A Moment, Please.

Chapter 22

"Oh, come on Fang! It's just a little... gunk, is all-al-ah!" He roared, and in a sudden movement, shook his body. I wobbled for a few seconds, before grabbing his neck. "Hey! That was not nice mister!"

We floated down, what I think was a river. I only say think, because the water was not water. It was a mystery liquid, and one I refused to touch. I kept myself wrapped up like a piece of string. I was not risking landing in another unknown substance. Uh-uh, no way no how.

"Bad Fang."

I tapped his head, not hard, but enough to annoy him. He let out a small grumble, but did nothing more. Sokka looked at me as he floated down the river on Appa. I started back, giving him a dirty look.

"What?"

"You talked to him!?"

"Uh...Yeah. That's kind of the point for Spirit Guides, dumb oaf. They guide you, they understand you like an animal, but only even more so.” Leaning forward, I smiled at Fang; make a kissing noise with my lips. As I made baby noises at him, and he ate it right up, I barely saw Sokka shake his head. “Isn't that right my wittle cutie-wutie!"

"That's just weird."

I sat up suddenly, and narrowed my eyes at him. Now, I was starting to get not just annoyed but angry. If Sokka wanted to play mean, I could play mean. Crossing my arms, I puffed my chest out slightly.

"Well, at least I don't talk to a hunk of wood!"

"Hey! Boomerang is a piece of wood! Not a hunk!"

With a scoff, I rolled my eyes and I shook my head. Leaning back a little, I swung my body back and forth as I drew out my ‘sure’.

~~~

The village of Jang Hui, was...a...nice...um, lovely...Oh who am I kidding? It was a piece of crap town. The dirty river water had killed the fish and in return it killed them. Or was about to, they were on the edge.

Stopping short when an old man stepped up, I simply gave a look as he greeted us.

"I'm Dock, nice to meet you."

The old man looked and sounded nice- but I wasn’t too trusting of him. Just as Aang was about to say something, I quickly stumbled to beat him.

"Do you know where we could get some food?"

Everyone looked at me but said nothing. I was sure it was because being the last time we were in a Fire Nation town, Aang made a fool of himself- not only of himself but all of us. None of us were about to let that happen again, oh no-way.

"Sure, just go Xu. He's got everything."

I forced a smile, and bowed. Before moving around him and down the dock.

"Thank you."

I left the group, leaving them to follow me. I soon slowed down, as I took in the town as a whole. The town people made my heart sore. They were all sad, and many were sick or dying. But I couldn't allow what my heart was feeling to get me off track. We needed food, and as much as I hate saying this, Sokka was right. We needed to stay on track, but not his horrible "master plan!" thing he had before. We needed to get out of the dinky depression town and get ready for the Day of the Black Sun. 

I walked up to the little shop front, preparing to lean on the counter with my hands but quickly withdrawn them. The counter, as the rest of the town, was questionable.