Hey my loyal fans! I'm really sorry for the lack of material over the last while. I've been very, very busy with winter sport, homework and reading. It also didn't help that I went away to Italy midyear. That was awesome, I love my parents. But now I'm back and into the writing groove! Hope you love the new chapter, It's fantastic (maybe ( : ). Please read and review!

; )

Chapter 14

It had been a rough night; first he didn't get back until late because of water bending training, Master Perrou had been in a foul mood and made them drill the water whip move for three hours straight. Then his mum had been in a foul mood when he came home because he was late for dinner and it had ended up a shrivelled dehydrated heap in the bottom of the pot.

Now he had been woken up in the middle of the night by something scratching at the shutters in his room.

Hang on. Kouyo sat bolt upright in bed and listened more closely. There was something scratching at his shutters. He ripped off his heavy blankets and padded over to his window. Before yanking open the window he collected some ice from around the room, as insurance. He didn't want to be caught by surprise from say, a lion seal.

Mentally preparing himself, he opened the shutters slowly and peered outside. He was prepared to be attacked by a vicious lion seal, not a bird.

He threw his hands back to protect his face, forgetting about the ice he had collected earlier. He tripped over the heavy fur rug on the floor and went flying, arms flailing. The bird screeched and spread its wings, cawing again and again. Kouyo stopped worrying about the stupid bird in his bedroom and started worrying more about his mother's wrath if she woke up.

"Shhh!" he begged the bird desperately "SHHH!"

To his amazement the bird complied, shutting its beak firmly and looking at him intelligently. It cocked its head and held out his leg to the startled boy.

Kouyo crept closer to get a better look at the strange bird with the huge beak. He peered at the offered leg. Tied to it was a small roll of parchment in a water proof pouch. He gently untied the leather strand tying the pouch to the bird and slipped the parchment out.

Who would be writing to me? He thought as he unrolled the thick paper. Is this even for me?

He walked over to the desk and lit the lamp. He didn't want to wait for first light to read this letter.

Once the small flame was up and running he spread the parchment out on his desk. Instantly, recognising the messy calligraphy, he gasped.

"Kaiya." He whispered.

Dear Kouyo

I really hope the person reading this is Kouyo, otherwise I just wasted good money on this messenger bird. If you are Kouyo : YAY, this crazy scheme actually worked. If you aren't, but know who Kouyo Ruggason is, can you please take this to him? Including the bird if you please. If you have no idea who Kouyo is please tell Sniffles (that's the bird's name) to 'go back to Kaiya'.

Kouyo.

I have missed you so much. I'm here and fully established in the place we talked about. I can't really give you many details, at least in this letter because I'm still not entirely convinced that this feather duster will actually make it to the North Pole, let alone sniff you out.

That's how sniffles found you, by the way. I used the water bag you gave me to teach Sniffles your scent. If you could better familiarise him with your scent that would be awesome. All you need to do is give him something that smells like you and keep saying Kouyo over and over, he should get the idea. One of your stinky shirts should do. To send a letter back to me just put your letter in the letter pouch and tie it to Sniffle's leg then once it's really, really secure tell him to 'go to Kaiya' really firmly looking directly into his eyes. He'll find his way back to me.

I've made some new friends here, my best friend, Lee, is tutoring me until I catch up to the other children. He seems a bit shocked that I learn so quickly and he's a bit of a dip stick but he's great. We have a lot of fun. We played a prank on snooty Sara the other day, it was great. You so should have seen her face as a ton of water cascaded down upon her head! I may have just helped the water find it's target a little, but don't worry. No one saw me. Not even Lee, who was standing right next to me. The real shame is here she was ok in a couple of seconds, at the north pole it would have frozen around her feet and locked her in place for the next hour. Before you ask, she's a nasty person. She hates us and never finds it to tiring to torment us about not having parents... or Money. Both Lee and I do have parents, mine have just banished me and his Mother lives in a town far to the south, after his father died she couldn't support him anymore. He has lived here since he was five years old!

I really miss you; people here don't see me as one of the twins. They see me as an unremarkable little girl. I miss all the fun we got up to at home. I miss snow ball fights in the back yard, heck, I even miss SNOW!

Well, I really hope this got to you bro,

Your twin sister

Kaiya

Kouyo straightened up, a new light in his eye. This letter is from Kaiya he thought. She's ok, she got there safely. Relief made his legs wobble.

She managed to get a letter to him! They weren't able to talk face to face for the next four years but they could at least communicate. He wanted to dance around his bedroom but again, the thumping might wake up his Ma.

Ditto for screaming in joy.

After awhile he realized he was just standing around grinning stupidly, clutching the letter tightly in his hand. He shook his head to tip out the fuzziness and got to work.

First he walked over to his washing basket where he picked up a couple of his stinky shirts. He had to hold his nose, he had worn them to water bending practice and they were covered in sweat.

"If that doesn't familiarize 'sniffles' with my scent, nothing will." He said wryly.

He offered the shirts to the strange brown bird, who breathed in deep, familiarizing himself with the scent of the garments.

"Kouyo." Kouyo said, hoping he sounded firm. "Kouyo."

The bird shrieked and head butted him.

"That's right. Kouyo." He continued.

Sniffles cocked his head.

He dumped the shirts in front of the bird; it seemed the creature had the idea.

Next he sat down at the small table, groping about in the bad light for his writing kit. Finding it, he opened the small wooden box and picked up one of his best brushes and a bottle of ink. It was only half full, he had knocked it over in class just the other week.

He drew out a piece of the thick parchment that was common and cheap in the water tribes. He tapped his chin with the end of the brush. What to write, what to write. He thought. Start with the basics. Family and what has happened, hopefully it won't be so short I have to add mushy stuff at the end. He made a face, dipped the brush in the ink and began to write.