Part: One- The Lutdeo
Chapter: Fifteen- Thanks
Author: Fritters-4-Psi
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Avatar: The Last Air Bender or the related characters. Nor do I profit from this fanfiction. The only things of my creation in this fanfiction are the Koertan, Kashi, Risha, the concept of the grith coin, Vioniza, Raven's Watch, and Kali. Other possible thing to come in later chapters.
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When Risha and Zuko entered the house, the mantel had a roaring fire beneath it. Also, the lamps hanging on the walls were lit. It was quiet. In front of the fireplace, Aang and Iroh were playing a game of Pai Sho. Sokka was sitting on a nearby chair, flipping through a book. It seemed as though Katara had already gone to bed. Suddenly, Aang jumped up and yelled, "I beat you! I finally beat you! I got double back what I lost!"
"You've done very well, for someone who hasn't played in more than one hundred years," Iroh commented.
Regaining his composure, Aang bowed to Iroh. "You have been a great mentor for helping me relearn this game," Aang said.
Absent-mindedly, Sokka turned a page of the book and said, "Hey, can you two keep it down? I'm trying to read."
A yawn could be heard from where Zuko was. Risha looked at her cousin, seeing his mouth wide mid-yawn. She realized that she was also tired. A yawn escaped from her mouth as well. "How about we all go to bed?" Risha suggested.
Everyone nodded in agreement, except for Sokka who seemed absorbed in the book. "Yeah, you go ahead. I'm going to read for a while," he stated.
Risha subconsciously ignored Sokka. "We seem to have a problem. There's only five rooms and six people. Katara, obviously, already has her own room. As do I," Risha said, "Each room does have more than bed, though. Looks like two people are going to have to bunk together. Zuko, it looks like you may have to share a room with Uncle Iroh."
With a blank look on his face, Zuko replied, "You saw what we ate tonight. You know what happens when Uncle Iroh eats lots of green vegetables. I wouldn't want to subject anyone to that. Even that Water Tribe peasant."
Sokka was about to tell Zuko his two cents, but he was interrupted. "Okay, so no one is going to bunk with Uncle Iroh," Risha sighed, "That leaves two other rooms. And you, my dear cousin, obviously, can't stay in the same room alone with Sokka or Aang, so you get your own room."
All of them, especially Risha, were stumped on how to solve this. There was one room left and two people. "I could stay out here," Sokka suggested, "I want to continue reading this book, anyway."
There were general remarks of agreement. They said their goodnights and went off into their own rooms, leaving Sokka near the fireplace by himself. It was quiet and slightly on the dark side. The fire and lamps seemed to give off just enough light to read by. The book Sokka was reading was extremely intriguing. The tome was, clearly, on the older side. The pages were worn and the cover was tattered. These damages took nothing away from the contents of the book. It spoke of an ancient race of Benders who could Bend shadows, also allowing them to change themselves. Everyone saw the Shadow Benders to be evil to work with that dark discipline. Of course, this race of Shadow Benders was only a myth. No one had ever seen one in the course of all written history. It was just a folk tale, used to keep young children from snooping around outside at night.
One by one, the lamps went out. Sokka assumed that the source that kept the lights on, be it a candle wick or oil, was depleted. Soon, only one lamp and the fire were still going. The light to read by, long ago had vanished. Sokka marked his place in the book, setting it down. The fire died suddenly. A few moments went by. A draft blew through the open room, distinguishing the final lamp. There was complete darkness.
It was quite possible that Sokka had heard footsteps, but brushed it off. It had to be late by now, he was going to sleep. As quickly as the fire had died, it came back to life. Sitting on the Pai Sho table, in front of the fire, was Risha. "Remember, oh, what must be two or three days ago? When I found you by that mother Koertan calving? I had you pull the calf out while I was helping the mother," she reminded him.
Sokka sat up and looked at Risha. She was wearing the robe, which she wore earlier that day to trick the Fire Nation troops that turned out to be under the command of her cousin. In the haste of evacuating Risha's house through a secret passageway, Sokka hadn't noticed how beautiful the robe was. It was black, gold trim, with dark red spirals that formed several Fauna Kinship insignias. "Yeah, of course I remember," Sokka replied.
"You've been wondering what it was, exactly, that I had done to 'help' the mother Koertan," Risha stated, "I never really told you and your friends what a Fauna Bender can do. Yes, I have told you some of the things I've done with my abilities, but that wasn't saying specifically what a Fauna Bender does. Like I told you before, the mother Koertan wasn't pushing the calf out. Talking to her, coaching her through calving, wasn't working."
"You talked to her? I didn't hear you say anything," Sokka was confused.
"I can talk to the animals through extrasensory perception. I can speak with them with thoughts," Risha explained, "As I was saying, the mother wasn't pushing. She wasn't even having contractions. It's one thing to pull a calf when the mother is actually trying . . . When they aren't and you try to pull the calf, the mother might prolapse. There was only one thing I could do. I had to take over her thought and action pattern. When I entered her mind, Shima — that's her name --- had to subdue to my control. In a sense, I became her. I felt the pain she felt while giving birth. I saw what she saw. I was in control and I made her start pushing the calf out. Thankfully, I didn't die in the process. That pain was almost unbearable."
"Wait. So you're telling me you can control animals? As well as talk to them? You entered her mind, knowing that it would be dangerous to you, to save Shima and her calf?" Sokka asked.
Risha nodded. "Yes, I did. If it wasn't for you, I'm sure I would have died. Sokka, if you hadn't been there, I would have had to pull the calf and deal with the pain I had to face while controlling Shima. You really helped save three live that day. Not only two," Risha stated.
Slowly, the light of the fire began to dim. Risha stood and started to walk away. She had gotten a few feet away when she stopped. The fire dimmed even more. The Fauna Bender turned back around to face Sokka. Gingerly, she walked toward him. Leaning forward slightly, Risha kissed Sokka lightly on the cheek. "Thanks for saving the Koertans' lives," she thanked him, "And of course, saving my life, as well."
Once again, she turned to go to her room. She was stopped by Sokka gently grabbing her arm. He pulled her to him and kissed her on the mouth. She returned the kiss, but backed away after a few moments. Slightly short of breath, she said, "Goodnight Sokka. Sleep well."
The Fauna Bender got up and walked toward her room. Half way there, she looked over her shoulder and smiled at Sokka. He smiled in return, with a small wave. The Water Tribe warrior lay down and wondered if he would sleep that night. The fire flickered back to life, allowing enough light to read by. Sokka grabbed the book, hoping that reading would tire his eyes and he could sleep.
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Warning: This Author's Note contains spoilerness for the season finale. In case you haven't seen it, that is.
A/N: Okay, kind of an odd chapter to write. For the longest times I put off deciding if Sokka and Risha would fall for each other. I thought if they did, it would make the story too Mary-Sue-ish. It still might be too mush like a Mary-Sue story. I thought that Sokka not realizeing that he likes Risha until a later chapter would make it less of a Mary-Sue story. Who knows? This was also written before the season finale aired, so... Yeah... I totally understand if people completely spazz about this chapter, saying it's a load of crap and that after Yue, well you know, died, Sokka would never look at another girl again. Like I said, though, I wrote this before the finale aired so I would of had no way of knowing that Yue died. I never really thought the Sokka/Yue relationship was going to work, but I didn't think it would end because she was dead!
Reviews
Chapter Thirteen
Tallis Nightly: I know! It always seems that Katara has no female friends! I hope your story turns out good so that she can have female friends in the fanfic world!
Chapter Fourteen
Half-elf: I've never heard that saying before. It's so awesome, though! It makes me laugh.