Cuarto chapter! (Cuarto is Spanish for "fourth") :D
Disclaimer:
Jet: (sighs) I feel bad for Sudaki...
Sudaki: Why?
Jet: You're owned by MoonDemon, but I'm owned by the original Avatar producers!
Sudaki: (huffs)
I OWN SUDAKI; NOTHING ELSE
-Moon
The next day, when Sudaki was able to stand up and walk around, she went outside after a breakfast which wasn't eaten with as much gusto as yesterday's meal. She leaned against the rope-fence of one of the boardwalks, looking down and sighing.
Suddenly, she had an idea. "Jet?"
"What?"
"Do you have a piece of long rope I can use?"
Jet paused. "What for?"
Sudaki smirked. "Oh, you'll see..."
Jet thought for a moment. "Go to Longshot; maybe he has some rope you can use."
Sudaki jumped onto the rope-fence of the boardwalk and ran on it all the way to Longshot's room. She hopped down from the rope and tapped on his door. Longshot stuck an emotionless face out the crack of his door.
Sudaki wasted no time. "DoyouhavesomelongropeIcanborrow?" She said all in one breath.
Longshot sweat-dropped, then gestured with his hands; How long?
Sudaki hesitated. "Oh... about 24 feet long?"
Longshot sweat-dropped again, before he remembered Jet's warning to keep Sudaki happy. Jet felt genuinely sorry for the young Fire outcast, so he'd commanded for everyone to let Sudaki do what he wants; within reason.
What was a piece of 24-foot long rope going to do?
He held up a finger, gesturing for her to wait, then disappeared into his room. A minute later, he came out with a humongous coil of thin, tightly-woven, sturdy rope. Sudaki glanced, surprised, at the size, but she thanked the silent archer and, carrying the rope over a shoulder, ran off.
Down on the forest floor, Sudaki began to work.
First, she found a short, wide piece of wood on the forest floor and used her fans to cut it down from the tree trunk.
Next, she dragged the piece of wood to where she was working and began to cut the wood meticulously, using her fans and squinting at the wood. Finally she ended up with a thin piece of board, smoothly carved, about 1 and ½ feet long and half a foot wide.
She, using her fans again, carved two holes into either end of the wood.
Next, she cut the rope in half and knotted both ends. She strung the other end through the holes in the piece of wood. She tied the other two ends to a long, even, high tree branch right next to Jet's trees. She hopped back down and admired her handiwork.
Jet, Smellerbee, Longshot, Pipsqueak, and some of the five year olds from the tree houses had, overcome with curiosity, swung down from their rooms to watch her.
Jet quirked an eyebrow, the blade of grass in his mouth twitching.
"Uh, Sudaki... what's that supposed to be again...?"
Sudaki said nothing, but clambered onto the piece of wood and began to swing her legs. She began to swing higher and higher until she was swinging well beyond the branches of the tree whose branch she'd used to hang her swing on.
Jet's eyes widened. "A swing!"
Sudaki laughed with sheer joy. as she swung back and forth. Swinging so high was like flying, only you had to go back down sometime, and if you let go of the rope, you'd fall down and break your neck.
The wind blew Sudaki's long hair back and forth, hiding and baring her smiling face every once in a while. All of a sudden, she noticed a stirring in the crowd of five year olds. She dragged her feet on the ground as she swung by until the swing stopped.
She clambered off. "Would you all like a try?"
The five year olds shrieked with delight and fought over who would go on first. Sudaki waited patiently, and when it was decided that one of the little girls would go first, she picked up the little girl, set her gently on the seat, placed the little girl's hands around the rope into a tight grip, and began to push the little girl.
At first, the look of sheer terror overtook the little girl's face, and she sat rigid as the wooden board beneath her, but little by little, she began to relax, and started to shriek with delight.
Longshot kindly took over, so that Sudaki could make more swings. He offered her most of the rope in his room, which Sudaki gratefully took, and she set to work. She swung and threw and slashed her fans with so much ease, Jet couldn't follow her movements.
Finally, Jet offered to help.
Sudaki gratefully accepted, and Jet drew his swords.
Later on, four more swings were made and secured to the branches of nearby trees, and the sound of children shrieking with delight filled the forest. Jet watched with genuine satisfaction. He had never seen the children so happy before.
Suddenly, Sudaki's sharp ears heard a snap of dead branches in the woods. She immediately drew her fans and sent them over the children's' heads. This was their agreed signal of silence. She children all silenced at once.
Sudaki grabbed Jet and motioned for all the other children and the other freedom fighters to head up to their rooms as quickly as possible. They obeyed with no question. Once up there, Smellerbee, Longshot and Pipsqueak drew their weapons and crouched out of sight in the tree branches, waiting to attack.
Sudaki and Jet stood in battle stances, back to back. Jet didn't know what Sudaki had heard or seen, but nonetheless, he felt the presence of many soldiers in the forest.
Sudaki glared out into the woods. "Come out, you cowards!"
A bunch of soldiers suddenly rushed forward. Sudaki instinctively slash-threw her fans at the soldiers, and one by one, like a wave, they fell dead. The fans flew back to Sudaki, stained in blood. Sudaki wiped them in the grass and waited for the next wave of soldiers.
But they never came.
The leader stepped forward.
Sudaki gasped. It was a young woman.
And not just any young woman.
The fancy armor, the haughty look, the silken strands of black hair, the Fire insignia stuck in her bun; this was none other than Princess Azula.
"Girl, you fight well. But can you outmatch me?"
Sudaki held her hands up and dropped her fans.
Azula squinted back at the girl. The round face, the long messy black hair, the all-too-familiar fans...
Suddenly, Azula gasped.
"Sudaki?"
Sudaki looked up.
She'd noticed before, but suddenly, it hit her.
She had finally met her childhood friend.
"Azula?"
A/N: Review!
-Moon