She yanked herself up, hand by hand, the action that had once been fast and free now seeming to take years. The airbender spun, she jumped up onto the wall, and another gust landed right below her feet, sending a shock wave reverberating through the wall. The girl knew not to breathe this time, despite the calm resettling in her.īut a traitorous scream loosed itself from her lungs when a blast of air slammed right above her head. Then he reverted to his original position, and continued walking. He gazed right through her for what felt like an eternity. He spun, his eyes staring right at her for a second, piercing the wall behind her like arrows. But then he turned to the left, and the girl exhaled.
He froze, the tension in the room almost tangible. He advanced, calmly, before stopping, suddenly and jerkily. He strode slowly, forcefully down the aisle, his movements slow and unnatural. Cobwebs were torn from the walls, drawn in by some unshakeable power. A sphere of air circled him, pulsing as he moved. The door slammed open with a gust of wind, and the girl barely had time to dodge behind a table before an airbender twice as tall as her walked in. She needed to figure out another way out. She grabbed at them desperately, but they were being held down from below.Ī few seconds passed before she realized to give up. But by the time she stood up, the boards had been pulled back down, over the opening. The boy shoved her, and she fell backwards lightly. Patiently, she waited for everyone else to get through, before planting her foot on the first step down, only to see a sneering face peering up at her. Beneath them, a stone stairway led down to a large, gloomy chamber filled with non-perishables, water, and blankets. Her heart raced, but she only jogged forward, avoiding trampling anyone but remaining faster than all the other children.Īn older child, probably around fourteen, lifted up the board and then pried the others around it up, nails and all. The girl leapt the twenty feet to the ground, landing silently, and joined the river of panicked children rushing towards the ever-safe loose floorboard as quickly as she could. "Close the gates! Get to the cellars! The airbenders are here!" The boy waved his hand, as if to dispel unfriendly thoughts. It's not your responsibility to boss these kids around. "It's not the avatar's fault they couldn't stop the nomads. "So kind of me to grace you with my presence, don't you think?" She was invisible in the dusty wooden beams. "Funny," a girl said, her voice drifting down from the rafters. The boy turned around, confused, but still nonchalant. "Damn air nomads," he muttered, earning a murmured chorus of support from his followers.Ī younger girl rushed over to wipe the filling off the boy's cloak, but the boy tripped over her, and barely stopped himself from tripping, managing to look dignified-as dignified as an eight year-old shoving a pastry into his mouth could look-all the while.
The boy held a pastry in his hand, but squeezed it too tightly, and some jelly spilled out of it and fell onto his unnecessarily emphasized fur coat. "Coming from a guy who believes in Lion Turtles."īefore Ivan could respond, a pudgy boy who couldn't be older than eight and a horde of children of all ages clamored through a long since doorless door frame and into the room. "Doesn't mean he isn't out there," Ivan said sulkily. "And your eye-witness report for that is.?" "He killed my cousin's friend's brother!" "Oh, you can't seriously believe the rumors, Ivan." "Wha- We can't say stuff like that with the orphans still awake!" "They march a little bit closer every day, you know."