The Warrior and the Prince

9: The Fortune Teller

Warning! This is a little long (4500 words)

Note: I've been looking forward to posting this chapter!

 We had landed to give Appa a little rest from flying, something he seemed grateful about, however a loud roar nearby caught our attention. Just further down the stream from where we stopped we saw a giant platypus bear attacking a calm elderly man who was dodging its attacks, angering it more. "Well hello there," he said calmly, ducking under the bears paw.

"Make noise, he'll run off!" Aang shouted.

"No, play dead, he'll loose interest!" Sokka counteracted.

"Run downhill, then climb a tree!" Katara put her input in.

"Run in zigzags, it'll confuse him!" I suggested but the man just laughed at all of our suggestions.

"No need. It's going to be fine," he chuckled, almost being decapitated by the bear.

"Are you out of your mind! You're going to be killed!" I yelled. Appa soon appeared, roaring loudly at the bear who immediately ran away in fright. "Lucky for you we came along," I said, the four of us approaching the man.

"Thanks, but everything was already under control. Aunt Wu predicted I'd have a safe journey after all," he explained.

"Aunt who?" Aang asked.

"No, Aunt Wu," the man said and I rolled my eyes. "She's the fortune-teller from my village. Awful nice, knowing your future."

"Wow it must be, that must be why you were so calm," Katara said.

"But the fortune-teller was wrong, you didn't have a safe journey, you were almost killed!" Sokka exclaimed.

"But I wasn't. Take care," the man bowed. "Oh, and Aunt Wu said that if I met any travellers I was to give them this," he handed Aang a package before walking away, humming contentedly. He opened it up to reveal an umbrella. Just then the clouds began to pour with rain so Katara and I quickly huddled with Aang under the umbrella for shelter whilst Sokka was stubborn and stayed in the rain.

"I think we ought to see Aunt Wu. It could be fun, learning about our fortunes," I said.

"Oh come on, fortune-telling is nonsense," Sokka scoffed.

"Says the guy getting soaked," I laughed.

"You can't really tell the future," Sokka complained.

"I guess you're not really getting wet then," Katara laughed as we walked, deciding to head to the village the fortune-teller lived.

"Of course she predicted it was going to rain, the sky's been cloudy all day," Sokka scoffed.

"Just admit there may be some truth in fortune-telling and you can come under the umbrella," I said.

"Look, I'm going to make a prediction now. It's going to keep raining. There, see-," Sokka folded his arm but we were all shocked when the clouds parted and the sun came out.

"Looks like you don't have the gift Sokka," Aang said, taking down the umbrella. Once again Sokka went into sulking mode as we approached a small earth kingdom village, all of the villagers smiling brightly. Kids ran around having fun, market stalls were booming and everyone seemed happy. People directed us to Aunt Wu's house, wishing us luck and telling us to await good fortune. Katara was getting incredibly keen on the subject, leading the group until we reached a large house with a round archway out front.

"Aunt Wu is expecting you," a man next to the gate said, Katara's eyes brightening.

"Really?" She went through the archway and entered the house first, the entrance leading into what looked like a small waiting area. There were traditional vases and screens decorating the room, as well as there being cushions for us to sit on. A young girl in pink robes came into the room, introducing herself as Meng, Aunt Wu's assistant. She sat us down on the cushions and went to fetch Aunt Wu for our readings.