38 Luke

To say that the courtyard of the Hive was down on its luck would be too much of a compliment to it. It was dying if not already dead. Trap hadn't caught a rat in the last few days and, naturally, he blamed us considering we had eaten on of his catches. There wasn't much talking that went on in the Hive that much anymore. We were tired. We were starving and thirsty with a free source of food only a few blocks away. If we tried to leave, Riu would keep us in. Said he was "doing us a favor", "keeping us alive".

It was bullshit, of course. We were dying in here. Whatever treasure trove of food Riu knew about that we didn't was obviously a secret from us considering we were on our knees begging to go outside to get food while Riu seemed perfectly calm with our situation. Danev wasn't half as stupid. Every day I would see him talking with Danev over the same damn table in the mess hall talking about the damn soup kitchen. One day, Danev would have the upper hand and I could see Riu preparing to give in and let us outside only for the tables to turn the next day, getting me prepared to see Danev just give up and die.

So, obviously, it was a surprise when Riu came out into the courtyard with Danev at his side telling us that we were getting fed today.

"We're going to the soup kitchen today." If he was expecting a cheer, an applause, or some other bullshit, he wasn't getting it.

"He sure took his damn time." I said to Ladle who was standing next to me. "Guess it just took Doormat dropping dead for him to get his shit together."

"And Mir'ak and Salid leaving too, of course."

I chuckled. "And then there were fewer. What's that now? 20?"

"19."

"Right." I turned my head back to Riu. If I was getting fed for the first time in weeks, I was hearing what had to be said.

"Obviously-" began Riu. "A sign promising "Free Food" might be risky, but we're a bit short of choices right now and this seems like our only choice at the moment. So what's going to happen is that I'm going to take three quarters of our group to this soup kitchen. We play nice. Get in good with whoever is running this place. See if we can get off any kind of shit list and get ourselves in good with this group. We can see if we can run security for them, make deliveries, that kind of shit if it means getting food."

"Meanwhile." Came in Danev. "I'm going to take the other quarter of the Hornets and we'll be returning to our roots. Raiding convoys, robbing people, that kind of stuff. There's fewer of us now than ever before so we may be able to split up our food that we got on our own separate runs. So "soup kitchen goers", do what you can to get us a meal if we fuck up. Hide some bread in your shoes, up your sleeves, in your damn breeches if you have to. We're not getting picky. Also, raiding group, that's me, Meeko, Aden, and Goni.

"Fuck me." I heard Goni mumble behind me. "Why can't I get the free fucking food?"

"So we good?" Riu asked from the front of our gathering. No objection was raised.

"Good. The rest with me. We're leaving now. Let's go."

The group heading for the soup kitchen broke off from the raiding party as Danev and his entourage grabbed whatever "weapons" they could from sharpened sticks to rather large wooden planks.

"Hey Danev!" I yelled to him from a cross the courtyard. "On the likely chance you guys fuck up, I'll save you the crust." Even from across the courtyard, I could see his middle finger extended, flipping me off. I laughed it off and returned he favor.

No. I didn't want him to die. Whatever distaste I may have had for the Hornets at one point weren't worth anything anymore. Maybe I did come along as a hostage, but this was where I belonged now. I fought with these people, slept with them ate with them, and yes, starved with them too. There's nothing more communal than shared misery.

The route to the soup kitchen I had still remembered. I led our small convoy of 15 to the soup kitchen through the disease ridden alley ways of Citadel's slums. The flu that had taken lighthead had gone around. There were dying or dead bodies here and there. For all the good food coming back into the city might have done, it wasn't medicine. We were still dying. Not like I was complaining. I was happy enough to fill the void that was my stomach which had become so pain ridden I could barely feel it anymore.

As we walked, I couldn't help bunt realize that aside for himself, Riu had taken the youngest and most passive of the Hornets with him, letting Danev and the older more violent ones handle the convoy raiding and such. Did I make me feel lazy and useless? Yes. Was I angry? No. I was getting food without having to put my life on the line. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

The kitchen hadn't moved. Of course it hadn't. It was right where it was supposed to be, but that mass gathering of people around it made the entire area seem completely different. It wasn't the abandoned warehouse that it was when I saw it just setting up. Surrounding buildings had been torn down making the area around the soup kitchen into a whole new plaza of sorts. Walking through the mass gathering of people all waiting in front of the same building was almost akin to walking through the masses of people during a recruitment drive or an execution. I was reminded of Hedrick, Lannit, and their execution. Of Sunji when he was killed, and then the Air Nomad. The Air Nomad who had looked right at me. The one who recognized me. The feeling wasn't mutual. He looked on me with a recognition that wasn't retur-

"Luke!" It was Riu. He was right in front of me talking to me and I hadn't heard a single word.

"What?"

"Is there another way in? This line. Fuck this. We can't wait this long."

"Remember what you said earlier? You told us that we play nice and make friends here. Let Danev have his fun. We're here to get in good with these people."

Riu turned back to the line, allowing himself to take it all in before just sighing out a "fuck!" And turning back to me. "Okay. I've got an idea. Just gather the others and follow me.

Riu got the rest of us in a line and walked us next to the line to the front to a nun who was watching the doorway.

The nun saw us approaching and bent down a ways to meet us head on. Riu, while being tallest and heading the line, wasn't the one to catch her attention. It was us children.

"Oh Spirits, you must be starving!" Said the elder woman, viewing us with as much pity as a woman could muster.

"Yes. They are. They haven't eaten in weeks and I don't know how much longer we can last on the streets.

"Oh. Poor things. I understand just how you feel. Don't worry. Just get in the line and we'll have you fed in no time."

"I appreciate it a lot ma'am. And so do they, but do you think that there's any way we could get in sooner? We barely made the journey across all of Citadel just to get here."

The Hive was only a few blocks away, but I wasn't willing to cut this up.

"We're exhausted from the journey and I don't know how much longer we can go without food or water. I think some of us are even coming down with the sickness that's been going around."

As if on cue, I synthesized a coughing fit that soon became real and went a bit far when I coughed up what looked to be part of my lower intestine. That's not fucking good. I thought to myself.

"Oh spirits!" The woman cried. "Let them in! Let them in! She said to the Fire Nation guard who was watching the front door.

And just like that, the doors to paradise were opened, and the crowd parted to. Allow our entrance. It took all my willpower to suppress my grin. I just had to walk and eat the blood flow down my mouth.

And so we ate. Soup, venison, mixed vegetables, and bread. A feast. The biggest we would be getting any time soon.

I dove into the soup right away, letting it warm my intestines before I actually tried eating anything solid and wind up choking on it. The vegetables were steamed and soft so I ate them next, letting my body remind myself what food felt like in my stomach. Then was the venison, most likely hunted in the woods right outside the walls. The meat was soft and juicy. It wasn't too well done, but it was perfect. Still slightly soft, chewy, and juicy and with a pink color on the inside. Then the bread. I split it in half, holding one half under my cupped hands, remembering Danev and the others while using the other half to soak up what was left of the soup before eating to nice soft, warm, and moist bread. When I was done, I looked up from my meal to see that the nuns hadn't yet served Ladle who was sitting right next to me. The meal had felt like it had lasted an eternity, but I had eaten the entirety of it in the course of 1 or 2 minutes.

Watching the others eat at just the same pace was excruciating. I kept on remembering the second half of the bread under my hand, but did everything in my power to push the thought away from my head. It wasn't for me.

The rest ate their meals at a very similar pace, downing everything as quickly as possible. Trail actually went for the meat first and ended up choking on it, having to be hind licked by one of the nuns. It got a laugh out of Ladle who, in turn, choked himself, having the same maneuver be performed on him. He ended up eating the same food that he spit out anyway so nothing was put to waste.

Riu, however, was being more methodical, chatting up the workers whenever he could as they passed by between bites. I watched as I drank from a cup of actual filtered water and listened to Riu's attempts to "Make nice."

There was talk about what they did here, how they managed it, if they needed any help, the like. The nuns turned down the help at first, only smiling and saying, "No. It's fine. You don't have to pay us back anything."

It wasn't until a certain nun who had been eyeing our group for a while now stopped by Riu and asked him where our parents were.

"Can't say the same thing for all of them. So of their parents are dead or dying. Some of their parents just abandoned them on the streets before leaving Citadel to go elsewhere, and some, well, some just don't know where their parents are."

"And you took them all in?"

"All the ones you see here. I consider them my responsibility. Society cast them out so I brought them in under my roof. They're my family now, and I'll protect them 'till my very last breath."

Now that had attracted a crowd. Workers paused their duties to gather 'round to hear Riu's "stories" of how he took each and every one of us off the streets. I didn't know if some of them were true or not, but what he made up for me, I found most interesting.

"The one over there." He said pointing to me. "Luke. He went around on the streets helping people out. Telling them important things to help them in the streets. A mentor of sorts. The things he told people saved lives, but some people weren't too happy with this and tried to kill the kid. Well, we saw he was in danger and took him under our wing. He's been a welcome addition."

I chuckled under my breath. A welcome addition, huh? I like that.

"And you take care of all of them?"

"As best as I can, but, you know, it's hard when you barely have enough food to keep them all fed. It's fallen on me to ration food and there's nothing harder in this world than having to make decisions like those. It's heart breaking."

And now at this point, he had the lot of them in tears. If he hadn't won them over at this point, he definitely did with what came next.

"Are there more of you wherever you're staying?"

"We have some sick and injured that were too weak to walk. We go out every day looking for enough to keep them living a bit longer.

"Dear Raava! How many?

Only 4. We've already lost some to this city. Too many. I'm trying to keep that from happening ever again, but we're not sure if this kitchen will be enough with so many other people waiting outside."

"No!" One of them practically yelled. "Children always come first. We couldn't live with ourselves if we allowed such young and innocent children to starve on these streets. We'll make sure that you'll always have a place here and enough food whenever you need it.

Young and innocent. Oh that's rich. A new nun arrived in the room with a basket covered in a white sheet. The head nun took the basket from her and handed it politely to Riu saying "Food and water for your sick and injured. Please give them our warmest regards." Riu kept himself from taking it too eagerly, but managed quite well, taking it and saying "We will. They'll sing your praise throughout the night. Thank you very much. We truly appreciate this offering."

Calm down, Riu. Don't oversell it.

The nuns went back to their usual tasks and we left a few minutes later after saying farewells to the nuns running the place. They gave us their blessings, wishing us well, praying for our safe return home, inviting us tomorrow for more, yardage yardage. I had a full meal in my stomach and the promise of more to come. I was perfectly content.

Carrying a basket of baked goods through the Citadel streets didn't assure safety like a nice knife would have done, but there were enough of us to make sure we weren't attacked. We took the alleyways just to be sure.

"Well." I spoke up as we got closer to the Hive. "I think that went rather well."