CH 25 - ATLA 24 - Full Moon Bay

(Word Count: 2,823)

We decided to fly down there to at least check it out.

Full Moon Bay was a hidden port, entirely encased inside a cliff. When there are no Fire Nation ships in sight, they lower an earth wall to launch their ships. Though I'm not sure how they've kept the port itself hidden from the Fire Nation, because it seemed like every Earth Kingdom citizen knew where it was.

Regardless, it was packed with a bunch of refugees wanting to get into Ba Sing Se to escape the war. There were also a bunch of fake avatars.

It was impossible to actually see any of the ferries or the water, with a large wall, with the only way past it being a small staircase. Further separating it from all of the people, the back half of the foyer was blocked off by a low fence. Only those with tickets can get past it. In the center of the fence, was the main desk.

"It's so crowded!" Katara gasped, "I can't believe how many people's lives have been uprooted by the Fire Nation."

"All of them want to escape the war. The only way that I know of to get permission to enter Ba Sing Se would be through this port here. But there are too many refugees wanting to get in, so the city can't accept them all," I explained. 

"What? That's not right! Look at all of them! They're suffering and scared." Katara was outraged. The city was going to just abandon all of these people?

"It's terrible, but the city has a finite amount of resources. They have to be selective about who and how many people they let in." I probably shouldn't mention that most, if not all, of them will end up in the lower ring, with not a lot of space or privacy. It sucked. War sucked. Moving on.

I looked around to see if I could find any of the Kyoshi Warriors. They were pretty easy to spot when I knew what to look for. There were a handful of young women dressed in guard's uniforms scattered about the foyer making sure no one got into any trouble. Though they were pretty unrecognizable as the Kyoshi Warriors, since they weren't dressed up in their green uniforms and didn't have their face paint on.

All of them noticed the giant sky bison as we came in.

One of them came marching over. It was Suki. She was really short, but had an athletic build. Short brown hair, only going just past the ears, in a sort of boyish cut, and brown eyes.

"Hey! No large animals allowed in the port!" She said. She seemed to be targeting Sokka directly, and got in his face with a stern look.

"Don't worry, we're not here to board the ferry. We're only passing through," Sokka said.

"Well, you won't be passing through without any tickets or passports."

"Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, I got a problem with you! I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think you're hilarious and let me guess, you're traveling with the avatar!"

Sokka caught on to the oddly specific description. He looked her up and down, vaguely recognizing her. "Do I know you?"

"You mean you don't remember? Maybe you'll remember this!" Suki pulled him in and kissed him on the cheek.

Sokka's face lit up and he hugged her. "Suki!"

We went over to one of the outside patios for some privacy. While they were talking, I found the family and kept an eye on them with my Seismic Sense. They were all the way on the other side of the port, but still within range. If I remembered right, the family with the pregnant lady couldn't get onto the ferry due to some sort of robbery. They had their passports, and so they were able to get their tickets, but someone had stolen them.

"You look so different without your makeup! And the new outfit. We didn't recognize you," Katara said.

"The crabby lady at the desk makes all the security guards wear them. And look at you, sleeveless guy. Been working out?" Suki said, nudging Sokka.

"Oh, you know. I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and then. Nothing major," Sokka flexed. He was actually gaining a lot more muscle than he did in the show, with the training I was putting him through with the sword.

"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?" Aang asked.

There! Some guy was stealthily grabbing the family's bag and began walking off. I gave a subtle tap with my heel and sent a blunted spike of earth that knocked the bag out of his hand. "Gah!" The thief cried out, clutching his hand in pain. This brought the attention of the family, and they noticed their bag.

"Hey! Thief!" The man shouted, and wrenched the bag back. Guards came running, and the thief took off. Mission accomplished. The entire commotion went unnoticed by the group, who were caught up in their own conversation. Only Toph noticed, and she raised a questioning eyebrow at me. I just shrugged.

She subtly raised her fingers, and across the port, the earth caught the thief's feet. We grinned and fist bumped. Earthbending was just so awesome.

"Yeah. After you left Kyoshi, we wanted to find a way to help people. We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since." Momo jumped up next to her, chittering away as if he was telling her something, and she cooed. "Hi Momo! It's good to see you too!" She gave him some scritches behind his ears. "So why are you guys here, if you aren't looking for tickets? I mean, you do have Appa, so you don't need to get on the ferry to get across."

"We were curious about this place. It's one of the only direct passages to Ba Sing Se," Katara said.

"I see. And who are these two?" Suki asked, looking at me and Toph.

"Oh, that's right! You haven't met them yet. Suki, this is Callan Stone, he's traveling the world, and he's a master at Chi. This is Toph Beifong, she's my earthbending teacher!" Aang introduced us.

She looked us up and down. "You're the earthbending teacher?" She asked Toph, giving a glance my way. "Huh."

Toph was offended. "What, you got a problem, missy?"

Suki backpedaled, raising her hands in surrender. "No! No, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry. It's just that you're so young! And Callan here looks… well, he looks like an experienced earthbender."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't have the normal Earth Kingdom look to me at all. How'd you figure that I was an earthbender?"

"You have a very solid build, like an earthbender. I also saw you two earthbend just now. Was it that thief across the port?" Suki asked. I supposed we weren't as subtle as we had thought. Or she was just very observant.

"Yeah. I imagine that it happens a lot?"

"Unfortunately. Some people can't get their own tickets, so they try to take them from those that do. We do our best to keep an eye out, but we can't stop them all," Suki said sadly.

"Actually, now that I'm looking at that family, that woman is about to give birth any minute now. Do you feel that, Toph?"

"Yeah, the baby's Chi is strong. I don't know what that means for babies though," Toph said.

"With the baby well developed, its just a matter of waiting for the water to break. Even fully developed, it could take days for the baby to come, " Katara said. She was likely the only one among us that knew anything about childbirth.

"Hmmm… I don't know about that. I think that the baby will come today." I wasn't just going off of the show. I didn't know how we lined up on the timeline for this, since we left the desert on Appa instead of walking. I was feeling the baby's Chi, and I had a general sense that it was about to be born today. I looked at Suki. "Do you know if there's any sort of medical help if the baby starts coming while they're on the ferry?"

"The ferry captain is a very selfish man. I don't think they would provide the help they need for childbirth. But how do you know the baby's coming? Like Katara said, it could take days. They might have enough time to get to Ba Sing Se for a doctor," Suki said.

"I can see people's Chi, their inner energy. Through it, I can get a general sense of their emotions and intent. I'm getting the feeling that the baby will come sometime today," I explained. "We should probably tell them, so they don't get caught off guard. Is there a private room they could use?"

"Yeah, there's a room they could use. There's even a doctor here, though he's in the military. I don't know if he'll be willing to help give birth," Suki said.

"We should help them!" Katara said. "I helped give birth before, so I know what to do."

"What! That was with seal-lions! Not a human baby!" Sokka said, pale faced at the idea of childbirth. "Besides, we've got to get to the Earth King! We can't spend the entire day here!"

"If the doctor's not willing to help, then I think we should stay to make sure they're okay," Aang said.

Sokka grumbled, but it wasn't like he wanted anything to happen to the baby, so he agreed.

Suki signaled to one of the other Kyoshi Warriors, who came over.

"Su Li, can you go and call Doctor Shen? We've got a pregnant woman that is about to give birth," Suki asked. Su Li nodded and ran off.

We went over to the family. The father was entirely stressed out, fussing over his pregnant wife and clutching their bag protectively. The wife bore the man's fussing with a slightly exasperated patience.

When they saw us approach, the man was guarded. Especially towards me, since I was in armor. I'm just glad my sword was stashed in Appa's saddle. The last thing I wanted was to scare them. "Can I help you?" He asked.

"Well sir, it's actually us that want to help you. My name is Callan Stone. I have the ability to see a person's Chi, the life force in the body. I can tell that your wife is about to give birth sometime today. Suki here, the guard, wants to lead you to a private room. One of her coworkers is going to fetch a doctor to give your wife a check up," I said.

"There's a doctor here?" The man seemed to sag in relief. "That's great! Thank you so much. You're right, the baby could be coming any day now. We were hoping to reach the city in time to get a doctor for her."

"I honestly believe that you won't have time for that. I would recommend skipping this ferry and wait for the next one. The last thing anyone would want it for the baby to come on the sea. Would you come with us so the doctor can check her over?" I said.

The woman hobbled up to feet. "A doctor sounds lovely."

Toph, Sokka, and Aang waited in the foyer with Appa. Suki led the rest of the group and the family to a private room. It looked like a small sitting room, likely for any of the richer clients that might come through. "You can make yourself comfortable here. Doctor Shen should be coming."

About 10 minutes later, a gruffled looking man came in. He zeroed in on the pregnant woman. "You're the patient, huh? I don't usually help any of the civilians. I'm an army doctor, not an entire clinic! I can't help every refugee that comes here. Luckily for you, I can't just ignore someone that's about to burst."

He brought out a stethoscope from his bag and started listening to the woman's stomach. I didn't know what sort of medical practices existed here. Ultrasound machines didn't exist yet so they couldn't see the baby.

A minute later, Doctor Shen took off the stethoscope. "Well, the baby seems to be healthy. I would recommend you stay here to wait for the baby to come. The ferry is no place for a woman as far along as you are. The captain is very rude and selfish."

"But where would we stay? We don't have a lot of money, and we were saving that to get a place in Ba Sing Se!" The man said worriedly. 

I pulled out a pouch of copper and silver. I had given most of my coin to Iroh when I last saw them, but I replenished my coin supply while on the road. There was a good bit in there, so it should last them about a week. I didn't really care that much though. I had enough skill that I could easily regain the money somewhere on the road. Either from jobs or bounties.

"Here. This should pay for some accommodations here."

"No, I can't possibly take so much!"

"Just take it."

"Yes, sir!" He took the pouch. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it. If there's any left over, you can use it when you get to the city."

With that, I felt reasonably sure that they would be okay. We could go now. We left the room and made our way back to Appa.

"Are they going to be okay?" Aang asked.

"Yes, Doctor Shen will look after them," Suki said.

"If there's nothing else we need to do here, we can go. Unless you three want to stay and visit with Suki some more."

We decided to stay for a little bit longer. Sokka, Katara, and Aang wanted to catch up with Suki about some of their adventures since they've last seen each other.

"Oh! Suki! I have something that you might like!" Sokka exclaimed and started digging through his bag. He pulled out the scroll for Chi Blocking I had given him. "Here! This is a manual for Chi Blocking! This will help you when you have to fight against firebenders! It can temporarily take someone's bending away."

Suki blinked in surprise. "Take away someone's bending? That's incredible!"

"Yeah, you know I just figured, since you're entering the war and all, I wanted you all to have every advantage you can get."

"I, wow, Sokka, That's sweet of you, thank you!" She gave him a hug and kissed his cheek again. Sokka blushed a bit, but then paled when something crossed his mind. Did he finally remember he was in a relationship with Yue?

He cleared his throat awkwardly and took a step back, looking at his feet. "Yeah, well, I couldn't figure it out very well. Since the Kyoshi Warriors are so much quicker, you'd get it down easy."

Suki noticed something wrong, and took a step forward to close the gap again. Leaning forward to peer at his face. Sokka stepped back. "Soookka? What's wrong?"

He sighed sadly, "Actually, there's something I should tell you… I have a girlfriend now."

Suki straightened up, hurt passing through her face. She stepped back. "Oh! I'm sorry, I thought…"

"No, don't apologize. I'm the one that should be sorry. I should have let you know earlier."

"Who is it? Is it Princess Yue you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah."

They stood there awkwardly, before Suki shook herself out of whatever thoughts she was having. "Well! I should probably get back to work. It was nice to see you all again. And thank you for the manual, Sokka."

She turned and walked briskly out of the room.

"That wasn't awkward at all," Toph said bluntly. Katara elbowed her in the side. "Gah! What? We were all thinking it!"

"That's not very nice, Toph," Katara reprimanded. "Poor Suki. You really hurt her feelings, Sokka."

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Should we go talk to her?" Aang asked.

"It's probably for the best if we give her some space," I said. "She should have some friends among the Kyoshi Warriors who can take care of her."

With nothing else keeping us here, we packed up on Appa and left.

I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to fight the huge sea monster that guards Serpent's Pass, but even if we did need to help the family get across, we would have just flown them over with Appa. We wouldn't have needed to fight it anyway.

'Should I just come back here on my own?' I thought to myself. It was bound to give me a lot of experience. I might just have to do that once I leave the Gaang.

Next stop, the outer wall of Ba Sing Se.