Chapter 14

Hiding in an Alley

After Monk Yami flew off, I ran into a nearby alley. A sky bison would definitely catch the eye of many people, especially if they were looking for me. After going through several alleyways, I came out of one and saw Taruk, who was equally surprised to see me.

"Well, what makes you so special to get a personal ride from the air benders, Hyr-o?" Taruk asked, very unkindly.

"Well, Tar-yuck," I said putting emphasis on his new name, "I am friends with them, so I got a free ride. Now as much as I would love to say and chat, I have to leave." I passed him.

"Oh really?" he said, "And what were you doing in Heiwa Valley, Hyriu?"

I nearly tripped, caught off guard since he called me by my actual name. "Um, none of your business. Like I said, I have friends there," I managed.

"Mmm hmm, yeah sure. You know Chief Arnook is looking for you?" he said slyly.

I turned and looked at him. He had a look on his face that made it seem like he knew exactly what was going on. But he couldn't know, could he? I then remembered the person in the library.

Maybe it was Taruk. The cloaked person was a water bender. I had thought that someone forced his way through, but maybe the person was just bad at ice bending and accidentally blew up the ice. I remember Taruk's problems with ice bending at practice yesterday and after school. I felt the blood drain from my face. Beads of sweat began to gather on my face. Could that person really be Taruk? Would he go that far?

"Thanks for the tip," I said nervously and walked away. Taruk still had that sly look on his face.

I turned down another street. I saw a group of soldiers run by several streets in front of me. I ducked into an alley. Walking on the streets was too dangerous. I looked up and an idea occurred to me. I climbed up to the roof of a nearby building. Most of the roofs in Hydronia were rounded and curved, this one was no different. I had to use my bending skills to keep my balance. I could see groups of soldiers looking all around the city for me.

"Dang, Arnook," I muttered to myself. "I just yelled at you. I didn't start a war."

I began to jump from roof to roof, making my way to my house. Several times, I had to lay flat on a roof to avoid the eyes of the soldiers. I got to the roof of a house across the street from mine. I saw guards posted out front. I cursed. I back tracked, then made my way to a house right next to mine. I could see into my bedroom through the window on the second floor. I glanced at the back of the guard. If they turned, I would have no where to hide. I dove at the window, air bending assisted, and went straight through it, hitting the floor and rolling to lessen my momentum. I went to the bathroom and washed up. An idea occurred to me, and I bathed in the water with the special fruity sea weed. I felt refreshed and ready for anything, filled with energy. I went back to my room and changed into a deep blue robe that matched my eyes. It was accented by a royal blue and was a traditional style robe. I used some water to flatten my hair. I crept down stairs; Hiko was in the other room doing homework. I decided to keep my presence a secret from him since he was horrible at lying, and I didn't want to get him in trouble. I grabbed some money since I would be paying for everything tonight. Since Wei was on the Hydronia Court, we had a good amount of money, but we were not rich. I crept up the stairs silently. I went to my window and jumped to my neighbor's roof. I traveled to Hana's house in that manner.

When I got reasonably close to it, I climbed down in a nearby alley way and walked to her house. After I knocked, I checked my reflection in some ice. Her mother, Meili, answered.

"Oh, hello Hyriu. Oh, you look so handsome," she said warmly. "Come on in." We went into the sitting room, on the right. "Hana, Hyriu is here."

Hana came in with her dad right behind her.

"Good evening," I greeted them with a smile.

"Hyriu, you really dressed up!" Hana exclaimed.

"So did you," I responded.

She wore a midnight blue dress trimmed with a deep purple. Her hair hung loosely to her shoulders. She had many braids in it with dark blue ribbons. She wore a dark blue coat.

"You got a new coat," I said, seeing it draped down her shoulders nearly to the floor, "And it is quite long."

"Yes, well my other one got ruined during the…the storm. And I like long coats; it is almost like a cloak. My ruined one was like this," she said.

"Yeah, I guess it was. Um, is there a certain time I should bring her back?" I asked nervously.

"Just stay out of trouble and not too late," Yukan said.

"Don't worry," I said, "the only hands she would be safer in are yours, sir."

He seemed pleased with that comment. We headed out, and fortunately, we didn't see any soldiers along the way. We met up with Huajia, the most famous painter in Hydronia. After we got a painting of ourselves, we went to dinner at the Crystal Serpent. It was one of the fanciest places in town.

"Are you sure you want to go here?" Hana asked.

"Yes, I've heard it is very good," I replied.

"Well, alright," she said, and we walked in.

I walked up to the counter," Uh, table for two, please."

A very round man looked at me. He had a red face, but he looked upon us kindly, "Yes, of course, right this way madam and sir." He also had a warm jolly voice.

He led us through the restaurant. It was very nice; there were statues and carvings of sea serpents everywhere. There was also a large fountain in the center of the restaurant. The man led us to a two person table on a little balcony outside. There were several other tables for two, but they were all separated by large white columns. The tables were on a sort of deck or porch. We were not in the restaurant, but there was a roof supported by the columns. There was a short railing next to our table. In the restaurant, there was every shade of blue I could imagine, but primarily the lighter shades. After we sat down, he gave us our menus.

"And what shall you each have to drink?" he asked kindly.

"Oh, Hyriu," Hana started, "maybe they have those drinks you had at the banquet yesterday?"

I described the drink to him which he said was called 'Beiwater,' and that they did have it. He walked away to get our drinks, and we scanned the menus and saw some rather odd names.

"The Flounders Tongue?" Hana read.

"Just the tongue?" I inquired, "Why not the whole head or a fin? Or what about the tail?"

Hana laughed and continued, "The Fisherman's Foot. Oh, I hope it's not a real foot."

"If I wanted to ask for two, would I say, 'Fisherman's Foots' or 'Fisherman's Feet'?" Hana gave me a look before I burst out laughing. She joined in my laughter.

We continued reading strange names until we found a really odd one.

"Whoa," Hana said, "Listen to this one. 'Shark-Squid Snout stuffed with Octo-Whale Tentacles." She gave me a disgusted look then laughed kind of nervously, "Let's not get that."

"Agreed," I replied.

When the round waiter returned, we just ordered Tentacle Noodles and Kelp bread sticks with barnacle sauce. Our drinks were brought out, and I showed Hana how to stir it. A bit later, our food was brought out.

"So Hyriu, I would love to hear all about your night in the Gambing Palace," Hana said as she grabbed her chopped sticks.

"Oh well uh, I, I guess I could tell you about it," I said nervously.

I told her as much as I could, leaving out anything about the Beifen Legend. I talked about the fountains we had seen in the Fountain Yard. I left out mine and Yue's fountains. I described the palace in great detail. I purposely didn't say anything about the library or Pakku's 'performance.'

"Wow, that sounds incredible," Hana said. "I- I also heard Lina saying something about a library. What was it like?" She had a strange twinkle in her eyes, like she was trying to anticipate what I would say.

I tensed, 'Darn you Lina' I thought, "Oh, yes, the library," I said in a horrible acting voice, "How could I forget? Well, um, it was very large, and, uh, beautiful," I went on leaving out the cloaked person obviously.

"Oh, and then we went to the Meditation Tower," I said,

"Lamara and I raced to the top," I began to laugh.

"Wait, if she is an air bender, then it wasn't a very fair race," Hana said.

"Oh yeah, well, I used trickery," I said quickly, cursing my self for slipping up.

"What kind of trickery?" Hana asked suspiciously.

I glanced away and saw some soldiers approaching. "Oops," I said and pushed my plate to the floor. I crouched down to get it.

"I am not here," I whispered to Hana.

I could see her face reflected on my plate. "Okay," she said very confused, and then she saw the soldiers and smiled brightly at them.

I was hiding under the table, hidden by the long table cloth.

"Can I help you?" Hana asked very sweetly.

"Do you know where Hyriu Jingshen is?" one asked sternly.

"Oh," Hana said innocently, "He just went to the bathroom." She pointed to the restaurant's bathrooms.

"Thank you, miss." They walked off.

"They're gone," Hana said to me.

"Okay," I said and stood up cautiously.

"What was that about?" Hana asked.

"Um, I may have, uh, yelled at Chief Arnook," I said.

"What? Why?" she asked, surprised.

"Oh, no reason in particular. We should get out of here," I said and glanced at the exit. Two soldiers were guarding it.

I placed enough money on the table, "We're going to have to jump over the railing," I said.

"Oh, alright," said a bewildered Hana.

We jumped over the railing and ran off. I glanced back to see soldiers swarming our abandoned dinner table. It was dark now, and the city was crawling with soldiers. We ducked behind boxes, ran into alleys, and fell flat on the ground, so we weren't seen. When we were hiding in one alley, I said to Hana: "I'm really sorry about our date getting ruined."

"What? No no no. It's not ruined. This is one of the best times I've had," Hana told me. "I mean running and hiding from soldiers, it's like 'Extreme Hide-and-Seek.'" She laughed.

I laughed too. After more running and hiding, we made it to her house.

"Well, Hyriu, thank you for a wonderful time tonight," Hana

said, kind of jokingly.

"You are very welcome," I replied with a smile.

"Perhaps we could do it again some time?" she asked.

"Perhaps," I said.

She kissed me on the cheek then quickly ran inside. I went home smiling as I jumped from roof to roof. The guards at my house seemed to have given up as they were nowhere to be seen. I walked in and saw Koluk and Hiko playing a card game.

Koluk shook his head. "I'm not even going to say anything about you and Arnook. So how did your date go?"

"Um, exciting," I replied and went upstairs. Unlike yesterday, I had no nightmares that night. I slept soundly.