Gosh, it's been ages. I'm sorry for the ones who actually read my story, but I've been really busy (but it is longer than the other chapters…). I'll try to write the next chapter faster but I can't promise anything. Oh, and I'm sorry for the messy look this whole thing has on the internet (I still haven't figured out how to do it right) and for any mistakes. Would it me a good explanation if I said I'm just plain stupid and English isn't my first language? Whatever, not many people are reading this anyway.
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"Forgive me for asking princess but are you absolutely sure about that?"
She rose
before she answered and started to walk from the right of her stage
to the left as she spoke.
"Are you doubting me?"
It was a
simple question, only she could make simple questions sound so
threatening that you want to run away as fast as you can. Nobody
dared to doubt her.
"No! No, not at all. I just thought that,
well, we have to be really sure…"
"The Avatar was just a
little boy and I killed him while he was in the Avatar State, I am
one hundred percent sure that the Avatar is dead."
Chapter 4.
Crossing the ocean.
"Wow Lee look at that!"
It was our second travelling day, I sat in front of Lee again and pointed excitedly at the ocean. It was so beautiful!
"You
like it?"
He sounded a bit surprised.
"Of
course I do! Who wouldn't like that? Sure, it's not tropical but
it's still beautiful."
"Not many people think that actually,
but I think this is beautiful too."
"You better!"
I
jumped of the ostrich horse before he could offer me his hand; I was
too excited to wait for him as i usually did (which made no sense, I
could bend earth to make some steps in no time if I wanted to) and
started walking towards the boat. The boat had looked big from a
distance, but now that I'm on it it's ten times as big. I made a
pirouette to look around and Lee laughed.
"What?"
"You're
funny."
"No I'm not, I'm happy."
Lee giggled.
"Lee,
you doing it again!"
"What?"
"You
giggled.
You did that yesterday too!"
"What's
wrong about giggling?"
"It's girlie! Guys don't giggle,
they chuckle."
"What's the difference?"
"Giggling is higher, I think, and chuckling is way more sarcastic. And meaner."
Lee looked
at me as if I was crazy.
"And it's definitely more manly."
"Sure Maya, let's go and eat something."
Lee took my hand to make sure I wouldn't lose him in the crowd. How many people do they want to put on one boat? There are people everywhere.
As we walked towards the restaurant someone bumped into me and nearly made me fall, but Lee caught me in time and swung me to his other side which nearly made me fall again. Then I tickled Lee to make him fall, without any effect unfortunately, but made him laugh. I just stood there against him and we couldn't stop laughing.
Wow, I'm so happy.
When we were almost capable of breathing slowly, we stepped into the restaurant.
"A table for two, please"
The way Lee said it to the old lady was so, I don't know, like in a book. Not the information books Lee was addicted to, but the cheesy romance stories that made every teenage girl in my village drool.
She gave us a weird smile, like she was one of those drooling teenage girls.
"Aww…
You're such a cute couple! You'll get your food for free
today!"
What?! Ok, now I wasn't so happy anymore. I'll
better get this straight…
"We're not
a-"
Lee interrupted me, whispering.
"Shut up, free food!"
It continued to be like that all evening, first the old lady, then the waiter and everyone was giving us stupid commentary looks (she, so young, and he, way older? Sigh.)
But hey, it can't get worse than that. We're walking towards our room, it wasn't that bad… We had free food, it was good and at least we're alone now and nobody's giving us weird looks. I was alright again, I guess.
Then Lee opened the door to our room.
There's only one bed. Only. One. Bed. One. Oh no, just perfect, no, awesome, seriously. Great.
Things really can't get worse.
It's not very surprising that I couldn't sleep. Lee had been so nice, he acted as if nothing was wrong. He had seemed pleased actually, now that I think about it… No, that's just my weird brain. Now he was sleeping sound, right next to me. Ok, there's plenty of room for three people in this bed so it doesn't really matter. But I just hope I won't go snoring all night long.
I was really tired and finally I was able to let myself being pulled under by sleep, things turned dark… But then things turned light. It was blinding, like a white world. Hey, the world is actually white here. I blinked a few times to let my eyes adjust to all this white. Then I looked to my right, I had been standing next to the ocean. It was grey and looked cold and wild, I thought it was beautiful. Why was everything so unnaturally quiet? I looked up, at what seemed to be the end of the ocean I saw black spots. Little black spots, a lot of them. Boats? I think they're boats. Whoa, why would someone come with so many boats?
Now that I was busy with questioning, where the heck am I? The white world suddenly scared me and didn't look so calm and peaceful. I started running along the shore; I don't know what I'm looking for. The shore stopped, suddenly there was a huge bay. I can't see the other side, but I know it's there. I've been here before.
Before I turned to my left I knew what I would see: the great wall of the Northern Water Tribe. But it looked different, it was completely closed. How could anyone get in? The last time I saw the city it had been full of people and there had been a huge entrance gate. And are there guards walking on the top of the wall? Something's not right, is this another city?
The black spots were close enough for me to see that they were really boats, an awful lot of boats. Then I recognised what kind of boats those were.
Someone
on top of the wall alarmed the rest to get ready to fight.
Fight?
Am
I in the middle of a war?
And if I'm not, what are the (very old
fashioned) Fire Navy ships doing here?
Someone took of on alone
and he was very easy to recognise. Fire Lord Zuko was floating his
own way up to the Northern Water Tribe.
Then I understood what
was going on; this wasn't my time. All of this had already happened
a hundred years ago, I can only watch.
And watching is what I did;
I saw everything that had happened that day.
"You did what?"
Lee gave me a puzzled look, he probably just didn't understand what I just said.
"I dreamed about the siege of the North."
"What
do you mean Maya? And why are you so calm? If the North Pole's
going to be attacked we've got to do something…"
"No, no
just relax. I dreamed about the siege of the North, a
hundred years ago."
"Oh,
wow you scared me. Well, that explains why you've been sleeping so
long…"
I sighed.
Ok, I had been still asleep when he woke up and it had made me feel awkward. In the ideal situation I'd wake up first, then pretend to be asleep and be the second one to wake up. So I'd be able to look cute while sleeping and I won't be snoring. Had I been snoring? I don't think I even want to know…
"Wait, the siege of the North? What do you mean with that?"
Obviously he had been so relieved that the North Pole wasn't in danger that he didn't realise what I had actually said up until now.
"There
has been this huge battle between the Northern Water Tribe and the
Fire Nation about a hundred years ago, when Avatar Aang was already
out of his frozen bubble."
"Maya… "
"Sorry. Anyway,
have you ever heard of that battle?"
"Vaguely, you?"
"Oh
I've never heard of it, well I knew that the Fire Nation had
attacked the Northern Water Tribe and that Avatar Aang had stopped
them but not that it had been this big. What do you know about
it?"
"Something with the ocean spirit, the Avatar and the
spirit joined and wiped the entire fleet out. That's all I know."
"Well,
you're right about that. But there's more…"
I told him the
whole story and Lee listened carefully. He's always eager to get
new information, especially about Avatars.
When I finished Lee stared out of the little window for a while before speaking, I could tell he was thinking hard.
"First
of all, I want to find out why you dreamed this. It must have had a
reason and I want to know."
Suddenly he sounded like the old
Lee, the Lee who had taught me all the Avatar stuff, the Lee who knew
everything and thought way too much. The past three days I had seen a
complete different side of him, a side I really liked but I'm not
thinking about that, and seeing this side again feels weird. Suddenly
he sounds so old again.
"Then I'd like you to tell me more about some things, for example the Avatar State. We don't know much about that and now that you have seen it happening we might be able to understand it more. And you said the moon turned red, then disappeared and came back?"
"The commander first captured the white fish who is the mortal form of the moon spirit, which made the moon turn red. Then he killed the fish, which made the moon disappear. But a girl with a lot of white hair gave the life the moon spirit had apparently given her back, and the moon came back."
"That battle sounds really interesting and it seems like Avatar Aang had a group around him. I never realised how much there is that we don't know."
It was weird for me too, I was used to all the great stories about Avatar Aang and I did know that he had been so young but I never really realised it until I had this dream. Lee's right, there is so much that we don't know.
"I
know… I really want to find out who his friends were and what
they've done and stuff, it sounds very interesting."
"Maya,
where we have to focus on is the Avatar State. I think that has the
biggest priority now, it's not only because I'm interested but it
has something to do with you, too. You shouldn't forget that."
"I
think Avatar Aang's crew is cool to know about."
"Crew?"
Gosh,
he is so old…
"Never mind. What can we do about the Avatar
State? I've always told you that I don't think it's so easy to
reach, we disagreed at that point."
I sighed as I remembered all the horrible discussions we've had, he wanted me to reach the Avatar State and I just couldn't do it. It's not like I have a button to click on.
"Well, you tell me. You saw it happening, what did he do?"
Staring at the ocean like I'm doing now is an amazing way to think.
It felt so weird to talk like that with Lee again, the past days have been so… Different. I don't know, he had seemed more like a friend, or, well, an older brother or something like that. Not my teacher, the way he seemed this afternoon again. Does he feel like an older brother? No. I don't think I trust him that much and we're not that comfortable around each other, are we? No we're not. How close are we actually? Is he my mentor or something? Is he my friend? Is he a lot older than I am?
Ok, stop. This is not healthy, why do I even care? Where was I, oh, thinking, yes. Well definitely not thinking of Lee so thinking of… Well, the Avatar State. Avatar Aang was obviously really upset, maybe it has to do with emotions. The anger that had radiated from him, I don't know if I ever want to feel like that.
"Hey
there pretty lady."
Someone with a really hoarse voice called
out, I didn't even look up to see the girl he was calling to. Like
I care, the girl will probably tell him to get lost as friendly as
possible. Or maybe she'll say something mean, that would be fun. I
feel him walking in my direction but I can't really feel anyone
who's standing here. Weird.
"I
was talking to you, sweetheart."
Me? He couldn't mean me…
"Hey! Come on, you can hear me, can't you? Just turn your head so I can see you…"
He's close but I can't tell how close, metal is not as precise as earth. Oh, crap! I'm on a boat in the middle of the ocean; there's no earth to defend myself. No. Earth. A very unfamiliar feeling came over me, something I have never felt before. For the first time in my life, I felt vulnerable.
His hands covered my shoulders and I could feel his breath on my neck as he whispered in my ear.
"It's not nice to ignore someone, didn't you know that?"
Then I felt the heat.
It took me a little less than a second to realise why his breath was so warm.
"You're a firebender."
My whisper sounded weak but I still didn't turn around to face him, this way I felt more confident.
"You're right, pretty girl, you are right. And if I may ask, what are you?"
His hands moved from my shoulders and started to make their way down my arms to my hands. To make sure I wouldn't move? I shook his hands of me, then rested my arms on the rail.
"I'm
sorry if I offended you young lady, I put it the wrong way. Let me
start again."
Again I felt his hands on my shoulders.
"If I may ask, who are you?"
Again
his hands started moving towards mine, his touch felt weird on my
bare skin. It was cold and I shivered.
"What is wrong
with you?"
His next question was
filled with surprise, he doesn't understand what is happening.
Neither do I, but I believe that is beside the point at the moment. I
felt my fear fade a little, things aren't going the way he wants
them to and that is definitely a good thing.
In a sudden burst of confidence I turned around to face him and spoke.
"Nothing's wrong with me, I'm just cold."
He
was way too close, he raised his hand towards my face as he
spoke.
"But that's the point, sweetheart, that's the point.
How come you are cold?"
Before I could even think of what to say next to make him go away I heard someone calling out my name.
"Maya!"
Lee's
voice sounded surprised and, well, maybe I'm just imagining this
but he sounded a little hurt. The man backed away, there was actually
distance between us and that made me feel a lot more comfortable.
"Lee!"
I
couldn't hide the relief that was so clearly audible in my voice.
The man in front of me turned around to face Lee. Lee's expression
was completely shocked when he saw the face of man that had been
talking to me.
"Maya, I was looking for you. You left your coat
inside and well, it's cold here. I don't want you to get a cold
or something."
"Yeah I am cold and I want to go to our room.
Are you coming with me? Please?" I quickly added and it had the
effect I had said it for; Lee smiled widely.
"Sure girl, come
on."
"Were
you really cold?"
We were barely around the corner when Lee's
smile had already faded.
"Uhuh,
I have bare arms, wouldn't you be cold?"
"Hn."
Ok, what
was wrong?
"What's wrong, Lee? Why can't I be cold?"
"Maya
don't fool me, I know what that man was."
"What?"
Then he explained, men like him were known for going after every pretty girl they could find. More men are known for that but the warmers, as the people apparently called them, are different. They make you warm, that's something I could guess, but the warmth they spread across you body makes you not want to refuse them. Hundreds, thousands of girls have fallen for a warmer, only to be dropped shortly after. It's the chase for them, it's all they do. You can recognise a warmer by the tattoo on his left ear, this is something most people don't know but Lee knows everything so he recognised the man as a warmer.
"But
I was really cold, seriously."
"He didn't have any effect on
you?"
"No, I was scared and I didn't know what to do."
"You
were scared?"
I know what he's thinking. I'm never scared,
never surprised and always ready.
"I just realised that there is
no earth here, Lee. Metalbending is extremely hard, I can only crush
a tiny piece if I try real hard but that's all. Seeing through
metal is ok, but I can't do more. I was defenceless."
"Ah."
He
understood.
"But
you said they only went after pretty girls."
"Yes?"
"I'm
not pretty"
He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders.
"Oh
Maya, you're such a mystery to me. Of all the people I have seen in
my life, everyone I have spoken with, no one has surprised me as
often as you. I thought I knew, you know, I thought I understood the
human brain. But you, girl, you have me questioning everything I have
taught myself. You're
not pretty? Please Maya, don't go saying stupid things."
I couldn't help but blush.
-------------------------------------------End Of Chapter 4 ----------------------------------------------
