Fire Ferrets [3] Bolin

Chapter 13

The morning sun shines down on me and my eyes snap open. I move slightly and when I move I realise that Bolin and I have moved in our sleep, rather than him holding me against his chest, I'm holding him in my arms as I spoon him. I sit up and gently rub Bolin's arm to wake him up. He groans groggily and I sigh as I shake his arm again.

"Bolin, come on. We have to get Suyin." I say. Bolin shifts and yawns as he slowly sits up. I stand up and offer him my hands to help him up. Bo grumbles and I huff, grabbing onto his hand and forcing him up.

"Gawh, it's so early. Can't we just sleep a bit longer?" Bolin whines. I grunt as I try to get him to stand up, I really wish he'd just get up.

"Hey, wake up. We're not here to sit around." Lin growls behind us. I look over my shoulder to see Chief Beifong glaring at us. Bolin jumps to his feet, stumbling slightly from his quick movements. I reach for his arm too keep him upright and he gives me a thankful smile.

We walk over to Juicy and Opal watches me closely, so I give her a friendly look. I don't really want another day of us fighting, I'd rather just get the job done without the arguing. She holds my gaze for a moment before releasing a frustrated sigh and crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, what's the plan?" Opal asks. Lin looks to me and I blink a couple of times before I realise that she's wanting me to come up with something. It's not like I have an issue coming up with a plan, I just wish she would have given me a moment before putting me on the spot this morning. I look away from them all and walk towards the large boulders that we're currently hiding behind. I close my eyes and I lift my hand so that my palm is pointing towards the factory. I take a deep breath and begin heatbending to locate any heat signatures. I immediately pick up the four heat signatures around me, but I focus on the building in front of us. It takes a moment, but after I release a strained grunt, I allow my hand to drop feeling satisfied that the factory is empty.

"Okay," I say as I regain my breath and turn to the others, "it looks empty in there, but I don't know how long we're going to have. Opal, you're the only one who can get to the village where the demonstration is taking place quickly, so you will go and keep an eye on Kuvira." I start to say my plan. I walk over to one of the bags and pull out a handheld radio and hand it to the airbender.

"I'm not going to sit around whilst you save my family. I'm going too!" Opal begins to argue. I take a quick breath to stop my anger from rising.

"You're not going to be sitting around. You're going to be the only one who will truly know what we're up against. We need to know what that weapon can do." I say calmly in attempt to get her to see sense. She purses her lips as she looks at me for a second longer before letting out a sigh.

"Okay, fine, I'll watch over Kuvira." Opal says. I nod to her and look to the others. Lin takes the other handhold radio and turns to meet my eyes.

"Let's get going. It's like Princess Ulazu said, we don't know how long we have." Lin says. Opal gives us all a final look before bending herself into the sky and flying towards the village. We all watch her fly away before we start running to the factory. I pull up my hood and bring the bandana up so that it's covering my face as Toph slams her foot against the floor to create a tunnel. We don't hesitate before jumping into it, and Toph moves quickly to dig out the tunnel towards the chasm. 

I pant as we run and I look over my shoulder to make sure Bolin is still close by, and as soon as I see him right behind me, a wave of comfort fills me. I know that he is worried about me being here, but he is doing a good job at hiding it from me. His expression is focused as we run, and I wish I could read what's going on in his mind.

Toph stops suddenly and she lifts her arms up, bending a large whole in the wall before us. My eyes widen as I look out into the chasm to see a large cage hanging over the water down below. I walk past the others and close my eyes as I begin heatbending and after a moment of focusing I pick up two heat signatures on the other side of the chasm.