Havi of the Earth Kingdom

Chapter 16: The Deserter

Havi's pov

Turns out Chey knew those men so we didn't end up being stabbed to death. Instead, we were brought to their mini hidden village where Chey had to speak with Jeong Jeong alone while we stayed in a guest hut. It was about an hour later when Chey finally returned and Aang popped right up, "What happened? Can I see Jeong Jeong now?"

Chey sat down, "He won't see you. He's very angry that I brought you here. He wants you to leave immediately."

"Finally," Sokka popped up as well, "Let's hit the road."

"Why won't he see me?" Aang pushes on.

"He says you're not ready," Chey explained, "Says you haven't mastered waterbending and earthbending yet."

Aang makes a scattered face, "Wait, how does he know that?"

"He saw the way you walked into camp. He can tell." Well, that's not freaky at all.

Aang stood up, "I'm going in anyway." With that said, he storms out.

• • •

The next morning, I wake up to news that Aang convinced Jeong Jeong to teach him. I'll never understand how but I honestly wasn't that interested either. Instead, I followed Sokka as he started off somewhere, "Where are you going?" I bug him.

"To the river where Katara and Aang are," he grabs a fishing rod, "I'm gonna try to catch some food."

I continue following him to the destination and I look around to our friends who beat us there. Katara was streaming water and Aang was being yelled at to squat lower. I felt uncomfortable talking in front of the fire master man so instead, I opted to just sit quietly by Sokka while we waited patiently to catch a fish.

"Silence!" A shout takes my attention from the rippling water, "Talking is not concentrating. Look at your friend, is she talking?" Jeong Jeong points from Katara to Sokka, "Even that oaf knows to concentrate on what he's doing."

"Hey!" Sokka yelled back offended.

I snicker and pinch his arm, "you're an oaf, Sokka the oaf."

He tried to make an angry face with his eyebrows down but the smile that stayed just made him look crazy so I laughed even more. Sokka scooted over so he'd be close enough to elbow me playfully but instead of moving back, he stayed shoulder to shoulder with mine. We end up gazing at each other, smiling, taking in the moment, for an oddly long amount of time before I realized, coughed and turned back to the river.

• • •

"It's been more than than hour and you still haven't caught anything!" I lay back dramatically.

"Hey! It's not my fault the fish are too stuck up for my food."

"Fish don't want leaves as bait, Sokka," I stand up, "Can't we do something else? Anything else?"

He huffed, "Fine, let's go." I grin from my small victory and pull him off to wherever we may go. Honestly, I had nothing in mind but even walking through trees would be more fun than staring at a lifeless river. "Where are you taking me, Havi?"

"I'm just going wherever my feet take me," and they definitely took me to the right places. My hands hit my cheeks in awe because just beyond a rock hid the cutest little creatures, "TURTLE DUCKS!" I start running around trying to pick one up but right when I get close enough, they waddle away.

"I think you need a better tactic!"

I snap my head towards the smirking boy, "Well, I think you need to shut your mouth!"