Hello again!
Sorry for the extremely long wait. I kind of have an excuse... The journey I took to write this particular chapter was a strange one. I wrote half of it, then school work mounted up and I had to do that. Then I lost inspiration to write this chapter. Then ideas for two other fanfics (Both for Avatar: The Last Airbender.) popped up in my mind, then I got very bugged by the ideas and ended up writing first chapters for both of them. Then I nearly finished this chapter when I found I wasn't happy with where it was going and ended up deleting about two thirds of the chapter and re-writing it to play out differently in a way that seemed more fitting. But not before I wrote a later chapter for this story... Yes, I'm very strange and I can't stay concentrated on what I'm meant to be doing very well... Well, nevertheless, here it is.
Hope you enjoy!
It had been about a week since she had snuck out to the city. Ever since that night, life on the island seemed a lot slower, more boring than it used to. Jinora was always restless these days. Tossing and turning in bed, unable to concentrate on her books, unable to keep still during meditation. This was a cause of worry among the population of Air Temple Island for she was always calm and collected. After a few days of this, a concerned Tenzin had a doctor come to the island to check up on Jinora, much to her displeasure, fearing that perhaps she was sick. But the doctor found nothing wrong with her.
Jinora sat her small frame in the window sill of her bedroom. The book in her hand hung uselessly as it dangled by her side. She had long since lost interest in the story as her mind kept drifting elsewhere. She stared out at the sun which was slowly hiding behind the mountain range. Her eyes dropped where she could see the reflection of the freshly lit skyline of Republic City shine and distort off the waters of Yue Bay.
Yue, Jinora thought to herself, the princess who turned into the moon. And same the princess who fell in love with great-uncle Sokka, a Southern Water Tribe peasant at the time.
She brought her knees under her chin with her arms wrapped around her legs as she thought on further.
What if me, the councilman's daughter, fell in love with a street urchin boy, like Skoochy?
She frowned to herself as she lifted her head from her knees. That was a ridiculous thought. And why Skoochy? Her face moulded itself into a confused expression.
Nearly jumping out of her skin in the process, she snapped back to reality when she heard her bedroom door slide open. She turned her head to find Pema at the door holding a drowsy Rohan in her arm.
"Jinora," Pema called, "I'm going to retire early toni—"
Pema cut herself off and her eyes widened when she saw Jinora sitting on her window sill.
"Jinora, get down from there!" Pema instructed, "You could fall out of the window and hurt yourself!"
"Mum," Jinora replied as she brought her book to her face, pretending to read, "I'm fine. I've been here for a while now. I'm sure I'm not going to fall any time soon."
Pema was taken aback at Jinora's response. Was this really her eldest daughter she was talking to?
"Jinora," Pema said as she entered the room, taking a seat on Jinora's bed, "this isn't like you. You haven't been yourself lately. Has something happened recently?"
Jinora looked blankly from her book, "Nothing that I know of."
Pema frowned. She was about to question her daughter further before she her attention turned to the yawning child she was carrying. Pema decided to drop it so she could put Rohan to bed.
"Okay," Pema said as she slowly closed Jinora's door, "I'm sure there's something. If you want to talk about it, I'll listen with an open mind. I'm going to retire early tonight. Have a good night."
The door shut and Jinora listened to her mother's quickly fade away. She turned her gaze toward the city as she let her book fall down to her side with a sigh. She was well aware she was acting a little off lately. She couldn't help it so she had hoped no one would notice. However, it seemed she was doing a terrible job of hiding it.
Maybe it's because I went to Republic City, she reasoned to herself.
Perhaps it would help if she went back there. She eyed the glider which stood against the wall by her feet. She felt a familiar sense of excitement and nerves. She really wanted to go there again. She wanted to feel the sense of freedom she felt when she was able to roam around at her own will. She wanted to see Skoochy.
Wait, her thought process backed off a bit, Skoochy? Why Skoochy, again?
She puffed her cheeks at the thought before she frowned. She thought it over again and came to a conclusion that it was because she seemed to have made a friend out of him. Her first friend that was of her age group. She relaxed her expression into a smile. That was better.
Eyeing her glider again, she felt the temptation. She tried to distract herself from it by reading her book. By the time the sun had set completely, she could no longer resist the thought of going to Republic City once again. She jumped down from her window sill and walked toward her door. She slid it open to check if anyone was coming to check on her. Satisfied, she closed the door behind her and hit the deck, reaching under her bed. Standing up, she produced a bundle of the stolen clothing Skoochy had acquired for her during her first visit to Republic City.
Jinora donned the jacket, the scarf, the gloves and the beret. She looked into her mirror. She thought it looked good on her.
Very nice, she mused.
Slipping a book into her satchel bag, she took one last peek out of her bedroom door. Finding no one, she closed her door once again and turned off all the lights in her room to give the impression she had gone to sleep. She grabbed her glider and climbed onto her window sill. With a giddy smile on her face, she leapt from the window, extended the wings of her glider and took flight toward the city.
Upon reaching dry land, she ventured on foot into the city. Her journey found her once again at Central City Station. She was hoping Skoochy would be there like he was last time she made her way there. Only this time without her standing in the way of a speeding Satomobile.
Looking around from her spot by the statue of Zuko, she couldn't see the boy anywhere. She sighed and sat herself down by the statue. She extracted her book from her bag, which she made sure to keep shouldered at all times, and began to read under the orange glow which illuminated from the statue. She was simply soaking up the lively atmosphere around her, but before long she was engrossed in her book. The first time she had done so in over a week.
Oblivious to the world around her, it was no surprise she let out a yelp and her book almost went flying through the air when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning to see who it was, she was greeted by a chuckling boy. She allowed herself to calm down when she realised it was just Skoochy.
She relaxed and let her heart beat settle as Skoochy propped himself down next to her. He looked down at the book in Jinora's hands with a curious look. The text looked foreign to him, unable to comprehend the meaning of the characters written on the page.
"What book is that?" Skoochy asked.
"It's a novelisation of an old Fire Nation play called Love Amongst the Dragons," Jinora answered a little excitedly before adding with a sigh, "It's so romantic."
Skoochy snickered at her expression as she said that last part. Jinora decided to ignore his teasing and turned back to her book. But when she tried, she couldn't concentrate with Skoochy's presence being so close. Giving up, she placed her book back in her bag and brought her knees to her chin and puffed her chooks in annoyance.
"So what brings you out here to these parts again?" Skoochy questioned.
Jinora took a moment before answering, "It's really boring being stuck on Air Temple Island all the time. It's more fun being here."
"Is that so?" Skoochy chuckled.
Jinora responded with a nod.
"Come on," Skoochy said with a low chuckle as he picked himself off the ground, "let's go somewhere else."
Before she could answer, Skoochy took hold of her hand and lifted her off the ground and began leading them off elsewhere. They made their way all the way to Yue Bay where they sat themselves down on a bench where they simply conversed with one another. Though Skoochy did most of the talking as Jinora listened intently.
She learnt a few interesting things about this street urchin boy. Skoochy was once a ring leader of a gang of other homeless children, but recently began detaching himself from them. She also found out Skoochy was an earthbender, albeit he wasn't particular good at it because of his lack of formal training. But it was enough for him to conjure up schemes to help him pickpocket unsuspecting victims. What she found quite interesting was that he really liked stories, despite his inability to read.
A lot of their conversation revolved around comparing how they grew up. They contrasted each other a great deal in that aspect, but that was far from surprising. Skoochy was only a baby when he was left at the doorsteps of an orphanage where it was hoped that he would be adopted into a loving family, but that never happened. Jinora was the complete opposite. After Skoochy ran away from the orphanage at the age of nine, he had to scavenge for himself while Jinora was given everything. It was quite often Skoochy would go to bed with an empty stomach, sometimes going days without eating. Jinora had never known the feeling. It went on and on and as it dragged on, Jinora more and more began to have an uneasy feeling pitting inside of her.
Skoochy had to struggle a lot in order to survive. Jinora lately had been inwardly complaining about life on Air Temple Island. But her life was like heaven compared to Skoochy's, and that made her feel a little guilty. Soon her ability to converse with Skoochy began to die down.
"What's wrong?" Skoochy asked, noticing Jinora's already quiet demeanour become even quieter.
Jinora looked at Skoochy, taking a moment before answering, "I feel really bad… Recently I've been complaining about life on the island, yet for you it would be heavenly."
Skoochy let out a chuckle which baffled Jinora. She wasn't expecting such a reaction out of him from such a topic.
"Why would life there be heavenly compared to mine?" Skoochy asked rhetorically, "There it's all just a bunch of rules and quiet and stuff. This is much more fun."
"But doesn't it get lonely?" she questioned, "Without a family?"
"Not really", he shrugged, "There's always the other street kids."
Jinora fell quiet again before letting out a yawn. It was starting to get late. She turned her gaze toward Air Temple Island. The final lights were beginning to shut off and soon the island fell dark. The thought of sleep felt enticing. She covered her mouth as another yawn escaped her.
Skoochy noticed her sudden yawning fit and caught wind of what she was thinking, "You going to head back to the island then?"
"Yeah," Jinora nodded as she stood up from the bench, extending the wings of her glider.
"Well see you then," Skoochy bid farewell as he too stood up, "I'll see you some other time then."
Jinora felt her face heat up at the thought of seeing Skoochy again. She quickly spun around in case her face started to redden.
"Y-yeah," Jinora stammered, "some other time."
Skoochy chuckled as Jinora leapt into the air and began flying off into the distance toward Air Temple Island. Skoochy watched her for a moment before she disappeared into the darkness. Immediately after he began making his way to the Dragon Flats borough, to his spot by the heated wall. He thought he should retire for the night too.
Well, there's chapter 3.
Geez, took me long enough, huh? I guess I should say that updates are just going to be very ambiguous. Some will be fast, some will be painfully slow... Hope that isn't too off putting. I'm a little disappointed with how short this chapter is, but it looked so much longer in the Word document...
With my school term coming closer to an end, final assignments and grade affecting tasks are coming up, there isn't a whole lot of time to write. But rejoice! In a couple weeks it's school holidays in Australia and I will have time to write, so long as I don't get distracted and forget.
As I mentioned in the author note up the top, I've written starting chapters for a couple other fics. I'm considering releasing one of them, but I'm not sure if I want to juggle two fics at the same time. Maybe later on when Partners in Crime really gets rolling.
Response to a couple reviews:
JHLZNTL: Well, it's obvious an event like that is going to happen. I plan on it happening, but I haven't given it much thought yet so I'm not sure how or when it will happen. But it will eventually.
almostinsane: Thanks! I haven't exactly given much thought to this story. But that's actually given me something to think about. I'll definitely look into it and write about it.