Author's Note: Okay this one is something I was wondering about and had to post. I loved this episode (The Ember Island Players: Season 3) so I just could not resist writing about the reason for something in the play. Read and you will find out what the heck I am talking about! Please (again I say read) read (No sorry three times) and review!
P.S. I made up the characters names because you have no idea!
Why Me?
The director gathered us in the break room, telling us about a new playwrite who would be coming to see us in action.
"Why?" One of the actors toward the back asked.
"Because he has written a new play and wants to see if we are good enough to preform his masterpiece." The director, Hef, told us.
"Well then he will be amazed, and I of course will play the lead." Said Ky Fa, a coneited veteran, like myself... minus the concieted part. I rolled my eyes and thought Not this time Ky Fa, I will get the lead.
Hef nodded and left us to gossip about the news. I held myself higher at the thought of finally beating Ky Fa and putting her in her place.
THREE WEEKS LATER
It had been weeks, three to be precise, and the writer had not showed up.
"Don't worry!" Hef had assured us. "He is coming with his play from the earth kingdom, and everything has been slow ever since our great triumph over Ba Sing Se." He told us.
"Don't you mean Princess Azula's great triumph over the avatar and earth kingdom?" Suek, a dorky and buck-toothed boy, asked.
"Well we helped her, did we not?" Drawled Ky Fa. Many confused looks from the newbies were shot at her. I sat down with a huff of annoyance. I had heard this so many times, and I was about to here it again.
"Well, not many people know this, but we used to preform for her. Even me but I was a little girl, still very talented and beautiful. So we probably lay forever in her memory and heart and give her strength. You know what, she probably secretly admires us, for we carry on the great generation of actors and the noble deed of theatre! We, you see, are involved in every great triumph and day our nation has, and later more actors will act them on stage as we lived them." She said.
I rolled my eyes, probably for the fifth time that day, and looked away. Sometimes it was tiring to hear us think and brag about how we are in someway connected to every good thing that had ever happened in our nation, and defend the person, or people who had done something bad for our nation, which was never us of course. It just got boring and annoying.
For the rest of the day, the newbies flocked around Ky Fa like she was the firelord and I think she thought she was, she certainly acts like it.
TWO DAYS LATER
We were again in the breakroom, listening to Hef as he struggled to get his wig on straight. He was flustered, hurried, and angry so we all quietly listened, not making a sound or a movement for the sake of our jobs and his clean record.
"The playwrite is landing on the dock today, so I must go fetch him carriage or something for him to arrive here in. I should be back in around six hour, please no fooling around, or hurting eachother. We will need all of our actors to put on his bit of brillance." He said quickly, stopping at random times to catch his breath.
"Sir?" I called as he neared the door. He turned around and looked at me.
"Yes Kam Lee?" He asked, annoyance twittering in his reply.
"You never did tell us what the play we will be preforming is about." I said sweetly, hoping not to push his limit. His face brightened at this and I breathed out in relief.
"Oh you will have to find out. It is a real stroke of genius!" He replied, chuckling. "Well good bye and be careful!" He said, walking out, still chuckling.
FIVE HOURS LATER
"The playwrite is here." This had been whispered throughout the whole crew in about five minutes. We were all lined up on stage when he entered. He gave us a warm smile and Hef an apporving nod. He gave us a thumbs up once the playwrite had turned around.
He was a younger man, with dark gray eyes and a goatee. He then explained his play. The Boy in the Iceberg would be a play about the avatar, his friends, and their travels. He had scoured the globe in looks for the tale of the twelve year old avatar.
We put on a couple preformances. I was the most athletic, jumping through flamming hoops, and doing cartwheels across the stage. He looked impressed, and he kept eyeing me. I smiled sweetly to myself and thought Take that Ky Fa.
But then later that day I found out why and my heart fell. I got the lead, but it wasn't anything that any proud firenation citizen would want, ever.
"And you Miss Kam Lee will be Aang." The playwrite, Cha, told me.
My mouth fell open and I looked at him.
"Aang?"
"Yes, the lead, the avatar." He said and scooted to the next person.
I sighed, for once, my flips and spins didn't do what I had hoped for.
Ky Fa let out a bray of laughter when she found out my part. She had gotten my rightful part, Princess Azula. I looked down as blood flooded my face from anger and embarrassment.
Why did I have to get the lead this time? Why was in this play the lead was a flying bald kid? Why was it the avatar? Why me?