Paragons of Fire and Ice

Who knew nighttime could be so hot? Kano could feel beads of sweat all over himself. He'd had to resort to undoing his jacket and letting it hang around his waist. The fur of the lining was just a little too much for this son of the north in this western heat. The closest he'd ever come to this kind of weather was the wind storms which brought chills so cold, they burned. But despite the heat, it was a beautiful night. There was a crescent moon and the stars shone brightly from this altitude. It was an impressive city.

After their day on the town, they'd found it was a little too late to go setting off again and so had turned to a small inn with a pleasant little garden in it's courtyard. It kind of reminded him of the Spirit Oasis back home. He'd only been in it once, but it had been warm and green like this place. As he sat on the stone bench, looking up at the sky above, his arms draped over it's back, he admired how even this hanging sliver of silver could fill him with a buzz of energy. It helped, of course, that he had a bit more bare skin in it's direct light than usual. When a waterbender wanted to really take advantage of the moon, they needed to expose some skin. Clothes and moonlight just don't mix.

With a contented sigh, he let his had fall back, sweat flick out of his hair. It was like being in some sort of strange volcano-top sauna...

Kano peaked out of one eye as Yumi sat down. He was far too relaxed to be surprised. Plus, he didn't really mind the company. Of course, from the way she was dressed, you'd think she was preparing for a nighttime conquest.

"It was very interesting." he said, nodding lazily as he closed his eye once more. "First time to the Fire Nation. It certainly doesn't disappoint."

"So you're not from the Fire Nation?" Kano asked slowly, picking his head up and looking around at her, his interest piqued. The thought had never occurred to him that there were firebenders from anywhere but the Fire Nation proper. Of course, he'd known a certain airbender who lived with the Water Tribe, so he supposed it wasn't so unusual.

Kano had something of an urge to press her for more information, but it was obvious that she wasn't really in the mood to speak about it, so he decided to grant her a reprieve. His origins weren't nearly as painful as whatever Yumi didn't want to talk about.

"I'm from the Northern Water Tribe." he said, slumping down a bit in the bench and folding his arms. He was pretty sure a full day of this place had done a number on his body odor, and he didn't want to inflict it on her. "My family has a waterbending school there. We only have a few dozen students at the moment, what with the recent population dip, but I've known the school to have hundreds of students at once. It's an incredible school."

He didn't think he needed to sell the subject shift much more than that.