Letters From Iroh

Friend

"So what have you been doing since I last saw you?" I asked Sidka as we walked up the hill to where the large sculpted arch that served as the entrance to the marketplace.

"nothin' much" Sidka said somewhat sheepishly. "Been to the air temple a few times. Met with my uncle." Sidka's uncle was one of the highest ranking members of the order of the white lotus. He was one of the men who helped find the new avatar, Avatar Korra.

"Well that's pretty impressive." I said, trying to hide the fact that I was awestruck. Sidka wasn't the spiritual type. She was kind of rambunctious, feisty. She didn't adhere to rules and regulations. It genuinely surprised me that the first place she went to after finishing her training as an earthbender was to go to the air temples. "Which one did you go to?"

"Ah, you know...that crazy upside-down one."

"To be honest I forgot which one that is." I replied.

"Well, all you need to know it that I went there to meet my uncle. The avatar wasn't there or anything. It's not like I got to meet anyone famous" she paused. "Unlike some people." She prodded, elbowing me in the side.

"Ouch." I snapped. "Cut it out. It wasn't anything that impressive. I'm here now... so let's not talk about it."

"Oh we're going to talk about it, B. We are going to talk about it." Sidka cackled as she walked under the entrance arch of the market place. Damn. I thought. Sid always knew when I was bluffing. "Do you need to buy anything?" she asked, catching me off guard.

"Yeah. I need some vegetables and some water."

"Well" she gestured to the produce kiosk which was directly in front of me. "Buy what you need and meet me over at the earth kingdom food booth. I need to eat some duck or something. I'm sick of vegetarian crap." I nodded and she paced away toward the large green tent that was poking up near the opposite side of the marketplace.

I went up to the vegetable stand. "five carrot and five celery sticks and one liter of bubble-water please" I asked the vendor, not looking directly at him, but instead looking down at the different vegetables, mentally selecting which ones I wanted.

"Sure, miss." He said... before glancing up at me and asking "hey aren't you that girl that works on board the UF ship? The one who-"

"Shhh!" I hissed. "Yeah. That's me. What's it to ya?"

"Well you saved my brother, ma'am. He works on board the general's ship. He says he owed his hide to some pretty young waterbender. I just wanted to extend my gratitude. My kid's Mom died recently. They only got me n' uncle Taki. He owes you a life miss. He says he owes you his life."

The man said, somewhat dejectedly, looking down at the vegetables he was holding. Surprisingly he had picked out all the ones I had wanted. "Here you go miss. That'll be. Well, that'll be free of charge. You saved my family. Least I can do is give you some grub for free." He placed the food in a bag and handed me a large bottle of water before turning away.

"Wait." I said. "You don't have to do that. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I had no idea. Take this." I said as I placed a ten Yuan bill into a crumbling clay tip jar. "It's the least I can do. Tell your brother I said I hope he's faring well."

"Well thank you!" the man's eyes lit up, and they seemed to twinkle with gratitude. "I- I really appreciate this. You're a true hero, miss. A true hero."

"Oh thank you but that's not true." I said, taking the bag and bottle from him.

"The best heroes are the humble ones." The man said happily. "Well, have a nice day miss."