Falling For You ✰༄ ѕσkkα

Water || The Deserter And Desserts

------༄✰༄------
IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE END!!!
------༄✰༄------

"This next trick is called Taming the Dragon! You will be my captured princess," the man pushes down on Katara's shoulders, making her sit in a chair he'd dragged to the center of the stage.
Using a sleight of hand trick, he unraveled red cloth from his sleeve, loosely wrapping it around her. The performer takes his stance, beginning the rest of his  show. He draws fire from the blazing torches, swirling them around into the form of a serpentine dragon. He guides it over our heads and I can feel a light rush of warm air brush over my shoulders.
"Don't worry young maiden! I will tame this fiery beast!" he declares.
The man forms a lead in his palm, acting as if he were to lasso the dragon. He plays up the show for the younger kids in the audience, pretending to have a bit of a struggle. "It's too strong! I can't hold it!" yet he still holds a smirk on his face. Probably planning for a big finish.
"We gotta help her!" Aang steps forwards but I grab his shoulder while Sokka puts his arm in front of his chest.
"No, we don't wanna make a scene!"
"It's not even real, he's just playing pretend!" I chastise, forgetting that Aang himself is still only twelve years old technically.

"The rope! It's breaking!" the performer allows the fire to dissipate, guiding the dragon straight towards Katara. There is no way he would purposely murder someone in front of such a large audience. It's obvious from his whole tone of speaking he's acting, I mean, he's the one actually creating the whole dragon in the first place. It would be an awful showcase of his skills if he couldn't actually hold the shape together. Yet, I still find my muscles tensing in response.Fire, although beautiful, is extremely dangerous. One slip up and she could be dead.
Without warning, Aang leaps into the air with his airbending, landing protectively ahead of Katara. As a result, he creates a flaming tornado, with the fire thinning into a burst of colorful confetti that rains upon us. In his hurry, the mask covering his identity has slipped off onto the wooden stage. He stands dumbfounded. Aang blankly stares ahead of him while I already begin to prepare myself to run for the woods.

The crowd jeers and boos at him in response. Sokka and I sprint onto the stage to untie his sister. I make quick work with my switchblade, easily cutting through the fabric.
"Hey! That kid's the Avatar!"
Of course...
At this point we all remove our masks to have our full vision. There's no point in hiding our identity, everyone at least knows that the Avatar doesn't travel alone. It's easy to see a trio of Fire Nation soldiers pushing their way through the crowd with little force against them.
"I think it's time to go."
"Follow me!" a hooded man calls out to us through the crumbled wall behind the stage. "I can get you outta here!"
There's little time for us to even debate if we should trust him. I run past him with the rest following after me. Though I only caught a glimpse of him he has concealed his face behind black fabric, wearing a heavy cloak that swallows his body. I don't even dare to look back.

He easily laps in front of us to be our guide through the lively streets as onlookers move out of our way. I try my best to keep pace, switching my knife hold to prevent from accidentally stabbing myself if I were to fall. My feet pound against the cobblestone with a few breaths huffing out past my lips.
"I'm calling Appa!" Aang announces, pulling out a small white object from his clothes.
"I hope he can really hear that bison whistle!" Sokka remarks.
"This way!" the stranger guides, leading us further into the latticework of alleyways. The opening is closed off by a group of soldiers with their spears at the ready.
"Okay, not this way." He reaches into his cloak, pulling out what looks to be a homemade bomb. Releasing the pin between his teeth he rolls it towards the men. Smoke pours from the opening, fogging up the corridor and lightly stinging my eyes as we backtrack to another path. Once again we were cornered but this time it was by a large cart filled to the brim with fireworks.