Taming the Fire

The small village had yielded nothing, much to Jurishe's dismay. She had been snaring rabbits and other small game as they traveled, but she and Katara would need to resupply eventually. Most of the things they needed most - medical supplies, clothing, the tent - they couldn't make reliably by hand.

Sitting by the water, waiting for the boat that had been promised, Jurishe dipped her bare feet in, sighing lightly. All this waiting was not on her list of fun things to do. Sure, if it was her own choice, that would have been fine, but imposed moments of nothingness? No. The water at her feet spun and flitted about unnaturally, aided by her absent waterbending.

"I should have asked them to bring us lunch along with the boat," She half-muttered to her friend, "At least then we could have had something aside from rabbit stew, rabbit rotisserie, rabbit jerky... I'd be so happy with fish, right now." Even though it was a staple of her Tribe, and she wanted to try new things... Oh yes, fish would be so very welcome.

Shaking her head, she looked up at the sky; the sun had already begun to set. "At this rate, we won't get out to the island until tomorrow..." Jurishe was whining, and she knew it, but she hated being restricted like this, for no reason at all.

"I like wandering too," She tried to explain, "...But If I can't do something, it rubs me the wrong way." It may have been weak reasoning, but it likely stemmed from what had happened during her childhood, with her first friend. "Besides," She continues, "The island is right there; we're so close."

Jurishe could see the island at a great distance, as if it were shrouded in fog. Depending on what sort of boat they would be supplied with, it could take her as little as an hour or two to get them both out there. The sun was still in the sky, however pessimistic she felt just now. Maybe they'd get lucky and get moving before it was too late to try.

"Since I left home, I haven't felt the need to really do anything," She offered a slight shrug, "Not like this, anyway. I kinda just wanted to hear more stories and see more of the world, but that can be done anywhere. Right now, I really want to help you."

Jurishe tries to take a few deep breaths, calming her sense of urgency and impatience. It didn't take long before she was more relaxed.

"I'd rather not take my clothes off, with villagers on their way here!" Jurishe laughed in agreement, "Well, I can give you a story, but the one I'm thinking isn't very happy..." Her face fell, just slightly, "It's a fairly popular legend."

Swinging her feet gently in the water, she waited for Katara's answer, as she usually did. The ripples and waves swirled and flipped once again at her touch.

"This one isn't one of mine," Jurishe told her, her voice already softening into 'story-mode', "It's a legend of the Water Tribe. Or - the Southern Tribe, anyway." Kicking at the water once more, she launches into the story:

"A long time ago, just before the Tribes had settled in the north and south pole, a young woman lived with her father, who was growing too old to provide for them," Her voice was grave, as that was a serious thing, in her Tribe, "The girl, however, was too vain to marry any of her suitors. Once she'd rejected each one, her father set his foot down. He informed her that she would be wed to the next hunter to pass through their tiny village."

Jurishe glanced over at her friend before continuing, "Soon enough, another hunter passed through, and the young woman was offered up to him. He consented and she was loaded into his kayak, taken away from her home."

"Soon, they came to an island. The young woman was surprised to find that there was nothing around; no houses, no trees, and no other people. When she turned to question her new husband, he changed before her eyes, becoming a raven-faced man. She screamed, and tried to run, but there was nowhere for her to go," Jurishe paused, imagining the story in her head as she retold it, "She was trapped."

"Her husband brought her nothing but raw fish to eat, and she cried well into the night and into the morning. Finally, her cries reached her father who came to find her, rescuing her from the barren island. They each paddled away in their kayak, away from the island and her husband. They did not get far," Jurishe's gaze was soft, "The raven-faced hunter chased after them, and, for the first time, her father saw the creature that he had given his daughter away to."

"Though he tried to fight, he was an older man, and was no match for the creature. Laughing, the raven-faced hunter tossed and churned the sea, summoning a large storm. Panicking, the young woman's father threw her into the ocean, calling for the spirit to reclaim his bride."

"Swimming frantically, the young woman caught the sides of the kayak, only to have her fingers smashed by her father, who swung the oars at her, trying to beat her away from his boat. When they cracked and fell into the waves, her fingers became the seals and the penguins. Again, she tried to hold on, and again her frozen fingers were bashed until they cracked, this time falling to become the whales and the fish..."

"The final time, her fingers shattered and became all of the smaller ocean creatures, and the young woman sank beneath the waves, her body sluggish and tired. Her punishment for running from her husband was to be denied death; she is still alive to this day, and every storm carries her cries on the wind and in the waves, as all of her creations move to the bottom of the ocean, to comfort her..." On that note, the story ended; Jurishe simply had no more to say. There was no happy ending.

"I always wondered what happened to her father, after that," Jurishe admits, "And the raven-faced hunter. If he was a spirit, why did he chase after her, and then just let her die?" Her voice is curious, but almost in a morbid sense, "Did he kill her father, too? He'd just watched him throw his bride into the water to her death."

"Don't be so vain that you end up with a spirit for a husband?" Jurishe supplied, laughing right afterward at her own joke. Once her laughter abated, she supplied, more seriously, "I'm not sure if there is a moral... or, at least, no one has ever given me one. I think that it's meant to be an explaining story; like 'why does the ocean churn and the sky darken in a storm?'."

Her eyes were drawn to the path to their right, when a rustling sound announced the arrival of their boat. Jurishe jumped up, moving over toward the villagers to both pay for the vessel and ask about the island once again. There was not much of an answer before she and Katara were alone, once again. "Well, at least we've got this, now," She mentioned, trying to keep her voice light, "It doesn't look much like a kayak, though."

"It's... There are seats in it, but it's shaped like a big, flat triangle, and the paddles are too long and flat at the ends," Jurishe told her confused. A rowboat was, in fact, rather different than a kayak. "Well... I guess we should wait until tomorrow to try it out, anyway. The sun's set, and I don't know anything about the ocean here - or what's in it."

Grabbing the end of the boat, she pulled it through the sand, toward their things, not wanting to leave it out, unattended, just to lose it somehow. "Does that sound good? Waiting until sun-up, I mean?"

Glancing around at their surroundings, finding nothing wrong with it, Jurishe nodded her head. "I think that would be best... The beach seems pretty safe, and then we can get going, tomorrow morning." Reaching up, she brushed her stray hairs back. "I'll get a fire pit ready. Do you think you could find some wood or kindling?" Her eyes found Katara in the light of the sunset.

It took little to no time at all, for Jurishe to dig a fire pit in the sand. Because it wasn't ice or snow, it would light much better than normal for her, as well. Looking up at the treeline, she tries to keep Katara in her line of sight, just in case. She wasn't trying to baby her friend, but she couldn't help but worry.

"Are you doing alright?" She called, cupping her hands to increase the range of her voice, "I could give you a hand, if you need it?"

"There's nothing around for you to hit," Jurishe giggled, watching Katara make her way back over. Standing, she holds her hands out, "Here, I can take it. It won't take me more than a minute, to get a fire going. Go ahead and take a seat."

Placing the wood into the fire pit, Jurishe grabbed a tiny book of matches out of her pack, striking one against the bottom of her boot. Then, holding it against some paper that she'd shredded, she began to light the fire.

While the blaze certainly didn't start off strong, Jurishe was able to light the fire. Leaning in close, she gently blew over the sparks, getting them to catch onto the larger sticks; finally, with her careful guidance, the flames burned steadily at the wood, becoming good and strong. "There we go," She straightened back up, moving to sit beside Katara.

"If nothing else, the fire will keep animals and bugs away," She offered, reaching for her backpack, pulling out her coat to pull it on. Because she knew about Katara's high body heat, she wasn't worried about her friend getting cold at night.