silver soul | avatar, the last air bender

chapter twenty

Katara snorted and held her hand over her mouth. She walked over to Sokka and peered over his shoulder. "Why are there feet coming out of his head?" She asked.

"Those are his horns!" Sokka said defensively.

"Naia's the only one who actually is a good artist," Aang said. "I didn't know you could draw so well."

"Thanks, Aang. I learned how to paint about a year ago. I figured it would be similar to drawing," Naia stated. Naia lightly grabbed the paper from Sokka, to which his expression softened. Their fingers brushed by each other, which was enough for Naia's cheeks to turn pink. "Ah, I see. It's an aerial view of Appa."

"That's what I was going for!" Sokka exclaimed. He turned and saw Aang and Katara staring at him in confusion. He lowered his head shamefully. "I haven't seen him in a while...okay?"

Naia smiled at Aang and then looked towards Sokka. "It's okay, Sokka. Not everyone can be a good artist," She said. Sokka's bottom lip stuck out. If it was up to her, she would have kissed his cheek. Keeping this a secret was going to be a lot harder than she anticipated.

"It looks just like him to me!" Toph chimed in.

Sokka lit up. "Thank y—" He stoped suddenly, his face dropping. "Why do you feel the need to do that?"

"Let's just stick with the printed version," Naia commented. Aang went outside and basically littered hundreds of posters in the streets of Ba Sing Se. During this time, Toph bounced a ball against the wall and Katara and Sokka played a card game. Naia decided to finish up one of the books she stole from the library about astronomy and how celestial bodies can affect bending. She was almost finished with it.

"So...you guys never told me how the double date went," Katara said, not looking up from her cards.

Naia looked up from her book and let out a light cough. She was about to tell Katara everything, but realized she had to lie to keep whatever happened between her and Sokka a secret. "Oh...um...it went good."

"Wow, very TMI if you ask me," Toph said sarcastically.

"How about you, Sokka?" Katara asked, her eyes flickering towards him. "How did your date go?"

Sokka couldn't even look up. "It was good. Kimi was...good."

Katara raised her eyebrows. "Alright," She said, deciding not to pry them any more.

Tension hung in the air. Naia knew that Katara probably knew they were lying. Naia decided to close her book and start reading the other one she stole from the library. She slipped into her room unnoticed and pulled out the little black book. It's fascinated her endlessly since she's stolen it. Naia wanted to share it with the group, but her gut was telling her to keep it a secret. The contents of the book were extremely sinister. She flipped through it once again and read the minimal pages it had.

Naia closely examined the diagram of the hand. She flexed her hand in the same manner as in the picture. Naia wondered how such a movement could be able to control the bodies of animals, let alone humans.

It suddenly hit her. She could use water bending to control blood. Naia remembered reading in a book in the library on basic anatomy of the body. The majority of blood was made of water, along with other small components such as plasma. Her stomach dropped. It seemed so intriguing, yet so morally wrong.

Naia nearly jumped backwards when she heard a knock on the front door. She sighed heavily and shoved the book back into her small bag. When she walked out of her room, she saw Joo Dee standing at the door. Expect this time, it was the original Joo Dee who first guided them around the city.