氷
Inna, During the New Moon Festival.
Tenzin had a disapproving look on him for some reason, prompting Tai to sit up and ask what was wrong. "You've got that look on you again, master."
The master airbender opened his mouth to begin a lecture about not traveling in the middle of a blizzard when a grey mass of fur shot between his legs, nearly making him stumble backwards and ruining the authoritative wise man image. He tried opening his mouth again, and was interrupted once more as Meelo raced through his legs as well, laughing as he chased the little wolf pup around the room, trying to herd him towards Ikki who was lying in pounce mode on top of the seal skin sofa nearby, just above Mako and Korra's heads.
But the little wolf pup had a very keen eye, and quickly rolled out of the way of the airborne child, who slammed down into the carpet at a high velocity, and immediately stood up and ran after the creature, evidently none the worse for wear. The pup immediately made a beeline for its rescuer, who had the breath taken out of him when the little bundle of fur slammed its entire body into his chest. Tai flailed his arms for several seconds to cling onto a semblance of balance, before accepting gravity and falling back onto the couch, a unimpressed look on him as the little wolf began licking his cheeks and barking into his ear.
He heard a shrill squeak from his left and managed to turn his head enough to see a flying mass of red land on top of the young wolf's back, it howled and rolled around on the couch to dislodge his furry attacker.
Korra rolled her eyes as she managed to unwrap herself from Mako's arms, and walked over to the closed window nearby, she flung it open and whistled. A massive shadow fell over the two fighting creatures as they rolled and tumbled across the couch, not noticing Naga as she growled. The sound made them stop immediately, and the pup sat on its haunches, as still as possible while Pabu retreated back to Bolin and Asami, vowing that it would get the better of the new arrival.
Naga looked down at the young pup, and licked the top of its head with her thick and long tongue, the pup made an unimpressed noise as Naga withdrew herself from the window, letting Korra close the window again.
"So are you thinking of a name for the little guy?" Asami asked from her spot on the couch, watching as Tai frowned.
"Uh… oh." He hadn't actually thought about it until now. It was only a day or so since he found the little guy, did he really need to have a name so soon?
The aforementioned little guy hopped into his lap, immediately curling up to take up the most space possible between the boy's legs. This action drew an massive amount of d'awws from across the room, mostly from all of the girls present. Tai threw a look at Bolin when he did this as well, he didn't seem to care though, intent on staring at the cute mass of fur that had so grabbed everyone's attention over the past day.
"How about Aang!" Meelo shouted, running across the room to kneel in front of the boy, scratching the wolf pup on the nose.
Tai found himself looking at Tenzin, who rolled his eyes as he straightened and walked over. Ikki ran through his legs and sat next to Meelo, practically bouncing up and down as the little guy licked her hand. "Sky-Princess?" she suggested.
"Heimeng?" Tai noticed Jinora was looking over the top of the book at him and the little pup, with an eyebrow arched.
"Pabu junior."
"Bolin, ask Pabu first. What about Snow? Or Ghost?" Korra offered, sitting next to Tai while scratching a spot behind the pup's ears.
"Actually, I think I've got a name for him."
They all stopped and looked at Tai, who chewed his lip thoughtfully for a second before answering. "Kaze."
The pup in his lap yapped, content with that name, bringing a smile to everyone in the large room.
"Hmm. Wind? I like it." Tenzin nodded in approval at his pupil's choice.
Kaze barked happily as he stood up, wagging his tail. Tai scratched his chin as he stared in wonder at the tough little pup, still astounded that he had recovered so quickly after the boy found him during the blizzard.
As the little wolf turned, Bolin noticed something strange, and he glanced at Tai. "Huh. He's got something on his side, some kind of… swirly thing?"
Tai arched his eyebrow as he lifted Kaze into the air, turning him around to look at what Bolin was talking about. There it was. On his side was a series of strange swirls of lighter colored fur, standing out compared to the dark grey of the rest of Kaze's body. "That is odd." He murmured, turning him around to show everyone in the room.
Almost everyone had looks of confusion on them, except for Tenzin, who rubbed his beard thoughtfully for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "Oh my word… He's a Spirit Wolf."
"A what?" Tai asked, staring at the strange little patterns on Kaze's sides as the little guy kept licking his cheeks.
"Yeah… my uncle taught me about them. They're incredibly rare, and only live in the central plains of the north and south poles. Like where Naga came from." Korra said with a tone of wonder, looking at Kaze like he was some kind of rare treasure.
"So… what do they have to do with spirits?"
Korra shook her head as Jinora walked over with the book in hand. "They migrate to places where the connection to the Spirit World is highest, staying for weeks at a time to bear their young. The old Air Monks called them 'Sems Spyang Ki'."
"Huh. Neat." Tai rubbed Kaze's head before setting him back down on the floor, allowing the pup to race around the room again, being chased by both Ikki and Meelo out the doorway towards where Pema and Rohan were.
He heard the 'happy couple' whispering to each other, with giggles interspersed between their indiscernible plans, most of them were from Korra as she nodded, before realizing that they weren't being subtle at all.
She cleared her throat, which unfortunately was a great time for her cheeks to begin burning red. "We're - uh - going out. To places. With stuff." she didn't know that everyone would have been satisfied with her saying only that, so she kept stammering. "You know... New Moon ... umm... attraction- I mean - activities." she winced as Mako dragged her away from the couch, leaving her to keep stammering as he rubbed a hand down his face.
"We'll be back sometime."
"Don't get into trouble." Tenzin sighed, watching the two of them leave with growing apprehension. Mako slid the sliding door across on the far side of the room, waiting for her to step through before he closed it again.
"So... what do you two want to do?" Tai asked, directing his question at Asami and Bolin.
Tenzin and Jinora left the room through the hallway as Bolin stabbed the tips of his index fingers together. "Well, I was kinda hoping Korra would be able to- uh - show us. Stuff. Let's do stuff."
"Helpful." he rolled his eyes and glanced at Asami, hoping she could think of something to do, being incredibly smart and all. He wiggled his eyebrows to get her attention, and the girl jumped a little as she stopped her brooding and intense staring at the wall.
"Oh. Uh. I've actually got some stuff to do. On my own. Bye!" she nodded at the two of them, backing away rather quickly towards the sliding door and slipping through it, leaving the two boys alone in the room.
"And that leaves two." Tai sighed, tipping his head back to stare at a little crack in the light-blue ceiling. His mind moved sluggishly as he thought about what kind of stuff they could do to stave off boredom, and sped up when he remembered what Korra had said.
He hopped off of the couch and slapped Bolin on the shoulder, getting his attention. "We can do stuff! The New Moon festival right? Let's walk around and find something to do!"
Bolin yelped as Tai dragged him off of the couch, and led the way towards the door. He waited for Bolin to stand up and follow him over when the sound of excited yaps and barks bounced towards them from deeper in the manor house. A grey bundle of fur slammed into his ankle, and Kaze yelped as he shook his head, stumbling back onto his haunches and staring up at Tai with big black eyes.
The boy rolled his eyes and nodded, Kaze's tail waved from side to side impossibly fast, and he yapped as Tai slid the door open, letting Bolin and Pabu out first. But before he could race into the cold outside the boy shut the door again, squatting down to get the pup's attention. Kaze whimpered, wanting so desperately to go outside, but his rescuer thought differently and sighed as he patted the pup's head. "Sorry boy. You need to stay inside and recover."
Kaze whined as he sat on his haunches, throwing looks at the closed door behind the boy before deciding that it was for the best. He yapped once, and raced back into the house, leaving Tai free to open the door and head outside.
He should probably be responsible and tell Tenzin where they're going. "We're bouncing! Be back soon bye!" That should have done it, he stepped out into the cold yard, looking in wonder at the boggling amount of lanterns that were strung up above the heads of the people on the sidewalks. What was so strange about them is that they didn't seem to operate with any kind of flame at all, instead a softly glowing cube of water sat in the middle of the curved square boxes, throwing off a cool light onto the streets below.
She was right about one thing. This place was beautiful.
"That... was shocking. Shocking." he teased, rolling his eyes to get in the point that she had failed so epically. Even for a girl who lived in a compound for most of her life, it was still shocking.
"Oh yeah? You - uh - your hair!" she poked the side of his head as they walked on the snow-covered - well, more evenly covered than everywhere else - foot path, yet she still held onto his arm, presumably to keep him within range of her vicious poking.
He was almost afraid to ask. "My hair?" A paranoid thought came to him, and he put a hand to his cheek in mock horror. "Wha - what's wrong with it?" He suppressed a wicked grin as Korra's eyes softened, and she gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Nothing." she grinned.
That made him grin too, and together the two of them kept their grins as they turned followed the foot path as it curved around a massive igloo structure, leading into a wide street absolutely packed with people, enough that it was impossible for any Satomobiles or cars to move down the road without barging into seaweed noodle stands, ice-throwing ranges, or even the crowds of people watching magnificent displays of waterbending between skilled opponents.
All of this stood in the shadow of a absolutely massive tower stretching up from the focal point of the city's center, and was the brightest building in the city as hundreds upon hundreds of water-lamps hung from each of it's windows, connected to each other by glittering silver connections, all arranged in a concentric swirl that ran up the tower's walls towards the dome that capped it.
Mako couldn't help staring in awe at the magnificent structure, and he felt a shake on his arm that managed to tear his eyes away from that sight, and at the even better sight next to him. "The Moon Tower." he heard her whisper in his ear, right before feeling that familiar burning sensation on his cheeks as she kissed his cheek, getting his attention completely.
He returned it with double the feeling, absolutely loathing the fact it had to be short since they were in public. "It's nice." he whispered back, squeezing her hand as they both began walking down the middle of the main road, weaving past groups of running children, avoiding the questioning stares of old people and generally having a good time just wandering around from place to place.
Although Mako quickly grew uncomfortable with the many stares the two of them drew from young men and boys all over the street, well directed at her specifically. Numerous times he found himself throwing quick and dark looks over his shoulder, which worked remarkably well on account of the dark yellow in his eyes. They worked only for a short while, and everywhere they walked there was at least two pairs of eyes watching Korra, and one pair of eyes daring them to try something.
Still none of this interrupted their night out, except for when Korra stood rooted to the spot, staring in wonder at two bending artists putting all of their skill into molding a floating sphere of ice. One of them, a thin and tall girl with impossibly beautiful features, used steep and abrupt sweeps and jabs to chip away at and gouge furrows into the ice's surface, slowly chiseling it into a suitably unique shape. Strangely, she was almost as pale as the snow at their feet, and her eyes were a very dark shade of blue, which brought to mind a very uncomfortable resemblance to someone who had hurt his girlfriend terribly in recent months.
Her opponent by contrast was heavyset, his movements ponderous as his two large feet stayed rooted to the spot, only his thick arms moving around in slow circles and arcs, which had the effect of causing different portions of his sphere to cave in towards the center, resulting in slanted grooves running all around the sphere, sometimes twisting into the interior of the ice and appearing out the other end, connecting with another groove and continuing in a perpetually looping pattern that wound it's way across the entire structure.
Mako thought about dragging her away to look at something else, already losing interest in watching waterbenders carve ice sculptures when suddenly a hint of light appeared under the woman's bare hand as she gently laid it on the ice's surface. The light gradually spread throughout the gracefully twisted piece, using the recently carved furrows and sharp facets as highways across the piece, resulting in an faint sheen of silvery light that criss-crossed the outside of the ice, creating a complex and random matrice of silver lines denoting the many edges of the ice.
The audience gasped in awe at her skill, and she bowed.
They gasped again as the sound of someone blowing a raspberry got their attention, and everyone turned towards the heavyset brown-skinned man, laughs rippling across the crowd as he clasped his huge hands behind his back. He took a deep breath and placed a palm on the swirly patterned surface, the crowd stilled and watched him closely as he closed his eyes for a few seconds, not moving at all as the girl across from him scowled.
His eyes flashed open and he rotated his palm on the surface, so that his fingers pointed towards the side of the stage as the ice his fingertips touched glowed softly, but had a strong color to it, a far deeper blue than the girl's. From those five points the light slowly spread throughout the interior of the ice, running along the slanted grooves and the twisted holes that cut from one side to the other.
Korra watched with bated breath as she realized what he was about to do. Katara herself did something similar a couple years ago. She squeezed Mako's arm in her eagerness, leaning into him as the glowing light instantly spread out over the sphere, being the most brilliantly shining when it discovered a groove. The man turned his palm again, and every single visible groove rose above the surface a little, so that soon it appeared more like a piece of coral than an twisted piece of ice.
Even Mako's jaw had dropped a little. That was spectacular, he never really had an appreciation for art, but that was something else. More surprising was that Korra seemed to be really interested in the sculpture, and he wondered if she liked art. Suddenly a brief flicker of doubt went through his head.
How much did he really know about her?
He quickly stamped down on those doubts, not wanting to over-think anything at all, not tonight, when it should all be so simple. He was brought out his thoughts when she squeezed his arm again, which made him smile gently as he glanced at her.
But she was already fixated on the stage, the crowd as well as the heavyset man stepped back from his work, grinning inanely. In stark contrast the girl merely bowed her head, waiting expectantly for the crowd's reaction. Everyone clapped, almost equally directed towards both of them as people cheered and shouted their approval.
Both of them smiled and nodded, and began to launch into another flurry of artistic inspiration.
The firebender rolled his eyes as he dragged her away from the stage, wading through the sea of water tribers while trying to not let their questioning looks get to him. He tried not to dwell on the fact that their looks grew cold and hard when they focused on him, yet on Korra they relaxed and looked happier. He shrugged those thoughts away, he was a foreigner, of course they would be like that. He hoped. He really did.
The pressure on his arm was gone as the girl finally managed to tear her gaze away from the spectacle they left behind, and had the same dreamy expression as she looked at him instead, leaning her head on his shoulder as their walking slowed down.
The gates of the city yawned in front of them, open and admitting a slow but steady stream of people and the occasional animal in from the cold winds outside the town, which as Korra pointed out to him were being partially redirected by waterbenders on top of the wall's ramparts, of course they couldn't completely redirect it, as that would require them to be able to move the air itself, and people who can do that are quite rare.
He arched an eyebrow as she steered him up a nearby flight of stairs carved out of the edge of a large ice cylinder, keeping it on as she pushed him up the steps. As soon as he stumbled onto the topmost of them he realized why. He was nudged a little, and his foot avoided stomping down on a delicate flower. It's silvery petals were only unfurled halfway, ringing a blue core of pollen that seemed to be... moving?
The firebender squatted to take a closer look, trying to believe his eyes as they told him what they were seeing. He felt her hand on his as he watched her sit on her knees. "'Tat Nanan', Sifu Katara calls them. Nowadays they're just Moon Dancers." she explained, before planting a kiss on his cheek and straightening, leading the hopelessly entranced boy over to the finely carved bench nearby, sitting under the shadow of a large tree, which was stout and healthy even though it stood on one of the coldest places on Earth.
He smiled at her, watching the moon's growing light catch in her eyes with fascination as he leaned closer towards the girl. Not for the first time has he wondered how he was lucky enough to have her.
Although the moon's light disappeared from her eyes as she suddenly looked to the side, narrowing her eyes like she caught the end of something moving out of sight.
"Korra? You okay?"
"Care for a necklace?"
Asami stopped for a moment, her focused look diminishing into strained cheer as she turned towards a blue colored stall nearby, sandwiched in between a larger tent colored a lighter shade of blue, and a cart full of cheap wooden toys with tiny glints of metal visible underneath them, betraying the presence of the more modern ones.
The owner of the little blue stall, smiled lazily at Asami, resting her chin on her knuckles as she leaned over the stall's counter, her striking blue eyes still holding a youthful light to them in almost stark contrast to her silvery hair, which only served to enhance the energetic nature of the middle-aged woman.
She walked towards the counter, slightly bewildered by the amount of necklaces and beads hanging from the roof of the stall. "Oh. Handmade?" she asked, peering at one that had carvings of different animals on the face of each polished ball.
"Mhm. Thought I should do something for the festival while waiting for my brother and his family." the woman answered with a cat-like grin.
There was something familiar about the woman. Now that Asami had come closer, she could see that she looked very similar to a photo of lady Katara in her middle age. It hit her, the image of a horribly burned woman in the mansion's study, lying among shattered glass and broken tables as crying little girl and her unresponsive father knelt nearby, across from a brown-skinned woman with silver streaks in her brown hair, trying desperately to keep her patient alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive.
"Kya?" Asami whispered.
"Hey, kid." she answered back with a slightly guarded smile, presumably having the same images running through her head as well, her smile eased up as she chuckled. "Spirits, I haven't seen you in years! You've grown so much! How's your dad?" The girl hesitated, and Kya quickly picked up on it. "What's up?"
"He's - uh -" She sighed as she leant forwards over the counter. "In prison."
Kya couldn't hide the relieved note in her voice, especially since she had immediately jumped to the worst conclusion. "Oh. Oh. Mind if I ask why?"
"Equalist." the girl muttered, clearly wanting to get off of the topic. She had a smile on her in a flash, and was busying herself with staring at the imperfections and curves visible in the little beads. "These are beautiful, Kya!"
"Hey, Asami. How's Korra doing?" the middle-aged woman's voice lost some of it's cheer as she asked the question, replacing it with concern.
The girl looked down at the snow-covered footpath for a moment before answering. "She's good. I think she's adjusting to what happened to her. Being with Mako is actually hel-" she caught herself before she could say something incriminating, but Kya was already on the case.
"A boy, eh? Someone who's man enough for Korra, eh? Do tell." Kya grinned evilly as Asami cursed her big mouth.
But the young woman relented, and was eager to get onto another topic apart from Korra's loss and her own problems. "He's a pro-bender. Captain of the Fire-Ferrets. Broods a lot. even when we we-" she squeaked in alarm and clamped a hand over her mouth, making Kya burst out in laughter.
"Oh no, seriously? Your ex? He must be really good." she giggled, getting a rise out of Asami, who folded her arms and turned her head to the side, using the haughty movement her mom taught her to use.
"Actually, he's quite thick." the girl corrected before sighing. "Handsome. But thick."
"Really? I feel for you, sweetheart. You'll get over him." Asami sighed again as Kya said that. She was still very perceptive. She would have been fine just talking with her for a few more minutes, but she looked at at a clock nearby, and realized that her business contact would most likely be at the restaurant now.
"I have to go. It was great seeing you, Kya." Asami said, leaning over to hug her before leaving down the footpath, heading closer and closer to the massive tower that soared over the city.
Her thoughts turned to dark places as she made her way down the street, they kept going back to that night when she was six, and she couldn't get them to go anywhere else. She could hardly believe it had been twelve years since she had last seen Kya before she disappeared without a trace.
She was torn out of her thoughts when she turned a corner into a well-lit street, almost completely cleaned of any snowfall which consequently meant that the massive building that took up one side of it was surrounded by blue and teal painted satomobiles. All were variants of the luxury edition, custom grilles, custom tires, custom everything.
The building itself was luxury as well. The walls were made of high quality wood flatboards, most likely oak or mahogany from the Earth Kingdom. But the architecture was unique onto itself, copying the terraced roofs of the Northern Water Tribe manors with the curved walls of Southern Water Tribe igloos.
All in all, it was a beautiful looking abomination.
She walked towards it, sticking her hands in her parka's pockets, not noticing that in the main street behind her, a pair of grey eyes and a pair of green eyes were watching her every move.
"You don't think this is creepy?" he asked the airbender.
Tai rolled his eyes as he peered at the impossibly posh restaurant. "Nope. I'm bored and people hitting ice is not my idea of fun."
"Do you actually have fun?" The little ferret hidden under his collar chittered in response, which sounded suspiciously like laughter.
"Well. There she goes." Tai muttered, watching as Asami walked into the restaurant, disappearing behind a wall in front of which a gaggle of rich girls chatted to one another.
Without warning Bolin he stood up, walking out from behind the empty cart to step off of the footpath. Bolin followed him across, nervously poking his fingers again, even though they had about as much chance at getting seen by her as getting seen by her from the other side of a wall.
The airbender stopped by the street corner, leaning on the wall as he stared at the well-lit restuaruant. "So, what do you think?"
"Could be what she said to us before." he answered, scratching Pabu under the chin as he stood next to Tai. He glanced past him, looking down the street at someone who was walking noticeably faster than everyone else.
"Really. Bolin." his smirk was awry as he looked at him. "Actually, maybe you're right. At least we know where she is-" It faded when he noticed that Bolin was looking away from him, completely focused on something or someone coming down the main road. "Whats-" His question died away when he noticed that stars seemed to have taken root in Bolin's eyes, and he seemed to be swaying as if he wasn't fully there.
Only one person could have had this effect on him. "Hey, is Korra-" He stopped himself, and swiped a hand in front of Bolin's face to get any kind of reaction out of him.
He heard hurried footsteps coming closer, and he peered around Bolin to see a girl, with strikingly similar eyes to Korra collide with Bolin's chest. They both fell over, with the girl slowly recovering. With a arched eyebrow she realised she was lying on top of Bolin, who smiled lazily at her, his green eyes glittering with a strange glow.
"Is there something wrong with my face?" Tai arched an eyebrow at what she just said, while Bolin kept the same dreamy outlook. She looked okay, in fact she looked fairly cute. Of course, that was just his opinion.
The girl had directed her question at the starstruck earthbender below her, who quickly reddened when he realised that more than five seconds of silence had come out of his mouth. Pabu took this time to poke his head out of the boy's collar and yawn, tiltiing his head at the new arrival. After about two seconds of judging he squeaked and nuzzled her cheek. The girl tilted her head and cautiously scratched the ferret's head, her eyebrow still raised.
Bolin squeaked again as the earth began to rumble around them. Tai stumbled and braced himself against the wall, readying himself for whatever was coming. Immediately thoughts of his sword came to mind, and he wished he had with him to face down something this si-
His thoughts were interrupted when a patch of the road nearby erupted upwards, rising several meters into the air until it towered above the buildings and igloos lining the street. That in itself was strange, but what was even stranger was the fact that Bolin's cheeks now had a permanent tinge of bright red to them. He chuckled nervously as the girl rolled off of him, dusting herself off as she stood before the two of them, and bowed.
"My name is Kirima. I am the princess of the Northern Water Tribe, and I would appreciate it if you do not tell anyone I am here." The girl's tone was impossibly cold and her words formal, betraying no sign of having just embarrassed a adolescent earthbender in public. She shook her head, as if she realized something had slipped from her mind. "I apologize. What are your names?"
"I'm Tai." The girl nodded, before turning to stare at Bolin.
"B-Bolin." he squeaked, getting another arched eyebrow from the girl.
"Bolin. That's a nice name." she said without any tone or inflection.
He reddened again. "Ki-K- Kirima is as well!" Suddenly all of the color drained from his face. "Wa- Princess?!" he blurted out, causing Kirima's other eyebrow to rise as well while she nodded slowly, possibly thinking he was slow in the head.
"Yes. My father is Chief Unalaq. And my brother is named Desna." she explained.
"Royalty huh? Seems a bit... backwards." Tai said with all honesty and bluntness. In a lot of the books his mom read to him, kings and queens always seemed to make a lot of problems for everyone else.
"Actually I and Desna only have authority in spiritual or cultural matters. In all other regards, my father convenes with the council over all matters." she held up her index finger for a second, before bringing it back down as she waited patiently for any further questions.
"Wait. Why are you here on your own?" Bolin asked, evidently over his initial shock and infatuation.
Kirima hesitated for a moment, as the wind gradually increased in intensity and speed, ruining any chances of them knowing why she was on the other side of the world from her own tribe. The strength of the wind spiked for a moment, and nearly sent her stumbling into the wall nearby. Bolin shot forward and grabbed her hand as Tai spotted a group of people running towards them, weaving in between panicking tourists and residents experienced enough to start heading inside.
The Clearwater Restaurant.
She dug around in her pocket, stopping by a wooden support column, painted a deep blue and engraved with images of swirling water and depictions of the moon in different phases. Her fingers latched onto the chain of her pocket-watch and she dragged it out, resting the little brass object in the palm of her hand. She pressed down on the catch between the two halves, and the top sprang open.
Her eyes softened as they fell on the torn and battered photo of her family, back when everything was relatively normal for her. She took note of the time, and sighed. Why was the idiot always late?
Stupid billionaire playboy philanthropists.
Asami found herself looking out through the window nearby, and thought she saw Tai and Bolin move across the main road, throwing none too subtle glances in the restaurants direction. She grinned to herself as something rattled the windows, spooking a few of the patrons and stalling their conversations into fearful whispers. She moved towards the headwaiter, who was holding onto the little stand in front of him as tight as he could.
She smiled as she approached. "Table for two." she said, the man nodded and guided her to a booth near the wall. "Thanks."
He still hadn't shown up by the time she sat down on one of booth seats. Drumming her fingers on the table in barely concealed impatient, she laid her head on the table just as a waiter came to her. "What can I get you?" the woman asked pleasantly.
"I'll wait until my associate arrives."
The waiter nodded and left her to wait. It seemed to have taken forever before the door slammed open, and the giggles of young girls carried to Asami, who raised her head and parted her hair to see who the new arrival was.
A young man, a thin moustache that was all the rage these days sat on his lip, and the fire nation girl holding onto one of his arms seemed to take an almost incredible amount of fun in stroking it, giggling the whole time. Occasionally her attempts to brush the two neat little strips of hair were thwarted by the hand of the other girl, who batted her pleasantly toned brown eyes at him, constantly whispering sweet nothings in his ear the entire time.
The young man took it all in stride, and even though the wind had already picked up outside, his hair seemed to stay perfectly still. Asami spitefully reckoned it may have been immersed in a vat of whale blubber gel three hours every morning. Then again she was a little biased against the guy.
"Ms Sato. I apologize for my late arrival, a - uh - blizzard snowed us in during the firing tests a day ago." his smile was earnest, at least to himself, which meant that Asami didn't buy it.
Although she was experienced enough in matters of business to keep a professional front, even in the other party didn't. "Verick. If you are finished, I would like to offer my proposal."
"Alrighty then." the two girls giggled as they sat down on either side of him, annoying Asami a little as they kept tossing sidelong glances at her before whispering in Verick's ears. To his credit though, the young man kept focused on the young woman in front of him. "You have my full attention, ms Sato."
Asami nodded. "As you may well know-" she couldn't stop the quiet sigh that escaped her, "- A month ago, a well armed and experienced terrorist group calling themselves Equalists-" she had a lot of trouble just saying the word. She calmed herself down before the thoughts of anger and loss overwhelmed her, even though she hated the guy sitting across from her, she appreciated that he was considerate enough to wait for her to be ready.
She was ready to continue again when one of the girls, the fire nation one, interrupted her with a incredulous look. "Wait- are you an equalist?"
"What."
"Your father is an equalist, aren't you one as well?" the dumb girl continued, not noticing Verick's repeated facepalms or glares.
He was about ready to cut her off when Asami's hands clenched into fists underneath the table. "That- no!" she snapped, preparing to tear into the ignorant bender when Verick cut her off.
"Saila, she is not a equalist." he slowly explained while subtly extracting himself from her grip. "Hey- how about you two freshen up?" he smiled at the two of them and jerked his pointy chin towards a pair of doors on the other side of the restaurant. Reluctantly they both nodded, leaving him and the young heiress behind.
Verick smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that, Asami."
Even though she should have been hating him for specifically being Verick, she appreciated his support. "Thank you. It's still a bit hard to process."
"Been in a similar situation myself. Now how can I help you?"
She took a deep breath in preparation for her risky proposal that even the most insane of businessmen wouldn't consider. "Now that FutureTech has seen a... change of leadership... on behalf of my company, I would like to propose a few expansions to our partnership that would be lucrative for both companies."
He chuckled. "You don't need to give me the pitch, okay? I'm more than happy to oblige, your research fella's are fantastic at their jobs! Without their help, my pride and joy wouldn't have seen the light of day."
For the first time in recent months she felt nothing but relief and happiness, at the thought that one of the largest problems on the horizon had already been take care of. Of course they still would have to iron out the details but of course-
"Unfortunately, my father has asked me to ask but one request. If he were to agree to this, he wants at least one representative from Tui industries involved in the loop." Verick shifted uncomfortably for a bit, and Asami felt she knew the reason why. "Specifically he meant me."
"I know we haven't seen eye to eye in the past, but as the new CEO of FutureTech I accept his proposal." her smile put him at ease again.
He clapped his hands. "Excellent! I'm glad we came to an agreement so quickly! Now, have you ordered anything?"
She shook her her head. "The waiter should be coming around soon. But now that you mention it, I am starving."
"As my first request as representative to your esteemed company ms Sato, I would like you to take the tab."
"Verick."
"Fine."
The sigh that came out of her was good-natured as she wondered where the waiter was. She heard a keening noise coming from outside, and as she leant forwards to look at one of the windows, she was met with an almost soup-like white wind, it's roar was muffled by the walls of the restaurant, but she wasn't so sure that it would be beaten so easily. "Another freak blizzard." Verick commented.
It was at that point that she noticed a slight brown-skinned girl running past one of the windows, being led along by Bolin and Tai as a group of men ran them down into the alley next to the restaurant.
Trouble.
氷
