Chapter Two
It was sunset by the time Asami had managed to complete the trip to Air Temple Island and back.
The sun cast its orange glow upon Republic City as its residents started to come alive in preparation for the night.
As she was walking along the streets that were littered with used plastic bags and other garbage, Asami's nose was filled with the pungeant smell of ammonia. It was clear to her that she was along the poorer suburbs of Republic City but she didn't mind. She took the longer route because she didn't want to go back home so fast for she knew that all that was waiting for her was more work and harassment from the shareholders of Future Industries.
"Psst. Hey, Asami!" a hoarse whisper came from the side.
Asami turned to look at a large dumpster. Hiding in it was her good friend Bolin who seemed to be on the edge.
"Bolin? What are you doing there?" she asked, surprised.
"Oh you know, just hanging around," Bolin laughed. "What about you? What are you around this area?"
"The same as you, 'just hanging around'," she teased.
Bolin's face bunched up into a funny frown as he knit his eyebrows at the joke. "Great. Could you do me a favour and look around that corner? It's a blind spot so I can't see from here, but when you do, could you please check if there's a ginger haired, sexy woman within the vicinity?"
Asami raised an eyebrow.
"Just... do me this favour, okay? I would forever be grateful if you did. In fact, I'll give you an autograph and... wait, you probably don't want my autograph, but how about I do a mover advertisement for your company next time?" Bolin offered with the best smile he could muster.
Asami didn't say anything and quickly looked over at the corner and did a quick scan of the surroundings. When she was done, she said, "Nope. Doesn't seem like there's a ginger haired, sexy woman over there."
Bolin heaved a big sigh of relief. Shortly after, he hauled himself out of the dumpster and dusted himself off as best as he could. "Thanks, Asami, I owe you one."
"You don't owe me anything. I'd do that for a friend, anytime," Asami smiled. "But do tell me what you were doing in that dumpster."
Thinking that he could trust Asami not to make fun of him like his brother, Bolin told her about how Ginger was trying to stick to him like a leech and trying to milk his money by going 'shopping' with him, meaning she sees something she likes, she gets it and Bolin pays for it.
"She's a gold-digger!" he complained. "She's like a leech sucking me dry! At least Eska never asked me to buy her anything."
"Well, she did boss you around and make you bow to her and stuff," Asami pointed out.
"Good point, but at least with Eska I can feel the affection between us. Ginger doesn't have any affection. She likes my fame and the potential fortune I could bring her."
Asami's lips formed a slight frown. She said, "Somehow, I doubt there was any affection between you and Eska, but I'll take it at that."
"Ohoho, Asami, I can't let that go. Me and Eska had mutual feelings for each other. Remember how she cried and ruined her makeup because I stood her up during our wedding?"
"Yeah... somehow. Alright, I'm wrong. It seems like Eska really did love you, even though she looked bored and spoke in a monotone the whole time, but I don't see you 'loving' Eska. From what I can remember, the whole time you seemed to be complaining about wanting to break up with her."
"She just has a funny way of showing her love... like... wanting to throw me to dolphin-piranhas... but that's not the point," Bolin argued. He fished out an item from his pocket and showed it to Asami. "When I first saw her at that festival in the South Pole, there was that spark. That love at first sight. And see this?" he showed the item from his pocket to Asami. "At that time, I didn't realise that she just has a funny way of expressing her feelings so I wanted out. I didn't know that she was just like that. I've kept our engagement necklace as a memento even after when I stood her up. I guess I just wasn't ready at that time. Now that I've realised my feelings for her, it's too late."
Asami patted Bolin's back and said gently, "It's alright, Bolin. Maybe you can still salvage your relationship. How about try writing her a letter?"
Bolin smiled, the warm feeling of Asami's hand on his back comforting him. He said, "Thanks, Asami. You're a real friend. I guess that's a good advice. I'll take it. I'll write her a letter tonight and post it first thing in the morning."
"No problem. That's what friends are for," Asami smiled.
Helping Bolin with his love issues seemed to be helping Asami forget about her current worries. When she realised this, she had a flash of inspiration and said to Bolin, "Bolin, I will do whatever I can to help you win Eska back."
"Whoa. Where did that come from? That's amazing, Asami!" he jumped on her and gave her a big hug, smearing her with the garbage lining his clothes. "Words can't describe how thankful I am to have a friend like you."
"I'm glad that you're my friend too, Bolin," Asami said, her mood finally lightening up. Then she thought, "Too bad Mako and Korra don't seem to be as good a friend as you are." This thought, however, remained unspoken.
Night time had fallen but the interior of the main temple in Air Temple Island was brightly lit as Tenzin, his family, Korra and the rest of the air acolytes gathered around the main hall to dine.
Throughout the whole meal, Bumi was cracking jokes and making Jinora, Ikki and Meelo laugh while Pema excused herself to breastfeed baby Rohan.
The glare Tenzin gave his elder brother could kill if he had the ability to ignite people with a stare. Sadly for him Bumi only took this as encouragement as him and Kya further teased Tenzin.
In short, it was a happy time for everyone including the air acolytes who took this time to relax and take a break from a day of hard work.
After a while, Pema came back from her breastfeeding and said, "Korra, dear, do you mind if we stepped out for a minute?"
Korra looked across to Tenzin who shrugged to show that he didn't know what was going on.
Seeing this, Korra stood up and accompanied Pema to the back hall where they could converse in private without the danger of being overheard.
"Korra, dear, I hear things between you and Mako doesn't seem to be going well. Would you mind if I listened and gave you some advice?" Pema asked kindly.
"Oh... um..." Korra was at a loss for words. She knew that her relationship issues weren't a secret but she didn't expect Pema to directly offer her advice about it. "No, I think I can handle this on my own."
Pema smiled and didn't press her. She said, "Well, if you need anything you can always ask me." Then she left to rejoin her family for the rest of dinner.
Korra thought it was odd that Pema would take the initiative to give her love advice. Perhaps Asami had something to do about it? Or was she perhaps overthinking the matter?
A small, tanned girl with long hair held on to a large polar bear-dog about twice her size. She giggled as the polar bear-dog licked her face and couldn't help but scratch the dog's ears affectionately.
Her smile was wide, showing off her teeth - some of which were missing, leaving empty spaces in between those pearly whites.
"Good boy!" she cooed.
The door opened bringing with it a chill from the perpetual winter outside.
A young boy looking very much alike the girl walked in carrying some toys. He said, "Hey Eska, wanna play?"
The girl smiled and said enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement. "Sure!"
The both of them giggled and laughed as they played with the well crafted, very detailed Water Tribe figurines.
"And this is daddy! He's going to be the uniter of the two water tribes," the boy, Desna, declared proudly.
"Yes, and I'm going to be the princess!"
The polar bear-dog barked as rhe door opened once more to reveal a tall man with a medium sized build and graceful, refined facial features. This man was Unalaq, Chief of the Northen Water Tribe.
"Daddy!" the two kids shouted in unison.
The man revealed a smile and chuckled. "Haha, how's my precious two children?"
"We're fine. We've been playing," Desna said.
"Hm?" Unalaq's face turned dark. He pushed Desna away and give him a slap on the face. "What did I tell you about playing with toys?"
"I'm sorry, dad. It's just so boring here with nothing to do."
Unalaq raised his hand once more to strike Desna. "Foolish boy! This is why you're not able to communicate with the spirits! You cloud your mind with irrelevant nonesense such as 'fun,'" he growled.
Eska tugged on her father's sleeves, tears streaming down her cheeks. Weeping, she said, "Daddy, it's not his fault. It's mine. I wanted to play with the dolls."
Unalaq glared at Eska. He scolded, "Play, play, play. That's all you kids ever think of. You, Desna. You can't even communicate with the spirits. And you, Eska, you can't even waterbend like your brother. What a disgrace. My own children only have the same qualifications as that of the lowly Southerners."
He remained silent for a moment before finally saying, "You both have proven to me that I haven't been strict enough with your discipline. As of tomorrow you will both start strict disciplining. You will learn proper manners and etiquette and you will refine your boorish manner of speech. And then you will both be whipped until you can master communicating with the spirits and waterbending respectively." Then he added, "Oh, and all your toys will be confiscated. Along with that infernal polar bear-dog. They only serve to distract you."
And then he left. When he did the world turned black and Eska woke up with a start.
She gasped and inhaled big lungfuls of air, her back was drenched with sweat.
The lights clicked on and Desna walked into the room from the bathroom.
"Having nightmares?" his voice monotonous very much unlike the boy Desna in Eska's dream.
"It is nothing. Go back to sleeping in the bathtub."
"Very well. But before I leave I wish to inform you that a letter from Republic City arrived on express delivery this afternoon while you were in your slumber. I shall leave this here for you to read," he said then he bid her goodnight.
"Letter?" Eska asked herself aloud. Who would write her a letter?
Her curiousity piqued, she dragged her now sweaty body out of the bed and walked with her usual slouch towards the table where her brother Desna left the letter.
There was no sender's address on the letter. When she realised this, she exercised great caution for she had heard before on the news that criminals have been assassinating their targets through poisoned mail and with the growing unrest in the North Pole she could never be too careful.
When she was sure that the letter was safe, she began reading it. When she read the first line, she felt a warm surge immediately flooding her heart. It read:
"My dearest koala-otter,
Okay, maybe after breaking up I don't have the right to call you that anymore, but I just want you to know that I miss you already in the one week that we haven't seen each other.
Asami is helping me write this letter because I can't write. Growing up in the streets, I've never been taught how to. Mako learned how though during his police training. I can't believe he didn't teach me.
So, uh, hi. How are you? I hope you're doing well. I just want you to know that I still love you. I'm doing some movers right now and I hope I can earn enough to visit you soon.
With love,
Your feeble turtle-duck.
P.S. Asami finds my letter too cheesy but I don't care."
A gentle smile crossed Eska's face and the warmth spread throughout her body all the way down to the tips of her fingers. She quickly grabbed a pen and eagerly wrote back:
"To my feeble turtle-duck,
I thought we had agreed that we were just caught up in the moment before we parted. Well, no matter, I have come to accept the fact that you cannot live without me so I will go back on my word of going our separate ways and re-establish our relationship.
I am doing well. The foolish Northerners are giving me and my brother much headaches for their stupidity seems to know no bounds as they try to stir us up into creating another civil war with the South.
I very much would like to do so in an effort to annex my cousin's land. I would like to see her lose her loved ones like how she stole you from me during our wedding. Alas, it is not possible for our lack of military might as well as various other powers keeping us in check.
I hope you are well too.
With... love,
Your koala-otter queen."
When she was satisfied, she called upon a servant and had the letter sent by express post.
A few days later Bolin received a letter while he was having a chat with Asami.
He grabbed the letter and read its origin and shouted excitedly, "It's from Eska! Asami it's from Eska! She replied to my letter!"
Asami laughed and said, "I heard that the first time, Bolin."
Bolin gave Asami a big hug and grinned from ear to ear as he praised her. "Asami, I wouldn't have sent her a letter if not for you. You're a genius!"
"Haha, just go ahead and read it, Bolin. I also want to know what she says."
Bolin quickly opened the letter and hastily read it aloud.
End of Chapter Two
To be continued...
