Wolf Moon 14: Carried on the air

Appa groaned. The sound was so low that it vibrated in Yue’s chest. She held on to the Sky Bison’s luxurious fur just a little tighter. Her whole body was shaking with adrenaline and joy.

“He loves me,” Sokka shouted, body twisted to grin at her from the front where he held the reins. “Appa and I are great pals.”

The Sky Bison rumbled again and dipped lower.

Sokka let out a yelp.

Katara snickered. She had a practiced hand on the rim of the saddle and was stretched out, relaxed. Aunna eyed her posture and copied it. Yue didn’t even try. Her knees were gripping the curve of the saddle as firmly as she could.

“You get used to it,” Katara said, and gave a little stretch. “Sokka, stop showing off! That spot looks fine for ice fishing. Let’s stop already.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “Appa, you heard the lady.”

Yue was more than a little relieved when Appa gently angled them downwards. She bowed and offered him a thank you for the ride, but she was desperately relieved to get her boots back on the snow.

She stood for a while and petted Appa’s nose while her nerves recovered. Aunna had a similar idea. Katara stood with her hands on her hips, amused. “Do you want to help unpack our fishing equipment?” she asked wryly.

“I wish to be very still until the ground stops moving,” Yue said honestly.

Katara snickered. “Yes,” she agreed. “Flying is like that at first. Sokka!”

His head popped into view, still on Appa.

“Bring down the stuff!” Katara ordered. “Stop messing around up there.”

“You’re so bossy,” Sokka whined. His tone didn’t make his analysis less accurate, but Yue eyed the dangerous glint in Katara’s eyes and thought that she wouldn’t have said it that way.

Sokka’s boots hit the snow with a crunch. He was heavily laden with leather-wrapped equipment. “Fishing,” he crowed. He let everything drop. “Don’t worry ladies, I’ll handle everything.”

Yue nodded with a smile. Then she caught the look Aunna was giving her.

Her smile faltered. Right. “I’ll help,” she offered, tone hiding just how much she didn’t wish to participate in the set up.

“You don’t have to…” Sokka trailed off, but he had a pleased flush as she came over.

They needed to know how to do this. Yue watched Sokka’s hands intently and listened to him explaining each step of what he was doing.

‘We need tools,’ Yue noted. ‘I wonder where I can get those… I can’t ask for them. There’s no reason for me to need them.’

She tore her eyes off of the fishing pole, feeling vaguely guilty that she was using Sokka. He seemed in very high spirits.

Because he thought that she was romantically interested in him.

Her stomach twisted. Yue swallowed hard.

Sokka stopped mid-sentence to eye her with concern.

She fixed her smile. “That’s very helpful,” she said, before he could ask her what was wrong. “I’m excited to try.”

He held the rod out to her with a grin. “Do you want to try first? Oh! Or should I show you?”

“Let her try,” Katara teased. “Imagine how you’ll feel being watched if nothing bites.”

“Nothing bites?” Sokka said indignantly. He grabbed the hook and shook it in his sister’s direction. “This bait is delicious, Katara. I would eat this.”

“You would stick it in your thumb,” she rebutted.

Sokka paused. He looked at his hand. “Ow,” he said sadly. “Katara, fix this.” He yanked the hook out of his thumb. A few droplets of blood flew out onto the snow.

“No, I don’t think I will.” Katara stomped a foot down and a perfect circle opened up in the ice. “I’m fishing now.”

“Thank you,” Yue said over Sokka’s complaints, and reached out to take the pole. “For showing me why I don’t touch the bottom half of the hook, Sokka.”

He gave her a silly little grin and then crashed away to make his sister fix his cut. Yue made eye contact with Aunna, the far superior healer, and said nothing.

The group quieted down after that, with only a few minor siblings squabbles to break up the quiet. Yue found it meditative. The sound of wind rushing over the ice was the only sound other than her breathing and the soft sounds of water moving.

Aunna was the first to get a fish. Sokka darted over to show her how to haul it up. Yue found herself watching his bicep bulge through his parka and not what he was doing with his hands.

When she caught herself, she flushed and looked back at her own pole.

Katara got the next fish, and then Sokka got two before Yue finally felt the rod jerk.

“I think I have one?” Her shout was a little uncertain. Sokka flung his pole out of the water and rushed over to have a look.

“You do!” he crowed. “Can I help?” At her nod, he crowded in behind her and put his hands on the pole, carefully avoiding brushing her own hands.

She froze. She could feel his chest against her back.

Her face was bright red. Yue stared rigidly down into the water.

“-reel in like this,” Sokka said authoritatively, left hand securing the pole while the right wound a circle around the mechanism. “Watch the pole, though. If it bends, then the fish is too big. You’re better off cutting the line with your knife, or else it’ll break your pole and you have to make a new one, hungry.”

“Is this one too big?” she asked, worriedly.

“No,” he reassured. She could feel his chest expand and contract against her back as he breathed. “No, we can reel this in. Give it a try,” he encouraged.

Yue hesitated, but steeled herself. She put her fingers on the little handle, and Sokka moved his hand to make room for her. He left one finger on.

“Ready?” he checked.

Ready for what? “Yes,” Yue said, and then he let go of the little handle. It jerked and began to spin backwards, letting the line out. She let out a surprised squeak and struggled to stop the wheel from spinning.

Sokka laughed. “Fight it!” He stepped out from behind her to cheer her on. “You’re stronger than that fish, Princess Yue!”

“I’m less certain,” Aunna heckled. “You’re weaker than many fish!”

Katara cackled and yanked her own rod out of the water. “You can’t let her be right. Fight the fish!”

Sokka joined in the chant. Yue gave a bewildered look at Aunna in time to see her start cheering, “Fight the fish!” as well.

“Why is this happening,” Yue cried, and fought the fish until it came wiggling up out of the water. Her shoulder muscles hurt with the effort and she was panting.

The chant turned into whoops. Yue and her fish stood there and watched the other teenagers devolve into celebratory mayhem.

“Mission success!” Katara cried, and tackled her brother. He hit the snow with an oof and began struggling to buck her off. Aunna hesitated for a split second and then joined in, thumping on top of the pile with a war cry. She smashed a fist of snow in Katara’s face and dug her elbow into Sokka’s arm. He squawked and rolled to the side, sending both girls into the snow.

Yue shuffled a step backwards, a little afraid of becoing involved in this narrative.

They sensed it. Three sets of eyes turned to her.

Yue swiveled the pole out in front of her as a barrier. “I have a fish and I’m not afraid to use it,” she threatened.

“What are you going to do with it, huh?” Katara brushed snow off of her parka menacingly and took a step closer. “You don’t know how to use a fish in a fight.” She had a mean little grin.

Yue had no idea where this was going, but she was absolutely terrified. She grabbed her fish and brandished it at them. “Stay back!”

“Her hands are both full!” Aunna shouted, and scrambled to her feet.

Oh, no. Yue tried to unhook her fish, failed, and then threw both the rod and fish in Aunna’s face. Katara let out a wolf war whoop and lunged at her. Yue fell backwards into the snow with an oof. Her hood fell down in the scuffle, letting snow down the back of her neck. Her hands landed in the snowbank and it was a primal reflex to grab handfuls of snow and grind them in Katara’s face. The other girl shrieked.

“Snow fight!” Sokka shouted. Snow landed in Yue’s hair from a new direction. “Aunna and I versus Katara and Princess Yue!”

“War!” Katara screamed, and pushed up off of Yue. She grabbed Yue’s hand to help her up without even thinking about it as the team alignment switched.

It was utter madness. Yue dodged and ducked, at one point accidently falling into the snow and having to be rescued by Katara. She made snowballs that didn’t make it half the distance before falling apart and then she copied Katara. The first time she landed a direct hit, Yue felt an absolute savage thrill and lost all control. She jumped up and down and shrieked joyously. Sokka pinged her back with a snowball directly to the face.

“Bully!” Katara hooted approvingly, and hit him with three in a row in a shocing feat of dexterity that meant she took her eyes off of Aunna too long and took a snowball to the heart.

They eventually stopped and collapsed to the ground in a sweaty panting mess. Yue tried to fix her hair with trembling fingers.

“It’s ruined,” Aunna wheezed. Her face was bright red. Yue’s face felt so hot that she probably also looked like a snowcrab. “You’re going to have to come up with a lie, Princess.”

“I’ll say it was the wind.” Yue had to stop mid sentence to suck in air.

By contrast, Sokka and Katara were only rosy-cheeked. They were breathing hard, but it was nothing like the Northern Tribe girls’ wheezing and panting. “You need to exercise,” Katara prescribed, hands on her hips. She grinned down at them. “What do you even do?”

“We go for nice walks,” Aunna said. “Sew. Argue with old people very politely.”

“Talk,” Yue added. “Drink tea, sometimes. I carry a writing board around, is that exercise?”

Sokka hooted. “Yeah, that’s not an active lifestyle,” he said. “You should try something else, so we don’t embarrass you again.”

“We did fine,” Yue lied with towering dignity. She didn’t try to get up. Snow crunched as Sokka tramped over to grin down at her. She waved at him with one hand, as if to say she was unbothered.

His grin froze. “What’s that?” he said.

Yue blinked. “What?” She looked around.

“Oh, no.” Katara stood straight. All the lightness was gone from both of the Southern Tribes people. Their eyes were fixed on the air, where the snow was coming down oddly grey.

“That’s very strange,” Yue said, wondering what about that was significant to some distant part of her hindbrain.

“That’s ash,” Sokka said grimly. “Come on. There’s only one group that travels by coal. We need to warn the tribe.”