Chapter 8- Kitchen Duty

Splash! I dropped an armful of dishes into soapy water. I sighed loudly, this is what my next chore was, kitchen duty.

"New girl, the dirty dishes go in this sink!" Damn. Nita's gonna get pissed. Nita, the kitchen's warden, marched over. She seemed like the hawk that waited from her corner of the room watching for ever little mishap. It'd be better if she had a life. "NO!" she shook her head. "If you're going to work, you better do things correctly."

Another thing that was surprising about Nita was that she was a girl of small proportions. She was short and stout, yet when her mouth opened, it was as if you couldn't help but feel intimidated.

"I've got a name you know", I started, "And it's not new girl."

"I don't freaking care that you are. You could be queen of your nation," how ironic, "and you still are going to do things my way. This is my kitchen and while you're in here, my word is law."

"Psh."

"Don't "psh" me. Just for that, you better get those dishes done. Another set of dishes are getting ready and they've got your name on it."

"Whatever", I muttered as I turned around. I drained the sink of its dirty liquid and then gathered the dishes to locate them in another sink. I took a nearby sponge and started scrubbing. A girl, about my age, worked along side me. We worked in silence for a while and noticed that she kept on glancing at my clothing.

"What did you get in for?" She asked finally breaking the silence.

"Saving a town from total destruction." She looked at me disbelief. "No, for real, you're looking at the town's leader."

"I guess I'm willing to take anything nowadays." She sighed. (A lot of sighing these days.)

"So, what were you here for?" I said trying to keep up the conversation.

"Concubine."

I gasped loudly. "For who?"

"No one, I just said that to make it interesting." I was grinned at her. Not that it spared me the thoughts of how nasty it would have been to go to bed with one of them, but it showed a sign that this was going to be an interesting acquaintanceship.

"But, for the real reason. I am his trainer: an earth bender from the most beautiful places you'd ever known. Like you, I was saving someone, my little brother from Zuko."

"Exactly! Why does every guy think that if they fight a fire bender, they'll get laid?" She laughed at my remark. Her voice was the kind that was deep and sensual. I guess Iroh fell for her too.

"By the way, the name's Myra."

"Riena."

"Back to work there you two!" Nita shouted from the corner of the room before returning to yell at a little kid mopping the floor.

"Sometimes, I just want to hurt that lady." My new found friend said.

"Just look at this." I spotted the bucket of slop that the kid was using to mop the floor. I raised my hand, now dripping with soap, and flicked my forefinger at Nita as she was walking away. I was not finished with her yet. The water stirred and suddenly flew from the bucket to her face. Nita stopped mid-stride as she was dripping wet.

"Hmm, a water bender from a water bending town. Not bad." Myra said as the whole room laughed at Nita. As soon I was done laughing I suddenly heard a low growl and turned to see Nita looking straight at me. I was in trouble. I froze in place as she started toward me, but to my relief a guard came in. He called for Nita. Just before leaving the room I she stopped and glanced my way giving me an I'm-gonna-get-you-one-day glare.

"BACK TO WORK!" She commanded before disappearing. The room stopped its loud laughter and returned to its soft volume of dishes clinking and people taking orders.

Then I turned down to my side to see the little girl that was mopping tugging on my pants.

"Thank you." She said in her sweet voice. I almost died at her innocence. What kind of ship were fire benders holding? She ran to resume her job.

"That was the funniest thing that I've seen here. You did good – I just wished that it was me." Myra said as we continued soaping the dishes.

"Well you know how we do." I replied in my satisfied voice. Another stack of dishes were set beside me. "How much do these people eat?"

"This is nothing. Just wait for dinner, then you'll see the stacks reach the ceiling – being hypothetical of course. But working here, it's hell."

I said nothing after this, but watched as the little girl finish mopping when Nita stepped in. She seemed to be in shock as she walked from the door to the other across the room without realizing that anyone was there. She walked through like a ghost. The little girl continued mopping to cover up the spot where Nita had stepped.

"Is Nita always like this?" I nudged Myra and nodded toward Nita's silent figure.

"She's always mad. Just when I got here, I took her place as trainer. I don't know what happened to her before me. I think someone said something about her losing her powers all of a sudden and became useless. And so they couldn't have left her out at see, so they just let her work here."

"That's so sad – to have lost your gift. I hope I don't lose mine."

"I don't think so. With you being able to do that little move without much concentration, you must have great skill. It'll take a lot to have you lose yours. I just wish that there were actual rocks to bend here. Now, I've got to make sure that I don't lose them. I'm practicing with pebbles that they gave me."

"Some fun you must have."

"Well it's better than staring at the walls."

"Yeah I guess your right. But what I can't understand is why she is so mad at everyone else."

"Well, you know that old guy that's always nice to everyone? It was rumor that she was once lovers with him. But then again, who knows why she would fall in love with a fire bender. They're all dogs."

"You've got that right. And not to mention ugly – have you seen that scar on that prince's face? That's gonna stay there."

"Another story there too."

"Oh, really? Do tell." I said ready to hear some more of this history lesson.

"Others around here say that he had once challenged a master fire bender. Reason why? I do not know. But you know how the guy gets. So they two get into a fight and bang – there's his painful souvenir."

"Ouch."

"He had it coming. Oh, are you fighting with him any time soon?"

"Uh, yeah, tomorrow."

"I'll come by and watch. Did you ever notice that they never lock the doors at all?"

"Really? That's weird isn't it?"

"But, don't get any ideas. I tried escaping many times and they've always caught me."

"Damn."

"Shush! There are little ears around." She said as she darted her eyes toward the smaller kids. I laughed. Maybe kitchen duty wasn't much of hell today. Zuko was my living hell.


So.. yeah I guess thats chapter 8 for you. Thank you for reviewing Chapter 7! I'm glad that a lot of people like it! And for those who are wondering, I'm thinking of getting Aang the others in here. I mean what kinda Avatar fanfiction without the avatar?