Avatar: The Earthbending Revolution

Chapter 11: The North

"Khanu," I say, shaking him. "Khanu, wake up!" He cracks open one eye to the tiniest slit.

"Wha?" he mumbles. "Wasgoingon?" he closes his eye and turns away. I shake him harder.

"Wake up, we're here!" He sighs and opens his eyes all the way. His eyes meet mine, and he smiles. I frown.

"What?" He shakes his head nonchalantly. To spare us the awkward silence, Katara popped her inside the room.

"I want you two dressed and out on deck in 10 minutes." Khanu stifles a yawn behind his hand.

"Aye aye, Captain," he replied, sitting up and stretching. I walk over to the bathroom, and change in there. I braid my hair and align my side strands. I try to push my bangs out of my eyes, but they just fall back.

I rifle through the drawers. Spying a metal pair, I pull the scissors out. I keep my bangs taut with my right hand while I carefully cut with my left hand. Not too much, just to where they are right below my eyebrows. Sweeping the strands into the trash can, I stride out of the bathroom to find Khanu nowhere to be seen.

He's probably already eating breakfast, I think. Figures. On the entire 10 day trip, Khanu didn't miss a single meal.

I walk out onto the deck, trying to get a good look at the city, but I could only see ice barricades.

"What's up with the barricades?" I ask Katara. Khanu looks up, noodles hanging from his mouth. Katara just shrugs.

"It helps for protection against outside enemies. And right now, security is even tighter." Khanu swallows the rest of his noodles.

"Why?" he asks her, giving a confused look. I remembered that I wasn't supposed to know what was going on, so I tried to look confused as well. I'm afraid it didn't work. And I still haven't gotten a chance to tell Katara about Korra visiting me. Khanu is forever around us.

She but her lip. "I...it's nothing, really," she replies. Khanu shrugs and went back to eating his noodles. He seemed content, so I decide I have to tell Katara now.

"Can I speak to you in private?" I ask her. She nods, and we walk down the stairwell that lead below deck.

"While I was in the South," I say, "I got a visit from Avatar Korra." I couldn't see any of the emotions Katara was conveying in the dark, so I continued. "She told that there was a 'war'." I made air-quotes. "Nothing huge. Just battles and such between the Northern Water Tribe and the Northen Earth Kingdom."

After I had counted to 50, Katara replied quietly, "But there is a war, Luna. The Earthbenders and Waterbenders have been blasting their elements at each other for over 10 months now. Did she give you anymore details?"

I shake my head. "No, she wanted my to find the details out myself."

Katara nods."I thought as much." She began to ascend up the stairs. "Come, Khanu is going to be wondering what we're doing."

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There is only one word to describe The Northern Water Tribe: astounding. Once Katara got us through the gate and into the city, my mouth acted as if gravity had pulled extra hard in it.

Everything seemed to be made out of gleaming ice. But surprisingly, I didn't slip once before I put my Ice Straps on just in case. Just as we were walking in, a group of people seemed to be surrounding a man who had his hair ponytailed down his back. He wore a long necklace with a blue pendant on it.

"That's the chief," Khanu whispered to me. Even though man's aura commanded respect, he was chatting with the people around him like they were all old friends. Katara shook her head.

"No, that's the chief's son. They're very easy to get confused. See his pendant? It doesn't have the water element symbol." I nod. It made sense.

Katara checks her watch and says, "I need to meet up the chief and his sister. We have a few things to discuss. Why don't you guys look around? Meet me back on that bridge-" she points to the one that had a crescent moon on it "-in an hour."

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I felt bad when I did it, but I'm glad I did. Khanu was going on and on about the building structure and the ice particles, and was all very boring. So I decided to give him the slip. I ducked into a small building with hallways going every which way. I took the left hallway and went right until I couldn't anymore. Surprisingly, when I got to the end, I heard the muffled sounds of crying.

The sobbing was coming from a storage room. Boxes were strewn everywhere. It got louder as I traveled deeper into the room. Just behind a waist-high cart was a girl sobbing into her hands, her knees brought up to her face.

From what I could see, she had long black hair that was tangled and full of knots. She had tanned skin, and a long blue floral bath-robe on, with her feet bare.

I squat down and set my hand on her shoulder. She flinches. "Why are you crying?" I ask her. She slowly removes her hands from her face, and I can see red blotches around her eyes. But that wasn't the bizarre part. Her eyes were glowing the same blue aura glow Korra had.

"A t-t-t-terrible f-fate," she wails. "A ch-ch-choice that will p-p-p-put an end to his chord!" With a chill, I remember my mother telling me when I was young about some people believing your life was a chord. When it got to weak and flimsy, the spirits would cut it to end your life.

"Who's life is going to end?" I ask her. She was crying and shaking violently.

"N-n-no one is s-safe!" she sobs. "An ol-old enem-my will re-re-ret-turn!" I could just barely make out what she was saying, she was sobbing so hard.

I hear the door open and someone call out, "What's going on in here?!" It was a man's voice. I could hear him pushing boxes aside just to get through.

He saw me squatting next to the girl, trying to talk to her, and he went absolutely ballistic.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF YUE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN HERE!? GET OUT!!"

I briskly walk out if the storage room, my head down. Behind me, I could hear the girl continue to sob. As I was leaving, the only coherent thought I could think was What is the chief's son doing here?

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Hey guys and gals! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but keeping you on your toes is a priority of mine. I'm curious, what do you think is wrong with the girl? And what connections could the son of the Chief (who I can clarify is Desna) have with her? Comment your answers!

Ciao!-Lauren

P.S. The Chief is Desna, the son is someone else. I was trying to say that in my A/N, but someone pointed out that that wasn't very clear. Sorry!