In truth, they didn't have to wait long for Kari to arrive at the ferry. At the end of the dock she stopped short. Her grip tightening on her bag.
"What's wrong?" Bolin asked when he noticed her uneasy look at the water
"N-nothing. I'm just a little uneasy from my fall this morning..."
" Don't worry. I got you" he said, taking her hand. She couldn't let go until they reached the shore again. They never asked why she seemed to be afraid of the water, but they all were wondering it. Kari sensed it.
After a quick tour of the stadium, they made their way up to the practice room. She watched as they suited up with their padded gear and began throwing attacks at each other, taking turns practicing defensive maneuvers. She watched Mako more than anyone; not out of love, that was the last thing on her mind. Once she had developed her bending, it was the largest part of her life. Without her fire, she felt empty. After a while, she had enough and got up from her seat.
"Sorry...I just can't watch this anymore. Is there bath house nearby I can wash up at? I still have 40 years of dust, dirt, and now seawater on me. I need a bath...badly. You understand, right?"
They tried to understand and offered to escort her to a nearby bath house, but she refused, saying that she could find her way, given directions, and that they clearly needed more time to practice. She was given directions to the "Twin Jade Bath House", which might still take pure gold coins. She left them quickly, not wanting to see another person bend anything. Even and earthbender could remind her of all she had lost because of her seemingly stupid sacrifice to protect Aang.
After spending weeks tracking her friends secretly in the wilderness, she knew that finding a bathhouse in a city would be a cinch, so she took her time to explore this strange new place. Never before had she seen such tall buildings and strange wagons that moved without beasts to pull them. The sounds, the smells. It was spectacular and thrilling. For once she forgot about losing her bending and felt herself.
She spent the next hour nourishing herself and found a quaint little tea shop where she drank a cup of White lotus tea in memory of her old friend, Iroh. As she departed and went in search of the bathhouse, she heard a ruckus in an side street and ducked into an alley to watch.
"Time's run out, Waterbender. You may have been a hotshot in the arena, but now, you're nothing." Kari caught a glimpse of the speaker's dark hair and red attire. He had to be a firebender. She stole another look and saw another waterbender and an earthbender corner the poor victim and shove him to his knees in front of the loud firebender.
"Fame can't buy you out this time, superstar. You can pay your debts now, or with your life" Kari couldn't believe she was seeing this and didn't think much before grabbing a handful of coins from her pocket and throwing them at the big-headed firebender and his fellow gangsters. One of them hit him square in the temple, drawing his attention away from his poor, dark haired victim.
"Leave him alone!!! Whatever he owes you should be covered by that gold. Now let him go," she took a firebenders figting position, "before I give you the banished prince treatment!"
She scourned herself for speaking against her friend in a threat, but she was on a role trying to intimidate those three men...wait a minute...three men, against only her...but if she could free their captive, at least she might even the score with a waterbender to help since she herself still didn't have her bending. She stepped closer, close enough to barely reach the splash zone where she threw her coins.
"This is none of your concern, girly. Now get lost, we got buisness here!" He turned away. His mistake. She caught up some of her coins and slammed them against his face melting them and burning his face at the same time. She stepped back in awe that she had her bending back, all it took was a spark. A wicked grin crossed her face. As he screamed in agony, his earthbender friend bent a rock out of the ground and sent it hurling at her head. She saw it just in time to catch it and throw it right back at him, no bending needed. The waterbender thug dropped the captive and threw a large jet of water from a jacket pocket toward her, but she was expecting this attack. She had seen it before. She let it get close enough, then sent a quick firey blast over it, converting it all to steam, clouding the area.
