The Sake of Hope

The sun had just begun setting and it cast long, towering shadows over the lake and the soft shore hidden by thick shrubs and flowers. We were lying out in the dirt, in my own secret spot, watching the birds fly to and fro. It was the kind of thing Lee and I did on the weekends when I didn’t have to go to school and after all of the cleaning, fishing, and eating had been done. Lee liked to watch me carve, though it took me awhile to get used to having an audience when I do something so illegal. But to be honest, I loved having him there.
We were perpendicular on the ground, my head lying on him, just below his chest, so I could still hear his heartbeat. Once in awhile I would feel his fingers in my hair, gathering a piece of it between his fingertips and twirling it slowly and delicately. It was the best thing I could think of doing at the time.
“Do you remember that carving you showed me? The one of me sitting on the bench,” Lee asked me, breaking the silence.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Did you finish it?”he asked, and I turned my head to look at him.
“No, it’s still behind the bush over there. Why?” I wondered.
“I want you to,” he said, simply, keeping his eyes on the sky.
At this I sat up and turned to look at him.
“Lee, I never said I would. And besides, I’m not even sure I should. Your face in it is so small anyway, the scar doesn’t need all the detail. I mean, I can make it look just fine without…” I trailed off. The fact was, that the thought of getting so close to Lee, close enough to get the details I needed, made me extremely nervous and exciting all at once. It was terrifying.
“I want you go,” Lee said, taking my hand and smiling at me. “Just do my face. I want to see it as you do. I’ll help,” he said and he lifted my hand to his left eye, to gently touch the scar tissue around it. Being shocked and, again, nervous, I pulled away abruptly. He frowned and looked disappointed. Something told me then that it was ok, and it gave me courage. I smiled.
“I need to work on better earth,” I said, which hailed a smile from Lee. I got up and led him over to where the first portrait of him was, and erased it, knowing the one to take its place would be far better.
“Ok,” I said, and sat him down, next to my working area. “Just sit here, and hold still.”
I smoothed the area again, with just a flick of the wrist. And I started.
I outlined his head, trailed off just at his shoulder blades. I put a rough sketch down of his hairline, then went back to add the finer details- the part of it, the flyaway strands, the general chaotic mess that it was kept in. Then I went down to his lips, added them gently, and then his nose. I was purposely saving the eyes for last.
The whole time, Lee sat still, not looking at the portrait, but keeping his gaze still, as I instructed him. But I could tell he was paying attention- very close attention.
Finally, having stalled at every other detail, I had no other choice but to make his eyes. The right one was fairly simple. I captured it well. Then, I outlined his scar on the left, making it look just as the one in the first portrait I’d done of him. I put a small eye in the middle of it, making it look more depressed and sunken than the right, and I studied the flesh around it carefully. Half a dozen times I started making the indentures and lines, but I couldn’t do it. It always ended up looking off, or tilted the wrong direction. The sun was starting to make its final venture below the horizon, and I knew I had to develop a solution. It was a solution I knew from the very beginning, I’d just been to afraid to turn to: I was going to have to touch him. I sighed.
“Ok… now close your eyes,” and as if reading my mind he did so, without question or confusion in his eyes. I reached my left hand up, leaving my right one over the left half of his face, right where I’d be needing it. My hand grazed his skin, tracing it slowly. My fingertips felt where the soft, pale skin ended, and where the fresh, delicate tissue began. My right hand was busy working, carving every detail recorded by my left. I let my eyes shut as well, and released my talents as a true earthbender; I saw everything with my hands, my fingertips. Every subtle crease found it’s way under my touch and then embedded into the dirt. Though it was only a few minutes and the sun hadn’t wavered much, it seemed as if I had been stuck in this moment for a lifetime. But finally, I was finished, and I lowered my hand as both of our eyes opened.
I saw the portrait first, and I knew I had done the right thing, and done it well. It was as if I’d given Lee a twin, staring back up at us. And I’d never felt so proud.
“It’s… perfect,” he said softly, as a small smile appeared on his lips, and he looked back up at me. “Really.”
I kissed him then, softly, as if thanking him, for both the compliment and for allowing me to complete such a… task.

We left the portrait behind the bush, and got up to leave, knowing Aunt Jun and Mushi would be frantic if we didn’t arrive before dark. But as we made our way out of shrubbery and woods, the river that emptied into the lake came into view, and a funny thing sat there: a boat.
Not a boat. A ship. A warship, as I’d seen them before. But we hadn’t had new warriors transported to our city in quite some time. And this one was far too grand; the metal hook and horns that adorned the front were laced with gold trim and a wild elephant boar’s head sat below them, steam shooting out of his nostrils. The drawbridge could have fit my house in it three times, and its weight was apparent as it the hole it dug into the shore when it was lowered was at least an entire single story deep. Not to mention, there were guards on either side of the boat’s exit, guards that would put the ones station in Dim Jan to shame. No, this was no normal Fire Navy ship. It was far too impressive. It was holding someone important and well protected. Someone who needed such a grand entry to intimidate those below them.
Lee saw it after me. But he stopped before I did.
“Oh no.”