I Am Not the Last Airbender {ON HOLD}

Chapter Fourteen

            It was now that I wished I was anything but a waterbender.  If I were a firebender I could make flames appear out of my palms.  If I were an earthbender, I could shoot him backwards.  If I were an airbender I could lift him up out of the air or float above him.  But unfortunately, I was a waterbender.  And waterbending is supposed to be a nice little gentle art form with flowing wrists and sweet little words.  Thank you genetics.

            I suppose that isn’t entirely true.  Mum was a pretty aggressive waterbender.  But she was in a time of war.  I’m stuck in a time of peace with no real reason to burst my watery bubble, so to speak.

            But after I heard this strange firebending boy tell us that there were airbenders in Ba Sing Se, I had to figure out what he meant.  I mean, airbenders were supposed to be extinct!  Dad was the last one until Roku came along… or so we thought.

            “What?” I screeched.  “H-how do you know that?”

            “Fire Nation Secret Police private Intel.”

            “YOU WORK FOR THE SECRET POLICE?!” Macco shouted in anger and astonishment at the boy before us.

            “How else would I be able to sneak out here and know that?  The better question would be how do you know about the airbenders?”  He seemed to be getting more and more settled with us the more upset he got us.

            Macco and I exchanged another glance.  “Look,” I said, “how can you expect us to trust you when you one, sneak up on us in the middle of the night; two, are with the Fire Nation; three, have information you shouldn’t have; four, you seem to actually enjoy getting us angry; and five, tell us your with the FREAKING Secret Police?  I mean, come on, kid.”

            “I’m not a kid.  I’m probably older than you,” the little snot shot back at me.

            “Age is not a measure of years but a measure of maturity.  And the fact that you can’t even put two words together that are the truth makes me BY FAR more mature!” I shouted back at him.  Ninny.

            “I don’t—” he started to say before Macco stepped in.

            “Dude, I don’t really think you’re in a position to argue right now,” he said slyly, reminding the firebender with the blade at his throat.

            I sighed.  “Please just tell us your name.”

            “Jaacob,” he said grumpily.  Macco loosened the blade just the slightest bit.

            “Okay,” I said with a bit of relief, “see what telling the truth can do for you?  There’s a start.”

            “How do you know I’m telling the truth,” our possible Jaacob replied, looking me straight in the eyes.

            Macco sighed exasperatedly, “Are you really trying that hard to get yourself killed?”

            “You guys won’t kill me,” Jaacob said with confidence.

            “How do you know?” I asked him warily.

            “I just do.”

            “You know,” I said suddenly after a pause, “you look too young to be working for the Secret Police.”  I hadn’t meant to say what I was thinking out loud, but it just sort of popped out.  Jaacob didn’t answer.

            “Okay…” Macco said finally, trailing off.  “So, tell us everything you know about the airbenders in Ba Sing Se.  Everything.”

            “I can only tell you what I know.”

            “Yeah, I know, that’s what I just said.”

            “But first you have to unfreeze me.  I can’t feel my feet.”

            “Should we?” I asked Macco, not even trying to hide our conversations from Jaacob anymore.  He knew we didn’t like him already.

            “How else can we get him to tell us?” Macco shrugged.

            So, with a slow move of my hand, I wiped away the icy cocoon our visitor was encased in.  I threw the excess salt water back where it belonged, and turned back to a shivering, soaking wet Jaacob, if that was even his name.

            “Now tell us,” I demanded.  He opened his mouth to reply, but his teeth chattered instead.  “I guess we should probably go over by the fire.  It is kind of chilly out, anyways,” I ended up suggesting seeing as trying to force the information out of him wasn’t going to work unless he could talk. 

Then, with Macco holding Jaacob’s arm and a sword to his throat, they stiffly walked over to our campsite.  We had started a fire a little while before we had gone to sleep several hours ago.  The little thing was dying now.  I began to prod it with a stick trying to ignite another log with the little bit of heat that was left in it.  Instead, I just kicked up some ash and it made me cough.  You’d think after spending my whole life on an ice cube I could relight my own fire, but no matter my firebender qualities, I’d never been much good with the stuff.

“Here, let me help,” Jaacob offered as he leaned forward only to be stopped by Macco tugging him back.

After considering for a moment, weighing the options (warm fire or semi-free prisoner?  Warm fire or possibly dangerous firebender freed?  Warm fire or warm fire?), I told Macco to let Jaacob re-stoke the fire with his magical palms of flame but to keep his sword where it was.  Macco did just that and within a moment or two, we had a roaring fire in front of us again.

We sat there for a few minutes in silence, all warming up.  Eventually, Jaacob’s shivering subsided but he promptly fell asleep.  I sighed.  “Well, I guess we can get the information when he wakes up.”

Macco nodded.  “Alright, well, you get some rest.  I’ll watch him first and wake you in an hour or two.”

“Okay,” I agreed, already yawning.  In an instant I was snuggled up in my sleeping bag, cozy next to the warm fire.  Then, I slept.

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I heard a boy cry out.  It was Macco!  At first I thought it was a dream until I felt the rocky ground beneath me, the sleeping bag around me.  I opened my eyes and it was still dark. 

And then I was crying out too.  Intense heat lit my body.  Smoke rose thickly in the air and the smell of burnt hair and clothing filled my nose.  I was burning.  And I couldn’t make it stop.