A/N: Ah, took me forever to write this one! Must have three different drafts but I finally got it done and over with :D Enjoy, everybody!
Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or LoK.
Update 12-2-11: Fixed a glaringly obvious continuity issue in this chapter. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then thank goodness :D
Chapter Six: A Familiar Name
The following morning it rained. The clouds that were absent throughout the long stretch of drought now reappeared in a begrudging comeback with every intention of flooding the world. As water pounded the roof, the family sat around the cramped kitchen breakfasting on porridge and small potatoes. Though no one mentioned it, Mako knew that their meals were becoming increasingly meager; he feared they wouldn't have enough money saved up in time for winter.
While everyone else ate, Mako slowly chewed his food and did a quick calculation of all the money he would make by the end of the month. Even with the new job at the circus, he doubted the family would be able to survive the entire winter with three square meals a day.
"Hmf, Ma-goh, youf gonna fimif dat?" Bolin asked through a mouthful of porridge.
"Huh, what?"
"I said," Bolin gulped down his food before repeating himself. "are you going to finish that?"
Bolin pointed at the last potato on Mako's plate. Mako was very far from full but the thought of winter had spoiled his appetite as though his body were preparing itself for tighter rationing already. Mako pushed the plate toward his brother and Bolin whisked the potato out of sight.
After breakfast the rain was still coming down hard. Outside, pools of water were forming, the roads turned to muddy paths marked with ankle-deep footprints. A dog howled mournfully in the distance, lamenting the woefully wet weather.
"Ah, geez," Bolin muttered, leaning against the doorframe as he surveyed the muddy roads leading out of town. "How're we gonna get from here to the circus?"
The irony of the weather's timing was not lost on Mako. Bolin had dashed outside to check on the soil beans at the crack of dawn when the rain started falling, only to come back home thoroughly dejected. Despite his earlier confidence that miracle supply of enough water could revive the shriveled plants, his calculation had fallen short. Either the water still wasn't enough or the roots had dried up completely during the prolonged water shortage. Had the rain come just a bit sooner, Bolin probably would have been cartwheeling outside in the puddles, whatever their prospects of getting to the circus on time.
"We can either wait it out-" Mako began, only to be cut short by his highly disgruntled brother.
"-and what, get torn to shreds by that maniac circus clown?" Bolin retorted, quite agitated at the condemnable drought that had decided to end once the soybeans were no longer revivable.
"-or," Mako continued steadily. "we can borrow Suma."
Suma was the name of a female ostrich-horse that their old neighbor, Mr. Qing, kept tied at all times outside in a shed. The ostrich-horse was his prized possession and the old man despised anyone coming near her, or his house for that matter. What Mako was suggesting was of course not the textbook definition of "borrowing" but rather breaking in and coaxing Suma out with bait (usually a human finger would suffice). Normally it was Bolin who suggested anything so blatantly lawless but these were desperate times and for all Mako knew, Shadow hadn't been joking about breaking every bone in Bolin's body should he be late for his first day.
That was how Mako and Bolin found themselves crouching outside a small shed big enough to house one prized ostrich-horse in a neighbor's backyard, having attempted to pick the fence, failed, then proceeded to climb over it by raising the ground with Bolin's earthbending. They were now both soaked to the bone but so far had not been caught trespassing.
"You go in first; I'll stand guard," Mako told Bolin, giving his brother a sharp shove toward the shed door.
"What? Why do I have to do the actual stealing?" Bolin protested, trying to push Mako back.
"We're already in the bloody backyard- trespassing, in case you forgot- so get in there and get Suma out fast!"
After two more minutes of fierce bickering, Bolin relented and slipped inside the shed to coax the ostrich-horse out. Mako stayed in front of the shed, knowing full well that no one was going to be out in the rain to spot them; Mr. Qing was very, very well known to sleep most his time away and, on the odd occasion that he was actually seen awake, it was always during the sunny days when his bones wouldn't ache so much.
After about five minutes, Bolin backed out of the shed, gripping the reins of a hesitant ostrich-horse. Suma clicked her beaks impatiently, apparently indignant at being dragged out into the rain and ruining her mane. Unlike her narcoleptic master, Suma was a feisty specimen with enough youth left in her to carry the two brothers without a sweat. She was, however, rarely saddled and required a full ten minutes of soothing and petting to mount.
"I hate ostrich-horses," Mako muttered when they were finally on the road to Shin Ren Town. As though she had heard him, Suma bucked violently, nearly throwing Mako and Bolin off her back.
"Okay, I'm sorry!" Mako shouted, gripping the reins for dear life.
They reached the clearing with the circus tent just in time. The festive atmosphere of yesterday's evening was drenched in rain and gloom. All the stalls were closed and the main tent where Bolin had inadvertently botched a magic act looked sad without its colorful lights.
Mako dismounted first, careful to keep out of reach of Suma who was shooting accusing glances at him as though she knew her kidnapping had been all his idea. She seemed to take a liking to Bolin, however, as did all animals, and did not protest when he led her across the clearing to a large beige tent marked "ANIMALS".
"I'll see you after the shift, Mak!" Bolin called over his shoulder before entering the tent. Mako was expected to report to a different tent for maintenance duty. "See you then!"
Mako waved as his brother disappeared inside the tent. Vaguely wondering if he would be able to change clothes before starting duty, he set off toward another part of the circus, shielding his eyes from the continuous shower of rain.
Bing Su was waiting for him in the staff tent and was most displeased at his clothes which dripped water all over the place.
"Darling, really, you don't want to make a mess before even beginning to clean up, do you?" she scolded him authoritatively and chucked a towel at him before turning toward one of the many racks bulging with costumes.
"Uh, I don't think I'll really need a spare change of clothes," Mako said quickly, eyeing the ridiculously frilly, sequined magenta dress shirt Bing Su was examining on the rack.
"Don't be ridiculous, Koko, you're soaking wet!" Bing Su said, putting back the dress shirt on the rack and digging through one of the boxes at her feet.
"It's Mako," he corrected her, toweling off his hair and trying to mop up the pool of water forming at his feet. "And, really, I think I'll manage-"
"Here we are!" Bing Su exclaimed, pulling something out of the box.
The garment Bing Su was holding seemed to be a sparring uniform of some kind. It was a light beige color with a different red pattern trimmed with goldenrod running from chest to back. The knees, forearms, and elbows all had padding in the same red color and Mako could just imagine a sparring helmet that would go with it.
"Take your wet clothes off and change into this," Bing Su said, handing him the uniform. Mako accepted without fuss. He was half-afraid she would change her mind about the magenta dress shirt.
Once Mako had changed, Bing Su gave him a list of all the things that needed repairs including lighting equipment and a secret rigging device used in one of the magic acts (Mako had to swear not to tell anyone on pain of death).
"This area here is taken care of by our assistants," Bing Su explained, gesturing around the staff tent. "But some of the caravans need a bit of tidying up. Mine needs a bit of a paint job, too. These-" She pointed at the list, "-are private rooms of performers and need to be cleaned inside. Make sure to knock before entering because some people don't like their private space to be invaded. Especially Shadow."
Having no wish to visit Shadow and his depressing dungeon of a bedroom again, Mako nodded and set to work. The circus was surprisingly well equipped with necessary tools and spare parts so that fixing most of the props was no difficult task. In two hours, he had the faulty lighting equipment working again and had repaired the rigging device for the magic act as well as various other props and furniture. All that was left were the caravans.
Carrying green and silver paint for Bing Su's caravan car, Mako exited the tent and slowly made his way to the caravan train, careful not to spill any of the paint. By this time it had stopped raining so Mako had little trouble finding Bing Su's caravan which was covered in a banner reading "the Amazing Bing Su" and portraying a highly detailed illustration of the acrobatic beauty with her rich black hair flowing around her. The paint on the caravan was indeed weathered and faded and Mako got to work painting straight away.
"Oi, you there!" called a voice behind him.
Mako turned to see a grumpy looking man about average height with dark skin and a broad flat nose. He was wearing discolored robes of crimson and walked with a slight limp. The man's beady eyes met Mako but were soon staring at his chest as the gap closed between them and their height differences came into effect.
"You new here, kid?" the man barked, staring vehemently at Mako's chest.
"Yes sir," Mako replied, wondering who the man was.
"Aye, you must be cuz you picked the wrong clown to piss off, dincha?" the man growled, pointing an accusatory finger at eye level which happened to be somewhere along Mako's midrift. The agitated man continued, "You thought you could slack off, didja? Thought I wouldn't notice if you didn't clean my room, that it, kid?"
"No, sir, I was just told to-"
"Arr, enough with your stupid excuses and move your lazy bones over there to my caravan! What're you waiting for, kid? Get snapping or I'll bloody call the ringmaster, I will!" the man barked, spraying Mako's uniform with spittle.
One thing Mako had picked up during his many part-time jobs was to never argue with angry people who seemed to think they were your employer. When it came to service, you had no self-respect and certainly no pride. In order to keep a job, you had to bow your head low and do what the customer said. And this customer, with his beady eyes and accusatory glare, certainly meant business.
"Yes sir, right away sir," Mako said, picking up the cans of paint and moving as fast as possible without sloshing paint all over his borrowed clothes.
It was only after he was a good distance away that he realized he wasn't entirely sure which caravan belonged to the less-than-cheerful clown. The man had pointed rather vaguely in a far-off direction and, with all his yelling, Mako couldn't even remember if the man had wanted the caravan tidied or completely cleaned.
Sighing exasperatedly, Mako looked around the line of caravan cars, trying to determine which one might belong to a short-tempered, broad-nosed clown just by looking at the exterior. Most of them were painted with two colors. The man had been wearing red but that left half a dozen to choose from. Bing Su had her own banner on hers but the rest were all decorated with the same banner announcing the arrival of Shadow's Traveling Circus.
After a minute's contemplation, Mako picked a caravan at random and knocked on the door, realizing too late that, had he picked the right one, the owner was out. Thankfully, the door had been left open and Mako slipped inside without further hesitation.
To his immense relief, the room inside was not a complete pigsty. On the contrary it seemed rather neatly organized with a tidily made bed on the far side of the room along with several dressers and a desk. On a rack on the wall he found a clown's wig and decided that by sheer luck, he had picked the right car. He flung open the window to let some fresh air in.
Suddenly realizing he only had two buckets of paint to help him clean, Mako scanned the room for any rags or brooms to save him from another trip to the staff tent. Spotting something sticking out from the bottom most drawer of a dresser, he yanked it open without conscience; simply hoping to get the job done and get out before the clown came screaming at him again.
What Mako had mistaken for gray fabric was in fact a newspaper clipping, one of many. The entire drawer was packed with a stack of newspaper clippings, folded posters and adverts and, wedged in the back, a tarnished photo album tied with string.
Crouched on the floor, Mako read the newspaper clipping he was holding and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.
Dated March 31st the article read:
Equalist Revolt: Peaceful Protest or Political Propaganda?
Special report by Kenji W. Lee
The shock was so sudden that Mako barely registered the creak of the door opening, the silent footsteps and then swish of a blunt instrument before he was knocked unconscious, his father's article still clutched in his hand.
Review Please? :D