THE OTHER AIRBENDER (Book 1)

(XVII) Water

"Look at those clear skies, buddy!" Aang says, as he pats Appa on the head gently and stares at the blue sky above us with a smile. "Should be some smooth flying."

"Well, we better smoothly fly ourselves to a market, because we're out of food," Katara notes, as she reaches into our food supply bag, showing us how empty it is.

"Again?" I ask, frowning with confusion. We recently filled it, right after we left the canyon, so I don't really understand why it's so empty all of a sudden.

"I'm a growing boy, Alya," Sokka replies, shrugging.

I sigh heavily. "We have to get food before we go anywhere else."

"Guys, wait. This was in my dream," Sokka begins, making us all turn to him, expectantly. "We shouldn't go to the market."

"What? Why?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Food eats people! Also, Momo could talk," Sokka says, making us all shake our heads in unison and resume our chores to get ready for take off. Sokka turns to Momo and glares at him, crossing his arms. "You said some very unkind things."

"Well, we can fly for a little while and find a market somewhere nearby," Aang suggests, and both Katara and I agree.

"But what about my dream?"

"Sokka, if it comes down to it, I'm sure that you'd end up eating any human-consuming berries we may find," I assure him.

***

It didn't take us very long to find a market at a nearby docking area. Katara suspiciously shakes a watermelon from one of the food stands, frowning as we can all clearly hear its contents moving inside.

"Ahhh, it's good. It's perfect, I'm telling you!" The merchant woman insists once again.

It does look like a good watermelon on the outside, but the swishing sounds it's making makes me feel uneasy. "Are you sure that's normal?"

"I don't know if I like the sound of that swishing," Katara agrees.

"Swishing means it's ripe! It's the ripe juices swishing around, eh?" The woman replies, making me frown.

I'm pretty sure swishing isn't a symptom of ripeness.

"I think it's true, guys. Swishing means it's ripe," Aang says.

"It doesn't matter," Katara sighs heavily. "I just realized we're out of money anyway."

The woman angrily takes the watermelon from her and we leave the stand, walking toward the dock area. I am well aware that we have to figure something out soon, because we won't be able to continue our journey without any supplies.

"Out of food and out of money. Now what are we supposed to do?" Sokka complains.

"You could get a job, smart guy," Katara retorts.

"We shouldn't go out there! Please, the fish can wait. There's going to be a terrible storm," we overhear an old woman tell another old man. From what she says, I take it he's a fisherman. However, I don't see a single cloud in the sky, which makes me suspicious about the storm thing.

"You're crazy. It's a nice day: No clouds, no winds, no nothing. So quit your nagging, woman," the fisherman retorts.

"Maybe we should find some shelter?" Aang suggests, suddenly nervous.

"Because of the storm thing?" I ask, making him nod. "Do you really think there's a storm coming?"

"Are you kidding? Shelter from what?" Sokka questions, gesturing to the clear weather above us.