Chapter 3

水水水

Kita had never seen anything like it. Instead of waterbenders, metal pipes carried water to the immense cast iron bath tub she stood in front of. By the Spirits themselves, the water is even heated! And all this on a Fire Navy ship!

Slipping off her midnight blue silk robe Kenji had brought back to her as a gift, she stepped into the tub and slowly sank down into the water, letting out a satisfied sigh as the warmness engulfed her. A girl could get used to this. Although she was badly in need of a wash, she instead laid her head back against the edge of the tub and closed her eyes. The past few weeks had been almost unbearable...

After she had kissed her brother goodbye and packed her things, she wrote him a note briefly explaining why she was leaving and left it on her bed. She'd said nothing about who she needed to heal, just that her hands needed her to go to the Fire Nation. Her brother always slept in late, so she was sure he wouldn't find her message until after she was long gone.

Then she'd stolen onto the Fire Navy ship that was docked just outside her city, a task that had been easier than she'd anticipated since all the soldiers were still snoozing from the party the night before. Kita had found a place to hide where she was sure no one would go—the prison hold below deck. This was where she'd spent the last two weeks, which had seemed like an eternity.

Night after night, she'd slumbered on the cold metal floor with nothing but a meager sleep sack for cushioning. And day after day, she sat quiet and bored, chomping on tough seal jerky for meals, which had fast become her most hated food. Occasionally, late at night after most the crew was asleep, she'd venture out to see if she could scrounge up something more interesting from the galley, which was usually just bread and water.

Oh, but during the day, Chief Arnook was eating well. She'd been tempted by the alluring aromas of his meals a number of times, but hadn't once dared to give away her cover, no matter how much her stomach rumbled.

It was during one of her late night ventures that she found the bathing room she was currently enjoying, and after two weeks of taking quick sponge baths, she deserved it.

She scrubbed jasmine scented shampoo into her hair as the first part of her indulgence. Of all her features, her hair was definitely her favorite. Her encounter with the Spirits had not only granted her precognitive healing abilities, but had also left her auburn-colored hair tainted with hints of golden blonde—an unusual color for Water Tribe peoples. The stark difference of her hair color compared to the typical dark brown and black shades of her peers always managed to garner attention, though Kita was tired of it. At times like this—when she was forced to stowaway on a foreign ship to an equally foreign land just to relieve her pain—Kita wished she could be as normal as everyone else.

As she rinsed her long strands, her mind drifted to the unknown man in her vision. Her hands, of course, still throbbed for him, but she'd found that by visualizing his face, momentarily the ache would fade away. Thrilled by this new discovery, Kita had pictured him in her mind a lot lately, and in ways only a wife should think of her husband. Each time after doing so, her body would ache in other places, and her naughty hands had taken over, pleasuring herself to orgasms so loud she thought the entire ship could hear her. She had no idea how just once glimpse of a man could arouse her so much, but it did. Just thinking about him now had her hand drifting beneath the water and between her legs

"Spirits, what is this man doing to me?" she asked the empty bathing room as she slid a finger inside her virgin passage.

A rattle of the door handle then a jingle of keys jerked Kita from her fantasies. Jumping up and out of the tub, she dashed to pick up her robe, but was a few seconds too late. She froze when a large Fire Nation soldier threw open the door, and stepped into the bathing room with his mouth agape.

"Well, well, what have we here? A stowaway?" His gaze raked over her entire body. "And a very, very pretty one at that."

She tried to cover herself with her waist-length hair, though it wouldn't do her much good. The man had already seen everything and was salivating like an arctic wolf over a fresh kill.

His grey eyes appeared just as feral as they gawked at her nakedness. "I should turn you in, but I don't think I will."

Kita sighed, though she had a feeling she wasn't free to go. "Really?"

"Really," he growled, stepping closer. "In fact, I'd like to make you a deal."

She had a pretty good idea what kind of 'deal' this man had in mind. "Oh, and just what would this 'deal' include?" she snapped back with as much dignity as she could afford, considering she was nude.

"For the remainder of the trip, you and that hot little body of yours will be mine. You will stay in my room, and will do exactly what I want, when I want." He grinned, seeming confident of his primordial idea as hand fell to his crotch and began stroking his erection.

Kita raised an eyebrow at him. "And what do I get out of it, besides the inconvenient pleasure of your company?" And that miniscule penis?

"I won't rat you out. When we get to the Fire Nation, you can sneak off the ship. No one needs to know a thing. Except for you... and me," the man stated in a gruff whisper as he stooped to pick up her robe from the floor and rubbed it against his face.

"And if I say no?" she asked, fully intending to because this man was an absolute pig.

"I won't accept no for an answer." Pig Soldier gave her an evil grin that sent chills up her spine and started towards her.

Kita quickly calculated her options and decided to fight. "I didn't come all this way to become some sailor's whore."

Putting her right arm behind her back, she pulled some water out of the bathtub and quickly formed a water whip. Before Pig Soldier could react, she struck out at his legs, knocking him flat on his ass.

"You little bitch!"

Ignoring his curse, she yanked her robe from his hands and tore out the door. She heard a few more explicatives from Pig Soldier as she sprinted down the narrow hallway, throwing on her robe as she did so. His footsteps echoed off the metal walls of the passage as he chased after her. Fright took hold of her when he announced her presence to the rest of the ship.

"Stowaway!"

Kita had no choice now but to find Chief Arnook, the sooner the better. He would be angry that she'd sneaked aboard, but at least he'd protect her. As she darted up the stairs and onto the deck of the ship, she heard more men's voices as they left their rooms to see what the ruckus was about. If the rest of the Fire Nation soldiers were as perverted as the first one, she was in some real trouble. She'd have to fight them all or be raped.

She pulled some water from her still dripping hair and made two long water whips, one in each hand and assumed a fighting stance, her liquid weapons crossed in front of her in defense. A shivered racked her body, partially from the stiff sea breeze, but mostly from nervousness. She'd never fought more than one man before. The sun began to peek over the horizon of the ocean as she waited for her pursuers. Hopefully Arnook would be awake soon, but she had no time to find him now.

About a dozen men came topside less than a minute later in various stages of undress, appearing quite amused to find out that their stowaway was really a half-naked woman ready to defend herself. As their stares traveled nearly identical paths as the first man's had, Kita realized that, in her haste to get away from Pig Soldier, she'd forgotten to fasten her robe. She might as well be completely nude.

"Lady, I think you're on the wrong ship," one soldier said with a smile that looked a bit too friendly for Kita's tastes.

"No, she's on the right one, all right," said another as his eyes groped her body.

"Touch me and you will regret it," Kita warned, hoping she sounded more intimidating than she felt.

The men all laughed in unison as they began to surround her like sharks.

"Better watch out. She's a feisty one," teased Pig Soldier. "I say we all share her and teach her a lesson in manners." He stroked his tiny cock again in emphasis.

Manners! That man is not a pig. He is shit from a pig! And he was definitely going down for that comment. Kita swung her right whip around and struck half the men across their ankles, knocking them down. Not taking time to rejoice in her victory, she continued to turn her body in a counterclockwise circle, downing the rest of the men with her left whip.

She smiled in triumph as groans and curses came from the beaten soldiers. "I can assure you, there's a whole lot more where that came from."

"What on earth is going on here?" a familiar male voice questioned from behind her.

"Kita, what kind of trouble have you gotten into this time?" teased another, even more familiar voice.

Kenji's.

Cursing under her breath, Kita dropped her whips and fumbled to tie her robe. When she turned to face her brother, she noticed neither of the men, however, looked too surprised to see her.

"I was wondering when you would be discovered." Arnook turned to Kenji and held out his hand. "You owe me three silver pieces, I'm afraid."

Kenji sighed and then dug in his pocket to pull out the money in question.

Kita's mouth fell open in shock. "You two took bets on me?"

"Of course we did," Kenji said as he dropped three silver coins into Arnook's palm. "We didn't think you'd make it this far without being caught, but I guess we underestimated you, Sis."

She glared at her brother. "I don't believe this! You knew I was on this ship the whole time, aware that I was sleeping down in the prison hold, instead of a nice bed?" She gestured towards the sailors, who had just gotten to their feet. "Those men could have raped me just now!"

When her brother shot a hateful glare at the soldiers, Arnook put a hand on his chest to stop any retaliation before it happened. "You have the Spirits—and your fighting skills—to thank that they didn't, although I will have the ship's captain discipline his men accordingly for their unacceptable behavior."

Kita had a feeling Arnook had said that more for her brother's sake than for hers.

Still, Kenji continued to stare down the soldiers, his ice-blue eyes full of rage. "Is what my sister said true?"

Pig Shit Soldier had the gall to look innocent and shrugged. "We had no idea who she was, sir. And she was naked."

"I don't care what she was wearing. My sister's current state of dress does not give you the right to molest her. Don't even think about touching her again." He got in Pig Shit Soldier's face and grabbed him by the collar with both hands, lifting him a foot off the deck. "If you do, my water whips will be far less merciful. I promise you this."

"Y-y-yes, sir."

Kita smiled at the terror spreading over Pig Shit Soldier's face as Kenji dropped him. At six-foot-four with muscles to match his size, her brother could be quite intimidating, and had the bending prowess to back it up.

Grumbling to themselves about rude waterbenders and never knowing anything that happened on their ship, the sailors headed back below deck. Her brother's face softened when they'd disappeared. "Arnook, I still think you should've told everyone on board about Kita, or at least the captain. I hate to think of what could've happened had we not interrupted."

"I do as well, but your sister did something that is against our tribe's laws. No woman is allowed at sea without a male escort, you know that. And these past few weeks, this morning included, have been her punishment."

"Rape is a pretty cruel punishment, don't you think?" Kita countered.

Arnook turned to Kita, his eyes compassionate. "Yes, it is. But I honestly didn't think it would happen. Kenji and I have been keeping close tabs on you. I didn't realize that you would venture out of that prison hold."

"Well, I did. I'm not a coward." Why was she always trying to prove this? Why couldn't women be treated the same as men?

"You are not at the North Pole anymore," Arnook said, as if reading her thoughts. "Unspeakable things can happen to a woman at sea on a ship full of lonely sailors. Did you not realize that?"

"Of course I did—" Sort of. "—but I had to come. He..." She cut herself short, not wanting to explain the story of her hands to him. Out of all the people at the North Pole, Arnook was the last person she wanted to tell.

"Kita," Kenji said, looking sheepish. "I told Arnook about your gift and him showed your note. He knows why you had to come."

Kita glanced at Arnook, whose face was devoid of emotion. "Are you angry with me?"

Arnook shook his head. "Just a hurt that you never told me and that I had to find out like this. The tribe could have used your talent so many times. Your father..." Arnook stopped himself, and she knew why. His best friend had withheld an important piece of information from him. "He knew this, didn't he?"

"He did," Kita and Kenji said in unison.

Arnook face turned pale. "Spirits, he should have told me."

Kita embraced her chief, a man who'd been like an uncle to her. "Please don't be upset. Dad didn't want to make a big deal about my gift and attract attention. He was scared that if word somehow got out to the rest of the world, I'd be taken away." Kita pulled away and showed Arnook her hands. "Just because Dad didn't tell you, doesn't mean I haven't been using these to save lives. I have. Since I was eight years old."

Arnook grasped her wrists, studying her hands. "They look so normal."

Kita flinched when he traced her palm with his index finger, but didn't draw away. Arnook deserved this explanation. "They do, but right now they hurt so bad I could cry."

Then he asked the question Kita didn't want to answer.

"Did they hurt for your father?"

Kita couldn't meet his eyes. "Yes."

Arnook dropped her hands and moved over to the ship's railing, gazing out to sea. The wind whipped the braids in his black hair around him, making him look like a regal lion. And a proud leader.

Kita joined him, looking out on the blue ocean speckled with little islands. "I told him he was next, but he wouldn't listen. If he hadn't stuck me with all of the other women in the ice caves that day..." Tears stung her eyes as visions of what happened that day replayed in her head. "I keep wishing that if I could only go back in time, maybe I could change his mind. If I just fought him a little more, he'd still be alive. I could have saved him."

Arnook turned to her, surprising her when tears shone in his own eyes. "Kita, I'm not blaming you for your father's death. I just wish that he... that you would've trusted me better."

Kita felt as low as the buffalo-yak dung her Grandma used to make her scoop. "Spirits, I'm so sorry for never telling you. And I'm sorry for sneaking away like this. I didn't mean to go against our tribe's laws. I swear, as soon as I find whoever this man is and heal him, you can punish me however you—"

"You mean you don't even know who this man is?" Kenji interrupted from behind her. "I assumed he was one of the warriors on Pakku's boat. Or Hahn."

"No, it isn't one of them," Kita answered softly, and then began her story on how long her hands had hurt her and the vision she'd been shown at the Spirit Oasis. Conveniently, she left out the part about being attracted to a foreigner she'd never met and the lustful thoughts she had about him.

After she finished, her brother was staring at her in shock. He turned to Arnook. "I can see why Kita had to come. This has never happened to her before—her hands hurting for an unknown person from across the world. Spirits... this is serious."

The chief closed his eyes and put his hands to his temples. "But a man from the Fire Nation? I don't understand it at all."

Kita cupped his elbows, wincing at the pain. She badly needed her gauze. "I don't understand all of it myself, and I've been living with this gift for nearly twenty years."

Arnook took a deep breath then opened his eyes. "We should be arriving at the Fire Nation capital tomorrow. After we're settled, I'll do whatever it takes to help you find this man so you can save him. If you and your brother are correct, then what is happening is something we cannot ignore. We must obey the Spirits."

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