" Teasing love:
This feeling is something strange.
Each day it becomes something more.
Absolute impossible for the mind,
Sweat and pleasing for the heart
It would last forever but
Not before the souls are ready.
Going through the memories the heart will know
Long before the mind accepts.
On their road, it will be hard but the
Various problems will be soon gone.
Each day it will become easier."
- poem for the chapter.
By Ayano_Ann (me)
It was lunchtime and because of that, everyone gathered along a long table filled with all sorts of food. Axel was sitting on Sophie's left side and was holding her hand under the table. Teresa from the Air Nation was sitting on her right side. Right across from her was Isa, next to her cousin, Valentina and Lucas.
"Your moves were prestigious!" Teresa said. "You're the princess of the Water Nation, right?"
"Yes, Sofia. But you can call me Sophie or Soph," she responded with a smile. "You also have amazing skills. Your song was wonderful!"
"Thank you! I have loved singing since I was a little girl and it turned out that there was magic in my hobby and it was real," she laughed a little bit nervously, "Nice to meet you, Sophie. I'm Teresa. Call me Tessa if you want.
"All right, Tessa! "Sophie replied laughingly.
The two of them smiled and started talking. Tessa described the view of her country and what were the differences between them. The Air kingdom turned out to be a wonderful place, with palaces and ships flying in the air. It was a place like a paradise.
The two girls had a lot of fun and Sophie felt she had already tied up a new strong relationship.
On the other side Axel, still holding her hand, was talking to Eric from The Water Nation. They were discussing ships and martial arts from the different Nations.
On the other side of the table, Iza was talking to Tina, as she called her cousin. But she was listening to her with half an ear because Camille had managed to move in next to Lucas and was trying to woo him with her empty talk, which made Isa mad, and she was nervously watching them.
Lucas ignored Camille and only nodded slightly as he was looking straight at his portion and glanced secretly at his friend. At one point, when they were both throwing secret glances, their eyes caught and for a moment they looked at each other with stunned expressions, but quickly turned in other directions.
Valentina noticed them and was already sure that the two had feelings for each other. She, as a matchmaker, was going to do everything she could to make them a couple.
"Do you like the dish, Isa?" Lucas spoke to her first, without paying any attention to Camille. This irrevocably pleased Isabel for some strange reason.
"Mhm! " she replied with a smiley face. "What about you? Oh well, what am I talking about? When we were little, you used to love eating. I'm sure it is like that now too!" she didn't miss the moment to tease him and dispel the feelings she experienced for a moment. Lucas looked at her slightly sullen but through laughter.
"Hey, hey! I tried to tie up a conversation, and you're attacking me! I'm not going to be a part of it!" he laughed. "And yes, I like it, but not because I like to eat! Look at me, do you think I'm fat?"
"No, you're not fat at all! " Iza replied looking at his good figure. The two of them laughed together and Camille turned red like a tomato.
At that moment, it was time for everyone to get to know each other better and make friends. It was like a school - everyone was gathering in groups to talk and get to know each other.
On the other side of Teresa stood Minako and she joined the conversation. Sophie's cousin was talking to Mariana and Mateo. Everyone was having fun.
Only Stefan was silent and barely talked to anyone but Ron and Ryan.
He was throwing secret angry glances at Sophie. There was a pain in his eyes, but she didn't even look in his direction and was talking to her new friends.
It was dessert time and it was a piece of cake with a nice white icing on top and Lucas plotted his "sweet" revenge and looked at his target.
"Hmm, I can see how appetizing you're looking at the piece. You want some right now?!" and even before he completely said it, he smeared Isabelle's nose with a little icing, and she looked at him with eyes wide open, laughed and smeared his nose in response.
They both began to wrestle and smear with icing. In their happiness, there was no malice, but only warm feelings and something else.... maybe love. . . . . .
Unfortunately, after the dessert and the joy followed a new dose of heavy workouts in which they passed the greater part of the time.
·
The days passed and on the third day, Enrique also distributed them for team exercises and watched them develop. Sophie was training how to catch the enemy's water with Minako, who, in addition to her icy flowers, was doing well in the normal bending. Together they were transferring their water.
Isa was practising her martial arts, and Lucas was helping her at some point. Ryan and his sister, in addition to their famous light skills, of course, also mastered the usual fire bending and exercised.
Camille stared with jealousy at Isa and came up with a sneaky plan. While she wasn't looking, she pointed fireballs at her. Before Isabelle could notice, it was too late to react and she waited for the impact with her eyes closed, but someone wrapped her in a hug and slightly shuddered from the orb blow.
The girl opened her eyes anxiously and saw Lucas's face next to hers. He looked at her nervously. As soon as he saw her, he rushed to the fire without thinking of protecting himself but only her.
His back hurt a little, but not like Iza would be hurt because he was a fire bender. He kept staring her right in the eye, worried more about her than he was about himself.
"Are you all right?" he asked her with a trembling voice while covering her face with palms. He was still scared, "You're unscathed, right?"
For a moment, Iza couldn't speak. He had saved her and was so caring for her that her heart warmed up!
"Ye-yes, I'm fine. Don't worry. But are you okay? What were you thinking when you stood in front of me, dummy? What if you'd hurt yourself seriously?" she was just as worried and huddled more in his arms, still shuddering. Only in this way she was feeling safe.
They stayed hugging each other for a moment until they calmed down. Then they realized and embarrassed pulled away. Neither of them wanted to hug like that, but they had to. What they were thinking?! They were just friends who were annoyed with each other!
"What happened?" came Enrique.
"Someone attacked me with fireballs. I don't remember who was, but Lucas protected me from the blow," Iza explained.
Enrique set out to investigate how the accident happened. Sophie and Axel came to their friends worried. They asked what happened, and Lucas was still moaning a little bit from the stroke and they took him to the doctor. She looked at the wound and said it wasn't serious. The young healer smeared it with ointment and use the healing powers of the water. His wounds healed slightly. He was no longer in pain, ready to continue.
Most of the time was spent normally, full of training. All the members were improving.
Valentina had a small problem with her skills, namely that sometimes if the soldier was in love, she couldn't use her powers and often hurt her head from the pain of their loved ones. Scientists had created to such an extent good virtual soldiers that they even had feelings.
That's why she teamed up with Eric.
He was very understanding of it and was secretly in love with her and would do anything for her without being under the control of her charm.
Tina also had warm feelings for him and never used her magic against him. She was happy that someone cared about her, without the influence of her gift.
Of course, Valentina had not forgotten about her matchmaking tasks and at a convenient time was trying to matchmake them. After the incident, Isabelle's feelings became more unclear and she would catch herself watching him.
Her cousin and Sophie had spoken with her long and wide. Despite her slight doubts, Isa always denied any love.
She kept thinking about the moments she had with Lucas, but still denied anything more than a friendship. One day in one of the breaks, Valentina came up with a plan and went to her cousin.
"You know, I'm interested in whether your friend Lucas is going to fall under my spell. He looks very charming to me," Tina tried to annoy her and waited for a reaction. Isa felt a little sick but quickly recovered.
"Why are you asking me? Do what you want! I'm sure it's only going to blow your head off after he falls in love with you!" she replied a little furiously and she sounded as if she was absolutely sure he would fall under Tina's charming face.
Valentina laughed and headed to Lucas with her beautiful patterned gait. Isabel watched her with increasing pain. Tina was talking to Lucas with her eyes shining, but strangely, Iza didn't notice him succumbing, then he ran away. Valentina came back.
"Hmmm, how interesting. I went to him and talked to him. I felt him defy my magic and didn't even react when I tried to get him to do something. I tried to figure out who his beloved is, but he resisted stubbornly and left. He obviously loves her desperately, but he's afraid she will reject him.
I know that she is on good terms with him, but I also felt pain. I sense that he thinks she hates him, but I don't think that's the case," Valentina explained to her with a confused expression, even though she already suspected exactly who the girl was, but didn't say a word to her. She decided that Lucas, himself, had to confess to her.
Isabelle was even more confused. She felt that the pain was gone, but she still wondered what was going on. 'Who could be his beloved one?' she asked herself and remained silent until the break was over.