Republic City High School - Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Two – The Sky Shepherd


"Here," Rinzen said, handing me a thick stack of papers as we stood together at the printing house. He pulled another pile from the front desk and gave a few yuans to the printer in exchange for them. He took his pile and started towards the door. "We'll split from here. Try to cover as much as you can."

He pulled a whistle from his pocket, blowing softly into it as he started out the door. I felt the weight in my hands growing heavier every moment, and tried not to dislike that guy. He was really distant, and I didn't think anyone was really ever sure what went on inside his head.

When I made my way out the door to follow after him, he was nowhere to be found, and a dark shadow was flying away overhead, leaving a trail of our fliers. I guess Rinzen knew what he was doing. Litter the city with enough of those fliers, and no one would really be able to ignore them.

But Rinzen had that Sky Wolf – I guess he called it Nuba – to help him with the job. I just had me. The stack of papers in my arms was growing heavy, and as I passed by, handing them out to people, the pile didn't really get much smaller. I envied Rinzen. It would have been nice to be an airbender.

Then I stopped along a city sidewalk, caught still by my own thoughts. A devilish smile crept up on me, and I giggled giddily at the thought.

Immediately I stored the collection of remaining fliers in my backpack, and started towards the docks of Republic City. I fiddled with the yuans in my pocket, wondering if I would have enough. When I got to the ferry and emptied everything I had for two-way trip, I knew it would be worth it.

Spreading fliers. What a great excuse to go see that perfect person.

I stood at the front of the ferry as it took me closer to Air Temple Island. The wind tore at my hair, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed the feeling until the boat was docked and I could scamper down onto the actual island.

I ran immediately to where I knew he would be, probably training as usual. I wondered if it would be okay to interrupt him. I made my way up the stairs towards the temple, but was stopped before I could get to the top.

"Hey!" a young voice yelled. I turned around, and saw Shaofeng running towards me.  He leapt up in the air as he approached, and I panicked in order to catch him in time. "You came back, my love!"

I smiled and gave him a big hug before setting him down again.

"Hi, Shaofeng!" I said. This kid was too much, in all the right ways. "I came to see your uncle. Is he around?"

Shaofeng looked up at me and frowned.

"Uncle Rohan is meditating," he said sourly. "You shouldn't interrupt him."

"Oh," I said awkwardly. "Actually, I was talking about Meelo."

Shaofeng's eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms at me suspiciously.

"Uncle Meelo's feeding the Bison. Why do you want to see him?"

"I just need his help with something," I answered sweetly, pulling a flier from my pack and handing it down to the boy. "To distribute these."

"Oh, okay," Shaofeng said approvingly, scanning over the page and seeing the photograph of our bending team. "I'll take you to Uncle Meelo."

I smiled just at the name.

Shaofeng took my hand and led me up the steps toward the temple, then turned left and took me around the building where a collection of Sky Bison grazed in a pasture of grass. Closer to the building there was a sheltered area made from stone where there were several beds of hay, and Air Acolytes milled back and forth to replace the bedding.

"Uncle Meelo's over there with Uuna," Shaofeng pointed out. Then his eyes widened when one of the Air Acolytes spotted him. "Oops! Gotta go!"

The Air Acolyte pointed at him just as the boy took off back around the building. A few of them ran after him, all to no avail. I saw them disappear around the curve of the building, shouting after him.

"Shaofeng! You're supposed to be training!"

I looked around, wondering which one was Uuna. Then I saw an unnatural gust of wind rip through one of the bisons' fur after a bath. The creature let out a satisfied grunt and rolled onto its belly.

I smiled when I heard childish laughter, and saw Meelo jump up onto the bison's stomach to rub at the exposed flesh. The bison twitched at the pampering and leaned its head down to lick at Meelo's face. He chuckled and wiped the moisture away playfully, then raised his eyebrows in surprise when his gaze drifted past and saw me.

My skin grew hot for a moment, panicking to think of what to do. Coyly I lifted a hand and waved, stepping off the stone pavement and onto the grassy field.

"Hey," he said, sliding down from the bison's belly as I approached. "Yupei?"

I swallowed hard. Since Meelo had been expelled by his father from our team, I hadn't seen him around at all. He looked down at me with charming blue-gray eyes and smoothed out his robes.

"Hi, Meelo," I said shyly. What was I thinking? What was I doing here? Then I remembered the papers, and my fingers gripped for my backpack. "I was hoping you could help me out with something."

His light expression changed a bit.

"Er, sorry," he said awkwardly, holding up his hands as if cornered. "I can't be involved in that probending team anymore. My dad doesn't…."

"Oh, don't worry about that!" I rushed to stop him, waving my hand with wide eyes. "We already have an airbender."

Meelo paused, then his eyes drifted downward.

"Really," he mused. When he looked back up at me, I wasn't sure what was going through his head. "Who is it?"

"It…it's Rinzen," I answered.

The answer seemed to have knocked the breath out of him, because for the longest time he just stood there, thinking.

"So it's Rinzen," he mumbled. "Is he doing alright?"

"Rinzen?" I tried to think. Rinzen was always kind of distant, but he didn't seem to be not alright. "Yeah, I think so. He's doing fine. Actually I just saw him about an hour or so ago."

"Oh," he answered, then forced himself to continue. "So…if you already have an airbender on your team, why are you here?" A cocky smile crept over Meelo's face, and he leaned down into mine. "Did you just miss me?"

I stared, my face growing warm and red. I couldn't bring myself to answer. He just narrowed his eyes mischievously, retaining his smile as he stood back up and allowed me to breathe.

"I…no, I…," I stuttered, trying to find myself. I pulled out a paper from my backpack and held it out for him. "Since Kono's taking time off with her dad, our team needs a replacement waterbender."

Meelo took the paper and read the information printed on the page.

"I see," he said thoughtfully. "That would make sense. Sure, I'll help out. You want to take Uuna? She just had her bath, so I was going to take her out to show her off, anyway."

I tried to suppress my smile, secretly thrilled about being able to go for a ride with that perfect person. He zipped up onto the bison's head with a little cushion of air, then held his hand out for me. I took it and scrambled up beside him, and felt my heart jump a little when his arm fell softly over my shoulders.

"Uuna," he said. "Yip-yip."