Chapter 6 - I Want Thick, Juicy, Tasty Meat
"Pass the cauliflower, will you?"
I passed the bowl over to Korra and began to ponder the last few days in silence as I dug into my own . . . meal.
Air Temple Island was great. There were plenty of trees I could rest under as I basked in fresh air that was enhanced by the lingering fragrance of lavender incense from Air Acolyte meditation sessions. While the spartan furnishings and the hard bed would probably take some getting used to, the sole window in my room provided a truly spectacular view of Republic City's skyline, a view that I hoped I would never tire of.
I observed that the Air Acolytes were a truly diverse group of people, who came from all walks of life. Not all were born into the Air Temples. Some of them were born in the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes or the Fire Nation. Mired by the bogs of their materialistic lifestyles, they were inspired by the sermons of travelling acolytes to journey to the Air Temples in search of spiritual guidance.
While one might debate that Air Nomads led a fairly sedentary lifestyle, I would argue against the notion. There were Bison to be trained and fed, orchards, farms and gardens to be tended to and a myriad of other trivial yet necessary chores that needed doing, few of them were quick or easy to perform.
Immersing myself in Air Nomad culture these past few days was an interesting experience. I witnessed debates on moral philosophy between some of the best minds I had ever come across. I read about the evolution of Air Nomad society and how the discovery and eventual taming of the Flying Bison had changed their culture from scrolls salvaged from the ruins of the old Air Temples.
I watched Air Acolytes, young and old alike, practice Baguazhang and a few variations of the ancient Martial Art and even picked up a few tricks myself.
All in all, I'd say that I learned quite a bit during the few days I'd spent on the island.
Of course, not all I learned was to my liking.
My first lunch on Air Temple Island was accompanied by the bitter realization that Air Nomads were basically monks.
Monks didn't eat meat.
Thus, Air Nomads didn't eat meat.
'Yeck. I want meat. Thick, juicy, tasty meat. Steak, pork. Hell, even fish would do.'
I was in hell.
"Pass me the salt, will you?" I asked Korra, who obliged, casting a knowing, if pitying look in my direction.
'Today's lunch is salty mush, yesterday's lunch was sugary mush, the day before was tasteless mush with a banana. I really can't wait for dinner.' I thought, bemoaning the lack of stimulation for my taste buds.
Aunt Pema was among the handful of cooks on the Island who cooked food that didn't taste like grass. And unfortunately for me and to a lesser extent, Korra, who was not as picky as me - Pema only cooked dinner.
"What do you say we head over to the arena tonight, catch a couple of pro-bending matches?" Korra asked me as she put down a newspaper. Korra seemed to have gotten over the embarrassment of the boner incident and we had gotten to know each other a bit over the past few days.
"Sounds good to me. Any decent teams this week?" I inquired.
Probending was something I had heard about a few times. I hadn't actually had the chance to catch a match, while it wasn't actually a recent invention, the sport hadn't really caught on in Arc City yet and long distance radios capable of picking up broadcast signals from Republic City were pretty rare in the Southern Republic.
"Absolutely not! That sport is a mockery of the noble art of bending." Tenzin cut in.
'And Captain Buzzkill strikes again.'
"Come on Tenzin. I've dreamed about seeing a pro-bending match since I was a kid, and now I'm just a ferry ride away from the arena." Korra insisted, pointing out to the Probending Arena across the bay.
"I would love to catch a match myself, Uncle. I'd like to get a look at more modern styles of bending." I added.
"Korra, you're here to complete your Avatar training and Jin, mother sent you here to learn the ways of the Air Nomads. Both necessitate a calm, quiet environment free from distraction, to wit, probending. So for the time being, I would prefer that the two of you remained on the island and focused on learning."
I gave up on convincing him. I learned pretty quickly that for an Airbender, my uncle could be surprisingly inflexible when the mood struck him.
"Is that why you're keeping them around to watch my every move?" Korra groused, gesturing towards the guards in blue and white clothing, who were eating at a table on the other end of the mess hall. One of them noticed us looking in their direction and waved . . . awkwardly.
'I think I'll call him Awkward Guy.' I thought as Awkward Guy put his arm down when none of us waved back.
"The White Lotus is an ancient order that has guided, protected and advised several generations of Avatars and has better things to do than spy on you, Korra. They are here to keep you safe and provide you with sparring partners as you pick up Airbending. That is something they cannot do if you begin galavanting around the city." Tenzin affirmed, leaving little room for debate.
Korra's face fell.
'Well, that blows.'
"Cheer up Korra, you'll have Airbending down in no time", I reassured the dejected Avatar as we left the mess hall, "and then you can watch all the probending you want. You've mastered three elements, how hard could it be to master a fourth?"
'Really hard apparently.'
THUD. CRASH. SLAM.
'No, Avoid that, The path is open to your left. Your other left.'
"Ooof. Ahh. Yeowch."
Tenzin had Korra spend her first few days at Air Temple Island learning to meditate and practicing Airbending forms, trying to coax out her latent Airbending ability.
When Tenzin announced that he would demonstrate the first actual Airbending training exercise, Korra was excited, and to a lesser extent, so was I.
The training took place in one of the temple courtyards where the Air Acolytes had erected a platform upon which they assembled a series of thick wooden planks affixed vertically onto rods in the spiraling pattern.
Curious as I was about Airbender training exercises, I tagged along.
At this point though, I was starting to wish I hadn't.
THUD! "Oof" CRASH! "Oww" SLAM! "Ughh".
Tenzin winced, Jinora groaned in sympathy and Meelo and Ikki -
'Are smiling?'
Korra proceeded to do a pretty accurate impersonation of a pinball as she ricocheted from panel to panel until she was tossed out of the gates on her ass, right back where she started.
"Ugh", Korra groaned as she got back to her feet, looked at the training platform angrily and went at it again. She barely got past the first set of panels before she was clipped in her side.
"Don't force your way through", Jinora shouted to her through cupped hands.
"Dance, dance like the wind", Ikki added.
"Be the leaf", Meelo shouted, waving his arms around.
My uncle sighed as Korra was once again tossed out of the panels where she had started, with a marvelous shiner.
"That's enough for today, Korra. This was only meant to be a demonstration of the exercise. We will continue this when you have a better grasp of circle walking." He called out when Korra made her way towards the platform to give it another go.
"It takes a few days to get a handle on this, Korra." Tenzin consoled Korra upon noticing her dejected countenance.
I took little notice of this, however. My attention was focused solely on the now slowly rotating wooden panels on the training platform.
'Could this work for me?'
The lucky breakthrough I made at the south pole in the field of Chi Manipulation had me elated at the possibilities for my future. My initial idea was that enhancing my perception and reflexes with Chi would allow me to fight a number of benders head on, without having to sneak around or use the environment to my advantage like I had in the past, allowing me to get close to them on open ground while avoiding their projectiles and long distance attacks.
It would allow me to even the gap, literally, metaphorically and metaphysically.
Unfortunately, my training had slowed considerably over the past week or so. The White lotus sentries all had jobs to do, Korra was busy with her own training and Airbender attacks weren't exactly visible enough for me to dodge. Without Aunt Kya or one of her assistants to chuck blunted icicles at me from a distance or set up moving obstacle courses there was little I could do to train my ability.
Until now.
'To think that the Air Nomads would construct a device so perfectly attuned to my needs.'
"Uncle", I called out as the group prepared to leave.
"It's probably unconventional, but do you mind if I gave it a go?" I asked when he turned to me.
My uncle pursed his lips as he cast his eyes between the training device and me.
"I don't see a purpose to the endeavor but you're welcome to give it a try nonetheless." He said and created a strong gust that sent the panels spinning rapidly once again.
While Korra had been racking up bruises, I had been pondering over the spiraling movements displayed by Jinora as she demonstrated the training device to Korra. Baguazhang was a Martial Art that I had little experience with. It was far too passive a style that relied on ideologies that I didn't put much stock in, on Earth anyway. But from what I had seen, I believed that I could mimic the movements of Jinora and the other Air Acolytes closely enough to get through the exercise.
Approaching the gates at a moderate pace, I began manipulating my Chi the way I had numerous times over the past few months. For a moment I felt light headed but as always, before I could analyse the feeling, the familiar sensation of slowed time washed over me, making me feel as though I was wading through water as my perception widened.
Avoiding the first panel was easy enough. As I entered the gates, I kept my feet close together and taking short, measured steps that barely skimmed the surface of the ground as I sidestepped and avoided the subsequent panels by mimicking Jinora's spiraling movements.
Just when I got three-fourths of the way through the gates, I slipped up.
It was inevitable, really. I had underestimated the exercise.
The interior panels spun quicker than the ones on the outskirts, the varied air flow throughout the gates made it difficult for me to anticipate the movement of each individual panel that was outside of my line of sight, despite my increased perception.
The wooden gates generated plenty of wind which caused wood chips to fly unceasingly, distracting me something fierce. The closer I got to the middle of the platform, the faster the wind blew, making it hard for me to keep up the unfamiliar footwork.
Eventually I slipped up and took too long a stride. One of the panels clipped my pivoting ankle and sending me toppling out. Thankfully, I missed the last panel in my way as I fell out of the gates, narrowly escaping the shiner Korra sported. I managed to use the momentum to roll back onto my feet without looking like an imbecile.
I let go of my Chi and immediately doubled over with my hands on my knees, panting from the exertion of manipulating my chi for so long, sweat dripping down my face. I checked my ankle for injury but was pleased when my inspection came up clean. It had only been around 12 seconds but I had already reached my limit. My stomach ached like someone had kicked it in. Probably due to the fact that chi was supposed to be generated in the stomach. Any longer and the particularly nasty consequences of overdoing it would have shown. But -
'Perfect. This will do.'
My hypothesis was successfully tested. This would be the perfect training exercise for Chi Manipulation, even if it wasn't intended to be.
"That was incredible.' A voice gushed.
I looked up to see Jinora jumping on the spot, gushing praise. Makes sense, I was probably one of the few non benders she'd seen get through the gates, even if I was technically cheating.
"Aww, I thought he'd at least get a black eye", said Ikki, sulking.
"Yeah, like Korra. They could be pirates." Meelo added.
'Sadists.'
I asked my uncle if I'd be able to use the device on a more regular basis, explaining to him the training I began with Aunt Kya. He looked a bit disconcerted as he responded.
"I . . . Yes." He swallowed. "You're welcome to it. You'll need one of us to set the gates in motion, of course. Meelo is not yet strong enough to do it himself. But I see no problems with you using the device." He said, gesturing to himself, Ikki and Jinora.
"Oh. Me, me! I mean . . . I'd be happy to assist." Jinora chimed in.
"Alright Jinora, Calm down." I laughed at her uncharacteristic exuberance. "I'll be sure to come to you when I need help."
As I calmed an excited Jinora down and walked back with the group for lunch, I couldn't help but notice that Korra was missing.
'Huh, she must have gotten hungry. Those gates really take it out of you. Can spirit healing can take care of that black eye of her's?'
The exercise had proven to be even more useful than I thought it might be. It had highlighted several flaws in Quicksilver Mode, as I had taken to calling it (after Dante's Quicksilver style and Quicksilver, the villain/anti-hero from the X men comics). Naming it after Spider-Man might have made more sense but Quicksilver Mode had a better vibe to it.
'Ughh . . . I digress. Back to the flaws.'
Firstly, the perception of my surroundings in slow motion seemed to made me more susceptible to distractions targeting my sight, such as the wooden chips that were flying around. It took an inhuman amount of concentration to force my eyes to focus on the panels that were about to swing into my face instead of involuntarily tracking the wooden chips that flew about in the gates and the almost hypnotic calligraphy on the panels. A potentially fatal weakness.
Secondly, I tended to overestimate distances while in Quicksilver Mode. This was something I noticed when I overstepped and got clipped by a panel. It might be the fact that I constantly felt like I was underwater but I had the tendency to use more force to perform any action. This made all my movements uneconomical and prevented me from taking full advantage of the enhanced reflexes that Quicksilver Mode gave me.
With Jinora helping out, I would probably be able to correct those weaknesses while simultaneously increasing the time limit, 12 seconds is really insufficient (talk about performance issues), through repetitive practice.
'Heh, I'm pretty sure this isn't what the Air Nomads had in mind.'
I spent most of the week getting used the Island, talking to the Acolytes and occasionally to Korra.I couldn't help but notice that our talks were suddenly awkward again. Either the embarrassment had made a reappearance for some reason or she was preoccupied with something else. Meh, I'd probably find out sooner or later.
When watching Korra fail miserably at the Gate Exercise lost its novelty, I occupied myself with the literature that had been painstakingly preserved in ancient scrolls in the Air Temple Library. One of Charlie's hobbies was reading, something that had crossed over when I woke up here. I even met an . . . interesting character in the library.
Of course, in between directing skirmishes with wannabe warlords and pirates every other week and simultaneously helping with the reconstruction of Arc City, I never really had a chance to read for relaxation until now. Delving into Air Nomad history and piecing together the events that shaped their culture was truly an interesting experience.
For a while.
Eventually even too that lost its appeal. There's only so much time someone as active as me can spend reading books and scrolls before it grates on them.
It had only been a week but boredom had begun to set in. I'd make a shite Air Acolyte. While I could understand the appeal of the Air Nomad lifestyle and enjoyed the peace, the complete seclusion was not for me. I'm glad I wasn't expected to actually become an Air Acolyte - just to learn and understand their ways.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely adored the Airbender family, especially the kids. Even Meelo. The Air Acolytes were very kind and welcoming. I had even become fond of Korra despite whatever issues she had going on at the moment. But I needed some excitement. I had to get out there and explore Republic City before I died of boredom.
Maybe I could grab myself a nice, medium rare steak or some pork ramen while I was at it.
Author's Note:
A shorter chapter this time. It was longer but I had to split it up when I went over 10k words.
Jin's views on vegetarian food do not echo my own. I'm a lacto-ovo-vegetarian, myself. But there was this exchange student at my place that was unable to go even a week without some sort of meat. I don't particularly understand it, but there you go.
I'm certain some of you are itching for some action in this fic. I've gotten bored of writing slice of life scenes myself, but I didn't want to rush the story.
I'm not sure if you guys have noticed yet. But I'm trying to give the MC a tiny bit of a life outside of Korra. I find it a little weird how so many self/OC insert characters stick to the protagonists like super glue. You never see them apart.
Some of you might note that Jin is getting attached to his family remarkably quickly. I'd say that knowing that you once had a family but not being able to remember or even associate any emotion with them and then carrying on without any semblance of a family for a decade or two would do that to someone.
A couple of anime references in this chapter. Kudos to whoever figures it out.
Next: A short omake followed by Jin's second time in Republic City. That one's going to be a long chapter because . . . well . . . shit happens. They both should come out pretty soon, I think.