Chapter 4
Friendly Faces
Yuki walked on, searching for something that could help her. She walked and walked and walked, keeping away from groups of men that looked suspicious and steering clear from opened alleys. It took hours and before long she finally couldn't go anymore. She slumped to the ground in a rundown abandoned building. Her eyes drooped. Then she heard voices; children by the sounds of them. She got up to investigate and saw a group of four or five children, a bit older than her, huddled around a dingy, little campfire.
Their dress was shabby and disheveled, and their clothes were definitely not suitable for winter wear. She came closer, sensing no threat. "Um hello?"
They were instantly alert when she spoke. "Hey, this place is taken." One of them (the oldest by the looks of it) snapped.
"Sorry. Is it okay if I sit by your fire?"
"No it's not. Go find somewhere else, kid. This place is taken."
She didn't want to argue with a bigger kid but she couldn't go anywhere else. "Please, I won't get in the way."
They looked at her. Studying her nice coat, white fur boots, and pretty broach. "What happened, rich kid? Loose your nanny?"
"I'm not rich." She said matter-of-factly. "And what's a nanny?"
They ignored her last question. "Well what's with the coat then?"
She looked down at the hide, dyed expertly in the color of water's signature color. She touched the opal broach, which her father made so carefully before he died. Why were people so curious about her coat? "What's wrong with my coat?"
"Don't only rich snobby kiddos where stuff that nice. I mean what do your parents do?"
"Ooo… pretty!" Said a girl with a pixycut and blond pigtails.
Yuki addressed the first comment. "My parents are fishermen. We're not rich at all."
They studied her for a moment and two of them exchanged glances. The leader shrugged. "Well… okay I guess. But stay out of the way."
She smiled and sat near a little boy that looked close to her own age, maybe a bit older. His skin was tan and he had dark black hair. "Got any food on ya?" He asked hopefully.
"Ooo, ooo, food yay!" Sang the same blond girl.
Yuki stared at them for a moment then shook her head. "Not on me, no. But I could catch us some fish. Is there a river nearby?"
"Not for another sixteen blocks." Sang the girl again. She looked maybe nine or ten and seemed to favor girly colors. Bright and flamboyant with scarves, leggings, boots, and big googly goggles. She grinned brightly at Yuki. She was much different than the rest of them. She had a light fun hearted way of doing things and seemed to know where sun was even behind the darkest rain cloud.
"You know how to fish?" The little boy asked with amazement.
"Yeah. I do it all the time."
"Well that would be convenient if we were by the river." Said the boy who'd first spoken. He had spiky blond hair and brown eyes with freckles.
The blond girl took the liberty to introduce everyone with her singsong little voice. "The spike head is Rico, and the little guy is Tots." She pointed next to a dark skinned girl with cornrows and a boy with narrow eyes and straight, black hair. "This is Magnet and Mercy. And I'm Pixy." She said with a big maniacal grin. "You never told us your name."
"I'm Yuki of the Southern Water Tribe."
"Yuki," the girl tested the sound of it. "That's such a pretty name." She squealed in a girly sort of manner.
"Southern Water Tribe huh?" Rico scowled with indifference. "Where are you from? A reservation?"
"What's a reservation?"
"It's when the government reserves ugly land and puts Indians on it. Tribes and stuff like that. You're from a reservation aren't you?"
"I don't think I am. We're there by choice. No one put us there. And I don't think the governments would be much interested in our land since it's all mostly snow and ice."
"You live in an iceberg?"
"No Tots, she just lives someplace really cold." Snapped Rico.
Tots wasn't interested in what the older boy had to say. He was more engrossed in the newcomer that looked like a winter fairy to him. "What's a water tribe?"
"It's the culture I come from. There are two of them. One tribe that lives on the North Pole and one tribe that lives at the South Pole, from where I was born."
"You were born in the Antarctic?"
"Uh huh. But I've only been there a few times for family visits. My parents were fishermen so I lived on their boat."
"What was it like?"
"Very nice. My father and mother caught all kinds of good food. And we were able to travel all over the world."
"So what landed you here? Where's your parents now?" Rico demanded. There was bitterness in his tone, as if he'd suffered something bigger. "Did they abandon you?"
Yuki stared at him, shocked by the mere suggestion. "No of course not. My parents loved me very much."
Rico looked as if she were rubbing the information in his face. "Well good for you!"
"Rico stop it!" Mercy snapped irritably. "You don't have to be rude to her. She hasn't done anything wrong." She looked back at Yuki, smiling kindly. "Keep going. This is interesting. I've never met someone who used to live on a fishing boat before. What kind of stuff did you use to catch?"
"Oh, all kinds. Salmon trout, penguin fish, seal turtles, squid, whales…"
"You killed whales!" Tots looked aghast.
Yuki stared back, curious as to why he looked so offended. "Well… yes."
"But that's against the law!"
"No it's not."
"Yes it is. I learned about it off of Free Willy! You're not supposed to kill whales!"
"Why?"
"Because their engangered."
"The word is "endangered" Tots." Magnet sighed. "But he's right. Whale hunting is against the law."
"Not where I come from." Yuki explained. She remembered well what her father had told her after she'd gotten upset when he killed a little fish in front of her. He'd been very understanding with how she felt. But he calmly took her in his arms and explained why he did it. Even now she recited his words. "We know the balance of life is very important. And sometimes it's hard to kill an animal. But everything in this world has a purpose, and sometimes that purpose is to sustain life for other animals by giving up their own. But their life is transformed into new life. That's why there is death. So that old life can make room for new life. That's how I was taught."
"Well it's a bad way!" The little boy insisted.
"Why?"
"Because you just don't kill whales!"
"Why are whales any different from fish?"
"Because whales aren't fish!"
"Yes they are."
"No their not!"
"Look it doesn't matter." Mercy said calmly. She seemed to be the peacemaker of the group. Yuki liked her. "Who cares! She's obviously not killing whales any more."
"Yeah. Now she's stuck in the slums with us." Magnet chuckled grimly.
"What are the slums?"
They all began laughing.
Pixy smiled to Yuki understandingly. "Okay newby, pay attention."
Pixy threw her arms out in gesture to the wrecked building they were in. "This is the slums, kid. It's the lowest of the low. The poorest of the poor. We all have our stories of how we got here. Some of us were just born unlucky I guess. But it's kind of fun sometimes."
"In this part of town we all belong to gangs." Magnet explained. "Strength in numbers goes a long way. This isn't our whole gang though. We're just a small platoon. We belong to the Bell Tower Gang."
"Cuz we live in an old church." Tots explained.
Yuki was interested in the way they make their lives. "How many others are there in the gang?"
"About fifty." Mercy answered. "You're welcome to join if you'd like."
"Thanks but there's someone I have to find tomorrow. I lost him today but I'm hoping I can find him again in the morning."
"In this city it's lucky if you meet someone twice." Tots said gazing up into the rafters of the old building. "It's so big."
"A city of infinity." Pixy rang dreamily referring to the enormous city.
Yuki nodded glumly. "It is much bigger than most of the cities I've seen with my parents."
"What other cities have you been to?" Tots asked with excitement.
She pressed her finger to her mouth thinking of all the fascinating things she'd seen in her travels. "Well the only city I can think of that would be bigger than this city—or any other for that matter—would probably be Ba Sing Se in the Earth Kingdom."
"Earth Kingdom?" Rico frowned. "Don't you mean China? Ba Sing Se sounds like a Chinese name."
"No, I mean Earth Kingdom." Yuki insisted. "But you should see it. It's one of the most amazing places in the whole world. There's this huge wall that stretches on for miles and miles and miles and seems to reach up right into the sky. It was first built to keep out foreign invaders and was made by earthbenders."
"I've never heard of such a thing!" Rico snapped.
"Just because you've never heard of it, doesn't mean it isn't there." Yuki said calmly.
Tots pulled on Yuki's sleeve curiously. "What's earthbending?"
"Earthbending is when people can manipulate stones and earth. I'm a waterbender so that means I can control water."
"Pfft." Rico snorted and began laughing. "Okay now I've heard it all. You're such a liar, kid. There's no way you can manipulate water."
"But I can."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"NO YOU CA—"
A thin stream of clear blue liquid hovered right in front of his face. Rico's mouth hung open as did the other children's. Yuki held her hand out to guide it in a long twisted spiral then instructed it silently to splash on the ground several feet away.
Tots smiled and clapped his hands. "Magic! Do it again."
"Not magic, water bending. And it's an ancient art unique to my culture."
Rico scoffed under his breath. "That's a stupid power."
She scowled. "Why's it stupid?"
"What on earth can you do with an ability to control water? All you can do with that is splash someone. It's nothing impressive like Superman or Green Lantern or anything like that."
Before, she was trying to remain patient as her sister had taught her to do. But this boy had openly insulted her heritage and she couldn't just take such disrespect. She jabbed a finger at him. "You have never seen real power in your life! Water is the most changing, calmest, peaceful element ever! When we're angry we can summon entire tsunamis with the light of the full moon and can even saw strait through stone and iron. Water is so powerful it can smooth glass, clear away earth, and can even destroy metal. And when it's trapped it carves a new way."
"Well then if it's oh so mighty, why don't' you give us a demonstration on how to saw through metal."
Yuki stared. She could feel her ears getting hot and was quickly sorry she'd opened her mouth. "Well… I can't do that." She admitted.
"Come on." Rico insisted, mock ringing clear in his voice. "You just said water could saw through metal. I want to see if that's true."
"But… only masters can do that."
"Oh… I get it now. You're not a master, are you? You're just a no-nothing little amateur who can't even cut through metal. I bet you couldn't even make a wave if your life depended on it."
She looked into the fire and scowled. "I can too." She said quietly.
"Pfft! Yeah right."
"I can too. Just give me a challenge and I bet I could do it."
He looked intrigued by the idea. "A challenge aye?"
"Um are you sure about this." Yuki was really beginning to reconsider his challenge. Two hours later the rest of the gang stood in the midst of an enormous restaurant. At first Yuki had been delighted by the sight, because it was like seeing home again. An entire building with the South Pole inside. There was a crystal clear lake with a huge iceberg in the direct middle of it and the whole interior was icy blue. There were even animals that must've been leopard seals resting on the ice and swimming in the lake.
She'd been delighted by the sight of this place; least that was until Rico explained what she had to do.
He swung an arm over her shoulder coolly and guided her over to the edge of the lake, where high steal bars separated the land from the water. "Okay now if you've got the skill you say you have, then I'll admit you're more powerful than I think you are. Plus I'll even throw in a good word for you to our leader and if he likes your skills, then you're in the club, free membership and everything."
"Is that all?"
"Well you'll have to work your way up the ranks the older you get. But who knows? You might be a platoon leader soon. Or if your ambitions are sharp, you'll make your own gang and be stronger than all the rest of them."
"Really?"
"Sure, why not."
"Okay what do I have to do?"
"Simple. All you have to do is break that iceberg in half."
"What?"
Rico smiled cool and encouraging to her. "If you've got the skills you say you do, that should be a synch, right?"
Yuki had no doubt she could do that… if she only had the skill. "But that iceberg belongs to whoever owns this restaurant. I can't just destroy it. That would be wrong. And what about those animals? The break could hurt them."
"This is coming from the kid who hunts poor defenseless whales?"
"But that's to feed our families and to use their oil to light our fires. We aren't planning to eat them."
"I dunno…" he said sadly looking out at the animals who gave him angry glares and barked at him. "We haven't eaten for a while. Maybe some good leopard seal meat is what we need."
"I don't want to eat leopard seals." Tots whined sadly from behind with the rest of the gang. Mercy patted him comfortingly on the back.
"Okay look," Rico resolved coolly. "It's obvious that you don't want to hurt anyone. So instead of cutting that iceberg, I'm willing to settle just as long as you're able to move it a little."
"I just have to move it? That's all?"
"Yep. Pretty much."
"But what about the owner? What if we get caught?"
"Don't worry. It's way past hours. That penguin guy is sound asleep. No one will come and catch us."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Yuki bit her lip thoughtfully. "Well… I guess so long as I'm not hurting anyone or damaging property. I think I can do it."
"Great! We'll just be over here while you do your magic."
"Bending." She corrected.
"Whatever." He waved his hand impatiently. "Well get to it."
Yuki stared at the iceberg. Suddenly it seemed a lot bigger than it did a moment ago. She motioned her arms in the usual gestures it took to make a set of waves. They were really shrinky. She looked back at the gang. Everyone smiled encouragingly at her and Rico even gave her a thumbs-up. She tried again. This time they were just big enough to move a few ice floats where a leopard seal was resting on. It didn't seem to bother them in the slightest. She was getting annoyed with herself. Then Rico went ahead and offered his encouragement.
"Yeah that's what I thought." Ricco called sarcastically from across the floor. "See you guys, her little bending isn't anything. If there are benders as strong as she says they are, then there's no way she's ever going to be like them. She can't even move a stupid iceberg. What a disappointment."
Yuki could feel the anger boiling in her with each word. Images flashed in her memory.
"Come on now. You can do better than that. Again! This time I want you to freeze the water like I showed you."
"Yuki, that was wrong! Once more now."
"Remember this move. Are you watching, Yuki?"
"You always let yourself get too distracted. Concentrate already!"
"You need to learn these moves if you want to become a great bender!"
"What a disappointment!"
"I. Am. Not. A DISAPOINTMENT!" She threw her arms out and forced every bit of her energy and concentration into moving that iceberg. What followed was far more than she'd anticipated. A huge water blade shot out and sliced its way through, not just the iceberg, but also the opposite wall of the restaurant facing the children.
The iceberg didn't move for a moment. Then the top half of the giant ice cube slid clean off, landing with a shaking splash into the water. The wave was so strong and so high, that it sloshed right over the edge of the lake on all sides. The water rose right up to Yuki's chest and she stumbled back a bit when it hit her. When the water had pulled back into the body, the restaurant was a disaster. Tables and chairs were upturned and there were large puddles everywhere. Not only that, but the wave had lifted the leopard seals from off their ice beds onto the main floor. Now they were hopping around and barking like wild dogs, excited to be set free.
"Oops." Yuki whispered at the damage she'd caused.
"AHHHHHH!" The children turned just as a squat little man dressed in a penguin tuxedo and top hat rushed out an entrance one floor above them. The expression on his face was enough to assume he might have a heart attack at the sight of his ruined establishment. "What the blazes? What happened to my beautiful bistro?" His eye caught on the children and for a moment he looked angry enough to be a firebender spouting lighting. Yuki only needed that one look before she turned on her heal and sprinted towards the way they came in.
"Ack! RUN!" She cried to the others. They didn't need telling twice. Magnet was obviously the fastest of them all and he quickly overtook them in seconds. He was the first to reach the air vent they climbed through to get inside the restaurant. He forced it opened and held his hand out to help the others who were still yards away.
"Brock, Teeto, Kevin. After those hooligans! Don't let them escape!"
Even with the head start, Yuki's tiny legs didn't get her very far. One man caught her from around the waist and he lifted her easily under his arm. He quickly snatched up Tots the same way. One man caught Pixy by one of her pigtails and caught the leg of Magnet just as he tried to escape before the others. The rest were escorted by their arms, or in Rico's case, the lobe of his ear.
"Ahhh!" Tots cried with terror. "Please don't kill us. I'm too young to die!"
They stood the children up in a long line, making them stand before the top hat man to await their judgment. But all the man seemed to do for a moment was gawk at the state his poor restaurant was in. The look on his face made Yuki feel even worse than she did before.
"My bistro." He turned to the children, rage flashing in his eyes. For a grown up that short, he sure looked scary. He brandished a black umbrella at the children as if prepared to stab the tip into their guts. "Alright you little slum dog miscreants, who sent you to vandalize my respectable business?"
"No, no sir," Rico started waving his hands franticly. "It's not what you think. We weren't sent…"
"Wait a minute," the man said, leaning in to get a better look at the kid in front of him. "I know you. You're that demented little delinquent, Hedgehog Rico! You belong to that thieving little Bell Tower gang. And these…" he gestured to the other children, "must be the rowdy little platoon you manage."
"Platoon? What?" Rico smiled innocently, which came out as more of a grimace. "No, no of course not. My name's… Fred… Flinston and these guys are just my… baseball team."
The man glared at him. "If you're going to lie, porcupine boy, you might try putting a little more effort into it." He stabbed the tip back in Rico's face. The boy's eyes crossed uncertainly. "I know exactly who you are. What I'm wondering is why did that fool leader of yours send a group of children to do an adult's job."
"No one sent us." Mercy piped up beside Rico.
"Indeed. Nooooooo one!" Pixy said deeply.
"Quiet, brat!" The man hissed without looking at her. "You have five seconds to tell me who sent you to vandalize my headquarters. One… two…" The man pressed something on his umbrella and a long blade grew from the tip, preparing to plunge it in the boy's eye. "…three… four…"
"Penguin?"
The short man growled under his breath at the sound of the intruder. "Grrr. What now?"
Everyone looked to see a very happy man enter the big ice room. He was paler than any man Yuki had ever seen and wore an ugly purple suit. He took one look at the place and whistled low. "My, my, my. What happened here?"
"Joker old man, I caught these little delinquents in the act of sabotaging my esteemed establishment."
The man chuckled a bit. "Well that's not good, is it?" He threw an arm around the shorter man's shoulders. "I'm sure I have something to cheer you up though."
"The only thing that could cheer me up is thrashing these brats into the dust."
"Even still, you might find a bit of interest in this." He leaned in, speaking low so no one else could hear him. Penguin's face lit up suddenly.
"Really? You have it?"
"Yup and I'm willing to trade in exchange for a tidy sum."
"Very well, name your price."
"A hundred grand."
His face transformed like a bad magic trick; going from delighted to outraged in an instant. "A HUNDRED GRAND! YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING!"
The pale man smiled. "Of course I am. What I really want is two hundred grand."
He sputtered. "That's outrageous!"
"Even still I have it and you want it, don't you?"
"You have no use for such a thing."
"No, but I know plenty of people who do. I could always sell it off to some zoo if you'd like."
His teeth clenched and it looked like he was trying very hard to keep from exploding. "Very well." He said at last. "Brock, escort my guest to my office. I'll speak with him in a moment. First I have to take care of these troublemakers."
The happy man left and Penguin turned back to the children. He pointed his umbrella at each one in turn. "Alright. You don't have a lot of time to live. If you value your lives I'd start talking. One… two… three…"
Yuki's arms waved and a large tide of water followed her hands and crashed into the men behind her. Penguin turned but there was no time before another one hit him in the gut, knocking him to the ground several feet away.
The children ran when they saw their chance. Magnet caught hold of Yuki and Rico grabbed hold of Tots letting the smaller kids ride on their backs rather than letting them run by their selves. Pixy giggled skipping and dancing around in sprightly circles.
"Drat, the brats are escaping! Quick after them."
But the men were busy trying to fend off the leopard seals at the moment. Yuki turned back to gaze at the animals. She couldn't be sure but she thought she saw one of them look towards her and wink. She smiled.
"Thank you." She said softly and the other children helped her into the air vent.
They ran for what felt like a mile before they finally stopped to catch their breath.
"Okay I'm convinced." Magnet said after they were done panting. "That was the coolest, neatest, wickedest thing I've ever seen." He beamed at Yuki. "Did you see the way you handled those jerks. And you only a kid, not even in school yet. There they were all like, "Ah look at me I'm so tuff. Look at my scary guns." Then you come up and POW! BAM! SPLASH! With your water skills."
"Yeah that was incredible." Mercy announced. "I'd never imagined you could do anything like that. The way you sliced that iceberg in half was nothing short of spectacular."
"Yeah you rock, kiddo." Pixy agreed with a thumbs-up. She did a little ballet move with her excitement.
Tots pulled excitedly on her shoulder. "Yuki, can you teach me how to waterbend? I want to learn that trick."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Pixy cried happily. "We could all learn. Please bestow to us lowly mortals, those magical tricks, daughter of the water?" She did a little bow to the girl with her palms up.
Yuki couldn't exactly place what it was about the girl, but she was definitely different from the others. Lighter, kinda like the old airbenders, yet even they weren't as high-strung as she was. Yuki liked this about her. Pixy's feet weren't tied to the ground like the rest of them. She was flighty.
"Well you can't learn waterbending." Yuki explained. "You have to be born with it."
"Your powers have gone from wimpish to freakish, kid!" Rico announced. Then he smiled slightly. "But I guess it was kinda cool."
"Hey, what about your apology?" Mercy demanded.
"What? What did I do?"
"Well let's see." Pixy said taping her chin thoughtfully. "First off, you didn't believe her when she told you she could waterbend. Then you made fun of her when she couldn't do it right away, and that was right before she sliced a giant iceberg in half and saved all our lives from those thugs. Saved us from thugs and bugs under the rugs… ooh." She twiddled her fingers in a spooky sort of way that made it seem like she was telling a ghost story.
"Yeah, Rico! You owe her an apology." Everyone nodded and glared at him, waiting for his humility.
He looked at Yuki, who only stared at him. Then he sighed. "Alright. I'm sorry for not believing in you and teasing you while you were trying to concentrate. And I'm grateful that you saved everyone's lives." He scowled at Pixy. "There, happy now?"
"It's a start." She smirked.
"What now?"
"I guess we'd better find someplace to stay." Magnet announced, as a cold breeze blew through them. Tiny snowflakes drifted from the sky. "The main hideout is at least sixteen blocks away and it's really late."
"Yay! Someplace with a roof, pluh-leaze." Pixy suggested.
"And a mattress." Tots exclaimed.
A half hour later they all huddled together on a small mattress in another abandoned building, which used to be a hotel long ago. The floors above all had holes in them, but at least the roof was still intact as were all four walls. Another little fire was burning in a big metal can and every now and then one of them would add another hunk of wood to the hungry flames. Even the little fire wasn't enough to keep them from freezing. They curled against each other, sharing their body heat and trying to get some rest. Yuki curled in the middle with Tots on one side of her and Mercy on another. A long thin sheet covered all of them.
Despite her surroundings, Yuki felt unquestionably safe. It reminded her of those winter days she used to spend with her family in the South Pole. Everyone scooted close together on cold nights like this one, course they also had furs and animal hides to help insulate from the cold. And yet laying here with the comforting breathing from people who she could trust, lifted the fear from her shoulders and allowed her to sleep peacefully.
