Konno still couldn't get used to having Toph being in the group. She really admired her as a person, but her personality wasn't really the best. However, Konno didn't have the right to judge Toph because she was raised different than Konno was. Her parents didn't care for her like Konno's mother did.
She was the first person to wake up today, but Aang was a close second. He was very excited to finally be learning earthbending, and he accidentally woke everyone else up. However, he wasn't doing the greatest at earthbending. It seemed like Toph was getting pretty annoyed with Aang, especially when she poked Aang in the eye after a failed attempt.
"She should have listened to me," Katara muttered, shaking her head. The two of them were watching Aang and Toph train. "He listens better to encouragement."
Konno glanced at Katara. "Are you saying that because you're jealous?"
Katara jerked her head side to side in quick succession. Her cheeks had gained a little color, and she wouldn't really meet Konno's eyes. "What?" she asked incredulously. "Of course not! Why would I be jealous?"
Konno let a small smile slip onto her face. "It's alright. I won't tell your secret if you don't tell mine."
Katara sputtered, trying to figure out what to say to Konno. Her neck had also gained more color by this time. But Konno wasn't listening now. She was watching as Toph and Sokka argued over his machete. Toph shoved Sokka backward, and he grumbled something to himself before stalking away, through the trees.
"Why don't you go follow him?" Katara asked softly.
Konno looked at her and shook her head. "No. It looks like he wants to be alone right now."
"That's the perfect time to go to him," Katara said with a nod. "It looks like he wants to be alone, but in reality, he doesn't." After a few seconds of silence, Katara continued, saying, "Trust me. I'm his sister."
Konno sighed. She really did want to follow Sokka, to make sure he was okay. It was hard to hide her feelings, and she didn't know why. That was all she did at the Northern Water Tribe. She hid her feelings from Navrek. She hid her anger about Hahn around Yue. But she could barely hide her feelings from Sokka. It was like her walls turned into a liquid whenever he was around.
"I know what you're doing," Konno told her while standing up. "And it's not working. I'm just going to check on him and then I'll be back, okay?"
"Whatever you say, Konno."
She rolled her eyes as she started following Sokka. She hoped he didn't take any turns because she didn't want to end up lost without anyone with her. If she did get lost, though, maybe she would be free to think about Yue and Navrek and how much she missed them. She didn't want to think about them when she was with the others because she didn't want to be sad in front of them.
"Gotcha!" a yell echoed through the canyon she was entering.
Konno frowned and peered around. Her eyes went wide when she saw Sokka stuck in a crevice. His whole body from the shoulders down looked like it was trapped under the earth. He wriggled around, trying to get free, but he doesn't even budge. "You are a lucky little meat creature," he said to a small animal.
"What happened to you?" she asked, stepping forward. "How did you get like that?"
Sokka's head jerked over to her in surprise. Fear raced through his eyes for a second before it turned to recognition. "Did you follow me?" he asked instead.
Konno crossed her arms over her chest. "Answer me first."
"I was hungry!" He pointed at the little mooselion, and it wagged its tail. "That little guy looked like the perfect food to eat."
"Sokka, how dare you?" Konno asked in surprise. "He's so cute!"
She bent down and scratched the mooselion's head. It rubbed all over her hand in happiness. The brown fur was so soft under hands. She laughed as it jumped up onto her hand. Scratching behind one of its ears, Konno looked back at Sokka.
"You're turn to answer my question," he said with a gleam in his eyes. "Did you follow me?"
"I wanted to make sure you were fine," she said quickly. "You looked angry."
He tried to shrug, but the crevice wouldn't allow it. "I'm just tired of the others treating me like I'm not important, you know? I feel like they have an advantage because they are benders."
She was surprised to hear that. She thought he was happy with the others. "Sokka, you are important," Konno said softly. "So important to the others. And to me."
He smiled at her. "Really?"
"Really."
The little mooselion curled up in her hands like it was going to go to sleep. She smiled down at it and said, "You are literally the cutest thing I have ever seen."
"Why, thank you," Sokka said, bowing his head slightly.
Konno laughed and rolled her eyes. "I wasn't talking to you, Sokka."
He laughed, too. "I know that." He stayed silent for a little bit before asking, "Are you saying that that thing is cuter than I am?"
"Yes," Konno said with a nod of her head.
"That hurts me right here." He tried to point to his chest, but his fingers couldn't bend backward. She understood, though.
"Why should it hurt you?"
Sokka met her eyes and said, "I was kidding."
"I know."
It suddenly got awkward. She could probably cut the tension that hovered in the air with Sokka's machete. "Do you want me to go get someone?" Konno asked after a minute of awkward silence. "Like Katara or -"
"No!" Sokka exclaimed. He got quieter, saying, "No, I'm fine right now."
Suddenly, the baby mooselion jumped from Konno's hands onto the top of Sokka's head. His eyes bugged out of his skull as he tried to look at it. She giggled when he tried to reach up to hit the mooselion.
"You probably think I deserve this, don't you?" Sokka asked. The baby mooselin peered over his forehead and looked at him. "Look, I'm sorry I hunted you, but that's just the natural order of things! Big things eat smaller things, nothing personal. But this time it didn't work out that way."
The baby mooselion yawned before walking in a circle on Sokka's head. It laid down again, closing its eyes. Konno smiled at it, her heart bursting. Sokka looked so adorable with it on his head.
"I admit it. You're cute," Sokka said with a sigh. The mooselion began licking its paws. "Okay, you've convinced me. If I get out of this alive, it's a comically correct vegetarian existence for me. No eat. Even though meat is so tasty."
Konno laughed at that statement. She didn't think Sokka would ever give up meat. He loved it too much.
The baby mooselion jumped off of his head and trotted to the side. A bug buzzed around his head, and he tried to swat it away. "Here, let me help," Konno said, scooting closer to him. Her eyes followed the bug, and she swatted at it. She missed, allowing it to land on Sokka's head. "Don't get mad at me, please."
"Why?"
"This."
Konno slapped the spot where the bug was on Sokka's face. He yelled in surprise and pulled away from her. He couldn't get far, though, because he was trapped in the crevice. "Why did you do that to me?" he asked angrily. "That hurt, Eimi!"
She almost laughed. Almost. But he called her by her old name. Her old name that she shed off like a wave because it brought back too many memories. Too many memories that she wanted to keep trapped.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice distant. "I didn't mean to call you that."
Somehow, without even thinking, Konno had gotten up and retreated to the other side of the canyon. She didn't want him to see how much that affected her. She wished it wouldn't affect her like this. It felt like a wave had crashed against her walls, tearing more and more of the stones away.
"Konno, come back," Sokka said. "Please. I didn't mean to say that. It just slipped out."
Hesitantly, she went back over to him. She didn't sit as close, though. She didn't want to. "I don't like that name anymore," she said softly.
"Why?"
"The memories associated with it. That was the old me, Sokka. Konno is the new me, with new memories."
"You shouldn't bury those memories," he whispered. "That won't do you any good. Sooner or later, they will rise up and explode."
Konno hated how right he was. She shrugged and said, "I'd rather explode later than right now."
"I know how hard it is to lose someone," he said, his eyes dropping to the ground. "I know the pain of losing someone you loved so much. I still feel it today just as much as I did when it happened."
"Does it ever get any easier?"
"No. But it does get better as days go on. I can think about her and smile. That's what my mom would've wanted." He paused and studied her face. It was burning as she tried to keep the tears at bay. "And I bet Yue doesn't want you crying over her. She wants you to be glad that you made great memories with her. She wants you to remember her love for you, not the pain."
She let out a small sigh and a tear slipped through the barrier. With a groan, she brushed it away, saying, "Yeah. I know."
The baby mooselion ran back to the two of them, an apple in its mouth. It dropped the apple, and the apple rolled toward Sokka. "Hey, it looks like my karma is already paying off!" Sokka said, perking up. However, the apple stopped between the cub and Sokka, far out of his reach. "That's okay! I got it!" He struggled to reach into his backpack. His fingers wrapped his boomerang, and he threw it at the apple. It fell down next to it. "Now come back, boomerang."
"Sokka, are you really asking an inanimate object to come back to you?" Konno asked with a tiny smile.
"Maybe."
She stood up and grabbed the apple off of the ground. Handing it to Sokka, she said, "There you go."
"Thank you."
Sokka took a bite of the apple and sighed. Konno didn't understand why he was hungry literally all the time. It seemed like he was eating every time she looked at him. And that was often.
"Is this what life without meat is going to taste like?" Sokka asked after swallowing his first bite. "I don't think I can handle that."
Konno laughed. "I wouldn't mind cutting out meat. I love animals a lot."
"How could you do that?" he asked incredulously.
"It's just a preference, Sokka. Don't sound so disgusted."
"I would never think you were disgusting," he replied, looking at her.
"Well, that's good."
The baby mooselion jumped back onto the top of his head and started biting his ponytail. She giggled as it pulled on his hair playfully. "Okay, karma person or things, whoever's in charge of this stuff, if I can just get out of this situation alive, I will give up meat and sarcasm. Okay? Ow!" Konno laughed at his reaction to the baby mooselion pulling the band holding his hair together off of his head. His hair sprung out in a frizzy mess. "That's all I got! It's pretty much my whole identity! Sokka, the meat and sarcasm guy! But I'm willing to be Sokka, the veggies and straight talk fellow! Deal?"
"Sokka, whoever you are talking to isn't listening," Konno said to him with a smile. "You just sound ridiculous."
Sokka rolled his eyes as the baby mooselion wandered off to the side. "Thanks, Konno. That's so helpful." His eyes widened as Aang ran through the canyon. He slowed to a stop in front of Konno and Sokka. "Aang! Thank goodness! Have you got any meat?"
"Sokka!" Aang exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
Aang bent down and began to tug on Sokka's trapped arms. "Stop, stop!" Sokka yelled. "You're going to pull my fingers off, and I don't think the rest of me is coming!"
Konno stood off to the side, watching the two of them try to get Sokka out of the crevice. She wasn't much help to them because she couldn't bend anything. Sokka didn't seem to notice that she had drifted off, but he had bigger things to worry about than her.
Suddenly, Aang raised his arms and slammed them down quickly, causing a huge gust of air to erupt from the crevice that sent dust flying. However, when the dust cleared, Sokka was still trapped, and his hair had been blown up in a Mohawk. He looked so adorable like that, but the boomerang came crashing down, flattening his Mohawk.
"Seriously, Aang," Sokka said with an annoyed tone in his voice, "I know you're new at it, but I could use a little earthbending here. How about it?"
Aang looked down at the ground sadly. "I can't. I can't do it."
"If you can't earthbend me out of here, go get Toph," Sokka said, sounding fully annoyed now.
"I can't do that either," Aang said, looking away from Sokka.
Konno wouldn't want to go get Toph either, but she would still do it for Sokka. He had been stuck for a long time. He needed to get out before he got hurt. Since they weren't looking at her, she snuck off and headed back toward their camp. She needed to get Toph or Katara so they could help Sokka.
When she got back to their camp, she realized it was empty besides Appa and Momo. She sighed and glanced around. Katara and Toph couldn't have gone anywhere far. She didn't think they would do that.
"Katara?" Konno called, walking toward the edge of their camp. A small pool sat close to them, and she guessed Katara was there. She probably was practicing her waterbending or something. "Katara?" She slipped off her shoes and stepped into the water, through the curtain cattails. Water swooshed close to her, so she said, "Katara!"
With a sudden force, something slapped her across the cheek. She yelped in surprise. The pain came on quick just as Katara burst through the cattails. "Konno!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were there!"
Katara touched Konno's cheek, and she winced in pain. Her cheek throbbed. "It's fine," Konno said, shrugging. "It doesn't compare to other things I've felt."
Katara's eyes softened. "Konno . . ."
"Sokka's stuck in a crevice in that canyon over there," Konno blurted out. She didn't want to talk about her feelings right now. She had already spoken about her feelings enough today. "Aang is trying to get him out, but it's not really working."
"Is he okay?" Katara asked quickly.
"Yeah. He's just stuck."
"How did that happen?"
"Well, I don't really know how that happened. We didn't talk about that."
Katara looked at her, mischief sparkling in her eyes. "You stayed with him longer than what you said."
"We're not worrying about that right now," Konno said, shaking her head. "Sokka is still stuck, and Aang wouldn't get Toph to help them."
Katara pushed her out of the water, and she put her shoes back on. She started to lead Katara toward the Canyon when she saw Toph, Aang, and Sokka emerge from the trees. Katara ran to Sokka, saying, "You got him out!"
She gave him a hug. He looked at Konno over Katara's shoulders and started saying, "The whole time that 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 -"
"Hey, Katara, look what I can do!" Aang said, cutting Sokka off.
Konno really wanted to hear what Sokka was talking about. A small part of her hoped that it would be about her. Katara pulled away from Sokka and gazed at Aang, who shoved his arms forward. A large rock formation broke in half.
"You did it! I knew you could!" Katara said happily. She glanced at Toph. "You tried the positive reinforcement, didn't you?"
"Yep," Toph said, sounding slightly bored. "It worked wonders."
Konno got a little closer to Sokka and shot him a smile. He had fixed his hair and put it back into his ponytail. "I see Toph finally got you out," she said to him.
"Yeah, she did," Sokka said.
Appa roared, and Aang ran up to him. "Appa! Appa! I can earthbend now!" Aang said to him. "They key is being completely rooted! Physically and mentally unmovable!"
Appa licked Aang, and he fell forward onto his face. Konno didn't know whether she should laugh or not, but Sokka did. She joined him, and so did Aang. Her time with this group had been wild, but she had surprisingly enjoyed it.