My season's far from over. I won't make the deadline. PLus, college is a b--ch

[SPAM ALERT]

You know dafoose, I liked how Rikku looked in the first game... at least the hair anyway.

I only have one more small post left.

I know the plotline has been decent, but I have to admit I think it's a little incoherent. Since most of the The Twelve are dead, save Itami, The End, and Masquerade, the villains will be fewer in number and therefore more important.

The same goes for the main characters. There will be fewer and they'll be more focused on. Only Khuzo, Ridge, and one other will be the focus of the story. I'll also explain how Ridge escaped and wether or not he actually truly cares about what he did of if he was just acting up. I like that about him, the greater level of moral ambigiuty makes him different from most other "i ezkapd teh evil guyz now i iz gud" characters.

Also, more about Khuzo's father and what he was truly capable of will be looked into, and I've got a whole theme park of monsters and stuff for the group to go all stabby mcstab stab over.

So is this the fourth age or the fifth age?

I've been pesent for only one of them (I'm not sure if that makes me a vetran)

anywho i'll wait to start posting again after SecondSign puts up his itsy-bitsy post

otherwise cool

ps whats with the new format... i like the old one where your username didn't take up so much D@mn room(sigh)

Ok guys, here is my finale post. A lot of you newbies could learn a thing or two about descriptive writing.

It is the most poetic and long work of writing I have ever written. I humbly ask that you read it and tell me what you think.

I Have written in a while, so All my pent up creative energy went into making this.

I gaurantee any of you who read it will love it.

Here goes.

Kela Dasman and Agua Mar: Waterbenders. Saze: Blue firebender. Evelet: Swordsman
Day 50: The North Pole Days
The Apartment, Afternoon

Tingling fibers vibrated throughout Kela Dasman as he woke up. He was inside his apartment next to the window that overlooked the North Sea, which was clear as daylight. The afternoon sunlight warmed the fibers vibrating and it gave him a warm relaxed feeling all over. He slowly went from a sleeping position to a sitting position, and licked his lips with eyes shut. It was his brain that kept his eyes closed, because his mind was foggy from the lazy afternoon nap. He took a couple of deep breaths and slowly stood up, stretching his entire body along the way. He walked over to a doorway and put his hands on the wall. The he turned his back and jerked his arms, getting a good stretch. When he heard the crack, he went "oof".

The apartment was lonely and quiet. He got some Goosebumps just standing in it all alone, and his brain came to focus once again. Kela walked into his room, crouched down, and reached under the bed for his food box. He pushed aside a pillow he had placed in there earlier today and pulled out some fish jerky and vegetables, carrots and an apple. He then stood up and kicked the box back under with his foot. He thrust the food into his pockets for safekeeping and started eating the carrot. Approaching the door, he pulled a chair aside from the game table and sat on it, to put his shoes on. But his brain wasn't quite clear yet; he had forgotten his shoes. He slouched in the chair and tried to grab his shoes with his feet, lazy as ever. After five minutes of goofing around, his shoes were finally on his feet, and he exited through the door.

Today, Kela had quite a list of things to do. He took out his list from his coat pocket as he walked down the stairs and outside to the streets. He waved to the receptionist who was busy as ever; messing around with her strange ideas and giving that receptionist like smile she always gave when she looked up from whatever she was doing. Honestly, Kela never understood exactly what receptionists do when they aren't giving others directions. When he got outside, he looked down at his to do list, which he had made the day before, knowing he would have to keep track today especially.

1. Wake up at sunrise.

2. Steal any pillows Mar's head wasn't using.

3. Hide stolen pillow in food box. Use to hide mass food storage.

4. Shower.

5. Eat Breakfast bread and water.

6. Meditate on top of apartment building. Feed Klearae.

7. Sneak up on receptionist to find out what she works on when she isn't giving directions.

8. Accidentally spill glass of water on floor in receptionist lobby.

9. Take candy from receptionist counter while she cleans up water.

10. Store candy in food box

11. Walk around the block for a while with eyes shut.

12. Walk back with eyes open.

13. Pleasant weather expected; go inside and take nap just before noon.

14. Wake up in the afternoon.

15. Eat snack.

16. Steal more candy from receptionist.

17. Sign Evelet out of hospital, giving him candy.

18. Find Saze and take him to the waterbending instructor.

19. Find Mar and bring her with him.

20. Go meet Waterbending instructor.

21. Sign up for lessons.

22. Find Loren. Vaguely suggest dating.

23. Stock up on supplies. Little by little.

24. Practice waterbending on top of roof. Throw water down river. Feed Klearae again.

25. Thank the heavens for the ability to drink water without using a glass.

26. Go to bed early.

Kela make a checklist. He took out his pen and started scratching out the things he had already accomplished earlier. Right now, he was at eat a snack, so he obeyed the list and ate his carrot. But he chose not to steal more candy, because there were too many witnesses in the lobby. He strolled out to the hospital, with the soft snow lightly crunching beneath his feet.

Up the snowy staircase to the hospital, he thought about his list obsessively. He was anxious to do these things right, because some of them were going to become a daily routine for him for the next month and a half. He, Saze, and Mar would be practicing waterbending. Although Saze wasn't a waterbender, he still wanted to practice his martial arts somehow, and participating in these lessons seemed the best way to learn.

Evelet was fully restored now, for he had been healing for two weeks. His stay was extended because of complications, due to infection of the wound. His healers underestimated the extent of his injury, and Mar had to give them a big lecture about how careless that was. Evelet was now supposed to be fully healed, from what Kela read in the letter he received from Klearae the other day about his condition. They said now he just needs to be rehabilitated, and that he shouldn't go out on his own.

At the hospital, Kela walked in the doors and moved to the help counter on the left. He leaned on the counter and asked,
"Is Evelet ready to leave the hospital?" The waterbending nurse looked at her clipboard and nodded. "We'll send him out shortly."

Kela waited in the lobby with candy in his mouth and his arms crossed. Slouching in the chair, he was starting to doze off, until a door opened and Evelet came out. "Hey! Evelet!" Kela sat up and ran over to him. Evelet looked away from the nurse escorting him and looked at Kela. "How are you Evelet? Are you still functioning and all that?" Evelet put his hand out to shake Kela's and they hugged in a manly way, except that Kela was crushing the already weakened Evelet.

"Well," said Evelet, "The healers said that I should be fine, now that my wounds are healed, and I don't need anymore healing sessions. Thank god." He said breathlessly, "Every time there was a healing session, I always got the ugly nurse…" He shrugged, "It wasn't that bad overall, but they really do treat you like a child there, it was pretty annoying."
Kela nodded and laughed, "Geez, hospitals look nicer than that. Well, I read in the letter that you still need rehabilitating. In what way specifically are you going to need to rehabilitate yourself?"

Evelet walked roughly down the steps, he coughed a bit and said, "I just need to get my legs and arms back, my neck works ok, and I have to be careful not to stretch my scars." He lifted up his shirt and showed the scars on his arm and waist. Kela winced a bit and said, "Ouch."
But Kela felt bad seeing it, and he said, "Well, if it wasn't for you, all our lives would've been in jeopardy. You kind of saved us all." They stopped walking and Kela gave him a more sincere hug quickly, and kept walking down to the apartment.

On the way, they met Saze Norman, and Mar, who were coming back from Norman's place, discussing the paper and the mission to retrieve the lost scouts. It was 8 days ago that this problem had been discovered, and the five of them were planning on approaching the pirate ships. But everybody was too busy welcoming Evelet back from recovery. In the apartment, they ate and told stories, having a good time.

An hour later, Kela remembered to meet the instructor. Norman went back to his home. Evelet stayed at the apartment to sleep. Saze, Mar, and Kela all got ready to go to the temple to meet their master.

They were about 15 minutes walk away from the temple, so it wasn't a long trip. The instructor was outside the temple waiting in between the ice totem poles. She meditated in the sunlight that was beginning to fade. As she meditated, a mist swirled around her, and she was in deep. She had dark brown hair that looked weightless as it flitted in the wind. Kela found it to be an interesting and cool thing to do, and he made a note to try it sometime on the same piece of paper he used to make his list.

Meditate…Mistily…

When the sun disappeared over the horizon, the instructor opened her blue eyes and exhaled. She spun up and the mist disappeared, leaving the snow beneath her completely as soft and untraceable as the snow surrounding it.

She bowed her head and said, "Welcome, my name is Lakhara, and I'll be the instructor of waterbending for the winter season." Her figure was curvy and sexy, and from her attitude, she looked single and acted 26 or so. But Kela wasn't there to get a date. However he looked at Saze, who was slightly blushing, but he tried to hide it and did a very good job doing so. Mar bit her lower lip and giggled as she looked at Saze and said under her breath, "Ahaha!"

"Every 5 days, starting tomorrow, we'll begin training at sunrise. And we will finish when the sun is three quarters in the sky." She crossed her arms and pointed to the ground. "You'll be meeting me here, and that's when we'll get started." Then she added, with a bit more softness to her already soft voice, "And if you value my teachings, you'll come on time.
"That is all, I hope you all have a good night and look forward to tomorrow."

They left to return to the apartment, but Kela had to take a detour.

Find Loren. Vaguely suggest dating. This was next on his list.

Earlier in the week, he had acquired Loren's address and said he would drop by to visit for a little while. He walked slightly disturbed at meeting Loren.
What bothered him the most was not the women, but what dating led to. He was afraid of commitment to things other than himself and his friends. In a way, he wanted to find love, but he was too unsure what to do next. But as far as dating went, it was alright with him. And Kela became more at ease as he meditated on that thought as he was walking. He reached her house and knocked on the door. Loren opened the door, and looked at him with her blue eyes and very light freckles. "Oh, you're here. Good, why don't you come in and take off your shoes?" Kela walked into her warm home and placed his shoes on the shoe rack next to the door.

Her house was rather small, it was a one-story apartment, and she had the first floor all to herself. He looked like she lived alone, there was no indication of another family member or relative. In her house, there was a tea table with seated cushions on the right side of the house, and a small kitchen with a window looking out to the street on the left. She had already placed food on the tea table, and they had some dinner, which were fish and potatoes with chow mien and soymilk. The meal was very pleasing to Kela. And he bowed his head in gratitude for the meal. He thought about how he could do the same for her, except that his cooking skills were somewhat in adequate, and made him remember a time in his previous years before he left home, of when he only practiced cleaning fish, but never cooking them.

In any case, they left to go to a teashop and have some tea before parting. They went to the Gold Ice Tea shop, where their main specialty was hot teas. It was an hour after sunset, and they enjoyed a cup of Jasmine and honey green tea in the glowing light from the paper lanterns inside the teashop.

Kela was interested in how her parents were doing. However, in the pit of his stomach, something was telling him to avoid this topic, as it might bring sadness or possibly, her parents completely into the picture.

"Well, it's time that I get going." Said Kela. He sat up from the table in the wooden teashop and gulped down the rest of his tea, placing it on the table. He thought to himself…
'Man…I really love…this tea!!! I have to buy it! I had no idea tea was so good!'

His eyes were wide for a bit during his thought, but they returned back to normal. Loren sat up and went with him out the door. When they were outside the teashop, they parted, waving and saying goodbye.

Kela went back to the apartment and looked at his list under the passing lamplights on the street. Only three things left to do:

Practice waterbending on top of roof. Throw water down river. Feed Klearae again.
Thank the heavens for the ability to drink water without using a glass.
Go to bed early.

Kela was on the roof of the apartment where he practiced his waterbending. In a way, he was also cleaning up the access snow on the roof and throwing it into the river below, behind the building itself. He moved slowly and practiced lifting the water with grace, lifting it into a ball, then spreading it thin and making it surge aimlessly into the water below. He practiced this movement in slow motion over and over, until he had taken three quarters of the snow off the roof, because he wanted to save some for the next day. Then he fed Klearae, who was waiting patiently in her cage.

Then Kela walked calmly back to his apartment. As he opened the door, several figures sit in the firelight. Norman, Saze, Evelet, Mar, and another figure Kela had never seen before, shivering closely next to the fire. His hair was withered and he rubbed his bruised hands and body to warm them by the fire. Saze threw fire in the fireplace when it seemed that the man shivering didn't have enough heat.

Norman looked at Kela, adjusting his spectacles and rubbing his bald head.
"Kela, this is my friend, Tempus, he was one of my scouts." Kela looked worried, yet somewhat relieved that one of his people came back.

Tempus kept his eyesight on the fire, but spoke with a calm and dignified voice, "Norman told me everything you spoke about. It's true: Pirates have been kidnapping his people and scouts." Kela took a deep breath and exhaled, he was confident this man would help him understand more about these pirates.
Kela looked out the window overlooking the North Pole, gazing at the auroras, and relaxing his eyesight on the dim horizon, and spoke in return.

"Why are they kidnapping people?" Kela asked. Norman lifted his spectacles from the sweat that always found its way back between the bridge of his nose and his glasses. Tempus responded, "They're doing it for money and power. They said it's just the beginning of them taking our things and controlling the northern seas."
Norman added, "They're trying to make money off people exiting the North Pole. They're Pirates that just want to make unfair business deals." Tempus shivered a bit. His clothes were still damp. "How long have you been shivering? We should get you to see the hospital." Tempus calmed his shivering down and said, "don't worry, I'll be fine, I'm just enjoying the warmth of the fire too much." Then he added, "This group of pirates are called the Lion Flowers, They have a flag with a golden lion head with black, thorny floral designs weaved in between.

"How did you escape?" asked Kela. Tempus started tapping his fingers against the warm stone, and began caressing the stone with the palm of his hand to absorb its warmth somehow. He coughed.

"I had abandoned ship." He said, "First, they gave me the message that I had halt and be boarded. My ship wasn't that big, you see, because it was just my crew and I. But I didn't see a reason why I should stop.

"Then they fired a warning shot across the bow of our boat, and we submitted to them. I was in the bathroom at the time we were being boarded, and they came on our boat. I was about to exit out on deck, but I had decided to stay out of sight and see what these men wanted from us in general.
"From the looks of it, I could tell that they were pirates. They asked my captain if he had money to pay the fee. Of course, we were just scouts, not a merchant ship in particular, and had nothing much to offer. So their captain came out and told them they were to be taken hostage or as pirates themselves in debt to not being able to pay the fee for passing through the North Sea.
"After eavesdropping on all that, I was scared. I waited until the pirates escorted my own mates off the ship, and I ran toward the little rowboat on the side and cut it with my waterbending. Some of the pirates had seen me make a dash for the boat and chased me. I had to fight a few of the ones that jumped into my boat, but they were quickly dispatched to my bending. Then I summoned up a mist to give me cover as I escaped. I didn't know which way I was going, but I didn't let down my screen of mist until I felt safe. Then the Northern Sea storms didn't help me much, and I was soaking in freezing water for two and a half days.
"I thank the heavens everyday for my ability to drink water without a glass."
At that comment of his Kela lifted his eyebrows in agreement.

Kela gritted his teeth slightly, as he kept gazing out window.
"But-" Said Tempus, "I was quite surprised when Norman told me who you were."
Norman was tapping his foot. Saze and Mar were looking down at their cups of hot tea. Saze was staring into the fire as well. Kela looked at Tempus, who was shivering again, staring ever more into the flames.

"The captain of the ship," Said Tempus, "was a Dasman. Gaz Dasman."

"No, that can't be right." Said Kela. It had been nearly ten years since he thought about his father and where he might be. He doubted he was still alive, but now, he had the feeling that he was out there because this man came along and told them about these pirates.

A wave feeling of disappointment and confusion came over Kela. At one point, he wanted to confirm this, and on the other, he didn't want to rush things and find them now by abandoning his training. Snow began falling outside the apartment window, and he followed the snowflakes down like his thoughts inside his head. He was disappointed that his father was alive because of the situation he was in. How could he be proud of his father that taught him waterbending?

As he came to realize these truths, he sat down in a chair farthest from the fireplace looked at the snow falling.

"Thank you, for telling me this," said Kela. There was an awkward silence, and everyone was still.

"Yeah sure, no problem." Said Tempus. Kela walked over to the window in the apartment and sat close to it.

Now Kela could see a different resolve. He had to train and prepare. When the four of them were done with what they came to do in the North Pole, he would be ready to venture off and do these things he prepared for; finding a facing his father, freeing hostages and ending a pirate blockade, and finding Aeros.

And it seemed that through all that, he would find his fortune out there somewhere, whether he succeeded in any of those things or not. That this was what his pilgrimage and journey was all about.

It was curious to him, but he had observed that the rain has been falling.

It had fallen, not as water, but as snow.

End Kela Dasman, Rain.