Chapter 119: Bending Genes

Chapter 119: Bending GenesChapter 119: Bending Genes

One short conversation with Pakku that almost felt like an eternity had passed, Yue came to realize... there really wasn't anything much she could do right now. If the waterbenders didn't know any better, they would have gone ahead and imprisoned her, too. Fortunately, they knew better than to blame Hahn's actions on Yue. Even without Pakku, Yue, as the previous chieftain's daughter, had the full support of the waterbenders.

"Can't believe I lasted this long buttering up elders to keep on supporting Hahn... was it always so hard to hold a proper conversation?" Yue mumbled with her lips slightly puckered up and walked aimlessly. Well, she knew the answer to her questions.

Chatting with Hahn had only gotten harder for obvious reasons, the most prominent of them being her growing disgust for him that accumulated daily which induced her to insult him. Being his wife and intimate for even a short while had revealed quite a bit to her so she always knew where to poke to prove the most significant damage. This often resulted in retaliation from her former husband, mostly physical than verbal.

Her eyelids fluttered as she found herself staring at two equally confused waterbenders. One of them didn't seem to be able to match Yue's gaze any longer and probed cautiously, "Princess Yue... this is the temporary prison for the non-bender scums— ehm, no, I meant, criminals. Would you like one of us to escort you inside?"

Yue blinked. Only now realizing where she had subconsciously ended to and heard the soft whimpers and cries of the imprisoned men and women who once proudly patrolled the water tribe in the name of the Fire Lord or Phoenix King— whomever that decided to send notices in the given week.

She floundered for a moment and then inquired softly, "Is he here?"

There didn't seem to be any confusion in the eyes of the guards as they nodded confidently, a hint of righteous anger flashing through their eyes, "The traitor just got off from his time on the wall. Princess, if you wish, we can bring him here so that you won't have to enter the prison."

Misunderstanding Yue's reluctance for a sense of repulsion to the filthy prison, the waterbender offered when Yue's gaze caught the sight of a familiar figure not too far into the prison. Shaking her head, Yue presented her usual, calm smile and set the two waterbenders at ease, "That won't be necessary but I'm very grateful for the offer."

With that, she didn't wait any longer and slipped into the prison. She didn't have the mind to check on Hahn but she would feel quite sorry for herself if she didn't find out what this particular figure was doing here.

"Mai? What are you doing here? Do you know someone in here?" Yue inquired with a curious expression. There was only a single hallway with sets of icy prisons carved on either side.

Equally surprised by Yue's appearance but more capable of masking these emotions out of years of practice, Mai replied simply, "I'm hoping for the prisoners to break out."

Yue's body visibly flinched. She still didn't directly gaze at the unsettling sight of prisoners living in their own filth with barely enough warmth for survival but Mai's words forced Yue to contemplate the worst and cautiously look around her.

"What... do you mean?" Yue inquired, by now, knowing that Mai was from the Fire Nation herself. Of course, that hadn't been a barred Yue from getting to know Mai. Her words, however, made it sound like the almost remorseless woman was upto something devious.

"I enjoyed fighting each of them... but victory certainly is boring. I just hoped... they would break out from the prison so I would have something to busy myself with."

Yue almost had black lines forming on her forehead while an exasperated sigh escaped her lips. Breaking a bit of last remaining ice between them, Yue chuckled softly and stood next to Mai, their shoulders almost touching, "You scared me for a second. I thought you were in cahoots with them."

"Hmm," Mai responded with a soft, nasal blow and a hum.

"Why are you here?" Mai inquired this time.

"I... ended up here. I was just walking around."

"You should meet him," Mai cut to the chase.

"Huh? Who?" Yue conveniently feigned ignorance as Mai shrugged.

"Last night, you were the one shivering in fright... babbling that this is all a dream. Meet your husband and confirm it with your eyes that this is real..." The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

Yue fell silent, looking away from the shivering yet sleeping prisoner.

"You don't know him," Yue began, "He will find a way to... hurt me."

"What's a scratch compared to grievousness you've already suffered. As much as it stings my tongue and aches my teeth to say this... but did you forget the sight of his knee? Would it hurt more than that?" Mai frowned. Her evaluation of Nik had changed constantly. To her, he was first a coward who let his 'wife' prepare the bath for her fiance. Then, he was a scum who slept with vulnerable women. It was then shifted to a cowardly scum who would use waterbending to stop her than fighting her head-on... but now, despite all the glaring flaws she felt she saw... Mai truly felt annoyed to see Nik in a tiny bit more positive light.

Her words proved slightly effective as Yue grew thoughtful.

"Will..." Yue began but her voice cracked slightly, making her sound a bit squeamish as the princess cleared her throat quickly and whispered with a blush covering her cheeks, "Will you accompany me?"

She felt quite... relieved to finally ask for someone's help.

However, if Mai's indifferent stare wasn't already the hint Yue needed that this was reality then her words certainly did the work for her.

"I don't think it would interest me at all... ask Suki. Or Katara."

Yue grew glum in an instant and subconsciously retorted, "Why not Nik?"

"It wouldn't interest him since he has nothing to do with your husband."

"And how would you know that?"

Mai frowned and stared at Yue, the opposing party, too, stared at Mai without backing down.

Finally shrugging, Mai stated with a soft scoff, "Do whatever you want. I'm going."

As Mai turned to leave, Yue followed soon.

"What?"

"Well, if this is reality indeed then I want Hahn to stew in his own filth for what he did. I will meet him when I'm ready and prepared to goad and hurt him instead."

Mai was surprised to see the almost hateful stare that Yue presented herself with.

Katara snorted a chuckle while Suki groaned, "I wonder what Kyoshi saw in you!"

Snorting, she crossed her arms as Nik sighed softly, "Hey," holding Suki's hand tenderly and simultaneously looking at Katara, "Thank you... both of you. I feel better."

"I... didn't do it for you..." Suki deflated into meek mumbled but the satisfied sheen in her gaze spoke a whole another tale as Katara's smile widened, "It... really was fun even without alcohol. I'm a little relieved that we don't have to rely on alcohol every time we try to be... together."

"No biting my ass!" Suki admonished again.

"Come on, even I want to do that once in a while," Nik nudged Suki's shoulder with a grin, "You really do have a nice butt, right, Katara?"

Poutingly, Katara nodded. She may have wider hips but Suki had trained from a very young age. There was a clear difference between their bodies to the point that Katara had made her mind to start training with Suki to develop herself and not just her waterbending.

The trio rested with Katara and Suki to either side of Nik. The house had returned to its previous state and much of the scent of the sex had escaped giving way for fresh air but for those with a sensitive sense of scent, like Nik and Aang, the smell couldn't be clearer.

"Hey... I was thinking on what you said about Sokka... although he may not go bonkers... it would do us well to give him a little space and keep things between ourselves for now." Katara began nervously.

"Scared?" Suki smirked while Katara nodded, "If it was just one of us... then that's normal but Sokka, aside from all his qualities, is also talented in making slightly out-of-the-norm situations more awkward with jokes and whatnot... it would just be easier on us if he doesn't know, that's all."

"Oh..." Nik mumbled, "Then you guys should know that... probably, Aang already knows about us."

"Huh?"

"How?!"

Suki and Katara gasped while Nik shrugged, "His sense of hearing is probably similar to mine. You know, spiritual stuff. Even I don't get it."

"So... does Sokka already know?* Katara gulped.

"Given his reaction this afternoon... I would think not," Nik shook his head.

Certitude in Nik's tone did bring Katara some form of relief as she adopted a smile and questioned, "So? Do we start thinking of what to say to the others once we leave for Omashu? Just the three of us."

The impish smile on Katara made Nik feel amused as he hugged the two of them a little tighter and questioned, "Why? Don't you want to help out the others?"

"Helping others start with helping oneself. It may sound selfish but I want you to get better soon. That's why I elected to leave for Omashu once our need in this tribe is done," Suki explained and then added with a wry tone, "Although... now that I think about it, Yue's reaction makes me feel that the idea wasn't well-received."

"No, no, what I'm trying to ask, why not hang out with Aang and Sokka? We can get on Omashu far quicker on Appa than with a boat."

Sensing the teasing intent in Nik's tone, and quite well-aware of what he was trying to do, the two girls gazed at him a bit more sourly as Suki replied softly, almost wanting to dig herself a whole for saying this...

"You know why..." Her tone trailed with a mix of embarrassment and glee while Katara seemed to share a similar intent.

Seeing this, Nik couldn't help but fall thoughtful for a second. Although he wasn't willing to share that he was an interdimensional or interplanetary flight risk... he felt that the girls should know more about him. It wasn't out of goodness of his heart but a more selfish realization to connect with the duo at a deeper level. Not to mention the fact, Nik had begun to feel awkward and felt the longer he kept certain truths from the two he was pursuing a romantic interest with... the harder will be the retaliation when they do find the truth and may just misunderstand it as a sign of distrust.

"Ehm, well... since the two of you really feel at ease with me," Nik began after clearing his throat, "There is something I would like to confess."

"What? Is there some other side floozy you've still not told us about?" Katara instantly frowned and felt that with how Nik had acted, it was something to be expected.

"What? No," Nik scoffed and then thought of Mitsuko for the briefest moment before clearing his head off of the seductive milf and sending an accusatory glance at Katara, "How could you even think that I would keep such knowledge from the two of you? If I can be honest about you two and Michi, then believe me, I will be honest about every other... floozy."

His 'honest' answer, however, made the girls feel grim as Suki narrowed her eyes, "Then what? You still don't talk too much about your past... what changes between last night and tonight?"

"It isn't about my past either. Well... it's better if I just show you guys," Nik stopped embracing the two and straightened his back against the icy wall.

"See this?" Nik said, raising a tiny chunk of ice.

"It's waterbending," Katara shrugged.

"See this?" Nik sighed and stretched his hand towards the flickering lamp and the flames grew fierce and brightened the surroundings instantly.

Suki's and Katara's eyes widened as the latter gasped, "Your mother or your father was a firebender!"

Shaking his head, Nik gently swayed both of his hands and the wind astonishingly picked up around the house. This time, the two of them felt their lips dry based on their own conclusions and Katara whispered, "Did your mother or your father have more than one partner... based on the fact that you have multiple elements... your mother was a... does it run in your family?"

"Ugh, no, you dirty-minded, waterbending masturbator!" Suki facepalmed herself, "If there was any piece of ground, Nik would have bent that, too... right?"

"Right, although, I still haven't tried it I get the feeling I can," Nik nodded and sent a glare to Katara, "And get your head out of the gutter. My mom may be a whore and... maybe you're right about me, too! But it doesn't run in the family!... I hope." Nik added the last bit when he realized he never really knew about his biological parents.

***

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