Torturous three week ride

Aria was about to say something to rebuke Harper but checked herself at the last minute. She remembered her mother's words, "Don't ever lose your kind heart. No matter how cruel the world is."

She gave Harper a smile and said, "I don't really need many things. Seeing as we'll get rooms to live and uniforms from the academy."

Jacob: "Still, you need clothes. You can't walk around the whole day wearing your uniform."

Aria turned silent upon hearing this. She actually had to walk around the whole day wearing her uniform during her stay in the academy at the fire kingdom. She could not be sure of how things worked here and also did not want to say anything regards that.

Aria said as she turned her head to look out the window again, "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Aria seemed to be really tired, because she was soon asleep in her seat, head resting on the side of the window.

Harper wanted to take this chance to degrade Aria in Jacob's eyes. She really disliked Aria, but never knew why.

Maybe it was due to the fact that Aria was more beautiful and powerful than her. Or because she was close to Jacob. Harper probably thought that Aria was putting on a mask as she rarely ever spoke back to her rude comments.

Harper: "Isn't she too small to go to the academy? I wonder why she decided to go this year." She thought that Jacob would take the hint and believe that Aria was going to the academy to follow Jacob, which was actually Harper's intention.

Jacob looked at Harper and said, "She's a better bendor than you."

Harper: "....."

She did not have the courage to speak for a long time after that. The only people in their village able to talk like that to her were Aria and Jacob, as they were both amazingly good bendors.

Harper did not even say anything and looked with longing in her eyes as Jacob carefully tilted the sleeping Aria's head so that it was now resting on his shoulder. The road was bumpy and Aria's head would have banged into the wall of the carriage if Jacob had not done this.

Harper thought to herself as she looked out of the window, blinking away a tear that was threatening to fall, "Why? Oh why is it Aria? Why can't he treat me that way?"

The long three week ride continued. It was torturous for all the three, Aria, Jacob and Harper. Aria had to fight off all the savage remarks that popped into her head whenever Harper said anything. She did not want to be rude to a person who had done her no real harm.

Jacob was annoyed to the point of going insane by Harper. He disliked her always trying to cling onto him, and was somehow annoyed by the fact that it did not bother Aria. She would only tease him about Harper when they were both alone.

Harper had a worse time than the two. At least Jacob and Aria liked each other and enjoyed their company, but Harper always seemed to be shunned away from the two. She was saddened by the way Jacob talked to her and irritated by how Aria rarely got angry.