LOOKING FOR A JOB
It must've already been a couple of hours of standing there, and no one had even given her a second look. But then again, who would be hiring in a small village where everyone knew everyone?
Travellers who DIDN'T know anyone would be hiring.
Tsai Shen was not a happy camper, the tall boy was used to warm, Earth Kingdom weather, and being able to sleep outside. Now, he was frozen. Strangely, he almost seemed to fit here, with his strangely dark skin. However, his brown eyes gave him away. His parents had asked him to find a suitable villager to help them unload, feed, and watch the Koi, also to be a guide around the village, and he hadn't thrown a fit, simply grabbed another overshirt.
Now though, he almost missed the shorter girl, standing there, resolutely. However, he back stepped, saw the sign, and shivvered, stepping close enough to feel her breath on his cheek.
"My family could use your help. Good money."
His charming grin was as white as the snow.
Whisper's head had been drooping slightly, her eyes closing against the frigid temperature, when the sudden voice made her startle.
She tried to say something, but it came out in a gagged whisper. She hadn't spoken since the day had begun. She wet her lips and swallowed. "Really?" she asked hopefully. Her arms trembled as she lowered the sign, wincing as they were stretched.
Judging from the clothing, the boy looked to be of the Earth Kingdom. Another one? What, was the Water Tribe a vacation spot for Earth Kingdom citizens? Wouldn't be much of one, with the weather as it was.
But hey, if he was willing to offer a job (damn rich kids!), she'd take it, no questions asked. Well. Maybe one. "What am I to do?"
"We're selling Elephant Koi. Need one more person to feed, and watch them. I also need a guide."
Shuddering movement, and he absentmindedly grabbed her elbow, gently steering her back toward the inn they were staying at, which was blessedly warm upon entry. His statement was validated by the approach of wealthy looking, yet kind, adults, who congratulated him on his find, handed him a large money pouch, and left for the upstairs of the inn, obviously expecting him to handle things. They'd been trusting him more lately, not that Tsai Shen liked doing so much work.
"I usually take care of them, but it's harder out of their native homes. I'm Tsai Shen."
His tan hand was thrust out, in greeting, a warmer brown than hers, obviously from a mix of sun, and natural color, rather than just a dark shade.
Whisper hesitated to take the hand, but it would be unwise to ignore a friendly gesture of your new boss. Gingerly, she placed her hand in his and shook it quickly. "I'm Whisper. What are Elephant Koi?" Okay, fine, two questions. She needed them if he expected her to do the job right.
"Our Elephant Koi are some of the biggest! They're fish, but hard to travel with, so we only brought some of the younger ones..."
Leading her, they entered what seemed to be a converted bathing room, which now had pools with a few giant fish swimming lazily about in them. The largest was about 15 feet, and the smallest 5 feet.
"They're pretty cool, I guess. One they get big, you can ride on them."
Fish? That didn't sound too intere -
Oh. My. God.
Those were not fish. How could they be fish? They were so huge! But they had the same shape and same look as one, so...
Whisper became aware of her gaping mouth. Embarrassed, she closed it, thinking how much she herself must have looked like a fish just then.
"They're..." Words eluded her. "...pretty cool, all right."
After staring at them for a few more lifetimes, she abruptly remembered why she was here in the first place. "What do you feed them?" she asked, looking around for giant buckets of something.
"It's over here... "
A few barrels of colorful flakes sat in the corner, away from the pools, since even those baby fish could feasibly jump to get at. They were hungry bastards.
"Once we do that, we just sort of... Hang out, and make sure they don't try to escape. My parents are working out details with buyers downstairs and... Oh... I almost forgot, here."
The whole bag of copper pieces was dropped into her hands, and he yawned, dropping down onto one of the tiled ledges of the pools, shrugging.
"That's your pay... While you feed 'em, I'll keep them from jumpin' at you. Just use the scooper in the bucket."
Uhhh. They jumped? At people?
Whisper eyed the koi circling around in the pool. Niiiiiiiice fishies...
As the bag of copper pieces was placed in her hands, she immediately dropped them, sending the pieces clattering noisely across the floor. Luckily, none of them went in the pool. Hurriedly gathering them all up, she said in a stupified voice, "All this?"
Yes. Damn rich kids.
Carefully setting the payment as far away from the fish as possible (what if they knocked it in the pool while jumping?), she headed toward the barrels of flake food, determined to do the job properly.
"Yeah, all that. I mean, we need the fish fed, and it's only a fraction of what we're going to earn by selling them, so why be greedy, right?"
A chuckle, and the boy eyed her with half-closed eyes, a thin reed in his hand for nudging the fish around. She was really pretty. Tsai Shen liked spending his time with pretty girls, like that Avani... Only, the green-eyed urchin had a bit more bite to her. Not that he minded.
Armed with a scooper full of flakes, Whisper glanced over at the Elephant Koi. For a second, she wondered if she would be able to use Waterbending to push the fish all the way to one side of the pool - that made her smile - then instantly berated herself for the idea.
"So, I just throw the stuff into the pool or what?" she called.
"Pretty much, kinda shake the scoop, so it's spread out, or they might fight."
Obviously, he was the one to usually handle this. When she approached the pool, one of the larger koi started darting toward her, and he lightly smacked the water above it, scaring it away.
"Anyways... Whisper, talk to me, or something. Be interesting. Tell me about yourself."
Gently shaking the scoop from side to side, the flakes littered the surface of the pool, like so many falling leaves. The sight was soothing to Whisper, for some strange reason. The fish were beautiful.
The demand for conversation slightly irked her, disturbing her tranquil mood, but that quickly smoothed over. Interesting? How interesting could she be? "I'm...twelve years old. My name is Whisper. I've lived here most of my life." She hesitated. "My real name is Amanda. My mom left me to the orphanage here nine years ago." Nine...ten? Was it nearing ten?
"You're an orphan? Wow... How'd ya survive? Got any special skills?"
He was totally interested, and idly smacked at a fish that drifted toward the girl, sitting up to tilt his head toward her. Tsai Shen was improving his bending skills, but he knew he was nothing compared to a lot of twelve-year olds.
The scoop stopped its movement; Whisper hunched her shoulders and looked down. Then the flakes began to fall again, and Whisper said warily, "I can bend." Pause. "You?"
"I can as we--ARGH."
The largest Koi had noticed Whisper slowing down, simply dangling the scoop over the water, and decided to try to swallow it, along with her hand. The large orange and white fish lept at her. Tsai Shen couldn't bend at it, rocks might hurt the thing, and instead, soaked his clothing, by ending up half in the pool, smacking it away. He scared the fish more than hurt it.
Whisper didn't scream. Either she was happy that a giant fish was eating her arm, or she was simply too petrified to do anything but stare.
Then a mangled cry retched its way through the mental barrier, and she tried to reclaim her hand from the Koi's vast maw. With a second large screech, her struggles caused her to slip over the edge and topple into the water.
Great. Not only did a fish just try to eat her, she just fell into a pool of water, infested with more giant fish. Why was it always around Earthbenders, Whisper had to fall into the water?
Floundering wildly and attempting to clamber over the Koi currently trying to swallow her hand, she cried, "I can't swim!" There was a panicked look on her face.
Since he was already soaked, he simply reached in, upper body completely under the water, until he had her in his arms. Tsai Shen heaved, and got her out of the pool, watching the scoop float away with a sigh, only to see it swallowed by another Koi.
"Damn... You alright?"
He didn't seem very phased by the experience. Apparently, this had happened plenty of times beforehand.
Obviously, this had definitely never happened beforehand for Whisper.
Gasping and coughing out water, she sank to the ground (blessed ground!), clasping her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. Then she started to cry. "I'm wet."
She was so preoccupied, she didn't even think to tell him that he had said a bad word.
"Hey..."
Tsai Shen crouched, and ran a hand over her hair to sooth her, voice calm, relaxed.
"Shhhh... It's okay. You're alright. Here,"
He wrapped a towel around her shoulders, luckily there was a lot, seeing as it was actually a bathroom. The boy tried for a smile.
"Why don't we find you some more clothes when you calm down...?"
After huddling under the towel for a minute in silence, the girl suddenly stood up. "No, I'm fine. Should I continue feeding the Koi?" Although her voice was shaky and her eyes quivered and shone, she truly did seem fine now.
She hoped he wouldn't think she was a coward. Even if she was one. What else could you call a Waterbender who was afraid of water?
