Book 1: Water (Aang Love Story)

The Deserter

Edited Version:

"Okay now, Bumi. I'll tell you the next story," I say with a smile.

Bumi grins and punches the air. "Woohoo!" he exclaims. "You're the best, Mom!"

I giggle at his outburst. "Let's begin, then."

~

It was afternoon and we were walking through the woods. We came across a notice board and it had a huge map on it. "Maybe this will give us a good idea what's around here," Katara said. I observed the board with her.

"See if you can find a menu; I'm starving," Sokka said, rubbing his belly.

Neo nodded in agreement as her stomach rumbles. "I agree. I think I'm going to pass out from starvation," she said dramatically.

Ever since that day, when we visited the fortuneteller, I had been ignoring Aang. It broke my heart every single time. He rushed over to the board and pointed at a flyer. "I bet we'll find something to eat there! The Fire Day's Festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, and magicians. This would be a great place for me to study some real firebenders," he says as he reads the poster.

"You might wanna rethink that. Look at this," Sokka said, pointing to another poster.

It was a wanted poster of Aang. "Hey, a poster of me!" he exclaimed with a smile.

Sokka shook his head. "A wanted poster. This is bad," he said.

Aang took the poster down and Katara looked at it. "I think we should keep going," she said.

"I have to learn firebending at some point. This could be my only chance to watch a master up close," Aang said.

"I guess we can check it out," Neo said with a shrug.

"What?! You want to walk into a Fire Nation town where they're all fired up with their, you know, fire?" Sokka said.

"We'll wear disguises. If it looks like trouble, we'll leave," his sister said.

"Plus," Neo started, gaining everyone's attention. "Nao can pass as a Fire Nation citizen," she said. I nodded my head in agreement. "Fire Nation citizens normally have dark eyes or even amber. She'll look just like them."

"What about her clothes and arrows?" Katara asked.

Neo smirked at me and tilted her head towards a tree.

I walked over to it and hid behind it. A beam of light hit me, changing my clothes in the process. "Thanks, Dad," I muttered.

I appeared again in front of everyone.

They all gasped at my appearance. "You really do look like a Fire Nation girl," Katara said in awe.

I shrugged.

We walked over to Appa and flew out of the forest. We landed on a small hill with the village in sight. "You guys stay out of sight while we go to the festival," Aang instructed Appa, Momo, and Kita.

I leaned in towards Kita. "Kita, make sure those two don't do anything, okay?" I told her. She nodded and glared at the two. I laughed at her. I caught Aang's haze before looking away. I hurriedly made my way to my sister's side. "This is getting hard," I told her.

"You'll tell him soon. You can't risk anything," she said. I nodded in agreement.

"Ready disguises!" Sokka yelled. He, Katara, and Neo pulled their black hoods up. Aang pulled his red hood up.