𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟 | zuko

17: THE BEACH

Kyra and I both woke up late the next morning.  Everyone was already done with breakfast, so she and I had to just quickly eat something if we wanted to go into town.  We were going to send letters to our families back in Ba Sing Se.

I wrote to them about the fun I was having, and what I'd been doing.  but Kyra and I both agreed not to tell our families about the fight.  They would become too worried, and order us home.  And according to Kyra, we couldn't go home.  

So after we read our letters from our families, and we sent replies, I finally got to meet Hakan.  He was extremely polite.  And he had a big house.  But he really liked Kyra, and that was all that really mattered.  He didn't care that she was an earthbender, or from Ba Sing Se.  He liked her.

So in the afternoon, when everyone was outside in the gardens, Kyra and I finally got around to proposing our beach day.  

"There are a lot of nice beaches in the Fire Nation," said Katara.  "And we've barely been to one, really."

"There's Ember Island, where we went before the comet, remember?  We could go there," said Aang.

"No way.  Absolutely not.  The last time I went to Ember Island, nothing good happened," said Zuko.

"Was Azula there?" asked Sokka.

"Yes..."

"That explains it," he said.  

"It'll be good to get out of here," said Mai.  

"You always want to get out of here," said Zuko.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun," I said.  "And it won't be like the last times you went."

Zuko still looked unsure.

"Please?"

"Fine," he said.  "My family has a house on Ember Island, we could stay there."

"Didn't we destroy that when you started attacking me?" asked Aang.

"We don't need all the rooms," shrugged Zuko.  Mai snickered.  

一 ꩜ 🌊 🌏 🔥 一

We got ready, then made our way to Ember Island.  Zuko had one of the royal boats take us, and we docked in the beach house's port.  We all changed into beach clothes, then finally went down to the beach.  

"Hey, hey, Jin!" called Kyra, as I followed the sound of her voice further down the beach.  It was crowded with vacationers, and I had to navigate my way through.

"Yeah?" I said, finally arriving where everyone was setting up.  It was only a little walk away from the beach house.  

"Watch this," she said, and with a stomp of her foot, some sand built up and created a castle.

"How'd you do that?" I asked, examining it. 

"Toph taught me," she said.  "Look."

Aang and Sokka were marveling at a sand model of Ba Sing Se, walls and everything.  it seemed as if every building was in place. 

"You've done this trick before," said Sokka, crossing his arms unimpressed.

"Yeah, but it's still cool," said Aang, looking at one of the sand people.

Katara was already on the water, riding the waves as if they were her surfboard.  I could swim, we always went to the lake for vacation when I was a kid, but otherwise, I'd never really been around water.  

"Hey, look," said Mai, from a beach chair that she had just set up. She was looking in another direction. "Volleyball."

Zuko looked over toward a volleyball net.  The court was empty, and a ball was lying on the sand near it.