CHAPTER 3: The Raven
An'rak was nervous. His team leader was on leave, which advanced him in his stead. It was his first time commanding an operation and he couldn't help wondering if he'd get everyone home safely. He was getting ready for the operation in his quarters on a Fire Nation transport vessel. He had on dark gray pants, a black, long-sleeve shirt that was tucked in, black, knee-high leather boots with three straps that were buckled, and a dark red, short-sleeve overcoat with tails down to the backs of his knees and fastened down the right side of the torso. He heard someone come in behind him.
"You okay, An'rak?"
An'rak turned to see Tila standing behind him.
"Yeah, Why?"
"Well," Tila said, "You've never been in charge of an entire team before. I was just checking on how you were doing."
"I'm fine," An'rak said, "Just nervous."
"Well, it's just a snatch-and-grab operation," Tila said, "Don't worry about it too much. We'll be in and out before you know it."
Tila smirked.
"You're pretty good with that sort of thing," she continued, "If you take my meaning."
"Was that really necessary?" An'rak asked.
"Oh, come on. I'm just teasing."
Tila walked up to An'rak and ran her hand through his dark hair. It was about an inch long and the hair on the top of his head naturally grew from the left to the right. An'rak also had well-groomed five o'clock shadow.
"Why do you always cut your hair so short?" Tila asked.
"If worse comes to worse and I have to fight hand to hand, it's one less thing my enemy can grab onto."
"But still, it doesn't need to be that short. I only cut mine to the base of my neck."
"Well, I like it the way it is," An'rak said.
"Whatever."
Tila leaned in and kissed An'rak on the cheek.
"At least your beard isn't too long," she said.
"Glad you found something to appreciate," An'rak said jokingly.
Tila laughed.
"Yeah. Well we better head out to the landing boat," Tila said.
"Yeah. You go on ahead, I'll be right there."
Tila turned and went out the door.
"Yeah!" he heard her yell in the hallway, "Time to kick some ass! Woo!"
An'rak laughed and shook his head. She was an amazing woman. Suddenly, he remembered that her life was in his hands. An'rak looked in the mirror.
'Stay calm. Everything will be fine. Just get everyone back okay,' he thought to himself.
He fastened his black leather belt with pouches around his waist. He picked up his black leather chest armor off his bed and put it on before sliding his arms into his dark-red leather gauntlets.
An'rak took a deep breath and walked out the door.
An'rak woke up. It was still dark out. He sat up and looked around. Kuvira was fast asleep. It was her first time sleeping in an actual bed in two years, why wouldn't she be sleeping so well? An'rak noticed that his shirt was wet. He must've been sweating because of the dream he had. He took his shirt off and hung it over the back of a chair. He rubbed his eyes and walked outside. It was cool out, but he didn't mind. It wasn't nearly as cold as the South Pole. He walked out to the porch overlooking the bay and put his arms on the rail. The stars and city lights illuminated the water. He could hear the Satomobiles driving on the busy streets off in the distance, mixed with the chirping of crickets in the bushes aligning the temple walls.
He heard soft footsteps behind him.
"Trouble sleeping?" a woman behind him said.
An'rak turned his head and saw Korra standing there. He looked back out over the bay.
"I thought you weren't getting back until tomorrow morning," he said.
"I got back early," Korra said.
Korra walked up next to An'rak and put her arms on the railing.
"It's a beautiful night," she said.
An'rak nodded.
"When I was still paralyzed, I was having a lot of nightmares and could barely get any sleep. Whenever I had a bad dream I'd come out here and look out over the water. I'd listen to the Satomobiles off in the distance, the sound of the water beneath me, and the crickets chirping in the gardens. I'd close my eyes and just listen as I felt the gentle night breeze. And even if it was only for a moment, it was nice to forget about what I was going through, to clear my mind and relax. It was so peaceful."
An'rak looked at Korra.
"It is a beautiful night," he said standing up straight.
Korra smiled, but her smile faded when she saw his body. All over the front of his torso, An'rak had multiple tiny scars that looked like the result of shrapnel from an explosion.
"Whoa," Korra exclaimed.
Korra reached out and ran her fingertips along one of the scars on his chest. An'rak grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine," An'rak interrupted, "They're just scars."
Korra could tell he wasn't serious though. These were more than just scars to him.
She looked at his face. He also had a thin, diagonal scar under his left eye that was about two inches long, and another horizontal scar just above his right eyebrow.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Nothing," An'rak said.
He turned around and started to walk away.
"Please," Korra said, "I can help."
An'rak stopped. He sighed and turned around.
"People depended on me to make a decision. I made a mistake. They died. I lived. That's all there is to it."
An'rak turned around and went back to his room. Korra started after him, but after only one step, she stopped. She didn't know what else she could do. She looked up at the sky for a moment before heading to her room. An'rak slid open the door to his room and got back into bed. For several minutes, he laid there staring at the ceiling. He rolled over and reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a necklace. It was a silver chain that had a pendant of a raven's head. He clenched the pendant in his hand and closed his eyes.
An'rak and Tila were sitting on a bench in the park watching the turtle-ducks swim in the pond a few feet away.
"I have a gift for you," An'rak said.
"What kind of gift?" Tila asked.
"Close your eyes."
Tila closed her eyes and An'rak put a silver-chain necklace with a raven's head pendant on it around her neck. Tila opened her eyes and looked at it.
"It's amazing," she said.
"It's a raven," An'rak replied, "It's the symbol of my family."
Tila put her arms around An'rak and kissed him.
An'rak opened his eyes. He felt something warm on the palm of his hand. He opened his hand and saw a small drop of blood. He hadn't even noticed that he had been clutching the raven pendant so tight that its beak had poked through the skin. He wiped the blood off the beak and grabbed a handkerchief out of one of his pouches. He pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding. As he waited, he looked over at Kuvira who was still sound asleep.
'She looks so…peaceful,' he thought.
After the wound had clotted he put the handkerchief and necklace back into the pocket. He opened his bandage pouch and took out a small gauze pad and long strip of cloth. He put the gauze over the wound, wrapped the cloth around his hand and went back to sleep.
Kuvira could hear birds chirping in the trees outside and the morning traffic off in the distance. She knew it was morning but she didn't want to wake up just yet. It was her first time sleeping in a good bed in years. But, she knew it was going to be a busy day so she didn't have much of a choice. She sat up, yawned and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, she was shocked to see a stone pillar about two feet in diameter protruding through the floorboards, into the ceiling, and out the roof.
"Holy mother of-!" she cried out.
Her reaction woke up An'rak. He immediately sat up and ignited a flame dagger in both hands.
"What is it?" he exclaimed, "What's -"
An'rak saw the pillar in the middle of the room.
"What the flameo is that?" he yelled, freaking out.
Kuvira knew exactly what was going on. She didn't want to believe it, but there was no denying it. Not only was An'rak unable to control his ability to earthbend, but it was getting more severe as well. She looked him in the eye with both fear and concern.
"Oh no," An'rak said, "I'm earthbending in my sleep now?"
"It appears that way."
"I can't take this! What if next time I don't wake up because I accidentally skewered myself through the chest with a spike, or worse, you?"
"We've gotta go to talk to Korra," Kuvira said, "Like, right now."
-To Be Continued-
