Lol…. I don't have school today…
Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Avatar!
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the Wind Master
Ch. 10 Part 1
the Order of the Lotus Tile
"Welcome to the Northern Airtemple!" a young man in a wheelchair said proudly.
"It's great to
see you again, Teo!" Katara exclaimed throwing her arms around him.
Teo laughed. "Good to see you too, Katara!" he said
returning the embrace. "And who are your friends?" Teo asked when
they pulled away.
"Teo, is my friend Yang. I was teaching him waterbending," Katara said as Yang bowed respectfully. "And this is my daughter, Konari," Katara continued. Konari also bowed. Teo gasped.
"Is it really true? We have heard rumors of you having a child, but we never thought they were true!" Teo exclaimed wheeling himself closer to the child to get a good look at her. After inspecting Konari head to toe Teo turned and smiled at Katara. "She's beautiful…" he said. Both Katara and Konari blushed, but the later quickly shook it off.
"I hear that you guys here at the Temple celebrate the Freedom Festival a week later. It wouldn't still be on, would it?" Katara asked. Teo's face brightened.
"Why, yes, it is still on! Today just happens to be the day of the Tournament in the Sky!" he said happily.
"Tournament in the Sky?" Konari asked, thoroughly interested. Teo nodded.
"Those people in the gliders. Would you like me to show you?" Teo said happily eager to teach the little girl to fly.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Konari said happily before she mounted an air scooter and zoomed off. A stunned Teo turned and looked at the two adults.
"We'll talk more later," Katara said.
"Konari, make sure you listen to Teo! Be careful!" Yang called after the girl. She raised her hand in recognition.
"You better catch up with her," Katara said chuckling. Nodding, Teo zoomed off after her on his wheelchair while Katara and Yang stayed behind laughing.
"Shall we walk around?" Katara asked after they finished laughing. Offering his arm, Yang said, "Let's,"
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Yang and Katara sat underneath a cherry tree laughing about something Katara said about Sokka.
"I can't believe he got SEVEN fishing hooks stuck in his thumb! That's Sokka for you!" Yang said laughing.
"That's nothing! There was this one time when we were still traveling with Aang that Sokka got stuck in a hole in the ground! Now THAT'S Sokka for you!" Katara said also laughing. The two sighed and tried to catch their breath. After a moment of silence, Katara spoke up.
"So, after this whole Tigress thing, what are you going to do? Are you going to try to find your family?" Katara asked with a little disappointment in her voice. Yang looked at her and frowned, catching her distress.
"I don't know. There is a big chance that they aren't even alive any more. Killed by the rebels and such. But anyway, I was hoping to return with you to the South Pole. I couldn't just leave Konari like that. I couldn't just leave you like that…" he replied. They were practically centimeters away from each other now.
"Do you believe in falling in love twice with the same person?" Katara asked quietly. Yang nodded slowly.
"Why?" he asked.
"I… don't know…." Katara said right before their lips brushed. The kiss lasted only seconds but it seemed like forever to Katara. It was soft and sweet and some how familiar to Katara. Yang suddenly pulled away blushing.
"Katara… I'm sorry I… I mean we…" Yang stammered before Katara interrupted him.
"Don't be sorry," she said pecking him on the cheek. Standing up, Katara offered him her hand.
"We better go find Konari and Teo to find out our sleeping arrangements for the night," she said. Taking her hand and standing up himself, Yang nodded. They walked back hand in hand, blushing at their previous actions.
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They had come back to the place where they started, and the couple started looking for Konari. Katara was the first to spot her. Konari flew and dived through her element alongside Teo and other children, perfectly at ease in her own element. She laughed and twirled in the sky, oblivious to the fact that if she fell, it was a long way back to Earth. Spotting her mother below, Konari laughed and waved.
"Look, Mama! I'm flying!" she exclaimed ecstatically.
"Wooh! Go Konari!" Katara yelled happily waving at her daughter. After one more twist, Konari landed smoothly in front of Katara and Yang.
"Did you see me, Mama? Did you see?" she asked excitedly jumping up and down.
"Yes I did, Konari! You're a natural!" Katara said scooping her daughter up into her arms.
"Guess what! Teo said I could keep my glider! That it was 'specially made for me!" Konari said happily. Taking the glider into his hands, Yang examined it. Towards the top of the staff, a small rose was carved. Underneath was the same inscription that was on the back of Konari's pendant. Smiling secretly to himself, Yang handed the glider back.
"Teo, you wouldn't mind showing us where we are staying, would you?" Katara asked, handing Konari off to Yang.
"Sure. Right this way," Teo said turning around.
They were led to a nice little inn to stay for the night. The innkeeper said they could stay at no charge. She said, "It simply is an honor for Lady Katara to be staying here for the night. How could I ever repay you, for after all you did help save the world? No charge."
After trying to convince the woman to accept some form of pay and failing, the three went up to the room they would be sharing. They would share the room for safety matters. Katara had started getting some things out for the night when the back squirmed and wriggled. She would have shrieked when the flash of white fur shot out at her if it weren't for the little creature's incessant licking. She chuckled.
"Momo! What are you doing in there?"
Yang had just stood up from tucking Konari in for the night and he walked over to Katara.
"Hey, I'm going to go talk to Teo and see if he can help us. Good night," he said softly before giving Katara a peck on the cheek. She became red as he left the room, her hand raised to her cheek. Behind her, Konari chuckled. Katara turned and gave Konari a suspicious look.
"What?" she asked.
"He likes you…" she taunted in a sing-song voice. Katara shrugged. "And you like him…" Konari continued. At this, Katara blushed harder and smiled looking away, recalling the previous events of that evening. Konari squealed with delight and launched herself at her mother.
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"I'm glad you are ok, old friend. I would be happy to help you with the Tigress."
"Thank you, Teo. I'm glad to know that. Would you please inform me of how the help will come though."
Teo and Yang sat talking in Teo's private suite, discussing the Tigress problem.
"In the Fire Nation capital, there is a secret order: the Order of the Lotus Tile. I'm sure you have heard of them. The Fire Lord's uncle is the current head of the Order. He will be able to help you. I've heard that Sir Iroh has great insight into the ways of spirits. But why, might I ask, would you not resolve this? Bridge between the two worlds and all," Teo asked.
"Unfortunately, the problem is greater than one man alone to fix. I'll need more help. And it's not just to solve this problem with the Tigress. This is to keep my family safe…"
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The next morning, Yang and Katara spoke of what Teo had told Yang.
"So we do need to go to the Fire Nation after all," Katara said. Yang nodded.
"This Order would be able to help us. I hear that you have had personal experience with Iroh. He is in charge of this order and will help us," Yang replied.
"We have to leave?" came Konari's voice from the doorway. Her new staff was at hand and her hair was blown in every direction from flying.
"Afraid so, sweetie. We can't risk having the Tigress come here and terrorize these people. This evening we have to go to the Fire Nation. There we will be able find some help," Yang replied to the little girl's question. Konari lowered her head. Katara sighed and got up; leading her daughter back to the couch they were sitting on.
"Hey, we can always come back and visit. It's not like we'll never see this place again," she said to her daughter.
"But Astana and I were going to have a sleep over," Konari said sadly.
"Who's Astana?" Katara asked her daughter.
"She's one of my new friends. She asked me if I could sleep over her house tonight. That's what I came to asked you. Astana asked Yani, Kala, Tori, and me if we could sleep over. Yani, Kala, and Tori all can go and I came to asked if I could go too," Konari said starting to sniffle. Trying to stop the waterworks, Yang cut in.
"Tell you what, after we stop in the Fire Nation, we'll come back here just so you can have a big sleep over. You can stay the whole week if you like," he said.
"Promise?" Konari asked wiping the tears away.
"Promise," Yang said sincerely. Konari smiled and nodded.
"So, why don't you pack your clothes so that we can get to the Fire Nation and back?" Katara said standing up.
"Yes, Mama," Konari said happily skipping up to the room.
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Evening came and the trio was eating dinner when the nightmare that occurred in Ba Sing Se repeated. First came the ear-splitting roar, followed by the sound of people screaming and crying. This time, Yang and Katara were prepared. Appa was saddled and ready to go just outside. Momo was on his saddle, so that he wasn't accidentally packed away again. Everyone jumped on but Yang didn't command Appa to go just yet.
"Yang, what's going on down there?" Katara called from the saddle. But Yang didn't hear her for he was soon on the ground and running towards where the Tigress's roars were coming from. Katara jumped down onto Appa's head.
"Yip yip!" she commanded. The bison hovered just over the houses while they followed Yang. Wow… he can move pretty fast! Katara thought as they quickly followed. And there she was: the Tigress. She stood in the middle on the chaos. She was cloaked in black leather and in her clawed hands she held a bow and arrow, ready to fire. And there was Yang, using the octopus form, blocking the Tigress's now coming arrows. Katara got into stance on Appa's head and tried her most powerful form of water bending; after all it was a full moon that night. But it didn't work. The Tigress looked up at Katara and roared aiming her bow. Yang used her distraction to his advantage and sent a torrent of water at her. The Tigress fell, not knowing what had hit her. Next, Yang had incased the Tigress in a block of ice, before throwing her off of the mountain. Quickly he made his way over to where Appa hovered, waterbending himself onto Appa's head and grasping Katara close.
"Yip Yip!" he commanded furiously, and the bison took off.
When they were high above the clouds, Katara turned to Yang.
"Are you ok? Any injuries, bruises? Here let me see…" she bombarded Yang with questions. She reached to lift his shirt but he quickly stopped her.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I didn't even break a sweat. But are you ok?" he asked.
"Yes yes, I'm fine. But what happened? Is the Tigress dead?" Katara asked.
"I'm afraid not. As with every spirit, there is only one way to kill an immortal being. Throwing her off of the mountain cannot do anything. The Tigress can't feel anything. Thus she enjoys causing others pain and emotion. The Tigress has no blood coursing through her veins and she craves it and the emotions it gives her, even for brief periods of time. All we can do now is get to the Fire Nation and hope the Order of the Lotus Tile will be able to help us," Yang replied seriously. A few stray tears fell to Katara's cheeks as she wrapped her arms around Yang. Like that, they continued on into the night, hoping that they would find help from the Order of the Lotus Tile.
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Long… Ok, this idea for the chapter came about a week ago. So, if you see anything like the Order of the Lotus Tile, I swear I didn't copy. This was in my head all week. Let's just say great minds think alike, m'kay? I was going to put this whole Order thing together along with them in the Fire Nation into one chapter but that would make it like 4000 words, which is way to long so I split it into two parts. So I want 5 reviews before I do the next part! Hope you enjoyed the Chapter!
