Of Ice and Earth

By IceBender77

I know it's been a while since I started this story, but as I said I'm not the fastest writer and I'm going to try to do some short chapters to get the story out faster. Hope you all enjoy it. As always I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or it's Charecters, no matter how much I wish for it.

Chapter 2: A Mix of Earth and Water

Tra was shocked to realize that the girl he had met earlier in his room was the Bei Fong's daughter. Fortunately he thought best not to show it in front of her parents. He took the hand she held out gently and bowled his head and gave it a small shake. "It's nice to meet you, Lady Toph."

He tried to let go of her hand but she keep hold and put her other hand on his arm and felt down to take his hand in both of hers. "No. It's Nice to meet you Mr. Long Fang. Thanks you so much for saving my father's life today. I don't know what we would do without him."

She was facing him with her back to her parents. She raised her head toward his and Tra could see a hint of the smile that made him unsure of what she was about to do. "Really it was nothing at all. I was just trying to do the right thing." Tra was saying that so much lately that he was starting to feel like the iguana parrots his father told him about.

Lady Bei Fong came up behind Toph and put her hands on her shoulder. "Well it's good to meet people who do the right thing." she said "We hope to hear how you became such a good young man."

"Yes." Lord Bei Fong added. "I feel it will make for some interesting dinner conversation."

"Yes, Very interesting." said Toph as she let go of his hand. She then turn and took her mothers hand; who then led her over to her seat at the table.

Tra sat back down to join the Bei Fong's. Soon three serevent came in with soup and served it to each of them.

Lord Bei Fong unfolded his napkin and put it across his lap. As he picked up his spoon asked "So Mr. Long Fang. Do you like the flowers my wife picked out for our dinner." Nodding to the arrangement of white, red, orange and violet flower.

Tra thought it looked like a very beautiful arrangement and was about to say so when he noticed the vase the flowers were in. It was a clay vase with a green and green/blue glaze swirling up from the bottom. "The flowers are very lovely, and they look even better in that vase from Naitu." Tra commented

Lord Bei Fong smiled as he took another sip of his soup. After he finished he said, "I'd wondered if you noticed that. It's one of Poppy's favorites."

"My mom would be happy to know that since it's one of her's." Tra mentioned

"Really! How can you tell?" Asked Lady Bei Fong

"The swirling ridges going up the vase are made by my mom's fingers. I've seen her do it plenty of times. Plus." Tra reached over and picked vase high enough to see the bottom and spotter a two symbols. One Looked liked an imprint of a small sea shell and the other was a simple etching of a small winged snake. "Yep, these are the symbols my mom puts on all her works. The shell is a sign for our village and the winged snake is for my mom's family."

Tra placed the vase carefully back down on the table. He turned to see a smile on Lord Bei Fong's face. "Yes, That is what I was told by the merchant that sold it to me."

Tra started to eat his soup, but couldn't shake the feeling he had just been tested about where he was from.

"Be careful the soup is still a bit hot." Said Lady Bei Fong.

Tra thought she was talking to him, but then saw she was talking to Toph. She waved over a servant who then blew on the soup to cool it down. Tra noticed Toph gripped her spoon tightly as she said. "Mom, that isn't really necessary. "

"I'm just making sure you don't burn yourself dear." her mom said patting her arm.

There were a several minutes of silence as they all enjoyed their soup, but as Lady Bei Fong finished her soup, she patted her napkin to her mouth and said "So Mr. Long Fang. Leo told me you're a waterbender, but that you're born in the Earth Kingdom. I must say I've never heard of that happening. How did that come to be?"

Tra had finished his soup and was about to wipe his mouth on his sleeve, but caught himself and then picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth. " Well you see my dad is from the Southern Water Tribe. He met my mom while he was in the Water Tribe Navy helping patrol the waters of the southern Earth Kingdom."

"Oh and how did they met." Tra heard from Toph.

"Oh! Well it all happened when over fourteen years ago. My dad, Dennak, was working on one of the Water Tribe boats patrolling in the southern coast of the Earth Kingdom when they got caught up in a storm. As he was trying to tie down some supplies the ship's mast swung toward him and knocked him into the water. His shipmates tried to save him, but he was quickly swept away in the waves of the storm."

Tra paused to take a drink of his watermelon water. "The next thing my dad remembers waking up on a beach with a girl and older man looking down on him."

"Was that girl your mom." Toph asked

"Yes, she was. Her and her grandfather took him in and help him get better. Then soon help get in touch with his fellow tribesmen. Unfortunately he had a broken leg from the waves crashing him into the rocks near the shore; so it took several months of healing for him to get back he strength. However when he was finally strong enough to walk and his shipmates had come for him, he found himself with one problem."

"What was that?" Asked Lord Bei Fong.

"He'd falling in love with the girl who saved him. My mom Rin Long Fang."

Tra look around and saw that Lady Bei Fong with a smile and a romantic look on her face. "Doesn't that sounds so romantic." the Lady said turning to her husband. Tra noticed as the Lord and Lady were looking at each other, Toph turned her head away from her mom and opened her mouth and sticking her tongue out in a vomiting way before turning back like nothing happened.

Tra couldn't help to but give a small chuckle seeing that, but quickly covered up as a cough and took another drink of his watermelon water. "Are you alright Mr. Long Fang." asked Lady Bei Fong.

"Oh yes, just a little something in my throat." He said taking another drink.

"So what happens after your father fell in love with your mother." Asked Lord Bei Fong as servants came in to take up the soup bowls and serve what looked to be the main course.

"Well my dad wanted to be with her, but he had a duty to the Water Tribe. So he decided that Naitu was a good spot to set up base where Water Tribe ships could come into for supplies, rest, and communication with Earth Kingdom contacts. My dad set up a small base just outside the village on a cliff that overlooked the sea."

"My dad also worked with the leaders of Naitu to set up a small force of villagers to look out for the Fire Nation Navy, keep the village safe and help in communications with the the Earth Kingdom."

"Working there let my dad courted my mom and they got married several months later. About a year later I was born. They were great parents and took good care of me." Tra paused. Thinking about his parents again made him feel both nostalgic and sad. After a few minutes of silent eating Toph asked. "So when did you find out that you were a bender."

Tra finished chewing the his food and swallowed. " Well that's an interesting story. Since I was little I wanted to be an earthbender. Mom said that if I was a bender it was likely I'd be an earthbender, because there are lots of earthbenders in her and both her brothers, her father, both her grandparents, and several others. My dad said he knew of only one waterbender in his family and it was his great great grandmother."

"I tried bending every day to since I was 4. Nothing ever happened tho. Then on my tenth birthday, a small carnival came to town. Everybody was excited, because carnivals rarely came to our village. Among them was a Fortune Teller they called Aunt Wu. A couple of other kids went to see her and told people she could tell if they would be a bender or not."

Tra paused to take a few bites of his meal. "Did you end up going to see her." Asked Lord Bei Fong.

Tra swallowed and continued, "Yes, I went to her after I heard from my friend Tarra. Aunt Wu told her that she would soon find out she's an Earthbender. After hearing that I wanted to see if she could tell me if I was one."

Tra took a drink of his watermelon water. "I was a bit scared going to see her, but she greeted me nicely and invited me into her tent. She had me sit near a fire and asked to look at my palm." Tra paused again lost in a thought. A few moments later he continued. "She told me that my palm said that I was going to have many adventures in my life. I liked the sound of that, but then asked her what I really wanted to know."

Tra paused again. "She said she wanted to try a better form of divination. She asked me to choose an animal bone from a basket and toss it in the fire. She watch as the bone cracked and split into smaller pieces. She said that she saw that I was going to become a powerful bender."

Tra took another bite of his meal then looked up to see a disapproving look on Toph's face.

"Really, and what happened next?" she asked.

"I told my mom and dad about it and they felt optimistic."

"A few weeks later the kids that went to the Aunt Wu began discovering their bending abilities. This got my mom excited. She decide it was time to give me earthbending lessons. We'd practice every few days hoping my bending would come out. It never did; even after almost a year of lessons." Tra paused again to take a bite of his food.

"A few days before my 11th birthday, me and my mom were training again. She got mad at me for messing up some stances she was showing me. She then tried a catch and throw method. She bended rocks at me and told me to try and catch the rocks and bend them back toward her. I tried, I really tried with all I had. I dodged the first few rocks, but then came one I knew I won't dodge in time. I tried to catch it and I couldn't and it hit me in the shoulder." Tra couldn't help but rub his left shoulder.

"I fell down on the ground crying. Mom ran over looking worried, but I got up and ran off. I ran till I knew my mom wasn't going to find me. I nursed my bruised shoulder and walked along the beach near the village. I stop near a wave pool when I heard a crash. Up ahead was several kids from the village. Some were the kids that had found out they were earthbenders from Aunt Wu, including my friend Tarra. But two the them were older kid that had been bending longer. I think they were just showing off to the younger kids." Tra paused again to take a drink.

"I stood there watching them bend rocks into the sea cliff wishing I could join them. Then Tarra spotted me and came over. She saw I was hurt and asked what was wrong. I told her it was an accident with my bending training. Soon the two older boys came up. They knew I'd been training for a year and began to make fun of me for not being able to bend. I angrily told them I'd do it soon with more practice. Tarra told them that I'd gone Aunt Wu and was told I'd be a bender like her and other kids. They Still picked on me, and said they help with my practice. They began bending rocks at me. I dodged them ok till one of them bent a rock out of the ground behind me and made me trip into the wave pool. The boys laughed and brought up a large rock to throw. I saw them hurl it at me and I lifted my arms to protect myself and then…" Tra stopped. Lost in the memory.

"Then what?" Asked Lord Bei Fong.

"That's when I understood what Aunt Wu told me. She said that I'd become a great bender..." Tra paused in thought.

"But she never said you'd be an Earthbender." Toph said.

Tra looked at her. He could some how see she understood. "Yes. When I thought my arms up the water surged up out of the wave pool and toward the rock and boys. The rock was pushed back to the ground and the boys were left drenched on the ground. I sat there in the water shocked at what had happened still wondering if I had done that."

"I then heard someone call my name. I looked up on the sea cliff to see my dad and mom. My mom had got my dad and they both came looking for me. I never seen my mom looked so stunned. My dad came down and helped me out of the wave pool. We headed home, meeting mom as we came off the beach. She hugged me and told me she was sorry for holding me back and then we went home." Tra remained silent and ate his food for a few minutes.

"So how did your parents feel about you being a waterbender?" Lady Bei Fong asked before dabbing her mouth and waving at a servant to take her finished plate.

"Neither of them minded at all. They were both glad that I discovered my bending. Tho I felt my mother was a little downhearted about it." Tra said as his plate was taking away too.

"We all got use to me being a waterbender, and my dad was able to get a friend, who was a waterbender, from the tribe to train me when his was in town. Tho that was only for a few days every few months. I did my best with the training tho… it was tough only having a teacher once every few months." Tra then hear a small cough, and saw it came from Toph. After taking a drink she gave him a quick disapproving look.

A moment of silence followed as Lord Bei Fong finished his last few bites and then had his plate taking away. He to dabbed his mouth with his napkin. "A very enjoyable meal with a interesting story. What say we go to the lounge to have tea and dessert." he said raising from his chair. Lady Bei Fong rose and then Tra. Tra looked toward Toph and saw her get up too.

All the Bei Fong's left the room and Tra followed them into a room with some small comfy chairs and one large one, with small low table in the middle of the room. Toph and her mother took the large chair. Lord Bei Fong took the chair to their left. He then motioned for Tra to take the chair opposite him. "So tell us what happen next." Lord Bei Fong asked.

Tra took his seat, and saw a servant come in with a tray of tea and cakes, and place it on the table. "Well, I was doing Ok with my first lesson, simply learning the basics of waterbending, like learning to push and pull the water like the moon does the tide. Then soon after my first lesson my mom got a letter from Ba Sin Sa. It was a message from General of the Army my two uncles were in. They were lost during a battle with the Fire Nation army in the North. My Uncle Yen was found dead a few days after the battle and my other Uncle Shen was never found, they thought him missing or dead." Tra couldn't help but feel sad at remembering that sad moment.

Lady Bei Fong poured a cup of tea and handed to him. "Here, have some green tea. It will help. I can only imagine how bad your family must of felt hearing of your Uncles death."

Tra took the tea, blew on it and took a sip. It did help. "Thank you." Tra then took a deep breath. "Well after the news came my mom and dad started arguing a day later. Turns out the Long Fang's were a larger Family once. Several decades ago the Long Fang's made an oath that there would always be a Long Fang in service to the Earth Kingdom Army. Over the decades the Long Fang's healed up to their oath, but then the only Long Fang's were my mom and her parents."

"You have Grandparents?" Lady Bei Fong asked

"I did. Unfortunately they died in the attack on the village." Tra pause taking a deep breath and sipping his tea a couple of times in silent.

"So was your mom asked to join the army?" Tra heard. He turned to see the question came from Toph. "Yes! Well mom knew that they would ask her soon. Plus she wanted to find out what really happen to her brothers."

"And there were no other members of your family that come do it. Your dad perhaps." Lord Bei Fong asked picking up his tea.

"No, my dad didn't count and my mom's the last of the Long Fang's that could have been choosing. Well I think. My Grandpa told me years ago about his grandpa's brother's family that moved to Ba Sin Sa, but the family hadn't heard anything from them in 40 years or more."

"So your Mom left." Toph asked.

"Yes. She said it was something she had to do, hugged me and my dad and then left with a few other volunteers from the village." Tra said. He sat there quietly as he knew what he was soon about to be asked to tell.

"So what happened after your mother left." Ask Lady Bei Fong.

Tra took another sip of his tea before answering. "I'd stay with my Grandparents most nights and help my dad out at the watch post during the day. It was like that for a few months until…" He pause knowing he had reached that point in the story.

"Until what?" Asked Toph.

Tra looked up to see her and both her parents looking at him expectantly. He took a big breath and said "Until the Fire Nation attacked."

End Chapter