Kya Maiden of the Sea Book 1 ATLA

Chapter 11

Soon enough we finally settled down for food and rest, well Appa was the one who needed the rest. The poor bison flew enough for our sakes. But I kind of missed the bed on the ship, kept that to myself I wasn't going to complain. I was glad I was with my family once again. I petted Appa for a bit in appreciation of the flying beast. He groaned happily. I chuckled. The air was still, warmer then what I was used to. Not as warm as the ship I was on though.

Sokka had gone to find food while I stayed behind with Katara and Aang to pack. I tried my best to do the most around our camp. I felt guilty that I wasn't around for so long.

I was using the river to fill my water skin with all the water it could hold which was actually more than I expected. I stared, examining the bag. Cool but useful. The water wasn't as clean as I wished it was. Wondered if I'd have the chance to boil it just in case we needed to drink it. 

The smell of dirt came into my lungs. I coughed a bit. Definitely not something I was used to yet. Then looked up at Katara and Aang who both looked bored as they had finished packing. Aang was playing with his bending, thanks for throwing dirt around in the air. Then Katara wasn't really doing much of anything.

"Would you be interested in learning some water bending, since we're not really doing much right now," I called my younger sister. Leaning my head slightly more to the right. Waiting for a response.

Katara was glad I ended up finding them again safely but me knowing dow to bend without her knowing, not so much. I wasn't surprised but I didn't enjoy her being upset at me. She has a right to be angry at me, but she never wanted to talk about it. I wasn't going to push her, confronting my sister would just lead to her being more angry. I just sighed. We talked less then we did before, she has Aang now. Despite my disappointment of the situation with my sister I was happy she had someone like Aang.

"How about you Aang?" I asked adverting my attention. The disinterest in her eyes, and a hmph escaped her lips. I held a little water out making a small ring above my palm. The water moved in the flow of the circle shape. I let my eyes glitter to try and interest him with the power of enthusiasm.

"Oka-"Aang's grin dropped when Katara pulled him back.

"No," Katara blurted out, "We'll wait to learn from a real water bending master." She huffed. Dragging Aang away.

Aang gave me the apologetic look, 'its not your fault' I eyed back. My sister roped him into being mad at me. I sighed defeatingly slumping my shoulders. I went off to look for Sokka. The leaves rustled, and the sun shone brightly in between the trees. Making the ground look artistically patterned. I kicked up some more dirt, I coughed. Great, just perfect.

"Hey bro," I said walking up to him. He was crouched on the ground. Sack in hand.

"Jeez Kya, stop sneaking up to me like that. I almost had a heart attack." He squeaked.

"Yea yea," I gave a small chuckle, "Are you almost done? I thought you went to find food, not pebbles," I said receiving a glare from my dear brother. I gave a pursed smile in return, then laughing a but when he whined.

He smiled. It was rare for me to laugh before, I'm starting to get used to showing how I feel now. I allowed myself to be happy over what I did have. Being away from my family aided in me being more appreciative. I wanted to get back to them so badly while being on that ship. But I never really knew when it would've happened. The thought of not being able to share a laugh with my family one last time scared me. Not being able to be there for them scared me. They deserve to remember me well, just in case anything happened.

We chatted a bit more on how much Zuko was a dick and how Sokka wanted to claim the leader role. My brother stopped being a sexist prick. For that he earned nice soft elbow nudge. Theres never enough women respect juice. We spoke on Suki and his obvious crush on her. I teased him. So my brother actually learned to fight, and from a girl no less. I felt proud. He learned to also acknowledge the skills I had as a fighter. I couldn't help but scrunch my nose in a smile while teasing him of his old ways.