"Amai!" Karei was snapping her fingers in front of Amai's face. Amai looked up, and the cave was emptying fast.
"What's happening?"
"The ferry is here! Grab your stuff!" Karei shouted. A horn sounded on the boat, that it was about to leave. Amai grabbed her backpack, and took Chijin's mat and rolled it up while they were running for the ferry. They were the last people on, and Chijin was right in front of them. They showed their passports as they ran onto the gangway and found an empty spot on the deck. After they had put down their stuff and settled, a ship worker came past and handed them each a bowl of muck that resembled pond scum.
"There." The man said huffily, carrying on to the other passengers. Amai looked at the stuff that resembled food and smelt it before putting it on the ground.
"How could we eat that? It smells as bad as a playtapusbear in frogfish season." Amai said disgustedly, and stuck her tongue out. She slid it across the deck to make sure that the ship worker stood in it. When he did, the bowl shattered and cut his foot open, making him curse and shout.
"Which ungrateful delinquent did this? Answer me, you worthless peasants!" He shouted, trying to bandage his foot with a scrap of cloth.
"I'm not surprised more people haven't done it. How can you feed this to anyone, let alone new citizens to your city? What a first impression to make." Karei said sarcastically and threw her bowl at the worker, hitting him in the face with the muck. He swore loudly, and threatened her, before a crowd of other workers came and dragged him away.
"You are causing a lot of trouble ladies." Chijin laughed and took some dried fruit out of her bag for the girls. Before they each took a handful, a boy with dark hair came up to them, looking mischievous.
"Looks like you ladies could use a decent meal. Maybe I could help you out with that."
Karei and Amai looked at the boy who spoke; he was going to cause trouble. Amai and Karei stood up and spoke to the boy.
"Oh? You can find decent food on this ship?" Amai asked, curious about him.
"Yeah, the captain eats like a king on this ship, and there's plenty to go around. We just need more people to help."
Amai and Karei looked at each other. It was only one day on the ship, but they hadn't had a cooked meal in over two weeks.
"Fine, we're in."
"Great. I'm Jet by the way. And I think we could get enough food for eight. So let's talk plans."
As soon as the guards had gone to their quarters, they snuck up onto the captain's deck and broke into his personal dining room. There were six of them, Jet, Longshot, Smellerbee, Lee, Amai and Karei. They saw the spread of food that was laid out for the captain and immediately started picking up bowls and platters. Lee and Jet used their swords to pick up bowls and fit them into each other. Amai smiled at Lee, he had a scar on his face, and it looked exactly like something that the Fire Nation would do to a kid.
"Way to go, Lee." Amai smiled at him, grabbed her bowls and tied a belt around them. They quickly swung onto the rope they had spanned to the lower deck to get away before the guards came back. Amai grabbed three bowls and headed towards Chijin.
"Hey Amai, aren't you going to join us?" Jet asked.
"No thanks, looks like you have a party going already. We'll see you guys in the city." Amai and Karei went down the deck to Chijin, who was sitting in the dark watching the people around her sleep.
"Looks like those boys are fun. Who was the other boy that joined you?" Chijin asked softly, taking a bowl of rice from Karei.
"Oh that guy. Poor boy had a scar on his face; looks like Fire Nation did it."
Chijin held her bowl for some stew that Amai was secretly bending into the bowls.
"Unfortunate boy. What's his name?"
"Lee. He and his uncle are sitting over there."
Chijin looked over to the spot where they were sitting, and saw two ever familiar faces, but only one had really changed.
"Fire Nation…" Chijin sighed loudly and helped herself to some dumplings.