to make their own hideout, having ziplines would be a must. They were too fun! He'd been having a great time since he got there. Because he was on the zip lines, he was the first to see Sokka's return from the patrolling. Being himself, he flew off to greet him.

"Sokka!" Eagerly, he digs into a bag he was wearing, "Look what The Duke gave me!" He pulled out a small pellet, and with a sly grin, he tossed it next to Momo, where it exploded with a pop.

Momo puffs up like a startled cat. The moment the lemur realized what happened, he was furious. He hisses and lunges for the bag. Taking out all the pellets he could hold, Momo sits on Aang's shoulder an tosses them at his feet, making the Airbender dance about wildly.

"Ow! Quit it!"

'Payback isn't fun, is it?!' The lemur hissed, not stopping at all.

Ayaan, getting up from doing his sit-ups, was greatly amused. Mildly, he smiled, "I believe that's "karma", Aang. I taught Momo about vengeance."

"Vengeance? What kind of terrifying things are you teaching him?!"

Ayaan just smiled, a small but telling tilt of his lips. Still forced to dance, Aang felt a shiver down his spine. As nice as he was, Ayaan was a pretty vicious guy, too.

Despite all of that happening, however, Sokka is oblivious to it all. He walks past them and sits with his back to the trunk of the tree their huts rest on, staring at the ground, glaring. Ayaan notices his strange mood immediately, but Katara speaks first.

"Hey, Sokka." She greets, before simply asking about her most recent interests instead of about her brother, "Is Jet back?"

Sokka doesn't look away from the ground, guilt swirling in his gut. The more he sees, the more worried Ayaan gets. "Yeah, he's back. But we're leaving."

"What?" Aang was confused, having only had a bunch of fun since arriving. What could have brought this on? In his mind, staying for even a day more wouldn't have been a problem to their schedule. Thanks to the map the Phantoms had given them, they were making an excellent time on their journey to the north. "What's wrong?"

Katara was flustered by the sudden decision to leave, holding up the object she'd been fiddling with. "B-But I made him this hat." She shows a cap made out of stitched leaves and a flower on top for added effect. It was droopy with a few gaps here and there. In short, it looked laughable.

"What happened? Are you hurt anywhere?" Ayaan, seeing that his brother was obviously distressed, asked the important questions. In the back of his mind, he was a little miffed. It was a question that Katara should have asked him first too, as his demeanor was far from the norm.

But all she wanted to know about was Jet. She didn't even realize how dismissive she was currently being. Even Aang asked Sokka what was wrong.

This, he was starting to see an ill pattern with her.

"I'm fine. But Jet's not normal!"

Aang, ever the peacekeeper, thought that this was simply a case of culture shock. Having been around plenty of cultures, he thought he could help Sokka feel better. "No, He's just got a different way of life, a really fun way of life." Meaning zip lines. Maybe if Sokka went on one he'd feel a little better?