Tales of Henwa Island
The Mystery of the Great Wave
Karo looked at the large wooden crate in front of the front door. The wooden crate was too large to crawl over and allow him access to the doorknob and he had tried to lift it. In his estimation, The Shimizu Machine Tools and Instrument Corporation didn't sound like the sort of firm to make lightweight goods as the name had something of an air of heavy industrial manufacturing about it. The box had the address of the house and the name of Azula Kai which made sense as Katara – the tenant in the basement - had never shown any interest in machine tools and his mom had no reason to machine brass but not on a large scale.
"Anyone home?" Karo shouted out. He heard nothing but the sound of happy tourists enjoying the sun and surf on the beach across the street.
Karo lived in a townhouse on the main street that ran along the beach and the townhouses joined each other so Karo couldn't simply walk to the back and open the back door. He looked down
at the basement window that gave light to Katara's living room and figured he could squeeze through. He walked around to it and looked in the window well and found the usual gravel and itchy weeds as well as a Henwa Island Viper – a venomous snake about as long as Karo – at the bottom of the window well.
As pleasant as the summers on Henwa could be; Karo had worked hard at the newspaper and wanted tea and some food. He knew he could find these things inside the house but since he couldn't get inside; he decided to walk along the beach and let his mind wander over the kinds of odd explanations he would get from Azula when he asked about the crate.
"Hold up!" Katara yelled as she walked past the house. "Do you know anything about that crate?"
Karo turned and looked confused. "The tram dropped me off at the stop at 4:50 in the afternoon as it always does. I came home and found the front door blocked by a huge wooden crate full of machine tools Azula had ordered from the Shimizu Machine Tools and Instrument Corporation. I tried to enter the house through your basement window but a venomous snake lives there."
"I know." Katara walked beside Karo as he crossed the street. "I named him 'Mr Squiggles'. Half the dank spaces on this island house snakes, the other half house insects or bats."
"Human development and tourism will solve that problem." Karo spoke with some sadness and sympathy for the native species of the island. "We have an abundance of raccoons raiding our trash at night."
"What do you think Azula is up to?" Katara asked.
"Someone pencil whipped her application to study the nature of radioactivity and she lied to the ethics board of the University?" Karo shrugged his shoulders. "I need a snow cone."
"What do we do about the huge box?"
"No idea." Karo walked down the street to the concession. "Mom will come home and find the box and with her super mom ultra powers; move it to one side and then yell at Azula."
"You read far too many comic books." Katara answered calmly. "At least you don't read the really scary, dark freaky ones Azula reads in the University cafeteria but..."
"I thought I'd find you guys here!" Azula found her friends Karo and Katara finishing off rainbow snow cones sitting at a patio table under a cheerful white and yellow umbrella to keep the patrons of the concession shaded and cool. "I need to have your help with a big crate."
"I could water bend the crate out of the way." Katara said indignantly. "I pay rent and so I should have access to my apartment whenever I want to get inside. I couldn't get past the crate and out of respect for you; I didn't smash it to one side with water bending because it had the words 'Fragile' and 'Handle With Care' on the sides in big, red characters."
"What is that thing?" Karo asked tersely. "We have no room in the house for something the size of a grandfather clock and mass of a car."
"Our row of townhouses are the closest houses to the beach in Komatsu." Azula placed her hands behind her back which meant to Karo something was going to be explained in excruciating detail. "Except for the granite seawall that protects us from the typhoons in the summer, nothing lies between us and the open sea."
"We bought the house for that reason." Karo reminded Azula. "We wanted to live close to work and yet have the beach next door and enjoy the sea air. We made a good investment as those townhouses have much higher value than the other houses in this city and I enjoy living close to the beach."
"I would like to know what this has to do with that crate blocking the front door." Katara asked deliberately. "Can you explain why I couldn't get into the house?"
"The Geology Department wanted a site to do core samples." Azula pulled a chair out and sat down. The chair made a horrible screeching sound as its metal legs dragged across the wooden deck boards of the patio. "They want to know whether an earthquake and tsunami have struck this area in the past."
"Henwa Island has never had a serious earthquake." Karo repeated the accepted wisdom. Henwa Island had never recorded any major earthquake although distant quakes from the geologically active region of the Fire Nation had made themselves felt as far south as Komatsu; they did little or no damage. The Fire Nation consisted of new volcanic islands while Henwa had no evidence of volcanoes and sat on an old granite basolith with eroded, ancient mountains.
"They want to know if we've ever had a major tsunami in the prehistoric past." Azula corrected. "Sounded about as useless as a fridge in a Water Tribe house but any sacrifice for science."
Karo politely pointed to the what he viewed as fatal flaw in the plan of the geologists. "I see a problem here. Under this wooden deck and the collection of lost change and hot dog wrappings is a bunch of fill. I saw newspaper photos and drawings of the harbor during the Great War. The hill with the lighthouse sat on an island a hundred years ago and they slowly filled in the land to protect the harbor and also make the beach front. I have no idea how deep you'll have to drill past old ships, rocks and garbage to get to the original topsoil."
"What is in that crate?" Katara leaned over and asked Azula.
"A drill to take core samples." Azula replied. "Why?"
You have lived under the Zhao roof and know Karo's mother?" Katara knew Lady Zhao had a temper and would never allow Azula or a group of geologists to drill holes in her house. "No chance of you ever – ever being allowed to drill holes in the lawn."
Katara had a gift for predicting human behavior. She knew Lady Zhao would have fits if she found her house blocked by a box and after a day of shopping and visiting friends, paying bills and doing what was needed to keep house and home together during a hot Henwa Island day; she would be in a foul mood.
"I don't care what Azula told you!" Lady Zhao had her hands on her hips when the group came back. She faced a group of four intimidated geology students who had unpacked a drill rig, a small gas engine and bits and pieces of an auger that belonged together as a kit. "I own this house." Lady Zhao pointed with her thumb at her chest. "You can't make a big hole in my lawn!"
"Azula!" Lady Zhao screamed as she walked up the driveway. "These Earth Kingdom students want to make holes in my lawn. I came home and found their truck parked in my driveway and they were unpacking a crate in front of my house. They told me you gave them permission to do this."
"They want to find evidence of a previous tsunami." Azula felt Lady Zhao putting her arm on her shoulder and holding hard. "They wanted to examine the soil in an area close to the sea because the tsunami would leave sand and debris behind and they could date it by its depth underground. I forgot this is reclaimed land but your son the cartoon strip slave to the feature editor reminded me."
"Send them somewhere else!" Lady Zhao hissed dangerously. "What did they pay you?"
"The Head of the Department of Geology also heads the ethics board." Azula tried to free herself from Lady Zhao's grasp but Lady Zhao was not going to let it happen. "Each one of us gets one free screw up. The psychologists can do one study on undergraduates that may cause seizures. The Medical School can buy one lot of the 'Student Grade' discount cadavers."
"What do you want to do that might be unethical?" Lady Zhao narrowed her gaze on Azula.
"Uh...nothing?" Azula shifted her gaze. "When have I done anything unethical?"
"I apologize for my daughter in law." Lady Zhao spoke up with authority. "She had no right to give her permission for you to take up my lawn. Please take your gear and leave my property."
Lady Zhao frog marched Azula into the house while Karo and Katara looked at each other and the geology students picked up their kit and left in a small green pick up truck with the Geology Department logo.
"I will never rid her of her evil streak." Karo said with resignation.
"Nope." Katara walked back into the house with Karo. "I would tell you of the Tale of the Scorpion and the Lion but I think you know it. It's her nature." Katara smiled.
Karo woke up the next morning. He wiped his eyes, breathed in and walked over the unconscious snoring corpse of Azula toward the washroom. He did his business (he had what his doctors called a small bladder so he had done this three times that night) and made his way down stairs to find Katara staring at the stove in bemusement.
"I wanted to make tea but the gas won't come on." Katara held up a match.
"Crap!" Karo whispered.
"Well!" Katara admonished. "If you need your morning tea, Azula mixed up a bunch of iced tea last night. It's in the ice box. If you want tea so badly then fire bend the water in the kettle yourself. I don't have to make tea every morning you know!"
"Okay..." Karo backed up and turned to the ice box. "Why are you in such a mood?"
"All men are scum!" Katara added. "I met a really nice guy a week ago and we exchanged phone numbers and he never called me back to go out for coffee or anything." Katara threw out her hands in desperation.
"This may not be on topic but this ice tea is black." Karo sniffed the jug and smelled tea and something else. "I may sound selfish but Azula's tea may cause cancer clusters."
"She added grape juice you clueless dwonk!" Katara informed Karo in the way that made him hastily find a glass and pour a cup then leave for the dining room to try and get his own mind together. She had her arm pointed in the direction of the dining room which made her point for her.
"I see you're enjoying my ice tea." Azula sneaked behind Karo in a way that always gave him a start and whispered in his ear.
"Katara said you used grape juice." Karo sipped and gagged. "I think she meant to tell me you used cigar butts. We have no gas so Katara can't make tea and for your own safety don't complain about it."
Katara sat down at the table with a glass of ice water.
"I could fire bend." Azula added helpfully.
"No gas implies something's not right with the gas system." Karo grabbed Azula's night robe shirt. "We want to find out why the gas went kaput before we try the fire bending."
"I'll leave you two alone and..." Azula saw out the front window. "We have a gas company crew in front of our house digging a trench."
"I'll come with you." Karo put his glass down.
Azula and Karo left Katara alone at the dining room table. Karo thought it would provide some sweet quietude. It didn't.
"Why in the Lap Dancing Gilded Buddha do we have a two meter deep trench in front of our house!" Lady Karo screeched.
"We wondered that." Azula answered clearly and calmly.
"I'm off to work...I say that so anyone who cares will hear me over the yelling of my mom." Karo yelled out as he closed the door. "I'm off to get yelled at by my editor."
"Don't fall into that hole." Azula sat at the dining room table and waved goodbye.
"Don't you have to go to the your office?" Katara asked in a manner Azula realized was out of half interest and half out of a desire to see her leave.
Azula poured herself some iced tea. "I never show up before noon unless I have to teach a class. You're stuck with me."
"I have cramps!" Katara announced. "Why does fate let Karo go about his life pain free and yet I have no man and have to put up with cramps."
"Does my ice tea actually do that to people?" Azula peered in her glass. "I thought that was just Karo's own kind of hyperbole. Like the 'dead ancient whale' he found that turned out to be a dead bluefin tuna that washed up on the beach."
"I have girl cramps." Katara leaned in and whispered to Azula. "Why do you think Lady Zhao and I are so cranky?"
"Well...I had never considered that." Azula peered into the glass. "I always thought since you couldn't have children; the girl cramping gear didn't work either. I'm not an expert though and you haven't discussed your timing before now."
"The cramping bits still work!" Katara growled. "Why am I talking to you about this? You have to go through the same thing. I've seen your bad moods before."
"I had my girl cramping gear removed by the skilled surgeons at the asylum. They believed it would even out my moods and my brother didn't want me having children anyway. How long do I have to put up with the hormone harmony of you and Lady Zhao?" Azula said placidly as she pushed her iced tea away from her. "I'm a bitch because I find it entertaining."
"She hasn't finished yelling at the gas company." Katara said halfheartedly. "I'm getting older – you know – and I still haven't found a husband. I once dreamed I would have a family of healthy children and a strong and kind husband who would be a good father. I live in the basement of a house owned by a middle aged woman, with her cartoonist son and the disgraced mad scientist princess of the Fire Nation." Katara sighed deeply.
"I can go into my office early if you want." Azula sighed. "I don't know if this iced tea has made me sick or your life is making me ill. I never associated you with the pathetic, whining type. You have the same problem with guys I used to have – you intimidate them. I went nuts and have to take pills and so that kind of leveled the playing field for me. I have begun to enter my third decade of life and have the body of a shaved boy and I say what's on my mind. I have upper lip hair and an eyebrow that needs a forestry crew to mind it or it grows together. Basically I'm trying to say that you have done with your life than a hundred women like me have done in theirs and people find that intimidating."
"You seem to be comfortable in your skin." Katara said sadly. "I'm not."
"Hardly!" Azula laughed. "I wish."
"I still have no prospects for husband material." Katara returned to the top of the conversation.
Azula let her evil side work over this for a moment. "According to ancient tradition; the Fire Lord can have more than one wife." Azula winked. "I mention this as something to make you think and because I could have fun making Lady Mai absolutely miserable. Yes..." Azula tented her fingers. "Like a tsunami, the powerful Water Tribe master washes into the life of the Fire Lord."
Karo had his fussy ways and Azula knew this. She could induce squirming anxiety and then spasms of panic by hiding one of his quill pens. His office reflected this as well. He had a neat drawing board and pinned his sketches on the wall organized by a mind with a clear sense of where he was going. The brightly lit office looked out of sorts with the stereotype of a newspaper cartoonist but Azula could walk in and know where everything was; she could move a single pencil and he would know.
Karo usually expected Azula to show up at the end of the day toward four in the afternoon so when she showed up at half past nine, he paid attention. She stood quietly at the front end of his drawing board.
"Karo?"
Karo placed his quill down in a bottle of India Ink. "Yes? Have my mother and Katara finally blown the house up with a master stroke of Bitch Bending?"
"Katara went thermonuclear on me." Azula complained. "I suggested she become Fire Lord Zuko's second wife and she accused me of having no conscience."
"You don't." Karo wiped away a few pencil shavings from his drawing. "She could never be the second woman. She wants the real meal deal: kids to love, rugged looking husband with that rugged abdomen and she wants him to love her."
"She chased me out the front window. I got it open before I had to smash the glass." Azula shrugged. "I tried to help. My motto is 'Simple Solutions to Screw over my Enemies'. You never told me how sensitive women can become at that time of the month." She leaned her hands on the heavy table of the drawing board. "Didn't your mother ever explain 'That Time of the Month'? My mom did but she made it out to be a minor inconvenience that let her have two lovable children."
Karo held up a pencil and pointed it at Azula. "Now wait...you can't go around blaming your current difficulties with my mom and Katara on that. You let a group of geologists try to find evidence of a past tsunami some umpteen thousand years ago. I approve of knowing the history of the place we call home but my mom didn't want the lawn dug up by their equipment. You suggested adultery and subterfuge for Katara to win over Zuko as her husband. You forgot her sense of Water Tribe honor and propriety. Quite frankly I'm surprised she didn't kick you in the ass."
"She tried but I was too fast."
"Katara wants a husband like her father – good and kind and brave. She wants true love in her life and a real family to care for." Karo put down the pencil in an exact location in a tray on his desk next to his drawing board. "I long for the same thing at times but most guys like me are artsy."
"Why do you put up with me?" Azula stared at the elegant drawing that would become a tourist map of the Komatsu Beach and examined it carefully. She could see the love of the place in the warmth of the drawings. 'I wonder?' Azula thought to herself. Karo's artistic and musical side would never change the way people understood the world but he had a genius talent people could see in his cartoons and drawings. Even his ramblings on the oboe and touch on the keyboard showed a bumbling musical mind. She had the genius only those few the in closed circles of physics understand and that explained her rash pronouncements.
"I like mad scientists." Karo said. "I love you and you keep me on my toes. Every stroke on this page, I plan in detail and execute to perfection. I have an obsessive nature and demand perfection. My rubber eraser and bottle of blot out fluid stay constantly beside me. You help me break that cycle. Nothing helps free me from a cartoon publication deadline than when you do something the cowards among us would never try. Katara, Toph and Suki are all smart and attractive in their own way but I find it refreshing to visit your lab to find you arc welding a Faraday Cage together. Katara can survive in the wilderness and fix holes in my boxers but you made my hair stand on end when a bolt of artificial lightning struck the cage."
"Well..." Azula lifted her arms off the drawing table. "I'm off to my office. I've stolen all the parts to make a Theremin and since I have no papers to mark today; I thought I'd finish it and give you a recital."
"Do I look like I need a serenade of the kind of music that accompanies the B movie shot of the UFO landing at night?" Karo winced as the image of the cardboard sets of the bad features shown at the Nickelodeons passed through his mind.
"You wouldn't want to be without mood music if a cheaply made foil and cardboard UFO landed on the front yard." Azula walked to the door and waved. "After work, can we meet at the beach concession – okay? I don't think Katara will let me in the house and if she does; I think it'll be to connect her foot forcefully with my ass end."
Katara sat on her couch with a good book which consisted of a romance novel where the handsome Water Tribe warrior fended off an attack by five Fire Nation destroyers. He went on to have a long and rewarding engagement with young daughter of the chief of said village. She had bought a half dozen of these cheap romance novels and planned a quiet evening alone and away from gas company workers, from Azula and her scheming, and life's problems in general.
Lady Zhao had planned to spend an evening alone listening to The Miracle Shine Soap Opera Evening. The gas company had fixed the gas line, filled the hole and left. She sipped her tea and ate the supper of rice and Komodo chicken with pineapple she had fixed.
Katara and Lady Zhao heard the clock strike six and the same thought ran through their minds almost instantly: 'Where had Azula and Karo gotten to?' They had not heard any explosions or seen Karo run screaming with his hair smoking (they had both witnessed the Lithium Incident).
Katara heard Karo's voice.
"Ow!" Karo said as he jangled his keys. "Oof! We've been yelled at already today."
Katara knew this had an ominous sound.
"Quit complaining and follow me with that!" Azula pushed the door open. "No one will care if we build a Theremin."
Mitsumi the Lemur let out a squeal of joy as his humans came through the door.
"What have you got there?" Lady Zhao asked in a level voice.
"I have a box of electrical parts – do you really want to know?" Azula said as Mitsumi cackled and climbed onto her shoulder. "Karo has the wooden box that will hold our Theremin...a musical instrument that makes an eerie sound used in bad science fiction movies."
"Take it upstairs." Lady Zhao said in the same level tone.
Katara sat up. Her Water Tribe senses tripped on at the words 'electrical parts'. She could have charged Azula and earned enough to buy a husband given the number of times she had used her healing prowess to sooth the electrical burns caused by her 'experiments' with electricity. Azula loved to make odd metal machines that shot sparks across rooms or made the hair on every hairy thing within a hundred meters radius of it stand on end. Azula had built a low power radio transmitter under a metal cone she had devised in an attempt to cook food faster. It didn't work well; it dried out the bread of grilled cheese sandwiches and left the cheese melted to the plate and left popcorn largely unpopped but smoking. She forgot her hand was made of much the same stuff as cheese or corn and suffered blisters when she stuck her hand under the metal cone without turning the contraption off. Katara sighed and put down her book.
"Blown fuse!" Azula yelled as she stomped down the stairs three hours later.
"Spirits of my Anscestors!" Katara met Azula at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. "You didn't kill Karo did you?"
"If I did, I'd be looting his graphic novel collection!" Azula smiled in a way always Katara took as evil. "Just a little mix up involving a coil and something wired in the wrong way. The two hundred and forty volt system in use on Henwa Island doesn't always flow in the manner you intended. Can I change out the blown fuse?"
Katara crossed her arms and looked irritated. "You blow a fuse at least every week! You have to come and interrupt my privacy to fix it!"
"Alright...as people go; you and me – complete opposites." Azula held out her hands to demonstrate the concept. "I will admit..."
"Are the fuses fused yet!" Karo asked from the top of the stairs. "I haven't yet had an electric shock. Surely the evening is incomplete."
"Katara and I are talking!" Azula turned her head and yelled back. "You'll have to wait a few.."
"Good! I need to use the can!"
"I admit to a streak of evil." Azula said in a more civil tone. "You grew up with a tight and loving family. Mine were all wingnuts – even my mom. She killed Fire Lord Azulon to save my brother because Azulon ordered him killed as a punishment for insolence. My dad would have carried out the order to kill Zuko. So much for getting what you want out of life! She was banished to some hellhole gulag called Turku on the Island of the Northern Air Nomads.
Katara followed Azula down the stairs. "I know the story. Azula - you and I have something in common. In one way or another – the Fire Nation ruined our childhood."
"You still believe in family. I've lost my faith." Azula let Katara pass by her at the bottom of the stairs. Azula was struck by the degree to which Katara's little basement apartment was a girl's apartment. It smelled of sweet flowery incense and looked neat and like someone had actually 'decorated'. If Azula had lived down here, the place would smell like food going off and she would have to dredge to find her way through the layers of paper and books to the bathroom.
Katara knew how to sew and made money as a seamstress and had all the girly skills Azula lacked including housekeeping, knitting, skating, dancing and good taste in interior decoration.
Azula walked across the living room to the small room that had a hot water boiler and the fuse panel. She pulled the chain to turn on the light and it flickered to life. "Why did you put a fuzzy doily around the fuse box?" Azula scratched her head about that odd bit of behavior as she searched for the blown fuse. The doily had neat, vibrant blues and whites in the yarns used to make it that made an intricate Water Tribe design. Azula admitted to herself, it was well crafted but wondered why one needed a doily to improve the appearance of a gray steel box.
Are you sure your feeling alright?" Katara asked as she stood at the doorway of the utility door. "One minute talking to me and not one dig at me or my heritage."
"I've often considered it part of my art to let my victims wait and grow more and more anxious before I verbally slay them." Azula rummaged around the room looking for the cardboard box of fuses and found only light bulbs, paper clips, a set of screwdrivers and a hissing cockroach. She landed the wooden end of the largest hex end screwdriver on the roach with a casual flick of her wrist. "As entertainment goes, I find it both fun and economical. We have no spare fuses...have you blown them all?"
"We must have run out because Azula the Radio Star and Karo the King of Toast plug two things into one outlet." Katara leaned against the door frame. "You blew them all."
Azula looked at Katara. "When the safe and sure solutions won't work, improvise." Azula patted her vest. "Do you have a bronze piece?"
"Use your own."
"I only have a silver piece on me." Azula motioned with her hand. "Come on, I need a coin to shove into the fuse socket."
"Is that safe?"
"Probably not - in the Idiots Guide to Electrical Wiring, they tell you not to use coins in a fuse box. Since I'm no idiot, I choose to ignore their advice."
Katara pointed her slender finger at Azula and then scowled. "No way! Get a new fuse. When you improvise with electricity, something ends up on fire or dead." Katara put air quotes around 'improvised' and then motioned for Azula to leave.
Azula looked defeated and handed the sticky wooden end of the screwdriver to Katara. Katara look quite put off which was what Azula was going for.
Katara shook her head as Azula walked up the stairs and then decided to look for something to wipe her hands with.
"Karo?" Katara heard Azula yell from upstairs.
"Yeah?" Karo shouted from some distant corner of the house.
"Where can we get spare fuses this late in the evening."
"I have no idea...probably nowhere." Karo answered. "The light in the can doesn't work."
Until the fall of the Fire Lord, Henwa Island was allowed to publish only one newspaper in their own native language and all official pronouncements were written in the kind of formal Chinese reserved for contracts. Karo spoke Chinese and had also learned the language the Henwa Islanders called Suihan from the local servants and his mother. He was a native speaker but from time to time he had to check some linguistic subtlety against a published reference. He sat at his drawing board working on a strip and had to find a word in a Suihan dictionary. He looked in the 'pu' syllable pages to see if 'pusi – he kissed' would work as his editor would flag any potentially obscene usage. Unlike Chinese, Suihan had free word order, verb endings, no direct expressions of formality, endings for plural, gender and type of noun and all the sorts of things that made English speaking students of Classical Latin blow fits.
Karo found an entry for the word but it listed a Chinese character. Henwa Island boasted one of the highest literacy rates in the world but the written language did nothing to help. Henwan spelling used Chinese characters (often in bizarre contexts) and had its own 'kana' or syllable symbols. Karo put down the dictionary and reached for his eraser when he discovered 'pusi' meant 'he kissed passionately' which wasn't in keeping with the strip. He had learned the language as a very little boy and never learned the racier words.
Karo wished he had enough pull to have a native speaker write the dialog for his cartoon. Any language with sixteen forms for a noun needed an expert. One the positive side, Suihan had a completely casual and informal nature. Everyone greeted each other with something that translated into 'G'day mate!' or 'Hey you!' and talked to each other as a Chinese speaker talked to his dog. God, the Buddha with Confucius could drop into the park and everyone would say 'G'day!' and hand them a beer.
He felt the heat of the late afternoon as he worked. He had fought with the language and the language won. He made sure he had the note from Azula that 'requested' fuses on his person or he'd have more of a problem than sorting out which preposition took what ending on what day under which kind of tree.
He stopped, reached in his vest and opened Azula's note. It said 'Get 240 Volt fuses – or death.' Azula had little trouble talking to people like dogs.
Karo felt a shaking under his feet that felt like one of the trams passing along the street two stories below his office. He didn't hear the squeal of brakes as he expected. The tram always stopped in front of the newspaper office as the paper was the media hub of the city. A lot of foot traffic in the form of people posting classified ads or requesting corrections, people paying their subscriptions and staff passed through the first floor offices. His pencil rolled off his drawing board. He walked around to see if the tram had broken down in the street but saw nothing but light traffic in the street. He felt the ground twitch and the stone building began to groan. He looked up when he felt plaster dust on his face. The lights in his office hung from a set of wires and swung lazily back and forth. He had no feeling this was odd: the huge steam and electric powered print plant attached to the building shook the office wing from time to time as did large delivery trucks delivering the large paper rolls and supplies to that plant.
He sat down and didn't pay any further attention. He had work to do and a hundred plus year old four story stone and brick building could be expected to shake from time to time.
"Did you get the fuses?" Azula met Karo at the beach concession.
"Yes...you can spare my puny life." Karo slid a brown bag across the table to Azula.
"Did you know there was an earthquake near the city of Kolin about five hundred clicks north of the Fire Nation Capital?" Azula pushed a glass of ice tea in Karo's direction.
"No." Karo didn't find the news at all surprising. The Fire Nation had earthquakes all of the time – at least a hundred that jolted people a few that cracked buildings and one every few years that made villages appear on the ledgers of earthquake insurance companies.
"The Geology Department said it was big and they were excited about it."
"The rock hunting ghouls." Karo watched a young blond haired surfer in blue swimming shorts on a blazing yellow board paddle out to the surf, stand up and then almost instantly wipe out. "Novice surfer." Karo pointed at the young man. "The surf is a meter high; hardly worth the trouble of getting sunburn."
"Quite probably stoned." Azula noted.
Surfers formed part of the backdrop of both Karo and Azula's lives as they almost lived their whole lives at the beach. The surf off the beach ranged from the lazy surf of this lazy Tuesday to the kinds of raging surfs that came out of the fierce winds of typhoons.
"Hello!" An enthusiastic voice rang out across the beach. Azula recognized it as Suki the Kyoshi Warrior. Suki wore the clothes of a typical Water Tribe girl – a short sleeved blue shirt and lose fitting darker blue pants. The Kyoshi Warriors didn't fit in well with the casual, surf and sand lifestyle of Henwa Island and would garner stares. Such elaborate warrior dress also turned into a cloth oven in the kind of heat and humidity enjoyed on Henwa.
Azula turned her head and found the Kyoshi Warrior standing at the edge of the deck of the concession.
Suki waved and then rushed over and hugged Karo and Karo returned the hug back in a clumsy fashion. "I went to your house first but your mom said Katara had left to do some shopping and see a movie."
"How do you guys say it? G'Day?" Sokka held a dripping ice cream cone full of chocolate ice cream and pink sprinkles in one hand and a baby in a blue blanket in the other.
"Howdy works as well." Azula replied. "Various obscene words can become greetings. Our language has turned mere rudeness into a principle of proper speech."
Henwa Islanders had retained much of their bitter resentment of the oppression of their culture and disliked speaking Chinese and made every effort to make it appear they either couldn't, wouldn't speak Chinese or they ignored you until you made a credible attempt to use their language. The Avatar Realm had its own equivalent of the French. Suki had come from a quiet and well cultured people and couldn't quite stop jumping when someone spoke to her (shouting loudly in her mind).
Sokka liked Henwa. He wanted to live in the middle of a scientifically advanced, technologically sophisticated country and the Dominion of Henwa was it. The clean brick and stucco buildings showed a high degree of wealth, the sight of motor driven cars and trams everywhere advertised this to tourists from less sophisticated parts of the Realm. Sokka had seen the label 'Made In the Dominion of Henwa' on cameras, electrical things and even aspirin pills. Everyone here had electric power, movies and lots of consumer goods while Kyoshi Island had electric light only in public buildings and needed blacksmiths in small villages. Sokka had ridden an electric tram from the cruise ship dock to the stop near the Zhao home. He had to recruit all his self control not to drool at everything. He had ordered an ice cream after much misunderstanding between him and the girl manning the concession not because he wanted it, but because he had never been able to have ice cream on a hot summer day without having her sister do some fancy Water Bending.
"Uh well."Karo said uncomfortably. "How long will you be staying?"
"A week." Sokka said cheerfully as the ice cream from his cone fell onto the floor and made a soggy splat.
"We should head home." Azula tugged at Karo's shirt sleeve. If Lady Zhao were in a foul mood, having extra guests would make life even more unpleasant. Azula felt like the even tempered filling in a bitch sandwich – an odd feeling for her.
Katara rushed out of the house and engulfed her brother in a friendly hug.
For some reason Mitsumi the Lemur went into chattering fits and then flew to the top of the townhouse and perched on the peak of the roof like some furry gargoyle.
"That animal needs a shrink." Azula said. "Where is your mother? I miss the chance to get yelled at for something."
"She always goes to the meeting of the Friends of the Library Society on Tuesday evenings." Karo began making clucking noises to tempt Mitsumi back down. "She didn't know we'd have guests."
Katara had finished hugging Suki and then with her arms around bother of them she asked: "Why don't Suki and I make a traditional Water Tribe feast for everybody."
Azula shivered as she considered the prospect of Water Tribe cuisine. She thought it overly optimistic to call it food and hardy deemed it fitting to call it cuisine. "In emergencies like this always remember 'Bell Hill 4577': Colonel Poulet and his Ten Herbs and Spices in his award winning fried chicken."
"We have guests." Katara admonished. "We have a Kyoshi Warrior and my dear brother over and you want to order in fried food. Who decided Colonel Poulet and his minimum wage slave teenage cooks made award winning chicken?"
"The Fried Chicken Award People?" Azula answered.
"Why has the sea gone so far out?" Karo had the presence of mind to ask.
Azula stroked her chin. The sea had receded leaving a few determined surfers on wet sand but Azula had attributed the low water to the tides. "Probably the tides - haven't got a clue."
"What do you mean?" Katara turned to Karo.
"It's weird but the surf has gone way out." Karo answered casually. "Oh now its back."
Typhoons had a fondness for the shores of Henwa and so the city had storm surge defenses in the form of a sea wall with a street on top of it. Katara, Suki and Sokka realized a tsunami had struck when the sea surged up the slanted sides of the sea wall. It drenched everyone standing in front of the house and made a roar like death. Azula realized this as well but felt annoyed at getting her clothes soaked. She knew enough to realize it made no sense to run for it as a tsunami could rush inland at the speed of a train. Karo had a love and hate relationship with the sea. He enjoyed living near it and took much joy in its beauty; but to him, it did try to kill him when given the chance. He ran to the house and began climbing up the size and had made credible progress climbing up the downspout.
"What the hell was that!" Karo shouted out to no one in particular.
"A tsunami – they follow earthquakes." Azula turned and looked up to Karo. "You are yellower than a bunch of bananas – you coward."
"What earthquake?" Katara asked.
"The bloody Fire Nation still tries to kill me!" Karo had made no attempt to climb down. He regarded the sea or any open body of water larger than a public fountain and deeper than his knees as a threat to his life devoutly to be avoided and so he was rather shaken by nature's display. "Some rice paddies in the Fire Nation get shaken up by a quake and guess what! The tsunami tries to kill me."
"You have to admire the little guy. He can really haul when he wants to hide." Azula walked up to the downspout. "I think the worst is over."
"I see dead fish on the street!" Karo began to climb down the side of the house reluctantly.
Sirens began to go off. Azula could see dazed beach goers now walking on the street and imagined the volleyball nets, concessions, washroom, surf shop and the beach playground had probably been smashed or washed out to sea. Even worse in her mind, Henwa Island had no experience dealing with a tsunami. A fire engine clanged in the distance and then a strange silence settled over the neighborhood.
"We lost power." Azula looked around. She noticed the mechanical traffic signals at the north end of their street had stopped working and the arc light in the harbor light house on the hill to the south had gone out.
Katara didn't understand the importance of this statement. She had grown up without electricity and she had a high degree of self sufficiency built on her skills gained from her parents for survival in a harsh land.
"Indeed." Karo stood on the rain barrel still unsure of his safety on the ground. Karo knew the City of Komatsu and Henwa Island needed electric power. Mechanical traffic signals wouldn't work, trams couldn't take people where they needed to go and unlike Katara, few people had no idea how to look for food in the wild. He wondered if the city would restore power or if he would end up trying to choke down raccoon.
Sokka and Suki walked down the short drive and looked at the beach. The beach looked ravaged. The white sand had piles of seaweed and junk washed up on it. The sea had once again receded but shocked beach goers now chose to remain on the firm seawall after the first wave nearly drowned them. Suki saw a father taking roll call and making sure his wife and three children had not sustained injury. Shaken sunbathers wondered to each other what could have possibly happened.
"I saw the water rush in like that during a typhoon when I was a kid." An old man offer his advice to Sokka. The old man had his swimming trunks ripped and his forehead had a gash. Sokka and Suki realized the scale of the event at that moment. "What was that?" The man sounded angry and shocked.
Katara rushed down the driveway in what Azula took as a desire to help those caught by the wave.
"I'll stay here." Karo folded his arms as Mitsumi chattered loudly from his perch. He stood on the oak rain barrel like a Pentecostal preacher at his pulpit. "if the sea rears its ugly mug, I want a head start on climbing up the house. Solid brick and cinder blocks should stay in place."
"Quit babbling." Azula walked up to Karo. "We're not dead and the world hasn't ended just yet. I haven't seen God or Buddha or some chick with a skirt of flaming skulls descending from the heavens on a chariot driven by eight dragons."
"Sounds like a real show." Karo looked down at the ground. "Will Armageddon be narrated by that same guy who announced commercial breaks on the radio? I will admit that at this moment, I'm shaken up. I have always regarded a wave rushing over me and drowning me as my worst fear. Couple that with the sightings of twenty meter long dead squid that have shown up on our shores for years and I will thank you to make the appointments for therapy when the phones work again."
"Azula!" Katara cried out. "We need help."
"I hope she needs help looting." Azula grumbled. "Are you going to throw up?"
"Very possibly." Karo nodded and turned white.
"Azula! Grab Karo and get your rear in gear." Katara yelled. "We have injured people!"
Azula grabbed the petrified Karo by his collar. Karo didn't wish to go: he reasoned that large waves would be less likely to drown him if he hung around a well built brick townhouse finished off with stucco.
"Iginio?" A young lady called out over the ruined beach.
Suki couldn't understand anything people said. Suki figured out the young lady must be calling out for her son but her desperate cries brought no response.
"Iginio, duo che te ikio?i" She called out over the muck and wet sand.
"Iginio, where have you gone?" The soft voice of Karo came from behind Suki. "She can't find her five year old son."
A weak trembling voice voice came from under a pile of broken wood. "Mama? i fe tui alleme!"
Suki, Karo and the mother ran up to the pile of ruined wood.
"He's very scared, " Karo said as he knelt down. "Che te achia 'lo?"
"Nai...fe a'nai votte ne." The weak voice said.
"He doesn't think he's hurt." Karo told Suki as he tried to pick up a heavy piece of plywood that had once been a changing shed. "Sokka, help us with this!"
Sokka ran over and lifted up the remains of a changing booth and a young, blond haired boy ran out.
"Iginio!" The young woman cried out in relief. "Tiuffe! Tiuffe a kafionne!"
"Do I need to translate?" Karo shivered as he looked at Sokka and Suki. Karo could see police and fire fighters searching the debris that had washed up on the beach for people. Some held sticks and others tipped up piles of rubble while a few directed the action. Karo kept looking out to sea expecting the water to rear up and surge back.
Quite a few people had begun to search the beach along with the authorities. Some tried to help, others came to snap photos of an event they had never seen in their lives; others walked around in shock and apprehension. Suki had Azula as a translator but soon it became clear they were an impediment and not of much help given the crowds that had converged on the beach.
An hour later, a relieved Katara let out a sigh of relief. She had searched the beach along with her friends and everyone at the beach was now accounted for. Somehow the luck of the Henwanese had spared them any deaths. Paramedics and fire fighters along with concerned citizens like them had found dozens of injured and traumatized people but no one had died on Lighthouse Beach. She sighed heavily as she looked out on the calm sea. The wave had churned up grit and sand and the water had turned a cloudy black but the city would repair and recover.
A week passed. In total, the death toll from the Great Summer Tsunami as the papers called it was twelve over the entire affected coast of Henwa Island. It caused localized damage and cut off electricity and water but after a week most of these services had been restored. The Lighthouse district had cleaned the beaches and the new framing had gone up for the new concession and surf shops. A Great Typhoon could kill hundreds and cause much more damage further inland. Henwa collectively breathed a sigh of relief and things returned to normal.
Katara found herself back in her deep funk as life left her lonely and isolated with shy and nervous Karo and the socially inept Azula for company. She liked Karo as a friend but Karo had no advice for the lonely woman. Azula didn't relate to feelings and couldn't understand Katara's need for a husband.
"Saffio...one of those Suihan words that sounds beautiful." Katara languished over the banana. "i fe tolche saffio."
"You are very lonely." Azula offered her translation. "Suihan strikes me as an impediment to verbal clarity not a tool for it. I never worked out what the word 'i' does in the sentence."
"It means 'am' as in 'I am'." Katara answered unenthusiastically.
"Firen Azula da tolche skioni, 'e" Katara said in a musical voice. "Princess Azula is very beautiful." Katara liked Suihan and took great pride in her mastery of this most melodic of languages. In her mind, it was a cute and charming language with pretty sounding words. She loved the idea of objects having a gender as it gave the language a kind of animism those from the Water Tribe could relate to.
Azula poured the hot water from the kettle into the teapot. "Of course." She bowed. "Very true."
"Can't you imagine sitting on the beach with a picnic lunch and having one of those handsome surfing dudes whisper those words into your ear?"
"My toes feel the magic." Azula sarcastically said as she poured her tea. "If you admire those surfing dudes...why not go surfing? You could out surf or whatever they call it in surf dude speak anyone. Maybe you could find a guy."
"I need surf gear and a bikini."
Azula burned the roof of her mouth as she sipped the tea she'd made.
"Are you doing anything today? Want to help me find a bikini." Katara asked sweetly. "We could have a gril's day on the town. Everything is back to normal and all the swimwear shops are open so why don't we go look for cute bikinis?"
"You used the plural." Azula held her cup and pointed her index finger. "I have no need for a bikini and don't wear anything that shows my midriff."
"I may need more than one." Katara smiled. "You can tell me whether the bikini has that special 'magic' that would help me appeal to my target audience."
"Sure." Azula had not gone shopping since the tsunami but the city had returned to normal and she knew she wouldn't mind getting out. "When do we leave."
"It's ten now...so give me an hour to wax my bikini line. I have kind of ignored that." Katara stood up, blushed and smiled.
"When the screaming stops, we go shopping. I got it." Azula blew on her tea.