Koete ↠ Sokka

Chapter 10: The Worst Episode - Part 1

If you were to ask Charlie if she were sulking, she'd say of course not. She was merely refusing to help in setting up the camp in protest because she wanted absolutely no involvement in the episode. She sat on the tan rock ledge dusted with a light coat of dirt, arms crossed over her chest. The tent Sokka was wrestling with from the inside to set up casted a small area of shadow from the afternoon sun which she sat under. Charlie stared out evenly at the distance where she could already see the Great Divide.

The glare had been etched onto her face ever since Aang decided it would be fun to visit the site. Maybe she was overreacting.

"Charlie, aren't you going to help?" Katara asked, finally returning from the base of the hill they'd set up camp on with a bundle of sticks in her arms.

Charlie blinked at her once. "No." She'd been blunt with them all day, which was unusual given she generally didn't stop talking.

Seeing how the waterbender's face twitched in irritation, Charlie shuffled to turn her back to the girl.

"Um, aren't you forgetting the tarp?" Katara asked her brother, already aggravated by her.

Sokka looked down at the wrapped tart at his feet. "Right, got it," he said, promptly grabbing it and throwing it inside the opening of the tent.

"You're supposed to put it on top of the tent, you know, so we don't get rained on?" she drawled out.

"Ordinarily, you'd be right," he began with a shrug. "But seeing how it's the dry season, you're not. Besides, that tarp makes a pretty warm blanket."

"But what if it does rain?" she pressed.

"What if it doesn't? Then I would have put it up for nothing."

"Charlie, will it rain today?" Katara asked with a cocky grin and raised eyebrows, trying to prove her point. Sokka also gave her a look that matched his sisters.

She glared at the two. "I don't predict the weather."

Both of their faces twitched.

Katara snapped, arms tightening around the sticks she'd collected. "Ugh, you're both so infuriating!"

"Katara, how about you stick to gathering the firewood, because that kindling's looking pretty sorry."

"Well if you don't like my firewood—" Katara threw the bundle at her brother, letting them crash into him before falling to the ground.

"Fine by me! If you're not gonna do your job—" Sokka ripped off the rope which held the tent together, making it collapse in on itself.

It was terrible timing, but Aang finally decided to make his return, finding himself positioned between three angry teens glaring daggers at each other. "Okay guys, I got the grub if you guys—" He cut himself off when Katara and Sokka spun away from each other with arms crossed and noses upturned, and Charlie stopped looking over her shoulder with a huff. "Hey, where's the campfire? And what happened to the tent?"

"Why don't you ask Ms Know It All, Queen of the Twigs," Sokka offered in a mutter.

"Oh yeah?" Katara pushed, spinning back around. "Well, you're Mr Lazy Bum, King of the..." She ducked down to grab a discarded stick, punting it at the back of her brother's head. "Tents!" Sokka let out a yelp when it hit, flailing his arms in the air as he turned back to glare at Katara.

"Your wit astounds me Katara," Charlie drawled out lazily, slinging her arm over her knee. She didn't have to turn around to know the waterbender was glaring daggers at the back of her skull.

"Okay guys, harsh words aren't gonna solve any of your problems." Aang peered over at Charlie, who sat silently with a darkened expression. "And neither will no words at all." She pursed her lips and glanced back over her shoulder at the kid too wise for his age. She used that statement lightly—after all, he was technically a one-hundred-and-twelve-year-old man—but to her, Aang was just a boy. "Why don't you just switch jobs? Katara, you can set up the tent, Sokka, you can collect the firewood, and Charlie—" He stopped himself short, watching as she cocked an eyebrow. "Youuuuu cannnnn, uh... go with one of them?"