Chapter 4: Care
Yue left me in the room, under the fur of her bed's covers. I was able to feel my hands after her work with her water, but although it didn't hurt as badly at the time, I still had trouble forgetting about what happened. Why did they break my hands?
At least I could see the orange glow of the setting sun shining in through Yue's window. The rest of the room appeared to be books, with a lot of them just being strewn around the floor by the door. All I could see of the books was that they all had deep crimson covers, and what books were open lay either with their pages facing the ceiling or on some surface such that only the covers were visible. From where I lay, I couldn't make out what writing I could see.
There was also a vase with a few red flowers on the bedside table Another vase, this one on a desk by a window, held what I recognised as fire lilies. Whatever Yue was, she seemed to love flowers, but it confused me at the time as to why she would keep the red flowers and not have any other color flower in a vase.
The door creaked open, and in came Yue with a tray laden with bread, a cup of water and what appeared to be pig-chicken, and laid it down on the bedside table. I raised my one hand towards the tray when-
"No, Teo," Yue spoke, grabbing my wrist. "Your hands are nowhere near fixed. If you tried to eat something, you'll only be aggravating the pain."
"But I need to eat-"
"I'll help you with that. The pig-chicken still needs to be cut up. The meat is much better if you take a knife to the fine parts on the skin. Sinking your teeth into a few strips of the meat can be so much better than just taking a mouthful." At that point, she started to bury a knife blade in the pig-chicken.
"What about the water?"
"You forget: I'm a Waterbender. I can just bend the water into your mouth."
"I could really use the water right now. I'm surprised my mouth isn't dry yet."
"Say no more." Yue put the knife down on the tray and waved her hand at the water. A few globs of water rose up from the cup and, as she waved her hand in my direction, the water shot into my waiting mouth, splashing on my tongue. That feeling as I swallowed... it seemed like life was flowing back into the dry, cracked passage that was my throat.
She continued bending drops of water into my mouth until the cup was drained. Then came the pig-chicken, with thin strips on knives being pushed into my mouth. As each strip was separated from the knife blade, I chewed down, feeling just how juicy that pork-poultry was. After that came another strip of meat, then another, and another, until it was all gone.
Finally came the bread, which she broke up into smaller pieces, placing a few of the smallest pieces in my mouth one by one. Again, I chewed, swallowed, and felt a little bit of myself returning to normal as it sank into my stomach, and just like with the pig-chicken, quieting the persistent hunger inside me.
The sunlight was almost gone by the time I finished the bread, but there was still some form of light with a desk lamp. Yue left the room, but returned later with a bucket of water, which she placed on the bed.
"Hands in the water, Teo."
"Wouldn't it work just as well to bend the water onto my hands?" I asked.
"I could, but this is easier for me. Besides, I told you this morning that you need a lot of work."
I slowly dipped my hands into the water, but as soon as my wrists were submerged, the water started glowing slightly, just like before in the river. "Huh?" I couldn't help but ask, as Yue only started making motions slightly after.
"What is- oh," she spoke, looking at the faint glow. "Waterbender, eh?"
"I'm a... Waterbender?"
"Well, I haven't started healing you yet, and it only glows like that if a Waterbender uses it for healing, so you are one such healer."
"But the water isn't glowing as bright, and I don't know how I'm doing it."
"Healing can be done on instinct; I think it happened once with Katara when she got herself burned. The damage she suffered is nothing in comparison to what you've been through, so it's probably better if I throw my more seasoned efforts in." She dipped her own hands in the water bucket, and it glowed even brighter.
"Katara? You mean the legendary wife of Avatar Aang?"
"That's correct."
"That's about all I know, though. It was part of a history class in school, and Mother and Father forbade me from doing any more research into the topic of that 'bender she-witch' as they called her."
"She's got a bit of fame to her name, I'll give her that. In addition to being Aang's wife, she is a renowned healer, mother of the first Airbending master since the Hundred Year War and anti-Bloodbending advocate who successfully got the practice outlawed."
"What's Bloodbending? I thought there was only Air, Water, Earth and Fire."
"Maybe later, Teo. I don't think you want to hear the answer at this stage."
"Excuse me, Yue..." a voice called from behind the closed door, "... but I think your Fire Lilies downstairs need watering."
"Oh, really? Thanks for the reminder," Yue called at the door, turning to me, with the water's glow dimming heavily. "Listen, Teo, I just have to take care of something. Shouldn't be long, but until then just keep your hands in the water."
"What for?" I asked.
"You heard him; I need to water my downstairs Fire Lilies. What with the amount of hustle and bustle in the tavern, it's not surprising that I forgot to tend to them."
She stood up off the bed, and walked out of the room. I just kept my hands in the water, with the surface of it having a slight glow. During that time, I kept thinking: I could create sparks and cause water to glow: Firebending and Waterbending. Could it be that my classmates were wrong about me not being the Avatar?
Wait, of course not. The cycle has always been one of Air, Water, Earth, Fire, so why should it suddenly change from 'Air to Fire' this time instead of remain as 'Air to Water'.
But I could bend multiple elements. Only the Avatar was capable of that.
On the other hand, if I was the Avatar, I'd have probably been identified much sooner. Besides, it'd probably be apparent if I was the Avatar, because people treated him with respect and not the scorn I had to deal with.
Then again, Avatar Aang had to put up with scorn from the Fire Nation and parts of the Earth Kingdom, so maybe this was just par for the course?
But Avatar Aang died some time ago, and an Avatar usually reincarnates into another child upon death. I was born too late after the death to have any chance of being the Avatar.
Yet I could bend two elements.
But who is to say that I can bend the remaining two?
The door opened again, with Yue returning to the bed and dipping her hands in the bucket of water that mine were submerged in. "You look like you're thinking about something."
"Yue," I began, "...do you know who the current Avatar is?"
"All I really know is that the new Avatar is a native to the Southern Water Tribe. Not much else though; information from there is surprisingly scarce."
"But if the next Avatar was found, shouldn't he be known to the public?"
"Probably, but for some reason the people there are very secretive on the subject last I heard, and there's a constant vigil kept by the White Lotus. They seem to be hellbent on not letting any information leak out of the tribe."
"Any idea why?"
"No. Curiously, they seem to be even less talkative than the Dai Li on the subject."
"What are these Dai Li?"
"Oh, they're the Earth Monarch's hidden hands, making sure everything is orderly in the city of Ba Sing Se. Otherwise, Teo?"
"Yes?"
"I know you need to stay with me while I heal your hands, but I just need to lay down a few ground rules. Just with me running the inn, it is going to be a bit hard to juggle everything, so I need to find some way to relieve the stress."
"What are these rules?"
"First, I will need you to stay up here until your hands are healed. A number of these people might try and shake hands, which could undo all our work thus far, and the others might get funny ideas in their heads."
"Just stay up here?"
"Don't worry, I'll come by with food and water every so often. Secondly, I don't really allow anyone else up here and there's a lot of personal stuff that I don't want to show people."
"Why not?"
"Some things are just too embarrassing or painful to show off. So, if you want to read anything, just let me know when I get back up here and I'll tell you if it's fair game."
"Okay, that makes a bit more sense."
"Thirdly, on the off-chance that someone knocks on this door, do not answer them. It shouldn't be a major problem during the day, as I am mostly downstairs, but otherwise, don't answer them. If they come up here, they're either burglars or people looking specifically for me."
"Okay?"
"Fourth; after your hands are healed, please do not explore any of the other rooms or cellars. The rooms may have people resting in them, and the cellars are where I keep my drinks, most of which you won't be able to handle at your age."
"I guess that's fine, but what do you mean by after my hands heal?"
"Well, now that I know you are a Waterbender, I'm going to train you to become more proficient in the art. Well, that's after your hands heal, but once you've improved your bending skills, you'll be able to heal much better, and also defend yourself from any attackers that seem intent on breaking your hands."
"I understand, I think"
"Exquisite, Teo. Normally, per this inn's policy, you'd need to be accompanied by an adult, but I can see that you don't have anyone. Also, since I'm healing you, I'm going to keep you in my room. As long as you follow the rules I've set above."
Yue continued healing my hands into the night, but eventually beckoning me to sleep in the one side of the bed. Thus my first day with her came to an end, and while trying to move my fingers still sparked immense pain, at least it wasn't constant.