WARNING: THIS IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! ... alright so that was my warning that I promised you in the previous chapter. I know, I know. I'm sad that it has to end, too. But do remember that this is only the second book, and that the final book is well on its way. The sad thing is that I wrote the third book almost a year ago (yes, that is how long its been... I remember starting the first book in the seventh grade... I'm going to be a junior when summer ends... -sniff-) Oh well. Enjoy this chapter, and remember to look for the last one soon!
Chapter 13: Awakening
"That was amazing!"
Sokka greeted me enthusiastically as I made my way through the crowd. Suki stood hesitantly to the side.
"I'm… I'm glad you liked it." I answered, blushing just the tiniest bit. "Zuko and I… he learned it in school. It was optional, but he learned it. And then he taught it to me."
"I guess that shows something about both of you." Suki replied, tugging at my arm. "Let's go change back into our regular clothes!"
"Why?" I asked. I hadn't yet gotten a chance to properly show off that dress that she had lent me.
"We're going mushroom picking!"
"Mushroom picking?" I asked tentatively.
"Yeah!" Suki exclaimed, perhaps a bit too exuberantly. "It's a tradition here on Kyoshi! We all pick a junior partner to be our assistants, and then we go into the woods and pick wild mushrooms!"
"That sounds really… fun." I answered, not sure of what to think.
I walked up to my guest hut quickly and changed into what I had been wearing on arrival. Twenty minutes later, we had all assembled back in the square. I came last since my hut was the farthest away from the designated meeting place. I was greeted by a bunch of excited and fidgety children, who were dancing around in anticipation.
"Guests!" Suki announced. "Choose your partners! Aang, would you like to begin?"
Immediately, the children came to life, shoving their hands in Aang's face and blatantly advertising their skills. They had obviously been waiting for this moment.
"Pick me, Aang! I can see in the dark!" a girl cried.
"No, pick me! I'll find you the most mushrooms!"
"Oh shut up, you'll just eat them all like you did last time!"
"I did not!"
"Did too!"
"Quiet, both of you! Everyone knows Aang-y will pick me!"
"Pick me, Aang! I'll be better than all of them put together!"
"Ladies, ladies!" Aang said, desperately trying to calm them down. "I think I'll pick this little guy over here."
"KORU?" they shrieked simultaneously. Aang nodded sheepishly. They frowned at him.
"He'll pick me next time!" the first girl whispered to the girl next to her. She nodded vigorously.
"Alright then…" Suki continued hesitantly. "How about you, Nika? Would you like to choose?"
Zuko cleared his throat and leaned in towards her. "Actually, I think that's Princess Nika…" He said that as if he wanted to be discreet, but everyone obviously heard him. I was surrounded by screaming children almost instantly.
"Princess! Princess Nika!"
"I love you, Princess Nika!"
"But I love you more!"
"If you pick me, I promise you'll win!"
I ultimately picked the little girl all the way in the back, which seemed to be getting trampled by all the others. She came forward elatedly, and almost fell forward in a jerking attempt at bowing.
"My name's Nanagi." she said quietly. I pushed her hair out from her face. She looked like she could be my little sister.
"Aren't you a cutie pie?" I whispered. She blushed happily.
"I'll make sure you win!" she answered. I smiled. If this child was anything like me, then we would be back in no time. After the rest of us had chosen our partners, Suki began to go over the rules.
"Now, most of you have already heard the rules hundreds of times, but since our guests are new to this, I will go over them again."
Groans of dissatisfaction and annoyance ensued. But one stern look from Suki and everyone was silent. I looked around. Apparently, we weren't the only ones participating. True, it was a little weird to see the famous Kyoshi Warriors with their make-up on, lined up next to a motley hodgepodge of young girls and boys, but I knew they were just there as fillers. The true honor in being a junior partner came from assisting strangers and other interesting people… given they weren't weird or dangerous. Nanagi was holding my hand eagerly as Suki raised her voice above the humming of juvenile voices.
"Firstly, there will be no working together with other teams. Either it's you and your partner, or it's nothing. Secondly, there will be no transcommunication…"
"What does that mean?" Nanagi asked innocently.
"It means that there will be no talking to other… hey, wait. I thought you knew the rules already!"
Nanagi shrugged. "Suki never taught them to me. We didn't have any teams when we were training, you know? And since this is the first year I'm actually doing this, this is the first time I'm hearing about any of that 'other team' stuff."
"… between teams." Suki continued. "Anyone caught cheating will be disqualified. There will be no allies, deals, pledges, or other secret transactions. The team with the most edible mushrooms that arrives at the square before the sun has completely risen will be declared the winner, and will retain the title until next year. Anyone who arrives after the time limit will have to scrub and peel all of the mushrooms collected for the mushroom vendor…"
"Get me my mushrooms! Wooooooooooo!"
I turned around. There was an old man cheering from the mass of onlookers who had come to see us off.
"Is this like a… bigger thing on Kyoshi?" I asked Nanagi as the others began to depart. She handed me a basket with a purple ribbon tied to it. I took it and she began to pull me into the woods.
"Us kids spend all year training for this day. You guys came at just the right time!" she answered. "The story is that we, the people on Kyoshi Island, were really hungry because a big storm had killed all of the ships that brought us our food. Avatar Kyoshi spent four whole days and nights in the forest collecting mushrooms for the entire village. They say that she asked the spirit of the mushrooms where all the food was, and that the mushroom spirit came into the world like a little kid and showed her which ones were good to eat and which ones where blech."
"Blech?" I asked. Nanagi shrugged.
"Yeah, you know. Like… poisonous and stuff."
"Oh… of course…" I replied, cringing at the thought of eating a poisonous mushroom of Kyoshi. "And you know the difference?"
"Of course I know the difference, Princess Nika!" she answered, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance.
I noticed how dark it was getting.
"Say… didn't you bring a lantern?" I asked.
"That's a dumb question." Nanagi said. "Why would I bring more stuff to carry, if you could just make light yourself?"
"Good point." I said. Her face lit up at my praise.
She's really enjoying my company… I realized. And I didn't even tell her where I come from! I guess it's a good thing that she doesn't know who I am... I mean, I've been hiding behind my identity for… almost my entire life, actually. This is the first time I've ever… had a conversation with someone who didn't know who I was... I mean, Aang doesn't count because he knew right from the start that I was special. Nanagi… she's such a cutie… I actually like talking to her… she sees me as someone special, but not someone overly powerful… she called my question dumb. That's not how you talk to a real princess… I like it… somehow…
"Hey, Princess Nika, I have a question." Nanagi said, knocking me out of my train of thought.
"Yes?" I replied. She fidgeted anxiously.
"I wanted to know… since you're a princess and everything… can I… I mean… would you take me to your palace?"
I stopped walking. My palace? My palace?
"I… uh…" I stammered.
"What's wrong?" Nanagi asked, pulling at my pants. "Don't you have a palace? Every princess has to have a palace!"
"Of course I have a palace. I just… I just can't really go there right now."
"Why not?"
"Well… the thing is… I can't really get back to where I need to be, that's all."
Nanagi's eyes widened. "I get it…!" she gasped. "You're not a regular princess. You're a… a magical princess! You don't belong here! You're stuck here, right? Right?"
I kneeled down in front of her.
"Nanagi, you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone that, okay? If you promise not to say anything, then I'll take you with me to my palace when I leave, okay?"
Nanagi nodded dutifully.
"Great!" I said, standing up. "Now, let's go find some mushrooms!"
The sun was just starting to rise.
"Princess Nika… we… we have to get back…" Nanagi said, yawning heavily. We had been walking the entire night, and the mushroom basket was heavy with mushrooms of a wide variety, all of which, according to my lovely junior partner were safe to eat. I hoisted her onto my back.
"Stay awake, okay? You still have to tell me how to get out of here." I whispered.
"Okay, Princess… Magic…"
Nanagi trailed off, punctuating her last word with a soft snore. I shook my head endearingly. Kids.
I found my way out without much trouble, considering that the group ahead of us was making so much noise that it was easy to follow them. It was Koru, pestering Aang with thousands of nonsensical questions. I suppressed a giggle when I saw Aang's exhausted face. Apparently, this had been going on all night. I looked up as we exited the trees. There was still plenty of time until the sun rose completely.
I decided to drop Nanagi off at her parent's house first.
"Nanagi… Nanagi…" I whispered, shaking her awake. She rubbed her eyes.
"Where do you live?"
After getting a few mumbled directions from my partner, I managed to carry her down the road, back to the small, ramshackle hut that she called home. The moment I saw it, I knew why she had been so eager to visit my "palace". The thing was smaller than the guest huts, with one room serving as the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom put together.
Poor thing… I thought, setting her down. Her parents rushed out to greet me, and I noticed the mother was pregnant. I peeked in behind her and saw two other young children sleeping peacefully on a thin, earth floor.
"Thank you for bringing our Nanagi home, young Princess." the father said, bowing respectfully. I smiled as he raised his head.
"It was no trouble at all." I answered. "Thank you."
He picked Nanagi up and she rested her head on his shoulder, falling asleep almost instantly. I bent down and took off my shoes. A golden ankle bracelet dangled there. I took it off.
"May I…?" I asked, pointing to Nanagi. The father nodded. I carefully tied it around her wrist.
The mother touched my shoulder as I turned to leave.
"It's not usual to see a young woman who would give up something that valuable to a child of such a young age." she murmured. I smiled.
"This belongs to her now. Let her do with it what she wishes."
"Of course, your Highness." he said. I smiled, picking up the basket of mushrooms. I scooped out a handful and gave it to them.
"Eat them for breakfast tomorrow." I said. The father nodded gratefully.
I turned back towards the square with happiness in my heart that can only be achieved by passing on another person's love.
I yawned. If I didn't long for the nice warm pillow that awaited me at the top of the hill, then I would have just lay down and slept right on the main road.
I hummed a soft tune as I trotted down to the square, back to the site of the bonfire. What I saw when I got there… my heart would never beat again.
Pretty darn suspenseful for a second2last cahpter, huh? Nah, you're right. It's not so great. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me just remind you that this is the last stop before the end of the second book. Yeah... I guess you've realized that by now. I'm going to be nice and say that Azula makes an appearance... you don't find out about that until the next book, but she shows up in the last chapter.
Oh, and by the way, I want to know what you guys think about my writing. Yea. You know.
REVIEW!
... erp.
~Sweep
