Kai saw her for a shattered second, as the guards half-walked, half-marched him down the overly bright corridors of the hospital. In this white, sterile building she stood out, cropped chocolate hair pulled into a bun with a yellow ribbon. Pale skin. But her eyes were a kind of dark magic; a thousand shades of brown, from the bark of moon peach trees to hot cocoa. As intelligent as they were lonely. They contained life, standing forward slightly while other patient's fell back into vacancy. She wore a simple, red, long sleeve dress and gray leggings. Her eyes followed Kai as he was led into the room across from hers.
Republic City Juvenile Psychiatric Ward. Rather a mouthful, and a combination of words Kai didn't want to think about. He just didn't understand why he had to stay here. Why couldn't they just hand over some fancy pills and set him loose? He fell down onto the bed and stared at the numbingly white ceiling, running the doc's words over in his head. Kleptomania. PTSD. Kleptomania. PTSD. The stealing he could understand, he'd suspected it for some time now. But the PTSD was surprising. Wasn't it normal to have nightmares about your parents death? To fear and despise the gang that killed them? Apparently not when you tried and failed to kill their leader. Leaving you bleeding in the street for some firebending cop on patrol to find. Just because Kai acquired airbending did not mean he could use it.
Now he had to stay here, taking pills and doing therapy.
Time ticked past, and Kai lay on his bed, muscles lax. A small crackle from above the door jolted him upright and alert.
"Dinner is in fifteen minutes. Please proceed to the dining hall. Thank you." Kai heard the lock on his door click, and as he exited, he could not ignore the feeling that this was a prison.
In the dining hall, patients filtered about in simple, comfortable clothing. Some conversed in small groups, others stood alone along the wall, gazing around the room or outside the picture windows into the lush, walled gardens. Kai scanned the area, unsure where to go when he spotted her. Back to the room, quietly studying the gardens. He made his way over slowly, giving the other patients a large girth. She glanced up when Kai came and stood next to her, eyes much more vibrant and colorful up close than they were behind glass. Kai noticed her lips, small and pink, like peach blossoms.
"I like your colors." Kai watched her lips form the words, lightly pressing together and moving with delicate elegance. It was a quiet remark, something that didn't really require anything but a thank you. But Kai had to ask.
"Why?" He hadn't even noticed that the word had slipped through his teeth, but now he could feel the blush rising in his cheeks. 'That was incredibly rude.' He chided himself. But the girl didn't seem fazed.
She pointed to his shirt. "This green reminds me of mother's and brother's eyes. It's between the two of them." She gestured to his pants. "This brown reminds me of the bison and of my sister's hair. I used to braid it." The girl seemed to look past him. "She'll be fourteen soon."
Kai was relieved and intrigued. He managed to stutter out some sort of reply, though probably not very intelligent. The girl tilted her head up to him.
"Would you sit with me?"
After dinner, Kai walked to his room in a trance. He hardly remembered dinner, except that he had laughed. That, and her name. Rising and falling like the breath she'd said it in. Jinora.