Blazing Crystal

Meeting Fire

"You what?!" Sokka shouted, grabbing my shoulders with utter worry. After the Fire Naval ship I'd managed to run back to the village. When I got there I was out of breath and still shaking from the sight of the massive vessel. Sokka was the first to spot me and he looked very concerned. When I told him what happened he was astounded and disappointed. "That ship is dangerous! What were you guys thinking?"

Wincing, I said, "It wasn't our fault. We were just penguin sledding and somehow ended up at the spot. Katara knows better Sokka. I'm sure she didn't go on the ship. I- I'm sure she left just like me."

My brother sighed. "Sorry... I guess this whole airbender thing has me on edge. If the Fire Nation finds out we have Aang here they'll destroy this village."

"They won't find out," I promised. "The Fire Nation has no reason to come-"

A sudden light shot up toward the sky and Sokka and I turned in surprise. The direction I'd just run from now had a ball of fire flying up toward the sky, and I felt dread fill inside me. "No Katara... You didn't..."

Sokka suddenly snapped, "She did! And I bet it was that airbender's doing! I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

"Sokka... Calm down," I said. "It was probably an accident."

Sokka turned and looked at me annoyed. "Do you know what this means? If any naval ship is near here they'll be at our door in a second!"

My eyes widened at his words and I covered my scar with shaky hands. Sokka noticed how much his words affected me. "Crys... I'm not going to let them hurt you again," Sokka suddenly whispered, grabbing my hand from my face and pulling me into a hug, I hugged him back but my heart pounded heavily.

Sokka then turned away from me. "I'm going to round up the villagers. We're sending that boy away immediately."

His words surprised me. "What? You can't just send him away!"

Sokka was already running away from me, back toward the other villagers who were gathering to see the flare in the sky.

About twenty minutes later we watched Aang and Katara approach the village. We were all gathered at the entrance and Sokka was in front ready to lay down the law. Katara looked at me with question and I dropped my gaze unable to believe I was letting Sokka go through with this.

"I knew it! You signaled the fire navy with that flare!" Sokka accused, pointing at Aang with fury.

Katara stepped in front of the boy looking annoyed. "Aang didn't do anything! It was an accident!"

"Yeh, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well...we "boobied" right into it," Aang said, rubbing his bald head sheepishly.

Gran Gran looked disappointed. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!"

Aang immediately defended my sister. "Don't blame Katara. I brought her there. It's my fault."

"A ha! The traitor confesses!"

"Sokka! Stop!" I ordered, deciding this was getting way out of hand. Grabbing my brother by the shoulder, I said, "Aang's just a kid. He and Katara were just having some fun. I'm sure they had no idea they'd send off that flare."

My brother shrugged me off. "Stay out of this Crystal!" Then he turned back to Aang. "The foreigner is banned from our village!"

Katara gasped while I shook my head in disbelief. This was wrong. Aang was just a kid. "Please stop Sokka. You can't make him go out in the world on his own. He has nowhere to go."