The Legend of Korra was created by Michael Dante Dimartino, Bryan Konietzko, and is owned by Viacom Inc. No infringement on their property is implied, nor should be inferred.
The title of this story comes from the song Chillin' composed by Romain Tranchart, Yann Destal, and performed by Modjo. No infringement on their property is implied, nor should be inferred.
The title of this chapter comes from the instrumental Make the Road by Walking, composed by Thomas Brenneck, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, Mike Deller, Dave Guy, Leon Michels and performed by Menahan Street Band. No Infringement on their property is implied, nor should be inferred.
Rated M for Mature: This story is deliciously buttered with sexual innuendo, graphic violence, and filthy ass language, therefore you are duly warned, I ain't your mama.
Chillin'
Chapter One: Make the Road by Walking
After a difficult trek through rough earth kingdom forests made worse on foot, taking advantage of a break in the dense green foliage, the couple swiped tickling sweat from their damp brows, stepping onto the first manmade trail they had seen in over a week.
As the male stopped walking, he nodded towards the track ahead of them. "Good call on the shortcut! I didn't believe you knew what you were doing at first, but your idea saved us at least three days of walking."
"You should have faith in my judgment more often." Her companion's response was a muted groan at her boasting, but soon he shot her a dirty look when she playfully stuck her finger in his side. Refraining from mentioning the fact that once more, she had saved him from a worse beating that he would have received otherwise, his companion noted with a smirk, "It would keep us out of some of the trouble we get in at least."
Limping, he rolled his eyes, recalling the event that put him in the sorry shape he was currently in a week prior. "It wasn't my fault this time! He's the one who started it by making an issue of me accidentally bumping into him." She put her hand on her forehead as he expounded with irritation, the ostrich horse to their side pulling sideways at its reigns to avoid the demonstrative wave of his arm. "He also threw the first punch if you'll recall, mighty one, and I was doing pretty well on my own too, well, until I kicked him." With growing irritation at her stifled chuckles, he questioned his sometimes-infuriating companion, "It's not funny! How was I supposed to know that Iron Balls Chou really armors his balls?"
"'Cause his name is Iron Balls Chou?" He cut her a sidelong glance, and she pretended to not see it. "As we've learned through our travel through the nations, there's a grain of truth in every legend."
"I thought he got his nickname because he was fool-heartedly brave in battle, has a great deal of intestinal fortitude or something, I didn't know it was literal!" He crossed his arms. "Then, while I was about to die wondering if he was going to run me through or not, you go and make friends with the guy trying to slice me up, and that's what hurts the most!" He flung up his hands. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"
"What is it with you and sides?" There was no amusement for her in his pain, but the situation that created his condition was hilarious and she wasn't above teasing him despite his discomfort. "If you must know, I was on the side that was trying to save your ass, because Chou was more than willing to make good on his offer to kill you."
"Okay, you did help a little towards the end," Briskly walking ahead of him, she rolled her eyes while he whined, "But you didn't have to buy him an ale though!"
She loved him dearly, but he was so much like a child at times. "I wanted to be fair about it, and kickin' a man in the lychees isn't proper Pai Sho no matter what the situation is." She nodded judiciously. "He had every right to be angry about that." When she didn't hear a response, she reminded, "I also bought you two ales and a large basket of potatabaga crisps to make up for it, we made an ally out of your enemy, and you're not dead, so it's a victory for all involved." She raised an index finger and grinned. "Conflict resolution, it's what I do."
"You usually cause it." His glare alone could kill, but the sight of it only served to make the whole thing funnier. Unable to contain herself any longer, she burst into uncontrolled laughter at the memory of the confrontation, and the cross-eyed, comical look on his face when his thinly booted foot met a pair of hard, immovable objects. In retaliation, her companion blurted in irritation, "Awww, shut up."
Soon the two settled into comfortable silence while walking the even surface of their newfound trail. Though it was much cooler in the forest, it was still stifling hot that day, and finally giving the weary travelers a respite from the heat, the setting sun fell on the horizon, painting the featherlike clouds in the sky above in warm, fanciful hues of red, yellow, and orange, interspersed by cool, gentle purples.
As she walked alongside her twin and his aging mount, he thoughtfully changed the subject from his most recent faux pas by raising his right hand from the reigns of his ostrich horse, motioning towards the lovely panorama of color that hung before them. "Isn't that pretty?"
Her eyebrow rose, and knowing a diversionary tactic when she saw it, she decided to allow it to pass this time, and while thoughtfully sniffing the air while looking at the same feathered trails of clouds, she made a sweeping point with her index finger. "There's a little more moisture in the air, and when clouds look like that it means we're going to have rain soon." Thoughtfully she added, "Remind me to put the tarp over the tent when we make camp."
"You'd just be wasting your time, it's the dry season, and the tarp makes a nice, warm blanket." She gave her twin a look as he placed his right foot in the stirrup attached to his saddle, heaving himself up onto his pet. Adjusting his seat, he joked, "Anyway, given your unique position in the world, I thought you were supposed to appreciate the beauty of nature."
"I do, but not as much as you." Smirking she finished her thought; "You of all people should well know that I have neither eyes nor the heart of a sentimental artist such as yourself."
"I know you have a softer side hidden deep inside there somewhere, sister." It was seldom he was taller than she was, so as he looked down, Deshi petted his ride with pride then offered his hand. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to ride Devi for awhile?" With a dirty grin, he pointed downwards. "My feet hurt, so I know that those warships you call feet are bound to be killing you."
Too hot to argue with him over his mild insult, even playfully, she smiled. "I'm fine, brother, I need to walk to stay limber; and besides, somewhere along the way, walking to and from destinations has become part of my image, so I might as well live up to it." Being over six feet tall, well built, and weighing as much as an average man, the Avatar reached upwards and scratched the old animal striding beside her in a spot behind its neck it found pleasing. As Devi craned her neck downwards, leaning into the touch, her eyes closed with rapt pleasure, Kyoshi joked, "Besides, I doubt this poor beast of yours could carry me two steps before collapsing, let alone the both of us, even if she had a whole week of rest, a belly full of sweet feed, fresh water, and cooler weather."
"Well, you can't say I didn't offer." His attention then turned to his feathered companion and Kyoshi's nose wrinkled when her brother kissed the back of its dirty neck when it plaintively vocalized.
"Don't worry, girl, I know you're tired too, I'm just going to ride you for a little bit, okay?" His ostrich horse gently growling along with her master's empty stomach, Deshi released its reigns, turned to his side with a yawn, plucked a long, well-worn roll of stained paper out of the saddlebag to his side, unrolled it, and then pointed at a long brown line painted with a name and crude representations of buildings. "We've been traveling in the wild for days and we ran out of food this morning." He knew Kyoshi wanted to reach Ba Sing Se that day, but he hoped she would be in the mood to stop and get some rest. "This map shows a town nearby and we still have some silver and a gold piece left, so what do you say we stop for the night, get a hot meal, a room, and then restock our supplies for the remainder of our journey to Ba Sing Se?"
Sweetening the pot for his argument, Deshi included, "We won't have to buy much since we're almost there anyway, and we could all do with some rest, especially you."
If her estimation was correct, they were only a day's travel, two at the most from the gigantic ringed city. Deshi was right, she was tired herself, but she wanted to push on through and get there soon as possible, but Deshi on the other hand was exhausted and in pain, though he acted cheerful during their trek through the forest for her benefit, Kyoshi knew he was in near misery. In addition, Devi needed a decent rest too so that she could carry her brother the rest of the way to Ba Sing Se.
Kyoshi sighed wearily and acquiesced, realizing that her zeal was somewhat selfish. "Alright, we'll stop overnight in the next town we come to, just as long as I don't have to pretend I'm your lumpy, pregnant wife again," With deeply unpleasant memories of the last time she did, she cut her narrowed eyes towards him. "Dearest."
Deshi scoffed, "Every time we do it, it works like a charm! We even got vouchers for two free breakfasts for the next day the last time we did it."
Kyoshi's nose wrinkled. At the time, she thought that even Devi wouldn't eat the disgusting breakfast that Deshi was so proud of getting for nothing, the only reason it was free in the first place was that anyone with a shred of decency would be ashamed to charge for it. The funniest part of it all was that Devi did eat that breakfast, both of them actually and really seemed to enjoy them because the oatmeal was alive with meal maggot beetle larvae.
The last time Kyoshi pretended to be heavy with her brother's child, not only was she forced to act as though she bubbled over with undying love for him to satisfy the suspicions of the innkeeper, she also had to give Deshi a grudging kiss on the lips that was as convincing as passing his mount off as a thoroughbred.
In addition to that torture, rubbing her stomach nearly raw, Devi's rough, empty burlap feed sacks were infested with mites, therefore, so was she.
Eventually, she had to cut her hair just short of being bald as an airbender, shave everything else clean, bathe herself in fire nude as the day she was born, and the worst part of the process, reduce the exquisite dark green and gold kimono the earth queen gave her to ashes to finally rid herself of the bloodthirsty pests.
Deshi thought it was funny as hell, but while in the course of her self-treatment, Kyoshi also accidentally burnt both her nipples. Driven from the southern tribe before she learned how to heal wounds by bending, she had to endure the discomfort while her injuries healed with no aid.
Her brother rolled his eyes. "Look, I know you don't like it, and frankly, I don't either because you make a terrible wife." Deshi grinned wickedly. "Last time you didn't even make the bed, woman, and as we all know, that's your job." If anyone else had said it, she would have snapped their neck like a possum chicken; instead, Kyoshi balled her fist and lightly punched her brother on the arm as punishment. As he rubbed it, Deshi reasoned, "You have to admit that it does make it easier to get a room though. Innkeepers snoop less, and have a little more sympathy for a woman with child, they also don't anticipate much trouble out of a married couple."
"That is the most stressful time in any couples' life together, married or not!" Deshi's hand smacked his forehead, leaving a visible red spot in the shape of his palm. "They also mustn't have ever heard any of our parents' lovingly loud exchanges over the years." She shook her head at the memories of their ridiculous disagreements, nonsense such as who drank the last of the cat goat milk, what kind of meat was really in the cheap sausages they could barely afford, how bad her father's gigantic feet stank, or how horrible their mother's mushy, overcooked noodles really were. If anything, their arguments were more entertaining than malicious, but the volume and frequency of them were so regular, people in the community would sit outside the back of their tumbledown home with the chicken pigs placing bets as to who would win on a given day.
The odds favored their mother eight to ten, because when angry she could out howl a troop of hungry hog monkeys, and most of the time; their non-bending father was blessed with sense enough to know when to quit baiting their mother before he got seriously hurt.
On the other hand, as spirited as their disagreements were, their make-ups were the things of legend.
Sometimes they were so epic, she and Deshi had to go down to the river to pass the time by either spitting in it, or throwing rocks at the passing barges to avoid the traumatic experience of hearing them.
As far as Ba Sing Se went, though her brother was unaware of her main interest in visiting, and unless things had changed dramatically since their last stay, Kyoshi had doubts that the Earth King would enthusiastically welcome them. She knew they would receive the cursory hospitality of food, lodging, and perhaps a small gift of gold along with supplies for their journey because of her status as Avatar, but that was it.
Even though the king, to her surprise, never said it aloud, Kyoshi knew Khan Wu disliked her intensely, but the feeling was wholeheartedly mutual. Kyoshi despised depending on him for anything, but she had nothing, that was her reality for the moment, and as long as she hadn't mastered her final element, air, she needed his financial backing.
Even though Kyoshi made it perfectly clear that she was not his personal servant to use on a whim, the king still had advantage over her, and what was worse, he knew it, the smirking fucker.
That being the case, Kyoshi was benefited in the fact that the king was a sneaking bastard and he didn't like her being around to curtail his underhanded schemes. Cleverly, Kyoshi thought that if she placed her tiles right and hinted she might be gone from the Kingdom for at least a year, perhaps the king would give her supplies and enough coin to finance the last leg of her journey to the northern air temple to meet Master Xun and begin mastering her final element, air.
Even though she was dependent on him to a point, Kyoshi wasn't exactly worried, because even if the king refused aid to them, she knew Akari would, and the Avatar wished she reigned instead of Wu. The people of the earth kingdom would be so much better off under her stewardship, but the citizenry was too ignorant to realize that because she was an arranged marriage from the Fire Nation, and old prejudices died hard.
Though she wasn't as well versed in the nature of politics as she knew she needed to be, Kyoshi thought it was wrong and a shameful waste that Akari was forced into a loveless marriage with anyone, much less someone crooked and self-serving as Wu, and all for the reason of circumventing a bloody, destructive war that came anyway.
If that ignorant lout wasn't a king, he wouldn't ever have had Akari in his bed, that much was certain, and with thoughts of what awaited her, Kyoshi reached into her tunic gripping a token given her, a white lotus tile, her lips turning upwards in anticipation of seeing her friend once more.
Having the advantage of being smart, but being the daughter of poor, itinerant farmers without the benefit of a proper education, she was illiterate, unsophisticated, and somewhat ignorant of the ways of the world outside what she'd grown up surrounded by, which was pretty much poverty and mud.
Kyoshi's effortless ability to manipulate the element of her home nation manifested at an early age, though no surprise, her mother's side of the family was full of strong earth benders. As time progressed however, she found that with little effort, she could also summon gusts of wind, water from deep in the common well, and make flames lick from the palms of her hands.
Knowing better than to trust anyone with her secret because she knew she would be taken away from her home, with the exception of her twin, Kyoshi managed to hide her additional talents from everyone, even her parents for years. After it was discovered that she was the Avatar at the age of seventeen by accidentally setting fire to a wagon full of silage with an angry flick of her hand during an altercation with a tax collector, word traveled fast, all the way to the royal court of King Wu.
The penalty for setting a fire to a hayrick in earth kingdom was death, and her parents were terrified the authorities would come for her, but the shire reeve and his deputies were too frightened to arrest Kyoshi and carry out the sentence for the crime. A day later, to the relief of both her parents and the authorities, an exhausted looking royal courier brought an order pardoning Kyoshi and commanding her to appear before the ruler of Ba Sing Se, the largest city in earth kingdom.
Kyoshi didn't want to leave, because when the event occurred, harvest time was looming, her father would need help on the boat too, and her absence would create an even larger hardship on her parents and brother than was there already.
Converse to her feelings of being the unwanted bridge between the spirit and mortal worlds, her mother and father could not have been more pleased. They were simply ecstatic that their child would have a better life than they could provide, and excited that she was summoned all the way to Ba Sing Se to meet of all people, the king, queen, and the royal court.
Supposedly, there was no higher honor, but Kyoshi would prefer having tea with the village idiot rather than waste her time with such trivialities, but then again, she could enjoy Deshi's company anytime she wanted.
In their pride and excitement, the entire village gave money and items for barter they could ill afford to buy expensive silk cloth from the next town over so that a new robe could be sewn for her journey. Her mother and a few of the older women in town labored day and night on the new raiment so it would be ready in time for her trip, and for what Kyoshi was accustomed to, the garment was opulent, practically regal.
Humble, despising the sudden fuss being made over her, and missing the loose, comfortable clothes she toiled in, of course Kyoshi hated the stiff, uncomfortable garment she was required to keep clean, but she wore it out of love for her parents and the sacrifices fellow townsfolk made on her behalf.
In between the discovery she was the Avatar, and the date for her departure to Ba Sing Se, with the help of her mother and father, Kyoshi began to reconcile her fate and weighty role in the world. After much deep thought on the matter, Kyoshi realized that she represented the people and village of Koi; she should do whatever it took to be a good Avatar because it was her duty, and with some thought, realized that she could use her newly discovered status to help her village and parents as well.
When the day came for her to journey to Ba Sing Se, Kyoshi was somewhat ambivalent about the entire affair, but her parents and brother were beside themselves with excitement, and though not invited, they were extremely proud of her.
After two days of slow travel, when Kyoshi finally arrived in the royal court and saw the members of it, she already felt out of place, and that differentiation in class was more than driven home when she was announced to the king, queen, and court.
Though she acted indifferent to the events in the days before her departure, when her chores were done and she was alone at home, Kyoshi practiced what she was going to say to the king for a week, but despite her painstaking preparations, in the end, she was still nervous, and nothing came out the way she wanted.
Blushing over her misspoken speech, when she kneeled in deference of her sovereign, the nobles gathered, most notably the king; snickered and laughed at her tanned laborer's skin, flat, lusterless hair, common speech, simple clothing, and calloused hands garnered through hard, honest work.
Though she bathed and then scrubbed her feet twice at her mother's insistence before leaving, the king had even gone so far as to ask if she'd bothered washing at all before appearing before him.
As a final piercing insult, he wondered aloud if her robe, which the poor townspeople of her village labored so hard on with much pride, had been sewn from a dirty ostrich horse blanket.
While the entire chamber rang with loud, derisive laughter at her expense, homesick, shamed, humiliated, and wishing she could bring the entire throne room down around the king's ears and his rude retainers, somehow Kyoshi managed to control her anger and keep her tongue in check.
As she remained kneeling in the middle of the emerald green and gold trimmed carpet waiting for permission to raise, her outraged, tear-filled eyes found those of the Queen.
When she looked down at her from the throne, Kyoshi expected Akari to either disregard or openly ridicule her just as the king had, but to her surprise and the general shock of the nobles gathered, Akari rose from her throne, and walked gracefully down the steps of the golden dais.
When she reached the still kneeling Avatar, Akari placed her hands on her shoulders asking her to rise. When Kyoshi stood, a princess of the fire nation, and the queen of all Ba Sing Se in turn knelt before her with the utmost of respect, a look of disdain to the side at her courtiers prompting them to follow suit.
The same afternoon, over a lavish tea the king did not bother to attend, with the exception of ladies in waiting to the side, Kyoshi and queen Akari were alone. After a heartfelt apology for the way she had been treated, over the space of a few minutes, her highness made Kyoshi feel comfortable, welcome, and even special as they conversed over varying topics, eventually striking upon the subject of her hometown and family.
When Kyoshi spoke of her mother, father, brother, how she missed them, and the guilt she felt for having to leave them behind, the queen asked to be excused, rose, bowed, motioned to one of her ladies to follow, and left her alone for a few minutes.
Mortified, Kyoshi wondered if she misread the queen's interest in her, or if she became bored with talk of her home and relatives. When Akari returned to her private study with a gigantic smile on her face informing her to expect her parents and brother by the next afternoon and that Koi was being sent gifts in honor of the Avatar, Kyoshi knew she'd found a friend in hostile territory, and the queen earned her respect.
By all rights, when they first met, the queen should not have even been interested in her outside of the kitsch of holding court with someone who could bend all four elements. For some reason however, in the time Kyoshi stayed in the royal palace as she studied with an earth bending master to polish her skills, Akari saw potential in her that Kyoshi necessarily didn't, and wanted to assist her in her journey to become Avatar.
The queen wasn't a bender, so she couldn't help her practice or master any elements, but Akari was perceptive, intelligent, understanding, and most important, genuinely kind. Akari's promise of support was true, and under her patient tutelage, in time, Kyoshi found herself being gently groomed from an ignorant bumpkin from the bowels of the earth kingdom, into an eloquent, literate, well-educated, worldly Avatar that called all the nations home, and represented Earth Kingdom with all the dignity due her position.
If nothing else, the Avatar learned not to respond to crisis with the phrase what in the hell is it now? every time something went wrong, or to openly accuse world leaders who disagreed with her of being shitheads, though in private, Akari informed Kyoshi that her accusations were, for the most part, accurate.
Later, as she spent more time with her, Kyoshi found she enjoyed her highness' company more than that of the king, but she paid due respect to him and his court as expected, tedious as it was.
The king was boorish and concerned with nothing but what could put more gold in his hands or those of his sycophants' from already overtaxed subjects, and though she said she would never participate, he still sought to use her in those same schemes for all the good it did.
At least Akari genuinely cared about the welfare her subjects, and though overall the people of earth kingdom disliked her, it was she who talked the king out of taxing his subjects more. Added to that unseen benevolence, the queen attempted to conscientiously guide the king towards making decisions that benefited people of all classes, not just the nobility and his wealthy inner circle. Akari even tried in vain to convince the king to dismantle the walls that separated the lower, middle and upper rings of the city, telling him it was wrong to differentiate people in such a manner, but of course, he refused.
Unlike the king, the queen could hold an intelligent discussion about almost any topic, and she enjoyed her company whereas during her short visits, the earth king could not rid himself of her presence quickly enough once he had gotten whatever tedious chore he requested out of her done.
Of course, Kyoshi would not visit the grand throne room nearly as much as she did if it were not for her own motives, and if the "glorious defender" knew the truth about the permissive friendship that cultivated between she and Akari, he would most likely bay for their heads.
For all the good it would do.
Despite the fact that she was twenty-three years her senior when they first met, Akari was still a natural beauty, and Kyoshi wished she could have known the queen when she was her age. Through conversation and other more satisfying diversions over the course of their visits, Kyoshi could see hints of the free spirited, happier young woman that once lived behind the queen's now worried amber eyes.
Though they shared much more than anyone knew, at least there was no pretense in their relationship, so there were no fevered promises of endless love, unconditional devotion, or painful tears shed when they parted after her visits to the city. The queen was lonely, and even though Kyoshi did not set out to take advantage of Akari, she felt she had, and guilty about the secret nature of their friendship. Even though the king played no role in those feelings, the queen absolved her of culpability in their affair, assuring that when they took up their diversion she expected nothing, that it was not romantic love, but only enjoyment for its own sake.
Glad that it happened, but still horribly awkward, after an encounter that Kyoshi could not possibly cover as mere chance or with a cunning lie, Akari discovered her attraction to women as opposed to men.
An embarrassing eighteenth birthday present to herself a year ago, the mishap entailed the Avatar falling through the window of the queen's master bath, pulling the curtains down with her, and tumbling head over heels straight into the queen's bathing pool.
While Her Royal Highness was still in it.
Instead of calling the guards, being angry for the betrayal of her friendship and trust with her voyeurism, disgusted with her draw to women, or outing her proclivities in gossip, which would have been disastrous, the queen was gracious and forgave her trespass. In the course of their candid conversation about the remarkable incident in her study, Akari said she understood why she did what she did, that she had done the same in her youth, just not as dramatically, and then confessed the leanings she kept hidden.
Later that evening, the Queen entered her chambers under the cover of darkness, and was kind enough to take the fledgling Avatar under her wing, so to say, and educate her in the finer arts of both giving and receiving pleasure.
Despite the fact that there were no strings attached when it came to physicality, that was not to say that there were not feelings of loyalty, kinship, and mutual respect shared between the two, and though Akari was a thrill to bed, in the end, they were friends more than anything else.
Kyoshi confided in Akari her secrets and concerns with the utmost of trust, and in time she came to rely upon the Queen's wisdom, her formidable knowledge of politics, the histories of all the nations, and how to best utilize those during negotiations with allies and enemies alike.
Given undue credit for her intervention, tens of thousands of lives were saved when a war between earth kingdom and the water tribes was averted due to Akari's wise advice, and not her actions in the matter. Though she conscientiously attempted to give Akari credit for her contribution, no one listened, and in private, the queen said peace between the nations was reward enough, that she didn't need vindication. More often than not, Kyoshi told Akari she should have been Avatar instead of her, that she would do a much better job, but in response, the queen would simply laugh in that delightful way Kyoshi loved, shrewdly telling her that fate chose the correct Avatar, also joking that she had seen her job, and did not want it.
After the half-hearted pomp during her forced visits with the king upon her returns to the city, during quieter moments alone, she and Akari sipped jasmine tea, shamelessly devoured mountains of almond cookies, and indulged in matches of Pai Sho while playing for one another's clothing late into the evening. Therefore, with a smile, Kyoshi thought that there were much worse ways to spend evenings in the ringed city.
Therefore, with the promise of good food, delicious drink, friendship, and something even better awaiting her return, Kyoshi was anxious to get back to Ba Sing Se, but for her brother and his tired pet, she could wait a little longer, it was only right.
After an hour of walking towards the quickly setting sun, Kyoshi and Deshi approached the outskirts of the town that their map and well-worn trail led them to, but before the sight of buildings caught their eye, the stench of a small, overcrowded town hit their noses first.
Deshi was the first to comment, holding his hand over his nose in a futile attempt to shield it from the noxious odor. "Instead of New Yi, they should've named this place Old Ass, because that's what it smells like!"
Kyoshi playfully smacked her brother on the arm lightly as she laughed, her nose wrinkling at both the magnificent descriptive term her brother created and the stink that now wormed its way into her nose.
"Just don't let any of the townspeople hear you talking like that, they might run us out on a rail."
She hated to admit it, but he was right. It made the lower ring of Ba Sing Se smell like sweet sandalwood.
If the smell of the place was any indicator of the condition of the town it represented, it was false advertising, because as they neared, it looked even worse. There were piles of refuse lying in the street, papers, entrails from a butcher shop, rotting vegetables and all manner of animals picking over it, from the smallest pigeon chicken to the largest hippo cow. As they neared, a lizard crow picked and yanked at a long section of thin, pink intestine stringing from a pile of offal nearby, and from the looks of him, Kyoshi thought Deshi just might puke, and was sure she would follow.
Most towns in other land-based nations had at the very least, cobblestone-paved roads for ease of commerce if nothing else, but not here, it seemed this place was over two hundred years behind everywhere else, from the days of Avatar Yangchen. The streets were dirt, but despite the fact that they were in the middle of the worst draught in the last ten years, and the area hadn't gotten any rain as far as they knew, for some inexplicable reason the main street was slick and muddy with water standing in places.
As they neared, all the buildings in sight were in various stages of disrepair, and the post service building, something that was supposed to be the crowning glory of every earth kingdom town and a modern convenience was in the worst shape of all. The boards that made up the exterior walls were once painted a deep emerald green trimmed by rich yellow on the edges, but most of that was sloughed off now, making the exposed, cracked wooden slats look like the sun bleached ribs of a beached, rotting unagi. The sign outside the building that bore the earth king's seal identifying it as the post office hung by only one chain, gently swaying in the summer breeze, looking more like a convicted criminal dangling on a hangman's noose with his neck snapped, than anything official.
Venturing further into town, the twins shared a look, the sideboards were crowded with people, women carrying groceries and babies and men toting the tools of their trades, but no one looked happy, nor offered so much as a smile. Deshi nodded upwards towards a booth they neared. "There's a produce stand, maybe we can get some food there for a good price."
Kyoshi shook her head negatively and whispered with horror as she pointed at the unsavory sight. "Oh, no we won't, look at the state of it!" Deshi took a glance at a piece of unidentifiable flesh with bone sticking out of it and then a closer look, seeing what she meant. The joint of meat had every known stage of the life cycle of the common beetle fly crawling on it, and what insects didn't populate the meat, patrolled rotting fruit in leaking bins below. "Flies seem to be his best customers; let's just hold out for a tavern."
The booth's owner scowled, but said nothing to the two strangers as they passed, and after a few more minutes of walking, they approached what looked like the most busy establishment in the town, which was a good indicator that they had found the building they were looking for, and boy was it nice.
Clotheslines full of women's undergarments hung from the windows and eaves of the buildings, swaying in the smelly breeze like streamers hanging from a holy temple located in the middle of the seventh circle of hell. The sight of a man retching in the alleyway and the sound of a woman's moans emanating from a second story window was a good indicator of what sort of establishment it was and Kyoshi could not help but laugh. "He's either a master bender, or the Ember Island Players need to get her under contract as soon as possible."
"Kyoshi!" Deshi shook his head as he laughed. "Spirits, you ain't right!"
From the looks of the rowdy town, experience told him that this first place they'd come to was probably as nice as they were going to find, but seeking to please Kyoshi, Deshi offered, "You want to try to find somewhere else a little further down the main drag?"
A drunken man tottered near the siblings, belched, and smiled widely as he ruffed his grey, oily looking hair, there was only one tooth left in his head and by the blackness of it, it looked as though he would soon lose it as well.
As Devi bent her long neck and then beak down into a trough to get a drink of brown looking water, the drunkard patted the ostrich horse's haunches roughly. "Good luck on tha', friends, th'as th'only place t'stay in town, and ain't no more towns past this'a one til y'git t'Ba Sing Se, 'bout 'twenny fi'miles ahead." Closing an eye in the attempt to orient himself, he pointed in the general direction of the fabled city as well as he could in his inebriated state. "Ain't no way you're gonna' make it there b'nightfall, and if'fin I was you, I wouldn't try it 'til th'mornin', 'an even then, I'd keep n'eye out."
Seldom did he and Kyoshi meet a stranger who merely wished to grant them aid for nothing in return. People usually wanted something from them for their unsolicited advice, begging it from them at best, or attempting to steal it at the worst, so more than a little suspicious of the stranger, Deshi wondered, "Why is that, friend?"
The drunkard hiccupped and then belched, sending the stench of stale alcohol, and whatever meal he'd eaten, most likely pickled turtleduck eggs, over the air into both Kyoshi and Deshi's noses.
Kyoshi tried not to grimace at the old man who was genuinely attempting to help them, but Deshi cared little for his manners as he fanned the fetid reek away from his offended nose. "There's all kinds'a mean ass critters out there that'll attack ya', like wolf bats, platypus bears, n'shit, but they ain't nowhere near s'bad as them damn bandits that hide along th'trail a'robbin' people. Tha's why this place is uglier than a hog monkey's armpit, no supplies can git'through because them somm'a ma'bitches keep stealin' every shipment a'shit that tries to come in here. Merchants quits a'sendin' stuff, 'cause wha's the point if the stuff jus'git's ripped off?"
Kyoshi wondered, "What about local law enforcement? Shouldn't they deal with the problem?"
The drunkard scoffed. "Th'sherrif don't giv' a'damn 'cause th'bandits pay 'im off t'look th'other way! Can't blame 'im though," He pointed to the town's communal cemetery, it had as many souls lying stiff in the ground as walking above it. "Tried t'git hones'lawboys in here, but they wind up dead right regular, nobody wi'enny sense would even wanna' be mayor a'this shithole." He laughed irreverently.
Kyoshi and Deshi both cut back a laugh of their own when he informed quite seriously, "I can tell y'one thing right now, if them bastards start t'fuckin' w'th'liquor shipments, I'mma' gonna' hunt 'em down, and kill every las'one of 'em m'sef!"
He put a grimy arm around Deshi, and as he looked at the damp, sweat stained armpit of his raggedy tunic, Deshi covered his nose once more as the tear inducing smell of body odor became stronger. "I got me a little money las'week, and was gonna' get me a bottle, but a'bunch'a them bastards ambushed me with swords an'clubs, took my money pouch and clothes from me." To Deshi's relief, he lowered his arm and swept it to the side, but the relief was short lived. "They took everythin' from me but my under britches." The old drunk laughed and slung his arm back around Deshi. "B'live me, they tried t'take them offa' me too, but the joke was on them 'cause there was a lil'extry treasure in them, because I'd done shit in 'em."
"Oh, my gods." The Avatar muttered as she framed her eyes with her hand.
Through the entire encounter, Deshi did not bother to try to contain himself, but Kyoshi found reserve and somehow managed to remain stoic for most of it, but her resolve was cracking.
Observing this, and now determined to make his sister laugh, curious himself, Deshi wondered as he wiped tears from his eyes, "Was the shit in your pants before, or after the bandits robbed you."
As Kyoshi burst out with a loud, cackling, undignified laugh, leaning on Devi for support, the honest drunkard scratched his head quizzically as he looked at her. "Don'rightly remember, I think I might'a been drunk."
Kyoshi took the man's hand and assured, "Please believe me, I'm not laughing at your predicament sir, it's just that you're funny and you tell a story so well."
He waved his hand dismissively and almost fell over, but Kyoshi grabbed his arm before he tumbled. "No'fense taken, missy, I like t'make people laugh, there ain't much of that goin'roun in th'world today, sad t'say."
Kyoshi raised her hands, bowing in a gesture of genuine respect at the wisdom of his slurred words. "You are a wise and noble hobo."
Looking around, Deshi wondered, "Since you seem to be familiar with the area, could you please tell us where the livery is? I need to take my mount there and get her a stable for the night."
He pointed towards the other end of town. "See where all them messenger hawks are a'swarmin'?"
Deshi put the flat of his palm over his brow to block out the setting sun. "Yeah, I see it down there."
The old man smiled. "It's at the end of the road there, son, can't miss it, you'll find it by either b'all th'critters hangin' around, or th'stink."
Kyoshi and Deshi shared a glance, independently wondering how he could possibly smell anything outside the aura of his own breathtaking aroma, but at least he was the first kind person they had met in the entire town, and they were grateful for his help.
"Well, I better get a'move on, it's gettin' late." He patted both the traveler's arms. "You young'uns be careful an'take care of y'selves, alright?"
He turned to leave, but Kyoshi gave Deshi a familiar look, and he reached into the pouch hidden in his tunic that held their traveling money. Plucking out a silver piece, Deshi held it out to their newest friend. "Hold on, sir, we'd like you to have this for helping us."
He turned and reluctantly held out his hand. "Well spirits damn, will ya'lookit that! I di'nt help ya'for a reward, this kinda' thing is sorta' m'job but," The old man embraced Kyoshi and Deshi tightly, much to their dismay, but eventually let them go, gratefully acknowledging, "Thanks fer this, I ain't had a good drink in a couple'a hours."
A man walked by Kyoshi and Deshi, and then tipped his hat to the drunkard. "Good day, Mister Mayor, congratulations on your high rating in the polls. You're doing a great job!"
In return, he lifted his hand and replied, "Howdy! How th'hell are ya'? Thanks fer yer vote!"
Kyoshi and Deshi's eyes widened and they shared a look.
Watching him stumble towards the dilapidated edifice they found earlier, the siblings had missed the faded sign nailed to the front of the building advertising cheap liquor, easy women, and rooms for rent earlier. Kyoshi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index fingers. "I see that once again you've managed to find the sleaziest tavern in all the nations."
Deshi shrugged, actually proud of his latest discovery, if for no other reason, his sister's disgust. "I thought you said the last place was the sleaziest."
Kyoshi examined the crumbling façade of the establishment closer, her eyes widening when a man was thrown through the front doors, face first, into a mud puddle in front of troughs kept to water animals, an accordion following shortly after, playing a wet, discordant note as it splashed unceremoniously beside him. "I hadn't seen this hell hole yet."
Watching the tottering old drunk help the mud covered man up from the wet ground; Deshi rubbed the back of his neck. "Seems they're not music lovers in there."
Kyoshi did not hear her brother's joke though, because across the way she spied a young woman in the alley next to the tavern.
Her back was to them, but the woman's careless laugh at the misfortune that befell the accordion player carried, and though Kyoshi thought it was mean spirited to revel in the hard luck of someone else, her voice was lovely. As she watched the woman dip a rag into a bowl, wringing out already dirty, white looking water, she then began the process of wiping her face again, and Kyoshi made an executive decision. "Changed my mind, this place is just fine."
The raised eyebrow and prurient smile on the young woman's face said it all, but Deshi simply wished to make a confirmation. "Doing some window shopping?"
Surprised that such talk could even fluster his sister now, Deshi had a wicked grin on his face as Kyoshi spluttered while looking at him hard, the threat of a blush looming on her face. Instead of implicating herself and her own desires, she turned on her brother nastily instead.
"Might I remind you, you're the one who spent the better part of a year between the chief's daughter's legs!" Kyoshi's eyes rolled as she swept the back of her hand away from herself. "How you kept it a secret from the chief as long as you did is beyond me, all that moaning you two did during the day and up well into the night!"
Deshi blushed. "It wasn't that bad."
Kyoshi's eyes widened, "You both sounded like two polar bear dogs taking turns screwing a dying otter penguin! It took two pillows and a rolled up pelt to block that damned racket out."
An eavesdropping woman passed by, her haughty nose turned up and disgust clearly on her face. "Well, I never!"
Kyoshi turned as she walked by and retorted saucily, "Really? You should try it sometime!"
Her footsteps quickly trotting away, Deshi disregarded the entire exchange and crossed his arms. "You're just jealous because you couldn't charm her." Kyoshi's eyes narrowed to slits as Deshi shrugged. "I can't help that she was pretty and wanted me for a change."
Kyoshi had to agree. "Yes, I admit, she was a vision, but still," With incredulity, and a surprising account of her own restraint, she added while pointing her thumb at her chest, "Unlike you, even I had sense enough to stay away from that!" She gave her brother a harsh look. "You just better thank the spirits I completed most of my training before we had to run for your life again! Northern water tribe masters have much different ideas about who is worthy to be taught bending and who isn't."
"I'm sure they would've made an exception for the Avatar." Deshi scoffed, "Like you would have tolerated a refusal to begin with." Before she could reply, nodding upwards, Deshi regarded the young woman finishing her ablutions in the alleyway. "Wanna' go half?"
Kyoshi glared at her brother, and then turned her attention back to the attractive young woman in the process of blotting her face dry. "No, I saw her first."
Deshi laughed, "That doesn't count."
She smiled at her brother wryly. "You're right; it doesn't count because I called it first!" Kyoshi smirked, "Besides, why should I be kind? You didn't share last time."
Deshi laughed with a shit-eating grin decorating his face. "I paid for her!"
Kyoshi gave her brother a harsh look. "With our traveling money!"
He held up his hand towards the person in question, referring to the last. "She might not have even been that way."
Kyoshi put her hand on her forehead and sighed harshly, as experienced as her brother was, at times he could still be embarrassingly naive. "She was a whore, Deshi, if gold is in their palm, they'll go either way the coin faces."
Before he could respond, Devi began to push her head into Deshi's back, insistently nipping his shoulder with her sharp beak. "Ow! Okay, okay, girl, I know, I know, yes, I'm going to get you something to eat now." He turned to his sister. "I'm going to the place that old man told us about." Deshi glanced at her, but he could have told her that a purple dragon was flying overhead breathing flaming rainbows and farting golden eggs and she still wouldn't have heard him because she was still distracted by the pretty woman across the street. He waved his hand in front of Kyoshi's face. "I'm going to get Devi looked after." A thought struck him. "When you're done eye fucking that girl, maybe you could see about getting us a room before the place fills up for the night?"
She nodded with annoyance and then waved him away with the back her hand, her attention never leaving the girl in the alley. Deshi figured that his sister had it bad indeed, if she didn't cut back with something snarky after that mouthful. "I'll be back, lovergirl." That time Kyoshi did hear him, but unable to keep her eyes off the fetching girl, she just hoped the finger she gave him was in the right direction so he could see it.
Making sure Deshi was out of sight, then straightening her tunic and running her fingers through her hair, Kyoshi stomped her right foot to the ground, pushing her hands downwards in one fluid movement. Clenching her hands into fists, she forced the moisture in the mud road in front of her to seep deep into the ground, making a dry walkway for her to navigate.
She was about to walk across and introduce herself, but soon as she started, a man appeared from the side door of the tavern. Kyoshi could not quite hear the gist of what they said, their conversation seemed strained, but amicable at first, but soon he began arguing with her. The angry man was nearly touching noses with the woman, their conversation heated quickly, and soon they were arguing loudly until he made the mistake of trying to stand above her while pointing his finger in her face.
Genuinely fearing for her safety, Kyoshi was about to run across the street and intervene, but her eyes widened and the man in the alley bent down in agony when the girl suddenly lashed out. With minimal effort, she grabbed him by the hand and pushed the palm of it towards the inside of his arm with the pressure of her thumb. A common handhold using pressure points, done properly it could subdue anyone of any size quickly, done wrong it could fracture fingers, even a wrist, and it seemed she wanted to break his arm, ultimately settling for making him kneel on his knees in the mud while pleading for release.
After a quick one-sided conversation that seemed to be decided in the girl's favor, Kyoshi's interest was piqued further when the young woman forced his hand away making him fall backwards into the mire behind him, throwing a small pouch onto his stomach.
He accepted it greedily, but as he rose to walk back inside with what sounded like a final admonishment, he hurriedly ran from the hateful woman and slammed the door shut as fast as he could as she angrily flung the basin of white tinged water at him. Barely getting inside in time, the bowl shattered when it hit the door, milky white water splattering on it, and then falling to drench the faded wooden steps below.
Kyoshi was impressed, she had what appeared to be one hell of an attitude problem, but this girl seemed to know how to handle herself, so she didn't need rescuing, and her interest more than piqued, Kyoshi regarded her once more.
She was feisty, just the way she liked them, and determined to make her acquaintance, Kyoshi straightened her back and walked over to her. Nearing her target for the night, if Kyoshi thought the woman was beautiful from afar, she was breathtakingly so up close. Seemingly the same age as she, though a blue, white trimmed kimono wrapped with a black obi concealed her frame, this girl had curves in all the right places, ones that a tent couldn't hide.
From the costume, she might be southern water tribe, and from experience, Kyoshi knew two things, water tribe women were strong and they were beautiful, amazing attributes as far as the Avatar was concerned.
Approaching with confidence, Kyoshi asked her, "Hey, are you okay?" Upon hearing Kyoshi's voice, the woman raised her right hand from the back of her neck, cautiously withdrawing her fingers from the folded edge of her collar. "I was worried that man was going to hurt you, but I was watching, and if he had tried to touch you, I would have been over here fixing the problem." Chivalrously Kyoshi added as she lifted her arms, "With my fists."
"Well, aren't you the hero." The woman said sarcastically over her shoulder, but when she turned to face her, the woman's angry visage was somewhat offset by the slow movement of her head upwards, her eyes starting at Kyoshi's large feet, trailing up her long, well-built body and ending at her face.
Kyoshi hoped that perhaps the angry girl was interested in her as well, but that sentiment was dashed across the jagged edges of her sharp tongue when she stated with judgmental aplomb, "Mother of fuck you're tall!" She scoffed with malice, "Airbenders must ask you to pick fruit for them."
Kyoshi did not hear either insult she had to offer, because when her eyes met hers; forget the voluptuous body, the only thing Kyoshi noticed then were gorgeous, precious, deep emerald eyes, framed by shiny sable hair, hatefully glaring back.
Sure, they looked more pissed than a wet owl cat's, but still, the Avatar was taken with the allure of them and she blurted without thought, "Y-your eyes."
Thinking that she was going to be asked how she got the deep scar over her right eye and cheek again, she spat irritably, "My eyes what?"
Smitten, Kyoshi could only tell the truth as she saw it when she nearly whispered, "T-they're so beautiful."
The woman's eyebrow cocked upwards, her head tilted to the side, and her arms crossed as she asked incredulously, "Spirits, please tell me you aren't hitting on me?" Kyoshi's cheeks flushed and she thanked the gods that Deshi was not there; he probably would have already wet himself laughing at her smooth seduction of this rare beauty.
Kyoshi managed to recover from the discombobulated jackass she felt she was speaking as, and attempted to regain some of her dignity. Pointing towards the door with her thumb, Kyoshi asked with real concern, "Is that man your boss? If he is, he's an asshole. "
"Men are beneath the lowest scum of the earth." Not done by a long shot, the testy woman finished by spitting hatefully and with conviction, "I hate all of the worthless bastards and I wish they were dead!"
Kyoshi's eyebrows migrated as far up her forehead as allowed, but regaining her composure, she muttered more to herself than the other woman, "Okay, so glad I'm not a man in this life…" She didn't know why, but she was nervous for some reason, and rubbing the back of her neck, Kyoshi wondered, "So, um, what's your name?"
Clearly losing all patience with her, her hands firmly planted on her hips, the woman rudely responded, "I'm busy, fuck off."
Nearly over her brief crush on the ill-mannered woman, Kyoshi found her pluck and said with consternation as the fuming woman pushed past her, "Well, Miss Busy, that's either a really nice name, or you're just charming." Changing tactics, Kyoshi generously offered while pointing at the door to her side. "Look, if you're going inside, why don't you let me buy you a drink?" She genuinely observed, "I've been traveling on the road for awhile, and you seem like you'd have some interesting stories I'd love to hear."
The scarred woman indignantly answered, "Blow me!" Scraping the shards of broken pottery away from the steps with the outside of her left foot, Kyoshi watched her prize slip away through the side door, slamming it as she left.
Not to be outdone, her grey green eyes burning, Kyoshi balled her fists as she yelled at the woman through an open window to the side of the closed door with no care for who heard, "I would if you'd let me!"
A wordless response that said it all, the irate woman withdrew her hand from the window before slamming it down, and then she was gone, leaving Kyoshi alone with her thoughts.
Thoughts of how damn beautiful that vision of a woman truly was, despite her corrosive mouth and the fact that she had just given her, the chosen one and bridge between the mortal and spirit worlds, the finger.
Glancing up at the growing darkness, the first hint of stars peeking through the night sky, as shopkeepers began lighting iron framed lanterns outside their businesses; Kyoshi remembered why she was there in the first place and walked into the front of the same establishment to reserve a room.
The bar was the first thing she saw, and the second, behind it, pouring cloudy glasses of warm, skunky ale and burning shots of whiskey, was the discourteous woman who brushed her off so sweetly just moments before.
Briefly, Kyoshi entertained the idea of meditating to ask Kuruk what he would do in this situation, because if anyone knew anything about fucked up woman problems it would be him, but thought better of it and nixed the idea.
She had just enough respect for the Avatar state to know that she really shouldn't be using to get advice on hook-ups, but she did know one thing though, this was not over if she had anything to say about it.
With a smile, Kyoshi studied her another few moments before turning to go inside and speak to the manager of the establishment about reserving a room for the night, and if the spirits and fortune favored Kyoshi that night, perhaps she'd be changing the bedding arrangement to two.