Avatar: The Earthbending Revolution

Chapter 10: Leaving

Two days before the Half-Way test, Katara sent me a letter telling me she would pick me up the day after the test. She told me to be as subtle as possible, not telling anyone I was leaving. Even though I didn't tell him anything, Khanu still followed me onto Katara's boat. It happened like this.

I stayed home from school to wait for Katara. She had said she would arrive around midday. Being in the house alone with Izumi wasn't entirely uncomfortable, just that she didn't know what to do with me. For most of the morning, I sat around reading the rest of my scroll from the dojo. We'd only just gotten to the half-way point and, seeing as though I would no longer be continuing going to that school, I decided to read ahead.

I was about 3/4 of the way through the looonngg scroll when Izumi cleared her throat. I looked up, wandering what was wrong. "Umm," she began, "I was thinking...maybe, um, I could...er, we could...do something together." Izumi was so uncomfortable asking, she couldn't even look at me.

"Uh, sure." I was genuinley surprised. I got up and walked over to her. "What should we do?" Izumi uncovered a basket filled with fish, rice, and noddles.

"Well, there is something I haven't made for a while...and it takes 2 people to make it...and Bapu is never home, so..."

"So maybe we could make it." She smiled. It wasn't a pained smile, it was a real smile. The first I'd seen.

"Yes. Why don't we start with the fish? It always takes the longest." While preparing the fish, Izumi told me the fish would take a long time to cool down all the way, unlike the rice and noodles, which took so little time to cool, they had to be made at the same time. First, we took out the fish's skeleton, which wasn't very hard. Once it was it was out, we left the fish hollow. When I asked her why, she smiled and told me we would stuff them with the rice and noodles.

While the fish cooked, we started on the rice and noodles. From when I made rice, all I added was salt and margarine for flavor. Izumi added thyme, pepper, bay leaves, and a bit of orange zest. To the noodles, she added paprica, oyster juice, seaweed, and her secret herbal concotion. By the time we were done, it was noon. Not even 5 minutes after we had finished everything and set it down on the table, Bapu rapped on the door.

I quickly pushed back the pelt, and let him in. The moment he stepped in and sniffed the air, I swear tears formed in his eyes. He blinked a couple times to get rid of them.

"Must be the over powering stench of the fish," he said in an airy voice. He walked over to the water bowl and silently washed his hands. Finally, we all sat down and said a prayer to the ancestors.

"Ancestors," Bapu murmured, "nourish our bodies with this food, let us be safe and happy forever. Ahmm." Izumi and I repeated the sound.

We were about half-way through the meal when Izumi spoke. "I am sorry we never made you feel welcome here." She put her hand on mine. "You are welcome here. We just...had difficult times with children." With a chill, I remembered what Katara had told my first day here. They'd disowned their only child for reasons only known to them.

"I hope I did not make you uncomfortable," I replied nervously. Both Bapu and Izumi reply, "Oh no!"

I smile, grateful that they cared enough to make things right. And even though I was a bit curious, I didn't ask about their child. The subject seemed to be painful enough.

There was a knock at the door. "Hello?" a voice called. "Are you home? It's me, Katara!" I jumped up, threw open the door, and almost threw my arms around her when I remembered my manners.

"Come in," I said awkwardly. Katara stepped in and said, "Oh come here!" She wrapped me into a bear hug. After a couple moments, we let go.

"You ready?" Katara asked. I nodded, picking up the penguin-seal bag. Inside was the waterbending scroll, my school scroll (I was keeping it; there was still more to learn), and a picture of Mai Ling, Jung Ho, and I. My stomach lurched at the thought of the picture, which in turn made me think of Jung Ho. I hadn't even tried to make things right. I hadn't said goodbye to anyone.