The Canals <Shai City, North Pole>

[ukaleq]

She quickly stepped up to the edge of the snow covered ledge that hung over the canal of frigid water. The young woman extended a hand outward to hail a gondola, the narrow little boats that weaved their way through the city's waterways via water bending or paddles. They were lovely boats, made out of wood ages ago when the wood was more plentiful in terms of imports. Painted in traditional colors, they smoothly glided over the water with hardly a ripple, the bows curving up like a stylized wave. Crescent moons were painted on each side of the bow in ivory white, like eyes perhaps, and they were framed by royal blue cloud-like waves.

Ukaleq leaned outward a bit, her small hands covered by dark gloved with a decorative embroidered paw print on the back of each. Her eyes glanced back up towards the ruins of the temple palace, her thick eyebrows curling up in a mixture of concern and frustration, creases appearing in her forehead. She had spent many days in the temple palace and learning of it's destruction had been a harsh blow to the Tribe after the loss of Princess Yue. Now Chief Arnook was without a heir and rumors were already swirling about various options. Would the Chief adopt? Name a heir from his council? No one knew, of course. Her other hand brushed away her bangs from her face, thin strands that shot out in gentle arcs from her hair line to drip into her face. Much of her dark umber hair was pulled back away from her face where it was split into four loosely bound braids that were then looped over her shoulders. Two in front, two in back. Prussian blue colored ribbons wrapped the braids together, while tulle netting in spring green formed flowers on each side of her head.

Ah.. she closed her eyes tightly as a chilled wind blew past her, and she drew her breath in quickly. Both hands came to her neck, pulling the taupe grey fur that edged her parka's hood tightly around her lower face, burying her chin, lips and nose. Oh yes.. She had an errand to run.. that was her original purpose. Her mother, Naylee, a skilled head healer, had been busy tending her brother, Quanah, and her father, Qillaq; Both of whom had been injured in the second Seige. Naylee needed some more herbs and some fresh bandages for both of the men's wounds, her own supplies at home not lasting.
She paused, awaiting a Gondolier.

[nokose]

Curious.

Nokoseuhbholke would have like to know what went through their heads. If they comprehended what he said was lie. Maybe forgive him for it. Took it at face value. Or just pretended it was truth.

After the brief pause, a snip of confusion, immediately "She's still sick," clumisly came out of his mouth.

The three little girls, one of whom being his niece, stared at him for moment.

"I hope she gets better," one of them said, twirling two of her braids together. The other two nodded in agreement.

They let him glide the gondola along in peace. Not one of them, Nokose nor the girls, cast a look back at the canal corner he usual stopped at when carting the girls to the healing huts. Grandmother of twenty-two, he remembered, ears preening and hoping the woman was just late. Surely she was making her way to the corner now.

Maybe that is her right now, pretending he heard her voice, craning his head in hopes of catching sight of the old matriarch. Still sick, lying to himself now.

Solemly, Nokose exhaled while the girls finally went back to their game. His hand brushing over the carefully plaited rows of hair and fingers caressing naked portions of his scalp as he watched the girls clapping and hand-patting in cadence to pass the time. They seemed to be coping well, he assumed--it amazed him. Surely they knew better--what had actually happened. Afterall, kneeling in the center of his gondola were three girl. Not four.

A collection of missed stops and missed passengers is what it has been like for days after the siege. Of his regular passengers, some managed appear along the lanes once again while others he still has not seen sight of since. At times it made him wonder as to why he missed these people, because he cared for them or because they existed to establish a pattern in his life?

"Girls," tapping the toe of his boot on the gondola's deck to get their attetion, waving his hands to one side of his body in order to veer his gondola towards the side of the canal.

"Make way and say hello," chin pointing towards the figure standing a the edge of the ice walkway bordering the canal. From their kneeling positions, the girls bobbed and craned their heads like arctic pigeons to glimpse the would-be passenger as Nokose brushed against the walkway, slowly pushing his hands forward to bring his gondola to a stop.

[ukaleq]

A slender boat glided up next to the shelf, silent in the water as four sets of eyes turned to look at her. Oh.. crowded today. Her eyebrows rose in subtle surprise at the other girls. It made sense of course, not all the gondolas had returned to service on the canals and they would be crowded. She stepped back from the edge carefully, tugging the fur that encircled the hood of her parka, encircling her head like a halo. She gave an easy smile to the three young girls seated in the front of the Gondola, kneeling in a circle to talk to each other, warm in their own thick coats.

"..Hello there." She spoke in a kind voice, a little deep for a woman of her age, but certainly not high strung like others might possess. Ukaleq had seen the girls playing their hand games at they had approached, their attention turned towards her by the man's subtle voice. Naira still played those games with her friends and with her sister, though sometimes she played by herself with a stuffed sealion while Ukaleq combed and brushed her long, moderately curled hair. It brought back memories.

Her face turned towards the tall Gondolier, her eyes meeting the crisp sky blue of his eyes, bright against his darker skin. She blinked curiously at his hair, within seconds making sense of the pattern of ink black hair that had confused her at first. Ukaleq brought her hand to her lips as she glanced back over the gondola's other occupants, before she lowered her hands to clasp at her neck, just above the carved disk of ivory that bore a snow hare on it. "I do apologize for joining your already crowded boat, Sir.. may I please request a lift to the Healing hunts on the outer edge of the city?" The noblewoman bowed her head to him as she asked permission to board his boat, the sliver of long fur that hung from the disk at her collarbone swinging forward from her well rounded waist.

[nokose]

Hands in their sleeves, the girls shifted so they looked directly at the would-be passenger and bowed. Their unison reply was dry as any group of schoolchildren's would be when introduced to an adult, yet respectful nonetheless.

"Good day madame," they said before walking on their knees to make room. Meanwhile Nokoseuhbholke was steadying the gondola in a method that became as simplistic to him as walking. With one foot still in the boat the other reached over to the dry ice walkway. Slightly, his foot skidded back until half his foot hung over the boat's edge and the other remained on the walkway. As he did such he melted the ice and snow underfoot then refroze it with a small twist at the ankle, freezing a sliver of the ice walkway to his gondola. Compared to when he first took part in the familial business, performing such an action had become increasingly easy and a rather unthinking process over the years, much like walking. He did this without relinquishing attention from this new passenger.

A tilt of his head hinting at a nod. "You have no apology need to give," matching the politeness of her speech, then his face tipped towards the girls aboard. "On this day. At this time. My vessel is always occupied. But by graces unknown I always manage room for yet one more to render service unto," pressing a fist into an open palm before bowing from his waist.

"I, my niece and her friends flow towards the healing huts as is. We would be more than welcomed if you accompained us," for a brief moment he glimpsed the girls from the corner of his eye and smiled inwardly while they bowed as well.

[ukaleq]

Ukaleq beamed at the girls' response, finding their synchronized voices adorable. They looked like little dolls, only their shuffling hinting at their life. Her lips spread into a tight smile, her cheeks warm with a medium caramine color coming to her cheekbones. Her eyes turned back to the Gondolier as he spoke and stepped halfway between the ship and the icy ledge.

She stepped back from the ledge, used to the standard method that most of gondoliers used to stabilize the boats for their clients. Her eyes dropped down to watch it form, but she kept her face up. After moment, her eyes lifted to look up at the tall bender, her lips parting into an even bigger smile as she genuinely gave him a breathless laugh, her voice cheerful in response. "Then thank you, Sir." She nodded her thanks to him, accompanying her bobbing head with a gentle bow of her head and shoulders. Her braids and strands of hair trembled around her head as she lifted her head and stepped forward. She had ridden in gondolas for years and boarding them.

"Excuse me, ladies.." She murmured as she gently stepped down from the ledge into the boat, feeling it shake under her added weight, but stable due to Nokose's water bending. Her hide boots touched the wooden floor gently as she lifted her multi-layered creamed colored skirts up from under her parka. The skirts settled to where they hovered just barely at the ground as she released them and brought her gloved hands to her waist, Ukaleq smoothed out the Carolina blue of her parka as she lowered herself into a kneeling position alongside one of the younger girls.

[nokose]

Back straight, Nokoseuhbholke awaited the woman to settle in even moving again.

A twist of his foot was all it took, melting the sliver of ice that had moored his gondola to the canal bank. His will pushed at the water, letting it rebound off the icy street's bank to nudge the gondola away and into the invisible lane of the canal. The canal's 'mainstreets' being wide enough for gondola's moving in either direction with room to spare.

Taking her eyes from Ukaleq's dress, cautiously one of the girls leaned tilted towards the newcomer. while Nokose 'paddeled' the craft forward, his arms creating a loop as they swept to one side and then the other.

"H... hi," twisting the very tip of a braid that began at either side of her before binding into one at the back of her head and winding around her shoulders almost twice.

"I'm Ikingut," her voice slowly picking up. "I'm seven."

"No you're not," one of the others tried to whisper at her but was vocal enough for Ukaleq to hear.

"Yes I am," she retorted.

"Nah uh and you know it," the third one jumped in.

"Yah huh," Ikingut stuck her lip out. "My birthday is in six days so there. That makes me six," ending with a stern nod.

"Until your birthday you're still six like us."

"I'm closer to six than than five so that makes me seven."

Nokose tried not to look, but sadly did in the end. He held back a grimace and merely shrugged before continuing. "It'll resolve istelf," he resigned."

[ukaleq]

She was taken aback at first by the child's boldness in speaking to her, but her wide-eyed look was replaced with an amused smile, her eyes warmed as she watched the little girl, Ikingut twirl her braid only to be scolded by the others for not telling her age truthfully. Her dark eyes, a happy warmth reflected in the colors of her eyes. A rose color came to her cheeks as she settled, shifting her legs to the side slightly as she sat. A toe of her umber colored boots poked out of the multiple layers of pleated buff colored fabric that made up the most under layer of her skirts.

She ignored the other girls at first when she addressed the first one to speak, feigning an excitement in her voice that many adults used when speaking to children. "Wow.. ! You'll be seven in only six days? How exciting!" She reached forward with one of her gloved hands, the slim fitting skins payne's grey in color, to tap the girl's chin upward. "And what a beautiful seven year old you will be. But of course.." And here Ukaleq looked to the other girls, lowering her hand back to her lap. "You are all beautiful little girls.. such fine young ladies. Tell me, how many more days till the rest of your birthdays?"

As she spoke, the noble woman threw a glance over her shoulder to the Gondolier, her lips curling up in amusement at his comment. Perhaps he had to deal with this on a regular basis? It was not bad to hear the excitement in children's voices as they shared something they felt was important. Naira, her younger sister who was only a few years older than these girls, was very similiar. She and Ukaleq were as close as could be and Ukaleq loved every minute of it.

[nokose]

Shyly, if it could have been interpreted as such, Nokoseuhbholke had swiftly turned his head from the woman's glance. Maybe embarassed, a part of him was no less thankful for this woman's diplomacy. Or maybe any woman's diplomacy, or even a father with at least one daughter, for that matter if the girls ever became a little competitive or bickered around him. Dealing with little boys when ever they became like that was easy enough for him. But little girls? It felt rather different to him that he felt himself still learning.

Learning would be of much use to him, he thought, should any of his future children turn out to be daughters.

Turning back, Ikingut's look was a little smug on her young, pudgy face. Straight back, the reddish undertone of her tree-brown skintone being seemed a little redder around her cheeks as she looked over her friends. Yuhkeknetaye mimicked her mother, his sister, in her counting method. Hands stuffed into the sleeves of her parka, probably counting with her fingers, her head tilted down and her eyes were closed. Lips barely moving while she counted up. And then there was Niviarsiaq.

An eyebrow was raised, more at himself than the hurt and confused look on the little copper-brown girl's face when she looked at him. It encouraged a tightly withheld need to 'aawwww' and comfort her.

"Can you count how many days ago was your birthday, Niviarsiaq?" Pausing his body and letting the gondola drift forward.

With hair braided and coiled into spiral buns at either side of her head, she pursed her lips then looked at her hands while she counted. "Fifty-seven," sounding more like a question than an answer. Hoping it wasn't wrong when she looked to him then the noble woman for reassurance.

"Good," he replied. "So take that many days from an entire year," he encouraged.

Her lips held tight again. Next to her Yuhkeknetaye's eyes opened, the bone curled ends of the braids near her face bobbed and swayed when she lifted her head. "What is sixty-five from fifty-seven," leaning over.

"Eight," she stated with confidence.

"And what is three hundred added to that," Ikingut joined in.

A smile finally came to Niviarsiaq when she turned to Ukaleq. "Three hundred and eight days," she announced.

"One hundred and forty-six," Yuhkeknetaye answered nonchanlantly when her turn came. Either making it sound as if it were no big deal or just trying to not seem haughty in displaying her burgeoning mathematic skill.

[ukaleq]

Laughter broke from her round face like a bubbling fountain as she clapped her hands together many times, having waited with bated breath as the Gondolier guided them through the counting. What a clever method he had. Ukaleq laughed, tilting her head to the side as she did so, her head nodding encouragingly

"Wonderful! So.. " She took a breath and opened her eyes, looking at the girls as she made an effort to imprint the on her memory. "..Your birthday is in six days.. Yours is in one hundred and forty-six.. and yours is in three hundred and eight days. Very good. My birthday is in two hundred and...." She paused, counting off in her own head as she moved her raspberry colored lips silently.. ".. eighty-six days." She beamed at the children, setting her hands in her lap now, letting them rest on the curve of her thigh. "I think if each of you are willing to meet on your birthdays on this Gondolier's gondola.. I shall have gifts for each of you. Would you like that?" Ukaleq leaned forward as she spoke the proposition to the young girls.

She was always making little things at home from the various scraps of fabric they had lying around the house. Seamstresses were more than willing to give what they couldn't use for clothing anymore although that was becoming scarce with each passing year because the trade ships from the Earth Kingdom had been so rare. Ukaleq could surely round up enough to make little gifts for her wonderful little companions here. Perhaps little animals or dolls for the girls, or even pretty little decorations for their hair like her own. The turquoise colored flowers of tulle that covered her ears often drew compliments.. some good.. some bad ("You look like you have gills like a fish, Ukaleq!" from her brother, Quanah).

"Ikingut.." The noblewoman began to list off their names, pointing at each with her small and narrow fingers.. "Niviarsiaq.. and Yuhkeknetaye. " Her hand turned, her fingers curled towards herself. "My name is Ukaleq. I will remember your names if you remember mine and we shall certainly meet again on your birthdays if you'd like."

[nokose]

They deserved something better, much greater than what they had to endure twice already, he believed. Nokose could endure living the life given unto him and personally accepted. However, he could not stand for anyone but a warrior to exist anywhere near the fringes of violence. It is not their place in the world. And that may be one of the Fire Nation's greater cruelties, Nokose regarded. Exposing others to it. And as stoicly as he could make himself appear, emotions still existed. The larger mass of an iceberg underneath the waves. And the mass of him was given reassurance. Maybe that was why he returned to work so soon, wanting to be reassured of something beyond the sorrow victory had left them. Ruined structures, lost lives and fractured relationships but these women today and anyone who rode the canals refused to let him dwell on that, reminding him that there were still people here.

Ukaleq, he thought, a proper name for a respectable woman to own.

I may, no doubt, hear of this for days if not months to come, a guarded yet wry grin pressed against one of Nokoseuhbholke's cheeks.

He hid his face away, cautiously shaking it while navigating the gondola around a corner. Quietly admitting to himself that he could do without the girls' peals of excitement that could likely split a glacier in twain. And in trying to remain guarded, Nokose also kept anyone from really noticing his more positive attitude towards the children. Grateful that life has hopefully offered the girls a new friend, or at least someone to lift their young spirits.

The look in the eyes of the three girls caught him off-guard. The conspiratory look of an unspoken but shared idea between people. Present for Ukaleq, he was doubtless while something bubbled up from his throat. Nokose then cleared his throat and turned to cough to hide his embarrassment once they turned towards him.

"Ahem--the Healing Huts complex," officially announcing without looking at them, perhaps thankful that his skintone did well to hide a blush, then guided the gondola along the shore of the canal walk.

The girls waited until he had moored the gondola before standing. Melting the ice and snow underfoot then refroze it with a small twist at the ankle, freezing a sliver of the ice walkway to his gondola at a few areas. Behind him the girls slowly stood and were about to clasp hand to hand in a human chain as he pondered how they were to this new order. Once upon a time, just so recently it was in fact, there were four girls and often the elder lady who walked the girls towards the huts. Holding the hand of one on either side of her while two girls walked hand-in-hand at either side of her. And now, awkwardly, they had to develop a new order. Often with Ikingut, the 'oldest' of the three, at the far end while Nokose would finish the four-person chain from the other end.

"U... Ukaleq," he bowed towards her upon finishing. "If you could...," he saw Niviarsiaq already reaching out for the noble lady's hand. And before he could finish the girls had already finished. Niviarsiaq held both Ukaleq's and Ikingut's hands in either of hers with Ikingut taking hold of one of Yuhkeknetaye's while she held one of his.

Raising an eyebrow, his uncovered free hand petted his niece's head. The rolled up ends of Yuhkeknetaye's braids, styled by her mother's bone curlers, softly bounced from each stroke. Tugging on the human chain she responded in kind, leaned against her uncle, hugging his waist with one arm.

[ukaleq]

The children amused her, their excitement causing herself to laugh with them. Her lips curled into a smile as she looked down at her own hands in her lap, fiddling with the ivory charm placed at the front of her skirts, at the peak of white fur. She mused quietly in her own mind, pleasure coming from lifting these girls spirits, something that was needed in the shadow of the destroyed palace. She sighed wondering if the Archives had survived. Ukaleq had not had a chance to return to them yet to see if they had survived intact. And Master Taartoq... How was he and his lovely wife, Mistress Padma?

Her eyes closed for a moment, as she felt the gondola slow down to a crawl and then, the gentle bump it made as it pulled up alongside the walkways. Over her shoulder, she looked back towards the walkway, watching as the ice and snow reached out to grab the gondola, to stabilize it. Ukaleq rose to her feet with the boat now stable, and idly, she smoothed the creases that had formed in the stiff, suede like fabric of her parka, letting the zig-zag decorative edges of her parka hang down over the cream colored skirts. It was Niviarsiaq's hand that caught her attention and she glanced down to the little girl's hand taking her own, and then she looked up towards the Gondolier down the little row of girls. How.. adorable.

A shy smile crossed her face as she tilted her head, before glancing down to the girls. "Of course. Let's go, little ladies." She took a step forward, crossing the small gap between the gondola and the shore. She stepped carefully, turning to make sure the three little girls made the crossing as well. "..There we are. Quickly now, we don't want to be late.." She spoke to the girls, looking above their heads to the tall gondolier. "Thank you.. very much.." She let her voice trail off. Would he follow and escort them all? It seemed as if he would.. what a chivalrous thing to do.

[nokose]

Almost simultaneiously the girls scampered ahead with Nokoseuhbholke's and Ukaleq's arm pulled forward before their own bodies followed. At their age and height the two adults easily managed to catch up to the girls' short legged steps and in moments the quintet were almost in step as they strode across the snow packed grounds of the Healing Huts complex.

They are contagious, Nokose thought to himself as the girls' giggles filled his ears, unable to keep himself from smiling also, while at the whim of his niece, his arm swung back and forth with hers like a pendulum. Down the line the girls were swinging each others and everyone's arms as such. Letting them rise and fall in turn like the undulating ocean waters.

As they continued forth Nokose slowly became self-conscious of himself and his actions. An awkward feeling as he gazed up and down the line of women besides him.It felt, maybe, familial to him somehow. There was the flashback in his own mind to a distant time where he would find himself in the middle of a quintet much like this with his own, immediate family. Making eye contact with Ukaleq did not help either, causing him to turn away in embarrassment. For a moment he felt as if he was watching the scene between the five of them from outside himself. Sharing a view with what onlookers were seeing. And yet when he opened his hand, his niece still kept it in her grasp.

Eventually his hand closed around hers again, but Nokose could not still help but wonder if the girls understood that Ukaleq's destination may have been different from their own. They were going to class while she?

Mentally he shrugged, knowing that Ukaleq would eventually redirect their course if need be.

[ukaleq]

Hand in hand with Niviarsiaq, Ukaleq practically skipped alongside the younger girls, her free hand clutching a handful her skirts through the thickness of her parka. She swung her arm back and forth with the girls, her four braids bouncing on her shoulders as she did so, the hood of her parka floating up and down on the wind. She laughed with the girls as they hurried along the snow and ice.

Ukaleq adored children, especially little girls. They were such bundles of energy. She found herself bubbling with energy alongside them, even though she was usually subdued around men, as a woman's role should be. As they neared the huts, and the women of various ages gathered around, Ukaleq slowed her steps and dropped her skirts letting the hem just brush the snow covered ground, her thick and warm boots making the gentle crunch on the ground.

"Now, which hut are you girls going to?" She asked, looking around at most of the familiar faces. She knew almost all of them, especially the elder woman, many of whom nodded their heads in greeting to Nayeli's eldest daughter. She glanced down the line at the three dark heads of the little girls.

"That one, there!" Yuhkeknetaye exclaimed, lifting her hand with Ikingut's and motioning in the direction of Mistress Luksa's healing hut. The elder woman was one of the most skilled healers in the tribe and a close acquaintance of all the healers. Yet the woman kept to herself for the most part and was rumored to be strict with her young students, however their skills were usually among the best. Ukaleq nodded as they approached and halted outside the decorated door, the entranceway covered by a fur to keep the wind out. She would then turn to the three girls and kneel, balancing on the balls of her feet while her gown pooled at her feet, the fur of her knee-length parka touching the snow now. "Alright, little ones.. this is where we go our separate ways. Remember, I'll see you again and be good. Try not to give .." She paused, glancing up through her eyelashes at him. She did not know his name. "your escort.. too much trouble. Now go learn.." She said, brushing her fingers against Niviarsiaq's smiling cheek before she rose.

She bowed her head to the gentleman, the Gondolier with a smile. "Thank you again, Sir." Her hands resting at her neck, playing with the grey fur that lined her hood and the ivory decoration at the throat of her parka. "Have a good day." Ukaleq spoke in kindness, turning afterwards and hastily walking off towards another hut to retrieve new wraps her brother's wounds, as requested by her mother.

[Ukaleq is leaving temporarily]

[nokose]

"M'lady," freed hands now hidden in the sleeves of his anorak upon quickly returning Ukaleq's bow. Nokoseuhbholke then partially craned his head back towards the canals near the healing hut complex, gauging whatever activity existed existed there. And save for the comings of mainly women and girls that trickled in by way of gondola, there were no departures by gondola needing to be attended by him personally.

"A moment further requested upon you," Nokose then said as she seemed to skitter away. Something that struck him as mildly confusing and even worthy of question, if it was his place to ask such anyway.

"As gratitude for my gi--" quickly correcting himself mid-sentence, "for the girls contentment, I render services unto you for moments longer," hoping that Ukaleq did not hold onto what he almost had mistakenly said, let alone manage to decipher what he would have almost said.

"If you have further need that requires my assistance you need only say such. Otherwise, if I am not occupied by another passenger I see not hindrance in ferrying you again towards a return destination if needed."

[ukaleq]

After some reasonable time had passed, the young noblewoman emerged from the healing huts her package held tightly in her arms. She walked with a satisfied smile on her face, her cheeks red with warmth from the indoors. Eyes half-lidded, she rounded the corner from the complex, appearing aside one of the huts nearest the canals. Lifting her head, Ukaleq took her eyes off the ground and placed them on the water's shimmering surface. There was her Gondolier, still waiting there just as he said. Not that she had any reason to question the Gondoliers. They were really the veins and arteries of Shai City and the Northern Water Tribe, providing transportation through the main levels of the city.

She smiled easily at him, standing tall in his narrow boat that seemed so empty without the girls. Her eyes ran over the ivory colored boat, it's hull painted a dark taupe, with soft, sun bleach azure painting in traditional patterns which included a moon painted in cosmic latte on each side of the bow, almost like the eyes of a fish. Her steps hurried, almost becoming a jog as the young woman hurried forward, her multi-layered skirts swishing at her calves which were tightly bound in the thick russet skins and hides that made up her leather boots, lighter strips lacing them up to her knees.

"Hello again, Gondolier!" Really, she had no idea what his name was.. and Gondolier was a respectable title.." Ukaleq would exclaim as she neared the edge of the water, slowing down to what was merely a hasty walk now.