Ch 1

Green Fire

A young fire-bender named Jiro strolled cheerfully into a tavern with his usual followers. It was, to his eyes, no different than any other time he had been in there. There were a few patrons seated among the small tables of the common room, drinking and murmuring to each other. The ever-present smell of smoke drifted throughout. As he and his accomplices sat at their usual table and ordered their drinks, he noticed that something, someone in this case, was different. A man sat in the corner, with his back to the wall, at a table by himself. Also odd, this man had the cowl of his hood raised so that the shade from it did not allow onlookers to get a good look at his face. After a few rounds of stories and a few games, Jiro stood up, walked over and sat down next to the stranger. With a smirk first for his friends to see he was not afraid, he turned to the man, and tried to get involved in a staring contest. It was the man who spoke first.

In a voice totally void of emotion, the man said, "You should go back and sit with your friends, lad, before you get into trouble." Jiro didn't budge. "Stubborn lad, aren't you? A fire-bender, no doubt. Ah, you are the lad I threw that flaming sack of turd at this morning, aren't you?"

The man stood up and started walking toward the bar.

A shocked look crossed the boys face as he said, "You did that?!? You impugned my honor, and being a bender, I challenge you to a fire duel!"

This stopped him in his tracks. Jiro began to smile, just as one of his friends started to tell the man that Jiro had not meant what he said, but was interrupted by the man suddenly turning around, his hood coming off, and his finger pointed straight at Jiro.

Bright green eyes and a devilish smile now lined a face nearly five years older than Jiro. "I accept."

Jiro's smile dropped from his face as the red-haired young man walked toward the door to the tavern. "In the arena, in one hour. Be there, or your honor really will be taken from you."

One hour later the dueling arena was set, the red-haired young man and the young bender Jiro stood facing away from each other, at opposite ends of the field. Jiro turned to face his opponent at the word from the overseeing soldier, to find his opponents back still turned to him. Jiro, of course probably thinking it was an opportunity, charged across the field, throwing balls of fire before him. The first fireball got closer and closer until, when it was just a few feet away, the man launched himself into the air high above the flames, and landed just behind Jiro.

Where it appeared at first Jiro had the upper hand, the other fire-benders in the slowly growing audience could see that the younger man's every strike was being easily deflected away by either fire or limb of the older man. What was more, the green-eyed man had not even thrown so much as a punch the entire duel.

After nearly ten minutes of fighting, the man said softly to Jiro, "Do you yield?"

Jiro grunted, and in answer set in on his most furious series of attacks yet. "Very well then, I have no choice."

He caught both of Jiro's fists, fire and all, jumped into the air, and with both feet surrounded by red-hot flame, fire-kicked him across the stadium and into the wall of the stands. The younger man slumped to the ground, unconscious. The red-haired man, shaking his head grimly, began walking toward him to see what the condition of the boy was, but an older man dashed out of the stands and went to Jiro's side.

"He'll live," said the green-eyed man, "I promise you that."

The older man looked up, and with hatred in his eyes said, "I am General Dao of the Fire Army, and you have just injured my son."

With this the man stood. "On my honor, I will see you pay for what you have done. I CHALLENGE YOU!"

The young man turned away from him, with a laugh, starting with a chuckle that seemed to grow with the smoke that was now engulfing the arena. "Wow," he said to no one in particular, "Two duels in one day. How do I get myself into these things?"

The general repeated, slightly softer this time, but with just as much hatred, "I challenge you!"

"That!" the younger man replied, suddenly turning to face his new opponent, "was a mistake."

He turned around once more, and to the astonishment of every one in the arena, green fire surrounded his clenched fists. His eyes glowed like twin emerald suns in the din of the battlefield.

"I accept."