Monica pushed open her window in her room and breathed in the salty air from the bay. It was dark now, and every so often she saw the headlights of another Satomobile drive past. They had just returned from Leah's tour of Republic City and Monica was beat. Everything was just so exciting! She picked up the canvas bag Leah had bought her and dumped its contents on her bed. In addition to the bag and four large canvases that Leah had bought her to get started with, there were also a rainbow of pigment cases and clay cups that were wrapped to keep them from breaking. The last item was a large water flask from Katara that Leah had been asked to give her once they were settled in. Katara herself had used it on her many adventures with Avatar Aang.
Monica picked it up in reverence and closed her eyes. Thank you, Katara. This means a lot… She'd tell her herself one day, but for now she placed it back in the bag with the rest of her supplies. Next on her agenda was a shower. She had always taken baths at home where they boiled the water and put it in giant tubs, but showers saved space and was the technology of the future here in the city. Grabbing the towel she had brought with her and some otter penguin soap, she went into the tiny room Leah had indicated as their bathroom. Apparently they were lucky, since other apartment buildings required whole floors to share bathrooms.
Twisting the nobs like Leah had showed her before she left to see Lin, Monica tuned on the shower and warm water began pouring out of the faucet above her head. Undressing quickly, she jumped into the shower. It was amazing the things that the city had developed that were only rumored in her village. Swishing her right hand in an upward motion, she caused a tendril of water to rise off the floor of the shower and then she rubbed it across her soap to work up a lather before working the entire soapy blob through her hair. She had just finished rinsing and shutting off the water when she heard footsteps pounding up the hall outside the apartment and their door being slammed open. Monica pulled on her pajamas as fast as she could then cautiously opened the bathroom door.
Leah sat on the couch attempting to catch her breath. Her face was red and sweaty as if she had run all the way from the other side of the city.
"What happened to you?" Monica said, bending a tiny bit of water out of the kitchen faucet and running it across her friend's forehead.
"Thanks," she gasped out, holding up a finger. Monica grabbed a glass and poured some water into it, and when Leah's breathing slowed she gulped it down graciously. "Had a run in with the equalists, I even saw Amon."
"What's Amon? And are you hurt anywhere? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM?" Monica cried in dismay, noticing how the metal bender's right arm was hanging limp at her side.
"Huh? Oh, this… Among the equalists are some people who can use chi blocking techniques, causing paralysis of limbs and thus blocking our bending. I'm lucky I got away with this much… In terms of whether I am hurting… I don't think so. My arm might be bruised, but it'll be fine in a few hours." She replied, looking at the limb hanging next to her. Leah pulled of her jacket and Monica took a look at the arm.
"Yea, it's gonna be bruised. They aren't too gentle, are they? I'll fix it up as best as I can, but tell me about this Amon thing." Monica said as she pushed and pulled her hands towards the sink and bended more water out of the faucet before she set to work healing the forming bruises.
"Oh, right. Amon is Republic City's most wanted criminal right now. He is the leader of the equalists and has the power to take away a person's ability to bend… permanently. He wears a white and red mask over his face and a hooded jacket. If you ever see him or his goons, run as fast as you can, they mean business. As you can see, they almost got me tonight…" Leah told Monica as the water began to glow and the forming bruises from the chi blockers attacks disappeared.
"That should do it… can you move your arm?" Monica asked. After 15 seconds of nothing happening, Leah shook her head.
"Like I said, this'll fix itself in time. Thank you though. Now I won't be as sore tomorrow!" the metal bender said as she started laughing. Monica didn't think the situation was funny at all, but laughed anyways since she was sure her friend was trying to distract herself.
"Soooo… Have you told Lin yet?" That stopped the laughter in its tracks.
"No, I'm gonna have to call her though so she knows that they are on a rampage. By the way, stay inside tonight. I wouldn't even open that door again to be safe." She said as she rose from the couch. A radio was set up on a table near the door that Monica had never noticed. Leah turned on the machine and turned a nob, then picked up the attached microphone.
"Code 2-1-9-Alpha-C"
"Yes, this is Lin. What do you need, Leah?" There came a crackly voice over the radio waves. As Leah explained the situation, Monica grabbed Katara's water flask and began filling it up for her artist debut the next day.
The Central City Station was crowded beyond belief. Monica thought there were at least twice as many people as the population of the Southern Water Tribe. Skootchy turned out to be right, vendors and artisans from all over the city had showed up to sell their goods and show off their talents. It was a good thing that Leah had dragged her out here so early because there were no spaces left on the perimeter of the sidewalks.
"Now that we have our space, you can probably get set up Monica. Our customers are coming and it's time to wring out their pockets!" Leah whispered with a grin. With a stomp and double fisted jab at the sky a stone easel arose from the sidewalk, then a stand for the metal benders sheets of metal. "There we go."
Monica set out her cups on the sidewalk next to the easel and set to spooning out small amounts of pigment into each. Next she poured out the water into each cup and moved her hands in swirling movements to bend and mix the water. She picture the beauty of the ice caps near her home and how some would be as blue as the sky, then danced around in swirling motions. Waving her hands and sliding her feet felt as natural as breathing while she swept the blue pigmented water across the canvas. With every caress the color became truer, and after some time she heard people gathering behind her.
Monica placed the blue water back into the cup and pulled out the contents of the pink cup. With even smaller movements, she concentrated on creating an early morning sky with dawn just breaking. A half hour after she started, Monica took a step back from her painting. It was beautiful and captured every aspect of her memories. As a final touch, she took out a charcoal pencil they bought that morning and signed the back of the canvas with her name and the date. Applause broke out behind her, and when the water bender turned around, there was a much larger crowd than she had anticipated. Cheers and comments filled the air as well as calls for an encore. As Monica placed the canvas down and set up the next one, an old woman approached her.
"I will give you 8,000 Yuans for that beautiful painting miss; you have such a great talent." The woman offered. She opened her purse and pulled out the promised amount of Yuans then offered it to Monica. From her clothes, it was obvious that she was part of the wealthy class.
Monica turned to see Leah giving her a mirror of her own shocked expression, and then turned back to the woman. "Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it…" Monica said fondly as she placed the money in a secret pocket in her gray jacket. She wrapped the painting in paper like the woman at the shop had showed her, and then tied it with twine before placing it in the old woman's hands.
The rest of the day was the same. Monica would paint a landscape from her memories, either of home or the park she had been to the day before, and then someone would bring her an offer. Leah's sculptures were doing just as well. One sculpture of Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko in a back to back fighting stance went for 13,000 Yuans! The man who bought that sculpture said that he had known the two back in the good ole days. The third painting Monica made was of a flock of otter penguins and two men got into a bidding war over it, resulting in Monica receiving another 9,000 Yuans. When they got down to the final sheet of metal and canvas, Leah pulled Monica over and called out into the crowd.
"If we were to do a collaboration piece, would anyone in the crowd buy it?" An eruption of applause and cheers confirmed Leah and Monica's hopes. Monica held out her canvas and Leah began to bend her metal into a standing frame. With every punch and "grab then pull" motion the metal bent in on itself and turned into a thin branch. The metal bender stomped her foot and pushed her hands towards the ground and the base wound itself down into a tree like base. Leah formed branch's to hold the canvas in a tight frame then created others for aesthetic value. When the tree was done, Monica pulled all the colored water that was left from her cups and froze it around the entire sculpture.
"Now, are there any fire benders in the crowd?" Monica called out. People began asking around the crowd, and eventually Monica saw a hand poke up at the back of the crowd.
"He's a fire bender!" A female voice called out. It sounded familiar, but Monica couldn't quite place it right away. A man around 20 walked out of the crowd. He was wearing a gray jacket over a long sleeved white shirt with the sleeves around his elbows. A red scarf was around his neck and his gloves matched the color of his pants, a dark gray like storm clouds. Short brown hair that stood up a little at the front covered his head and his eyes were a red/brown that gave off an expression that said he wasn't comfortable in front of all those people.
"Thank you for volunteering involuntarily, sir. What's your name?" Leah asked.
"Uh, the name's Mako." He replied uncomfortably.
"Ok Mako, could you please melt this ice for us?" Leah asked, guiding him in front of the sculpture.
"Sure… I guess." Mako stood in front of the sculpture than jabbed at the ice with flat palms. The ice melted slowly at first, and then created steam as water evaporated. The crowd went still as they waited for the mist to clear. Where The ice had melted against the canvas was a beautiful rainbow of swirls, and some of the pigment even stuck to the metal of the tree. The volume the crowd created while cheering was probably gonna cause temporary hearing loss for Monica, but she couldn't help grinning. She and Leah grabbed the fire benders hands and gave a deep bow that almost made him fall over.
"Thank you for watching our performance, we hope to see you all again real soon!" Leah and Monica called out in unison.
"And thank you, Mako. You were a great help!" Leah exclaimed graciously as people began to move away slowly.
"Hey Mako! Great job, Honey." A girl in Water tribe clothes said as she ran up behind him and grabbed his arm. She had the same voice as before…
"Avatar Korra!" Monica exclaimed as she remembered why this girl was so familiar, they had grown up together!
"Monica? It really is you!" The avatar exclaimed as she grabbed the fellow water bender in a hug. "I never expected to see you here! How's everything been? Mako, this is Monica, we were friends back home! Monica, this is my boyfriend Mako."
"Nice to meet you, Monica." Mako said as he offered his hand.
"And you! Wow, it's great to see you…" Monica shook the fire benders hand, then another guy started running through the crowd towards them.
"Mako! Korra! I found Pabu! He was getting into some ladies fruit stand… Bad Pabu! You know we have food back home." The newcomer was holding the most adorable fire ferret out towards the couple. Before she could help herself, Monica screeched in happiness and took the creature from his hands.
"YOU ARE THE MOST ADORABLE THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! OH MY GOD, LOOK AT YOUR FACE! AND YOUR PAWS! KYAAAHHH!" Monica started twirling around in circles, before she stopped and looked back at an amused Korra and two very surprised men. With a slight blush creeping onto her face, Monica ran back to the boy she had stolen the fire ferret from and placed him back in his owner's hands. "I'm really sorry…. I love adorable things…" Monica replied.
"Hey, It's cool. I think he's cute too! Right Pabu?" The boy said as he placed the ferret on his shoulder. "The name's Bolin, and you are?" he said while offering his hand.
"I'm Monica, nice to meet you, Bolin." She said as she shyly took his hand.