The sky was dark, so dark that no matter how hard Pakak squinted towards the horizon he still found himself unable to see very far ahead. Regardless, he stood like a statue at the edge of the camp, staring out in the ocean's general direction for so long that he lost track of the time. Eventually a strong gust of arid wind reached him from the south, whipping his hair into his eyes and returning him to the present as he pushed the tangled locks aside with a grumble.<br/><br/>Pakak knew little of the geography beyond the lands of his birthplace; in fact he'd never been to the Fire Nation at all, since he only joined Ro Pan's company after the Avatar had already traversed that realm. Still, to him it felt like the closer they drew to their destination the more dry the air was growing. He knew it was possibly just his own mind playing tricks on him, especially given the fact that they were heading towards the coast, but he'd been unable to shake his growing sense of discomfort as their journey stretched on.<br/><br/>It was a warm night (for him anyway, given how accustomed he was to the cold), and his fur-lined robes were in a sloppy bundle on top of his untouched bedroll. He had placed them there so as to act as a makeshift pillow, though that usage never came to pass given the unrelenting wakefulness that afflicted him from the moment the others had looked to be turning in for the night. Instead of slowing down, a necessity for sleep, his mind continued to work at a frantic pace. It was consumed with thoughts of the road ahead, and of the uncertainty of their mission. The general atmosphere hovering over their group also played a role in his inability to sleep; the tension was impossible to ignore.<br/><br/>He checked his water skins, before taking a small sip from the third, the only one he never concealed. He was only just removing it from his lips when the ground beneath him shook, not violently enough to knock him off balance, but still hard enough to make him lose some water as his hand jerked. With some instinctive bending he managed to stop some of it from colliding with the ground, though most of it splashed onto the dusty earth, turning instantly to mud.<br/><br/>He directed what he'd managed to salvage back into the skin and closed it, before turning around for the first time since moving to the outskirts of the camp. As he did so, he impulsively touched the scar that ran over his left eye, a habit of his that was usually triggered by agitation. The first thing he saw was You, looking at him over her shoulder; there was something strange in her expression, but before he could identify it she had turned back around to face Xiao. He followed her example and looked to the Earth Bender, whose furious face was illuminated by the flickering light of the campfire.<br/><br/>Different people dealt with grief in different ways, he understood that, and it was clear that the woman's particular method of mourning involved rage that she couldn't help but project onto those around her. But his patience was wearing thin. The Avatar was their friend and leader and he was gone, but though Xiao had lost the closest person in the world to her, Pakak would not stand for much more of her behavior. She had been a friend to him, like all the others, and his loyalty to them and to the memory of Ro Pan kept him where he was, but that wouldn't be the case for much longer if things continued the way they were going.<br/><br/>While the woman was Ro's twin, she seemed to have forgotten the principles the man lived by. There was little of who the Avatar was visible in her now, enveloped in the shadow of his passing as she was. If she couldn't learn to focus her anger on the man that had betrayed her brother, and not on the people standing at her side, people who had loved the Avatar with every fibre of their beings, he would leave her to her tantrums and walk away.<br/><br/>Alone, if need be.<br/><br/>He stowed the water skin away and turned back around, eyes once again seeking out the distant water he could not see. His thoughts, however, remained focused on Ro's sister.<br/><br/>"Child."