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.
"Wait!" cried Izumi, riffling through a box of papers by the stove. She pulled a tiny, slightly crumpled piece of paper. She handed it to me and said, "You will go all over the world, but no place will have food quite like the Southern Water Tribe. Please, take this." I was speechless. I carefully placed it in my bag, knowing I was going to use it the minute I was in the North.
I hugged Izumi and whispered, "Thank you." Bapu stood, smiled, and to my surprise, gave me a hug as well. It was stiff and short, but meaningful nonetheless.
As we walked down the alley to town, I looked back and saw Izumi and Bapi waving at the door. I waved back until I couldn't see them anymore. It was surprising how much you could bond with someone in a couple of hours.
The entire walk to Katara's boat, we talked nonstop. Katara had been going to the Earth Kingdom to get some resources the North couldn't get because of the war. "They're in a terrible position," Katara told me.
"That reminds me," I say. "I need to tell you something."
"Not here." Katara looked around. "Not with everyone listening." The rest of the walk to Katara's boat, we didn't utter a word. Finally, we climbed up the rope to The Avatar.
"I'm going to make sure everything is still intact, and we'll set sail." I nodded, and headed down below deck to put my stuff in my room. I was just thinking about whether or not Katara would want her bag back, when I heard her yell, "And what the heck do you think you're doing here?"
I rushed out to where her voice was and saw her pulling someone by their ear onto the deck. The someone was Khanu. I groaned. Hasn't he given me enough trouble as it was?
When Katara had finally taken his ear out of her death clench, he replied, "Well, I was following Luna, obviously." Katara raised her eyebrows.
"And how exactly do you know her real name?" Khanu gave her a look of 'well duh!'
"Because she told me it." I winced. I had planned on not telling Katara that Khanu has figured out who I was, but now that plan was out the window. Katara turned to look at me.
"You told him?!" I hold out my hands in front of me, trying to give an air of explanation.
"He was the one that figured it out. He says he knew I was an earthbender because of my eyes, and I may or may not have incorporated earth into my water when I hit him on a test."
"You see!" Khanu added. "Everything is fine!" Katara pointed her finger at him, and gave him the death stare again.
"You are to get of my boat immediately. And don't you ever try to follow us again!"
"Ahh, but you see," he said with mock disappointment on his face, " I can't."
"And why is that?!"
"Well, Luna is going to need someone to accompany her on her trip to the North Pole." I snort.
"And what experience do you have?" I ask. He puffs his chest and raises his chin.
"I've gone there ever since I was a kid." At our dumbfounded looks, he adds, "My dad is a business man."
"But I don't need a guide," I reply. Katara but her lip like she didn't want to tell me something.
"Well, since some fights have been breaking out around there, I was going to try to find someone you knew. Bolin offered, but then he was needed to help edit a mover. So-"
"So now you have me," Khanu finished. "A person who knows the North up and down, right and left. I'll make sure you get to where you're going."
"Not happening," replied Katara. "I'm not even sure I can trust you."
"But I can," I say. Khanu gives me a grateful look; Katara gives me a disgruntled look.
"Are you even sure?" she asks. I nod. Khanu wasn't normally a person to lie. He looked serious right now. I got a strong feeling he actually knew what he was doing. I could see Katara on the edge of saying no.
But then she sighs. "Oh, all right. Khanu can come with us." I wrap my arms around her torso.
"Oh thank you, Katara!" She laughs, and I just now noticed that it sounded just like Korra's.
"And," Khanu says, "this could be the start of Team Avatar!" I give him a quizzical look.
"Of what?"
"You know, the closely knit group of people that help the Avatar save the world? You've never heard of them?" I smile. Even though I've spent 6 months with open society, there was still a lot more I needed to learn.
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I'm not sure if there is enough action to quench your thirst. Now I'm thinking of the Cactus Scene from A:TLA. "It's the quenchiest! It'll quench ya!" Ok, moving on. I'm trying to update as fast as possible because I know how ansy some if you get! *cough* Kim *cough* Hope you guys enjoyed these past 2 chapters!
Ciao!-Lauren