parallel lines

chapter i

Of course she couldn't, she could've made the whole thing up.

"Alright." thank Agni he believed her, "Don't be reckless next time, he needs you."

Despite how Wan could annoyingly be, Natsuko wasn't doubtful she could "out-annoy" him.

She gave her usual response and close her mind to go back in the world to find her other half.

"Are you alright?"

Was the next thing she heard after regaining consciousness. She moved her fingers, counting to 10 and moved her toes.

Seems like she has all her body parts in tact. It was careless enough to act all defenseless in unknown territory.

Honestly, how was she even going to help the Avatar if the Fire Nation could just kidnap her just as easily?

She opened her eyes before sitting upright in a mere matter of seconds that made her see flashes of light.

"Don't do that, you'll get dizzy." the voice of a woman could be heard on her left, she turned to the source and saw a woman of beauty in a house of emptiness.

"Here." the woman turned to her side and handed her a bowl of soup which she was skeptical to even smell, "It's a bit cold but it doesn't have anything harmful to it."

She accepted it gingerly and was delighted with how it tasted even if it was a bit bitter due to its coldness.

"May I ask you a question?" the woman beside Natsuko agreed to even if she technically asked her a question, "What year is it?"

"It's the year of the rabbit." Natsuko nodded and ate a spoonful of the contents in the soup before hearing the woman asked a question, "You're not from around here, aren't you?"

"You reckon?" Natsuko still kept eating and the woman elaborated further, "You seem to be human but I can't point from where."

If this were a cartoon, one would be able to see Natsuko sweatdrop as she tries to think, "I'm from Kangaroo Island."

"I heard that place is really hopping." the woman had replied and Natsuko laughed at one of the corniest jokes she has ever heard in the time of her existence, "I think you come from somewhere further than the island. It's not everyday that I get to see someone washed up on the shore."

"You have this familiar presence with you, it's warming." she admitted while Natsuko continued to eat her meal.

The moon outside couldn't suggest anything but nighttime has fallen upon this world.

How come time became faster in an instant?

"You live here?" Natsuko tried to start a conversation and the woman answered every question Natsuko had been thinking of silently.

"This is the summer house my family goes to during their vacation but I doubt that they would after what happened."

To translate in peasant words, this rich family had done something controversial that broke their relationship and happy days were over.