Drifting <The Open Sea>

[jialingjin]

The roaring flames from the forest fire had created clouds of thick, black smoke that rose upwards and congealed above the trees and the shore line. An illusion was created in which the smoke hid the rolling clouds of silvery purple.

A storm was brewing.

Read and Jialing had set out on his small merchant vessel, the only ones to handle a ship with three sails when at least 2 were needed per sail. As they sailed into deeper waters, away from the shore, the waves became higher and the skies grew darker. Jin paced back and forth, restless asthe went further. His constant whining, which should have been taken as a warning, was dismissed by Jialing who was engrossed in her subtle.. taste.. in Read.

As the rain fell, the two made a desperate attempt to sheet in the sails. The Jib had broken loose of it's ties and was flapping in strong wind as the ship rode the waves. Up and down, they had ridden, fighting tooth and nail in the freezing cold rain. Both were soaked to the bone when the lightning started.

Great bolts streaked across the sky, some striking the ocean around them. a blow came when the lightning struck the tallest mast, the main sail. Flames started from the top, quickly consuming the red sail as it traveled down the wooden mast. With buckets of water and sheets, the two struggle to extinguish the fire but it would not be contained.
The fire spread across the deck, illminating the other masts. In a panic, Read and Jialing tore down the walls of the storage structure on deck. As the flames engulfed the ship, racing up the hull and glowing in the rainy night, they both lept from the vessel. With the boards as floation, and a few meager barrels emptied and hastily tied, both tried to paddle away from the ship.

Jialing clung to Jin, having tied him to her raft with spare rope, watching as the waves pushed them farther apart. The last sighting she had of Read was of him disappearing behind a massive white cap which over took much of the burning ship. With only Jin to keep her company again, Jialing floated, trying to stay ontop of the large peice of wall.. and trying to stay warm. The storm moved on, as quick as it had arrived. With Jin curled up along side her, Jialing slept.. exhausted from the night's work as the sun's rays rose above them on the now smooth ocean.

[reed]

Reed clung to the mast as he saw pieces of his ship sink into the bottomless sea. The part where Reed kept his money, possessions, etc. caught his eye. Reed held his breath and dove down. He swam next to the sinking room and went inside he reached for a large bag. He swam up for air. Once he took a breath he dove back down and filled the bag with things that he would need. He filled the bag about half way then went back up for air. He swam down again and filled the bag some more. Reed swam up and got on top of a door and looked for Jialing. “Jialing!”

The storm ended and Reed spotted Jialing and Jin on a floating wall. Reed swam up next to then. Reed saw Jialing’s chest rise up and down, also Jin’s, so he knew that they weren’t dead, probably just resting. Reed swam to the end of the wall and paddled for ward with his legs, arms resting on the wall.

[jialingjin]

The sun's rays illuminated her soaked figure, the stench of wet dog heavy in the air. Her stringy hair was spread out around her head, tangled in the splitters of the wood. The dirt and mud had been washed from her face, replaced with the salty grit of the ocean. Her hands were curled by her face, fingers tightly clenching the fraying rope that Jin had been tied to. Her green and ivory vests clung to her figure, dripping water into a pool under her form. Surprisingly, her quiver and bow, tied to the harness she wore with strips of leather, had stayed against her back. The Arrows, what few were left, had floated off.

Jin was awake when Reed managed to find then amid newly calmed ocean. Perhaps the waves did not drive them apart as much as Jialing had thought. Or maybe the boat, as it finally sank, caused an influx of water to bring the floating wreckage back together. The pup whined throatily, his stringy tail, still dotted with sea foam, thudded weakly on the wood of the floating wall. Jin tried to inch towards Reed, who floated off the edge, his claws thudding dully, but the pup was too weak.

Jialing did not stir, far to deep in her uneasy sleep.

[reed]

Reed's eyes fluttered open. His eyes quickly shot to his side. Reed let out a sigh of relief as he saw the bag and his swords tied to his belt.

Weakly walking to wards him was Jin. Reed didn't want the dog to hurt itself by walking over to him so he lifted him self on to the edge of the wall. The size of the wall was pretty big so it wouldn't flip from the weight.

Reed sat cross legged on the opposite side of Jialing to keep balance. Reed scratched the pup behind his ears. Reed clipped off his swords and the bag. Reed’s shoulder stung greatly from the salt water. He took off his shirt and ringed the water out of it and set it to dry for a bit.
Reed took out one of the water canteens of three he had in his bag filled with fresh water. Reed opened it up and drank some. He washed his hands with a little bit, poured some water in his hands and offered it to the dog.

[jialingjin]

Flexing his paws, Jin whined. He looked up at Reed, bushy eyebrows lifting in alternation. Strand of tangled fur hung from his muzzled like dreadlocks. The fur on his ears were filled with burrs, and they were pushed forward and back again as the pup looked at his friend. With a grateful whine, the dog began to lap up at the water in his palm, his rough tongue traversing his palms and thumbs.
Jin was grateful.

Jialing meanwhile shuddered in the cold, pulling her arms close to her chest and her knees up. She had begun to shiver, even in the slowly warming air of the sun. Soon she would wake, whimpering similar like her dog. Her face scrunched up, brows furrowing as her mind fought for awareness. Groaning, her eyes fluttered open. She took a sharp breath, her fingers clutching nothing tightly as awoke.
With lightning fast reflexes, Jialing sat up.

[reed]

Reed was petting Jin at the time until he looked over to Jialing and saw her shooting up from her sleep. "Calm down, Jialing," Reed said as he looked over to her, “Your dog’s right here,” He said smiling thinking she was wondering about her dog, “And you should also know that we’re pretty much in the middle of the ocean drifting away on a big slab of wood.” Reed gave Jin a last pat on the head and reached in to his bag. Reed moved his hand around in the bag feeling for something. Reed pulled out a moon peach and washed it off with the fresh water from one of his canteens. Reed shook some of the water off it and offered it to Jialing, “Moon peach?"

[jialingjin]

Strings of thick, wet hair fell across her face, sticking to her skin. Her eyes were dark and tired, as she sat up and stared ahead at Reed across from her. She was shivering, her lower lip hanging open and trembling. Aside from the shivering, she was very still as her hand reached out. Fingertips brushed the strands of dirty gold that covered Jin. She drew rivers throgh the fur and Jin's attention came over to her.
The Pup whined as he crawled back over to her, lying at her curled up feet.

With Jin to calm her, the trembling lessened and eventully ceased. Jialing spoke softly, the hoarse-ness in her voice apparent and aggravated from the salt she had swallowed in her desperate bid to stay alive. "...Well, we're in quite the pickle?" A funny little snort escaped her, an attempt at laughter but even a jester would find it hard to find humor in this situation. At Reed's offering of a moon peach, Jialing shook her head as her gaze drifted from him to the horizon where the sun was rising high above.

[reed]

Reed shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, suit your self," He said as he took a bite of the Moon Peach. Reed looked over to Jialing who was shivering a bit, "My shirt's almost dry, you can put it over yourself to keep warm if you want." He said taking another bite of the peach. “And there’s some fresh water in one of the canteens in my bag you can drink from, too.” Reed said finishing off the rest of the peach. Reed dived into the water. “Now we just have to make to an island or a mainland.” Reed said as he swam to the back of the wall. Reed looked to the rising sun. “Ok, so if the sun’s rising and we go towards it we’ll go east, which is where we were heading before the storm. Then we’ll hit the coast of Nadai Island and we can wing it from there.” Reed told Jialing before starting to paddle to wards the sun. Pushing the wall was actually quite easy when it was floating on water.

[jialingjin]

Her chin bobbed up and down in a slow nod, as her brown eyes drifted to watch the man as he lept into the water. Glazed over, Jialing merely pulled her arms close to her. Her hands tightened around her bare, goose bump covered arms, and she bowed her head.
Nadai Island? She had never heard of that island, not in all her wandererings. What eactly was there?
Jin lifted his head and dropped it against her knee, his warm breath streaking across her thigh. She lifted her head up, her lips parting as if to speak again and then she became silent again. There was no need to bother Reed while he was struggling to push the wall. How was far Nadai Island from the Earth Kingdom shore? In her mind she tried to visually a map.. Her mind was so scrambled that she couldn't.

With her fingertips reaching out to stroke Jin's hair, Jialing turned her gaze once more to the horizon and sighed. Drops of water fell from her hair onto her skin, soaking through the tattered bandages that were round around her arms. Sick of the wet feeling, She frowned and tore the bandages off to reveal perfectly healthy skin, the underside of her left arm though streaked with bruises from her bowstring.

[reed]

Reed hadn’t said a word since he had jumped into the water and told Jialing about where they were heading.

About an hour or two past until Reed stop paddling. Reed gradually crawled back onto the wall and moved his small, brown locks of hair from his eyes. “We should be at the shore of Nadai by tonight,” Reed said once again digging through his bag. Reed picked out a glass bottle filled with, what looked like, a greenish slime. Reed popped off the top of the bottle. He put some on his fingers and rubbed it on a cut on his arm that he previously got while running in the woods. Reed pulled some white cloth out of his bag and ripped a strip off it. Reed rapped the area covered in the slime and tied it. Reed closed the bottle and offered it to Jialing. “ It’s aloe Vera. You can put it on some of your wounds, it helps them heal.” He said putting the bottle in front of Jialing.

[jialingjin]

The current would carry them to Nadai Island, then.
Jialing lifted her head, her face red and burned from the sun and smiled weakly at Reed. It wasn't a grin of sarcasm nor a smug one but a geniune one of thanks.

She watched him, her hand have long ago stopped stroking Jin and now resting on the dog's sleeping form. The bottle of greenish slime intrigued her for a moment, but when he offered it to her, Jialing turned her head to the side. She looked at the scrape she had gotten from a tree, then to the tiny pinprick cuts that ran across her upper arms and some across her lower arms. The bandages had protected her lower arms, but she would have to replace them, since she threw the old, dirty ones into the ocean a while ago.

"..No, thanks. I'll be fine." Her voice was quiet, and the hoarse-ness had faded. Careful not to wake the sleeping pup, Jialing pulled her legs out from under him and brought her knees to her chin. Her arms wrapped around them. "...what is on Nadai Island? Will we be able to get back to a mainland?" Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, Water Tribe... Jialing really did not care where they ended up now..

[reed]

Reed just waited as the three drifted to wards the island. Reed looked over to Jialing as she asked him a question.

"Ah, Nadai Islands. Well," Reed started, "Nadai Island is home to alot of refugees of the war. It doesn't matter who they are or where they're from. There's people from the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, and the Water Tribes. Though, It's Earth Kingdom territory, and many soldiers are there, so we won't have to worry about the Fire Nation. But you have to watch your back and watch what you say. Say one thing wrong to offend someone, and you'll get in a fight like that," Reed snapped his fingers, "Even the soldiers fight so don't get on their nerves either." Reed said to Jialing. "Oh, and are you a bender? Because you won't want to be on Nadai."

Reed folded his arms to Jialing's second question, " If I can get us a boat we could make it to a main land, but it'll take a while." Reed said finishing off with a sigh.

[jialingjin]

"Bending is for fools!" Jialing shot in response at hearing the word 'Bender'. Her brow eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth, scowling at the very word. Ever since she was young and had witnessed a group of preforming benders. Jialing had despised every single one. She viewed them as weaklings who hid behind their elements. They were so pathetic..
"No. I'm not a bender." She finally snapped.

Jialing turned her head away, her hair having dried and now regaining some it's anti-gravity bounce. No matter how many times she was immersed in water, her hair would not come clean nor hang straight. Great.. so there were heading to place with people from all the nations. Her eyesbrows lifted.. Indeed that was great. Maybe she could make a quick coin..

[reed]

Reed fiddled with his fingers while waiting for Jialing’s answer. But soon enough
Reed jumped a back a little from Jialing’s sudden out burst about bending. “Uh, Well, I’m not a bender either, if it makes you feel any better.” Reed said blinking and slightly leaning back wards away from Jialing. “But you won’t have to worry about benders on Nadai. They send all the benders to war.” Reed assured Jialing while returning to his cross legged position he was previously in.

Reed sat in silence looking to Jin then Jialing and back again. Then in about ten second, and not a second later, Reed started to smile and then to crack up. At first it was a light chuckle but it soon moved on to a full time laugh. “Ha ha ha hah hah!” Reed’s body moved up and down from all the laughing he did.

[jialingjin]

Jin lifted his head, a whine of confusion coming from him. His ears perked up, the golden fur tangled and mattered not only on his ears but his entire body. His melting brown eyes went to Reed, then back to Jialing and finally back to Reed. The top's tail began to thump weakily on the wall. Jin had taken quiet a liking to Reed. Of course, Jin took a liking to everyone when Jialing let them close.

Jialing's head snapped back to Reed as he laughed, at first a look of shock on her face that quickly turned to a look of anger. Her eyes narrowed and her nose crinkled, as if she had smelled something funky. Her mouth turned down into a frown. She did not move her arms from her knees, or even glance at him.
"What is so funny, You idiot?"
Jialing was not fond of people laughing.. at least without her. It was so hard to understand what people were thinking and how they were feeling. Laughter could be either at her, at something she said, at a situation.. but one could never be sure. People lied.