Kat: Hey guys! It's FINALLY Spring Break & have a lil time to write, edit, and post again! This chapter, again, has a lot more of their backstory, and, again, it's one of my favs. I know I say that a lot, but I absolutely love love love every scene with Matokka! Ah! Well, hope you guys enjoy!
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Several more years dragged by – three to be precise – molding me and Korra into our awkward preteen phase. We both grew at a similar pace, and in similar ways, which I supposed was to be expected of twins. At twelve years of age, we had undergone several changes. The most noticeable of which was our height. Like fire lilies blooming in the late summer months, we'd both sprouted up more than a few inches taller. Although an uncomfortable, if not beautiful processes, that transformation made training difficult. At first it threw us off balance, though, over time, it became not only the norm, but it actually improved our skills as benders. We could run faster, jump higher, and reach farther than ever before.
Of course height was not the only change that came about in that period of our lives. Our bodies themselves became more feminine in more ways than one – the details of which will be omitted. And in addition to time, constant training brought about several more noticeable alterations. One being overall physical slimness. The natural pudginess of our childish bodies melted away, leaving us as fit and nimble as anyone. Thin waistlines, flat stomachs, and strong legs accompanied the muscle development of our arms. Earthbenders were often expected to have noticeably larger muscles than those of other nations. I, being an Earthbender, was beginning to transition from toned to muscular – but not in an awkward, boyish kind of way. Even though Korra was not yet an Earthbender she was rather toned herself. (Water- and fire- bending techniques were never to be underestimated!)
But, going beyond our physical changes, Korra and I had uncovered more interesting and complicated secrets about ourselves and each other. Through another series of accidents (followed by controlled tests), we discovered that Korra and I could not only read each others' minds, but we could also hear, see, and feel what the other was hearing, seeing, or feeling – but only when one or both of us desired. Sight and sound were completely optional; the aspect of "feeling" was a little more complex. There were two different types of "feelings": emotional and physical. Emotionally, we always felt what the other felt whether we wanted to or not. Though we were usually able to choose to feel (or not to feel) something we came in contact with. If we wished to feel a sensation for ourselves, alone, then the original receiver took on the entire impact. On the other hand, if we chose to share, then the intensity of the sensation was less severe because it was split between the two of us. (Whether that was because we were twins or because Korra was the Avatar was unknown to us.) Also, as we had decided when we discovered our "mind-reading" ability, we never told anyone of those relations between us except for Matokka, and we tried our best to appear normal in the company of others.
That usually wasn't necessary, though; no one was ever around to notice those changes anyway. Or rather it was just that no one cared to notice. Again, guards were everywhere, but none of them ever paid attention to anything we did unless it was against the rules – which we tended to bend or break a lot of actually – so basically they didn't pay attention to us beyond what their jobs required. Unfortunately that almost always ended unhappily-ever-after for everyone.
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Later that same year, Matokka and I were up to our usual antics. We were way out beyond the village, at the base of the Eyu Mountain Range. My eyes widened at the sheer monstrosity before me. The zenith reached so high it drew thin pencil lines through the clouds.
"You scared?" It wasn't a challenge to sense a taunting tone in that thirteen year old voice.
"No!" I answered immediately, defensively. An upraised eyebrow was his rather exaggerated sign of skepticism. I lowered my guilty gaze and twisted the hem of my shirt around my fingers. "Okay, maybe a little."
My twinge of fear arose from our reason for our being so far from town. Not many days before, Matokka had been up in the mountains and stumbled upon a series of caves. The way he described them made them sound like other worlds: each one ranged from the length of one igloo to the length of our village in depth, the ceilings hung down like deadly fangs, water dripped from those fangs like the venom of sinister copper-rattlers, and the inky blackness could squeeze out every last atom of air from one's lungs.
On his first trip he had been out there alone – which was insane – but somehow he convinced me to join him on his second escapade. He claimed that he only wanted to explore further, hoping that my bending would be the perfect tool to tunnel deeper, but I knew he just wanted to creep me out. His tall-tales of fangs and suffocation aside, mountain caves were known to be home to Badger-Moles, Cave Crawlers, and worse yet – Wolf-Bats. I had only seen a Wolf-Bat once in my life, and it was an experience I did not care to repeat. A tingling shiver crept up my spine as I imagined its purple-ish, wrinkled face, those long hairy ears, those thick-skinned wings that flapped so forcefully I could hear the rush of the air beneath them. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I trembled at the memory. I pulled my parka tighter around my body, hoping to God that if Matokka had seen my little convulsion, he would think that I was only cold.
My head was yanked down out of the clouds when something hard struck my ear. One of my hands instinctively shot up to my ear, checking for blood or any other signs of injury. The other was clenched tightly, ready to fend off whatever caused my pain. As soon as I reacted, there was the sound of stifled snickers...which escalated into full-on laughter. Whirling around to face Matokka, I saw him double over, the corners of his eyes wet with tears of hysterical joy. He mimicked his previous action, flicking one finger as if to burst a bubble and smacking his lips to make a satisfying pop. Furious, I lowered both hands to my sides, fingers strained into even tighter fists. I seriously wanted to punch that smile right off his face, but I restrained myself, for those caves actually had at least sparked my interest – and I kind of needed him to show me where they were. But that didn't diminish the anger simmering within my gut. I glared at him, trying to burn a hole right through his forehead with my stare.
"Oh, don't give me that," he teased, still snickering. Irritated, but acquiescent, I let my shoulders relax and eyes un-narrow as his respective features tensed and lit up. "Race you to the top of Paku Peak!"
"You're on!"
Just the thought of competition – and revenge through a humiliating defeat – was enough to force adrenalin to course through my veins. In the interest of fairness, I squatted to draw a light starting line in the snow, but by the time I stood up, Matokka had already taken off, leaving a fresh trail of kicked-up powder in his place.
Upon noticing his trick, I took off after him. "Hey! Not cool!"
Yelling probably wasn't the best move right then because every labored breath brought a rush of sharp, frozen air into my lungs. My feet carried me faster and faster up the mountainside, bringing me closer and closer to Matokka. Even though I was gaining on him, I still wanted to put him to shame. Thinking quickly, I thrust my fists downward. Beneath me the ground rumbled softly before a drastic shift caused the earth to split. A platform just large enough for me to stand on jutted out, launching me a ways upward and forward. I then launched myself again – and again and again and again!
Matokka, completely focused on his every breath and step, never even noticed until I was far ahead of him. "Hey! No fair! You're a bender!" Laughing, he ran faster.
"Serves you right for taking a head start!" I shot back over my shoulder. The crisp mountain air was cold and inviting as it stung my face and whipped my hair behind me, and I grinned as I kept launching myself up to the mountain's apex.
Finally at the peak, we both rested our hands on our knees as we gasped for air in the thin atmosphere. "I...win!"
Matokka looked up and brushed his bangs out of his eyes as he attempted to steady his breathing. He pointed a finger at me as he spoke, his chest still heaving. "You, Katalana...are one...devious racer...but one...incredible earthbender."
My cheeks were already tinged pink from the cold and exercise, but even so, they must have flushed a whole shade darker. I simply smiled a thank you and turned to look at the view.
"Pretty co-ol, hu-uh?" he observed in satisfaction.
As it turns out, Korra and I weren't the only ones who had changed. Then thirteen, Matokka had definitely changed as well. He'd definitely gotten taller, and was about equal in height with us, but the differences didn't stop there. His shoulders had widened, his voice deepened (even if it did crack every now and then), his hair had gotten longer, and his facial features were still young and rounded, but slightly more defined. The only things that remained constant were his mischievous grin and bright blue eyes that bore a strikingly accurate resemblance to the deep, swirling ocean depths.
"You said it!" I agreed. My thoughts wandered as I stood taking in the view. The South Pole may have looked like just a huge slab of ice to some people, but to us, it was paradise. The golden sun was just rising over the snow-smothered mountaintops, casting elongated shadows over the tundra. We felt so close to Heaven that I couldn't even make out our silhouettes at the tip of the mountain's ashy silhouette miles away. From there, on top of the world, we could see just about everything we knew as home. In one direction, to our right, was our quaint little town, where all of the villagers were still tucked safely in bed. To the left was the compound, where Korra would wake up to train in a few hours. A disappointed huff escaped my lips as I stared down at the fort. For years that citadel had been our home, yet it never really felt like a home. It was always so...isolated.
A happy sigh from Matokka snapped me out of my little trance. "Couldn't you just live up here?"
I sat down, crossed my legs, and thought for a moment before replying. "Maybe." Laying back in the snow, I felt the coldness of it seeping through my parka and my clothes, right down to the skin. Its sharp chill bit into my back and arms like a thousand little pinpricks, but it felt good despite it being twenty below. "The view is wonderful, no doubt, but I think it would get kind of lonely, don't you think? Living so far away from the rest of the village... It's too far away from other people."
"I guess." He shrugged and sat down next to me. From his expression, I assumed he knew I wasn't talking solely about the mountaintop, but he didn't dig into it. He gazed out over the ice, amazed, yet there was something about his expression that just seemed...off. The corners of his lips were turned down, his eyebrows knitted together as if in concentration, and his eyes were soft and distant. In appearance and attitude both, he looked sad. We sat there in silence, the wind silently brushing his long bangs away from his sapphire eyes. Neither of us moved until the sun had nearly reached the clouds.
To break the tension between us, I brought myself into a sitting position and punched him playfully, "Hey, you wanna go check out those caves now?"
Immediately his face lit up like it was Christmas morning. "Uh, yeah!" His expression soured and he rubbed his arm in pain. "And O-OW! You earthbenders are stronger than you lo-ok!"
"Sorry, and thanks. Now come on!" I jumped up and brushed off the snow and dirt that clung to my clothes, then yanked Matokka to his feet and practically shoved him forward. Our descent proved to be much slower than when we came up, for tripping on such a rocky slope would not end well, but we resumed running anyway. Another race? Definitely. We were neck and neck at the start; Matokka pulled ahead soon enough. But before we made it even halfway down, he skidded to a stop, nearly toppling over as inertia took hold of him. He waited for a moment, his back turned to me, but then...I watched in horror as the earth beneath him crumbled. He had no time to try to escape the sudden disappearance of the ground below him. I reached out in a vain attempt to grab him, but inertia traded him with gravity faster than of what my reflexes were capable, and he plunged beneath my line of vision.
"Matokka!" After getting down on my hands and knees, I leaned carefully over the edge where he'd fallen. And, thinking quickly, I concentrated hard on the rocky cliff-side and punched both fists out in front of me with about as much force as a war ship plowing through ice on the eve of battle. In response to that movement, a long, angled slab of earth slid out of the mountainside, along with snow disturbed from its resting place. There was no way for me to control how thick the snowy blanket was – seeing as waterbending was not my specialty – and I prayed that it would be enough to save him, inflicting as little damage as possible. Leaning further out over the edge, my eyes scanned the slope for my friend. It took me several terrified minutes to spot him, but, finally, I caught sight of the faint outline of his panicked limbs among the whiteness. As soon as I spotted him, I crawled to a safer, longer slope and slid carefully down to meet him. Upon reaching his landing point, I knelt beside his limp body. His eyes were closed, his mouth creased in a thin frown, but I heaved a huge sigh of relief when I saw his chest rhythmically rising and falling with each steady breath. "Matokka?" I whispered nervously. There was no reply. Gently, I laid a hand on his shoulder and tried to rouse him. "Matokka?" I repeated. The tension within me writhed with each second he didn't respond. I nudged him again. Finally, it was barely noticeable, but I could have sworn I had seen his lips move ever so slightly. There was no sound as he tried to form words, but after a weak cough, there was a voice, barely audible, but it was just strong enough to recognize its familiar sarcastic drawl. "And you couldn't have sensed that landslide any sooner?"
I laughed, more out of relief than for his terrible remark. Oh Lord, thank you! "You're okay!"
His eyelids fluttered open. He remained on his back, but he slowly turned his head and attention to me. "For someone who ju-ust plu-unged twenty-plus feet onto a hard slab of rock, ye-ah, I'm doing gre-at." His voice cracked again as he struggled to sit up.
Overcome with relief, I launched myself on him, gripping him in a tight hug. The impact caused him to veer back a bit, out of both shock and probably pain, but, once recovered, he wrapped his arms around me in return. "You're okay," I said again, trembling. I squeezed him harder, and my eyes tighter, trying to convince myself that his fall wasn't as bad as I had feared when he disappeared from my sight. "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay...!"
He was shaking too, more afraid than he was willing to let on, yet he somehow regained control faster than I did. We remained in that position for longer than was probably necessary, but Matokka made no attempt to pull away until I was ready to release him.
Trying to steady my shaking voice, I finally asked him, "You are okay, right? No broken bones?"
He sat for a moment, curling his fingers, bending his elbows, wiggling his toes, testing each individual joint. (I think he did that more for me than out of actual need to). "No, nothing broken."
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" I asked, my voice overflowing with concern.
An annoyed, but lighthearted eye-roll flickered across his face. "I am fine. Are you alright? You seemed more scared than I was!"
"I was not!" I exclaimed instinctively so as to defend my reputation. Honestly, though, he was right. Deep down – or, perhaps not-so-deep-down – I was terrified that I'd lost him. When those rocks shook loose...and when I could no longer see him... I pushed the horrid memory aside. It would only upset me more to think about what my life would have been like without him. Besides, I'd just had an irritating epiphany. He'd made fun of me (which was no surprise) but it wasn't until then that I realized Matokka had just made me feel better by insulting me. Ironic.
He flashed a satisfied smirk; he knew I was lying. That was the one thing about our friendship that was both amazing and incredibly annoying. Ignoring his taunt, I changed the subject. "So what made you stop so suddenly?!"
Matokka's face fell instantly. "You're never going to believe me, but I could have sworn I heard something up there." He turned his head to motion to the place he had stood before. "It was strange. It sounded like some kind of cry, like something – or someone – in pain."
I glanced up as well, walking my eyes along the cliff in search of any sign of life. There was a rabbit-vole or two about, but nothing that would describe Matokka's mystery sound. "Then let's head back up there and look some more – if you're up to it, that is."
Nodding, he agreed. "Slowly though, I do not wanna live through that again."
I could have made a really mean joke just then, but I let it slide. (No pun intended.) I nodded in agreement as well. Standing slowly myself, I leaned down to help Matokka stand as well. As I did, his face contorted into an obvious show of pain; he sucked in a sharp breath through gritted teeth, and leaned heavily on one foot while reaching down to grab his opposite ankle.
"You are not okay!" I exclaimed, holding him upright.
He rubbed his ankle, his face still a little twisted, but he refused to revert his claim on the subject. "As I said, I'm fine. It doesn't feel broken. Sprained, maybe, from landing on it funny, but not broken."
"Are you sure? I can help you home if you need me to. After that I can come check out the noise, or we can come back together another time."
Stubbornly he shook his head. "No, it's not that bad. I just wasn't expecting that. I can go. Besides," he paused, the corners of his lips turned down slightly. "You have to head home in a few hours anyway. I don't want you to have to go back any earlier than you have to."
I smiled gratefully, then childishly. "You know me so well." And it was true. Although I didn't exactly hate living in the compound, I would rather be out exploring with Matokka than in there training any day.
With the frozen grass crunching underfoot, we headed back up the slope – extraordinarily slowly that time. Upon reaching the fall point, we stopped and listened. It was deathly silent. We waited. We waited some more, and still there was no sound but our nervous breaths. We had almost given up when we heard it – a long, low, wailing sound, and it came from not too far away.
Slowly, softly, we scoured the area. "Hey," I whispered, nudging Matokka. "What's that over there?" To clarify, I pointed to our right.
Matokka squinted and leaned toward me to see from my point of view, attempting to get a glimpse of whatever it was I saw. "I don't know. It looks similar to those cave entrances I keep finding."
"'Keep finding'? You say that as if you've been out here multiple times."
He grinned mischievously. "Maybe I have, maybe I haven't."
"You, Matokka, have a major death wish."
"Come on, you 'fraidy mouse-cat! Let's go check it out!"
We crept close, trying not to frighten whatever was inside. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as we neared the cave entrance. Taking a step inside was like hitting a wall of heat. It was so warm and dank, and the moisture seemed to cling to our skin. Our thick, cloudy breaths vanished instantly. "This place gives me the creeps," I whispered, my words echoing softly off the cavern walls.
"Oh, it's not that bad. You're just-" He cut himself off.
"Just...what?"
His voice took a low tone. "Shh. Look."
I followed his gaze, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dimness. There was nothing particularly unusual about the cave. It was dark, warm, and wet, and had tall walls that rounded into a jagged ceiling. Stepping deeper into the tunnel, it became clear what Matokka was shushing me for. The delve had once extended much further into the mountainside. I could tell because, from the vibrations in the floor, it tunneled far beyond what I could see, but maybe ten or fifteen feet from the entrance was a thick wall of stone. There had been a cave-in. Before us lay an enormous heap of boulders and rubble, and alongside it was dust that had settled not long ago. Maybe a day or two ago at the most. Upon closer inspection, I believed I had located the source of Matokka's mystery sound. Lying with half of its body beneath the debris was a small animal, not much larger than my hand. For its size, it was long and skinny – emaciated even – and had four stubby legs. The poor creature was withered and frail; it's monotonous gray fur was all matted with blood, and its big round eyes were starting to glaze over. I recognized the species of dog-like mammal right away. It was a very young Pygmy Wolf-Fox, one that was clinging desperately to its last shred of life.
Looking at me, Matokka whispered as calmly as he could manage while in the presence of such a horrific sight. "Katalana, we have to help. Use your earthbending to move the rocks – carefully – while I try to keep her calm."
"Got it," I nodded firmly.
He inched closer to the infant. It squealed helplessly and tried digging the remaining nubs of her claws into the icy rock to pull itself out. Matokka paused, and the squealing stopped. As he crept closer it began again. By the time Matokka reached the pup it had worn itself out. He sat down and lifted his hand to pet her. She cowered, still screeching in a weak voice; she gave up when her strength wore out. Placing two fingers on her head, he led them gingerly down the back of her skull and spine, smoothing down her scraggly fluff. The baby mewed softly, obviously sapped of energy, but used what little energy she possessed to show her thanks. Matokka continued this motion, speaking softly to her. Who knew Matokka could be so tender? I thought. I came to attention when he looked up at me and nodded. "Go ahead."
Prior to this, I had also been working out how I was going to help. I took my stance, feet planted apart, rock solid, just like I was taught. Concentrating on the boulders overhead, I gripped the air above me and pulled firmly back toward me. The rocks rumbled and groaned as if they were beasts woken from a deep slumber. Then, warily, cautiously, I guided them down, one by one, into a neat pile on either side of me. When there were only a few left, I rushed over to them and Matokka and I shoved the last few aside, freeing the small pup. She whimpered in pain; her enormous blue eyes shone with gratitude.
"She's lost a lot of blood. Unless treated immediately, she won't last much longer. We need to get her back to the Tribe," Matokka reported anxiously.
"We do, but we can't move her. Some of her bones may be broken; we might injure her more."
"So what should we do?"
"Here, step back. I'll show you." With a questioning look, but without protest, he obeyed. I stomped the ground with my heel and the earth beneath the Pygmy Wolf-Fox raised itself about three inches above the surrounding area. And finally, I sliced my hand through the air and the pedestal on which she rested cut clean through, and it hovered in mid air.
Matokka raised his eyebrows and he pressed his lips together in a lopsided grin. "Impressive."
"Thank you. Now let's get out of here before there are any other accidents!"
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"Can you save her, Katara?" I asked hopefully. Matokka and I had rushed back into town – well, as fast as we could rush with Matokka's limp. We had gone straight to Katara, who lived in the largest structure in the village – the healing hut. We had burst through the doors – again, as well as we could – and slid the doors back to her examination room. Inside was simple, yet traditional in appearance. It was short, wide, and long. The walls were Water Tribe Blue, and lined with shelves and shelves of medicines and exotic herbs. In the center of the room was a long, shallow pool, almost like the Baptism pool at the church, and kneeling over it was Katara. She may have looked old, with her white hair loopies and wrinkled features, but even in her seventies, she was still as powerful as ever.
After having her examine the pup, she said soothingly, "Don't worry, Katalana. She has taken quite a beating, but she will be fine. Like you and your sister, she's stubborn and strong willed. If she wasn't, she probably would not have survived as long as she did."
"So what can we do to help?" Matokka asked as we sat on the floor beside Katara's low-lying exam table. He stretched his leg out and cringed as he rotated his sprained ankle. Trying to relieve at least his mental pain, I rested a hand on it comfortingly. We both knew that he would be trapped at home for a while to heal – which was something he hated more than anything in the world, sitting still. But what was worse was that he also had to be sitting still with his mother around. Makita was always a wonderful mother and friend...and extraordinarily over-protective of her son after the death of her husband and his father.
Katara eyed his injured leg with a look that revealed that she knew we had been doing something stupid to cause it, but her expression softened as she remembered the Wolf-Fox. "Well, I don't see much that you two could do seeing that I've just finished bandaging her up, so really all you have to do is name her."
"Huh?" we asked, exchanging confused looks. "Name her?"
"Well we can't very well go around caller her a 'her', a 'she', or an 'it' forever, now can we?"
Matokka glanced at the waterbender questioningly. "What about her pack?"
"Her family is probably long gone. There haven't been any Wolf-Foxes – pygmy or otherwise – around here in years. I'm sorry to tell you this, but her mother probably went up to the mountain to have her pups when the cave collapsed." Matokka and I looked at the infant sadly. She was still weak, but her entire demeanor had changed. She was sitting up; her eyes were no longer frosty, but a light aquamarine blue, and the corners of her lips were pulled back into what could have been a smile, revealing a pink tongue and the healthy nubs of what would grow into sharp, gleaming teeth. "Hey now, how about that name?"
Matokka sat and thought for a minute before he asked me, "How about Tenille?"
"No."
"Kaori?"
"No."
"Birkita?"
"Ew, no. Shylah, then?"
"Nah. Oh! Naja?"
"Mm," I hummed, "I like it, but that sounds too much like Naga. Kellina?"
"Minka?"
"Aleen?"
"Khani?"
"Perfect!"
"Perfect? What kind of name is – oh." A tinge of red crawled across his cheeks when he realized his mistake.
I shook my head and laughed. "Wow, Matokka, just...wow."
Katara smiled in her grandmotherly-type way and addressed Matokka. "Well, now that that's been settled, let's see about that sprain." Matokka's smile faded instantly. "Come now, it won't hurt for but a second." He grimaced disbelievingly, but scooted toward the old woman and rolled up his pant leg for her to scrutinize the damage. She looked it over carefully, searching for any discoloration and feeling along the sides for any bruising or unnatural lumps. "Oh, it's not that bad. You'll be on your feet again by next week."
"Next week!"
"Tut tut! It could have been much worse! If it was broken, you'd be lying in bed for two months!"
Matokka opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He knew she was right. As he sat there in silence, Katara raised her hands a bit and waved a stream of water from the pool to cover her hands. She made the liquid vibrate and pulsate, letting the glow course through it, then she placed her hands gently on his ankle and bended the water so that it encased the injury. Cringing, my friend squeezed his eyes shut and took a sharp, pained breath, but he soon relaxed as the water soothed away the ache deep within his muscles.
When she had finished, she poured the water back in the pool and she and I helped Matokka to his feet. "Just come back and see me every few days or whenever you feel any pain."
Leaning on his good foot, he tipped his head and said, "Yes ma'am. Thank you."
Katara smiled at his polite gesture, and said to him, "Such a kind young man." Then to me she waved an instructive finger. "Now you take good care of him, alright?"
After that comment, it was my turn to blush. I only nodded and gave her a respectful, "Yes ma'am, Katara," before preparing to leave. Turning to Matokka, I took his hand and pulled it around my shoulder.
"What are you do-oing?!" he asked, his voice cracking nervously.
"Letting you lean on me, you doofus!" I explained, not understanding his discomfort. "Come on, let's get you home. There's sure to be an oncoming rant from your mother, but we can take it, huh?"
"Right. Let's just get this over with." Then, remembering something, he paused. "Wait, what about Khani?"
"Oh, right." I looked longingly at the pup's adorable and shining face. "I don't know if I can take her. The Order has really strict rules about, well, everything. I highly doubt they'd let me keep a pet."
"Well, I'd have to ask my mom. She has a real soft spot for animals, but I couldn't say she'd let me keep her either. Buuut...maybe if she knew I got injured trying to help her, then maybe – juuust maybe – she'd lighten up on her rant and let me keep her."
I grinned at his backwards logic. "It's worth a shot!"
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Kat: *sigh* Ah, fanfiction...what would I do without it?! Since I'm on break, I might have more time to post, but I also have hmwk to do so I'll have to see what I can get done. Really hoping I can continue! Anyway, so...this was another scene between Katalana & Matokka - with the introduction of Khani & re-introduction of our beloved waterbender, Katara!
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Also...idk if you guys noticed or not - 'cause I didn't notice this until months after I'd written it - the sun should not rise or set in the South Pole. I did a major facepalm when I realized that I'd written it to do so. I would have changed it, but it kind of goes along with the story so it'd make no sense if I altered it to stay either light or dark throughout the whole time they're in the Southern Water Tribe. So...sorry about that. :/ ;)
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I do not own the Avatar universe or any of its characters, settings, or themes. I will take credit for basically this entire chapter save Katara. :)
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K, well, thazzit! Leave a CQC and I'll get back to y'all ASAIC!
