the wind in my sails | aang x oc

eight

sokka and zuko returned on an airship two days later, with them, they brought sokka's dad, sokka's girlfriend, and some other guy who was really nice.

Liara was sleeping soundly in her room early in the morning. nyima's box was next to her on the bamboo dresser. scrolls decorated the floor, as she had been up late reading about soundbending.

she jolted awake from the sound of an explosion. hastily jumping out of her bed, she threw her robes over her shoulder, not bothering to wrap or tie them properly, then she took a look from her bedroom window.

three fire nation airships were attacking the temple.

Liara wasted no time and quickly picked up her scrolls and stuffed them into a bag. she then took her staff and sprinted through the corridors.

tapping of feet against the concrete floors. shallow breaths. it all seemed like the genocide all over again. liara's  heart was stuck in her throat, as she listened to the others yelling for each other.

she listened to them say that they had to leave. she heard her bison croon loudly. she heard aang's voice.

"what about liara?!" he yelled to someone.

"if she takes too long, we gotta leave her!" katara. of course katara said that.

"to die on this cliffside?!" toph. she sounded distraught.

Liara rounded the corner, yelping as flames were sent her way and dodging them narrowly.

"Li!" aang yelled, a relieved smile crossing his face. "don't worry, I'm not dying any time soon!" the airbender girl said to him before grabbing diki's reigns.

"we can't get two bisons out of here!" sokka told her, pointing at the sky.

diki crooned, and went to where hakoda and the others were waiting in a tunnel. liara jumped off of her, "I'm sorry, girl, I can't leave aang again." she told the bison, who seemed to understand.

hakoda neared them. "I'll take good care of her." liara bowed in respect for the man, "please bring her back safe after the war."

"Liara! come on!" aang yelled to the girl, and she quickly propelled herself forward with a gust of air, getting on appa's head beside aang.

the group then flew out on the bison, shielded by stone from the fire princess's blue flames.

Zuko was below, on an airship and began fighting his sister as katara and liara was shielding appa from fire with air and water respectively.

however, missing to see, a fire bender landed on appa's saddle out of the blue, and liara heart sank. a picture of the day of the genocide crossing her mind.

no. this was different. she was stronger now.

"everyone, cover your ears!" she yelled, and everyone seemed to listen, the fire bender didn't.

Liara placed her fists together and a very loud, sonic, high pitched whistle sounded throughout the canion.

the firebender's nose and ears began to trickle with blood and he fainted, leaving liara to kick him off of the bison just as zuko landed on the saddle.

for a moment of watching him fall, liara was sure that this would be his demise, but luckily, he was caught by one of his comrades.

Liara stared down at the benders coldly, messy hair blowing in the wind as her eyes glared at them.

unlike the others who were distracted with zuko and azula, sokka couldn't help but wonder if the airbender would have let the man fall to his death.

given what he saw in her deep brown eyes when she glared at them below, he was almost certain that she would have let him die, and watch it happen.

~

the kids made camp at a nearby remote island, and as they all sat around the campfire, aang gave his friends a goofy grin.

"wow, camping. it really feels like old times, huh?" he smiled. liara didn't know much about their travels for the past few months, but by the sound of it, camping was probably all they did.

Zuko took a bite of his biscuit, "if you want it to feel like old times, I could chase you around and try to catch you." he proposed jokingly, resulting in laughter from the group.

except for katara. of course.

"to zuko," sokka lifted his cup, "for being our saviour today."

the rest of the group, minus katara, toasted with him and zuko blushed, "thank you, I really don't deserve this," he said shyly and katara scowled at him as she got up.

"no kidding."

she then stormed away in anger.

"what's with her?" sokka questioned as aang shrugged. zuko got up as well. "I'm gonna find out." he mumbled.

Liara, who was seated between aang and sokka, let out a sigh. "she's angry." she told the water tribe boy. "about what?"

"everything. and she doesn't know how to deal with it, so she's taking it out on zuko." she continued, staring at the tea in her cup.

"why?" suki piped up, "if anyone should be mad at zuko, it should be aang. y'know because he was hunted for months...?"

"she's only taking it out on zuko because he's fire nation. the fire nation hurt her and she wants a physical person to be angry at. someone to take her jabs." liara looked up at sokka and suki. "zuko just happened to fit the profile."

"how do you know this?" toph asked the airbender who just shrugged and stood. "katara is pretty easy to decipher."

she then walked away to go meditate.

"easy to decipher, my butt." toph mumbled and aang nodded. "yeah, liara just has a way of reading people like an unfolded scroll, no matter how much they try to hide it."

"I've noticed that too," suki commented, "but she's so closed off, you barely know what's going on with her."

sokka sighed, "yeah but sometimes you can see a bit through it."

"what do you mean?" aang queried.

"today, when that firebender's was on appa, she kicked him off of the saddle after soundbending. he was unconscious and if the other firebender wasn't there, he would have died." sokka said and aang's eyes narrowed. "sokka, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that she would have left the soldier to fall to his death if the other one didn't catch him."

"you're wrong." aang protested. "she wouldn't do that. not the liara that I know and love. she's a monk for crying out loud. she probably saw the other soldier and knew he'd catch him."

sokka was quiet for a moment, "you're probably right. I'm probably just imagining things."