Polar Opposites

* :( Fever Induced Hide and Seek

The last couple things Elodie remembered was falling off a roof into a prickly bush, almost running over a dog, being submerged into some butt-cold water, and hiding behind some boxes. The last one was very muggy and she couldn't piece everything together. She didn't remember why she was hiding behind boxes. It was like some murky dream that she couldn't quite piece together. So, she decided that it was just a dream and that she was currently snuggled up in her warm bed.

Hakoda and the rest of the crew knew for a fact that it was not a dream. They had woken up and started their chores at the same time they did every day. Everything had been going completely normal until Zokkik ran out of the healer's room and onto the deck, "She's gone!" All of the crew members' eyes turned to the healer. Hakoda, who was on deck to check everything, asked with disbelief laced in his voice, "What do you mean she's gone? Last time I checked she was lethargic from a fever." Zokkik sighed, "She must be somewhere on the ship." Whispers were going through the crew members that the unknown female could be Fire Nation and that she had escaped to tell their whereabouts to the Fire Nation fleets. Hakoda said in his tough, authoritative leader voice, "Everyone calm down. We can start panicking if we don't find her. Any crew member who is free, start searching for her and make sure that we have all of the smaller boats as well."

Everyone who was not doing an important job immediately started searching for the red-haired woman. One of the crew members informed Hakoda that all of the small boats were accounted for, so she didn't take one of them to escape. So, there two options left: she was still on the ship or she went back into the water and probably died. In all honesty, the second option would make Hakoda's life so much easier. But he really hoped it wasn't true. He had never even had a conversation with her since she had been unconscious the whole time, but he had spent a lot of time with. It sounded weird, but he just had this feeling about her. It was as if he knew that she wasn't a Fire Nation spy. He couldn't explain it.

After about 30 minutes of searching, one of the younger crewmates exclaimed that they found the girl. His victorious announcement was followed by a groan and a thud. Hakoda, Zokkik, and some of the older crew members ran to where the shout was heard from. They ended up in the room where their cargo was held. The young man was on the ground, covering his private parts while groaning. Even though it was pretty self-explanatory, Zokkik asked, "What happened? And, where is she?" The poor boy on the floor said with pain in his voice, "Sh-She kicked me!" He paused and pointed to stacked boxes, "She went behind there." Zokkik nodded and told some of the other men to take him to his hammock to recover from his "traumatic experience".

Hakoda decided that he should be the one to try to bring the girl back to the healer's room. Zokkik had told him that she was still in a critical state and needed to be in bed resting. Hakoda kept that in mind as he maneuvered through the boxes. He grunted a bit as he squeezed through them. The female was so petite that she could fit through the cracks easily. Hakoda was a tall, muscular man, so he didn't fit very well. He soon found the mysterious woman and his eyes softened at the sight of her. Her legs were brought up to her chest, she was shaking, and tears were spilling out of her big blue eyes. She tensed up when she saw Hakoda and pressed herself up against the wall. She spat out in a voice that was filled with fear, "St-Stay away! I'll kick you in the balls, too!" Hakoda would have laughed at her words if it wasn't for the situation.

He said in his calm, almost fatherly voice, "I'm not going to hurt you. I need to take you back to the healer. You're sick and need help." The woman glared at him and tried to back away even further, sweat forming on her pale skin from her fever. He just sat there patiently, knowing that she wasn't in her right mind. It took about 20 minutes for her to pass out from exhaustion and Hakoda brought her back to Zokkik. The healer immediately starts to work on the lady, trying to get her temperature back to normal. Hakoda stayed for a while, probably too long, but he was worried about her. However, he was needed somewhere else, so he reluctantly left the girl.

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Elodie had been completely unconscious for two weeks and then in a weird fever state for another two weeks. It had been a whole month of her being on the ship and she remembered almost none of it. Heck, when she finally woke up and was in a stable mindset, she was deeply confused about where she was. She had first noticed that the blankets that she was under, was not her blanket. And the mattress that she was on was definitely not hers. She had spent a pretty penny on a mattress that felt like a cloud, and this mattress felt more like cotton balls on top of a slab of wood. She really knew that she was not home when she opened her eyes.

Her big eyes darted around the room and she sat up slowly, trying to figure out if this was a dream or not. She was guessing from the pounding in her head that this was in fact real. Though she hoped that she was just having some alcohol-induced dream.

Elodie's head snapped up when an older man walked into the room. She tensed up and the man smiled, "Ah, I see that you're finally awake. My name is Zokkik and I am this ship's healer." She looked up at him with confused eyes, "Ship? I'm on a ship?" Zokkik nodded, "Yes." Elodie held her head, how did she get on a ship? The healer gave her a reassuring smile, "I know that you are confused, we are perplexed as well. Why don't I get you some food and you can eat and gather your thoughts together?" She nodded and said softly while grabbing her stomach, she hadn't even noticed how hungry she was, "Th-Thay sounds good. Thank you." Her voice was a bit scratchy and sore. Zokkik left the room and then came back with some soup, "Sorry it's not very warm." Elodie was so hungry that she didn't care. She just ate the soup happily. Halfway through her meal, Zokkuk asked, "By the way, what's your name?" She answered, "I'm Elodie." He had never heard such an uncommon name.

"Well Elodie, our chief is eager to meet you."

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*I changed Eleanor's name to Elodie, so please tell me if I missed changing it somewhere.

Hi! Thanks for reading! Please kindly inform me if you see any spelling or grammar mistakes because I'm bad at editing. If you would want anything specific in the story, don't hesitate to tell me because I have some trouble coming up with ideas after the first couple chapters. Please stay tuned for the next chapter!