The Unrivalled Expert in Human Nature

Chapter 4

I'd like to make the chapters a tad longer, but they do have to break at a logical point in the story, so the lengths will change from week to week.

Here is another one, hope you enjoy it...

oooooooooo

103 AG

After a day and a half of going through the Earth Kingdom forest, the pirate and the princess finally reached the shore again. Azula didn't really care much what the scenery was while they were traveling, she actually preferred the forest for security reasons.

Wen, on the other hand, lit up when he saw the sea again.

"We can rest here." he said and ran towards the water.

"I'm beginning to think you'd rather be late than admit your crew didn't show up." she started before realizing Wen had already taken off his shirt and was now at the shoes. She looked away, trying to fight her curiosity and remain loyal to the rules of decency she was taught.

"Don't fluster, the pants are staying on." she heard him say seconds before a loud splash.

"Just hurry it up, pirate." she turned back towards him, to find him floating in the water. She tried to play it like she had men undressing themselves around her every day, but that was far from the truth. Between her childhood in an all-girls school and her teenage years in an all-girls mental institution, her contact with boys was always limited. She was beginning to think that was by design. Father couldn't have her distracted, now, could he?

She got it in a way. For the last day or so she was feeling pretty distracted.

"Why do you still call me that?" he asked from the water, still smirking like he stumbled upon treasure, not a small beach.

"You call me Princess." she lied down on the ground, taking in the sun.

"Fair enough. Want to join me, Azula?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Could it be that the almighty Fire Nation Princess doesn't know how to swim?"

"Don't be preposterous, I fought with the Navy. I can hold my breath for 5 minutes, swim for hours in freezing cold water and come out ready to firebend. I trained for years."

"No, no, no, no... You're looking at it all wrong." Wen walked out of the water and took one of her hands, "Come, I'll show you."

"I don't have a swimsuit." she shook her head.

"I'll dry all our stuff with my bending later. Come on." he stepped back into the shallows and watched as she removed her boots and jacket.

"I'm in the water. So what?" she said upon feeling the chill of the waves on her feet.

"Now like this." he took her hand again, she still wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she didn't think to pull it back even for a second. Wen only stopped when they were both standing face to face, with the water around their waists.

"The sea is not something you overcome," he took her other hand into his too, "You work with it, adapt to it and it adapts to your presence."

"Easy for you to say, when you can control it with a single movement." she looked through the water at their feet on the rocks.

"You really think I can control the whole ocean?" Wen chuckled, "You think any waterbender could? The water's there, we just help it along its way. And water always finds a way. The smallest cracks, hot or cold, it's there somehow."