Cattails
Chapter Four
Curiosity
A/n: Two weeks late, but chapter four is up. Check out my deviantart (merixthexninja) to see some pretty arts I drew. Anyway, please review! I absolutely love to read them. Thanks for reading! End a/n.
"Of all the rotten, no-good Fire Nation ships we could have gotten dumped on, why Zuko's?!" Sokka ranted angrily, cursing his luck and the world in general.
"Well, Iroh seems nice enough," Katara said optimistically, trying to cheer up her brother.
"He's just crazy and probably senile. Spirits, why Zuko?"
Aang stepped up to the plate. "At least we know them, so it's not like we got stuck with a bunch of strangers."
The Water Tribe boy frowned. "I'd rather the strangers."
Toph, who had been listening to the rant with little interest, now jumped up in urgency. "Shush! Someone's coming."
The four quieted up, and a few seconds later the door to their room opened. Carefully, Iroh made his way inside, balancing four small bowls in his arms. He set them down on the floor gently.
"Dinner!"
He looked a bit disappointed when they didn't go running for the food, but an idea came to mind that made him smile. "I know. I should name you first."
The four groaned inwardly as he picked up the first victim. He held Katara up, looking over her long and silky grey fur and blue eyes. "You shall be Chih."
Katara nearly gagged at his selection, and the others snickered a bit.
Next up was Sokka, who looked for a moment like he was going to bite Iroh when he picked him up. His fur was also grey, perhaps just a bit shorter. His eyes were more slanted than Katara's, and he had a white spot leading from his nose to forehead.
"Hmm," he thought deeply, "Anzu." Now Katara snickered at him as Iroh put her grumpy brother down.
Next was Toph. He noted appreciatively that she had short calico fur, but noticing her eyes curiously, he held a finger in front of them, moving it back and forth seeing if she was really blind. As soon as he concluded that she was, the girl gave his finger a light chomp.
"Er," he said, setting her down and caring for his poor finger, "You'll be Sung-Mei."
The last kitty of the group intrigued the old man with his curious markings. "They're almost like arrows," he noted in wonder. "Maybe you came from the Air Nomads?"
This alerted Aang, and he wondered for a moment if their cover had been blown. All was tense until Iroh started laughing heartily.
"I love to be multi-cultural. I'll call you Aoi."
Smiling, he left, closing the door three-quarters of the way. No doubt that he was off to tell his nephew what their new names were. As soon as he was gone, the teasing began.
Sokka was rolling on the ground, holding his side with one hand while banging the other on the floor. "Chih," he laughed breathlessly, "That sounds like a name a child would give a dog!"
She glared at him, not particularly fond of the name herself. "Shut up, Anzu."
When he looked at Toph, he decided better than to mess with her. "Say it, and you'll be wearing that food he left."
Aang sat hunched over on the floor, depression hanging over his face. "Aoi? That's not even Air Nomad! It sounds like a girl's name."
"Maybe he wasn't sure if you were a girl or a guy," teased Sokka.
"Anzu sounds so Fire Nation," Katara teased him in retaliation. "Maybe you're just better suited to be Fire Nation?"
He frowned at her. "That just means that I'll fit in better, before we off the Fire Lord."
Bored, his sister poked and prodded the curious bowl of food. The dish itself was salmon-coloured, and the Fire Nation emblem was printed around the rim. Inside, though, was what disturbed her.
"Hey, Aang, what is this stuff?"
He went over to his own bowl and made a face at it. "No clue."
Sokka then inspected the lumpy greyish-brown substance. Sniffing it, he concluded, "Either salted fish guts or tuna casserole that's started to go bad."
Katara and Aang grimaced at this. For a moment, he thought his sister was going to be sick. However, tensions were eased as Toph spoke up through a mouthful of food.
"Aw, come on," she said between chewing, "It's not so bad."
Sokka appeared quite interested in the gooey substance, as if it were mechanical blueprints or a map of the current status of an army. "Really? What's it taste like?"
"Well," she said, trying to explain the strange taste, "Have you ever had cauliflower and peaches together?"
He shook his head no, wondering if anyone else but her ever had.
"It tastes like a cross between that and cheap beef."
The other three took a small bite of it to see for themselves. Both Katara and Aang made I'm-going-to-hurl-and-I-bet-that-would-taste-better-that-this-stuff faces. Sokka was more intrigued than disgusted, though, and began to chomp down the slop.
"You know," he said, "I think it's more of a sea prunes and seal gristle taste." Sokka paused, his own bowl empty, and leaned over to his sister. "Are you going to eat that?"
She shook her head now, then watched in muted horror as he munched down hers.
"I call Twinkle Toe's!" Toph exclaimed, and then launched into an attack on his bowl.
A few moments later the bowl was empty and Toph was satiated. She spread out on the floor and relaxed, still savouring the unusual flavour. Yawning, she decided a catnap couldn't hurt, and drifted off to sleep.
Katara and Aang were almost asleep themselves, each curled into a ball. Katara had favoured a spot atop a small side table. Aang was nestled against the side of it. Other than that, the only other item in the small room was a large box of something over in the far corner.
Sokka, however, couldn't rest just yet. Nature was calling, but there was no place to answer it in the room. Seeing the others snoozing peacefully, he decided to depart and find a restroom for himself. Sneaking quietly out the door, he looked both ways down the hall. Seeing nothing either way, he chose left, going with his gut. He passed many doors, most of which were closed. The others held nothing like a restroom. Hopeless, he wandered around for a few minutes before bumping into someone unexpected.
"Oh," Iroh chuckled, " Hello there, Anzu." The old man was carrying a shallow box full of sand, and had a blanket over his arm. "I was just on my way to give these to you four."
Sokka followed him back to their room and watched impatiently as he set the box down in a corner. Then the man spread the blanket out on the floor on the other side of the room. "This will be quite comfortable to sleep on," he said as he knelt down to scratch Sokka behind the ears. The disturbance had awoken the others, and they stood around sleepily, seeing what was going on. "I'll be back later with some water." He then scooped up the empty bowls and left, once again leaving the door open a crack.
Katara was the first to claim territory on the blanket; she curled up and snuggled into it, then concluded that it was heavenly compared to the tabletop. The other three smiled and began to pick out their own spots, but Toph perked up her ears and ordered silence.
"Do you hear that?"
"No; hear what?"
"Exactly. I think they're done fixing the ship."
"That means we'll be leaving dock soon," Sokka said gravely. "Do you think we'll leave tonight or in the morning?"
"No clue. But there's one way to find out!"
Toph ran over to the door with Sokka and Aang following behind her. Katara was a bit sad to leave her comfy spot on the blanket so soon, but got up and joined them as Toph led the way through the halls. She obviously had better gut instincts than Sokka, because they soon made it to a room with several of the men in it. They his behind the doorway and listened as the men talked.
"I heard Iroh had to twist his arm to get us to leave tomorrow morning."
"Cut the kid some slack. He's just anxious about getting there as soon as possible, is all."
"Yeah. Anyone would be anxious to finally return there."
"The crew need a break, though."
"Yeah, and we've got just that now. I hear they're havin' a bonfire tonight."
"Shame there ain't no women on this island, huh?"
The four men in the small room laughed at that, and Sokka whispered, "Looks like they aren't going to tell us anything more."
"That was enough. We're leaving tomorrow."
Aang smiled. "I want to see the bonfire!"
Katara agreed. "Let's go, then. What time is it now?"
"I can't tell inside this ship," Sokka moaned. "Let's go outside. I want to see the bonfire, too!"
"Toph, which way leads out of here?"
The girl thought for a moment, trying to feel an area on the ship where a lot of people were. "I think this way," she said, having already started walking. Aang, Katara, and Sokka followed her, passing a man or two every once in a while. Usually they didn't pay the four any mind, but one man clearly had a phobia of cats.
As soon as he saw them, his eyes widened in fear and he backed away as they got closer and closer. Finally, after he'd bumped into the wall, he turned and ran, yelling that demons had taken over the ship.
"What a whacko," scoffed Toph.
Sokka was laughing hysterically. "A grown man scared of a couple kittens!" He slapped Aang on the back at that. "That's the Fire Nation for you."
"Haha, yeah…" Aang grimaced and rolled his shoulders, wishing Sokka didn't have to be so rough. They rounded the next corner and saw the sunlight pouring inside. A few men stood around the entrance. Supposedly guards, they were more interested in playing a card game than guarding the ship. Who could blame them, though; there wasn't much to guard against. The four strolled out casually, not paying the men any mind.
"Hey, Shii, are those cats?"
"Yeah, but what were they doing on the ship?"
"Those are General Iroh's cats, I heard."
"Should we stop them?"
"I'm not a pet sitter. Damn things want to leave, I say let them."
"As long as they weren't near our quarters. I'm allergic to those little bastards."
The wrong thing to say, his friends grinned evilly. "Maybe we'll have to give them a good scratch behind the ears, then, and let them lay on your bed, Shii."
His face dropped into an expression of absolute horror. "Don't you dare, unless you want me to sneeze on you."
The other two men made a gagging sound. "In that case, I'm not sure if it's worth it."
There was a pit built in the centre of a clearing on the beach. A few logs were set up and they had a big pile of firewood stocked. There was about half an hour of sunlight left, and the sky was beginning to fade from blue to yellow-orange.
"I wonder what they're going to roast?"
Sokka was quick to respond to his sister's question. "Either they brought a pig on that ship, or they're planning to roast one of their own men."
"Sokka…"
"You're right; a man would be too big. Maybe Zuko? He's pretty scrawny, though."
Katara looked, at the same time, disgusted and amused. Toph and Aang outright laughed at it. A sudden outbreak of shouts from the forest made them jump, though.
"What's going on?"
"Maybe they caught something?"
"Impossible," disagreed Sokka, "There's no game on this island."
A little troupe of men emerged, celebrating the victory. They carried a boar, obviously freshly killed. Sokka's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"I knew it," Katara stated bluntly, "And to think, that could have been our dinner last night."
"How'd you miss that, Sokka? It's huge."
"It's a sea-boar, obviously."
The others raised an eyebrow to this. "A what now?"
"Sea boar. It hides in the sea during the day, and comes out onto land just before sunset."
Katara was confused, but definitely was not buying his cover-up bluff. "Right…"
"Sounds like you're just trying to cover your—"
"Hey, Toph, how much do you think they'll give us?" Aang cut in.
"Probably just scraps."
"Anything is better," said Katara, "Than that cat-slop they fed us."
"Aw, it's pretty good once you acquire a taste for it."
"I'd like a lot of things, and out of all to be acquired, a taste for that is at the bottom of the list."
"Stubborn." He licked his lips, "That means I get all of yours, though. It's all good."
The group of soldiers carried the now cleaned-up boar to the fire pit. Four helped set it up in position, white the other man tossed some logs in the ring and lit a fire.
Nudging her brother, Katara whispered, "Let's go over there." She hopped down and led Toph, Aang, and Sokka off to a spot of grass where they wouldn't be overheard. From there they had a good view of the flames as they sparked up. Being Firebenders, the men kept it under perfect control, with the smoke rising straight up instead of into their eyes and mouths. With proper fuel, they soon had the boar set to roast.
Soon Iroh came out, touting a sunghi horn and leading several other men donned in various instruments into song. Zuko could be seen, leaning against the hull of the ship and staring blankly at the bonfire. A few men hauled out mugs and a barrel of drink, and everyone took turns passing the brew around. Ignoring a few cracks from the crew that they should give the cats some booze, and a few spiteful glares from some of the men, Katara looked over to Aang.
Sparkle in her eyes, she asked, "Want to dance?"
He looked a bit surprised. "Here? But what if someone sees?"
"They'll just think we're playing. Come on!" She eagerly grabbed his arm and led him off. While the two were attempting to dance on four legs, Sokka looked over to Toph with the same glimmer in his eyes.
"Hey, Toph…"
"I don't dance," she grumbled, cutting off his request. Sighing, he resigned to tapping his foot to the beat.
Slowly their shadows grew as the night wore on, and no one noticed the two small kittens dancing to the beat of the music.
End Chapter Four
