Sound Waves (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Book 2

Chapter 16 - Tall Tales

Himoko's POV

"Did you know that I was born on a pirate ship?" Sadem proceeds to ignore my rambling as I am being patched up by Katara, healing me with her magical water, ooo~ "A pirate ship?"

"Yeah! I was born during a pretty crazy storm my mother used to tell me that my crying rocked the whole boat in the ocean, making the captain of the ship beg me to stop crying!" I state with a small laugh, "Why am I having such a hard time believing this..." Mumbled Katara, causing Sadem to snort, "You were born in an igloo, her being born on a pirate ship isn't quite far fetched." Sadem replied to her with a small roll of his eyes, his attention going back to playing with Momo, softly tossing a rubber ball up into the air for the mammal to catch.

"Being born in an igloo is the norm from where I am from." She states in her defense, "Along with complaining about other's personal hygiene?" Katara stops her healing, flipping my hand over, palm facing up, to make sure that the swelling didn't go up. She 'tsked' at his words, glaring at him from the corner of her eye, "You boys wouldn't understand anything about personal hygiene." Something in his gaze flickered, a small smile tugging at his lips. I could briefly hear his heart rate accelerate before it calmed again.

"I would prefer to know how to fight than personal hygiene." I let out a sigh, deciding to end this awkward argument between the two of them, "Alright you two, that's enough. Katara, is my hand alright?"

"Uh- Yeah! It's fine, nothing was broken, just bruised." I smile, nodding, "Thank you for the help, Kat. I really appreciate it, if I were to go back to the palace, or anywhere else, and get fixed there, Sadem would get punished and I don't want that to happen." I told her. She furrows her brows, her mind working as a new thought seems to appear in front of her. "Aren't you able to heal now? With this whole... Adversary business?" She whispers to me, unsure if Sadem knew or not, in which he didn't. I shake my head, my lips pursing, "Only when I'm in peril, like back in the North Pole with Kar- Princess Karlinesai." Her title sounded odd on my tongue, "...La hasn't really explained it to me yet." She doesn't question any further, which I was thankful for with Sadem being in the same room as us.

"Are you done being babied? I have to go and patrol the outskirts in an hour." I frowned, softly nodding with a sigh as I glanced up at Sadem, his eyes watching the sun outside of the window. "Uh yeah, sorry." I apologized even though I didn't have to, "Thank you again," I state with a small bow of my head, Katara returning the favor, "You are welcome! I will be here for quite a while. So if you need to be healed again, I'm here to help!" She tells me with a grin. I recuperate the grin as I stand up, walking over to Sadem's side, lightly smacking him on the shoulder.

"Tell Katara, thank you." He frowned, glancing from me to Katara, then back to me. "What if I don't want to-" I proceeded to pinch his side, him hissing at me, slapping my hand away, "Alright! Thank you for your assistance, Katara." He told her, eyes narrowed at the shit-eating grin on Katara's face. "You are very welcome Sadem! Have a good patrol!" We said our farewells for now before leaving their residence in the Upper Ring, heading back to the palace, walking with long strides to get there quickly to give Sadem enough time to join his team for patrol and switch out with the agents that were already out there.

"What is up with you and Katara?" I question him once a few minutes pass by of comfortable silence, the teenager ignoring my question for a moment, his eyes studying every person that walked past us, shoulders standing tall and right hand resting on the hilt of his dagger. Dai Li Agents may have primarily used earthbending for defense and offense, but it is always best to have another means of opposition. Hence, the long dagger that was concealed.

"She gets under my skin."

"Why?"

"I don't enjoy being in her presence for whatever reason, I do not know. Let's just leave it at that."