Aww...did you miss me? Heh, j/k, well I love the new season! The first episode was really good and I really liked the 2nd episode, even if it was a little Kataang, and the third episode is taking forever to get here. Well, I've had this chapter done for a while now, and I decided I couldn't wait any longer so I posted it today. Eh-heh, okay, I'll just get straight to the story! I hope you like it!
I do not own A:TLA
The First Step
It was early in the morning, and the sun was shining through the crack in their tattered curtains in the room Katara and Sokka had rented. Neither of them had slept well the previous night, but eventually the power of sleep had overtaken them. Sokka's snoring had become unbearable, and had woken Katara up after three hours of sleep. Climbing out of bed, Katara crossed the room and opened the curtains, flooding their small room with light. Then walking over to the sleeping Sokka, she clapped her hands in front of his face, forcing him to wake up.
"What the heck was that for!" he said aggravated.
"You had to wake up, and we need to figure out what we're supposed to do to find dad." she explained, pulling out their bag of money that was hidden in the small dresser on the other side of the room.
"What's a few more hours of sleep?" he complained drowsily.
"A few more hours of listening to your relentless snoring. Now get up." she threw a pillow at him and hit him in the face.
"I don't snore." he pouted and got out of his bed stretching and yawning.
"Whatever, lets go. I think we should buy some clothes, so we don't stand out so much, and we shouldn't spend so much on breakfast, we need to save our money." she added, upon hearing Sokka's stomach growl.
"Stupid Zuko and his stupid money. We shouldn't even be using it!" he complained, crossing his arms in anger.
"Then how are we supposed to survive Sokka? Are you gonna work for it? I doubt you could find enough work to support us."
"Well, It would be better than using that scum bag's money. He had no good reason for doing this to us!" he opened the door and he and Katara left the room.
"If he kept us till we reached the fire nation Sokka, what do you think would've happened to us?" she stopped walking down the hallway in the inn, and stood facing him.
"I uh, I don't know, but hey! Zuko doesn't give a damn about us, so why would he care about what happened to us once we reached the fire nation?" He stared accusingly at Katara.
"Can we talk about this later? I want to get something to eat." she said evasively, continuing walking down the hallway, as a silent Sokka followed. He didn't know, and he didn't want to know why his sister was so touchy about the subject. They left the inn, and wondered around town for something to eat. The town was an earth nation town, crowed with people. Happy people, who looked like they led carefree lives. It wasn't surprising that Katara and Sokka felt completely out of place there. They stopped at a cart selling papayas and mango's, Katara bought her and Sokka a large mango and paid the owner of the cart two copper pieces. They found a table in the city square and cut the mango and began to eat hungrily, as the people around them chatted loudly.
"How much money do we have left?" Sokka said as he took a large bite out of his slice of mango.
"Hundred and twenty gold pieces, ninety- eight copper pieces, and seventy-five silver pieces. Still don't want to use that scum bag's money?" she smirked.
"Oh hahahaha, did he really give us that much?" he asked curiously as he peered into the bag of money.
"Apparently, but we should still spend it sparingly." the waterbender told him as she finished the last of her mango. She stood up and tucked the sack into her belt, and left the table. Sokka quickly followed.
"You know, I should be the one to carry the money, I'm the man!" he protested, and he caught up with her.
"Oh please, don't make me laugh. I'm carrying the money for now. I wonder where we can find some clothes..." she drifted off, weaving in and out of the crowds, Sokka mumbling angrily behind.
Finally the came upon a small shop containing earth kingdom clothing. They entered the tiny shop looking around for clothing that would last them for a long trip, that would keep them warm in the cold, and cool in the heat. Sokka wandered off in an opposite direction of the shop and Katara looked over a green outfit that looked similar to her present clothes, but lacked sleeves and the slits in the bottom half were missing. All in all, it looked pretty good. She decided to go with it, and walked back over to Sokka, who was looking at a brown shirt.
"Find anything?" she asked him, looking over the shirt he was holding.
"I think I'll go with this, but keep my original pants."
"Alright." she snatched the clothing from his hands and walked over to the shop keeper who looked as if he was about to fall asleep right then and there. She layed the clothes on the counter and took out the correct amount of money that they needed to pay for the clothes. The shop keeper took the money and bagged their clothes in a sack and handed it to them. She told him thank you, and they left the store.
"Okay, we need to find somewhere to change..." she murmured not really talking to anyone in particular.
"There's an outhouse right over there!" Sokka pointed to an outhouse in an alley between to large buildings.
"It's good enough, you go change first." they walked over to it and Sokka entered with his shirt.
"What are we supposed to do with our old clothes?" he called from inside the outhouse.
"Umm, I guess we'll just keep them with us, in case we might need them." Sokka opened the door and exited, and motioned to Katara to get inside. About fifteen minutes later Katara emerged dressed in her new outfit. She had put her hair up in a high ponytail, and had kept her mother's necklace on.
"Okay what now?" she asked the also confused boy. Sokka pulled a map out from the pocket of his pants and unfolded it. He examined it closely before giving up and handing it to Katara. She sighed and took it from him.
"Alright, before we do anything else, lets find out where we are." she said looking around for someone to ask.
"I already know that, some town called Jin-Yu. Somewhere in the earth nation."
"Well, I already figured the earth nation part out. Lets see, Jin-Yu... Jin-Yu..." she looked over the map searching for the name of the town.
"Ah, here it is!"she pointed to a dot at the map on the shore of the fire nation sea. It seems that they were closer to the fire nation than Katara thought. That meant that Aang and Zuko would reach the fire nation long before Katara or Sokka could stop them.
"Sokka, this is bad. How can we possibly stop them before they reach the Fire nation capitol?" she looked up at him questioningly.
"L-lets just focus on finding dad, once we find him, then we'll figure something out. We can rent a boat, and sail to the next town and then from there, we can just follow the map. And even if dad isn't in the same camp anymore, we'll just ask around and go from there. Let's just take it from step by step, and finding dad is the first step."
"Alright, I just hope nothing goes wrong." she sighed, shaking worry from her mind.
"Don't worry Katara, What could go wrong?" he put an reassuring hand on her shoulder as they continued looking over the map.
But a few feet away a tall figure dressed in black robes watched the siblings in shadows, careful not to let the teens see him. He had strict instructions to not let them out of his sight, and when the time was right, he would strike, just as his employer instructed him.
Oooh! Who could the stranger be! Well I hope this first chapter went well. I worked on it for days and I think I have it just the way I want it. I can't wait to hear your reviews! If you found something I missed in the story or if you have any questions or suggestions, please tell me! YAY! please review!
The Ever Cheerful Shojo Butterfly!