parallel lines

chapter xii

Word Count: 2,905 words

Chapter X: 授人以魚不如授之以漁

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"You want to walk in a Fire Nation town when they're all fired up with their... fire?"

They were all walking on foot when Aang pitched the idea of going to a festival which half of them agreed on but they still were going since there's too much fighting with Aang and Katara really on board in going to the festival. It was also a celebration to the incoming year of the monkey that was to happen tonight, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to roam around and purchase goods when everything is at a great price.

It felt really warm during the celebration, at least how the Fire Nation celebrated it, especially in their disguises. Natsuko would've thought of this as another year where she gets to be plus one age just like every other year, so it was nice to celebrate it, makes her forget about it all in all.

There were dozen of things that she thought was peculiar and interesting. There were men covered in dragon looking cloth as supposed to a usual human dragon, many of the so called fireworks which they lit up and it will explode beautifully in the sky. There were many delicacies which were based on spice which she was somehow familiar with, staying with Zuko and the others since they were from the Fire Nation and all.

What were they doing right now, except for chasing the Avatar? Are they doing well? Did they have fun during music nights? How are they celebrating the new years coming?

Many questions were running through her mind but she needn't care as she was dragged to get masks to blend in more with the crowd. Needless to say they all looked rather... unrecognizable in their masks, Natsuko was eyeing a mask that the person of the stall had in hand, picking what resembled to be a white fox with an expression that she couldn't distinguish, "You have a good eye there, little lady, that's a kitsune mask."

She was about to thank the person and pay them, disregarding the fact that she could somehow recognize the person's voice, and saw them faceless before blinking twice to see that the man who was in front of her was giving her a smile. She looked back at the mask before putting it on, it was plain and simple, no other color than white, yellow, and red to accent the details, something that wouldn't attract any attention to her. Actually, no one would care in this state while there are a lot of attractions surrounding the place, proven by Sokka who was already by the stall when he heard the mentions of food.

And with the mention of food, people were bumping into Natsuko before bowing and saying something between the lines of "thank you for blessing us this year and please continue to bless us this year" before handing her rice and what looked like colored liquid that when sniffed was actually the drink she had when she met June. She smiled at the woman until she saw that the woman was also faceless, blinking again and saw the woman walking away from her with a child holding her hand. It was really a weird experience but she was definite that a spirit was behind all of this.

Anyways, Sokka immediately consumed the food named "Flaming Fire Flakes" before his brain could comprehend that it was spicy and before he could realize that the food stuck true to its name. There was also a small place for children where they displayed the "Fire Lord's greatness" through property, when he brutally burned the puppet Earth Kingdom soldier. The other part was a massive gathering of people enjoying a man who used his bending to create doves out of the fire.

"For my next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience."

He was what Natsuko would say an "illusionist" who was playing tricks with their eyes to create things that weren't there, that is until he was bending fire again and was soon engulfed in flames, leaving the rest of them shocked when Natsuko was soon on stage and the bags of rice and wine were gone from her hands, "Excuse me, sir, I didn't volunteer and-"