When Worlds Collide: Book Two, Earth

Chapter Two

“You guys are gonna be done soon, right?” Sokka asked us. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover if we wanna make to Omashu today.”
“What, like you’re ready to go right now, Naked Guy?” Katara asked, smirking.
“I can be ready in two minutes,” he said. “Seriously. Whenever.”
I chuckled. “You boys are the same in both worlds,” I said.
Aang smiled at me.
“But I am with Sokka on the whole leaving thing,” I said, looking at the water we were standing in.
“We’re not even to our knees,” Katara said curtly. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t snap at her.
“So...,” Aang said, cautiously, “you were showing us the octopus form?”
“Right,” Katara said, shaking her head “Show me your stance.”
We took our form, and Katara looked at us quizzically. “You’re arms are too far apart,” she said to Aang, and fixed his stance. “And you,” she said, glaring at me. “You’re doing it all wrong. You’re slouching, and you need to keep your feet closer together.”
I huffed and fixed my stance.
“Okay,” she said, turning to Aang. “Lets see what you got.”
She let Aang go first, throwing icicles at him. When he was done, it was my turn, and I could tell that Katara was going to enjoy it.
She threw the ice with alarming speed, and I was just barely able to dodge them. After a few minutes, I was growing tired, but Katara just kept going. At one point, the icicles went straight to my face, and thinking on instinct, I used fire to melt it seconds before it would hit me.
“Wow!” Aang said. “That was amazing!”
I was panting, and smiled at him. “Thanks,” I said. “But Iroh was the one who taught me that.”
He shook his head. “Not just the fire. Your water bending was awesome.”
I smiled. “Well thanks.”
Katara rolled her eyes. “It was okay for a beginner.”
I sighed. “I’m really tired. I’m gonna sit down for a while, okay?”
They nodded, so I went and laid down on the shore.
It wasn’t long before I heard music and singing coming from down the trail behind me. We all looked, and saw a group of people walking towards us.
“Hey!” the guy in front said. “River people!”
“We’re not river people,” Katara said.
“You’re not?” the man asked. “Then what kind of people are ya?”
“Just... people,” Aang said.
“Aren’t we all brother,” the guy said.
“Oh great,” I muttered, “hippies.”
“Who are you?” Sokka asked.
“I’m Chung,” the guy said, then pointed to the girl beside him. “This is my wife Louis. We’re nomads. Happy to go where ever the wind takes us.” then he rocked out on his guitar thing.
“You guys are nomads?” Aang asked. “That’s great! I’m a nomad!”
“Hey, me too!” Chung said.
“I know... you just said that,” Aang said.
“Oh... nice underwear,” he said, turning to Sokka.
I laughed as Sokka grabbed Momo and used the poor lemur to cover himself.
I was leaning up against Appa while one of the women who was traveling with Chung was fishtail braiding my hair-fishtail, I know! The group was telling us stories of their travels, and I was completely fascinated.
When Sokka came over to us, Aang started telling about how the group had been everywhere.
“Not everywhere little Arrow-Head. But where we haven’t been, we’ve heard of through stories and songs,” Chung said.
Sokka’s eyebrow went up and I smiled at him.
“Look, I don’t want to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara and Sam are busy,” Sokka said, glancing at us, “I’ll say it. We need to get to Omashu with no distractions.”
“Sokka’s right,” Katara said. “We need to go to Omashu so King Bumi can teach Aang earth bending somewhere safe.”
“Well it sounds like you’re heading to Omashu,” Chung said.
Sokka face palmed and I rolled my eyes.
“There’s an old story about a secret pass...,” Chung said, pausing for effect, “right through the mountains.”
“Is it real, or is it a legend?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s a real legend,” Chung said, sitting up. “And it’s as old as earth bending itself.”
He started to play a song, about two lovers and how they created a secret passageway to see each other.
When he was done, we all clapped. Except for Sokka. “I think we’ll just stick with flying,” he said. “We’ve dealt with the Fire Nation before, we’ll be fine.”
Katara sent a glare towards me. “I’m sure we will since we have an old friend of theirs with us.”
“I’m not friends with anyone that has no heart,” I growled.
“Could’ve fooled me,” she sniffed.
“Girls,” Sokka hissed.
“Yea,” Aang said, turning to Chung and ignoring us. “Appa hates going underground, and we need to do what makes Appa most comfortable.”
So we set off, taking flight, only to be pelted with fire balls. We soon landed, going back to the hippy group.
“Secret love cave, lets go,” Sokka said, pointing ahead.
We were all covered in soot, and we were panting.
That was awful. And I dreaded gong into the cave with the hippies almost as much as Sokka did.