The Tale of Kotori (LOK)

Chapter 1: Welcome to Republic City

Chapter 1: Welcome to Republic City

     "Finally, here I am. Republic City. Just like Grandpa described to me." Kotori thought aloud. With her small bag slung around her shoulder, she stepped across the border of the large city.

     Kotori stepped into a small hotel, and the young lady looked at her outfit in discus. Kotori was wearing scuffed brown boots, loose light brown pants, and a green coat that stopped at her thighs with a thick yellow belt around her waist. Kotori looked down at herself, covered in a layer of dirt. She stepped outside and disappeared around the corner. She took her hands to her sides, and with a deep breath, she pulled her hands up slowly, then quickly downwards and all the dirt just floated off her and it levitated, she let out a sigh and it all just fell into the ground. Kotori reentered the cheap hotel and placed three gold coins on the counter. The lady she had seen before rolled her eyes, and then took the money and handed her a card that had the number "8" printed on it.

     Kotori grabbed the card and strode up the creaking stairs to the left. She slipped down the thin hallway, and squeezed into the door that had the number eight on it. She unclipped her bag and tossed it onto the musty bed. When she sat down onto the bed, a cloud of dirt filled the air. Kotori started to cough and stumbled towards the cut out window. She gestured her hands towards the dust cloud and motioned to the window. The dust followed her hands and left the room. Kotori sat back down and pulled her knee high boots off.

     Kotori came back to the window and climbed into it, allowing her legs to dangle from the side. She yanked her feet upwards and a pillar of stone flew out of the ground and met the tip of her toes. Kotori was an earth bender. She stepped onto the top of the pillar barefoot and gestured her hands downwards and she was on level ground.

     Kotori started exploring back streets, almost allies. The sun had set and it was quite dark. She cruised a ways, but then suddenly stopped. She knelt down and laid her right hand flat onto the ground, then shot up and sprinted around the corner. She felt someone coming, and at a rapid pace. She used earth ending to feel the vibrations in the ground to know her surroundings. Kotori fled down that path and turned again, and so did they. She was being followed.

     Kotori figured they might be an earth bender as well, so she pulled a block from the ground and hopped onto it. She made it hover so they wouldn't be able to sense an indentation on the ground. She landed several times, just to feel it continue to rush towards her. She finally escaped after earth bending herself halfway across the city. She found herself outside a dome which seemed to be an arena or stadium. She set her slate of rock back into the ground and started trudging back to the hotel. Once she arrived, she earth bent a pillar up to the window and toppled into the room then crashed onto the bed and had passed out within seconds.

     Kotori woke up and stretched with a high pitched screech, then sat up. She pulled her medium-long hair back into a ponytail and dusted off her Earth Nation cloths. She slid on her boots and clipped her bag onto her back. She scampered down the stairs and into the foyer of the hotel. Now there was an elderly lady at the desk instead of the eighteen-nineteen year old girl she had seen before. "Excuse me, I paid three gold coins last night, how many days is the good for?" Kotori asked. "Four more nights." The lady answered with a smile. "Alright, thank you." Kotori thanked.

     Kotori left the run down hotel and into the streets of Republic City. "If I only have money for four more nights, and no money for food, I guess I will just have to find a job." Kotori thought aloud. She floated through the streets, asking for a job at all the booths and stores. She had probably asked twenty people, but they were all full on staff.

     Kotori soon came to a small hat shop at the end of the street. "Excuse me.  I'm looking for a job. And I was wondering if there was an open slot for me to work in." Kotori asked. "Yeah, we have need of another worker. You would be paid two silver coins every five hats." He instructed. He waved her back into the staff room     "First thing we will need to do, is get you out of those Earth Nation clothes." He said. "Is there something wrong with my clothes?" Kotori asked tensing up, being slightly offended. "No, but Republic City is full of people from all the nations. And we don't want our store picking favorites and getting fewer customers." He explained. Kotori relaxed and asked "Okay, what do you want me to wear?"

     "This." He casually said, handing her a plain black outfit. "Ehhh..." Kotori moaned. "Black is a neutral color. So unless you'd like to wear blue, green, red, brown, yellow and orange..." He said walking away. Kotori trudged to the bathroom and put on the uniform. She stuffed her clothes into her bag and came out. She hid her bag under a table with a table cloth and hats on top of it.

     "By the way, I never got your name." He said. "I'm Kotori." The girl from the Earth Nation smiled. Kotori was about to start selling, when suddenly she stopped and turned around. "And what is your name?" She asked with a slightly mischievous grin. "Call me Jett." He said with a slight laugh.

     Kotori started work, and found it slightly harder the she had thought. Not every person in Republic City needed a new hat. By the end of the day, she had sold thirty one hats. She got her pay, twelve silver coins. By this time she was starving, so she waved bye to Jett, and headed off to eat.

     Jett counted the money they had earned, and locked up the small shop and headed home. He opened the door and was greeted by his mother. He walked into the next room and handed the money to his father. "This is twice as much as you usually earn in a day. Did you raise prices?" His father asked. "No, I hired someone to help. She did a good job." He replied.

     His younger sister gasped. "She? So it's a girl? Jett has a girlfriend! Jett has a girlfriend!" She mocked with delight. "She is not my girlfriend! I just met her today." He slightly shouted. "She's a good worker?" His father asked. "Yeah, she is." Jett said with a slight smile. He had four siblings, three older and one younger. Two of the older ones also worked at hat shops, since their father owned the chain.

     Jett went upstairs to his room. He brushed his hair back and flipped on his lights. He unloaded all the things he didn't need for around the house. Such as his black jacket, a reddish-orange scarf, shoes, and a few other things. Kotori ran up the stairs in the hotel and did the same. She changed back into her Earth Nation cloths, and left the hotel.

     She didn't know what she was doing or where she was going. But she did know she didn't want to be bored. She decided to go to the dome she had seen the previous night. She was stopped at the door. "Ticket please." The man demanded. "I don't have-" "would you like to buy one?" He cut her off. "Uhh sure." Kotori replied. She placed five silver coins into his hand and he handed her a ticket and let her by. When she was in the middle of the dome, she discovered she was at a pro-bending match. It was Future Industries Fire Ferrets vs. White Falls Wolf Bats. Mako, Bolin and Korra vs. Tahno, Ming and Shaozu.

     Kotori wasn't a huge fan of pro-bending, but she had already paid for the ticket and it was the final match of the season, so she stayed. The round was tough until the Wolf Bats shot water surrounded rocks at the Fire Ferret’s heads. Kotori didn't know much about the rules, but she knew enough to know that was a foul. But the reff did nothing.

     The whole thing was full of terrible calls until the Fire Ferrets were pushed off the ring for the last time that season. The Wolf Bats gloated over their unfair win. Kotori turned her back to leave when she heard some gasping throughout the crowd. She turned around, and saw another man on the platform with the Wolf Bats. He wore a mask and had two guards with him also. She wanted a closer look, and the platform was made on stone, so she used earth bending to see a little more clearly. She felt the guards, and her heart rate started to quicken. It was the man who was following her the day before. She watched a while longer, but she couldn't hear anything, but she could tell he was giving a speech.

     When he was done, he walked over to Tahno, whom was on his knees, and placed his thumb on Tahno’s forehead. Tahno fell forward dramatically. Kotori didn’t know what had happened, but she left the building as quickly as she could. She figured it would be in the news if it was important enough and that she would find out later.