A Different Destiny

Part 25

Except Gua and another figure. Katara couldn't make out many of the features of the other person over the chaos on the ship. The only thing she could tell from here is that the person seemed to be older and a man.

"Katara-"

"Boy, don't you think she's heard enough of your bumbling." said the man next to him. While not necessarily unkind, his voice had a certain finality to it. Gua fell silent at the older man's words.

"Now Miss Katara, I'm sorry this knucklehead scared you. I think you misunderstand us." The old man gave her a warm smile and slowly held his hands up in a sign of good will.

She eyed the two of them warily. The older man was also from the earth kingdom, but Katara could tell he was from the area like Gua. Despite being Earth Kingdom citizens, the residents of Chen Bao had strong features from the water tribe. Many of the residents had bright sea green eyes and their noses tended to slope gently downwards, rather than forming harsh angles.

Katara said nothing but didn't move to attack or defend herself further. The man took this as a good sign and continued. "We don't want to fight you, we want to work with you and give you a lot of money."

At that, four of the tentacles fell away and Katara's jaw dropped slightly. Out of all the things she had imagined this man saying, that hadn't occurred to her. She was expecting some kind of attack, threat, or even just demands of some kind.

Gua smiled sheepishly behind the older man and shrugged as if to say "Sorry, I told you so."

Her nerves hadn't been entirely alleviated though. "Then why was I attacked at the dock? Do you always throw rocks at people you want to do business with?"

Despite her obvious sarcasm, a smile pulled at the edges of his mouth. He knew now that he had her talking, he was in control of the situation.

"That was an unfortunate mistake, we were short on men this morning and had less working than normal. Thus, causing this regrettable incident." he said gesturing to the rest of the chaos on the ship.

Katara said nothing at first, still apprehensive of the whole situation. But she and Zuko needed the money- what other choice did she have?

She agreed to hear the old man out- Kang or the boss as Gua had referred to him. It seemed most people just called him Boss Man or something of the variety.

Katara had let her octopus arms fall but didn't move closer towards the Boss and Gua. She could feel the water puddle around her, ready to be summoned again at a moment's notice. This wasn't lost to the Boss, but he shrugged it off.

"Miss Katara, I am truly sorry we got off on the wrong foot. This idiot over here never pays attention." Boss said giving, Gua an affectionate but disciplinary clap on the shoulder. "If we had met on better terms, I could've invited you to dine with me in my private quarters so that we could have properly talked business-"

Katara couldn't take the suspense anymore, so she cut him off. "Business? What could you possibly want from me? From the looks of it you, all are merchants, and I don't have anything to sell. I was hoping to help around a shop or an inn to make a few coins, so that my companion and I could continue on our travels."

At the brief mention of Zuko, Kang's eyes widened. "There's another waterbender with you?"

Katara silently cursed herself, she hadn't meant to say there was anyone else. Even though she hadn't mentioned Zuko by name, she hadn't wanted to draw any unnecessary attention to him.

She decided it best to lie. "Yes, but they were injured on our travels here and are recovering. I was hoping to work a few days to make enough for us to get some supplies and continue our travels."

Katara hoped it would be enough to satisfy Kang's interest.

Kang paused for a moment as he mauled over Katara's words. "Hmmm, sounds like you and your companion are in a bit of a rough spot."

Katara shrugged and tried to look unconcerned, not wanting to give up any more information than she had to.

He nodded, evidently satisfied and smiled widely. "Well I think I have an idea that would help the both of us out."

Kang went on to explain how lately they had been having some trouble making their most recent deliveries due to none other than mother nature. He went on to talk about how northern prevailing winds had almost doubled their shipping times, and in the world of business Kang explained, time is money.

His ship needed to make a significant delivery of ore to an Earth Kingdom merchant in a day's time. Normally, this trek would take three days with fair weather. But Kang proposed with her waterbending they could make the deadline.

Before Katara could respond, Kang slid a small sack across the wooden deck to her. Katara could hear the jingle of coins, a few gold pieces spilling out as it stopped in front of her

She had to make a conscious effort not to drop her jaw, growing up in the Southern Water Tribe she hadn't come by money like that before. She didn't even need to count it, she knew if the rest of the pieces inside were gold as well. There was more than enough to cover her and Zuko's travels for weeks if not months.

Kang looked at her reaction, and smugly added. "You have no reason to trust us Miss Katara, we've never worked together before. But let this be a sign of good faith."

Katara nodded, and scooped up the sack of coins without looking inside. "When do we leave?"

—----------

Katara walked about the deck, not sure what to do with herself. After she and the Boss had finalized their partnership, and the rest of the crew seemed reasonably sure that the octopus arms had all fallen back into the ocean, the deck sprung back to life.

Crew members scrambled to finish loading the ship and fix some of the damage Katara had caused. Luckily nothing huge had been damaged, mostly cargo had been shifted around on the deck.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and instinctively threw herself sideways out of reach. She turned and saw Gua standing there, a cup in his hand.

He gave a big stupid grin that spread from ear to ear. Out of everything that had happened that day, that probably shocked her the most. Not just an hour ago she had been coming at Gua with everything she had - now he was smiling at her?

Gua stretched his arm out, offering the cup to her. "Here, I promise nothing in it but some herbs. I'm not even sure they work. My mother always used to give them to me and my brother to promote overall wellness, she said something about it promoting the flow of chi in the body."

"Oh really?" she said.

"Look I'm not promising it works but it tastes amazing here try it." Gua must have been trying to make up for their earlier- misunderstanding. Before handing the small wooden cup to Katara, he took a drink first. He made a bit of a show, clumsily letting some of the water dribble out of the side of his mouth to show he had actually taken a drink. He licked his lips like a playful sea pup and grinned at Katara holding out the cup again.

Katara rolled her eyes and quickly snatched it from his hands, drinking the water greedily. She hadn't realized how long it had been since she had any water, or a proper meal for that matter.

As if Gua could read her mind, he said "Come on let's head over to the galley, as long as one of those men you threw off the ship wasn't the cook, we should be able to find you something decent to eat."

"I did not-" before she could get another word out, Gua cut her off.

"And maybe if you're nice to me, I'll forgive you for almost concussing me earlier." To Katara's surprise, he winked at her.

Katara scowled, and Gua turned on his heels heading for the end of the deck, his shoulders moving up and down with laughter.