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Cole didn’t get angry often.
It was more of Nya and Kai’s thing to stoke the flames of their rage until it was a blinding inferno. Of course, Lloyd took after them, too, with how he corked up his feelings in a bottle and shook it like a soda can before it exploded in a shower of green.
Cole didn’t get angry often, but when he did, he could shake the earth to its molten core.
“Will you all listen?”
The bridge turned silent apart from the creak of metal under Cole’s red-hot touch. He hadn’t even realized he crushed the table. How could he, when frustration overtook his mind.
It was quiet a moment more. Then Lloyd spoke, “We are listening, I just don’t think-“
The creak of metal turned sharper and the growl behind Cole’s voice was laced with toxicity, “No, you’re not.” He said it in a way that left no room for arguments or discussion. That was simply how it was: They weren’t listening.
He would make them listen.
He took a deep breath through his nose and exhaled. If he were the Master of Fire, he would have breathed smoke, “This mission is my area of expertise, seeing as we are entering the caves under the Sea of Sand.” He paused to glance around the room, taking in the nervous and guilty looks on his friend’s faces, and deriving a small bit of joy from seeing them so flustered after he had spent so much time being ignored. Forgotten.
He continued, “As the Elemental Master of Earth, it would be in all of our best interests to listen when I say we cannot use explosives to clear the rubble from the cave in.” His posture and tone made him seem as if he was holding himself back from doing something. Something he would come to regret. But oh, how close that line was to snapping. Oh, how his shoulders trembled and lungs ached to shout.
Foolishly, like most things he does, Kai spoke up, “Yeah, but-“
Kai was cut off with a glare and a seething grimace, “I will not be allowing my family to be crushed under seventy-three billion six hundred million tons of sand.” Really, the fact that he knew the weight of one cubic mile of sand, and the depth at which the cave’s main cavern began, should have been enough to convince them to listen in the first place, “End of discussion.”
Cole took a deep breath and finally let go of the table. The moment his arms stopped glowing, he felt regret for yelling and taking his frustration out on his friends, and also for damaging their table in his outburst. He didn’t let it show, though. He was a leader, and would continue to be one when no one else would be reasonable to do so. If he had to rule with an iron fist to keep his charges safe, then so be it.
“Everyone get their stuff together. Pack rations for a long stay.” He huffed before marching out of the room, leaving his stunned audience behind him.
Cole didn’t get angry often. He would make an exception to keep his family safe, whether they liked it or not.