Coming Together

Bending

The ferry ride to Air Temple island, as it was now called, never took long. The boat held almost no one nowadays, all of the Acolytes chose to live on the island with Aang. And seeing as the island was self sufficient, they had no real reason to leave. She looked to her left and right, seeing one Acolyte she was familiar with and smiled to herself, walking toward the bow and sitting beside her. Katara gave the girl a small shock when she nudged her.

"Oh!" She said and held her chest. "Hello Master Katara." She breathed out softly, letting her eyes flutter open to the day's light as the ferry started to cross the bay,

"Good morning Cho. I didn't mean to startle you." She said with a soft smile.

"No, it's okay. I was just deep in thought."

"Oh, anything interesting?" She asked, genuinely curious. The small woman let out a huff and blew a piece of hair out of her face, turning and letting her deep green eyes touch Katara's.

"It's a family problem. It's nothing you need to worry about..." She said and looked down to her hands, folded together in her lap. Katara, being who she is, laid a hand on Cho's folded set, making her look back to her. Katara smiled again and admired her extremely tiny figure, taking in her chestnut hair that was pulled into a very neat bun, aside from a few stray curls.

"Tell me." She said softly and squeezed her hands. Cho looked back up into her eyes and though just five years separated the two, she saw a Katara as a mother figure. Someone deeply caring. Someone compassionate. Someone she could trust. Before she knew it, her eyes were watering and her smile and turned into a frown. Before Cho could even ask for Katara's forgiveness she was pulled into the waterbenders arms. Cho wasn't sure what made her feel so safe with her but she just let out a sob, burying her head into Katara's chest. Katara cradled her head and patted her back, holding her close to her body.

"Cho, please don't cry." She crooned to the younger woman, thankful for the fact that they were the only ones on the ferry. "Is something wrong at home? Did something happen between you and the other Acolytes?"

"No." She sniffed and pulled away from her. "It's nothing like that. It's the opposite."

"I'm sorry, I don't follow you. What's going on?"

"It's my parents. They think I'm being brainwashed by Avatar Aang and the other Acolytes. They don't understand that this way of life is my choice, and that even though I am turning my back on my old way of life it doesn't mean they are bad parents." She relayed to the young waterbending master, more hot tears flowing down her cheeks. Cho reached up to dry her face with her yellow sleeves.

"Is that where you are coming from? You're parent's house?" Katara asked and put a hand on her shoulder. The woman nodded.

"Have you tried explaining how you feel? And that you are not the only one here who feels that way?"

"Of course I have. But every word that comes out of my mouth is either dishonoring them or hinting at being held against my will, according to my mother. She said that if I choose this way of life, then they never want to see me again. So I left." More tears started to come and Katara held her to her bosom, feeling very protective of this Acolyte she had come to know over the past few weeks.

"It's going to be okay. What you are doing is a remarkable thing. You are helping to rebuild an entire nation. If they can't see that good that you are doing, and that you actually want this, then maybe it's a good thing you are on an island." She said softly, rubbing her back. Cho let out another sniff and nodded.