Chapter Three:
"Nanook! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"It's already midday! I went to your tent to find you, but your mother told me you weren't there. She also told me you love to hang out here."
"I guess I do like it here. But, Nanook, why are you here?"
"Well, this is a little embarrassing, but I sort of wanted to see you."
"Oh, Nanook…"
"Don't be angry, I just…"
"I'm not angry at all! That was so romantic!"
Both of their hearts fluttered. They moved in on each other slowly, looking deeply into one another's eyes. As they got even closer their hands reached out and met in the middle. They locked in an embrace and moved their heads closer.
"No, Nanook, I like you a lot, but we've only known each other for a few days. I'd love to spend more time with you, and possibly a relationship, but not right now."
"Oh, okay. Well, this is awkward."
"No, this shouldn't be awkward. We were never anything less than friends, and we still aren't. That kiss would have upped the ante, but since it never happened, we are the same as we were."
"Fine, then, can you teach me some more waterbending?"
"Yeah, come on." she smiled.
Saamee moved her hands in a grabbing motion and pulled water from the air. She then turned it to ice, melted it back to water, and then showed Nanook something really cool.
"This is something I figured out when I was playing around with boiling water."
She told Nanook that there was a very fine line between water, and fire. She said this was the key to defeating the firebenders. She took the cold water, and showed him how to make the water vibrate really fast. As she did it heated up and started to steam. She propelled it at a snow sculpture and they both watched it melt.
"That was so cool!" said Nanook.
"Now you try!"
Nanook took water from the air, just as Saamee had, and focused on it. In less than a second it was boiling. He tried touching it, and pulled his hand back rapidly.
"As I said, fire, water, same thing, they can both be hot!" she said with a smile. "Now I'm going to show you the octopus. It's very hard, so don't be…"
"Wait, let me just try something. If you can heat up water, why can't we heat up water in other materials?"
"What do you mean?" asked Saamee.
Nanook picked up a rock and placed it in Saamee's hands. He concentrated on it and all of sudden Saamee threw the rock out of her hand.
"OWW!" she said.
"Isn't that cool? As you were talking I thought of that. Why don't you try? Just do the same you did with the water."
Saamee picked up the still luke warm rock. She concentrated very hard for many minutes, but couldn't come up with what Nanook had. She tried again, but still couldn't.
"I can't do it."
"Saamee, something isn't right."
"Moon?" Saamee thought.
"Nanook is dealing with dark bending; I never thought someone would discover it. Something is up with him. Be careful."
"I'm sure it's nothing. He's amazing! And anyway, what do you mean, 'Dark Bending'?"
"There is waterbending, what I have taught you, and then there is dark bending. Dark bending is more powerful, and very dangerous. If Nanook continues with it, he will become lost with power."
"No, you have it all wrong! Nanook is a wonderful person! He would never hurt anyone!"
"If you defend him, you will regret it. Listen to me, Saamee."
"NO! I won't listen to you if you're wrong!"
"You must listen. I'm giving you one shot to avoid this all!"
"NO!"
Saamee ripped the necklace the Moon had given her and stomped on it. She then ran off across the open ice plain while Nanook stayed in the background, dumbfounded. He had absolutely no clue what had just happened. He walked over to the remnants of the necklace. It was a beautiful, blue porcelain, necklace shaped like the moon. He slipped the main part into his pocket, and walked off to find Saamee.
One minute she was fine, the next minute she was sad she couldn't do something, and then she was furious and stomped off into the snow.
"Women." he said.
He saw her run to her fort, and went in her direction. On his way he thought of what he could say to comfort her. He wasn't completely sure, but he knew that he had to tread carefully. She could walk out on him if he said the slightest thing wrong. The worst part was that he didn't even know what she was mad about! As he got closer to the fort, he could hear Saamee crying.
"Saamee? Can I come in?" he asked.
"No, just go away."
"I just want to talk."
"Please Nanook, I want to be alone."
He walked in anyway, and approached her slowly. He could see her trembling with anger, and coldness.
"Saamee, you need to come inside, it's too cold outside. There is a cold wind coming, and we need to be by a fire."
"I'm-not-moving-Nanook."
He moved in closer and tightened his arms around her waist from behind. He could feel her trying to break free, but he didn't let her. She screamed at him to let her go, but he didn't. He wasn't sure what he was doing, something had come over him. Out of nowhere, Saamee lashed a frozen whip at Nanook's face. He writhed in pain and yelled. Saamee took this chance to run outside. Nanook followed closely behind her.
"Saamee! I'm sorry! I don't know what happened!"
Saamee stopped in her tracks and waited for Nanook to greet her. She told him that she was sorry too, and that she was angry at herself. They looked at each other, and hugged. Saamee looked sadly at his bloody cheek, and wiped it off with her thumb.
"I love you." she said.