"We have power together."
- Guru Jinora.
It was a cold reunion between mentor and student. Or guardian and dependent. Whichever titles held more weight. Certainly not father and son, given there was no blood ties and very little affection to be found. But Jacques had done more than just train Ryuku in the art of waterbending, as well as stealing, he'd raised him from a street rat no taller than his hip into the lean, mean, teenaged menace he was today. It was safe to say Ryuku owed most of his life to Jacques and his guidance. Even moreso than his parents after their tragic death at sea. All that flashed through his mind as he beheld his old mentor, standing there casual as you please, at the mouth of the alleyway.
Ryuku promptly turned on his heel and started to walk away.
"Hey now, don't be like that, no warm welcome for your old mentor?" Jacques called after him.
"I have nothing to stay to you," the younger man replied, stalking away, increasing his pace.
A trio of sharp icicles sprang out of the nearby wall, impaling the wall opposite and creating a barrier across the alleyway, temporarily cutting off Ryuku's retreat. Sure, he could have melted them and been on his way, but Jacques would simply do the same thing again. Ryuku froze, ready to fight, still with his back to Jacques.
"Now listen boy I know we parted on bad terms, but I'm willing to forgive you for that. As it turns out, I have a big job lined up, and I have need of a little extra bending muscle to see it through... surely you wouldn't turn your nose up at some spending cash, now would you?"
Ryuku was about to tell him exactly where he could shove his spare cash, when a realization hit.
"... when?" he asked, trying to keep his tone casual.
"Three weeks. I can offer you an advance..."
"It's not that," the water punk replied. "... what if I said I knew someone else who could bend even better than me?"
"Water?"
"'course," Ryuku said, as if any other element mattered.
The older men snorted in disbelief. "I'd've heard about them, if there was another bender worth their waterskin in the North..."
"They're not from the North," Ryuku interjected. "They're a... a friend. Recently arrived, same as me."
"Oh I see. Someone you've been travelling with. Someone you... picked up? Are they any good?" Jacque asked, idly inspecting his nails.
"At the moment? No," Ryu replied bluntly. "But they have the potential to be a lot better than either of us, maybe even both of us put together, and they learn quick."
Ryuku's expression remained neutral, his thoughts locked inside of his own head. Calling the Avatar potential was a grand understatement, but he also knew that if he let in Jacques on that little secret, it would mean nothing but misery for Ban. Jacques Fagin never did anything that didn't benefit him, but the more benefit, the shorter the leash. Why Ryuku had always been his favorite, and why it had taken so long to get away from him.
But Ban needed a waterbending teacher, and despite what he'd said earlier, Ryuku knew damn well those wet nurses wouldn't be able to train the Avatar properly. Jacques could. Jacques would. Even if it meant going back to him for a while... at least this time it would be on his terms.
"You're asking me to teach them? Why?"
"You know why." When Jacques didn't reply, simply smiled in that smug way of his, Ryu added: "Because you're better at it than I am."
"Tell me more about your... friend," Jacque requested, his last second word swap not going unnoticed by Ryuku.
"Tell me more about your... employment opportunity," the younger waterbender countered, deliberately doing the same thing back to his old mentor.
Jacque grinned, showing his teeth like a hunting sharktopus.
Ryuku met up with Meiling, and the two of them intercepted Ban and Willow finishing their first day of work.
"I have a teacher lined up for you, Ban... but he's a private sort. Wants to meet with you and size you up before he'll agree to take you on. Mind coming with me?"
"Sure," he replied, turning to the girls. "You two mind heading on ahead to the shelter? We shouldn't be long."
Meiling and Willow nodded, taking Jiao with them, even as the poor little eel-hound whined and watched his master go until they were long out of sight. Ryuku lead the way, bringing Ban down to the docks, to a warehouse district.
"Sure this is the place?" Ban asked. It was giving him uncomfortable Green Dragon Triad vibes, looking near identical (save for the snow) to the warehouse where he'd fought Jade.
"This is the place," Ryuku confirmed.
Jacques was waiting for them within, in the center of the open warehouse. Unlike the Green Dragon Triad's old haunts, this place was virtually empty. No shelves or crates to speak of. Lots of open room. A couple dozen barrels surrounded the interior, filled with water and with open lids. And there, in the midst of it, Jacques Farin.
"So, you must be Ryuku's friend... Lee, is it?"
"Sure," Ban replied, sizing up the taller fellow. Lean, middle-aged, dark blue clothes. He certainly seemed to move like a waterbender, there was no wasted movement, everything was smooth and fluid. There was even a kind of grace as he approached and sized up Ban in the same way he was being sized up.
"Think fast!"
Without warning he spun on his heel, reaching out, picking up a sluice of water from a barrel, hurling it at Ban. Caught flat-footed, the Avatar almost instinctively tried to fall back into an earthbending stance, about to go through the motion to raise up a wall of rock to block the attack. But he realized he couldn't reveal himself, and tried to switch stances. The result was he was off-balance when the water flew past his ear, narrowly missing his head, and splashed down into a barrel of water behind him.
But to his surprise, the strange man clapped his hands together and laughed at his performance. "A-ha! Good! Good, very good!"
"Good?"
"You barely even flinched... your reflexes are excellent," Jacques praised. Stepping over to Ban, he looped an arm around the younger man's shoulders. "Tell me, when did you find you had talent? Did you inherit it from your mother or father?"
"Uh, mom," Ban lied. Well, loosely lied. Amber Beifong had been a bender, after all, albeit an earthbender, and not all that grand of one, but still a Beifong. Briar hadn't possessed the talent.
"I see, well... let's get you started... first off, stance..."
For the first week, Ban didn't do so grand at waterbending.
His native element was earth. Known for its stability and calm. Earth stayed the way it was for millions of years, eroded slowly, changed little. Water was unpredictable, always in motion, always changing. It could be fast or it could be slow. Even the ice melted, the water evaporated, and the rain fell, creating a constant cycle of motion. It was difficult to keep up with the sort of instructions Jacques gave him. Even his stances had to change from form to form, sometimes even when he was doing the same thing over and over again.
So for his first week, he sucked.
Around the second week, however, he quickly found his focus, calling upon the similar training he'd received in the other elements to help 'balance' his water. Ryuku joined him then, for these sessions, as Jacques grilled both of the boys to make sure they knew enough to be useful. For what, he continued to be vague about, and Ryu did warn Ban that some of Jacques businesses were shady. But he kept assuring them it was all nice and legal, their business, and so long as that was true, Ban was willing to repay the kindness of teaching him Water.
Meanwhile, he kept up his work at the Jasmine Dragon to subsidies their money needs. Willow faithfully stayed by his side the entire time, even managed to enjoy working as a barista, all with a serene smile on her face. Leaving Meiling and Jiao to wander the north in their free time, or else help out at the homeless shelter, where she was better able to keep her head down and out of trouble.
At least, thus far.
Ban's first paycheck came at the end of the month. Considering he'd only been working two and a half weeks, it wasn't exactly a grand fortune, but it was a start, and he eagerly accepted it from his manager, making sure to hit the bank down the street immediately afterwards to convert it all into safe, untraceable cash.
This he distributed to the other members of their team, in even fifths.
"What's the last fifth for?" asked Meiling. "Jiao?"
"Expenses," Ban replied. "I'm not keeping this in my back pocket, exactly. We need to start saving up. Once I learn water, we need to be on the move again. Food and lodging is going to cost, not to mention travel."
"Where to?"
The young Avatar opened his mouth, paused, then closed it, realizing they didn't exactly have a plan for afterwards. He'd been so busy trying to pick up the elements he wasn't even sure what to do next.
"We'll uh... we'll figure that out when the time comes."
Ryuku folded up his share of yuans, being careful to put only half in his wallet, the rest being hidden away, sometimes in spare pockets, sometimes in the oddest places around the Blue Lotus shelter. Even if he was robbed, he wouldn't lose it all in one go. Some might call that paranoid, but after a life of living on the street, it was something he was used to.
"Lets get to training, Ban," the waterbender said, beckoning his training partner. The two of them took off, accompanied by Jiao.
Meiling gently grabbed Willow's arm, holding up her share of cash. "While the boys are busy, why don't we go treat ourselves tonight?"
"Okay," Willow replied airily. "What did you have in mind?"
Meiling brought her across a canal bridge and to the ritzier part of the city, where the snow was a bit cleaner and the people were in better spirits, albeit still generally keeping to themselves. Meiling took a moment to orient herself, recalling her landmarks by memory, but eventually, after only one wrong turn, she brought them to a stop in front of a building.
The Moon Princess Spa.
Supposedly, it was named after the same inspiration as Yue Bay in Republic City, the semi-mythical Princess who later "became the moon" (whatever that meant). But regardless of its origins, it was an upscale locale very popular with both visiting foreigners and the locals who wanted to pretty themselves up a little or else take a day to relax. Both of which appealed to Meiling right now. She'd never been to a spa before, so she was a little nervous, which was partially why she invited Willow along, but had fully intended to drag the air hippie with her if that was what it took to get inside and get warm. She needed a break from it all. Here, finally, they could manage that.
"Two please!" Meiling stated, slapping her yuans on the countertop.
The attendant, an elderly woman with a kindly, grandmother sort of aura, nodding, explaining their prices, charged by the hour and service. She even gave them a nice group discount for the two of them. The two girls were ushered into a changing room, and coaxed out of their clothes, which they left in marked baskets, along with their valuables. Towels were provided, and Meiling wrapped hers around her body under her arms before she sank into the steamy hot tub in the next room.
"Oh spirits that feels heavenly..." Meiling moaned, sinking in lower, right up to her ears, and just feeling the warmth all around her. Ever since they'd come to the North she'd been cold all over, every inch of her exposed skin. Even with her inner fire keeping her warm, it was driving her mad. Now, at least, she felt all of her worries drift away and vanish like mist in the air.
Willow smiled languidly, leaning over her own tub beside Meiling's and resting her head on her pillowed arms. Unlike Meiling, she'd discarded her towel, resting it on the marble flooring beside the tub, and soaked fully in the nude. Meiling envied her ability to be so free with her own body, glancing down at hers with more than a little envy.
The past few months (nearly a full year, she realized with a start), had done wonders to get her body into shape and tone her arms and legs, but she was still worried she was a little on the short side, and her hips and bust were a bit bigger than most girls, which sometimes made her feel squat. Compressed, almost. Puberty had hit her like a rag mail when she'd been younger, her body growing up and out almost overnight, but then it had stopped completely, leaving her (in her own opinion) only half finished.
She slumped back in the water again, blowing bubbles with her lips like a child against the surface of the hot water. Finally, however, the oppressive silence began to get to her.
"So... uhm... how about this weather, huh? 'cause boy howdy, let me tell you it is cooooooold up here," Meiling said.
Willow raised an auburn brow at Meiling, unsure of how to respond.
"Oh come on, there must be something to talk about!"
"What would we normally talk about?" asked Willow airily.
Meiling shrugged. "I dunno. Clothes, shoes, what guys we like..."
"I like guys," Willow said, a dreamy smile on her lips.
Meiling giggled, reaching for the soap. "I mean like specific guys."
"Oh. Like Ban?"
Her head whipped around, wet blonde hair clinging to her shoulders. "What?" asked Meiling.
"You like Ban, don't you?" asked Willow, a small, catty smirk spreading across her features.
"W-what? No! I mean, well, o-of course I do," Meiling stuttered, her words tripping over one another as her mouth tried to keep up with her brain. "I mean he's my best friend since like forever and he's so strong and smart and I guess he's kinda handsome even if he is a bit..."
The air nomad beside her didn't say a word during the entire tirade, watching with some amusement as Meiling just continued to dig herself deeper and deeper, finding the whole thing amusing.
"... he's like the big brother I always wanted, growing up... you know?" asked Meiling, ducking her head shyly. Then, realizing perhaps just how much she'd said, switched her love life from defensive to offensive. "And anyway, what about you? Do you like Ban?"
"Of course I do," she replied immediately, blinking her silver eyes languidly. "And I like you, and Ryu..."
Meiling snorted, slicking back her wet blonde hair. "No not like that," she said. "I mean do you... do you... like like him?"
Willow smiled. "Meiling, I know what you meant. And yes, I like-like. All of you. A lot-lot," she added with a giggle.
"Wait... you're attracted to all of us?"
"I find all of you attractive," Willow clarified. "In your own special ways."
"Even Ryu?"
She nodded. "Of course. He's way cool."
Meiling rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, but he's cuddly as a boarcupine."
"He's... he can be," the auburn-haired girl replied. "But he's not when he's around us, not anymore."
"Not with you, maybe," her blonde companion retorted.
Conceding the point, the air hippie sank into the water, her eyes drifting closed as she relaxed. "He's been hurt a lot... so yes, he's defensive. He tries to keep people at arm's length. But now we're here to support him, and he's opened his heart to us. A little," she conceded. "But a little is more than none."
Sighing, the blonde firebender had to agree. "Well, I guess. But Ban's still much more... considerate. He thinks about others a little too much sometimes."
"Like when you were hurt," Willow agreed. "Ban was beside himself with panic when your combustionbending manifested. He was very worried for you."
"Yeah?"
"Of course. We all were. But Ban more than most... it hurt him, seeing you in such pain. It hurt me too," Willow confessed.
"Aww, you ol' softy," Meiling teased. She scooted closer in the bath, draping an arm around Willow's shoulders, giving the air hippie a sideways hug in the hot waters. Then, mindful of how close they were, and the lack of clothes, awkwardly scooted back, feeling her face flush from the heat.
"So... uhm... m-me too?" she asked.
Nodding, Willow smiled, and sank into the hot tub as she gazed up at the ceiling serenely. And Meiling didn't find the silence nearly as oppressive as before.
"Left! No, your other left!"
Ban tucked his arms inside and rolled along the floor to dodge the next water whip that snapped by where his feet had been, avoiding Ryuku's follow up as he flowed into his second phase, above his head. He was purposefully taking it easy on him, and he knew it, but that just pushed Ban to try and anticipate his moves, watching his footwork and his stance and doing his best to match both.
Unfortunately, in doing so, he almost neglected Jacques until another water whip slapped past his shoulder and he only partially managed to turn and avoid the full force of it.
"Focus! Don't lock up your knees, stay fluid!"
Easy for him to say, Ban thought, but tried to follow his instructions. Part of his training now was to match both of their styles at differing times, they were alternating which one attacked him while he stayed on the defensive, dodging and deflecting blasts. That part was fine, provided he had the mental agility to switch with the flow of attacks, but he was picking it up reasonably quick. He was less impressive in his offense, where his first water whip flew clean over Ryuku's head, and a subsequent one swung wide, easily splash-blocked by Jacques.
"... oh, alright, break," Jacques said, sloshing his water back over his shoulder and back into the barrel he'd pulled it from. Ban and Ryuku did the same, the former instantly dropping to one knee to try and catch his breath, the latter panting but not otherwise visibly exhausted.
The three of them sat on a couple of folding chairs that Jacques had acquired from... somewhere. Off to the side of the main training area, they were in a relatively warm area of the warehouse. A heating unit (equally acquired by unknown means) helped warm their tired and sore limbs as the two boys and their trainer took a breather from their waterbending.
Jiao was there, resting on the floor. He perked up and slid over to Ban's feet when the young Avatar sat down, but kept his reptilian eyes on Jacques as the other man came around. Jiao didn't seem to like him very much, and although quiet, he never let the other man out of his sight whenever he was close to himself or Ban.
"While we're taking a break, why don't you tell us more about this job of yours, Jacque," Ryuku suggested, unscrewing the cap off a water bottle and drinking.
He clapped his hands together. "Capitol idea. Well it's nothing too special, but I've been given a large order to deliver large quantities of metal to a buyer of mine... and I just stumbled across a wreck that's laid unclaimed for over a century. It's in prime condition to bring up, we just need to break it down into more manageable pieces."
"A wreck?" asked Ban, confused.
Jacques looked ready to explain, but Ryuku beat him to it. "Amongst his other, less lucrative means of income, Jacques is a Salvage Diver," he explained. "They dive deep down into the waters surrounding the Northern Water Tribe and find things that other people want, bring them back to the surface and sell them. Nonbenders can do it, but waterbenders are the best in the business."
"During the end of the Hundred Years War," Jacques picked up where he finished. "Avatar Aang merged with the Spirit of the Ocean and, with incredible power, sunk an entire fleet of Fire Nation vessels, sending them crashing down onto the ocean floor miles below. Over the years, divers like myself have been going down and picking through the wreckage for valuables. You'd be surprised what a Fire Nation Fleet had in its lockers and munition rooms. You'd be doubly surprised what some people are willing to pay for it."
Ban pondered that, silent for the moment. Not just the idea that there was anything valuable so deep in the oceans, but also that, in a past life, he'd been the one to send it down there.
"So what's special about this particular job?" asked Ryuku.
"It's more of a bulk quantity needed," replied the older man, slicking back some of his hair. "My buyer needs the quality metal from the hull of a Fire Nation vessel, and they need it in quantity and they need it fast."
"What for?"
Jacques gave him a look. "You know I don't ask."
"Why not?" asked Ban.
"Buyer confidentiality," Jacques replied, all charming smiles.
Ryuku clarified "Meaning he doesn't know if it's legal or not."
"My former proteges cynicism not withstanding... everything I do is above board," Jacques clarified. "I am licensed as a diver, it is my job. What my customers do with anything I find is on them, not me."
A morally gray area, at best, but Ban found he couldn't really fault Jacque for earning money in such a manner. At the very least he wasn't selling drugs or trying to murder people, all he did was find what other people wanted. If he did it for free, he'd be a humanitarian, as it was, charging prices fair or otherwise made him a bit selfish, but at the end of the day, everyone had to be a little selfish to get through life.
"So this wreck..." Ban said, trying to understand.
"Ah, we go down to where I found it, I laid out the coordinates," Jacques explained. "Dive down, use some controlled waterbending to break up the hull into more managable fragments, send it back up in a net. It's close to Pier Four, under an ice outcropping, so we don't even need a ship. Just a longer than usual cable, which I have naturally secured."
"Does that take long?"
"Most of the day, give or take... probably all weekend to get what I need, really," the older man explained. "We may only work half the third day... but that afternoon is when my buyer comes by, so I need it by then, here, at this very warehouse. And of course, I cut you both in for fifteen percent..."
"Seventeen," Ryuku interrupted. "Each."
Jacques just smirked. "Right, seventeen. Each. My apologies, boy, I must've miscalculated."
"Yeah, you did."
Their spa day over, Meiling and Willow were refreshed as they spent the rest of the day simply wandering the Northern Water Capital. They'd just crossed the street to pick up some ice cones (lemon and lime flavored), and were laughing about some inside joke they shared, when Meiling caught sight of something.
An older water tribeswoman, hanging up the phone at a public stall, stepping out and continuing on her way as the machine ate her quarter. Beside her was a smaller girl with similar features. Obviously her daughter. The sight of them together, so close, making chatter like families do, made Meiling realize an important fact:
She hadn't called her mother since she'd set out from Zaofu. Nearly... spirits, how long had it been?
And in her palm was some change from the ice cones. Enough for a phone call.
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up," Meiling said idly, staring ahead, moving on autopilot.
Willow nodded, "Okay."
Stepping up to the phone booth, Meiling ignored the yellow paged book and dialed the number she knew by heart, though she had to call collect to get it all the way from the Northern Water Tribe to the Earth Kingdom. A few dials, Meiling resting her forehead against the cool glass as she clutched the phone to her ear.
"C'mon mom, pick up..." she muttered. Half hoping she did, half hoping she didn't. What would she even say? What could she say? Her mom still thought she was doing a work studies program with Ban.
Finally, the ring cut off into a click. "Hello."
Her mom's voice. "Mom! Oh spirits its so good to..."
"I'm not home right now. Please leave a message after the beep."
Meiling winced. An answering machine. Of course mom would be out, given the time of day she was probably at work. She started talking on instinct.
"Hey mom, it's me. Meiling. Your daughter. Uh, right, look I know I don't have long but I thought I'd call up and tell you I... I missed you. And I hope you're doing well. I'm doing... great. Just great. Grand even! Ban's fine too, you can tell his parents everything's hunky-dory with him. I know I'm kinda late getting back to school... uhm... the White Lotus has that all completely covered, I swear. Anyway I have to get back to it but I'll call again soon, take care, bye!"
She hung up the phone, eyes wide and heart racing, unsure of what she was even saying anymore.
Everything was hunky-dory? Everything was topsy-turvy! She was great? Oh yeah, ignoring that she'd nearly blown herself up and gotten attacked and nearly killed... had she actually lost count? And nevermind what had happened with Uncle Drago!
Meiling slid out of the booth and walked in a daze back to Willow, seeing for the first time just how much her life had changed, and in so short a time. The sharp contrast was dizzying.
In the end, they accepted Jacques job offer, spending the remaining few days learning waterbending to prepare for its actual application. Jacques used this time to show them the specifics of how they would do what they did when it came to diving and salvaging. Controlling the current while immersed in it was a far cry from bending water while standing on the land. Even so, Ryuku knew his work and Ban was a reasonably quick learner once it was explained what he was doing.
"Pier Four, tomorrow," was all he said by way of farewell when the day ended.
Leaving both boys to make their way to the temporary shelter they called home for the time being and call it a night. At least, Ryu and the girls did.
Over the past few weeks, Ban had also been seeing the visions, faster, shorter, giving glimpses into Korra's fight against Razer. Nothing concrete, some so brief and fleeting he was starting to believe he'd imagined them, or mixed up actual visions from another day. But they were building towards something big. Near the end of the third week, as the deadline on the job closed, Ban went to bed, preparing for a big day tomorrow. And a new vision came to him as he drifted off to sleep...
Authors Notes:
Okay, so the story is liable to fail the Bechdel Test (look it up!), but I thought I would tease some potential pairings in the story. I'm honestly surprised few reviewers have commented on or requested more of such. Perhaps this will stir the pot a little. Apparently its also canon that the Air Nomads used to be very inclusive about same gender loves, it is mentioned briefly during the Legend of Korra comic 'Turf Wars.'
Next Time: Book Two, Chapter Ten, Rising Tides.