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Gyatso and Kara: Prodigies of an Avatar

Chapter 24- It Goes and Comes Around Like the Sea: The Unexpected

Rika held Iroh's left arm as the two sat on the top of the ship together. Her head was rested on his shoulder and his head on hers. The position classically romantic was somber and calming at the same time. It was sunset, about six o'clock in the evening when Gyatso came running up the stairs of the ship. He stopped in dark awe when he saw them together.

The teen had no idea why he was feeling a twisted and thick in his stomach. He didn't know why, but the idea of Iroh and Rika pulled his stomach . . . it was as if they were both with other people. He felt this feeling for Iroh especially out of the blue. He wanted to pull them away from each other swiftly.

"Hey! Did you guys even hear me?" Rika and Iroh turned over when they heard the boy's words and were surprised at his face. It was insulted and even hurt in a way.

"Oh, sorry, Gyatso." Rika got up from her seat and walked up to Gyatso with a soft smile on her face. "We just kind off got caught up in the sunset." She giggled.

"It's alright; um I just wanted to tell you all what I saw when I was meditating."

They walked back to where Iroh and Rika previously were. Gyatso sat down next to his best friends and turned his sky eyes to the sky and took a breath.

"We have to stop at the swamp."

"Why?" Iroh, for the first time, asked quizzically.

"Well, I had a sort of vision. . . I saw the swamp and a bunch of words splattered all over it. I was walking and picked them up. The words were: Family, Guidance, Training, Love, and Shame."

Rika looked down scared at the floor. All of those words were for them, not her. She was the black sheep. She knew no one and nothing of the Spirit Realm and family. On this trip all she could think about was how her father felt about his daughter running off with three young men and only leaving him a vague note-I have left to help justice. Rika. Would her mother be proud of her, was the thing that she felt so unsure of.

Soft hands intertwined with hers and she looked up. Both Gyatso and Iroh had taken her hands, and both gave her a feeling of comfort. All of her feelings towards Iroh erased from her. The young men next to her were her brothers and nothing more. And there she realized that she too at the swamp she would somehow understand what those words meant. The boys made her feel every word.

"What is wrong, Rika?" She felt Gyatso say against her head. His face rested on her head. She had forgotten how tall he had gotten. His growth had soared during the journey.

She shook her head bashfully.

"Nothing, shame is just . . . a not good word."

The Southern Water Tribe Gang

By the time it the group got to Omashu it was deep in the night…or early in the morning. They were welcomed by three officials as if they were expected there, and taken to the King.

"Bumi!" Katara smiled giving her old friend a big hug.

The old king did not return her hug as much as expected. His face was confused and in shock at the same time. His eyes squinted and his eyebrows burrowed as Katara released him.

"Why are you here now?" Bumi asked the sextet.

The six looked at each other questioningly. What was the reason why the king was so confused? They knew he would be surprised by there arrival but, now, what was that? Kara stepped up and asked the king why he asked that question and he gave her the weirdest look.

"Who . . . came?" Topaz took the words out of her friend's mouth.

"The boys, of course," The elderly man said matter-of-factly as he took a bite of his rock candy. No one knew who he was referring to of course, so they each gave a questioning look at him.

"Your son and his friends, Katara!" He exploded.

A large gasp escaped the mouths of Kara and the rest of the group. For all of their knowledge, Gyatso, Iroh, and Roku were still in the North Pole. They had crossed over a whole other country. Nobody had expected Bumi to say that, and a load of emotion jumped on everybody except for Kuzon and Li.

"Gyatso was here?" She said in disbelief racking her brain to find why she didn't feel it in her mother's intuition.

"Yes, that is what I said-"

"Which direction did they go in?"

"I don't know!" Bumi raised his voice getting angry at the woman.

A long time ago the king decided not to get married. He had had his attractions and crushes, but he figured that he couldn't deal with the commitment. Having a wife led to having a child led to the wife getting worried and the child growing up-it was too much for him and his craziness. He thought that Aang, Zuko, and Sokka were crazy for doing it and saw their relationships as even more incentive not to marry. Especially when their wives became pregnant and came to visit.

Katara put her hand on her head and sighed exasperated. Sometime the 150 year old man acted like he was only thirteen years old. She felt herself get annoyed, and didn't say a word. And even if she did, her daughter said something before she did.

"I have to go to the bathroom." The teen moaned holding her stomach.

Topaz saw the sickness in her paled face and followed her as she left the room. The two ran to the nearest lake which was in a secluded area covered by branches next to the palace. The leaves were green and turquoise and covered the whole area.

Kara leaned over the lake and gave the longest barf in the world. It was full of excitement and nervousness. The throw-up was white and yellow with red tints in it that made it even thicker.

"Kara how did you get sick?" Topaz put her nose high to avoid the smell.

"Gyatso, Roku . . . Iroh" She whispered shaking.

Even though Topaz wasn't meant to hear that, she did, and as if she was her mother she bluntly went on the topic of their old friend.

"Why are you getting nervous over Iroh? Did he do anything to you before we left for the Pole?"

"No!" She screamed, and then thought to herself. "Nothing bad, at least. . ."

"Kara what happened-"

"Nothing, nothing, just let me get centered."

The North Pole people (Rika and the boys)

An hour before Gyatso walked in on Rika and Iroh

Iroh and Rika sat next to each other silently looking at the sun move across the sky. It had been a long day of fishing, purifying water, and getting a fire in the furnace. The two friends were tired from the work, and found peace in sitting next to each other, but even so, one of them had other things on their minds.

"Iroh, I have a question," She said softly looking over at him.

"What is it?" The boy yawned and reached his arms out to the sky then placed them on the seat they were on.

"Who was that poem written for?" She felt his arm tense when she asked that and looked down.

He didn't know why he had to tell her, but he did . . . in a sense.

"An old friend with rain colored eyes and a sweet smile."

Soo, do you guys get my drift with this thing. Review please!

God Bless,

Leelee488512