Me: Oh look! A chapter! Perhaps you should read it?

Li: Who would wanna read your stories?

Me: The person reading this conversation might...

Li: *eyeroll* Karen does not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Hetalia Axis Powers, only the Original Characters she and a friend created. Hopefully she'll actually get that story about us posted soon...

Me: If my schedule keeps up like this, it's very unlikely...

Li: *sigh* Of course.

Hungary gathered up her papers from the meeting, and looked expectantly towards England. He had received a text message halfway through the meeting, disrupting the already-chaotic meeting and prompting Germany to take over. There could have been any number of reasons for the text: an important government official wanting to inform England of a new political twist, a wrong number, America being bored…or Li had woken up.

Italy had tried pestering England for more information, but Germany hadn't allowed it—they did have a meeting to finish, and America's brief disappearance after Japan's earthquake had put him behind on several matters that needed to be addressed. England had no other texts, so with much reluctance, the Nations focused on their work and finished the meeting on-schedule.

And now they were done, and had free time. The African Nations were talking about going out for drinks that night, and had roped the Oceanic Nations into joining them. America, who almost seemed to have split into two people because Hungary kept seeing him in totally different places only seconds apart, was going with China and several other Asian Nations to have a video conference with Japan. Italy had already rushed out the door to head to Bethlem Hospital, not bothering to speak with England first, pulling Austria with him. Lithuania and Poland were heading out as well, likely on their way to Bethlem too.

But Hungary had other ideas. "England, wait," she called as the Nation tried to slip out the door. He looked up, and she used the opportunity to pick her things up before rushing over to him. "You're going to the hospital, right? Let me go with you. I get the feeling we'll meet some of the others there."

"Uh, sure thing," England blinked at her. "But don't you usually go places with Austria, or Italy, or Poland?"

"They've already left," Hungary explained. "And I would like to talk to you about how Li got there in the first place."

"Oh, uh, that," England turned pale. "Well, you see, I just thought, um, I figured that…uh…"

"I'm letting you pass on feeding her your cooking, because it's pretty clear you know what you did wrong there," Hungary paused to give England a stern look, "but we really need to talk about hospitals. What did they say when they saw the scars on her legs?"

"France said she was a refugee, and that she had important information on terrorists or something," England sighed. He relaxed a bit at hearing that he wouldn't be scolded on feeding Li his cooking, and held the door open for Hungary as they walked out together. "We let them assume from there where she was from and what had happened. Of course, that bloody frog felt he had to distract that nurse further…stupid git…"

"I'll bet," Hungary muttered. "Anyways, what did you do for paperwork?"

"I used the 'refugee' story to explain away her lack of papers, and asked that she be omitted from hospital records," England explained. "What paperwork we have left will be simple enough to fill out. I'll probably have to say she doesn't speak English, which she herself already said, and do the forms for her…"

"She doesn't speak English?" Hungary raised her eyebrows. "At least we know that much. Do you have any leads on what language she really does speak?"

"I've no idea," England confessed. The two reached the doors to the outside of the conference center, and again he held the door for Hungary. "I was hoping a nurse might be able to tell me. Actually, I'm wondering why we haven't asked a normal human to speak to her before now."

"Um…good point," Hungary stared up into the sky for a moment to contemplate. It was a valid point. But then, Nations could understand everyone else in most circumstances—save when another Nation didn't want to be understood, and even that could be foiled by an independent knowledge of the language—so languages were never much of a priority.

"It's probably safe to assume that she doesn't speak Italian, or Russian, or the language of any country she's already visited," England speculated, "seeing as she mentioned on the drive to my home that not being able to understand everyone made travel so confusing. I've yet to see her write anything, so we can't go off of that…"

"We'll see when we get to the hospital," Hungary shrugged as they reached a car waiting for England on the side of the street. The driver and England exchanged a few words in low tones that Hungary couldn't hear, then the door was opened for them and they climbed into the back seat.

"Thirsty?" England reached to the front passenger seat and pulled a bottle of water from a cooler. "I've found I tend to get thirsty right after meetings. I don't dare drink too much of the water we're given in case I suddenly need to use the bathroom in the middle of someone's speech, and our meetings go for so long without breaks that my throat can get quite dry."

"No, I'm good," Hungary declined. England unscrewed the bottle and took a drink himself. Their conversation turned to meetings, and troubles during them, and the ride to the hospital passed by quickly.

Tension sizzled in the air. On one side of the almost-otherwise-empty room stood the Earth Kingdom, muscles tense, hands clasped behind her back. Her entire body trembled slightly from anger. Opposing her stood the Northern Water Tribe, dripping wet. That might have something to do with the bucket lying on its side partway between the two, closer to the Earth Kingdom than the Northern Water Tribe. Both were glaring at each other, neither appearing to be willing to back down.

Then footsteps, steady and heavy, could be heard walking towards the room. A door opened on the wall to Earth Kingdom's left and Northern Water Tribe's right, and Si Wong Desert appeared in the opening. He took one look, closed the door quietly, and his footsteps could be heard going back down the hallway.

His intrusion had gone unnoticed, however. Both Nations were too absorbed in glaring to pay attention to petty details such as intruders. Although, something had changed, because Earth Kingdom spoke at last.

"When you are a guest in my house," she hissed, "you will be polite and clean up any mud you track on the floor."

"Go. Rock. A. Boat," Northern Water Tribe spat back. "Men don't clean. Women clean. I am a man. I do not clean."

"Maybe in your house that's how it works, but not in mine," Earth Kingdom crossed her arms defiantly. "And so long as you are in my house, you'll do things the way we do them. Which means that when you walk inside with your boots covered in mud, you'll either take them off right at the door or clean up after yourself to show some respect for your host. Not roll on in, claim the first bedroom you come to, and tell my eldest daughter to make you dumplings while you track mud all over the front hall!"

"Pardon me if your ways are a little different from mine," Northern Water Tribe rolled his eyes. "Aren't you the one always going on about how we have to understand and accept each other's culture? I'm just giving you a nice taste of mine."

Earth Kingdom narrowed her eyes as her own words were used against her, but refrained from speaking. Instead, she took three steps forward and picked up the bucket lying on the ground. Then in one swift motion, she leaned down, seized the handle, straightened, and flung the bucket at the Northern Water Tribe. He sidestepped, one hand shooting up to grab the bucket as it passed. Regrettably for him, he fumbled, and the bucket crashed into the wall behind him.

Footsteps could be heard again, heading towards the room. The door opened to reveal Si Wong Desert, Great Divide, Omashu, and Gaoling. Earth Kingdom glanced at her sons, and made a shooing motion. Omashu rolled his eyes and walked inside, stepping between his mother and fellow Nation. "If this is about the mud, Genji cleaned it up the moment he saw it," Omashu informed them, gesturing towards his younger brother Gaoling. "And Mother, you know we'll kill him if he keeps acting like an ass towards you and Mingmei. Just go get some tea, and I'll talk it over with my brother-in-law here."

"Brother-in—?" Northern Water Tribe yelped. "No, no, Sirikit promised me she would never speak to you again, whaddaya mean brother-in—?"

Earth Kingdom didn't hear any more. She was already walking out the door, planning what snacks she would have with her tea and how she could politely tell the Fire Nation that Northern Water Tribe would be sleeping in her barn.

"…and that's how I beat England-jerk at his own game!" Sealand finished his story proudly, puffing out his chest. Li held a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loudly, and shifted against the pillows propping her up. It wasn't that she couldn't sit up herself, it was just…well…she was too lazy to at the moment. She'd nearly died of food poisoning, wasn't she allowed to be lazy?

"Another win for the great empire of Sealand?" She asked. Sealand just nodded. He'd been telling her stories of his home ever since the doctors finished making sure she was all right. Li was amazed to hear that such a small country—"I'm just young," Sealand had explained—could be so strong. He'd promised that one day he'd take her to his capital, a metal fort in the sea. What could it be like? Great towers of metal, gleaming against the blue ocean?

"Excuse me, but you have visitors," a nurse poked her head into the doorway. "Shall I let them in?"

"Sure thing," Li smiled at the woman. The nurse held the door open, allowing Italy, Austria, Lithuania, and Poland to enter. Italy attempted to tackle-hug her the moment he saw Li, but Austria grabbed the back of his collar to restrain him.

"Show some restraint while she's still bedridden," the aristocrat admonished. "We don't want her having to stay here longer."

"No, she can walk around," Sealand corrected Austria. "It's just that she's wearing a hospital gown, and she's embarrassed."

"Sealand!" Li cried, face reddening on instinct. He clapped a hand over his mouth and mumbled something that sounded like an apology. Lithuania walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"If you want to be a Nation, you have to learn when to keep your mouth shut," Lithuania advised. "Come with me, I'll get you a soda and we can talk."

"Hey, what about me?" Poland put his hands on his hips.

"You stay here with Italy and Austria to keep Li company," Lithuania suggested. Poland gave a noise of consent, and allowed Lithuania to guide Sealand out the door. On his way out, Lithuania called, "I'm glad to see you're all right!" to Li.

"I'm glad you're all right too~!" Italy beamed. He leaned over her bed and gave her a hug, then straightened and grinned. His eyebrows came together to give him an unbelievably smug look. "You know what we should do? We should get you some pasta! That'll help heal you up!"

"Er, I don't think I'm allowed to eat anything other than those 'vitamin drinks' the nurses brought for lunch," Li wrinkled her nose. "They taste disgusting, but apparently it's best if I keep off of solid food for the next day or two. I haven't had anything firm in my stomach for three days."

"Eh?" Italy raised his head in alarm. "It's that bad?"

"She ate England's cooking! Of course it's bad!" Poland threw his hands into the air. "It's, like, a miracle she didn't die! We should take her out to eat when she gets discharged, Italy! I think I remember this really good Polish restaurant in downtown London, their pierogi was, like, amazing! Oh, but their bigos was just to die for, like, Liet said it tasted better than anything he'd ever had! Li, didn't I make you some faworki when we were at Liet's place? Or was it sernik? Ha, but you're looking a bit thin for a girl, so Polish food will fill you out in, like, no time!"

"Um, I suppose we could—" Li tried to recall what the dishes Poland had mentioned were, but came up with a blank. Fortunately for her, Italy and Poland started to talk loudly about whether a Polish or Italian restaurant would be better, effectively neutralizing the need for Li to talk. Grateful, she leaned back against her pillows to listen to them talking. It felt great to be able to sit back and hear other people talking, arguing, laughing, whatever, while not feeling left out of the conversation. She hadn't been able to do this since…since…

Oh. She hadn't been able to do this since she arrived here, over a month ago.

Li's eyelids drooped as she started to wonder why she wasn't bothered by how long she'd been in this world. Time definitely flew with these people, or Nations. They had a way of distracting her from the time, making it seem like only a few hours had gone by when she'd been with them for a full day. Italy's cheerful obliviousness, Lithuania's gentle kindness, Hungary's smile as she helped Li pick out clothing…it all combined to make one huge emotional anesthetic, keeping Li from feeling too sharply the pain of separation from her friends in her own world.

But Ru…what about Ru? Didn't Li need Ru? Wasn't Ru the only person Li could count on to never leave her, the only one who would never abandon Li for any reason? Shouldn't Li be missing Ru like crazy right now, desperate for her to come and save her?

And yet…Li was okay with the time Ru was taking. Studying Poland and Italy talking, the latter gesturing wildly as he tried to convey the delights of pasta, Li wondered if maybe they were the reason why she could live without Ru. It had always been Ru and Li, against the world, when they were children, then later after Kuzon's death.

Kuzon…remembering the child brought a sharp pain to Li's chest, a lump closing off her throat as she struggled to turn her mind to something else. Trying not to think of something only made you think of it more, though, and Li closed her eyes entirely to think.

For such a short time, five and a half years, Li'd had something other than duty and Ru to live for. The first time she saw her little brother, held him in her arms and gazed at that tiny face, she'd realized her own happiness wasn't the only thing the world turned for. Kuzon may not have been Li's own child, but she'd certainly loved him like he was, taking the place of their…"ill"…mother. Being with him, watching him laugh and smile and grow and become strong, it had been the greatest time of Li's life. A time that was lost to her forever…

"Li!" A hand shook her shoulder, and Li's eyes snapped open. It was Italy's hand, and he looked distressed. "Tell me you'd rather eat pasta than bigos!"

"Er…" Li stammered, "I suppose…I'll eat whatever's more convenient for you guys? I'm not the most familiar with either food, so I guess…"

"Then pasta it is!" Italy pronounced, puffing out his chest.

"Whaaa? No way, Polish food is way easier to make!" Poland protested. "Right, Austria?" Oh yeah…Austria was here too.

"I'm reading," he said simply, turning a page. Li's employer (whom she had barely worked for) was sitting in a chair next to the window, reading some thick book in…er, what language had he claimed to speak? German? Whatever it was, he was reading something in it. Probably. Li couldn't tell if it was German, or Polish, or Russian, or Norwegian…it occurred to her that learning how to differentiate between languages might be helpful later on.

"Excuse me?" The nurse who had announced the arrival of Li's guests poked her head into the door one more. "You have two more visitors. Would you like me to let them in?"

"Sure," Li smiled and nodded. The nurse's head vanished from the door, and two more familiar figures appeared. "Hungary! E-England!"

"Li, it's great to see you awake!" Hungary rushed over to Li's bedside and gave her a firm hug. Li hesitated, but returned the gesture. The Nation pulled back a little, arms resting on Li's bed, and eyed her critically. "You're looking a bit pale, but I'd say you're well enough otherwise. So long as you don't eat any more of England's cooking."

"I've told you, I'll never do it again," England muttered behind Hungary. "Li, I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. It's not often I have visitors willing to eat my food, and I had assumed that someone else told you of the risks prior to your visit."

"Like, who would have thought you'd actually try feeding her anything?" Poland butted in. "Am I right, Italy? English food is just so terrible, and he knows it, so why would we think he'd try subjecting a human to that?"

"It…it's not that bad…really…is it…?" England looked mournful. Before Li could say something to soothe his feelings (and also lie, but that was beside the point), Austria closed his book, stood, and clapped a hand onto England's shoulder.

"As Li's employer, I think we need to have a few words," Austria told England seriously. England raised one immensely thick eyebrow, but allowed himself to be guided out of the room. Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Li watched them leave before Italy and Poland returned to what was foremost on their minds: where to take Li to eat once she was discharged.

"I totally think Polish food is so much better," Poland sniffed. "Don't you, like, agree with me, Hungary?"

"Mm, I suppose a nice stew never hurts," Hungary conceded. "But pasta is more gourmet, isn't it? You should try to think about what mood you want to convey before you decide what sort of foods you'll be trying to get."

"Oooh, I never thought about that," Italy looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, if we're celebrating Li getting out of the hospital, pasta is the only right course of action!"

"Nuh-uh, pierogi would be better!" Poland argued. "And Liet likes Polish food more than Italian…"

"They'll be at this for a while, won't they?" Li sighed happily. She got to rest, she had friends arguing about what they'd eat…life was better than it had been for months.

"I expect so," Hungary chuckled. "In the meantime, why don't I tell you about what's happened while you've been asleep? Japan is flying over to Turkey's house in a few days…"

England followed Austria through the sterile hallways of the hospital, wrinkling his nose slightly as they reached a spot where the scent of disinfectant was particularly strong. Nurses and doctors passed them with barely a second glance, and the few patients in the hallways weren't so interested in two men not in doctor's coats. Austria turned a corner into a lounge area, with a few doctors on break sitting in chairs or on sofas. He stopped, and turned to face England.

"The nurse who called us into Li's room," he began, "do you know her name?"

"What?" England blinked in surprise. He'd been expecting an admonishment at nearly killing Li, or a question about the cost of paying the hospital (free, by the way—the Crown paid for his expenses), but not something about the nurse. The woman didn't even look a thing like Hungary, so it couldn't be that Austria had a romantic interest in her…

"The nurse," Austria repeated. "I need to ask her something about Li." All right, that made much more sense.

"I'm not sure…Becky? Lisa? Antoinette?" England shrugged. "We could just go ask some of the doctors…?"

"I would rather not let anyone else know of my interest in this," Austria looked away. "It's just…I thought Li spoke to the nurse, earlier. If she did, it may mean Li speaks English."

"Well, she sure doesn't read English," English rubbed the back of his head. "I figured that out when she asked me what my mailbox read as. And from what I've gathered, she can read…at least, she was interested in reading something when she woke up earlier. Sealand texted me to say that Li was awake and wondering if there was anything in her own language for her to read."

"I suppose it's possible that she might speak a derivation of English," Austria's eyes unfocused as he mulled over the possibilities. "But if that is the case, we should determine what symbols she uses to write with. Perhaps I could ask her to write something later, then ask around at the meeting tomorrow during a break to see if anyone recognizes the language…"

"That'd probably work," England agreed. "In the meantime, maybe if I ask for someone to help me with the extra paperwork I could get that nurse to help me with—"

"Oh, there you are!" A woman's voice exclaimed. Austria and England looked up to see the very nurse they had been looking for approaching. She had a clipboard in one hand, the other currently smoothing her blond hair out of her eyes.

"Is it just me, or was that too convenient?" England commented.

"I would have to agree with you there," Austria looked over at him. "It almost makes one wonder if we are but characters in a story written by someone else…someone who really wants this scene to continue a bit longer to avoid a timeskip."

"Definitely a teenaged author," England smiled wryly before raising his hand to wave to the woman, eyes briefly darting to the nametag on her chest. "Hello…Jackie. We were just talking about you. I wanted to look over some paperwork for my friend."

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about too," Jackie extended the clipboard to England. "Your refugee friend filled this out earlier, and I was called away to help deal with a vomiting patient right after that, so I only got to look at this now. I figured she was American from her accent, but she must be pulling a prank on me. That or she's bilingual…anyways, she filled the form out in Chinese. Another one of the nurses speaks it, and she translated a little for me."

"Huh? Chinese?" England snatched the clipboard away from the nurse and scanned the first paper on it. Sure enough, Chinese characters were present in every box. Under "Name," the characters 禮物 had been written in pen. The writer was clearly not used to pens, and looked to have done their best to mimic using a brush. There weren't even Arabic numerals: England recognized the Chinese symbols for "ten" and "eight," 十 and 八, under "Age."

"I figure she might have made a mistake," Jackie was saying, oblivious to England's surprise. Austria leaned over to take a look, eyebrows shooting up. "Or is she trying to pull a prank? What do you think?"

"Uhh…well, she's been abroad for a long time…I suppose it was a mistake," England narrowed his eyes in concentration. This would be so much easier if he actually read Chinese. He'd taken Hong Kong into his house to avoid needing to learn it to deal with China, and it wasn't like he'd bother learning a whole new language after most of the Asian countries acquainted themselves with English.

"All right, but I'll need her to fill out new ones in English," Jackie held out a hand, probably expecting England to hand her back the clipboard. He chose to ignore it, and held the clipboard out to Austria instead. After he accepted it, Jackie lowered her hand, looking a little annoyed.

"We can fill out the forms for her," England suggested. "She's probably still tired. We don't want her using Swahili or something on the next one."

"I suppose…but she's supposed to…" Jackie trailed off, biting her lip. "If not her, it should be her legal guardian…"

"That would be me," Austria spoke up. "I took responsibility for her well-being about a month ago. Where can we go to fill out the new forms?"

"To the nurse's station, Mr…?" Jackie trailed off, smiling hesitantly.

"Edelstein…Herr Edelstein," Austria's voice dropped into a heavy German accent. "Shall ve?"

"Oh…sure, Mr. Edelstein," Jackie's smile became more confident. She beckoned to him to follow her, starting to walk in one direction. "I must say, I didn't know you were German. Your accent was very good. How do you manage it so well?"

"Years of practice," Austria replied, voice still accented. He followed her, pausing briefly to nod to England in thanks. "Und, to be precise, I am actually Austrian…"

"Australian?"

"Nein, Austrian…!"

"Oh, like that American governor guy, Schwarzenegger!"

"He is not exactly the best example…"

England leaned against a wall, watching the two walk off. Li spoke American English…but she'd filled out the forms in Chinese. Either she was bilingual, which was unlikely as she was still having trouble accepting the thought of other languages, she'd been raised that way, or she was lying and everything was an act.

Thinking about it, the final option was seeming more and more likely by the second…

Earth Kingdom hesitated, and knocked on the door to her second-largest guest room. She was standing in her hallway, green eyes roving the space in an attempt to keep from thinking about how she was swallowing her pride and apologizing to an absolute pig of a man…Nation…however you cared to term him. The light brown floorboards under her feet creaked slightly as she shifted her weight, the green banners on the walls giving the eye a colorful break from the light gray stone they hung on. Her house was so lovely…and an exact replica of the villa she had once inhabited on the grounds of the Earth King's palace at Ba Sing Se. After she'd left, it had begun to be used as the residence for the Earth King's heir—fitting enough, Earth Kingdom supposed.

"Wha?" A voice grunted from inside the room. It was a little muffled, like the speaker was lying facedown on the pillows.

"It's Toyo," Earth Kingdom used her human name. "I'd like to…speak to you. May I come in?"

"Ehh…? Sure, sure," the voice trailed off into unintelligible mumblings. Earth Kingdom pushed the wooden door open, slipping into the room as quietly as she could. Northern Water Tribe was indeed lying facedown on the guest bed, a green pillow muffling whatever sounds came from his mouth. He was shirtless, the skin of his back looking like it had been scrubbed raw. The sheets around him were wet, and droplets of water clung to his tanned skin.

Earth Kingdom hesitated, unsure of what to say now that she was in the room with him. She was tempted to start in on him again, berating him for his untidy ways. Not that it would help matters, but she might feel better.

Northern Water Tribe beat her, though, speaking before she could. "I was an idiot earlier," he admitted, hauling himself up to his elbows and rolling over. With a grunt, he hauled himself upright to a sitting position, crossing his legs. "It's your house, and I shouldn't be rude to my host. Furthermore, I didn't mean to insult your daughter, I was just hungry and…anxious. That's all."

"Anxious?" Earth Kingdom's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

"I…uh…crap, didn't mean to say it like that…" Northern Water Tribe put a hand to his forehead and grimaced. "It's just, I'm kinda not sure about this whole thing, going back and all, so I'm being an idiot right now, and…well, aren't you worried?"

"Worried about what? The state of things?" Earth Kingdom blinked. "I trust that our people will handle the Revolution and keep the Four Nations, us, from dying. Our rulers will not sit idly by and let their people be enslaved to a foolish ideal."

"Not that, I'm better with that part," Northern Water Tribe waved a hand dismissively. "It's all fighting and killing and stuff, I can handle that…I meant, what will our people think?"

"Think…?" Earth Kingdom's brows knitted together. "You've lost me."

"What will they think of us, their Nations, who abandoned them over a hundred years ago to live in the Spirit World?" Northern Water Tribe clarified. His face flushed slightly as he told her, "I'm…worried. About what my people will think of me."

"Worried about…?" Earth Kingdom finally realized what he meant. Northern Water Tribe had been one of the more involved Nations of their world, fighting side-by-side with his warriors and slapping them on the backs after battles while promising to buy drinks. His approach was completely different from the "rule from afar" strategy Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom had adopted with their people. Where they would stand next to their ruler, or a commanding officer, during a battle, Northern Water Tribe fought on the front lines, risking it all to be with his people.

How had he felt when the others agreed they must detach themselves from their world, so that their actions would not influence those of their rulers or allow a manipulative mind to twist a whole Nation into obedience through words spoken to one person? Northern Water Tribe was on the streets of his home fighting the night Princess Yue, a dear member of his royal family, sacrificed herself and became the moon. His angry rants against the Fire Nation when he found out had been disclosed to Earth Kingdom later by a Water Tribe warrior on the day of Fire Lord Zuko's coronation, which Earth Kingdom had attended out of respect for the boy who sought to end the War. Fire Nation had known enough to stay away from her, and not tempt her anger.

"You know what?" Earth Kingdom blurted. "I'm worried too." Northern Water Tribe raised an eyebrow, and she continued. "I'm worried that I've been gone so long my old house is going to be dusty and have all the furniture rearranged. I'm worried my Earth Queen might not be able to rule half so well as her father did. I'm worried that when I go back and tell my people who and what I am, they'll spit on me for not staying, to inspire them with pride for their Nation, for me. And…" her throat closed off. "I'm worried that…that…that I'll have to see my children die under the rule of the Tóngyī Shìjiè. Here we don't feel the effects of our world so much, but when we return, what will happen to my babies?"

"Babies?" Northern Water Tribe barked out a laugh. "I wouldn't let your sons hear you call them babies, if I was you…that scary one, your oldest boy, probably wouldn't like it too much."

"Oh, he's used to it," Earth Kingdom shook her head. "The most he'll do is sigh and roll his eyes. He knows not to mess with Mommy."

"I'm sure he does," Northern Water Tribe's lips curled up on the left side. "So, it seems we both have a problem with returning. Did saying it out loud help you feel better?" The sarcastic tone of his last sentence, particularly on "feel," was more than a little annoying. Determined not to rise to the bait, Earth Kingdom secured her hands behind her back and raised an eyebrow, face as neutral as she could make it.

"Yes," she spoke coolly. Of course he would ruin the moment by being taunting. Should she have expected anything less from him? "Do you?"

"Nope," Northern Water Tribe flopped back onto the bed. He turned his head to eye a door that led to the guest bath, a natural hot spring situated in a courtyard. "Though I'm thinking taking a hot bath might. Could get used to this weather, this is nice, is your home always so warm? Maybe I should stay over more often…"

"Don't expect an invitation," Earth Kingdom rolled her eyes. "And judging by how wet your bed is, haven't you already taken a bath? How many do you need? Not that I'm complaining, another bath might help with the smell…"

"Ooh, what happened to being nice to me?" Northern Water Tribe taunted. "You do realize we don't have hot springs up north, right? None I know of, at least…they're great. Warm water and all…you aren't warm very often at my place, have you noticed that? Oh, by the way, sorry. I'm being an idiot again, aren't I?"

"'Idiot' wasn't quite the word I had in mind," Earth Kingdom sighed. This man was like the water his people named themselves for…dizzying currents that swept you any which way they pleased, taking you along for the ride, with a few calm spots included. It was time to leave, before his ever-shifting mind (and extremely short attention span) induced her to do something she would regret. She was about to close the door behind her when Northern Water Tribe spoke again.

"Flamey's going to talk to my sister next, right?" He called.

"I…was under the impression," Earth Kingdom answered warily. "Free Nomads is supposed to be down south visiting her, with his father. Foggy Swamp sent a letter earlier today saying he was coming to call on me here in a day."

"That leaves Air Temple…" Northern Water Tribe muttered sleepily, voice almost too soft to hear. "Him and his girl Republic…wonder how they'll take to the idea…hope Republic ain't too scared…"

Earth Kingdom didn't reply. She shut the door to the guest room, waiting for a minute to hear the distinctive snores of the Northern Water Tribe before walking off. He definitely wasn't the best guest she'd ever had…though, like the ocean, he might have some depth to him.

Might.

Aaaand, that's the chapter. Please review to tell me what you think, how I can improve my writing, and what the square root of pi is. *pause* Okay, maybe the last one isn't so important to me...but the first two are!