THE OTHER AIRBENDER (Book 1)

(XXIII) Fire

"So are we still going to pretend like we're not lost?" I ask, as we spend yet another hour walking through this forest aimlessly. If I'm being honest, my feet hurt and all I want is to lay down and rest from all this walking.

"I already told you, we're not lost. We're... exploring," Katara retorts defensively. I guess it shouldn't surprise me, given how she's the one that has been leading us all this time.

"You call it exploring, I call it not having the slightest clue of where we are."

"This should give us a good idea of what's around here," Katara says, as we walk towards a kiosk with some posters glued to it.

"See if you can find a menu, I'm starving!" Sokka says.

Aang suddenly points at one of the posters with a grin. "I bet we'll find something to eat here, the Fire Day's Festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians... This would be a great place for me to study some real firebenders."

"Or to get captured. Again," I note, as I point to a poster beside it, where there is a clear sketch of Aang drawn under a 'MOST WANTED' title.

"A wanted poster! This is bad," Sokka says with a frown.

"On the bright side, they did capture his ears right," I say with a shrug.

"I think we better keep moving," Katara agrees.

"I have to learn firebending at some point and this could be my only chance to watch a master's up close," Aang protests.

"Aang, you haven't even learned waterbending. I think we can put off the firebending for a while," I retort.

"But I'm still a firebender!"

Katara sighs heavily, giving me a pleading look. Oh, no. I know that look. She's about to cave in. "I guess we could go check it out."

"What? You wanna walk into a Fire Nation town where they're all fired-up with their... you know, fire?" Sokka asks, clearly in disbelief.

"It's a stupid idea. Not to mention, it's really dangerous."

"We'll wear disguises and if it looks like trouble, we'll leave. Alright, Alya?" Katara says, and I roll my eyes.

"I don't know why you bother asking me if I'm alright with it when we both already know that we're going to do it anyway."

Katara and Sokka put on some black cloaks they brought with them, while I grab my own red shawl and put it on over my head, hoping that it covers my face well enough. However, Aang simply pulls his orange shirt over his head and smiles goofily at us, making me laugh.

"It's like you're a whole different person..." Sokka says sarcastically.

"Let's go!" Aang says excitedly.

***

Once we get to the festival, I must say, I'm half glad that we decided to come. The streets are beautifully lit up with different colored lanterns, there's plenty of people on the streets and there's fireworks lighting the sky above us. I almost forget about the fact that we're walking into danger here, when I suddenly realize that everyone around us is wearing masks. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone.

"I think we need some new disguises," Katara says out loud, voicing what I was thinking a couple of seconds ago.

"Get your genuine Fire Festival masks here!" A man yells, and we all exchange agreeing looks.

"That was surprisingly easy," Sokka notes, before we head to the man and get ourselves four masks identical to the ones everyone else is wearing.

"Hey, there's some food," Aang points at a stand, and Sokka immediately runs in its direction.