After a nice long break, I finally manged to write another update.
Chapter 45: Taking the Next Step
Katara , a day after seeing the short film about Tal freeing his home region, was greeted by him at breakfast. Being a waterbender and taking well after her mother, Katara woke up late and came walking into her family's dining room all groggy and her hair was disheveled. As always...she was not a morning person. But she was instantly perked up when she saw that Tal was sitting at the table entertaining her little brothers and the airbender children with his own personal story about how the battle.
Katara welcomed him back by running up to him in her pajamas and nearly tackling him to the ground. Before he could realized what was going on, Tal found himself being kiss rather violently by her as the children around them giggled or made noises showing how they found kissing revolting. Their kissing was broken when Mako made a coughing noise to get his daughter's attention. Seeing that she was making a bit of a scene, Katara finally broke away from her fierce make out session with Tal.
"I can breathe again!" Tal joked as he got back up and went back to his seat at the table, Katara taking a seat next to him and leaving very little space between them. Katara went right back to embracing him and didn't let go under breakfast was served. "I'm beginning to think that you missed me a bit there, Princess." He told her as she hung onto him for dear life.
Her face was buried into his shoulder but her voice was still able to be heard. "Two Months, Tal. Do you have any idea what it is like to be stuck here without you for two months?" She finally looked up at him with those trademark big blue eyes of hers. "You're not going anywhere without me now."
"Well that's a good thing, Sweetie."Mako said as he put down the newspaper he was reading. "Because you will be joining him when he and the others leave for the Foggy Bottom Swamp later this week." He watched as his daughter stared at him and then at Tal, only to return to him...she was confused.
"We're going to have to go in undercover, Katara." Tal told her as he grabbed a piece of bacon and was about to eat it. "You and me are going undercover as a newlywed couple who just decided to move to the swamp's one city."
Now, Katara was really confused, her face was looking just like what her mother looked like when she was confused. "You mean that me and Tal have to pretend that we're already married?" she asked her father. Mako reluctantly nodded his head, and watched as his daughter hugged Tal even tighter. "Me and Tal are getting married!" She screamed in joy for everyone within earshot to hear.
"Correction," Mako told her. "Mal and Kay are getting married. You and Tal are just going to have to wait to do all the fun stuff until you are really married next spring." His daughter got the hint...no fooling around.
Katara was a bit disappointed. "Yes dad," she said defeated. She had been away from Tal for two months, her father should be happy that she wasn't going to town on Tal right there on the spot. She was really trying hard to hold back the urge to just simply make out with her love until things got heated. She ate her breakfast quickly and ran back to her room.
When Tal joined her Katara in her room only a few minutes later, he was meet with the sight of his fiancé trying to figure out which outfits to bring with her when they left. Katara was in front of her favorite mirror and holding a pair of outfits that just screamed 'I'm not from around here!'. Tal needed to stop her before she went in too far. "You do know that Kay is a poor waterbender." He told her as he walked up behind her so that she could see his reflection in the mirror.
She turned around and dropped her outfits. "What?" The look of horror on her face almost made Tal laugh.
"We need to go undercover and not bring attention to us. We will be going in as refugees fleeing Republic City." He picked up one of the outfits that was dropped and held it up to Katara. "Which means we need to dress like we are poor..." He threw the outfit onto her nearby bed. "So not fancy outfits."
Katara cringed a bit when she heard this. She had seen pictures of what the people of the swamp used to wear...leaves and loinclothes. The fashion options for them had advanced greatly in the last 100 years, but if she was going to have to act like a poor girl, she would have to leave her wardrobe at home. She would even have to stop using clothes that had blue, her favorite color. She would now have to wear green. It suited Tal well...but definitely not her. Seeing that she had really no voice in the matter, Katara dropped the argument. She was just happy to have Tal back now she was going with him on his next adventure.
Until they boarded a ship destined for the main city in the swamp, Foggy Bottom, Tal spent most of his time continuing to practice his airbending. It was progressing, but as slow as always. His current teacher, Meelo, had him learning how to use airbending to fight.
Being the eldest male of the airbenders, Meelo was tasked with teaching Tal airbending while his sister Jinora had to continue her lifelong duty as the eldest airbender, to lead their society and continue to resurrect any information lost from the 100 Year War. Ikki, the next oldest child of Tenzin and Pema, was more of in charge of the children and only helped Tal with his meditating, which needed to be done a much different way than his other forms of meditation. The youngest adult airbender, Rohan, mainly served as a practice buddy for Tal, and also as a teacher of some of the more interesting tricks...like the air scooter.
When they did finally leave the capital, Tal and Katara where dressed in their disguises and possessed papers saying they were a recently married couple moving to Foggy Bottom looking for jobs. Tal assumed his old alias of Mal and had been forced to cut his hair down to finger length on top fading to nothing near his ears. With his hair cut this way, no one could recognize him as the Avatar unless one was to look right at his two different colored eyes, the complete dead giveaway for him.
Katara did indeed dress herself in a old green women's tunic and assumed her created identity of Kay, a orphaned waterbender with a single long braid of dark brown hair. Without her usual attire and hairstyle making her look like a teenaged version of her famous mother, Katara looked completely different than normal self.
It was a long three weeks on the ship going to the swamp region. Many newlyweds would have considered this the best time to have some alone time with their new spouses, but Kay and Mal did not get this luxury. They were to look like a newly married couple, but could not do that one thing the bride's parents warned them never to ever try and do while on this assignment. Besides, the two of them were never alone, they also had Lieutenant Patramanov coming along acting as Mal's nonbender uncle Al. The name was made from his real first name of Alexi. He had to act as chaperone...and he hated the job.
The first week was quiet and the three of them adjusted to the ships schedule. Meals three times a day, always at the same time. Keep clear of the deckhands whenever they went outside on deck. Lights out at the same time every evening. There were a few dozen other immigrants traveling with them, but they were lucky and obtained a small cabin to share between them. This was where Tal/Mal practiced his meditation and also began to restart his waterbending training by playing with the water from the cabin's small sink.
The airbending was progressing, but his waterbending was still farther along. This upset Tal a bit but he calmed down when he remembered what Korra and the airbenders had told him many times before. There was always one element an Avatar would have issues with. Aang had issues with Earth for a while, it was Air's natural opposite. But he mastered it with the help of Toph and then had his next challenge...fire. This was harder for him because he lacked patience. He got better when he was able to train alongside Prince Zuko.
As for Korra, she was a master of the physical side of bending and had showed the ability to bend three elements at once when she was only five. This continued until she was a teenager and a master of every element but Air. She had never even airbended until she had temporarily lost her bending to the Equalist leader Amon. When that whole fiasco was over, she regained her bending and now was able to airbend as well.
So for Avatar Tal, it looked like Earth's natural opposite of Air would be his hardest to master. He had showed issues with water early on, but soon was waterbending after Korra had unlocked that chakra of his way back when they first met. As for Air, there were theories as to why Tal had issues with Air. It was the natural opposite of Earth...Tal was strong, but not that much spiritual...Tal still held a grudge for what had happened to his home. Whatever the answer was, Tal was still progressing in airbending but slowly.
Issues with airbending aside...the place he was going was populated by predominately waterbenders...so he had to act like a waterbender. This meant hours of waterbending with Katara/Kay teaching him in the relative privacy of their cabin they shared with Patramanov. As for the nonbender member of this fake family, Patramanov spent most of his day out on deck. He preferred to be outside in the fresh sea air than be stuck in that tiny little cabin he had to share with two hormonally enraged teenagers.
Most of his time outside was spent leaning on a open railing and looking out across the sea at the visible shore of his now enemy...The Earth Kingdom. The ship was flying the flag of the swamp region, so there was not much concern of being attacked by the Earth Kingdom's navy. It was an unarmed vessel and an attack on it would have only been another reason the Earth Kingdom had to be broken up. Seeing that there was little chance of being attacked, the nonbender soldier decided to take this trip as a nice little vacation after the month long mission up in the new Northern Republic.
Today was another beautiful day outside and the scenery of the coast was just as pleasant. Every few hours they would pass a small fishing village on the beaches, deltas, and cliffs of the coast. Occasionally, they would pass large freighters carrying ore or coal which were once destined for Republic City. Now they would all travel to a port near closest to Ba Sing Se and then take a train into the city. Republic City had other ways to get its minerals and fuels, the Northern Republic had plenty and was open for extraction. Thousands were already leaving to Tree Line to start a new living up north in a land rich in natural resources.
A week into the voyage and the ship began to make short stops at some of the bigger coastal towns on the southern coast of the Earth Kingdom. Other than a few hours to explore each town, the daily schedule stayed the same. Their last stop before reaching Foggy Bottom, was Kyoshi Island. As like with the others, the ship stopped at port and unloaded some cargo and some passengers left as well. Then new cargo was loaded up and new passengers were allowed to board and were given living accommodations.
It was during this stop that Patramanov spent a lot more time off the ship than with previous stops. After so long on the ship, he legs were getting restless. He also had heard about the natural beauty of the island and wanted to see it for himself. And lastly...he had heard about the legendary Kyoshi Warriors...and he wanted to see them with his own eyes. He took off from the pier and went into the small town. When he managed to get through and out to the forest, he took to his new favorite mode of movement...free running amongst the trees. A technique he learned while training with Tal and the others who comprised The Spirits.
Although it had been weeks since he had done it last, Patramanov was about to get above the ground and was almost flying through the treetops. He knew which direction he had to head in to get near the training grounds of the Kyoshi Warriors...head for the massive statue of Avatar Kyoshi that stood outside their complex. He was within sight of the place when the branch had had been on, gave way suddenly. He was surprised by the act, the branch was more than strong enough for his weight. There should have been no reason for it to suddenly break. He next though was how lucky he was that his landing from twenty feet up was a covalently placed bush that broke his fall. The breath was knocked out of him and he blacked out for a few seconds but woke up to see a bladed fan pointed at his neck. The fan was held be a woman who he had to admit...was quite the looker.
He assumed that she was the reason he was on the ground and not still up in the tree. That fan had a bladed on its edge that looked like it could cut stone. As for the woman, other than be quite beautiful, she was possibly his reason for venturing this far from the teens. This woman might be a Kyoshi Warrior, she had the trademark fan. She looked rather angry, "Who are you?"
Seeing that he had no other choice at the moment, he answered. "Just an admirer trying to see what the Kyoshi Warriors were like. Are you one of them?"
"What were you doing up in that tree?" She asked him as she grabbed him by the collar of his tunic and lifted him up from the ground with ease. She was smaller than him but she was sure strong. "Are you a spy for the Earth King?'
Patramanov felt as ease when she asked him that. He was able to really say who he was then. "I'm actually not a spy. I'm Lieutenant Alexi Patramanov of United Republic Special Forces." She took a few seconds to digest his answer. Her reply was to let go of him, and stopped pointing that fan at his neck.
"Well, that answers who you are," she said as she folded her fan and placed it up the sleeve of her outfit. She was a Kyoshi Warrior, but she was not dressed in their attire. Then he realized that there was a large duffel bag nearby...she was traveling. "But it still does not answer as to why you are here."
Seeing that his neck wasn't about to he cut in two, his old relaxed self came back. "The part about wanting to see the Kyoshi Warriors is true. I'm only here as a short stop while the ship I'm on is being resupplied. I'm actually on my way to Foggy Bottom."
The mention of the Swamp region's capital made her rather dreamy eyes shot up. "Foggy Bottom? Why are you going there?"
"If you are really a Kyoshi Warrior, then I'll have no problem telling you the truth." He told her. He was under orders to tell no one about the mission except and ally. And the Kyoshi Warriors were their allies in this whole mess. She was one, so she was an ally. "I'm only my way there with the Avatar to help with their movement for independence from the Earth Kingdom."
"Avatar Korra is here?" she asked with astonishment. "What on Earth is she doing here and not back in Republic City where it is safe? She has a family to worry about."
"No," he replied. "Avatar Korra is not here...Avatar Tal is." Her look of puzzlement gave him the hint that she had not heard of the new Avatar. "Tal is the new Avatar that somehow just suddenly showed up one day last year. Don't you ladies ever read the paper?"
His snide remark made her get all defensive again. "We do read the papers! I know there is a new Avatar. When you mentioned the Avatar...I automatically thought of my old friend Korra."
Now was Patramanov's turn to be confused. "Friend? Avatar Korra is a friend of yours?"
"I was with her when she visited years ago to learn some of our fighting techniques. I was just after she recovered from being almost killed. I was seven at the time. I was new too so we started learning at the same time."
With this little background, he was able to calculate her age to be around 27-28...just a few years younger than him. "Ok..so what's up with the bag?" When he asked her that, she just walked over to her bag and put it on her back. And without another word, she began to walk down toward the nearby road that lead to the port. Leaving the stunned soldier in his place.
Seeing that she was heading where he needed to go, he rushed after her. "So where are you going then?"
She just kept walking, "Foggy Bottom."
"To do what?"
"I've been asked by Korra to help a group of agents being sent there." She replied as she looked over at him as they walked side by side. "I guess that you and Avatar Tal are those agents. So I guess we're partners. The name's Zo if you are wondering."
"I guess so...there is just one other problem."
"What's that?"
"Avatar Korra's daughter, Katara is also here. She insisted on coming along."
Zo suddenly sped up her pace. A look of annoyance was on her face. "Was it something I said?" he asked her as he had to catch up.
"You left two hormonally enraged teenagers alone." Zo answered him. He face palmed himself when he realized his folly. His job also was to make sure that Tal and Katara were never allowed to become intimate with each other while on this journey. "Those two could be up to who knows what right now!"
So now we have another new character. She will be quite important in the upcoming future.
As for other things...thankyou to those who continue to read this.
More thankyous are required to be given to those who have been faving this story or leaving reviews.
Speaking of reviews...I would love to receive more...even if it is to slaughter my grammar. Ha!
