Flow [Sokka - Book Two]

⚝Chapter Thirteen⚝

After a day of traveling, Konno was ready to land. She didn't think the heights would bother her, but she had been wrong. She spent all of her life on the ground, so it was pretty nerve wracking to be up in the air for an extended period of time. She didn't think they would be traveling that much on Appa. She was wrong. 

Finally, Appa touched down on the prairie ground. With a quick glance around, she realized that the landscape was mostly barren except for small shoots of grass which bend in the slight breeze. A range of mountains sat in the distance, reaching toward the sky with their own sets of claws. This place was very different than the Northern Water Tribe, and Konno wasn't sure if she liked that or not.

She slid off of Appa, landing on the brown ground with a soft thud. A small cloud of dust billowed around her ankles. The ground below her feet was littered with dark holes. She guessed there were some sort of animals that lived in these holes, but she wasn't really sure.

"What's out here?" Sokka asked as he jumped off of Appa. A larger cloud of dust billowed around him, but he didn't seem to mind.

Katara landed near Konno and gave her a smile. Konno spent most of her time with Katara while they were traveling. She suddenly felt very awkward with Sokka, more than usual, so she decided to stay away from him. That was for the best, she kept telling herself. 

"A lot, actually," Toph was saying as she knelt on the ground. "There's hundreds of little -"

Aang shushed Toph. Konno was surprised to see a flute in his hands. "I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch." He placed the flute up to his lips and played a note. Konno gasped when she saw one of the cutest creatures pop out of a hole, singing the same note Aang played. "Yeah!" He played another note, and another creature emerged from a hole, singing the same note. "I'm putting an orchestra together!" Aang announced, raising his hands and the flute above his head.

"Orchestra, huh?" Sokka asked, looking very disinterested. Konno frowned. How could he be so disinterested when there were cute animals all around them? "Well, la dee da."

Multiple animals emerged from a hole and sang a note in descending order. Konno smiled as Momo jumped down into one of the holes. A moment later, his head popped up from the middle hole. 

"They are so adorable," Katara whispered to her, her eyes glancing around at the holes.

"They are!" After a second, Konno asked, "What are they?"

"I'm pretty sure they are prairie dogs."

They all started walking forward, following the burrows. Sporadically, Aang would play more notes, and each time a different prairie dog would emerge from one of the burrows to match the note. Katara laughed when Momo chased after a praire dog. However, the one person who didn't look like he was enjoying himself was Sokka. He had a sour expression on his face that got worse and worse when each prairie dog would pop out of the ground. 

Konno didn't know why he was so upset. It seemed like he had been avoiding her, too. Maybe that had something to do with his bad mood. He made it look like he was going to say something about her after he got stuck in the crevice, but Aang had interrupted him. After that, he could barely look at Konno. And for some reason, that hurt a lot more than she thought it would. 

Suddenly, Sokka ran up to Aang and plugged his finger into the other end of the flute, muffling the sound and causing Aang's cheeks to swell with air. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about?" Sokka asked, irritation clear in his voice. "We should be making plans."

Sokka unplugged his finger from the flute and gestured toward the barren landscape. Konno looked around, too. She didn't understand what was going on in his mind. One second, he was being almost flirtatious with her. The next second, he kept his distance from her. Were boys that confusing? She wasn't sure. The only guy she had liked admitted that he loved her. Navrek wasn't as confusing as Sokka was, but he was dead.