Courting a Prince: Book 1 (Complete)

ch. 9: Southern Water Tribe pt. 1

Kai flies fast for his size, and he has a natural sense of direction, as expected of such an adorable creature! Ahem... I mean, of a spirit guide ha.... Yeah. Okay, I'll be honest, I'm obsessed with his cuteness.

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-few days later-

It feels like the temperature suddenly dropped like fifty degrees, like it's cold as shit and I'm wearing shorts. Why do I do this to myself!?

"Kai, try and land near the village." I take my red crystal and let it sink into my palm, it immediately warms up my body.

Kai has feathers to keep him warm, so he's fine. Just like I asked, he landed dead in the center of the Tribe's village. It causes an uproar, but I really don't blame them for being surprised.

I have Kai crouch down to make himself look smaller, but it doesn't seem to put the villagers at ease. With the war going on, I can understand why they're on edge.

I take off my hood and look around. "Um... Hi? Is your cheif here? I wanna talk to em."

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Third

Kai kicked up a wave of snow the moment he landed. The tribesmen immediately reacted, thinking they were under attack from the Fire Nation.
When Kai crouched down and May revealed herself, they were more at ease, but still very suspicious.

Just as May asked, the Tribe's Cheif steps up to her. "Who are you and want do you want?"

A boy that appeared to be slightly younger than her peeks out from behind the Cheif, shouting "yeah, what do you want beautiful-" he coves his mouth.

May smiles cutely, "I'm May, May Ziro, and this is Kai. We just came here to rest and get away from the Fire Nation, if that's okay with you."

The leader stares at the girl, suspicious and confused. "Show us proof you aren't one of them."

May thinks for a second until it hits her. "Gimme a sec!" She rolls up her right sleeve and takes off the bandage that hides the massive burn on her arm. "Is this proof enough?"

Gasps ring out though the village, then mumbling. The Cheif helps May get off Kai's back and walks her back to his home, with Kai following of course.

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May explained what had happened on the day she escaped the Fire Nation, leaving out several fine details that could possibly be found suspicious, and the day she was kidnapped (not in that order). She even came up with a believable excuse for Kai, who is poking his head in through the door.

The Cheif welcomes her into the village, as long as she helps out with some stuff, his son is named Sokka, and he has a younger sister named Katara. Sokka welcomes her 'cause he thinks she's cute. Katara just likes the thought of having a sister.
An old woman, Katara and Sokka's grandmother, helped tend to May's burn, even trying some sort of rehabilitation training for it. It didn't work, but at least she tried.

All things considered, May and Kai are easily accepted by the tribe as a guest.

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-weeks later-

"Again!"

May sighs, "Right." She picks up an empty bucket with just her right hand, although it hurts, it is absolutely necessary in order for it to get better.

A few days ago, she started being able to feel her fingers again, the Tribe leader, Hakoda, said she should try opening and closing her had for a while, then move to picking up light things, and so on. Well, that's what they're doing.

In the beginning, May was excited to finally be able to do stuff with her arm again, but now she's debating on if it would be better to just cut it off. It hurts just that much.

The bucket drops again and May holds her arm, clenching her teeth to stop from cursing out loud. "Mm...." She takes a few deep breaths before giving the bucket another shot.

Hakoda sighs and pats May on her back. "Let's leave it for now, you've already made good progress. Why don't you go help Katara?"

She bites her lip and nods. "Okay.." she just walks off, staring at her right hand with a new found resolve.

Hakoda smiles when he notices. "That girl will be just fine."

"Hey, Dad! Is May done yet? Where'd she go?" Sokka came out of nowhere in order to find May, he might just have the slightest crush on her.

"She went to help Katara with the laundry." He nods. "Such a nice girl. Shouldn't you be training or something Sokka?"

Sokka grumbles, "yeah, yeah...."

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"Katara, do you need help with the laundry?"

"Yes, please!"

May laughs at Katara's enthusiasm. In her last life, May hated doing the laundry, so she can sympathize with Katara on this.

"Why don't you just water bend it? Like this." She secretly let the blue crystal sink into her palm and waves her hand above the bucket Katara is using to wash the clothes. The water floats into a spherical shape then absorbs the clothes.

Katara watches, mesmerized. She knew May could water bend like her, but she didn't know May was so good at it. "Can you teach me how to do that!?"

May shakes her head while making the water aggressively whirl around and through the clothes. "I'm not a very good teacher, and it is much harder to do with only one arm."

"Oh, right..." Katara looks at her hands, she almost forgot about May's circumstances. "I'm so sorry that happened to you." Unlike Katara, who only lost her mother, May lost everyone and everything she knew.

May shrugs. "It's okay, my tribe wasn't all that great anyway. Besides, if all that hadn't happened I wouldn't have met Kai, or you and Sokka, or this tribe in general." She smiles, lowering the freshly cleaned clothes into another basket so Katara can hang them out to dry.

"You're a really nice person, May. Nothing like my stinky brother Sokka. I mean seriously, what does he do in these socks that makes them so stinky!" She jokingly pinches her nose, making May laugh a little bit.

"Right! They smell so bad you'd think he was running around stepping in poop as 'training'."

They both break out into a fit of laughter and continue laughing while hanging up the laundry.