The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 26 [~|~] The Storm

Azara jumped awake as Momo leapt on top of her sleeping bag. "What's wrong?" Azara asked, her eyes barely open.

"It's nothing, I just had a bad dream," Aang replied, curling up into a ball and turning away from the group.

"You want to talk about it?" Azara questioned, looking at the airbender with a sympathetic expression. He shook his head, but Katara did not look convinced. Azara decided to let Katara handle the situation, rolling over and falling asleep again. With her own experience, she knew that Aang would be willing to talk about the dreams when he was ready, and he clearly was not now.

Azara woke up again to Katara shaking her lightly, the morning sun appearing over the horizon. Yawning, Azara sat up and stretched, before moving to pack up camp. Looking through their supplies, Azara sighed as she noticed their lack of food. "We might want to stop for food soon. We've only got crumbs left," she noted, showing the empty bag.

"How much money do we have left?" Katara asked, walking over with the rest of the supplies.

"Not much," Azara sighed, picking up the coin purse and pulling out two copper pieces. "But we'll have to make do." Settling into Appa's saddle, Azara tried to tune out Sokka's rambles about his dream as Aang steered Appa towards the small town near their campsite. 

Walking around the small seaside village, Azara was quickly getting annoyed with the venders who refused to even haggle with them. "Out of food and out of money, what are we going to do now?" Sokka asked, rubbing his butt where the fruit lady had kicked him.

"You could get a job, smart guy," Katara sassed, crossing her arms over her chest. Azara looked behind her as she heard an older couple arguing.

"We shouldn't go out there! Please, the fish can wait. There's going to be a terrible storm," the woman pleaded with her husband, who did not look amused.

"You're crazy! It's a nice day! No clouds, no winds, no nothing. So quit your nagging, woman," the man huffed before walking towards his ship.

"Maybe we should find some shelter?" Aang suggested, looking nervous.

"Are you kidding? Shelter from what?" Sokka scoffed before turning back to the arguing couple.

"My joints say there's going to be a storm! A bad one," the woman continued, obviously concerned for the safety of her husband.

"Well, it's your joints against my brain!" the man retorted, walking onto his ship, and preparing for his voyage.

"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul fish because I'm not coming!" the woman snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then I'll find a new fish hauler and pay him double what you get!" the fisherman announced as Sokka stepped forwards.

"I'll go," Sokka offered, raising his hand.

"You're hired!" the man replied as Azara stared at Sokka questioningly.

"What? You said get a job. Besides there's not a cloud in the sky," Sokka stated, gesturing to the weather conditions.

"I don't know, Sokka. A storm could pop up out of nowhere. It's happened before," Azara replied, glancing up at the sky. Spending two years at sea, Azara knew to never underestimate the weather. 

"Do you have any other ideas for getting money?" Sokka asked before the fisherman barked at him to help load supplies. Azara huffed and watched as Sokka helped the man prepare the ship. After only a few minutes, dark clouds were beginning to appear on the horizon.