Haru was staring at Jun whom he met as Lang.
Swish. Swoosh. Swish.
They were travelling through Foggy Swamp with a boatman that they hired and Jun was visibly excited like a kid on a field trip.
'Looking at this guy, you couldn't picture him killing a fly, let alone killing his own grandfather.' Haru thought.
He had also heard the news about the adopted grandson of the CEO of Global Industries disappearing after murdering his adoptive grandfather, but he didn't expect to be directly involved in it. That happened six months ago and Jun let his hair grow out since then. Hiding out in the woods for six months doing nothing but learning how to bend and meditating.
Of course, he could have just been lied to. Betraying him for entering the police academy even crossed his mind, but Haru bet on his instincts to trust him.
When he met Jun he thought that he was at least in his thirties because of the beard. Now that he had shaved it, you would mistake the both of them to be of the same age even though Jun was five years older. A decent looking young adult.
"I can see it! We're almost there!" Jun exclaimed. "The town made by the Foggy Swamp Tribe and Avatar Aang! Nong Ruen Roeng!!!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Haru waved him off.
"Boo! You don't know how to fun, Haru." Jun complained about his uninterested attitude.
Haru couldn't help it. He's essentially travelling around with a wanted criminal that's supposed to teach him metalbending but haven't taught him anything so far except his background.
"I promise after this, I'll teach you more. Are you doing your homework properly?" Jun smiled brightly at him.
"Yeah..." Haru weakly replied.
Jun had instructed Haru to take off his shoes every chance he gets and put on a blindfold at night, leaving it on every time he needs to go to the bathroom. It's quite strange but according to what Jun had read, and how he taught himself earthbending, Toph Beifong learned bending from Badgermoles, the first earthbenders. It turns out any earthbender can learn metalbending, no need for aptitude tests. One just has to learn earthbending the right way first, and so Haru is studying earthbending again from scratch.
Because of that, Haru had many blisters and cuts on his feet, which made him appreciate having shoes more. But after a week, he'd gotten better at feeling his surroundings. That's why he hadn't given up on Jun and his teachings yet.
"Welcome to Nong Ruen Roeng! Do you have a place to stay yet?" The man of short stature and a sizeable belly asked them when they arrived at the port.
"No, not yet." Jun smiled at him.
"Perfect! As you know, it's almost time for the swamp festival. So, it'll be hard getting a decent accommodation at this time. I'll have you know, we are one of the best hotels in town. You'll have a great view of the festival!"
Jun turned around to Haru. "What do you think?"
Haru had a doubtful face looking at the man.
Sweat dripped down the man's forehead. "Haha. Actually, you'd also be doing me a favor if you book us. One of our guests suddenly cancelled, and now I have to fill up the vacant room."
"Hmmm..." Haru stroked his chin. "Any discount?"
"Haha..." The hotel staff chuckled nervously. "Okay. I'll give you a discount."
Jun's eyes sparkled at Haru and Haru just brushed his hair and made a charismatic pose. "Hmph!" As if saying, look at how great I am.
As someone who's been exposed to the adult world of business for a long time, it was Natural that Haru could be more trusted in these things compared to the son of a CEO that knew nothing but to play and didn't have to worry about money until recently. In fact, it was that reason that Jun had to be an optometrist in Omashu, because he had squandered up almost all of his money that he had when he first arrived there. Using all his knowledge from everything he had read and by metalbending to make frames and firebending to make lenses, he became a successful optometrist. He hadn't even really thought about competing with Madam Shu by lowering his prices. His prices was just that low because of the very low cost.
"What were your names again?" The hotel staff asked.
"Oh... It's Silla. This is Haru." Jun thought for a while before pointing at himself and Haru.
It didn't matter to Haru giving out his real name because he isn't the fugitive of the two of them.
"A very water tribe sounding name and... earth kingdom?"
"Right." Jun replied.
'A peculiar duo.' The man thought but didn't voice out. "Alright. Please follow me." He said with a smile.
After walking a bit, they finally arrived at the hotel.
"Wow!" Jun looked out the balcony of their hotel room and saw the sight of many people outside getting ready for the swamp festival. Stalls were lined up the streets as the swamp was being prepared for the water games.
The water games were the reason for the swamp festival's popularity. When Aang came back to visit the town, he thought of this ingenious way to increase their income and invite tourists in. But it was mostly just because he wanted to have fun.
"I want to join too..." Jun said.
"You can't. We can enjoy the festival anonymously but don't draw attention to yourself. Remember back at the Lover's cave? Let that be the first and last time." Haru chastised him.
"...Right. Haha." Jun nervously chuckled. It actually wasn't the first time. The first time he drew attention to himself was when he visited Chin village, the time before he arrived at Omashu. It was the Avatar day festival and he got drunk for the first time, causing a commotion.
Haru looked at him in suspicion as Jun strayed his eyes away.
Night came and the streets of Nong Ruen Roeng became filled with lights and flooded with people.
Jun and Haru enjoyed the festivities, playing stall games and buying the local food like chopped up leeches with chilis and catgator sausages.
Then, at the stall they happened to be at, a thief took a meat skewer and ran without paying.
"Hey!" The business owner shouted at the thief.
"Haha" The thief waved back as if mocking.
Jun, not wasting a second, waterbent the puddle the thief stepped into and frozed it up to his waist.
"Waaaah! Clap! Clap!" The people around them applauded in awe.
Jun scratched his head awkwardly with his cheeks flushed as he received attention. "Hehe."
Meanwhile Haru looked troubled.
When the authorities took the thief and the commotion died down, a man approached Jun and Haru.
"Young gentlemen." He said with a business-like smile. "I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Bao. I'm the event manager for this festival."
"I'm Haru. This is Silla. Nice to meet you." They extended their hands and made a brief handshake.
"Actually, I came over because of your friend over here..." He gestured at Jun. "Silla, can I ask you a favor? You'll be well compensated in return."
Haru and Jun looked at each other before turning their eyes on the man as if asking him to explain.
"We're in a little bit of trouble, you see. One of the waterbenders that was supposed to participate in the games got injured. Would it be possible if you can replace him?"
Jun's eyes sparkled at Bao as if he was looking at treasure. Then, he turned towards Haru with a mischievous grin on his face.
"Hehe"
"Haaa..." Haru exhaled as he palmed his face.
He drooped his shoulders in surrender. They needed the money anyways, he figured.
Morning came and it was the start of the Water Games.
"IIIIIIIIIT'S TIIIIIIMEEE!!!" The announcer shouted, pyrotechnics erupting behind him.
"These Water Games will be kicked off by the Mudball toss!!!"
"Woooooh!!!"
The crowd cheered.
"Later followed by Skiff racing!!!"
"Wooooooh!!!"
"And our main event... FLOATING LOG JOUSTING!!!"
The crowd went nuts!!! It seems that the last game was the most anticipated one.
Haru stood among the crowd watching the spectacle and was impressed by the showmanship of the announcer. He couldn't help but let his emotions be driven along with everyone and cheered.
That's when something caught his eye. A group of people near the front was whispering to each other with serious expressions unlike the crowd.
He knew he shouldn't meddle, but his instincts were telling him to get closer to them.
And so, he squeezed into the gaps of the crowd towards where the suspicious group of people were.
"Excuse me. Pardon. Coming through."
"And Now! Introducing our players!"
Haru, now behind where the suspicious people were, divided his attention to them and the stage.
As the crowd cheered when the players were being introduced, they did not. They just eyed the stage quietly. Haru was curious to know whether they were just observing the show in general or looking at something specifically.
He got his answer soon enough.
"Next! We have Silla!!! From the water tribes! He will be replacing the former Water Games champ, Dat, today because of an unfortunate injury."
Jun, wearing a wet suit for water sports walked up to the front.
"Haaaa!!!!" He waterbent two spouts of water on each of his side into the sky and made it collide with each other. It turned into a huge explosion but instead of raining down water, delicate snow fell.
Haru slapped his hand on his face and looked through his fingers at Jun who made quite an entrance.
The announcer clapped his hands along with the crowd and was happy that Jun made his job of getting the crowd going easier. "Ladies and gentlemen! Once again, The mightyyyy Silla!!!" He even added a title to make it even more of a spectacle.
Jun made a satisfied face and waved to the crowd as he walked back to the other players.
Haru furrowed his brows as he watched Jun wondering how is he able to do that when he limited his appearances back when he was living as the mad scientist of Global Industries. In truth, even if public opinion says different, he's more of an extrovert than Haru. He was just too busy on his research to make his dream come true and he didn't really want to be known for being the brain of Global Industries. If he was going to be known for anything, it would be for his bending and his adventures.
As Haru was contemplating about what to do with Jun, he noticed the suspicious people whispering to themselves again. He focused his ear on them.
"This could be trouble, boss. He looks competent enough to replace Dat."
"Let's see what happens first." The boss calmly said.
From them showing concern about who replaced the injured player who suddenly had to drop out of the games, Haru already had theories about what they could be talking about but he decided that he would follow them around the festival before he could make conclusions.
"AAAAREE YOUUUU READYYYYYY!!!"
The crowd cheered once more!
"Mud ball toss!!! All of our players will now be assigned to two teams! As always, get hit by the ball, you get eliminated. You can catch the ball and revive a teammate. The first team that gets all their players eliminated loses. The winning team gets to move on to the next games where they will compete individually!"
It was basically like dodgeball.
"All right! Good luck! HEREEEE WEEE GOOOO!!!"
Beeeep!!!
The buzzer rang out and the players started forming mud balls with their bending abilities. It's actually hard to control mud just from the water content in it and takes considerable skill. That's why they made it into a sport.
Haru looked at the suspicious group of people who were intently watching the game. He was now anxious. Jun was not just some bender. He didn't just master water, he dedicated all his life to master all four elements just like the Avatar had. It was obvious that he would be able to do well in these games and attract animosity from these suspicious people with obviously bad intentions. Right?
Splat!
It suddenly became so silent that everyone could hear the wind blowing in their ears.
"P-player Silla is the first to get eliminated!" The voice of the announcer echoed.
The crowd was filled with disappointment after getting hyped by his antics earlier.
Haru slapped his forehead and shook his head. When he looked ahead, the suspicious group of people had already left.