Chapter Text
It's the year 169 AG, snow was melting in the busy streets. Winter was finally coming to an end and most citizens were looking forward to the slightly warmer spring. Kyia was just arriving in the big city. She looked up at the tall buildings and Avatar Aang Memorial for the first time. With her bag over her shoulder, she looked around in awe as she stepped down from the ship, which had brought her here from the Northpole. Satomobiles were driving around everywhere, making Kyia excited. She had never seen so many of them at once. She was originally from a smaller city on the Northpole and had barely ever seen anything other than ice and snow. All the colors at once made her a bit dizzy, so she decided to stay close to the coast for now. The water was still the same as the one she had known from home and it gave her a bit of comfort. Hopefully her parents would find comfort in the sea too, now that she was gone.
Ayla had just finished putting up small flyers from Dragon Flats Boroughs over to the downtown area. Someone would surely be just as desperate as she was, right? A small flame of rage was still burning in the pit of her stomach. Not only did her now ex boyfriend have the nerves to cheat on her, no... He had immediately thrown all her stuff out once Ayla had found out. She muttered curses under her breath as she started walking home. She had lost her last job a few weeks ago and her savings had barely been enough to cover the first rent of her new apartment. She needed a roommate. Fast.
The brunette was waiting near the docks. Her soon to be husband should have showed up 20 minutes ago when her boat arrived. Why wasn't he here yet? It was very rude to keep someone waiting, especially the future wife. But now that she allowed her thoughts to drift, she realized something. She was in a new city. Nobody knew her. She could just walk away from the docks, start a completely new life. Why did she need to marry a man she never met before in the first place? On one hand, she wanted to honor the traditions of the north. On the other, she wanted her freedom, make her own decisions and live a life she wanted. Instead of waiting, Kyia made up her mind and started wandering towards the downtown area of the city, excited by all the options she would have now.
Walking down the streets, food stands were all around, smelling unfamiliar but delicious nonetheless. In her mind, the people here were just like the people at home, warm, welcoming to strangers and kind. But when she tried engaging in smalltalk with a stallowner, she was quickly told that Kyia should stop wasting his time or hoping for lower prices. Kyia was taken aback and apologized before quickly walking away. It slowly dawned on her that no kind stranger would just let her into their home for the night like she was used to from the small villages from the northpole. The young woman had money, sure, but only a couple hundered yuan. She could stay at a hotel for a few days, but after that, her wallet would be completely drained. That's when she noticed a flyer on a store window. It was covering parts of the name of said store, and Kyia pulled it off.
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LOOKING FOR ROOMMATE!
preferably female
move in date: as soon as possible
rent is about 230 yuan per month.
I'm looking for someone for the empty room in my apartment to share rent. It's not much space, but it has potential to become a small space of your own. I am a fire bender so if that's a no go for you, I don't have to waste more of your time. Also, I'm mostly working late, so be prepared for that.
If this still sounds good to you, just come to the mentioned address between 2 to 6pm.
Dragon Flats Boroughs
Pippinpadle Opsokopolis Street 4
6th floor, apartment number 13
Ayla
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It quickly became clear to Kyia that the person had never written anything like this before and was either very desperate, young, or both. But maybe she would find something else, something cheaper where she didn't have to pay for a whole month. Surely it would be easy to find a high paying job somewhere to get a decent apartment she wouldn't have to share her space in. Right?
Ayla had finally arrived home and let herself fall onto her bed. Hopefully, someone out there was as desperate as her and wanted to move in to the empty room in her crammed apartment. The whole building was shabby and falling apart, some windows not opening, the floors creaking under every step. The woman sighed as she stared up at the ceilling. Until a week ago, she had been living in the downtown area with her back then boyfriend. But then she found out that he had been cheating on her for most of their 2 year long realtionship. Ayla had expected him to say he's sorry, to beg for forgiveness. She wouldn't have given it to him, but she didn't expect to be thrown out with all of her stuff immediately when she had confronted him. He had helped her when she had just arrived in the city, and then he threw her out without a second thought...
It was no use dwelling on the past now, she would just have to move on and get her life back together. Maybe she should try cooking something. There were still a few cans left in her pantry, and maybe this time, the kitchen would stay intact.
It had been a long day of walking with all her luggage for Kyia. There was no cheap motel, no kind stranger to offer her a place to stay, nothing. It was almost 5:30pm when she decided the flyer for the apartment room would be her only chance to sleep with a roof over her head tonight. With the help of some storeowners on her way, Kyia found her way to the dragon flats boroughs. The moment she arrived in the run down area, she was baffled. How could people live like this? Of course there were people at the northpole too who were far less fortunate than her and her family, but this? This was a whole new level of decay and decadence in a city, which she had never seen before.
The apartment building she arrived at was far below Kyia's standards, to say the least. But a roof is a roof, and it was better than sleeping under a bridge. The watertribe girl entered and walked up the stairs to the 6th floor, looking for an apartment until her gaze fell on the number 13 on a door. It sounded like someone was singing in there... Terribly. Still, it was better than nothing, so Kyia knocked on the door.
A young woman with white hair and golden eyes opened the door quickly, smiling briefly. "Hi there! Are you here for the room? I'm-", she was cut off by what sounded to be an explosion. The white haired woman quickly rushed into the apartment again. Kyia didn't have any time to answer but she decided to check out what the hell was going on in there. As she stepped inside, she saw the living room/kitchen. A pot on the stove was burning, just like a pan lying on the old wooden floor of the apartment. A few other parts of the floor had caught fire as well, and the presumed "Ayla" was waving a burning towel around in an attempt to put it out. It didn't work.
Ayla was half screeching, half singing as if that would calm the flames. "Everything's fine. Everything is fine", she kept repeating while Kyia just stared in disbelief. Without thinking much, the watertribe girl used the water from the sink to extinguish the fire around the apartment, leaving Ayla to stand there with the burning towel still in her hands. The firebender looked down before dropping the towel and smothering the fire under her heels. She looked up at the other woman and smiled. "Thanks. Are you here for the room? I promise the kitchen doesn't burn every day... Just when I cook..." - "Uhhh... Yes. I'm Kyia. It's nice to meet you." Kyia, reached her hand out politely.
"Ayla. Great to have you!" The white haired woman shook the brunettes hand excitedly, smiling brightly. "I can show you the room right now, if you'd like. It's not much, but you can make it into a small space of your own." Ayla didn't wait for an answer, expecting Kyia to follow her as she walked to an old wooden door, opening it.
The room was much smaller than what the watertribe girl was used to, but it had a small bed, a closet and a nightstand. Lantern light shone in from the two small windows, the wallpaper was peeling of in some places around the room and the wooden floor creaked with every step. Still better than nothing. Kyia shrugged and stepped into the room, inspecting everything closely.
"Oh yeah, the right window is kind of stuck. I talked to the landlord about it, but he's probably not going to repair it any time soon." a chuckle left Ayla's lips as if this was completely normal. "Other than that, what do you say? Are you interested? I know it's not much, but it has a mostly waterproof roof!"
The brunette just nodded as she looked around. She would have to spend a lot of time to make this room into a living space for her, but the rent was cheap and Ayla seemed very nice. And desperate. Looking back at her, Kyia couldn't help but notice the look she got from Ayla. Something that could be described as puppy eyes. Yup, that girl was very desperate for a roommate.
"Yeah. I'll take it. When can I move in? I'm kinda new to the city, but i can find a hotel for a few day's, I think." Kyia smiled politely even though she knew there was no hotel that could take her for even one night with the money she'd have after paying this woman rent. "How about now? You got your stuff with you, right? At least it looks like it. I can help you! That way you don't have to pay for an expensive hotel or something." Ayla jumped eagerly and walked to the front door of the apartment, where Kyia had left most her luggage.
On one hand, Kyia was very grateful that her new roomate was able to let her move in right away. On the other, the watertribe girl could only watch in horror as Ayla grabbed all of her bags, including the large suitcase, put them onto her back and tried to carry them into her room all at once. "Wait-! Let me help you, that's too heavy!"
CRASH!!!
He had been unable to get off work any sooner. The sun had started to set half an hour ago as he rushed down to the garage to get into his Satomobile. His colleagues looked after him, confused. It wasn't usual for councilman Tarrlok to be in a hurry like that. Tarrlok drove down to the harbor as quick as the speedlimit allowed. He immediately jumped out and looked around. People were looking at him weirdly, it was rather uncommon to see a councilmember out in the open if the press wasn't present.
Her ship should have arrived a few hours ago, and Tarrlok internally scolded himself for letting his council meetings get in the way of picking up his soon to be wife. If his mother were here, she would have scolded him on how impolite and respectless he was to the girl and her family by being tardy. Maybe he could make it up to the woman by buying her flowers. Women liked flowers, right? Yeah, that should work. A little bouqet to make up for his lateness and she would swoon. All he had to do now was find the girl.
Except, he didn't. Tarrlok walked around the harbor, looking for his betrothed for almost an hour, but she just wasn't there. Had he gotten the date wrong? Was she already at his estate, waiting for him like a good (soon to be) wife? The thought, that the girl he had been promised to had left after he didn't show up, didn't occur to him. From what he new, this woman was from an important political family from the northpole. Certainly she would know it had been her place as his fiancee to wait for him, no matter how long. With a grumbling sigh, Tarrlok got back in his Satomobile and drove to his estate.
Ayla's flyers were scattered all over the city, on shops, on streetlanterns and in alleys. A hooded figure bend down and slowly picked up a flyer lying in the snow. The paper was drenched, but the ink did not bleed and the letters were still readable.
"a young and desperate firebender... That should be an easy catch..." chuckled the hooded man in a deep and raspy voice under his breath. He stuffed the flyer into his pocket and continued his way through the dark and empty alley ways of republic city.