This one is a very important chapter to me because it demonstrates the change happening in the camps. You'll notice that in this chapter they're all sharing stories from their childhoods. The overall thsme lf each story is death, which is important. They are all so surrounded by death that it is now influencing every part of their lives.
Bolin's story is the Pardoner's Tale from the Canterbury Tales, and Akita's is taken from the song Remains of the Day which is from the movie Corpse Bride. I love that movie so much, and it's what gave me the title for this chapter.
The snow was blowing outside of the barrack as the friend's crowded together on the floor. Bolin and Sunki had lasted long enough that Fatma declared them pretty likely to live which was always a good thing. He was still running a slight fever, and she was still cold, but they'd stopped coughing up blood which was a plus.
Now they were all draped over each other, laughing and joking as the night became longer.
"And that's why I can't eat onion-bark soup," Baraz informed them all seriously shuddering a little, "The taste still haunts my dreams."
Hiroshi gave a mournful sigh, "I'd give anything for some onion-bark soup."
"Shut up Hiroshi," Baraz growled out as everyone else started to giggle at his glare.
Hiroshi just leaned back smugly against the wall. "That's the first thing I'm going to do when I leave," he said with a smirk at the fuming firebender, "Make a giant tub of onion-bark soup and invite all of yall to eat it. What do you say Baraz?"
"I'm going to smother you in your sleep." Ahnah hit him gently muffling her hysterical laughter into his shoulder.
"Alright, that's enough," Fahim demanded waving his hands in the air to calm everyone down. He sent them all a quicksilver grin while settling down.
Kazuki turned to Fadhim with wide eyes. "Can you tell us a story? A sendbender one?' he asked shyly.
Fahim hummed thoughtfully, "I don't see why not. Please remember that our stories and ways of life are secret so don't go sharing this. Now, in our lands there was born a girl named Savitri and she was more beautiful than the sun. She fell in love with a true and just man known as Satyavan, when she mentioned to her father that she wanted to marry her he warned her that Satyavan had only a year to live but he didn't care and they were married.
"At the end of the year, Savitri could only watch in horror as her husband collapsed to the floor dead. The before them appeared a man dressed in princely robes who introduced himself as Yama the god of death. He took with him Satyavan's soul and began the walk back to his realm. However Savitri followed him. After many hours Yama turned back to her. "Savitri! You can not enter the land of the dead," he told her but she cared not. For while she would not stop death, her place was by her husbands side and she would follow after him. He offered her a wish, and she used it to bless her father-in-law. They continued, her following and again her offered her a wish to turn her away which Savitri wished for her own father. A third and final time Yama gave her a wish to turn her away and she cried, "I wish for many children born of my husband Satyavan!" And Yama was forced to agree so he released her husband's soul and they lived many happy years together. When Yama came for them at the end of their lives, they followed him happily hand in hand."
A long silence filled the barracks as they all stared at the ground while thinking on the story. Bolin held Kazuki close wishing that there was someone out there he could make a deal with to spare this child the hell there were in.
Akita was the first to lean forward. "I have a story," she said bringing flames to her hands that cast shadows over their faces, "Now, everyone listen close because I'm going to tell you the story of the corpse bride. Well, this girl was a beauty known miles around, and one day a mysterious stranger appeared in their town. He was a handsome man, but had no money to his name. It didn't matter though cause the girl fell in love the moment she saw him. Her father though said she couldn't be with it, so the lovers decided to elope.
"So they made a plan to meet late that night and they didn't tell a soul. Her mother's wedding dress fit perfectly when she ran away. Now, you don't need much when you're in love, just a sack full of gold and the family jewels you see. Then next to the graveyard by the old oak tree in the dead of night she was ready to go. But where was he?"
Akita paused for dramatic effect leaning back in her seat. "What happened then?" Ahnah whispered.
"Then she waited," Akita growled out.
Kazuki gulped. "What happened after that?" he asked.
"Then kid, everything went black," Akita snuffed out the flames getting a few screams of fright before lighting her hands again with a cackle, "The next thing she knew when she opened her eyes, she was dead as dust. He'd taken her jewels and broken her heart. So she made a vow under that tree to wait for true love to set her free. She's waiting for someone to come ask for her hand so they can set her free. And that's the story of the corpse bride."
Akita grinned happily as she settled back against the wall while everyone just stared at her with different looks of horror on their faces at that story. "That's messed up," Sunki whispered after a while getting a couple of nervous laughs from them all.
"Oh come on, there have to be worse stories than that," Baraz protested.
Bolin raised his hand, "My brother told me one when we were little. Let's see...it's been a while...oh yeah! Three men are drinking and gambling when a ringer enters the bar. He announces that their friend was murdered by Death, whose murdered thousands of others. So these three men, drunk, decide they're going to kill Death. They start their travels and run into an old man who they decide is an agent of the great killer. They rough him up and he admits he has been begging Death to take him, but each time Death refuses. Now, if the men wanted to meet Death they needed to travel to the tree at the fork of the road.
"The men did so and to their surprise they stumbled across piles of gold under the tree. They decide to split the gold three ways and forget about their goal of killing Death. They draw lots to see who will get food and wine for their travels while the other two guard the gold. The youngest goes and on the way became greedy, he bought poison and dumped it in the wine. When he returned he was stabbed to death by his two friends, you see they had gotten greedy also and turned on him. The survivors drank from the wine and soon enough they were dead as well. And so the men who swore to kill Death all died slow, painful deaths."
Hiroshi just stared at him. "Why did your brother want to tell you that?" he asked the question on everyone's minds.
Bolin shrugged, "He saw me drinking under age and wanted to scare me so I'd stop."
Baraz frowned, "Still seems a bit extreme."
"He's an extreme guy," Bolin informed them dryly bringing laughter back to the group as they continued pushing and shoving each other as they joked and laughed in the cold winter night. "Hey Fahim," Hiroshi called out, "Why don't you show us how to sandbend?"
"Bet you Bolin can't do it," Akita teased nudging him. Bolin just stuck his tongue out, "Bet you I can!"
"Alright, alright," Fahim said laughing pulling out a hidden bag of sand, which was forbidden, from under his bunk, "I'll do it! So who wants to learn how to sandbend?"
"Why are you coming with us back to the island?" Bolin asked helping Kazuki off of the ferry while Akita strutted smugly onto the land tossing Bolin a wicked grin.
"I figured we could go over out plan of attack for presenting you to the world leaders tonight," she informed him as they walked together towards the temple. Bolin and Kazuki sent her an unimpressed look. Akita sighed heavily, "Fine, I want to watch you break up with your girlfriend. It'll be funny."
Kazuki giggled a bit at that, "It will be, won't it?"
"Thanks for the support guys," Bolin drawled out shoving them both weakly as a joke. They continued towards the path laughing and joking in the sun. They looked like a happy family and Bolin knew they were family, just not how anyone expected them to be. They were a family created through hardships and tears. A family built by the hopeless and forgotten of the world.
Kazuki came to a stop, pointing towards a young woman standing impatiently in front of the Air Temple. "Is that your girlfriend?" Kazuki asked pointing to her.
"Akita, take him inside and introduce yourself to my brother," Bolin ordered coming to a halt, "I need to talk to my girlfriend."
Akita quickly ushered Kazuki past Opal as the airbender stalked towards him, a dark expression on her pretty face. It was clear Kazuki seemed nervous about leaving Bolin alone with her but whatever Akita whispered kept him moving. Which left Bolin with his angry looking girlfriend.
Watching her approach, he felt a little petty. He could have met her halfway there but honestly Bolin was done reaching out. Opal could come to him for once. So he stood there waiting for her, face blank as he watched the anger growing on her face.
"Opal, it's been a while," Bolin said calmly crossing his arms.
Opal just glared back, "Bolin, how was it working for Kuvira?"
"Oh, you know. I got arrested by her," Bolin admitted shrugging, "Lost my eye, that was fun too."
"This isn't a joke Bolin," Opal hissed.
"I'm not joking," Bolin informed her coldly, "You asked what it was like, and I told you."
Opal raised an eyebrow, "So what? You find out she's bad news and sneak in with the refugees?"
"I listened to what you told me. Went to Ba Sing Se and started looking around," the pair walked together among the gardens as Bolin explained himself, "I found out about people disappearing, and ran into a mother who asked me to find her daughter. Do you know how desperate someone has to be to ask a stranger to find their child? Because I do now."
He paused looking out over the ocean once they'd come to it. "I made the mistake of asking after her to the wrong people. I ended up on a prison train that took me to one of her reduction camps and that's where I spent the last year," he turned to Opal a weak smile crossing his face, "So tell me again how I snuck in with them, because as far as they're concerned I'm one of them."
Opal looked away from his staring out over the ocean. She wasn't sure what to do with this serious Bolin. She wanted her cheery and funny Bo back, not this quiet man who looked so lost and thin. "I didn't know," Opal whispered, "About you in the camps."
"You never looked," Bolin said and it was cold but he needed her to hear it, "No, don't deny it Opal. As soon as I was caught I knew no one would come looking for me, Kuvira could feed you false locations without any questions being raised unless you really looked. It's not your fault you didn't look."
He took in a shuddering breath, "But I don't think I can forget that no one looked for me."
Opal couldn't look at him, she had to stare at the ocean moving in front of her. "So what does this mean for us?"
"I don't think there can be an us anymore," Bolin told her gently. He couldn't see how she was reacting, she was in his blind spot caused by the bandages.
"You're so different now," was all Opal could say, "You're so cold and serious...I don't know who you are anymore."
Bolin turned and smiled at her. She could see the shadow of her Bolin in that smile even now. "Opal, I still love you," he told her and didn't that hurt. Even after everything he still cared greatly for this beautiful young woman, "But honestly we're just at different points in our lives right now. I mean, you're worried about your family. I have to take care of my kid..."
Opal choked a little. "You have a kid?"
"See? That's what I mean!" Bolin sighed running his hands through his hair.
"I understand," Opal murmured a sad smile crossing her face. She darted forward pressing a kiss to Bolin's cheek, "And for the record...I still love you too."
He pulled her in for a hug, the pair clinging to each other before pulling back with watery smiled. Opal reached up to gently touch his bandage. "Will you ever tell me what happened to your eye?" She asked softly as they started to walk back to the temple.
"Of course, you're still one of my best friends," Bolin said slinging an arm around her waist as they walked together, "Come on, there are some people I want you to meet."
Opal blinked as a young Fire Nation boy came sprinting towards Bolin, a slighted grin on his face when Bolin swept him up into a hug. Following more sedately was the Fire Nation girl, her wavy black hair cropped around her ears as she sauntered towards them. A sly smirk crossed her face as she approached.
"Wow Bolin, I must say you have a way with the ladies," the girl, woman really, held out her hands. Opal reached out to shake them but pulled back her eyes wide when she noticed the fingers missing on her hands.
The woman's smile turned cold, "I see you've noticed my disability then."
"Right," Bolin cut in, "Guys, this is Opal. Opal, this is Akita a very good friend."
"Charmed to make your acquaintance," Akita practically purred.
"And this little guy is Kazuki, I'm looking after him now," Bolin said proudly resting his hands on Kazuki's shoulders.
And Kazuki, the little shit, just grinned devilishly. "Bolin's my new mom," he announced proudly to the stunned adults, "And General Iroh's going to be my new dad!"
Akita snorted before dissolving into hysterical laughter at the stunned look on Bolin's face. Opal couldn't help but smile along as Bolin began spluttering denials before pulling a madly cackling Kazuki back towards the temple.
Opal could only turn to Akita, confused by the strange conversations he'd just witnessed. But Akita wasn't any more helpful, just offering Opal a strange half smile before following after Bolin and Kazuki quite happily. This left Opal alone in the courtyard, struggling to deal with the new questions Bolin's broken appearnce had raised for her.
So, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Akita is going to be hugly important to Bolin in a couple more chapters. Let's just say theEarth Empire has the same view towards homosexuals as the Nazi's, but that will be later.
