Time passed quietly in Aringeru, and Haruko was almost getting used to it. She had formed a routine the past week-and-a-half, she had found normalcy in the work she did fixing the Hira family car, and then their neighbor's cars. Her wounds had been healed by the power of waterbending. Things were going well.

“Your turn.” Tala said. They were sitting on the lounge room floor with Aazir, and had been trying to teach the boy Pai Sho for just over half an hour.

Aazir’s hands hovered over the pieces, he picked one up. “Can I-”

“No.” Tala stated blankly, and redirected Aazir’s hand to a move he could actually play.

“How long have they been at this, again?” Hang said from across the room, she had stopped tuning her banjo to make the remark.

Haruko shrugged. She was going to say something, but was interrupted by the door opening. Koto and Masina walked into the room.

“Tala!” The younger girl said. “Grandma wants you to go to the market and get food for dinner.” She pointed at Hang. “She wants you to help cook.”

“Alrighty.” Hang set her banjo on the couch and told Haruko not to let anyone touch it before heading out the door to the kitchen. Apparently she was the best cook out of the four of them, and Tuli had enlisted her help in kitchen matters. Haruko suspected it was just so they could talk about waterbending or something.

Tala started to pack up the Pai Sho pieces, with Aazir’s help. “Did she say what she wanted.”

“Yeah. Get a fish.” Masina stated before leaving in the direction Hang had gone.

“Ooh! Ooh!” Aazir said. “Can I come with you? We haven’t been to the market ever since we got here.”

Tala seemed a bit surprised, but nodded. “Alright. It’s just a market, though.” He looked at Koto and Haruko. “You two wanna come?”

Haruko exchanged a glance with Koto and nodded. “Yeah, sure. Will be nice to get out.”

Koto nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I’ll probably buy some food on my own, because…” She waved her hand in the air, by now the entire group knew that she was vegetarian.

Tala smiled as he sat up. “Alright, let’s go.”

The Aringeru open market was as abuzz with energy as it had been the day Haruko arrived. Everything seemed more alive and colorful in the coral isles, at least compared to the pace of life back in Jing Zi, the pace of life she was used to. It was still undeniably humid, but the heat was helped by the fact that many of the merchants kept fans in their stalls, to cool both the products and the customers. Aringeru was still as colorful as Haruko remembered being, both in regards to the diverse population and the literal color of the tents and canopies overhead, shielding market-goers from the harsh afternoon sun.

Haruko kept close to Koto as they walked through the plaza. Even though she trusted Tala’s guidance, she was an outsider here and didn’t know where anything was, it would be easy to get lost.

The airbender adjusted the jacket she was wearing- Tala had lent her one of theirs to cover up her tattoos. It was too big for her thin, lanky frame, but Haruko suspected that was for the better, it was hot out and the loose fit would probably be welcome. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Koto replied. “Just a lot to take in.” She was right, the sounds and sights and smells of the market had almost been too much for Haruko at first.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we don’t get lost.” Haruko took Koto’s wrist in her hand to reassure her. Koto laughed, smiled and thanked her.

“What do you mean fifteen yuans for a salmon-crab? That’s outrageous!” Tala said as they bartered with a stallkeeper. The man seemed to be in his thirties and shared the same warm brown skin as Tala, but his hair was straight and his eyes a deep green.

“I’m telling you, those uppity mainlander greencoats.” The merchant glowered. “They keep policin’ the fishing boats, restricting what areas we can fish, what fish we can catch. I only got these fish right here, so I gotta price them high or else I’m not gonna be able to feed my kids. You understand, right Tala?”

Tala nodded, apparently they had a good enough relationship with this particular merchant to compromise. “Alright, we’ll take the salmon-crab.” They fished through their wallet and produced the required amount of money.

“Alright,” Tala said as they returned to the group, salmon-crab in hand. “Now Koto, do you wanna get some-” Tala stopped mid sentence. Their eyes drifted away from the group and to something behind Haruko.

“What is it?” Koto near-whispered, fresh panic in her voice. Haruko looked between the members of the group.

“UDES troops.” Tala whispered, still keeping their eyes focused on the spot behind Koto. “The greencoats.”

Haruko snuck a glance at where Tala was watching. Sure enough, two adult men in crisp UDES uniforms were walking around the plaza. It had been awhile since she had seen the soldiers in the flesh, but their iconic silver-lined jackets, stiff collars and slicked-back hair gave them away, back in the desert they had been regarded as an omen of death among the sandbenders, she could still hear her mother’s words to never trust someone in that uniform. Before Haruko could tell what they were doing, she was pulled aside by Tala into an alley between two tents.

“What are we doing?” Koto said; she didn’t have the same panic in her eyes that Haruko, Aazir and Tala shared, and instead seemed confused. “What’s going on?”

Tala hesitated and kept their voice low. “The UDES troops showed up years ago, back when I was just a kid. They have a big factory up on the hill, in one of the old Fire Nation bases. I don’t know what they’re doing, but they’ve never come down here before. This can’t be good.”

“Excuse me, children.” Someone said from behind them. Haruko turned around- it was one of the two greencoats, standing in between them and the way out- he had them cornered. The man had light tan skin and brown hair, olive green eyes lighter than most and a neatly groomed beard. If Haruko had to guess, he wasn’t from the isles.

“What are you doing here?!” Tala exploded, tossing the salmon-crab at Aazir and marching over to the man with a fierce determination. Haruko could almost feel the small alleyway getting hotter- was that a thing firebenders could do?

“We’re clearing the plaza. Go back home, ash maker.” The greencoat snarled, making a bending motion with his fingers and arms. The metallic bands around his wrists and upper arms detached, forming into knife-like projectiles. He was a metalbender.

Tala was clearly provoked, Haruko could see the fire in their eyes, but they took a breath and relaxed their posture. “I guess we’ll be leaving then.” Their voice carried a message of disdain towards the soldier, and they kept eye contact as they left the alleyway.

“What are we going to do?” Koto asked as she jogged to make pace with Tala. It seemed everyone else had been evicted from the market, creating a steady stream leading outwards.

“I don’t know.” Tala said. “But we’re definitely going to do something.”

Ahsa was at the inn when they got home, but Tala didn’t spend any time acknowledging her presence, they brushed off her concerned greeting and walked straight into the kitchen. Ahsa followed, yelling about how they were going to burn the fish. Surprisingly, Aazir also left for the kitchen, though for what reason Haruko couldn’t name.

Not knowing what to do, Haruko sat in the courtyard of the inn, on the steps to one of the buildings, though she didn’t know which one. To her surprise, Koto joined her.

“Hey.” The airbender said, placing a hand on Haruko’s shoulder. “You alright?”

“I- I don’t know.” Haruko stumbled over her words. Her first instinct was to lie and say that she was fine, but she doubted that would help the situation any. “I’m just trying to get used to things. I’m so scared all the time now, everything’s changed so fast. I- I miss when things were normal.” She could feel tears streaming down her face.

“I’m sorry.” Koto’s voice was soft and clear. “I can’t help but feel it’s my fault that you’re even in this mess. But that’s why I’m here.” She turned Haruko so they were making eye contact with one another. “I will make sure that you, Aazir and Hang all end up safe and sound at the end of this. Mark my words, I will do everything in my power to guarantee it.”

“Is that a promise?” Haruko asked. She didn’t often trust blatant statements like that, but the determination in Koto’s voice made her hopeful.

“It is.” Koto replied. “I’m not going to leave you alone.”

Aazir had never seen anyone as mad as Tala was. He was entranced as he watched the firebender cut up the salmon-crab for cooking.

“Dude, chill out.” Ahsa remarked, briefly stopping chopping vegetables to berate them. “You’re going to burn the fish.”

Tala grumbled. “I’m fine.”

“Aazir, will you cut the salmon-crab for my grandchild?” Tulu instructed. “I’d prefer if our fish remained un-burnt until the time we cook it.”

“Alright.” Aazir answered as Tala shoved the half-prepared fish to him. Aazir picked up the knife, but his hand wavered over the cutting board- he had no idea where to start.

“Here, I’ll help.” Masina walked around the table from where she was helping Hang stir broth. The waterbender put her hand around Aazir’s and guided it to where the salmon-crab needed to be cut. Once he got the hang of it, it was easy to return his attention to the conversation.

“As I was saying.” Hang continued. “Back when I lived in the swamp, when I was a little kid, my mom would use her waterbending to make pho. It was always my favorite.” Apparently the waterbender had been born in the swamp and lived there until she was seven. Aazir was surprised when she had brought it up, but it made more sense than her being from either of the poles.

Tuli smiled. “You’re good at the technique, dear. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were raised here in the isles.”

“Do you know any cool fighting moves?” Masina piped up.

Tuli shot her granddaughter a glance that showed what she thought of her learning fighting techniques, but Hang laughed.

“I don’t know much….” The tall girl laughed. “Uh, I created a fog over a few buildings once. That was pretty cool, not exactly fighting though.”

“Whoa.” A large grin formed on Masina’s face.

“In my experience, fighting skills are alright but the true measure of a bender comes to how practical their skills are. Take healing for example, with these two I need to heal them up practically every day. Cooking too. Practical skills.”

“True, true,” Ahsa commented. “But you have to admit shooting lighting out of your fingertips is pretty epic.’

“You can generate lightning?!” Aazir exclaimed.

Ahsa smiled. “I’ll have to show you sometime.”

Tala, who had been sulking the entire conversation, sat up and smiled. “Hey, I can generate lightning too!”

Ahsa gave him a smirk and turned to Aazir, putting a hand over her mouth to pretend like she was telling a secret. “Only cause I taught ‘em how.”

Aazir laughed. He could get used to this normal.