Storm

Chapter 13

            “That’s ridiculous, Storm! It’s an entire day’s sail out of our way!”

            “But we’re supposed to be sailing around the world! How can we do that if we don’t stop at the Air Temples?!”

            Kai groaned and rubbed his neck. “We need to stop for supplies.”

            Storm shrugged and pointed at the map. “We can stop there, on Whale Tail Island.”

            “That’s a Fire Nation port!”

            “But it’s in Air Nomad territory.” She frowned down at the map, confused.

            “The Air Nomads are all gone, Storm. Where have you been the last hundred years? We can’t stop at Whale Tail Island and we can’t detour to the Southern Air Temple.”

            “Yeah, actually, we can…” They looked at Rat, Storm with hope, Kai with irritation. Rat pointed at an island a little to the southeast of Whale Tail Island. “Kyoshi Island is still in Earth Kingdom Territory. We can go to the temple and then get supplies there, and if pass between these two islands here--” Rat’s fingers traced the route on the map, “--then we can shave off half the day and only be a few hours out of our way.” He grinned at Kai, who was glaring daggers at the circus performer.

            Finally, Kai sighed and snatched the map away from Ratna. “Fine. We’ll go to the stupid Air Temple, but we’re not spending an entire day or anything, and I’m not climbing any mountains!”

            Storm grinned and hugged him. “Thanks, Kai! I owe you for this!” And then she was gone, dancing onto the deck with an insane smile on her face. She grabbed the first person she saw--who happened to be Kesuk--and started hopping around with his hands clasped in hers.

            Kesuk stared at her as if she’d grown a second head, but Storm didn’t care. “We’re going to the Southern Air Temple!”

            “GUYS!!!” Dhatri came running down the stairs from the pilot cabin, a scared look on her face. “Bad news! There’s a Fire Nation ship heading right for us!”

            “What?! Act natural! And no bending!” This from Kinu, who’d run up in time to hear Dhatri’s words. Of course, he was talking to Kesuk and Dhatri--since no one knew that she was an airbender--but out of the corner of her eye, Storm saw something in Ryuu’s face stiffen. She frowned, wondering if he was a bender, too. His eyes were dark brown, giving her no clues.

            Nothing he did gave her any clues--she hadn’t been able to pry a single thing from him in the months they’d traveled together.

            Dhatri nodded and ran to fetch Kai and Rat, while Kinu and Kesuk set to work on the sails--which they only used when it suited them, what with Kesuk being a waterbender--and Ryuu went to the tiller.

            None of them looked like they needed any help, so Storm moved into the shadows of the cabin and watched. She’d met several Fire Nation soldiers in the spirit world, and also in her time in the Fire Nation. She didn’t see what all the fuss was about--though she knew that they were at war, it didn’t have anything to do with a lone ship in the southern waters. They had nothing to worry about.

            But as the Fire Nation ship came closer and Storm saw the apprehensive looks on the faces of her friends, she worried.