Avatar: Reincarnated
Book One: Water
Chapter Three: Encounter
Kain had never given much thought to all things Avatar, and this didn't change now. So the world's only hope for peace, love, and hippies had vanished. Big deal. It's not like he was needed. Not that the world was all peaceful. Bandits and scum were everywhere, but the Avatar wasn't all-powerful. He couldn't appear wherever someone was up to no good and save the day every time. He couldn't eliminate evil from the world. Just like anyone else, the Avatar was limited.
Yeah, okay, he could save the nations from a world war, but the individuals still suffered.
Individuals like Kain's parents.
The inside of the temple, under the main room, had been like a maze. Luckily, the trails the Earth Sages had taken where visible through the dust. Kain followed the armored footprints – those that matched the shoe prints of a treasure guard.
Finally: the treasure room.
Kain pulled off his blood-red traveling cloak and the several small animal skin pouches inside it. He chose the pieces that would be the hardest to trace back to the temple and filled several sacks.
A thin band of silver and gold entwined around emeralds and diamonds caught his attention. It appeared to be a crown. Kain stared at it a moment more before packing it too. He wouldn't sell it; this would be just a little reminder.
***
Getting out was surprisingly easy, and getting down the outside of the temple was much easier than climbing up it, and soon Kain was finally on his way to the Fire Nation.
He tested how others would react to his stolen goods at a small inn his first night and no one seemed to notice or be suspicious.
Excellent.
The young traveler made it a week without any problems. He was in the former upper ring of Ba Sing Se. After the war, the inner walls of Ba Sing Se came down, and the citizens were treated more as equals, allowed to live wherever they pleased. This made it easier for Kain to navigate the city and find what he was looking for. It would take another week while he waited for his passport to be made. His old one was lost with his parents.
Luckily, the city's employees believed his story and accepted his money. He roamed the area of the city he was in, partially looking for some place to stay for a week, although he didn't want to spend more money at an inn, and partially enjoying the pleasant afternoon weather.
Dare he think it? Were things actually starting to look up?
From the expression on the face of the man who stood a few feet away from Kain, way off the designated path, the answer was a big, fat no.
"We got company," the bulky man in green called over his shoulder casually. "Just a pipsqueak. Nothin' I can't handle."
Well. Kain would see about that. He probably would have fought the man, who was obviously a bandit, anyway. The three men behind him had their backs to him, most likely doing something illegal. They would be next.
Kain loathed bandits.
And Kain was not a pipsqueak. He was tall, though not as tall as the earth bender in his way, but tall enough. And, though he wasn't as bulky as his challenger, his muscles were hard to miss. If Kain had wanted to be huge, he could have been. As it were, he preferred the agility that came with being lean. This is what would help him bring the earth bender down.
Without hesitation, he drew his sword while his opponent detached a big hammer from his belt.
In one motion, the earth bender connected the iron hammerhead with the rocks at his feet, which came at Kain in a wave of boulders.
As the earth rose below him, Kain used the force to leap at his opponent. The hilt of his sword connected with the man's forehead, and his enemy crashed to the ground like a rock.
Kain almost laughed at the irony, but the other bandits hadn't noticed their fallen friend. While he still had the opportunity, Kain cut through the belt of the man in the middle, both disarming his weapon and his money bags – full of stolen loot, no doubt.
The other bandits turned on him now. They looked from their unconscious comrade to Kain in surprise. He dove at them before their little brains had a chance to figure it out. He sliced one's treasure loose, but two managed to keep their weapons.
They swung their hammers wildly, panicked by Kain's quick movements. Apparently, their guard was the only bender among them. If they had been more benders, they could have slowed him down.
Kain sliced through the weak wood, separating the hammerhead from a bandit's hand. He dropped back, picked up his companion, and let the other two do the fighting.
A hammer connected with Kain's leg as his elbow connected with the bandit's face. Both men collapsed to the ground, growling in pain. The only opponent that remained standing swung his hammer down toward Kain.
Too slow.
Kain rolled quickly out of the way and onto his feet, careful to put more pressure on his good leg. His enemy missed his target and instead hit his comrade's weapon, which sunk deep into the ground. Its owner couldn't pull it out.
Meanwhile, the last bandit rushed Kain, who aimed a swing of the sword at his enemy's fighting arm.
The bandit dodged at the last second, but the black blade cut along the strap that held up the bandit's armor.
Kain didn't pause to assess the damage he'd done. He tackled the defenseless bandit to the ground and put his sword to his throat.
"Good match, but you lose. Leave your treasure and I'll let you live," Kain smirked.
The bandit he stood over was the only one who still had a bag of gold. He dropped it and Kain stepped back.
He didn't notice the girl until he'd gathered all of the bandits' lost loot.
He said, "Oh," when he finally saw her.
She appeared to be about his age, with long, dark brown hair, dark skin, and big blue eyes. She wore a light blue tunic top with diagonal collar, a thick, darker blue waistband, and dark blue pants. Her hair was down, showing she didn't care what people thought of her, and her expression was completely calm, as if she was used to being nearly kidnapped by bandits. She was wiggling out of the last of the ropes the bandits had been trying to tie around her when she noticed Kain was looking at her.
She smiled slowly when her blue eyes met his grey ones, and she leapt gracefully to her feet.
"My name is Klara," she told him as she walked to where he stood. He watched her cautiously, unsure of what to do.
She better not ask for a share of the gold.
They were now nearly nose to nose.
"Thank you for saving me," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was too surprised to push her off. She kissed him on the cheek.
His face broke into a half-grin when she stepped back, still smiling at him.
"Now that is the kind of undeserved hero-worship I could get used to," said Kain.
Her grin was now forced and frozen as she asked, "'Undeserved'?"
Kain laughed. "I didn't see you, until just then."
Klara wasn't smiling any more. "So you weren't saving me… and you just let me kiss you?!" she yelled.
"I didn't let you! " Kain retorted. "I was just standing here, minding my own business—"
"Your own business? You mean taking the bandits' loot?" she said, jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "Which, by the way, is just as crappy as stealing from innocent people; you're just letting the bandits do your dirty work for you so you can pretend there's nothing wrong with what you're doing!"
He smacked her hand away. "I am not like those scumbags! And, even if I didn't plan on it, I still saved you! You owe me!"
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever. I don't like being in anybody's debt and it would really suck to be in your debt. So I guess I owe you one act of kindness?"
Technically, Kain thought, she owes me her life. But that would mean having to be around her more, which definitely wasn't worth it, so he let her slide on that one.
Klara looked him up and down, studying the ragged state of his clothes and the exhaustion in his face. She wrinkled her nose. "When was the last time you had a bath?"
Was that her idea of kindness? "I bathe regularly," Kain growled.
"Like once a week regularly?"
"You know what? You can take your 'act of kindness' and shove it up your—"
"I just mean," she interrupted, "when was the last time you had a decent meal, or slept in a building?" Instead of a barn? she added mentally.
Kain stayed quiet for a moment. It had been awhile since he'd been part of civilized society. He held back on meals and had only stayed at an inn once or twice, not wanting to squander away all his money; he'd only taken just enough from the Earth Sanctuary.
"You suggesting I stay with you?" he finally asked. He'd rather sleep in an alley and not eat for a week.
"Spirits, no! But my aunt and uncle own an inn just up the road. You could probably stay there for a little bit." She shrugged.
That seemed acceptable and it gave him a decent place to stay until his passport would be ready.
"Okay," he said slowly, wondering if he would regret this decision. "Lead the way."
They started walking in silence. After a few minutes, Klara couldn't take it anymore.
"So…" she said slowly, throwing Kain a sideways glance. "You're traveling?"
He missed the silence already. "Yes," was all he said.
Klara frowned. "Is that all you're going to tell me? How about where did you come from? Where are you trying to go? Why did you leave? Where'd you get the sword?"
"Why do you care?" Kain asked, mimicking her tone. "Why were you out here in the middle of nowhere? Why did the bandits go after you?"
"Well, I'll answer if you'll answer. I was looking for—"
"I only asked all those questions to show you how annoying you were being," Kain muttered.
"—someone. The bandits just went after me because they could, same reason they go after anybody. Your turn."
Kain sighed and gave the shortest explanation he could. "I left the very outer rim of Ba Sing Se to look for a fire bending master to teach me fire bending."
"You're a fire bender? Why didn't you bend against the bandits?"
"They weren't benders, except the first guy. It wouldn't have been a fair fight." Kain shrugged. It had nothing to do with his lack of fire bending skill.
Klara stopped and stared at Kain, startled.
"What?" he asked, stopping as well.
"Uh, I just realized I never got your name," she said quickly.
They were back in the city now, surrounded by tall buildings, market places and people going about their daily businesses. Everyone seemed happy and carefree. They were all at ease because the Avatar had brought peace the world; they had nothing to worry about. Kain wondered how they would all feel if they knew what he knew. The Avatar they had put their faith in was long gone.
"My name is Kain," he told her.
"Kain," she repeated. "Are you a criminal, Kain? I don't want to cause problems for my aunt and uncle."
"No." At least, he'd never been caught. But he had no intention of stealing from her relatives. He'd be getting everything he needed for free, so stealing would just be stupid. And what was with the false note in her voice?
"Then here we are!" Klara gestured to the building they were standing in front of. It was like most buildings in the Earth Kingdom, made of earth. It was several stories and decorated with plants and artistic carvings to appear welcoming to guests.
Kain followed Klara inside to the lobby, where several people appeared to be waiting for her. There was a middle aged couple behind the desk, looking anxiously in their direction. A boy who appeared to be about twelve was watching a little girl play with her dolls.
As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, the room erupted into a chorus of Klara, where have you been?s, We were so worried!s and You're an hour late!
"Sorry!" Klara said over the noise. "I ran into some bandits, but Kain here helped me out. Long story short, nobody is hurt. Well, aside from the bandits."
Suddenly, the room went quiet and everyone stared at Kain. He stared back at them all one at a time. They all had the same peculiar look on their faces, even the toddler. The man had dark hair and skin that contrasted with his ice blue eyes. He was wearing a light blue tunic and dark blue pants, similar to Klara's. He was probably her blood relative, whereas his wife had married into her family. She had long dark hair that fell in waves over her silky green kimono. Her light green eyes bore into his, searching for something. The boy stared at Kain with dark green eyes. When Kain looked back at him, he turned to Klara.
"Is he..?" the boy asked slowly.
"No." Klara said quickly.
"Oh, thank you!" the woman breathed, hugging a very surprised Kain, and bringing the room back to life again. "How can we ever thank you enough?"
"Er, piece of cake…" Kain muttered, still taken aback. What had just happened?
"Actually, Aunt Hope, I was thinking that maybe he could stay here for a few days? He's traveling."
"I think that sounds possible. Yuuki," she said, turning to her son, "could you show Kain to the western room? Kain, is there anything you need?"
"Do you think I could get a bucket of ice?" His leg was still throbbing from the fight.
"Sure. Klara, could you make some ice from the well?"
"I don't need it if it's too much of a problem…" Kain said, starting to feel like he was getting way more than he deserved out of this deal.
"It's not a problem. Go put your stuff down and meet me out back." Klara said, disappearing through a door behind the desk.
"Follow me." Yuuki said, heading toward the stairs.