Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.
Notes: This is not a story set in modern times. I'm not exactly sure what time period this fits into, but perhaps as the story goes on one will be made known.
Ch.2
Katara entered Mr. Sidle's office so quietly he did not even notice her presence until looking up from his papers, he saw the lovely figure standing before him.
"Your assignments for today," Mr. Sidle said after clearing his throat and pushing the very small spectacles on the tip of his nose to his eyes, "Will be to thoroughly clean the foyer attached to the yellow room, God knows how long anyone's set foot in there, which includes dusting, sweeping, scrubbing the floors, washing the curtains, and even beating the large rug in the middle of the room. It's a light task, but it is your first day so…"
"Thank you sir, I'll get right to work," Katara replied seriously bounding out the door.
"Wait," Mr. Sidle yelped, "I need to show you where the supplies are." At this warning Katara stopped and retraced her steps back to the large grape colored room, where Mr. Sidle stood politely at his desk.
"The brooms, buckets, and such are in a large closet off the kitchen by the stairs to the servants' quarters."
Katara nodded, bowed again, and left the presence of the amused Mr. Sidle, who in earlier times would never have been so lenient. Easily she found the closet, and loading up a bucket with a rag, duster, and soap she noticed the room was as big as hers in the servants' quarters up the stairs.
"Hi," A cheery voice exclaimed making Katara jump, "I'm Teo. My father's the handyman around here."
"It's nice to meet you. I hope you received all the money from your bet," Katara replied politely looking at the boy in the wheelchair. His pale face was covered in a mask of dark hair but his eyes were kind and gentle, their green orbs glowing in the sun.
"Oh! So you heard about that. I kind of just made a random guess. All the other countries were taken," Teo said, a blush spreading over his pale face, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips.
"Well I think it was a very lucky guess," Katara said happily, "I'm glad you won it."
"Thanks," Teo mumbled, "But no one else seemed to be happy about it except me and you."
Katara laughed. "I expect I wouldn't be very happy if I lost a day's wages either." Her accent was so thick, that when she chuckled Teo had even harder of a time understanding what she said.
"Well I guess I better go see if my dad needs any help. Good luck on your first day."
Katara just smiled her bright smile and curtsied gracefully as she seemed to be doing to everyone who passed her way. Teo felt his hands slightly wobble, and knew that if his legs weren't useless the moment she dipped her head so elegantly they would have gave out and he would be a heap on the cold floor.
Katara hummed quietly to herself as she walked through the dark halls to the foyer in the middle of the house. The silence of the place was unnerving and the creak of a floorboard or the chirp of a bird was very welcoming in the still house. After taking a wrong staircase, for the house was three stories tall, and missing the hallway that led to the room, Katara finally found the room she was searching for.
The room was big, dusty, and dark; the curtains covered the windows so completely that not even a centimeter of light could pass through. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling was so covered in cobwebs that when the faulty electric was turned on, only a dim glow issued into the surrounding space. The walls were covered in a dark and light green striped wall paper. A few paintings hung here and there. One was especially pretty though. It was of a flower filled meadow tucked in neatly between two mountains.
"Better get to work," Katara mumbled to herself, moving the thick curtains aside and opening the large square windows. The sun high in the sky sent rays of light tumbling in warming the dismal feel of the room. "That's better," Katara sighed enjoying the heat of the light on her face.
Picking up the broom, Katara started her cleaning by sweeping the grimy floor. Next she wiped down the windows and the cabinet in the back of the room, which surprisingly was filled with bed linens and pillowcases. The furniture by the fireplace needed a more tactful cleaning then being doused with water. Its color was a soft green, and the pattern was of a growing forest. Katara lightly dipped a rag in water and wiped it gently over the sofa and chair, the layer of dust easily sticking to the damp cloth.
The piece in the room that effected Katara the most was a pale porcelain girl. The figure was only about five inches high, and painted on her was a pastel pink dress and white apron. But the thing that drew Katara was the small violin the girl held in her dainty hands. Overcome with emotion, Katara looked away and finished dusting the mantelpiece the antique stood on.
Katara sat at the large table in the kitchen with the other servants employed in the house. Mr. Filton, the gardener, was complaining about being expected to tend the large gardens without any help after them having fallen into such a state of disrepair. Katara listened happily, munching on her bread, cheese, and beef brisket. Suki sat next to Katara occasionally shouting out a sardonic word or two, laughing as the one talking glared at her.
After the meal ended, everyone went back to their chores finishing up the work left. Katara having completed the cleansing of the foyer decided to help Mr. Filton in the gardens. The sun was slowly setting, and the incoming night air felt cool on her skin.
He was right. The bushes, flowers, trees, and pathways were all in much need of tending. Even the orchard's trees needed pruning and de-weeding. A large patch of sunflowers grew on either side of the gate, their tall stems almost reaching to Katara's waist. Their large heads blossomed as if they were the queen of the flowers.
Katara gasped seeing the state of her favorite flower, the lilac bush. Its branches were sticking askew in odd angles, dandelions grew at the base of the bush, and the flowers looked to be in much need of water. Sighing, Katara fetched a pitcher and filled it up at the well near the entrance to the garden.
Delicately, Katara watered the lilacs at the base of the bushes, and picked the weeds growing around them, all the while uttering soft words to the plant. "It's going to be just fine. Pretty soon your blossoms will spread and be so healthy. All the other flowers in the garden will be so jealous."
"Hey there," A gruff voice said, "I used to talk to the plants too, but then people started saying I'd lost my marbles. Still do sometimes when no one's around."
"Good evening Mr. Filton," Katara replied sweetly, "Is it okay if I help for awhile in the garden. I finished all my chores inside and the brisk air feels so good."
"Of course," he replied, his husky voice warming up at the sight of such a nice and polite lass. He even found his lips turning up slightly at the corners from Katara's contagious smile. But Mr. Filton soon realized what he was doing, and stifled the grin before it broke through. "Do you like the lilacs?"
"Oh yes they are so wonderful, all the flowers are."
"The flowers are pretty, but you should have seen the garden a year ago before the master left. There was more help then though. He used to sit by the pond and walk along these paths almost every day. When he comes back he'll make sure it won't be so messy in here," Mr. Filton said as if remembering a far away thought.
"I'm sure he will," Katara murmured, not knowing what else to say. The sun was now falling rapidly in the sky, the light going with it. The garden's shadows were disappearing with the day's sky, and the area was becoming enveloped in the pale light of the new moon.
"You better go in miss. Soon it will be too dark to see."
Katara trudged up the stairs to her small room. It felt odd to be lying in a different bed staring at a strange wall, and Katara was overcome with a strong feeling of homesickness. Not for Mr. Clistone's apartment where Kanna probably sat in the parlor, but for her glorious Poland. She yearned for the Poland where she learned to ride a horse and roll pirogue doll without cracking it; the Poland where her family used to tell stories together and go on picnics by the Dunajec River and eat golabki.
That was all gone now. Even in years to come when things settled down, she would never be able to afford a ticket to take a boat to her blessed country. There was nothing to go back to anyways. Her remaining family was here, in England; a country where they have nothing.
Katara eventually fell asleep, but her mind was too laden with anxiety for it to be peaceful. She dreamt of her mother dying before her eyes, her father's body lying in the wilderness. But Katara remembered why she was here. She was supporting her family, giving Sokka a chance to go to school and have a successful job; a chance to make their life better.
The next morning was the same as the last, except this time her duty was to dust the third story banisters and the library. The third story banisters took a good two hours, for they were very wide, Katara could not even fit her whole hand around them. The library was more interesting.
When Katara first walked into the large room, she did not notice the man sitting in the corner. She was too overwhelmed by the shelves on every wall which reached to the ceiling, each one overflowing with books. There were leather couches in the middle of the room, surrounding a mahogany stained table.
"Hello Miss," the man said turning away from his sketch pad, "Come to clean this room?"
"Ah, yes sir," Katara said, issuing her deepest bow. He was obviously not a servant. "Are you the Master Iroh.?"
"Yes dear, but please just call me Iroh. I never really put much importance on the fancy titles. But dear you have not told me your name."
"I am Katara Drasinki," She replied proudly, holding her head up to meet the kind man's face. Her heritage was something she was and would always be proud of.
"So you are the new maid that started yesterday. I thought so since I have not seen you pretty face before," Iroh said winking.
"Thank you," Katara said cheerily eying the sketch Iroh held in his wrinkly hands, "Are you a painter?"
Iroh glanced down at his drawing, a simple picture of a hummingbird sucking the sweet nectar of a rose. A project started that morning after a beautiful bird landed on the windowsill during his boring breakfast of dry toast and cottage cheese, doctor's orders.
"Not officially but I always wanted to be one," he replied sighing, "My parents would never have allowed me in their words to sink to such a position. The ladies can spend their times painting in gardens and during tea time, but never a gentleman."
"I know exactly how you feel," Katara said forgetting her position, losing herself in the kind eyes of Iroh, "I wanted to be a professional violin player, but mama said it was not natural for a girl of my birth to do. That I must make a suitable marriage and a gentleman would never marry a girl who made a living herself playing with men."
"The rules of class were never fair were they dear," Iroh said wistfully, glancing over the Polish girl. Her skin was too soft to be of working class and her eyes to large with knowledge. Iroh held his hand instinctively towards her, but she declined insisting her work needed intending to.
Silently she dusted the thick volumes of novels and encyclopedias, her mind wondering to her lovely violin destroyed in their apartment in Warsaw. She remembered the rainy days standing by the window playing for hours as a storm raged on the outside, yet she was warm and cozy inside.
Zuko sat in his bed, the nurses all tittering around him annoying him excessively. All he wanted was his cold breakfast and the pounding ache in his head to go away. In less than a week he would be in peace or in as much as a peace he could be in. In just five days he could be alone in his own house, with his own books, warm food, and quiet. If only his stupid head would stop hurting.
End of Ch.2. Zuko will be coming home in the next chapter so stay tuned for more!!
Poland lost a soccer game to Germany in the Euro cup. I was very sad. They are still in it though. They just can't lose their next game!!