Chapter Two: Tea with the Great Uniter
Wei's gone. the thought struck Meiling as odd–out of place with the usual flow of the world. Gone? That couldn't be right. They were twins. They had been a package deal since birth. They didn't go anywhere alone if they didn't feel like it. To have someone barge in and forcibly take her brother awayjust felt…wrong.
There was a span of about ten minutes after the door closing behind the Dai Li during which she stared after them blankly, unable to move and mind strangely inactive for once in her life. She could feel the eyes of her classmates on her, curious and pitying. Professor Yao continued his lecture eventually. Hui was poking her shoulder, she realized numbly at some point but didn't turn her attention away from the door.
She only allowed herself those ten minutes of shock, though, and then she snapped back into the present, brain working at a hundred miles an hour again because if ever she needed a plan, it was now.
What am I still doing here? She wondered, the classroom coming back into focus around her. I don't have time for school!
Calmly (composed as any noble lady born–Mom would be proud) she shouldered her bag, taking an extra moment to grab Wei's too because the dummy had left his behind. She stood and walked towards the door.
"Ms. Yuan?" Professor Yao said sternly, though it seemed a bit forced. He didn't look the least bit surprised or angry. "Where are you going?"
"Sorry Professor, I'm not feeling very well today," she said, and it came out sweet and sincere as any other lie she had said before…which was absurd really because everyone could guess why she was really leaving. She didn't wait for him to respond before walking out the door.
She walked down the hallway because running wasn't allowed in the academy buildings and she was still too numb to work on anything other than autopilot. The second her feet touched the front lawn outside she broke into a run and didn't stop until she reached the Golden Lotus.
Meiling slammed the front doors to the restaurant, abusing the chimes that their mother had hung above them to welcome guests. She was going so fast that she had to skid to a stop in front of the counter to avoid a collision.
"Meiling!" Their father was manning the counter in the early afternoon lull of business. "What are you doing out of school? You can't just–"
"Wei's gone!" Meiling gasped, and she had thought that her throat was only tight from being out of breath until she felt wetness dripping down her cheeks. The irritated expression on her father's face melted, leaving only confusion. "Wei's gone and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault! I–I should have told you…"
"Meiling?" Their mother appeared through the doorway leading to the kitchen, holding a bowl in one hand and wiping it with the other. "What's going on?"
Both of them were staring at her, and she knew she should be doing a lot of explaining, but there was such a knot in her throat now and her shoulders were shaking for some reason. "They took him!" she finally managed, and it came out surprisingly like a sob, and she hated herself for being so discomposed when she should be doing something productive. "They showed up at school and they took Wei!"
"Calm down, dear," somehow her father had gotten around the counter and had a hand on her shoulder. "Who took Wei?"
"Dai Li" she choked past the knot in her throat.
The bowl her mother had been cleaning shattered against the tile floor.
Her father's hand slid slowly from her shoulder as he stood up straight again and leveled a look at the three customers were had taken a break from their meals to stare. "My apologies," his voice was calm as the East Lake waters, right before the sea serpent could break the surface and eat your boat. "The restaurant will be closing effective immediately due to a family emergency."
One of the customers looked like he was going to make something of it, and then apparently thought better of it upon seeing Ling Yuan's face and scurried out the door with the others. Li Hua followed behind them and flipped the 'open' sign in the window to 'closed' with shaking hands before collapsing in a chair.
Meiling's father took a deep, shaking breath. "The Dai Li has our son." He grabbed her shoulders. "Mei, what happened? What did you two do?"
"It was an accident!" Meiling blurted, sobs slowing to small hiccups and mind following no logical order. "We didn't know! We got attacked on the way home even when we were really careful, and there were too many of them!" she was babbling, but for the life of her she couldn't stop. "We didn't know he could firebend, I swear it just sort of happened and I wanted to tell you, but Wei was scared, and it wasn't my secret to tell–"
"Meiling!" he father cut her off, squeezing her shoulder. There was the beginning of a wide, panicked look in his eyes, like a startled ostrichhorse. "What, by Wan Shi Tong's tail feathers, are you talking about?"
"We didn't know," Meiling repeated, a hysteric hitch creeping into her voice, "I swear we didn't know until a week ago, and I have no idea how they found out–"
"Meiling!" her mother said (nearly shouted really). Her voice had gone shrill.
"Wei's a firebender." she finally choked out. "They took him because–because he's the avatar!"
Her father–Ling Yuan who was calm as a mountain and sturdy as an oak tree–fainted dead away on the restaurant floor.
Li Hua stood slowly, staring at something far away.
"Well," she said, "we all best change out of our work clothes. I suppose we will be stopping in on the palace today."
His first view of the imperial palace was not what Wei expected.
It wasn't like he had spent much time wondering what the place looked like exactly. To most people, himself included, the imperial palace was just that large, overly ornate building in the center of the city that was probably worth more than you, your entire family, and your friends' families could ever hope to make in a lifetime. If you were lucky enough to be passing through the Upper Ring, you might get a glance at the glorious staircase leading up to the place at some point in your life, but for most people, the palace was more of an metaphorical concept hovering in the back of your mind rather than an actually physical place that people actually visited.
It wasn't exactly the building itself that surprised him. Grand entrance chambers and giant, endless corridors seeming to lead to nowhere? Yeah, that was no surprise. Elegant architecture and ornate carvings etched into every doorway and ceiling–again, no surprises there either. What he hadn't anticipated was how…bare the place felt, for lack of a better word. Sure, the place looked like it had been built for royalty, but other than the building itself everything felt eerily…empty.
There are no decorations. He realized as he walked down yet another long hallway, sandwiched between the two Dai Li agents that had picked him up from school. Not a single vase stood in any corner. There were no paintings or tapestries on the walls. There were none of the telltale signs of wealth and status that one could see in any of the homes of the aristocratic members of the Upper Ring. For a grand empress, The Great Uniter was apparently not one for showing off.
Or maybe, the snide part of him wondered, she just figures she doesn't need the show of wealth to intimidate people. Something about that made Wei's skin crawl.
Surprise number two: they didn't stop in the main throne room, which was where the empress usually received important visitors. Instead they turned and headed outside into a massive garden at the rear of the palace.
Well this is informal. Wei thought, apprehension growing. Though, truth be told even surrounded by trees and ornamental shrubbery he still felt terribly underdressed, especially since he was still in his school uniform.
There was a table settled between several willow trees in the middle of the garden. Nearby an artificial stream settled into a koi pond, offering Wei a nice view of his reflection so that he could see exactly how undignified he looked. The table was set for two. One seat stood empty and was presumably meant for him.
In the other seat sat The Great Uniter, a teacup held in one hand and a lazy sort of smile on her lips, like a cat owl who had spotted a sparrowkeet.
"Presenting Avatar Wei Yuan to her Imperial Majesty Kuvira," the Dai Li on Wei's left said, and he cringed at the way they said his name. Both agents stepped back, leaving him suddenly standing alone facing the most powerful person in the entire Earth Empire and quite possibly the world.
"Do be seated, Wei," the empress invited. Mechanically he forced himself to sit down across from her, too late all of the etiquette lessons his parents had tried to pound in his head flying through his mind. Should he had bowed first before sitting down? Too late, he was already seated–should he stand up and try again? A servant that he hadn't noticed standing off to the side came and poured him a cup of tea. Great spirits, was he seriously expected to have tea with Empress Kuvira? Just yesterday he was flicking rice at Cheng across the dinner table at home.
Wei told himself over and over again that it would not do to look like a quivering mess in front of the empress. Propriety was everything in these situations, and he might not have been raised learning the social graces of a noble's son, but if he could stay composed, maybe he could come out of this okay.
It took him almost an entire minute to gather enough courage to take a sip from his cup. Across the table, Empress Kuvira was serene as a summer day.
"You seem nervous, Wei," she said, and he nearly dropped his teacup.
A mix of well ingrained manners and fortunate level headedness kept Wei's voice from shaking. "Well, it's not everyday that one is fortunate enough to be invited into your noble presence, your eminence."
"Hmm, how polite," Empress Kuvira said, setting aside her cup, "but let's not bother with too much formality. I would like you to know that you are welcome to speak freely here."
Yeah, sure, he thought, and if that wasn't a deliberate invitation to hang himself then Wei was hogmonkey's uncle.
Politics is just one big game of Pai Sho, He recalled his father saying at some point when asked why he didn't try to gain any sort of position with the Equalist party, and while some can play the game and come out unscathed, for those of us who are not intimately familiar with the rules, the only way to win is to not play. Considering the fact that Wei had been playing Pai Sho since almost before he could read, he could recognize a master player when he saw one. Empress Kuvira, for all of her politeness, was well aware of the game being played here–this was her domain, her metaphorical board. Forget earth and metal, this was the Earth Empress's true element.
And, as it stood, Wei wasn't even a player.
I am so incredibly fucked.
"My agents have informed me that you are of a well educated background," The Great Uniter continued, tapping an unpainted nail absentmindedly against the table, "So I am assuming you have guessed why I have requested your presence."
'Requested'? 'Requested' my ass! It took a moment for Wei to swallow the lump forming in his throat and speak. "Yes, Your Eminence." Best to keep his answers short, he figured.
The Great Uniter leaned forward in her chair, "I will admit, we had been starting to lose hope. Fifteen years have passed since Avatar Korra's most unfortunate death, and when no one came forward with news of the next avatar we began to grow concerned that he had been reborn in the hands of those who would wish to see our empire destroyed." She smiled again, and it was a surprisingly gentle smile–sincere looking, even. "When my agents reported to me that our search was over, well, you cannot imagine my relief to have you sitting before me now."
Well at least someone is happy about all this, he wanted to say, but he figured sassing The Great Uniter was a great way to get your ass handed to you, avatar or not.
At his silence, Empress Kuvira sighed, "I understand this must come as a great shock to you, Wei. Finding out that you are a beacon of hope in a world on the brink of war would be hard for anyone to deal with." Her eyes softened, "I can understand your reluctance to make yourself known; you are still so young, after all."
Despite his misgivings Wei felt some of his initial apprehension ease, feeling just a little bit less like he was on trial. "I, uh, only realized a week ago," he heard himself saying. "I didn't know…"
"Of course not," the empress said, pouring herself a fresh cup. "With how early Aang and Korra mastered the elements it is easy to forget that most avatars were not made aware of their status until they were sixteen." He watched a sugar cube drop down into her cup, dissolving into the murky golden drink. "I hope you won't mind me saying, but, as one who was acquainted with Avatar Korra I believe that an earlier start does not necessarily result in better ability."
That was an…interesting comment. Was she trying to be encouraging to him or condescending of the previous avatar? "I hadn't realized that you had met Avatar Korra."
The corner of her smile tightened fractionally. Touchy subject, then. "I had the honor on several occasions. While our initial encounter in Zaofu before the fall of the 53rd Earth Queen was pleasant enough despite having to fight off four master benders, I'm afraid that we didn't see eye to eye on some of my peace keeping policies later."
Well great, the knot in Wei's stomach returned, looks like I got on the empress's bad side before I was even born.
"I will, say, however," she continued, "that by all accounts she was a remarkable young woman, if not a little naive."
"Oh," he said, mostly because he felt like she expected him to say something, and how was one supposed to react when an empress gave your past life a back hand complement?
"But enough about all that," Empress Kuvira said, waving her hand in the air as if to banish the topic. "Tell me about yourself, Wei."
"Oh," he said again, and he had to stop himself from adding a few extra colorful terms after the exclamation. Wei had never exactly been shy, but coming from a family where drawing attention to himself (usually by accidentally bending the front stairs into a slide) more often than not made things uncomfortable for everyone involved, he tried to make a habit out of escaping notice. Bragging on himself to the Great Uniter seemed a bit counter intuitive to that purpose.
Just be cool, he tried to tell himself. You know, just chatting it up with the Empress, but be cool about it.
"I have it on good authority that you're at the top of your class," the empress prompted, because apparently she was not blind as a badgermole and could see him squirming uncomfortably.
"Number two, actually," he answered automatically, because this was an all too familiar topic. "Meiling is number one."
One eyebrow slid upward on her face. "Sounds like a sore spot."
"No!" Wei said, a bit quickly perhaps, and then he had to back track to make up for it. "I mean, it is, but, not between the two of us." And, okay, maybe he should be a little sore about being shown up, but then that would mean that he would have to care enough about school in general to get jealous over it.
The empress's eyebrow climbed a little higher at his statement, and Wei's feet started tangling together under his chair. He added, "Meiling's really smart. Not a lot of our peers are…entirely comfortable with that." Well, not all of their male peers, to be specific.
The empress hummed thoughtfully, her eyebrow setting back low on her brow. "I see. It is unfortunate that…certain traditions still linger in this modern age." She sipped her tea, and a polite smile settled back onto her face. Absently, Wei remembered his own cup still lying almost untouched in front of him.
"Are you close with your sister, then?" She wondered after a moment.
"You could say that," Wei said, "I mean, we are twins. We have common interests–well, for the most part." Which was perhaps not exactly true; it tended to be more that their interests happened to conveniently overlap than anything else. Wei was a wiz at research and metalbending. Meiling was a mad genius with more working knowledge of engineering than most professionals. Together they built and fought giant robot suits. Maybe it wasn't the most usual of sibling relationships, but hey, it worked for them.
"I see," she said. Her expression softened into one of deep, almost fond understanding, which was somewhere between disarming and creepy, but Wei didn't have enough time to figure out which end it came out on exactly. "It couldn't have been easy, growing up as the only earthbender in your family. Especially given your parents' political alignments."
Yeah, I'm thinking creepy, he decided. Exactly how much information had the empress had the Dai Li dig up on his family, he wondered. After all, there couldn't have been that much time for them to investigate, even though his parents didn't exactly make their political beliefs a secret. The Equalist party had risen to popularity only a couple of years after Kuvira had risen to power, and while at first many had been nervous about backlash from the empress herself for all the anti-bending sentiment, she had never publicly condemned the fledgling movement. If she had a problem with the Equalists having a revival in Ba Sing Se, she certainly hadn't brought it up before, and it would be strange to bring it up now of all times.
"Maybe it wasn't always…ideal," Wei said, choosing his words carefully, "My parents tried not to treat me any different from Meiling or Cheng, though. They didn't want me to feel ashamed of the fact that I was a bender. It was just…I don't think they ever really knew quite how to react." There hadn't been benders in their father's line for nine generations until Uncle Bai came along. Mom's family could count back even farther without finding anyone. It was a miracle that they had both taken to their son being an earthbender as well as they had, really. Now that it was out that he was the avatar…
Wei felt distinctly like throwing up.
"Your Eminence," he asked, ignoring the unpleasant feeling because information was more important right now than his own comfort, "I hate to bring it up, but have my parents been informed of my…current circumstances?" It felt like kind of a funny question to ask given that he wasn't even completely aware of his current circumstances.
"Another of my agents has been sent to collect your family in the Middle Ring. I do apologize for all of this back and forth summoning, but I had hoped to have a word with you alone before discussing matters with your parents."
"I see," Wei said, even though he didn't really.
"Actually, Wei, I was wondering–since your contact with other earthbenders has been somewhat limited–how you're getting along with earthbending."
"Oh." He really needed to start forming more coherent sentences. "My uncle has been giving me lessons on and off for the past ten years."
"On and off?" That single eyebrow climbed high on her forehead again, and his cheeks heated up.
"I'm afraid I'm not the best of students, Eminence." It was the fullest truth he had given so far. Metalbending had been something fun, something he could screw around with in his free time without attracting quite so much attention. Earthbending on the other hand was…uncomfortable. Loud and demanding to be noticed where he would much rather sit quietly with a book and learn that way if he could.
"Nonsense," Empress Kuvira said dismissively. "It couldn't have been easy learning with your background, and it couldn't have been easy for your uncle to teach you on top of having a career to maintain. I bet in the right setting with the right teachers you could rise above the abilities of even your past lives."
There was something strange in her expressions at that last part, but she was so composed and the smile she gave him was so welcoming that he almost forgot it a moment later when it passed. Almost.
"Your faith in me is flattering," he said, though he doubted her enthusiasm. He had heard about what avatars could do: rending landscapes apart, churning the oceans into stormy weapons of mass destruction, standing up to the fury of erupting volcanoes… And the thing was: that wasn't him. He might be the avatar, but first and foremost he was and always would be just Wei Yuan. They could call him the avatar all they wanted, but it would still feel as new and foreign to him as waking up in a strange house when you had fallen asleep in your own bed.
But he wasn't going to tell her that. Because you didn't sit down for tea with the ruler of an empire and laugh in their face unless you wanted to end up where all of the other stupid souls who dared to insult Empress Kuvira ended up.
"I must admit that lately I grow bored in my free time," the Great Uniter continued, unaware of his doubt. "If you would like, I could work with you on your earthbending until it is up to par."
Oh yeah, sure, learn earthbending from the Great Uniter, that annoying voice in the back of his mind quipped.What could possibly go wrong?
"What about learning firebending?" he asked before he could think of anything better to say.
The edge of her mouth twitched downwards ever so slightly, the picture of mild dissatisfaction, "Unfortunately, finding a firebending master for you is likely to take quite some time. As it stands, most of the residence of the Fire Nation have been turned against us through rebel propaganda. In the mean time I feel it would be best not to waste time and focus your energies on improving on what you know already."
That made sense, though why he had to stay in Ba Sing Se in order to learn firebending was a bit of a mystery to him. There wasn't any actual fighting going on between them and the Fire Nation after all, so why couldn't he go there? Not that he was going to question imperial authority when it was staring him down over a pot of tea.
"Oh, well, in that case," he said, even though he wanted nothing more than to crawl in a hole and hide for the next couple of months. He stood and bowed politely, hoping dearly that she couldn't see his legs shaking. "I would be honored to take you up on your generous offer."
Empress Kuvira smiled, and this time it looked just a little too sharp.
The empress excused herself shortly after the end of their discussion, called off to attend to some business elsewhere in the palace, and Wei was left contemplating over the dregs of his tea. He wasn't sure exactly how long he sat there thinking, but it couldn't have been too long because no one bother to offer to replace the pot in the center of the table with a fresh one. He guessed it had been maybe fifteen minutes when an agent entered the garden, escorting his family.
His parents were dressed elegantly–or, at least elegantly as a middle class family could afford. He could have sworn he recognized the dress his mother was wearing from the wedding they had attended several years ago. Meiling walked almost on their heels, but had the sense of propriety to not over take them, which would have been seen as disrespectful. Wei didn't recognize the stately green gown she was wearing, but recalled that she and Mom had been shopping two weeks ago for something to wear to a family friend's graduation ceremony in a couple of weeks. Cheng, who had obviously been interrupted in the middle of his classes to get dragged to the palace, was looking sour in his school robes. At least Wei wasn't the only one not dressed for the occasion.
He had stood the moment they had come into sight without realizing it, and Meiling raced ahead of their parents (so much for propriety) and nearly knocked him off of his feet in a tackle hug.
"You're okay!" she cried, probably a little too loudly given that the attendants were giving her a disapproving look.
"Ow–Mei!" he protested, but there wasn't much weight behind it. A moment later their parents wrapped their arms around both of them in a group hug, and suddenly Wei didn't care so much about the Dai Li noticing. In the warmness of his family's arms, some of is anxiety melted out of him, and he didn't feel so much like he was going to be sick any more.
Once the moment had passed and Wei was free to move again, Cheng, who was conspicuously standing just slightly aside from everyone and looking both confused and uncomfortable piped up, "So, yeah, Wei's here. That's great. Is anyone going to bother explaining anything now? Because I'm not getting much out of what's going on here." He rubbed the back of his head, disturbing his topknot and making a mess of his hair, and made eye contact with Wei. "Why does everyone in the palace seem to think you're the Avatar?"
And there it was, out in the open. Their father stiffened noticeably at the word, but his hand on Wei's shoulder didn't falter, which was almost enough for Wei to believe that everything was going to be alright. Almost.
Everyone was looking at him now, as if they wanted an explanation. For once Meiling was not living up to her role as the talkative one and was just giving him this prompting look, so he figured he was going to have to be the one to actually spit it out this time.
He took a deep breath, "Uh, Mom, Dad?" he said, twisting the toe of his shoe into the dirt beneath him.
"Yes son?" their father said.
"Um, so…I…" He trailed off, biting his lip as the script he had been writing in his head for the past week slipped away. And–damn it all–this was why he hadn't been eager to tell them in the first place.
Words failing, he decided to try something different and cupped his right hand in the air. Wei closed his eyes, and in the unexpected calm of the Empress's garden and his family's quiet support searched his memories for that strange something that had given life to unexpected sparks. Deliberately wanting to for the first time, he concentrated and a moment later a tiny flame ignited in his palm.
"Um," he said, feeling every bit as wobbly as the small tongue of fire sputtering in his hands, "so…turns out I'm a firebender."
Ling Yuan was breathing kind of shakily now, but did not let go of his shoulder. Li Hua, who was watching the tiny fire dance in her son's hand, reached out and ruffled his hair like when he was still a little kid, even if her fingers shook a little more now than they did then.
"Well then," she said, just like she had in a far off memory from when he was three years old and had torn up the front pavement in that first tantrum of unintentional earthbending, "I guess some adjustments are in order."
Cheng looked like he had been slapped with a wet fish. "Wait. Seriously?"
"Oh trust me," Meiling said, grinning wide as an opossumcat, "the only one more unhappy about it than you is Wei."
"Excuse me," one of the Dai Li agents still standing off to the side cut in awkwardly. Well, as awkwardly as someone who only had one flat facial expression to begin with anyway. "The Empress requests an audience with the parents of the avatar."
Their father's face grew somewhat pinched at the address. "Very well. I hope it is quite all right if my children accompany."
The agent eyed Meiling and Cheng somewhat sourly, but said nothing. Apparently Wei was too important to get the stink eye now. Or maybe it was just that he would always be thought of as the avatar now before ever being thought of as someone's child. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
Unlike the informal chat that Wei had been permitted not even an hour prior, his parents were received in the main throne room. As the Yuan family stood upon gleaming stone floors in the massive room facing the throne that had held fifty-three monarchs of the Earth Kingdom and now seated the first ruler of the illustrious Earth Empire, Wei felt he understood why Kuvira had thought that meeting him in the garden would be less intimidating.
From atop her throne of fine stone, Empress Kuvira looked down upon them. The benevolent smile from earlier was gone, and her expressions made different somehow by the change in scenery–less generous and more predatory.
"Ling and Li Hua Yuan, I trust," she greeted, addressing both his parents in turn. They and Cheng both bowed, and after a sideways glance at each other, Wei and Meiling quickly followed suit.
"Your Eminence," Ling Yuan said, head still bowed. "We are honored by your invitation."
"Not at all," Kuvira said, "It is an honor to finally meet the parents of the avatar."
Looking down on them from a fancy throne, she didn't seem very honored. Not that Wei was going to bring it up.
His parents shared a sideways glance, probably too quick for most people to notice. The empress caught it sure as summer.
"I'm sure it is no easy thing, finding out that your own son is the avatar," She said, "especially with the…current state of politics within our own city." There was no hint of slight or warning in her voice, but Wei felt the hidden jab. Beside him, his father stiffened ever so slightly.
"It is…surprising of course Your Eminence," Ling Yuan said, eyes still politely looking downward and away from the Empress. "However, the raising of children has never been a matter of political values but one of wisdom and good judgment. Our only regret is that we are not well equipped in providing our son with the guidance that he will now need."
Kuvira's eyes were calculating. "I had actually hoped to address concerns about Wei's access to the proper resources he will need now that his status has come to light."
Resources? Wei wondered. What resources? Bending instructors, sure, he could see why the Empress of the Earth Kingdom might take an interest in his learning the elements properly, at least where earthbending was concerned. He had been doing a pretty rotten job on his own, and without mecha fighting to employ his interests he probably would have let metalbending fall by the wayside too. But what other resources did an avatar need? Surely it didn't take a whole palace's worth to teach him enough to move on to learn firebending.
"I'm sure that Wei is very bright and perfectly capable of learning much from home," Empress Kuvira continued, "but I fear the Middle Ring is not the safest of environments to learn some of the more complex aspects of his role as the avatar. It is my personal belief that things would work out best for Wei if his identity remains a secret for the time being."
"So you do not intend to reveal to the public that the avatar has been found?" Ling Yuan asked. From the bend of his shoulders he didn't seem very surprised.
"Wei is not even properly of age yet," Kuvira pointed out. "The avatar is a person who stands under the scrutiny of the whole world, and I don't believe that facing the pressure of all of those expectations so early on would be necessary. Perhaps when he has mastered more of the elements we could reevaluate, but for now I think it would be best to wait to reveal that Wei is the avatar."
Some of the weight on Wei's shoulders lifted. He hadn't really had much time to consider–hadn't really wanted to consider–exactly what it would be like having all of responsibilities of an avatar. The thought of having the expectations of all those people make him feel sick.
"That seems reasonable," his father said, not sounding nearly as relieved as Wei might have expected. He would have thought that not having his bending son outed to all of his Equalist associates immediately might be somewhat of a relief. If his parents said that they accepted him, he believed them. But he held no illusions about the political company they kept. Whether or not they were willing to ditch their friends and associates in favor of defending their son was their own business, but it couldn't be easy being suddenly held in contempt by everyone you knew.
"I'm glad that you agree," the empress continued. "In light of this, I would like to propose that Wei carry out his studies here at the palace."
The air caught in Wei's throat, and, forgetting his manners, his head shot up and he gaped at the empress.
"Here?" he burst out, and thank goodness it just wasn't quite a squeak.
"Yes, here," Kuvira said, looking directly at him for a long, tense moment before turning her gaze back to his father. "I have made your son an offer, which he has thoughtfully accepted, to personally act as his earthbending teacher for the time being. For this to occur, it makes sense that he, and your entire family if you would so like, relocate to the palace for the time being."
It was the first time Wei had ever seen his father speechless. He himself felt pretty speechless for that matter. He had been so preoccupied with not looking like an idiot that he hadn't fully considered exactly what Kuvira's offer entailed.
"Your Eminence makes a very generous offer," Li Hua, bless his mother and her unflappability, spoke up, "but how could we ever dream of intruding?"
"Nonsense," Kuvira told her. "The palace is well equipped to house guests and privileged family members. There is more than enough room for you all." Of course there was. With the other nations currently not feeling very charitable towards the Earth Empire and it being no secret that the empress had no surviving family, Wei couldn't imagine that the private wing of the palace would have many permanent occupants.
"What about school?" Meiling piped in. Of course she would wonder about school.
Kuvira met her gaze. Meiling didn't seem nearly as bothered by it as Wei had been. Surprisingly, the empress did not appear irritated to be addressed out of turn by a fifteen-year-old girl. "Wei tells me that you're a very intelligent young lady. I would by no means want to separate you from your peers, but if you wouldn't mind the change in scenery I can assure you that there would be no trouble finding the best of tutors in the city."
Meiling looked thoughtfully down at her shoes for a moment, then grinned. "I suppose I could live with that, Your Eminence."
A shaky smile for her daughter's boldness found its way to their mother's face. Their father, however, was expressionless. "If my family gives their consent, then I am hardly one to argue." he said, and then shot a sideways look at Wei.
"Wei," he said, "as the one who would be benefitting most from the Empress's offer, it's your decision in the end. We will go with whatever you decide."
Like this day hadn't had pressure enough already. Looking into his father's eyes, Wei could tell that he wasn't happy about the idea. Having your son be the avatar was one thing. Being asked to rub elbows with governments officials on a daily basis was quite another. Then again, it was pretty apparent here that there wasn't really much of a choice to be made. The empress had left him free to choose, but he had already agreed to learn earthbending from her. He could protest that he didn't want to leave his home, but reason he gave would only sound like a childish attachment to his life in the Middle Ring, which obviously was never going to be the same again no matter what he chose. In the end, it wasn't really much of a choice at all.
For the second time that day, Wei bowed and yielded yet another portion of his old life to the Empire. Worse yet, now his family's lifestyle was being dragged along with him.
"Your Eminence," he said somehow without his voice breaking, "we gladly accept your offer."
Wei got his own room at the palace.
Having his own space wasn't a new thing to him; he had had his own room at home, after all, so being assigned his own courters in a place where there was probably enough free space to house half of the homeless people of the Lower Ring was no surprise.
The fact that the 'room' he was given was more of a small apartment complete with a sitting area and garden access, however, was throwing him a bit.
"You are our most honored guest," the woman escorting him and his family–Joo Li, or something close to that– said as he stood gaping in the doorway, "please, let us know if there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable."
He made some kind of vague squeaking sound, which the lady seemed to take for an 'okay' before guiding his family to their own rooms.
"Hopping hogmonkeys," he said to no one in particular, "what am I going to do with all this space?"
At the current moment there was no unpacking to be done. The empress had sent some servants to their house in the Middle Ring to retrieve any clothes or other items that they asked for, and in the meantime they were meant to be settling into their surroundings. Upon inspection, Wei discovered a closet on the far side of his bedroom that was about as big as his old bedroom back home and held several changes of fancy court robes that probably weren't his size. Better yet, back in the sitting room he discovered a bookshelf.
The books on the shelf were mostly political commentaries on major historical events, mostly set in the time of the earth monarchy, though there was one recording the rise of the Earth Empire. He also managed to find a book of Kyoshi era poetry and an atlas of the four nations. Some of his discomfort about the day eased.
About an hour later a knock on the door came, and a serving lady opened the door to find him sprawled out on the floor surrounded by an array of books in a most undignified manner.
"So sorry for the interruption," she said, though obviously she wasn't sorry enough not to stare.
Wei jolted upright, feeling his face heat up. "Um, not at all!" She was younger than the woman who had escorted him, and he didn't know her name.
"I have been sent to inform you that dinner will take place in an hour," she said, bowing politely. "Is there anything that you require in the meantime?"
"Uh…" This was weird. Wei wasn't used to being waited on. But on the other hand… "Is there a library in this place?" He couldn't really see her face, but he thought he saw her lips curl into a smile.
Half an hour and a journey across the palace later, he and the serving girl, and some poor other serving guy that they had interrupted from running errands were walking back to his room with three stacks of books from the royal library.
Okay, so maybe being the avatar had some perks. Maybe he could get used to this.
Dinner began promptly another half hour later and was a relatively small affair. Unsurprisingly the empress did not join them and instead left him and his family to dine on their own in one of several palace dining rooms just as a family. With just the five of them sitting at a table that easily could have seated twelve, the whole affair felt more than just a little bit ridiculous to Wei. Even so, it was a relief to have time alone with his family after such a day. Well, alone if you didn't count the serving staff.
"My," his mother said a pleasant smile on her lips, "What a change to be waited on for once."
His father, made a noncommittal noise as one of the servants filled his glass, starting at the far wall with an expression that showed that he was clearly lost to the world.
Cheng was tugging at the collar of his shirt awkwardly, eyes darting to the different dishes presented in the center of the table, clearly unsure of what table manners he was supposed to follow. After a couple of moments, he seemed to throw caution to the wind and started serving himself off of every dish within polite reach.
Meiling seemed to be the only one comfortable in her place and was sipping calmly on her drink.
"You know," she said, winking at him across the table, "I could get used to eating like this. Nice job, bro."
Wei rolled his eyes. "Oh you're welcome. Obviously I acquired three more elements just so that my sister could have nice things."
Meiling grinned. "See Cheng, this is why Wei is my favorite brother."
Cheng nearly choked on a noodle, but otherwise didn't seem inclined to give a response.
"Speaking of newly acquired elements," their mother said lightly, and Wei knew he was in trouble, "when exactly were you planning to tell your poor mother about learning firebending, Wei?"
Wei felt his cheeks heat up and had to stop himself from ducking his head like an embarrassed five year old. "Um…when I figured out how to not accidentally set the drapes on fire?"
Cheng's head shot up, "Wait, that was you?"
Oops. Li Hua looked scandalized. Cursing himself internally, Wei stuffed his mouth with food in an effort to avoid having to talk.
"I suppose I should have been suspicious," their father spoke up for the first time, looking only slightly more present. "You two were being awfully quiet last week."
"I'm still confused," Cheng said thoughtfully. "When did you find out you could firebend?" He stabbed his chopsticks in Meiling's direction accusingly. "You were asking weird questions that one morning, so around then?"
Meiling only smiled. "Oh don't ask me. It's Wei's business after all."
"Oh sure, now you back off," Wei deadpanned. "Now that we're eating dinner at the damn palace."
"Hmm," Meiling smiled, "I suppose I have nothing left to gain from exposing you."
Wei briefly considered throwing a grape at her face. Then he remembered that the plates they were eating off of were probably worth more than their entire house and reconsidered his table manners.
"Seriously, though," Cheng cut back in, "how did you find out?"
Under most circumstance, Wei considered ignoring anything Cheng asked a viable option. Given the fact that both of his parents were now looking at him expectantly, that was probably not an option here.
"Um," he said, because there was no way he was telling his parents that he was a back alley mecha pilot. Though in retrospect, now might be a better time than any given that he was pretty sure he had ascended to become ungroundable, but that was a thought for later. "I, uh, got angry at someone."
Their father raised a pencil thin eyebrow at him. "That seems…unusual for you."
Meiling sniffed, seeming more miffed about the subject than anything else, though Wei could tell from her eyes that she was still angry about the memory. "Yeah, well, the guy deserved to be firebent at."
Ling Yuan's other eyebrow climbed up to join the other. "You firebent at someone." The 'I though we taught you not to bend at people' accusation hung in the air heavily.
"I didn't hurt him!" Wei protested, which was probably true. He didn't remember a whole lot of details, but he was pretty sure that Baldy had gotten out without any burns. He could not at all vouch for the other guys that had jumped them.
"He did it to defend my maidenly honor, if it makes you feel any better." Meiling added, still eating her food like they were calmly discussing the weather.
"Since when did my children get into fights on the way home from school?" Their mother lamented, and Wei was thrown for a minute before realizing that of course she would assume that this had all happened on the way home from school because there was no other time in their daily schedules when it could have logically happened, from her point of view.
"Since jerks started giving us a hard time on the way," Meiling told her simply. "By the way, are we going to have to go clothes shopping now that we live in the palace? Because I've always wanted to go shopping in the Upper Ring!"
Wei stared at his sister and wondered exactly how much of this simple acceptance was an act to throw their parents off from finding out about their illegal hobbies and how much was genuine not giving a damn. Either way, he kind of wished he could lie and make it look that easy.
"Are we seriously not going to talk about the fact that Wei's the avatar and we're living in the palace?" Cheng asked, though he didn't seem uncomfortable about the fact enough to give up on eating.
Their father sighed. "It's been such a long day. Maybe over breakfast we can ponder any irony, but in the meantime I've got to think of someone to fill in at the restaurant for a while"
Cheng pursued his lip, "But, doesn't this, like, complicate things?"
Their father sat his cup down heavily on the table, and everyone in the room visibly jumped. "Yes, Cheng," he said, voice strained, "this does indeed complicate things. We don't what this new development means for your brother or how long we're going to be here for, which complicates schooling and working for all of us. We will all probably fall under scrutiny from the public eye once the empress decides to speak out about Wei being the avatar. We will likely be rejected by the political community for the fact that your brother was born as the reincarnation of the world spirit regardless of the fact that none of us were aware of this until recently. We will all probably have to make adjustments in our lives that will be uncomfortable and put us into situations that we are thus far ill equipped to deal with. None of this matters, however, because, even though I'm sure that the next couple of years are going to be a complete political nightmare, we are going to face this as a family, and I refuse to hear any suggestion to the contrary."
He paused, took a deep breath, leveled a look at Cheng, and continued. "I know how you feel about politics son. You are young and passionate and are looking for a cause to fight for. But I feel that some reminding is in order that, regardless of what your professors at the university are spouting from the shelter of their lecture halls, the Equalist movement was meant to protect the rights of those without the benefit of bending, not to persecute those who happened to be born with it."
You could have heard a pin drop in the vacuum of conversation that followed. Even the servants seemed to be holding their breaths.
"That's not what I meant," Cheng said feebly after a moment, looking almost afraid to speak.
Their father sighed, and in that moment looked as if the weight of the entire world was on his shoulders. "I know, son. It's been a hard day for all of us, but we will get through this. Even if it takes some…adjustments."
The words were meant to be mostly encouraging Wei knew. He told himself that over and over as he slumped in his chair and tried not to suffocate from his guilt.
His first earthbending lesson was early morning two days later. He was summoned to one of the back courtyards, this one completely barren of any features except for the rocky ground, which made Wei think that the empress must use it for practicing on her own. There he was greeted by Empress Kuvira. She was accompanied by a short, round-faced man who was obviously too well dressed to take part in his lesson and a taller man with solid broad shoulders dressed in a standard military uniform who looked incredibly unimpressed when Kuvira introduced him as the avatar.
"While I am more than qualified to teach you earthbending, I felt it prudent to bring in some outside help when it comes to the other aspects your avatar training," she explained, and then nodded to the shorter of the two men. "This is Master Liao, Ba Sing Se University's top expert on the Spirit World and all things spirit related."
Master Liao bowed deeply, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Avatar Wei."
"Uh…yeah," Wei said, returning the bow. He was awkwardly aware of the fact that his brother would probably kill for an opportunity to work one on one with a professor so renowned.
"Master Liao has been hired–under a strict code of silence, of course–to provide you with guidance for you spiritual role as the avatar. I feel that meeting with him each evening would be a good way of getting to know each other and begin learning what you will need to know, if you have no objections.
Wei readily offered his thanks and affirmation that he had no problem with the situation proposed. It had only been three days, but already he was starting to see a trend forming of quick and easy agreement when the empress was involved. That was…not a particularly comforting thought.
To be honest, the thought of incorporating an intimate study of all things spirit related was not giving him any particularly warm or fuzzy feelings either. The fact that it was highly unlikely that the guy teaching him has ever actually left the city since the empress's ascent to the throne was not raising his hopes on the situation either. Not that he was going to complain about any of this. Just smile and nod for now. Think about it later.
"This is General Nianzu," the empress motioned to the stone-faced man in uniform. "His job from here on is to educate you in recent and current international affairs, politics, and tactical thinking."
General Nianzu bowed to him, though not nearly as low as Master Liao had.
"It's a pleasure," he said with the dispassionate tone you might use to tell someone their shoe was untied.
"Of course," Wei said, giving an equally shallow bow back because he figured he could probably get away with it.
"General Nianzu and I were thinking that regular meetings in the afternoon would be a good time for your lessons."
"Of course, Eminence." Its not like I have anything else to fill my schedule since you took me out of school. Which, actually, was a thought worth considering, now that he actually thought about it.
As soon as his new teachers were dismissed and out of earshot, Wei chanced asking, "Um, Eminence, what about my regular school studies."
Kuvira looked almost surprised by his question, but thankfully not angry. "With the amount of time that your avatar training is likely to take up, I figured you wouldn't want to pile regular school work on top of that."
Bending in the morning, politics at noon, spirits in the evening, sure it sounded like a full schedule when put that way, but surely his lessons wouldn't take up more than an hour or two each. He might be the avatar, but he still only had the attention span of a fifteen-year-old.
"It would be bad to fall behind in my studies though, wouldn't it?" It was a risky move to question the empress, but she was the one who tried to insist on open conversations. And after all, she was the one who wanted to wait for me to be older to get involved with politics.
The empress looked pensive. "We have hired a private tutor for your sister; you are, of course, welcome to return to your regular studies with her if you want. I can't force you to follow my advice."
"I'm not trying to back out," Wei told her quickly–because that last part was ostrichhorse shit and they both knew it. "I'm just a bit confused. I thought that I had a couple years before I was supposed to get involved with politics. Shouldn't I wait to master diplomacy until after I master, like, algebra or something?"
The empress's eyes softened into a look of almost pity, and inexplicably Wei's skin began to crawl.
"Oh Wei," she told him, "I wish the world was a kind place and that life were so easy as to go as planned. I'm sure that you learned in school that the other nations are not feeling quite charitable at the moment."
"Uh, yeah," Wei said, "the Fire Nation doesn't like that they lost their foothold on the Earth Empire land they acquired from the Hundred-Year War, right?"
"That is true. Unfortunately, it is just the tip of the iceberg. Ever since we managed to reclaim the land taken from us after the Hundred-Year War, the Fire Nation has threaten violence in order to retake it. For the past fifteen years we have sat on the brink of war–every time I move to defend our boarders, the Firelord and her council call it an aggressive maneuver and threaten to attack us. Funds have been diverted to improve military technology in order to keep up with the Fire Nation's own developments just so that we can counter any attack that might come, but any constructions on our parts are seen as preemptive weapon stocking and they redouble their efforts in retribution."
She brought a hand to her forehead, a gesture that made it seem like she was trying to ward off bad memories. "I wouldn't be so worried about this arms race we have fallen into if it weren't for the fact that I lost my top scientist many years ago, and an equal for him has yet to be found."
Wei shuffled his feet awkwardly, wondering how smart a man must be in order to be considered irreplaceable to the woman who had command over most of the people currently inhabiting the world. He wondered what she would do if she ever found out about Meiling.
"Do you understand, Wei?" the empress asked. "This is not a fact we actively advertise to most of the citizens of our nation–we wouldn't have anyone to needlessly panic. However, since the Water Tribes have refused to offer any political support we are left in a dangerous stalemate." She looked him in the eye, and, ridiculously, Wei felt like her gaze was piercing his soul. "The Fire Nation has already made it clear that they will not negotiate with me or my people. Our only remaining hope is that a third party may intercede and convince them to consider peace."
"A third party like the avatar," Wei realized and then almost screamed because the thought of him playing diplomat for the four nations when he could barely turn out a decent essay on the history of the Earth Empire rail system was crazier than skinny dipping in the Serpent's Pass.
Kuvira quite obviously didn't notice his distress, or if she did didn't think it worth acknowledging. "I'm glad that you understand. I would love nothing more for you to learn everything you need to in a safe environment without the pressure of a time constraint, but the truth is, we don't know how long it will be until the Fire Nation decides to take action. And with the technology they have built again us, I fear to think what the outcome would be for our people."
I fear to think what the outcome would be for me. Wei realized, because if the empress expected him to walk into the Fire Nation during a military confrontation to play diplomat with maybe a couple of years of political studies under his belt, she had another thing coming.
"But enough talk about all of this," Kuvira told him firmly. "You will have plenty of time to learn about our political standings when you meet with General Nianzu. Right now, you are here for earthbending."
So he was, Wei realized. He had managed to get the empress off on a tangent for at least five minutes. Quietly, he filed that information away for later should he ever need to stall.
A moment later and Wei didn't have a spare moment to think of anything because there were rocks being thrown at his head, and he was rolling across the courtyard like his life depended on it.
There were a few things he noticed quickly about the empress's bending. First observation: she was fast. Like, deadly fast, and Wei was pretty sure she was holding back on him in order to keep him alive. The lady could punch off shards of rock at a rate that would have made a firebender jealous of her sheer tenacity. Pretty soon Wei realized that he was spending most of his time running and zero of his time forming a plan of attack like he was used to with Uncle Bai.
Second observation: Kuvira never bent more than she needed to. Wei didn't watch a whole lot of earthbenders work, but from what he knew there was quite a bit of the quantity versus quality approach; earthbenders tended to throw bigger punches, bend larger chunks of rock than were strictly necessary for taking down opponents–it was pretty hard to miss the spiderfly you were trying to crush when you were swatting at him with a boulder the size of a satomobile. The empress, on the other hand, was very efficient, tending to bend smaller shards of rock to aim at him and sliding the ground immediately underneath his feet a fraction rather than upending the entire courtyard just to trip him up. Part of his mind was supremely impressed. The rest was supremely not wanting to die and was too busy dodging to care about finesse.
By the time a full minute had passed, Wei had spent more time on the ground or ducking out of the way of the empress's attacks than not and had yet to launch any sort of counter attack.
"Don't be shy, Wei!" Kuvira called in a not-exactly-mocking but also not-exactly-encouraging tone. "Give me your best shot!" This was followed almost immediately by a volley of rocks to the face when he tried to slide into a solid bending stance and nearly got pummeled.
"Think on your feet, Avatar!" He heard, and wondered just how much she was actually enjoying this.
Third observation: Kuvira was not metalbending at him. It was common knowledge in the Earth Empire that just as the sun rose in the east and elephant koi swam in the sea, Kuvira was the scariest metalbender on the planet. So why wasn't she using that to her advantage?
Because this is training? It seemed like a pretty obvious answer, Wei thought, as he managed to punch a rock at the empress–no, his earthbending instructor's head and got hit by a fist sized rock in the gut with enough force to send him sliding across the yard. But that didn't seem quite right.
Maybe she doesn't want to actually hurt me? The throbbing of his stomach told him otherwise. Quickly as he could manage while trying not to puke, Wei climbed to his feet. Kuvira stood across the yard from him, hands locked behind her in a considering pose.
Idiot, he realized, this was his first ever lesson with Empress Kuvira. What's the first thing a new teacher does?
"Your dodging skills are pretty good," Kuvira called from where she stood, looking smug.
Wei let out an irritated huff of air. She was sizing him up then, feeling out where his earthbending skills were at.
She's not avoiding metalbending to avoid hurting me. She's doing it because she doesn't think I can metalbend back!
In the blessed wisdom of retrospect, Wei knew that Kuvira's assumption made perfect sense; here was a kid raised by Equalists who knew next to nothing about bending and who wasn't exactly motivated to keep up bending on his own. There was absolutely no logically legal reason for him to pursue metalbending when he was nowhere near mastering earthbending in its original form. There was also no reason for him to reveal the fact that he could do so now.
Wei had never felt the need to be recognized as a metalbender. If it weren't for the cash reward and the fact that mecha fighting was, well, fun, he probably would have given it up a long time ago. So, he for the life of him couldn't have explained what came over him at that moment that caused him to do what he did.
(Later Meiling would listen to his rambling patiently, and, without breathing a word, ponder how her brother, who was a part-time mecha fighter, had never realized that he could be a competitive asshole sometimes.)
There was no metal easily accessible in the practice yard, most likely because the empress didn't expect to use any. Wei couldn't help but noticing that the old uniform that the empress had decided to wear to practice, however, had metal shoulder pads, designed for use in combat situations.
Before the empress could snap out of her relaxed observation of him, Wei whipped out a hand and pulled at all the metal plates on the empress's uniform, separating them from the cloth. Too fast for most people to react, Wei bent the plates into several long shards and aimed them towards Kuvira's face. The projectiles were stopped forcibly before they could make contact, hovering centimeters from the empress's face, but in the millisecond that the metal hung in the air before her, Kuvira's eyes widened fractionally–the first visible sign of surprise he had seen her give.
Several Dai Li agents appeared out of nowhere, and it dawned on Wei belatedly that, training or not, one did not simply attack The Great Uniter, but before they could do more than twitch in his direction Kuvira had waved them off.
"You're a metalbender," she said. The smug look was not gone from her face. If anything, it had grown more prominent.
"Uh, yes Eminence," he said, because he had to say something, and he couldn't exactly take back the evidence now.
With a flick of her wrist, Kuvira had bent the metal pieces back into shoulder pads harmlessly. The considering look that she leveled at him a moment later, however, was far from harmless.
"I suppose I underestimated you, Avatar," she said. When she looked him in the eye he felt like she was seeing someone else entirely.
Despite the empress's words about not wanting to over-work him, Wei was kept so busy in the days that followed that he didn't have much time to think too hard about what had transpired during his first lesson. Earthbending practice took place every morning without fail at the same relentless pace as the day Kuvira tested him. Each morning the empress would run him through warm ups and introduce him to new forms before thrashing him up and down the courtyard until he was nearly too tired and sore to move. They only paused occasionally when his form was so obviously wrong that she made him correct it. Unlike the first day she never held back on using metalbending again and even provided some scraps of metal to be left in the practice area for his own creative use. This was good in that it gave Wei a chance to actually get a couple shots in on his own but bad in that as good as he was, Kuvira was still far ahead of him skill-wise. It didn't take long for him to regret his decision to reveal his hidden talent.
"You can't hesitate with metalbending," she told him one day, as he lied on the ground with both his hands and feet cuffed. "It isn't like earth–its much more flexible. For a true master of metalbending, the only limit is your imagination."
As she spoke she bent the cuffs off of him and twisted them together into a small statue resembling a paper eelswan. Just as Wei was marveling at the craftsmanship, she curled her fingers into claws and the metal shifted into a lethally sharp dagger instead. "In a fight, quick thinking and imagination can be enough to take down even a master bender."
They never ran through any meditations like Uncle Bai had always insisted upon, no matter how bad Wei proved to be at them. A lot of the older, more complex bending forms he had been taught were ignored in favor of more modern, simpler movements that felt unfamiliar but obviously contributed to Kuvira's unusual speed. Despite the practicality something inside Wei cringed at the method.
Wei went to his meetings with Master Liao and General Nianzu as guided despite his lack of enthusiasm. Master Liao's lessons on spirit behavior were almost as boring as Wei had anticipated, and he realized quickly that most of the knowledge that Liao was working with was based on ancient texts and philosophy from before the opening of the spirit portals and conflicted with some of the spirit behavior Wei had observed just from his childhood. Despite both these lessons and several trips to the royal library, he had yet to find anything explaining the malicious spirit he had encountered back his parents restaurant.
And, Wei couldn't help but notice, as much as Kuvira and Master Liao seemed to be emphasizing spirit stuff, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of any sort of spirit creature since setting foot on palace grounds. It was an absence that no one seemed to think worth commenting on, but it felt wrong somehow to him, like missing a tooth. It was setting him on edge.
Talking politics with General Nianzu was, oddly enough, more along his lines of interest than spiritual education. Despite the fact that Nianzu obviously wasn't excited about teaching him, Wei wasn't bad at the thinking exercises that he was put through and was able to master the war games Nianzu had him play without much trouble.
With his newly designed avatar duties occupying his time, Wei didn't see much of his family. Cheng had apparently been permitted to return to attending his university classes so long as he remained silent on the topic of where he was living for the time being. Their parents were able to bring in some extra staff to keep the restaurant running in their absence and their father was occupying most of his time in the library. Meiling had her own studies to focus on, and other than meals Wei didn't really see her much since their rooms weren't very close. In fact, all of his family members had been placed on a separate ends of the palace from him, which made it difficult to interact with anyone unless he actively sought them out.
Wei didn't really have the extra time to consider much about these changes in lifestyle, and before he knew it a month had come and passed.
There was still no word about finding him a firebending teacher.
By this point, weird dreams didn't really come as a surprise to him anymore. The dreams he had while living at the imperial palace were more…vivid, somehow. Fewer flashes of feelings and images and more like a smooth flow of events. One night, for instance, he dreamed that he was kneeling before a man in a white mask with a red circle on the forehead standing over him with his thumb outstretched, like he was going to touch him. As the masked man pressed his thumb to Wei's forehead, he felt such a wave of fear that he woke himself up, heart racing and sweat drenching his body. Another time Wei dreamed that he was choking, air being pulled out of his lungs and swirling in a ball of airbending around his head mockingly just out of reach as he coughed and choked. A couple of times while drifting in that space between dreams and wakefulness, he could have sworn he saw the empress herself. To his tired mind, she always looked younger for some reason, and she was never without that smug expression he had only actually seen on her the once.
"I don't understand it," he confessed to Master Liao one evening. "I've never really had nightmares before. Not even when I was little."
"Maybe they're not just nightmares," Master Liao suggested. "As the avatar, you have access to all of the memories of your past lives. Perhaps a previous avatar is trying to tell you something."
That did not make him feel any better about the situation. If all of these dreams were memories from past avatars, well…it sure seemed like his past selves ended up facing their own death a lot. And even aside from all that, something wasn't adding up.
"I'm not even sure that some of them are from past lives though. I mean, last night I had this dream that I was in this huge fight with Empress Kuvira. Like, not the sparring kind. We weren't in Ba Singe Se, and she looked kinda…different. Like, younger maybe? Anyways, I swear the entire empire's military was in the background, just standing there–"
"Well, now," Master Liao cut in, about five octaves higher than usual, "that's just ridiculous! Of course not all dreams necessarily hold special spiritual meaning; sometimes dreams are simply dreams. Perhaps your regular sparring with the empress is starting to become too stressful for you and your subconscious mind is reflecting that. If you would like I could suggest to the empress that you back off on some of your exercises."
"Uh," Wei said–because he knew frantic backtrack when he heard it. "That's not…that won't be necessary." He debated calling the man out, but Liao looked to uncomfortable at the mention of his dream of the empress that it was kind of freaking Wei out.
In the end, he decided to let it slide, but he made sure not to bring that particular dream up to his teacher again. Not even after the second and third times it occurred. By the fourth and fifth time the same dream cropped up he accepted it as an unfortunate recurring nightmare and shoved it to the back of his mind.
With spring drawing to a close and summer stretching into wakefulness, Wei was beginning to grow impatient with earthbending. It wasn't that he wasn't progressing (it was hard not to progress when he had barely had any skills in the first place) but more that firebending had never fully left his mind. Despite coming to terms–well at least on some level–that he was indeed the avatar, he had still managed to singe several bushes in the imperial garden and almost blasting a hole in the wall of the practice courtyard when he reacted without thinking to some of the empress's attacks during practice, and he was getting no better at controlling the outbursts.
He made the mistake of bringing it up at practice one day, and Kuvria very nearly bit his head off.
"I told you not to worry about it!" she snapped. "Don't you think I have everything under control?"
"Of-of course, Eminence!" Wei said, bowing before he could think to do anything else, because Great Spirits of the Earth, the look on her face was not friendly.
Kuvira's eyes narrowed. "Why are you in such a hurry to get to learn from the Fire Nation? Your earthbending is beginning to improve quite nicely. Wouldn't you rather master that first?"
"Of course, Eminence." Wei repeated. He didn't need the political training to know that she was not in a mood to be contradicted. "It was only a passing curiosity."
The empress let the comment slide, but for days afterward Wei could feel her heavy gaze on him constantly throughout their lessons.
"I've heard you've been asking about a firebending teacher." General Nianzu told him at their lesson two days later. By now he had managed to lose most of his frown when talking to Wei, though he still didn't seem very happy to be there.
"I was only curious," Wei lied.
Nianzu sniffed disapprovingly. "It would be best for now to put away such curiosities and focus on the here and now. It would be foolish to pursue studies in the Fire Nation as it stands–a firebending master would sooner punch a fire ball through your head just for being from the Earth Empire. Your Avatar status wont protect you from prejudice. There are enough problems trusting our own citizens these days without having to worry about bringing in a foreigner to train you."
Wei couldn't help himself. "What do you mean, our own citizens? Surely no one would go against the empress?"
Nianzu stroked his beard pensively. "Hmm, I hadn't thought to bring it up yet. No need to worry you when you're here in the safety of the palace…In the past two years it has come to the attention of the empress that there may be rebels present in some of the provinces. Zaofu and our newly reclaimed lands were always a bit wild, mind you, but intelligence we have gathered indicates that a group of upstart criminals have been spreading lies about the empress in order to stage an uprising."
"Why would they do that?" Wei asked.
"It is mostly likely a scheme to grab power. While it is obvious that they are no nearly strong enough to stand up to the government, you never know what lengths these radical types will stoop to. Why do you think the empress is so reluctant to announce you, boy? If the rebels knew we had found the avatar, they would to everything in their power to kidnap you and poison you against the empire. Or worse, kill you and wait for the next avatar to come of age and lead their resistance."
Inwardly Wei was musing what the difference exactly would be between him being captured and used as a figurehead by rebels or staying where he was and playing diplomat for Kuvira as far as his own mental wellbeing went. Either way, he held no illusions that he was free to move on his own in any capacity.
Am I okay with that? he wondered.
From a purely moral standpoint, as long as Kuvira's cause was the one more in the right, he shouldn't have a problem working with her. If the rebels were more in the right, then the logical thing to do would be to cut contact at earliest convenience and switch sides instead.
The problem was, Wei had learned just enough at this point to know that he needed more information on what was going on between the Earth Empire and the Fire Nation and why the Fire Nation had a problem with them. And the thing was, Wei was beginning to think that he was right to want to stay out of the political scene to begin with.
In fact, if it was a matter of what Wei wanted and not a matter of what was expected of the avatar, Wei honestly wanted nothing more than to shed himself of this entire situation and find some place far, far away to dig a hole for himself to hide in until things blew over.
Because, just because he had finally resigned himself to the fact that he was the avatar didn't mean he was resigned to putting up with all of this political crap for the rest of his life.
I need to talk to someone. He decided. He had always been bad at sorting things out in his head without someone to bounce ideas off of. And at the current moment, there was only one person he trusted enough to speak his mind to.
At the end of the week, Wei was finally able to get some free time and managed to get permission to go on a walk with Meiling. He nearly panicked when the Dai Li insisted he have an escort.
"Why?" he asked, and he didn't have to fake the childish worry in his voice, "I thought the empress said I was free to do as I pleased. Have I done something wrong?"
The Dai Li agent hesitated, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"We aren't going far," Wei hedged. "Just a walk around the Upper Ring. Surely there wont be any trouble if we stay close to the palace." This was what he was counting on. Kuvira had loudly promised him that he was a trusted guest and was welcome to leave if he chose. And, while Kuvira probably knew that he knew that that was ostritchhorse shit, there were appearances to be kept up. Like Nianzu had said, if word got out that the avatar was being kept in the Imperial Palace, especially against his will…well, if there really was a problem with rebels, it probably wouldn't take long for someone to take action.
And would being kidnapped by rebels really be that bad? With the intensity Kuvira had been showing during his earthbending practice these days, Wei was beginning to wonder. It was like the woman was obsessed with getting him to master earthbending, if nothing else to keep him from thinking about pursuing firebending. He was starting to think that maybe people had it backwards, and that Kuvira was the one people should be concerned about.
Which was the real reason that he had dragged Meiling out of the comfort of her rooms for a stroll around the wealthiest part of the city.
They chatted pleasantly for the first fifteen minutes as they walked past the rows of government offices surrounding the palace. Meiling asked how he was doing with earthbending. Wei lied and then asked how her studies were going. Meiling made some noncommittal noises and then proceeded to complain about how there were no available televisions or radios in the palace and she couldn't get enough time off to go see any Movers in town. Without mecha unit maintenance keeping her occupied she was obviously beyond bored.
They walked past the last office building on the street and off into a small field that separated the business offices from the nobles' residences, and the fake smile dropped off of Meiling's face.
"We're being followed." It wasn't a question.
"At least three Dai Li." Wei confirmed. Despite any personal feelings about the empress, he really had improved at earthbending enough to sense where people so long as they were within a couple of yards. Though, even if he hadn't been able to sense them following he would have assumed they were there anyway.
Meiling tugged on one of her braids, a gesture that had been suspiciously absent since they had moved to the palace, along with her favorite hat. "Only to be expected I guess, Mr. Avatar."
He nearly shoved her, but then remembered that even if the Dai Li couldn't hear them from this far, they would still be watching.
"What did you want to talk about?" Meiling asked, because she wasn't stupid.
Wei worried his bottom lip, "I've…kind of been getting a bad feeling lately. Well, a lot of bad feelings actually, about being stuck here. And, I know you haven't seen Kuvira up close and personal as much as I have, but…" he hesitated, even now, "do you think, maybe…she might be…just a little bit–"
"Crazier than a lemur on cactus juice?" she suggested dryly.
He had to stop himself from glancing around reflexively. They were in the middle of the field now with no one else in sight. It was impossible for them to be overheard. "Well, I was going to say 'abrasive' but, well…"
Meiling slowed her pace ever so slightly–the Dai Li probably wouldn't even notice. "Yeah Wei, I don't need to be rubbing elbows with the lady to tell she's taken an eelswan dive off the deep end of the insane pool."
"But," Wei said, heart beating fast now that it was all laid out in the open, "it's not even like she's crazy crazy. She acts like a reasonable person, she's just…"
"Lacking any form of chill," Meiling suggested.
"…Driven." Wei finished. "I think she legitimately believes in what she's doing. The way she talks, I think she really wants me to agree with what she's doing too. Or well, probably not me me, but the avatar me. Like, she wants her and the avatar to see eye to eye."
"And do you?" Meiling asked, and there wasn't a hint of judgment in her voice.
Wei ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "No. Not really. I mean, uniting the Earth Kingdom and taking down the monarchy I can understand. Things probably wouldn't have ended well if someone hadn't stepped in. But…" He flinched, all of those images of Kuvira from his recent nightmares drifting back to his mind for some reason, "the way she does things just seems wrong."
Meiling nodded thoughtfully. "Do you want to learn earthbending from her?"
Wei frowned, "What?"
"Do you still want to learn from her?"
"Uh…" it was like she knew exactly what questions would make him the most uncomfortable, "Well…it's complicated."
She laughed, the first real laugh he had heard from her in the past month, "No, Wei, it really isn't. Not if you don't make it complicated."
They were almost to the end of the field now. "I just–" he said, having to talk fast, "she's an amazing earthbender. The best, maybe, well, as long as Toph Beifong isn't around anymore. But…" he hesitated, stewing on the words that had been in the back of his mind since he had started studying with The Great Uniter.
"But?" Meiling prompted, eying the houses that were coming upon them fast.
"But just because her way of doing things is efficient doesn't mean it's right!" Wei said finally in a rush. "I mean, Kuvira's bending is scary, like, not just good scary but it-doesn't-feel-right scary. Uncle Bai always says that there was more to bending than just throwing rocks around and…and I think he's right!" He took a deep breath, two, and willed his hands to stop shaking. "It's important. How you do something is important, especially…especially since I'm the…" he trailed off, knowing she would understand anyway.
Meiling grabbed his arm, smiling, and for a moment, it was a real, actual smile again, before settling into a fake one again as they reached the residential area. "Come on, Dummy," she said. "Since you dragged me out here, there's a hat shop I've been dying to stop by."
He didn't think anything of their conversation after that other than to be grateful for having a chance to get some stuff off of his chest until two nights later when he woke up to a hand covering his mouth and nearly had a heart attack.
"Mei," he hissed once his sister had moved her hand away, one finger over her mouth in the universal 'shh' sign.
"We need to talk," she whispered back.
Wei glanced at the clock and nearly groaned. "At three in the morning?" There was no way Kuvira was going to tolerate him falling asleep during practice. After a moment, his sleepy mind caught up with the fact that his sister was standing in his room and yet somehow no guards or maids seemed to have been alerted to the fact that they were up. "How did you get in here?"
She stuck out her tongue at him because apparently they were five-year-olds. "I'm sneakier than you think." And that was really not something he wanted to dwell on.
"Listen," she said, completely serious now. "You said it yourself–Kuvira's crazy."
"Mei!" He started to object that, no, he in fact hadn't said so himself, but she shhed him.
"The guards are asleep okay, and the maids are all gossiping in the kitchens. Kuvira must either actually trust you to not sneak off or she really doesn't think you have the balls to do anything to oppose her because she's not putting very much effort into keeping you under lock and key."
Wei scowled, mostly because he wasn't sure which option was more offensive, but he knew that there was no one close enough to hear them talking so long as they kept their voices down. He just hoped that no one noticed Meiling was out of bed.
"Look," Meiling said, looking him dead in the eye, "you know Kuvira's playing you like a Pai Sho tile, right?"
Wei tried not to feel offended, "I know she wants to." And so far he had been letting her. It wasn't like he had a lot of options until he could figure out a way to build up a game plan. They had only been in the palace a month–he was just trying to keep his head above the water at this point until he could think of something better. "Why?"
She grinned one of those wide, scary grins that were usually reserved for mecha fight nights and weapons upgrades. "Because while you've been getting your ass kicked this month, I've been busy. What would you say if I told you I might have a way out of here?"
