Shattering Ice - Chapter 7
Shattering Ice
Chapter Seven
By DamageCtrl
*All Standard Disclaimers Apply: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything related to it.
“Pakku?” It was morning and the sunlight was coming through the high windows of the room. Siku paused for a moment to look around, as if to reassure himself that he was in the chief’s palace library and not at home in his kitchen. The high ceiling and walls lined with carefully placed documents were testament to his reality.
That didn’t explain why his son was currently slumped over against a wall, looking through a rather thick book. Carefully, the councilman approached his son, half wondering if he had made an identity mistake or if he was dreaming.
A shadow fell over his book and Pakku raised his head to yell at whoever was blocking his light. His mouth immediately snapped closed when he saw his father’s confused face looking down at him. “Father?”
“What are you doing here?” Siku asked, getting straight to the point.
“Ah…” Pakku snapped the book closed in front of him. When he had left early that morning, he didn’t think that he’d run into his father while looking for information on his family and wedding customs. “Just… catching up on some reading…”
Siku raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head and read the title of the book. “Marriage records?”
Pakku could feel his face turning red as he clutched the book nervously against his chest. “Must be a mistake…” he trailed off, his voice shaken. He didn’t want to confront his father until he had read up on tribal marriage customs and the traditions of their family. “I was looking for… er… waterbending scrolls. Yes. Waterbending scrolls.”
His father looked down at him with critical eyes. “Is that it?” he asked questioningly.
Pakku’s mouth felt dry. “Ye… yes...?”
Siku frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Since when did you lie to your father?” His son paled in front of him. Pakku’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. “Why are you reading up on marriage…?” His eyes widened and his arms fell to his side. He looked at Pakku with surprised blue eyes. “Have you found someone?”
Pakku didn’t need to answer. The furious blush on his face and the shy expression in his eyes was answer enough. “Well… I…”
“Why didn’t you say so!?” Siku laughed. He reached out and placed a hand on Pakku’s shoulder and gave him a firm shake. “It’s about time! You’re almost eighteen! You should be engaged already! What were you so afraid of? This is wonderful news, Pakku!”
“Father…”
“Tell me, tell me, who is the lucky maiden?” Siku asked eagerly. He looked into his son’s eyes enthusiastically.
In front of him, Pakku bit his lower lip. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Carefully, he lifted his gaze and met his father’s. “It’s Kana.”
She rolled over in bed, one arm flung over her head as the other scrunched up beneath her pillow. She let out a little snort and snuggled deeper into her blankets. There was one more day left of the festival. Then it would be back to her usual, boring routine. That was not something she was looking forward to.
“Kana,” Someone knocked on her door. “Kana, Yugoda is here-”
“Can I just go in, Auntie Akna?” Yugoda’s energetic voice pleaded.
The older woman chuckled outside of Kana’s door. “Of course, Yugoda. Go right in.”
“Thank you!” A second later, the door flew open. On instinct, Kana pulled her blankets over her head and tried to disappear into her bed.
“Kana!” Yugoda’s voice easily pierced her senses as she jumped onto the side of Kana’s bed. “Kana! Kana, get up! I have something to tell you!”
“It can wait until later…” a muffled voice grumbled from under the covers.
Yugoda giggled and shook her head. “No, it can’t! Kana! Kana!” Yugoda jumped up and down and shook the lump on the bed. “Kana, you won’t believe it!”
Against her better judgment, the half-asleep flutist replied. “Believe what…?”
“I’m getting married!” One second. Two seconds…
“What!?” The covers were thrown off the blue clad young woman as she fought against her sea of blankets to sit up straight. Wide blue eyes, now fully awake, locked with Yugoda’s as she gripped her friend’s hands. “Since when? How?” Kana’s jaw locked. “With who!?”
“Late last night… after we dropped you off, on the doorstep of my house,” Yugoda began, blushing madly the entire time. She looked at Kana with joy written all over her face. “With Anyu.”
Their squealing pierced the entire flat as several people looked up from the table in the kitchen. “Looks like she told her…” Suka said as he took a sip of his hot drink. He could almost see the two jumping up and down on Kana’s bed like energetic five year olds.
Akna chuckled as she poured drinks for Anyu and his older brother. “I take it Yugoda accepted immediately?”
Kahasi chuckled and looked at his younger brother. “She practically tackled him to the floor. She nearly woke up the entire neighborhood with her screaming.”
“It took everyone at her house to keep her from running over here and telling Kana immediately,” Anyu chuckled. “We promised we’d take her as soon as the sun rose.”
“Well, congratulations, Anyu,” Suka told the young man proudly. “You both will be very happy together, I know it.”
“Thank you, Uncle.” Anyu smiled.
“And you, Kahasi,” Akna asked as she loomed over her future son-in-law. “Are you sure you really want to do this tonight?”
“I haven’t spent as much time with Kana as I’d like,” Kahasi admitted reluctantly. “So when I present it to her, I’d like to have a chance to speak to her first.”
“No doubt she’ll accept,” Suka assured the man. “There is no better match for my daughter than you.”
Kahasi smiled warmly and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Anyu!!” Kana’s voice came from the hall and a second later, Kana burst forth. Still dressed in her wrinkled nightwear and her hair a complete mess, she ran forward, grinning almost maniacally as she threw one arm around Anyu’s neck and buried her fist in his hair. “Con… grat… u… lations!”
“Gah… thanks!” Anyu choked out before Kana finally released him from his chokehold.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were talking to her parents about marriage!?” Kana demanded.
“I didn’t want you to tell her and ruin it!” Anyu snorted. “We all know what a big mouth you have.”
Kana’s eyes widened, insulted. “What!?” Yugoda giggled behind her.
“Kana…” her father’s voice rang out and Kana looked up. She followed the nod of her father’s head to the other man sitting across the table.
Immediately, Kana paled and stood up straight; her arms withdrawing from Anyu’s neck. She smiled sheepishly. “Ah… good morning, Kahasi…”
The man chuckled and gave her an intent smile. He lifted up his cup. “Good morning, Kana. Care to join us?”
“Sure.”
“Kana,” Yugoda whispered as she passed her friend. “You might want to change first?”
“Hmm? Oh!” Her cheeks heated up as she laughed weakly and slowly began to make her way back to her room. “I’ll be out... just give me a minute…” She whirled around and was about to rush back to her room when, Kahasi called out.
“Actually, I have to get going,” the man said as he stood up. He leaned forward and threw Kana another smile. “But I was wondering if I could talk to you about something… later tonight, if possible?”
Dumbly, the young woman nodded. “Sure, Kahasi, where?”
“How about the top of the wall?”
Kana nodded once more. “Sounds good,” she gave the man a smile before slipping back into the hall. “I’ll see you then!”
Siku took a tired seat across from where his son was standing. Pakku shifted nervously from foot to foot, unable to look his father in the eye. Since he told the councilman, the library had suddenly gotten quieter. Siku’s enthusiastic look had left his face and instead, was replaced by a look of concern. Moments of silence had drifted between the two and Pakku was growing weary of waiting for his father to answer.
“I know she’s not a bender,” Pakku began, knowing that was the biggest reason for concern. “But aside from that, she’s perfect. A little rough around the edges, I’ll admit… a rather troublesome temper and attitude, but other than that she’s-”
“Pakku,” his father’s deep voice immediately silenced him. Pakku stood up straight, his arms pasted to his sides. “You do understand that no man in our family, especially no one that is an heir to our waterbending legacy, has ever married a non-bender.”
Pakku lowered his eyes and nodded. “I am aware, father.”
“The family elders will be staunchly against it, you realize,” Siku added. “On your eighteenth birthday, they were going to present you with a list of prospective waterbending brides.”
The young man’s head rose; disbelief written all over his face. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “I care not for another bride, father. I care very much for Kana.”
“Kana…” Siku trailed off. “How does she feel about this?”
The corner of Pakku’s lip twitched. “She has no knowledge of this… I don’t wish to pursue her and let her know until I can be assured that it will go through. I don’t want to hurt her.”
His father’s expression softened. He looked at his son sadly. That sounded so familiar to him. “You know that I knew… know Kana’s mother, Akna?”
Pakku swallowed nervously. “I… I saw you that southern festival.”
“Yes,” Siku trailed off. “Every year, Akna performs, and every year, I go see her. It is the only time I can. Your mother may not seem like it, but she is jealous. Perhaps with good reason.”
Pakku narrowed his eyes. “I over heard that Kana’s mother was once engaged or something to a waterbender from our neighborhood…” he trailed off, unsure of how to ask his father. He didn’t need to. Siku nodded, his eyes fixed elsewhere.
“They… your grandfather and the family elders… wouldn’t let us get married,” Siku explained. “Akna’s father was a waterbending master… she comes from a long line, actually. However… when the Fire Nation attacked all those years ago, her father, the last remaining male in her family was killed. There was no one who could approve of the match. There was so much pressure for me to marry a bender. We tried to argue that Akna could still produce waterbending heirs, but the elders wouldn’t risk it. Akna spent more and more time away from me, then finally returned my necklace and moved across the city. She said all she was doing was hurting me and thought it best to part ways.”
Pakku looked at his father earnestly. “Then you understand?”
“Of course, I understand, Pakku, I’m not an ignorant monster that can’t learn,” Siku grumbled. He looked at his son beseechingly. “I support you, my boy, I do. And if you chose Kana as your bride, then I will fight tooth and nail for the rest of the family to accept it.”
“Father…” It seemed like with his father’s approval, the burden had suddenly been lifted from Pakku’s shoulders. A wide smile graced his face as he bowed his head. “Thank you.”
“I will speak to who I need to for your sake. For now, you need to go and speak to Kana,” the man told his son. “Tell her what you feel or better yet, present her with the necklace. That’ll speak for itself. As for the necklace… have you thought of a design?” Siku asked.
Pakku’s smile only widened. “I have.”
Kana clapped her hands along with the music as she watched the dancers in front of her. Somewhere in the middle of the circle, Yugoda was dancing beside Anyu. In the fire and lamp light, Kana could see the glimmer of her friend’s pendant. She could make out the pendant on all her friends.
Her hand movements slowed and her arms lowered to her sides. It was the last day of the festival and everyone had a reason to be happy. Last year, the girls were lamenting being unwed and unengaged. Now, everyone was. Except for her. That piece gnawed at Kana and she hated it.
She was happy for her friends, especially Yugoda and Anyu. She sincerely was, but a small part of her couldn’t help but be jealous. They were all dancing in the circle and she was left out and alone. The smile on her lips faltered. Did no one want her? She was always afraid her tomboyish and aggressive personality would scare off potential suitors, so she had worked hard to make herself more domestic than her own mother.
Standing there now, outside the circle, she didn’t think it mattered any more. She’d be sixteen soon and the only unengaged maiden that age in her neighborhood.
“Kana? Where are you going?” Her mother’s voice asked over the sound of the loud drums and the shell horns.
“I’m going for a walk and then heading up to the wall…” Kana murmured. She gave her mother a bright smile. “I’ll be home later.”
“All right then! Be careful on the wall!” Akna smiled. She turned back to the dancing and continued clapping her hands.
Behind her, Kana slipped into a narrow alleyway and headed towards a less crowded side street. She had managed to slip out into a vacant street when someone called her name.
“Kana!” She turned over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. He was not someone she wanted to run into that night.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were going to spend the last night of the festival with your family.” She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Pakku lifted up his nose. “Perhaps I should’ve with that attitude of yours.”
Kana turned her head away and began walking. Pakku followed without question. “You didn’t answer my question,” Kana frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“Visiting, obviously. I saw Anyu and the others dancing back there, but saw you trying to get away,” Pakku said. He looked down at her curiously. “By the way, when did Yugoda get engaged?” Her eyes widened and she stumbled. Pakku immediately reached down to help her steady herself. “Watch out! You could’ve hurt yourself!”
“I’m a big girl, Pakku,” Kana snapped. She stood up straight and shot him a glare. “Your hands.” She stated.
Pakku’s eyes lowered. He let out a sharp gasp before pulling his hands away from her shoulders. “Sorry.”
Kana merely shrugged and continued walking. “Anyu asked her last night, after we all went home.”
This time Pakku stumbled. “Anyu!?”
“Yes, Anyu,” Kana told him coolly. “You know… this tall… waterbender… talks way too much?”
Pakku’s eyebrows furrowed. I thought he was after you… “I just didn’t know.”
“I didn’t either,” Kana pouted. “If I weren’t so happy for them, I’d be angry that he kept it a secret from me.”
Pakku smirked as they reached the steps to the wall. “You don’t sound happy.”
“Well, look at my company. Can you really blame me?” she snapped. Pakku raised an eyebrow.
“You’re more harsh than usual…” he trailed off. Kana scowled and purposely sped up. Pakku’s eyes widened. A wide grin graced his face as he jogged to catch up. “You’re jealous!” He accused happily.
Kana felt as if she were suddenly shot with an arrow. Her eyes widened as Pakku’s laughter reached her ears. She halted on the steps and turned around. “Pakku, if you’re only going to laugh, I suggest you head back to your little rich neighborhood before I push you off this wall!”
“Oh…” Pakku mocked as he lifted his hands and wiggled his fingers in front of her. “I’m terrified. I heard those stories when I was a child.”
Despite herself, Kana let out a heavy sigh. “What stories?”
“The ones about the ghost of a lovelorn maiden who gets revenge on all men because no one wanted to marry her.” Pakku told her matter-of-factly. Kana looked at him as if he had just said the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
“Gods, Pakku… you have gotten stranger…” she murmured. Without another word, she turned around and marched up the rest of the stairs.
“Hey!” Pakku stumbled after her. “Kana!”
“I’m not lovelorn, okay? Or jealous!” Kana snapped as she reached the top step. “I’m just feeling a little left out.”
“Left out?” Pakku jogged after her and matched her pace easily.
“Last year, all of us were complaining about how we weren’t engaged. Now, a year later, everyone is engaged,” Kana explained, exasperatedly. “Everyone, but me! It’s like I’m being left behind because no one wants me.” For a moment, Pakku was caught off guard. He’d never expected someone with as much confidence as Kana to say that.
“Kana, why does no one want you?” Pakku asked. Kana shot him a glare, as if he insulted her once more. He lifted his hands to ward her off. “It was just a question!”
“You, of all people, should be able to name a few things,” Kana told him. “First, I’m loud. ‘Aggressive’, even. As a child, I probably scared off all potential suitors by beating them up. Anyu was a constant target for bullying, so someone had to save him…” she added quietly. She shook her head and threw her arms in the air. “And then I have these dreams of going off and seeing the world; no man wants that, Pakku. Men want a nice, quiet wife to stay at home, cook them meals, and make them babies. Boys, preferably, by the way.”
“Kana-”
“What?” Kana frowned. “Are you going to tell me otherwise?” she snapped as she crossed her arms.
“Yes, because you’re wrong,” Pakku told her. He reached out and grabbed her arm; stopping her from going forward. “There are men who would be happy to put up with a loud, aggressive woman. There are even men who’d be happy to let you see the world if it made you happy.”
Kana let out a scoff. She narrowed her eyes and looked at him challengingly. “Oh yeah? Would you take a loud, aggressive woman who doesn’t want to stay here her entire life?”
It was suddenly eerily quiet atop the wall. Pakku stood beside her silently, his hand holding onto her wrist firmly as he looked down at her seriously. Kana felt her heart starting to race at the intensity of his gaze.
“One day you’ll get to see the world, Kana,” he whispered in a low voice. He remembered her wish and the look on her face. “Even if I can’t go with you when you leave, for whatever reason… I promise I’ll follow.”
And then he kissed her.
“Suka, there’s someone at the door,” Akna said as she wiped her hands on a rag. She looked over at her husband who was looking at a fishing map on the table. “Shall I get it?”
“Please, love,” He said as he scanned over the map. Akna smiled and walked towards the door. She pulled it open and let out a gasp of surprise. “Akna?” Suka looked up from his map and stood up at the sound of his wife’s gasp. “Who is it?”
“Suka… we have a… visitor…” Akna stated. She stepped aside and allowed the tall man to enter their modest home.
Suka looked just as surprised as the councilman entered their living area. “Suka… Akna… forgive the sudden intrusion.”
“Siku,” Suka smiled, although confused. “What brings you here?”
Akna joined her husband at his side as the councilman took a deep breath and then bowed his head.
“Suka of the southern docks, Akna, wife of Suka,” he began formally. “I am here to discuss your daughter,” He lifted his eyes and met their gaze. “And my son.”
Author's Notes: This story is written for
thefireisblack, who requested it after reviewing my mini-challenge of mine. It was betaed by
loveroftheflame.