The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 18 | Warriors of Kyoshi III

"Yeah, I know. But-"

"Shh." She said, putting a gloved finger on her fellow warrior's lips. "Don't question it. Just admire it."

The warrior sighed a bit, but returned to her daily training while trying to keep herself from staring too much. She was a warrior, she had a duty to uphold, and to make sure that she could, she had to get back to training.

Maybe she'd ask for a spar with the older boy later? Before, she could barely get through him. What about now since he was learning their way of combat instead? Maybe, just maybe. And the other girls thoughts ran along similar lines.

Ayaan did take a moment to notice everyone staring at him, but again only raised an eyebrow and returned to what he was doing, unbothered. He wanted to get a little more used to the garb before he proceeded to train with his brother and the Kyoshi Warriors. There was not an ounce of embarrassment in him.

'As long as they aren't staring at my scar, I do not care if they look at me.'

"Does he really not realize why everyone is staring at him like that?" Suki said. She wore their green warrior's garb proudly with their traditional war paint on, there were no confidence issues when it came to her, either. But one could still see the pink dusted on her cheeks as she watched the older boy train from afar.

You can't just ignore someone that looks great. Ayaan was one of these types of people. She had honestly expected Ayaan to be just as awkward as Sokka was being, but the boy seemed to have better things to do than worry about being in a dress.

Sokka shook his head as he answered Suki with an almost tired sigh. "No, he really doesn't, and that's what makes it infuriating sometimes. He has no idea. Either that, or he could care less about it. Sometimes I feel that he just doesn't care about the attention he gets, but I know that he at least acknowledges that."

He grumbled. "He's a friggen dreamboat... An oblivious dreamboat... A dreamboat as dense as a rock but refusing to sink... Probably doesn't even care he's wearing a dress... I know he doesn't."

"Is that jealousy I hear?" Suki teased, Sokka immediate in his repsonse.

"No. It is not." Sokka protested, the squeak in his immature voice lessening the statement's believability.

Sokka knew his brother. He was a man that had no type of insecurity when it came to being a man. You could put him in anything, a dress, skirt, make-up, Sokka was sure Ayaan wouldn't be flustered. He'd been like that since as long as he could remember. A perfect example being when they were children.

Ayaan was around nine or ten, and his hair was really long at the time. The girls in their family, Their mother, grandmother, and Katara, didn't want him to cut it because they thought it was pretty. Ayaan's hair was soft, silver, and shiny; it was a girl's dream hair. And despite being tall, Sokka could, without a doubt, say that Ayaan was a very handsome child.

He was sure that if he had that long hair right now, he wouldn't be able to save him from the horde it would attract. He shivered a bit at the thought. If Sokka was Ayaan, he would have cut it with a knife like it committed a heinous crime right then and there.

A man shouldn't want to be called 'cute', they should want to be 'cool' and 'manly'! Cute wasn't manly! And he remembered trying to tell Ayaan that in all of his seven year old glory, but Ayaan just smiled instead.

"I like seeing them smile. If keeping my hair long keeps them smiling, then I'll keep it long for now." Was his answer to Sokka's complaints. He even let them play in his hair when they wanted to! He ended up with an elaborate braid with beads and jewels, and wore it without shame for a full week before finally taking it out.