Avatar Zuko

Chapter 10

Sokka had an uneasy feeling in his stomach, and it wasn't just from questionable meat and almost 2 full days of flying that he'd spent arguing with Aang about where they should go and what route they should take. The young airbender wanted to go off course to go to Omashu for real reason aside from messing up their postal service, and also wanted to fly to some island with massive fish. The island they would pass over anyway, so Sokka had agreed to go there once they reached it, but Omashu was too far out of their way and so Sokka had had to put his foot down.

“Please reconsider, Sokka?” He pleaded, eyes shining and lip pouted in sadness- it almost broke the teenager and yet he stayed strong and turned away.

“I'm sorry, Aang, but no.” He said as sternly as he could, looking at Katara and Lee for support.

Unfortunately neither seemed to be on his side: Katara was melting under Aang’s convincing puppy dog eyes and Lee was biting his lip and was somehow, even with one of his eyes being surrounded by a burn scar and the other having a dark bag underneath it, managing to look even cuter than Aang. The firedender’s resolve has clearly deteriorated and with the way his gold eyes were now staring at Sokka he figured he might give in too. Because Lee’s eyes weren't just golden, they were like refracted sunlight and a hundred glowing hearths, kind and homey and, unfortunately for Sokka, beautiful despite Lee being a firebender. He wondered quietly whether all Fire Nation citizens had such pretty eyes that he was half convinced had had their irises forged from the surface of a star, but he pushed that thought out of his mind and tried to focus on what was currently important- his instincts.

“We aren't going to Omashu, and I don't think we should fly over this bit of land. There's a town with Fire Nation troops just there, and Appa is pretty noticeable, maybe we should travel on foot through these woods.” Sokka turned away from all of them and pointed down to the edge of the forest they were about to travel over.

“Why? I'm sure we can sneak past that town without them noticing us, even if we're in the air.” Asked Katara, who was probably just reluctant to walk after getting to fly on the back of a bison for a couple of weeks. Girls got lazy so quickly.

“Yeah! And Appa isn't that noticeable, are you buddy?” Aang began ruffling Appa’s white fur and got a tired but appreciative roar in response.

“He's a 2 ton, flying, fluffy monster. Come on, Lee, you love stealth, at least you have to agree with me, right?” Sokka pleaded with the scarred young man who shifted uncomfortably.

“I don't know, Sokka… Walking doesn't really sound like fun…” He muttered, turning his gaze to the floor as Sokka sighed incredulously.

“Seriously?! Come on! My instincts are telling me we should go on foot, okay?!” He said one last time, trying out his own brand of puppy dog eyes and finally eliciting some grunts of approval from his friends.

“Fine.” Spat Katara, crossing her arms and glaring at the ground like it was the embodiment of the Fire Nation, which it wasn't since they were still in the Earth Kingdom.

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“Walking sucks!” Complained Aang, airbending himself a ball of air to ride and zipping around the other three until he annoyed Lee enough that the firebender blasted flames at him, causing him to jump up in surprise and lose his air-scooter.

“Unless you're gonna make one for all of us, you don't get ride around happily on a ball of air whilst we're all forced to walk.” Stated Lee, possibly even moodier than usual as he glared at the ground.

Sokka simply rolled his eyes at their moaning, knowing his instincts had told them to go on foot for a reason. That was, until Katara joined in.