God, I'm so sleepy right now... I just need a sleep in day!
"Ow, my butt is killing me," Takumi groaned, sliding off Haku's saddle and rubbing his sore rear.
"Well, this saddle is only made to carry one," Rai remarked, sliding off after him as Haku leisurely drank from a trough of water positioned outside the inn in the town they had stopped at.
"Wow, a ranch. Who knows, maybe I can find my own ride here!" Takumi cried in excitement, running up to the wooden fence that surrounded the ranch and racetrack. "Oh, cool! Ostrich horses! You don't see a lot of those nowadays in Republic City. I never really liked the idea of driving a car. There's just something cooler about animals than cars."
"Well, cars are considered to be more advanced. And while some argue that you don't have to feed a car like you would an animal, a car requires regular maintenance. Cars break down and cars don't have your back the way a partner does," Rai smiled at Haku, affectionately scratching his chin while he purred in pleasure. "If you've still got enough money left, you can probably buy something."
"Where did you get Haku?" Takumi asked.
"I didn't get him anywhere. We just… found each other. I don't know where he came from, but when I looked into his eyes, I could see that we were the same. We understood each other."
"Wow, that's so cool!" Takumi said in awe.
Rai chuckled and briefly cracked a smile at Takumi's child-like wonder. "Well, go on and take a look," she said, gesturing to the ranch entrance. Takumi ran off towards the ranch entrance like an eager child rushing to a candy store. As he strolled alongside each enclosure within the stables, he carefully examined the ostrich horses within until he noticed the one at the end, who's plaque bore no name. "Hm, how come you don't have a name, little guy?" He inched closer to the gate that kept the ostrich horse inside, only for it to angrily screech and snap at him. He jumped back in fright before calming himself and slowly approaching the gate once again. He reached into his bag and pulled out a kiwi fruit and knife and began peeling it before holding the peeled fruit out to the ostrich horse. It cautious sniffed the fruit before quickly snatching it from Takumi's hand. Apparently satisfied with the treat, the ostrich horse suddenly became docile and affectionately nuzzled against Takumi's hand.
"Well, aren't you a regular animal whisperer," Rai said, coming into the stables and joining him.
"Took the words right out of my mouth!" Rai and Takumi looked to their left as an middle-aged, bearded man with glasses joined them. "The name's Chang and welcome to my- I mean, Mr. Pian's ranch," he said with waning enthusiasm.
"Your ranch?" Rai asked.
"Well, it used to be my ranch, but it belongs to Mr. Pian now. He was kind enough to let me stay and work here," Chang replied. "But that's real impressive, kid. Never seen her take such a liking to anyone before!"
"Really? What's her name?" Takumi asked.
"You know, all this time I've had her, I haven't come up with one. Plus Mr. Pian keeps me busy with work so I just don't have the time."
"Hm… How about, Kiwi? Since she seems to like kiwis a lot," Takumi suggested, gently stroking the ostrich horse's beak. The ostrich horse cawed in response cooed affectionately as she rubbed her beak against Takumi's hand.
"Haha, I think she likes it! Would you two like to ride some of our ostrich horses?" Chang asked.
"I'll pass," Rai replied.
"I won't! I'd love to!" Takumi exclaimed, quickly moving to the gate latch that kept Kiwi enclosed inside.
"Oh, I'm afraid I can't let you ride her, though," Chang said. "She's technically Mr. Pian's and I'd get in a lot of trouble if I let someone else ride her. Come on, I've got another ostrich horse I can let you ride." Chang moved to one of the other stabled ostrich horses as Takumi sadly turned away from Kiwi, who appeared just as upset at his departure. They followed Chang through the stables and out into the field inside a race track where Rai casually sat on the fence to watch. As Chang began explaining what to do to Takumi, another man was bringing a very rebellious and angry ostrich horse out onto the field as well. He pulled and tugged at the reins, yelling at the bird to obey him, but it only reared its head and cawed loudly in defiance. It shook itself free from the man's grip and quickly ran straight for Takumi. "Look out!" Chang called.
Takumi turned around just in time to be pushed to the ground by the oncoming ostrich horse. He groaned as he landed roughly on his back while the ostrich horse sniffed and poked him with its beak, as if searching for something in his pockets. "Kiwi?" Takumi exclaimed, recognizing the ostrich horse from before.
"Well, she's certainly taken a liking to you!" Chang laughed as he helped Takumi up.
"Chang! What is the meaning of this!" the man who Kiwi ran from yelled, angrily stomping over to the pair.
"I-I'm so sorry Mr. Pian. It won't happen again, I promise!" Chang cried, practically pleading for his job. "I was just giving the young man a test ride on one of our ostrich horses."
"My ostrich horses," Pian corrected, "And how many times have I told you that we don't do that sort of thing anymore. We do races now."
"But the kids always loved-"
"I don't care what the kids love; I care about what makes the most money and that's races! Now get back to work!" Pian yelled, storming off.
Chang sighed, "I'm very sorry about that. I didn't think he would be back so soon. I'm afraid I can't let you ride any of our… his ostrich horses."
"How exactly did he come to own the business?" Takumi asked.
"Well, it's rather embarrassing…"
"What happened?" Takumi pressed on.
"I… I had too much to drink one night and got far too into a card game than I'd have liked. I promised my wife and children that I'd keep my gambling problem under control, but in the morning, I realized that I had lost the entire ranch and inn in the game!" Chang wailed, suddenly breaking down into tears. "She packed up her things and took the kids and left me!"
Takumi stood there awkwardly, speechless and concerned at the sudden turn the conversation had taken. "Uh, there there," he patted Chang on the back, trying to defuse the situation.
"Thank you," he sniffled, wiping his tears and regaining his composure. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten so upset like that. I'm sorry I can't let you ride any of our ostrich horses, but I can offer you a room at our inn. I will have to charge you though. Mr. Pian doesn't allow me to give out complimentary rooms."
"Thank you and that's ok. It'll be nice to sleep in a bed again."
Chang showed the pair to a vacant room, which to Takumi's surprise only had one bed. "You can take the bed," Rai said, dropping her things next to the couch by the window.
"A-are you sure?" Takumi asked.
"It's fine. I haven't been able to fall asleep in a bed in years anyway," she replied, laying onto the couch and putting her hands behind her head. Takumi was still ready to offer her the bed, but he knew she would probably just yell at him. If she was just more comfortable on a couch, then that was it. Takumi fell asleep quickly as the sun set and night descended across the small village.
Rai, however, found herself unable to get to sleep. "Dammit," she cursed under her breath. This wasn't a common occurrence. Ever since they took her from her home and she escaped, she had become a very light sleeper. She could never get comfortable sleeping in a bed again - always being on alert for a surprise attack - and had instead gotten accustomed to sleeping in corners and doorways. She pushed the blanket off her body as she sat up on the couch and sighed. She looked over at Takumi, who was peacefully sound asleep in the bed. She smiled to herself and couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy. How she longed to be able to get a good night's sleep in a bed again…
As quietly as she could to avoid waking Takumi, Rai crept out of the room and exited the inn for a midnight stroll. As she neared the ranch, she noticed a small light coming from inside the ranch. She carefully crept closer to the ranch and saw the light coming from inside the private office. She quietly stood outside the window and peeked inside to see Pian reading a letter as he paced back and forth. At first, she didn't think much, until she noticed the emblem stamped on the back of the letter, a sword circled with a shackle and chain. She stepped back and gasped in shock at the sight of the emblem, which Pian unfortunately heard.
"Who's out there?" he shouted, rushing to the window and looking outside, but Rai had already disappeared around the corner of the building.
"I know that emblem," she muttered to herself, slowly returning to the room she shared with Takumi. "That's the slavers' emblem. What does Pian have to do with them?" she wondered out loud.
"Rai… are you up?" Takumi groaned sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Rai quickly lay back down on the couch and closed her eyes, pretending that she was fast asleep. Takumi saw this and lay back down. "Must have been my imagination."
In the morning, Takumi was strolling around the ranch again, this time watching as Mr. Pian once again failed to mount the very unruly Kiwi. He stomped the ground angrily, cursing under his breath before reaching for his riding crop and raising it to strike the ostrich horse.
"Hey, stop!" Takumi shouted upon seeing this as he jumped over the fence and ran towards Pian and Kiwi, who quickly ran towards and took shelter behind him in an effort to hide from Pian.
"What do you think you're doing?" Pian shouted.
"What do you think you're doing?" Takumi shouted back. "You can't just go around beating her because she won't listen to you! That's no way to treat an animal!"
"I'll treat them however I want. They are my property!"
"Property that you cheated to get!"
"Excuse me?"
"I know you got took advantage of Mr. Chang and-"
"Don't you dare march onto my property and begin talking like you think you know everything! Chang's always had a gambling problem and he just got too confident at the table. Just because his family left him and he's sorry doesn't mean I'm just going to give it back to him!" Pian reached for Kiwi's reins, but she quickly snapped her beak at him while still standing behind Takumi.
"I don't think she wants to go with you," he said in a serious tone.
"She doesn't have a choice!"
"Wait!" Takumi cried, holding his arms out to separate Pian from Kiwi. "You're a betting man, right? How about we make a bet?" Any other day, Takumi would be asking himself if he knew what he was saying, but something deep within him just drove his actions.
"Bet? What kind of bet?"
"Um, you and I have a race. The winner gets Kiwi."
"Ha! I already own the ostrich horse, why on earth would I bet her?" Pian howled in laughter. "And for that matter, why would I even agree to this?"
"Because… because you know you're going to win," Takumi answered confidently. "I have zero experience riding an ostrich horse."
Pian stood there silently considering the idea as he stroked his chin with his fingers. "All right kid, you've peaked my interest. Here's the wager: two laps around the track. You win, you get to keep the ostrich horse. But if I win, you have to work for me for a whole month," Pian smirked with confidence, as if he knew that there was no way he could lose.
Takumi glanced over at Rai, who finally emerged from the inn and once again seemed uninterested in the trouble he kept getting himself into. He felt Kiwi affectionately nudge his arm and lift it over her neck so his arm was around her. "You got a deal!" he exclaimed in determination, eagerly shaking the ranch owner's extended hand. Takumi and the ranch owner prepared their respective ostrich horses for the race as Rai approached Takumi.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Relax, it's not like I'll get myself killed in a race," he said, climbing up onto Kiwi.
Rai sighed, "No, but if you lose, you'll be stuck here for a month and I'm not going to sit around and wait for you. You seem to have an awful habit of putting yourself in risky situations all because you're too cocky. You don't have to be everyone's hero, Takumi. I hope you know what you're doing." With that, she returned to the sidelines and leaned against one of the posts used to tie the reins of the ostrich horses to. Haku came up next to her and lay down to casually observe the race. Chang walked up to the edge of the racetrack and raised his arm.
"On your marks, get set… GO!" he shouted, swiftly bringing down his hand as the two ostrich horses and their riders dashed off. Pian took the lead quickly with Takumi following closely behind. Takumi tried to come up beside Pian and overtake him for the lead, but Pian saw this from the corner of his eye and quickly moved his ostrich horse to block Takumi's advance. Takumi growled under his breath and tried to come around him on the other side, but Pian simply repeated his motion. No matter which side he was coming from, Pian blocked him every time. Takumi tried once again to come around him on the other side, but as soon as Pian moved in front of him, Takumi quickly moved Kiwi to the inside of the track and came right up on Pian's right.
"You tricked me!" he shouted angrily, to which Takumi smirked. Pian glared at Takumi and quickly lead his ostrich horse to ram Kiwi into the fence that lined the inside of the race track.
"Ah!" Takumi cried as Kiwi lost her balance and slowed down to regain it. "Come on girl, you can do it!" he cried, urging Kiwi to continue as they began their second lap. However, Kiwi's momentary stop gave Pian a huge lead.
"Oh, it doesn't look like he'll be able to catch up," Chang commented sadly.
Rai focused back on the race, noticing the large gap between Pian and Takumi, who struggled to catch up. As Pian rounded the corner to the finish line, Rai slowly and subtly moved her foot, kicking her heel into the ground. Unbeknownst to all the spectators, a faint shock wave moved through the earth towards the race track and Pian's ostrich horse. Just as Pian's ostrich horse stepped on the ground with its clawed foot, the earth beneath it suddenly shifted, causing the ostrich horse to lose its balance and fall to the ground. Pian was thrown off the saddle and rolled roughly onto the ground, giving Takumi and Kiwi the chance to catch up.
"Come on, girl! We can win this!" Takumi shouted in encouragement as they rounded the corner, flew by the fallen Pian and his ostrich horse and crossed the finish line. The crowd jumped up and cheered loudly as Takumi climbed off Kiwi, who nuzzled him affectionately. "We did it! We won! Did you see that?" he cried with a wide smile to Rai.
"Yeah, real lucky," Rai replied.
"Grr, it wasn't luck! You cheated!" Pian shouted, coming over to Takumi.
"Cheated? I didn't cheat!" Takumi argued.
"Yes, you did, you earthbended at my ostrich horse and made him trip! I know it!"
"I didn't see anything and how could I have done that when I'm not even a bender?"
"Well, then your friend must have done it! She's an earthbender, isn't she?" Pian accused, getting more into Takumi's face while pointing at Rai.
"I suggest you take a step back, Pian, before you do something you regret," Rai said, stepping forward and putting her hand on his shoulder, forcing the man to step back from Takumi. "And for the record," she began, holding out her palm as a ball of fire suddenly formed within it, "I'm a firebender. Maybe you're just not as good of a racer as you thought."
"Maybe you'd like to put your money where your mouth is!" Pian growled angrily.
"You want to race me now?" Rai asked, cocking one eyebrow. "I'd take a moment to think about this. I believe we all witnessed how well you raced just now."
"You and your lizard dog against me, right here, right now. I win, I get that ostrich horse back!"
Rai closed her eyes and smirked confidently, before opening her eyes and moving in front of Pian. "All right, but if I win, you have to give ownership of the entire ranch and inn back to Mr. Chang," Rai said. "Do we have a deal?"
Pian thought about it only for a second as he shook her hand firmly, pride overruling rationality. "Deal!" Pian mounted his ostrich horse and waited at the start line while Rai climbed onto Haku, who walked up next to the ostrich horse. Chang counted down again and at his call, Pian and his ostrich horse sped off while Haku simply remained in place.
"Um, I said 'go'," Chang spoke up, confused as to why she had not yet moved.
"Oh, I know," Rai replied nonchalantly. Haku still did not move. Rai watched Pian circle around the halfway point of the track before turning back to Haku. "Ok, now!" At her call, Haku sped forward at a blinding speed, circling around the entire track and easily passing Pian just as they rounded the final turn before crossing the finish line.
"No, no, no!" Pian ranted, jumping off his ostrich horse. "There's no way your little lizard dog could have beaten me! You must have cheated too!"
"Haku isn't a lizard dog," Rai said, climbing off her speedy companion, "He's an eel hound. You know? The fastest animal on land and sea?" Pian was speechless as Rai strolled up to him. "Now, I do believe you have your end of the wager to uphold." Pian gulped as he quickly turned around and mounted his ostrich horse to make a run for it. Haku instantly raced up to cut Pian off and lifted the running coward off the ostrich horse with his mouth. Pian squealed in fright as Haku held him over the ground before roughly dropping him and pinning him to the ground with one of his feet. "Haku doesn't like it when someone tries to go back on their word. You have something that belongs to Mr. Chang," Rai said, squatting down to Pian's level.
"I don't know how I can thank the both of you. Because of you, I have my ranch and inn back!" Chang smiled widely. "I've already sent a letter to my wife at her sister's. Hopefully, she'll take me back."
"Just be sure to take it easy with the drinks and gambling from now on," Rai cautioned.
Chang chuckled. "I will. You can be sure of that."
"I suppose since you own the ranch again, you should probably have Kiwi back," Takumi said, trying to hide the sadness in his voice and the reluctance in his action as he handed the reins back to Chang.
"Well, you did win that race fair and square and she seems quite taken with you. It would break my heart to make her stay here when she so obviously wants to go with you," he smiled, handing the reins back to Takumi as Kiwi nuzzled him affectionately.
"R-really?" Takumi's eyes went wide in excitement. "Thank you so much!"
"It is I who should be thanking you. If you ever find yourselves in the area again, the two of you are always welcome at my ranch and inn," Chang smiled.
As Rai began packing her things on Haku's saddle, Takumi approached her. "So, during my race…"
"What about it?" Rai asked, not even turning around as he spoke.
"Pian's ostrich horse just happened to trip on the completely flat, dirt path?"
"Seems like it," she casually replied.
Takumi chuckled. "And he swore he saw the earth move?"
"Probably a stress-induced hallucination," she replied. She would never admit it, but he knew. "At least one good thing came out of this."
"And what's that?" he asked.
"Haku won't have to carry you around anymore," she said, climbing onto Haku's saddle. "Besides, I certainly wasn't going to wait around for a whole month if you lost. Let's see if your ostrich horse can keep up!" For a split second, he saw her crack a smile as Haku dashed off down the road.
"H-hey, wait up!" Takumi cried, quickly climbing onto Kiwi, who's saddle was now loaded with his belongings, and shook her reins to follow after the speedy eel hound.
I must give many a thank yous to my good friend Powershade117 for helping me come up with some of the ideas in this and future chapters!
Next chapter: When Rai backtracks to interrogate Pian over his connection to slavers, Takumi wanders into the wrong place at the wrong time...