Avatar:Folk tale of an earthbender{Book One:Earth}

Chapter 5: Familiar face

Kaori ran as fast as she could as soon as she got off of the palace grounds, she wanted to get as far away as possible before she changed her mind. She was painfully aware that this idea lacked any backup plans for if it backfired. In her mind, it was better than spending a miserable, but privileged life in the palace, with her whole life laid out before her. But her earthbending, for the very first time, opened new doors. And made new possibilities. Maybe she could try being spontaneous, it was hard to do that when your whole life is planned out by someone else. Her main priority then was to learn earthbending. But of course, she'd need to find some kind of teacher. Perhaps her mothers' family could help her? But there was no guarantee that they even knew of her existence. And she'd gotten barely any information on them. All she knew was that they most likely lived in omashu, they were earthbenders, and chances are that they had blonde hair similar to hers. And that wasn't much to go off of. And then there was her second mission, finding the avatar. Which could prove even harder, the avatar was supposed to be born into the earth nation this time, right? Even if she didn't succeed on her missions, she could always just live out her days in omashu, free from duties, free from stress, and free from stepmothers.

She shook her head, realizing that she'd let her mind wander. She'd been on the train at this point, staring out at the passing fields as she imagined the life that could lay out before her. She'd just be, Kaori, the earthbender. No special titles. She'd hoped to find some kond of companion, after all, she'd hated being alone more than anything. For a moment, she even thought she could meet "the one". She shook her head at the thought, knowing that she was completely clueless about love. But that wasn't to say she never wanted to find someone, after all, she'd always enjoyed stories where the handsome prince saved the princess from a fearsome dragon. Her prince had yet to come, her stepmother being the fearsome dragon. She'd much prefer to spend her days with someone at her side, as long as they treated her right. Alas, now really wasn't the time for love anyway, she had enough on her plate. She let out a long sigh, as she'd still been wondering whether this was a good idea or not. Omashu was a large city, and really, there was no guarantee that her family was even there. Yet, even if she never found them, she would still try to live out her days there. Worst comes to worst, she'd go back to the palace, eventually get married off to some cranky general, and sit in her sister's shadow for the rest of her life. Miserable.

She shook her head once again, trying to clear the negative thoughts from her mind. And before she knew it, the train had come to a stop, she grabbed her coat and her small bag, practicing what she'd say if she were confronted in her head. "Thank you sir/ma'am" "Who's Princess Kaori?" "Excuse me". Thankfully, nobody spoke to her as she left the train station. Yet she still had a long journey ahead of her.

First she'd have to get a cab out to the coast, where she'd take a boat to the earth kingdom. After a long process of trial and error, a taxi finaly stopped for her. "You look familiar.." The driver said with a husky voice. "Hey...wait...are you..." Kaori gulped, preparing to be exposed. "Are you the little girl from those dog food commercials?" He asked, with a goofy smile. "Oh..uh..no.." Kaori said, sighing with relief.

Thankfully, she remained undisturbed. "Jeez...do these people ever go outside?" She thought as she reached the docks, giving the taxi driver a generous tip. The boat trip went smoothly as well. Though Kaori got horribly sea sick, getting many strange looks. "This is humiliating.."

Unlucky for Kaori, she still had a whole other train to take. "I hate...trains...so..so..much.." She muttered as she boarded, the man who looking at the tickets eyed her. "Sssh! You'll hurt it's feelings!!!" She squinted, scowling. "What?" She said, her voice cracking. "Just tryna make conversation!" He said. "Dang...commoners really are weird.." She muttered. "Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed.."

The train ride was long and excruciating. Kaori got a bad case of motion sickness that day. But at least she was far far away from the fearsome creature that was her stepmother.

She stood outside for a few moments, eyeing the passing people warily. She took out that map she'd brought, unfortunately, it was slightly outdated. But it'd have to do, she was too scared to ask anyone for directions. She came to a halt as she saw a crowd of people all congregated around something.

She tried to look over to see what it was they were all so impressed by, but she was too short to see.

"Oh my! It's really you! I can't believe I'm meeting the avatar!"

Kaori was taken aback from hearing this. She thought she'd at least have to try to find the avatar. But, was it really this easy? She stood there dumbfounded. But that didn't last, as she fell back as people pushed past her. "Watch yourself!" Said a girl no older than herself. But as she fell, she felt somebody catch her and lift her up. She looked up only to see a tall, tanned, brown haired boy, around the same age as herself, wearing a green shirt. What really stood out to her about this boy is that he was identical to the one she'd seen in her dream only a night before then. He looked so familiar, yet she had trouble placing him. "You'd really better apologize for that, you knocked her down" He said, tapping the other girl's shoulder gingerly. The girl turned around gingerly. "Whatever. Sorry." She said, pushing her way to the front. Kaori stood there completely dumbfounded, trying to place where she'd seen this boy before, but to no avail. He tilted his head. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm gonna.. go over there.." The boy said awkwardly as he shuffled backward to try to get a better look at the supposed Avatar, as Kaori stared up at him, dumbfounded.

She shook her head, telling herself that she must've been mistaken. She pushed through the crowd, only to see a teenage boy, around 15-16 years old. "Yes, yes, you may have my autograph. A picture? Why not?" He said, letting out a long, cold, haughty laugh. "If you're the avatar. Prove it. Bend." said the tanned boy from before, with an unreadable smile. The "avatar" let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Of course" He said, with a hint of nervousness in his voice, with a solid, firm stance, and with a swift movement of his arms, a pillar rose from the ground. "See, I am-" The other boy stopped him. "That doesn't prove squat. Come on. Bend. Waterbend. Airbend." He said sharply.

The self proclaimed avatar raised his eyebrow, snarling at the other boy. "Alright.." He stuck his arm out, standing there blankly for a few moments. "Well...that's underwh-" The alleged Avatar snapped his fingers, and suddenly, water shot out from his his hand, into the other boy's face. But, there was something strange about it, almost un-natural. It shot out, almost like a hose.

The boy whiped his face, his hair was wet now. "Hm. Well, don't you need a source to waterbend?" He said, tilting his head. The alleged Avatar's eyes widened. "W-well..I absorbed it...a new technique!" Before the so-called avatar could finish his sentence, the boy in the green shirt pulled down the supposed avatar's sleeve, revealing a hose. "Fake Waterbending? Why would the Avatar fake waterbend?" He said sarcastically. Kaori watched as this all unfolded, her mouth wide open like a curious child. "Imposter!" Shouted a girl from the back, soon the other girls were joining, ridiculing the imposter. Before Kaori could push through the crowd of angry teenage girls, the boy with the green shirt was walking away. He can't do that. She hadn't found out how she knew him yet. On instict, she reached out her hand and shouted

"WAIT!"