Republic City

Bast let himself be led down the road, where ever Bael was going to take him. He was actually excited to really learn the rules of the city and how one was supposed to traverse them. However, Bael was only going to take him to the park? He wasn't entirely sure what a park was, but he was excited none the less.

"Hey...is that Leta?" Bael asked. He looked at the girl in question and his face lit up.

"Leta!" He called, waving an arm. It was actually very hard to mistake the water tribe girl for anyone else. "Leta, over here!"

Leta blinked when she heard her name, and looked across the way to Bast, who was waving at her. She watched the two of them for a long moment, as if deciding whether or not she wanted to join them, but eventually her feet would move and she would make her way over to them.

"I thought you had work today..." she said quietly, looking at each of them for a long moment. She looked to Bast's pockets, as if looking for something in particular; which she was. The little polar mouse he had was quite adorable.

"Um... maybe just went out for some fresh air," Rakka said, looking back to Tanaf. "I'll find her. You can... uh, keep practicing, or come along. We might find her faster if you come along." He quickly turned, jogging out of the arena and looking around the area to see if he could see Leta.

What if she had been kidnapped? By some rival Pro Benders that didn't want their success to happen?! Unlikely, so he just hoped she hadn't run into any Equalists.

Bael might have seemed sad that she didn't want to come over, if he had any emotions. Still she was there, and he'd look around, "We were going to the park...ports are still closed today because of what happened yesterday." Which explained why he wasn't at work. "Did you want to join us?" At least he was polite?

Tanaf agreed to help Rakka find Leta and would follow his lead.

Bast watched the girl looking him over and thought it quite strange.. And then he had an idea why. He reached into his shirt---which was probably a really funny thing to do---and pulled out Falu. The rodent had clearly been sleeping as his ears were crumpled and his body was still curled up. He chattered at Bast and then stretched with a yawn. Bast held out the little mouse to Leta.

"You should come with us. Bael is showing me around the city today. It's going to be very educational."

Leta looked at the rodent, giving a soft smile at the creature when she saw how cute it stretched. Probably one of the few smiles she had ever given. She reached out, and gave Falu a soft pet on the head, before she stood up straight and looked from Bast, over to Bael. She went into thought.

"I'd like that," she would finally say, seeming to watch Bael for instruction.

Bael's just watching with a confused expression on his face when Bast reaches into his shirt. He'll pull out Falu, and then something seems to dawn on Bae. "So...you like animals?" He's going to be heading off in the direction of the park, and it shouldn't take them too long to get there. They're passing a lot of vendors along the way, selling various different things, clothing, food and knickknacks.

Bae seemed immune to most of it, he saw it on a daily basis and he really wasn't impressed anymore. If the other two stopped to look at something though, he would stop along with them, so they wouldn't get lost.

Falu decided to ride on Leta's shoulder, fascinated with the girl who was fascinated with him. The little mouse had his front paws on Leta's ear as he was sniffing the whole side of the girl's head. Bast was lost to the conversation as his head was still whipping back and forth to look at everything. Every now and again his face would light up and ask if Leta has ever seen anything so cool before. However, he never stopped walking after Bael; he didn't want to get lost either.

Some of the street foods were extremely tantalizing, even though he just ate.

Leta was acting as if she had the cutest thing in the world riding on her shoulder. She pat Falu's head, an actual evident smile on her face. She scarcely heard Bast when he was speaking, but when she did catch his words, she would just shake her head. Sure, she had come from a large city, being from the Northern Water Tribe, but she had never seen anything like this. Nothing was quite as advanced as in Republic City.

As they walked, Leta would slowly look to Bael, studying him quietly. "Do you hate me, because I am a bender?" She knew that he disliked them, since he greatly hinted at it, and may have even mentioned it a few times. But she still wondered how someone could hate one group of people completely, when she had done nothing wrong to him.

Bael was walking along, and he would have kept walking if Leta hadn't asked him that question. He stopped dead in his tracks and hopefully Bast wasn't walking behind him, otherwise they might collide. "I don't...I mean..." He'd rub the back of his head, words weren't his strong point.

"I don't hate you. I just...it's complicated okay? I want things to be equal, and they aren't." He'd look around and he'd lean in closer, "Come to an equalist meeting with me. They can explain it better than I could. That attack on the ports, that's not what the movement is all about." He'd straighten up then and he'd spot something behind her that made him frown.

There was a stall that was supposed to be selling clothing, but it had a small mound of red and dark red fluff in a wire cage that was clearly too small for it, and a small child was poking at it with a stick. He'd turn his attention to Leta, "Excuse me for a moment." He's moving over to the vender, and the first thing he does is yank the stick away from the child, and he snapped it in half. "How much for the fire ferret?" The Vender looks angry, "You don't want that. It's mean. Too far gone, ain't no good for a pet." Baelfire didn't look pleased and he'd take out some money, slamming it down onto the counter, "Maybe it wouldn't be mean if you stopped letting you sniveling brat poke at it with a stick."

With that, he was picking up the cage, and he's going back over to Leta and Bast. The animal inside was hissing and growling and trying to escape, "Here." He'd present her with what might be a rabid animal, "You like furry things right?" Good job Bae...get her a pet that's likely to take her finger off. If Leta can manage to calm the fire ferret down enough to get it out of the horrible cage, she'd see that it was a male.

Bast was pulled out of his excitement when Bael walked away. He missed the part where Baelfire had asked Leta to join him, as well as Leta asking Bael if he hated her. He was in a cloud of sights and smells and the only thing that brought him back to the present was the hissing animal. Bast's heart broke into tiny pieces as he looked at the angry, sad animal in the cage.

"It has to get out of there! It's so sad!" He would have grabbed for the cage himself, but it was for Leta. His face was screwed up like a child who's favorite ball got popped.

Leta was still thinking about what Bael had said when asked her to go to an Equalist meeting with him. She wasn't completely sure on the Equalist goals, but she assumed by their name that it should be obvious. she was pulled from her thoughts when Bael handed her a cage, an angry fire ferret within it. She lifted up the cage and looked inside, hearing what Bast had said.

She pulled on the little door, and she held her hand in front of it, making sure the little thing didn't try to run away. The fire ferret didn't like that so much, thinking that it was about to be tormented again, and it bit down on her hand, drawing blood. But Leta didn't flinch; almost as if she hadn't felt it. She held her hand there, letting the ferret hold its bite for as long as it needed, until it realized that she meant it no harm. Slowly, it let go of her hand, licking the wound it had inflicted on her.

"There... see. You'll be okay," she said, gently pulling him out and holding him like one would hold a baby. She sat the cage down, and rubbed the fire ferret's belly, as it looked around curiously at the others. "I'll name him Taru..." Leta said quietly, before glancing up at Bael. "Thank you."

Bael hadn't realized Bast was such an animal lover, or maybe he would have given him the fire ferret. He's quite alarmed when the thing bites Leta, and he'll move back to the vender. He's going to buy a scrap of fabric and then he's coming back over to the two of them, "Give me your hand." If she did, he'd wrap up her finger with the fabric to keep her from bleeding everywhere.

"They make good pets. My brother had one." He'd hold onto her hand a moment after he was done wrapping it, and his cheeks would color before he let go. "Anyway...let's get to the park. You can decide on that question I asked you while we walk." His attention turned to Bast, "You can come too of course." He couldn't figure Bast out. He seemed to have an obsession with The Avatar, but had said nothing on being a bender.

Bast's eyes had been glued to Taru, watching the animal's every move. He was about to grab Leta's hand to heal it when Bael bought the bandage instead. His hands dropped to his side, feeling a moment of being useless. Falu was craning his neck to sniff at the new animal.

"Go to where?" Bast hadn't been listening.

Leta had gone for her small waterskin, but stopped when Bael returned to bandage her hand. She watched him for a long moment, almost forgetting what it was like to not use water bending to tend to a wound. She glanced at him, but failed to notice the tinge in his cheeks. Bast had spoken by that point.

"The park," Leta would say, almost absent-mindedly as she scruffed Taru's head. The fire ferret caught sight of Falu on Leta's shoulder, and was climbing up her arm to meet nose to nose with the mouse. Leta was following behind Bael, a pleasant smile on her face.

Bael leaned in to whisper to Bast, "To an equalist meeting." He's straightening back up then, and he's leading the way to the park. For a moment he felt a slight prickle of guilt for buying Leta a gift, and not Bast but really...the purchase had been more for the fire ferret than for Leta. Maybe he'd find something else for Bast later.

It isn't long before they reach the massive park that was in the center of republic city. The grounds were well kept, and the place was pretty big. "Lots of people spend their off time here. If you guys like animals there's a koi pond around here somewhere..." That hopefully wasn't roped off from the avatar deciding that the fish made a good breakfast.

Bast's brow furrowed further. He had no want to walk into a whole bunch of Equalists again. Of course, Bael hadn't explained that not all Equalists were out to hurt them. He followed the other two wondering if he should take Falu back. The little mouse has fluffed up considerably since the introduction of Taru. Falu looked about reafy to fight for his honor when the ferret got so close.

"Maybe I should just..." He reach out and scooped up the mouse. Once he was safe, Bast held the animal to his torso and pet him slowly with one finger. He still had the expression of a concerned child, but mostly due to the equalist thing.

Leta looked as Taru tried to follow Falu as he was taken away, looking behind Leta as he stood on her shoulder. All he had wanted to do was say hello! The ferret looked back over to Leta, before burrowing his head into her braided hair, smelling her while trying to feel more comfortable with the girl. Fortunately, fire ferrets were rather smart, so he knew right away that this girl would be the human he looked to, to help him. Leta leaned her head against his, closing her eyes and nearly giggling. Rakka probably would have fainted at the emotions the girl was putting out right then.

When they came to the park, and Bael pointed out the Koi pond, she immediately making her way over to it. She knelt over it, looking into the water, Taru looking with her. He would climb down onto the side of the pond, looking at the fish as they swam by, holding out his paw like he wanted to swat at one of them.

Bael shouldn't have been surprised as he was to see Leta go and look at the koi. He's going to hang back and he's looking around. Usually there was a crazy guy around here preaching about equalists, it was where Bae had first learned of the movement.

He'll let Leta enjoy the fish for awhile, but if they wanted to find the man they were looking for, they would probably have to venture deeper into the park. If Bast was still around, Bae would address him, "Fire Ferrets don't eat mice." He was trying to be reassuring...he just sucks at it.

Bast actually blushed. "I know that!" He still had Falu cradled in his hands. "But Falu doesn't and he would have attacked the ferret. And I guarantee the ferret would have one. I saved his life once, I don't want to have to do it again." He sat by the edge of the koi pond and watched the fish, sulking.