White Hot Flames (ZukoxOC)

31

        Nothing much had happened in the past few days. No men whose powers made Rezalia feel the biggest wave of "why the hell can't I remember you" ever, no big fights, no run ins with the Fire Nation. They'd taken a trip to an old island covered in volcanic rock in order to further Aang's spirit journey but all the others had really done was hold hands.

Rezalia wasn't the only one feeling restless. The others were getting a bit jumpy, especially during training. Katara and Toph were at each other's throats currently, with Aang blindfolded in the center of the fight and completely oblivious to the fact that they were longer training him. After a moment he spoke up, "Are we taking a break?"

Sokka runs at him, grinning wickedly. "SNEAK ATTACK!" Aang easily throws a wall of rock into Sokka's path before removing his blindfold.

"Sneak attack my ass," Rezalia snorts from where she was lounging on a nearby rock.

Aang smiles a bit. "Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell it out loud." Sokka scowls at both of them, rubbing his nose. Behind the boys, Toph and Katara were wresting in the mud that they'd created together. Shouting insults at one another, both parties got a healthy mouthful of mud. A situation that only one of them was terrinly upset about.

The airbender turns and frowns at his friend. "Uh guys, I thought we were supposed to be training me."

Both girls stop short, looking oer at Aang. Katara composses herself and steps forward, acting to all the world as if she had any dignity remaining. "Very well, pupil. I believe we've had enough training for today."

"While Katara cleans up," Toph speaks up, blasting the mud off of herself. "Let's go have fun!"

The boys cheer as Rezalia rolls off of the rock and blasts flames in her palms to send her into a standing position. "How do you manage to be that lazy?" Sokka asks, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"It's an art, really," Rezalia responds as she joins the others in their trek toward town.

As they walk, Sokka carries his swoard across his shoulders, using his wrists to hold it in place as he gazes around. A messanger hawk passes by, gaining the boy's attention. "Look at all those messenger hawks! You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. I could just send them messages."

Toph nods. "I gotta say, I like the idea of not talking to you."

Sokka shoots her a nasty look as Rezalia snorts. "Seriously, who would you message? Everyone you talk to on a daily basis is here and the hawk hasn't ever been to the water tribe."

"Irrelevent," Sokka huffs. Aang cuts off their argument before it could properly form by holding up their last silver piece.

"So, guys. What are we gonna get with our last silver piece?"

Toph stops walking, head tilted to the side a bit. "We can get more money. Right there," she says, pointing to the side. The other three look over and see that on the level below them was a man running one of those con games. The group moves to stand with the crowd gathered around the poor man being dupped out of his money as another man moves shells around on the table top.

"This is where you seeing people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute. But I can feel it with my earthbending," Toph murmurs, concentrating on where she could feel the small rock under the shells.

The man inevitably loses the game, sulking off to the side, and the crowd thins a bit as others lose interest. The con-man spts Toph in the crowd and calls out to her. "You there. Wanna play a friendly game?"