Hey, this is just for fun. It's been a very long time since I've written any. I do struggle with grammar, so if there is mistakes, I apologize. I tried fixing them all but I'm sure a couple fell through the cracks. If any really bother you feel free to message me where they are and I'll try to fix them. Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any of its characters or sets.
I honestly don't know how it happened. I seemed to have tripped into an unworldly situation in which I found myself completely unequipped for. Reality was thankfully sluggish in its arrival. I was only able to distinguish minor details of my current predicament. The most concerning these details was, of course, my inability to take a full breathe.
My first breathe came out as a painful every exhale water spurted from my nose and mouth, adding even more difficulty to my labored inhales. A hand was on my shoulder gently pushed me up so that I was on my side, allowing gravity to help in my efforts.
"Easy d'here girly," a raspy voice sounded somewhere to my right, "You gonna be alright."
I shifted away from the helping hand, I supported my body with my forearms. My watering eyes cleared enough to seen the blurry image of a crowd around me. The continuous heaving prevented me from being able to speak, but luckily it looked as if I had expelled all the salt water from my lungs.
"Tha- ack" I struggled to thank the man between strangled coughs.
"Easy, don't talk now." He gently patted me on the back. The man, who I could now see to be elderly and worn, beckoned a gangly teen over, "Yun, come. Let's bring her to Mistress Su. She'll fix 'er up."
The boy flushed and mutely nodded before leaning down and picking me up with an ease that only a life of heavy labor could grant.
The sudden change of height cause my world to transform into a blurry spiral. My head started to pound with merciless rhythm until eventually I returned to unconsciousness that I had only recently escaped.
I awoke to feel a strange tapping on my rib cage. Opening my eyes I was greeted by the sight of a short plump woman with coke bottle glasses tapping away at my side with her eyes closed and her head tilted in concentrated listening. She nodded her head in affirmation before meeting my eye and jumping in surprise.
"'Ello," my voice sounded as if I had gargled gravel.
"Hello, there miss!" Her wrinkled face broke into a grandmotherly grin, "You have given us quite a scare. I don't think there has been this much commotion in this town since that platypus bear got into Isamu's stock!" As she spoke she began to go around the small room collect strange a variety of fruit and leaves from shelves that lined the walls. "Goro saved your life, he did. Fishing you out of the bay like that."
"I was drowning?" I struggled to make sense of what she said.
She paused in her gathering and stared bug eyed at me for a moment. "Why, yes my dear. You were drowning," She spoke slowly as if she were talking to a child. She sighed deeply and shook her head in exasperation before going over to a work bench on the other side of the room. "Or at least you would have drown if it weren't for Goro's boy spotting you, thank the spirits. Sweet boy that Yun. I have not seen him so frantic since he was a child. Well he still is a child, but now he's out working with his pa and growing like a weed."
"Where am I?" I tried piecing my situation together, but couldn't come up with any satisfying answers.
"This is village of Tsurui, my dear." She looked at my blank expression and elaborated, "We are about day's travel from the port of Chin." Her eyebrows scrunched when my expression remained unchanged. "Where are you from deary? Where you a part of that merchant ship wreck? What a dreadful experience that must been you poor dear."
Nothing she was saying was making any sense to me in the least. Merchant ship wreck? Well I suppose I had to be in some sort of accident to end up here. But for some reason I couldn't remember stepping foot on a boat.
"Sure, I must have been a part of the wreck." I answered weakly, "I'm sorry I can't seem to remember. So am I in Japan?"
"Japan?" She said questionably, the crease in her brow deepened, "No, dear. This is the Earth Kingdom. I'm not sure where this Japan is." She set down what she was working on and came to my bed side. She placed her hands on my head and began to run her fingers along my scalp, "You must have hit you head during the accident. Poor dear."
I ignored her prodding in favor of trying to process the information given. I couldn't think of where this Earth Kingdom could be located. The only Earth Kingdom I knew of was in a cartoon. Perhaps I had somehow ended up in some isolated tribal island.
"No lumps," Her hands left my head and she patted me on the cheek before going back to the workbench, "I sure your memory will return soon. Do you remember your name dear?"
"Uhh, yes my name is Alex." I felt at a complete loss of what to do. "Did you find anyone else from the ship?"
"No, my dear not here." The lady looked up in thought, "I believe the rest the survivors were picked up by a Fire Nation ship and taken to Chin. You drifted a long way my dear Alex." She looked at me and smiled, "Alex is such an exotic name. Fitting, I don't believe I've ever seen golden hair before. Do you remember where you're from deary?"
The beginnings of panic about the possibility of my family being on the wrecked boat where halted by the words Fire Nation.
"I'm sorry. I can't seem to remember." The words came out barely louder than a whisper. I struggled to find a way to disprove my impossible theory without sounding insane. "Miss… umm"
"Oh goodness me!" Older woman laughed, "I've been prattling on and haven't even introduced myself. I'm Mistress Su, the healer here in Tsurui."
"Pleasure to meet you Mistress Su…" I trailed off still trying to figure out how to ask my question. "Do you know anything about the Avatar?"
"The Avatar?" She look startled, "Now dear that's dangerous talk there. Especially with that Fire Nation ship coming through so recently." She poured water into a bowl with some of the ingredients she had gathered sprinkled in. She handed it to me, "Anyhow there hasn't been an Avatar in a hundred years. Now you need you rest dear. No need to worry about anything more tonight. Drink this and we'll figure out what to do with you tomorrow." She cupped my face and gave me a kiss on the forehead.
"Thank you Mistress Su," my thank you came out surprisingly steady, contrasting with the turmoil that was going through my head.
"Good night my dear," She replied sweetly and left the room, closing the door behind her.
"Well…" I sat stupidly for a second alone for the first time. "Shit."
My night had been felled with fitful sleep and bursts of claustrophobic panic that made my very skin feel like an iron cage. In the morning I stayed in bed most, healing and resting. Miss Su came down from her apartment above the shop often to check on me and maintain her shop. I could see now she was very superstitious. While her store did supply herbal remedies for aliments, much of it was spiritual cleansers and totems to ward off bad luck.
Miss Su would sometimes stop in and ask me questions about the wreck or my life. Luckily she was not bothered when I claimed to know nothing of either. She accepted it. She informed me she believed foul spirits were involved in the crash and it was not uncommon to loose your memory to spirits.
I had trouble conversing with Miss Su. Under the circumstances I believe my initial awkwardness was understandable, unfortunately Mistress Su seem to think otherwise. The first day she seemed let it drop assuming that it was just from soreness and shock from yesterday's events. She let me stay in bed and left me mostly alone to rest and recuperate.
The second day however, she was not so understanding.
"Speak up my dear girl. You cannot go through life speaking like a muffled mule mouse!" She chided me for the second time that morning.
My throat was still sore and scratchy, but had mostly healed thanks to the variety of sweet syrupy concoctions that Miss Su had been forcing down my throat. Her medicine was differently not that of the 21st century. Some of the potions had been to cleanse my soul, and consisted of a mud, herb, and some sort of fish scales. I desperately tried to refuse but failed the sway the stubborn matriarch. Hopefully parasites do not exist in the Avatar world.
"I apologize, I asked if you knew of anyone hiring? I was hoping to find a more permanent housing situation in town," I made sure to elevate my voice. I was beginning to realize that her hearing must be going.
"My dear Alex, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. It isn't often that I get patients, you won't be in the way," She smiled at me and continued with cleaning what I assumed to be some sort of waiting room. She bumped a vase causing it to teeter dangerously on the edge of the shelf.
"Miss…" I tried to warn her but she continued on, probably not hearing me.
"If you have set your mind to it you could do some odd jobs around town. Goro could always use some help with the fish, but that's no sort of work for a young lady like yourself," As she moved on to the next shelf I jumped out of my seat just before the vase plummeted from the shelf. I was able to catch it just in time.
Mistress Su stared owlish at me for a few seconds before she took the vase from me and replaced it on the self, "Thank you my dear." She continued to stare at me strangely, she glanced up at my hair then went back to work. "You should go ask the seamstress if she needs any more workers. She's just right down the way. Her shop is call the Blue Robe I believe, or something like that."
"Yeah, I'll do that thank you." I still a bit jarred from the strange looks she had given me earlier but decided against questioning it. She may try to force my spirit juice down my throat or something.
The town was beautiful in its own way. The bay marked the center of the town with all buildings crowded around it. Rows of docks extended into the bay all packed with a variety of fishing boats. It was clear to see that this village's economy depended nearly entirely on fishing. The shopping area consisted of a single line of store fronts all facing the bay. Many of the buildings were vacant, some even had started to fall apart. The shops that were left were well stocked though, and vibrant.
As I walked down the street many of the villagers greeted me by name though I had never met any of them. I guess word really does travel fast in small towns. A couple of them even stopped me to comment on my hair. It was a bit unnerving to be seen as exotic. I grew up in an area where my looks were similar to that of pretty much everyone. Here though it seems that blond hair simply doesn't exist. At least not in this region.
Looking at the shop signs I realized that even though I could understand everything said, I couldn't read the language. Everything appeared to be writing in an Asian language that was foreign to me. Luckily the seamstress's shop was not hard to find due to a blue dress illustrated on the sign.
At first the seamstress seemed interested in hiring me on, but exclaimed that she had no time to play teacher to someone who couldn't read or sow. I approach the other shop keepers with similar results. They all needed people with practical or literary skill. I unfortunately had neither. Discouraged I made my way back to the healer house.
"The Avatar is on Kyoshi though, nothing bad will happen! I just want to see him!" I looked over and saw the man and boy who had brought me to Miss Su.
I stood there in shock for a moment as I comprehended what the boy had said. I knew this part of the story and I knew what would happen next. I thought for a second about trying to be a part of the story that I knew was about to unfold but then thought better of it. I had already had enough life or death experiences this week. Angry teenage wielding fire doesn't sound like a good time.
"Pa please!" the boy pleading to the old man. "It's a short journey I'll be back by tomorrow night."
"I don't know Yun. It's probably a hoax. Maybe if Tobi agrees to go with you," The old man looked over and saw me approaching, "Well hello d'here miss! You're looking much better." He smiled brightly at me.
"Yes, I am. I thanks to you. Thank you for helping me. I am in your debt, Mr... " I smiled back at him, hoping to convey the gratitude I felt.
"No need fur that miss. I'm Goro, and happy to be of service." He turned back to the boy. "This is my boy Yun. He carried you to Mistress Su's."
"Thank you Yun." I smiled as Yun flushed red. "Also if I may," I trailed off for a moment not sure how to continue. These people had saved my life. Warning them of the danger of Kyoshi was the least I could do. "Kyoshi is about to become a dangerous place. It might be best to wait a bit before traveling there."
"Want do you know about anything," Yun snapped at me angrily before being swatted on the back of the head by the elder.
"Yun, manners boy!" The man scowled him and then looked back at me. He started at me for a second then nodded, "Well boy, that settles that. You're stayin' home. No arguments. Good day miss."
"Have a good evening," I replied awkwardly and continued on my way to the healers house. A stinking feeling started growing in the pit of my stomach. Probably going to regret that.
Turns out I was right.
"Your a fortune teller!" Miss Su buzzed about the waiting room looking through boxes and jars. "I sensed it I did. I'm a median myself, I saw your aura was strange the moment I met you!"
I stayed quiet in my seat. I didn't really have anything to say to disprove her assumption.
"I thought it was quiet peculiar when you mentioned the avatar that first night. I should have known right then! Then you saved my precious vase, that when I really began to wonder. Now your the hero of the town! Keeping young Yun safe!"
Word had spread through the town that Kyoshi had been burned to the ground by Fire Nation soldiers. Shortly after the new of Kyoshi it came out that I had warned Goro to keep Yun at home the night before it happen and the whole town was in a frenzy. Miss Su being the largest advocate, exclaiming how I had foretold the Avatars return my first night I had been here.
"Oh deary, do not be afraid of your gift." Miss Su seemed to have found what she had been looking for. She sat down in a chair next to me and grab both my hands in her's in a reassuring manner. She mistakes my silence for fear "You have been blessed by the spirits. You will be able to do much, even if your memories do not return. Take these." She placed a small deck into my hand. The card were beautifully hand painted with pictures of spirits and people decorating their surfaces. It took a second for me to recognize that they were tarot card. "They will help you figure out your gift."
"Mistress Su I can't accept these. You have already done too much for me. I have no money to pay you back!" I was starting to feel guilty. This woman really believed that I had some magical gift. Really I was just some girl watched too many cartoon for someone her age.
"No, no, no. It's alright deary. No payment needed. I just ask that you explore your gift and share it. There is plenty of room in my shop should you want to offer your services to the town."
I took the cards stunned. That was a great idea, well besides being a fraud. I could earn a living perhaps, and pay back Mistress Su for her hospitality. Really I wouldn't be that much of a fraud. I knew what was going to happen. Kinda.
So there you have it, chapter 1. Let me know what you think. I should have the next chapter out soon.