I'll Walk You Home pt 21
Chapter 8
pt. 3
Pu Pu Platter
Sokka stood up when the girls returned to the lounge. Minh noted that the tribesman held his sword in his left hand, ready for instant use, as he stood by his chair. Toph walked past him and sat in the chair she had used before.
The young warrior noticed, when the metalbender walked past him, that his younger companion smelled really good, like honeysuckle or something. He was distracted from this line of inquiry when the First Sergeant walked past him, heading for the writing desk in the far corner of the lounge. The soldier, the young man realized, smelled really good too. The aroma of something like musky roses was coming off of the woman.
The swordsman surreptitiously sniffed himself, which caused his nose to wrinkle and his eyes to water. Oh, not good! He thought.
"Excuse me, I need to write a note." Minh told the two younger people, as she sat down at the desk, and pulled a piece of paper from the stack.
The First Sergeant noted the letter head of Hong Fat's on the paper. Well this will get a comment or two when Platoon Sergeant Hu gets it. She thought.
Just as the young man was sitting down again, the Maitre d' entered, and with an unctuous manner announced,
"Your room is ready, I hope it will be satisfactory, please follow me."
The soldier turned in her high backed chair and said,
"You two go ahead, I'll catch you up as soon as I finish this."
"Certainly," Dingxian said. "I will come back and escort the lady, as soon as she is ready."
Sokka looked to Toph who shrugged, and answered her with his own shrug. The two young people picked up their gear and followed the Maitre d' out into the dining area. The young man made quite an interesting sight as he crossed the main dining room, with all his weapons and bags and packs. He could see that the restaurant was almost empty. Only one table had an older couple sitting at it. It seemed that the trio had come between the end of lunch and the beginning of dinner.
Across the main room, the tribesman could see three smaller rooms built into the far wall. Each had a bead curtain closing the archway from the main area. The small procession was heading for the center room which was the largest of the three. Sokka could see two men in white coats and black pants hurriedly setting the table. Standing to one side of the entrance was a largish man in green who looked impatient to be on his way. He had the look of an earthbender about him.
The room contained a large round table covered with a white cloth. Built out from the back wall was a booth like bench that could seat three comfortably, or one regally, around the open side of the table were five earth bent chairs. On the wall above the bench was a portrait of King Kuei; it looked new and was not a good likeness. On the other two walls were the large earth bent coins of the Earthkingdom. They didn't quite fit the faded marks on the wall. Sokka suspected that they were replacing the stylized flames of the Fire Nation.
The Maitre d' shooed the two waiters out of the room and led the warrior and the metalbender into it. Dingxian indicated the bench for them to sit in, but Toph took the center chair. Sokka would have preferred it if she had gone to the bench, the chair put her back to the archway and the main room. He sat on the left most, as you faced it, edge of the bench so he could watch the dining area and have his right arm free, just in case.
The little earthbender sat in the center chair for a moment then, at a gesture of her hands, the chair sank into the floor, and with a new movement, a new, larger chair, with a platform around it rose up out of the stone floor, right under her. Another small movement of her hands, and the chair slid into the table. The new chair was actually shorter than the old one, but with the raised dais under it, the chair actually was closer to the table, and it also allowed the young earthbender to have her feet rest on the stone of the platform.
"Your waiter will be with you momentarily" The Maitre d' informed them. "Will there be anything else?"
The young warrior looked to his friend as she rested her hand on the table for a moment, then she turned in his general direction and with a nod indicated that she was satisfied.
"This is fine." Sokka answered. "Thank you."
Dingxian bowed to the couple and left the room. The large earthbender held his hand out, as the Maitre d' passed, and the elegantly dressed man motioned for the working man to follow him out to the front of the restaurant.
Just as the tribesman had gotten his gear arranged on the floor by his end of the bench, their waiter Lee arrived.
"Your appetizers will be right here." The white coated young man informed them. "Would you like more tea?" He then asked.
Toph nodded and Sokka said,
"Yes please."
"That was Jasmine for the lady and Kyoshi Green for the gentleman." Lee said.
"I'll have oolong with the meal." The metalbender told him.
"And our companion was drinking black." The Young warrior added.
"Yes sir, thank you sir." Lee said, bowing himself out of the room.
The two friends sat in silence for a minute, then the earthbender asked,
"What's she like?"
Sokka, who had been counting entrances, and finding the nearest exit, was taken by surprise, and said,
"Sorry?"
"Her Deafness." His young companion answered. "The Little Soldier Girl."
"Oh, sergeant… Minh." I think that's her name. "She seems nice enough."
"No Stupid." Toph said, in her mind she heard the soldier say"… who invents all this clever stuff." But she pushed it aside. "What's she look like?"
"Oh I don't know." The tribesman answered.
The warrior had not really looked at the woman. In her uniform she was just a "Soldier" to him. Now that the metalbender had asked he called up an image of her in his mind and examined it.
"Well she's taller than you, but shorter than me." He finally said. "Maybe about Katara's height, or just a little taller."
The tall young man could just see over the sergeant's head.
"She has light brown hair." He remembered.
She wore it in a long plaited cue that ran down her back, all the way past her tight round butt. Stop that! Well it is tight and round at the same time. You don't often see that.
"She has a sort of a round face." He continued, working his way down.
After going back up you mean! He chided himself. She had hazel eyes. He had also noticed that the soldier had two small scars from cuts, one breaking her left eyebrow, and one on her chin. She also had a small burn scar low on her left cheek. The woman had obviously been in combat against firebenders.
"She has broad shoulders and strong arms, like an earthbender." He went on. "And strong looking legs. She's old, well older, well not as old as my dad, but not that young."
"Is she pretty?" The young earthbender asked.
The fifteen year old thought about the question for a moment, pretty did not seem like the right word to describe the sergeant. She was certainly attractive, but pretty seemed too inconsequential a word to describe her. She was strong and confident in herself, sure and commanding. Physically she was daunting but not "pretty". Finally the tribesman answered,
"I would say that she is a very attractive woman."
Toph did not reply, she just sat and thought about what Sokka had said.
Minh finished her note, an order really, folded the paper, addressed it and sealed it with wax and her chop. She wore the metal signet on a chain around her neck. As a First Sergeant she could have worn it as a ring, but that was how the officers carried their signets, and she was proud of working for a living.
The soldier left the lounge and asked the Maitre d' to make sure it was delivered right away to Platoon Sergeant Hu of first platoon. The snooty asshole assured her he would. He offered to take her to the private room her two new companions were in.
"Let me get my equipment." She told him. "I'll be right back."
The sergeant returned to the lounge and picked up her sword and helmet. She set them on the writing desk and straightened her uniform. She was proud of being in the cavalry, but she thought, at least for her, the uniform was not very flattering.
No tits and a big ass, that's me. Minh thought as she pulled her pants up and her robe down. It's not like there is going to be an inspection. She told herself, though she did wish she had one of those big mirrors that were in the Ladies Room. Maybe she could duck down there quickly and check herself out.
Why?
Well one should try to look good, credit to the service and all that.
He's a teenager, girl! By Oma and Shu you're old enough to be his mother!
No I'm not!
Considering when you started fooling around, yes you are!
Well maybe… but he's water tribe.
She ran a hand down her robe, smoothing the material. She felt the small bulge of her stomach. She was starting to get a belly and she did not like it, but no matter how many sit ups she did it was still there every morning.
And you're about to go eat again!
With a sad sigh, she picked up her helmet and sword and started out of the lounge.
The two young people looked up as Minh stepped through the bead curtain into the private dining room.
"Everything ok?" The swordsman asked her as she sat down on the opposite end of the bench.
"Fine." She replied. "I just had to make arrangements about that inspection this afternoon. I don't think I'm going to be back in time to conduct it myself."
"Oh yeah, it's already past fourteen hundred." The young man said.
Toph was about to say something but was interrupted by Lee returning with a large Lazy-Susan piled high with appetizers. The waiter moved the center piece while balancing the tray on one hand; he then set it down in the center of the table. The food smelled delicious.
"The tea will be here presently. Are you ready to order, or do you still need a few minutes?" Lee asked.
"I'm good to go, if you two are." Minh told her companions.
The young man looked to the girl, who nodded in reply.
"We'll order now." The tribesman told the waiter.
While they placed their orders another server arrived with the tea. Each received their own steaming pot and a cup.
Each of the women ordered a single dish; the young man ordered three different dishes. The Chow Fun and the fried rice were,
"… for the table" he explained.
Once they were alone again, the sergeant took the opportunity to inspect the table. By looking under the cloth she could see that it was a stone table raised by bending directly from the floor of the restaurant. It was a good job, though it looked a little rushed. The sound of the young man's voice caused her to look up.
The blind girl was slowly spinning the Lazy-Susan and the tribesman was telling her what was in each tray of the platter.
"Paper wrapped something. The next tray to the right has the sauce dishes."
He continued on through all the appetizers on the platter. Minh noted that the way he did it was not condescending, but done in a straightforward matter of fact manner. Like two well trained squad members working on a task together. The two of them had been through this before, perhaps many times. Any time the girl had a question, she would simply look toward the young man and he would answer it for her without needing her to say anything. They worked perfectly together with very few words passing between them.
Once the blind girl had run through the platter and taken what she wanted, the young man made a gesture to the First Sergeant to help herself. Minh looked at the platter for the first time and was shocked into silence. It was full of meat. Fried Wontons, Paper Wrapped Chicken/pig, dumplings, skewers of hippo/cow, skewers of goose/duck. The soldier had never seen so much cooked meat in her life. In the earth kingdom most people lived on cereal grains. Rice if they could get it, but wheat, barley, and oats most of the time. The army lived on porridge with rice maybe once a week and meat maybe once or twice a month. She was looking at about two weeks of her pay, just in cooked meat.
"It's all meat!" She said, as she started to tentatively pull a fried wonton off of the tray.
"He's water tribe, that's all he eats, usually raw." The blind girl said. "Why do you think I call him Meathead."
Minh had heard about the water tribes only eating raw meat. It was supposed to make their women more sensual, and their men more virile.
"I love a nice piece of meat." The sergeant said, while looking directly at the young tribesman.
Did I really just say that? The soldier asked herself, as she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Stop it; you're acting like a fourteen year old girl at her first village dance. She chided herself, but it did no good. She quickly looked down at her plate, studying the dumpling she had just placed there. At least you didn't say … a nice BIG piece of meat. She consoled herself. Oh come on, you're a big girl now; you should look him in the eye, smile sexily (however that is done) and lick your lips, or something. But she decided that that course of action would only make her look like a complete fool, as opposed to simply sounding like one.
"No meat, no meal." The young man said.
"He's full of happy little sayings like that." The young girl informed the woman.
Minh snuck a peek at the young man across from her. He seemed to be rooting around in his pack beside him, and was not even looking at her. She decided it was safe to come out now and raised her head, just in time for the handsome tribesman to catch her eye. He pointed to her. Oh no! She thought, he's going to… what? She didn't know what he was going to do, but she had a feeling it was going to be embarrassing. The young swordsman then pointed two fingers at his own eyes, he then pointed to the young blind girl who made up the third angle of the triangle the three of them were seated in. He wants me to watch her for him. The sergeant realized. She breathed a sigh of relief, as she gave him an ok sign. He responded with, a thumbs up.
"If you will excuse me." The young man announced. "I'm going to hit the head for a minute. Go ahead and start without me, I'll be right back."
Toph just waved a half eaten skewer at him, while she chewed on the meat she had already pulled off of it with her teeth.
"No problem." Minh said.
Sokka pulled his ditty bag, which had his shaving and grooming supplies in it, and his clean laundry bag, which was very small and light at the moment, out of his rucksack, grabbed his sword and walked out of the room. He was back in a second and asked,
"Where is the head, by the way?"
The sergeant pointed toward the lobby and said,
"Lobby, long hall, down at the end on the left."
"Thanks, be right back." And the young man was gone again.
Minh used her chop sticks to pull a selection of items from the platter while she observed to her younger tablemate,
"Stupid seems like a nice enough guy."
"Don't call him that!" Toph replied through the meat in her mouth. "He's not stupid, that's just a name I have for him."
"You have a lot of names for him." The soldier replied. "Stupid, Wimp, Meathead, Perv."
The young girl swallowed, put her hands on the table, looked at the woman, and with irritation in her voice told her,
"I already told you he's not a perv, he's a nice guy who's never tried anything with me! OK? And so I have a lot of names for him, what's the big deal?" Bitch!
"No biggy!" Was the soldier's reply. "Just something I noticed is all."
There was silence between the two except for the aggressive crunching as the blind earthbender ate a fried wonton.
Minh picked up a dumpling with her chop sticks and dipped it in the small sauce dish and took a bite. She closed her eyes unconsciously in pleasure and a tiny moan escaped between her closed lips as she ate. Before she had even swallowed the first bite she stuffed the rest of the dumpling into her mouth. Oma! She thought. It must be nice to be rich, and eat like this all the time. The food was delicious.
Once the sergeant swallowed she turned to the girl and asked in a matter of fact manner,
"So how old is he?"
Oh that was subtle! Her common sense screamed at her.
The soldier was a little unnerved by the blind girl, the way she would look at you but not make eye contact.
Toph thought a moment before answering. To be honest she was not sure how old Sokka was. He was older than the metalbender, and older than his sister, who was older than Toph as well, so he had to be pretty old.
"I don't know." She finally said. "Sixteen, seventeen maybe. Why?"
"I don't know." The sergeant responded. "It's just that he looks really young, but there is something about his eyes. They look like they've seen a lot of tough times, like he's been through a lot."
The young earthbender was quiet for a time, just thinking. Finally she said,
"Yeah, he's had it pretty rough, the war and all, you know."
Stop asking about him! Common sense screamed in the soldier's head. Talk about something else, earthbending or something!
"So he's not a bender is he?" The older woman asked.
Minh's common sense gave up then, folded her arms, and went off to sulk in a corner of the soldier's mind. Maturity got up with a sigh and came forward then.
"Snoozles, no he's not a bender." Toph replied, but the thought "I didn't count you, no bending and all," came to the young girl's mind just then.
The First Sergeant's maturity gave Common sense, sulking in the corner, a scornful look and told the thirty year old woman, All right now. You're a mature woman who has had lots of men, and you're not interested in some teenage boy, so ask her something about herself. The Avatar, that would be a good subject of conversation.
"But you said he was fighter?" The solider asked.
"Yeah, he's really good with his sword." The blind girl answered.
The sword that he threw away to save you. A little voice in Toph's head reminded her.
Maturity began to huff about a lot inside Minh's mind. The sergeant decided to shut up for a second, and grabbed one of the skewers, dipped it in the sauce for it and bit off a large chunk.
The young earthbender was quiet for a few seconds, she then also picked up a skewer and began to eat.
With impeccable timing Lee, the young waiter, came through the bead curtain and asked,
"How is everything?"
The two women, their mouths full, made MMMM sounds and nodded their heads to show that everything was fine.
"Excellent" The waiter said. "Your main courses will be right out. Is there something else I can get you, more tea perhaps?"
Minh swallowed the mouthful of half chewed meat and blurted out,
"Could I have some plum wine?"
"Certainly!" Was the young servant's reply. "Would you like a cup, or a carafe?"
The First Sergeant didn't know what a carafe was, but it sounded larger than a cup so she said,
"Carafe please."
"And will that be a half, or a full?"
"Full please." The soldier replied, then added, "And two cups."
"Certainly…?" Lee wasn't certain what title to use for the soldier.
"Miss is fine." Minh replied.
"Certainly Miss, I'll bring it right out."
After the waiter's departure, the young earthbender turned to the older woman and asked,
"Aren't you a little old to be a miss?"
"Never met the right guy, I guess." Was the soldier's sardonic reply. "Met a lot of wrong ones that's for sure."
Especially that mother fucking, son of a bitch, asshole, Captain, My Lord, Chou. Minh thought bitterly. At least that little cock sucker got what was coming to him. This last thought made the corner of her mouth twitch into a wicked little smile.
"But you like guys, right?" The young girl asked.
Oma and Shu! The First Sergeant thought. Just because I'm not some skinny assed, empty headed, little sperm bank, that screws every guy with a cock…, just because I'm a hard ass who makes my troopers do their jobs, everybody thinks I'm a dyke. Little Princess here is probably wetting her loin cloth, thinking that I am going to hit on her. Truth be told, she had tried it a couple of times, seeing as how her luck with men had been so bad, and while she had enjoyed it, it just wasn't right for her.
Minh let a little of her bitterness enter her voice as she answered,
"Yeah, I like guys! Princess!"
At least one guy! Toph thought, but she said,
"I'm not a princess!" You old bitch! "Captain Boomerang is the Princess, well Prince anyway."
Minhee the sixteen year old girl, who had left her desperate little village, which was in the middle of "No Fucking Where", to join the army, so she could have adventures, see the world, and meet a beautiful young noble man, fall in love, and live happily ever after, suddenly stood up in the back of First Sergeant Minh's mind and squealed "PRINCE?"
Common Sense, Mature, and First Sergeant Minh all shouted at Minhee to "Put a sock in it." Aloud the soldier said,
"Prince?"
Truth be told she squealed just a little when she said it.
"Yeah, his father is the chief of the Water Tribe."
The little earthbender leaned forward on the table, toward the older woman, when she said this last, as if to say, he's way beyond you, hoping the soldier would take the hint. She wasn't going to tell her that Hakoda was actually the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, which as far as Toph knew consisted of only about a dozen families.
Lee returned at that point with the wine the sergeant had requested. He set the carafe down, and the two cups, poured a small amount of the bright red liquid into one of the cups and waited expectantly.
Minh looked at the small amount of wine in the cup and thought their pretty stingy with their servings here. She tossed it off in one gulp. It was delicious.
"Not bad." The woman said.
The waiter then took her cup and filled it, he then filled the second cup and gave her an inquiring look. It took her a moment to figure out what he wanted, she then pointed to where the young warrior had been sitting. Lee obediently set down the carafe by the First Sergeant, and took the second cup and set it down by the indicated place setting, bowed and left the two women alone again.
The cavalry sergeant looked at the large glass container of wine. It must be a full liter. She thought worriedly. Her Common Sense asked How are you going to pay for all of this? You don't have this kind of money! Minh was getting worried. The young non-couple, were supposed to be her guests, but this was going to cost over a month's pay at this point. Maybe she could charge it to the "Lack of Intelligence Fund". The company had an allotment of money for bribing local officials and to pay off informants to get intelligence and cooperation. Well she was having lunch with two travelers about incidents that had occurred a few days ago in the Si Wong. She was gathering intelligence, the fund should pay for it.
I think you are losing intelligence the longer you stay around that teenage boy! Maturity said to her. Common sense piped in sarcastically at the rear of her brain. Oh she's gathering intelligence alright. Why don't you ask her something you really want to know, like how long his DICK IS?
The First Sergeant, who had just downed her first full cup of wine, the cups where rather small after all, no point in messing around with sips, and was filling her cup again asked the blind bender,
"So how long is his…"
She was stopped by all the screaming and running around in her head.
Minh downed the second full cup of wine, in order to give her time to think, but it didn't seem to help very much.
"What?" The young girl asked.
His what? How long is his list of girlfriends? Toph asked herself. Really long and you're not on it!
"His time… with you… spent… ah… together?" The soldier finally asked.
There was a general sigh of relief in the First Sergeant's mind.
"We met about four or five months ago, during the war." The young bender answered, rolling her eyes.
Lee took that moment to arrive, leading a long line of waiters delivering the main dishes and spreading them about the table. The two women lapsed into silence.
To be continued:
Disclaimer : "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.
Author's notes:
I am sorry this is a day late. For some reason this was a hard chapter for me to write, I hope it works for everyone. I don't know why it is so long, and they haven't even finished lunch yet. I'm too linear probably.
Sokka will be back in the next chapter, and hopefully there will be some action in it as well.
The next chapter will probably not be up for two weeks. Sorry, but my wife is directing a production of the play "Candida" by G.B. Shaw and the show opens on the tenth and trying to get everything ready is taking up all of my free time. If I can I will get the next chapter up sooner but I doubt I will be able to.
To all of the reviewers, once again thank you so much. Your words mean a huge amount to me, and to the story. So to all of you, thanks again.
I try to reply personally to all the reviews. If I missed any one, please forgive me.
To Lily: Thank you very much, I would high five you right back if I could. Yes I was thinking of you when I named that character. :-)
To Kagehisa: Sorry, but the next chapter will have Sokka in the loo, but it will be short and he will not be taking care of business.
Once again thank you to all those who have added this story to their alerts and especially their favorites, and a very special thank you to all who have added me to your author alerts and favorites. That is a real honor for me. I hope I have not disappointed you with this chapter.
Thanks again to Vox Populi for all his help, and his dedications on his story "The Epic of Tokka" I really appreciate the honor. He has finished that story, but has many more going now, so take a look. He writes a lot faster than I do, which makes me jealous.
Thank you to all for reading
All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.