Author's Note: Here's the second chapter up. I hope you enjoy and please review.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Avatar: The Last Airbender. All rights belong to the writers and creators of the show.
Hadara crawled forward to the bow of the ship and peered out a small hole in its hull and felt relief wash over her as she saw land approaching. After two weeks stowing away on a cargo ship that left from Kyoshi Island she was more than ready to get back on solid ground. She was half starved from surviving on stolen biscuits that tasted no better than sawdust. Leaving the bow of the ship she crawled back under the tarp with the cargo she'd been hiding in the whole journey.
After she had gotten herself back together after Prince Zuko and General Iroh left she'd immediately run to the coast line and hid amongst the rocks along the shore. She had known that once the villagers recovered from the shock of the attack they would come after her, assuming she had sent word to the Fire Nation that the avatar had arrived on their island. She had known when she arrived on Kyoshi Island and was treated with so much suspicion and hostility when they figured out her origins that she wouldn't be able to stay there permanently, but it was still a low blow to have to leave the only real home she'd had in years. It had been hard to leave it behind. However, when she'd seen a cargo ship arrive to pick up what remained of the town's trade she waited for the right moment before hiding amongst the cargo and letting the sailors carry her onboard.
And she was waiting for the right moment now to leave. She knew she had a limited amount of time in which to make an escape unnoticed, and she didn't intend to get caught. She waited patiently for the ship to reach the docks of the town and then for the sailors to come down and unload the cargo. She held on tightly to a plank of the wooden pallet the cargo rested on as it was lifted and carried up onto the deck and then off the ship. She waited a moment to let the sailors walk away from the cargo before crawling out from under the tarp and then began to make her way up the dock towards the town.
"Hey! You!" a deep voice cried out and she spun around to see one of the sailors looking right at her. She'd been caught. Quickly, she tore off down the beach and picked up the pace when she heard the sailor shouting for guards to go after her. The sand made it hard to run, and she stumbled multiple times, but she had a good head start on the men chasing after her, and once she breached the shores and entered the woods surrounding it she quickly lost them. Still, she kept running until her legs gave out and she landed hard on her knees, panting for breath. She closed her eyes and groaned as her heartbeat slowly steadied. She couldn't go into the town now. She'd have to go on, but she didn't even know how far the next town was. And as she looked around her she realized there were no pathways for her to follow. Deciding there was nothing better to do she decided to follow as close as she could to the shoreline as possible. Although she could not see the ocean from where she was, she could still hear the waves crashing on the shore.
Hadara walked on in her chosen direction. She plowed on throughout the day and even into the night. But finally, her strength gave out and she had to stop. She could barely keep her eyes open as exhaustion took over her. The rough terrain of the forest had taken its toll on her, and it didn't help that her stomach hurt from hunger. She was beginning to feel lightheaded and she knew she had to eat soon if she didn't want to starve. Hadara knew enough survival tricks to be able to live in the forest for some time, but it was too dark now to look for any berries or mushrooms to eat. She would have to wait for daylight to get nourishment. With that disheartening thought in mind she was about to give up when she noticed the faint glow of light to her left, and realized with shock that she'd stumbled onto a pathway. The thought of possibly gaining shelter filled her with enough determination to trudge along the path until she reached the place that the lights were coming from.
She stepped into the bright lit courtyard of a humble looking building and glanced around her. The few people milling about the courtyard were dressed in gray and had white headscarves covering their hair. She recognized the building immediately as an abbey. Her presence finally caught the attention of one of the nuns nearby.
"Can I help you, child?" the nun asked. Hadara turned to face her and the nun's face paled. "You're from the Fire Nation! You're not welcome here."
"No, please! I need sanctuary," Hadara pleaded. "I'm a fugitive of the Fire Nation. I mean you no harm."
"You're not welcome I said. Move along," the nun ordered harshly.
Hadara was about to turn away in defeat when another person stepped out into the courtyard. "Sister, what is the meaning of all this noise?" another nun with a more intricate headscarf asked.
"She's Fire Nation, Superior," the first nun replied. "I was telling her to leave."
"But she has asked for sanctuary," the nun superior said. "And we have a room to grant her."
"She is an enemy to the Earth Kingdom," the first nun replied.
The head nun glanced Hadara over with an appraising look before addressing her fellow sister. "She does not seem like an enemy to me," she stated and then turned to Hadara. "Follow me please. The two of us will get your room settled."
"Thank you," Hadara replied and followed her.
"You probably just want to fall into bed, you look exhausted, but I'm afraid we'll have to get sheets on it first," the nun superior told her.
"I don't mind," Hadara replied. "I'd stay awake for days if you needed me to. I'm grateful enough."
"Well, there's no need for you to stay awake that long," the nun superior said. They arrived at a cupboard and the nun pulled out a set of clean, white sheets. Hadara followed her down the hall and into a bedroom. The room was plain, but of a decent size. There was a cot lined up against the opposite wall and a small closet across from that, as well as a dresser on the adjacent to her.
"I trust you know how to make a bed yourself?" the nun superior inquired. "I would help, but I have to attend to another resident who's been ill."
"Of course," Hadara replied quickly, taking the sheets from the nun. "I understand and can manage on my own from here. Thank you." The nun superior nodded her head and had almost left the room when Hadara's stomach growled loudly. Hadara flushed but the nun just smiled.
"Our cook may still be up," the nun superior told her. "Before you put those sheets on why don't you run down to the kitchens? I'm sure Sister Ine could get you some bread and cheese." Hadara thanked the nun again and followed her directions to the kitchen.
Over the next few weeks, Hadara settled into life at the abbey. As it turned out, she wasn't the only fugitive there. There were a few men from a nearby town who were hiding from their town's law enforcement. They'd apparently been involved in a scuffle where someone was fatally injured. According to the men, it had been the other man's fault, but Hadara wasn't sure she believed them. She and the other people at the abbey avoided the men for the most part, only interacting at meal times.
The criminals weren't her only choice for company, though. An old women held residence in one of the rooms. Hadara spent a lot of time with her, helping her mend clothes of the other refugees and fugitives at the abbey and helping her sew blankets that the nuns sent out to the towns around them to provide aid to the young children. Hadara greatly enjoyed the time she spent with the old woman. She was kind and funny and told great stories about her life. Hadara felt sorry for her too. She'd lost her husband to the war when a group a fire nation men raided their village. Her husband had refused to hand over their money and they'd killed him. The next day her only son went off to join the war. For months he'd sent money to her so she could pay for their home but one month the money stopped coming and it never came again. Her landowner had told her she'd have to leave her home, and that was how she ended up here. The saddest part of the old woman's story was that she truly believed her son was still alive. Everyone else at the abbey knew he must have been killed, or at best, been made a prisoner of war, but no one said so to the old woman. No one wanted to take away her hope.
Hadara also spent a lot of time with a young mother and her daughter. They'd lost their husband and father to the war, at this point a hardly original story. The mother had been forced to run to the abbey when an obsessed neighbor began to threaten their lives. Hadara felt the most pity for this family. The little girl was frail and sickly and her desperate mother spent most of her time trying to nurse her to health. Hadara spent a lot of time cleaning their room for them and telling the little girl bedtime stories her mother had once told her so the mother could get some rest.
Even though she was from the fire nation, most of the people at the abbey were accepting of her. It was only a few characters, like the first nun she'd met, that treated her with suspicion and hostility. Hadara though, was much more comfortable her than she'd been on Kyoshi. She'd settled into her own pattern of life at the abbey. She woke up at dawn and went on a long walk along the shore before coming back and freshening up for breakfast. After breakfast she'd sew and chat with the old woman, Widow Mura before doing a few chores for the nuns before lunch. Then she spent most of the afternoon looking out for the young mother and daughter before taking another walk along the shore. After dinner she stayed in her room and meditated. Meditation helped drive off the almost constant anger she felt towards the fire nation for destroying her life. A part of her wanted to go on a rampage of revenge, but she knew that's not what her father would want of her, so she did the best she could to move on from her past.
Today, she started her routine no differently as she slipped on her worn out boots. She grimaced as she found a new hole in the sole. Soon she'd have to go without shoes. She couldn't afford a new pair at the moment. Sighing, she stood up and settled her thin coat over her shoulders before heading towards the courtyard and then the ocean's shore. However, as she reached the courtyard she heard a conversation going on. Curious, she sidled closer and saw a group of men filling the abbey's courtyard. A tall man with darker skin was talking to the nun superior. Hadara guessed he was the group's leader from the way the other men stood behind him. She glanced over the other men. They were strangely dressed in heavy fabric, mostly blue. The weapons she saw on them were basic and crude. Spears and knives that were clearly made of animal bones. Some of the men wore facial paint making them look tribal. She had never seen such men before.
Her attention finally landed on the three men closest to their leader. They were holding another man up between them. Their partner seemed to be gravely injured and Hadara felt a flicker of nerves as she realized fire nation armies could be near. Shifting her eyes back to the leader she listened to their conversation.
"I'm afraid we don't have any more free rooms," the nun superior was explaining. "You'll have to take your man into town. It's only five miles north of here."
"He won't last the journey if he isn't helped now," the leader replied.
"We have no room for him," the nun superior repeated. "I am sorry. I wish we could help you."
Hadara found herself walking up towards the group and saying, "He could share my quarters."
The nun superior gasped. "Child, that wouldn't be appropriate," she said.
"This man needs help, and there's plenty of room in my quarters to share," Hadara insisted. "It would be wrong to turn away a man in such need."
"Well, I'm not sure…" the nun superior hesitated.
"Sister, Bato is a man of honor," the leader of the tribesmen said. "He would never take advantage of the young girl or lead her astray."
The head nun nodded her head. "Then you may bring him to stay," she replied before walking off.
"I'll lead you to my room," Hadara told them and turned back in the direction she'd come from. The leader and the two men carrying the injured man followed her. She grabbed sheets from the cupboard and brought them to her room. "I'll strip my sheets from the bed and give you fresh ones. If you can hold onto him just a little longer."
"Tell the girl to put the fresh sheets in the opposite corner," the injured man wheezed. "I won't steal her bed."
"But you need it more than I," Hadara protested as the two men carried the injured Bato to the opposite side of the room.
The leader of the group smiled at her. "We're all from the Southern Water Tribe. We're used to sleeping on the hard ground," he told her. "Bato will be just fine with some sheets spread out under him."
"Well, if you're sure," Hadara replied handing over the sheets to the leader.
"I'm sure," he assured him. "My name's Chief Hakoda by the way."
"Hadara," she replied.
"You must be part of the Earth Kingdom," Chief Hakoda commented. "The Fire Nation left you homeless, now?"
Hadara glanced away from the man. "Yes," she answered. "The Fire Nation took away my home and family."
"I'm sorry," the chief replied. "You're not the only one here who's lost loved ones to the Fire Nation." Hadara nodded her head and stood around as the men settled Bato in.
One of the men who'd carried him in began looking around the room. "Where's your flint so we can start a fire?" he asked standing in front of the fire pit in the middle of the room.
Hadara glanced quickly up at the man who'd spoken before sending a blast of flames at the pit and setting the logs on fire. "I don't need any flint to start a fire," she said quietly.
"She's Fire Nation!" the other man exclaimed.
The man who'd asked for the flint backed up towards his fellow warriors. "Let's get Bato out of here," he stated. "If we go quickly he might survive the journey to town."
"Don't be ridiculous," Bato's voice cut through the room. "I'm not going to town when I have a place to stay here. Don't be rude. This girl has helped us. She's no threat."
The other two warriors glanced at each other before deferring to their leader, who hadn't said a word. "Chief?" they asked.
"Bato isn't in any danger her," Chief Hakoda declared before turning to her. "Please forgive the actions and words of my men. We've been fighting against the Fire Nation so long it is hard to remember that there are good members of the Fire Nation too."
"Of course," Hadara assured him. "I'm used to it. I'll just leave you to care for him for a moment." The chief nodded at her and she slipped out before heading out on her morning walk, feeling dazed from the morning's events.