Balance | Old Version

Chapter 86 (The Headband)

Elua's POV.

We all sit on Appa as e fly over many islands, disguised as a cloud. It had been a few days since we left Hakoda and the others, and Sokka had never been so paranoid.
"I think I see a cave below," Aang says looking down, but we couldn't really see through the mist.
"Shhh...keep quiet!" Sokka shushes him as we land and I break the disguise. Sokka hops off Appa and quickly hides behind a rock, we all look at him confused. "Great job with the cloud camo, but next time, let's disguise ourselves as the kind of cloud who knows how to keep its mouth shut," He says glaring over to Aang.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want a bird to hear us chatting up there and turn us in," I say sarcastically as I look at the birds that sit above him.
"Hey! We're in enemy territory. Those are enemy birds," Sokka says pointing to the birds as one of them hops down onto his head and squawks, making us laugh.
"Well, this is it," Sokka says as we walk into a dark cave. "This is how we'll be living until the invasion begins. Hiding in cave after cave...after cave...after cave..." He says, his shoulders falling as his enthusiastic outlook quickly fading as he realizes how bad this will be.
"Sokka, we don't need to become cave people," I tell him as I shake my head.

 "Yeah. What we need are some new clothes," Katara says as she motions to everyone's clothing. All our clothes were dirty and covered in holes, we were obviously not Fire Nation.
"Yeah, blending in is better than hiding out. If we get Fire Nation disguises, we'll be just as safe as we would be hiding in a cave," Aang agrees.
"Plus...they have real food out there. Does anyone wanna sit in the dirt and eat cave-hoppers?" Toph asks as a small bug hops around the cave floor, catching Momo's attention as he dives for it and quickly eats the small bug.
"Looks like we got outvoted, sport," Sokka tells Momo. "Let's get some new clothes," He says with a small smile.

We find a nearby village, a laundry shop outside of the village. We all hide behind some rocks as we look at the laundry drying outside in front of us.
"I don't know about this. These clothes belong to somebody," Aang says skeptically.
"I call the silk robe!" Katara says as she runs over to the clothes, ignoring Aang's words.
"Hey!" I shout as I run after her. After a short while, we all get into Fire Nation clothes and come back together when we're all changed and ready to go.
"Ta-dah! Normal kid," Aang says now in some kind of uniform, a headband around his forehead.
"Hmm...I should probably wear shoes, but then I won't be able to see as well. Sorry shoes!" Toph says as she breaks the bottom of her shoes and stands up happily. "Finally, a stylish shoe for the blind earthbender," She says with a smile.

"How do I look?" Katara asks as she walks over to us, now wearing a skirt and shirt that exposes her stomach. I look over to Aang and see him blushing, making me smile.
"Uh...your mom's necklace," Aang says pointing to the blue necklace on Katara's neck.
"Oh...oh, yeah. I guess it's pretty obviously water tribe, isn't it?" Katara says as she removes her necklace sadly and puts it in her pocket. We begin to walk down the path that leads to the market.
"I haven't worn Fire Nation clothes for a hundred years," I say with a small smile, now wearing a long-sleeved gold-lined red tunic, red pants, and my hair is half-up-half-down. Sokka looks at me up and down.

"Well, you look nice," Sokka tells me smiling.
"All I get is 'nice'?" I ask jokingly, but he doesn't seem to catch that it was a joke.
"I-I mean, you look pretty, beautiful, gorgeous...elegant?" He says in a rush, making me laugh.
"I was joking, but thank you," I tell him with a smile. "You look nice too," I tell him, he sighs in relief as he takes my hand in his and we all walk into town.
"Elua and I used to visit my friend Kuzon here a hundred years ago," Aang says smiling. "Well, Elua was in the palace," He tells the others as we stop walking behind a building.

 "So everyone just, follow my lead and stay cool. Or as they say in the Fire Nation, 'Stay flamin'!" Aang says smiling as he begins to walk off. I facepalm at his words, they do NOT say that.
"Greetings, my good Hotman!" Aang says to a random citizen.
"Uh, hi. I guess?" The man says in confusion as he walks away.
"Oh, we're going to a meat place?" Aang asks as we walk up to a place with meat hanging on the walls, making me cringe at the smell and sight of it.
"Come on, Aang. Everyone here eats meat...even the meat!" Sokka says pointing to a nearby cow-hippo, greedily scavenging a pile of fish.

"You guys go ahead. I'll just get some lettuce out of the garbage," Aang says wincing as he walks away.
"I'll just wait here," I tell the others as I stand on the other side of the market. I look around at all the people and buildings, everything seemed so different. But, I suppose that's because this town didn't exist a hundred years ago. After a while, Aang doesn't come back and I begin to worry.
"Hey, have you seen Aang?" I ask the others as they get back from the meat stand.
"No," They all say with a shrug. I look around in the crowds of people but, I don't see him anywhere.
"I'm sure he's fine," Sokka tells me. I sigh, he was probably right.

That Night.

We had come back to the cave hours ago, but Aang still wasn't back. I had begun to pace back and forth a while ago, the worst scenarios kept running through my mind.
"Elua, I'm sure he's alright," Katara tells me.
"What if he was captured?" I ask her as I put my hands to my head. "Or what if he got lost, or hurt, or-" My freak out is quickly cut off.
"Hey, it's alright," Sokka says as he leads me to sit down. "It's not like he's defenseless," He tells me, I nod. He was right, Aang was the Avatar and he could protect himself.
"But what if he's in trouble!?" I say as I stand up and begin to freak out again.
"Spirit girl, calm down!" Toph shouts over to me.

"Oh, you shouldn't tell her that," Sokka says as he looks over to Toph.
"Don't tell me to calm down when I don't know where my 12-year-old brother is," I tell her extremely calm and with a soft glare. I hear footsteps echo through the cave, I quickly turn around and see Aang walking over to us. 
"Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" I tell him as I cross my arms.
"I got invited to play with some kids after school," Aang says as he takes off the scarf covering his tattoos.
"After what!?" Sokka shouts as he stands up in shock.
"I enrolled in a Fire Nation school, and I'm going back tomorrow," Aang states as if it was no big deal.

"Enrolled in what?!"