A New Day Part 2
Shu walked into the lobby of the "Southern Star Hotel". It was good to feel some earth under him again, even if it was only a thin coat less than a fist deep and it was not like real earth, this was frozen solid.
The lobby although quite large was crowded with people. Mostly Earth Kingdom subjects but also many Water Tribe citizens as well. They all had been drawn by the novelty of the earthen floor. He recognized many of the Earth bending masters, some of them competitors in the Earth Rumbles.
Shu saw the "Stone Monkey" confirming his earlier sighting of him out by the rustic village. Around the "Monkey" was his entourage, but Shu did not see anyone in Fire Nation red this time.
The Masters had one or two students with them, but the 'Stars' had their crowds of assistants and managers and hangers on. Shu thanked Gaia that he had talked the 'Old Man' and his crew out of coming down here with him. Standing on the outside for once, Shu could see that the friends of the stars were only there to get something. Fame, attention, or just plain money was what they all wanted, and the nonbenders most of all. Especially the girls! Shu had to laugh to himself as he saw one group of girls fawning all over the Monkey shivering the whole time. They would have to get their 'Star' to buy them some more practical clothing before they lost important parts of their anatomy to frostbite.
The women stars were no different. Shu saw 'Toph Too' stumbling through the crowd with her group of freezing 'boyfriends' in their skimpy outfits. 'Toph Too' wore a blindfold everywhere. Every earthbender these days trained using a blindfold, Shu had trained blindfolded for years but 'Toph Too' wore one all the time. She only did it as a publicity stunt, trying to show that she was the equal of the real Toph, which she showed she was not by walking into a rather frail looking old master and knocking him to the floor. Her boys quickly got the poor old guy back up on his feet.
There had been a lot of complaints from the real Toph's family about 'Toph Too' using that name, but apparently her name actually was Toph and there was nothing the family could do to stop her from using it. For the last hundred years in the Earth Kingdom one certain name, more than any other, was very popular for girls. Shu had thought it was only true in the Earth Kingdom, but today he had learned that the Water Tribe was the same way.
Shu felt the blood rush to his face as he thought of Katara again.
He pushed the thought away and went to the front desk and asked for his messages. There was only one and it was from the 'Old Man'. Shu didn't know anyone else. There really was no one who would send him a letter.
As the desk clerk handed over the note he said,
"We hope you are enjoying your stay with us sir, please let me know if there is anything at all we can do for."
Find me a nice girl, and a couple of friends, Shu said to himself, but then aloud said,
"No, everything is fine, thank you."
"Excellent sir!" the clerk replied, then asked "I believe sir has heard that there is to be a celebration this evening in anticipation of the naming of new Avatar, complete with a display by master Waterbenders. The celebration is open to all, but the 'Southern Star Resort' has constructed a grandstand for a select few of our 'special guests', such as yourself, sir. Please accept these two complimentary tickets, for yourself and a friend."
The clerk handed the tickets over to Shu.
Shu hesitated before accepting both tickets. He felt a little guilty in taking both of the tickets since he had no friend to go with him, but he was too embarrassed to admit that he had no one to call a friend. He took the tickets and gave the clerk a quick,
"Thanks."
Then the earthbender headed off to his suite.
Shu sat in the hotel's grandstand in the Central Square of the Southern City watching the amazing display of waterbending. Other groups and hotels had set up stands as well. One obviously was popular amongst the firenation, and he was told the stands to his right were where a large group of visiting Northern Waterbenders were sitting. Between the stands and on the sides large numbers of Watertribe men, women, and families stood watching the display, mostly Southerners he was told.
Shu had looked but had not seen Katara in any of the Southern groups. He kept telling himself that he was silly to look for her. For one thing why would she come, and for another if she did and he found her, what would he say to her. She would probably just beat him with her staff, or worse yet, ignore him, after the way they had parted this afternoon.
Shu had seen displays of waterbending before and he had to admit that this was spectacular. The Masters were passing huge streams of water back and forth to each other, in great sweeping turns. To Shu, bending was for combat, for one bender to beat the other. These waterbending displays all emphasized cooperation between the benders, usually by passing from one to the other. It was very pretty but not very interesting.
He remembered the display Hama and, what was his name? Katara's brother. Sokka… that was it. The performance they had done just for fun seemed much more interesting to Shu then all this huge display. The two of them had been working the same object, not just passing it to one another but actually both bending it at the same time. That had been so personal, so intimate, and so in tune with one another, that it put this big display to shame.
This led Shu to think of Katara again.
He could not get her face, especially her eyes, out of his head. Every time he thought of anything it eventually led back to her.
What was wrong with him? He had only met her once. He didn't even know this girl, except to know that she was, smart, beautiful, and a lot of fun to be around. Stop that! He told himself. And she was not even a bender. He could just imagine what his father would say if he brought a non bender home as a girlfriend. The 'Old Man' would have a fit. Thinking about that made him smile. Shu would love to give the old man a few fits every now and again.
Shu remembered that the great Toph herself eventually married a non bender.
Married? What are you thinking? The teen asked himself, a little frightened at where his thoughts were taking him. Besides Katara had told him she had never wanted to meet him again.
The sound of applause broke Shu out of his reverie. He almost stood up to pose for the crowd before he remembered where he was and what he was doing. He looked out onto the open square and saw the waterbenders bowing to the crowd. Shu joined in the applause, then, as the benders walked off the stage, he began to gather up his two "complimentary" sacks given him by the hotel. The sacks were for the "guest" and his "friend", each contained a program, a blanket to sit on, a spy glass to watch the show with, and a snack box filled with snacks and goodies from all four nations.
Shu had only taken the blanket out of the one bag and had left the other bag and everything else untouched. He was about to stuff the blanket back in the sack when he heard a distant but sharp "Crack" from the stage area.
Everyone else had heard it too and there was much looking and talking as the crowd resumed their seats and turned their attention back to the open area of the square.
There was a young woman walking out onto the stage area. In her hand was the end of a long strand of water, which she was whirling over her head. Whenever she sent it out in front of her it produced a loud "crack".
A water whip Shu told himself. He had seen them before but he did not know you could actually crack them the way you could with a leather whip.
There was something familiar about the woman. Shu pulled the spyglass out of his bag and looked at her. It was Hama, Katara's friend. Looking through the telescope he saw down by the side line I am not looking for Katara. He told himself defensively, but, to his delight, he found her in the front of a crowd of young watertribers. She was holding a heavy coat and was taking another from her brother Sokka.
Shu could see Katara say something to Sokka then grab him and kiss him on the cheek. He then turned and began to run out onto the open area where Hama was. He produced a water whip of his own and as he raced past her he began to crack his in the air as well.
The two of them began to circle and leap around each other, each cracking their own whip, each whip growing in size as they whirled it through the air.
Most benders would pick a spot and stay there when they were bending. It was very difficult to move while bending but Sokka and Hama were bending and running, leaping, and diving around each other while still controlling their whips. This was an amazing display of skill.
At some point, Shu was not sure when, the two of them had taken hold of the end of the others whip. Now they were bending the same two whips in unison, while still circling, and leaping around each other. He heard intakes of breath and murmurings amongst the waterbenders in the grand stand to his right. This was something unusual even for them.
The whips, which had been entwining with one another, suddenly left Hama's and Sokka's hands, the water flew up into the sky and then reversed and dove down into the ice floor of the arena. As the water touched the floor a massive column of ice shot up into the air.
Shu looked to the two benders and saw the form they were using to raise the ice column. That's earthbending! He told himself. He knew that form, he used it all the time and it was definitely a power lift earthbending move. There was a loud hubbub among the earthbenders in the stands Shu was in. He was not the only one to see the earthbending move, and from the sounds and looks coming from the stands to his right the Northern Waterbenders had seen it too and where not happy about its use in waterbending.
The ice column rose about a hundred strides into the air and then shattered into myriad shards of ice and water. Sokka appeared to be controlling the water and Hama the ice. The two forms of the element flew apart and began to circle the arena diving into and through one another, until they rejoined above the center and began to circle each other. The white ice and the dark blue water formed a circle as they moved. The water had a piece of ice in it and the ice a pool of water. The two circled each other forming the Yin Yang of balance. Shu saw that Sokka and Hama where also moving closer to one another as they bent each half of the circle. The circle, they were bending, became the duplicate of a half moon in the sky, one half dark and the other bright white. The moon then slowly set in the crater left in the center of the arena slowly filling it until the stage was whole and level again, and Hama and Sokka were standing next to each other on the stage.
The audience sat quietly for a moment then someone started to applaud and everyone joined in. Shu was on his feet clapping his hands as hard as he could. Now that was real bending. The only ones not clapping and cheering were the Northern benders. They were not well pleased with the performance, but the Southerners down on the floor where making as much noise as everyone else.
Shu grabbed up his gift sacks without even bothering to pick up the blanket he was sitting on and started to rush down onto the arena. He wanted to congratulate Hama and Sokka personally. He could see that Hama had her arms around Sokka's neck and he had his arms around her waist and was swinging her around in celebration of their performance.
By the time Shu reached the floor the pair were surrounded by a throng of admirers from every nation. He worked his way through the crowd and when he finally got up to Hama she was talking to a woman dressed in fire nation red.
"I thought you were going to throw lightning for a second there." The firebender was saying as Shu approached.
"Oh, you mean that move when we shattered the ice column? My friend Katara taught us that form." Hama, glowing with happiness, smiled and replied.
She turned and saw the blind girl standing off to the side. Hama took a step and caught hold of her friends arm and pulled her into the conversation with the woman.
"This is Katara, she is the one that came up with all the special forms we used." Hama explained, "She came up with the whole routine really."
"I didn't invent anything, just adapted existing forms from other bending disciplines to waterbending, and it really was all three of us that came up with the routine." Katara under her burden of the heavy parkas looked embarrassed and said.
"Don't be modest, it was all your idea, Oh dear… let me take those your falling over under those parkas" With that Hama took one of the heavy coats from Katara and looking around for some help saw Shu standing nearby.
Their eyes locked for a moment, and Shu felt that ice daggers might soon be imbedding themselves in his chest. Then a malicious little grin came to Hama's lips as she said,
"Here, make yourself useful Mr. Master Earthbender"
Hama threw the coats at Shu who caught them awkwardly but was able to hold onto them after a short struggle.
The firebender bowed to Katara, Shu noticed that Hama touched her friend's arm and Katara bowed in response.
Amber eyes looked Katara up and down and a half smile came to the lips of the firebender as she said, "Well it was a wonderful performance. Where did you learn all the firebending moves?"
"You just pick things up over the… " Katara seemed to be stuck for the right word for a second, and finally finished with "years."
"My name is Pam Li, I can't stay, my employer will be getting impatient to leave. She is the one in pink" the woman in red said, pointing to a young woman standing off to the side, who did indeed look a little irritated that her servant was not ready to leave. "If you are ever in the Fire Nation Capital please look me up. I think the two of us could do great things together."
Pam Li gave Katara another appraising look, which Shu was not sure he liked, then bowed and walked over to her pink employer.
Shu stepped toward Katara but Sokka came over from the other side of her and took her arm saying,
"Katara, I want you to meet Monk Lobsang. He has some questions for you."
Shu saw a tall older man in monk's robes with blue arrows tattooed on his hands and shaved head step up and bow to Katara. He saw Sokka touch her arm the same way that Hama had earlier. Katara bowed to the airbender. As he watched her bow, Shu realized that Katara was not using the normal watertribe bow but was mimicking the monk, using the same form he used. Thinking back he remembered that when she bowed to the firebender she used the firenation form. How does she know what form to use and where did she learn all the different forms? He asked himself. She really is a very unusual girl. He told himself.
Hama started for Shu but was intercepted by a number of people of all the nations congratulating her on the performance. She was very gracious to each of them but kept shooting angry looks at Shu whenever she had the chance. Shu waited, holding the heavy coats, he saw Sokka and Katara talking to the airbender a little farther along. So… He mused, not only earthbending and firebending forms but airbending forms as well. They were an amazing pair, from what Hama had just said, an amazing trio.
As the crowd of "congratulations" and "great jobs" thinned Hama was able to come up to Shu. With angry eyes and a tight quiet voice she asked him,
"What are you doing here?"
"Nothing" he said in his most innocent voice, "I was just hear for the exhibition…" he trailed off.
Hama grabbed her parka and pulled it on. When she finished she looked at him with feigned surprise and asked,
"You still here?"
"Still have this coat" he replied.
"Sokka!" Hama called out angrily, "come get your parka!"
Sokka excused himself from a master earthbender and with Katara in tow came over to Hama wondering what he had done wrong this time.
"You!" Sokka blurted out when he saw Shu standing there. He violently grabbed his parka out of Shu's arms, and threw it onto the snow. Sokka then took an aggressive forward stance, fists at the ready.
Shu seeing the look in Sokka's cold blue eyes tensed himself for violence. He dropped the two sacks he was still holding and moved into a defensive stance. Hama seeing this, joined the party taking a back stance with her hand ready to pull up a water whip from the ice beneath her.
"Fire Flakes?" Katara's question cut through the tension between the three benders.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"I smell fire flakes, does someone here have fire flakes?" Katara quietly asked.
Hama and Sokka startled, broke their stances and turned to Katara.
Hama asked "What are fire flakes?"
"Fire flakes are these great, fried, spicy, meat…, well skin really, at least I think they're skin…" Katara became more and more introspective as she explained, as if she were trying to recall a distant memory.
"They sound disgusting!" Sokka stated, then, in a confused tone asked, "When did you have fire flakes?"
"Oh I haven't had them in… forever it seems" she mused.
There was a tone of longing in her voice. Then she seemed to sense the look of suspicion on Sokka's face and tossed off,
"It must have been that trip we took to Kyoshi a couple of years ago." Then with animation and desire she asked, "So who has them and more importantly, are they willing to share?"
"There may be some in these snack boxes" Shu said breaking his stance.
He picked up one of the sacks and held it out.
Katara turned to the sound of Shu's voice and a series of expressions ran across her face. Shu was not sure of all of them but he definitely spotted hurt and anger in amongst them. Her face settled on a bemused look and her right shoulder rose and she tilted her head towards her shoulder, it was as if her whole body took on a half shrug. Shu found it quite endearing, Stop that! He told himself. She's just too cute! He answered himself.
"He's back!" Katara said with a sigh and then plastered the large fake smile on her face she had used before. "Has he really got fire flakes?" she side mouthed to Hama.
Hama gave a double take to Katara, and then with a nasty look to Shu, she took the sack from him.
"I'll see" The waterbender told the blind girl.
Hama began to rummage around in the sack.
"There is a metal tube…" she pulled it out and handed it to Katara, who felt it, then extended it to its full length.
"A telescope!" Katara announced "Why just what I needed, how thoughtful". She handed it off to Sokka.
"Another metal tube thing" Hama said as she handed something else to Katara.
Katara took it, examined it with her hands, then smelled the top and pronounced, "A thermos of hot tea, Gunpowder I think." She then tossed it to Shu who caught it.
Shu was surprised by all this. For one thing he was used to being the center of attention in any group he was in. He was the current earthbending champion after all, but these three ignored him half the time. He had always told himself that he wanted to be treated like a normal person not like a star but when these three water tribe teens did, he missed the attention he was used to. Be careful what you wish for He told himself.
The other thing Shu noticed was how deft Katara was at handling the items passed to her, and how gracefully she maneuvered her staff to free both her hands. Shifting it from the crook of one elbow to the other, or catching it against her shoulder, or up against her long beautiful neck. He caught himself and physically shook himself to break that line of thought.
Hama had pulled a large square lacquered box out of the sack and dropped the now empty bag on the snow. She pulled the top off and with evident curiosity examined the contents. The box was divided up into four equal sections, each section contained paper wrapped bundles. The paper in each section was of the same color. The first section used green paper, the next with orange, then blue, and finally red. She held it up for Katara.
Katara sniffed the contents and a look of childish delight filled her features. She began to touch and sniff each packet in each section. She started in the green quarter.
"Cha shu bao", she smiled and then "Fried noodles, and let me see… ooooh plum sauce" she said as she tapped a sealed porcelain wide mouthed jar. "Honey peanuts" she crooned in the orange section, "and, oh you'll like these Hama, cinnamon almonds" She opened the bag and after a second of searching found Hama's mouth and inserted something into it.
"Mmm?... mmmm… MMMM!" was Hama's response.
In the blue section she pulled out a long rectangular paper wrapped bundle and tossing it to Sokka called out,
"Seal blubber jerky!"
Sokka caught it, tore it open and pulled out one of a number of long, white, nasty looking strips. He grabbed the top of it in his teeth and then pulled a wide bladed ivory skinning knife from his belt and expertly cut off the section in his teeth a mere hair's breadth from his nose. He began chewing vigorously and pronounced it,
"Good!"
Katara then moved to the red section and found a bag and pulled it out declaring,
"Got you". Then she opened the bag and took a good sniff of the contents.
"Oh no…" she wailed. "These are mild."
She reached back into the box and searched until she found a small paper envelope.
"Yessss!" she cried in triumph.
While still holding the envelop Katara gathered the top of the fire flakes bag to her mouth and inflated it. Then she took the small packet and dumped the contents into the bag. She then carefully folded the top over capturing the air in the bag. She shook the bag to spread the contents of the spice packet evenly through all the fire flakes.
Katara opened the bag and sniffed again. A look of ecstasy swept over her face.
"Now those are fire flakes" The blind girl declared.
She began to reach into the bag but stopped herself and with a shameful look she turned her attention towards where Shu was standing.
"I'm sorry" she apologized to him, "I've been incredibly rude, all this is yours' please have some."
"No, no" Shu answered her, "please you first!"
Katara did not offer again. She reached in and pulled out a handful of the flakes and stuffed them into her mouth. The look of ecstasy returned as she chewed them. "Nommm, mummm, hummm," was all she said.
Hama put down the box, as the bag of flakes was passed to her, she took some and passed it on to Shu, and so on to Sokka and then back to Katara who took another small handful and passed it on.
Shu had never had fire flakes before and he found them not that spicy, and he liked the crunchiness of them. Then he noticed a burning on the back of his tongue which kept growing. These things are hot. As the bag came back to him he had some more. The burning moved forward and he felt his lips start to heat up.
He noticed that Katara's lips where becoming redder and redder as she finished the last of them, and licked her fingers. She has really nice lips.
"That was good" Katara commented licking the last of the spices from her fingers. "The last time I had fire flakes was when…" her voice faded away as the memory overtook her.
Hama looked to Katara and saw her face was flushed and tears were coming into her eyes. Hama wondered what memory the fire flakes had brought up for Katara to react that way. Embarrassed for her friend and teacher she looked to see what Shu's reaction was to this unexpected vulnerability. Shu was standing staring at Katara, a half smile being replaced by a look of real concern.
Hama suddenly had an idea. She was not sure if it was a good idea, but it was one she hoped would be a good one. She looked to Sokka, who had bent up a chunk of snow, liquefied it and was spinning it up over his head to purify it. This was something that Katara had taught them, it was a way to make drinking water when they needed it. It was an airbending technique that Katara had adapted to waterbending for them. The spices had obviously gotten to Sokka.
"Sokka!" Hama said sharply.
Surprised Sokka lost control of the water that began to fall onto his head. Hama was ready for this and took up the bending and brought the globule down safely to Sokka's mouth. While she was doing this she said. "We have that… ah… thing we have to do."
Sokka took a bite out of the water and then nearly choked on it.
"What thing?" he asked.
"You know, that thing we said we would do with those people" Hama replied. She then sent the water over to Shu who swallowed it down.
Hama walked over to Sokka's parka, picked it up and tossed it to him.
"We need to get going. Katara, sorry to abandon you but you would just be bored by these people. Do you think you can find your own way back to the village?"
"No problem, just point me in the right direction." Katara replied.
Shu saw that the "party" was breaking up. It was time for him to return to his empty hotel room, rooms he corrected himself. He put the partially pilfered snack box back into its bag then had a thought.
"If you are meeting people why don't you take these" The earthbender said, offering the bags to Hama.
"Thank you very much" Hama said as she took the bags.
Then giving Shu an odd look she asked,
"Master Shu, or I should say Champion Shu, would you be so kind as to help Sifu Katara find the path back to our village?"
"Sifu?" Shu asked puzzled.
"Katara was our first waterbending teacher" was Sokka's sullen reply to the question, he sounded as if he was expecting an argument.
"We have other teachers" Hama explained "but Katara was our first and continues to be our best teacher."
"If you go up to the main road there" Hama said pointing, "then turn left, that will lead you to the side gate and the path to our village. Thank you so much for the snacks and for helping our friend and teacher. Come on Sokka." She finished as she took hold of Sokka's arm and pulled him away in the opposite direction.
"Bye" Katara said waving in the direction of Hama's voice.
There was an awkward silent few seconds between Katara and Shu before she said,
"Thank you for the offer but it is very late and you probably want to get back to your hotel and get some sleep before tomorrow. You don't need to walk me to the gate, just point me in the right direction and I will be fine."
"No, no I can't just leave you here by yourself, and I really have no place to go. Please let me help you."
Katara thought for a moment then said,
"Thank you, that is very gallant of you." She held out her left hand.
Shu stepped up and folded her hand into the crook of his elbow and the two of them began to walk to the main road that had been pointed out by Hama.
As they walked Shu was continually distracted by the feel of Katara's arm in his. Occasionally their hips would touch or her arm would press against his side. These little physical contacts between them would cause his heart to skip and his cheeks to heat up. Shu did not understand why he was reacting this way. He had walked with any number of girls before but for some reason walking with Katara was different.
Finally Shu said, more to distract himself from the total distraction that was Katara.
"I don't know how you can get used to the sun always being up. I know it must be very late but in the daylight it doesn't feel late."
"I've been here for fourteen years and I am still not used to it" Katara answered. "The winters are worse with the sun not coming up at all for more than a month."
Shu looked to Katara and saw a wicked little smile on her face. Then he realized his mistake.
"Sorry." The earthbender said.
"S'ok."
Shu was silent for a time, wondering what it would be like to live in perpetual night, without even the moon and stars to comfort you. He had practiced blindfolded but even then he had earthbending as a means to see. Katara did not even have that consolation.
That lead him to ask,
"They call you Sifu Katara?"
"Actually They call me Crazy Katara, or the Night Witch. Only Hama and my brother call me Sifu and they just do it to be nice."
"But they both said that you had taught them waterbending. How can you teach bending without being a bender yourself?" Shu wanted to know.
"It's not as if I actually taught them how to bend, well I did, but not in the way you might think." Katara tried to explain. "Bending is in two parts, one is actually feeling the element you are bending on a spiritual level, which I can't do. The other part is the physical movement, the form, or kata, that you use in actually bending the element to what you want it to do. That part, the form, the movement part, I can learn, and I can teach that part to someone else."
"Here" Katara said as she stuck her staff into the snow on the side of the road and moved behind Shu.
She grabbed him by his biceps then muttered,
"Penguin feathers you are big, this is not going to work."
She then lifted up his right arm and ducking her head, stepped over his leg, and stood up in front of him, her back to him and her head rising to just under his chin.
Shu could feel the softness of Katara's hair as it brushed against his chin. The smell of her hair filled his brain, and he could not think for a second. Then she shifted her shoulders and he felt them against his chest. His heart stopped then started up again in triple time. He felt the blood rush to his face.
Katara told him,
"Ok, hold onto my wrists so you can feel how I am moving."
Shu just stood there, thinking how nice it would be to circle his arms around katara's waist, when she gently poked him with her elbow and said,
"Hold my wrists."
Shu complied taking a gentle hold of Katara's wrists, he did not want to hurt her, she seemed so small compared to his bulk.
Katara began to move, matching her movements to her words as she explained.
"For example in earthbending if someone sends a rock at you, you can block it"
She shifted into a deep forward stance and moving her left arm up and her right back came up into a classic earthbender block. Shu still holding onto her wrists followed, mimicking her movements, although with her close proximity it was almost impossible to concentrate on the form she was showing him.
"Or you can catch it and discard or return." Katara illustrated this with the proper forms. "But if you want you could incorporate a waterbending move and bend it at the same time as your opponent and send it back to them."
She then put her arms out in front of her then he felt her shift her weight to the left as she swung her arms to the right turning her body and stepping back with her right foot then swinging her arms up over her head and leaning back into him, completing the turn a full 360 degrees swinging her arms down and to the front again.
Shu followed her movements as Katara made them. He felt very awkward and clumsy as he tried to follow her. Her movements were so easy and natural. As she leaned back he felt her hair and then her cheek brush against his own cheek, and although he could not believe that he could blush any redder then he already was he managed somehow.
"And you can then reverse the movement" and Katara began it again in the opposite direction. "It takes equal or greater energy to block or catch something" she explained "but you can deflect it with very little energy, without losing any of your opponent's energy, and you can use his energy against him, while adding your own speed and power to it."
Katara made Shu follow her three more times, and then announced,
"Now your turn. I'll hold onto your wrists and you do the movement."
Shu tried to do the form as she had taught it.
"Good for a first try." Katara said "But you need your whole body to move together or else you will lose focus and you won't be able to control the element. Try again."
After about a half an hour of Katara's instruction ("foot work, hands, everything is connected, it all begins and ends with footwork") She was satisfied with his form.
"Good!" She said. "Now practice that every day for half an hour and you will get it."
She then let go of Shu's hands and stepped out from his arms and retrieved her staff.
The young earthbender had had a lot of training sessions but none like that. If he could focus on the form with Katara standing that close to him and holding him or he holding her, he would have no trouble keeping his focus in a fight. He was amazed that she was totally oblivious to the effect that she had on him. To her it was just a training session, nothing more.
Katara linked her arm in his and asked,
"Shall we be going?"
They walked on through the side gate and onto the beginning of the path to the village.
"Well thank you for getting me this far, it was very nice of you to take the time and trouble." Katara said, and then held out her hand to him.
"Thank you for the lesson, it was very interesting." Shu said as he took her hand. Kiss her hand. He told himself, but instead he shook it.
"Goodnight" he added.
"Good day" Katara said with a smile as she took her hand back, turned and using her staff to find the path began the journey back to her village.
Shu watched her go. He thought of the empty suite at his hotel, and the importunate messages from his father that would inevitably be waiting for him. He looked as Katara walked down the path, she seemed a very lonely figure moving away from him. It was very late now and they had not seen anyone else during their entire trip.
Shu could not just leave Katara to walk all the way alone. He ran after her calling,
"Katara, wait for me".
Katara stopped and waited for him to catch up.
"You don't have to stay with me, I'll be fine, I can take care of myself." She told him.
"I know" Shu said, "but I… I want to."
Katara could tell from his voice that Shu's admission had not come easily to him. She again linked her arm with his and the two of them walked down the path together.
Walking along with Katara was just the best time Shu had ever had. Even better than the snow ball fight. They talked and laughed and were quiet together. The feel of her next to him gave him a great feeling he could not explain. Just knowing that she was there with him made him feel alive and complete for the first time in his life.
To be continued.
Disclaimer : "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.
Comments: These characters are worse than cats. I can't control them, they go where they want when they want and say what they want.
Thanks for reading.
All comments welcome.
