The Return of the Avatar - Book one: Body

Chapter Four - The Waterbending Healer

Without even realizing, Chou was being carried by Ling down the hall. Even though Ling was much smaller than the Fire Nation girl, she managed to carry her friend with ease. She was resting on Ling's right shoulder while the left hand was doing some continual circular movements, creating an air-cushion to lift her.

They walked through the halls of the dormitory side of Temple utill they reached a door where Ling knocked. After some time, a young girl with dark hair and skin, with deep blue eyes opened the door, looking like she had just woken up.

"Buniq," said Ling, "we need to talk to your mother."

"What?" asked the sleepy Buniq. "It's the middle of the night. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"What's going on out there?" asked a female voice from inside.

"Ling and this girl want to talk to you, mom," replied Buniq.

"I'm sorry, professor," said Ling. "But this is an emergency. May we come in?"

The three girls walked inside and rested Chou on a couch. Even though she was under the effect of the medication she just took, she looked tense, as if she were in pain. Different from the room the two girls shared, this was a full-sized apartment with living room, kitchen, private bathroom and two rooms - reserved for professors and their families. Chou's mind wasn't working as clear as she wanted, so she couldn't respond the questions asked.

"What happened to her?" asked the professor. "Had too much to drink over at Sokka's Bay?"

"No, nothing like that," said Ling. "She had a mental episode. She hallucinated a figure that wasn't there. She takes bending suppressants - a whole lot of them. She was horrible before, but now she's better. She had mentioned something about her mother having Fire Madness."

With a movement from her hand, professor Kaito bended some water out from a jar sitting on a table nearby. The water covered her hands and started to glow. She placed her hands on Chou's head as it seemed that the girl started to relax.

"And who is she?" asked Buniq.

"Her name is Chou Kasai," answered Ling. "She's a new student from the Fire Nation and she's my roommate. We were sleeping when she woke up screaming. Her fox cat woke me up. Up until we went to bed, nothing indicated that there was anything wrong with her."

"I think she'll be fine for now," said Kaito, while finishing up the healing bending on Chou. "But it would be good if she looked for me during the day. Apparently this suppressant treatment she's taking is just holding something back and not helping her at all."

The following morning, Chou woke up good as new and made sure not to wake up Ling as she got ready for her first day of class. She took her morning medication and headed to the cafeteria for her breakfast. Emi met her and the other new students for their introduction lesson.

They headed to a large auditorium on the other side of the canyon, where all new students were gathering. There must have been at least 80 people there, from all over the world. All nations were represented there and Chou could see people not only from all nations but also young minds yearning to learn and study for all the different careers they offered there.

The new students entered the room and sat, occupying half of the seats. Chou chose a seat in the middle of the crowd, trying not to call attention for herself.

Emi went to the front of the class and said,

"Good morning students and welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives. My name is Emi, I'm a Temple monitor and I'm here to help you with anything you need. And now I'm here to introduce you to your first teacher, who will give the introduction lecture, Professor Kaito Sato. She teaches Waterbending and Bending Health and is here to give you all welcome in the name of the professors here. And just a reminder, after the lecture, your class schedules will be available outside with the other monitors. And now, please all welcome Professor Kaito Sato!"

All students applauded as the Professor walked in and stood in front of the class. Chou had a weird feeling that she had already seen that professor, but she didn't know from where. And as she heard the professor speak she wondered where was it. But it seemed like a dream, it wasn't a full memory.

And then she remembered the faceless man. But she didn't know what happened after she took the medication. Chou concluded that, being a bending health professor, that she took care of her that night and that's why she was unusually well, especially after taking that much medication.

The professor was talking about how the Air Temples welcome people from all nations, benders and nonbenders. She, herself, is an example of that. She's a waterbender, whose mother was a firebender, daughter of a waterbender, who was adopted by the nonbender Asami Sato and the Avatar Korra.

Professor Kaito Sato. So she's an heir of Future Industries. But what was she doing teaching in an Air Temple? And as soon as Chou's mind got to that question, the professor's lecture answered. As soon as the Avatar died, her great-grandmother made the company public, beginning a new era in global commerce and trade. She used part of her profits to finance the Air Temples as new learning centers, inspired by Airmaster Meelo, one of Avatar Aang's grandchildren. Each of the four Air Siblings would take care of one of the Four Temples. Airmaster Jinora came to the Western Air Temple and feeling inspired by that history, the professor felt that she needed to continue her family's calling and became a teacher. And she wishes that her story could inspire the new students to become even better world citizens.

Her lecture was indeed inspiring. But Chou feared that the professor would want to talk to her about the previous night right after it finished, since while she was speaking, there were many moments when the professor looked directly at her, as if trying to assess her health and wellbeing. So, before she had a chance, as soon as the lecture was over, Chou ran outside, found her class schedule and headed to her Introduction to Spiritbending, with professor Rinzen.