9
Author's Note: For this chapter, it's COMPLETELY our storyline, kind of like 'Tales of Ba Sing Se.' No script is followed. Script will continue in Chapter 10 with 'The Waterbending Scroll.' - We thank you for your support. 3 Lady Ryuka and RaeDyn Rae
The Gaang:
The gang had gone back to Hei Bei's Forest and back to the village. They had decided on the trip back that they needed to take a break for a few days to recuperate from what just happened. When they talked to the chief, he was all too happy to let them stay in the village, as long as they helped out with repairs and helped gather food. The village has had a couple days to repair and Hei-Bai has been working hard to replenish the forest, but there's still much to be done, much to replant, and much to heal.
Katara:
Katara saw that a lot of the gardens in the village looked like they were wilting, and some were viciously cut from when Hei-Bei's spirit attacked. Katara was told that they needed to help so she thought she could help with keeping their gardens alive. She takes to watering the fields after everyone plants their seeds. Eventually, this takes a toll on her, whether it was the repetition boring her or the waterbending draining her, nobody knew. At some point, she stopped to take a break by the stream, and noticed some footprints burnt into the ground. "I didn't think there were any Fire Nation Citizens or Soldiers here?" She remarked confused as she refilled her pouch with water. As she is sitting by the stream after refilling her pouch she looks around her and sees so much green. "Wait, there is this much green?" She said out loud. She started wondering if it was really Winter or not. She had never seen this much green in her life. She started to run around in all the lush green grass. She found a grassy hill and laid down and rolled down it. She was laughing as she rolled down the hill. "I never thought a hill could be this soft and green." She said as she ran her hand through the grass as she sat up at the bottom of the hill. "I hope to see this so much more." She said looking around her.
She saw some flowers that she hadn't seen before they were Jasmine lotus flowers. She went to pick some of the flowers to give to the chief for letting them stay there. After she believed that she picked enough she went back to the village. As soon as she went into the village she headed over to the chief. The chief saw her and then looked angry at the flowers that she carried. "Where did you get those!" He asked as he balled his fists, shaking in rage. "I found them out in the forest, which was a very beautiful green." Katara answered. "We are not allowed to pick those flowers! They are Hei-Bei's Flowers!" He yelled. The villagers turned to look at her as the chief yelled. He was usually an easy-going chief so they didn't take it lightly when he was mad. "I…I didn't know." Katara tried to defend herself. "You should not have just picked anything. We told you only to collect berries and nuts. After everything with Hei-Bai, I'm scared to send my men out to hunt. And you're over here just painting targets on their backs!" the Chief yelled. "I…I am sorry." Katara said meekly, on the verge of tears. The chief scolds her, sees her sorrow, and makes her go replant the flowers from where she picked them.
As Katara went back to where she picked them, she felt like crying. She inadvertently made a small black rain cloud over her head and it started to rain on her. She went back to where she picked the flowers and replanted them. As she headed back to the village it was raining all around her and she didn't couldn't care less about it right now.. She was just so sad she didn't care that she was getting soaked. She was making it rain so bad around her that the ground she was walking on was turning to mud.
All week long Katara always seemed to do something wrong. And each time, the Chief scolded her and made her do something to make up for it. And each time, she slipped further and further into her depressed slump.
There was the time that she thought that, since she looked after the young in her village, that she could look after the kids in daycare while the villagers were rebuilding. At first, the kids loved it. They asked for mud to make mud pies, got dirty and then cleaned up by playing in Katara's rain cloud. The beauty of her cloud was quickly soured. The children tried to play normal games and couldn't, the mud made it hard to run, jump, and even play jacks. They screamed and cried and the smaller, younger ones pounded on her things to make her go away. So the Chief came over to take over, giving her a dirty look as he did.
There was the time that she got yelled at by Ms. Katanki, the woman that housed the kids for the week, for flooding the lower level of her home. Katara went to take a nap after a very stressful day, in hopes that a nap would calm her down and make her rain cloud go away. But it didn't. What it did do was flood the woman's home. Katara apologized and ran off to the fields, hoping that at least her cloud could be useful and water the crops.
There was the evening that she saw Sokka and the Chief talking behind the meetinghouse. 'Probably about her' she thought as she sat on top of the hill she rolled down earlier that week, soaking the beautiful hues of green she admired and appreciated just a day or two ago.
Every time the village Chief yelled at her, her rain cloud would get a bit bigger, and a bit bigger, and a bit bigger, until eventually, it was large enough to cover the entirety of the village's crop fields, but it never left above her head.
By the end of the week, the villagers were not only waiting for her to leave, but already had a bag of provisions for them packed and loaded onto Appa, scared that she'd rain on their parade the longer she stayed.
Sokka:
Sokka, since he is a strong young man, was put to work immediately. He was told to go get Bamboo to help repair buildings.
He walked out into the bamboo thicket, noticed the new growth, and started hacking away with both boomerangs. "I never realized that green could grow so fast." One by one, tree by tree was chopped down. "That green is called grass, vegetation, and weeds. Please don't bring weeds to the village." Everyone else was paired off, one person cutting and one person carrying what was chopped into the village. Sokka called to one of the villagers, asking for help. "You're a strong able bodied young man. You can do it." They said, half encouragingly and half cynically. Sokka puts his boomerangs on the holsters on his back and grabs a few branches of bamboo, muttering to himself. "That's fine. I AM a strong young man." After about four hours of cutting and carrying bamboo he was allowed to take a break.
Sokka decides to go look around and see the sights since he couldn't do that last time seeing as he was in the Spirit World for twenty-four hours. While he is walking, he comes to a part of the stream that on the other side of it was nothing but green. His eyes went wide as he looked at all the green around him. "T…there is actual color in the world… Not just snow and ice!" He said as he stood there in shock. He then saw a hill on the other side of the stream, it took him less then two seconds to decide to be super childish and go across the stream and lay down to roll down the hill. As he rolled down the hill, unbenounced to him he was rolling in poison ivy. As he got to the bottom of the hill he sat up and shaked grass out of his hair. "Alright, that was sooooo soft." He said running his hands through the grass. "The grass is so much softer than the snow and ice that I grew up in." He was talking to himself until Momo came over to him and landed on his head. He got up and walked around a bit more before he headed back to the village for dinner. When he got back to the village he started feeling really itchy so he started to scratch his arms. The village chief noticed this and went to get him a remedy that they had for itching relief. "Here this should help you not scratch. Also, what did you do to get so itchy?" the Chief asked. "I rolled down a green grassy hill. I had never seen so much green before and I wanted to feel it." Sokka replied sheepishly. "Did you notice if the hill you rolled down had any red colored leaves on it?" Chief asked. "I believe it did, why?" Sokka asked, now skeptical. "You rolled in Poison Ivy and apparently you are allergic to it." The chief replied, giving him the remedy and walking away. "Great… my first experience with green grasses and I roll in something and find out I am allergic to it. I am over it now…" Sokka deadpanned. It was just his luck to be allergic to something so beautiful.
The next morning after breakfast and after putting the itch remedy on his arms and legs and neck and in spots on his face, he was put to work. Today he was helping rebuild some of the buildings with the collected bamboo from yesterday. The chief had decided that it was best to keep Sokka busy so that he didn't scratch, and out of the forest, in fear that he'd find something worse. If he scratched, the reaction would last longer. With Sokka being busy building, he didn't think about scratching his arms, but thought of helping the village get back up on their feet. By noon they had gotten two buildings repaired completely and had gotten half of a building repaired since only half of the building was destroyed. Sokka got some water then went back to work with the Chief having said that they needed to get at least the buildings repaired before it became super late into winter. Since they had started to run low on bamboo he went to help collect some more. He was thinking that they would have the village finished by tomorrow since there were only three more buildings to rebuild. If they were finished by tomorrow he would be going to help start to gather food after the rebuildings. Wiping sweat from his brow Sokka realizes that anytime he saw his sister she was always sad but if he tried to talk to her she snapped at him. "Well if she wants to be a bitch then that is on her." He muttered to himself as he hacked at bamboo to get it cut down and back to the village after he got a huge pile together. Sokka was cutting Bamboo until it was well past sunset which made him realize then he should get back to the village with the bamboo that was collected. As he got back to the village the chief was staring at him in surprise. "That should be enough to finish the buildings and repair the wall." the chief said. "Great! Then I will get on to helping fix things at sunrise so that we don't have too many issues. Then I will get straight on to helping with getting food." Sokka said. "We thank you for all this help. Also your sister's rain cloud is getting on everyone's nerves. We do not like walking around in mud." The chief said. "I have tried to talk to her but she has snapped at me each time." Sokka replied. "Well, then she is just being a little… witchy to everyone." The chief said annoyed. Sokka sighed, not having an idea of how he could talk to her when she is just snapping at everyone. He went to eat dinner before getting some sleep to help with the last of the rebuilding the next morning.
Sokka was up before sunrise and set to work getting started on the building repairs. As he started, others were just getting up to start work, so he got the help that was needed for the building to be done. About four villagers got started on the wall. While others were working on the other two buildings, three went to help Sokka with the one he was working on. It was just after noon when all repairs were finally finished. Sokka is then sent out to go gathering for some fruits and nuts. Sokka is grumbling to himself as he is sent to collect nuts. "I am sick and tired of NUTS! They are one of the worst foods ever as of this day!" Sokka yelled to himself as he gathered all the nuts that he could find. "Small nuts, big nuts, pine nuts, Lychee nuts, oh look, another nut!" He keeps yelling while gathering them. The villagers who were in his gathering party were having a laugh at his hate for nuts. Sokka hears them laughing and blushes a tint of red from embarrassment but that doesn't stop him from ranting until he ends up tripping on a root.
Now, when he sits up, his basket of nuts is in front of him and they were all put together with some heart seeds that were like the one on his necklace in it. He then notices a pair of human feet in front of him and the two giant paws. "Welcome back, my little warrior." Kya's voice above him said. Sokka jumps to his feet and looks at his mother and then goes and hugs her tight. "Hi, mom," he said as a few stray tears rolled from his eyes. "We heard you yelling at nuts and called you to help out a bit." Kya said with an amused smile. Sokka chuckled nervously when she said that. "Don't worry we found it amusing." Kya said, looking at Hei-Bei who was nudging the basket closer to Sokka. "Oh yes, do you remember the story of the heart seed?" Kya asked. "Yes I remember it can sprout a tree overnight that has all kinds of fruits on it." Sokka replied. "Good because Hei-Bei thought the weather would soon turn worse for the winter because most of the forest will take time to regrow. He wanted the villagers to plant it so that they will have at the very least fruit to last them all winter since soon squirrels and other small animals will take all the nuts and hibernate." Kya explained. "So I am to talk with the chief and get him to plant the seed so that they will have fruits. Okay cool, now what do I do about the fact that he might think I am crazy." Sokka asked. "Then, you plant one seed in the center of the village and he will know you spoke the truth in the morning." Kya said as Hei-Bei nodded. "Alright, I'll see how this goes." Sokka said. No sooner did he say that he was back to sitting in front of the tree that he tripped on and his basket of nuts and seeds were in front of him. "Alright Mom, let's hope they don't see me as too crazy." Sokka said getting up and heading back to the village. The Chief looked at Sokka and was confused as to where he even came from. "Your gathering party said you tripped, and then vanished, and now you are here again." The chief said bewildered. "Oh well, um I have something that can help with the incoming winter weather and for you to have food." Sokka said as he picked up the heart seed. "You do realize if we planted a seed now that it will not grow or be ready to harvest until after Winter?" the chief said like he was talking to a toddler. "I get that, but this isn't an ordinary seed. If we plant this seed here in the center of the village, by tomorrow morning I promise you it will be a fully grown tree with all kinds of fruits." Sokka said. "I do not believe you, but fine I will let you plant it and if it does not have a tree there tomorrow, You will put a stone wall around it for it to be safe while it grows!" The chief glaring as he then walks away leaving Sokka to plant the seed.
Sokka sighs as he goes to the spot that is dead center of the village and digs a small hole with his boommerage. He then puts the seed in it and covers it with some dirt and a small sigh. "Please mom, don't let me be seen as an idiot." He said under his breath. After he planted the seed he went to Ms. Katanki's house to get cleaned up and eat dinner. "You know, boy, your sister and that cloud are ruining my floors." Ms. Katanki said annoyed. "I am sorry?" Sokka said confused because he didn't know what he could do with his sister not talking to anyone. Ms. Katanki muttered as she fixed him a bowl of soup for when he got done cleaning up. Once Sokka got cleaned up he got his soup and ate it before going to bed. As morning came the chief was standing in the center of the village in front of the tree dumbfounded. Sokka came out a little bit after and was starstruck at seeing the tree. "W…we have fruits!" The Chief said excitedly that they now had wonderful fruits and some of the fruits they hadn't seen before. The chief assigned someone to put a stone wall around the base of the tree. "Son, you have proven that we will not go hungry this Winter! Thank you," the chief said, clasping Sokka's shoulders. "Your welcome, also the basket of nuts I collected yesterday had more of these trees." Sokka said. "Wonderful!" The chief cried out happily.
The rest of Sokka's week was supervising the children as they helped plant trees of all kinds, including new Heartseed Trees.
Aang:
When Aang settles into the village, he is reminded of his life back in the Southern Air Temple a hundred years ago. One night, Aang decides it's time to meditate and heads to the clearing of trees not yet healed in Hei-Bai's forest to reflect on everything that has happened to him.
It is the winter of 6BG, Aang is six years old and does not have his Airbending Master Tattoos. He is playing in the gardens of the Southern Air Temple with a little girl whose hair is pulled back into a ponytail half braid. "You can't catch me Aang!" the little girl said laughing. "Yes I can, Ty Shi!" Aang said, running after her as he used Airbending to catch up to her. Once he caught up to her he tackled her into a hug, both of them laughing as they fell in the grass of the gardens.
Laughter seems to fill up the clearing where Aang sits.
"Hey Aang, what do you think will happen when we are older?" Ty Shi asked. "I don't know, a lot of things could happen when we are older." Aang replied. "Well, when I am older I want to travel and see the world, I will settle down wherever the wind takes me." Ty Shi said dreamily. "Yeah! I want to see the world too. I will come with you!" Aang said. "What if I don't want you to come?" She teases. "Oh come on we always play together, why would you leave me!" He pouted. "I wouldn't leave you silly." She says laughing. At that Aang and Ty Shi started running around the Garden again chasing each other as the older two Monks who looked after them watched from up on the wall above the garden. "They will make a very good pairing one day." Monk Gystso said. "Yes, and a very strong one at that." Monk Yangtan replied.
It's now Spring of 3BG, Aang is now nine and has his Airbending Master Tattoos for creating the air scooter. Ty Shi, her hair now in a single braid that starts at the top of her head, turns to him and says, "Remember what we planned to do when we were five and six?" Giggling. "Traveling the world?" Aang answered, the memories of yesteryear floating across his thoughts. "You love the idea of going everywhere and seeing everything the world has to offer. Settling down wherever the wind takes you." "That I do, Aang. But, I'd like you to come with me. We could start our journey by riding elephant koi. I heard from some travelers that they're amazing and ginormous! Bigger even than the flying bison around here."
It's now Fall of 0, the night before Aang leaves he is twelve and Ty Shi is eleven. Aang is frantically pacing the garden. Ty Shi was unable to sleep and had gone to see the garden. She sees Aang pacing and is worried about her dear friend. "Aang, are you alright?" Ty Shi asked, worriedly, jogging over to him. "We need to leave. I need to get out of here, they want to send me away!" Aang said frantically as he started crying. "But they can't send you away! We didn't get to do what we planned!" She said as she hugged Aang. "I don't know what to do." He replied crying. "We run away!" She said boldly. "What but what about Monk Gystso and Monk Yangtan?!" He asked bewildered. "We can't let them separate us, Aang. Let's get ready to go. We'll leave tomorrow night!" She said determined. "Alright we will do it!" He is now excited to go with his best friend. The two friends head to their respective rooms and start to pack what little they had. Aang leaves out the necklace that he made for Ty Shi that is orange with a bone pendant with the Air Nomad Symbol on it.
The next day, they both have to wrap up their affairs without letting anyone know what they're doing. Aang goes to the jewelry storage where most of the Monks are putting various pieces of jewelry that they plan to sell. He asks Gyatso to stop for a minute. "There's something I need to tell you," Aang starts, happy to get to tell him this, but sad that he can't say goodbye. "I love you!" He says, tears welling in his eyes, as he jumped a little to hug the old man's middle. Gyatso looked taken aback for a split second, unaware where this was coming from. But, ultimately, he didn't care. "I love you too, Aang." He said as he hugged back. After a few moments, and Aang was satisfied with possibly the last hug he'll ever get from the man who raised him, he bounded off for the gardens, to meet Ty Shi.
A single tear escapes Aang's eyes, but he never opens them or leaves his meditation.
Ty Shi asked "Are you ready Aang?" He nods, solemnly. "Alright. Tonight we leave. I have Bison cleanup tonight, so meet me at the stables tonight and we'll leave with our buddies, at least we won't leave EVERYTHING behind." Ty Shi said with a smile. This thought cheered Aang up, and he smiled the rest of the day, going about his duties like normal. So did Ty Shi. She went about teaching the smaller children to make simple jewelry, happy in their progress and a little sad to have to leave her underlings. After that, she went to help in the kitchens. It wasn't her assigned day to help in the kitchens, but it was something she loved. Aang was asked to play a game of Pisho with Monk Gyatso after their interaction this morning. So, at the moment Aang was trying not to lose the white lotus tile again. "I love the game but I can beat anyone but you." Aang said in defeat after Monk Gyatso got the white lotus tile to his side of the board. "I am your mentor Aang. I decide when we train and when I kick your butt in Pisho." Monk Gyatso said, smiling sagely, as Ty Shi served beautiful egg custard tarts to the boys. "MY FAVORITE!" Aang exclaims as he opens his mouth and all but inhales his. Monk Gyatso and Ty Shi both laugh at him.
Later that night, as everyone was settling down for the night, Ty Shi was in the Bison stables, shoveling hay for the bisons to eat, and hooking her LeiLei up to a saddle and reins, figuring Aang could hook up Appa's when he gets here. Aang Finally arrived at the stables, after what felt like hours, but was only twenty minutes, and gave Ty Shi a quick wave as he got Appa's saddle on him. "So I was thinking about something. On the way over here." Aang said. "Oh no! You, thinking? You know that will give you a migraine, Sprightly." Ty Shi jokes. "Haha! You know what I mean." Aang said, amused. "Alright what is it?" She asked. "I was thinking that we should go West, find someplace to 'settle down.' We'll leave clues there and everything, so anyone looking for us would think that we settled down or died… Either way, they'd quit looking for us pretty darn fast. Then, we can do whatever we want, go wherever we want. We don't even have to go by our real names anymore, I can be Sprightly forever."
After saddling, feeding, and hugging their bisons, it was time. They both took off, heading North. Not long after they set off, a storm started across the sea, raining, thundering, and sending the two friends off course, farther and farther from each other. Aang heading South and Ty Shi heading North.
As it came to when the storm started Aang could take no more. He snaps his eyes open, crying softly to himself in Hei-Bai's forest, surrounded by newly blooming moon flowers.
Zuko's Crew:
Zuko had told Zhang that they needed to stop at the closest port in the Earth Kingdom where they were to get the ship fixed. Once docked, Zuko went to inquire about getting repairs. After he spoke to someone and they looked at the damages, he was told that they would take a week for the repairs. Zuko did not like the idea of repairs taking a week, but they needed to be done. So Zuko made an announcement to the crew. "We have a week here for repairs to the ship so you can do whatever. Just keep an eye and ear out for anything about the Avatar. One Last thing too, If you are not back at the ship at the end of the Week I will not care about leaving you behind!" With that Zuko walked away from the Crew that did not know what they were going to do.
Yhu Wy:
"A whole week? What can we do for that time?" He heads down to his quarters, into the barracks with the rest of his squad. It's not overly crowded, only 4 or so men in a room, but it isn't private. He changes out in the open, alongside two of his squad members. "Wanna go into town?" Yhu Wy asks the other changing men. "No, I'm just changing into shorts to work on a luscious tan. Then, all the babes will love me." "I know you're looking for the love of your life and all, but it would help if you didn't call them babes, LhyTu." Yhu Wy replied. "Oh, and you'd know?" one of his pals scoffed. "Actually," Yhu Wy started, "I think I would. I've needed more women than all of you, and let me tell you guys that I do NOT plan on sleeping on the ship at all during this upcoming week." He said with a wink. "LhyTu can look for love, but when he falls short of a 'play romance' that his hopelessly romantic butt craves, he's going to sulk his way back into bed on this ship with the rest of you." One of the men jumps in for LhyTu, "One day, It'll be worth it. He's saving himself for a special woman to have a life and children with. Unlike you. How many of the women you've bedded in the past two years do you think have carried your seed?" Yhu Wy thinks for a second and thinks he's been a silver tongued sly devil the whole time. He shrugs, "I dunno. Three? Maybe four?"
The men were walking down the hall, laughing and talking of their plans for the rest of the week when Zhang stopped them in the hallway, saying "Just where do you think you're going?"
Everyone else was ready to fight, but as Yhu Wy passed, he simply stated, "We're just going on shore to check out the town. That's why we're in our casuals. By the way, you should NOT leave this ship dressed like THAT!" He eyeballed Zhang up and down, who was dressed and covered head to toe in Fire Nation armor. "This is basically a vacation. Enjoy it! Don't start unnecessary trouble. Ok?" He squeezed the 'captain's' shoulder and walked off.
Stepping off the ship, Yhu Wy felt the light airy sensation of freedom. He loved this feeling and wondered if Airbenders felt this all the time, free to fly and light and airy enough to act on it. As he walked, pondering his silly nothings, he realized he walked to the dead center of the village square. Looking around him and seeing not much more than some shops and a small tavern or two, he took to one of the outside tables of the tavern he was standing outside of. A pretty waitress came to talk to him and something about her told him not to try to waste his time trying to bed her. As he sat, he scoped the surrounding areas, looking for the most beautiful women he could see. He spotted one across the way, purchasing chili peppers from a close-by merchant's shop. She was beautiful, with long dark red hair and eyes greener than the grass she stood on.
He approached her and offered to carry her bags to help. As they walked, they talked about her likes, dislikes, hobbies, and what fun things there were to do around her village. When she got to her door, she said 'thank you,' gave him a kiss on the cheek, and started to gather her things from him. "Don't you need help getting these inside?" He said with a devilish grin. She adjusted one of her bags on her shoulder and smirked at him. "No thank you. I know your type, Sailor. And I'm not interested." Yhu Wy stood for a second, acting like he was scorned at her accusation, then handed her her last bag. "That's fine. Not every shot can be dead center. Some miss. Speaking of, Miss." He mimicked taking off a hat and bowing, even though he wasn't wearing one, and continued. "I hope you have a day almost as lovely as you are." To this, she simply blushed and entered her home. "You too." She smiled out shyly before shutting the door behind her.
'Well,' He thought to himself, 'next!' as he skipped down the paved path back down to the village square. He headed back to the bar, but stopped short due to a short woman with short black hair and eyes so deep a brown you'd swear they were black too. She was beautiful, and coming from the fields without anything to help carry. 'Time to turn on the charm!' he thought to himself, straightening up his shirt collar and making his way over to her. On the way, he runs into the waitress carrying two drinks. He places 5 gold pieces on the tray holding the drinks and takes them, mouthing a quick 'sorry' as he takes both drinks and heads over to the beauty with black hair. She's receptive and takes one of the drinks from him. He beams at her and they raise a toast, "To new friendships!" She winks at him. "Exactly." She almost purrs.
After finishing a couple rounds of drinks, Yhu Wy is ready to pay out and get his pay out. She's giggly, tipsy, and all over him. Night one, and he's not sleeping on the ship.
As he takes his leave of her house in the morning, he walks down to the village square, yet again. Same motives as before. To get laid.
He spots his crewmates at the daytime tavern and thinks it best to avoid them. "I'll see them in a couple days, then I'm stuck on a ship with them for who knows how long. I'm going to head down to the docks today. See what's going on there."
As he heads to the shore, he sees that he isn't the only one. Today must be washing day, because most of the village women came to the shore with baskets of clothes, some moved with swiftness while some moved slowly in the early morning light. He sees the pretty redhead lady that rejected him, she has her skirts pulled up and is standing in the water washing clothes with the rest of the women. She looks up, catches him staring at the girls, gives him a curt smile and waves before giving him the one finger salute and yelling, "Why don't you go drool somewhere else? We're trying to CLEAN clothes, not whatever you're trying to do to them…"
"Hmm. Feisty. This one's a challenge. I like it." He said to himself with a devilish grin. His grin unsettled her. She groaned and went back to work washing clothes.
He went to work on his tan, seeing as everyone with ogling was busy working. After a while, he fell asleep out in the sun. When he awoke, he noticed that there was lotion spread across his chest and tummy to prevent burning, but there was nobody around. He squinted into the dying light of the day. "How long did I sleep for?" He asked himself while patting himself off, heading to the village square. "Well, at least I can still go to the pub." He hummed to himself as he walked, stopping in front of the daytime tavern. Inside, he sees LhyTu walking out with a full bottle of wine. As he passes, he says, "Sorry mate, they're closing up right about now. Gotta go to the other tavern." humming as he walked off.
'Other tavern?' Yhu Wy thought. 'If there's another, then I still have a chance to bag a beauty tonight.'
He went to 'The Witching Hour Wolfbat' the second bar in town, the one that's only open at night. The daytime tavern is known as 'The Sunny Scorpion bee' and when they close, most of the drunkards from there head down to 'The Witching Hour Wolfbat' for their fun to continue well into the night. Here, he talked to every woman in the place. Every woman, except one. The redhead watched him strike out all night. Finally, he sat down at the bar, feeling defeated. She makes her way over to him and introduces herself.
The evening goes on and he spends most of it talking to her. Around 2am, it's closing time, so he asks her if she'd like to continue the conversation. To which she replies, "We may continue it tomorrow. I'm going home," He opened his mouth to interject, "ALONE!" She snapped before he could.
As he starts making a hammock out of leaves, and settles himself nicely into a tree, he thinks to himself, 'Night three. And I'm NOT sleeping on that ship.'
When he awoke, he saw that there were Earth Kingdom men marching to the village, following the path the sands of shore left for them, until they came upon their simple dirt path leading home. As the men entered the village, Yhu Wy noticed that most of the women he struck out with yesterday were running to greet the men. "I guess that explains a lot." He muttered to himself as he shimmied down the tree. "Well, guess I should pick up where I left off." He spoke while picking an apple and cleaning it on his shirt. As he took the first bite, he was scanning the crowds around the village square, looking for his next victim. He spots her, a vision in blue across the way. Her hair tied back into a braided bun that shimmered in the mid-morning light with lavenders that she laced within, and a smile that put the sun to shame, she was beautiful.
He finished his apple as he walked to the village square to talk to the lovely blue clad babe, straightening himself out so he didn't look like he slept in a hammock in the fields the previous night. As he approached her, she glanced over and said, "Hi stranger. You slept in the fields, didn't you?" To which he cocked his head to the side, kind of looking like a chicken, and asked her how she knew. "It's your smell." She said, blushing. "Well, for a second, I thought you were a teller. Then you could tell me if you see me and you together later." He said with a wink. She giggled, "Sir, I'm blind and can't see. But I can feel where you're going with this. How about… If you come over and help me with my chores today, I'll help you with your chores tonight." She said with a wink. Night four, and he's not sleeping on the ship.
After waking after a full day and night of 'chores,' he felt less rested than when he left the bar with her. Today, she had more work for him to do, same arrangement as the previous day, if he pleased. Oh, he pleased. Night five, and he's not sleeping on the ship.
After waking up the second day with the same, beautifully stunning, blind woman, he started feeling weird. She asked for help making breakfast, started grabbing him and dancing randomly, started humming and smiling when she felt his presence, started flipping her sweet smelling hair more. He took these signs of affection as a sign to hightail it out of there. So, he told her that his ship was departing that night, and they couldn't have any more of their 'arrangement.' After he left her place, he went back to the Daytime Tavern run by the beautiful women. He's had the best luck here, he figures. He looks around, scanning the bar, and thinks to himself, 'no matter how much I drink, I don't think any of these women will be beautiful enough to bed. What? Were all the beautiful women taken or something? This is bogus! Guess I'll just finish my drinks, order some roast sparrowkeet for dinner, and head back to the fields tonight. I'm sure as shit not going back to that crazy blind woman." Night six, and he's not sleeping on the ship.
He awakens the next morning to the sound of birds chirping sweetly and the feel of the morning sun on his skin. He opens his eyes, only to see the beautiful redhead that's denied him all week. "Shhhhhh!" She says, while flailing her fruit basket around with abandon. "I do things my way, on my terms, you get no say, but you get to follow. Understand?" He just looked at her bewildered, for she told him to shut up. "You can nod or something. Jeeze. This whole week you won't shut up, especially about trying to bed me, and now I WANT to bed you, and you're going to shut down? I'll stop!" "NO!" he shouts out, a little scared, "don't do that." "Good. Now follow me." She takes him to a beautiful meadow of moon flowers. They're there all day, snacking on fruits from her basket as they get winded, and they're there well into the night. Night seven, and he's not sleeping on the ship. In the morning, the crew leaves.
In the morning, he leaves without a word, and without a trace.
Kel:
"A WHOLE WEEK?! And they expect ME to keep serving the louses? This is beneath me. This is beneath even the fallen Prince." He huffs off muttering to himself after the announcement, punching small gouts of fire in between mutters. Zoku is beside himself, almost giggling at the grumpy old man throwing a tantrum like a toddler. "We'd love for you to stop in town and get ingredients sometime this week. It'd be a nice change of pace from eating the seafood we've caught the past couple weeks."
He mutters to himself walking down the hallway to his quarters. "Cook this for me, train with me, rub my feet. Almighty Spirit world, I HATE THIS PLACE!" He screams as he barges in the door to his quarters. Some of his crewmates are resting in their beds, and are taken aback by his grand entrance. "Hey!" One of them shouts out, jumping from his bed to stand face to face with Kel in the now almost cramped room, "Just who do you think you are…?" to which he rounds out on his heels and angrily states, "I AM SO TIRED OF EVERYONE ASKING ME THAT! I am a warden, a captain, and I singlehande-" "Oh, get off your soapbox." One of the other men shouted. "You're here in the barracks with us, you're no more important than the war rhinos."
Kel gets so upset by this, that steam starts coming out of his ears as he stomps his way down the hall, up to the deck, and off the ship. His ears stopped steaming when he made it into the village.
"Go get ingredients. Hmmp!" he said as he fondled the money pouch in his pocket 'for shopping.' It SHOULD go to him, he SHOULD have a paycheck, like the rest of the crew. "I can't BELIEVE that Zuko would do something so low down and dirty." He muttered to himself as he walked down the road towards the merchants and shops. "To give me a contract? To say that my 'paycheck' goes towards ingredients and supplies? To have me wait on his uncle everyday? This is driving me crazy." As he said crazy, a little girl looked up at him and smiled, to which he growled at her.
As he walks to the merchants, a thought hits him. He enters one of the shops at the edge of the quaint little village, and leaves out with a backpack. He heads back down the village road, but instead of keeping straight to make his way back to the ship, he checks his surroundings, and seeing that he's in the clear, turns right. Unbeknownst to him, he's heading straight for Hei-Bai's forest.
As he keeps walking he comes across a forest, if that's what you could call it. There was a large clearing, where half the trees were burnt and the other half were growing slowly, a thicket of bamboo growing, and one really huge tree with different fruits all over. Kel thought he was dreaming, but thought 'dream or not, I want some Zankan cherries, if that's what I see up there,' as he looked up at the tree at the village gates. It was the weirdest most beautiful tree he'd ever seen in his life, and it had branches full of every different fruit you could think of, and some he's only heard of in passing ports, like onions and soybeans.
As he climbed the tree to gather some food for his newfound trip, he saw into the village, and saw what looked like the chief talking to that shipwrecking, vile, troublemaker of a girl, 'Whatever-her-name-is,' and got angry all over again, this time for different reasons. "She thinks she can make a fool out of me? ME! The great-" He's cut off by himself, falling out of the tree. THUMP! He lands, sprawled out at the entrance to the village, food scattered all around him. He gathers the food that spilled out of his bag, and enters the village, on his way to the meetinghouse and the chief's house next to it. He marches over to it, so angry he leaves burning footprints in the grass, sees what he's doing, and heads to the stream to cool off. Instead, as he stands in the water, steam is rising from his feet. He stands here, unnoticed by all in the village, until he calms down and is no longer fuming. He then walks over to the meetinghouse, where the huge flying bison lays sleeping. Alongside the sleeping bison are bags, one of them glints in the sun oozing in from the window. Kel tiptoes carefully, not at all eager to wake the sleeping giant or find out what it eats, like wardens, children, or small animals. As he thought scarier and scarier things, Appa snored, producing a deep rumble that scared Kel even more than his own thoughts. He took the glinting bag and, without checking any of the contents, ran off to the safety of beyond Hei-Bai's forest.
LhyTu:
'Stepping off the ship and onto shore with Yhu Wy is an experience. He's so bubbly and extroverted, he has no problem meeting people, talking. I kind of wish I could be more like that. Maybe finding love would be easier.'
He followed his small crowd a little ways down the path, but instead of following everyone into the village to hit up bars or shops, he took a turn for the left. He was going to sit and write amongst some lychee nut bushes. He sat among the bushes for a long while, thinking of how he got into his situation in the first place, until he saw the most beautiful woman he laid eyes on walk past the orchids and fields. "Gather information for He slowly gets up. As she makes her way into the village square, he starts to follow. By the time he makes it to the village square, he's lost her. But he hears a commotion, and sees Yhu Wy talking to someone, a lady most likely. He peers over Yhu Wy's shoulder and sees that he's talking to the beautiful lady he saw and followed into the square. Sighing, LhyTu slumps into one of the seats in the tavern. Not long after he sits, a beautiful waitress comes to take his order. She's blonde, smells of coconut, and has a smile more radiant than the sun. And she's sweeter than sugar as she approaches, "Would you like some mango as you wait?" And before he answered, she placed a bowl of fruit in front of him and smiled gently at him before walking away. He ordered a peach wine, a house special, and it was deliciously sweet and tangy, something unexpected of such a sweet fruit. It was lovely. He continued writing while drinking, writing not just a story, but a poem and a love ballad. Every now and then, the waitress, Lyng, would come by and ask about what he's writing and give vivid details for his story. LhyTu was happy. This is what love must feel like. A moment later, Lyng was back to clear up his bottles and any other messes. "Beautiful woman, I would like to serenade you with words almost as beautiful as you are. Every night if you'd let me." He said as he took her hand in his. She gently squeezed his hand before letting go. "That would be wonderfully sweet, sir. But there is one who does this already." LhyTu looked disappointed, yet happy. "I should have realized someone as kind and beautiful as you would be taken. He is a lucky man." At this she blushes, giggles, and walks away to the bartender, who after a minute or so blushes and giggles too. A minute later, Lyng returned to his table with a whole bottle of peach wine. "On the house," She says, "For when you find your 'lucky man'." She turns and blows a kiss to the bartender, who returns it with a blown kiss of her own. LhyTu looks confused, but happy. 'Maybe love is something you can give everyone.' he thought to himself. 'Maybe more people should try it.'
He happily paid his bill, left a generous tip, took his bottle and started walking back to the ship, humming.
Zhang:
"A whole fUcKiNg week!" He kicks plumes of flames into the air with every word, spitting venom in each. "FINE! I guess I'll go and umm… and uh… hmm?" He plops to the floor and sits, ponduring, tapping his leg. "I guess I can go see what everyone else is doing."
He starts going around the ship, looking for small groups of people banded together to go somewhere. "Just where do you think you're going?" He asked Yhu Wy and a few others in the hallway. One of the larger soldiers in Yhu Wy's party stood directly in front of Zhang and simply stated, "We aren't sailing, so we don't answer to you. Now, step aside… Please." The last word he growled out as he bumped past Zhang. The rest just shuffled past silently, except for Yhu Wy, who told him, "We're just going on shore to check out the town. That's why we're in our casuals. By the way, you should NOT leave this ship dressed like THAT!" He eyeballed Zhang up and down, who was dressed and covered head to toe in Fire Nation armor. "This is basically a vacation. Enjoy it! Don't start unnecessary trouble. Ok?" He squeezed the 'captain's' shoulder and walked off.
Zhang is alone in the hallway. Not just alone, but alone with his thoughts. He continues walking, but now a little slower, with slumped shoulders, thinking. 'Nobody's ever talked to me like that, not even when I was a footsoldier. What's gotten into people today? Vacation? Hmmp… Sounds like an excuse to slack' While he was thinking to himself, another soldier bumped into him, saw who he was, and turned around to keep walking. Zhang took this as a worse insult than earlier. "AAAAGGGGGHHHHH! I will NOT tolerate this level of disrespect!" He yells out, flames shooting from his mouth between words to emphasize his anger. "FIGHT ME!" Zhang swings a flame punch at him and he dodges out of the way. Zhang's punch misses him, but catches the door behind him, melting the metal. The men see this and their eyes get larger than dinner plates before they run away. Zhang lobs a fireball down the hallway at them and burns the disrespectful one's pants. "Hehe. Liar, liar. Pants on fire." He chuckles softly to himself.
"These people drive me crazy." He finally deduced and said aloud to himself. "I SHOULD take some time for myself. VaCaTiOn"
After changing into his casuals, some shorts and a button down shirt with little volcanoes on it, he left the one thing he never takes off, a golden necklace, small, circular, and smooth, he looked himself over. "Could Zuko dress us ANY more like tourists? Hahaha! I'm sure anyone smart would piece together that I'm Fire Nation… Oh, Zuko. You sly dog." He said as he got the joke.
He heads from his quarters, to the kitchens, to see if he could sneak an apple, and caught a glimpse of Zuko and Iroh and hightailed it out of there. The day he was having, he did NOT feel up to fighting the great General.
He leaves the ship, heads further inland than the shore, and in minutes, is almost dead center of the village they stopped at. He looked around. There were plenty of merchants, he could still eat. He starts walking over to a booth, one that had a pretty lady standing outside. And… Yhu Wy talking to her? As he approaches, he hears her giggle and a commotion coming from a booth across the path. He chooses the latter.
As he walks across the path, it becomes clear that the commotion is a group of drunk men starting a fight over nothing. "Finally. Some reasonable people." He said to himself as he sat down at an outside table, waiting to order. The waitress takes the order of a couple sitting next to him, giggling and cooing over each other, on a date, and they asked for "The FINEST saki." Then the waitress comes to him, he grabs her by the waist, pulls her so close that she's practically sitting on his lap, and he leans in and whispers in her ear, "listen, babygirl, I don't care how fine the saki is, I want it strong. And keep it coming." He then takes out his whole pouch of gold, his weekly pay, and places the entire thing on her lap, right between her thighs. "And if you do that, you can keep the rest."
She blushes so hard she looks like a fire cherry, walks up to the bartender, tells her his orders, and places the pouch on the bar counter. As the bartender reaches over to grab the pouch and place it in the vault, he can see that she has long black hair, eyes as dark as night, and dimples, just like his daughter. It made him kind of sad to think that because of work, he was missing out on his daughter growing up. He came back daily, he still had an open tab. As the waitress kept serving him drink after drink as per his request, he came into a drunken stupor, the grabbing didn't stop, the 'babygirls' didn't stop, but she needed the money. At some point, she started serving him two cups at once, scared to approach his table as often. He was regaling himself with a story of one of his past feats, thinking that anyone else would find it as great as he did and listen in. There was one. A little girl sitting outside, cross legged eating an apple, listening intently to every word of his stories. He looked into her dark eyes, and she smiled brightly, showing her dimples. Without realizing it, he started crying. "Is she your mommy?" He asked, pointing to the bartender. She shook her head yes and he started audibly sobbing. "I'm sorry. I guess everyone is someone's child. I miss my own. My apologies to you and yours." And with this, he gets up and takes his leave, vowing to treat women better, because they deserve better.
He walks to an empty clearing, sits down, and takes out his necklace. It is, in fact, a locket. He opens it and inside is a picture of his wife and daughter. He held them close to his heart, apologizing, and crying.
Zuko & Iroh:
Zuko goes to look for his Uncle on the ship since he wasn't at the announcement that he made to the whole crew on the top deck. First, he went to look in his Uncle's room. He knocked on the door and got no reply then opened it a bit to look in and didn't see anyone. "Maybe he is in the kitchen." He said to himself as he went to the kitchen. When he entered the kitchen he heard his Uncle humming. "Uncle, You don't need to be in the kitchen. I have a gift for you." He said as he walked into the kitchen more. Iroh looked up from the tea he was making. "How about we have tea first then you can present it over a nice, steaming cup." Iroh said. "Alright Uncle, we will have tea first." Zuko responded with a chuckle knowing how much his Uncle loved tea. "This is My famous brew of White Jasmine tea." Iroh said pouring them both a cup as it was done being brewed. Zuko sat with Iroh at a table as they drank. "So what is this gift?" Iroh asked. "Oh, yes well I was thinking you would like to relax and what better way to relax then going to a um… one of those… Uhhhh… The Spa." Zuko said slightly stuttering at Spa. He knew mostly girls went to Spas and he didn't want to get made fun of for taking his Uncle to a spa. "Oh my, that is a great way to relax." Iroh said grateful that his Nephew would think of something like that.
After they finished their tea they both changed into more comfortable clothes and met at the exit of the ship. Zuko only changed because he didn't want his men to see him out in his uniform going into a spa and might be a bit inconspicuous. As they walked through the town they didn't see a lot of the crew, they saw a few who were flirting with the girls, like Yhu Wy. They also saw Zhang going to a bar to drink. "So, this is what they do when we make quick port stops?" Zuko asked. "Yes, Zhang is tired of all the craziness he deals with when it comes to those who are under his command so he needs a few drinks. He also thinks about his little girl at home that he is waiting to return to, hoping that she remembers him. Yhu Wy, he is young and flirts and fails, yet one lady always takes him to a room for other activities. He mentioned this one night while we were cooking." Iroh explained. "Other activities… Uncle I didn't need to know that!" Zuko half yelled as his face flushed red from knowing what that meant. "You know you should find a pretty girl to settle down with." Iroh mentions not noticing that Zuko's face is multiple shades of scarlet. "Uncle, that is not something that is on my mind at the time being." Zuko said, trying to not be so embarrassed right now.
At the spa, thanks to some comments, Zuko is completely embarrassed and the receptionist at the spa giggles softly. She thinks Zuko is super cute and pretty much gives them a discount on their services that they asked for. They go and change into the robes that they were given for the spa. Iroh, once changed, was already feeling very relaxed. Zuko on the other hand was feeling a bit anxious and self conscious. "You must relax, Zuko, it will help you to think about peaceful times. Like, when your mother was home and always helping you." Iroh said "I'll try Uncle." Zuko said as the thought of his mother seemed to calm him. They first went for the mud baths. Zuko was actually confused at first how mud was to be relaxing when it was disgusting dirt. Iroh chuckles at him and he lays in the mud bath happily, and at peace. An attendant brings them some tea and snacks to eat while in the mud baths. Zuko went to try some of the snacks that were given. He grabbed a red pasty and tried it. It was spicy with a kick that ONLY Fire Benders could stand. "Uncle, you should try the red pastry! It tastes like Fire Cherries!" Zuko said excitedly, not having had this dessert in two years. Iroh chuckles and he grabs one to try. "It does but it is not as good as, Ursa, your mother used to make." Iroh said he loved the sweets that were sent to him when he was out on campaigns. "Uncle, my mother never made them. I learned to make them from one of the cooks, because I wanted more a lot of times." Zuko confessed. "YOU made them! Well Zuko maybe you should buy the ingredients so that anytime you want them you can make them on the ship!" Iroh suggested never knowing that his nephew loved to bake. "I will think about it Uncle." Zuko said, smiling shily. Iroh went to try the tea. He then makes a sour face as he sip the tea out, "Yuck this is nothing but hot leaf juice!" "Uncle, I thought all tea was hot leaf juice." Zuko said as he watched his Uncle put the cup as far away as possible. "No, not all tea is hot leaf juice!" Iroh says before going on a tangent about tea. Zuko listened to Iroh's tangent as he ate more of the red spicy fire cherry pastries. Iroh in the middle of his tangent went to get one of the pastries that Zuko was eating only to find no more red ones. "You ate all of the red pastries. I, at least, wanted one more." Iroh said, stopping his tangent about tea. Zuko laughed as he had finally relaxed more, and handed his uncle a wadded cloth towel. In the cloth wad, as Iroh took it, he could see that Zuko saved him one before he went digging in and devouring the entire tray of red goodies.
After the mud bath they moved to the massage room. They were told to take their robes off and lay on the tables on their stomachs. Iroh did so and as soon as he laid down one of the masseuse's placed a towel over his waist and started on the massage. Zuko, already being a bit relaxed, was a bit confused but did as he was told. As soon as the masseuse started on the massage Zuko started to feel so much tension leave his body. He never realized he was that tense and as the tension was released he felt like he was on a cloud, floating, thinking 'This must be why the Avatar flies everywhere.' The masseuses soon placed hot stones on their backs after the main part of the massage. "Enjoying yourself, Nephew?" Iroh asked since he had yet to hear Zuko say anything but sigh relaxed. "Yes, Uncle I am." Zuko replied. "I am glad," Iroh replied. Iroh was enjoying this time because it was time to spend with his Nephew and have him relaxed and happy instead of always tense and angry. Once the massages were done they went to get manicures and pedicures. "Uncle, why did we never think to go to a spa much sooner than this?" Zuko asked as they sat down and the manicurists started to work on their hands and feet. "There was never one on the route or time." Iroh said truthfully. Jade came into the area that they were in. "Hello, we were wondering if you both would like anything else before you go after your facials?" She asked them. "Yes, some of the red spicy fire cherry pastries." Zuko replied. "My nephew loves them and I would say make two baskets so that I can get more than two this time." Iroh added. "It will be my pleasure!" Jade said as she went to get started on getting them more pastries for when they were done. The facial specialist came in while they were getting their manicures and pedicures and started working on the facials for them as well. Iroh was in bliss as he commented on all the beautiful women working on them and the women laughed knowing that he was nothing but a harmless old man. Zuko was just so relaxed that he didn't care that his Uncle was making little sly jokes to the women this time.
Once they were done Iroh and Zuko went to go back and get dressed. After they changed, Zuko had a peaceful look on his face. He was not going to let anything bother him for the rest of that week. Iroh was happy and now had even better memories of time with his nephew. They picked up the baskets from Jade before they left. Zuko started to eat some of his pasties on the way back to the ship. "Zuko save some for later." Iroh said laughing. "I would, but they are so good Uncle." Zuko said, but he did stop eating the pastries to save some for later.
Once they were on the ship they saw a door that had been melted that they didn't notice earlier. "I wonder who got mad enough to melt the door?" Iroh said. "I hope they know when I find out who did it they will miss a week's wages." Zuko said as he went to put up the pastries in his room so he didn't just eat them all and the crew didn't get them because they would if he put them in the kitchen. "Zuko, do you think we could eat dinner later together off the ship?" Iroh asked as he was heading to his room. "Yes, Uncle I would like that." Zuko said.
Later that night Zuko and & Iroh headed to one of the restaurants in the town. With how relaxed Zuko is it didn't bother him to be out there around all these people. "So Nephew, the girl from the spa, she was very beautiful. What did you think about her?" Iroh asked not realizing they were in that tavern that her family ran for dinner. Zuko started coughing from choking on air when that was asked, "Uncle is this really the place to ask that?" he coughed out his reply. "Why not? She seemed to be your age." Iroh said. "But Uncle…" Zuko started before Lyng came over to get their order. "Good evening gentlemen, what can I get you tonight?" She asked with a smile. "I think I would like some tea, if you have any. And for my Nephew, he might prefer Lychee Juice" Iroh ordered. "I can order my own lychee juice, uncle." Zuko said with a small sigh. "I can get him the lychee juice but I am really sorry sir but we don't have any tea. We have juices for minors and for the adults wines, beers, and whiskeys." Lyng said politely. "Well lets see I never had been fond of saki so I will not drink that. It has been awhile since I had melonyam wine. So I think I will have that." Iroh replied. "Alright I will be back in a moment. Also, for dinner, tonight's special is a seared rabbit-deer stew." Lyng said right before she went to get their drinks. "Seared rabbit-deer stew that sounds like it will be interesting." Zuko said. "Yes it does, if we like it maybe I can see about getting us the recipe to make it for the ship one day." Iroh said. Lyng comes back with their drinks, "So what do you think about getting to eat?" "We would both like the stew please." Zuko asked. "Alright I will be right back with it!" Lyng said going back to the kitchen. She was just about to take out the stew when Jade decided she wanted to take it out. Jade went and took the stew to Zuko and Iroh's table and she froze when she saw Zuko again. She blushed as they looked at her and she put the stew down going back into the kitchen as she heard her mothers laughing softly. "Um… Uncle what just happened?" Zuko asked, confused. "Nephew, that was the girl from the Spa. It seems she formed a crush on you." Iroh said laughing as Zuko's face turned red from blushing. The two eat their stew in silence. It was awkward for Zuko though because Iroh was still chuckling at his embarrassment. Lyng came to check on them after a bit. "So, how is everything?" She asked. "We love the stew, Also we were wondering if we could get the recipe. I am sure our crew will love it!" Iroh said. "It is a family recipe, we don't just give that out. I am very sorry." Lyng said. "Ah, yes it's always good to keep those recipes in the family." Iroh nodded. "Thank you for understanding. Also you are welcome to come anytime. I am sure Jade would LOVE to see your Nephew again." Lyng said with a mischievous smile. "I am sure my Nephew would like to see her again too." Iroh said smiling, winking and nudging Zuko's arm as he paid for their meal. Iroh and Zuko left, with Zuko being super embarrassed and not knowing what to do about his Uncle.
The Babes and the Baby:
After a long day at work, the women of the bar count their earnings and tips for the day. The women are hunched over, talking and giggling. One of them looks up from the conversation, "Baby, where's SoLa?" They both look around the bar for their small troublemaker. "There you are!" The bartender, and her birth mother, JoLyn, exclaimed. "Where have you been all day, sweet girl?" SoLa looks up at her mothers with eyes shining. "Wisten to man stowwies," She said with a large grin.
Her mothers held her close, "Would you like a story, my love?" The waitress, Lyng, asked. SoLa squirmed in their arms excitedly. "YES WEASE! My favowite one!"
Lyng knew her favorite story by heart, and it was beautiful that it was her favorite. For it was the story of how they became a family.
"OK." She started. "Once upon a time…
A long time ago, there was a handsome man. This man took your mommy and made her the happiest any man could. They laughed, loved each other, and one day, married. Then, he made her a mommy, and gave her the most beautiful girl in the world.
At this, Lyng booped her daughter's nose, and she giggled, pure and loud, filling the bar with a joy it usually doesn't have when it's full.
They were happy for a long time. Then one day, the Fire Nation soldiers found out that he was a bender, and took him from us. Your mommy cried and cried, for nights on end. And you were too small to remember.
SoLa giggles and says "No, I member." JoLyn scrunched her eyebrows at her daughter, "You couldn't remember sweetie." "I member you being sad for a wong time. I didn't know why… But I member I couldn't help you feel better." SoLa said sadly. "Quite the contrary, my darling." JoLyn said while kissing SoLa's forehead. "You are the reason I'm happy today." SoLa giggled and said, "And mommy too." To which she kissed Lyng's cheek, chuckling, and said, "Yes. And mommy too."
One day, your mommy was so sad that she got her mother to watch you and took a stroll on a bridge.
JoLyn shot her a look that said, 'dont you DARE tell her I was going to jump' but even without the look, Lyng continued her story, leaving out bits that might be a little too advanced for their little one.
On the bridge, she ran into me, a lady just doing some shopping, needing help trying to get supplies to her house. She was dropping things all over.
"She was you!" SoLa exclaims. "Yes, she was." Lyng said with a smile, their daughter's joy, infectious.
So she stopped feeling sad long enough to help someone struggling. And it made her feel a little better. When we got all the supplies to her home, she asked her grand savior to stay for dinner. She did, and after some hearty stew and heartier conversation, she started feeling better and better. Afterwards, she asked the woman if they could do more things together, and eventually asked if she could bring her baby daughter along.
"Cuz you made mommy feel safe!" SoLa interjected happily again.
And they did things together. All the time. The women watched the baby grow and become a beautiful little girl. And one day, they decided to marry. We did it for love. But also for safety. Neither of us are benders, and when a war breaks out, the army takes men of the household. If there are no men in the household, we don't need to have our family separated again.
Then one day, the family was on a picnic, and saw a girl, running from what looked like war ostriches. 'Man, that girl could run.' Everyone thought as she outran freaking war ostriches. Everyone but you. As she approached us, you held out your arms to give her a big hug. She stopped, and she's been our daughter, loved and protected ever since.
"I wish Jade was here for my favorite story." SoLa said sadly. "Speak of the devil, she should be off work at the spa soon. Who wants to walk with me to walk her home?" JoLyn asked the group.
Just then, Fhai, JoLyn's husband walks in. "I'd love to."
And everyone's jaws drop to the floor.
"Well, don't everyone run outside at once." He said with a big smile on his face. "I know there's a story to be told and I'm more interested in yours than you are of mine."
JoLyn walked with him to pick up Jade, and told him the story of how they came to be a family, and even offered a spot in their family to him. "Would you join us?" She asked. He grabbed her hands and answered her question with a question of his own. "Do you still love me?" This was hard for her to answer. "Darling, you've been away for years. Yes, I do. I will always love you, but my heart belongs to Lyng." With that, he sighed, and let go. "I can be a part of the family, to raise my daughter." "Daughters," JoLyn corrects. "We have two." "But one of them isn't mine." He said. She reared on him so fast it almost gave him whiplash. "It doesn't matter! If you are a part of this family, you love everyone in it! No favorites! And if you can't handle that, then you can leave!" He gulped. In all his years, he couldn't remember his wife being so feisty. 'How much have things changed while I was gone?' he thought to himself.
Once they made it to the Spa to pick up Jade, she saw that she was happy and blushing as she walked out, and stopped dead in her tracks. "Who is this behemoth, mother?" Jade asked as she assumed an earthbending stance. Fhai felt the sting from that comment. How could he be a part of a family that doesn't know him? "This is SoLa's father, Fhai." JoLyn introduced him. "So… You guys… EWWWWW! Shut up, shut up, shut UP!" She said as she covered her ears. "Fhai or not, can we go home now?" Fhai felt the coldness from the teenage girl that wasn't his. "Your name is Jade?" He asks, trying to make polite conversation. "Yeah. What's it to you?" She asked with her arms crossed. "Jade, you will be nice! How many times do we have to tell you?" JoLyn added with her arms crossed. "Our livelihood is customer service, you need to do something about that attitude before it gets you in trouble one day." "You should listen to your mother." Fhai said. To which Jade chewed him out. "You have NO RIGHT to tell me who to listen to or not. I was already GOING TO listen to my mother. I love her. Unlike SOME people." And she ran off, crying. "What's her deal?" Fhai asked JoLyn. "Well. She's an earthbender and says that if she was caught like you were, she would have returned home a lot sooner, because she never would have given up. She thinks you lost faith, and didn't love us enough to return sooner." "But I didn't give up. They arrested anyone who fought back and kept us imprisoned on a metal vessel. Anyone who tried too hard got put into solitary, and that would change a man. I was in solitary four times. I will tell everyone how we escaped when we get back."
When JoLyn and Fhai made it back to the bar, Jade was already sitting at a table with SoLa and Lyng. Jade is crying and SoLa is on the brink of tears. "Weese, sissy. What's wrong?" She asks over and over while patting her sister's hair. "I think I am." Fhai says addressing the group. "Or at least, part of me is. But not all." He sits down at the table with the girls and sighs. "Would you all like to hear a story?" The only one happily ready to hear a story is SoLa.
Fhai clears his throat and starts… Once upon a time…
There was a small happy family running a small, quaint little daytime tavern. The man had a beautiful wife and lovely daughter, and loved them both. One day, when he was working, some Fire Nation soldiers came and started burning houses to the ground, to see who would come out and fight back, to lure out earthbenders. Some fought to the death. Some, myself included, agreed to leave with them if they spared their families, homes, and small businesses. And with one last longing glance back, I left my family. First, they shackled all of us, hands and feet, to each other and piled us awkwardly on carts, rolling us to the waters. When we got to the water, there was the largest ship I've ever seen in my life, billowing smoke. It looked like everything was over. What did they want with us? Were they going to wipe us out like the Air Nomads? Were they going to use us for an army? They did nothing of the sort. They left us on the ship. No land, no freedoms, and the nastiest food you could ever taste.
JoLyn, at the sound of food, thought to bring him some food that he hadn't had in a while. They had some stew that was in a pot on low heat so she fixed him a bowl and brought him some bread and saki to go food warmed his throat, as well as his spirits, and he continued with his story in between bites.
We were stuck there. All those who tried to escape got put into solitary confinement, and they'd leave you in there until not only they forgot about you, but you forgot your own name. When they'd finally let you out, they'd beat you, in the hopes of beating the fighting spirit out of you. My spirit was never broken. I never stopped trying to make my way home. The closest to making it home that I got was that one day, I jumped overboard and killed a few fish to leave a blood trail so they'd think that I was dead. But the fish blood attracted jellynemone and skunk fish. So the ship's crew cast out nets to catch the slew of fish gathering for a morsel of what the blood was from. And I was swept away into their nets and brought back onto the deck I almost escaped. They put me in solitary for the longest I can recall, about 6 months, after that. The day I get out of solitary, there's a girl that gets taken onto the ship, dressed in blue and screaming about rebellion. I thought all my fight left me, but the next day, the Avatar showed up, like she said, and I knew we'd win. So we all fought back, some with strength they haven't displayed for years, some with renewed vigor and energy that I can't recall them ever having.
"Well, the important thing is that you're all home now." Lyng said. "Actually, not all of us. Some still have Fire Nation to fight for their homelands. I'm lucky enough that there aren't any Fire Nation soldiers on our lands."
Just then Zhang comes in and asks if he can have, "One more drink for the road." The girls agree, happy that this is the last time today they'll see him. Even though he's been more respectful lately, he still gives them the creeps.
When Zhang leaves, it's just the small family left in their homely little shop. Fhai turns to Jade. "I'm sorry I missed out on so much. But there's much I'd like to make up for. Would you like to learn proper earthbending?" Jade's face lights up like Christmas. "Would I?" "I dunno. That's why I asked." Fhai said with a straight face. Everyone else just giggled.
The Gaang:
By the end of the week, the villagers were not only waiting for Katara to leave, but already had a bag of provisions for them packed and loaded onto Appa, scared that she'd rain on their parade the longer she stayed.
As she tried to get on Appa, he stopped her, already wet from the sheer size of the cloud. He nuzzled her chest, waiting for her to open her arms to hug him, and licked her, his large tongue moistening her arms and face. Aang laughs the first laugh he has in a week, and it's weak. And Sokka laughs so hard that he falls down into the mud, making Katara laugh, and making the rain cloud smaller and smaller, but not entirely gone. Aang has an idea, and thinks to airbend the small cloud away. As he creates an air scooter to push the cloud away, he realizes that it isn't dissipating. Instead, it moved with the breeze. This gave Sokka an idea. He took Aang with him, airbending the cloud and following him through Hei-Bai's forest. "Oh! I get it Sokka!" "Oh do you?" Sokka whirled around with a giant grin on his face, "I don't think you do." Aang looked confused for a moment. "Of course, we're going to leave the cloud out here to replenish the forest." "NO!" Sokka happily squealed. "I did a thing and you're going to love it. Come see!"
With that, Sokka led Aang to the heartseed tree that he planted. "I think if we leave your magic cloud, it'll help the magic tree!" He said as he stood in a TADAA stance, showing off the new, yet ancient looking, tree.
They left the rain cloud by the heartseed tree and turned to leave. Sokka looked back and smiled, one more smile to his mother, and saw at the base of the tree small vines and creeping sproutlings. "I love you, mom." He mutters before turning and leaving with Aang.
As the boys reach Appa, they see that Katara is the happiest that she's been all week, performing cartwheels and laughing. As she sees the boys, she stops cartwheeling, straightens herself out, and climbs atop Appa. As soon as everyone gets aboard Appa, off they go again.
Zuko's Crew:
Zuko after this lovely long week was not ready to leave once the repairs were done. He liked how relaxed that he had been and wished for it to have stayed that way. Yet, he couldn't, he had to capture the Avatar. He also wished that he wasn't terribly sunburnt, even with having worn sunscreen, so he was semi casual as he watched his crew start to come back on ship. Iroh had a list of the whole crew and was checking them off as they got back on the ship. "Two people are still missing Zuko." Iroh replied. "Who?" Zuko asked as he was trying to figure out how to stand without hurting his arms or neck and legs which were all bright red from his bad sunburn. "Yhu Wy and Kel." Iroh replied watching Zuko, "While we wait I can send someone to go get you some lotion from the healer that can help you with your sunburns." he added. "Yes, Uncle I Really need something and if the other two are not back by the time that person comes back we will leave." Zuko said. Iroh nodded to LhyTu to go get the lotion for a healer for Zuko.
While they were waiting for LhyTu to come back they all saw Yhu Wy being chased by four angry women. LhyTu was following behind them with a few things of lotion for Zuko. LhyTu looked like he had been pushed into a wall by the women chasing after Yhu Wy. "Get back here scumbag!" "You can't get away from us asshole!" "We will get you for this!" "Fucking asshole Playboy!" All four women were yelling this as they chased him. As soon as Yhu Wy got on the ship he was safe from the women, since they couldn't get on the ship. As LhyTu was coming up to the ship to go on the women all looked at him and apologized together. "We are sorry, hun! That jerk up there thought it was smart to bed each of us. And we are all friends, so when we found out we wanted to hurt him. We didn't mean to push you into a wall." "Oh, it's fine, I believe he deserved what you were going to do to him, but I promise you what our commander will do is much worse. So he will be punished." LhyTu said as he knew Zuko was watching him and could hear the conversation as LhyTu was coming back on board. The ship was then closed for anyone not back on the ship as they started to leave port. "Yhu Wy, you are now confined to the ship, you lose two months wages, and you will be in the brig for the next two weeks." Zuko started, "That is for disrespecting the Fire Nation and messing with too many women in a port. You could have caused a fight! You're lucky Lhy Tu has respect for women! A fight?... How do you think that would reflect on you and look ON ME? '' Zuko finished as he angrily took the lotions that LhyTu gave him, with a quickly muttered, "Thanks," and went to slather it on his sunburns.