Tougher Than Stone

Chapter 5

-Liena's POV-

It's been three days since Nakia and I talked on her roof. It's been a slow process, trying to minimize the shaking of the ground so people will only think they're small earthquakes, but we finally have a room. It's only accessible through bending, which means no Firebenders can get in.

The scroll is so interesting! I never thought I'd ever be able to train with my bending. Nakia's been nothing but supportive, and she helps me get through all the details, but there's only so much you can get out of a scroll. I'm already smoothing out the details of my favorite move on there, the one that moves the Earth like a wave by the command of my foot.

I love bending, and I'm so excited that I finally get to use it! Me and Nakia are in the square again, me on my break for lunch, her at her vendor. I'm looking at Gui, my crush, realizing I want something I didn't realize I wanted. I'm pretty sure Gui is a bender. His dad is, I know that. And if we're going to take Shoa back from the Fire Nation, we'll need all the help we can get.

I look around, scanning the square for Fire Nation soldiers. The closest one is far enough away that he won't hear me.

"Hey, Nakia? I've been thinking..." I start.

"Well, that's dangerous," Nakia teases. I shoot a glare at her, and she cuts it out with the seriousness in my face.

"What is it?"

"We both know that I'm not the only one we can help." I twist a flower in my left hand, watching her grab two more.

"What do you mean?" she asks. I take a breath.

"Well, I know I'm not the only one that can... you know... do the thing. Others can, too. Do you think we could train them, too?" Nakia stopped braiding a chain of flowers and furrowed her brows.

"You're proposing... a school of sorts?" I grab her flower crown and keep braiding it for her.

"Yeah. A school," I say. My mind brightens at the possibilities. Yeah, a school! We can train everyone, and take back the village with no problems! What could go wrong?

Nakia squints at me, following my gaze to Gui. Realization spreads across her features.

"Oh, I see. You want to train someone," she says, smirking. I shove her arm.

"Not just him!" I folded my arms, then shifted my eyes to the ground. "But yeah..." Nakia laughs.

"I'll think about it. Tonight, okay? Don't be late! And not too early, either. I know you're excited, but we can't be suspicious," Nakia says, eyeing the soldiers across the market. I placed the now finished flower crown on her head and bowed.

"As you say, milady," I joked. Picking up the bread I grabbed for lunch, I skipped back home, barely noticing the soldiers lining the road.

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Panting from the effort, I shift my stance. I'm holding up a big boulder with just my hands. Nakia's in the corner, and I can sense she's worried. I mean, there's a small possibility I could crush myself, but I could easily save myself. That reasoning is the only way Nakia would let me do this exercise. She's still shaking a little.

I smirk, taking a breath and heaving the rock aside. Nakia jumps, clutching the scroll closer.

"How was that?" I say, stretching my arms. Nakia steps cautiously forward.

"You're getting better," she admits. I grab the scroll from her hand, checking out the next illustration. She's looking over my shoulder, but there's some unease in her stance.

"What's wrong?" I muse. Her gaze locks with mine, and my teasing vanishes. I see curiosity, but a pain. A fire burns, but there's a softness.

"Nothing." I raise my eyebrows. "Okay, fine. Come take a break, I've got water over here."

I sit cross-legged on the floor and Nakia hands me the water pouch. I pat the spot next to me, hoping she'll come sit too, but she shakes her head.

"Liena... " she starts. She pauses again. Weird. She rarely is at a loss for words. I can see her brain processing words she was going to use to talk to me.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier. This is war. It's not gonna be easy, and it won't be without a price tag." Oh. Not what I was expecting.

"You're doing great, and we'll keep training you, but we have to seriously consider what kind of danger we'd be putting people into if we trained them, too. If we were discovered, we would surely get killed. To train you, it's worth it. I can manage you, one person, just fine. I'm worried about how anything could go down with more people. What do you think?" I sat there, looking at the ground for a good minute.

The thought never even crossed my mind. But she's right. If they found out I was training, I would either get sent away or killed on the spot. Am I ready to tell others to make that same decision yet?

"Well, all that depends on who we recruit first. We should step up to a big number slowly, one person at a time. Who do you think would be the best?"

We end up spending the rest of the time drafting a list of everyone we know, or guess, is a bender, then cutting that list to the people we thought would make good candidates. Later, the two of us walked back through the small tunnel to my house, where I made a small opening under my bed to check for anyone. When all I hear are the soft snores I know so well, I open the dirt further so we have little stairs leading up to the middle of the small floor. Nakia secures the little sack containing the scroll on her belt, and I hug her goodbye.

"See you," I say. Nakia squeezes back, her numerous bracelets jingling.

"See you, Li." She quietly leaves the house, heading to her own. I watch her until I can't anymore, checking that the soldiers won't mess with her. Curfew isn't up until nightfall, but the Fire Nation isn't really known for being fair.

I look back to my sleeping parents. They like snuggling after dinner, and it looks like they fell asleep. Dad's got Mom spooned, and I'll be honest, it's adorable. I can't wait for someone to spoon me!

I quickly change out of everyday clothes into my pajamas and crawl into bed. I know it's more of a boyfriend thing, but I think Guozhi would spoon me. In a big brother sort of way. Gosh, I miss him. I desperately want to be someone's little sister again.

My thoughts drift, and I fall asleep pretending Guozhi is next to me.

Written by KateWalker553