The History of Renko: Book 2 Voyager (Avatar, BoyxBoy)

Chapter 16: Sidetracked

"Cannonball!" Renko jumped into the river by the location he and his team had made camp. They had left the desert and were nearly at Ba Seng Sei so they decided to take a break before their final leg of the trip. Renko had quickly ditched his clothes to swim in the cool water but he tried to stay decent for Pāru's sake. Tiulo flinched back as the water from the splash hit him. He took several steps back and ran towards the river. Gracefully, he leaped into the air and dove into the clear blue water. He surfaced and floated on his back with his hands behind his head.

"Oh come on," Renko said as he watched Tiulo lounging. "We finally leave the desert, find some fresh water, and you just want to float on it?"

"What can I say?" Tiulo said. "Sometimes it's nice to just relax after a long trip like that."

Renko got a sly look on his face. He splashed some water onto Tiulo as he floated. In response, Tiulo floated back on his toes and looked at him.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" he said.

"I don't know what you mean," Renko splashed more water.

"Renko," Pāru said as she sat on the beach. "I'd be careful talking like that to a person that bends water."

"I think the Avatar can take it," Ahmad said with his back turned. He too had stripped down in order to bathe Lhasa which, everyone agreed she needed. He held a long brush in both hands.

"Let's see what he can do," he added, turning around to watch.

"I already have two elements under my belt," Renko said mockingly. "And, I've been training really hard with Pāru. What's one more?"

"Okay," Tiulo raised his right palm upwards. With a loud splash, the water rose like a wave under Renko tipping him over into the water. He rose up gasping for air.

"That was good," he said coughing up water.

"Told you so," Pāru squeezed some of the water from the splash out of her hair. "Be careful."

"Hey Tiulo," Ahmad called to Tiulo. "Can you give Lhasa a rinse?"

"Of course," he said. He wove his hands together and three streams of water rose up like tendrils. They braided together to form a thicker tendril and together, they hosed the soap off of Lhasa's thick fur. She roared and shook the water off to dry herself.

"I guess it's time then," Pāru stood as she spoke. "Everyone, dry off. We need to get going."

Renko picked himself up out of the water and walked over to grab his stuff. Ahmad turned as Renko bent over to rustle through his clothes. Ahmad caught himself staring a little too long and almost turned away. Then, he noticed something dangling from Renko's neck.

"What's that around your neck?" he asked.

"Oh, this?" Renko looked down and held the stone he received from Kuzo. "Kuzo gave it to me. Well, he more like left it for me."

"It's very blue," Ahmad simply stated.

"Yeah," Renko had a little smile on his face. "It's supposed to match his eyes I think. He's sweet but a little...arrogant sometimes."

"I see," Ahmad opened his mouth to speak again but he was interrupted by a loud scream followed by an explosion. Everyone dropped what they were going and looked at the direction the scream came from. Smoke began to rise into the air.