Reek

I saw a soldier today. Apparently, they were from the Earth Kingdom. That's what Miro told me. When I asked how they came into Citadel, he told me that they were something called "Earth Benders" and could move rocks and dirt and stuff like that around without touching them.

I knew he was lying, but it was still cool to think about. Miro was nice. Really nice, but he always treated me like I was a really little kid like when he would tell me these kind of stories.

The soldiers probably dug under the city. I had a friend who told me about a guy who escaped a Fire Nation jail by digging out. These Earth Kingdom soldiers must have done the same thing because they made a tunnel to the sewers that we could see, but even if we asked, they wouldn't take us with them. They would close the tunnel behind them so we couldn't go which didn't make sense because we could escape that way.

I asked Miro why we were saying and he said that in exchange for giving us food, the Earth Kingdom would ask us to help them with something sometime in the future. I didn't know what. I knew that the Earth Kingdom was the enemy of the Fire Nation so maybe they wanted us to steal something or kill somebody, but we were finally getting food so it would be worth it. But Miro saw it differently for some reason. He seemed nervous about it. I asked him why and he just told me that "It was complicated".

Miro called us together that night. There weren't many of us. There never were. I could only count 14 of us, but I never was really good with numbers, I had just heard Miro tell me that number last time I asked him, but nonetheless, we gathered together. I knew everybody here. There was Janick, Miro's closest friend and the person he listened to the most. He was always at Miro's right side whenever something important was happening. There was Mouse too. It wasn't his real name. He was just real quiet like. Of course then there was Sarik. He was more brash than the rest of us. He got angry easy and always seemed to explode when something happened that he didn't like.

I knew everybody here. I knew some of the people who weren't here anymore. I liked these people. I grew up with them before we were even a gang, but just close friends trying to survive.

Miro spoke. "You all know that the Earth Kingdom has been talking with us lately. We all know that the Earth Kingdom has been helping us get food and medicine that we need to survive, but we also know that the Earth Kingdom isn't exactly a friend of the Fire Nation. So we've made a deal.

"In exchange for doing jobs that the Earth Kingdom needs us to do, we will continue to get what we need to live. It will be dangerous, but at least now we'll no longer have to worry about where to find our next meal. Get some rest tonight. We'll need our energy for the days to come."

None of us knew what exactly o make of the words that were spoken to us or even the emotion that he displayed. He was scared, which none of us were used to seeing.

But I didn't let that bother me, because for the first time in weeks, I slept with a full stomach.