I have had the beggining of this chapter on file for SO LONG, I'm glad I could finally get it out there! Leave a review!
"Aren't you coming?" Reia held the car door open for Kenai, but he didn't get in the car.
"No," he said, "I've got some... errands to run."
"This late at night?"
"Relax, Fire Nation," he put his hands in his pockets, "I'm a big boy, I can handle it." He waited for the scowl he knew would come. When it did, he closed the door for her with a mocking bow. He smacked the window, an all clear for the driver, and the satomobile drove away. Kenai watched it go, and when it was gone, he turned and walked down the street. His night wasn't over yet.
"Lieutenant," Amon addressed his man as he walked through the door. "What do you make of this?" He gestured to the radio.
"A probending match? I don't much follow sports."
"Alright. What do you have for me."
"The waterbender we've been watching, the Triple Threat fighter, he was spotted outside the old hat factory with the girl." He was mostly.
"The brothers," said Amon over the hum of the radio, "They have ties to the Triple Threat Triad?"
"Yessir, but that was years ago." Amon thought this information over. After the failure of his chi blocker to subdue to Komodo Rhino firebender, he was desperate to find a replacement for his list. The Fire Ferret earthbender made an easy target, and undoubtedly an even easier catch.
Suddenly, the usual pitch of the probending match rose to a buzz. The Lieutenant turned the volume up. It couldn't be...
"Amon," said the Lieutenant as he turned away from the radio broadcast of the probending match. "How do you want to handle this?"
"So," Amon spoke from behind his mask, "the Avatar has arrived early. It looks like we'll have to accelerate our plans."
The sounds of voices and the clanking of dishes woke Reia the next morning. Looking out the window, she saw the sun already fully over the horizon. She never slept this late and her muscles protested.
Pulling the blankets off her, she headed to her bathroom to bathe and dress.
"She's awake," said Kenai from behind a newspaper when she emerged from her room and entered the common area shared by the three fighters.
"Good morning to you too," she cheerfully took the seat beside him at the counter in their small kitchen.
"Reia!" Cheng called brightly when she entered the common area. She had known the earthebender's energy would take some getting used to. "Do you want breakfast?" Reia peered at the pan he had on the stove. From the smell, she figured he was preparing some kind of meat, but couldn't tell what it was.
"Uhhh...no thanks." She grabbed a piece of fruit from a nearby bowl, "this is fine." For a few moments, she nibbled in silence as Cheng cooked his meat and Kenai studied his paper. Reia sighed. Osamu had his own complete living space on the other side of the building, but already she missed his company.
Suddenly, Kenai gasped.
"Look at this," he set the paper on the counter. Kenai's shoulder blocked part of her view, but the subject of the photograph on the front page was familiar to her.
"That's Mako," she said, "and Bolin from the Fire Ferrets." She had played the sibling duo before, but Hasook, the water bender, was not in the picture. Instead, a girl stood beside Bolin with a whip of water. "Who is-" She pulled the paper closer to her eager to find out who their new teammate was. In the next picture the waterbender was also wielding an earthdisc.
"THE AVATAR!?" She exclaimed when she read the headline. "I don't believe it."
"Neither do I!" Kenai was angry, he pushed away from the counter.
"What's the problem?" Reia didn't understand his objections.
"Korra should know better." He stormed out to the courtyard and Reia, still overjoyed from her victory, dismissed his moodiness. She grabbed the paper and read the article. Not once was the name Korra mentioned. How did Kenai know her name?
"Cheng?" she addressed her other roommate who was eating his breakfast straight out of the pan. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Reia narrowed her eyes at him and pointed after Kenai.
"Does Kenai know the Avatar? You're his best friend, tell me."
Cheng held his palms to her, "Oh, no. I promised I wouldn't say anything."
"Cheng..." she warned.
He filled his mouth with food, "Nophm, It's rude to talk wiph your mouph full," he said with his mouth full. Reia shook her head and stepped out into the courtyard.
Kenai was sitting by the water's edge just as she had seen him her first day at the training compound. This time, however, his posture was slack and his head was bowed to the ground. Instantly, her thirst for answers disappeared. Instead, she saw his hurt.
"Hey," she sat beside him.
"Look, Reia, I don't-"
"Just shut up," she told him, looking out over the water. He faced her, shocked at her brusqueness. She gave him a consoling smile that said nothing but manages to tell him she was there. He sighed and dipped his fingers in the water. As if called, the three koi fish swam to him. Reia watched the magic as the circled his hand.
"Koi," he said, but did not look at her, "are symbols of perseverance in the face of adversity." The gold fish nibbled at his submerged fingers. "There is a legend that the strongest koi is able to swim up stream against the rapids,"
"He jumps into the mist and turns into a water dragon." She finished for him. Now, he looked at her.
"You know it?"
Reia nodded, "My grandfather would tell me that story." It was an old Fire Nation adage. Zuko had told her to be like the koi, to be strong, to be a fighter. She wondered who had told Kenai.
"There's one for both of us, Cheng and me, to remind us how far we can go, how great we can be."
"What about the third?" she found the bravery to ask him about the white fish.
"My mentor," he said, "and my mother. She died two years ago."
"I'm sorry," she laid a hand on his shoulder.
"She was a great waterbender. Her name was Tenana, she was a student of Katara's. And when Katara moved to the North Pole, the greatest bender in the Southern Water Tribe. She even trained the Avatar."
"Korra," Reia said the name. So that was how Kenai knew the Avatar. She could tell there was more to that iceberg; but, for now, she would only get the tip.
Later that afternoon, from her spot atop her outcropping, Reia watched Kenai kneel and release a new fish into the pond. It jumped once, a fiery flash of orange and black, before settling into the water.
TOLD YA AMON WOULD BE BACK! and who saw the Kenai/Korra thing comin' gotcha again, didn't I? Or, maybe I didn't. Leave a review and let me know.