The journey to Doku was silent irrevocably painted with the events of the last few days.
Jinora had gone into a room and Ren and Tetsu were left to sit in the main area.
Tetsu rested his elbows on his knees. "Do you think she'll...get rid of her sister?"
Ren looked at him strangely. "I don't think she can."
"Of course, she can."
Ren shook his head resting his chin in his palm. "What do you think Doku will be like?" he asked.
Tetsu looked up. "You're trying to distract me."
"What good is it in thinking about something you can't do anything about?"
"What like the fact that you threw out your medication?" Tetsu said his eyes going flinty.
Ren recoiled. "You went through my stuff? After—"
Tetsu stood crossing his arms. "I didn't go through your things, I just saw everything you had and the package I remember wasn't there."
Ren's mouth quirked downwards. "Maybe I just didn't bring it."
Tetsu stopped talking his eyes focused on his brother's frown.
Countryside stretched below in waves of green, forest green, and burnt yellow like the color of grass trying to hold on to summer. A large river ran perpendicular to their course. Tetsu pressed a palm to the window.
"Flows in a loosely north-south direction. It was named after the large quantity of fish it supplied. One hundred and thirty-three towns now line the outskirts of the river. Primarily agricultural and animal husbandry. Duchong province was named after the river itself...along the banks old remains of an ancient settlement were found and are now stored in two primary museums. From the remains, we can see the culture is mostly unique to this area many small fish statues carved out of stone and old boats were found. Even small carved statues of Agni have been found in this region which complicates the origins of both the former earth kingdom and the fire nation respectively."
Tetsu put the book down, sighing. He wandered out of his room into the hall and peered into a partially open door. Jinora was lining up several cards on a low table. She looked up and noticed Tetsu. She motioned with an arm. He took a seat across from her as she continued placing cards down.
"Do you know how to play?" she asked him.
"I don't."
"It's a game that became popular around twenty years ago. It's called Flower," she said. "The goal is to match each card with two other cards that match. Each card has to have some link with the others in order to make a set. Some people have managed to see connections between the cards that others don't."
Tetsu shifted in his seat "That sounds a bit difficult."
"It can take time," she said, "but it's not a hard-thinking game."
She matched a stylized painting of fluid grass the color of gold. Then she matched the pair with a card with grass and a house.
"These all match because the rays of the sun look like the grass in the second and the thatch on the roof of the house is made of grass. But also they match thematically. The sun provides energy for the grass to grow and the grass is used to make a shelter. You get extra points if you connect it to a poem. But it's not necessary. It's more common for drinking parties." A look crossed her face and she tipped her head matching two other cards and searching for the third.
At least an hour went by as they played.
"What was the last Avatar like?" Tetsu inquired. "Did you know her?"
Jinora looked up and her mouth pressed together. "Yes, I knew her. If I were to describe her..." She matched a crane holding up its leg to a fishing boat card and another crane card. "It would be brave but reckless. Perhaps that was what was good for the world then. But I think what's needed is different now. There is no perfect Avatar. We are all human."
"Are...my brother and I like her?"
Jinora looked up matching a fir three to a stream and a bird on top of a fir tree. "Are you asking if you're the same person?"
Tetsu looked down and his fingers tensed on a card with a soft pink lotus on it.
"I don't have a good answer. But what I believe is that each Avatar is unique. After seeing you and Ren I truly believe this."
Tetsu matched the lotus with a card with a lilypad and dragonfly on it and searched for the third that completed the scene.
"Dragonfish leaping out of the water." Jinora pointed to a card and Tetsu completed his set.
Several days passed like this. The brothers avoiding one another. On the fifth day Tetsu was setting up the cards for Flower. Ren walked into the room sitting across from him on the padded bench.
"Can I play?"
Tetsu blinked. "If you want to." He continued putting cards down on the table. "You find three matching cards to make a set. But you start with them all face-down."
They played for a while the light outside shifting. Jinora emerged her hair wet and wrapped in a floor-length wrap and sat in one of the chairs just across the room sipping a cup of tea. They both looked at her Ren holding a card in his hand.
"Jun Lin says we'll be arriving in Doku shortly," she said.
"When?" Tetsu asked.
She took a long drink. "A few hours probably. You should know that Doku is different than Yue City. Just be prepared."
The boys gave her quizzical looks.
Soon, they hit high dense clouds obscuring much of the land below. Rain pattered sparingly onto the ship which dinned like a muted pot being filled. The rain intensified as they descended, tapping against the windows. The ship wove between the thick clouds circling them like a hawk towards its perch. A muted horn bellowed from below. The vessel cut through the watery mantle. Below could be seen vignettes of a city, and steep cliffs slapped by dark water. For a moment the whole city spread out like a great ink painting. Wind knocked into the ship. With a slight shudder the ship dove downward. Ren and Tetsu held tightly onto their seats as the cards slid out of order like a broken mosaic. They landed and the sudden change in pressure was accompanied by a hissing sound as the vessel stabilized and depressurized. Jinora opened her eyes and dropped her shoulders.
"Did you airbend?" Ren asked her slightly dazed.
"I did, the air currents here are something else," she said looking over at him. "How did you know?"
"I don't know..."
Jinora gave a rare smile. "That's good it means you are getting in tune with it."
Jun Lin came from the front of the ship his cap hanging by its straps that hung from the crook of his neck. His black hair curled into the air.
"We've landed," he said, "but there is something I must tell you before you mount the land pad. It seems that there was something deviated added to this ship."
Jinora maintained a neutral expression but looked intently at him. "What do you mean?"
Jun Lin swiped his hair out of his brows.
"I've never seen one before in real life but I found something in the engine called a thermal disk. It's a piece for a different ship called a Starbird. The Starbird has a very high heat tolerance and the thermal disk is a way to store extra heat so that the ship can be set on overdrive. But this ship was designed to run at a stable temperature with a built-in cooling tube system that cools the ship while cruising and flying at its optimum specifications..." He coughed pushing his hair back.
"So somehow this piece was added to this ship?"Jinora frowned.
Jun Lin looked down. "Yes. It would have had to."
"When did the engineer check the ship?"
"Just ten minutes before takeoff," Jun Lin answered.
She crossed her arms. "What would have happened if you hadn't landed?"
He worried the material of his glove. "The engines and the cooling system would have overheated and most likely fragmented."
"Would we have survived?"
He shook his head. "The chances would have been very slim."
Jinora sighed rubbing her temples. "Please compile a full diagnostics check now that we are in Doku, I will pay for your stay while you do that."
Jun Lin bowed giving a small nod with his head brows pulled down in an obedient manner. "Of course."