From Dao Wang to The Boulder
By Lazar A. Janus
(I do not own ATLA, I wish I did because I would not have let M. Night direct that movie, but sadly I don't)
The woman cried, day by day as her bellow swelled, and the man got farther and farther away. The woman was abandoned by her family, and for a time she traveled with a roaming theater group, selling tickets for them. She only left them when her water broke when they stopped in Gaoling. After a time she got a job at a farm as a wet nurse for the owner's wife, raising both her son, Dao, and the child of her employer Xin. Years passed and both the boys were found to be earth benders. Xin went to the city to learn earth bending, while Dao had to learn on his own from watching more experienced earth benders from afar. This is the tale of two Earth Benders, from boyhood to manhood.
"Dao, what are you doing?" Ting hollered out the back door to her six year old son. Dao was standing in front of a boulder, his face scrunched up like a badger mole sniffing dirt, and his body was tensed up as if he was trying to lift the boulder with his mind. After standing like that for a minute and a half the boulder shifted a tenth of an inch. "Dao, come over here, you're going to give yourself a hernia." Ting sighed as he son relaxed himself, his face the image of dejectedness. Slowly he trudged over to his mother, his eyes never leaving the ground. "Dao, why do you not realize that you have to start small and work yourself up to something that large? You're just setting yourself up for disappointment." Ting sighed as he enveloped her only son in her arms, wishing she could afford to send her son to an earth bending academy in the city. "Come now, why don't you help me in the kitchen, my little boulder." She said, forcing a smile as she ruffled her son's shaggy hair. Dao nodded and washed his hands and started peeling potatoes for the stew his mother would be making for her employers. Dao lost interest about a half hour later and asked to be excused, which his mother let him be. Dao figured Xin would be home soon, and Xin tended to like to mess with him. It would be best if Dao was out in the fields working when he came back.
After a five minute walk out to the foreman's post Dao climbed the lone tree to try and see where the large man was. Dao spotted him easily; they were working in the west fields today. That meant grain harvesting. Dao climbed down, grabbed a sickle and jogged over to where the men were working. "What do you want Dao?" the foreman asked as he neared. Dao held up the sickle, and before he could say anything the foreman told him that he wasn't needed here and should head back to the house. Dao sighed and jogged back to the foreman's post and put the sickle back where he found it decided he would go watch the earth benders some more. It wasn't a proper academy he went to look at, but rather just some old men who liked to practice the art together. Sometimes they let Dao join them, and they would teach him a bit. Dao was walking along the dirt path when he heard the sound of Xin and his friends from the other side of the rise. Dao, not wanting to have to deal with them quickly dove into the ditch on the roadside and used the little earth bending skill he had to cover himself in dirt. He hid there until it sounded like Xin and his friends had passed him by then uncovered himself.
"Hello rock brain." Xin said from where he was squatting over Dao. "Thought you could hide from me, did you? Idiot." Dao struggled to get to his feet but Xin quickly encased him in a box make of thick stone, and opened a small hole so he could taunt him. "See you tomorrow Dao. It's not like anyone will miss you." Xin said as he sauntered off cackling to himself, his friends chiming in along the way. Dao could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he clenched his fists. Not sure what to do Dao punched the stone in front of him. Nothing happened, but Dao punched it again. This time something felt different. Dao felt the stone, not like he had before, but as if the stone was…more than stone or something. Dao kept punching it, the feeling growing with each time. Dao stopped for a minute, took a huge breath and slowly exhaled. He then punched it again, and this time heard a crack. At first Dao feared it was his hand breaking, but when he pulled his hand away Dao realized that he had not broken his hand. Dao tried again, and this time a small chunk of rock flew out, creating a small hole, the size of his fist. Jubilant, Dao continued to punch the walls until he was surrounded by nothing but dust. Dao grinned, realizing he was freed from the box; Dao was so excited that he ran the rest of the way to where the old men practiced their art. Dao did not wait to be invited over like he usually did, but ran up to the old man who usually invited him over and tapped on his arm "TEACH DAO TO EARTH BEND REAL GOOD!" Dao shouted at the old man, causing him to drop the rock he had been suspending in the air. The old man turned to Dao and glared at the young boy, squatting down to look the boy in the eye.
"Fine."