Chapter two: The Order Of The Four Warriors
I stared back in those blue eyes of mine, while combing my hair, when I suddenly heard my mother yelling something at me, probably supposed to sound like 'we need to go, now'.
"I'M COMING!" I yelled back. Never having the chance to change properly. My brother passed behind my feet, pretending to be a hawk, although I think it was a hawk. While I was rolling my eyes, Yoshu, my little brother, pulled my pants. I was pushing him off with my hand on his face when my father came in.
"Meisha, how long is it still - are you fighting with your brother again?"
Yoshu pretended a little cry and ran into my father's arms. Ow great, give the old one the blame, of course, as always, my fault. Instead of yelling something at me like 'be nice to your brother' he just sighed and left my room. I grabbed my waterbag and looked behind for one finale time, wondering when I would return to my room again. A year, maybe two or three. God damnit, I almost forgot my duo swords. I quickly reached for them and then also left my room.
I've never liked the South Pole, I've never liked the icy landscape and I certainly never have liked my room for it was able to freeze to death, but still somehow, I knew I was going to miss the South Pole. Although I never had many friends and a good relationship with all the other people of the tribe, I still somehow was going to miss them. Nevertheless, this little 'vacation' was going to last more than a year, and I wasn't looking forward at it at all. And my dad knew well enough that I wasn't. We had plenty of fights about it. My father got frustrated about my behaviour, my mother mad, sometimes even crying, but I didn't regret my behaviour at all. I never had a good relationship with neither of my parents, and that wasn't exactly my fault.
I was never good at waterbending. Most would expect that the daughter of a natural talent as my mother herself, and for Yue's sake the avatar, would be a great waterbender. But no, I wasn't. I struggled with it, hated it and denied the fact I was even their daughter. But still, I found my way through the struggling, and now I was almost a master. But still, it wasn't enough to earn my mother's attention. She was never really interested in me. My father did his best to keep our family together, but once my mother gave birth to Yoshu when I was about 8, I knew the efforts were in vain. I ran away twice, but that ended almost deadly. Fortunately for me, I had a gift when it came down to healing, so I just healed myself every time, because I didn't really had to count on my mother on that one.
I would lie to myself if I would say I'm not jealous at Yoshu. He's the favourite one. I was that special child no one understood, and that was my fault. I was difficult to handle and bad at bending. Yoshu was the second airbender in the whole world after my father so of course his life was far more precious than mine. I did have a talent, swords. When I was 12, my uncle, Zuko, the Fire Lord himself – he wasn't really my uncle, I just liked calling him that way – gave me a pair of duo swords. Although my parents never learned working with them, I was great at it, so uncle Zuko taught me how to use them.
So, at the same time I was very excited to go to the Fire Nation Palace to see uncle Zuko, since he was the only one who understood me and I liked spending time with, I was also sad to leave. And my mother didn't have quite that good relationship with Zuko like mine. It wasn't the first time I heard here talking to my father about not visiting uncle anymore. But I wouldn't allow her to steal that one little piece of comfort in my life. She said Zuko had a bad influence on me.
"Meisha, we have to go, NOW."
That was my mother with her ow so pleasant tone. I found myself crawling on Appa when Sokka, my mother's brother – my real uncle – gave me a hand. He began talking with that sarcastic tone of him.
"Alright, counting time! Aang: check, Katara: check, Yoshu: check, Momo: check, myself: check. Hmm, who did I forget... Ow right, my beloved niece."
He petted me on my head but I declined his hand by punching him on the shoulder, quickly followed by a smirk.
"Hey, what was that for."
"Hmm, I have absolutely no idea."
Showing my teeth by one of my sarcastic laughs, he laughed back the same way, knowing it was a joke. My mother instead, had to say something about it.
"Was it really necessary to punch him Meisha?" She gave me one of her angry looks again, so I looked away, unwilling to start another argue.
"You look at me when I talk to you."
Ready to snap something back at her, my father quickly got in, saying it was just a joke, that I had to be less rude and my mother was being to waspish. Yes, of course, I was being too rude again. I sighed, this was going to be a long trip.
We first stopped at Kyoshi Island, picking up Suki. Afterwards we went to the Earth Kingdom, looking for Toph. Well, we didn't really stop since she exploded herself in the air, right on Appa's back by the help of some bending. Of all the people, I was happy Toph was also coming. Sokka always told me, although Toph was far more mature than she was when she was little, I resembled a lot like her, and I was pleased with that.
After some days of flying, the Fire Nation was in sight and I couldn't wait to see uncle Zuko. Appa landed on a soft spot, in the middle of the gardens of the palace, so the turtle-ducks had to back off.
"Well, it seems we are the first ones. I think the other nations would come tomorrow."
I had almost forgotten why we were here, until Toph spoke out those words. Right, the other nations, the other fighters. This wasn't just some regular holiday.
My father was the one responsible for this so-named 'order'. And this 'order' was why we were on vacation. Dad had the idea to build up 'the order of the 4 warriors', for it was apparently a tradition for avatars to do so, although I preferred 'his personal bodyguards'. You see, the purpose of this order was that one of each nation, the chosen one as he called it, came to the Fire Nation to learn from the best benders in the world. Why? To get the honourable title 'Warrior of the Avatar'. It was a special order designed to help my father in times of need and to use as a personal sort of avatar for your own nation. Once you are chosen to be in the order, you can't decline and you certainly can't leave, for a Warrior has special bending skills, unreachable to common benders. It's your destiny to use those powers.
And I was so 'lucky' to be the chosen one from the water tribes. I hated the idea, didn't want to be the chosen on, but I was. And I still didn't understand why. It was most uncommon that the daughter of the avatar himself was the chosen one. Actually, I was one of the first in a whole line of generations and avatars. Second, I definitely wasn't good at waterbending, at all. But my father believed otherwise. And the fact that I was the best healer in probably the whole world was a good proof.
"I promise you Meisha, once you'll learn from other great masters and have your skills under control, you'll be that great waterbending master you've always dreamed of."
My dad placed his hand on my shoulder, but I quickly shook it off. I wasn't in the mood to be reminded at my failures. I had a lot of difficults with controlling my skills when I got very angry. These special bending powers are definitely not as strong as my father's, the avatar's powers, but they were strong enough to cause bad damage, certainly when you can't control them for I had so much trouble with waterbending.
Yoshu couldn't help but tease the little turtle-ducks by blazing some air at them so my father left me and went to Yoshu. I couldn't help but being confused.
"I don't get it. There are plenty of servants here, and still no one was waiting for us. That's just... weird."
"What, too lazy to pack out your own stuff?" my mother snapped at me. Nevermind. She threw a bag from Appa's shoulder to me, expecting me to catch it, but I wasn't suspecting the bag at all, so it fell on top of my head, dragging me along to the ground. While reaching for my head to ease the pain, I snapped back at her, but I stopped when someone interrupted.
"Maybe because I wanted to welcome you myself?"
A smile reached my face when I saw uncle Zuko reaching for my hand to get me up. I hugged him and he placed his hands on my back, not trying to squeeze me because I was so much smaller than him.
"You really haven't change a thing."
"Hey, I've got taller!"
"Seriously? I haven't quite, ahum, noticed" he laughed.
"Zuko!" Toph hurried to his arms to give him a big hug. Dad and my little brother followed, uncle Sokka too 'male' to give hugs, but eventually he also gave a hug. At last, my mother followed, just saying hye without even looking at him.
"So tell us Fire Lord, where's your wife?" Suki asked.
He hesitated, not quite finding the words, and then answered, "she's at the hospital."
Everyone was silent when uncle Zuko turned, moving a gesture as in 'follow me'. We all knew what he was talking about. Ever since uncle Zuko and Mai got married, they tried several times to get children, without success though. It's more than 15 years now, and Mai got pregnant for 4 times, always ending up as a miscarriage. I hurried to Zuko and walked beside him, probably up to our residence for the next year, took his hand and squeezed it gently. He gave me a little smile as in thanks.
"Here are your rooms, the servants will come any moment to get your luggage in. In the meanwhile you can fresh up in the bathroom or go for a round in the palace. Dinner's in an hour. I still have some work to do. Make yourself comfortable."
Knowing the Firelord was awesome, being friends with him was even better, but still, a Firelord has his responsibilities, which I regret. I was hoping to catch up with him, but instead of that I was left behind with my family. Not very excited to be in a single room with them, I told them I was going to have a bath, so I locked myself up in the bathroom, slowly sliding my clothes off.
I had almost forgotten how beautiful those bathrooms were. The fact that there was warm water – compared to the South Pole – was one thing, but the beautiful design and furniture was just amazing. Staring back at myself in the mirror, I stared at my eyes, blue as my mother her eyes. I brushed my hair, dark brown and wavy, just like my mother. I watched my pale, white skin, just like... Who? Since I was little, I always wondered where my pale skin came from. My father didn't have a white skin, my mother definitely not. I asked my mother once, and she snapped at me that it was unimportant, that I had to ask my father. That maybe his father, my grandfather, had a pale skin. I asked him, he said no. So I still don't know.
Once the bathtub was filled with warm water, I sank into the hot water and relaxed. I started my daily routine, washing my hair, my body, and then give another healing session to my left eye. When I was little – although I can't recall – I'd had an accident that caused so much damage to my left eye that the damage was still there. My left eye couldn't see as good as my right. My mother told me it had happened when I was playing with one of my friends. He accidently hit me in the eye with a waterbending trick while we were playing, but I was too young to remember. Lost in thoughts, dad knocked on the door so I got back to the real world.
"Hey", and he opened the door with a crack, "we're going to get some fresh air. Do we have to wait for you or –"
"No."
"Ow, okay then. See you at the dining hall."
I sighed when he closed the door again. Happy they were gone, I quickly got out of bath, took a dressing-gown and wrapped it around me, my hair still soaked and now styled. I walked out of our room – no, I wasn't shy about going outside in only a dressing-gown – up to the palace garden to practice my bending.
I placed my feet steady on the ground and sighed. Then, in one quick and smooth gesture, I raised my hand and the water followed my movements gently. It struggled its way around my waist and arms, like a snake circling around its prey and I felt the energy of the water becoming one with mine. I bowed the water up to the sky and my fingers spread the water out, and then suddenly with one gesture with my hands, it poured back down like rain. I blew breath out of my mouth and the rain changed into snow, so now the whole palace garden had a thick layer of snow. I smirked, satisfied by the result.
It took me a few minutes before realizing some Fire Nation soldiers passing by through the hallways looking over the garden were clapping their hands. I turned around, a little red in the face for I was standing there in my dressing-gown. I always was very shy about my bending skills for my mother and father were so good and it and I wasn't. It was nice to receive a little compliment. Between the 8 soldiers, a boy was standing in the middle, about my age, maybe a little older, I guessed 19. He wasn't looking, nor interested, just seemed as annoyed to be here as me. It was difficult to see how he looked like because of all the soldiers, when suddenly another man approached the soldiers. Uncle Zuko.
"My apologies for the long waiting Warrior Kenshin. Your father is already in your room. Please follow me."
Once uncle got a good glare at me, he waved, so I waved back, although I wasn't really looking at him. I was trying to find out how the guy looked like. Warrior Kenshin...
Running as fast as I could, I was in the main lounge of my family's room. Was that another warrior from another nation? It could be, my father had told me that I was the youngest of all four. But there was something strange about this guy, not knowing what or why. Our luggage was already taken inside by the servants, even my wardrobe was filled with my clothes. I was relieved when I found my duo swords on the table in my bedroom. With nothing else to do, I decided to dress myself up, so I stuck my nose in my wardrobe, searching for some clothes. That's when I discovered a fire nation dress next to my swords. 'For my favourite niece'. Of course, Zuko. It was always the same song. Every time I visited uncle Zuko, he always tried to force me into a dress. And I hated to admit it, be he succeeded every time. And I also hated to admit it but, this was probably the most beautiful one he ever had given me. The dress was dark red, with a yellow line on the side. The bottom was loose and wrinkled, came just above my knees, my waist accentuated by a yellow ribbon, a little bosom and wide sleeves. I felt pretty and comfortable, and I wanted to thank uncle Zuko for this lovely dress. I wondered if he had chosen the dress himself.
I entered in the dining hall, when I realized no one else was there. Was I that early? Until Iroh raised his voice and came in, followed by some other people I didn't know. My heart made a little jump.
"Iroh!" I cried, running up to him to give him a hug. His deep laugh was relaxing and comfortable.
"Look at you Meisha, you look marvellous. Wait a minute..." He pushed me back a little to take a good glare at me, when his eyebrows raised, as if he was a little stunned.
"That was the dress of Fire Lady Ursa when she was your age."
"Is it? I... Zuko gave it to me." I grabbed the bottom of the dress with my hands to take a good look at it. Why would Zuko give me the dress of his mother? Suddenly, I didn't feel as comfortable in the dress anymore as before. Now I was just afraid to damage it. Iroh gave me a charming smile again.
"You do look beautiful in that dress, though. The Fire Lord certainly knew what he was doing."
I smiled at him. "So, Meisha, I want to introduce you to Lord Bai Sen, the father of the Warrior of the Fire Nation, Warrior K-."
"Kenshin."
Iroh's right eyebrow raised again. "Correct." Lord Bai Sen came closer and bowed, so I bowed back. "If I may, it is a great honour to meet the Warrior of the Water Tribe, daughter of Avatar Aang and Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe."
"Not as great as meeting the father of the Warrior of the Fire Nation, Lord Bai Sen." I answered polite and smiled. So this was the father of Kenshin... Trying to find any similarities with his son, I still wasn't able to paint a face in my mind about how the Warrior might have looked like.
"May I have the honour to have a seat next to yours during dinnir, warrior Meisha?"
A little surprised by that question and not sure how to answer that one, someone interrupted me, luckily. "Actually," and uncle Zuko went on, "I think it is more appropriate if Meisha has a seat between her parents, Lord Bai Sen."
"Of course Fire Lord Zuko, my apologies."
The Fire Lord smiled pleased at me. "That dress suits you perfect," and he raised my chin with his hand to take a good look at me. That's when I noticed the other people coming in. When I saw my parents coming in, I quickly turned around, hoping they wouldn't see me like this. My mother had tried more than a few times to get me into a dress, always ending up frustrated that I wouldn't. Zuko ticked me on the shoulder. "Meisha, I could use some help. The servants want my opinion about the table and I want your wise advice."
I was so thankful uncle Zuko pulled me back from the crowd. As a Warrior and daughter of the Avatar, I had learned all about manners and so on, but I never used them though. And I had to ask him a few question which my parents couldn't or wouldn't answer.
"Are the other warriors here too, uncle?" I whispered.
"Yes," and he turned his face to the right side of the hall. "You see that guy in green with the topknot? The one standing in the middle now scratching the back of his neck. That's the Earth Warrior, Warrior Nobu. He's 21. You'll like him, I'm sure about that."
"How come?"
"He has the same rebellion temper as yours," he smirked. "And the girl in orange is the Air Warrior, Amaya, she's 19."
"Wow. I didn't know there are still air benders. She's beautiful... Where's the Fire Warrior?"
"In the left corner, the one who's looking like he had just eaten a whole bowl of sea prunes."
I grinned a little. In the Water Tribe, it was very common to eat sea prunes and everyone loved it. Of course I didn't, just as uncle Zuko. Fortunately my dad hated it too, but he had never told mom, probably afraid of the possible reaction. I saw uncle smiling and shaking his head from left till right.
"That boy looks just like me, when I was about his age. Always annoyed and unhappy. He's 18 now, I think. Two years older than you. That means you're the youngest one of the four." His smile quickly vanished when he was thinking. "I'm sorry that you have to give up your teenage years. It's not fair compared to the rest, though. I still think Aang should've waited until everyone was at least 18, and not 16."
I frowned by that sentence. He was right, and I already had thought about that for several times. My father was probably making a big mistake. Most of the Warriors would still be looking for their identities after all. Me too. I still didn't really know who I was, what I wanted. The typical adolescent questions everyone has been through. The Fire Lord tipped his wine glass and pronounced to take a seat, so everyone did. As Zuko had taught me to do so, I sat between my father and my brother Yoshu, who was sitting next to my mother. The Fire Lord took his seat, followed by all the others. I stared to the Fire Warrior, when he suddenly knew I was watching him. He stared back, like it was a contest. This was going to be a long night.
The moon was shining bright in the night and I could feel the energy of the moon mixing with mine. Dinner was horrible. If I wasn't eating sloppy, my mother said I wasn't sitting up straight. And when I managed to do both things properly at the same time, I found the same golden eyes staring into mine. Unsure if he knew I was the one who made his wine spill, I wasn't sure either if he was the one who made my soup that hot that I had burned my tongue. But now, I was standing in the moonlight, meditating the stress away, relaxing my muscles. Though it didn't take long before my moonlight was being blocked by a large shadow standing right in front of me. I tried to look at the shape a little bit better, but it was difficult for I was sitting on the ground and the shadow was standing.
"You know, at first I thought the wine was an accident, until I heard that you were a waterbender."
I sighed, not in the mood for another argue. My mother had given me more than enough for today. "Warrior Kenshin, I presume."
"You know waterrat, next time come in blue, so I know immediately if you're a 'winebender' or not."
Waterrat? Oh no he didn't. "Excuse me, water rat?" and I stood up, looking in those golden eyes again. "Is there any reason to be a jerk, or are you just born this way?"
"Well winebender, I wasn't the one who started it. You stared at me. You bended first. Remember?"
"Well maybe I was just distracted by that depressive look of you!"
"What has that to –"
"What's going on here!" my father interrupted. Ow dad, for once, I was trying to fix this myself. Can't he just let me be? He looked at me, then at the firebender and back.
"Meisha, go to your room."
I shot a last angry glare at Kenshin. This isn't over, I was thinking. I turned around and walked away, followed by my father. When I looked back at him, the Warrior was still looking at me how we were walking away. Ow this definitely isn't over, yet.
"Hey Meisha, why do you never wear a dress when your mother says you so?"
Back in bed, I couldn't stop thinking about Kenshin. Waterrat, winebender, who does he think he is. It was the first time I had the chance to take a good look at him, and I hated to admit it but, he was quite handsome. Loose, long brown hair, golden eyes with a slight touch of brown, well-built cheekbones and also quite muscled. But still, his good looks wouldn't change the fact he was a jerk. But there was something about this boy, in his eyes, which made me feel naked in front of him. Something I couldn't explain.
"Meisha, can I come in?" It was my father again, hoping to get in by pretending a vulnerable voice. But I certainly wasn't in the mood for a father-to-daughter chat, so I said nothing. He would come in anyway. And he did.
"Listen, I know you're not very excited about this whole order thing," and he took a seat at the end of my bed, "but picking out fights with other Warriors is not a smart idea Meisha. Those Warrior-faces will be the three faces you'll see for the rest of the year, so at least try to get along with them."
I pinched my nose. "I wasn't picking out fights, dad. He came to me and he started by calling me a waterrat."
"Could be, but who started during dinner?"
I raised my back to have a seat and watched my dad furrowing his brows. How did he... Of course, he's the Avatar. "I'll try to be more subtle next time."
He only sighed. I guess he took peace with a response like that, and left my room. "Don't forget it. Tomorrow, 8 o'clock, palace garden. Be on time," and he closed my door but I could stop him just on time.
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Where does my pale skin come from?"
Hesitating, he scratched his bald head. "I... I don't know," he confessed.
