A/N: No TLR qutoe this time again. I couldn't find a good one that fit this chapter. The same will probably apply to the next two as well.

I want to say something really quickly, and I hope this doesn't scar me for life on this site. I've noticed that this story does get hits. Not very many, but I know that there are some people who are reading this. Now, I don't normally make a show about reviews. I'll say once or twice that I'm always open to and encourage good solid criticism or compliments, and I've told myself over and over again that I would try to not be one of those people that hold off chapters until I get a certain number of reviews. I don't like that when I'm reading other fanfictions, and I don't think it's very much in the spirit of writing. I write for my own enjoyment, but I post it here for others to enjoy it too. I don't necessarily try to please people with my stories, but I post them up just in case someone does like to get a kick out of them. That being said, I start to wonder why the story is not getting very many reviews. Nearly every story I've ever read has numerous reviews, and I get slightly downcast when I don't get anything except a few reviews here and there (which I appreciate and always try to reply to). I'm not going to beg and plead for reviews, but it is nice to know that somebody out there is reading this and either appreciates it, or maybe doesn't like it so much. I'm going to get off my soapbox, but I've just really been wondering lately why my stories have been sort of review-repellent this whole time. I may not have said this before, but I'm also open to suggestions as well, so that's another option assuming you don't like the story, or disagree with a part of it.

Oh well, that's all. Nothing all too special about this chapter other than the constant hints of something coming up that I'm sure most of you figured out immediately during last chapter. RR&E

Chapter 10

Pakoda leaned in and took another good long look at the board.

He had been playing for about five hours and he was more than ready for this game to end so that he could have some lunch. He had ripped right through most of his players that morning as one right after the other came up to face him, only to have their pride temporarily stepped on.

The person he was playing at this point in time was not very good by any means. As a matter of fact, he was one of the worst opponents Pakoda had ever faced. But strangely enough, this made it difficult for Pakoda because he had become accustomed to planning strategies around his opponent's strategies, which was his style of playing ever since he met H. But since his current opponent had no apparent strategy, he was constantly thwarted at each attempt to set up a solid attack on one of his defensive pieces. The game actually ended up taking longer than all of his previous ones, which Pakoda didn't mind seeing as his opponent would at least get some experience before leaving the city.

Finally, Pakoda saw his light and attacked suddenly and swiftly so as not to give the other player a chance to randomly switch pieces or something, allowing Pakoda to dismantle his neutral pieces, and giving him full reign of the board.

The other young man knew enough about the game to know that there was no way out of his predicament now. He offered his hand to Pakoda who gladly accepted respectively as always. Pakoda let out a sigh created from weariness, then headed for the lunch hall.

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Pakoda ate alone. He wanted to keep his focus on the tournament today so that he could have a chance to meet the man whom H had told him about. H said that the young man was probably around the same skill level as Pakoda, but with more experience. H had said also that the man would not have to play the preliminaries this year because of his high placement last year, so Pakoda would have to pass the preliminaries before he had a chance of accomplishing what he came to Omashu to do.

"There he is!" he heard a voice call. He knew immediately who it was and quickly set to decide a course of action. He remembered his thoughts about Pakku from the previous night, and he knew what he needed to do, but he didn't want his concentration broken by that right now. He quickly devised an escape plan.

"I'll tell you what, I haven't seen anyone whip through players like you did this morning. At least not since last year, when the new guy showed up."

"Thank you Pakku. Listen, I'm sorry to abandon you like this right now, but I really need to go get ready for the second half of the preliminaries."

"No problem man, I understand. Listen though, I heard that he has been watching you."

Pakoda couldn't help but be intrigued.

"Who was watching me?"

"The new guy. Well, he's not new anymore, not since last year."

"Who are you talking about?"

"You've probably seen him around. He's from the fire nation. No one knows who he actually is other than that he is a powerful general. Last year he came into the preliminaries for the first time unheard of and whipped right through like you did. He almost won the championship. Lost to an old man that caught him in a silly mistake. It was a shame though, he was better than the old man."

"Wait, Fire Nation general? I played him last night."

"No kidding, how'd it go?"

"It was lasting to long and I called for a draw. He was apparently just as tired as I was seeing as he gladly accepted. He seemed pretty nice."

"He was nice because it didn't matter. You wait until you meet him in the playoffs. You'll find out how nice he is."

"Hey, I was playing kind of lazily too. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Whatever. See ya around Pakoda."

"You too Pakku."

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This time he noticed his follower. He was sitting behind a pole, Pakoda noticed.

"If what Pakku said about him was true, I'd want to hide as well," he thought to himself.

He was able to shrug it off however and get on with the rest of his matches. The afternoon rounds were a lot shorter since Pakoda won so many in the first half. The playoffs only consisted of sixteen players, eight of them coming from the preliminaries.

Pakoda soon enough found himself in the position Pakku had described the previous day. He was starting to have to put a little more effort into his moves as the players he faced became more experienced and more aged as he progressed. He had no trouble sealing them all off and remaining undefeated on the day though, and was a shoo-in for the playoffs. He was given his start time for the next day and his opponent's name.

"Gi Fong?" he asked Pakku later, "What kind of name is that?"

"Oh yeah, I heard about him. He's a newcomer. Some sort of child Pai Sho prodigy or something. He's from Ba Sing Se and he only lost once in the preliminaries. I don't think you'll have too much trouble with him."

"Ba Sing Se huh? That's where I'm heading after this."

"Really. Hmmm, never pictured you as a big city type."

Pakoda sighed again. He knew that it was now or never. He was going to need the focus even more for the playoffs and he knew that he wouldn't be able to concentrate with the weight of this silly little silent feud raging inside of him.

"Pakku, we need to talk about something."

"Shoot."

Pakoda then explained a lot about how everything happened with the soldiers back at the North Pole. He told him how he thought that Pakku was to blame for being suckered into doing all that stuff for the Fire Nation.

"I've grown out of that of course. I realize now that it was my mistake, and you had nothing to do with it," he said.

Then he went ahead and told Pakku about his experience in the waterfall.

"My caretaker told me that I barely survived the fall. He said that the waterfall spirit decides who is worthy of entering the village and that apparently, I was giving the spirit conflicting feelings, and hence how hurt I was after the fall. After he told me that, I thought of everything that had happened to me in the past year. I thought about the sabotage, but I knew that I had peace of mind about that. I thought about being banished, but I had already accepted that as my fate. The only thing that was within me that I could think of was you."

Pakku just sat back and listened intently to the story.

"Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think I ever truly forgave you, even though I was always telling myself that I did. I was lying to myself in a way by blaming everything on my bad luck, but secretly, I knew that I really blamed you for all of the hurt that you put me through.

"But then, something else strange happened. I went through this swamp on my journey here, and I had a vision of this little girl crying and screaming something about, 'NO! NOT HIM! NOT HIM!' I had no idea what that meant, but then when you said that when you first saw me yesterday, I couldn't help but think about the vision. The swamp guide had told me that the swamp shows us things that we love or will love, and have lost or will lose. I'm not sure what the little girl has to do with it, but I know for sure that I don't want to lose you."

Pakku said nothing. He just looked down at the floor. Then he looked up, without shiny tear-filled eyes and said, "I forgive you."

The two hugged. They knew everything would be OK now. Even though Pakoda still thought of Pakku as an egotistical jerk, and Pakku thought nothing more of Pakoda than sea prunes, the two were able to bury their prejudices, and become great friends despite their differences.

Pakoda didn't play any more games that night. He had had enough of the festival already, and knew that he needed sleep before the playoffs tomorrow.

As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about Pakku. He still didn't really care for the guy as a person, but he knew that he wouldn't let his feelings crowd his relationship with him. He thought about his opponent, Gi Fong. He wondered how much tougher the playoffs would be than the preliminaries. He knew that Gi Fong had been defeated once, but that could have been any kind of little fluke that he himself could just as easily make. He thought about "the new guy". Part of him hoped that he would get to play him again, but the other part told him that he would probably be better off not risking the embarrassment.

Finally, he thought about the man he was supposed to be looking for. So far no one had matched the description H had given him. He had told him that in case Pakoda couldn't find him, he was to find a messenger hawk, and send him in the direction of "the gate-keeper" with a message requesting a Pai Sho match. H told him to hesitate before taking this route however, since the brotherhood has many enemies, even during Pai Cho Days. All messenger hawks were occasionally searched, and it would be foolish to try to sneak a message past the random monitors, even during the tournament.

Pakoda wondered what the man would be like. He conjured up an image in his head. He would have to like tea just as much as H did. He figured he would be a little stocky, and somewhat short. He imagined that the man would have some sort of aura around him, that somehow everyone would know when he was there, and would show a kind of solemn respect for him as he passed.

Suddenly, a thought came to Pakoda.

"Wait...a...minute."