Tales of Henwa Island
The Return of the Duke of Henwa Island
"It takes a bus or a tram forty minutes to cross the city of Komatsu," Karo said as he bit his lip and gripped the dash of the car, "but somehow you have traveled across the whole city in under five. At least I think it took us five minutes but it is hard to tell when your life flashes in front of your eyes or maybe the heart attacks confused my sense of time."
The car had proven a useful piece of equipment and because it looked like a small Fire Nation tank, had a black shiny paint job; Azula believed she could pulp any beasts of burden and flee before the police came to the accident scene to find the wooden splinters of a once well appointed carriage. Karo hated the car: the Fire Nation had not perfected the suspension or leaf spring and it had an engine that required a crank, that coughed, backfired and seemed always on the edge of exploding. It ran on gasoline but the city had few fuel depots. The Fire Nation had turned from making armor to making automobiles but they had not retooled the factories so the automobiles still looked and drove like armored tanks. Karo rode in the car and thought the idea needed more refinement to make it a useful thing. The trams of Komatsu had a nice and elegant look, fine paintjobs and looked nostalgic and calming as they trundled up and down the streets but the car looked like something bashed out by apathetic military engineers on some kind of bender.
Azula slammed the heavy black door of the car, "I learned how do drive during the War. We never had to avoid the old ladies in the crosswalk – now let go of the dashboard and come with me!"
We have stopped?" Karo said desperately.
"The paper said this house was for rent – get out of the car and quit acting like an ass!" Azula pulled the door of the passenger side and then yanked the panicky Karo from the car. "If we don't find a place to live we'll end up living in the car!"
The house had the traditional Fire Nation red roof and looked quite ordinary. It had white stucco and a bland looking lawn kept neat with a bright green push mower. A tall palm tree around the back shed dates on the back patio. The house belonged the the Henwa Island College to provide accommodation for visiting professors but the college had no need for it and decided as colleges often did – to put the house up for rent to make money. The estate agent guided them through the house, pointing out that the house had tropical hardwood floors and three well lit bedrooms.
"We will take it," Azula said decisively, "talk to my friend Karo to fill in all the paper work."
Karo smiled politely and the young man acting as the estate agent motioned to the dining room table.
"873 College Way," the young man in his neat suite said as he handed Karo a fountain pen, "the term of the lease is six months."
"I understand," Karo accepted the pen and began to fill in the necessary information.
The estate agent leaned over Karo's shoulder as he filled out the form, "so you are Duke Karo?"
Azula wandered out the back door, "we have an alligator sunning itself under the patio at the back. Is this a pet? Does he come with the house?"
The estate agent looked at Karo, "they come up from nearby creeks."
Karo heard a snarl and a loud thump then silence.
Karo spoke out in sudden concern – not for Azula – she could survive anything but he would not wish a painful death for the gator. "Azula!"
"Do not poke a fifteen foot gator with a sharp stick," Azula spoke with her trademark calm and held up half a stick that had the end gnawed off, "we'll have to keep an eye on Mitsumi."
The estate agent took the paperwork and handed Karo the keys to the house then filed the papers in his briefcase and politely bowed, "I hope you enjoy your stay."
Azula looked around the pleasant looking interiors and studied the kitchen. Plain varnished mahogany cabinets, a gas stove and an old icebox that depended on delivery of ice to maintain its cool. She walked into the living room and noticed the lack of a couch or a coffee table.
The house had a simple floor plan – as a bungalow it had only one floor with a crawl space guarded by the stick eating alligator. As housing, it would serve their needs until they could complete the new estate of Duke Karo.
Karo decided to buy some groceries while Azula embarked on a mission to provoke the alligator.
The next day dawned sunny and warm and to Karo seemed just perfect except that he had to go with Azula to that famous flat pack furniture company based in the Northern Water Tribe – Ichia. The day felt just right but something about hurtling through the city of Komatsu on cobbled streets with Azula blowing past all the stop signals and signs made Karo very nervous. The Ichia store occupied a huge warehouse once used to make heavy tanks and armor now adorned with a blue sign with a sterile looking white paint coating the old corrugated steel walls. Azula screeched to a halt when she struck the stone abutments that prevented people in cars and carriages from making new doors. Karo grunted as his seat belt took hold.
"Do you think we should buy furniture from a chain store in an old military factory that still has corrugated steel siding?" Karo undid his seat belt and felt his ribcage for any sign of broken ribs.
"Water Tribe quality." Azula slammed the car door as Karo climbed out of the car.
"Ichia offers relative cheapness compared to those furniture stores that assemble the furniture," Karo snorted as Azula began to walk to the door. Karo didn't trust the Northern Water Tribe and disliked the idea of sorting through diagrams to try and figure out how to do the tensor algebra required to make a set of shelves look like shelves.
Azula had not given the Northern Water Tribe enough credit. They had mastered the art of filling a steel box like store with cheapness. They had made certain they made furniture that would appeal to the budget conscious consumer and would not last long enough to become an expensive antique. The heavy steel double doors used a winch and an attentive staff member looking out for customers to open on a vast room with steel trusses spanning the roof. It held long aisles filled with vast array of all sorts of do it yourself furnishings.
"Let us go through the Ichia Furniture Company Corporate Policy," Azula said drolly as she walked past a crude plywood bin filled with brass door knockers. "We don't deliver, we don't assemble and we definitely don't print human understandable directions."
Karo looked up at a white cardboard box with the word -bed – in neat black characters and a picture of a bed in neat black lines. The box stated in no uncertain terms that a mattress was not included and that no one should take it as a fact that the drawing resembled the contents.
"A complete four poster bed in the Mission style; you might as well try assembling a platypus bear from the raw ingredients," Azula held back no scorn from her voice. "They do sell more modest beds."
Karo held out a list, "I made a list of the basics we need which includes one couch a few tables and wardrobes." He rustled the paper listing the things he thought it best to purchase now, "I will be in not the right sized hex key hell for the next week. Anything else?"
"Have you ever wanted to take a crack at making silicon based life?" Azula walked up the aisle lined with metal racks. "We need a shopping cart – do you want the one with the gimpy wheel or the one with the sticky handle?"
"We can use that one," Karo pointed at an abandoned cart with a wrinkled flier for the store. A simple wooden platform with wheels, it did as Azula foresaw have a fouled up wheel that made it want to turn left.
"Gimpy wheel it is." Azula pushed the cart slowly ahead.
"I could swear I saw a Kyoshi Warrior," Karo whispered as he turned to Azula.
Azula dismissed this out of hand since the Kyoshi Warriors had to have makeup to look like Kyoshi Warriors and like any teen group of warriors or football team cheerleaders; once they had graduated from high school they got married and moved apart. Azula imagined some would become fat. She looked at Karo and chose her words carefully, "check your glasses! All Kyoshi Warriors end up in chain furniture stores buying cheap kitchen islands or closet organizers."
Karo didn't think his vision had declined that much and looked around, "I can see – well not a Kyoshi Warrior but a woman tailing us."
"Are you shoplifting? Will we find a Shaker Style desk in a box down your pants?" Azula kicked the cart when its front left wheel jammed. She didn't think Karo prone to bouts of paranoia and she looked around and up at the top of the shelves. "I see nothing but bright gas lighting and a sign advertizing recliners for a bargain."
A woman jumped down gracefully landing in front of Karo – who looked astonished – and Azula who wore the 'oh not this again' look. "You know me as Jun and I know we have had our differences but I need your help."
Azula glared at the bounty hunter, "like we have anymore of a chance in hell of putting this stuff together than you do."
Jun had an illustrious career as a bounty hunter and had once worked for Admiral Zhao to track down and kidnap Karo. She had spent time with him and disliked spending time with him and had the feeling that she could not charge enough to endure his complaining. He posed more of a danger because his thick glasses meant he walked around half blind but Jun swallowed her pride because she needed his political influence.
"Stripper pole in the shop?" Azula hissed and had to dodge a blow from Jun for that remark.
Jun recovered her dignity and looked to Karo for a more sympathetic hearing, "you have become the Duke of Henwa Island and I will pay you well if you help me with a specific import – export problem." She knew Karo had a certain immunity to her feminine charms either because he was nearly blind and locked behind thick glasses or because she had no feminine charm so she simply explained herself, "Nyla – you know my mole – has been taken by the Henwa Island customs because Nyla violates some kind of animal control regulation because she can paralyze those she strikes with her tongue. When I left the ship; the customs officials impounded her."
Karo pushed up his glasses, "what can I do? I don't have anything to do with Customs and Import. I have the title of Duke of Henwa Island but I have no say in making the laws: I own bananas."
"Do you know your father plans to kill you!" Jun tried a second approach.
Karo pushed his glasses back up his nose, "I had imagined as much." He shifted his feet unhappily, "I still can't imagine how you can help me"
Karo stared at the boxes stacked up in a pile in the living room of their newly rented house and decided the night stands might prove easiest to assemble. He picked one box, ignored the 'Open This End' and all the screws and the pieces of cheap wood wrapped in paper fell all over the floor. A single exploded diagram with numbers made a laughable attempt to explain how to put the night stand together.
"I think I need a pair of those red and blue colored glasses for watching movies in 3D," Karo looked at the sheet, "and add to that the additional problem that one or more of the pieces might have rolled off in whatever direction the floor is least level and one of us won't get a stand for the cheap lamps we bought."
Jun looked cautiously out of the window and made a less than polite request, "you could at least listen to me and try to help me!"
Azula had a box taller than her and lay it on the floor and attacked it with a knife, "I could have guessed Zhao still roamed the nether regions of this world waiting to kill his one and only son and I will protect him."
"Thanks," Karo smiled as he turned the diagram upside down.
"I think this thing requires that I map out and reach into a parallel dimension," Azula held a blue duo tang of printed instructions that explained or rather attempted to explain how a wardrobe fit together.
Jun worried about Nyla who languished in a cage at the docks waiting for her six month quarantine period to expire. Jun had hoped Karo could at least help her – that she could take advantage of his decent moral character and his position to gain Nyla's freedom – she had not counted on Karo's impeccable moral character extending to respect for the odd democracy on Henwa Island.
She had come to Henwa Island on a bounty to capture an Earth Kingdom pirate and had a tip that placed him on Henwa Island. She took the opportunity to act on a tip that would lead to a tropical island. She had no trouble booking passage for her and Nyla on a freighter shipping wheat to Henwa but the Customs Inspectors took exception to Nyla.
She had sent a telegram off to Fire Lord Zuko – she thought he owed her a favor for helping him find his Uncle Iroh. He explained about the 'special autonomy' Henwa enjoyed and while he did provide a reference, the Customs officials remained unmoved. They explained the special ecological status of Henwa Island and their fear Nyla might eat rare animals or birds or harbor disease. Henwa had remained free from animal diseases like rabies and mold infections of the banana plant due to its relative isolation from the rest of the Fire Nation.
"Crap!" Karo exclaimed and pointed to the diagram, "what is a thing that looks like this?"
Azula looked at the diagram, "we don't have it – Jun? Want to head off to the hardware store and buy a tool set?"
Jun woke up to Karo's cursing and Mitsumi's chattering and decided to remind Karo of the time, "Yo! Little guy – it's seven in the morning!" Jun found Karo vastly irritating at times: he had a bad habit of whistling or humming odd tunes that seemed to go nowhere and he had bad eyesight and worse hand eye coordination. He seemed to find the concept of depth perception alien and she had seen him blunder into things.
Karo sat up and looked to Jun who had set up her sleeping bag on the living room floor, "according to you my dad has set out to kill me." Karo rummaged through a tool chest and found the appropriate screw driver.
Jun gave a moment thought, "he wants to kill me as well."
"Bye," Karo sipped tea from a frog green cup and placed it in a saucer on the floor.
"I thought you'd have more to say," Jun walked over to Karo.
Karo sat amidst a pile of parts and shrugged, "perhaps you should give thought to planning your funeral. You came under the pretense of seeking my help to free Nyla from customs impound which I don't believe – but none the less here you are." Karo began fastening the leg to the nightstand, "you say my father wants to kill you – which may hold some truth – but you come to me because you know I would protect you in spite of how I feel about you."
Jun sat against the wall of the living room and spoke quietly, "you have got it surrounded."
"And you came to Henwa because my father is a wanted criminal and would be recognized instantly," Karo began fastening a second leg to his night stand. "You must have known Nyla would face quarantine but you knew me, and that I would offer some protection – awfully cold and calculating."
"You going to cast me out?" Jun asked calmly.
"I feel used," Karo said sadly, "but I have to do the right thing even if you don't share my morals."
"Do you mind if I have tea?" Jun stood up.
"Feel free."
Azula came out of the bedroom she had picked for herself then glowered at Karo and gave a death stare to Jun, "it is seven in the morning! I slept on the floor all night and you to woke my up with your racket. Karo has the right to infuriate me but if you prove too irritating; you will end up in a tent in the back yard with that alligator."
Jun and Karo said nothing, Mitsumi chattered nervously and Azula went back to bed.
"We have little call for bounty hunters," Karo said a few moments later, "how do you feel about mowing the lawn?"
Jun gave Karo one of those 'you've got to be kidding' looks as she left to fetch the tea – that look meant he had to mow the lawn. Azula would not do it, the alligator had shown no interest in lawn care and Jun would not bust her hump for people she basically disliked.
Karo watched Azula sit on the balcony watching the alligator sunning itself. He had succeeded in putting much of the furniture together while Azula had sat cross legged and watched the alligator as she held what looked like a scaled down version of a whaling harpoon attached to an extension cord that ran from the kitchen outlet.
Karo cleared his throat, "you have sat out here all day. What do you hope to accomplish? And if I ask why you had that harpoon would I come to regret it?"
"I rigged this to keep our reptile at bay," Azula held out the harpoon and showed Karo the end of the strange looking mix of things electrical and Water Tribe. The harpoon smelled like burning electrical wiring and hummed loudly – Karo had no idea where Azula found the electrical parts or the long extension cord that came out the back. "I don't intend to kill it but I wired the tips to give a sizable jolt through the thick hide of the gator. So far I have kept him confined to the far end of the lawn."
"Why not get rid of him all together?" Karo asked.
"I need more extension cords: I can't reach the bottom of the yard." Azula hefted her new invention into the air and as the gator charged; it flew true and straight and struck the gator between the eyes. The noise and loud buzz bothered Karo and the neighbor looked over the olive colored slat board fence when he saw a blue flash of light on a perfectly clear summer afternoon.
"If you want them to go away then go down to the hardware store and get some of that gator repellant. The smell drives them nuts." The man looked about forty five, clean shaven with a mustache and had a friendly attitude that told Azula if they lived here too long all their tools would end up next door. "Or you could call the animal control people and have them trap him for you."
"This is more sporting?" Azula reeled in her electric harpoon.
"You're new here." The man began a course of smalltalk. "I'm your neighbor Hu."
"Hello," Karo said politely, "I'd walk over and shake your hand we have the alligator and he looks like he is in a rending mood."
Jun came out to complain. She had nothing to do without Nyla or bar brawling, and didn't enjoy spending time with Karo the world's most charismatic man and Azula who had a large number of mental abberations. "I have nothing to do."
Azula handed Jun the electric harpoon, "Aim for the alligator and win a prize – well we have nothing to offer except the lamp Karo broke."
Karo leaned out over the railing of the patio, "I didn't break it – it came from the store busted. We can get our money back." Karo instinctively cringed as the gator lunged and Azula sent out the harpoon with a ferocity she seldom summoned anymore.
The harpoon landed with the two copper probes in the ground and made a loud buzzing noise followed by smoking and a shower of white sparks flowed upward. The alligator disliked the feeling of high voltage flowing under its feet and belly. It hissed and ran along the fence hoping to find a means of escape and ran under a tropical flowering bush with red flowers. It hissed in pain and then vanished as the harpoon sat end up and sizzled, then expired by catching fire.
"Now what?" Jun noticed worms had come out of the ground.
"Someone has to go into the kitchen and unplug that thing," Karo said with the infinite calm of a funeral home director, "my vote says Azula."
Azula pushed Karo toward the kitchen, "I vote Karo – if he dies I get all his wealth."
"What wealth?" Karo found the extension cord plugged in the wall and smoking as it poured electricity freely into the lawn. "Any advice?"
"Don't ground yourself!" Azula yelled out some common sense.
Karo grabbed the wire and yanked and it came loose in a shower of deadly sparks.
A mail carrier who had found himself in the grasp of some kind of dystonia stood up and brushed off his Fire Nation red postal uniform and as he came around the back of the house to the sound of voices decided to ask what had happened, "I went to the front door and got no answer but I heard voices in the back and so as I opened the gate to the back I felt tingly and fell over. Do you know anything about this?"
Azula kicked the extension cord out of the way.
Karo walked out, "next time...mmmh?"
"We had a sudden electron surplus," Azula explained with one of her lies that counted on the mail carrier's lack of knowledge. She held her hand over Karo's mouth. "It will happen but seldom proves fatal. Now what can we do for you?"
"Fire Lord Zuko sent a Miss Jun a telegram," The mail carrier held out a yellow telegraph then reminded Azula to fork over a tip. Azula dug into Karo's vest and held out two gold coins while Karo struggled. The mailman tipped his red beret as a polite greeting and left shaking his head.
Jun grabbed the piece of yellow paper, "I wonder if Fire Lord Sir Pouts A Lot knows how much I did for him. You should let go of the little guy – he's turning blue."
"You gave the mail guy two of my gold as a tip!" Karo griped loudly, "two gold!"
"Guys." Jun held out the telegram. "We have a job. Henwa Island has put a bounty out on Admiral Zhao's head and will release Nyla to my care if we apprehend him."
Karo and Azula looked at Jun, "We!"
"Not to put too fine a point on it, we never had a we!" Azula began rolling up the extension cord, "you kidnapped Karo and dragged him off to face his dad. You nearly killed Karo, did a nice number screwing me over and Zhao still got away."
Jun turned to Karo, "and how do you feel about this?"
"Nature abhors a hero," Karo began quietly in a studied and academic sort of way. "My father has threatened to kill me and has every intent of making me an ex person. I see no real reason to make myself available so he can squash me like a red ant at a picnic. I have no debt to you and the Fire Lord knows I am cowardly and clumsy so he has no reason to ask me."
"My brother doesn't trust me," Azula said loudly as she picked up her electric harpoon. "He trusts me about as far as he could comfortably excrete concrete cinder-blocks."
Jun tapped the wooden railing of the patio, "a coward and a freaking fire bending princess the Fire Lord doesn't trust?"
"Yep!" Karo raised his fist enthusiastically.
"Why do you want to have us come along?" Azula raised her eyebrows as she dropped the harpoon on the ground. "I sense ulterior motives. Could it be that you fear Admiral Zhao and his ability to return from the dead?"
"In a galaxy..." Azula yawned as she reached for the tea. "Would you take the opportunity to face your father if you had the chance?"
Karo sat at he table with a copy of the local newspaper, "all that remains for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing – that gives me an out."
"You're not evil; believe me I would know."
Karo shuffled the paper, "I lack confidence and I have a knack for hiding. Karo folded the paper and placed it on the badly assembled bleach pine table, "and yet what do I do if my father comes to kill me? I roll over and die? I can't fight on his level - I lack his anger at the world."
"I suck at counseling..." Azula looked around the cramped kitchen and into the living room. "Jun is no where to be seen – your doing?"
"She went to try to collect her bounty." Karo answered, "she woke up this morning at eight or so and after washing up, she left with her backpack and told me that it was real – whatever that means."
Bang!
"Hold on!" Karo shouted. "Give me a second, please?"
Bang!
Azula reached the door first. The house had a sturdy olive green painted hardwood door that fell into the house and made a loud bang as it fell off the hinges and onto the hardwood floor. Jun stood with a piece of paper in her balled right fist.
"We have to pay for that!" Karo explained as he pointed at the door and began to sum the amount of money he'd have to sacrifice from his damage deposit.
"I thought you left." Azula said. "You had a job to hunt down Admiral Zhao."
"Someone stole Nyla!" Jun closed in on Karo.
"How does that explain why you kick down the door?" Azula continued to exert her customary calm in the face of anger.
"Hold it a second!" Karo stood on the fallen end of the door, "insane woman kicks down door like a mad ostrich horse!"
"Your father took her!" Jun began to choke Karo.
"How -ack – do I figure in all of this?" Karo begged.
Azula pushed Jun and Karo apart, "wait! we had nothing to do with this. Don't you think it a bit odd that Zhao knew you were ready to free Nyla."
"This traitor told his father where he could find Nyla and Admiral Zhao has kidnapped her!" Jun grabbed Karo by his collar and he looked down at her with his pleading green eyes. He had no idea what to think – he had hoped his father had fallen off the surface of the planet but he had returned and he felt ready to give up.
"Let go of him or I will kill you!" Azula commanded and she looked fierce. She had a fierce look on her eyes and her motions indicated she had quit playing with electricity and meant to use the real thing.
"Why protect him?" Jun slackened his grip.
"He didn't do anything you accuse him of," Azula yelled and made certain she aimed a menacing fire bending gesture between Jun's eyes, "you try to hurt him and I will crush you like a bug. You know I can do it!"
Karo felt himself flop on the ground and rubbed his sore neck, "I have my father to deal with?"
"Back away!" Azula pointed to Jun.
"People!" Karo clenched his fists, "we have bigger fish – or gators or mailmen to fry!"
Jun backed away, "beating him up would hardly accomplish much."
"We have no food," Azula peered out the window, "and I see no sign of your father."
"We can't go out!" Karo had spent the better part of the day avoiding appearing in front of the windows of the house for fear of having an arrow shot at his head.
Azula leaned back, "he won't come into town unless he's a moron."
"He is a moron," Jun stood in the doorway, "he wants revenge and he wants his pound of flesh. I can tell you he's going to come after all of us."
"Formosa Fire Nation Cuisine – Free Delivery in the Komatsu Area – Jubilee 5555." Azula read off a pamphlet that came in the mail. "We don't have a telephone – sad."
"What?" Jun sounded incredulous, "you want to order in food!"
"I see no reason to panic." Azula patted Karo on the back, "you have forgotten this is an island and he is known here. This is a small island and he has few places to hide and he has to hide or risk arrest."
Karo was not convinced, "he may have a small cadre of people to help him. My return may have irritated some of the wrong kind of the people." Karo sounded sad as he put his arm around Azula, "Henwa doesn't really want to have a Duke."
"I have spent too much time in this dump!" Jun complained bitterly as she paced the floor, "some customs official doesn't like bounty hunters and because Henwa Island has a special ecosystem, I lose my ability to make a living." Jun made air quotes around the words 'special ecosystem'.
"Why didn't I think of this!" Karo hit his head with his hand, "Zhao has one place to hide. The old estates have dozens of old buildings – the old mansion might have seen better days but it used to grow more than bananas. No one has lived there for years, the forest has overgrown much of the ranch."
Jun threw up her arms and spoke sarcastically, "wonderful! lovely! How big is that place!"
"The title said 38,989 acres," Karo raised his finger to silence Jun, "but, but he could hide. We have a hunch which is better than nothing."
"I hate to say this, but that is two hundred square kilometers." Azula added carefully.
"He has Nyla which changes things," Karo scratched his head and wandered to a closet and produced a large folding map and spread it on the floor. He spoke with grand gesticulating gestures "The estate grew bananas but had work animals, a blacksmith, a dairy barn and all sorts of old farm buildings including a winery."
Jun snorted, "yahoo, a winery!"
"Yes!" Karo said indignantly, "the estate used to have vineyards. The winery has a bunch of rooms carved beneath the main building with tunnels for aging wine, brandy – that sort of thing."
Azula looked at the map and studied the details of the winery, "we know where he is, and he must have expected this."
The winery was a chalet type stone building with a shallow sloping roof. The gray stone building had massive wooden lintels that gave the building a massive look. A large rounded wooden door with a solid lock greeted the trio. The sun shone through a wide window but the murky interior revealed nothing about the insides but more murk.
Jun walked along the broad wooden patio, shaded her eyes and peered in the window, "I thought this was a winery."
Karo shook the lock, "that is because this is the retail liquor outlet, not the winery per se."
Azula broke the window next to the door and the tall piece of glass fell as daggers.
"I have keys to these buildings!" Karo scowled.
"You said it was a liquor store," Azula kicked out the remaining glass, "isn't it traditional to break in and roll the joint?"
"We have a crazed military failure who came back from the dead and -" Jun entered the store and looked around carefully as she held her hand out to keep the others back. It would do her no good to have the klutzy Karo or the shoot from the hip Azula trip a trap of some kind. She saw nothing but the dingy, dusty inside of what at one time must have been a very nice wine store. The glass tips jar still stood on the heavy wooden counter next to a brass till covered in dust. "you guys - don't do anything stupid."
Karo picked up the jar of coins and dropped them as he spoke, "what do you mean stupid?"
Azula smacked him in the shoulder and hissed in a low hoarse whisper, "you can't resist money – can you."
"It does my heart some good to know that at one time our family earned an honorable living," Karo picked up the coins and held them out delicately, "a gold coin from the reign of Fire Lord Azulon – about the right timing. I don't think my father wanted to live the life of a vintner."
Jun creaked slowly across the floor and made her way past a wooden rack long emptied of wine bottles. She picked up a green champagne bottle that had slid under the rack and examined it carefully. It still held the contents carefully capped by a cork and a wire cage. She whispered to Karo, "I would say catch but with you that is not a certainty – what do you make of this?"
Karo walked to Jun followed by Azula, "a forgotten bottle of champagne? I guess the place was abandoned quickly – that doesn't look like a cheap bottle which most people wouldn't abandon. I don't see any any vineyards here but the banana plantation remains. I don't remember all that much from my youth and I don't remember anything about this place."
"Useful," Jun placed the bottle on the wooden rack.
"It makes sense if Lord Azulon wanted to feed troops," Karo added, "the Fire Nation worked as a command economy and the army wanted food to feed troops not fancy wines. My father was an ideologue and would have followed any edicts sent out by the Fire Lord in spite of their stupidity. This winery represented an investment in time, skill and money and probably made money. I return and I have to make a business of this estate because I need to make a living. I hate central planning in the economy."
Azula looked at the bottle of champagne, "you may be a blow hard but your theory makes sense. They made this bottle of champagne forty years ago."
Who cares?" Jun sniffed as she brushed the heavy dust off the various surfaces, "get Nyla back and we talk about wine."
"Underneath this place is a wine cellar I think," Azula had glanced at the maps of the estate and memorized the layout. She tapped the floor carefully and looked for a trapdoor that one of the old vintners would have used to raise bottles of finished wine. She had seen a detail in the old plans that caught her attention – a large version of a dumb waiter made of hard tropical woods.
Jun hated both Azula and Karo. She had to work her way up from the hard neighborhoods of Ba Sing Se and she fought her way to become a bounty hunter of repute. She had earned enough to finally purchase a shyr shu – and now she had lost Nyla. She saw Karo as a weak and incompetent idiot and Azula as a strong fire bender spoiled by her family.
Karo tapped the wall carefully, "why is this wood?"
"What do you mean!" Jun growled.
Karo had an eye for detail in architecture and wondered why a room made of glass and stone with a wooden roof would have a wooden wall. He had no idea why but it bothered him.
Azula expected a winery would not hold any secrets but the drawings she saw had no scale. She began to inspect the walls and the doors. She found out she had the right idea: the doors merely required a push and then the counterweights slid them aside revealing a large platform of heavy timber designed to take wine up from the cellars.
Karo held out his hand to provide a dim orange light as a flame rose from his hand. Azula took some pride in that Karo could control the gentlest of fire bending arts. The room the light illuminated a shaft carved from granite that formed a domed roof over their heads and nothing below.
"What now?" Jun asked in a whisper.
Azula pulled the heavy wooden doors closed and wondered if the mechanism needed someone to man it. She had a hunch but she did not voice it. A loud click sounded and the platform began to slowly move.
The shaft of rock dug into the ground seemed to go on forever. The lift slowly descended past the carved rock and Karo wondered if his ears would pop – they didn't.
With an abrupt thump the platform stopped and as Karo grew the light in his hand and as Jun grew more paranoid they saw a huge granite cavern filled with oak barrels. Karo's heart jumped for joy as he saw the wooden barrels lined up like soldiers in rows along the caves of the winery. It felt cold but Karo felt warm as he imagined the liquid wealth that might fill the old casks.
"Crap," Karo uttered, "Azula? We are rich."
"Shh!" Azula held onto his shoulder.
"What do you mean?" Jun whispered back as she checked the dusty ground in front of the elevator.
"Wine never decreases in value," Karo walked up to the first huge oak casket and found it full or nearly full. "Wine lovers would pay for a vintage – a date – like the gold coin I took from the jar. A gold used to be worth a gold but this coin is rare and worth twice or three times that. "Karo held the coin out. "Imagine our wine!"
A flaming arrow struck the wall an inch over Karo's head. It made a solid and satisfying thud in an oak wine barrel. Azula dragged Karo to the ground and did her best to make a tactical assessment of the situation.
The cave suddenly grew bright as a half dozen skilled fire benders revealed themselves and their hiding places in the crevices of the cave.
"We are all gonna die!," Azula said for no reason anyone could fathom. She grabbed Karo and ducked behind the relative safety of a rack of wine barrels.
Jun stood out in the open as Admiral Zhao slowly closed in.
"Why are we hiding?" Karo looked out from behind a wine barrel just to have a flaming arrow fly past his left ear and impale itself in the wall.
"We have a few current problems: Zhao wants us dead and he has friends." Azula pulled Karo back, "the death dealing maniac is our foremost problem."
Jun did a scissors kick and knocked Zhao to the ground and flipped in mid air then landed behind the wine barrel when Azula and Karo had taken refuge. "I think I made him angry," she said to both of them as the top of the wine barrel exploded in flame.
"You must be so proud," Azula peeked out to see Zhao's position which as it turned out was directly in front of her. He sent a massive fire blast and three wine barrels exploded. Ethanol did burn as many Earth Kingdom moonshiners discovered when their still exploded but Azula had not really gained a true appreciation of the magnitude of the blast until the moment she met Karo flying in mid air. She tumbled as the gray rock blurred into a broiling nest of flames. Azula grabbed Karo and they both tumbled across the rock floor of the cave, came to a wobbly stop and slowly stood up.
Click!
Three men with crossbows surrounded the dazed duo and made every attempt to look intimidating. Karo gulped as a very vibrant image of a metal crossbow bolt piercing his skull crossed his mind. Zhao did not look like he felt like a father and son talk as he came forward and patted the fires on his clothing.
Karo had aches and a good many pains and had no presence of mind, "I am crossing you off my Father's Day gift list."
"I will remind you to show respect – boy!" Zhao never seemed to wear a pleasant expression and he did not decide to break that pleasant rule and scowled.
Azula tapped the point of a crossbow bolt, "may I remind you that you are as badly screwed as us? This cave contains many thousands upon thousands of liters of flammable liquid – flambe relies on the fact booze burns. As I flew through the air I noticed you had lit the huge wooden casks on fire so this fact eluded you. If you don't leave now, you won't have to ever leave because you will be stationed here for eternity."
Azula grabbed Karo as she realized the delicate calculation meant that whether she exploded or had a bolt sent through her head would not matter in a few moments. She punched one of the guards and dragged Karo as the other two guards shot at her. Her words and the fire which had turned orange and blue and grown very rapidly clouded their aim as they realized Azula might be quite correct in her assessment and their instinct for self preservation kicked in.
Karo screamed as he took a crossbow bolt in his upper left arm. He felt the impact which jarred him with immense force and he felt the oddest sensation as the bolt broke his collar bone and his arm went limp. Azula lifted him up over her head as she felt a strange wind that rushed through the cave.
The residents of Komatsu thought for a moment that they had cause to worry about an earthquake and it came as somewhat of a relief that the old winery had exploded and taken out three buildings. A tram of bewildered passengers and one startled driver watched a mushroom cloud rise from the hills. The Fire Brigade found Azula and Karo huddled up against a Jacaranda Tree with Karo looking in a very sorry state as he slipped into shock. The ambulance rushed both of them off to the hospital.
"You were lucky that we have the same blood type," Azula sat on an old chair next to Karo's hospital bed. She dropped a bundle of science fiction paperbacks and graphics novel on the bed in a paper bag. "You have a pin in your shoulder and they had to operate to fix your left arm. It is January 6th."
Karo felt sore, "I lost two days."
"The good news," Azula added, "we don't have to dig a foundation since we have a hole the size of a football pitch where the winery once stood. The bad news is that the Fire Investigators found no trace of human remains at the scene – Zhao and his men probably escaped."
"And Jun?" Karo said with more than a hint of sadness.
"She turned up and left you a 'get well' basket of flowers yesterday," Azula moved a glass vase with deep red tulips Jun had sent for Karo across the small table so Karo could see it. "Zhao had hidden Nyla in a barn near the winery slash hole and Jun found her and has gone on a quest to capture Zhao and his hoardette."
"How's Mitsumi?" Karo asked.
"He must miss you because he has taken to grooming my hair when I go to sleep," Azula snickered.
"So I will live?"
"You will live," Azula assuaged Karo's nerves, "the doctors say you will regain most of the motion in your left arm. I have spent the last two days eating in the hospital cafeteria and eating vending machine fixings. Your mother has booked passage to visit you and so has Katara."
"Room 306," a doctor walked in the room and bowed gently as he spoke, "I am Doctor Leng – your surgeon - I took out the crossbow bolt and did some work rebuilding your shoulder. You have hemophilia which made the operation a bit difficult but lucky for you I am quite a talented doctor. You need to wear a medic alert necklace so the doctors know how to deal with your condition if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. Lucky for us, your girlfriend told us about your illness. I have a few questions."
"My dad had one of his guards shoot me for being a disappointment as a man," Karo answered.
The doctor seemed unmoved by that news, "your girlfriend told us that story – your father was Admiral Zhao – the former duke of Henwa Island and he has set out to murder you for being a military failure. He sounds like a wonderful man." He did not hide his sarcasm as he pressed his stethoscope into Karo's chest. "Are you in pain?"
"I can feel a dull ache," Karo answered, "nothing major."
The doctor gently undid Karo's bandages, "No bleeding which is good."
"When can I go home?"
"Your hemophilia complicates matters and I recommend that you stay here for a week." The doctor picked up a chart on a clipboard and used a pencil attached to it to write a few quick notes. "We gave you medication to help your blood clot – a herbal supplement – but if you go home too soon you might bleed seriously if something went wrong."
Karo nodded as the doctor put on clean bandages.