Shinook and his mother tried constantly to get him of his funk in every way imagineable, but regardless of how happy he would seem in those moments, the fear of helplessness regained its ground soon enough. Hasook had watched Shin and the others lose their bending before his own eyes.
While he still had his bending intact, Hasook was dealing with the world around him. Amon's revelation rally had really given him perspective on how many people hated him simply for being a bender, something that he couldn't help, something that always had and until recently was believed would always be a part of him. What he found more ironic than anything was that growing up, he worried so much about the fact that he wasn't drawn to girls as his childhood friends were and how people would judge him for it, yet now that point was moot. Instead, his bending, something he'd always seen as an immensely positive quality, something that people enjoyed, made him a target for hatred because of the injustice it enabled.
Hasook stood up from his bed. He'd been unable to pick up a shift that day from Chen at the docks, so he had nothing to do. Since the sunlight had woken him up hours before, he'd just lain there for hours staring at the cracks in the ceiling and guiding a few small orbs of water in patterns above him. When the sun had risen enough to shine directly into his eyes, Hasook decided it was time to do something with the day. He wasn't sure where he'd go, or what he'd even do, but he just needed to go somewhere and get out of the house. Grabbing a small piece of parchment from stack on the table, he scrawled out a note to Shinook and his mother.
Shinook and mom,
I haven't been feeling like myself lately and I just needed to get some air.
If you're looking for me, I'll be near midtown most likely, but I expect to be back by midnight at the latest. P.S. I'm grabbing 100 yuan from the jar to pick up produce and get something to eat while I'm out wandering.
See you both soon,
Hasook
He grabbed placed the note on the table in clear view, walked over to one of the small cabinets and pulled a few yuan bills out of the jar. With his bag waiting by the door and money in pocket, Hasook ventured outside into the mid-morning sunlight. There were people lining the slim alleys as always, but while walking through the narrowing paths he caught a few sidewise glances from people he assumed were non-benders noticing the waterbending crest on his sleeve. He was a marked man, at least to the aggressive Equalists, even in the neighborhood he'd lived in since birth.
Coming to the edge of Shu Dai, the strong smell of fish wafted towards him from the pier. He could see groups of people swarming the docks to help unload incoming ships. A quick survey of the crowd and he spotted Shinook's indigo overcoat.
"Shinook!" he shouted cupping his hands to project his voice further.
The figure turned at the shout of his name and spotted Hasook waving from the far side of the pier. Shinook smirked and gave him a salute before returning to work.
Hasook walked along the coastline watching the constant flow of work at each docked ship. Crews of men and women worked in teams, using complicated pulley systems to lift the large wooden cargo containers on and off of the ships. Many contained satomobiles destined for upper crust folks in other cities within the United Republic, or in the Fire and Earth Nations. Since money had been tight when he was growing up, Hasook never ventured very far outside of city limits, let alone outside of United Republic. He'd always wondered if they were anything like the stories tourist passerbys would tell or something completely exotic, but his ties to the city were more important than going on some vision quest out in the middle of nowhere.
After walking at a leisurly pace along the crowded docks, Hasook finally reached the ferry port. Unlike his last adventure on the ferry, he actually was on time and didn't have to waterbend his way into the moving ship. Within seconds his fee was paid and he forced his way through the crowd of tourists, this time all the way from Omashu, to find a small space to stand near the bow. As the ferry pulled out into Yue bay, the fishy smell that lingered before began to fade away into the background of the sea's salty aroma. Despite feeling relatively down, Hasook could appreciate just what a beautiful day it was. The sun was hanging high in the bright cerulean sky framed by large puffy clouds drifting in the gentle breeze. Even with the temperature getting progressively cooler each day as late fall and winter edged closer, the warmth of the sunlight gave the illusion of summertime. The ferry traveled swiftly through the gentle waves of Yue Bay, reaching the Central Peninsula's shore in just under 30 minutes.
He disembarked after the massive crowd of tourists and quickly climbed down from the low docks to the small beach. Opening his blue satchel he lifted out his favorite waterskin and slung it around his waste. With the cork removed, a swift fluid motion of his right hand pulled a thin steam stream of water from the crashing waves into the waterskin. Although the patterned brown and black sack would give him away as a waterbender to anyone who saw it, Hasook decided he was far better off being prepared with the chance of being noticed than getting caught off guard again. Glancing quickly along the edge of the dock for policemen, Hasook climbed quickly up onto the pier and blended in with a passing crowd of people.
Still unsure of exactly where he wanted to go, Hasook made a circuitous trek through the same sidestreets and alleys in which he'd first encountered the Equalists. It was odd seeing the plaza in the daylight. Everything had seemed so much bigger that night, but in daylight it appeared no larger than the small clearing near his home where the local kids played regularly. There was a puddle in the center of the small plaza, close to where he'd lain in the rain. As he began walking towards it, he heard a yell coming from behind.
"Excuse me!" He turned around to see a woman walking towards him. Her face seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. When she got closer to Hasook, he noticed a small girl tagging closely behind her. When the girl stared intently at him, he recognized her face immediately. It was the little girl that was being chased by the Equalists.
"Yes?" he responded politely.
"I'm sorry for popping up out of the blue, but I saw your tunic and I knew it was you." She smiled widely. "I never got a chance to properly thank you for protecting me and my daughter that night."
Hasook stood in place, not uttering so much as a sound.
"If you hadn't shown up, they would have captured her, us."
Hasook shrugged, "It's no problem. I'm just glad you two are safe." He tried his best to smile, but it came out looking like a distorted grin. Just as he was about to continue speaking with the mother, the little girl had run out to the puddle Hasook was looking at moments ago. With her hands extended and her fingers in the shape of a claw, she focused as much as she could. As little blob of water hopped up from the surface of the puddle and hung in the air between her hands. Even with her inexperienced waterbending, she was able to shape the little blob into different shapes. He smiled as he watched her play with the small shapes.
"The first time I saw her bend was when she played with some raindrops that had fallen on one of our plants' leaves. That was when she was 6. I feel bad because I can't afford a waterbending teacher for her, but she's learned how do some things, like that on her own."
Hasook nodded and smiled, walking over to the small girl. He knelt down next to her at the puddle and saw the water ball between her hands. Following her example he pulled up a small amount of water and formed it into a sphere. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl noticed that Hasook had copied her and turned to show off her water. After she went through her repertoire of shapes. Hasook mimicked her perfectly. Then he moved the water gracefully in a stream around his hands forming a long tendril. Finally, he pulled the water back into a spherical shape and froze it instantly. The ice ball floated unaided on the little puddle.
"You try" he said to her. While guiding her through the motions, she moved the water haphazardly around, but achieved the general idea of what Hasook had done. After practicing, she tried it again and with much less wobble, achieved the same movements Hasook had made. In the distance, the bell of the Central Station clock sounded loudly indicating the hour. Hasook stood up at the sound and noticed the girl had done the same. Quick study he thought.
Hasook walked over to the mother with the little waterbender in tow. "It was very nice seeing both of you. Sorry to run, but I have to make it over to University Plaza soon."
He smiled and turned to walk away, but the girl's mother interjected, "Do you think my daughter could practice with you sometime?"
He looked down at the hyper child who's only coherent response was "Please, please, please, please, please, please ,please, Mr. Hero?"
"Sure, if I'm light on work anytime during the week, I will leave you a notice in your community's mail."
"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Mommy, I'm going to be a waterbender like that lady in the story you told me!
Hasook and the mother laughed. He handed her a small piece of parchment with his address written on it so that she could find his home. After saying his goodbyes a second time, he continued walking through the plaza.