Accidental Avatar 3.5: The Burn Book

Flower crowns and company

I woke up to the sound of someone training. His thumping on the tree made such a racket in the earth; my Earthbending sight was feeling hungover. It didn't look like it was sitting too well with Toph either. But Aang wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. By the look of his knuckles, he'd been going at it all night.

"How long have you been up?" a drowsy Katara asked.

"A couple of hours," Aang lied, circling and striking the tree. "I got a lot more skills to refine if I'm going to fight Ozai."

"You don't want to overtrain," I rolled Jin off me and pulled on a shirt. "It strains the muscles so hard they don't bother repairing."

"My brother did that once," Mogui called over from the edge of the cliff.

"How long have you been up?" Katara asked.

"Since just before dawn," he gave a tired smile. "The Awake-atar stood on me on his way to his current training."

I looked around and noticed Mangetsu was missing.

"Where's Getsu?" I questioned.

"I think he's meditating somewhere nearby," Mogui answered. "I'm sure I saw him just after I woke up, but I think he got up before me."

Aang punched the tree again, the shockwaves reverberating back into him. He gave a full-body shiver then fell over, still looking like he was punching something. Then the tree died. All its leaves fell at once, burying Aang in a mound.

"I'm off to find our other monk," I commented.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Mogui sighed, pulling his legs from over the edge. "But then, I'm an accursed Firebender and shouldn't go near him anyway."

"So, why shouldn't I?" I questioned.

"He's being broody," Mog shrugged. "Still upset about what Hama did, I bet."

"Then I'll just awkwardly sit next to him in silence," I smiled. "He needs to know he ain't alone."

"Think Fast!" Jin yelled.

Mogui almost fell off the cliff, dodging her surprise attack.

"Training time," she smiled. It was a gorgeous yet evil grin.

I set off to find the diminutive waterbender, finding him in the middle of a flock of koala-sheep, one of which I think was chewing his hair.

"There you are," I called out to him.

Not even a twitch. But the Koeep's left, so I sat next to him and looked over at him.

"This still about the Hama thing?"

Nothing.

"Dude, talk to me."

Nada.

I sighed. "Alright, but when you're ready to talk, I'll be here."

With that, I lay back down and stared up at the clouds. I would occasionally point out weird-looking clouds, even though I would get zero reaction or response, and after about an hour of this, I looked over to see tears streaming down Mangetsu's face, though he still hadn't moved.

Now I know the kid hates physical contact. So I made him a flower crown instead, with little wildflowers scattered around us. It made me one too, because dang it, I want to look fly too. I dropped it on his head and then resumed just talking about random things that came to mind or that I noticed. He didn't react or respond, but I think I saw his lips curl up just a little, and that's a win for me.