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Havi's pov
"Good morning, earthbending student!" Toph yelled, waking me up. I'm not even learning earthbending, can she be quiet for just a few more minutes.
"Good morning, sifu Toph," Aang replied way too cheerfully for this early hour.
Katara sits up from her sleeping bag, "hey, you never call me sifu Katara."
"Well... if you think I should."
Sokka complains about the noise, what a shocker, and Toph whispers, "Good morning, snoozles. We'll do our earthbending as quietly as we can." She then bends the rock he slept on to send him flying in the air. When Sokka finally lands with a large thud, he starts ranting in some type of panicked gibberish before hopping away in his sleeping bag.
"So, what move are you gonna teach me first?" Aang excitedly asks, "rockalanche, the trembler? Oh, maybe I can learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"
"Let's start with move a rock." I follow Aang, Toph, and Katara to a large open space for practicing, "The key to earthbending is your stance. You've gotta be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element, if you're going to move it, you've gotta be like a rock yourself."
"Like a rock, got it" Aang nods.
"Good, now the actual motion of this one is pretty simple," Toph steps forward and punches towards the boulder in front of her, shoving it into the cliff nearby, "okay, you ready to give it a try?"
Aang gets into a stance, "I'm ready." He punches at the boulder but sends himself flying backwards instead.
"Rock beats airbender," Sokka laughed from the top of some mountain before standing up and leaving.
"I don't understand what went wrong," Katara says, "he did it exactly the way you did."
"Maybe there's another way. What if I came at the boulder from a different angle?" Aang suggested but Toph grabbed him by the collar to slow down.
"No, that's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender. There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickity-trick that's gonna move that rock," she pushes Aang to the ground, "You've gotta face it head on, and when I say head on, I mean like this," She runs and crushes a giant rock with her head. That's gotta be a concussion right there.
"Woah!" Aang hangs his head sadly. Katara runs over to Toph and I go to follow along but someone stops me.
"Havi, can I talk to you about something?" I turn my head and see Sokka holding my elbow gently.
"Uh, I was watching Aang train. Can we talk about it later?"
He takes a step back to scratch the back of his neck, "It's kind of, um, important." I could feel his anxiety through the air so I just nodded along to go with him. He takes my hand and leads me back to camp, on the other side of Appa, where the others can't see.
"What is it? Are you okay?" I ask genuinely concerned while putting a soft hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Sokka grabs my hand from his shoulder and holds it down in between us, "I've been wanting to talk about this for a while now actually, but I didn't know exactly how to say it."
My stomach feels a little knotted, "O- Okay?"
He takes a deep breath, "I know you said that you wanted things to go back to normal, back to how they were before everything happened, but I don't think I want it to."
"What do you mean?" I ask skeptically.
"Havi, I," he pauses while searching my eyes. If I wasn't blushing before, I sure was now, "I like you. In a more than friends kind of way, and I've been wanting to tell you since forever it feels like and I know I blew it when I left you hanging after the hippie tunnel and then again at the swamp and I would understand if you were mad that I didn't bring it up but--"
I stop his rambling by pressing my mouth to his in a sweet kiss. His lips were slightly chapped and chewed on but it was even better than I had imagined it. I could feel him tense at initial contact, probably from surprise, but he soon relaxed into it, sliding his hands around my waist to bring me closer. His finger tips slightly tickled my slides as I pulled away to reply, "I'm not mad. At all. I never thought you would feel the same way about me."
"I think you're amazing, Havi," Sokka connects our lips again in a more desperate embrace. There was a lot of lead up to this moment and a mutual excitement that we finally made it. I wrap one arm around his shoulder while the other finds it's way to his cheek. When we pull away, I look into his eyes and smile. Sokka uses a hand to gently caress my face. I haven't felt this at ease in weeks.
"Sokka! We're taking your club-sword thing!" Toph shouts, ruining the moment. Sokka gets all tense and I know he's just dying to take it back.
I laugh, "go get it." And with that he runs off after her.
• • •
Later that day, I was back to watching Aang struggle through his exercises. I don't blame him though, Toph was putting him through the worst. "Hey, are you okay?" Katara asks me.
After staring off, it takes a couple blinks to fully process her question, "What? Why?"
"I don't know, you seem a little flushed. Do you feel okay?" She tries to check my forehead but I swat her hand away.
I'm still blushing?? "I'm all good. Promise."
Toph's voice cuts in and ends our conversation, "this time we're gonna try something a little different. Instead of moving a rock, you're going to stop a rock. Get in your horse stance," Aang squats down, "I'm going to roll that boulder down at you. If you have the attitude of an earthbender, you'll stay in your stance and stop the rock, like this," She demonstrates the proper form.
Katara steps forward, "Sorry, Toph, but are you sure this is really the best way to teach Aang earthbending?"
"I'm glad you said something. Actually there is a better way," Toph blindfolds Aang's eyes, "this way, you'll really have to sense the vibrations of the boulder to stop it. Thank you, Katara."
"Yeah, thanks, Katara," Aang spat sarcastically and she nervous laughs.
Toph goes to the top of one of the tall cliffs where a path was dug out for the boulder Aang had to stop. She earthbends it forward and Katara and I watch anxiously as it speeds down towards the airbender. Right at the last moment, Aang jumps out of the way instead of bending it. With an angry look, Toph runs right in front of him as he fumbled, "I guess I just panicked. I don't know what to say."
"There's nothing to say. You blew it! You had a perfect stance and perfect form, but when it came right down to it you didn't have the guts!" She jabs him in the chest.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, you are sorry. If you're not tough enough to stop the rock then you could at least give it the pleasure of smushing you instead of jumping out of the way like a jelly-boned wimp," wow, this is going over badly, "Now, do you have what it takes to face that rock like an earthbender?"
"No," Aang hangs his head, "I don't think I do."
"Aang, it's not big deal. You'll take a break and try earthbending again when you're ready," Katara consoles him, "besides, you still have a lot of waterbending to work on, okay?"
"Yeah, that sounds good."
Toph waves them off, "Yeah, whatever. Go splash around until you feel better." She walks away.
What am I supposed to do?
I look side to side for something fun to pop up, but alas, I'm still alone.
I'll figure it out.
I roam off as an idea pops into my head. I need to find a good tree. I want to practice a little more with my new weapon, wear it in a little and maybe learn some new moves. Especially since I don't have bending to put me ahead, I want my combat skills to keep me in the running against people like Azula, Zuko, and the "almighty" Firelord dude.
After spotting a sturdy one, I stand about 20 feet away from the thick trunk and take a deep breath. With a step back, I turn around myself and use the momentum to throw my dagger directly in the center of the base. My aim's good, but I could do better. I spend an hour or more practicing different movements and different targets to better myself as a warrior. No more playing damsel in distress. From now on, I'm going to make a difference in our fights.
After I felt my body starting to fatigue, I decided to go look for people.
By people, I mean Sokka.
I couldn't find him anyway and had to settle with third best, his sister (Let's be honest, Toph is always runner up for me), "Hey, Katara. Do you know where your brother is?"
"Is he not back yet? I think he said he was searching for food a while ago."
"I haven't seen him since early afternoon," I tell her. We both feel uneasy and run off to find Aang.
"Hey, Aang, have you seen—" Katara was interrupted by him.
"-Meditating here."
"It's important," I tell him, "it's almost sundown and Sokka isn't back yet. I think we should search for him."
Aang pops up immediately, "we'll find him faster if we split up." I nod and run off in a direction the other two weren't going towards.
A soft noise catches my attention from the side of me and I run towards it, "Havi! Thank goodness!" I turn my head and see Sokka with his hair all over the place and stuck in the rocks, "have you got any meat?"
I stare with my jaw dropped at the scene before me. Hunched over, I begin laughing hysterically at the boy, "Sokka, are-- are you okay?"
"Ha. Ha. Yep, I'm stuck in a hole," I hold my stomach as my abs get all tight, "Can you help get me out now." I wipe away fake tears as I calm down. I grab his hands and try pulling him out, "stop, stop! You're gonna pull my fingers off and I don't think the rest of me is coming" I bite my cheek to not chuckle at his comment but it didn't work, "what was funny about that?"
Shaking my head quickly I reply, "Nothing. Let me see if someone is nearby and can help." I walk away and climb on top a nearby boulder. Gazing over the sight in front of me, I spot yellow robes hopping from rock to rock, "Aang! Over here!"
He hears my voice and comes my way. I explain the situation and he seemed much more concerned than me. I mean, all I did was laugh, even Zuko would've been nicer about it.
After we tell him that plain pulling doesn't work, he suggests another idea, "I bet I can airbend you out of here." Aang blows air up from the hole but it does absolutely no help.
Sokka sighs, "Seriously, Aang, I know you're new at it but I could use a little earthbending here. How about it?"
"I can't," Aanh sighs, "I can't do it." I put a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"Well if you can't earthbend me out of here, go get Toph."
"I can't do that either."
"You can't? Why not?" That's my question.
"It would just be really... uncomfortable" Aang mumbles.
"Uncomfortable? Well I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable" Sokka replied.
"Thanks, Sokka." Aang sits down and I join him, "this whole earthbending thing really has me confused. There's so much pressure. Everyone expects me to get it right away. It puts me in a really awkward position."
"Awkward position?" Sokka fakes seriousness, "I think I know the feeling."
"If I try, I fail, but if I don't try, I'm never gonna get it. I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place."
"How about that?" A little baby animal walks by us, "Aang, Havi, this is my friend Fufu Cuddly Poops. Fufu cuddly poops, Aang and Havi."
"Aw it's so cute!" I pet it's head.
Aang agrees, "Yeah, what a good name for a little baby sabertooth moose lion cub."
"Really?" Sokka asked, "he looks nothing like a sabertooth moose lion."
"It's hard to tell before their giant teeth and horns grow in," Aang picks it up, "what are you doing out here, little guy? Did you lose your mama?"
A large growl comes from behind us. I'm assuming it's the 'mama' and she looks mad, "oh, crap!"
Aang spoke with it, "Hey, there. We found your cub." He sets it down and it runs off to his mother, "see? We have no problem with you. We're friendly."
The sabertooth moose lion growls loudly, "Aang, Havi, this is bad. You got to get me out of here." The animal begins to charge at us so Aang airbends it over our heads. I have to drop to my stomach to keep from it hitting me. With my face at the level of Sokka's he awkwardly says, "hi."
"Hi," I breath out.
"This is really bad!" Sokka begs, "please Aang, you have to earthbend me out! There's no other way!"
Aang takes a form and tries to move the rock but nothing happens, "oh no." The large animal was preparing to charge us again. Aang quickly jumps up to a rock pillar and dances around, "hello! Look at me!" With the attention away from us two on the ground, I continue trying to pull the boy free.
"Havi! Behind you!" I turn around and the moose was running at us. I scream but Aang jumps in front of us and blows it in a different direction, "please don't leave us again."
"I won't." As the moose comes charging once more, Aang waits before giving one last gust of wind. This time the moose runs off instead of fighting. I release a deep breath I held.
A slow clap takes our attention.
Toph was sitting on a rock and Sokka asks, "What are u doing here?"
"Just enjoying the show."
"What? You were there the whole time?" Aang raises his voice.
"Pretty much."
"Why didn't you do something? Sokka was in trouble. Havi and I were in trouble! You could've gotten him out and helped us get away!"
Toph smirked, "I guess it just didn't occur to me." She drops a nut on the ground and takes out Aang's staff.
"Enough!" He grabs it from her, "I want my staff back."
"Do it now."
"What?"
"Earthbend, twinkle toes," Toph points at him, "You just stood your ground against a crazy beast and even more impressive, you stood your ground against me. You've got the stuff."
"But"
"Do it!" Aang stomps the ground and bends a boulder away, "you did it! You're an earthbender."
"I can't believe it!" Aang smiles.
Sokka awes from his hole, "this is really a wonderful, touching moment. So, could you get me out of here so I can give you both a big snuggly hug?"
"No problem, sokka!"
Toph stops Aang, "Actually, you should probably let me do that. You're still a little new to this. You might accidentally crush him."
"Yeah, no crushing please." Toph stomps the ground, pushing Sokka up before pulling him by his hair the rest of the way.
On the way back to camp, I had to assist Sokka in walking slightly with his arm wrapped around my shoulders. Although, he wasn't using me at all. I had no weight on me.
Katara runs up to us, "you found him!"
"The whole time I was in that hole, not knowing if I would live or die, it makes a man think about what's really important. I realized--"
Aang cuts him off, "Hey, Katara, look what I can do." He earthbends a giant rock.
"You did it! I knew you would!"
"Appa, Appa. I can earthbend now! The key is being completely rooted, physically and mentally unmovable." Appa then licks and tosses Aang a few feet away. We all start laughing and I look over to see Sokka smiling and watching me. I grab his hand as we enjoy the light moment with our friends.
Okay, so now they've admitted their feeeelingsss. I was so excited to write this chapter, I just hope I did them justice. Also, this episode is when Zuko has his breakdown and I cried while watching it. My poor baby, he deserves better :(