PARADOX
Chapter Seventeen: Fortunes
We sat beside a small stream, around an empty fire pit. The small tent we had was up.
A big green fish jumped out of the water tauntingly at Sokka.
"Look." Katara exclaimed.
The fish jumped again and again. I laughed.
"He's taunting us." Sokka proclaimed. "You're so gonna be dinner." He said toward the fish running to his fishing pole.
He flung it back and forth at the water trying to cast it. But there was no line.
"Hey, where's the fishing line?" He asked.
"Oh, I didn't think you would need it Sokka." Aang said sheepishly pulling out a necklace.
"Ah, it all tangled." Sokka complained.
"Not tangled, woven." Aang corrected as he used air bending to lift himself up.
"I made you a necklace Katara. I thought since you lost your other one..." He trailed off holding the necklace in front of him with a grin.
"Thanks Aang. I love it." Katara took the necklace and put it on.
"That's great Aang. Maybe instead of saving the world you can go into the jewelry making business." He said sarcastically.
"I don't see why I can't do both." Aang replied with a sheepish shrug.
The fish chose that moment to jump out of the water again. Sokka turned to the water again. And threw his useless fishing pole like a spear.
The fish jumped up again.
"Stop taunting me!" Sokka cried angrily pulling out his whale bone knife and wading into the water.
I ignored the obvious romatic scene going on behind me and laughed at Sokka's poor attempts at catching the fish.
Sokka went under water and came back up with the fish pressed against his chest.
"Smoochy smoochy, someone's in love." Sokka cooed holding the fish out in his arms and making a kissy face at it. The fish's struggles became much more fierce and it managed to whip it's tail around behind it and hit Sokka on the face.
Pwned by a fish!
Sokka yelped letting go of the fish.
I laughed even harder.
"Stop teasing him Sokka. Aang's just a good friend. A sweet little guy, like Momo." She said rubbing Aang's bald head and then Momo's furry head making a funny face at Momo.
"Thanks." Aang said disappointed.
I snickered at Katara's cluelessness. Before she could ask what I was laughing about a loud roar drew our attention away.
There was a man being attacked by a platypus bear. Only he didn't look afraid or worried. He was dodging the swipes with lazy ducks and swaying away only when it got really close.
"I didn't know they had adrenaline jockeys here." I muttered to myself.
The rest of the gang ignored me yelling out different advice to escape. The guy still didn't run. That settles it. He is a complete idiot. We should probably just let him get killed to make sure he didn't pass on the stupidity genes.
Of course, the rest of the gang wouldn't think like that. Coming to think of it, I probably would've saved the idiot before he could be killed too.
After Appa scared away the bear, the guy wasn't even properly thankful. He just said that Aunt Wu predicted he would have a safe journey and handed Aang a package which turned out to be an umbrella. Then it started raining. Katara and Aang huddled under the umbrella while Sokka stubbornly used the egg the platypus bear had laid when Appa scared it. I was just casually bending the water away from my body.
"If you just admit to being wrong you can stand under the umbrella." Katara bargained.
"Humph. Anyone can make stupid predictions that might come true." Sokka huffed. "Watch. I predict its going to keep raining." As soon as he finished his sentence the rain stopped and the sun came out shinning merrily.
"Wow. You really suck at this." I said bluntly.
When we reached the village Katara eagerly dragged us to the fortune teller's house.
I didn't really believe in fortune telling. I believed that the future was shaped by what one did in the present.
Katara went first and Aang ran off to go to the 'bathroom'. He ignored the annoying girl Meng who seemed to have a crush on him. When he came back he was smiling goofily and Sokka said "Someone had a good bathroom break."
Katara and Aunt Wu came back and Aunt Wu asked who was next. Sokka had gone to go with her and before he even fully stood up she told him his life would be full of misery mostly self inflicted.
When he objected she hadn't even looked at his palm or anything.
Wu replied she didn't need to and it was written all over his face.
I giggled softly at that.
She took Aang back to read his fortune next.
When he came back he looked happy.
I followed her back next. She had me sit in front of a low table and she sat across from me.
"Do you do tarot cards?" I asked actually interested. I didn't believe in fortune telling but it was fun to laugh at coincidences when they came along.
"Tarot cards?" She repeated musingly. "I believe I do. Let me find them. No one has asked for a reading from tarot cards in a long time." She told me as she got up and searched the room.
Several minutes later she came back with a deck of cards.
"Here we are." She said sitting back down. "Do you know how to do this?" She asked me curiously.
I shook my head a negative.
"Okay, first things first." She started. She shuffled the deck and held it out for me. "Cut the deck." She told me. I grabbed about half off the top and handed them back to her. She put the bottom half on top of the half I had chosen.
She put them out in a three card spread. One for past, one for present and one for future.
She flipped the first card over. The past card. "A Queen of Swords. You have spent the last few years making swift decisions, you have been on guard. Now for the next card." She murmured as if to herself but it was loud enough for me to hear.
She flipped the middle card. "The magician. You have been taking charge though your companions may not realize it. You are concentrating to make things go your way and you are experiencing your power."
"And finally." She said as she flipped over the last card. "Six of Cups. You will meet with a friend from your past. You will also find a love that is undemanding and you will need to accept your love for who he is." She finished.
I let out a breath I had been unconsciously holding. I didn't believe in fortune telling.
But why did I suddenly want to believe.
I thanked her as I let myself out.
I was silent even as Sokka told the rest of the group fortune telling wasn't real.
"You're just saying that because Aunt Wu predicted you would be miserable." Katara sniped back.
"That woman is crazy! My life will be calm and happy and joyful." He shouted kicking a stone and crossing his arms over his chest smirking smugly like that solved that. The small rock hit a metal sign and ricocheted back at twice the speed it had been kicked hitting Sokka on the head. He yelped covering his sore head even as he fell to the ground. "That doesn't prove anything." He said bluntly raising a finger and pointing up at the sky accusingly.
Katara said something about her fortune being good but I honestly wasn't paying attention. I was too busy laughing at Sokka's misfortune.
We found everybody gathered in the center of the village looking up at the clouds. One man said they were waiting for Aunt Wu to read the clouds and predict the future of the whole village.
When Aang commented one cloud looked like a fluffy bunny the guy said that it better not be because a fluffy bunny represents doom and destruction.
"Do you even hear yourself?" Sokka asked incredulously. I was snickering behind a politely raised hand.
A woman turned to point at a volcano behind the village. "The cloud reading will tell us if Mt. Mokapu will remain dormant for another year, or if it will erupt."
"We used to have a tradition of going up to the top of the volcano to check ourselves. But since Aunt Wu moved here 20 years ago we have a tradition of not checking ourselves." The first man said.
Sokka blusters angrily until Katara tells him to be quiet. I moved to the back of the crowd and listen to the predictions from a distance.
A bending arrow cloud apparently means a good harvest. Wavey moon shape cloud, means a good year for twins. When that one was said a pair of males dressed in green gave each other a high five. They were teenagers and looked identical. A curious curious cloud with a twisted nub coming off the end means the village wasn't going to be destroyed.
I quietly snuck off by myself after that. Aang was trying to tell Katara he loved her and Sokka was set on proving that fortunes were boogus.
I was unfortunately stuck on my fortune. I was going to meet an old friend? The only friend I had from this world was Kovu. I choked slightly at that. I didn't realize how much I missed him. He was stuck on a hunk of ice nearly on the other side of the world. And I really missed him. I wish I had figured a way to bring him, but I didn't think the others would have gone back to get him after we got away from Zuko's ship.
And the other thing that got my attention. I was supposed to find an undemanding love and I had to accept him for how he was. Who could it be? Not that I believed in fortunes or anything. Then I sighed. It was really bad when you lied to yourself. I don't believe in fortunes but I want to believe.
I sat against Appa's side as he ate his fill of grass and other leafy things. I didn't know what to do. I was getting bogged down. I knew how Aang was going to feel later on in the series now. I seriously needed to take some me time.
Maybe when we got to the North Pole. I could take the healing classes, while Aang polished his water bending and Katara did which ever one she wanted. Which would probably be the battle bending.
I had drifted off into a sort of meditation when I heard Aang call for me. I quickly jumped up and ran to meet him.
"What's wrong?" I ask looking at their worried faces. Was I forgetting something important? I thought for several moments before it hit me like a ton of bricks. The volcano. Shit how could I be so scatterbrained. Of course I hadn't watched the series in seven years but that was no excuse.
Aang was holding a book. He led us back to Appa. "We need to bend the clouds into the symbol for volcanic doom." He explained. I nodded in understanding. "Do you need my help?" I asked.
"That would be great." He agreed. We quickly got onto Appa while Sokka went to get Aunt Wu. We sat on the back of Appa. Katara was searching for the symbol we needed. She finally found it and showed it to us.
I stood up balancing in Appa's saddle. This just about went outside my comfort zone. I helped bend the water with Katara as Aang bending the air. Soon we had the right drawing made. We landed and ran to the village center just as Sokka was dragging Aunt Wu to look at the clouds.
A menacing looking skull stared down at the small village. I shuddered. I had always hated skeletons.
"We can still save the village if we act fast." Aang said. "Sokka has a plan." He motioned to the older boy.
"Lava is going to flow down hill to this spot. If we can dig a deep enough trench we can redirect the flow to the river." He said.
"If any of you are earth benders come with me." Aang ordered.
"Everyone else grab a shovel." Sokka ordered.
I led a group of earth benders to one side of the wall we needed the trench built on.
I worked side by side with the older men bending the earth up into a high wall on one side and letting the other open so the lava could flow into it. The others were working ferociously both digging and bending the trench.
"It's coming!" Someone yelled.
"Everyone evacuate. We'll come get you when it's safe." Aang ordered.
I quickly found Sokka and Katara and stood beside them in the evacuated village.
The trench wasn't deep enough but Aang pulled off an amazing feat of airbending to stop the lava from overflowing into the village.
We then told everyone it was safe to come back and Aang returned the cloud book he borrowed.
I wondered away towards Appa when he asked to talk to her. I scrambled up onto Appa's saddle my thoughts once more occupied with thoughts of my fortune.
As we flew off from yet another village, my thoughts were occupied with my fortune and what I was supposed to do to help the world.