Flow [Sokka - Book Two]

⚝Chapter Fourteen⚝

After Sokka announced that he wanted to go to the library, they all piled on Appa and flew above the desert, looking for it. However, all Konno saw was sand. Sand was everywhere: on the ground, in her shoes, packed in her mouth. It didn't help that her skin was covered in sweat. She officially hated the desert. 

"What do you think they're talking about?" Katara asked, gesturing to Sokka and the Professor. 

It looked like the two of them were in a heated conversation. Sokka even used hand motions to describe something to Professor Zei. "I have no idea," Konno replied with a shrug. "Why are you asking me?"

Katara laughed. "I just wanted your opinion."

The Girl never wanted to share her opinion. It wanted to stay bottled up inside so no one could ever judge her for her thoughts and feelings. She was terrified of letting her feelings come out in the open. Yet the Warrior wanted everyone to know how she felt, especially about the inequalities in their world.

The inner turmoil caused the buzzing noise to come back. It stayed in the back of her mind like a distant memory. Whenever she tried not to think about it, the buzz would grow insistent, like it needed her to hear it, to heed to it. And sometimes Konno would listen to it whispering softly to her, saying that she wasn't good enough or that she wasn't strong enough. She didn't remember a time without it buzzing in her ear, but she knew that it had started after Yue died. After Yue died, a lot of things changed within Konno, and she had grown anxious and nervous. Or had she been like that all her life?

With a jolt, Konno realized that she hadn't really thought about Yue as much. She hadn't dwelt on the sadness that pervaded around her walls like an angry river. She had actually been happy lately. But she shouldn't have been happy. It was only a few weeks ago - maybe a month or something, Konno wasn't sure - that Yue was still alive and breathing. And then in a second, her breath was cut short and she was no longer alive. She shouldn't have been happy; she needed to grieve. Wasn't that the grieving process?

But the longer she thought about it, she came to the conclusion that the grieving process was different for everyone. Katara and Sokka barely spoke about their mother's death, but it happened a long time ago. Aang lost all his people, yet he didn't look at the dark side of things. Konno had been devastated when Yue and Navrek died, but didn't she deserve to see the light? She didn't know if she had ever been truly happy, truly at peace with herself. It seemed like she always had some sort of turmoil in her mind. 

"I think that was one of the knowledge seekers," Professor Zei said, breaking Konno from her thoughts. She quickly looked out at the sand and saw a fox running toward the base of a spire. It began climbing up the spire, making Konno frown. How could it do that? "Oh, we must be close to the library!"

Something didn't sit right with Konno, so she moved over to Sokka. They looked at the map, and it dawned on Konno that the spire looked exactly like the one on the map. She looked over at Sokka, saying, "That is the library, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he said, growing excited. "Professor, that is the library! Look!" He pointed to the drawing, and then pointed out at the spire in the sand. "It's completely buried."

"The library is buried?" Professor Zei shouted. "Land this bison near the spire, please."

Aang directed Appa toward the spire, and Zei nearly fell off of him because he was rushing to the to the spire. "What's his deal?" Toph said from the saddle. "Why does it matter if the library is buried?"

"Because he's been looking for it for ages," Konno said, helping Toph down. Toph held onto Konno's arm, so Konno said, "What do you see when you walk on sand?"