Silence is Golden
"Another long day working for the council members as their bookkeeper, but I guess one has to say it has its perks, for today I learn that the Equalist, especially its leader are getting stronger in power, Tenzin has a point Republic City has become dangerous for benders, dangerous for my friends and co-workers" thought Merlina as she exited the City Hall thinking about the assignment that was given to her by the council members, which was to try the taverns close by to check if she can find a young woman named Lupita Dalca. Lately on for Merlina, she has been lucky to hear that name being toss around in the City Hall, and also in some meetings she attended. The questions being made in the mind of Merlina was who is this person? Why does Tenzin say her name now with a tone of being a bit peeved? And now Tarrlok, the loud mouth, charismatic water tribe council member is singing praises to this mystery girl, saying how agreeable she was to something the council members were talking about, but why does he have that smug look on his face? Then she growl inside her mind as she thought about that particular council member, Tarrlok, the most manipulative council member that Republic City has ever seen.
As she walked throughout the city, it was getting close to nighttime, but not just yet as there was still natural light from the sun shining down on the city, then after a while she stopped walking and took a deep breath before she enter one of the oldest taverns ever known in Republic city, but before she did so, she look up to the sky, which by now was cover with clouds of swirling colors of reds, oranges, yellow, and as far as the eye can see some dark color clouds as if a storm was probably coming tonight in Republic City. Then she opens the wooden door with intricate designs of flames going all over the door. As she took the first step inside it was dim with just small lamps lighting the way through the hallway, then as she got to the end of the hallway, she saw that she wasn't on the ground level as she look at the scene unfolding below her, tables were filled with people benders and non-benders alike, chattering could be heard throughout the entire place, also she saw people gathering around the bar counter waiting for the drinks, which they order, and no one was paying attention to her going down the stairs, which was totally perfect for her, of course. Then as soon as she hit the last step, her job of finding Lupita started.
As she walked toward the counter, she had to check her feet since she saw two cats, well… to be specific two black pygmy pumas running around close by the counter area, trying to pounce one another. The two cats stopped playing when a young woman's voice sounded out calling them back, which they did, as they did so Merlina turn her head a bit to the voice, who was calling the cats to come back to her, and what she saw was a young woman, who look to be in her late teens or in her early twenties, she was smiling at her two black pumas sweetly, and when Merlina look at her she saw that this girl was born with long legs, a slim body, and her dark, black hair was tied in a ponytail with some of her hair made into braids. She went up to this young woman, who was wearing a pair of red, long pants that was cut to the knee area on both sides of her pants and a red, strapless top.
And then Merlina asked, "Are you Lupita Dalca, by any chance, miss?" as she sat down next to this wonderful, strong looking woman, who was petting one of her puma's, who was called Azula.
Then Lupita looked at this young girl, who was definitely in her late teens and smile as she said to her in a level tone of voice, "Yes I am Lupita Dalca, why do you ask? Miss….?" And looks at Merlina with a slight raised eyebrow and smiling a bit.
"I am Merlina, Tenzin and Tarrlok (growls a bit at the end of Tarrlok's name) sent me, saying that Silence is Golden? Does this sound familiar to you somehow?" asked Merlina smiling a bit nervously at Lupita.
"Yeah that does sound familiar, Merlina, I guess Tenzin and Tarrlok have some other mission assigned to me then, I shouldn't be so surprise, they know that I have been busy with many other missions, but that's enough talk about me, Merlina, it seems like you have the sole honor of going to the Equalist meeting that is happening tonight, and if I know Tenzin and Tarrlok well, your job is to find Korra, the new avatar, I have heard that she just arrived to Republic City, also I am guessing and this is just me guessing the minds of those two council members, they probably also want you to help those who have been capture by the Equalist" said Lupe smiling and in a low whisper tone of voice, to make sure no one heard what she was saying to Merlina.
"Woah wait a second! Me?! Going to an Equalist meeting, that is serious! Hey! I know I am a non-bender, and sure I will help! But are you out of your mind?! I am not saying that I can't do this mission, but if one is caught going up against Amon, bender or no bender, there is going to be Hell to pay" said Merlina quietly and talking very fast with excitement and Lupita just listen on and looking at the girl with amusement in her eyes.
"That is true, but Amon has to be stop I know this and so does the rest of the bender community, Tenzin is worry sick, and he is right no bender is safe here in Republic City or their friends like you and me, Merlina" said Lupita with a sad look in her dark, emerald eyes and a very small, sad smile spreading on her lips as she wish in her mind for a better future for Republic City, where there was no need to be fearful for one's life during any time of day in this city, for this 'war' to be over, since this is war, Amon and the Equalist have declare war on us and on Korra, the recent Avatar, and I will not forgive anyone for this senseless war, just because an entire race of people were lucky like me to have a beautiful gift called bending while some did not; I am not saying that all of us should have bending there are those that should not even have bending, those whose sole wish is to harm others.
"So why are you here in this old but still beautiful looking tavern, Lupita?"asked Merlina who seem to be very curious about this young woman Lupita.
"Having a drink or two, meeting other contacts before you about some information, and also I am on Equalist watch" said Lupita at first smiling and laughing a bit as she tease Merlina about her drinking habits, then a bit serious but in a well meaning tone of voice to a whisper when she was talking about the Equalist.
"So those cats are your pets? They are beautiful Lupita" said Merlina as the two cats went to her and started affectionately licking her legs as if they were saying that they like her.
"Yes, these are my pygmy pumas, their names are Azula and Sozin, yes, I name them after the famous Fire Nation Princess, and her ancestor, who also had a comet name after him, which when it comes people like me, fire benders are at their strongest. And thank you, my father gave them to me, when they were just kittens, they were scared little things, their mom was way too old to take care of them; there is a legend in my family that we know what animals are thinking and feeling, but that is just folklore on my family's part, by what my father told me when I was little, was that the mom ask him to take care of her cubs for her, and he said that the mom looked very sad, but with what was left of her pride, she left, my father never saw the pygmy puma mother ever again" said Lupita at first with a smile on her face, but as she got deeper on telling her short story about her family's folkloric legend, she smile, but you could still see the sadness in her eyes when she told about the mother of her pygmy pumas, but she still was in a happy go lucky mood of hers and she regain her composure just as fast, that she was sure that Merlina didn't see her sadness.
" That's sad, but these two cats are lucky to have you as their caretaker, So I guess I should get going then before the Equalist meeting starts?" asked Merlina with an exciting grin on her face as she changed a bit of what she was wearing with some minor tweaks like: tying the end of her shirt into a knot, then some of her midriff show, but just a bit, and then she tied her dark purple scarf around her waist, above her skirt.
"Why are you doing that? And thanks for that compliment about my cats being lucky to have me as their owner." said Lupita, when she first ask the question to Merlina, she gave her an amuse smile as she watch her tweak her outfit, Lupita was guessing she was getting ready just in case she had to run for her life during her mission.
"I am guessing you are already guessing or know why I am changing and tweaking a bit of my outfit" said Merlina quietly and smiling, as she was excited to do her job, her mission for the Council and for benders alike.
"Yes I do know why you have tweak a bit of your outfit, you are getting ready for a fight and/or to run for your life, if you need to; I understand this pretty much so, from experience, of course, my friend and good luck, you will be needing it Merlina. Remember once you are done come report to me or Tenzin and/or Tarrlok" said Lupita smiling as she got up and waited for Merlina to get off her chair too, which she did, of course, they both shook hands and then as soon as Merlina finished the juice she order, she left with a smile on her face, as she share it with Lupita and then when she couldn't see Lupita anymore, she turn her head around and exited the tavern.
"She seems like a girl full of promise and potential for this type of work, and we will be needing all the help we can get, that is a fact" thought Lupita as she was looking at a man, who seem to be in his late twenties, and who also seem a bit shady, so she decided to do a little experiment to see what will happen, which was to keep staring at him to see if he saw that someone else was watching his shady character and then she waited…..
Now outside of the tavern, Merlina has been pick up by her giant, white wolf pet, Zeta, who has been with her since, she was just a kid. So she got on the back of her wolf-friend, and she told her friend to go to the specific building Lupita found out by the maps and signs that were given out during that annoying, loudmouth protester, whom she has seen in the parks sometimes. As Zeta was moving along, Merlina was relaxing sucking on some candy she bought a few days ago, as she was riding along on Zeta; right in front of her eyes, a scene unfold, and it wasn't a pleasant scene at all, a group of chi-blockers and Equalists surrounded a young boy, who was fighting them with some of his fire-bending skills, it look like he was mostly jumping and dodging the chi-blockers, but it look like he was starting to get tired, so she jump off, and ran toward the chi-blockers without hesitating with Zeta following close by in case she needed back up. Then Merlina went to the very first chi-blocker, she could get to and then she jump on him, and tackle him to the floor, as soon as he went down that started a whole commotion of people, to be specific the chi-blockers were coming after her. This gave the young bender time to get away, which he did successfully as all eyes were on her, which is what she wanted, of course. As soon as she saw the boy leave, she got up from the chi-blocker before any of them got closer to her, then she laughed nervously, and made a break for it, in other words she ran for it like her life depended on it, which of course it did…..
So she ran non-stop going through alleyways, which she have known about since she was just a kid, hopping over fences, which were blocking her way, when necessary, occasionally looking back to see how close they were to her, she had a few close calls, when she was climbing over fences with a couple of chi-blockers grabbing at her ankles trying to pull her down, but she always manages to get her feet to slip pass their grips. "This is getting tiring, I need to lose these Equalists! In the name of Aang, they are persistent, oh god where is Zeta, when I need him!" thought Merlina as she pick up the pace, but as she was running she saw an old door on the side of the building in the darker areas of an alleyway that she didn't use a lot during her preteen years, so she decided to go there to see, if she could hide from the chi-blockers and hoping they will pass her by. Then she went and hid among the shadows of this olden alleyway, then she slowly, very slowly, creep a upon this old door in a building that deceive its onlookers into believing that itself was a new building. And then she grabbed the door knob, hold on to it very tightly as she slowly open this very old door that when she open it, the door creaked, to her it sound like such a loud alarm, that she Merlina, who is a fearless girl, froze for a few seconds, she look back it seem to be like no one heard, so she enter into the darkened room, and she closed the door…
Then Merlina stayed very quiet in this darken room, by what she could see from the little light she received in the small holes on the door from the bit of natural light that could be seen in the skies still, then she started hearing whispers coming from close by, so then slowly, she walk toward were she thought the voices were coming from, then she saw a bright light on the floor, she started looking at the light with a wary expression on her face. As she got closer the voices started to sound clearer, some sounded excited, the other voices even scared her more so than her being chase by those chi-blockers. Those voices that she could hear sounded so scared, so frightened, she couldn't clearly hear what they were saying, but it was enough to keep her heart beating very quickly. She slowly open the door, and what she saw, she would never forget for the rest of her life; she saw many people whom she had seen before the gang leader members, other gang members, whom a few she surprisingly got along with, and some others tied up and gagged; she saw their eyes, there was fear in their eyes, she could see it, surprisingly enough, there was no one else in the room, so she made a break for it, and went towards the group of benders. She started untying and un-gagging some of the people she knew first, many of them were grateful, but she told them in a strict, serious voice to be quiet and go through the old door, which was hidden from view, because the lights close by to it weren't working so it was plain dark, then she told them to use the same path, she use to get away from those chi-blockers, then after giving them the directions in a quick, and precisive matter, then they left, she watched them and she also watch the rest of the area to make sure there weren't any surprise visitors, then she sighed softly as she saw the group, which she saved, leaving…
Then as she looked around to get her bearings again on her location, as she was looking around, she had to do a double take on one guy in particular, she knew, she had seen that face before or at least a part of it, she was sure that this boy, was one of the members of the Fire Ferrets, Bolin was it, Merlina was sure it was, she went toward him, but before she could get far, she heard someone coming, she froze for a nanosecond than she ran and hid in the shadows, making herself a small target if possible, behind a wooden box, close to the room, where she enter from. Then she turn her head around a bit, to see what will happen to the gang leaders and the boy, she couldn't save, strangely enough, the Equalist who dragged them out of that room didn't sounded an alarm that some of their captives escape, as soon as those Equalist left the room and close the door, she rushed out of her hiding spot, and closer to the door that those Equalist came from, and then she put her ear to the door and silently listen in to what they were saying…..
A couple of hours since the meeting
"And that's what happen Tenzin and Tarrlok, I was there, I heard what happen, if what I heard was true, and it sounded very true, Amon, is not just a mere threat, Tarrlok, and he isn't boasting, the Revelation, is this, and this scares even me, it seems that Amon, can take away powers, I was only able to save a handful of people Tenzin and Tarrlok, I couldn't save everyone, and truly hope that boy from the Fire Ferrets is okay, I didn't see Korra, I just saw a lot of people in front of the stage from the peepholes I could find in that room before they took the gang leaders out in the open stage. It was unbelievable what I heard, and what I could see, it was a nightmare, it was like living through a living nightmare" said Merlina excitedly, but with a control voice as she saw both of the council members face expressions changing from curious to what could be fear and thoughtfulness, at the end of her report, Tenzin confirmed her fear: Republic City isn't save for benders, and that's the only thing he said before he left City Hall; Merlina guess he was going to check if Korra was save, and Merlina really hoped that the recent avatar, Avatar Korra was safe and sound wherever she was.