The Story of Aya: Book 1~Water

Stolen Goods

I sat beside Katara, bending a small air ball in my hand as Aang paced back and forth on Appa. To be fair, I was freaking out in my head too. If Aang didn't master all the elements by the time Sozin's comet arrived, we'd all be doomed by the Fire Nation.

"Would you sit down?! If we hit a bump, you'll go flying off!" Sokka glanced back worriedly from where he was steering Appa. "What's bugging you anyway?"

Does he...does he really need to ask?

"It's what Avatar Roku said. I'm supposed to master all four elements before that comet arrives." Aang explained, exasperated.

"Well, let's see. You pretty much mastered airbending, and that only took you a hundred and twelve years. I'm sure you can master three more elements by next summer." Sokka replied sarcastically and I glared at him. As if that makes Aang feel any better about our possible impending doom.

"I haven't even started waterbending, and we're still weeks away from the North Pole. What am I gonna do?!"

Katara reached forward and grabbed Aang's hand, making him sit down in front of her. "Calm down. It's gonna be okay. If you want, I can try and teach you some of the stuff I know."

"You'd do that?" Aang asked her with a smile on his face.

Katara nodded and crawled over to the side of Appa's saddle. "We'll need to find a good source of water first."

"Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in." Sokka chuckled.

~~~

We did in fact find a puddle for Aang and Katara to splash in. A rather big puddle at that. It even had a waterfall.

Aang and Katara looked up at it wide eyed and grinning while I started to make a camp for our stuff near the trees.

"Nice puddle," Sokka muttered, unamused.

Appa groaned as he flew down, flopping in the water. It sent a small wave towards Momo, and Appa rolled over on his back.

"Yeah! Don't start without me, boy!" Aang quickly undressed and was about to run into the water until he was stopped by Katara.

"Remember the reason we're here."

"Oh, right. Time to practice waterbending." Aang pulled his clothes back on and I joined them after setting up the camp.

"Great. So, what am I supposed to do?" Sokka asked, annoyed.

"You could...clean the gunk out of Appa's toes?" Aang offered Sokka a leafy branch, and he crossed his arms.

"So, while you guys are playing in the water, I'm supposed to be hard at work picking mud out of a giant bison's feet?"

Aang smiled at him encouragingly. "Mud and bugs!"

Sokka paused for a moment before taking the branch from Aang. "Okay."

"Hey Aang, can I borrow your glider for a bit? I want to try practicing some airbending with it." I asked as he and Katara stepped into the water.

"Sure! Just don't break it." He smiled at me and I nodded.

I walked back over to the camp I had set up, finding his glider leaning against a tree. I grabbed it and started to make my way up to the top of the waterfall. When we flew overhead, it seemed like there was enough space up there to practice my airbending without disrupting Katara's teachings.