Chapter 2

The City

If there was an equivalent of hell in such a world as Shesh moved rather unconformable in the rather cramp space Korra and her so called mutt decided to pick. No doubt there was a much better way to do this, though hitching a ride on the first boat to Republic city was no doubt the simplest. Shesh grumbled just loud enough for her younger sister to hear.

"I swear...if I smell like wet fur..." Shesh's voice trailed off as Korra sighed, it was probably not best to reply to such a comment, though another thing was in the young Avatar's mind.

"Shesh...why didn't you say goodbye to mom and dad?" Since they were both stuck in a cramp ship with no where to go, it was the best time to ask such a thing.

After all, before Korra left, she made it a point to stop by their parents house just so she wouldn't up and leave. However Shesh simply refused to go in, in fact, Shesh made it a point to tell Korra not to even bring up the fact that Shesh was going with her.

The older watertribe girl remained silent for a moment, perhaps no matter what the answer she would give, Shesh knew Korra would question it. "...It would have been pointless right? I'm an adult, so it would have been a waste of time for me to tell them where I'm going or what I'm doing. It's not they care anyway right? Ah...but then again, you're just going to say something like 'That's not true at all!' Now to you,"

"That's not true at all...!" Korra eye twitched as she realized that Shesh predicted what she was going to say, then again it wasn't a very hard thing to do. At least not with Korra as Shesh laughed to herself.

"Hah, I'm not sure if you are just oblivious or naïve, but I was pretty sure I were clear about our relationship, or rather our lack of one. Don't try to start a conversation now, we all know how it ends, and the only reason you are doing this is because you can't air bend. None of what you do has anything to do with me, I don't want to have any part of your freaky life. Though I doubt someone like the Avatar needs me anyway," Those words had a surprisingly large amount of venom in them as Korra simply glared at her sister.

If it was not for Naga's snoring one could confuse the scene for a stare down, oddly enough Shesh returned the glare with a rather uncaring stare, and for whatever reason such a look was far more hurtful than any rage filled look that Shesh could have given.

"Whatever..." It was a blunt reply as Korra simply turned around, her head still on her Polar Bear dog as Shesh grumbled. It was a nagging feeling in the back of her head as Korra remained silent. It was strange, after all, Shesh wanted quite but...

"Bah! Who cares how she feels, in the end she'll just have a bunch of people tell her how amazing she is," Shesh grumbled as she closed her eyes, her nose still itching from the fur...she really hated animals.

It must have been a few hours, or perhaps more as Shesh felt something heavy moving on the back of her head. The ship itself let out a rather loud noise as Shesh's eyes slowly opened, it seemed that Korra was shaking Naga awake as Shesh got up. No words were exchanged between the two sisters as Korra smiled at Naga.

"Hey, we made it!" No doubt Korra was talking to the Polar Bear as Korra slung the saddle over the back of the beast before jumping on, Shesh followed as she jumped on the saddle behind Korra before the large beast hurried to the deck. Korra smirked as she looked at the current captain, no doubt the man was shocked half to death as Korra opened her mouth to speak. "Thanks for the ride!" Shesh sighed as the large Polar Bear Dog known as Naga charged towards their unknown destination deeper into the city.

It was amazing to say the least, large buildings lined the horizon. Even Shesh was surprised by the sight, which was odd since it wasn't the first time she had been to a city, though at the same time...

Shesh turned to Korra and scoffed, "If' I'm surprised then she's probably amazed..." Shesh really didn't care much about her younger sister's life, but as she recalled Korra never really left the South Pole, nor did she actually have a lot of friends in the south. In fact...Korra didn't have any friends, at least none her own age.

"Meh, it's probably because the worthless White Lotus didn't want her distracted or something...idiots, not like I care about what Korra does or anything..." Shesh grumbled, it was an odd emotion as the two girls took in the sights of the large standing statue of the famed Avatar Aang.

The sight had more weight on Korra than Shesh as the older sister simply took a deep breath. Shesh knew who Avatar Aang was, almost everyone in the world did. Despite that, Shesh really wasn't interested in looking for information about a dead guy. It seemed that all the people around her was so interested in living in the shadow of a dead man that they couldn't even think properly, but then again...

"None of that is my problem, they can do what they want, as long as they stay out of my way I'll return the favor," Speaking of staying out of the way, it seemed they had arrived at a rather large metal bridge filled with...rather odd looking machines off in the distance there was a large temple structure. It was at that moment Shesh jumped off of Naga, causing Korra to halt her pet.

"What are you doing?" Korra asked, still on Naga, who seemed rather hungry at the moment.

Shesh simply scoffed at the stupid question, it seemed Korra forgot a simple thing. Something Shesh made sure to state before they even left the North Pole. "I didn't come here to waste time with you, I have other things I want to do, I was just sticking with you until we got to the city...and well, we're in the city," Shesh started to walk away, there was no reason to stand in the middle of the street like an idiot.

"Wait! What about my Airbending?!" Korra brought up a good point, after all Korra didn't know the cause of the block, repairing the relationship might have been the way to do that...or at least the first step. Though Korra's sister had a blunt response.

"Sounds like a personal problem," Those words escaped Shesh's lips as Korra eye twitched, this of course caused Korra to jump from Naga and rush towards Shesh. After all the distance between the two was rather wide now.

"What's your deal, I've been trying to be nice to you since we got here and all you do is treat me like dirt...you have to help me with this!"

Have...that was an irritating word, at least when used in the context that Korra was using it in, as Shesh eyes narrowed. The more she thought about it, the more irritated she got at Korra's word choice.

"Have...I don't have to do anything, you might be chained down by a stupid title, but I'm not," Shesh pointed that out before letting out a shrug, as she turned away from her sister, walking down the rather crowded street. Korra no doubt wanted to add something, but she felt Naga nudging her back, there probably wasn't any need to say anything else.

Korra was already getting all the attention and all of the fame. Why should Shesh allow herself to get wrapped up in all the hard parts without any of the perks, it didn't make sense. Why get wrapped up in a complicated mess for no reason other than the fact that Korra was the Avatar.

As Shesh walked down the road of the giant city she realized Korra already vanished from eye sight as she smirked.

"HA, now that she's out of my hair...what should I do first?!" There was a rather large amount of shops and places the Watertribe girl could have visited, however, that part of the trip was dashed when Shesh realized that she didn't bring any money with her...or rather not any usable money.

Shesh tapped her lip as she crossed her arms, not realizing she was thinking in the middle of the road. Well not until a rather loud noise caught her attention, it sounded like a horn of sorts as Shesh winced. In all honesty, this was the first time Shesh saw such a machine up close, though she wasn't going to risk taking another look as she quickly left the road and got on what appeared to be some sort of safe zone.

"Man this place is already annoying..." Shesh had no idea how the machines worked, nor was she interested in finding out what they did...all Shesh knew is that they were going fast and being hit by one would probably result in a bad day.

"Well...I need money to pay for things, and the only thing I've got on me is..." Shesh touched the canteen attached to her belt, she decided to bring a metal one rather than a skin, it was simply more natural. Even if it was harder to bend water from out of the metal can.

Back in the South Pole, Shesh never really needed money, most of the time she either fished for herself or traded the fish for some clothing. She understood to get a service one needed to offer something, but there was nothing that she could offer.

"Meh, I'm sure something will come up," Shesh gave a light shrug as she walked about the crowded streets. It was somewhat refreshing change of location, even if all the noise made it difficult to considerate on anything.

All the honking and yelling was echoing through Shesh's skull as she grumbled. She needed to find some place quite any place would be fine as long as she could managed to keep out of the constant noise, perhaps it was just city shock. Then again Shesh had been to a Fire Nation city once, and it was nothing like this.

"Well...maybe I should work on getting a job..." An annoying thought entered Shesh's head as she found a rather quite backalley, away from the sounds of the city. The alley wasn't anything special, it was what one would expect from the city just an alley. A thing between to buildings as Shesh leaned against the giant building, despite being in the middle of the day it was still covered in darkness as Shesh sighed.

"Now...I can't really just go around asking for a job, I also need a place to stay...but there is no way I'm staying with Korra or her stupid teacher. Then there's the money problem, unless some money falls from the sky..."

As Shesh closed her eyes a voice rang nearby, a worthless voice of someone who was about to be in over their head.

"Hey...what's a cute lady like you doing alone out here," The man probably wasn't worth describing as Shesh opened her eyes, and gave a light smile. Depending on what the man was going to try and do it seemed that money really had fallen from the sky,

"Hmm," Shesh simply griped her canteen, not even taking off the metal cap as she decided to speak to the man. "I really don't have any money if that's what you're after. Actually your face is pissing me off, I'm not a really violent person so why don't we just go our separate ways..."

Of course the man too offense to such a statement as his eye twitched, the mans fist shook in anger, despite the short exchange, it seemed the man was about to attacks his fist clenched. It appeared that he was a Fire bender, as Shesh cocked her eye.

His fist was upright, he was about to unleash a wave of flame, however, that never came. A popping sound was heard, like a cap being launched. The man's fist froze, Shesh simply scanned his expression. He was in pain no doubt as the sound of something metal hitting one of the many buildings echoed.

There was a hole in between the man's knuckles, it seemed that the metal cap from Shesh's canteen was shot like a bullet. It entered the man's hand and exited his elbow. No doubt such a thing was extremely painful as the man simply collapsed, rolling around on the ground holding his arm.

"Man, making me waste a cap like that, it's probably bloody and dented now," Shesh grumbled paying no mind to the man screams, she walked towards her current target as she slowly put her foot on his chest. No doubt to stop him from moving. "Heh, now let me see..." Shesh leaned down as she dug in the man's pockets before taking out what appeared to be a wallet.

Shesh flipped through the items in it, tossing away anything not needed, until she noticed something that appeared to be money. There wasn't a lot however, at least that is what Shesh assumed. She had no idea what the weight of a single bill was.

"Whatever, I'm sure it's enough to get me something to eat..." Now she had to deal with a screaming man with a hole in his arm, and by deal with him she simply sealed his mouth shut with ice.

"Well, now that, that's taken care of, I better find myself something to eat..." Shesh tuned to look at the man and shrugged, at best he would probably just need to wear a sling at worst he'll lose an arm, not like either of those were Shesh's problem.

As she escaped the back alley, Shesh grumbled, her first interaction with someone of the city and it was a mugger, or that is what she assumed. Shesh really didn't take the time to listen to the man's statement as she walked along the streets, looking for buildings that appeared to be restaurant like, though to be honest Shesh had no idea what a restaurant building would look like.

There were so many buildings, it was no doubt impossible to tell which one did what. It would have been in poor taste to just walk into each building.

"Oh, a new face?" It seemed people made a habit of talking while Shesh wasn't paying attention or had her back turn, as Shesh sighed, she doubted it was a mugger after all they were in the middle of the street.

"Though I say that, but I doubt even I have met everyone in this city," The voice was female as Shesh turned around.

It was a woman, with brown hair and a rather plain dress, it seemed she was in her late thirties or perhaps early forties. She had a kind smile on her face as Shesh cocked her brow. The woman's skin was pale and her eyes were black.

"Ah...yeah, I'm kind of new here," Shesh said casually not trying to be rude as the woman chuckled slightly.

"Please, don't be like that, even if we are just strangers, aren't strangers simply friends we haven't met yet?" The woman commented as Shesh slumped her shoulders.

"Well...that's if you ignore the stranger danger rule," The woman smiled as she looked at the buildings before her, even Shesh could tell the woman was thinking about something.

"So...tell me young woman, why did you come here?" That really wasn't a question you asked someone you just met, though Shesh saw no reason to keep the information to herself. Mostly because the reason she was there wasn't all that amazing.

"Because I wanted to," It was the honest answer, though it probably was rather disappointing, even Shesh realized how anti-climatic it was, the woman simply tapped her lip at the answer.

"Hmm, such a shame, we need more people like you around here," Such an odd response, Shesh really didn't know how to respond to such a statement as the woman laughed, though for some reason it was empty.

"Yes...the people of this city, they no longer do things out of simple want, but out of a foolish idea of destiny and an ill gotten sense of responsibility. However we shouldn't decide our lives on something as ambiguous as destiny and we should only take on a responsibility if we truly are ready to give up our freedom. In a world where expectations are high from all angles, people are focusing on goals that very few can reach rather that celebrating the accomplishes they have obtained no matter how few or small."

Shesh scratched the back of her head, she really didn't understand a word the woman was saying. It really just sounded like pointless ranting as the woman eyes shifted downward.

"Well, I guess I should welcome you to the city, but I think you've seen enough of it to know what's it's about, well don't be a stranger young woman," the woman had something else to do as she walked away. Leaving Shesh with her thoughts on the conversation that just happened, or more closely the lack of one.

"Maybe I'm thinking to hard about it, but more importantly, I still need to get something to eat," Shesh gave a light huff as she walked down what she called the safe zones, nothing the giant machines racing down the roads.

The machines were fast, though they are probably rather dangerous. "Seriously, is this really safe for people to be in those metal things going that fast? I mean what if someone got hit by those, like that girl standing in the middle of the street...wait!" Shesh froze, there was no doubting it, a small hooded girl with black hair was trying to hail the cars, for whatever reason. Shesh froze, no doubt someone else would take care of it and be the hero, right?

"Shit, man there like a girl in the middle of the street and stuff!" A girl next to Shesh stated not in horror, but in sheer amazement. It seemed Republic City pedestrians were the apathetic type though another thing entered Shesh's head that wasn't even close to the crisis at hand.

"Did I sound like that when I was a teenager? Bah, that's not important now..." Shesh wondered how she was going to get to the girl, it wasn't a very busy street, but Shesh could still be blind sided by one of those machines.

Shesh waited, since it seemed no one else was going to get involved, she would have to enter the horrifying battlefield people would call a road and get the girl safely out. Of course this all annoyed Shesh to no end. The fact that she had to do any of that was pissing her off, one of the few moments she wished Korra was there so she could do all the work.

Shesh took a deep breath, considering her canteen wasn't filled with nearly enough water to do anything with, she would have to rely on her physical prowess to get the task done.

After a single moment of hesitation, Shesh ran out into the street, and in one quick motion scooped up the girl and threw her towards the sidewalk. It seemed that Shesh plan had gone perfectly, except she forgot one small detail...

"Why did you do that mean lady!" The hooded girl yelled from the safe sidewalk, Shesh finally got a good look at the girls clothing, black was the primary color...in truth the girl looked like a miniature witch in such attire.

"What do you mean why! You idiot! You could get crushed by one of these things, didn't anyone tell you to stay away from dangerous places?!" The small girl pouted as Shesh stated that, before pointing something obvious out.

"Well, you're doing that right now!"

Shesh snapped to attention as the girl mentioned such an obvious thing,

"Oh yeah...I'm still in th-" Alas, Shesh remembered the small detail a little too late as a loud thud was heard, it was pretty funny actually. Shesh didn't go flying, but rather she toppled over. Like someone knocked down a stack of books, and as she lied there in the middle of the road, her consciousness fading, she realized the true tragedy in the events that lead to the impact.

"...I...never got...anything..to eat..."