#people just black out when they see someone talk about sharing pieces of fruit. sick of it. read the tenor of your yes and rotate with me

[rominasaintofthebud]

i know enjoyment of poetry is deeply subjective and blah blah when youre matched in actual skill level it comes down to taste yada yada but i cannot BELIEVE that in the poetrysmackdown poll the orange is sweeping the tenor of your yes

[lokidokitom]

Wrong Type of Comfort

This Imagine from @imagine-loki submitted by @jotun-philosopher gave me an idea for a small fic. Did not follow it much so there’s a twist to it.

Word Count : 1700

Prompt : Imagine Loki noticing you’re upset about something, so he turns himself into a huge purry fluffy cat and jumps on you to tromple you with his fuzzy lil’ paddy-paws and give you snuggles and headpushes

_______________________________________

Sometimes the world is just not on your side and you feel like it’s personally out to get you.

The last few weeks feel like you were running on autopilot. Going through the motions at work and crashing without any energy left at the end of the day.

The weekend finally arrived and you were able to relax around the tower. Tony had given you the weekend off when he noticed how beat up you were but it was now Sunday and all the sleeping and relaxing hadn’t helped at all. You still felt exhausted.

When you woke up this morning, you made your way to the shared living room. Since you had spent the last two days in your room to rest and it hadn’t worked, you thought that a change of scenery might help you recharge.

Tony was the first person to see you on the couch under your pile of blankets.

“Hey there Y/N! Are you feeling any better?” Tony asked you, trying to see where your head was under everything.

“Hi Tony, I thought the time off would help but I can’t seem to shake off this tiredness,” you admit popping your head up to see him clearly.

“You can take more time off Y/N. We need you on the team but we need you at a hundred percent. I want you to be okay and not burnt out,” You can see the worry in Tony’s eyes. You feel bad for making him worry so much.

“I can’t make you just wait for me Tony. I’ll be able to work tomorrow.”

“Don’t rush it Y/N, you can take at least another day okay? I don’t want to see you do any work before Tuesday, got it?”

“If that makes you stop worrying so much about me Tony, I’ll do it.”

“I always worry about you Y/N/ Now, do you need anything? Soup, tea, water.. anything?”

“I’m okay Tony, really please stop worrying about me.”

“Okay then. I’ll send someone to check on you in a few hours to make sure you’re eating,” with that he ruffled your hair and walked away.

You smiled and fixed up the hair that fell into your eyes. Having someone care so much about you feels good, but it’s not enough to completely lift the funk that you’re in.

Flipping the channels on the tv, you stopped on a cartoon that you enjoyed when you were younger and cuddled further into the couch. An hour into the movie, Steve comes in the room with a tray full of food.

“Tony sent me a message saying that you were in here and needed, and I quote, ‘a shit ton of food’. Is there anything that you want and don’t see here?”

“Thank you Steve but you didn’t have to do all of this! I won’t be able to eat it all.” He had brought you a giant bowl of mixed fruits, some eggs, pancakes, toasts, a few different kinds of jams, waffles with all the toppings, and a plate full of bacon.

“I can help with that,” Loki smoothly waltz in the room with a smirk. Loki and you weren’t what you would call friends but you would talk once in a while.

“I mean, if Steve is okay with it, he’s the one who made it all,” you look at him for his input.

“Go right ahead Loki I just ate, but make sure Y/N eats her share. Tony’s orders.”

You roll your eyes but Loki nods and comes to sit beside you on the couch. Once Steve leaves the room, Loki turns to you looking curious.

“So why are the Captain and robotic man so worried about you this time?” Loki asks when he pops a grape into his mouth.

“They’re just over reacting. I’ve been tired lately and all the sleep I had in the last two days hasn’t helped, but I’ll be okay.”

“Have you fallen ill?”

“I don’t think I have.” You hadn’t thought of that. You didn’t notice any more symptoms but that didn’t mean you didn’t have a small fever.

Loki surprised you by sitting closer and reaching his hand to touch your forehead. That is the first time he’s ever touched you and you weren’t expecting how smooth his hand was. You’ve seen videos of how he fights and you expected his hands to be rough.

“Well, your temperature seems okay but I wouldn’t be the best judge since, well, frost giant and everything,” he moves back to his previous spot on the couch and reaches for more food.

You chuckle and reach for some food as well. “Friday, could you check my vitals please?”

“Of course Y/N, your vitals are all good.”

“So no fever Friday?”

“Your temperature is normal Miss Y/N.”

“Thank you Friday. I guess you were right Loki.”

“I guess so, now make sure you eat enough of this before I get blamed.” Loki grabs the bowl of fruits and plops it onto your lap.

Talking to people and seeing them trying to take care of you is helping lift your spirits just a little bit.

“So what has been going on Y/N? Friday said there was nothing medically wrong,” Loki asks again, not pushing but curious.

“I think it’s mentally. I’ve been feeling a lot negative and low energy for the last few weeks and nothing seems to get better. Usually a good night’s sleep will help but lately it’s been dream after dream where I wake up even more stressed than I was before.”

“So you haven’t been sleeping well?”

“No. Even the last two days, the only thing I did was sleep and relax but it didn’t help me.”

“Could I try something to help?”

“Of course,” you nod almost enthusiastically, wanting anything to help you rest.

You watch as Loki completely disappears in front of your eyes and a black cat is sitting right where he was, the eyes are the same ones you were looking into a few seconds before just more cat-like.

The cat pads his way to you and head-butts your cheek before sitting next to the fruit bowl on your lap.

You smile sweetly at him until you feel a sneeze explode out of you. Once your eyes open, even Loki notices how watered they got. Another sneeze comes out and Loki jumps back to his previous spot and turns back into himself.

“What’s wrong? I thought you weren’t sick,” worry floods his eyes.

“No I’m not sick it’s,” another sneeze. “It’s only allergies. I’m allergic to cats,” and another sneeze.

“I am so sorry, darling!” You can see how bad Loki feels. “Is there something I can do?”

A sneeze comes out before you can start talking. “Could you just get my allergy medication from my bathroom?”

“Yes, of course!” Loki jumps up from the couch and disappears from the room.

A few seconds later, Loki comes back with the bottle of medication you needed and hands it to you. You pop a pill and swallow it between sneezes.

“I apologize, Y/N. I didn’t know you’d have a bad reaction like this.”

“It’s okay Loki, you didn’t know I was allergic. It’s not your fault.” By the end of the conversation your symptoms had already slowed down a lot. You’re sneezing stopped but your nose was still congested. “Thank you for trying to make me feel better.”

“Trying being the key word right?” You laugh. “Are you allergic to dogs as well?” 

“No, I love dogs!”

Loki smirks and transforms himself into a beautiful black lab and makes his way towards you on the couch. You smile and pat his head when he rests it on your lap.

“Would you like some?” You ask Loki pointing to the fruit bowl next to his face. He just pushes the bowl a bit with his nose closer towards you.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be eating some too.” You pick up a piece of watermelon and put it next to his mouth.

You spend the rest of the morning like this, eating through the food tray together and finishing the rest of your movie, you even start another one. After all the food is gone you make yourself more comfortable on the couch and Loki does too, coming closer to you.

He head-butts your hand until you get the message and you start to pet him. The soothing motion of petting his soft fur slowly makes you fall into a comfortable, stress free sleep and Loki falls asleep as well.

A few hours later, Tony walks in to check on Y/N and what he sees is not something he’d ever imagine seeing. His little chuckle wakes up the dog on the couch. Loki slowly removes himself from next to you and makes his way toward Tony and by the time he’s in front of him, he’s back to his Asgardian form.

“One word of this to anyone and you will regret it,” Loki fumes into Tony’s face.

“Don’t worry Lassie, you helped Y/N feel better so I’ll keep your soft side a secret,” Tony smirks and leaves the room.

Loki’s furious face disappears when he turns around and sees you still sound asleep on the couch with a peaceful expression on your face. He makes his way closer to you and makes sure you’re covered under your blanket then picks up everything around and brings it all to the kitchen.

“Did she eat some of it or did you eat it all?” Steve asks when he sees Loki dropping off the empty food tray.

“She ate most of it actually. After she got comfortable she ate a lot more. She’s sleeping peacefully now so don’t go rushing in there.”

“Tony sent out a message just a few minutes ago to the whole tower saying not to bother her.”

“Of course he did,” Loki rolls his eyes and turns to leave the room.

“Hey, Loki. Thanks for helping her,” Steve sincerely says.

Loki nods and leaves the room. You might be able to call your relationship a friendship now.

[slythergirlimagines]

Worth Your Time- Jack Shephard x Reader

Summary: Reader and Jack are friends with benefits, but when reader gets hurt it could change their relationship. (GIF not mine!) Masterlist

Warnings: injuries and some mentions of sex, also dead relatives and abusive ex mentioned   

Words: 3,189

Requested: Yes! @flowercrowns-goodvibes thank you so much for requesting something about Lost. My love for this show and for Jack is endless:) I hope you enjoy it!

Worth Your Time

The first time you slept with Jack Shephard, you were both drunk. Hurley and Charlie had found some vodka in an old bunker. Everyone had craved the distraction the alcohol provided and a party had broken out in result.

After your fair share of drinks, you had stepped away and gone to stare at the ocean. Jack had found you there, drunk and depressed. You had opened up to each other, you about the abusive relationship you were running from, and Jack about his father. You weren’t really sure how it happened, but one minute you were talking and the next you were having sex.

You had never really talked about it after it happened. It was only a few days later that you had a nightmare and sought out Jack. After that, you began seeking comfort in each other, and of course some other things. It wasn’t all physical though.

You and Jack talked about anything and everything. You connected, and you understood each other. You had realized too late into your relationship that you were developing feelings for him, and you couldn’t tell him. If you told him, then everything would get weird and he wouldn’t want you anymore. The voice in your head definitely belonged to your ex, but it was right. Jack was too important to lose.

Currently, you are enjoying the day. Sometimes on beautiful days like this, you like to pretend that you’re on vacation. You close your eyes and let the breeze blow through your hair, and you let yourself pretend for just a little bit that you have no problems. It helps to forget reality sometimes, especially when your reality is being stranded on an island where everything seems to go wrong.

Today the waves are sparkling and the sun is high in the sky. Charlie and Hurley are still trying to fish, even though they’ve never caught anything. Sun is off tending her garden, and Kate and Sawyer are flitting about doing who knows what. Claire wades into the water, rocking baby Aaron back and forth. None of these people are who you want to see. You’re looking for Jack.

You see him exiting the make shift medical tent, and you quickly jog over to him.

“Jack!” You call to him. When he sees you, his face breaks out into a huge grin and your heart flutters in your chest. He’s just a friend you remind yourself. A very hot friend that you sometimes have sex with.

“Y/n!” He calls back, mimicking your enthusiasm.

“Hey!” You say, finally catching up to him. “I have something to ask you.”

“Oh yeah?” He says, plucking some fruit from the breakfast pile, and taking a bite.

“Sun and I are going on a hike this afternoon. She’s needs help finding some seeds for the garden, and I was wondering if there’s anything you need medically?”

Jack looks up at the clouds, and makes a face.

“Are you sure you guys want to go today? It might rain.” You roll your eyes at his concern.

“Don’t worry, Jack. We’re big girls, I think we can handle it!” You wink. It feels natural to flirt with him like this.

“Alright, alright. I just can’t help it.” He says. His voice drops a little at the end, and it sends shivers down your spine. His brown eyes turn hungry, and he lets them rake over you.

It’s been a few days since you’ve been together, and you’ve missed him. His eyes tell you that he’s missed you too, even if his mouth won’t say it.

When he finishes looking you up and down, he catches your half-lidded gaze and smiles.

“Come back to me in one piece.” He leans in, whispering in your ear. “I’ll make it worth your time.” His pupils are dilated when he pulls back and he smirks at you, licking his lips.

Jack Shephard can be down right predatory when he wants to be. You shiver, and smile back at him.

“You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” You let yourself linger in the moment, and then you remind him of your original question. “So do you need anything?”

Jack looks sheepish, and rubs the back of his neck as he answers. “No, sorry I forgot the question.”

“I have that effect on people.” You flirt.

“That you do.” Jack looks up at the sky and then back at you. “You better go before I lose all semblance of self control.”

“If this is you controlled I can’t wait to see you wild.” You smirk again and then back up slowly. “See you later doc.”

You leave him there, practically panting, and hurry back to Sun.

————————————————-

The hike goes well. Sun manages to find a majority of the seeds she needs with little problem. You’re on your way back when you notice a patch of familiar looking plant stalks.

“Sun!” You call.

She turns around and raises an eyebrow in your direction.

“I’m going to stay behind for a little bit, I’ll catch up!” You say.

“I don’t know....” Sun says, glancing up at the darkening sky.

“I’ll be fine!” You say. “This is literally going to take like five minutes!”

Convinced, Sun nods and continues on her way.

“Be careful!” She throws over her shoulder.

You promise her you will, and then turn your attention back to the stalks.

When you were younger, your mother was very into natural remedies. She grew a lot of her own plants and herbs to aid in the healing process. Ginger was always one of her favorites. The root helped calm aches and pains, and it would be the perfect gift for Jack. You may not have medicine on this island, but you could use what was around you.

Quickly, you get to work pulling the roots of the ground. It’s hard work, and it takes you a lot longer to fill up your basket than you had hoped. By the time you’re finished, your hands are bleeding and the sky is nearly pitch black.

You stumble quickly onto the path, and start walking as quickly as you can. Maybe you’ll be able to get close to the beach before the downpour starts. You aren’t half as lucky as you wish you were though, because it only takes a minute for the rain to begin.

It’s a thick blanket of water, and there are no breaks in between downpours. The rain pounds against your body, soaking through your clothes in seconds. It also makes it impossible to see where you’re going.

Your boots start getting stuck in the mud, and before you know it, you’re slipping and sliding around. Everything is distorted through the water and you start panicking. Are you even going the right way?

The water starts gathering and rushing downhill like a fast moving stream. It’s impossible for you to keep your balance, and you fall, bashing your leg against the side of a rock. You feel it slice through your skin, and the pain is consuming.

The water keeps pushing you with its current, banging you against objects in the path. Finally, your head bangs against something hard and the world goes dark.

————————————————-

“Dude!” You hear a voice yell. Your head pounds, and you lift a shaky hand to feel around. There’s a tender spot when you touch it, and you quickly drop your hand.

“Dude, I think I found her!” Hurley says. His shouts increase the pounding in your head, and you go limp with the pain.

“Where is she?” You hear Charlie’s heavy accent.

Flashlight beams illuminate your face, and you listen as they start to panic.

“Oh my god. She’s dead, Hurley look at her.” Charlie says.

“Dude, I think I’m going to hurl.” Hurley says, gagging.

“Hurley, get a grip! Listen to me. Who’s going to tell Jack? He’s going to lose it mate! He’ll go absolutely bonkers.” Charlie says.

Hearing Jack’s name rouses something in you, and you have enough energy to groan his name. You want Jack. He’ll make you feel better and take all this pain away. Over the pounding of your head, you hadn’t even been able to think about the searing pain in your leg.

“Jack?” You ask again.

“She’s alive!” Charlie shouts and you listen as he and Hurley celebrate.

“Dude we’ve gotta get Jack, what if it’s not ok to move her?” Hurley asks.

“Ok ok good point. You stay here and I’ll go get him. They shouldn’t be too far away.” Charlie says, and you hear him run off.

“It’s ok, y/n.” Hurley says. “I’m here, and Jack’s going to be here real soon. He’s worried sick about you.”

Jack was worried about you? You smile, and it’s painful, but you also feel a lot better. Jack will be there soon and he’s worried. Your Jack.

The pain is slowly increasing, and you feel like maybe you could sleep a little longer before Jack gets there. I mean you wouldn’t be missing anything.

“Y/n??” You hear a voice call, and it’s Jack. You’d know his deep voice anywhere.

“Jack.” You groan.

You hear the snapping of branches as someone runs to you. Large, warm hands start checking over your body. Jack’s hands. You’d know them anywhere too.

“What happened?” He asks, and you can hear how wrecked his voice is. You’ve never heard him so worried before. Usually when he checks on patients he has a forced calm to him, but now he sounds desperate and pained.

“Rain.” You mutter helpfully. “Cut leg.” You wince as his hand finds the wound.

“Head hurts.” You mumble. You’re tired again. This whole ordeal has honestly worn you out, and Jack was here now. Everything would be ok, because he would take care of you.

“Don’t you dare fall asleep on me.” He commands. “Don’t you dare.”

“Ok, Jack.” You say, but everything is already getting hazy and unfocused. “Love you.” You smile. Colors dance under your eyelids, and you let them sweep you off into the dark again.

———————————————-

In your dream, your mother stands before you. She’s wearing the same familiar blue sweater and jeans that you remember.

“Mom?” You ask, tears in your eyes.

She smiles at you, and her eyes crinkle into lines at the corners. Her eyes sparkle as she looks at you. She envelops you into a hug, and you realize she still smells the same. She’s only been gone for two years now, but it feels like it’s been an eternity since you’ve seen her.

“Oh y/n.” She says, and softly lets your hair as you cry into her shoulder. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too.” You choke out, tears making your voice thick.

“You’ve been so brave, y/n. What you’ve been through... you’ve been so strong.” She smiles at you softly, and squeezes you.

Her words bring back memories. The island, the plane, leaving your ex, meeting Jack. Jack.

“Yes,” your mother says. “Jack is a lovely man. Every mother wants her daughter to bring home a doctor.” She teases.

“Am I dead?” You ask, suddenly fearful that you’ve left him.

Your mother looks at you softly. She shakes her head.

“Not yet. You can still pull through. Your doctor is giving death one hell of a fight. He’s not giving up on you anytime soon.” She smiles.

Of course he wouldn’t. Tears spring to your eyes as you think about Jack fighting for you, not giving up on you. You can’t leave him. You don’t want to leave him.

“Mom?” You ask. “I don’t want to die. Not yet.”

She pulls you into a hug, and laughs wetly. “Then you won’t.” She says.

“I love you.” You tell her. “I miss you everyday.”

“I love you too.” She says. Then she presses a kiss to your forehead, and everything dissolves.

————————————————-

You’re awake, but you don’t open your eyes. Pain makes your limbs heavy and your brain sluggish as you try to make sense of everything. You finally crack one eye, and groan against the painfully bright light.

“Y/n?” Jack says, hope colors his tone.

“Jack?” You ask. You reach out your arm trying to find him, when he catches your hand. You feel him cradle it between his palms, and he places a lingering kiss to it.

“Oh my god.” He says, and you can tell from the emotion in his voice that he’s crying.

You pry your eyes open again, this time determined to keep them open. You blink several times, before your eyes adjust and you’re able to focus.

Jack stares at you, eyes glassy with tears cradling your hand to the side of his face. His brown eyes are warm, and he’s smiling in relief.

“Hi.” You tell him shyly. You can’t comprehend why he’s so emotional about you. Jack has taken devastating loses on this island, and you still haven’t seen him look as torn up as he does now.

“Hi.” He says back, and it feels like it means everything. Your heart stutters against the intensity of his gaze.

“What happened.” He asks you, softly. He lets one of his hands trace the side of your face, and then starts stroking your hair out of your eyes.

“I saw some ginger root, and I remembered my mother using ginger to help with aches and pains. I thought it could come in handy, but it took me longer to harvest it than I thought. I couldn’t out run the rain.” You say. It’s a little embarrassing, to admit it. You know how stupid it sounds in retrospect.

Jack shakes his head at you.

“Should’ve known.” He says, but he smiles instead of reprimands you. You know it’s probably only because he’s so relieved that he isn’t yelling at you.

“What can I say.” You mutter, leaning back into the cot. You can tell you’re in the Med tent.

“Are Charlie and Hurley ok?” You ask suddenly. Your memories are a blur, but you can remember their panicked voices.

Jack laughs a little, and you smile in response, glad to know he is ok enough to laugh.

“Yes. They thought you were dead.” He says, and then all the humor leaves his face. You regret ever bringing it up as you watch him debate with himself.

“I thought I was going to lose you.” He says. He has the same look on his face that he had when he told you the “angel hair pasta” story.

“Your leg was sliced up really bad. Deep too. I had no way of knowing how much blood you lost.” He says, eyes haunted. “Then your head wound. God, I had no way of knowing how bad that was, or if you had other internal injuries. Then you passed out on me, and you’ve been out ever since.”

“I’m sorry.” You say, and you realize that you’re crying. Jack’s pain has become yours and you’re so mad at yourself that you scared him so badly.

“No!” He says, and hurriedly wipes your tears away. “Don’t cry! It’s not your fault.”

“But it is. I was so stupid.”

Jack just shakes his head and continues brushing back you hair. He’s being so gentle with you, and it’s such a stark contrast from some of your wilder nights. The thought brings a blush to your cheeks.

“I had to bathe you.” Jack says out of nowhere, and he looks awkward as tells you. Like he’s asking for some sort of forgiveness. “I had to clean the wound, and you were unconscious and I didn’t trust anybody else...”

You start laughing and you can’t help yourself. He just looks so sweet asking you to forgive him for helping you.

“Jack, it’s not like it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.” You say, and your voice lowers a bit.

The air is suddenly charged with electricity as you two lock eyes. Your heart starts beating quickly again, and you wonder if Jack can tell.

“You told me you loved me.” He whispers.

Your blush, horrified. If you could, you would go back in time and finish the job the rain started.

“Jack, I’m so sorry.” You say. You knew you’d find a way to mess this up eventually. You couldn’t bear to lose him now.

“Did you mean it?” He asks. You search his face for any sign of disgust, but he only looks curious. You can’t lie to him, and you find that somewhere deep down you don’t want to.

“Yes.” You say. “But I was never going to say anything, I never meant to make it weird or-”

“Y/n.” Jack says, and he gives you a glowing look. He looks so happy, and your heart thumps painfully against your ribs.

“I love you too.” He says quietly. “I’m sorry it took all of this for me to admit it to you. I- well it was never just sex for me either, you know. It was always about you.”

“Me too.” You whisper quietly. Then you start laughing again. This time jack joins in, and the two of you laugh for a long time.

Jack looks at you like you’re his world, and then he kisses you gently. It is a much sweeter kiss than any you’ve ever shared with him, and it makes your whole body feel fuzzy and light.

Jack pulls away and you whine at the loss of contact.

“Jack!” You cry. He looks positively boyish like this. Young and happy.

“You’re injured.” He teases. “What kind of doctor would I be if I didn’t force you to heal properly.”

“You’re such a tease!” You pout.

He kisses you again, and laughs.

“You love me.” He sings.

“I do.” You can’t stop saying it enough. You pat the space behind you in the cot and give him your widest eyes. “Come join me?” Jack rolls his eyes, but comes to join you in the cot.

He takes care to wrap himself gently around you without disturbing your injuries. Content, you sink into the warmth of his embrace.

“You know, technically I did come back in one piece. And you told me you’d make it worth my while....” you trail off, wiggling your eyebrows suggestively.

“Not. Until. You’re. Healed!” He throws a hand up into the air. “I swear you’re going to kill me.” He says shaking his head.

Smiling, you think about your mother and the fact that you had almost died. It may be cheesy, but it was certainly true. Any second with Jack was more than worth your time.

A/n: I hope you enjoyed reading this! I write for a lot of fandoms and my requests are open if there’s something you want to read. You can find all my other work under the tag slythergirlimagines!

[samthemarvelfan]

I Won’t Say: Chapter Three

-Of Noble Birth and Titles-

Summary: Ellaria Stark is the daughter of a king. When she is unwittingly betrothed to the King of a neighboring city, she isn’t sure how to feel. More importantly, she isn’t sure how the King will feel if he finds out the truth about her.

Pairing: James Barnes x OFC, Ellaria Stark. (Stark!Reader.)

Warnings: Royal!AU, Angst, self-doubt, mentions of alcohol, swearing

A/N: This is the turning point for these two! Good or bad? We’ll see! >:) Taglist is open!

There’s an old Stark family saying; If you’re nothing without the crown, then it shouldn’t belong to you.

Father always said it meant that being a king, or a queen...those were just titles. Words invented to show power—not pride.

What mattered was the person beneath the crown.

Are you honorable? Kind? Do you do all you can for others without expecting anything in return? That’s how your parents raised you, and you swore long ago that you’d never let them down.

After all, they’re the ones who gave you this life. It’s your job to do something remarkable with it.

You’d been in Buchanan for nearly a week now, and thankfully, you’d gotten the hang of most of the grounds. The castle’s gardens had become a favorite place for you. It reminded you of the garden Father had planted for you on your 16th nameday all those years ago.

As for the King, you’d barely seen him. He’d send Sam or Steve to tell you to dine without him; that he had ‘work to do’. They’d relay the message with a sympathetic eye, and leave you.

You blamed yourself in part. Had you not been so frank with the king the night of the feast, maybe you could have salvaged some hope for your marriage.

“Ellaria?” Nat called, pulling you from your thoughts.

You turn to her and smile, “Sorry...I was day dreaming.”

A gentle smile graced her lips, “I was told the King would like to see you this afternoon. Lunch on the terrace.”

You and Natasha had become quite close. Sadly, Wanda needed to go back to the Iron Kingdom to comfort your sister, Morgan. She was struggling with your absence and Mother said a familiar face would help.

You laughed, “I’m rather sick of him sending other people to give me messages. Surely he knows where he could find me.” You were irritated, but not with Nat.

She placed a soft hand on your own, “This is promising news, yes? Last you’d shared, the two of you haven’t seen each other in nearly a week.”

You nod, “Through no fault of my own, I assure you. Does he think I’m some daft damsel blind to his avoidance of me?”

“Please, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sure he just wants to talk about things. Maybe he’s had a change in heart.” She urged.

Nat was always looking on the bright side when it came to James. Dreaming that her friend might be coming around.

“We can only hope.” You sigh.

Moments Earlier:

“You’re being a complete ass...you realize this, yes?” Nat asked as she entered the room with Steve.

“Not now, Natasha.” James said, laying in the middle of his bed.

“A week! She’s been here a week and you’ve managed to cast her out like she has the plague!” She shouted.

James didn’t speak.

“How can you expect your people to embrace her, if you don’t?” Steve interjects.

James stood from the bed, “I’m still king, yes? I don’t have to explain myself.”

Natasha followed him, “James, this isn’t you. Why are you being this way?”

Steve spoke up, “She wants to make this work. She wouldn’t still be here if she didn’t. The wedding—“

“I know, Steve. I know.” Bucky scowled.

James had resorted to hiding from you. Doing anything in his power to maintain the facade of disinterest; which grew harder by the day.

He enjoyed watched you float around the gardens. Looking like you had been around them your whole life—like you belonged there. He noticed how drawn to the tulips you were—specifically the white ones.

You would always sit and bask in the middays sun. Whether with a book or a quill and parchment, in those moments, you looked happy.

That made him happy.

“She doesn’t need me. She’s doing just fine...so I’m told.” He quickly covers his tracks.

James sat, slipping his black boots on.

“James...” Nat pleaded. “If you want to have a wedding, you need to attempt to bond with your future wife. She might not need you, but wouldn’t you like her to want you?”

He stayed seated, but looked up to his friends.

“She’s not the enemy, Buck.” Steve said.

James nodded thoughtfully. “Fine. Tell her we will dine together. Lunch, on the terrace. The one overlooking the gardens.”

Nat smirked softly at her friend, “Getting to know what she likes, are we?”

You sat on the terrace, dressed in one of your favorite gowns. One your mother had commissioned for your 21st nameday. Though it was older than most of your others by now, it was still one you treasured.

The maids brought out trays of foods. Fruit, cheeses, and marmalade. Breads and wine and these buttery pastries that were to die for! If there was one thing you realized, it was that there was no shortage of cooks in Buchanan.

The wrought iron and glass door opened, as you nibbled on some toast. Sam walked through, followed swiftly by James.

“I’ll leave you.” Sam said, “Your highness.” He bowed, earning a smile from you, before retreating and closing the doors.

You looked out into the gardens, attempting to show the King your disinterest in presence, but you failed. Why is it that anytime you tried to ignore him, you couldn’t?

“Hello, Princess.” He greeted, before sitting across from you.

“Your majesty.” You greet evenly. Not wanting to seem hopeful.

“Are you well?” He asked genuinely, leaning back in his chair, taking you in.

You reach for your cup, and sip your wine. “I am. Why the sudden interest in my well-being?”

He smirked softly, “Despite what you think, I care about your comfort. Have you gotten to know the castle a bit better?”

You nod, “I think so. Though there’s a corridor in the east wing I’ve not been able to get past. Why?”

The smile fell from his face, and James sat up straight. “No one is allowed there. Not anymore.”

You nod, understanding. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

It must have been his parents quarters. No wonder it’s been sealed off.

James face softened slightly, “Don’t be sorry. It’s just something I don’t wish to discuss. Not with you.”

“Oh.” You whisper. You reach for another piece of bread, as does James. You slather yours with clotted cream, and reach for your favorite jam.

James reaches for the same jar, and your hands touch for a moment, sending heat up your arm and straight to your cheeks.

You smile coyly, “The plum jam is my favorite.”

He smirks, almost laughs. “It’s mine, too.” He say, picking up the jar and handing it to you.

Once you’ve made your plate, you sit up a bit, signaling for his attention. “Why are we here, James? Why did you need to see me? After all this time...”

He sipped his cup, and placed it down gently. “I wanted to discuss the parade this evening. You and I will ride together in our carriage, and simply wave and greet the people. It’s to show our citizens their future queen.”

You smiled, “Well that sounds lovely. Thank you for thinking of me”

He nodded, “I’m sorry for being so distant.” He says sincerely, but looking at the floor.

James doesn’t offer an excuse, why would he? The King doesn’t need excuses. His apologies would suffice.

For now.

“I’ve had a gown brought to your rooms. You will be a Barnes soon enough, it is time for you to start to wear our colors.” He said proudly.

You feel the heat rise to your cheeks again. “T-thank you, your majesty. I look forward to it.”

He stands from the table, knocking on the door to his left. The door opens, held for him to exit through.

“I will see you tonight, then.”

You nod.

With that, he leaves you.

Perhaps Nat was right. Maybe there is hope to be had, yet.

“Am I to do anything else?” You ask Steve as he walks you to your carriage.

He shook his head, “No. The people simply wish to see their future Queen, their hearts will be full knowing what lies ahead of them.” He smiled.

“Why are you so kind to me, Steven? What have I done to deserve it, hmm?” You ask with a playful voice.

Steve laughed, holding out a hand for you to step into the white coach. “You’re here. Simply that, and you’re putting up with my stubborn-as-a-mule pal over there.”

He nodded his head toward the tunnel James emerged from. He was dressed in a navy tunic, and tan trousers. His sword placed just-so on his hip, sheathed in an elaborate stitched leather cover. Atop his head sat a beautiful crown. The crown of a true king.

“Your highness.” You greet, smiling.

James turns to you before he steps into the carriage, and you hear his breath catch in his throat. You watch as his eyes take you in, was he disappointed? You certainly weren’t.

The dress he’d sent for you was stunning, and beautifully crafted. Any woman would be proud to wear it.

He shakes himself from his trance, and steps up, taking his seat next to you.

“Thank you for my gown.” You whisper as the coachman starts the horses toward town.

James doesn’t look at you, not even a side glance. “It was no trouble. You needed more suitable gowns.”

Your smile falters, is that why he did this? You’d never had someone question your taste of dress

As town grew closer, you could hear the crowds of people cheering and clapping. All of whom were eager to see their future queen; to see you.

“Please don’t let them be disappointed, too.” You whisper to yourself.

James heard you. He must have, because he glanced at you for a moment, an apologetic look on his face, before looking ahead once more.

As you rounded the corner to the main street, the crowds grew louder. Guards walked along the sides of your carriage, Sam in front, Steve following behind on a carriage of his own.

The people were happy and smiling, all cheering for you.

“Princess! Princess!”

“She’s beautiful!”

“Our savior is here!”

“Long live the Queen!”

Your heart fluttered, these people were showing you nothing but love, and gratitude. Something your betrothed hadn’t shown once.

“Wave to our people, Princess.” James instructed with a smile on his face.

You raise your hand and offer a soft wave at the crowds lining the streets, and smile. The people were waving flags and fawning over the royal court.

It was when you were nearing a turn that you noticed a little girl, no more than 7 or 8, panicked and crying in the crowd. She was looking for something—someone, and was getting jostled by the people she’d been mixed in with.

Panic rises in your throat. “Stop the carriage!” You shout without thinking.

The coachman stalls the horses, and you move to get out.

“What is the meaning of this?!” James yells at you in a hushed tone.

You ignore him, and instead, rush to the little girl. People giving you space as you approached her.

“Hello,” you smile, crouching down in your gown. “I’m Ellaria, what’s your name?”

She sniffles, trying to stop her tears. “Daisy.”

You smile softly, stroking her cheek. “What a beautiful name. Are you alright? Are you looking for someone?”

She nods, tears filling her eyes once more. “My mother, I can’t find her. I told her I wouldn’t leave her, but there’s so many people. I only stopped for a second—“

“Shh, shh. It’s alright,” you hug her gently. “You’re safe. We’ll find her. I bet you she’s so worried about you.”

Daisy nodded.

“Sir Samuel...” you called for him. He appeared at your side smiling.

“Yes your majesty?” He said in a knowing tone.

You stand, pulling Daisy to your side. She cowered from the tall man in front of her. “This is my friend Daisy, and she seems to have lost her mother. I’m sure her mother is sick with worry. Could you help find her?”

Sam looked at you with pride, and to the little girl before him. “It would be an honor.” He held his hand out for her to take.

She didn’t hesitate, and soon they were walking back up the street. Searching the crowd together.

The court, the people, and the King stayed silent as you walked back to the carriage and took your seat.

James watched you, an ineffable expression on his face. The crowds suddenly erupted with applause, causing you to smile.

“Coachman, you may go.”

How were you real?

That’s the question James kept repeating in his head over and over.

The way you stopped the parade to help one little girl. The way you knelt before her, on the streets of the city, caring not for the state of your dress or how improper it was considered.

How you introduced yourself to her by your name and not by your title. You cared not for how the people watched you, only that the little girl felt safe and found help.

He smiled sincerely for the first time in months.

And it was because of you.

“Am I interrupting?” Steve said, poking his head through the door.

James returned from his daydream, “No, not at all.”

Steve sat across from his friend, a knowing smile on his face. “Can’t stop thinking about her, can you?”

Bucky laughed, “I’m getting sick of these visits, ya know.” He jested.

“C’mon, Buck.” Steve prodded.

The king sighed, “I just...have you ever seen a woman do that? One of noble birth? Stop a whole caravan of carriages to help a little girl find her mother?”

Steve shook his head proudly. “No.”

James stood, picking up a trinket off his desk and fiddling with it between his hands “She’s so...different. I’ve never known a woman to bare their heart so freely.”

“Different is good, yes?” Steve questioned.

Bucky turned to look out his window, the one overlooking the gardens. He saw you there, sketching on a piece of parchment.

Still turned away from Steve, he smiled to himself, a large proud grin, “Yes. Yes, I dare say it is.”

Steve huffed a laugh, moving to exit the room. “Oh I came with a message by the way. You have a visitor at the gates.”

James turned around suddenly. “Who?”

Steve sighed, “Sharon Carter.”

Chapter Four: No One is Safe

Taglist: @iheartsebastianstan @jjlizz @stuckysbabe @sk493494 @lefoutoir @nickangel13 @marvelismysafezone @lilulo-12 @warmvanillafeels @star-spangled-beard-burn @ravenesque @pinknerdpanda @wintersoldierissucharide @snapcapquartet @ellen-reincarnated1967 @unlistedpond @my-drowning-in-time @supernaturalwintersoldier @kimvmarvel @roseboho @winterboobear11 @choicesloversstuff @disaffectedbarnes @igothroughphasesalot (strikethrough means the tag didn’t work! I’m sorry!)

[wehangout]

Fuck No

AO3

Things get weird the night before the night before. You joke and shove each other on the way to dinner, just like every other night, but then, while you’re eating your beef stroganoff and half a cup of veggies, things get … quiet.

And you’re in jail, for fucks sake. Even in the middle of the night there’s nothing quiet about jail because if there’s not someone jacking off two cells down, or talking to himself in the cell across, then the plumbing is whirring and creaking, pipes groaning under the pressure of flushing hundreds of dudes’ shit away every goddamn day.

But that’s how it gets at dinner. Quiet. Two guys at the other end of the table are going through the alphabet naming movies from the nineties; a couple of guards two tables over are trying to convince Jimmy to stop making idle threats and eat his fucking dinner; and there’s even shitty music playing over the shitty PA system.

That small circle around you and Ian, that bubble that seems to exist day and night, is silent.

It stays silent all the way back to your cell. It stays silent when he grabs a book and climbs onto his bed. It stays silent as you doodle half-heartedly on a piece of paper. He doesn’t come to you that night, and you don’t go to him, but when the lights go out, you can tell by his breathing alone that he’s not asleep.

He’s on you the next morning, hand in your boxers, wrapped expertly around your hard dick. He ruts against your ass, panting into your neck and letting out tiny sounds on every third or fourth thrust, and it’s those that get you. Ian Gallagher likes to hear you when he fucks you, but he’s not stupid enough to get carried away now. Not here.

But he can’t seem to help himself and that sends you over the edge, coming in his hand and on your own belly after nothing more than a quick handie. Ian follows, and you can feel his wetness seep through his own boxers onto your ass. It’s enough to make you want to go again, until –

“I’m staying.”

He whispers it against your shoulder, so quiet that you barely hear him.

“You what?”

“You heard me,” he says, and moves back a little when you struggle out of his grip, turn to face him. “I’m staying.”

“The fuck you are.”

His hand, still sticky with your come, lifts and grasps at your tank, right over your heart. “I want to stay with you.”

And you’re sure as hell he feels the thud-thud-thudding of your heart, the way it goes from a post-orgasm, slowing thump … thump … thump to beating so hard it physically hurts. He says nothing else, though; just grips tighter and kisses you.

His breath is terrible and yours is likely worse, but you kiss him back, thread your fingers into his hair, commit every crevice of his mouth to memory. And when you pull back, he grins like a dope and you smile back.

“You’re leaving,” you say. “Tomorrow morning. And if you fight me on this again, I swear that will be the last time I kiss you while you’re still here.”

His jaw drops, but you ignore it to climb over him and take a leak.

 Breakfast is silent. Not quite as painfully so as dinner, but still silent. You watch Ian and you know he watches you when you’re not watching him. Sometimes your gaze will meet, and he will glare, or you’ll smirk, or mutual soft – sad, they’re fucking sad, okay? – smiles will fill your bubble and you can forget, just for a second, that he’s leaving you.

Again.

Fuck.

He stops you before the turn off to the laundry and there’s this stupid feeling in your chest. He’s leaving. He’s leaving tomorrow and you don’t even get to spend your last day together because you’re in fucking prison and it’s utter bullshit.

“Hey,” he says, and gestures away from the crowd.

“We ain’t talking about this shit again, Ian.”

“No, I … I’m not gonna say that again, all right? It’s something else.”

You look up that tiny bit to meet his gaze and ignore everyone else around you. “What then?”

“I’ll wait.”

His words make you want to vomit so you swallow hard and nod. “Sure. Okay.”

“I mean it, Mick.” His hand brushes your arm in a barely-there touch, the only kind of touch either of you allow outside of the cell. “I mean it.”

“Look, man, let’s not make promises we can’t keep, okay?” You take a step back and avoid his gaze. “I’ll see ya at lunch.”

“Wait!” He reaches for you but doesn’t touch. “You didn’t answer me the other day.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?” you ask, glancing at the guards.

“What are we gonna do when I get out? Long distance? Break up? Marriage –“

“Fuck no.”

He pulls back, eyebrows high on his forehead. “Excuse me?”

“I already had one shitshow of a marriage, Gallagher. I ain’t doing that again.”

“But it wouldn’t be a shitshow –“

“I said fuck no, asswipe. End of discussion.”

 He brings it up again at lunch.

“They can set that kind of shit up here, you know? People get married in prison all the time.”

You stare at him and answer through a mouthful of bread. “Seriously?”

“Yeah! They bring in a – a fucking officiant and legal papers and everything.”

“No, I mean seriously? You’re still going on about this shit?”

He shrugs, but there’s a twinkle in his eye. “Whaddya say?”

“I say fuck no.”

 And it’s not that you don’t want to marry Ian, it’s just …

You gonna marry me? We gonna go down to the courthouse in some tuxes like a couple of old queens?

So, you have trouble forgetting shit, who fucking doesn’t?

Ian had been sick when he said those words, but it didn’t make your initial statement any less true. And he responded by shitting all over it.

 “You know what I’ve always loved?” he asks around a mouthful of orange jello. “Wedding cake.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“Did you have any of the cake at your wedding?” he asks. “I was too fucking shit-faced to do much more than continue o drink, but Mandy said it was good.”

You put down your fork, still piled high with flavourless mashed potatoes. “No, Ian, I didn’t have any fucking cake at my wedding. I was too busy trying to get it up and fuck my wife, so my old man didn’t kill me the following morning.”

A flicker of something painful flashes over his face, but then he grins. “At least we know that won’t be a problem at our wedding, huh?”

“You’re a fucking tool.”

“I’m a sucker for a good chocolate cake,” he continues. “How about you? Fruit?”

“Fuck no.”

“So carrot, then?”

“Shut the fuck up, Gallagher.”

He’s silent while he finishes his jello, but you can’t eat anymore mashed potatoes. You’ve lost your appetite and the texture of that shit doesn’t help. You peel open your own jello and pick up your spoon but make no more to eat any.

You want this with Ian – the teasing and joking – but you want it on the outside, you want it once you’re both out of this shithole. You want every night together – preferably in a bed big enough to share – and you want breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. You want your fucking bubble with him, and you want everything he’ll give you.

You’re just not sure how much that is.

 You’re the last two to leave the shower block. Not because you stuck around to bang, but because you managed to get some purple dye all over you in the laundry and it took for-fucking-ever to wash off.

“Purple looks good on you,” Ian says, dumb smirk on his pretty mouth.

You flip him off and say nothing as you pass the guard, but as soon as you’re around the corner Ian tugs at your hand and pulls you into a linen closet.

“The fuck, man? There’s, like, zero space in here.”

His lips are against your ear. “Don’t need much space for sucking cock, Mick.”

Said cock goes instantly hard, and you watch in the dim light as Ian sinks to his knees and opens the buttons of your jumpsuit. You can barely see him, but his pink lips stand out and you fight a groan when he wickedly smiles at the sight of you.

He noses at your cock and stares up at you. “Marry me?”

“Fuck no.”

He licks a long stripe up the underside and pouts. “You don’t want this forever?”

“Fuck you.”

He swirls his tongue around your head and lowers his voice even more. “Fuck my face, Mick.”

Your knees shake, but you do as he says, and you fuck his face. And after, after you finish and he stands up to kiss you with come-slicked lips, when the bubble surrounds you and squeezes you and everything is Ian, he whispers those two words again.

“I’ll wait.”

 “Corvette?”

“Eh.”

“Mustang?”

“Better.”

“Rolls Royce?”

“You turn fucking North side when I wasn’t lookin’?”

He grins, picks up your discarded 3 of hearts, and throws down a four of clubs. Then he wags his eyebrows. “Limo?”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“We could just take the El,” he says. “Catch a ride down to the courthouse –“

“Fuck no.”

“Oh? Too good for the El on your wedding day, huh?”

He’s teasing, but you feel like maybe he’s getting serious, too, and you can’t fucking help yourself.

“Look, it’s a 1967 Black Impala or nothing at all, got it?”

Ian’s silent for a long minute. You take that time to ignore the beating in your chest and pretend like you don’t give a shit. You pick up a new card and throw out your nine of spades.

“You won’t compromise and go with the ’67 Camaro?” he finally asks, and his eyes are nothing but sincere when you look into them.

“Fuck no.”

“Okay. 1967 Black Impala it is then.”

And if your vice shakes when you reply, it’s not your fucking fault. “Okay.”

 “You gonna marry Mickey?” Lip asks the next night.

“Fuck no.”

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 3]

New? Read here! Then here!

Part 1 - Part 2

Chapter 10.75: It’s Vinegar- Wha?- It’s Vinegar, Pussy

I’ve been taking notice of the servants, they all have distinct features and some of them seem to serve a particular family member when they come around. Which leads me to think that this servant that took the picture probably knows the most about the house. From what I remember from the hologram, this servant is male presenting with light skin, sun spots, salt and pepper hair with a very pronounced nose. Problem is, I haven’t seen him.

I had some afternoon tea by myself in the parlor as uncle Tensei did some calls to our extended family. Usually I hate having tea time, because it makes me feel like a pompous piece of shit rich boy and I prefer coffee anyways. But I took the tea this time to observe the servants. I learned that they all gather in the kitchen at 8pm to gossip before the non-live in servants have to leave for the day. So I snuck down to the kitchen to listen in.

“...Can you believe I served afternoon tea again! Ugh, when will I forget he’s dead now?!”

“I saw, nice save that you served it to Iwata-chan.”

“Man that kid beefed up! He used to be so timid and never show his power. But I saw the way he levitated those antiques with ease, kid is like his mother.”

“Maybe we’ll get to see more of the family now that he’s dead?! The mother is just so pleasant to be around.”

“Too bad Thad-kun won’t be here to see them spend more time at the estate. He loved Itati-sama and Tenya-sama.”

I peeked my head in “Who’s Thad-kun?”

The staff yelped and jumped at my sudden appearance.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!” I bowed in forgiveness “But I couldn’t help but to overhear that there’s a servant that isn’t here anymore?”

“Yes, Thaddeus was one of the oldest servants here” spoke one of the female servants “he was the previous head of estate’s favorite servant, from Thad’s record, he was about 20 when the previous head of estate inherited the estate. Since then, Thad was in service of him and only him.”

“Yea, Thad-kun passed two years ago of the flu in his private quarters” spoke one of the chefs “Poor man didn’t have any family or children, just spent his whole life serving the Iida family. But he adored all the family that married in and the children, he took pictures of all the children when they’re newborns and puts them in this scrapbook.”

“Oh yea the scrapbook! Pretty sure it’s in the parlor bookcase” chimed in a younger servant “We hid it from the old head of estate, we were scared that he might destroy it or something. Anything to preserve the memory of our friend.”

“Yup, all of us feared that old man. But Thad-kun knew how to calm him and never missed a single tea time” said the chef “We have his journal in the parlor book case as well. There’s notes on what that old man liked in case he wasn’t around to serve him and we dip into it when anything comes up.”

“Hmm, I just might crack into them” I pondered “Thank you for sharing! Sorry for interrupting again, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Any time Iwata-chan!” said all the staff as they waved bye to me.

I float my way to the parlor, trying to not make noise to catch the attention of my uncle or the other servants that have night duties. I search through the books to find an old green leather photo album and a worn black journal. I took the books to my room to look them over, the album had so many pictures of couples and babies with their names neatly written underneath the photo. It was so organized that I could trace back to who was my great-grand father! Apparently I came from a side branch family and that theres 4 branch families and one main, but the main family didn’t marry and had children to maintain lineage. So great grand uncle was the last one of the main family. I only know of one other branch family, the other two are a mystery to me. Getting to the end of the album, I put it to the side and opened up the journal. I get to an interesting part that reads: 

March 14th, 

I helped Iida-sama take down portraits in the Lineage Hall. He’s asked me to burn them but I don’t have the heart to do so. When he left for work, I hid them in the West wing linens closet. I can only hope he will forgive me someday. Erasing these people and only keeping the heroes this family is the work of a tyrant! Mothers, daughters and non-engine sons are to be celebrated with their hero relatives. May the next heir see the light and I’ll unearth the family hidden history.

The west wing linens closet?! Such a place exists?

-The next day-

“Tio, what’s the agenda for today?” I asked after breakfast.

“Today I’m going to check in with the agency on the phone” responded Uncle Tensei “then talk to the gardeners, then we plan for a welcome ball.”

“Oh uhhhhh can any of those things wait until tomorrow?” I got timid over the full schedule of things “because I found an important clue regarding the portraits.”

Uncle Tensei looked at me with intensity “The agency can wait, show me what you found.”

I showed them the journal entry “...so do you know wheres that linens closet?”

“Hmmm the West wing is used to store the decorative pieces of the estate for Balls or other events” pondered Tensei “Nobody in the family would think of finding something that important there since it’s a servant accessible area...”

We looked at each other and activated our arm engines to zip to the west wing. It was like we shared the singular brain cell at that moment and it was telling us to stop being civil and zoom. And sure enough, there was the portraits! Still in excellent condition and in their original frames. There were some without frames and they were portraits of the women that married in the family in the recent decades, the most recent one was of my mom. I looked at the portrait and was stunted by the artist’s capture of her natural beauty. The way they painted the flower crown and her curls, the exact shade of medium tan skin, the detail of the rebozo on her shoulders and the crisp white of the traditional dress. She was so young in this portrait and it made me wonder when this was taken.

“Oh my I remember when this one was painted” chuckled Uncle Tensei as he caught me gawking at the painting “Your dad had this arranged for your mom’s 24th birthday, months before they got married. These are usually done with traditional wear and since your mom isn’t Japanese, she showed up in that dress and shawl. All the women in the family were fawning over how beautiful her traditional dress was. The artist was so inspired by the flowers in her hair that he had he pose in the garden, making her portrait the only one painted in an outside setting.”

“Wow, she had that type of power over others huh?” I said in awe.

“She didn’t want to at first but the family painter convinced her that she was already the first ethnic woman to marry into the family, may as well make the portrait as unique as possible” a frown slowly crept onto his face “But then great grand uncle wanted the portrait scraped because she wasn’t in kimono and that she looked unkept with her down down and no makeup. Honestly, I feel like he didn’t want Tenya to marry her because of her ethnicity but turned a blind eye on that because she was a CEO and wanted to asset the company. Your dad had this whole plan to make a garden for your mother to frolic in when he gets the estate, with lots of flowers and fruit trees OH and the lily pond! It was going to take up like half of that empty lawn space in the middle.”

I looked at the portrait “So much fuss over this woman.”

“But she was worth it. Look at all the things she contributed to the family!” He started to describe “She doesn’t see it but she’s a blessing to us. We needed someone outspoken and bold to challenge great grand uncle’s tyrannic ways.”

That stayed with me for the rest of my time at the estate. I didn’t know what to think of my mom anymore, yes she’s amazing but she kept an important part of history from me and who know who else?! Finally, after 6 days of tolerating it, I was able to go home! And just in time! It’s the day before Christmas Eve and Lili is flying in today. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home?” asked Uncle Tensei as I take my bags to the front door “I don’t have any business to attend to today.”

“Naw Tio, I’m good” I sigh tiredly “I’m just a little sick of spending time together like this, as much as I love you as my uncle” I float my bags “I just wanna go home on my own and reflect on things.”

“I understand, every young man needs their time alone” Tensei smiled warmly “Have a safe journey home, see you in a few days.”

I wave good bye “Bye bye tio!” I turn my head to the servants that gathered around “Bye bye everyone else! Thank you for helping me find the critical clue in the portrait mystery!”

Everyone bid me good bye and safe travel until I was out of sight. From there I took a short train trip and two buses home, picking up a few interesting things along the way that I could gift. In total, it took about 3 hours to get home. Whole time I was just thinking of the ways I was going to confront mom about what I learned. The ways I could say how I feel, the ways she might react...I don’t know what to expect! And I’m super nervous. I stood at the front door for maybe 5 minutes because of how nervous I was! Finally mustering the courage to open the door with my eyes closed, the air of baked goods hit me first. 

“I’m home” I announced myself, holding my breath to whoever answers.

“Iwata, you’re home” yipped the robo dog as it trots into view “Did you know it’s been 222 days since you’ve last been home?! I missed you very much and so has everyone else.”

I bent down to pet them “Has it? It feels longer than that” I booped their nose “I missed you too boy.”

“Mom is in the kitchen, Dad is picking up Lili at the airport, Hanaka is at her friend’s house and Tensei is practicing with their group” listed the robo “Everyone should be home before 7pm for dinner...it is now half past 4.”

I look at the clock thats mounted at the entrance to confirm the time, then looked down at the shoes. Mom’s were there in their usual spot and I kicked off mine in their usual spot. Now it feels like I’m home. I slowly made my way to the kitchen, and there she was, taking cookies out of the oven in her iconic floral apron.

“Mom? I’m home.”

“OH! Iwata! I didn’t hear you come in!” Mom squealed before setting down the hot tray to embrace me “I thought your were coming home tomorrow?!”

“Nah I’m sick of looking at Tio and doing rich people things” I gagged to drive my point “I left late morning and took public transport. I just really wanted to come home.”

“I understand mijo, I probably would’ve done the same” she pursed her lips and placed her hand on my face “Why don’t you settle back in? I’ll have some food ready for you if you’re hungry.”

My stomach growled in comedic timing “Heh, okay. I’ll go do that.”

My side of the room stayed untouched, as expected. Tensei was a good boy and doesn’t go through my things. I slammed myself face first into my bed and screamed into my pillow. GOD I missed my bed and the comforts of home! As I unpacked, I remembered what I was going to do and dreaded having to bring it up in casual conversation with her. I hid the device in my closet shelf, away from Hanaka’s prying eyes. When I finally showed myself downstairs, mom had my plate of food ready at my spot on the nook.

“How was things at the estate? Tensei hasn’t told me much other than it’s been busy.” Mom said as she washed her hands “Oh that reminds me! The school called tell me that you missed some finals and they’re letting you make them up the weekend before school resumes.”

I sat down “Things were weird mom. I learned way more than I asked for” I sighed and picked up my fork “I never want to be that rich and be without family! Did you know that the oldest butler hid the family portraits that the old man took down?! I didn’t know you had a portrait done with them.”

“You found it?! I thought that old man for sure destroyed it!” gasped Mom “It was a beautiful painting and a very sentimental art piece to your father. He wanted to keep it if the old man didn’t approve it to be hung in the estate, but before he could ask, it was gone! Or so we were told by the artist.” She sat at her spot to listen to me “What else?”

In between bites of chilaquiles, I told her of my time and who I spoke to. I tried to bring up what I wanted to confront to her about, but that look in her eyes and all her attention made me want more of her...I missed my mom and I as torn between all my emotions I was feeling. Wish I didn’t have to do this. Everyone came home and we were finally a full house. It felt so good to be in their company again, I didn’t even mind all the smothering this time! Suppose the confrontation has to wait.

-The next day, at breakfast-

“Damn B, it’s just spam and eggs with toast” said the twins, looking at Lili and me have a breakdown over our food.

Lili wipes her eyes “I KNOW! I have to cook for myself every meal” she pointed at her toast “I have to wake up at 6 in the god forsaken morning so I can buy bread like a peasant woman because there isn’t any chain grocery stores where I live in France!”

“I haven’t had a single decent meal since I lived in the dorms” I held my toast up gently “F in the chat for the toaster in the dorms that Beizu tore apart for parts in August.”

Lili held her toast up with me “F”

“Yall are so fucking weird” Hanaka said with a groan “You don’t see Oro and I do this shit.”

“Don’t make fun of your older siblings” scolded Dad with an arm chop “They’ve had a tough time being away from home. You’d understand once you have to cook for yourself everyday.”

“ANYWAYS! Mom, who’s coming tonight?” cut in Tensei.

“Oh ummm, Mr Hitoshi and his husband. Aunty Mimi with Nikita, uncle Jin, Mei and Beizu, Mr Tokoyami and Petti, the Ojiros” listed Mom “Aunty Midnight, Hoshi and the Midoriyas. So more people than usual.”

“Aw abuela and abuelito aren’t coming this year?” responded Tensei with a pout.

“They’re coming for abuelita’s birthday, so don’t get all pouty mijo” assured Mom “But after breakfast, we gotta get our butts in clean mode because Mr Hitoshi and his husband are coming at 3pm, they’re dropping the kids off at their grandparent’s then coming straight here.” 

And so I got back into the swing of things, my winter chore is cleaning the bathrooms and making sure they’re fully stocked with toiletries. I was done before our first guests were supposed to come, so my mind raced with how I was going to talk to mom as I showered.

“You decent?” knocked Lili at my door.

“Yea, come in” I said as I was drying my hair “What’s poppin’?”

She threw her arms around me and squeezed me “I just wanted to come in and hug you” she pinched my arms “Damn boy, UA beefed you up! I couldn’t tell under your baggy sweaters.” She laughed “But forrealzies, how much did you inherit?”

“Straight to the point huh?” I leaned in to her ear “2 million dollars and all the old man’s collectables.”

“Shut the fuck up!” gasped Lili “So you and tio were the only ones on the will?! That’s pretty wack, I’m the oldest and dad is literally that man’s family!”

I sighed “It’s complicated but I’ll say that it all has to do with mom.”

“Damn, but what are you going to do with the money?” asked Lili curiously.

“Might buy myself a house and go to college, or save it if I get a really good job out of high school.” I flop onto my bed “Lili, do you ever feel like mom has been hiding something from you?”

“Yea, it’s a given.”

I turn my head to face her “Wait what?”

“It’s a given. I’m sure mom hid things from us to protect us or because it’s none of our business” She responded “She’s a reasonable person, maybe she’ll tell us eventually when she’s ready to tell us. I’ve been curious of mom too when I was in high school. Nothing made sense and I felt like maybe I wasn’t going down the right path, so I asked her what she did and it opened up her past. After that conversation, I had more respect for her and felt like I can be more open to her about what I’m curious about.”

“Do you think she’ll answer me if I ask her something?” I felt my stomach tie itself into knots “I learned so much about her from other people that I’m not sure if we know the same person.”

Lili put her hand on my back “She’s our mom, no matter what, she’ll love us.”

That made me feel so much better about what I was about to do. I took my calming breaths at the base of the stairs before facing mom in the living room. She was having some down time after slaving over the pot of Pozolé and Ponché, her face still red from the heat of the pots.

“Hey mom, ummm mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure mijo is everything okay?” responded Mom as I sat down in the arm chair adjacent from the couch “You seem kind of stiff.”

“I’m just nervous” I responded “I just... I learned alot of things about you these past months. And I have so many questions that I’m afraid of knowing the answers too.”

“What is it? You can ask me anything” Mom said, looking attentively “You have my full attention.”

It hurt to see her like this, especially with what I had to say.

“Why did you hide about the death of Beizu Iwata?” I asked, looking at her dead in the eye.

Her face didn’t budge from her expression “I didn’t? His death is public information-”

“Stop LYING TO ME!” I yelled “You know what I mean! He was Bei’s dad and you couldn’t save him, and you’re guilty of your incompetence so you had me to give his son a friend. And that’s my purpose isn’t it?! I’m just some living plaything!”

“Iwata why would you say such a thing! I didn’t-”

“SHUT UP I’M NOT DONE TALKING!” I raised my voice “You named me after him, I’m here to just fix your mistake aren’t I? And what about your lovechild with Mr Hitoshi?! Oh and not to mention on why you came over here alone at 15 years old!” I felt myself become tense in this mix of rage and the verge of tears “It’s like I don’t even know you! WHO ARE YOU?!” I felt the hot tears run down my face “and why are things so complicated?”

Mom was white as a ghost and frozen on the couch. And my yelling got the attention of my dad.

“Iwata El Roca Iida! What is the meaning of this!” demanded Dad as he approached us “You dare to yell at your mother in that tone?! What has gotten into you? I-”

Mom held her hand up, commanding dad to stop talking. She then got up, stood in front of me and got on her knees for the deep bow. I’ve never seen her do this before and I got scared.

“I’m sorry Iwata, please forgive me for all my mistakes” she lifted her head to show the tears creeping down her face “I know I’m not a perfect mother and I’m a very flawed human with a very troubled past, but please let me explain things.” She took a deep breath to stabilize her breathing “I named you after Beizu Iwata, he’s one of the few people that I trusted to run the company. He poured his everything into the company and I wouldn’t be as successful without him. His death devastated me, I chased after him when he ran back inside the burning building. When I begged him to get to safety and to leave everything behind, he looked at me and touched my stomach before breaking the 6th floor window to throw me out with a box in my arms. Of course somebody caught me before my body reached the ground and he reappeared a few minutes later. After his death, I learned that I was 2 months pregnant with you, he saved both of us mijo. If I stayed any longer, I risked losing you and I don’t think my heart could take another infant death.”

“Another infant death?” my eye widened “No, don’t tell me-”

“I’m afraid so” She tried really hard not to lose her composure “I lost my first baby that I had with Mr Hitoshi, I wanted to have them so badly. You don’t know how much it hurts to not have a family when you still need them, so you make your own. But it hurts even more when you lose the family you failed to build.”

“Ita, please stand up” gently begged Dad, on the verge of tears “Please love, you don’t have to re-live the trauma. It’s okay.”

“No Tenya, I have to say it. How will we move forward if I don’t say what happened in the past?” She couldn’t look at us and kept her head down to face her lap “I came here to protect my family...” She told me the whole story of what happened in America and her decision that changed her life forever “...And that’s my burden to bear. I wish things didn’t have to be like this and I could be with my family and made my dreams come true back home. I dedicate my life to making sure nobody has to every go through what I went through unless it’s their decision.” She looked at me “I understand that you might not want to associate with me after all this, but just know that I love you so much. I wanted to have you, to nurture you, to teach you that you are free to be whoever you want to be, to love whomever you want” Her expression was full of pain, like it was bottled for years and it’s now surfaced “I know of all the bad things that could hurt you and I shouldn’t let one of them be me. And I’m sorry that I have.”

I felt like the villain, making my mom re-live her trauma and tell me she’s a bad mother. She’s not a bad person, she’s lived a life full of tragedy and we’re the one good thing that went right. And after all that, she still has the capacity to tell me she loves me? I really don’t deserve to be her son. I levitated her up and ran into her for a tight hug.

“I’m sorry” I sobbed “I didn’t know! And I feel awful! I just thought that maybe-”

“It’s okay baby” She shushed me, stroking my hair “No more bad feelings, no more deceit. If you want to know something, don’t bottle it up, just tell me and I won’t turn you away.”

“Okay mom” I held her tighter “I’m sorry I ruined Christmas.”

“You didn’t ruin Christmas Iwata” chuckled Mom through her tears “Your tia set the Christmas tree on fire when I was like, twelve, and it burned all the presents underneath it.”

“Never mind that actually sucks” I laughed, pulling away from her “Then is everything cool?”

“Hmmm, I wouldn’t say that” Mom said, giving me her iconic career ending face “I cleared up and explained myself, now it’s your turn.” She levitates me so I wouldn’t run “Care to explain your little academic double life?”

“Huh? What are you talk-” It hit me, she knows about my double program enrollment “Oooooh, oof.”

“We’ve known since June” Dad spoke up with his arms crossed “Nurse Eri told us when she called to discuss your health exam. We talked to the school to confirm, so theres no use in lying your way out of this one Iwata.”

I looked at my parents and sighed in defeat “Fine, I enrolled myself in the Hero and Intel course after your Great Grand Uncle told me he was going to pay for my tuition. So to spite him later, I was going to show him that I got both and decide to be an agent instead of a hero to break the streak of heroes in the family.” I felt like a trapped animal awaiting death “He insulted my family and I used my favoritism as my upper hand to get back at him that I am my mother’s son and so what?! Fuck that viejo and his hateful ass, I’m half latino!”

“You really are your mother’s son” said Dad in disbelief “It’s like looking at your mother when she was your age, same pettiness and pride!” He cleared his throat “But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to punish you for lying to us on why you’re always stressed! You know better than to overwork yourself.”

“And on top of that, I had someone on the inside tell me about the device and the old school files” Mom added “So you peeked and meddled into my personal business ey?! And all you did was hurt yourself. We have no choice but to issue capital punishment to you AND Beizu.”

I gasped “You leave him out of this! He’s innocent!”

“Can’t do, he’s your accomplice” Mom pulled out her phone to show me texts “One of the perks of having friends that work in a school is that you have watchful eyes on your children at all times.”

“Damn you got us” at that moment, I knew I was about to hate my life.

“We’ll come up with a group punishment later, but we agreed that you’re to be sentenced to house arrest for the rest of the winter break” Mom crossed her arms “AND we’re taking away cursing privileges, starting now.”

I gasped “NOOOO! Anything but capital punishment!”

The doorbell rang, it was our first guests.

“Hey I brought- oh are we interrupting something?” Mr Hitoshi said walking into the living room.

“Not at all! Just issuing punishment” Mom puts me down and turns to the two men “Iwata was just talking about you Hitoshi!”

“Oh yea? About what?” chuckled the purple haired man as took a seat.

Mom motioned to me “Iwata, care to share with him?”

I gulped the guilt lump I had in my throat “I know about your and my mom’s baby and their death was the reason you left my mom.”

Mr Hitoshi’s face turned white “How did you- There’s no way!”

“He got real nosey and hurt his own feelings” Mom summarized it “Oh you brought the saké! Bring the cups out Tenya!”

“What else did you learn Iwata?” asked Mr Neito.

“I learned that you, um, did the deed with my mom” I cringed “Many times, in the dorms and a few times in the workrooms at school.”

“YOU WHAT?!” screamed Dad with a tray of specialty drink ware.

“Oh don’t act surprised Tenya!” Mom put her hands on her hips “It was totally obvious! I lost my virginity to him. And I rewarded him with intimacy after training and in turn, became a decent person.”

“Yup, sorry Tenya that you got my sloppy seconds” responded Mr Nieto unapologetically “But as I said at your wedding, good for you that you got a woman that can really spice things up.”

“I thought you meant that she’s a good cook!” Dad defended himself “Not that you two had a thing in the past?!”

“Join the club, I didn’t know either until she dropped off the wedding invite” Hitoshi said as he poured the saké “But I’ll drink to that!” He handed each of us a little cup of the alcohol and raised his glass “To Ita and her bomb pussy game, it was the one thing I missed the most.”

“Kampai!” cheered everyone but my dad and I.

I downed my cup and held it out again “Imma need another cup so I can forget that chief.”

I waited patiently for Beizu to come so I can hold his hand as we get flamed my our moms with the group punishment. And when he did, his face was puffy from crying and we just held each other for the brief moment we had before getting flamed. Our mom’s agreed that the group punishment was no sleepovers the entire break and one week of intense training with aunty Mimi. I didn’t know what to do, other than go up to my room with Beizu for blanket fort time.

“Iwa, we were so wrong about things” Beizu said softly as he put his head on my chest “but I’m happy it wasn’t that way. I couldn’t imagine a life without you, it’s the one thing I’m certain about.”

I smiled and stroked his hair “Me too, we’re two halves that can’t be left incomplete.” I thought about my inheritance “When we get older, would you go on a vacation with me or co-own a house with me?”

Beizu thought about it for a minute “Hmm, I’d co-own a house with you. Because then we can spend everyday with each other.”

“What if we do both?”

“Even better but I’m just thinking of all that money we’d need to do that” explained Beizu “the house is a better investment.”

“Okay, say I inherited 2 million dollars and I want to spend it on us, now what would you say?”

His eyes widen “You did not just inherited 2 million?!” Beizu was in disbelief “I’d probably just marry you at that point. Hell, lets get married right now!”

I laughed and brought him in for a hug “Let’s get married and spend all of our money on pillows and our favorite foods. Living easy for the rest of our lives.”

He held me tight “That’s my dream, to be with you forever.”

So maybe Christmas wasn’t ruined by me and I was just being latino-in-a-telenovela dramatic. I feel so much more like myself now. Year two of this shit is really happening!....wonder if it’s gonna rock my shit.

Chapter 10.75, End

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[kaychawrites]

The Queen’s Hand

Kaychawrites Original

Genre:Romance, Angst

Rating: Mature

Chapter 1: Royal Ball

It was crushing…the weight on her shoulders. How did she end up being responsible for so many people…so many lives? How was someone supposed to function under all this weight? She couldn’t breathe, she felt all alone. She wanted to scream but couldn’t. She couldn’t show any weakness, not to her friends, not to her enemies. In this world, she was all alone. Stand tall, back straight, shoulders back, eyes forward, bright smile. The mantra she told herself every morning when she put on her mask, the mask of a leader. She loved her people. Everyone in her kingdom was important to her and she wanted to make sure they were able to live their lives happily. That is why she was now about to face a room full of strangers… and she was supposed to pick one of them to share the rest of her life with. 

“Your Highness, it’s time,” her attendant whispered to her.

She took a deep breath, plastering a big smile on her face while looking as regal as the queen she is. The doors swung open and she stepped into the hall. She glided across the floor, strong and confident… a leader capable of protecting her country from anything. A room full of suitors stared at her, each one accessing her looks and every move she made.

She made her way over to her throne, sitting down on the uncomfortable chair and preparing to meet the men that had come for her hand. One by one, they were introduced to her until their faces blurred together. Prince from here, Duke from there, young, old, and she was supposed to pick who would be the best one to help her run a country. Fortunately, there would be a stack of files on her desk with the details about each on potential husband. Tomorrow she would sit back in a comfortable chair and go through all the files in the peace of her own office.

“May I introduce Prince Emeric; third son of the King of Pergale,” the attendant said, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked at the man standing in front of her expecting to see another fake smile followed by flattering words. Instead, she was met with cold blue eyes the color of sapphires. His mouth was set in a frown as he looked her over. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at this prince.

“Your Highness,” he said his voice rough and deep. He didn’t even bother to bow in her presence and just inclined his head a little. She stared at him, noticing he was tall and well built. His jet black hair stuck up in messy spikes and his posture showed he was reluctant to be here.

She nodded in return and the prince stepped back before turning and walking back into the crowd. Her eyes followed him as his back disappeared into the crowd. The introductions continued on until she was sure people were going to start hearing her stomach grumble. Once they were done, a feast was brought in and the guests took their seats. As Queen, she had to maintain her elegance, even while eating. Right now all she wanted to do was tear into the juicy looking roast sitting on the table. Her servers started filling her plate with small pieces of fruit and greens. The small sliver of roast was not enough to satisfy her hunger but she never let that show.

After everyone was finished eating, they followed her to the ballroom where she had to dance with every man that asked. The heels and dress she wore were far from comfortable and she dreaded having to dance in them but she would never let that thought show. Dance after dance, suitor after suitor, some which stepped on her already sore toes. Finally, she found a reason to excuse herself from the torture and made her way to the balcony for some fresh air. Glancing around, she found herself alone and took the opportunity to step into the shadows and slip off her shoes.

“How anyone can fucking walk in these damn things… let alone dance in them… is beyond me,” she mumbled, lifting her skirts so she could rub her aching feet.

“I don’t believe I have ever heard such words come from the mouth of a Queen.” A deep voice broke the silence around her. Surprised, she spun around only to meet the blue eyes of Prince Emeric. He was standing in the shadows of the castle leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

Aware she currently had her skirts lifted up above her knees, she quickly dropped them and corrected her posture to that of a regal queen. “Prince Emeric was it?” she asked. “As Queen, one would think I could talk however I wanted.”

Prince Emeric snorted, rolling his eyes. “We both know that isn’t true,” he said, dropping his hands and taking a couple steps towards her.

She grinned in response and was surprised to see his eyes widen for a fraction of second. “I apologize then, I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone. I hope my vulgar words didn’t damage your delicate ears,” she retorted, unable to stop herself. Prince Emeric outright laughed at her response.

“Don’t worry, your Highness, my ears are far from delicate.” He continued to chuckle. She found that she liked the sound of his laugh. It was as deep as his voice and seemed to rumble throughout his chest.

“You don’t say,” she said, trying to hide her smile. He moved closer and her heart rate sped up.

“I wonder what else you say and do that is not Queen-like?” he asked, his eyes burning with something she didn’t recognize.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Prince Emeric, but I assure you that I am definitely Queen-like,” she replied, standing a little taller.

“That is too bad,” Prince Emeric grinned. “You would be much more interesting if you weren’t.” Her heart thumped at his crooked grin and she let her mask slip ever so slightly.

“You think so, huh?” she grinned back.

“Definitely,” he replied, taking another step closer.

“My Queen, are you out here?” her attendant called from the balcony doors.

She sighed heavily at the interruption. “Yes, I am coming back in now,” she replied, turning towards the door. “It was a pleasure talking with you, Prince Emeric,” she said, looking over her shoulder.

“I can say the same, Your Highness,” he replied with a small bow.

As soon as she made it back into the ballroom, she was swept away by more suitors wanting to dance. The dances continued without giving her chance to rest. She was so sick and tired of having clumsy princes stepping on her toes that she could scream, but she continued on dancing with a smile on her face. One prince in particular came back for a dance again and again. Every time he would remark on how beautiful she was and how he would make a perfect king.

The music stopped and she stepped away from the over eager prince, desperate to get away, but he held tight to her hand. “Please, Your Highness, might I have another?” he asked. She had opened her mouth to reply when a deep voice cut her off.

“I believe it is my turn,” Prince Emeric said, walking up beside the Queen.

“Oh, pardon me then,” the eager prince said, bowing low.

Prince Emeric took her hand, stepping around in front of her and placing his other hand at her waist. The music started and it was a fast tempo which made her groan internally for her aching feet. Prince Emeric, however, kept his steps small and slow.

“Prince Emeric, I believe that we are supposed to dance a bit faster to this song,” she said quietly.

“Yes, but your feet hurt, don’t they?” he smirked.

“I thought I was doing a good job of hiding that,” she chuckled.

“It helps that I heard you cussing your shoes out on the balcony,” he said.

“So, what made you decide to join the party? I figured since you were lurking outside that maybe you were more antisocial,” she asked.

“Something sparked my interest, so I decided to check it out,” he grinned.

“You weren’t interested before?” she asked.

“No, not really, I’m a third son, so my father wants to use me to create an alliance with another country.” The grin falling from his face as he shrugged.

“The life of royalty, unfortunately… our fate is never our own,” she sighed.

“You aren’t interested in tonight’s event?” Emeric asked, surprised.

“Does a dog look forward to being put on a leash?” she snorted in response. “The counsel demands I find a husband. They don’t think a woman can run a kingdom on her own.”

“From what I’ve seen and heard, you do remarkably well on your own,” Emeric said.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “What of you? Do you want to run a country?”

“With two older brothers, I’ve never given it much thought. I’ve always focused on being able to protect my country instead,” Emeric replied.  

“Ah, I wondered if you were a soldier,” she said.

“What made you think that?” Emeric asked.

“Well, for one… the callouses on your hands,” she replied, running her thumb along his palm that held her hand. “You only get ones like these from hard work with either tools or weapons. Then, there is your physique; tall, strong, walks with confidence, and moves like someone who has been trained to fight.”

“You’ve been checking me out?” he chided, a mischievous smile crossing his handsome face.

“I am supposed to pick out a husband. I need someone who is capable of joining me on the battle field and in the throne room,” she replied. “It would also be nice if I found him physically attractive.”

“Are you trying to tell me you think I have a nice body?” he teased.

“I never said I was referring to you,” she smiled.

“Ouch,” he chuckled. “You have a good eye, Your Highness.”

“So, are you a soldier?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Now, to figure out if you are an experienced soldier or just another prince who likes to play with a sword,” she continued.

“Swords and a glaive, I don’t play with them either,” he said with a glare.

“Looks like I hit a nerve?” she asked.

“I lead my countries armies,” Emeric replied.

“A General?” she asked, impressed.

“Yes,” Emeric replied, giving her a challenging look.

“I must say, I didn’t realize who you are. The Black-hearted General of Pergale. Your army’s reputation is well known for how efficiently they dispatch any threats,” she said.

“I don’t really like that title,” Emeric said, frowning at her.

“I can see why. My first impression of you is far from black-hearted,” she said.

The music stopped and Emeric stepped back, taking one of her hands and bowing over it. “Well, to be fair, you don’t really know me, Your Highness,” he said before brushing his lips over her knuckles.

“Inara,” she said.

“Excuse me?” Emeric asked, confused.

“My name is Inara,” she clarified. “You didn’t really think I didn’t have one, did you?”

“Inara,” he said, sending shivers down her spine. Her name on his lips did strange things to her body.

“Emeric, it was a pleasure to meet you,” Inara said with a curtsey.

“The pleasure is mine. I hope we can talk again,” he replied before turning to leave.

Inara watched him leave. The room felt several degrees hotter and she resisted the urge to fan herself. Prince Emeric, I do hope to see you again, she thought.

[lovemesomesurveys]

What is your name? Stephanie. What is your usual username on sites? I don’t want to share that. What are you most looking forward to in the near future? Christmas time. I need to get started on my shopping soon. If you could see any band play live ( dead or alive ) who would it be? Linkin Park with Chester Bennington.  What’s your favorite color of shoe? Most of my shoes are white, but I do like different colored Converse. 

Do you have any breakouts right now? I have one on my chin that I keep picking at. :/ Do you always wear a specific piece of jewelry? What? Nope. What is your favorite font? Tahoma, Verdana, and Georgia.  Do you journal? I think it’s important to do so. This is my journal.  What color are your nails right now? They’re not painted.  What color do you want them to be? I don’t feel like painting them. I haven’t painted my nails in like 3 years. What is your favorite hairstyle on you? Long and layered.  Do you like guys with beards? I’m not super big on a lot of facial hair, but I guess it would depend.  Celeb crush? Alexander Skarsgard.  Non celeb crush? I don’t have one. Bad habit you are trying to nix? I have a lot I should be trying to get rid of. What do you eat for breakfast? Scrambled eggs with spinach and shredded cheese or a breakfast burrito.  What is your favorite American restaurant? I don’t really have a favorite restaurant.  Non American? How much do you like tacos? I like them.  Do you post music on your facebook? No. What do you think about people who don’t have facebook? I don’t care.  Favorite thing to drink? Coffee.  Favorite thing to eat? Be specific. Ramen, bologna sandwiches, pasta salads, pizza, garlic parm boneless chicken wings, scrambled eggs with spinach and shredded cheese, breakfast burritos... How do you like your potatoes best? Just about every way.  Do you wear wristbands? No. Have you ever worn those rubber bracelet things? Yeah, I had quite a few. Do you like bobby pins or think they suck? I find them to be useful. What is one movie you’d love to own? or do? Hmm. Favorite show to watch when there is a new episode? I have a few. You wish that you would… blank Get it together.  Would you rather go to school or have a job? I mean if we’re being honest I don’t want either one, but I’m 30 years old and probably should have a job.  What is your major? I majored in psych. How old are you anyways? 30. When is the last time you were sick? * Currently, technically? <<< Same. As far as things like colds and stuff go, I was hit hard with the flu and bronchitis earlier this year. Do you get sick a lot? I rarely get colds and stuff like that, but I feel sick for other reasons a lot of the time. What do you think about Lady Gaga? I like some of her songs. Favorite cookie? Sugar. Favorite type of candy? Reese’s and white chocolate. There’s also white chocolate Reese’s.  Favorite flavor? That’s harder to describe and list. I don’t feel like trying. Favorite candle scent so far? I love autumnal ones. Candles or incense? I like both. Would you rather have a new computer or a new car? New computer. Flat iron or curling iron? Out of the 2 I’d pick flat iron, but I don’t use either one. I used to straighten my hair often, but not in the past 4 years or so. What color is your keyboard? Black with white letters. Take pics with phone or actual camera? Phone. What’s your favorite flower? I don’t really have one, I just usually say roses. If you could paint your bedroom walls any color what would it be? A pastel color of some kind. Favorite store to shop in? I’m giving you $500 dollars. Could I use it at various places? Are you more goth or preppy? I’m just me. Are you religious? Yes. Would you ever have an abortion? I can’t get pregnant.  Favorite websites? Name 3 of your favorite… Tumblr, YouTube, Twitter. Chocolate or vanilla ice cream? Vanilla. Favorite dessert? Cheesecake, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, muffins.  Would you rather go to the lake or to the beach right now? Beach. Camping or going to the mall? Mall. Swimming or Hiking? Neither. Running or Walking? Neither. Do you exercise? Nope. Do you recycle? We recycle plastic bottles and cans. You should! Do you collect stickers? No. Favorite holiday? Christmas. What do you want for your birthday from your bf or gf? I’m single. What should someone get you for V-day? Nothing. Stuffed animal, flowers or chocolates? Stuffed animal. Particularly a giraffe. Watch or no watch? No watch. Junkfood or healthy food? Junk food. Veggies or fruit as a snack? I don’t want either one as a snack :X Potato chips or fruit salad? Chips. Coffee or tea? Coffee. What do you order from Starbucks? White chocolate mocha, caramel macchiato, or something seasonal. What do you order at the deli? Sandwich with turkey, salami, mustard, mayo, spinach, and oil and vinegar.  Favorite flavor of milk? I don’t drink milk. Place you want to visit? There’s a lot of places I want to visit.  Something you like to do alone? Read. Something you like doing with friends? Get coffee or just chill. Bar or brewery? I don’t drink. PB&J or turkey sandwhich? Turkey sandwich. Salad or burger? Salad. Ranch or Italian? Ranch. Pizza or pasta? Pizza. Italian or Mexican food? Italian. Chinese or Sushi? Chinese. Dine in or take out? Take out. What do you order at your favorite fast food restaurant? Chicken sandwich or chicken strips with fries. Or a breakfast burrito if we’re talking McDonald’s or Jack in the Box. How many pillows must you sleep with? I sleep with 2, but I have like 6 on my bed. Thick or thin blanket? I just use my favorite fluffy throw blanket. Do you walk around barefoot in your house? No. Do you have a ring on your ring finger? No. Single or taken? Single. Favorite actor and in what movie did you love them in? Alexander Skarsgard in every role haha. What band shirt would you wear? I have a couple Linkin Park shirts, a couple Nirvana shirts, and a Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt. What band shirt would you not wear? One I didn’t like? Are you a gangsta? No. What do you think about cigars? I don’t smoke.  Do you know how to type home row? I know what the home row is, but I don’t type the proper way.  Would you rather have a free CD or free DVD? DVD.

[forvalor-blog]

                                          ❛❛ So, yeah…  I failed the course. ❜❜

       The look his parents share is one of bewildered shock.  It only drives home the fact that he failed them, as unintentional as it may be.  Unable to meet their gaze, the young man drops his eyes to the floor, wishing it would open up and swallow him whole.

       He hasn’t really stopped crying since his meltdown on stage during his final piece.  There have been moments where the tears have stopped  (  namely when he’s sleeping, which he does a lot of nowadays  ), but the vacancy in his chest has never since been filled.  In comparison to the crippling loneliness he’s now plagued with, his failing grade does little to upset him.  He doesn’t care that much that he couldn’t graduate;  he cares that he couldn’t take his graduation piece to his best friend’s doorstep.

       His mother’s hands on his face bring him out of his thoughts, warm and gentle, and he feels his throat threatening to close.  Had he not felt so devoid of emotion, so deliriously drained of tears, he may very well have started crying again.  Instead, he stares at her blankly, tiredly, soul aching so profoundly that he feels fit to die in her arms.

       ❛❛ You didn’t fail, honey, ❜❜   she chimes softly, thumbs swiping gently over the heavy bags beneath his eyes--  as if she’s trying to lessen the cumbersome luggage with her tender touch. Murr feels his mouth open but no sound comes out.  He’s left frustratingly quiet, like a pipe that desperately needs unclogging.  It’s only when she pulls him into a hug that he feels something heavy settle atop his lungs, as if a thick layer of tarmac has suddenly blocked the road to his heart.  Despite it all, he feels his eyes growing warm all over again.  How many times am I going to burden the people around me with this frivolous misery?  It isn’t as if it matters.   ❛❛ You just didn’t do it this time.  And that’s okay. ❜❜

                                                                                                             ❛❛ I’m sorry, mama…  ❜❜

       When his father embraces the pair of them, big arms wrapped around them like an oversized scarf, Murr is unable to keep himself together any longer.  Again, he breaks.

                                                                     *  *  *

       He’s been sleeping a lot lately, the months rolling by in flippant little flashes of lucidity before he promptly drops off again.  It seems to be about the only thing he can do without screwing anything up, so he takes refuge in the pointless activity.  At the very least, while he’s dead to the world, he isn’t bothering anybody;  isn’t wasting people’s time with his vapid uselessness;  isn’t embarrassing himself in front of people who put their faith in him.  Dear Raku, that scene haunts his dreams sometimes.  He kills it with cough medicine.  In large doses, the syrupy concoction is enough to lull him into undisturbed sleep for long blissful hours at a time, a blurry feeling filling his body as he dozes off.  He’s unsure if his mother knows about it for he always makes sure to hide the bottles.  If she has noticed, she certainly hasn’t said a word about it.  He doesn’t even have a reason for why he chose cough medicine over other medicines than the fact that it tastes better than most  What had started as an occasional dose-up in order to cope with the scratchy feeling in his throat  (  most likely a byproduct of so much crying  )  has turned into somewhat of a dependence.

       ❛❛ Li’l Murph…? ❜❜

       Dead Autumn eyes slowly open to gaze upon the concerned face of his mother.  Only she calls him that.  His father is ‘’Big Murph’’.  Despite the fact that he’s a little bit woozy, he feels his heart twist in his chest at the sight of her.  Even just by laying in bed, he’s somehow proving himself to be a total embarrassment.  He’s filled with so much self-loathing he feels fit to burst;  as if that inky blackness is going to start leaking from the pads of his fingers and into the bed.  It feels very much like that’s all his ‘’work’’ ever was:  an unfortunate stain on otherwise worthwhile parchment. 

       ❛❛ How’re you doing…? ❜❜   She knows it’s a frivolous question, but she can’t help but ask.  As she perches on the edge of the bed, a gentle hand sweeps over his forehead, brushing unkempt curls aside.  Her little guy has always had such thick hair.  She’s learned over time that there’s no point in trying to tame it.   ❛❛ It’s…  been a while since you got out of bed.  Yer father ‘n’ I’re really worried about you.  Are you…  sick? ❜❜

       Sick in the heart, mama.  Sick in the brain.   ❛❛ … no.  I’m just tired. ❜❜

       ❛❛ Tired? ❜❜

       ❛❛ Yeah.  Really tired. ❜❜

       He watches numbly as his mother moves to lay beside him.  His bed is small, singular, and even though he doesn’t really desire company he feels himself shuffling backwards in order to give her more room, his back snugly against the wall.  She’s a small woman, so it isn’t as if he’s struggling to breathe.  When he entered his tens, he’d dwarfed her almost immediately.  It had become a running joke, constantly measuring himself up with her and asking,  ’’how much longer are you gonna be bigger than me?’’

       ❛❛ Maybe it would help to get out of bed? ❜❜   The small smile that curls onto her face is safe.  While he may have told someone else saying something similar to him to fuck off, never his mother.  Never her.  She’s only ever tried to do the things that make him happy.   ❛❛ I know that you think you’re a failure, Alé, but yer not.  You’re not.  Okay?  You’re.  Not.  ❜❜

       ❛❛ Mama-- ❜❜        ❛❛ Please stop-- ❜❜   

       His lips press tightly together as he watches her eyes fill with tears.  It’s now that he realises just how much he’s worrying her.  It hits him with the startling weight of a truck, hard and fast, and all at once it’s difficult to keep his eyes on her.  It’s even worse when she brings her hands to his face, pulling him closer and closer until she can press a gentle kiss to his forehead.  Tender fingers reach up, card through his hair even in spite of its nightmarish tangles, his head drawn to her chest.

       ❛❛ … you’re my son.  I know you better than anybody.  Yer smart, ‘n’ funny, ‘n’ talented, ‘n’ yer ideas are out of this world.  The crowd loves you.  That hasn’t changed just because you failed once.  It’ll never change.  So long as you keep making things, it’ll never change.  So please, keep making things. ❜❜

       Though it by no means fixes the battered state of his heart, it soothes the ache just a little, and ‘just a little’ makes it bearable.  Though he doesn’t suddenly believe in himself, he tells convinces him to tell her that she’s right, that he’s being too hard on himself   (  no you’re not no you’re not no you’re not  )  and at some point drags himself from the warm cocoon of his sheets with her help.  He showers for the first time in forever, tends to himself properly, and then goes downstairs to eat.  His mother is allowed to feed him a whole meal after months of him starving himself and living on scraps.  It hadn’t all been intentional.  He’d simply had no desire to eat at all.  When his father enters the house after tending the fields all day, he all but double-takes when he sees his son somewhere other than buried in his bed.

       ❛❛ By Gods…  it’s him. ❜❜        ❛❛ Ha-Ha, dad.  Maybe the real stage presence in this family is you.  Total knockout.  ❜❜

       The small ‘smack’ delivered to the back of his head is filled with nothing but affection.  For just one night, they feel like they have their son back.

                                                                            * * *

                                     For a while, he thought he was going to be okay.  

     For a while, waking up every morning at the crack of dawn and helping his father with fruit-picking and orchard-watering had been enough to motivate him.  For a while, peeling their harvest in the cellar with his mother and stuffing it into kegs had been enough to distract him.  For a while, Murr really thought that the quiet family life could salvage his wounded pride, his shattered self-image, his exhausted brain--  but it couldn’t.  None of it can.

       His parents have started to notice the bad habits creeping back in.  They’re mysteriously out of cough syrup when hay season comes and irritates their throats.  His notebook remains as empty as it did the day after he bought it.  As soon as he’s done with work, he goes straight to bed, most of the time not even stopping to eat before collapsing out of sheer exhaustion.  His mother tries to make sure he has some sort of breakfast before he goes out to work;  most of the time he picks at it, clearly disinterested.  His father tries to talk to him about re-applying for school.  On the surface, he meets them both with a vague sense of cooperation;  a deceitful amicability, almost, before retiring to bed and letting his deep sense of apathy take over.

       The longer he thinks about it, the more disconnected from himself that he feels.  He’s no longer a student, or a best friend, or an on-and-off-maybe-crush.  At this point, he barely even feels like a son.  He’s just a lost man in a void sea, floating wherever the grief takes him, the little paper boat that’s been crudely folded for him out of playwright notes and fantastical plots beginning to grow soggy and sink.  At the end of the day, when all is said and done, he can do nothing to stop the overwhelming emptiness from taking over.

       And Kuro…  God, he hates him.  The more he thinks about the other, the more twisted up he becomes.  He’s always had an explosive temper, since he was a young child, but the outbursts have been getting so much worse lately.  He knocked a plate out of his mother’s hand a few days ago when she tried to feed him.  He threw an empty pail at his father when he’d tried to insist that he should give school another go.  Though he’d apologised both times, blaming his current moodiness, he hadn’t felt any guilt--  just more anger, sick and hateful, and somewhere along the way it had turned into an anguish so raw that it was difficult to remain upright.

       This is your fault.  You can’t do anything right.  If you had tried to reach him more, he wouldn’t have turned his back on you.  He did you a service, not attending your piss-poor performance.  It would probably have been a huge embarrassment to the both of you.  God, you suck…  you know that Kuro isn’t the only one, right?  It isn’t just Kuro that thinks you’re worthless, even if it’s his opinion that hurts you the most.  Your mom thinks you’re moody and mean.  Your dad thinks you flopped on purpose so you could have an easy life as the spoiled rich kid in the Murphy household.  They both think you failed them, and you did.  Your peers at school haven’t tried to reach out to you since you left.  Not one of them.  You know why? Because they’re all embarrassed by you too.  They hate you, Murr.  Everyone hates you.  Kuro hates you.  Kuro has hated you for a long time.  Kuro never liked you.  Kuro despised you all along and you fell for it.  You fell for it, Murphy.  You fell for him.  How does that feel?

       It feels overwhelmingly painful.  It’s why he dulls the ache with copious amounts of medication.  In a way, whenever that concoction slides down his throat he feels a sense of relief.  Not because he’s immediately high or he feels a sudden disconnect from the strain, but because it feels as if this feeling can really be cured;  as if he’s able to reach inside of himself and apply medicine to the places that hurt the most.  

       When he stumbles out of his house early one morning in the midst of a storm, it’s with the pitiful gait of a man so intoxicated he can barely make progress.  Nevertheless, his dose propels him down the hill, all but tumbling down the steep incline and into the field below.  The floaty feeling that spreads through his body as he lays face-up in the sunshine field  (  as he and Kuro had so eloquently dubbed it after observing that the weeds had looked much like tiny suns  )  is pleasant.  It doesn’t last, but while it does he’s happy, glazed eyes staring up into the endless sky, rain spattering heavily against his face.  Normally, he hates getting his hair wet, but in this state he’s unaware--  doesn’t possess the motor function to be irritated by it.

       At some point, he clambers to his feet again, slipping and sliding his way up the second hill as if caught on ice, entangled in the throes of a drug-induced dizziness, and somehow, he manages to wedge his foot into the footholes of the Big Tree and begin climbing.  Only Raku knows how he manages, arms shaking with the effort it takes to even lift himself from the base of the trunk.

       Me and Kuro used to do this all the time.  Now that I’m grown, it’s easier to climb.  Maybe if I climb I can reach that state of happiness again.  If I keep going, higher and higher, maybe I can leave my life behind and live in my memory, the place where nothing hurts and everything is right and I was happy and I had a life ahead of me--

       Somewhere along the way, the high begins to die down, a dead weight in his chest as he starts his mindless ascent.  What replaces it is a sorrow so dreary that he starts crying, tears mixing with the rain.  Air that crackles with static becomes hot and heavy to his aching lungs, the sadness that spreads itself across them like butter so thick that his breaths rattle like chains.  His climbing is frantic, as if he’s really trying to reach somewhere beyond the stretches of his imagination;  as if he truly believes that a different world is waiting for him beyond the barrier of leaves.

       It doesn’t take him long to reach the surface.  In fact, so surprised by his fast mount of the giant monument is he that he very nearly falls while searching for a further footfall, only to realise there isn’t one.  With his elevated height, it’s now easy for his face to push itself through the thick foliage  - something he couldn’t do as a child  -  features exposed to the sky.  To his turbulent sense of grief, there is no light, ethereal plane above.  The storm is the same, the night thick with cloud and and dreary headaches.  He feels his expression falling until he’s left with the same apathetic arrangement as usual.

       What was I thinking?  Of course there’s nothing above this threshold.  Of course there’s no memory palace, no safe havens, no pleasant things--  just rot, and rain, and dark.  Just vapid emptiness.  Just nothing.  Dear Gods…  my life means nothing.  I mean nothing.  There’s nothing for me here.  What I thought was mine was snatched from my hands.

       Sobbing at the top of the tree feels right somehow.  Hunched there in the leaves, tight and balled, as invisible now as he’s felt for the past few months, it brings him some amount of solace to wring himself dry of feeling.  He cries until his throat begins to hurt;  until his hoodie has been soaked through;  until his boots become slick and slippery.  Everything just hurts so much.  And there’s nothing I can do to escape it.  There’s nothing I can do to--

       His thoughts are interrupted by his shoe slipping badly as he begins to squirm his way down.  He slides along branches, some snapping with the force, and falls a short way down until his arms are able to wrap around a thick branch that is capable of hosting his weight.  Even in the heavy rain, he can hear the bark groaning, as if it too is expressing a deep discontentment with him.  Check that, Murphy - not even trees like you.

       With his face momentarily buried into his shoulder, trying to clear his vision of tears and water, he gets a glance at the ground.  He really didn’t fall that far;  he’s left suspended a great ways off the ground still, his legs dangling like nooses.  Somewhere inside of him is a fight pulling through, legs swinging in an attempt to lock around the tree and continue his descent.  His boots continue to slip, unable to find purchase.

       God-fucking-damnit.  I can’t get up.

       Why’re you fighting so hard though?

       The thought brings with it an alarming amount of clarity.  When he really settles down to tackle it, why is he struggling so vehemently to remain aloft?  His family is disappointed in him; his best friend has suddenly decided he hates his guts;  his college career went down the drain; he’s stuck working on a farm that reminds him of all the dear things he once had but no longer does.  Is this all there is?  Haunted memories and half-people?  A safe, average existence that risks absolutely nothing?  Betrayal from those you trusted with your soul?  Was this really all he had to look forward to after leaving his fluffy childhood behind?

       Oh, you’re crying again.  Big surprise.        Shut up.  Stop whining.  This is your fault.        ❛❛ I know…  I know…  so pleeease... ❜❜

       You don’t seem like you want to get back up.

       Does he?  Even though he knows that this voice has a tendency to say the worst things, is it wrong?  He feels the strength leaving his arms slowly, though he wriggles desperately in an attempt to remain hanging there.  If I can just wait until dawn, my dad’ll find me--

       You KNOW you have the strength to pull yourself up.  You just don’t want to.

       ❛❛ ... ❜❜

       It’s this thought that is the final nail in the coffin.  Really, these thoughts are right.  Why is he trying so much?  All he ever does is fail.  No matter how much effort he puts into things, he always comes up short.  Everything that he touches dies in some way.  He’s incredibly unstable and makes his mother cry.  He can’t do anything right…  but he could let go right.  He could do that.  Even a complete idiot like him could do that, couldn’t he?

       Sure you could, kid.  You know you could.  Think of it as a service.  Besides, you’re so high up, it’d be relatively painless.  Relatively. 

       It isn’t painless.  It hurts as if hell has opened up inside of him, a torn scream escaping his raw throat before he falls still and quiet in a heap on the ground.  Unable to move, blood pooling around his head, he feels his vision swim and give out.

       Hey…!  HEY!!       … yer cryin’...       Screw off…  I thought ya died.

       His eyes open halfway, as if he expects to see his dearest friend scrabbling his way down the tree, just like he had all those years ago.  There’s nobody there.  Of course there isn’t.  Why would there be?  Nobody’s coming to get me.  Even when I came to get them, they’re not going to come and get me.

       A slideshow of mismatched memories play through his head at the speed of sound, a sensory overload that ultimately leaves his ears ringing and his eyes stinging.  Kuro…  I miss you…  I could never hate you…  I need you here…  don’t you see that you’re the reason for all of this pain…?  All I want is for you to come back…  please come back.  I’ll try harder!  I’ll reach further!  I just need you to come back please come back please please PLEASE COME AND GET ME I FUCKED UP REALLY BAD--

                                                                                                                          He doesn’t.

[fish-food-s]

Septum

Words: 2174

Warnings: Major character death, blood, the R slur, cursing, unsympathetic deceit, lots of angst, let me know if I should add anything else.

A/N: This is heavily based off of a youtube video called Septum by Hazel Hayes. I used the same story and really similar characters. Please go check it out!

---

“In front of you is a pill. Within the next twenty-five minutes, one of you must take the pill. If, after twenty-five minutes, no one has taken it, you will all die. Survivors will all win their share of $50,000,000. Good luck.”

Logan scanned the room. A digital clock was installed into the wall, counting down from twenty-five minutes. It contrasted the rest of the electronic free room, being the only source of light that wasn’t a dim yellow lamp against the worn out walls. A security camera was nestled in the top corner of the room, watching them from afar. He and four others sat at a small table filled with little cookies and fruits, along with a single white pill, cushioned neatly on a tiny, fancy box, opened and up for anyone to take.

The man reading the note, Logan knew him as Patton, put down the piece of paper and licked his lips in nervousness.

“Charming,” one man commented, fear evident behind his confident-ridden eyes.

“Would anyone like me to read it again?” Patton asked, unsure. Everyone solemnly shook their heads; Patton nodded and put the note away.

Logan cleared his throat, it being rougher than he anticipated. “I suppose we should introduce ourselves. I’ll go first,” He was met with no objection, “I am Logan, and I feel it would be unfair if I did not mention that I already know Patton,” Logan stated, nodding in Patton’s direction.

“Yes. Hello Logan,” Patton admitted, sheepishly

A man in a black bowler hat furrowed his brows. “Did you know that you’d see each other here?” He questioned.

The two shook their heads. “No. We were friends in school but lost touch when departing. Seeing Patton here came as quite a shock,” he explained.

“Yeah. We haven’t spoken in, like, ten years,” Patton agreed. The man with the hat nodded suspiciously.

“Well, It would definitely add to the show, with all the drama and such,” said the confident man. Logan thought about it for a moment before nodding, remembering that this was in front of an audience.

“Well,” Logan started, “There is not much to know about me. I am married, and we have a daughter. We are signing the divorce papers currently, though. It simply did not work the way we planned. I am a nurse, by the way. It is what I’ve wanted to do since childhood, and I quite enjoy meeting such a diverse set of people from the occupation. There is truly so much to learn from them.” He dipped his head, signifying he was done.

“I guess I’ll go next,” Patton decided through the silence. “I’m Patton, and I’m studying to be an architect. I love traveling and seeing what humanity could make with just a few materials in hand. I’m planning on climbing Kilimanjaro. Which I know seems a bit...” he gestured to his wheelchair, “It won’t be easy, but I’m going to try my hardest.” He smiled proudly.

“Hello, I am Roman,” the next man announced, the same one that spoke with a fragile arrogance, “I am an incredibly charming and witty, and downright devilishly handsome man-” the man in the hoodie next to Roman laughed, “-When I was young I wanted to be a Disney prince, but I settled on being a writer instead, everyone insisted that you couldn't have something that didn’t exist. I do not believe anyone gave a reason for being here, but I came because the cash would help greatly in writing and publishing my novel.”

“You came here for a novel?” Logan confirmed, “That’s admirable.”

Roman nodded, flashing a wavering smile, “I am also quite a fan of this show, another reason I decided to come.”

Logan nodded and everyone’s head turned to a rather dark character. “Would you like to introduce yourself?” Logan asked, leaving silence for his name.

“Virgil,” His deep voice surprised everyone, “And no thanks. I’m good.”

The hat man scoffed. “It’s not like he’s offering you a snack”

Virgil rolled his eyes that were painted with shadows, “Yeah, I’m not giving you some sob story to get you to feel sorry for me. We all got problems, next,” he made a swiping motion with his hands, gesturing to the last man.

The man in the bowler hat sighed. “Well, I am Vincent,” he spoke, his voice smooth and calculated, “I dropped out of school at grade seven and started my own business. I have been under my own employment ever since.”

“Yes, cause someone like you definitely needs the money,” Roman signed. Vincent shook his head and looked away, as if too worthy for his contributions.

“So, that is all of us. How shall we do this?” Logan asked, ignoring the rising feeling of sickness in his gut.

Vincent lifted his head to meet Logan’s eyes. “Let’s do a vote. It doesn't have to be official, we’ll just test the waters and go from there,” he suggested. Everyone made some noise of agreement.

“Yeah, we won't do it unless it’s unanimous. Well, if four people vote for the same person. Obviously, we won't get all five of us to vote together,” Patton added with a touch of forced humor.

“Okay, I will start with me,” Logan stated, “And go clockwise from there. By a show of hands, who votes for me to take the pill?” No one raised their hand.

“Patton?”

“Roman?” Vincent raised his hand.

“Virgil?” Roman, Logan, and Patton raised their hands, the ladder quite sheepishly.

“Vincent?” Virgil raised his hand.

“Okay, that’s one each for Vincent and Roman, and three for Virgil,” Logan finished, feeling nausea take over.

There was a beat of silence

“Let's take a break and come back in a moment. To think about the vote,” Patton suggested, guilt plaguing his voice.

“Excellent idea, Patton,” Logan agreed, and with that, everyone turned to talk amongst themselves.

Logan approached Patton, smiling at the familiar face. “It is quite strange seeing you here,” he commented.

“Yeah, you too,” Patton said, laughing forcefully.

“Now that the first voting has finished, everything has become all too real,” Logan confessed, looking on to the others.

Patton nodded solemnly.

“May I ask why you voted for me?” Virgil turned his head to see Vincent facing him, pleading with his eyes. “I mean, I know we all have to vote for someone, but if I did anything that caused you to be upset, my apologies,” he said almost sincerely.

“To be honest, I just think you’re kind of a dick,” Virgil said bluntly. Roman chuckled. Vincent snarled and turned away.

Everyone slowly made their way back to their seat, and a silent tension was reset in the air. Logan cleared his throat. “I suppose we could vote again. Anonymously this time,” Logan suggested. Patton began to take strips of paper out.

“Wait,” Roman announced, “Virgil are you sure you don’t want to share your story?” he asked.

Virgil looked down. “Well, if you really want to hear it. My dad died when I was seven. It’s just me and my mom. She’s absolutely perfect. You know those moms you see in magazines or movies? Always baking and always supportive? That's my mom. She, uh, she’s sick. Like, sick sick. I came here cause I thought I could-” he covered his eyes, whimpering. “I can’t...” His whimpers turned to low laughs, “I can’t believe you guys fell for that shit.”

Everyone sighed in disbelief. “You sure are something,” Vincent spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“What a wonderful performance!” Roman commented, lifting his glass of wine to Virgil. The actor imitated a bow.

“Can’t you take anything seriously?” Vincent growled at Roman.

“Can’t you take that stick out your ass? It’s not a good look,” Roman shot back. Virgil chuckled.

“Look, I’m just saying that we can’t judge someone so quickly in just twenty-five minutes based off each other sob stories,” Virgil stated, leaning back in his chair.

“Yeah, and you could never know who’s telling the truth,” Roman agreed.

“Who’s side are you on?” Vincent growled.

“My own.”

“What an awful side.”

“Okay. okay, lets vote,” Patton said suddenly, passing five strips of paper around, “If four of the votes are the same, that will be the decision,” Each wrote a name on their slip before passing it back to Patton.

Patton unfolded each and read them out loud. “Virgil. Virgil. Vincent. Virgil… Vincent.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You just got us all killed! We were one vote away from getting out alive!” Vincent lashed out, looking directly at Roman, “You just fucked it all up!” Roman shook his head and chuckled. “What is this for your book? Trying to get a good story out of it?”

“Oh, please.”

“What, you think this is a joke? We’re all going to die because of you!”

“That’s enough-” Virgil stepped in.

“Oh, now he talks! You just stay silent and wait until one of us becomes the antagonist? Well, you did a great job at that!” He seethed, lightly clapping his hands.

“It’s not like I have some strategy to this! I came here for money that I need. I’m here to vote and feel awful about all of it, but I am not begging anyone for sympathy in the process. My shit hole of a life is not going to be my excuse to live.”

“It was me...”

“What?” Vincent demanded.

Patton looked down. “I voted for you...”

“What the hell is wrong with you people? The moment I walked through the door you all hated me!”

“I’ll take that apology when you’re ready”

“Fuck off!”

Vincent stood up and walked to the end of the table. “Since we cannot reach an agreement, I suggest the majority takes the pill. Virgil?”

“Wait that is not what we decided on,” Logan argued, “We need to take another vote just to be sur-”

“Are you fucking retarded or something?” Vincent snapped. The room went cold. “No, that’s not what I meant-”

“You’ve been nothing but trouble all night,” Roman said, standing up to meet Vincent, “You claim you’re some rich business owner, but I’m calling bullshit. You’re just a liar with a bad attitude and a bad-”

Roman couldn't finish the sentence with Vincent's fist to his nose. Logan caught him as he fell backward, and Virgil stood up to level with Vincent. He almost took another blow when Virgil looked up, Vincent following his gaze to the security camera. To where millions of people are watching them. Virgil turned around to help Roman stop seeing stars.

Patton glance at the clock. Only a minute left. “Logan, we’re running out of time.” His voice was on the edge of sobs.

“Okay, another vote, with a show of hands this time, majority rules. I will start with me,” Logan stated, “And go clockwise from there. Who votes for me to take the pill?” No one raised their hand.

“Patton?”

“Roman?”

“Virgil?”

“Vincent?” Everyone but Vincent raised their hand.

“Vincent you have to vote,” Patton pleaded.

“Doesn’t matter,” Roman spat, holding his nose, “he’s dead.”

“No, he should vote,” Logan argued

“Vincent just take the pill!” Virgil yelled. Vincent did nothing.

“I’m sorry,” Logan apologized sincerely, “But you have to take it.”

Vincent sat down in his spot, eyeing the pill. He leaned in, almost reaching it, before retreating back into his seat. The clock ticked from a minute to fifty-nine seconds.

Screams of resentment flooded the room. Patton wordlessly sobbed as he held his head in his hands. Logan stood up and eyed the pill, circling the table. Ten seconds. He reached his hand for the pill and dry swallowed the tablet before anyone could resist. The room went silent.

“No!” Patton screamed, pushing his chair over to logan and clutching the hem of his shirt, “Logan you didn’t have to do that!” The timer hit zero. Logan lowered himself to Patton’s level as the man cried into his chest. “Why did you do that...” he whimpered, sobbing.

Patton pulled away slightly and wiped at his nose, noticing the blood it left on his finger. Vincent, wide-eyed, turned to Roman, who had begun to cough up blood. He tested the tip of his finger at his own nostril, fainting at the sight of blood on his index finger. Virgil looked in horror at Roman. “It was an antidote,” the writer whispered. He squeezed his eyes shut and held out his hand. “Could you… could you hold my hand?”

Virgil wordlessly sat down and took Roman’s hand in his, watching the man take his last breath, knowing his own would come soon. He stood up and separated their hands, before making his way to Logan, who was now cradling a half-dead Patton. Without saying anything, he leaned his head on Logan’s shoulder and fell into darkness, Patton joining him soon after.

Logan, now surrounded by bodies, looked up as the walls opened to a bright white light, revealing a cheering audience that only made his tears burn more.

---

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[ineffablecolors]

I'm sending you 42. and 80. (because this gotta be funnnn) for the trope mash-up, but only as long as you don't forget that you also kinda promised to write the pregnant-neighbor-comes-begging-for-food thing. Because I won't forget about it. :)

The lovely @laschatzi is talking about this post. I cheated a little bit but I hope you’d like how because now we have

Hungry pregnant neighbour + The Big Damn Kiss + Green-Eyed Epiphany 

Family Recipe;  ~ 5, 500 words; FF.NET || AO3

previous: wilderness/survival + I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On &Detective AU  + Awful First Meeting

Killian is somewhatashamed to admit that he has become something of a take-out guy.

It’s just… it’s one ofthose things he never got back into after losing his hand. Like volleyball. Orplaying the guitar. Or arm wrestling Will. Or the black nail polish. Or goingto the beach. Or hitting on that cute girl at the bakery around the corner. Orgirls,period. Or basically anyone he didn’t already know before the accident.

But anyway. Cooking.He never got back into cooking. He was never all that good at it to begin withbut it gave him a funny sort of pride and he enjoyed it.

He enjoyed having togo to three different stores to manage to collect all the herbs and spices fora proper curry. And lying all his products out – basically filling everyavailable space and then having to push stuff around to have somewhere toactually cook. And chopping histomatoes really fine – concasse, was it? – and his onions not quite because hedid not enjoy crying over their massacred corpses. And – never to be revealedto another living soul – making a mini forest around his chopping board withthe broccoli and the cauliflower. And the whole kitchen smelling for two daysafter. And basically making a mess of every horizontal surface – and thevertical ones that one time when he was learning how to spin pizza dough.

Yeah, he enjoyed that.And then he didn’t. Couldn’t. Didn’t.

And now here he is,sipping his beer and scrolling down his take-out app as if he doesn’t knowhe’ll get the Chinese because he had pizza twice during the week and they’vetotally ruined the Mexican place and Liam says he is a masochist but he is nota ‘take-out sushi’ level of masochist.

He looks outside.Checks his watch. At least two more hours of solid daylight. He wasn’t evenhungry yet. He could get some tortilla chips to snack on while trying to see ifhis oven still works.

Really… what couldhappen?

///

Mrs Lucas has spoilther.

It is the only reasonEmma is even contemplating this. That and the fact that it smells really good.

And look here, Emma isnot one of those girls that needs to always get what she wants. She iscertainly not used to getting whatshe wants. It’s just… her baby doesn’t seem to have followed in her footsteps.

It might havesomething to do with said baby not even having feet to walk with yet. Or… shethinks – tries to remember what she’s been readying semi-obsessively and thenthrowing under the bed as if the books are judging her for her singleness andbrokenness and the general dinginess of her apartment – maybe it has feetalready?

They’re definitelyforming but definitely not usable hence no following in any footsteps anytimesoon. There. She’s leaving it at that. Maybe she’ll dig out that last book fromunder her bed tonight. After she has some dinner.

Which brings her rightback to the problem at hand.

She is pretty surethat 5C is one of those bachelors that live on beer, pizza and whatever elseyou can get delivered to your door; has a football or poker night with the guysevery month – see the football she is sure about ‘cause those walls are fuckingthin and those boys are fucking loud but she likes to imagine the pokeras well ever since she saw the guy in this super slick vest that she is sureonly people who can actually step into a casino and somehow manage to not look sleazy own; occasionally blaststoo loud music but not often enough to warrant a complaint; puts Netflix on loud enough and regularly enough that her brokeass is hoping she can keep up with the new season of Stranger Things simply bymoving her couch next to the wall his TV sits against; never brings girls backto his place.

Honestly, Emma is notjudging (or stalking – the walls are thin).She’d probably be giving 5C a run for his money on the easy single living, ifshe wasn’t pregnant and broke and grumpy half the time and hungry the otherhalf – which also makes her grumpy, and generally disillusioned with humanityand the world and the idea that one might actually be able to enjoy life andnot struggle through it at every step and did she mention broke? She is brokeand constantly hungry and constantly trying to fool her baby into thinking thathe likes overcooked pasta and whatever fruits are on sale this week.

He doesn’t. He likeswhatever 5C is cooking.

///

This was a disastrousidea. The kind of disastrous idea he hasn’t had since he was 4 years old andthought that if he puts snails on Liam’s bed they’d stay there and not like…make their way all over the room that Killianshared with Liam.

This is worse thansnails. This is a dozen utensils in the sink already – because of course hetosses a spoon in the sink the second after he has used it once, of course, why put it to the side and use it again when hehas to stir his unholy concoction, and half a dozen plates – one of those inpieces in a trash bag by the door because your one hand being a slippery one isnot the situation in which you want to be handling porcelain.

He has a sizeable cuton his big toe where he stepped on one of the pieces and his t-shirt issticking to his back from the effort of grinding bloody vegetable – Jesus, heused to run miles without breaking a sweat and now blasted carrots are gettingthe best of him, and all he has to show for all his work is what he hopes is apassable mince.

Now for the mash. Hestill has three limbs and 14 uninjured digits to go…

///

Look, Emma doesn’thave much but she has her pride, ok? And this kid growing inside her has madeher relinquish her hold on that enough to knock on Mrs Lucas’s door and ask herwhat it was she put in her cookies because apparently Emma – or someone else, was addicted to it nowand it was not cinnamon. And that hadtransitioned into Emma becoming almost a firm fixture at Granny’s on weekendsand then into Emma busting tables for a month until Granny gave her a nononsense look and told her she won’t be doing this in a few more months, andafter a week of asking and listening and string pulling and cookie bribing, shegot her a job at August’s bookstore even though he still grumbles that he doesn’tlike anyone else ordering his books.

And, yes, this allworked out pretty well but Mrs Lucas was the one that came to her door on her first week in thebuilding with a plate of those cookies that by this point Emma can barely lookat.

(It’s what she does.She falls in love with peanut butter and then eats so many PBJ sandwiches thatnow she almost gets sick at the mere sight of a jar on the counter. And shehears the The Kooks coming from 5C’s wall and goes on to listen to them onrepeat for two weeks. Mind you, not even everything but just Junk of the Heartbecause she is mental like that. And she starts Modern Family, when she stillhad a freaking Netflix account, and binges the whole damn thing in a couple ofweekends and a few late week nights.)

So, yeah, Emma mighthave some addictive tendencies – the legal kind, and some impulse controlissues.

But Emma would neveractually go to someone’s door – someone she has never exchanged a single wordwith despite sometimes hearing their voice float through her wall – and, yeah,he has a pretty voice but what’s that gonna do for her? shitty people can havegreat voices, she is sure – to ask them forthe love of all that is good and holy, what they are cooking because it smellsso fucking good and she has to know and she has to have something that at leastcomes close to it.

She’d never.

///

It’s in the oven. It’sover. Well, all he has to do now is make sure he doesn’t burn the damn thing toa crisp. But if he managed to put it together in the first place, for the firsttime tonight, Killian thinks he can maybe pull this off.

///

It got worse. Worse asin better. Fuck, it got so much better. And now her stomach is grumbling andshe has made for the door three times in the last five minutes and for thefirst time tonight Emma is coming to the horrible realization that she probablywon’t be able to survive this day with her dignity intact.

///

He is just about todig into his plate – fancy plate set and fancy napkins that he didn’t even knowhe owned and the second episode of American Gods queued up and-

There’s a knock on hisdoor.

Killian freezes withhis fork in the air, eyebrows bunching together. Who on earth? He knows hehasn’t invited any of the guys over and Liam knows better than to just drop infor an unexpected ‘we are going out and getting you someone to go home with’visit by this point.

He waits. Nothing.Maybe he imagined it?

///

“There, happy?”

Emma glances down ather slightly rounded stomach and tries on her best ‘mom look’. She thinksshe’ll definitely need to work on that one before the baby comes out because heis already too stubborn for her owngood.

She glances at thedoor with 5C on it one more time, raises her hand and then drops it again.

No. She knocked. Thisis a sign. For once the universe is sparing her the embarrassment and-

“Yes?”

No, of course, not.Why would the universe ever spare her anything?

///

She must be the onethat knocked. 5B. His sweatpants neighbour.

Killian tries not tofeel bad about the nickname. They’ve never been properly introduced and… well,he has mostly seen her back disappearing inside her apartment or her back goingdown the stairs with laundry or her back rushing below his window on a jog. Sohe’s never seen her in anything but sweatpants. He’s not judging. It’s just…the only thing he had to go on.

She is in sweatpantsnow as well but as he looks at her to ask what she needs, he is taken aback byher green eyes. He is taken aback by the sudden realization that his neighbouris this young and very pretty woman and her eyes are the kind of eyes you can’thelp but notice.

It’s… interesting. Hehas heard the soundtrack of her daily life through the wall they share for afew months now but somehow he never imagined the face and body that must gowith those sounds.

As he thinks his gazeslides down almost involuntary and he doesn’t know what catches his attentionmore: the fact that she is a few months pregnant or the fact that she came overbarefoot.

The latter is trulyendearing, the former a tad disheartening for some reason.

Not that he hasanything against kids. Or pregnant women. It’s just… it’s not every day yourealize your neighbour is a pretty girl about your age and currently standingat your doorstep. But he shouldn’t have just assumed and anyway he doesn’treally… that is… is she ever gonna say something?

///

“Lass?”

Emma shakes her head alittle and wants to slap herself back into reality. You know that space andtime continuum where she is not attaching thisman to every sound she has ever heard come through their wall.

(She is convinced heplays air guitar when blasting Bon Jovi hits and that his eyes blaze reallybright when he is swearing at something about “bloody this” and “bloody that”.)

“Umm, hi. Sorry. I…”

He raises an eyebrow.She doesn’t really appreciate the mix of amusement and expectation. Then again,she is standing on his doorstep. He probably has some right to expect anexplanation. Why on earth didn’t she rehearse what she’ll say if he opened thedoor?

“Did you needsomething?”

Fuck.

“I just… ummm, am I botheringyou?”

“Not at all, lass. But,to be frank, I’ll probably be more capable of answering truthfully, if you toldme what you are here for.”

The hell? Was hetalking like that on purpose?

“I-“

Come on, Emma, like aband aid, nowhere to go now unless you wanna be the weirdo asking for a cup offlour.

“What you arecooking?’

///

“Oh.”

Oh. Bloody hell.

Killian can feel hischeeks heating up and focuses half his attention on keeping his hand at hisside and not scratching his damn ear.

“I apologize. I didn’tconsider the smell might bother some-“

“No. No, no, no. Ilike it! So… I was wondering what it was.”

She likes it? Thattimid feeling of pride he felt when he took his dinner out of the over and it wasn’t burn to a crisp grows threetimes.

“It’s just ashepherd’s pie. Slightly altered recipe. My mum’s. Supposedly, probably muckedit up along the way and it’s twice altered now but yeah… Shepherd’s pie.”

“Oh.”

///

Great. She was hopingfor something along the lines of a lasagna. Then maaaybe she could’ve boughtsome frozen crappy version from the supermarket and tried to cheat her bodyinto thinking it was the real thing.

But no, of course,not. It had to be shepherd’s pie. Family recipe edition. Just her damn luck.

“Well, thanks. Andsorry! I was just… curious. Sorry to bother you.”

///

She turns to go andthis might have been the most bizarre conversation he’s had this month.Including that guy on the underground with the orange hair.

Did she just want toknow what the smell invading her home was? She did say she liked it. Maybe-

She is already half toher door so Killian just thinks to hell with it.

“Would you like some?”

He sees her stop deadin her tracks and cringes, hoping he isn’t now the biggest weirdo of her month.And not in a good way.

The blonde turnsaround and he knows the second he sees her face that she would indeed likesome. But Killian likes to think of himself as at least moderately intelligentso he keeps his smile to himself and instead prepares for the distrust in hereyes that is obviously warring with her appetite.

“Do you usually offerfood to unknown women who come knocking on your door?”

“I can’t say, you arethe first.”

He doesn’t actuallysee her cheeks change colour but then again he thinks it might be because shehas been blushing this entire time.

“I didn’t mean tobother-“

“It’s no bother, love.Truly. Now that I feel knowledgeable enough about your intensions to say so.”

She rolls her prettygreen eyes in a way that has his pulse speeding up a bit.

“Plus I just made adish more people share with a family of four. For myself. I think I can sparewhatever you can eat.”

It’s a gamble thatpays off when he sees her eyes blaze up and let’s himself grin at herteasingly.

“I’m sorry, was that achallenge to how much I can eat?”

He steps aside andwaves her in.

She only hesitates fora second.

///

OK, first of all, hisapartment is waaay better than hers like, both bigger and with more naturallight coming in but also simply more tidy and colour-coordinated. Also, ifpossible, it smells even better inside and Emma’s eyes immediately zero in onthe dish on the kitchen counter.

She hears 5C chucklebehind her and tries not to feel even more embarrassed. Her capacity for itmust be running out by this point. Thankfully, he doesn’t make a comment butjust moves around his kitchen island and takes out a plastic food container.IKEA guy. Cute.

It probably takes hera bit longer than it should – what with her still mostly trying to pretend sheis not hustling her nice and pretty neighbour for food – but eventually Emmanotices the peculiar way he moves around his kitchen and operates only with hisright hand. A quick inspection proves that it is because he simply has no leftone to assist him.

“No shit!”

The guy startles ather words and turns around and probably follows her gaze because in the nextmoment the limb is tucked slightly behind him and he is giving her a tensesmile.

“Shit, I’m afraid.”

She honest to Godcovers her mouth. Better late than never. Or not.

“Shit. I mean, sorry!Sorry. I wasn’t- I was just- you cook?!”

5C frowns at her as ifher person skills are something that would only befit a visiting alien. He’sgot her there.

“Sorry. Again. But,like, I can’t cook for shit even with two hands.”

To be fair, the crapproducts she can afford probably have something to do with it but Emma is gonnabe a single mom pretty soon and she is pretty sure that “to be fair”s won’t cutit when she has to cook for her kid.

But makes-food-that-smells-illegally-good-single-handedlyneighbour seems to relax a little.

Foot – partially outof mouth.

///

Killian tries to unbunchthe muscles in his neck and not keep his right side weirdly angled towards her.It’s fine. Really, it’s fine. She was bound to notice eventually.

“To be honest, this ismy first try in quite some time.”

“Seriously?”

“Indeed. So if you getfood poisoning or something, I’m not to be held accountable.”

The thought gives himpause and he turns to her with his eyebrows all drawn together and almostreluctant to hand her the container in his hand.

“Actually, are youallergic to anything? I mean… I don’t think there’s anything too weird in itand everything I used was fresh but-“

He can’t help butglance down at her stomach. Gods, she ispregnant, right? This will be just the kind of thing-

But the blonde’s handcomes up to her stomach and she smiles at him almost shyly and Killian breathesout a quiet sigh of relief.

“I’m sure it will befine. I mean, the things I’ve been feeding myself… I’m pretty sure someonemight get a bit of a shock from the home-cooked food but definitely not the badkind.”

He tries not tooveranalyze the “feeding myself” part and instead nods and finally hands thecontainer with half of his shepherd’s pie inside.

“Whoa. You really arechallenging me.”

He laughs and dips hishead to the side to admire the way her eyes widen a little.

“It should keep for acouple of days if you put it in the fridge. And you can always just feed it toSmee.”

“Smee?”

“Oh.”

His cold ring grazeshis earlobe and dammit, he forgot to watch out for the damn tick.

“I named the cat thatalways hangs around behind the building.”

“Oooh, ok. And hellno.”

She hugs the food toher chest almost protectively and Killian laughs again and bloody hell, is hecoming across too giggly or something? What else can he say? He-

“Well, I shouldprobably let you finally eat your dinner. Whatever you have left,” she beatshim to it and juts her thumb at the door and he can’t really do anything butnod.

///

She is alreadystepping outside, teeth embedded in her lip and what do you say to the cute neighbour that fed you dinner but not inthe date sense?

“Oh. I’m Emma, by theway. Emma Swan.”

His eyes light up andEmma finally gets to put a mark in the ‘didn’t fuck it up’ column.

“Pleasure to meet you,Swan. Killian Jones. Always at your service, though I must warn you, myculinary repertoire is quite limited.”

Killian Jones with thefancy words and delicious food. Fuck.

///

She uses her employeediscount on something other than baby books for the first time.

He finds the bookwaiting for him outside his door. The post-it note says “This is why peoplelike home-cooked food. Who knew.” And the book is Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things and it takes him a momentto connect the dots and remember that he was watching Amarican Gods the othernight and, yeah, maybe it makes him feel kinda good that Emma Swan noticed andremembered that.

///

He tries some Mexicannext and it’s 100% because his favourite place has gone to crap and not at allbecause he once saw their delivery guy in front of 5B.

She opens the door andhis face is half-obscured by an IKEA container and he says it’s just a not sosubtle reminder that she hasn’t returned the other one yet and she pretends tobelieve him.

///

She reasons that youcan’t return food containers empty so she tries to bake muffins because muffinsare supposed to be easy.

He hears the firealarm and five second later he is banging on her door and having a veryflustered Emma Swan dragging him inside and pointing at her oven or what can beseen of it behind the cloud of smoke and explaining how it’s all his fault.

///

He’s been looking fora not food-related reason to knock on her door for a week and coming up emptyand he is damn rusty when it comes to talking to pretty girls but then againshe is pregnant and the fact that he didn’t see a naked man in the middle ofher kitchen the one time he was there for 10 minutes doesn’t mean anything somaybe that’s for the best.

She knocks on his doora day after Stranger Things comes out with three bags of popcorn, explainingthat only one of them is for him, obviously.

///

She lives to binge andyet here she is trying to stretch an 8-episode season over more than a week.

He honestly debatescalling Netflix and begging them to somehow somehowrelease more episodes of their damn show.

///

He has been thisscared exactly once in his entire life and that situation included headlightscoming straight at him.

She has a freakingstomach ache, probably from too much popcorn, and she is almost as embarrassedwhen she comes out of the doctor’s office as she was that first night sheknocked on his door but Killian doesn’t really seem to care how she is ok as long as she is.

///

She is scrollingthrough her Instagram at work and she is so bored and distracted that shealmost misses it but then she goes back and blinks and then goes to the accountto check this is not some sort of ridiculous surveillance thing or she doesn’teven know what – but sure enough, there – on @cutestparentstobe, is a pictureof her very pregnant self, eating ice-cream on the beach with one KillianJones.

He doesn’t know how heworms his way into a doctor’s appointment, he just knows that when the nursecalls him “daddy” Emma kinda sputters but doesn’t say anything to contradicther and he sure as hell keeps his trap shut and just smiles and nods when theygive him an ultrasound picture all for himself.

///

They’ve been doingwhatever they are doing for 4 freaking months and within the first couple ofweeks they were already using like only 30% of his couch for the both of themand in a month they started venturing outside the bubble of their apartmentsand Emma never thought she’d be thehand-holding type but yeah, they kinda hold hands all the time and they hug,like, every day and they text all the freaking time while they are at work andshe meets Liam when she is 7 months pregnant and convinced that he is gonnahate her on sight for saddling his little brother with herself and he doesn’treally but he also doesn’t seem to love her on sight and Killian is verypointedly unamused by the lukewarm reception but honestly, Emma is just glad tobe given a chance here, and he goes shopping for baby stuff she can barelyafford with her and then he goes shopping for baby stuff by himself and shegets kinda angry and they kinda break up or whatever at least twice, basicallyeach time Emma decides that this is ridiculous and he can’t just date a girlthat is having another guy’s baby and that’s twice the size she should be andthat he’s only known for a few months and one night Killian lines up fourfreaking shepherd’s pies outside her door and if she even keeps her door closedto that then she must be dead inthere and one night he lets it slip about these therapy sessions that he issupposed to go to but doesn’t and she basically makes an appointment for himand drags him out of the door and maybe threatens him with not coming to herdoctor’s appointments anymore, if he doesn’t go to his.

And through all that and then some, they never actuallykiss.

Sure he kisses hercheek when he wishes her goodnight and she kisses his head when he falls asleepon her during Lord of the Rings and he kisses her hand placatingly every timehe tries to dissuade her from helping him with dinner and she kisses hisforearm in the park that one time he freaks out on her because she is on hisleft side and goes to hold his arm and he kisses her stomach the first time shegrabs his hand and lets him feel the baby kicking but-

They’ve never properly kiss and it’s this lastfrontier and maybe he is waiting for her to cross it but she just can’t seem to.

And then she is givingbirth and he is there when she is givingbirth and they haven’t even kissed.

And then there’s Henryand they both kiss him plenty but-

///

they don’t kiss whenKillian refuses to hold her baby and she is hurt and offended and so confusedand kinda angry and then he says he can’t, he can’t hold him with one hand andshe is just sad and, yeah, maybe still kinda angry but also eerily calm as shebents Killian’s elbow and gives him the kind of look that makes him shut hismouth audibly and places her son in his arms

they don’t kiss whenKillian barges in on her breastfeeding and twirls around on the spot, slappinga hand over his face and sputtering apologies while all she can do is laugh andlaugh and tell him to stop acting like her tits are a big deal and make her acup of that crappy decaf coffee and he does and he also makes sure to look herdirectly in the eyes and then wink very poorly when he says that her tits are a big deal

they don’t kiss when Henrystarts teething and Emma is up at all hours of the night and she looks likefucking hell and Killian tells her so in no uncertain terms and basically,somehow, taking advantage of her sleep-deprived brain, manages to rope her intoa teeth-sharing plan which basically includes her passing half of her insomniaonto him and Emma can’t forgive him and at the same time can’t love him enoughand yeah, she loves him now and they’ve known each other for a year and they haven’t fucking kissed and what ever

///

they don’t kiss whenshe asks him if he thinks maybe, possibly Liam would like to meet Henry and allKillian can do is nod and swallow and start planning the kind of lecture he’llgive his brother, if he dares to voice any of his doubts about the soundness of the situation, but Liamseems to think that if his brother is spending half his day around a certainbaby – no matter whose it is – it probably isn’t a terrible idea for him tomeet said baby and Liam Jones may be a military man and he may have nevergotten over the fact that he didn’t manage to protect his little brother fromall the evils of the world and he may have been determined to give Emma Swan ahard time for even the slightest hint of her using Killian but he is also puttyin the hands of Henry Swan within 10 minutes

they don’t kiss thefirst time she uses the key to his apartment and sneaks into his bedroom in themiddle of the night – baby in her arms and her hair into the messiest bun thathas ever been twisted and her damn sweatpants and her eyes all puffy and herwhispered worries all about not being able to do it and being all alone and notbeing good enough and he just folds himself around both of them and tries tostart the process of getting each ridiculous notion out of her head

they don’t kiss when shetells Henry to spot throwing his food all over daddy and Killian just standsthere – carrot puree all over his t-shirt, and watches as she continueswhipping the eggs in front of her as if she didn’t just- and he loves them bothtoo damn much to point it out and risk having her take it back and bloody hell,he loves her now and they’ve been together for all intents and purposes forover a year now and they haven’t bloodykissed and good lord

///

She comes back fromthe store and heads directly to Killian’s apartment and tries to calculate ifshe and Henry are spending more time at her place or at his at this point. Butas soon as she opens the door and the smell hits her, her calculations are leftoutside in the cold and it’s all she can do not to moan out loud. Turns out itwasn’t just the little guy growing inside her that made her love Killian’spies.

She hears the lowmurmur of Killian’s voice and decides to tiptoe into the kitchen as quietly aspossible. She wants to look at them without giving her presence away just yet,when it’s just them.

And sure enough Henryis tucked into Killian’s left arm, his little fist twisted into the hair at theback of her boyfriend’s neck (god, he is not her freaking boyfriend, along withHenry in his arms he is her entire fucking universe).

She knows what theyare making already but she narrows her eyes as she realizes that she has neveractually seen Killian make his shepherd’spie.

“This is the only wayI can make your mom eat these, Henry.”

He twirls a broccoliin front of her son’s little nose and Emma rolls her eyes. Partially because it’strue and partially because the broccoli version is not her most favourite.

“When you are oldenough I’m gonna teach you how to make it on your own but for now I’ll justshow you how to make yourself a little forest.”

She honestly doesn’tknow if it’s the implication of years tocome in his promise, the fact that he says it so confidently, so easily,without any doubt, without any caveat of “if we are still together”, withoutany alternative in his mind. Or if it’s the fucking forest of broccoli that heis arranging around his chopping board like the most precious human being thathe is.

Emma honestly doesn’tknow. But she does drop the bag she is carrying on the floor and she crossesthe space between them in the time it takes Killian to turn around and open himmouth to greet her. And then she finally finallyfeels his lips under her own.

He tastes even betterthan his damn pie.

[insideedensgate]

Jacob Seed/Staci Pratt - Stripper and Sugar Daddy AU

This alternate universe has NO abusive content and it stays in NO connection to original relationship which is based on abuse and torture of various forms.

I do not support abusive relationships, nor do I condone that the original basis of this ships lies within such an abusive contact!

But, and because I think these two could probably be adorable, if moved out of their original universe (and being less abusive and inhuman in certain ways), I decided to try this alternate universe out.

With Jacob not being an abusive monster and Staci being of full control of his actions, his mind and his body.

I decided to inform y’all, that I do not support any abuse or non-consent plot and the basis of the here presented relationship in this piece is not based on any of this.

Thank you very much. x

please klick the keep reading to - yeah, keep reading

nsfw-ish

english is not my mother tongue

also, this was heavily inspired by Frank Ocean's “Pyramids”

Staci started working in that luxurious, upper class strip club in Beverly Hills two years ago

he was trying to get into police school back in the days but they eventually didn't accept him to a lack of physical condition

so he started to train more to try again and eventually fell in love with dancing during that process

his best friend Joey Hudson, he knows her since high school, recently started her part time job as a bar keeper at Eden's Gate (she got a bullet in her leg during her second car chase and had to retire, caused by some nerve issues) and got him the job as a dancer

at first, Staci only wanted to stay for a few month and then find something more reputable, but he soon learned that the dim lights, luxurious and elegant interior as well as the loud music was everything he ever wanted in life

one evening, Grace had called herself sick for the week and it was Staci's time to shine on the club's main stage, he enters the club

Staci is overwhelmed by the red hair, the trimmed beard and the two thousand dollar Gucci suit (he's not a gold digger, he honestly isn't, but a beautiful man with a lot of money and a speedy car? He might drop his panties down a lil' bit)

he also immediately recognized this man as Jacob Seed, the older brother of Joseph Seed, the main investor of the club – and shit, he's fucked as the red haired man moves straight to his table

he only heard rumours about him once being a lawyer for war crimes at the UN and that had to retreat from his position, caused by some dubious incidents no one truly knows of and thus, he is now back in LA, assisting his younger brother John and his famous law firm Seed and Partners

there is some very unspectacular guy sitting right in front of Staci and he feels goosebumps rolling over his body as Jacob literally makes him leave by one of the club's bodyguards – just by a simple dismissive wave of his hand

he sits down and unbuttons his jacket and leans back in the expensive armchair, the whole suit is dark with light pinstripes and a fucking light blue bee pattern

Staci flushes as Jacob grins at him sublimely from below, two fingers gesturing for Staci to come closer

and he drops down on his knees, it is like he is fucking high like that Amanda girl from table 6, when she smokes that stuff Timothy brings in - everything just happens so naturally, the way he founds himself crawling towards the edge of the table

and god, is that man beautiful, his hair looking like liquid copper in the dimmed lights of the club, the dark blue of his suit melting together with the burgundy red of the chair and Staci's world is spinning as he presses his chest to the cold, solid table while pushing his hips up

“Aye, Peaches”, the not so unfamiliar man hums after he let his gaze wander over Staci's body a few times, “Knew you were what I was looking for when I came through that door.” “And what are you looking for, Sir?”, Staci smiles nonchalantly, rolling on his back and aching it, hooking his fingers playfully under the waistband of his expensive lace panties, soaking up every second of the blue eyed gaze darted onto him

when he leaves the club late at night, he has three thousand dollars to spent on his own and he hurries the fuck up, considering the cities' areas he has to cross to get home (he is actually so fucking scared he is getting robbed, but he also doesn't think of taking a taxi either)

 the second he comes home he hides the money under his bed and locking the front door twice and he is pretty sure he just heard gun shots down the road

the next day he takes Grace's place again at 8pm (“If that girl isn't seriously ill I'm gonna rip her extensions off”, Mary whines and Staci laughs at that) and there he is again, 9pm on the second, front seat

“Good evening, Peaches”, he mouths as he sits down and opens his jacket, the suit even fancier today, yet still suiting his red hair and Staci's cheeks turn red, his smile shy and Jacob genuinely laughs at that

and that's the game they play for the following two weeks, cat and mouse, Staci dancing for Jacob and only Jacob (“Nice to see you again, Mr Seed”) even though there are other people around they feel so isolated from the world when they see each other, Staci getting paid like he has never been before with the goal to impress the oldest Seed a little bit more every night

one night Jacob isn't around, the front seat taken by some guy who's sixty or what, and Staci honestly feels humiliated (He has found out, during his exceptional research, that Jacob is in his late 40s, which surprisingly doesn't disgust him at all, no he thinks of it as so attractive, “He is way too hot to be that age”)

when he arrives back in the dressing room there's a small white card, with neat black ink inviting him to Providence the same night

underneath the card is a slim black box, containing a fucking 800 dollar suit in dark green velvet

when he arrives there (this time he didn't even had to consider calling a taxi - someone, Jacob's driver as it becomes apparent, is picking him up in a black Mercedes), the whole restaurant is empty and Jacob is sitting there all by himself, and Staci shouldn't be so surprised but he probably booked the whole restaurant

it is one of the most comfortable date nights (he has to calm the fuck down, he is something like this guy's personal stripper, don't get too emotionally attached there - so he tells himself) Staci had in a long time, they talk about this and that and he eventually, just a little bit, feels his stomach tingle and becoming warmer by the minute

Jacob drives him home, after he had Staci mumble the address three times because he was too ashamed to speak it out loud - “So, this is where you live, Peaches?”, hand softly caressing his thigh, which feels so right “Uh, yes. I know it's not, I mean like - “, “Quite dangerous around here, are you sure you don't want to come with me?” and he would love to, but Jacob has already done so much for him, he just doesn't want to be a burden or something like that

he lays awake until the early hours of the next day, worrying if he pissed Jacob off, if he'll ever see him again

but he does, the next time he has a shift, Jacob is there again, taking a sip of his club soda – with scotch he assumes - on ice as Staci walks out on the stage and all the previous anxiety falls off his shoulders

and lord, he can see Jacob's arousal so clearly from up there, the glass in his hand near his mouth slowly tarnishing, the way he spreads his legs is so obvious it makes a familiar heat rise in Staci's belly

that night, they fuck for the first time and Staci doesn't want it to end ever, everything feels so fulfilling, so right and divine, like it was always meant to be this way, the way Jacob fills him up, makes him sore and leaves him greedy, begging for more and screaming out his name in pure, innocent pleasure

when he wakes up, some five star, many Michelin star prized hotel has delivered an overwhelming amount of fruits and pastries for breakfast and he feels like he is still at sleep, dreaming in his small ass bed in his flat, when he sees Jacob standing at the oven in dark blue silk underwear, brewing coffee and making pancakes

“Mornin' Peaches, I hope you slept well”, and the way he emphasizes his words makes Staci so greedy, washing his still tired body with the hot pleasure of lust

Jacob takes him right there, on the kitchen counter two times before they actually move on to breakfast and it is so peaceful, a lot of laughter and shared stories and Staci suddenly realizes, nearly choking on his strawberries, that it feels like fucking home

after a few days of seeing Jacob on a daily basis, fucking and making out, going out for expensive dinner Staci finds a small box once again

it's a key and an address somewhere in South Park, 20 minutes from the club

“Jacob, no. No, I am not going to accept that”, and even through the speaker of his phone he can hear that beautiful laugh that makes him hot all over, “Why not, Peaches? I thought it would suit you. Also, I don't have to be afraid any more that you'll get shot or robbed – or both, or worse.”, “Jacob, there's no way I'm gonna accept this fucking penthouse”, “Language, Peaches”, Jacob warns, but Staci can literally see the smug grin on the other end of the phone

“Fuck it, he's officially your sugar daddy, no matter what you say, Stace!”, Grace laughs when he tells her that his address changed, and Hudson nearly drops one of the fresh polished glasses. “No, he's not! He was just concerned!”, Stacie tries to protest but he knows she's right and he should feel dubious or shady or like a hooker but he doesn't at all

“Good evening, Peaches”, Jacob whispers into Stacie's ear, his trimmed beard tickling the back of his shoulder as he presses gentle kisses on the soft skin and he leans into the touch, carefully dropping the brush he just applied some highlighter with

“Daddy's boy is looking good”, Jacob continues, sending shivers of anticipation down Stacie's spine, “Do you promise to look even better when I pick you up later, Peaches?” “Yes, Jacob”, Staci whispers and smiles at him in the mirror “Good boy, keep your beautiful head up Peaches. And don't forget that I love you - Staci”, he winks and leaves the dressing room and Staci to himself, blushing in a deep red with a whole fucking swarm of bees starting a love-riot in his stomach

[pomme106]

Reunion (MC/Asra)

Summary: Asra goes to the Lazaret, following the magic of his lover he separated from after they chose to stay and search for a cure to the plague. Painful memories of their life drive him to search for a way to bring them back as he drives himself to the farthest points of exaustion.

Fluff/Angst

Feat. Apprentice Pomme (They/Them)

Word count: 3,230

“I’m sorry,”

The words echoed in some kind of space. Sorry for the pain, sorry they couldn’t do anything, sorry for the argument, sorry they didn’t just listen.

Asra felt it, though he couldn’t hear it. He felt the remnants of their fleeting magic clinging to the putrid air of the Lazaret and he knew he was too late.

The last pieces of his lover’s magic led him to their remains. If anyone could even call them that. Ashes mixed together from so many others, bones splintered and black that were crushed underfoot and buried unceremoniously by thin layers of other people’s remains.

The feeling of willow leaves brushing against his skin told the magician he was there, standing amid the remainder of them.

He fell to his knees, clothes stained with the ashes of those lost to the plague, gripping at the blackened sand as he dug. They had to be there. There had to be something left of them, something for him to hold onto or… Or say goodbye to.

Asra’s fingers bled and itched as the sand and ash mixed together over his cuts, but he didn’t wince. There was too much at stake for him to take even just a second away from his pursuit. They had been in much worse pain than he was, he owed it to them to keep going.

Something foreign poked just barely out of the earth beneath his hands and the magician dug as if his own life depended on the discovery of the treasure.

A single leaf from a willow tree twirled between his thumb and forefinger and he knew exactly what it was. Nothing green or pleasant grew on the cursed island where the sick were sentenced to die. Everything was charred black and dying on this disgusting piece of land in the middle of the sea, but not this.

This one green leaf shone so brightly in the dark decay of this world that Asra knew exactly what it was. A final manifestation of his lover, their favorite tree, the place they took Asra for their first kiss, the solid form that their magic took whenever they conjured or reached out to touch Asra’s mind.

His watering eyes were so focused on the leaf that he almost missed what else was unearthed in his frantic assault on the beach. A bit of yellow tassel sewn onto magenta fabric, the same he worn slung around one shoulder.

“It matches your outfit and travelling cloak! Come on, Asra, I’ll wear it too, if you’d like. There’s only four left and he said he would give us a discount! Think how nice it would be in the shop!”

A memory, a phantom tugging at his mind. So painful now he screamed as the tears fell down his cheeks. His heart pounded and ached, threatening to burst away from his ribs and tear itself apart.

Still, there was something else in the dirt. Asra didn’t want to pick it up, he didn’t want to see it, or know it still existed. If it wasn’t there, wasn’t real, then his lover would still be here, still be alive.

With trembling fingers he scooped up the last remaining piece of them and touched the gem that hung from his neck. A golden earring with a blue crystal dangling from the end, the crystal a near perfect twin to the one on the cord around his neck.

He remembered this earring so well, remarking at the clumsy craftsmanship that brought it together. He made it so many years before; before he thought any of this life was a possibility.

He sat behind a magic shop trying to sell masks and jewelry he made for extra coin. The night of the Masquerade would certainly bring him more business than usual. And it did! He already made enough money to buy he and Muriel a few decent meals and some fruit from the market.

Things might have been looking up for the orphan when a slender shape fell into his makeshift stall, swearing at the crowds just outside for pushing them around.

Asra stared in wonder at the stranger, never seeing anyone so beautiful in his entire life. When they noticed the dirty boy, they smiled and apologized for their harsh language and Asra knew he was lost at the way their bellchime of a laugh circled around his heart.

They looked at the things Asra sold and their face lit up as they noticed his simple necklace, the first he ever made. Asra offered to give it to the stranger, but they declined with a gentle chuckle.

“I would love some earrings with that same gem if you ever happen upon it again,” They had said and Asra eagerly agreed. The stranger slipping a hand into their pouch and setting more than enough coins on the tattered fabric the trinkets laid under. “I hope I can see you next year, your creations are beautiful.”

A down payment he hadn’t even asked for, all for some earrings. But he made them, dozens of them, just so the stranger would stay longer and Asra could just listen to them, talk to them.

They saw each other for so many years after that it seemed only natural that Asra would move into the magic shop the stranger (No longer a stranger, now) shared with their aunt. Great Aunt Fleur gave Asra a job immediately, complete with a room and meals and a safe spot to practice magic. The stranger he fell in love with had been known to use magic as well, making them an easy favorite at the theater where they lived as a dancer and performer.

They fell in love. And everything seemed wonderful. Their magic melded so nicely with Asra’s it was almost insane to think they weren’t meant to be. The stranger… No. Pomme. Pomme was a light Asra never thought he needed, and dare he imagine… He was happy and life could be happy, and he would continue to be happy.

Until life said otherwise.

The plague that chased through town after town finally took hold in Vesuvia and Great Aunt Fleur was one of its first victims. She tried to beat it, tried to mix remedy after remedy to beat it away from her Vesuvia, but she just couldn’t fight it anymore.

Great Aunt Fleur was all Pomme had left. The same plague ripping their family apart one by one until they were the last with the name Monell.

Asra was scared-- terrified-- of losing Pomme, too, and he begged them to run with him, to leave Vesuvia and find somewhere where they could live together away from the looming cloud death cast around them.

But Pomme said no.

Their whole family was gone and everywhere they looked, they saw other families being torn apart by the same disgusting sickness.

There was a group of doctor’s who were studying the plague, trying to find a cure, and a Doctor Devorak had agreed to take Pomme as an apprentice.

They weren’t a healer, but maybe their magic could do something.

There was yelling.

There was crying.

There was begging, bargaining, pleading.

And there was stubbornness.

And then there was a door slamming and the sound of rain on the roof.

Asra would always regret that night.  He could have stayed. He could have made them leave. He could have done a lot of things.

But now he would have to live with his choices as he dragged himself from the beach and into the boat that would take him back to his life.

The empty magic shop groaned in the night as Asra stepped through its door, still covered in ashes, still clinging to the last pieces of Pomme he found.

There had to be something he could do, something to reverse time, or the plague, or… Something to let him be with Pomme again.

It took time but Asra found Julian Devorak and learned that the Count Lucio had hired the doctor to cure him of the plague. Rumor had it that Lucio had brought the plague from some far distant land that he laid claim over in his pointless wars. Maybe if Asra couldn’t bring Pomme back, he could at least get revenge for them and their family.

Asra joined the doctor and marketed himself as an entertainer for the Count and a spiritual counsel, “Someone from beyond may have an idea how to stop this plague,” Asra had said. No amount of magic was needed to convince the dying Count, desperate to save his own disgusting life.

It took even longer for Asra to learn the patience he needed to deal with Lucio and Julian. Both whiny, both needy, all in different ways. His only solace was Countess Nadia, a level head to confide in and trust.

Days and weeks passed before Asra had found a solution. An old ritual talked about in an even older book stashed in the oldest part of the library of the palace. It was risky to say the least, but any chance he could take to bring back Pomme was well worth it.

It was difficult to convince Lucio to proceed with the ritual to contact the Arcana, but the dying man listened and forced his wife, doctor, and courtiers, to participate in whatever way the magician needed them to. Julian was making no headway with his science, and so magic seemed the best possible choice from there.

The night came and Asra tried his best to feign his nervousness. Any chance to be with them again, any chance to be with them again, any---

“It’s possible, but I’ll need something in return.” The Magician ran a nail through the hair on his chin, a sly smile dancing across his face.

“Anything,” Asra was almost too eager to reply. All caution thrown to the wind in his hunt for resurrection.

“My, my,” The Magician laughed. “So quick to make a deal before you know what I want. Then I’ll forgo my usually monologue and get right to the point,”

Asra watched as his teacher paced around the space between them.

“You’ll need to give up someone in exchange, not necessarily an equal just---”

“Lucio.” Asra wouldn’t hide the disdain in his voice and the intensity made the Magician laugh.

“Very well,” The fox continued. “And then you’ll need to give up something for Pomme to return, to live. It’s harder than you think to bring someone back from the dead.”

Asra felt his heart drum in his chest, pounding against his bones and sending blood rushing through his veins. His hand flitted up to cover the spot his heart was and felt the vibrations beneath the skin and muscle.

“The deal is struck.” The Magician cooed without Asra even needing to say a word. A brilliant light flashed before Asra’s eyes, blinding him, and a searing pain ripped through his chest, like his heart was being torn apart by greedy hands.

Asra woke on the floor of the magic shop a dull throb in his temples as his eyes stung against the morning sunlight. People were shouting in the streets about the palace, and nothing good was being said. A fire broke out mysteriously and the Count was dead, burnt so fiercely that nothing but ashes remained and settled in his chambers. Doctor Julian Devorak was to blame but he was nowhere to be found and the Countess--

Asra shut the windows, blocking out the sounds of the world.

Lucio was dead and Asra was still alone, no matter what he did or sacrificed. Pomme would never return to him.

The magician had given up, lost his lust for a future and delved into the darkness of his depression, thoughts occupied by memories of his lover and plans on how to join them in the afterlife.

But then… Then something happened. Faust slithered along the countertop of the shopfront and hummed eagerly until Asra looked at her. He felt something and could tell Faust felt it too.

The snake swayed anxiously, tail pointing towards the stairs until Asra woke enough to pay full attention to her.

Friend! She urged. Friend!!!

Up the stairs? Friend upstairs where Pomme’s things were? Pomme? Up?

Asra’s feet drove him to the stairs and up the cracking wood two at a time until he nearly fell face first into the wall of the small living area. The small bed was closed off from view by a woven tapestry hanging by a low hanging beam and Asra took hold of it roughly and ripped it from its resting place to reveal

Nothing.

Just the bed and mountain of pillows and blankets and thin layer of dust. Asra nearly collapsed as the icy grip of realization pulsed through his veins.

Faust slithered along the floor of the living space, tongue flicking as she went, he path clearly set to the small window facing towards the docks.

“Faust don’t do that.” Asra grumbled, a sob choking his words. “Don’t get my hopes up. Pomme isn’t here, they’re--”

There!!! The little voice of his familiar screamed in his head as she pressed her tail forcefully against the glass, pointing towards the docks.

No, past the docks. Out on the water. Out to the Lazaret.

Heart! Oh, if only the snake could communicate in complete sentences.

“Faust, do you mean?” He didn’t have to finish his sentence as the snakes head bobbed furiously up and down.

Pomme was there. Faust could feel their heartbeat, Asra’s heartbeat calling through the wind. Asra felt something familiar, too, and opened the small window only to feel a full force blast of the magic he would recognize anywhere. Leaves tickling his face and hair so urgently that he swatted at the feeling with no relief.

The sensation petered out but was still there, a faint trail that Asra could follow.

And follow he did.

The tapestry was still clutched in his hands as he ran full force to the docks, jumping in the first empty boat he found and setting the ocean into a frenzy as he forced the tides to carry him out to the island coated in death. The gondolier yelled obscenities at the young man from the dock but made no attempt at chasing the magician, especially when he realized the course his boat was set towards.

The sense of magic grew stronger the closer to shore Asra got and the boat had just barely touched the sandbank when Asra lept from the vessel and ran across the black sand, into the forested land, and out again onto the sandy plain he had been led to before.

What he saw made him drop onto his knees once again.

Covered in ashes and curled into themselves was the naked form of his lover, in the flesh, alive, breathing, trembling.

Hot tears rushed down Asra’s flushed cheeks as he crawled towards the form, each step brought Pomme’s name to his lips as he sputtered and grasped at their arms, shoulders, waist, anything he could feel to know they were real.

Their body was cold from the night in nature and Asra’s vague realization of the fabric in his hand came quickly as he covered their body in it, rubbing their arms to start heating them.

He was so excited to see them alive that he hadn’t noticed that they hadn’t noticed them. Pomme hadn’t lifted their head, hadn’t moved their arms, legs, body, anything even as Asra touched them.

Cradling their torso and head in his head, Asra lifted them into his arms and moved their long curls away from their face to see them, preparing for the worst. But what he got was somehow more terrifying than when he learned they had died in the first place.

Pomme was staring at Asra, awake and something that Asra would describe as alert, but their eyes were glazed over, staring at his face with no recognition of who he was.

“Pomme, are you alright? It’s Asra. It’s me, Pomme. Do you hear me?” Eyes searched the dirty face as empty eyes stared back, inspecting, analyzing.

They were alive but they were not much more than a shell. Their memories were gone, they couldn’t speak, couldn’t walk, couldn’t do much more than blink and breathe.

Asra carried them to the boat, set them in safely, and carried them up and along the docks towards their home.

People who knew the dancer gasped and hurried away from the sullied magician as he walked the streets of Vesuvia. They had never seen anyone return from the Lazaret, especially when they heard that no one on the island was alive anymore. But there they were, just as if they were never sick.

When Asra closed the door of the shop, he wasted no time taking Pomme up the stairs into the living space they shared. Asking the salamander in the stove to heat the kettle and some water as he balanced the form of his lover on their feet in front of the bathtub.

Barely did Asra even release his grasp on Pomme did the latter stumble and fall into Asra’s arms. He noted that they gripped his shirt for help, refusing to release the fabric even as Asra steadied them into the tub and lowered them to sit in the warm water.

For weeks the magician was patient and slow. He spoke to Pomme often, almost nonstop as he waited and hoped that they would reply. He helped them wash and feed themselves as the use of their arms and legs slowly returned to them.

When Pomme was sleeping, Asra would sit in the dark shop trying in vain to contact his teacher, the Magician of the Arcana, seeking answers and solutions. But the cards were silent, so the white haired magician poured over every magical text he had gotten his hands on.

No help would come from the books or scrolls, and Asra had pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes to fight off the overpowering exhaustion that plagued him, an irritated groan escaping his throat as he sighed in defeat, his patience for their recovery stretched to its breaking point.

Nothing would help and maybe Asra had done the wrong thing after all.

The creak of the stairs startled him out of his thoughts as he whipped his head to look at them, a dizzy spell causing his vision to blur momentarily.

Blinking the spots from his eyes, though, Asra saw something he never thought he’d see again.

Pomme stood at the bottom of the stairs, wearing nothing but his shirt, and bracing themself against the wall as they stared on in confusion and concern.

Asra had already stood from his seat and crossed the room to the beautiful figure, wrapping an arm around them to steady them as he cupped their cheek with his free hand. Tears filled his eyes as Pomme looked into his face with recognition of who he was, the person who cared for them in their lame state of being, the first face they saw, the first sensation of love they knew.

“As… Asra,” Pomme’s voice broke, sounding hoarse from months without use and Asra felt his breath stop, a smile pressing the corners of his cheeks as he kissed Pomme gently.

[kristallioness]

Call the midwife

Summary: It was going to be another regular day working as a paramedic in the emergency room for Katara, until she stumbled upon a sick child.

Word count: 29,040

Author's note: Happy (late) winter solstice! I think it's pretty obvious which series inspired me to write this fic. The italicized monologue at the beginning and ending of the story is elderly Katara talking to the audience, exactly like Jenny does in each episode. I tried to stay true to that format (also by having 2-3 major plot lines). But during the events, Katara is 34-35, exactly the same age as in their family photo. @avatarwindboy - here it is, I hope you like it! The events start in the morning, hence the first character is named Chen, which means morning in Chinese. Mamoun means trustworthy in Arabic, because he's Katara's "trusty steed". Othmar means wealth and fortune in German, since I figured that a shopkeeper would be rather well off. The young man who found Katara and asked for her help is Azor, which is Israeli for helper, and he's of Fire Nation origin. Doctor Rima's name means white antelope in Arabic, indicating that she's light-skinned. Ilo's name is actually a Finnish word meaning joy and delight (+ it's very close to the Estonian word "ilu", which means beauty). Iniko is an African name and it means "born during troubled times" (read and you'll find out why). The final scene was inspired by a heartwarming scene from the series, where doctor Turner's son said something funny to his adopted baby sister when his father Patrick and stepmother Shelagh kissed each other. They were one of my favourite couples on the show. I based the ostrich horse (ambulance) carriage idea on the fact that it was the most common vehicle during that time (as seen when Yakone escaped his trial). When working as a paramedic/in the emergency room, Katara wears the same uniform as seen on the healer who healed councilman Tarrlok's self-inflicted burn. I even drew two sketches - the first one being with her and Mamoun, the second one with her and Niyok - to show what I had in mind (+ a third one where she's in her regular clothes and yes, her parka is the same one she wears throughout Book 1). One of her patients has the Avatar world's version of measles (same disease, different name), which I made up. There's a reference to one of my recent fics called "Bring your daughter to work day". I teared up a few times when writing out some of the more emotional scenes. I started writing this in the middle of November and now my (new) longest fanfic ever is FINALLY FINISHED! Enjoy!

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"The solstices were always the time of year when both spirits and humans would become closer than ever. If ordinary people, who were just minding their own business, ever came across one, they'd usually be frightened and later tell stories of their encounter with a ghost to their friends, who often didn't believe them.

I came across quite a few spirits during my time travelling the world with my husband. He believed that most spirits were good-hearted beings who were watching over us. I liked to think so, too. Especially when it concerned being a mother to our three wonderful children, or helping other mothers. I liked to think that my own mother's spirit was watching over me, guiding me on that joyous journey with her compassion, courage and love - all the qualities she'd passed down to me, which I'd been carrying along with me in my heart."

"There we go.. all done, Mr. Chen!"

Katara rolled up the unused bandage and put it away in her shoulder bag. She was finishing her morning rounds by doing home visits to a few of her eldest patients, who lived in the northeastern borough, which was known to be a poorer part of the town. Mr. Chen lived very near the border and he was the last patient that morning.

"Thank you so much, dear! Here, take these biscuits with you to share with your colleagues. You hardworking young healers need your daily dose of sugar to have enough energy for the rest of the day."

Katara chuckled as the old man dropped a handful of those leftover sweets into a paper bag and handed it to her.

"And thank you, Mr. Chen! You're really spoiling me and my employees."

He liked to glaze the biscuits with powdered sugar, which made them extra sweet. He'd snack on those and drink some jasmine tea while his healer healed the burns and worked on replacing the old, soiled dressings wrapped around his leg with new, clean ones.

Ever since Mr. Chen was injured, which happened about two weeks ago after he'd accidentally dropped a kettle of boiling water on his right foot, Katara often ended her evening rounds at his place. She would sometimes sit with him for almost an hour, talking about her adventures during the Hundred Year War. Mr. Chen's grandson had marched side by side with her on the Day of Black Sun.

"You deserve it. You're the best healer in the world leading the finest hospital in Republic City. We're all lucky to have you."

Katara released a short giggle, her cheeks blushing a little at the compliment.

"I'm flattered. Well, I'd better get going if I wanna get back to the hospital in time for lunch. I'll see you again in the evening," she said while she tied the two strings, which held her healer's hat in place, together under her chin.

"I certainly hope so. I didn't finish telling you about how the first time Junior tried to earthbend he ended up flinging himself straight up into a tree. Took us nonbenders three hours to figure out how to climb all the way up there and bring him down."

"Can't wait to hear it. Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Chen!"

Katara waved back at him as she stepped out of his tiny apartment, closing the door behind her before she headed downstairs.

Mr. Chen's humble abode was, in every meaning of the word, humble. Located near the sink, stove and food cabinets, there was a dining table, which always had a bowl filled with fruit or cookies on it in case he was expecting guests, along with a wooden chair on either side. His cosy armchair and a coffee table, piled up with newspapers, in front of it were in the opposite corner. These pieces of furniture comprised the kitchen and living room. There was a huge bed just for him in the other room. Necessary everyday items, some souvenirs and photos of his family decorated the shelves and cupboards in either room.

If Katara hadn't known better, she would've guessed that this man was an air nomad. The way he'd arranged his furniture and few personal possessions reminded her of the interior of the air temples, of her own home.

The apartment was located on the third floor, the highest in that building. Katara hurried outside and approached her ambulance carriage, which she'd parked right in front. She climbed up on the driver's seat and began searching for the paper bag she'd dropped among the medical supplies inside her shoulder bag. Once found, she picked one.. No! Two biscuits and stuffed them in her mouth.

"Mmm!.." the waterbender hummed in delight as she crumpled up the paper bag and put it back. She grabbed the reins that were attached to the ostrich horse, who was harnessed to the front of the vehicle. After her mouth was empty from the yummy snack, she clucked her tongue a few times.

"Let's go, Mamoun! Back to the hospital!"

Katara gave the reins a softer flick so her ostrich horse would begin trotting. Puffs of warm air escaped its nostrils as he pulled the carriage. It was nearly a 3-mile ride back to the city center, which would take her less than half an hour in such snowy conditions. She gave another flick and the ostrich horse began cantering.

She and Mamoun were almost the same as Aang and Appa - they'd known each other for almost a decade and they had a unique unbreakable bond. He was her favourite ostrich horse out of all the other ones who drove the ambulance carriages and, whenever possible, she'd choose him each time she was assigned to a call. Every healer who'd had the privilege to ride with Mamoun would say the same - he was the best ostrich horse around.

Sometimes when Katara visited the hospital at the weekend to do some paperwork, she'd bring Kya along. They'd take a break to go see Mamoun and pamper him in the afternoon. Katara would let Kya feed him, comb his mane or even braid it together with her daughter. No wonder the ostrich horse was so fond of the two waterbenders..

"Wait! Ambulance! Please, stop!" a young man shouted as he began running after the carriage Katara was driving. She didn't notice him since she passed him swiftly on a bigger intersection, but she heard his plea. She pulled the reins backwards until her ostrich horse slowly came to a halt. She didn't want the carriage to go out of control on the slippery road.

"Wooaahh there, Mamoun! That's it.. good boy," Katara praised once her vehicle stopped moving. The young man who'd yelled for her to stop caught up with her in a few seconds. He leaned against the edge of her driver's seat to catch his breath.

"Sir, are you okay? What's the matter?" Katara asked as she scooted over to take a closer look at the man. She was ready to examine him.

"I'm fine.. but there's been.. an accident. Please.. you've gotta come and help them!" he panted.

"Hop on!" Katara said as she scooted back and patted the empty side of her seat, waiting for the man to climb aboard. She clucked her tongue and tugged at the left rein to turn Mamoun around.

"Where's the scene of the accident?"

"In the corner of the intersection you just passed, over there!" he said, pointing to a shop to their right a few hundred yards away. Katara let Mamoun trot the way back, then turn right at the crossroad to park the carriage in front of the shop. A small crowd had gathered around the entrance to the shop and someone was clearly moaning in pain.

"Make way! Healer coming through!" Katara exclaimed as she elbowed her way through the crowd, as politely as she could. She gasped once she saw the state one of the injured was in.

"Oh my gosh.. what happened here?" she inquired as she sat down on her knees, next to the plump middle-aged man who was lying in a pile of snow. He was conscious, but his left knee was completely dislocated.

"Ohh.. I was putting up some decorations for the winter solstice celebration. The next thing I knew, the ladder slipped away from under my feet and I was lying here on my back."

"You didn't faint, did you?" Katara asked as she withdrew the water from her pouch and began waterbending it over his body to detect internal injuries, especially ones in his spine. He shook his head.

"I saw it happen. He was trying to reach the windowsill on the second floor to put up these lights, but it was too far away and he lost balance. He fell on his left foot. Unfortunately, the ladder fell on this customer's head just as he was coming out of the shop," the young man, who'd brought Katara there, explained and gestured towards another man, who was sitting on the steps leading inside the shop a few feet away. Katara glanced at the other victim. He was rubbing his head.

"Oh no.. make sure that he doesn't leave before I've examined him, too! I'll get right on that as soon as I'm done with this gentleman here. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name, mister..?"

"..Othmar. Call me Otto. Everybody does," he chuckled, but winced a second later as Katara carefully waterbended the glowing water up his thigh, over his left knee and down to his toes. Her stomach churned when she felt the way the bones and muscles around his knee were out of place and strained.

"Can you move your toes for me, Otto?"

Katara watched how the tips of his boots moved slightly as he wiggled his toes. She sighed in relief as she waterbended the water back inside her pouch.

"Good. I didn't feel anything wrong, other than your knee, which seems to have popped out of the socket. You're lucky this soft pile of snow was here to break your fall."

"So, what now, healer.. healer..?"

"Katara."

"Healer Katara. Can't you just pop it right back in?"

"Otto, I think you and I both know that getting it back in the right position isn't going to be easy. Especially since you're struggling just to hold it still and it's causing you so much pain. I'd like to take you to the hospital where my healers can carry out the necessary procedure to fix your knee in a calmer, warmer and more private room."

"Sounds good to me."

"Young man, could you help me?" Katara turned to the lad who'd brought her there. The crowd gave her some room as she walked to the back of her ambulance carriage, hopped inside and slid out a stretcher, which the young man helped carry and lay down next to Othmar. Katara knelt down beside him again and began fiddling with her healer's belt.

"I'm going to lift you onto this stretcher now, Otto. And then we'll lift you onto my carriage and drive to the hospital. You should try to keep your knee as still as possible. It might hurt a little."

"What's with the syringe there, healer Katara?" Othmar asked, his green eyes growing wide as she drew some medicine into it from a small vial.

"I'm gonna give you some morphine to reduce the pain until we reach the hospital," Katara barely managed to finish her sentence before the needle already poked him near his thigh. That small pinch was nothing compared to the radiating pain around his knee. After giving the injection, she stood up and waterbended the snow underneath Othmar's body into a thicker layer of ice, using the smooth plate to lift him onto the stretcher. The young man helped her carry him onto the bed inside the carriage.

"There's one more patient who requires my attention before we go. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"

Otto smiled and nodded to her. Katara jumped out from the back of the carriage and walked over to her second patient, who remained sitting on those steps in front of the shop. The young man followed her every step and stayed close behind, like a little helper.

"Hello, sir! I'm healer Katara. Can you tell me where it hurts?" she asked as she squatted down in front of him.

"Ugh.. my head, obviously. You heard what the boy said. I got hit by a ladder."

Katara looked behind her, slightly surprised to see the young man standing very near them. She gave him a quick smile and turned her attention back to the injured man. He supported his head on the palms of his hands and he didn't wanna look up at her. She couldn't see any visible cuts or bleeding beneath his short hair.

"Do you feel any dizziness? Nausea?"

"Yes, I'm a bit dizzy.. but only a little bit. Look, I'm not the one you should be worried about. It's just a bump. The other guy was in pretty bad shape."

"Sir, I'm a healer. It's my job to worry about everyone's health. Now, did you faint after being hit with the ladder?"

"I don't know.. maybe? I'm not sure," he pondered, feebly shaking his head, still preferring to stare down at the ground.

"He did. When I ran over to help, he was unconscious for a minute," the young man added.

"In that case, it's not just a bump. I hope you don't mind coming along with me for a routine checkup to make sure that you don't have a concussion," Katara said as she snaked an arm under his to help him up. Other than a groan from having to stand up when the world was slightly spinning around, her patient showed no sign of protest. The young man grabbed his other arm to help Katara walk him over to the ambulance carriage.

"Sorry, we're short of beds right now. You'll have to sit on the healer's bench on our way there," Katara apologized, supporting the man while he took a seat opposite to Othmar.

"If either of you start to feel worse, you let me know right away. Got it?" she instructed with a wave of her finger. Both her patients understood, so she turned around. The waterbender was pleasantly surprised to see the young man offer his hand to help her climb down from the back of the ambulance carriage.

"Thank you, young man! What's your name?"

"Azor."

"Wait here, Azor..."

Katara ran to the front of the carriage and leaned over her driver's seat. She shuffled through her shoulder bag for a few seconds, then skipped back to the young man with a proud smile on her face.

"Here, have some biscuits for being such a caring citizen and calling for help."

"Wow! I, uh.. I don't know what to say. Thank you!" Azor chuckled and hesitantly picked up three biscuits from inside the paper bag. Katara crumpled up the top, then proceeded to close the doors at the back of the carriage.

As the majority of the crowd began to disperse, she heard someone coughing horribly. It didn't sound like a normal cough and the fit lasted for several seconds. Katara looked around until she spotted a very small girl, not older than her Kya, coughing in the alley between the shop and the neighbouring building. It looked like she was trying to remain hidden, yet wanting to be seen by her.

"Azor, would you guard my ambulance carriage? I'll be right back," Katara said, patting him on the shoulder before approaching the little girl. As soon as she saw the healer coming closer, she ran further into the alley.

"Hello? Little girl? Are you okay?" Katara called to her. She peeked from behind the corner of the shop playfully. The child stood in the middle of the alley, keeping a safe distance tens of feet away from the stranger.

If her parents had been in the crowd, she would've been with them. But she seemed to be alone. She couldn't have been homeless since she didn't look malnourished and she was wearing nice clothes. But the amount of layers she had on for such cold weather was what worried Katara. Only a summer dress as yellow as the sun, a snow-white long-sleeved blouse underneath and shoes of the same colour with laces tied up neatly. No scarf, no coat, no winter boots. It was weird that she wasn't shivering.

She started coughing again, this time the fit lasted for at least a minute. Katara didn't like the sound of that one bit.

"Hi there, little one! There's no need to be scared," she spoke in her motherly voice, taking a few steps closer and then squatting down a bit. The little girl didn't budge.

"My name's Katara, I'm a healer. What's your name?" she wondered. The little girl still didn't answer, she merely tilted her head and stared right back at the woman.

"It's okay, come here! I heard that you have a nasty cough. I can help you feel better. Would you like to come with me to my ambulance carriage?"

At that suggestion, the little girl turned around and began running away towards the other end of the alley. Stupid! That was the only word going through Katara's mind as she dashed right after the child. She could've phrased her request a lot better. Obviously the girl's parents had taught her not to go with strangers.

"Wait up! Please, I wanna help you!" Katara shouted to the child, but she continued scampering.

What kind of parents would send their child out on the cold streets in such light clothing? And she looked so young to be wandering around all alone, her home must've been nearby. How did she seem fine in appearance yet sound so unwell when she coughed? Thinking about the situation brought up more questions than answers.

The little girl reached the other end of the alley and turned left on the corner. By the time Katara came out of the narrow path between the buildings, she was gone. For a clearly ill child who had difficulty breathing, she sure did run fast.

While Katara tried to catch her breath, she looked around the wide street. A couple of pedestrians were walking on either side of the street, further away from her. One or two regular ostrich horse carriages passed her. But there was no sign of a little girl in a bright yellow dress. There weren't many hiding places either unless she ran into another alley around the corner. She should've spotted the girl immediately.

"Monkey feathers!.." Katara muttered under her breath. She gave the surrounding area a second look. Sighing in defeat, she turned around and headed back to her own ambulance carriage. There were two other patients who required medical attention.

"Thank you for all your help, Azor!" Katara waved back at him after she'd flicked the reins and the carriage started moving. The young man had stayed put and looked after her vehicle like she'd asked while she ventured after the little girl. She hoped the tasty reward she'd given him was enough to show how much she appreciated his help. Judging by the way his face lit up when she offered it to him, he was delighted by her gratitude. Or at least he didn't expect to receive anything in return. That was one good deed done for the day.

Katara smiled at that thought. She liked to meet people who were like Azor - willing to give anything to help others in need yet asking for nothing in return. All those selfless faces she'd met throughout the years were like mirrors that reflected herself, how much she was willing to sacrifice. Her small detour to the scene of that accident had only taken her ten minutes. She made up for lost time thanks to Mamoun, who cantered the way back.

Katara arrived at the hospital within a quarter of an hour. The clock on her husband's memorial island struck noon just as she stopped by the northern entrance, which led straight to the emergency room. It was specifically meant as a pit stop for ambulance carriages so the paramedics could hand over the patients they were transporting.

Katara hopped out of the driver's seat and ran inside to fetch a couple of employees who would help her bring the patients inside. She returned less than half a minute later, accompanied by three other healers, who she'd briefed about the incident and her patients' conditions. Two of them lifted Othmar out on the stretcher, using that to carry him onto an empty bed in the emergency room.

"Did you enjoy the ride, Otto? I hope it didn't shake your knee too much," Katara asked.

"Nah, it wasn't too rough. That shot you gave me really worked wonders. It's like I can barely feel the pain."

"Good, that's the way it's supposed to be. Now go inside, Otto. My healers will take good care of you," she assured him by giving his hand a gentle squeeze before letting her workers admit him.

The third healer helped Katara by supporting the other man from under his arm as he staggered out from the carriage and sat down in a wheelchair. He didn't look too happy. In fact, he looked even more under the weather, like he would throw up any minute. The bumpy ride on the carriage hadn't done much good for his dizziness. At least he'll be under close observation now.

Katara watched how the healer pushed him inside. By the time he'd been admitted too, the two healers brought the stretcher back. She thanked her employees before she hopped back on her driver's seat and guided Mamoun to the stable on the western side of the building. Having parked the ambulance carriage amongst the other ones, Katara also thanked Mamoun for all his hard work with a nice big juicy red apple. Having said her goodbyes to the ostrich horse, she headed inside through the main entrance on the southern side of the hospital. She deserved a break after a busy morning, which meant eating lunch with her good friends.

Katara took the elevator up to the floor where the cafeteria was located. She was craving for something salty after those sweet biscuits Mr. Chen had given her. She brought the paper bag along to share them with her colleagues, exactly like she'd promised him.

The cafeteria was usually packed around high noon, but it was surprisingly calm today. Katara gazed around the wide room to find an empty table for four. Some other healers were already enjoying their meal, as well as a few patients who weren't on bed rest, and a couple of visitors. None of her companions had arrived yet.

Her choice for the second meal of the day included stewed sea prunes, which always reminded her of her homeland, two moon peaches and a cup of green tea. Since most healers were from the Water Tribes, the cooks prepared a wider variety of water tribe dishes for the workers to choose from.

Katara took a seat behind the table she'd chosen and put the tray of food down in front of her. She hung her shoulder bag on the edge of the chair, taking the bag of biscuits out and placing it in the middle of the table. She untied the strings under her chin to remove her healer's hat. After that, she began slurping down some steaming broth from her bowl of sea prunes.

"Mmm..." she hummed in delight. It was one of her favourite childhood dishes which she'd never get tired of. She managed to finish almost half of it before someone tapped on her shoulder.

"Is this seat taken?"

"Niyok, hi!" Katara exclaimed, jumping up from her chair to hug her old friend. Niyok was one of the bubbliest healers around. Well, she wasn't exactly a healer since she wasn't a waterbender, so the correct term for her occupation would be a doctor. But her cheerful personality affected everybody around her in the most positive way. She'd given up her job at the refinery soon after Katara had established the first hospital in Republic City. She spent a few months as an intern there and started working as a doctor from then on.

"It's good to see you, Katara. So, you're working in the emergency room today?" Niyok wondered as she sat down in the chair right next to her.

"Well, yeah.. Can't you see I'm dressed in my healer's uniform?"

The two girls shared a good laugh. Being the best healer in the world, Katara was dedicated to helping out in all the departments of her hospital. Most of her time at work passed in her own office at the top floor, where she worked as a family physician and her working hours were full of appointments. On some days, just like this one, she'd assist in the emergency room as a paramedic who'd drive an ambulance carriage to the scenes of accidents, examine the patients brought in by other paramedics, plus do home visits or special morning and evening rounds. The most rare occasions were scheduled important surgeries.

"You look fabulous in that uniform."

"He-he, thanks!" Katara chuckled. The rest of the conversation passed in a similar joyous mood. Two other healers joined them a few minutes later, one of them being a family physician and the other a specialist in her field. Having exchanged a bit more formal greetings with their boss and co-worker, the four ladies could all dig in.

"Mhm.. did anything interesting happen in the morning?" Niyok asked while nibbling on a piece of blubbered seal jerky.

"Besides home visits and an accident involving a dislocated knee and a bump to the head, umm.. nothing big," Katara joked, shrugging her shoulders. Everybody giggled.

"Oh! But there was one thing. I saw a little girl dressed in very light clothing alone on the streets. She had a terrible cough, but I couldn't persuade her to come with me so I could examine her."

"Mphm.. Mm-maybe she was an orphan?" the specialist asked, her mouth half full.

"I don't think so. She was well dressed and she didn't look mistreated. She seemed to be around the same age as Kya. How many little girls have visited their family physicians recently? With the main symptom being an abnormal cough?"

"Oh, quite many since it's the flu season," the family physician replied. Katara knitted her brows and hummed in thought. She couldn't narrow it down, hence she decided to leave it at that for now. She opened the paper bag, being the first one to reach inside for a few biscuits. Everybody else followed her example.

"Mmm! I love these biscuits so much!" Niyok said, grabbing two more.

"Nobody makes them quite like Mr. Chen does," the family physician agreed. All four ladies nodded and hummed in delight as they enjoyed the dessert their boss had arranged. After such a delicious lunch to keep them going for the rest of the day, each healer returned to their respective wards.

Katara headed back down to the emergency room on the first floor to help the paramedics who brought in new patients. Healing broken bones and treating mild sprains was what kept her busy during the following hour. Those were the most common injuries during winter. Luckily none of those people needed to be referred to the orthopedist, unlike Othmar.

Katara heard that Otto had been very cooperative with her healers, but spirits did he scream when they pulled his knee back in place. Not even morphine or the healer waterbending the water around his knee could relieve the pain he felt at that moment. The good news was that he was recovering in the general ward and would soon begin his physiotherapy. The healers who'd treated him said that if he worked really hard there, along with a little help provided by them healing his muscles and joints daily, he should be up and running on his feet again within a week or two.

Katara was nearly done healing a fracture in a woman's forearm just as the phone rang and the receptionist answered it.

"Republic City Hospital, what seems to be the problem?.. I see, but we don't usually send an ambulance to check on a patient who only has a high fever-" she attempted to explain, but the person on the other end of the line seemed to be very persistent and loud, judging by the way she held the receiver further away from her ear until they finished talking.

"Who's your family physician?.. Uh-uh, you haven't been able to contact her since it's her day off today."

The caller spoke again for a few seconds. The receptionist quirked an eyebrow.

"Why do you want a light-skinned healer?"

That question attracted Katara's attention as well. She continued wrapping her current patient's arm in a sling while eavesdropping on the unusual conversation. The receptionist sighed as she grabbed a pen.

"What's your address?.. Uh-uh.. uh-uh.. southeastern borough. Got it. We'll send an ambulance as soon as possible. Good day!" she said with a fake smile, hanging up so quickly Katara didn't even manage to blink. The waterbender sent the lady, whose broken arm she'd healed, on her way and approached the receptionist.

"What was that about?"

"A mother called. Her daughter has a high fever and she wants a light-skinned healer to do a home visit. Their family physician, doctor Rima, is off-duty today."

"Why does she want a light-skinned healer?"

"I don't know.. She just claimed that she doesn't like dark-skinned ones, especially Water Tribe healers or any of those Fire Nation shamans. Ugh, she sounded so vicious when she said that!"

"Hmm.. maybe they're just used to seeing their regular doctor. I mean, Rima is from the Earth Kingdom, after all."

"I don't know, Master Katara. Maybe she's just racist?"

"Let's not prejudge so soon," Katara tried to cheer up the receptionist, holding a supportive hand on her shoulder. It was easy for her to say, she wasn't the one who had to listen to that complaining on the phone. She read the address written down on the paper on the desk.

"I'm gonna take this call myself," Katara said, turning around to go grab her shoulder bag full of medical instruments and head outside through the main entrance. She took that call gladly. Healing one broken bone after another was becoming a bit tedious for her. Katara was a woman who couldn't sit still in one place for very long, not to mention do nothing at all.

As she came around the corner and reached the stable where the ambulance carriages were parked, she was surprised to see her favourite ostrich horse resting in a small pile of snow.

"Hey there, Mamoun! You're still here.." Katara coaxed. Her familiar voice got the animal's attention as he lifted his head to look at her approach him calmly. There were two rules that everybody had to follow when approaching an ostrich horse. First, never approach him from behind since he can't see the person coming. And second, never approach him while running or making loud noises. Both actions could scare the animal.

Katara stepped beside him and tenderly stroked his beak. She could see how much he enjoyed it by the way he closed his big brown eyes every time she did that. She reached for some hay from the trough and held it in front of Mamoun's beak, slowly lifting it higher until he stood up on his legs, shaking the snowflakes out of his feathers. Warm air came out of his nostrils in small puffs, stroking the waterbender's bare fingers as he sniffed the food before accepting it.

"Good boy," Katara said, running her hand through his soft grey mane, which prompted him to nicker.

"Didn't anybody else wanna ride with you?" she wondered and continued combing Mamoun's mane until he finished eating. The ostrich horse shook his head for an answer, almost as if he'd understood what she'd asked him. The response only made Katara giggle.

"You ready to ride now?"

Mamoun snorted and threw his head back a little, which she took as a 'yes'. Katara checked that his harness was attached correctly, hopped in the driver's seat and gently pulled the left rein to turn the carriage towards the front of the hospital.

The woman who'd made the call to the emergency room lived in the middle of the southeastern borough. It was a quick 10-minute ride there.

The pavements on either side of the roads were covered in huge hills of snow, only the paths leading to the doors of the houses had been shovelled clean. Katara didn't see a problem. She simply waterbended a big pile of snow away with a flick of her wrist, making enough space in front of the rather nice apartment building where she had to visit. Having parked Mamoun outside, she headed inside and knocked against one of the doors on the ground floor.

"Healer calling!" Katara shouted and waited for someone to open the door. The faintest answer, followed by some shuffling, echoed from inside, indicating that someone was coming. The lock clicked a few seconds later and a pregnant woman pulled the door open.

"Took you long enough.. Ugh! I specifically asked for a light-skinned healer."

Katara gulped, but offered a sincere smile.

"Good afternoon, madam! I'm well aware of that, but I'm all you've got. The other healers are busy saving the lives of others."

"I don't want a dark-skinned woman like you anywhere near my daughter! I'm going to report you to your boss!"

Katara's eyes grew wide for a moment, then narrowed into a glare. She didn't like being threatened.

"Well, in that case, you can report straight to me," she said and crossed her arms.

"Wait, what?" the woman exclaimed, staring at the healer wide-eyed.

"You're talking to her. I'm the boss - Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, the best healer in the world and head of the Republic City Hospital - at your service. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at your daughter."

The mother grunted, but stepped aside and let Katara enter. She wiped her feet on the doormat and watched how the lady shut the door.

"And you are?.."

"Jia."

"Okay, Jia, where's the patient?"

"Right this way," she said, intentionally bumping against the healer with her big belly in the cramped corridor and leading the way to the living room. This was going to be one pleasant home visit.

Their apartment was small but cosy, there was enough room for a nuclear family. As the two women entered the living room, Katara could see a brunette little girl lying on the couch in the middle of the room, wrapped up in a warm blanket. She moved a little under the blanket and her small hands peeked out from the edge, pulling the covers up to her neck. Katara gasped at the sight of all-too-familiar red marks on her skin. She nearly shrieked, but she managed to cover her mouth in time. She didn't want to frighten the girl nor her mother.

"What's the matter?" Jia asked, completely bewildered by the healer's reaction. Katara stood in the same spot for a few seconds to gather herself.

"N-nothing.. I just need to take a closer look," she stammered, after which she approached the child cautiously. She stared at the healer with her big olive green eyes.

"Hello! I'm healer Katara. What's your name?" Katara wondered. She removed her shoulder bag and put it on the coffee table next to the couch, the medical instruments clinking together inside.

"Jia-Li," the girl answered, then went into a coughing fit. Katara squatted down beside her.

"That's a beautiful name, Jia-Li. Are you named after your mommy?"

She nodded and smiled at the healer.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Katara asked, pointing at the edge of the couch. Jia-Li shook her head and gave the waterbender some room for sitting.

"Aahh, there we go.. Jia-Li, how old are you?"

"Ten."

"Alright. A little winged lemur told me that you're not feeling well. I'm going to examine you now so I can help you feel better. Are you okay with that? Does that sound like a good plan to you?"

Jia-Li nodded again, watching how Katara began rummaging through her bag.

"Wait a minute, I never asked you to carry out an examination. I don't want you touching my daughter! You wanted to see her, you saw her. Now you can just lower her fever and leave!" Jia yelled slightly and pointed to the door. Katara merely released an exasperated sigh.

"Okay.. Jia, the most important thing for you right now is to remain calm. Being angry isn't good for your baby. And what concerns your daughter, then first off, I don't know how high her fever is or if I even need to lower it. I have to take her temperature before I can do that. Second, you didn't mention the spots all over her body! I need to examine her to find out what's wrong with her. And third, I'm not going anywhere until I've given your daughter a proper diagnosis, the right course of treatment and lowered her fever if necessary, all of which involves touching her."

The two women glared at each other in silence for what felt like an awkwardly long minute, but in reality it lasted for a couple of seconds. Jia's face was more grimaced, whereas Katara's expression looked much more restrained. It was the piercing coldness in her diamond blue eyes and slightly knitted brows that made her look a lot more serious and furious than she was showing.

"You can call the hospital again if you want, but they know I'm stationed here. They won't send anyone else," Katara shrugged nonchalantly, then proceeded with the exam. Jia huffed and decided to grab a chair from her kitchen so she could observe what the healer was going to do to her daughter. Being in her third trimester with her second child, her feet thanked her for every opportunity to sit down and rest from the extra weight.

"Does she have any other symptoms? Besides a high fever and these spots," Katara asked as she lifted Jia-Li's right arm and placed a thermometer under there.

"Just a cough," the mother added while she carefully looked into her daughter's inflamed eyes.

"I see.." Katara thought for a second, then pulled out her stethoscope from her bag. She put the earpieces in her ears and breathed on the cold diaphragm to warm it up.

"I'll just have a quick listen, okay?" she explained, after which she lifted the girl's shirt up a bit and laid the diaphragm on her chest. She couldn't hear any crackles when listening to her lungs, which was a very good sign, but she felt how badly Jia-Li shivered. Her fever must've been climbing and she would've wanted to bury herself under a heap of blankets instead.

"Can you cough for me?" Katara asked in a hushed tone once she reached the lower part of her chest. Jia-Li did so twice so she could compare the sounds coming from either lung. Katara was very pleased since they sounded identical.

"And I'm gonna listen to your heart, too," she said with a loving smile, placing the metal end of her stethoscope above the girl's heart. The high fever must've spiked the heart rate as well, but the beats were otherwise steady and she couldn't hear any murmurs. Another good sign.

"Can you sit up for me? I'd like to listen from your back, too."

Jia-Li gave her a quick nod, after which she grabbed her weak arms to slowly help her sit up. Katara stood up from the couch and stepped behind the girl, pulled her shirt up and laid the diaphragm against her back, repeating the same pattern. The poor child was shaking like a leaf the entire time, and not because she was scared.

As soon as Katara finished auscultating, Jia-Li plopped back against the pillows, grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to her neck again in the blink of an eye. It wasn't helping against her chills, she was shivering visibly underneath the covers. Katara removed the stethoscope from her ears, coiled it up and dropped the medical instrument back inside her shoulder bag.

"Jia-Li, I could feel you trembling and I know it's because you're cold, but you were such a brave girl for letting me listen to you," she praised her patient with gentle strokes along her hot forehead. The waterbender took out a wooden tongue depressor from her bag and sat back down on the couch.

"There's just one more thing I'd like to do before I'm done. Open your mouth.. stick out your tongue.. That's it, good girl... Say 'Aahh!'."

"Aahh!"

The little girl followed the healer's instructions obediently. Her throat looked fine, but Katara noticed something else, something that confirmed her fears. There were white spots inside her mouth.

"Alright, that's enough," Katara said as she pulled the wooden stick out of her mouth, prompting Jia-Li to come down with another nasty coughing fit. She frowned, waiting until the poor girl caught her breath again.

"Can I have my thermometer back now?" she asked with a smile, fiddling with the collar of the girl's shirt until she could grab the tip of the medical instrument and pull it out from under her arm. Katara stared at the mercury, which had risen unusually high inside the glass. She would've been a lot more staggered by the measurement if she hadn't known all the other symptoms. A fever of nearly 40 degrees didn't surprise her anymore.

"Thank you for being such a good patient, Jia-Li. Here's what I'd like to do next - you have a very high fever, it's almost 40 degrees. That's why you're so cold. I'd like to help you by lowering that fever with my healing abilities so you'd be a bit more comfortable. Would you like that?"

She nodded, watching how Katara summoned the water from her pouch around her hands, then placed them on her temple. The liquid shined a bright blue glow around her face and the healer's hands.

"Jia, I'd like to have a word with you after I'm finished here and before I leave," Katara said, glancing back at the mother for a moment. She gave the healer a disapproving look as she stood up from her chair and asked her daughter whether she'd like some tea. The little girl hummed a 'yes', being unable to move her head to nod or to look at her mother since Katara was holding it steady. She heard how the kettle was placed on the stove and the water was poured inside.

For a minute or two, Jia-Li didn't feel any different, her head shivered against the waterbender's palms. The cooling sensation started to take over five minutes later, by which time her fever must've fallen into a much more normal range between 37 to 38 degrees. She'd stopped shivering by then.

"Tell me, how are you feeling now?" Katara wondered as she finished the healing session by waterbending the water back into her pouch.

"Much better. Thank you, healer Katara!" Jia-Li said, prompting Katara to giggle as she laid one hand over her temple and grabbed her wrist with the other one to check her pulse. It was a lot slower now that her fever had fallen.

"You're welcome!.. Alright, Jia-Li, I'm just gonna go talk to your mommy for a minute before I leave. Will you promise me that you'll be a good patient by getting lots of rest and drinking as much tea as your mommy makes?"

"I promise."

"Good girl. I'll see you soon!" Katara stroked her head one last time before she stood up, hung her shoulder bag across her chest and beckoned Jia to come to the corridor with her for a more private conversation.

"Jia, I'm afraid your daughter has pentapox."

"So? Go ahead, make her better!"

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing more I can do than lower her fever for the time being. There is no cure for pentapox."

"Then how does she get better?"

"You wait. Pentapox blows over in a week or so. You should treat the illness like a regular cold, but with an unusually high fever. That's why I'm prescribing you some paracetamol, which will help lower the fever when it gets too high," Katara said, writing the prescription down on paper and handing the document to the mother.

"Give Jia-Li plenty of fluids to drink. Both of you have to be very careful when coming in contact with other people since pentapox is highly contagious. Wash your hands, stay indoors as much as possible and try to avoid any contact until your daughter recovers. Keep a close eye on that fever and cough. If it gets worse or Jia-Li loses consciousness, you have to call for an ambulance immediately."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I have to ask, why hasn't your daughter been vaccinated against pentapox?"

Jia averted her gaze down at the floor to avoid the healer's scrutinizing diamond blue eyes, fiddling with the prescription in her hands in complete silence.

"Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be near a person sick with pentapox, especially in your condition?"

"I don't want any poison injected into me or my children!" she spat out. Katara became even more enraged. She hated to see children suffer because of their parents' ignorance.

"Oh, for goodness' sake! Vaccines are not poison!" she exclaimed, practically wanting to scream, but she pinched her nose and took a deep breath. She had to keep her voice down, keeping in mind that Jia was expecting.

"A vaccine is a weakened form of the disease which your body will react to, creating special antibodies that'll protect you for the rest of your life. Now tell me, would you risk having the disease in its full form and dying from it? Or would you rather get a quick shot and basically have no symptoms at all and get a protective shield forever?"

The mother remained quiet after that. Katara sighed in exasperation once more.

"I'll arrange for another vaccinated Water Tribe healer to come visit your home daily until Jia-Li has fully recovered. They can lower her fever if the paracetamol isn't working. They'll also report back to me and doctor Rima, keeping us informed and updated on your daughter's condition and progress. When she's feeling better, they'll make sure that you make an appointment with your family physician so she can examine her properly."

The waterbender already grabbed the door knob, but turned around one last time.

"Oh, and one more thing! To avoid catching or spreading pentapox in the future, you need to be vaccinated, too, after you've given birth to your second child. I'll tell doctor Rima to handle that as soon as possible.. Good day!" Katara said as she stepped outside of the flat, hearing how Jia huffed an ungrateful 'thank you' before closing the door behind her.

"Pshh!.. Some people," Katara muttered under her breath as she washed her hands in the nearest pile of snow by waterbending it into water so she could at least grab the reins to guide her ostrich horse back to the hospital. The first thing she'd have to do is take a shower.

"Let's go, Mamoun," she said and clucked her tongue, tugging at the left rein so he'd pull the carriage out from her makeshift parking space. She gave the reins two flicks in a row once they were on the street and the vehicle was moving straight forward.

There'd been outbreaks of a disease with similar symptoms countless times in the past. During the current era, where modern medicine was making remarkable development, healers and doctors started gathering information on all known illnesses and documenting them in books. They needed to come up with a name for this particular deadly infectious disease. Since it came in the form of a high fever along with red marks all over the patient's body, Katara remembered what she, Sokka and Aang had once done in Omashu, hence she decided to call it pentapox.

It'd taken her scientists two years to develop a vaccine for it and ever since it came out, most children and even adults were being vaccinated against pentapox. Katara had immunized everybody in her family - Aang, Bumi, Kya - except for Tenzin, who was still too young to receive the shot. She'd even let one of her own healers give her the shot so she'd be protected as well.

People like Jia endangered everybody else who weren't vaccinated yet, especially other children, whose parents would not allow their family physicians to give them these shots. Katara sighed sadly at the thought, slouching a bit in her driver's seat. As Mamoun cantered most of the way, she slowed him down near each intersection to check that no other vehicles were crossing the road.

She pulled him into a complete stop before she reached the border between the city center and the southeastern borough, allowing a bunch of pedestrians to safely cross one of the streets as well as a trolley to pass. She was lost in her thoughts when she suddenly heard someone coughing. It sounded uncomfortably familiar, like what she'd heard earlier in the morning. Katara immediately became more alert as she sat up and eyed the small crowd who'd crossed the street to her right. She couldn't see anyone familiar, particularly any little girls donning a bright yellow dress. She flicked the reins once the path was clear to order Mamoun to begin trotting again.

Having passed the intersection and the first few buildings on that side of the road, she heard it again. Katara looked to her left, then to her right. Her eyes darted at the small figure on the sidewalk, running along at the same pace as her ostrich horse right next to her ambulance carriage. It was her, the same little girl with the unusual cough, who she'd chased in an alley in the northeastern borough.

Katara yanked the reins so hard that Mamoun nearly ran off course, neighing as he pulled the carriage to a sudden halt. Katara bumped against the protective wall in front of her seat, but otherwise remained unharmed. Luckily, he hadn't started cantering yet, so their speed was much slower.

The sounds of other vehicles stopping behind hers, along with panicking ostrich horses followed. The waterbender held a hand across her ribs as she carefully hopped out of the driver's seat to take a look at the damage she'd done. Two carriages were criss-crossed rather close behind hers. She'd nearly caused a collision between all three of them.

"Hey! Watch it, lady! Some of us are driving here!" the man who'd been riding an ostrich horse carriage right behind hers shouted to her, shaking his fist in the air.

"Sorry! I'm a healer! It was an emergency!" Katara apologized. He and the second driver guided their ostrich horses around her ambulance carriage and headed their way. She checked whether her own vehicle was still intact. Mamoun was a bit shaken from the whole incident. She grabbed some fodder and a slice of bread from his feeding bag at the back of the carriage.

"It's okay, Mamoun. Everything's okay now.." Katara coaxed him by running her hand down his mane. The ostrich horse calmed down and sniffed the food she offered to him before nibbling it out of her hand.

"I'm sorry," she said and stroked his beak after he'd finished eating. Mamoun shook his feathers, glittering Katara with the snowflakes that'd been stuck in between, then nuzzled his beak against her chest. The waterbender giggled as she hugged him back. She was forgiven.

Their bonding moment was ruined when Katara heard the little girl cough again. She was peeking at the two of them from behind the corner of another alley tens of feet away.

"It's you.. How did you find me?" Katara asked as she approached the girl, who hid behind the corner once she'd gotten too close. When she stepped into the alley, the little one was already waiting for her behind the next corner.

"Please, come here. I'm not going to hurt you. I wanna help you, you're not well," Katara spoke in her motherly voice, trying to negotiate with the child as she slowly approached her. She ran further into the narrow path between those two houses. Katara wasn't going to let her get out of sight this time. She quickly waterbended the surrounding piles of snow into ice and began sliding on it to chase her in the maze of alleys between the buildings.

"Wait up! Why are you running away from me? I'm trying to help you!" Katara shouted to her, but the girl continued scampering. She was very fast skating on her element, but the little one was even faster on foot. The chase came to an abrupt end when Katara slid out from behind another corner and almost crashed into a brick wall. She waterbended the ice into a smooth curve under her feet, managing to dodge the walls of the houses. It was a dead end and the girl had disappeared. She'd lost her, again.

Katara frantically looked around - there weren't any hiding places, any other paths the child could've taken. She would've noticed if the girl had turned around and run back the way she came. She didn't understand, nothing made sense. It was like she'd just vanished into thin air.

Katara lifted herself high in the sky by bending the ice into a water, or much rather a snow spout. She did a full circle above the rooftops to get a better idea of her surroundings. She was almost half a mile away from her starting point, much nearer to the border of the eastern borough. They'd meandered through the alleys, but Katara realized that there was a pattern - the little girl had always headed northwards. It was no wonder she'd ended up there.

But how did the girl end up in a completely different part of town? And how could she have known that the healer was there? Did she follow her all the way back to the hospital and then to Jia's home without her noticing?

"Arrrgh! Double monkey feathers!" Katara screamed as she bended the snow back down towards the ground. This mystery was starting to drive her nuts.

She went back to her ambulance carriage by following her own icy path. Having plopped down in her driver's seat, Katara groaned and clutched her stomach. Maybe that impact had been worse than she'd thought. She waterbended the water from her pouch around her hands and examined her ribcage. She sighed in relief since she couldn't feel any broken ribs. The clock on Avatar Aang Memorial Island began striking, it was three o'clock. Time to return to the hospital for a disinfecting shower, plus a short healing session to be sure that she was okay after that small crash.

It was getting dark outside by the time Katara arrived back at the hospital, which was only about five minutes later. The day of the winter solstice was the shortest one in the year after all. She'd parked her ambulance carriage and headed inside through the main entrance. As she walked to the elevator and waited for it to come down, the receptionist saw that she was back from her home visit. Katara looked her dead in the eye.

"Oh yeah.. she was racist alright."

The receptionist held a hand in front of her mouth to stifle her laughter since she was on the phone. She felt so happy. Judging by the self-satisfied smirk on her superior's face, she'd put that lady in her place.

Katara took the elevator upstairs by a few floors and headed straight to the nearest changing room meant for her female staff. It was a vast area made up of two rooms - one for dressing and storing clothes in lockers, the other half consisted of about a dozen shower stalls separated by opaque curtains. These rooms were mostly used by nurses, paramedics or surgeons since family physicians and specialists didn't need to change uniforms that often. The latter two usually changed clothes in their own offices or, like scientists, they'd simply put on a white lab coat and go straight to work.

As Katara went through the dressing room, where a couple of healers were chit-chatting about their day, she stepped inside the shower room where three other ladies were busy washing themselves. She dropped her shoulder bag on one of the benches in the middle of the dry area. First, she disposed of the water she'd used to lower Jia-Li's fever, then swilled the inside of her pouch with some fresh water before filling it completely.

Next, she undressed down to her undergarments, leaving the rest of her clothes next to her bag, and stepped under the shower. Washing herself always helped her relax. It felt soothing to stand under the running water, to let it caress her skin and cleanse her of the blood, sweat and tears she'd poured, to be at peace with her element. She didn't mind any company either, especially if it was a certain airbender who liked to play with her and her element whenever they showered together at home.

Katara ran her hands softly over her skin, combing them through her long loose hair, washing her face, sliding her fingers down to her forearms, coming back up to her neck, then down to her chest. As her hands slid over the sarashi covering her breasts, she felt something strange. She sensed her own heartbeat against her fingertips, as if she'd just inadvertently used her healing abilities near the area. She looked down, her hands were indeed glowing.

Katara dropped the water and as soon as the glow faded, she gasped. She saw a large pinkish bruise slightly above her stomach, on the lower half of her ribcage. She summoned some more water around her hands to examine the injury more thoroughly. No internal organs were hurt, the bones were strong and healthy for a woman her age. But the bruised spot was tender when she palpated around it with her fingers. She hoped that healing it a little bit more would help ease the pain.

Having dealt with her injuries and scrubbed herself clean, Katara began washing her clothes. She took each item of clothing separately along with her under the shower - the white uniform, the mauve skirt, the shoes, the healer's belt and hat. Everything had to go since she couldn't risk spreading pentapox to her other patients. She and a few high-ranking specialists had established some very strict rules on how to act when it concerned highly infectious diseases that didn't have a cure yet. Taking a thorough shower and washing the equipment used was one of them.

Katara dried herself by waterbending the excess drops of water off her skin, repeating the same procedure with her uniform so she could put it back on. After she was dressed again, she left the showers and took a seat on the line of benches in the locker room, dropping her shoulder bag next to her. She found a small box of special sanitizing napkins inside to wipe the thermometer and the tip of her stethoscope clean. She was sitting with her back facing the door of the dressing room when Niyok stormed in.

"There you are! The receptionist told me you headed upstairs and a bunch of healers saw you come in here," her friend said as she skipped in front of her.

"Hold on, I'm almost done cleaning my instruments," Katara replied without looking up at her, running the napkin over the metal of the chestpiece.

"Why do you need to do that?"

"I did a home visit to a little girl who was sick with pentapox."

"Pentapox!?" Niyok exclaimed perhaps a bit too loudly, her hands landing on her mouth immediately after since a couple of healers stared at her. Katara simply nodded.

"Wow! I thought we'd gotten rid of that disease thanks to the new vaccine."

"Well, let's just say that the girl's mother doesn't quite understand how vaccines work. And she has to suffer because of it.. poor Jia-Li," Katara sighed and stared at her own distorted reflection on the round metal end of her stethoscope. Niyok sat down next to her and held a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"She'll be okay, Katara. I know it because you saw her and you'll do everything you can to make sure that she receives the best care we have to offer."

Katara smiled at the gesture.

"Thanks, Niyok."

"Now c'mon! Hurry up or we're going to be late!" she patted her on the shoulder. Katara giggled and put her clean instruments back into her shoulder bag, after which Niyok grabbed her hand and they dashed out of the changing room. She practically had to drag Katara along on their way to the elevator because she was so eager to show her what she'd done in the children's ward. Ever since she'd officially become a doctor, she'd chosen to specialize in pediatrics, having spent so much time with children as an intern. Her bubbly personality fitted well with her task of taking care of and cheering up young patients.

Katara could already hear the children's laughter before the elevator doors opened. They took it to the floor of the general ward, where kids who'd been admitted to the hospital stayed. A broken bone shattered into so many pieces it took a lot more time and effort to heal, which was a tough job even for a waterbender to do, recovering from major surgery, diseases that needed to be monitored - those were some of the main reasons for having to stay in the general ward.

As the two stepped out of the elevator, Katara's mouth fell slightly agape at the unusual sight. Two nurses and most of the kids were happily sitting in a circle on the carpet at the other end of the vast room, playing with the available toys from the toy box. Some of them were tossing paper snowflakes in the air. There were colourful lights decorating the walls behind their beds, drawings done earlier in the day on the nightstands next to them. All part of the winter solstice celebration.

"Niyok.. you did all of this?"

"Me and a couple of nurses.. The kids helped out a lot, obviously. We just wanted to make this day extra special for them, because.. you know. They have to spend it away from home, in this hospital," Niyok said with a sad voice, rubbing her arms and swaying herself a little bit. One of the kids stood up from the circle and ran over to them.

"Doctor Niyok! Will you come play with us?" the 4-year-old boy asked, holding a koalaotter plush in his hands.

"Sure. I'll join you in a minute," she smiled as she squatted down and patted his head.

"Can your friend play, too?" he wondered, tilting his head and staring into the other healer's pretty blue eyes. Niyok looked up at Katara. She nodded and smiled back at him.

"Of course. She'd love to," Niyok said. The little guy scampered back to the rest of the group to continue playing. Katara's heart melted at the sight of such wide smiles on these children's faces. They'd never done something like this on such a large scale before.

"You know what? We should make this a tradition."

"Really?" Niyok gasped, her eyes wide and hands clasped together in delight.

"Yeah, I mean.. look at them. These kids are who knows how far away from their homes on one of the most joyous holidays of the year. But all these decorations and activities and games help them take their minds off it. Instead, it feels like they're still at home, having fun and surrounded by people who love them. They're so snug and happy here. And it's all thanks to you, Niyok," Katara said. She laid a hand on her friend's shoulder, then pulled her in for a very tight hug.

"Mmm.. thank you, Katara!" Niyok hummed as she hugged her back, blinking away a couple of tears. The Southern Water Tribe girls released their embrace and smiled at each other before deciding to join the little boy and his companions.

He was playing with some plush animals, so Katara and Niyok each grabbed one to join in. Katara picked an otter penguin to teach the kids what penguin sledding was. Niyok chose a small fluffy white hamster since she always liked to chase those swift little critters back home. Her parents were never as fond of hamsters intruding their household as she was though, especially when they managed to steal some of their stored seaweed or sea prunes.

A few toddlers about the same age as the boy were building a shilouette of Republic City using wooden blocks. One of the nurses helped them finish it. The other nurse was reading a children's book to a group of kids sitting in a bigger circle around her. Two older girls were playing Pai Sho near them. And a couple of children were resting in their beds, reading a book of their own or taking comfort from their stuffed toys.

The medical staff were able to entertain the kids for another twenty minutes before their expected guest arrived. A third nurse came to Niyok and whispered something into her ear, after which she ordered all the children to huddle up on the carpet, even those who were lying in their beds earlier. The ones who had to stay bedridden were lifted onto the beds closer to that end of the ward.

"Alright, kids. Since today's the winter solstice celebration, we thought that you all might like to hear an amazing tale from a very special visitor. Without further ado, here he is!" Niyok said with a wave of her hands. A tall man donning a blue fish-like costume stepped out from behind the corner of the corridor leading to the private wards in the western wing, accompanied by Katara.

"Woo-ooo! I'm Koizilla and I've come to capture some firebenders so I can hug them!" he booed as he walked over to the kids. His weird appearance scared the younger ones a little bit and made them snuggle up to the nurses. Halfway there, he stepped on a ball and tumbled forward, which prompted everyone in the ward to start laughing instead.

"Uh, guys?.. A little help?" Sokka groaned. His sister and Niyok ran over, grabbing him from under his arms to help him stand up again. He dusted himself clean.

"Now where was I?.. Oh, yeah. That's right! Are there any firebenders in this ward?" he continued in character. One of the nurses pointed at the 8-year-old girl who played Pai Sho earlier.

"Aahh, yes! I've captured my first firebender. And now I'm going to give you the biggest hug you've ever received!" Sokka said as he lifted the girl up in his arms, then wrapped her in a very tight embrace. She giggled the entire time. While the councilman was busy messing around with the kids, Niyok began to calm down after laughing hysterically.

"Oh my gosh! Where'd he get the costume!?" she wondered as she wiped the corners of her eyes dry.

"Let's just say that Zuko pulled some strings and had the Ember Island Players send it to the United Republic for a very special play," Katara said with a smirk.

"How'd you get him to agree to this?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I just asked. He was more than happy to do it for the kids."

"Kataraaa..." Niyok teased her with a gentle nudge, making her giggle.

"..aaaand for a quarter of the blubbered seal jerky dad has sent me, which Aang and I have stored in our fridge."

Now that Niyok believed. They watched how Sokka "captured" each child who was of Fire Nation origin and awarded them with a big hug. He knelt down in front of the group so that his feet were hidden under the short costume. He resembled Koizilla a lot more when those brown boots with furry white edges didn't pop out.

"Okay, now I want all the Water Tribe kids to come and hug me because I'm the ocean spirit and I love and protect the Water Tri- OOF!" he barely managed to finish before five little ones scampered to him and knocked him over, their laughter filling the general ward. Niyok helped him out by shooing the kids off from on top of him and back onto the carpet. Katara stepped forward, grabbing her brother's hand to help him up and pull off his costume.

"Alright-alright, that's enough. I'd like you all to meet our real guest, councilman Sokka!" Niyok said, clapping her hands together along with the three nurses as Katara revealed his true appearance. Some of the kids screamed with joy as they clapped, too.

"He-he! Hi there, children! I'm councilman Sokka, representative of the Southern Water Tribe. This is my little sister, Katara," he started, grabbing her by the shoudler and pulling her close to his side, prompting her to chuckle.

"She's the head of this hospital and the best healer in the whole world. And she asked me to come and tell you an amazing story. It's a story that happened not too long ago," Sokka continued as he sat down in front of the children. Katara found a cosy spot next to Niyok, who was already surrounded by three toddlers - her protective arms holding them close to her sides, and the third one was sitting in her lap. She was very popular and loved amongst the kids, exactly like the nurses who worked there daily.

"I'm sure most of you have heard stories of the Hundred Year War from your moms and dads. Well, about 20 years ago, me, my sister Katara and Avatar Aang were travelling the world, heading northwards to the Northern Water Tribe. The war was ongoing, so it was a very dangerous journey. We fought against Fire Nation soldiers and pirates and went through storms, but we never gave up. We had to go there because we were searching for a waterbending teacher who would help Aang, and my sister, master waterbending," Sokka spoke, waving a hand towards Katara each time he mentioned her. She smiled back at him. A couple of kids had crawled closer to the councilman and snuggled up to his side while he was telling the story. He even lifted the 4-year-old boy with the koalaotter plush onto his lap.

"Katara was the only southern waterbender we knew at that time, so there was nobody else who could teach her or Aang waterbending back home. But we found them a teacher at the North Pole. It was there that we also met Princess Yue. She was the most beautiful princess of the Northern Water Tribe who ever lived. And she was also the bravest princess I'd ever met, because she sacrificed her life to save the moon spirit.." Sokka went on, describing how Yue looked like before that happened - from her pretty violet dress to her luxurious white hair. The children listened to his story in complete silence, their eyes wide and mouths slightly agape. Even the bedridden ones were holding on to the edge of their beds as close as possible to hear everything.

Katara looked around her, her soft smile slowly turning into a frown. She felt left out since none of the kids wanted to snuggle up to her. She wasn't a very familiar face around that ward, so it made sense for them to want to be close to their regular doctor, Niyok. But she was still a tad disappointed.

Katara quietly stood up without disturbing the group or her brother's storytelling to go fetch that otter penguin plush from the toy box behind him. At least it'd keep her company and remind her of home, of penguin sledding together with Aang.. Great, now she remembered how much she missed him and their babies. She should call them after they finish here..

Her train of thought broke and she stopped in her tracks when she turned around. Before she could go back and sit down, she saw a little boy at the other end of the room. He was sitting on a small chair and staring out of the window, his back facing them. Katara tiptoed to Niyok and knelt down beside her to whisper into her ear.

"Hey, who's that little guy over there? He seems so lonely.."

Her friend looked behind her and noticed him.

"Oh.. that's Ilo. He's a very quiet little boy and pretty homesick. He prefers to be by himself, but we didn't wanna put him in a private ward since his injury isn't that serious."

Katara looked at Ilo sitting there all on his own, then glanced at Sokka, who was retelling the beginning of the events from the Siege of the North to all the other children.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," she whispered to Niyok, patting her on the shoulder before heading over to the boy. He didn't notice her when she walked right next to him, or at least he pretended not to notice her.

Katara knelt down and simply looked at the poor child. He was gazing out of the window with a blank stare. He couldn't have been more than 6 years old. His right hand was in a plaster cast. The bones had most likely broken into hundreds of pieces after a serious accident. Otherwise her healers would've healed it with their waterbending abilities in a matter of minutes and he wouldn't have stayed in the hospital for so long.

"Hello there! What's your name?" Katara asked in a low, motherly voice.

"Ilo," the boy replied, but he still didn't wanna look at her.

"Iroh?"

"No, Ilo. I-L-O," he spelled it out for her. What a clever little one, she thought. Katara had done that on purpose to get his attention.

"Well, Ilo, I'm Katara. K-A-T-A-R-A.. Katara. It's nice to meet you. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to hear councilman Sokka's story of the brave Princess Yue."

The boy averted his gaze back outside.

"C'mon.. it must be really boring to sit here all by yourself. Don't you wanna join everybody else? It's much more fun."

"I wanna go home," Ilo mumbled to himself.

"Hmm?" Katara tilted her head.

"I wanna go home," he spoke up more clearly this time.

"I know you do, but you have to get better before you can go home," she sighed, rubbing his back in an effort to console him.

"I miss mom and dad."

"When did you last see them?"

"I saw mom yesterday during visiting hours."

"But you still miss them, huh? You wanna be at home, together with them."

"We've always been together at home on every winter solstice celebration. But not this year."

Ilo looked like he was on the verge of tears, but putting on a brave face in front of strangers like her. He continued to stare outside. Katara thought for a moment.

"You like looking out of the window, right? The city is really beautiful during winter when it's all lit up with these pretty lights, huh?"

The boy nodded, at least that was a start.

"Do you see that small island back there in the bay, behind that huge statue?" Katara asked, pointing a finger at Air Temple Island. Ilo narrowed his eyes and hunched a bit to find the tiny speck in the waters at nighttime.

"Yeah."

"That's where I live, that's my home."

"Do you have a family?"

"Yes, I do. I'm married to my loving husband and we have three wonderful children of our own."

"Then why aren't you at home with them? It's the winter solstice celebration."

"Because I'm also a healer, it's my job. I love cheering up and taking care of people who aren't well, like you," she said, softly running a hand through Ilo's hair.

"But don't you miss them?"

"Of course I do. And they miss me, too. But do you know how we can still be close to each other?"

Ilo shook his head.

"It's because they're in here," Katara said with a fond smile, laying a hand on her chest.

"In your heart?" the boy quirked an eyebrow.

"Exactly. They know how much I love them, and I know how much they love me, too. Love keeps us close even when we're apart. I'm sure your parents must miss you, too. And they're probably thinking about how you're doing right now. Even when they're far away, they'll still always be in here," Katara explained, pointing a finger to the boy's heart and slightly tickling his chest. He started laughing. She felt like she'd finally gotten through to him.

"Ilo, I have a proposition for you. Why don't we go listen to councilman Sokka's amazing story together? I'll heal your hand while you wait for your parents to come visit you."

"Okay, Katara!" he said merrily. Katara stood up and offered her hand, which he grabbed before they quietly walked back to join the rest of the group. Niyok noticed how her friend sat down beside her and lifted the boy in her lap. She smiled at the sight.

Katara took off her healer's hat and let Ilo put it on. He grinned and supported himself against her, allowing her to grab his right hand. She summoned the clean water from her pouch around her hands and carefully began examining the fractures in his bones.

She had no idea what heavy object could've possibly crushed this boy's hand, but she sensed the hard work her healers had already done. The carpal bones in his wrist were in place, but remained seriously cracked. The metacarpus, which connected his fingers to his wrist, had almost healed completely, only a few fractures could be felt. Katara continued work on his wrist, seeing as though it was in worse condition than the other parts of his hand. Ilo didn't let the healer bother him, he was too immersed in the councilman's story.

"..then Aang and the ocean spirit disappeared into the pond. The water around the pond began to glow, lighting up the entire colourless tribe in a bright blue luminescence. It rose high above us and formed this huge fish-like creature. Avatar Aang and La had fused into Koizilla. They were almost as tall as this hospital. Koizilla marched into the city and began capturing the evil Fire Nation soldiers who were attacking the tribe. He was so scary that he drove them all out of there," Sokka retold proudly, mimicking some of the spirit's movements with his hands. The children cheered him on.

"Sadly, while Koizilla was busy ridding the tribe of the Fire Nation, the moon spirit had died. We placed Tui back in the pond, but she didn't swim anymore. She didn't move at all. She just floated above the water, the horrible dark burn evident on her back. Without her, the waterbenders had lost their bending abilities and the moon ceased to exist. We had no idea what was going to happen to the world. But then, General Iroh noticed Princess Yue's white hair. He said: 'You have been touched by the moon spirit. Some of its life is in you.'"

Sokka tried to say that in Iroh's voice. Katara attempted to heal Ilo's hand to quicken the healing process in the meantime, but by then she began to listen to her brother, too. There was something that moved her - the memories of the hopeless situation, the way her brother's voice began to crack.

"Princess Yue agreed with him, he was right. She told us that if Tui gave her life, then maybe she could give it back. I grabbed Yue's hand as strong as I could and pulled her back. I said: 'No! You don't have to do that.' We both knew she had to, but I wasn't ready to let her die yet. She stayed true to herself, so she let go of my hand and placed her hands on Tui. The moon spirit glowed white for a mere moment and then, Yue sighed and she fell back into my arms.. I held her, I stroked her cheek gently, but she wasn't breathing... She was gone."

Katara had to lift one hand away from Ilo's to dry her cheeks. She was surprised at how well Sokka was holding back his emotions, not a single tear in his blue eyes. He retold the story so realistically, acting out all the movements and things that'd been said, almost as if he was reliving it.

Niyok had heard of these stories back in the day, how her friends had saved their sister tribe. But she'd never heard it in such great detail. It was a complete shock to her as to what they'd been through.

Niyok saw how Katara was crying right next to her, trying with every fiber of her being to swallow her sobs so no one would notice. She laid a hand on her shoulder. Katara jumped a bit at the contact, but she returned her gaze, her diamond blue eyes wide and decorated with glistening teardrops. She grabbed the hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, whispering a silent 'thank you' by moving her lips.

"I hugged Yue, I didn't wanna let go of her. Until suddenly she vanished from between my arms. The next thing we knew, the moon spirit began to glow again. We placed her back in the pond, she was swimming! The whole pond reflected a white glow, which rose up like a haze and took the form of a beautiful young woman. It was Princess Yue, she'd become the moon spirit. Her spirit flew closer to me, looked me in the eyes and softly cupped my cheeks with her hands. She said goodbye and told me that she'd always be with me. We kissed for the last time before she disappeared. I looked up at the sky and saw how the moon reappeared. How the colours returned to the world. At that moment we knew we'd won the battle. To this day, Princess Yue watches over us in the form of the beautiful moon that flies high up in the sky every night. And that, kids, was the story of Princess Yue, who became the moon spirit, and how we saved the Northern Water Tribe together."

The quiet ward became filled with children's cheers and the staff's clapping as everybody applauded. After the kids had calmed down, Niyok and her nurses began ordering them to get back into their beds since visiting hours would begin soon.

"Do you wanna meet my big brother?" Katara asked Ilo, who nodded in agreement as she waterbended the healing water back into her pouch. They stood up and she beckoned him to follow her. Ilo watched how the healer practically ran to the councilman and wrapped her arms around him for a very tight hug.

"You were so good!" Katara whispered, burying her face in the crook of his neck, her eyes closed and a proud smile on her lips.

"Thanks, Katara! That means a lot," Sokka said as he nuzzled his nose into her hair and tenderly ran a hand down her back. They remained in each other's embrace for a few seconds. Katara released her hold and squatted down next to the little boy.

"Sokka, this is Ilo. He's a patient here. Ilo, this is my big brother Sokka."

"Hello, Sokka!" the boy smiled, reaching out his left hand so he could shake it. Of course Sokka had noticed how his sister had gone over to talk to him near the beginning of the story and how she'd used the time to heal his right hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Ilo. Now don't you worry, young man! My little sister here is the best healer in the world. She's gonna fix your hand by healing those broken bones and you'll be home in no time," Sokka said and winked at him, making the child giggle as he lifted him onto his broad shoulders.

"Be careful with his hand! Don't shake him too much!" Katara warned, but Ilo grabbed Sokka's head to steady himself and held on tight.

"Don't worry, I won't.. Ow! Watch the wolftail!"

"Sorry!" Ilo apologized after he'd gotten a better grasp with his free hand.

"Now, where's your bed?" Sokka wondered as he began walking towards the other end of the ward, bouncing Ilo on his shoulders.

"Over there! It's that one," he pointed at an empty bed in the middle. Before the Southern Water Tribe siblings could tuck him in, one of the kids scampered to the window and shouted.

"Hey, guys! It's snowing!"

Most kids who weren't bedridden got up from their beds to go look outside, the medical staff joining them soon after.

"Woah!"

"It's so pretty!"

The children gasped as they watched the big puffs of snow slowly gliding in the air, being tossed around by a few stronger currents until they fell down on the street several floors below. Sokka and Katara stepped closer to marvel at the beautiful display of nature as well. She placed a hand on his back and supported her head against his shoulder, releasing a soft hum. Ilo had the highest view out of all of them.

"Alright, back to bed now!" Niyok ordered, but the kids didn't budge and they protested a little when the nurses attempted to pull them away.

"Aww!"

"Not yet!"

"I wanna see more.."

Katara immediately had an idea. She took a few steps back and widened her stance. Everybody else noticed how the snow behind the glass began to move in a strange way, almost as if it didn't want to obey the laws of gravity anymore. A ribbon of snowflakes was being flicked in the air, forming all kinds of symbols and patterns. Sokka and Niyok looked behind them and witnessed Katara dancing through the forms like a ballerina.

"Hey, everybody! Look at Katara!" Ilo exclaimed proudly. Some of the children glanced at her, realizing that she was the one responsible for creating that amazing performance for them to see. She twirled around and twisted her hands, the snow outside following her commands. When Katara finished her graceful bending display, her friends, staff and the patients clapped loudly. She managed to take a bow before the elevator to her left opened and the first visitors along with another healer arrived.

"Mom! Dad!" a couple of children screeched and ran over to their parents, including Ilo, who waited for councilman Sokka to put him down first.

"Oh! Happy winter solstice celebration, son!" his mother said while his father lifted him up on his arms and they hugged him.

"What are you wearing?" his father wondered, poking the feathers on top of the hat. Katara coughed as she approached the family to get their attention.

"I believe that belongs to me."

"Mom, dad, this is Katara. She helped me feel better," Ilo said as he tried to remove her healer's hat with one hand and give it back to her, but she stepped closer to help him out.

"Wait a minute.. Katara. As in, Master Katara? The best healer in the entire world? It's an honour to meet you!" the boy's mother said and bowed to her while she was busy tying the strings together under her chin.

"Of course, we've heard great things about you. Thank you for taking good care of our son, Master Katara!" his father added.

"It's nice to meet you both. And you're welcome!"

Katara introduced her brother Sokka to Ilo's family and they exchanged pleasantries while the room filled with chatter. The first few kids got to tell their parents about everything exciting they'd done that day. They showed off their drawings, retold the story councilman Sokka had shared with them, said how well the healers were taking care of them, gave their parents a tour around the ward that'd been decorated to bring in some holiday spirit.

Niyok received much praise from the families for her efforts. She decided to stay for a little bit longer to see what all the other visitors would think of her initiative. While she was busy arranging everything with the healer who'd arrived to end her shift and let her take over, her friends came to say goodbye with another hug. Before the Southern Water Tribe siblings could leave, Ilo scampered to Katara and wanted a goodbye hug, too. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around him.

"Will you come and visit me again tomorrow, Katara?"

"I'll try, Ilo. If I'm not too busy. Should I forget, then let doctor Niyok know you wanna see me. She's a very good friend of mine, so she'll remind me and I'll come and visit you as soon as possible," Katara smiled and stroked the boy's head by running her hand through his short brown hair.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

After that wonderful afternoon spent in the pediatric general ward, Katara and Sokka took the elevator down to the first floor so she could escort him out from the hospital.

"I know Yue was looking down on you when you were telling her story to those kids. She'd be so happy."

"Aawww!.. Thanks, sis!"

"Are you.. crying?" she asked in a teasing tone as Sokka began rubbing an eye.

"No! I just have something in my eye.. a snowflake!"

"We're still indoors, silly.. Come here!" Katara said fondly and pulled him into a hug.

"Happy winter solstice celebration, Sokka!" she murmured.

"Happy winter solstice celebration, Katara!" he replied, tightening their embrace and stroking the back of her head with his hand. She told him to give her family's greetings to Suki, too.

Once Sokka had left, Katara went back to the emergency room to help out for another half hour before calling it a day. A few minutes passed as Katara barely managed to talk to the receptionist to find out whether there were any calls she could take or patients she needed to tend to in the emergency room when there was a commotion at the northern entrance. A paramedic carrying a little girl and a rather worried pregnant woman following them burst in.

"We need help!" the healer yelled and made her way to the middle of the room. Katara's mouth dropped wide open when they came closer. She recognized them.

"Jia-Li? Jia?" she mumbled to herself in disbelief before she ran towards the other paramedic to meet them halfway, stopping any other of her workers who wanted to approach them.

"Stay back! I've got this! What happened?" Katara inquired, taking a look at the child's limp body in the healer's arms. When she touched her forehead, she was burning up.

"Jia-Li, a 10-year-old girl with a very high fever, fainted on our way here-"

"Master Katara, you have to help her! Please!" Jia interrupted the paramedic.

"Give her to me and follow me, both of you! I know what's wrong with her," Katara ordered, grabbing Jia-Li from her employee's arms and running to the nearest empty healing tub. She placed the girl in the cool water, took a seat beside the tub and began waterbending the liquid around.

"How did this happen?" Katara asked as she worked on lowering Jia-Li's temperature, the water reflecting a bright blue glow as it flowed up and down in small waves.

"I went out for a quarter of an hour to go buy some paracetamol from a nearby pharmacy, but when I returned home, Jia-Li started rambling nonsense. I called the ambulance and they drove us here, but she fainted soon after we left," Jia explained as she paced back and forth on the other side of the tub.

"Master Katara, what's wrong with this child?" the paramedic wondered as she leaned closer to get a better look.

"She's suffering from pentapox. I did a home visit earlier today. You're going to have to take a shower after this, and it's probably a good idea to disinfect the inside of your carriage, too."

It took Katara some time before her patient's fever began to fall and she managed to stabilize her condition. She began shivering once her temperature was below critical level. A couple of minutes later, she ceased her shivering and her eyes began to flutter open.

"Mphm.. m-mom?" Jia-Li stuttered as she regained consciousness. Katara released a sigh of relief, luckily they'd gotten to her just in time.

"Where am I?"

Katara stroked her temple, she blinked and gazed at her with her olive green eyes.

"Jia-Li, do you remember me?"

"Healer Katara?"

"That's right. You're in my hospital. Your fever was so high that your mother called for an ambulance and this kind paramedic drove you here so I could help you."

"So, what now? Can we go back home?" Jia wondered.

"I'm afraid not. I'd like to keep you both under observation until the pentapox blows over. Jia-Li, my healers are going to take you to the infectious diseases unit shortly. They can keep an eye on your condition and keep your fever at bay until you've fully recovered. Okay?" Katara explained, to which the girl answered with a hesitant nod. Her mother and the paramedic stayed by her side while Katara went to talk to the receptionist. She told her to phone that department and ask for a healer with a wheelchair to be sent down to the emergency room to pick up a new patient.

"Can I go with her?" Jia asked as Katara helped her daughter dry off and the specialist from the infectious diseases ward waited for her to sit down in the wheelchair.

"Yes, but you'll be quarantined in a separate room once we're there. I don't wanna risk you catching pentapox from your daughter and putting your baby's life in danger. Or spreading the disease to anybody else in case you're a carrier."

"What can happen to my baby if I'm infected?" the mother wondered in a concerned tone, tenderly rubbing her abdomen.

"Well, judging by the size of your bump, I'm guessing you're due any day now. If you catch it, you might have a stillbirth or an early delivery. Miscarriage is highly unlikely at this stage," Katara said, grabbing the handles to push Jia-Li herself.

"We'll take them upstairs. Make sure to change the water in this tub. I don't want an epidemic to break out here," she ordered the paramedic who'd brought them in before the four of them headed to the elevator. Jia looked at Katara, the specialist and finally, her sickly daughter as they waited for the elevator to come down in complete silence. Katara noticed that she seemed a bit on edge.

"I'll have my healers test you for pentapox, to put your mind at ease. If you're healthy, you'll be referred to the maternity ward," she added just as the doors opened and their group stepped in. Jia's gaze fixed on the floor as she fiddled with her fingers, considering everything the healer had told her and how poorly her precious girl looked in that wheelchair.

"Umm.. Master Katara?"

"Yes?"

The mother gulped before she said what she wanted to say.

"I want that shot."

Katara's diamond blue eyes grew wide with surprise and her face lit up.

"Really?"

"Yes.. please. I don't want me or my baby to go through what Jia-Li's had to go through. Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetheart!" she apologized by combing her fingers through her daughter's long dark brown hair.

"It's not your fault, mom," Jia-Li managed to say before she covered her mouth and started coughing horribly.

"Yes, it is. If I'd listened to the healers and let them vaccinate you, you wouldn't be sick. Please, give me that shot right away."

"No, not yet. You can have it done once you've had your second child. It's not safe to inject a weakened form of pentapox into your system right now, it could infect the baby," Katara argued.

"Okay.. then that's the first thing I'll do after I've given birth to this little fellow," Jia said in a lighter tone as she ran circles above her bloated belly, prompting both Katara and the specialist to chuckle. She felt certain that the mother understood now.

Katara escorted them to the infectious diseases unit, helping the nurses tuck Jia-Li in while the specialist checked that Jia could make herself comfortable in the private quarantined ward right next to her daughter's.

"Don't worry, my healers are gonna take good care of you now. You'll have to stay in hospital for a while, but I'm sure you'll start to feel better in a couple of days," Katara said, patting the sheets above the girl's tummy.

"Thank you, healer Katara," Jia-Li smiled weakly.

The master waterbender let her staff take over from there so she could go take a disinfecting shower a second time to finish her shift as a paramedic at the emergency room. She headed to the same changing room she'd used earlier. At least she didn't have to clean her instruments this time. She met the paramedic, who'd brought the mother and daughter in, already under the showers ahead of her. She was a fun co-worker to hold a conversation with while they cleansed themselves of the virus.

After a nice chat and a thorough shower, Katara dried her hair and skin, waterbended the excess water out from her uniform and pulled it back on. She took the elevator up to the waiting room on the top floor. She headed to her own office in the western wing to change into her everyday clothes, the ones she usually wore at home as well as on the days she worked as a family physician.

Katara opened the door leading to her dark office, walked over to her desk and switched on the table lamp. After that, she closed the door to get some privacy. Her regular clothes were in the wardrobe next to the coat rack.

She removed everything until she was only dressed in her undergarments, putting those pieces of clothing on the empty hangers, as well as hanging her belt next to the uniform and placing her shoes, hat and blue scrunchy on special shelves, which were at the bottom and top inside the closet. She grabbed a pair of dark blue pants and brown boots, slid a navy blue tunic on top, pulled on her short-sleeved water tribe coat and two armbands. She also fluffed her hair after it'd been tied together for almost the entire day.

Katara hummed in delight as she smelled the white fur collar of her coat. The familiar scent was a mix of the herbal remedies that were stored in the cabinets in her office, the fresh air in Yue Bay that she breathed as she took the boat from their island to the harbour early in the morning, the sandalwood and her home cooking that filled their home.

Katara gazed out of the window as she stepped in front of her desk, trying to spot that "tiny speck" of an island. It was still snowing, the snowflakes were slowly gliding in the air and swirling downwards after the wind stopped swaying them. The white fluff that covered the capital like a soft blanket also helped the street lamps illuminate the paths and bigger roads of Republic City at night. The clock on her husband's memorial island began striking, doing so six times.

But don't you miss them? Yes, she did. Katara rubbed her arms as she eyed the telephone on her desk. She decided to ring him up. She picked up the receiver, dialled the correct number and waited a few seconds until someone answered.

"Hello?" a familiar voice asked. There was the faintest sound of a baby crying and some shuffling heard in the background.

"Aang?"

"Katara?"

"Good evening, sweetie.." Katara smiled lovingly, her voice sounded very yearning.

"How's everything at home?"

"Fine! Fine.. we're doing fine. I was just looking after Tenzin."

"Yeah, I can hear him near you," she giggled.

"Hold on a sec, I'll call the kids.. Kids, your mother's on the phone!"

Katara heard faint running on the wooden floorboards.

"Hold on, they're coming downstairs.." Aang added, waiting for Bumi and Kya to reach the living room. Then there was the sound of a mattress plopping.

"What is it, daddy?" the little waterbender asked.

"Mommy's on the phone. Who wants to go first? Here.."

Aang handed the phone over to one of them, Katara waited in silence.

"Mom?"

"Hey, Bumi! How was your day?"

"It was great! After I got home from school, we had a waterbending lesson together with dad. Kya had already learned some new moves, so we fooled around a little bit.. Ow!"

Katara laughed quietly. Aang must've nudged him gently, judging by the way he tried to correct his son as she heard him say something to him.

"..I mean we had a snowball fight, built some snowmen and just.. had fun," he shrugged.

"I'm glad to hear that, Bumi. Anything else you wanted to tell me?"

"Nah, not really."

"Okay then, give it to your little sister."

"Here, Kya. Mom wants to speak with you."

"..Mommy!? Hi, mommy!" the little waterbender exclaimed, making her mother giggle again. She could imagine the excited look on her daughter's face or how she was hopping on the couch next to her father and brothers.

"Hi, sweetie! I heard you learned a new waterbending move today."

"I did, mommy! Daddy taught me how to turn water into ice just by breathing correctly."

"It's called breath of ice, Kya," Katara corrected.

"That's right, mommy!"

"That's so cool.." she said, prompting her little waterbender to giggle at the unintentional pun.

"Did you have a good day with your brothers and daddy?"

"I did! But I miss you, mommy. Please come home soon!"

"I will, my little waterbender. I just gotta go visit one more patient and then I'll come straight home."

"Okay. I love you, mommy!"

"I love you too, sweetie. Muah!" Katara murmured, blowing an air kiss inside the phone.

"Now give the phone back to daddy."

"Here you go, daddy."

There was a moment of silence as Aang struggled to hold the phone in one hand and cradle Tenzin with the other.

"Katara, you still there?"

"Mhmm, I'm standing near the window in my office. Can you see me?"

"Yeah, I thought I saw that dim light in your office. Kids, your mother's in her office. Let's wave to her."

She heard how Kya shouted another "Hey, mommy!" as she stepped closer to the window to stare down at that little island of theirs a couple of miles away from the city center.

"Are you coming home soon?"

"I just need to visit Mr. Chen. It'll take me at least an hour and a half to get there and ride back to the hospital. I'll probably be home at around eight."

"Take your time, sweetie. The kids and I have everything under control."

"Good. Make sure to prepare supper for them."

"I will. I'll also light a candle later in the evening."

"Mmm.. thank you, Aang. I love you."

"Love you too, Katara."

Katara heard how he blew an air kiss into the line as well, after which she hung up. Having put the telephone back on her desk, she looked outside through the window, placing a hand against the cold glass.

"I'll be home soon, sweetie."

She grabbed her water tribe parka from the coat rack and pulled it on, scanned her office one last time before turning off the table lamp and locking the door with her key for that day. She took the elevator down to the first floor to go grab her shoulder bag and pouch from the emergency room, where she'd left them before the paramedic had rushed in with Jia and her daughter. Katara wished the receptionist a good evening and headed outside to the western side of the building.

There were a lot more ostrich horses to choose from in the evenings since the number of accidents that paramedics had to respond to usually decreased at night. But the waterbender still walked over to her favourite, who was grazing some hay.

"Hey, Mamoun.. Who's a good boy, huh?" she asked as she stepped beside him and scratched his head, more specifically, behind his left ear. Mamoun shook his head and whinnied happily to her.

"That's right, you are!"

Katara tenderly stroked his beak as they stared into each other's eyes. The ostrich horse lowered his head a bit to nuzzle his beak below her chest, his big brown eyes looking up at her tiny diamond blue ones.

"One last ride tonight," she murmured to him, holding his beak close with one hand and combing his mane with the other. Mamoun snorted and closed his eyes for a moment, lifting his head and standing up straight like a proud steed to show her that he was ready to ride with her once again. Katara checked whether he was harnessed to the carriage correctly, then jumped into the driver's seat and grabbed the reins.

"Let's go, boy," she said, clucking her tongue to guide them out of the stable and onto the streets. As Katara drove through the bustling city center, she saw street lamps decorated with colourful lights, candles burning on almost every window to thank the spirits for their kindness and to remember those who were no longer with them.

The winter solstice celebration had always been about coming together to spend time with one's family, but also to show respect to the spirits. This day was unique to the United Republic of Nations and it was inspired by the Glacier Spirits Festival back at the Southern Water Tribe. Aang, being the Avatar and the bridge between humans and spirits, along with Katara, being a southern waterbender who valued the traditions of her homeland, had proposed the idea of such a holiday many years ago. This day had always been the most long-awaited of the year amongst many families.

The further Mamoun cantered into the northeastern borough, the duller the streets turned. The wealthier as well as most of the middle class citizens lived closer to the heart of Republic City and could afford more to celebrate. It was a blessing if there were similar colourful lights hanging from a bigger block of flats in that area or the residents had enough yuans to buy some matches to at least light a candle.

Having passed the border between the city center and the northeastern borough, the traffic seemed to become more sparse. Less than half a mile later, Katara and Mamoun were the only ones out on the streets, the street lights and a single candle displayed on every tenth window or so being the only things lighting their way to the suburb.

She heard a trolley gain on her ambulance carriage in the middle of the street a minute later. The railway tracks ran straight on their left side for another half a mile. There were about a dozen passengers on their way to their homes. Two pre-teen boys noticed the ostrich horse running alongside the tracks. They decided to make funny faces to mock the driver for being slightly slower than their public transportation. When one of them blew a raspberry at her, Katara decided to have some fun of her own. She gave them a smug smile in return.

"Hi-yah!"

She flicked the reins to order Mamoun to begin galloping. He gained on the front of the trolley in a matter of seconds, running neck and neck at a rather fast speed. Katara sat up straight and smirked back at the boys who'd made fun of her and her companion, their faces now as long as her ostrich horse's.

"Go, Mamoun! Go!" she prodded competitively as he pulled the rest of the carriage past the trolley. They won the race when the railway tracks turned left on a bigger intersection. Katara started laughing as she shifted to the left side of her seat to glance back at the empty street behind them.

"Ha-ha! Good boy, Mamoun! Good boy!" she praised loudly, attempting to slow down since the road was covered with spots of black ice, which shimmered under the street lights. She didn't have time to react when suddenly a small child ran across the street right in front of her ostrich horse.

"Wooaahh!" Katara yelled and yanked the reins to avoid crashing into the child. Mamoun neighed in panic and tried to stop, but his feet slipped on the ice and he lost his balance. He pulled the carriage to his right, sending it skidding across the ice and straight towards a street lamp. Katara screamed and held on tight as the vehicle slammed against the post, which forced it to split in half from the middle. She hit herself against the side before she was plunged out of her driver's seat and straight into a pile of snow.

Mamoun's neighing was the only sound that filled the quiet street after the crash. Once the carriage had stopped under the street light, the ostrich horse swiftly got back up on his feet and broke free from his harness with sheer force. He cantered further away and ran a couple of circles until he began to calm down, his neighs being replaced by short unhappy snorts.

Mamoun panted as he looked around to spot something familiar. He saw the broken ambulance carriage parked next to the post, so he hesitantly walked back to the scene of the accident. He eyed the huge crack inside the wood, which separated the rear and front of the vehicle. As Mamoun sniffed the driver's seat, he noticed his friend lying still on her stomach in the snow a few feet away. He trotted to her side and tilted his head, staring at her near-lifeless body. However, her back did move slowly, rising up and falling down in a steady rhythm. She was breathing.

The ostrich horse stepped closer and softly nudged her with his beak. She didn't budge. He tried it again, pushing a bit harder this time, but Katara remained unconscious. He brought his beak close to her face and breathed some warm air out from his nostrils. When that didn't work either, he started licking her face. Mamoun repeated those actions several times until he heard her groan.

"Ughh..."

He kept licking the side of her face until she slowly lifted her head from the pile of snow and her diamond blue eyes fluttered open to meet his worried gaze.

"M-Mamoun? You woke me up.. good boy," Katara said as she looked at her loyal companion with wide eyes, forcing a smile to show him that she was alright. She thanked him with a few strokes along his beak before he let her grab it to help her stand up carefully.

The waterbender supported herself by holding onto the ostrich horse's face. She let go when she felt sure that she wouldn't have a dizzy spell. She groaned again, her hand landing above her left eyebrow. Mamoun tilted his head and gave her a short nicker before licking the left side of her face.

"I'm okay, Mamoun. It's just a bump," Katara assured him and gently pushed his beak away so she could check her injury. She summoned some water around her left hand like a glove and placed it above her left eye. She rubbed her temple, moving the glowing water around near the nasty bump until she felt a little better.

Once she'd waterbended the water back into her pouch and fluffed the snow off her parka, she turned around to have a look at her ambulance carriage. She gasped at the sight. That vehicle was as good as firewood. Mamoun followed her as she walked around the carriage, checking whether there was anything left to save.

Katara headed to the back and crawled inside for a moment to pick up his feeding bag. She found another nice big juicy green apple and held it in front of her ostrich horse's beak, letting him sniff it before he ate it out of her hand in one bite. She rummaged through the bag to offer him some bread, too. Mamoun snorted to sniff the slice, then gently nibbled on the bread without biting her hand. She crumpled up the small leather feeding bag with the rest of his feed and put it inside her shoulder bag, in case Mamoun would become hungry later.

The ostrich horse lowered his head a bit to look straight into her diamond blue eyes once he was done eating. His big brown eyes fell shut as he rubbed his beak against her. Katara stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him.

"Ugh, good boy! Good boy, Mamoun!.. You're such a good boy.." she murmured to him, running her hand up and down his mane.

"Thank you."

Mamoun nickered as he rested his beak on her back to hug her, too. He might've saved her, but what about the child who'd ran right in front of them? Katara hadn't noticed anyone else injured near the scene of the accident. She heard someone cough on the other side of the street. She released her embrace to look behind her.

"You? You ran in front of my carriage?" she asked, her eyes wide in disbelief. It was the same mysterious girl in a yellow dress, standing in another alley.

"Mamoun, sit.." Katara ordered in a stricter tone, waiting for her ostrich horse to sit down next to her broken vehicle.

"Good boy. Stay here," she said as she stroked his beak a couple of times before she turned around and crossed the street to go talk to the child. Oddly enough, she didn't run away from the healer as she approached her. Katara decided to keep a safe distance between the two of them so she wouldn't scare her away again. She squatted down only a few feet away from her.

"Are you hurt?" she wondered, tilting her head as she examined the girl's appearance. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to have a single scratch on her.

"Do you know how dangerous it is to run in front of a carriage? It could end with a serious accident, much more serious than this," Katara scolded her, waving a hand towards her ambulance carriage and ostrich horse. The little girl hung her head in shame for a moment, looking up at the woman with puppy eyes as she went into a horrible coughing fit. The waterbender frowned, she couldn't stay mad at her.

"You're still sick, huh? That nasty cough must be really bothering you."

She waited until the little one caught her breath.

"I can help you feel better, if you let me. It makes me very sad to see you suffer.. Please, let me help you," Katara begged, stretching her right hand out to her. Her diamond blue eyes grew wider with every hesitant step the child took until she was close enough to lay her tiny hand onto her palm.

"There we go.. that's much better. Aren't you cold?" she asked as she shifted closer and knelt down in front of her. The little girl let her cup her cheek and touch her forehead.

"You are a bit warm. I think you might have a fever, too. Would you like to pull on my water tribe coat?"

The girl shook her head.

"Okay then. Where's your home?"

She remained silent. Now that Katara thought of it, she'd never heard this girl say a word ever since she'd met her this morning. She seemed old enough to know how to speak though.

"If you're lost, I can take you to my hospital where I can examine you and help you feel better while I inform the police so they could search for your parents. Toph is one of my best friends and she's also the Chief of Police. She's gonna find your home in no time. What do you say?" Katara smiled, but the girl raised a finger to her mouth as she glanced back towards the alley with a concerned look.

"What is it? Is something there?"

She grabbed the waterbender's hand and tugged at it, taking a step away from her.

"Oh.. you want me to follow you?" Katara asked fondly as she stood up and began following the little girl, who looked back at her to be sure that she wouldn't fall behind. She guided the waterbender into another maze of narrow paths between the dilapidated houses.

"Where are you taking me?" Katara wondered out loud, trying to remember their way back. The deeper they went, the more abandoned those buildings seemed to be. Broken windows without any candles to be lit for the holiday, old rusty street lamps that'd been built in the early years of Republic City's founding and provided light with flickering bulbs, small heaps of trash covered by snow.

Katara readied her free hand near her pouch, in case there were thugs waiting to ambush them behind a dark corner. But the little girl seemed to know exactly where she was headed. She peeked at the waterbender every now and again, making sure that she'd always see where she's going.

Pretty soon, they could hear a faint cry in the distance. The little girl began scampering. Katara was afraid she might lose her again, but the child had a very strong grip on her right hand. She wanted the waterbender to run along with her. As they came closer, Katara distinguished the voice as a woman's. It sounded like she was crying and moaning with pain.

Another corner to the right and a short straight narrow path eventually led them to a blind alley, where the little girl came to a sudden halt. It was a bigger square-shaped area, surrounded by the walls of two shabby wooden houses and a taller concrete building. There weren't any lights on in them, only an old street lamp that hung in the corner cast a light around the otherwise empty square. Two big trash containers had been pushed against the wall of the concrete building for the residents to use, if there were any.

Katara had stopped beside the little girl and looked around their surroundings. The woman's cries were loudest in that spot. She noticed somebody's near-bare feet in the snow behind the dumpsters and ran over to take a look.

"Oh no!" Katara gasped, her hands landing on her mouth. It was a pregnant woman, not much older than she was. She forgot about the little girl and hurried to the woman's side to help her.

"Are you okay, ma'am?"

"Oh, please! Make it stop!" she screamed in agony and clutched one of Katara's hands. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her nails unclipped and she had long messy dark brown hair. She was wearing a torn white dress that'd turned grey from the filth, remnants of what seemed to be a brown winter coat, shoes with holes in the heels and in front where her toes popped out. Katara looked below. She saw a puddle of slightly yellowish snow under her bottom. Her waters had broken, she was already in labour.

"I'm sorry, but I can't make it stop now. You're going to have a baby pretty soon," Katara stated and tried to pull her hand back so she could help, but the woman held onto it real tight.

"Nooo!.. I don't wanna give birth!"

"You don't have a choice anymore. You should've thought of that nine months ago," Katara replied a tad coldly, to which the woman pulled her even closer to her face.

"P-please! I don't wanna lose it again! I'm scared to lose this one, too!" she begged, staring into Katara's diamond blue eyes. She'd misinterpreted the situation - this wasn't an unwanted child, this was a mother who'd already lost one child.

"You're not going to lose this baby, ma'am! What's your name?"

"Iniko."

"Iniko, look at me.. look at me!" Katara demanded. The woman looked at her with her teary lime green eyes.

"I'm a healer. My name's Katara, I'm from the Southern Water Tribe. I'm the best healer in the world and head of the Republic City Hospital. And while I'm here, I'm going to do everything I can to help bring this baby into the world safe and sound. Do you hear me?"

Iniko nodded and sniffed.

"Good. Now just try to remain calm and breathe really fast for me.." Katara ordered as she pulled her hand back. She dropped her shoulder bag next to her on the snowy ground, in case she needed any of her medical instruments. Having waterbended the soiled snow away, she summoned the water from her pouch around her hands like gloves, laying one of them on the woman's swollen belly and the other under her dress to check how far she was with the labour.

"How long have these strong contractions been going on?"

"I don't know.. maybe two hours? I've heard the clock chime twice since I collapsed here. I tried to continue walking, but I couldn't move because of the pain," Iniko panted between breaths. Katara thanked Aang a thousand times in her mind for telling her the time. She waterbended the water back into her pouch.

"You said you already had one child. This is your second baby?" Katara asked as she swiftly pulled off her long parka. She placed the top behind Iniko's back so she wouldn't feel cold against the concrete wall and lifted her bottom up a bit to slide the lower half of her parka under there so she wouldn't touch the ground. The woman hummed a positive answer.

"In that case, this baby is coming really fast. I could feel it," Katara added, also removing her short-sleeved water tribe coat and laying it over Iniko's chest like a small blanket to keep her as warm as possible. Being covered up only by her navy blue tunic and a sarashi underneath, Katara had to fight back the cold herself. The chilly winters in Republic City were nothing compared to the freezing climate of her homeland. This was a fight she didn't need to focus on right now.

"That's it, Iniko. Just breathe through the pain, keep panting!" the waterbender encouraged her as one contraction followed another. She spread the woman's legs and knelt down in between to have a better look.

"You're almost there, I'm gonna ask you to begin pushing soon," she explained as she waterbended two ice handles near Iniko's hands for her to grab on when that stage would begin.

It took them another quarter of an hour and the clock struck seven in the evening. Iniko had been in labour for at least three hours. Katara's hands remained covered with water as she constantly examined both the mother's womb to feel the position of the baby, as well as the baby's vital signs to be sure that it wasn't under too much stress. Everything was going smoothly so far.

"Okay, now during the next contraction, I want you to push gently. Ready?"

Iniko gave the healer a quick nod before she grimaced as she shut her eyes and pushed until Katara told her to stop again so she could catch her breath.

"You're doing great, Iniko! The head's almost out. We gotta get baby's head out fast, so get ready to push again.. As hard as you can this time, c'mon!" she urged the woman, who crumpled her face once more and released a loud scream.

"That's it.. a little more.. keep pushing! Okay, that's enough!" Katara instructed as she quickly grabbed her water tribe coat from on top of Iniko and tossed it on the ground in front of her knees with one hand. She held the baby's head steady with her other hand.

"Your baby is almost born. If you're strong enough to give me another good push, then you can hold your baby in a minute.. Are you ready to meet your baby?" she asked with a determined smile on her lips. The woman barely managed a nod before the next contraction hit her and she continued screaming. This one wasn't as painful as the last one though.

"Good girl, Iniko! Just a little bit more.. here it comes.. Well done!" Katara praised as she held the baby's upper body in her hands.

"Now pant for me."

Iniko started panting and waited for the healer to slowly and carefully slip the rest of its body out from hers. A moment later, the blind alley became filled with the sound of a baby crying. Both women shared a hearty laugh.

"It's a boy! You have a son, Iniko!" Katara exclaimed happily as she cleaned the little guy with the remaining water from her pouch.

"A son?" the mother asked in wonder as she lifted herself on her wobbly arms a little bit to have a look. She saw how Katara used the water like a sharp knife to cut the umbilical cord and then immediately heal both ends. She wrapped the baby boy into her water tribe coat and lifted him into a cradle hold, standing up to hand him over to his mother's arms.

"My son..." Iniko's voice quavered as the healer placed the baby in her arms. She moved the furry edge off from one of his hands to let him grab her finger. His crying quietened down, whereas the tears continued trickling down his mother's cheeks.

"Hello there, little one! I'm your mommy. I didn't think we'd make it, but here we are.. thanks to this kind woman.. What did you say your name was?"

"Katara."

"Thanks to Katara here. She helped bring you into this world, just like she promised," Iniko cooed to the baby and kissed his vernix-covered forehead. Katara rubbed at her eyes to hold back her own tears. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the same little girl who'd brought her there, standing right beside Iniko. She looked so happy, a small smile decorating her face as she stared at the mother and her newborn son. She gazed back at the waterbender.

"Thank you," Katara said in a hushed, but loving tone.

"Who are you talking to?"

Katara froze for a second at Iniko's weird question.

"Umm, a little girl, right next to.. you?" she replied, pointing a finger to Iniko's left side, but when she averted her gaze from the mother, the girl was gone.

"Where?"

Both women looked around the alley, but they didn't see any souls other than the three of them.

"Wait, you didn't see her?"

Iniko simply shook her head. Katara felt confused once more as she crawled back between the mother's legs. While the latter was busy admiring her newborn son, the healer helped her deliver the placenta within minutes. Katara grabbed some clean snow from nearby to wash her bloody hands as well as scrub some of the bigger stains out of her armbands, tunic and pants. It'd been a pretty fast and successful delivery.

The waterbender had been so focused on helping the woman that she didn't even notice how cold she was until she started shivering. She rubbed her arms as she walked back over to Iniko's side to pick up her shoulder bag and hang it across her chest. After that, Katara helped the mother stand up slowly, making sure that her long water tribe parka would stay on her shoulders and hang down on her back to keep her warm. The baby boy seemed pretty warm and cosy in her coat, too.

Katara escorted them back to her broken ambulance carriage. Without the little girl to help out, she had to rely on her memories of which narrow paths they'd taken. Also, the slightly visible footprints in the snow helped her out. The light snowfall had covered them up with a fresh thin layer, but there were definitely two different-sized pairs.

How could the child have disappeared like that? And why didn't she leave footprints on her way out of there, if she'd even run out that way? Katara shook her head, every single thing about that child puzzled her. But she knew one thing for sure - she'd led her to Iniko for a reason.

Mamoun pricked up his ears and wagged his tail as he gazed at the two women who came out of the alley on the other side of the street. Iniko tightened her hold on her baby and stopped in the middle of the road for a moment.

"It's okay, he won't bite. He's very friendly, I'll show you," Katara smiled as she walked over to her ostrich horse and stroked his beak. He nuzzled the side of his face against her chest and tummy. Iniko watched the healer bond with her animal a few steps behind.

"Oh, Mamoun.. Did you miss me? I'm back, and I brought two new friends along. Are you okay with them riding you, too?" she murmured to him and stepped aside to introduce the mother and baby. The ostrich horse tilted his head and merely stared at them curiously, releasing a short nicker in the end.

"He'd be happy to give you a ride," Katara chuckled and beckoned them closer. Iniko hesitantly walked around the animal and she helped her climb on the saddle on his back. The waterbender sat behind them to give the mother something to support herself against. She could also keep herself warmer by holding her body close to her parka. It was going to be a bumpy ride.

Katara grabbed the long reins from Iniko's sides to hold her steady, after which she clucked her tongue, waiting for Mamoun to stand up and begin walking.

"Hold on tight," she said, flicking the reins twice to let her ostrich horse begin trotting, then cantering. She didn't let him gallop since it would've shaken the mother and infant too much. Besides that, the slower speed helped prevent them from falling off the saddle and having another accident.

"Where are we going?" Iniko wondered as Katara turned right at the first bigger intersection on their way.

"My hospital's half an hour away from here. I know a warm and safe place much closer, where we can call for help and recuperate."

She guided her ostrich horse to the Southern Water Tribe library in the northwestern borough, which was less than two miles away, taking them less than fifteen minutes to get there. It closed at eight o'clock each workday. The clock showed a quarter to eight when Katara and Mamoun pulled over in front of the vast building. The ostrich horse let out a loud neigh as she tugged at his reins to stop him.

"Wooaahh.. Good boy, Mamoun!" she praised as she hopped off from the back of the saddle to go and reward him with some more bread. The ostrich horse nibbled the slice out of her hand, breathing some warm air onto her slightly frozen fingers.

"Sit.." Katara coaxed by rubbing his beak and gently pushing it downwards. She patted his neck and combed his mane to thank him for all the hard work he'd done. After that, she helped Iniko climb down from the animal's back, grabbing her by the shoulders to head inside the library.

The librarian working the shift that night was an elderly member of the Southern Water Tribe. She'd helped Katara and Sokka with establishing the building in Republic City and gathering scrolls, books or any other valued reading material from back home for everybody else to browse through.

She was reading today's issue of The Elemental Times, ready to begin closing up in a couple of minutes, when she heard the door open. She averted her gaze from the newspaper towards the guests who she hoped would be eager to learn something about her culture.

"Master Katara!?" she gasped, dropping the paper on her desk and quickly making her way to the waterbender and the stranger with a baby.

"What happened to you? Look at you, you're all dirty," she sighed, trying to dust Katara's tunic.

"I'm okay, Alda. But this mother and her baby need some help. Can I call my hospital?"

"Of course! Go ahead, dear," she waved a hand towards her desk.

"Thanks, Alda. You're a blessing," Katara said as she leaned down to give the old lady a hug.

"Would you find Iniko a nice place to sit so she could rest while we wait for the ambulance to get here? And maybe something to eat or drink?"

"I'll get right on it!" Alda said with a smile. She grabbed Iniko's arm to lead the way to the couch in the quiet reading corner. She was surprised at how filthy and poor the mother looked, but she didn't wanna judge her only by her appearance. If Katara had helped this lady out, then she must've really needed it.

"Oh, he's one handsome little fellow, isn't he?" Alda cooed as she tickled the baby's cheek, making Iniko smile.

"I think I might have some bananas and lychee nuts in my drawer. I'll go fetch them for you," she squeezed the mother's shoulder before she walked back to her desk. In the meantime, Katara was busy talking to the receptionist on the phone. She asked for a backup ambulance carriage and the paramedics to bring along warm blankets for the fresh mother and infant. She ordered a second ambulance carriage with another healer to be sent on its way to Mr. Chen's place in the northeastern borough. The original as well as only patient who she didn't reach during her evening rounds that night.

"Here you go, dear. I'll go put on some tea," the librarian said as she handed Iniko one of her leftover dumplings, a banana and dropped a dozen lychee nuts into her palms. Katara finished her call and joined the mother as she began eating for what seemed like the first time in days. By the time she finished her meal, her baby had started to fuss in her lap.

"I think he's hungry, too. I want.. I'd like you to breastfeed him."

Iniko rubbed her hands cleaner against her dress, then picked up her son and put him in a cradle hold. Katara helped her undo the buttons and pull the tattered cloth off from the left side of her chest. She attempted to teach her, but before she could, she watched how Iniko guided the baby boy to his source of nourishment and he latched on immediately.

"Wow, you're really good at this!"

"As I said, this isn't my first child."

Katara observed how Iniko fed her baby in complete silence, her diamond blue eyes full of wonder and admiration at the same time. There was definitely something far deeper to this woman than she was showing. She seemed to be such a loving and caring mother, she knew how to take care of her baby, but she'd already lost one child for some unknown reason. Katara couldn't comprehend how she could've possibly ended up homeless nor how she'd survived the challenging weather of the four seasons while expecting. She was a fighter, that's for sure.

Alda's heart melted at the sight of the mother nursing her baby as she brought her some hot ginger tea. Iniko managed to finish the small cup just before they heard the siren of an approaching ambulance carriage. Katara ran outside to greet her healers and show them the way to the patients. The paramedics exchanged their boss's clothes for two soft blankets, which they used to wrap up the baby boy and his mother. Katara wasn't as fond to get her stained coat and parka back as she'd initially hoped, but it'd have to do while riding back to the hospital on her ostrich horse.

She said her goodbyes to the librarian and headed outside with the group. Having climbed on the saddle, she grabbed the reins and ordered him to stand up again. The healers had Iniko sit down on the bed at the back of their carriage before they took off, with Katara and Mamoun cantering right behind them.

It was half past eight by the time they arrived at the hospital. The two healers stopped their ambulance carriage at the northern entrance to escort Iniko inside as she cradled her son in her arms. Katara rode her ostrich horse straight to the stable since her broken vehicle was left behind under that street lamp. Having hopped off the saddle, she held onto the reins to lead him to one of the stalls so she could take off the equipment and he could get a well-deserved rest to be ready to aid her or any of her employees once more the following day.

"Muah! Good boy, Mamoun.. you were excellent today," Katara murmured, leaving a kiss on the side of his beak before she hugged him and stroked his mane. The ostrich horse wagged his tail and gave her a very happy nicker in return, nuzzling the side of his face against her chest. Having hung his feeding bag in the stall, she headed inside to go wash her clothes, and maybe herself, a third time.

Katara pulled off her dirty parka and coat as she reached the elevator and pushed the button, waiting for it to come down. Before that happened, she overheard the conversation between the receptionist and a middle-aged man who'd just entered the emergency room after her.

"Hello, sir! How can I help you?"

"Good evening! My wife left me a note on the table, saying that she went to the hospital with our little girl. Could you tell me whether she's been admitted here? They're not at home."

"Of course. What are their names?"

"Jia and Jia-Li."

Katara jolted around to look at him.

"Aahh, yes! I remember them! They were brought in by the ambulance around five o'clock."

"The ambulance!? What happened?" the man gasped, an even more worried look on his face.

"Your daughter had a very high fever because of pentapox, so your wife called the ambulance. She fainted on their way here, but luckily, Master Katara was working a shift here today. She rushed your daughter to a healing tub and lowered her fever and she woke up. After that, she had them admitted and referred to the infectious diseases unit."

"Where's that?"

"It's on the 17th floor, you can take the elevator.. Oh, there she is! That's Master Katara right there!" the receptionist smiled, pointing a finger towards her superior. The man thanked her for the information and walked over to the master waterbender. She wasn't looking at her best - her clothes covered with stains and blood and who knew what other fluids. An occupational hazard. But the man grabbed both her grimy hands and gently shook them, returning her wide-eyed gaze.

"Thank you!.. Thank you for saving my daughter's life, Master Katara."

"Y-you're welcome.. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," she stuttered and blushed, scratching the back of her head with one hand.

"I'm Li-Wei, Jia's husband and Jia-Li's father. The receptionist told me what you did. I cannot thank you enough."

"Just doing my job.. I can show you where they are, if you'd like," Katara said, tilting her head towards the elevator that'd opened the doors.

"Oh! Yes, please!" Li-Wei grinned and stepped inside after her. She waited until the doors closed and they were being lifted upstairs to have a more private conversation.

"I'm sorry, but considering everything that happened to your wife and daughter, and as a healer, I have to ask.. Are you vaccinated against pentapox?"

"Oh.. no, I don't think so," Li-Wei thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"Can I ask why?"

"I wasn't aware there's a new vaccine. I would've had it done in a heartbeat."

Katara sighed in relief without him noticing. At least he wasn't against it.

"That's great. But since you're not vaccinated either, I'm afraid my healers are going to have to put you in quarantine to check that you aren't a carrier of the disease. You'll have to stay here until they figure it out."

"I don't mind. I just wanna see my wife and daughter."

"You should also wash your hands before you go see your wife to avoid infecting her. It could be very dangerous for both her and the baby if they catch pentapox. I'm sure she'll tell you more about it and I hope you both have a very serious conversation about why it's important to get vaccinated, for Jia-Li's sake."

Li-Wei had no idea why Katara seemed so serious and reprimanding when she talked about that, but he promised her that he'll let her healers vaccinate him as soon as possible. She offered him a smile at that promise, lightening up a little bit. She escorted him to the wards where his wife and daughter were resting, having him wash his hands before she allowed to enter Jia's private ward.

The waterbender looked through the glass part of the door to see how Li-Wei simply walked in and embraced his wife, who was lying rather comfortably in bed. He ran a hand over her bump and tried to give her a kiss, but she stopped him and grabbed his hands. He took a seat in the chair next to the bed and they started talking, their faces solemn and full of concern.

Katara decided to let the pair have some privacy, so she took the elevator back down by a few floors to head to the showers again. She washed her hands after spending some time so close to Jia's husband, considering that he'd touched her too, then proceeded to scrub the remaining stains out of her clothes.

Katara spent twenty minutes in the changing room. Having cleaned her coat and parka, she stepped under the shower without removing any of her other clothes to wash herself. She dried them by pulling the dripping water out with her bending. Once she'd filled her empty pouch, pulled on her short-sleeved water tribe coat, grabbed her parka and finished freshening up, it was time to go see how Iniko and her newborn son were doing.

They'd been admitted and referred to the postnatal unit in the maternity ward. Katara left her parka, pouch and shoulder bag in a small wardrobe, which was meant for the workers on that floor and located behind another receptionist's desk, who also worked there. She went to the infant unit first to have a look at the baby boy.

When she quietly opened the door, she witnessed one of her healers trying to auscultate him, but he refused to cooperate with her. Katara closed the door behind her and walked over to the healer who was clearly in a pickle. She tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"May I try?"

"Master Katara?.. Of course," the healer said with a grateful nod as she removed the stethoscope from her ears and handed it to her boss. Katara grabbed the diaphragm and rubbed it against the palm of her hand to warm it up before she laid it back on the infant's chest. He began crying a little, hence she lifted one of his hands near his mouth so he'd shush up and begin sucking his thumb instead. It worked, she could listen to him in complete silence.

"You certainly have that magic touch with these little tykes," the other healer added.

"Years of practice," she giggled and spoke in a low tone. During her first pregnancy, as well as the two others that followed, Katara had used her own stethoscope to listen to her baby's heartbeat while it was still growing inside her. It was one thing to sense the tiny organ pounding along with her own thanks to her waterbending, or more precisely, healing abilities, but a completely different experience when she first heard the fast beats through the medical instrument. This little guy's heartbeat was just as fast and she couldn't hear any murmurs. She watched the clock on the wall and counted.

"136 beats per minute.. no murmurs.. respiratory rate at 46," Katara whispered to her colleague, who wrote the readings down on the clipboard. She gave the medical instrument back to her, then wrapped the baby up in the blanket underneath him.

"How's he doing?"

"He's doing great. Another nice healthy baby boy among us thanks to your refined skills."

Katara smiled lovingly. She was very pleased to hear that, considering everything he'd been through.

"Can I take this little guy along? I'd like to bring him to his mother."

"Sure, I just finished his first checkup. Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome. Come here, little one.." Katara cooed as she lifted him up from his small bed and placed him in a cradle hold. He released a short cry at the movement.

"Yes, we're gonna go see your mommy now," she said, gently rocking the baby in her arms as she left the infant unit and headed towards the general ward for mothers who'd recently given birth. When Katara entered the ward, she saw that Iniko was resting alone in one of the beds, no other mothers were around. Only the nurse, who was sitting behind her desk and writing something into someone's medical records, kept her company. She greeted her boss as she passed her and walked over to the patient. Katara's mouth fell slightly agape.

Iniko looked so different, as if she'd been given a complete makeover. The knots in her hair had been combed straight, her nails had been clipped short. The nurses had given her a bath, hence her light skin gleamed and she looked so tidy wearing a new hospital gown, being tucked under a warm blanket. Much more like a normal, decent person.

"Wow.. Iniko, how are you feeling?" Katara asked as she took a seat on the edge of the bed, on her right side.

"Pretty amazing. I haven't felt this way in ages," Iniko smiled and sat up a bit.

"I brought someone to see you. He just had his first checkup," Katara explained as she carefully placed the baby into his mother's arms.

"How did he do?"

"He passed with flying colours."

Both women giggled. Iniko tenderly ran the back of her hand over her son's cheeks. He didn't stir from the touch. He must've been tired from such a wild adventure and seemed to have fallen asleep.

"So, have you decided on a name yet?"

"I think I have.. I'm going to name him Taro. It means that he's my firstborn son. And there's a little bit of your name in it, too. I want both of us to remember the benevolent healer who'd helped me bring him into this world."

"Iniko, I.. I'm touched," Katara paused for a moment, not knowing what to say. She laid a hand above her heart and smiled.

"Thank you."

She watched the mother comb the tiny bundle of hair on her son's head and gently bounce him for a while before deciding to ask.

"Taro is your second child, your firstborn son.. so your first child was a daughter?"

Iniko's smile faded away slightly. She nodded.

"It wasn't always like this, you know.. I used to have a home, which I shared with my loving husband and our firstborn daughter.. Aiko."

"Can I ask.. what happened to her?" Katara wondered, entwining her hands and laying them in her lap as she leaned forward a bit. The mother sighed.

"She was only three years old.. One day, she became sick. We took her to the doctor. She examined her and we all thought it was just a cold. But three weeks later, she was still coughing so horribly. When we visited the hospital again, the doctor diagnosed something far worse. She told us it's whooping cough. Aiko was already too weak. She coughed so hard that her ribs began to break and she had to be admitted to the hospital. The healers tried to heal her broken ribcage and relieve the pain, but she just.. We held her hands until her final breath. S-she didn't make it.. I'm sorry!" Iniko finished quickly to wipe away her tears. Katara supported a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Iniko. I wish there was something my healers or I could've done. My best scientists are working on a vaccine for pertussis right now, but it's not an easy process. It could take years until the vaccine is fully developed."

The mother sniffed, having regained her composure and wiped her cheeks dry.

"That's okay.. I understand. I don't blame you for not having it when Aiko caught the disease. But I'm happy to hear you're trying, so no other parent or child would have to go through what we did."

"So, what happened to you? How did you end up homeless?"

"Me and my husband were devastated by Aiko's death. We didn't take it well. My husband became depressed and inattentive. He eventually died from an accident at work because of it."

Katara's heart skipped a beat. Her hand clutched the blanket near her thigh. She hung her head.

"I'm sorry.. I know how hard it is to lose the love of your life."

There was a moment of silence as neither of the women dared to speak. They mourned the death of their loved ones, or what almost could've been.

"After losing my entire family, I couldn't bring myself to do anything. I didn't work, so I had no income and couldn't afford to pay rent for our apartment. I became homeless. But then, three months after my husband's death, I realized that I was pregnant again. I had nowhere to go, so I'd been living on the streets around the northeastern borough, begging for food and shelter from others who shared my fate. Until you found me in that alley."

Katara remembered that she wouldn't have found her if it hadn't been for that little girl. She opened her mouth and was about to tell her, when she started thinking about it and rephrased her question.

"Umm, Iniko.. what did your daughter look like?"

"Oh, Aiko had beautiful dark brown hair! I used to braid it into two braids, one on either side of her face. She loved to wear a bright yellow dress with a white blouse and matching white shoes. I had to tie up the laces for her every time she wanted to go play outside.." Iniko described cheerfully. Katara's diamond blue eyes grew wide in realization, but she didn't notice.

"Ever since she passed, I began seeing her ghost walking around our apartment sometimes, like she was still with us. My husband thought that I might be going crazy and I agreed with him. That's impossible.."

"Maybe not," Katara interrupted.

"What?"

"Maybe you weren't going crazy. I saw a small girl with a similar appearance for the first time ever this morning. Throughout the day, each time I was out on a call, she somehow found me and tried to lead me northwards. She was the one who guided me to that alley, to you. I think that little girl was Aiko. I think she was trying to help you."

"Aiko?.. Y-you.. you saw her?"

Katara nodded.

"I didn't just see her, I touched her. I talked to her. She didn't talk, though. I tried to persuade her to come to my hospital several times since she had such an unusual cough. No wonder it sounded similar to pertussis.. I chased her in the alleys, she caused two accidents just to get my attention.."

"She did what?"

"Did you see my broken ambulance carriage? Aiko was responsible for that. I think she would've stopped at nothing to get you some help. Her spirit was there when Taro was born."

"She was there?" Iniko asked, her voice quavering.

"Yes. And she looked so happy when she saw her baby brother in your arms."

Iniko raised a hand to cover her eyes and cry, cradling her baby boy with her free hand. He woke up from the commotion and also began crying. Katara sat right next to the mother and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, comforting her with a gentle embrace.

"Ah-aiko.. My precious Aiko.. she's my guardian angel. She must still be watching over me, over us," Iniko managed to say through her sobs, lifting Taro a bit higher so she could kiss his temple. This wasn't the way Katara had imagined this year's winter solstice celebration to go, but she wouldn't have wanted it to go any other way.

The clock on Avatar Aang Memorial Island showed that it was a quarter past nine in the evening by the time Katara reached the harbour, where three air acolytes had been waiting for her to come home from work for over an hour.

"Master Katara? Oh, thank heavens! You're finally here. Avatar Aang must be so worried by now. What took you so long?" one of the young men asked as he grabbed her hand to help her step onto the boat.

"Just a small detour involving a patient. It was an emergency."

"Aahh, understandable. We'll be on our way shortly," he said while the two other acolytes prepared everything to begin sailing back towards the island.

"I hope you three didn't become too bored here."

"Not to worry! We found joy in building a sculpture of Air Temple Island over there," he explained, pointing towards a snowy replica of their home, which they'd sculpted together from a rather huge pile of snow near the dock.

"Not bad," she giggled.

When they were out on Yue Bay, Katara walked over to the stern, brushed off the fresh layer of snow and leaned against the wooden railing. She marvelled at Republic City all illuminated by colourful lights that hung from the houses and the bright golden glow in the clouds above, which was created by the street lamps that reflected the light from the snowy ground.

She gazed at one of the tallest buildings that shaped the capital's contour - her hospital. Most of the floors still had lights on in them, her staff working hard to provide the best care to their patients. Her office at the very top was dark, but she noticed the colourful lights on the floor of the pediatric ward. That was such a lovely idea to cheer up the kids.

The boat passed her husband's statue. Katara looked up at his younger self. The way he was looking over the city, protecting its citizens with his presence. She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself. It felt comforting to her, like he was looking out for her when she was away in the city, too.

They arrived at the pier within minutes. Katara left the air acolytes to dock the boat and walked up the side of the cliff to their temple. She noticed the tall tower was decorated with long strings of colourful lights that swirled down from the top. She chuckled, that must've been Aang's doing. No one else could've attached those so high so perfectly. When she reached their home, she saw a candle flickering on their living room window. She smiled lovingly. He hadn't forgotten.

Katara quietly slid the door closed behind her. She took off her parka and hung it on the row of pegs near the entrance, along with her shoulder bag and pouch. Her husband's voice echoed from the kitchen as she stepped inside the temple. He cooed something to their little airbender, but the baby didn't seem to stop fussing. Logical enough, his mother hadn't fed him in the evening, so it was no wonder the little guy was becoming upset due to an empty stomach.

She dragged her heavy feet towards the kitchen, walking through the dimly lit long corridor. As she reached the doorway, she leaned against it for a second to see what was going on. Her husband had his back turned towards her, he was down on his knees and his head was buried in one of the cabinets where they kept their food. He was cradling their younger son with one arm and reaching for something on a shelf inside the cabinet with the other. She noticed a small bowl filled with water beginning to boil on the stove to her left, as well as an empty milk bottle on the dining table.

"Don't worry, buddy! It won't be long now.." Aang assured Tenzin as he closed the cabinet doors, holding a small box of formula in his hand. The baby released another small cry and tugged at his daddy's robes. But Aang stopped in his tracks as he met his wife's gaze just as he stood up.

"Katara! You're home!" he exclaimed, as if it was a miracle. But once his grey eyes examined her figure from head to toe, it really could've been a miracle. Her knees were wobbly as she approached him and wrapped her boys in a soft embrace.

Aang put the formula next to the bottle on the table and let his free hand comb Katara's hair. Loose ends were still hanging from the bun on the back of her head and her hair loopies weren't done neatly. She didn't bother to make herself pretty before leaving the hospital, no one would've noticed how messy she looked in the dark anyway.

Aang kissed her forehead and stared into her diamond blue eyes as he cupped her cheek, noting the dried up streaks of tears on both sides. His thumb rubbed over one, like he was trying to wipe the spot dry.

Katara hadn't spoken a word ever since she'd returned home. Her attention turned to Tenzin, who began to cry even louder in between the warmth of his parents' bodies. She hummed in delight, forgetting all the anguish and happy moments she'd been through with her patients that day.

"Sounds like someone's a bit hungry. Can I feed him?" Katara asked with a smile as she let Tenzin grab her finger.

"Oh, sure! I didn't know that you'd be home so soon, I was just about to prepare some formula for him myself," Aang said as he attempted to put Tenzin into his mother's arms. Katara stopped him for a second to remove her short-sleeved water tribe coat, which she then used to wrap around the baby like a soft blanket.

"Come here, Tenzin.. Mommy's got you," she cooed as she picked him up from her husband's arms, slightly bouncing him in the process. The little airbender calmed down a bit, hearing another familiar soothing voice and being surrounded by a warm coat that smelled like his mother. Aang liked to describe the smell as a 'healer's scent' as it was always stronger on the days Katara spent working at the hospital. It reminded him of her office and the medicinal herbs inside the cupboards, as well as the healing hut in their temple.

"I'm going to the living room. Care to join me?"

"Of course, as soon as I put everything back to the way it was in here. I'll join you two in a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay, sweetie."

Katara stood on her tiptoes for a moment to rub her nose against Aang's, their lips grazing, then melting into one to give a more passionate kiss. Tenzin interrupted their show of affection with a loud cry for more attention. Aang chuckled after she'd broken their kiss.

"Alright-alright, hold on! I'm gonna feed you in a minute," Katara hushed him as she headed back into the hallway to walk over to their living room. The baby looked up at his mother with teary light greyish blue eyes as he found solace in sucking his thumb instead. At least he remained quieter until his tired mother reached their living room couch and found a cosy position for sitting.

Katara released a sigh of relief as she slumped down in the middle of the couch. She closed her eyes and let her entire body relax after being up on her feet for hours. In.. and out. In.. and out. She slowed the pace of her breathing with the help of a technique Aang had taught her.

When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see Tenzin mimicking her pattern, his mouth wide open and big grey eyes staring right back at her. Katara laughed, then proceeded to do what she'd intended to do in the first place.

Sliding the navy blue tunic off the left side of her chest, she then pulled the white cloth of her sarashi down to reveal her breast. After that, she held her index finger near the corner of Tenzin's mouth, slightly tickling his cheek. It was an old trick she liked to use to see whether her babies were hungry or not, and it had never failed her. If the baby was hungry, it'd usually start sucking on the tip of the finger. Tenzin did just that, so Katara pulled her finger away to guide him to his real nourishment.

"There we go.. good boy, Tenzin!" she said, letting her free hand comb the boy's hair as he began suckling. He placed his tiny hand above her heart to hold himself steady and to show his mother that she shouldn't press him too close. Having given birth to three kids already, Katara had learned a lot from her first two, so much that she'd become really good at nursing. All those tips she'd usually give to new mothers were actually ones she could use herself. She had less problems each time and she could easily pick up the signals when her own child didn't feel comfortable. Right now, Tenzin seemed to be rather cosy in her fuzzy coat.

He looked up at her all the time, his grey eyes rarely closing for more than half a minute. Katara didn't wanna break eye contact with him either. She felt like it would help her establish a special bond with her son. Like it'd help him remember what she looked like when he was little. Although she didn't realize it, it was even more therapeutic for herself.

Katara would sometimes end up talking about her day at work when it was just the two of them together. She'd share her deepest darkest secrets with him, as if he could understand what she was telling him. Every cry or gurgle that Tenzin replied with meant that he loved listening to her voice. That knowledge helped wash away his mother's sadness and stress. She'd smile back at him, coo something silly or rub their noses together, making her baby squeal with joy.

Whether it was baby Tenzin, or baby Kya, or baby Bumi, Aang would describe the mother and baby pair like two peas in a pod. Katara was always meant to have each one of them, to spend time with them, to be their mother. To be a mother.

"All done?" she asked when she felt that his suckling had gradually become weaker. Tenzin held his mouth wide open as she pulled him away from her breast, then tucked it back into her sarashi and covered her chest with her tunic.

Katara noticed the slightly melted candle on the windowsill, so she cradled her baby and walked over to look outside. The snowfall hadn't ceased since the afternoon. The little airbender gazed at the white fluff falling down from the sky in wonder. This was his first winter. He released a short cry and reached one of his hands out towards the window.

"You're still amazed by the snow, huh? You wanna touch it?" Katara cooed. He replied with another cry and a pout, which she took as a 'yes'. She cracked half of the window open and let some cool fresh air inside through the narrow opening. A couple of snowflakes intruded the living room and landed near them.

Tenzin squealed when he almost managed to catch one in his palm. Katara helped along by waterbending some more towards him so he could grab them. Her son giggled at the floating snowflakes until one landed on his nose and began tickling it. He fell silent and pulled a weird face for a few seconds. The next thing Katara knew, he sneezed, blowing such a strong gust of wind past her face that her loose hair flung in the air and landed on the front of her chest. The baby looked at his mother with wide eyes for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"Oohh.. you liked that, huh?" Katara wondered playfully as she closed the window and headed back to the couch. Tenzin merely held his tiny hands in front of his smiling mouth, like he was trying to hold back his laughter.

After she'd taken a seat, Katara puckered her lips and blew a soft breeze against his forehead to teach him how to do it again. Tenzin learned pretty fast as he tried to repeat the same motion, only with a little bit more powerful airbending, making his mother's hair fly and land on her back. He went into another giggle fit. She pulled a thick bunch of her hair on the right side of her chest, letting her son blow at it several times. This game seemed to amuse him to no end.

"What's so funny in here?" Aang wondered as he joined his wife and son, who were both laughing, one more loudly than the other.

"Come here, Aang," Katara said through her giggling, patting the empty side on the couch. The airbender sat down to her left as she held her index finger up to him.

"Wait for it," she smirked, then combed her hair onto her chest one more time. Tenzin took a deep breath and blew at it, laughing at the strands flying in the air before they landed on his mother's back.

"Oh my gosh.. how did you come up with that?" Aang started laughing, too.

"I didn't. He just sneezed and began laughing when my hair flew," Katara explained as she lifted Tenzin a bit higher so he'd cut it out. His giggling quietened and he calmed down at the faint sound of his mother's heartbeat, which thumped that soothing rhythm into his right ear. Aang gently pulled the tunic further away so his head would rest against his mother's bare skin above her left breast and he could hear it better. The little airbender laid a hand above her other breast and grasped the edge of her tunic, gurgling happily. His parents looked at him with loving smiles on their faces, their hearts melting at his little gestures.

"Sweetie, you're not gonna believe what an amazing thing happened to me today," Katara spoke in a low tone, her diamond blue eyes shimmering like the stars in the sky when she stared into her husband's grey eyes.

"I've seen some pretty bizarre things. Try me," Aang dared fondly, snaking his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer.

"I met a spirit. But it was no ordinary spirit. It was the spirit of a little girl who'd died from whooping cough when she was only three years old."

Aang frowned and rubbed her shoulder while she continued talking. She averted her gaze to Tenzin as she tenderly stroked his head.

"Her name was Aiko. I saw her in the morning just as I was finishing my morning rounds in the northeastern borough. I thought she was just an ill child and I tried to help her. She tricked me into chasing her through alleys and I had two accidents trying to catch her, one of which resulted with my ambulance carriage getting busted."

"Oh no.. you're not hurt, are you?" Aang wondered, a concerned look on his face as he cupped her cheek and examined hers for any visible injuries.

"I'm fine, thanks to Mamoun. It could've turned out a lot worse if it hadn't been for him. He was a true friend who helped me a lot today. And I healed myself back at the hospital, don't worry."

"Mmm.. okay," the airbender hummed and kissed her temple, running the back of his hand over the spot.

"So, then what happened?"

"After that last big crash, I finally managed to persuade her to come to me. I could literally touch her, she was physically in our world."

"The gift of the winter solstice," he added.

"Exactly. I didn't realize that back then. She grabbed my hand and led me to an abandoned square. I stumbled upon a homeless pregnant woman, who was already in labour, so I helped her deliver a healthy baby boy. She decided to name him Taro, after me and because he was her firstborn son.. Can you guess how Aiko was connected to them?"

Aang shrugged.

"Aiko was her daughter. All along she was trying to lead me to her mother so I could help her give birth. Her mother, Iniko, told me that she'd seen her ghost in their home after she'd passed away. Aiko still visited her mother during the solstices, when the Spirit World became closer to the mortal world and she could see her.. Can you believe that, sweetie?"

Aang simply smiled and gave Katara a kiss on the lips, their eyes closed before he pulled away and gazed into her half-lidded diamond blue eyes.

"I believe it, Katara," he said, rubbing their noses together as they released a hum of delight.

"Oogies!" someone exclaimed from behind the doorway.

"Bumi!" Aang and Katara replied in unison before their other two children scampered over to join them. Bumi sat next to his father and Kya hopped up on the couch, snuggling up to her mother's side.

"Happy winter solstice celebration, mommy!" the little waterbender said for the second time that day as she stood up for a moment to wrap her arms around her mother's neck and hug her.

"Aww! Thank you, Kya! Muah!" Katara grinned and kissed her daughter's cheek, prompting her to giggle as she sat back down.

"Who did daddy light the candle for this year?" Kya wondered. All five family members gazed at the candlelight still burning brightly on the windowsill.

"He didn't say?" Katara asked in surprise, returning her husband's gaze.

"Since you practically spent the whole day working away from home, the kids and I agreed we'd give you the pleasure of choosing."

The elder waterbender hummed in thought for a moment, considering everything that'd happened that day, before she decided.

"For Kya."

"For me?" the little waterbender gasped, her face beaming.

"For your namesake, sweetie. For your grandmother. For my mom," Katara specified, touching the carving of her necklace with one hand. Aang carefully massaged his thumb around near her neck, feeling her pulse slow down or rise depending on her mood or what she was thinking about.

"I hope that she can see me.. see us, our family, Sokka and dad from the Spirit World right now. She'd be so happy."

"I'm sure she is," he assured her, slowly letting his grey eyes fall shut as he leaned forward to kiss her again. Katara followed his example.

"That's how they do mushy stuff. You'd better get used to it," Bumi told Tenzin. His parents started giggling through their kiss, then burst out laughing as their lips parted when they couldn't contain it any longer. Aang ruffled Bumi's messy hair, after which he gifted Katara with another quick kiss on the cheek while Kya hugged her mommy. Tenzin gurgled when his mother kissed him, too.

"That winter solstice celebration was one of the most memorable ones in my life, with it being Tenzin's first winter among our family, as well as due to the unusual train of events that unfolded that day.

With my help, Iniko and Taro were given a place in a shelter where they stayed for a while until she found a job and could afford an apartment of her own once more. Jia-Li recovered from pentapox and her mother made sure that all members of her family would be vaccinated against any dangerous illnesses from then on, including their newest member, another healthy baby girl, who was born a week later.

Being married to the Avatar, I was blessed to be able to see so many spirits during my lifetime. I knew it in my heart that my mother saw us together that night. And she must've been one of the happiest mothers in the world, besides me."

[socialjusticeartshare]

First She Was Separated From Her Family, Now She’s Separated From School

A refugee child, once separated from her mother at the border by Trump, now struggles with online school.

Every weekday morning, a 12-year-old refugee named Génnezys logs into her seventh grade online classroom. She sits at a tiny table in a corner of her cluttered living room. Before logging in, she tapes her phone to a chair and dials my number on FaceTime. Once we’re connected, I peer into the screen of a laptop lent to her by her public middle school. For hours, I observe coronavirus pandemic-era education for Génnezys and about 20 other children of multiple races, nationalities, and economic circumstances. What I see is both heroic and tragic.

Génnezys is one of the thousands of immigrant children who were torn from their parents in 2018 by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. I wrote about the desperate efforts of Cruz, her incarcerated mother, to find her 10-year-old daughter. They were reunited after about six weeks. Cruz later borrowed $6,000 from a friend for a coyote to smuggle her three-year-old daughter into the U.S. The child was detained for a few days then released to Cruz.

I asked Génnezys to invent a pseudonym to protect her family from U.S. government reprisal, and she came up with a fanciful one based on the Spanish pronunciation — HEH-neh-sees — of the first book in the Old Testament.

Today the family resides in a small Southern city. Cruz works as a janitor, earning a bit less than $10 an hour. They live in a small apartment with one bedroom, which Cruz and the girls share with her boyfriend. He is also an immigrant, and he pays half the rent. He’s employed in construction, and he leaves for work very early in the morning. Cruz goes to work after taking her four-year-old daughter, whom I’ll call Bety, by bus to a daycare center. With school strictly online now because of Covid-19, Génnezys stays in the apartment all by herself from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., often supervising an 8-year-old girl who has her own school computer with headphones. This child’s Latina immigrant mother works, too, so Génnezys acts as babysitter. Before online school started in September, she worried intensely that being without an adult in the home would be lonely and scary. I live hundreds of miles away, so I volunteered to sit with her via FaceTime. She says that she feels much better when I’m with her.

During the first two days of remote school, the teachers, all young or middle-aged white women, cycled though a dither of confusion and kind but mostly fruitless efforts to actually see and hear their students. One problem was that the online platforms were glitchy. The class links often crashed, leaving the students, including Génnezys, with blank screens. But by week’s end, the kinks were worked out — yet the students remained silent phantoms.

“Know that I see you. I hear you. I’m with you,” one young teacher intoned to the kids right after introducing herself. They had names like Hassan, Rasheeda, Yennifer, and Travis. “Black Lives Matter,” the teacher added. She was met by silence from her new students, and she could not see their reactions either. She asked them to turn on their mics and cameras, but getting them to comply was harder than pulling their teeth. “What did you do all summer? How did you deal with Covid? Talk about your family!”

A boy with an Arabic name turned on his mic just long enough to say that he had a baby sister. Indeed, the loud wailing of an infant could be heard. The teacher skipped a beat, then the boy’s mic went dead. No other students turned on their microphones. Not even Génnezys, who had earlier proved she was not shy. When the teacher mispronounced her name on the first day of school, Génnezys politely but firmly corrected her. She is a brilliant girl who knew no English whatsoever two years ago yet speaks it almost perfectly now, and who scrolls through the internet on her own initiative for details about the accident that crippled Frida Kahlo.

Though she has defended her name and sometimes has been the only student to answer her teachers’ questions about math, Génnezys remains strenuously silent about most of the details of her life. The family all got sick in late May, with many days of fever, coughing, muscle aches, nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea, as well as loss of appetite, taste, and smell. They recovered, but Cruz is suffering now from hair loss — a condition just recently recognized as a complication of Covid-19.

When Cruz got sick, she was employed in housekeeping at an upscale chain hotel. She said she fell ill after being ordered to enter and clean a room occupied by a woman who was coughing. She was not given PPE for the job.

Cruz estimates that in her building complex of a few dozen apartments, about 20 other people came down with Covid-19. “No one died, but some were carried off to hospitals in ambulances,” she said, adding that all were immigrants from Latin America.

Latinos comprise fewer than one in five residents in the county. But they make up about half of the people in Cruz’s census tract, while just across a main thoroughfare almost everyone is white and owns a house.  In Cruz’s tract, many of the Latinos live in cramped little rental apartments.

During the outbreak and their own illnesses, Cruz and her children were never tested for Covid-19. Nor did she contact me, though she instructed her preteen daughter to call me for help if she took a turn for the worse. The family just stuck it out, but Cruz was fired by the hotel because of her sickness and missed work. She got the janitorial job just as soon as she felt better. She couldn’t self-quarantine: She had rent to pay, kids to feed. None of this is something Génnezys wants to talk about in online seventh grade.

She doesn’t turn on her camera either.

It’s hard to know exactly why the students as a group refuse to show themselves to their teachers or to each other. Middle school is the empire of peer pressure — pressure not to stand out, even in normal times, when rows of children are looking at and breathing with each other, along with a teacher in a real room. But the kids’ reluctance now seems at least partly due to how dispirited and disconnected their virtual classrooms feel. Génnesyz’s teachers practically stand on their heads coaxing interactions with the students, but the teachers’ energy seems TV-ish, abstract.

The kids are alone. They have no books. The only class that resembles normal school is math. As in times past, the teacher writes figures on a board and explains what they mean. The other classes are a mishmash of hyperactive YouTube science videos with men who speak too fast, and a woman with a white coat and test tubes performing experiments — work the students normally would be absorbed with in a classroom lab, but which they can only stare at now from afar, wall-eyed. An art class features hip-hop music, whose teaching intention is muddled, and digital choose-and-drag stickers and emojis. Strange, sci-fi cartoon people in Génnezys’s American History class purport to recount the high points of the antebellum human bondage, the Civil War, and the Black Codes. After that lesson, I asked Génnezys if she understood what a slave was. She still didn’t know — though she did remember the cartoon guy saying that a man named Frederick Douglass had been forcibly separated from his mother. She knew what that meant, from firsthand experience, but didn’t mention it in class. With me, she minimized her experience. She’d learned that Frederick Douglass was an infant when he was taken. “But, um, I was 10 when it happened,” she said. “I was a big kid, not a little kid.”

One teacher conducted a lesson about why students should participate in small- group, online “breakout” chat rooms. “Because they help us get to know each other?” said Génnezys, daring to speak.

“Very good! Thank you for that, Génnezys!” chimed the teacher, saying all the syllables correctly. Then she warned the students that they must use “appropriate language” in the chat rooms, and that their language was being watched.

This teacher also held a “correct answer” contest, with her pupils silently checking T’s and F’s on their screens. “True or false: If you fight at a school bus stop, you will be punished as severely as if you’d fought a school. True! Right, Brian! Brian gets a point! He’s pulling ahead of Corinne! Next question. True or false: If you touch the private body part of someone else at school, whether on purpose or by accident, you will be punished the same, either way. Yay, Corinne! She’s back in play!”

But there are no school bus stops now. There are no “someone else”s at school.

Génnezys has another reason not to turn on her camera: She is ashamed of her clothes. She fits a girl’s 14 now, but her wardrobe dates from a year ago, when she was size 10 and 12. Her shirts are too tight for her rapidly developing body. In the morning she puts on her mother’s dresses. They are several sizes too large.

Read Our Complete CoverageThe War on Immigrants

Cruz can’t afford to take her daughter shopping. She just lost another week of work, and wages, due to Covid-19. Two co-workers at her janitorial job tested positive and one is in the hospital. Because Cruz worked closely with both infected women, she was quarantined for 14 days. She had no proof that she had already contracted Covid-19. She had to stay home, along with Bety, who ran around the apartment laughing, yelling, and rifling Génnezys’s little desk while her sister tried to pay attention to online class.

An employee from the county health department came by to deliver some onions and pieces of fruit. Cruz finally got a negative test result but still had to finish the quarantine. Génnezys did not tell her teachers what was happening.

Génnezys also avoids the camera because of what Cruz calls “her obsession.” On the second day of school, a teacher asked, “What is your favorite thing to do?” Amid the mass silence, Génnezys activated her mic and bravely answered: “Play with slime,” she said.

“Slime?” said the teacher, nonplussed.

“Yeah. Slime.”

“Ah. OK. Yeah. Slime. Well, that sounds relaxing!”

“Yeah. It is.”

“Slime” is a faddish kid product that’s been around since the 1970s. Back then, it was valued by boys for its gross-out appeal. Now it’s prettier, smells nice, and is all the rage among preteen and teen girls. Many make it from a home recipe involving glue, borax, food coloring, and plastic beads from craft stores like Michael’s.

Génnezys was already into slime by age 10, back in Central America. Cruz’s partner there, an extremely violent man who was neither of the girls’ fathers, was terrorizing and assaulting Cruz and the children, threatening them with death. The girls witnessed the violence. Cruz made plans to hide Bety with her sister and flee to the U.S. with Génnezys. Meanwhile, Génnezys discovered slime. “In my country,” she remembered, “it was called moco,” which is Spanish for snot. She pushed it, pulled it, rolled and wrapped it, over and over and over. It calmed her, Cruz remembers.

After a grueling trip north, including a stay in a filthy, crowded stash house, things got worse at the border when the Trump administration took Génnezys from Cruz and shipped her 2,000 miles away to a child detention center. There, she was warehoused with mostly older Central American girls who’d come to the U.S. by themselves, pregnant or already with babies.

After spending six weeks with these young women, according to Cruz, 10-year-old Génnezys was using racy language and discussing sex. After she was reunited with her mother, she experienced night terrors and walked in her sleep for three months. She had three sessions with a psychologist. Then, said Cruz, “She entered a new phase of her life: adolescence,” and “she hardly talked about what happened.” Even so, Cruz added, “Two weeks ago, after Génnezys had an eye exam that showed a problem with one of her eyes, she mentioned to me that an older girl in the detention center hit her hard in that eye with a ball. That was two years ago. She’d never told me till now. Sometimes I worry about what’s in her head.”

Outside of her head is slime: jars and jars of it in all colors and textures, from shiny and glistening to rough and frothy. “I love YouTube slime videos,” Génnezys told me. The site has a plethora of young girls extolling their slime collections, as well productions with sexy women’s voices doing ASMR routines, and images of long, manicured fingernails digging languorously into the goo.

“I worry about it,” said Cruz. “It’s such a waste of money. But she would rather have slime, even, than clothes that fit her.”

If Génnezys were to activate her camera for her classmates and teachers, they might see her furiously and endlessly twisting, pulling, and punching her strange doughs as she fidgets at the computer and tries hard to do her schoolwork. A few months ago, Wired magazine interviewed a neuroscientist and psychologist who suggested that people might be gravitating toward slime during the Covid-19 crisis to simulate the feeling of touching actual people.

As a Central American refugee child, Génnezys has been traumatized by murderous violence, forced family separation, poverty, and plague. More and more, however, nonrefugee children in America are joining her in the grief and fear of being apart and alone. How many of these kids are scrunched over their own computers, secretly toying with slime?

“I don’t know,” Génnezys said when I asked her that question. “Maybe I’m the only one. Before the virus, I didn’t play with it in school because school was good. Now, I don’t think I could do school if I didn’t have slime. Without it I’d be dying.

“Dying of what?”

“Boredom.”

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[sammyhale]

J2 JIBCon 2017 Panel

*Warning for s13 spoilers

J2 were stuck on a plane (Jared: a car then a plane. Jensen: then a train...*boys laugh* there wasn’t a train) so they weren’t able to watch the finale. 

Boys ask what the fans thought of the finale. A fan yells out that episode 22 was awesome. Jared: “Guys, it’s Supernatural, people can come back.” 

A fan yells out about Cas. Jensen: Cas? Who?

Jensen: Who all died? Let’s list them. Cas, Crowley, Rowena, Kelly, Ketch. Jared is running out of fingers. Jensen: It was like the Red Wedding! “Little Game of Thrones reference for you guys.” 

Jared starts playing with the holes in Jensen’s pants on his knees. Jensen: Don’t touch the hole in my knees! Jared laughs saying that Jensen only saw the back of the pants and didn’t realize the holes were there. Jensen laughs and says he really didn’t know. Just saw black pants in his size and grabbed them without inspecting. “I paid for this...” Only realized when he put them on. Jared keeps playing with them lol. 

J2 talk about a Supernatural movie. Jared asks Jensen if he wants to do a movie. Jensen says he would rather do a shortened season. Like a “six episode release.” Jared starts giggling at “release” (quickly turns dirty) hiding his face. Jensen: Leave it alone. Leave it alone. That’s low hanging fruit. Just walk away. 

Jared would also rather do a shortened TV season rather than a movie. 

Jensen said that one of their produces had an idea where the brothers wake up in a different place than they’re familiar with (AU) and all of the people in the town are old cast members or old characters but “weird” like not who they were on the show. Like the Trickster is the mayor, etc. 

Jared says there are times when he wishes they can delve into something for more than one episode. He likes the idea of doing a shortened season like Jensen said because they could have one arc, a specific location or city, etc, that the boys could delve into specifically for a few episodes and being focused on one thing for a long time during the shorter season. 

Jensen: And this is why we don’t write the show. Jared laughs. 

Jared plays with his mic for a few seconds after it makes a loud noise.

Jensen, repeating a fan’s question: What TV shows would you like to see Sam and Dean thrust into *boys giggle*

The question was what show would they liked the boys to be in if there was another episode like Changing Channels? Jared says The Simpsons, then brings up the crossover Supernatural is doing with Jared: Scooby-Doo. He says they already recorded the dialogue for it (it takes time to draw the animation). Episode 16 of next season is the Scooby-Doo ep. Jared: Jensen, Misha and I...Crowd reacts at hearing MIsha’s name. Jensen realizes, covers his face. Jared blushes after Jensen smiles at him and Jared realizes that he just spoiled that and hides his face for a long time lol. 

Jensen quickly says: He’s just an animated character. There’s other characters in the animated ep, too, that don’t exist anymore. Jensen to Jared: BOOM! You’re welcome *slaps Jared’s shoulder*

Jared says it’s the only ep they’ve seen so far so, in all fairness lol. 

Jensen joking: It was cool that Jeffrey Dean came back. Jared: Ruby. Jensen: Ruby - “it’s a who’s who.” In sync the boys mime like they’re digging holes with shovels lol. 

(Side note and spoilers: For those worried Jared might get in trouble about letting Castiel’s return slip, it doesn’t seem like they were going to try and hide that all hiatus, because during Misha’s panel a fan tweeted: “Misha seems to think we should be focusing on how Cas’ death will affect him when he returns rather than worry he won’t come back” so he was talking about it, too. Source: x). 

While a fan asks a question, Jared opens up one of the drinks and sniffs it, then walks it over to Jensen so he can sniff it. 

Fan from last year who beat Jensen at rock paper scissors wants to do a rematch. She comes onstage and Jared referees the match like last time. They go 2 out of 3. Jensen wins the first, fan wins the second. For the 3 Jared steps in between so Jensen and the fan can’t see each other. Fan beats Jensen again! Jensen: Dammit! Jared jokes: She was looking at the screen, she totally changed it. Jensen: Next year!

Fan wants to hear story about when J2 were mistaken for a couple years ago at the airport hotel. Jared explains that this was years ago and they were shooting late in Vancouver and they had to get up super early to fly to Los Angeles to do something there. They decided since they had filmed until like 4 or 5am they would just go straight to the airport. Airport wasn’t checking people in yet. Said the Fairmont that is connected to the airport is open so they go to get a room. Since this was back in the days of film and not digital, they had heavy makeup on from set that they were still wearing. They decided to grab one room, asked the person at the desk if they do rooms by the hour. Jared says Supernatural hadn’t aired yet, wasn’t sure if the guy knew him from Gilmore Girls and Jensen from Smallville or if he knew them at all. Said that “we just need a room for a couple hours.” Guy was like, “We don’t do that here.” So they just asked for their smallest room and the guy gave them a look like, “Okay.” J2 finally realized by the guy’s reaction that they thought J2 just wanted one bed and were together. They were like no, we just need a couple hours of sleep, we play brothers on a show, just going to do some acting. Jensen laughs.

Jensen: “I just love the guy at the front desk then immediately picked up the phone and was like, ‘Uh yeah that guy from Smallville and the guy from Gilmore Girls just showed up in like quarter drag and got a room together. Okay, TV Guide, thanks.” Jared cracks up. 

Fan gives a shout out to ep 22 loving Sam’s leadership and Dean’s emotional honesty. Jensen: Oh yeah, Dean’s crying again. 

Fan asks about the Mockumentary. J2 say they are not classic Hollywood types. They moved their families out of Hollywood and out of California in general.

Jared playing with Jensen’s holy jeans again. 

The Mockumentary was them making fun of Hollywood types and stereotypes of themselves. They both love satire. The characters derive from stories they hear about other sets, other actors and some of the antics are pretty outrages so they were making fun of that. 

J2 horse around on set and have way too much fun. They would rather do that than walk around on eggshells like some other actors or crew members have to do on “toxic” sets they hear about from other people. Used a bit of that to add to those fake characters in the Mockumentary. Complete opposites of who we are. 

How do you keep fighting? Jared says it changes day to day sometimes. You can be inspired by song, rainbow, piece of art, friend, spouse, child parent, etc. Jared says that he is still having a fun time learning that life surprises him everyday. Something makes him sad everyday, something makes him happy everyday, tries to focus on the latter. Mentions that days like today what makes him happy is meeting fans, shaking hands, the hugs and smiles. “How fucking cool.”  

Jared says if it wasn’t for Supernatural he would never have meet any of the fans or Jensen (”or this guy”) or any of the other cast. Sometimes when he is tired or sore or jetlagged and worries he’s going to let someone down/disappoint someone, he forgets what a cool blessing his situation is and tries to remind himself of that blessing. 

Jensen: There’s also a lot of inspiration in our lies. We have beautiful wives, amazing children, we have great friends, family, awesome extended family, there’s a lot that you can be inspired by. When it comes to the day to day work of it, getting up in the morning early to make your set call and to get there even though you worked all night last night, maybe tired or sick. He and i have been doing this for a pretty long time as most of you know. At this point the network and studio, they’re like we’re gonna keep going if you wanna keep going. Gotten to a point where, we don’t have to do this. When Jensen wakes up in the morning he might feel tired and thinks: I don’t have to do this, I get to do this. He says it’s a sentiment he and Jared both shared. They are very fortunate and humbled by the daily inspiration they get.

J2 discuss how the scripts get worked out. Jensen goes into detail with Jared adding in tidbits. Writer comes up with a general idea, if it gets approved, works out a beginning middle and end of the script. Gets pitched to Andrew and Bob. Write the treatment, submit it to studio and network to get their approval. Then they’ll pepper in through lines or scenes throughout the season. Like, when in a MOTW ep they say something like “Talked to Mom yet?” that’s a through line to keep the season length arc connected. They know it’s a random line that gets thrown in but there’s a reason why the writers include them here and there. Script goes through moderate rewrites throughout the whole process. Then it becomes a production script. Once the script is finally done, the production crew has to piece it together to make it live action. Essentially a puzzle they have to put together. Many departments. Once everything is figured out, they then have 8 days to shoot (after 8 days of prep, then location scouting, building sets, etc). 

Jared sneaks Jensen a drink while he’s talking and Jensen thanks him. They take a moment talking about honey crisp apples because of the smell of the drink. Jared made a face after taking a drink. Jensen asks if it’s sour and if he’s okay. Jared says he is blowing fire right now. Whatever alcohol they are drinking is strong lol. 

J2 start whispering to each other about a guest star but can’t share because she might come back. 

After shooting they take several weeks editing, additional dialogue, sound effects, then a master edit, then send it to the studio, then it goes to affiliates then it goes on air. Very detailed explanation on the entire process.

Lot of people work tireless hours to make the show what it is. Everyone who works on the show don’t get nearly the praise they deserve. “We are just the two faces you see the most of.” 

Misha crashes the panel with an accent he calls “German, Russian, Italian.” 

Misha asks J2 if after they read the end of the finale script how many hours they held each other and cried. Jensen: I remember reading the end and literally burst into tears of laughter. And I thought, how much fun is season 13 gonna be? I mean, talk about cutting the fat. 

Misha comes on stage and hugs Jared and the three start telling a story about how Misha rented a house while they were filming on location for the last three days of s12 because it was a long drive to the location, which was halfway to Whistler. Misha invited J2 to stay with him so they wouldn’t have to make that drive either. Misha: This was a moment of poor decision making. 

The shooting schedule was like 3 or 4pm to like 5am the next morning for those three days. Jensen: It was awful. Misha offered for them to stay so they wouldn’t be exhausted doing the 4 hour drive roundtrip. He told them it was like a 3 or 4 bedroom house, but it wasn’t lol. It was actually two bedrooms at the most. 

Jared slept on the floor in Misha’s bedroom, Jensen was alone in the other room. Jensen: “[Jared] slept on the floor next to the bed [Misha] slept in. I don’t know what happened, I was in the other room.” 

Lots of innuendo and lots of laughter lol. 

Misha: How much of this story are we going to tell? Jared: We’re telling it all. Jared realizes that it’s time for J2 to go because Misha is supposed to be starting his solo panel. Jared: We’ll delay a little bit for y’all, “fuck it.” 

Jared explains that after shooting until about 5 in the morning they go back to Misha’s place he’s renting and decide to hang out on the patio and drink as a send off to season 12. Jensen: After we realized that there were very little places to sleep in this place, we were like, guess we should just stay up. 

Jared: So we stayed up, and then went to bed. Misha stands up and high-fives Jared. Boys are all giggling lol. 

Jensen: I do remember at one point being in the other room being awoke by *mimics loud snoring* and he was like “What are they doing in there?! Have they brought in animals now?!”

Jared was a little sick and was snoring so loud that Jensen could hear him from down the hall through a closed door and it woke him up. 

Jensen wondered how Misha could possibly be sleeping through that in the same room. Jared: Oh he had been put to the test the night before ;) Jensen: He can sleep through anything. Jared: No he woke up for...*laughter* Jensen: When you nudged him. 

Jared referring to the fans: They’re all like, what’s true and what’s not? I wanna believe!

Jared was snoring from down the hall and closed door. Jensen was like 

Jared: What’s true and what’s not? Boys are just cracking up lol. 

The rented home is all under Misha’s name. Misha: So stupid. They wake up the next day, phone rings. Jared answers. Guy on the phone thinks he’s talking to Virgil, the guy who owns the home. As Jared is pretending to be the home owner because he knows everything is under Misha’s name, Misha catches him and tries to take the phone from him. The phone flies out of both of their hands into a glass and breaks the glass. Misha: There’s the sound of me going, “No!” glass breaking and the phone hanging up. 

The phone rings again, Misha runs downstairs to unplug the phone, forgetting he has left his laptop open. Jensen says that Jared runs over to the computer and starts tweeting on Misha’s Twitter. Misha realizes he left his computer vulnerable and sprints back to the room. Misha laughs when he remembers that Jared was trying to tweet Trump from Misha’s Twitter. Misha finally got the phone unplugged and his laptop rescued. 

Jensen: Meanwhile, it was the best morning cup of coffee entertainment I’ve ever had. He was just watching them from the table lol.  

Misha goes to shower and Jared starts flipping through channels and finds the pay per view. Stops on a show called something like Boys in the Shower 7, or about their butts, he can’t remember. Jensen: That piqued your interest? Jared also assumed the home owner would have blocked renters aka Misha from using the PPV but the guy didn’t so Jared ordered it. Misha says Jared actually subscribed to it under Misha’s name. Misha: it was very graphic bathroom sex. Jared: In all fairness they were offering a deal at the time lol. 

J2 left to go back to work before Misha did. Misha spent two hours trying to unsubscribe it. He was unsuccessful because he didn’t have the password Jared had created.

On that note, J2 take off. Misha starts his panel by finishing the story saying that they were all sitting on the couch watching the graphic bathroom sex while J2 were waiting for Clif to pick them up and it took Clif a minute to realize what was on screen lol. 

Info via: Periscope, Periscope, Sil’s livetweet list