Hello everybody.
This is another One-Shot about his life. And this time a happy one. I hope I got the twins right in this one.
I wish all of you a lot of fun with this story.
RyuSha - his youth (age 16)
Water to Sand
Water Bender...
With his sixteen years, Ryu had never seen anything like this before. Water is rare in the desert and so are Water Benders. But here in Ba Sing Se at the ceremony in the palace he had seen them. It was a gift, the price for winning the last wrestling tournament. Ryu was allowed to join the legation of his tribe to Ba Sing Se. A ceremony in honor of Avatar Aang and his brave friends for ending a long war.
Water Bender...
The sparkle of the water, the forms, the fluid movements, it was the most beautiful thing, he had ever seen. As the benders had started their presentation, everything else had faded around him. The people, the palace, everything, except the Water Benders and their show. He was mesmerized by the beauty of water bending. And the final. Snow! The benders had let it snow in the palace. Ryu had never seen snow before. But it was so wonderful. The tiny crystals on his robe, which melted after one or two seconds. This was like a dream for him.
A dream, he wouldn't let end. At least a part of it. Cause Ryu had an idea, no more a vision.
Sometimes sand can run like water. So maybe it can also be bend like water.
Now he stands in a garden of the palace. He had sneaked away from the legation, to give his suggestion a try. He doesn't care, that the colored sand in the garden was used for decoration. Now he uses it for his bending. His heart races in joy. It works! He imitates the stand and the movements, he had seen. He controls a red and a blue serpent of sand in the air, shaping and shifting geometric forms. But not in hard shifts, as usual. No, it's a flow, a fluid shifting from one form to another, mixing and separating the different colors of the sand. His eyes are shining. A chance to keep this dream alive.
"Wow, I hadn't expected to see an uncultured nomad using our cultured forms of bending for sand." The emotionless female voice comes from behind.
The shock make Ryu stop immediately. The sand figures collapses over him, covering him with red and blue sand. He was so focused on his bending, that he hadn't recognized, that two persons had come to the garden. Both are twins, that was obvious. He couldn't guess their age, cause their faces seems to be timeless, but he guesses them between 35 to 45, maybe a bit older.
"You're right Eska. This is astonishing." To Ryus surprise, this was a male voice, also with no sing of emotion.
"Yes, really astonishing, but also amazing, Desna." The lack of emotion makes Ryu nervous.
"I must agree you, at least until he lost control and made himself dirty. He seems to have talent." It is strange. Beside the voices only the missing eyeshadow seems to be sign for him, that he must be a man.
"I think he is remarkable." This answer of the woman draws his attention.
Ryu wonders, if this was the truth. The twins seems to be most bored. And the unemotional voices doesn't help him, to get a better picture. So he decides to explain himself.
"Thank you very much for the compliments. But may I..."
The woman cut him off. "Quite nomad, we are discussing about you." Her sharp tone makes him stay quite, instantly.
"And he seems to have manners, Eska."
"That's right. At least he interrupted us in a very polite way."
"And he can follow orders."
"You're right. Do you think we should give him a try, Desna?"
"I think we should."
"Great, I knew you would agree. This will be fun. He amuses me."
Her brother lifts an eyebrow. It was the first visible reaction from one of the twins. "Do you think, it's a good sign, if he amuses you? Do you remember what happened last time, as someone amused you?"
Eska tends her head aside. Some seconds passed. "Yes, we found true friends." Suddenly she smiles at Ryu. The smile from her could have forced an whole army to surrender.
"We will take you with us to the North Pole and train you how to bend your sand like water, nomad. And we will become good friends. Prepare yourself for travel, we will leave Ba Sing Sei in two days." Her voice left no doubt, that all of this would definitely happen, cause she had decided so.
Ryus head is spinning. This was weird, but so exciting. Suddenly he reminds himself at the begin of the ceremony, when they had announced the special guest. He bows short before the twins.
"Lady Eska, Lord Desna. May I also introduce myself. I am RyuSha. Thank you for this offer. But may I ask you a question?"
The twins looks each other and nods to him at the same time.
"Isn't it usual to ask someone if he likes to come with another instead of order him to do so?"
A little surprise rushes over Eskas face. Her brother turns to her. "He has manners and he is clever, too. He reminds you at one of the basics of the social construct called friendship. It demands to beg or ask the friend or the person, who should be your friend, to do something, not to order."
"Oh, my fault. I didn't thought about it." Her emotionless voice sounds still strange to Ryu. "I can do better. Would you like to come with us to the North Pole?"
He gives the twins his brightest smile. "I glady accept."
