Inner Fire - ATLA fanfic

Imprisoned

Zira hummed to herself happily as she peacefully played with her hair leaning up against a small hill. It had been over a week since the kids had left Omashu and continued on their journey to the North Pole. They were currently camped out in the forest waiting for Sokka to return with some food.

Zira looked up when she heard Momo chittering and the small lemur landed on her shoulder as Sokka returned with a bag of something.

" Great your back!" Aang cheered

" What'd you find? I'm starving" Zira added as they all huddled around Sokka

" We've got a few options" Sokka started, opening the bag " First, round nuts and some kind of oval-shaped nuts. And some rock shaped nuts that might just rock. Dig in"

The others looked unamused by Sokka scavaging skills.

" Seriously, what else you got?" Katara asked

A loud boom suddenly then cut through the quiet forest air, startling the kids.

" What was that?" Sokka questioned

Another loud boom echoed, scaring Momo who tried hiding in Azira's hair.

" It's coming from over there" Aang pointed out and he and the girls started running towards the noise.

" Shouldn't we run away from the huge booms, not towards them?" Sokka yelled before sighing and quickly following.

The kids found a small ravine and hid behind a fallen tree where they noticed a teenage boy practising his earth bending. He was picking up the rocks and smashing them into the side of the ravine wall.

" An earth bender" Katara muttered

" Let's go meet him" Aang suggested as Momo landed on his shoulder.

" He looks dangerous. So we better approach cautiously" Sokka cut in not realising that Katara had already started walking up to the earth bender.

" Hello there!" She called out" I'm Katara, what's your name?"

The boy began to panic and quickly ran away using his earth bending to block the path with boulders.

" Nice to meet you!" Aang yelled but the boy was already gone.

" I just wanted to say hi" Katara muttered

" Hey, that guy's got to be running somewhere. Maybe we're near a village" Aang stated

" And I bet that village has a market" Katara smiled

" Which means, no stupid nuts for dinner!" Azira cheered

" Hey! I worked hard to get those nuts" Sokka defended as the other 3 began to run off.

" Sokka, I bet there are meat vendors" Zira teased and Sokka's eyes lit up

" You had me at meat" He drooled and followed after the others.

*

The kids found the town and instantly started looking around for some food. Aang however got distracted swapping the nuts Sokka found for a hat. While Aang was showing off his new hat, Zira spotted the earth bender they saw moments ago.

" Katara look" She pointed to the guy who was now entering a shop.

"Come on" Katara and Zira headed towards the store while the boys followed behind.

They entered the shop and saw the teenage boy along with a middle-aged woman.

" Hey! You're that kid" Katara called out making the boy turn around " Why did you run away before?"