Chapter 2: The Fong Palace
You couldn't really call it a "fort". It had the scaling walls that would probably stop an army of ten thousand men, sure. But the manor within the walls was more of a palace than a fort. It was two wings that were split into three levels. Sheil and his sister were in the west wing, second floor, commonly referred to as the "guest wing" by the Fong's servants. His room was the size of his whole house back on the Haruki Plains. The floor was dark aged timber from the fire nation, the curtains; green and gold silk from Ba Sing Se. His bed was fit for a king, soft and stuffed with duck feathers and covered by a camel yak pelt from the Southern water tribe. He jumped onto it and wrapped himself within its heavenly covers. Sheil could get use to this. The room had a balcony that looked out over the inner gardens and you could see the sun set over the towering stockades. And the room wasn't even the best part. Sheil picked up a small golden bell on his bedside table and rang it with his little finger pricked up in the air. A servant slides open the door and bows by the entrance.
"Yes, Master Sheil?"
"Can I get a roseleaf tart with a little mint leaf on top?" he asks with a wide grin.
"But of course, Master Sheil" replies the servant.
"And some oolong tea?" he asks again.
"Most certainly, Master Sheil"
Sheil thinks for a moment and adds, "And a water tribe boomerang?"
"Whatever you need, Master Sheil"
"That will be all" he says and the servant bows once more and makes a hasty retreat.
By the time Vidya returns from a nap, Sheil's room is filled with all sorts of things, from weapons to desserts and what seems to be a bust of Sheil's own face.
"Sheil, what is all this?" she asks and he pops out from around the corner, wearing traditional fire nation battle armor. The breastplate had a fine coating of powdered sugar on it.
"What do you think?" he poses for her, wiping away the red jelly from the corners of his mouth.
"Slimming" she mutters sarcastically. "Where did you get all this stuff?"
"The servants. Whatever I ask for they bring" he explains. "Isn't it great?"
"Sheil…" she cautions. "We're guests here, can you try to keep a low profile, please? Plus-" she begins, picking up one of his sabres from the desert nomad tribes. "Where are we going to put all this stuff?"
"I can ask the servants for more suitcases" says Sheil and Vidya stops him.
"Slow down, there kiddo. No more gifts, okay?"
He sighs resentfully but agrees. "Okay"
"We have to give all this stuff back" she says and he frowns.
"Even the armor?"
"Even the armor"
"What about this gift I got you?" he asks
Even the gi-" her steely face breaks in curiosity. "What gift?" she asks sheepishly.
He digs out a wrapped box from under a heap of bending scrolls and hands it to her. She unwraps it and inside is a jade headpiece, like the ones the girls wear in Honshu.
"Its beautiful" murmurs Vidya. "But, we have to give it back" she adds reluctantly. The words tasted bitter coming out of her mouth. The headpiece would look so good on her. There was a quick rap a the door and Sheil said, "Come in"
A servant slid the door open, kneeling by the doorway. "His Eminence has requested to meet Avatar Sheil in the War room within the next ten minutes"
"We'll be there right away" says Sheil, nervously.
"Showtime" murmurs Vidya next to him.
His Eminence was a rather large man, with a balding head of hair and a thick grey beard that danced above his fat belly. He stood behind the command centre, a large table with a map of the four nations printed onto it. Around him, several army types pushed around wooden forces, deciding strategy for their upcoming battle. The War room was a large round room at the top of the main tower. Sheil could see into the valleys of the Fong estate and even the rock fringe of the Great Divide.
"Ah, you have arrived, young Avatar. Please, come closer so I can see you under the light" he says, his voice was deep and trembling. "Uri. Khan. Come say hello"
Sheil followed his orders and Vidya followed a few steps behind him. From the start, he didn't want her here, but at this moment he was happy to have her support. Master Fong was intimidating and his stare bore into you like a maggot into flesh. Two boys, around Vidya's age walked in from the balcony, looking rather disinterested. One had shortly cropped brown hair and a stocky build while the other was a few inches taller with long brown hair and a more slender shape. "This is Uri" introduces Master Fong, pointing at the stocky one. "And this is Khan" motioning to the slender son.
"This is the Avatar?" asks one of them. "He's just a kid"
"Kind of small, isn't he?" queries the other.
"Yes, he is a little small" observes Master Fong. "How old are you, Avatar?"
"Fourteen" Sheil states, his voice breaks a little and his cheeks flood red with embarrassment.
"He should be taller by now" says one of the boys.
"Maybe he's a late bloomer" murmurs the other.
"Are you a late bloomer, Avatar?" asks Master Fong and Sheil's blushing spreads.
"Uhh, I-I think so" he answers awkwardly. "Mom says my father was short up until he turned fifteen"
"Whose the girl?" asks the stocky one.
"She's pretty" says the slender boy.
"You, girl! What is your name and association with the Avatar?" asks Master Fong and Vidya steps forward.
"My name is Vidya. I am sixteen and the Avatar is my brother" she says in a strong voice. Sheil rolls his eyes. Maybe she should've just been the Avatar, she doesn't seem bothered by all of this at all.
Master Fong smiles "And are you an accomplished bender like your brother, Vidya?"
"Actually, I can't bend. I'm a non-bender" she says, a smug smile on her face.
Master Fong clears his throat uneasily and turns his attention back to Sheil. "I hope you don't mind if we see a little demonstration of your talents, Avatar"
Oh no, it was just like Sheil's nightmare. "I don't think-" he begins.
"Nonsense!" interrupts Master Fong. "It would be an offense not to see the Avatar in action. Uri! Step in as a sparring partner"
"With pleasure" says the stocky one, cracking his knuckles. Sheil swallows the nerves that were building up in his throat. This is not going to end well.
There are several steps leading down from the War room, to a patio that had large rock insignias for earth bending. Uri stood about forty or so metres away, eyeing him up and down with a look of eagerness. Oh God, Oh God! Why is this happening? Sheil has never sparred before. He was expecting a demonstration. Maybe throw some rocks around, push a boulder, that sort of thing. Not an actual earth bending battle.
"You can do this" murmurs Vidya in his ear and she steps to the side with the rest of the spectators.
Sheil's glad she thinks so, because he's about to barf. As soon as the arbiter motions for the commencement of the match, Uri slams his heal down onto the soil and a thick stone column shoots from the ground behind Sheil and slams into his spine. It flips him over and he falls hard onto his back. Before he can gather himself, Uri extents his hands upwards and three boulders about the size of Sheil's head hurtle towards him. He dodges one, rolls beneath another but the third crashes into his gut and the air is knocked from his lungs.
"Sheil!" yells Vidya from the side as he goes tumbling back several metres. He is left on the ground, wheezing for air.
"This is a joke" mutters Uri.
"You are doing great, Sheil!" Vidya cheers from the bleachers. Yeah, sure. Sheil totally meant to do that. He gets up warily but Uri is already a step ahead and throws him off balance by sweeping the earth away from under his feet. He then brings his fists together and two panels of earth squeeze Sheil in an unbreakable grip.
"Do I win now?" Uri mutters impatiently and Sheil can see Master Fong's face turn down in disappointment. No, there is no way Sheil was going to give him the satisfaction. Sheil brings his elbows in close to his body and with great might, he jerks them outwards again and the two panels crumble. While Uri is distracted, he takes a hard step forward and pushes one of the boulders at him. Uri dodges it at the last moment and smashes one of his fists onto the ground.
"Sheil, watch out!" cautions Vidya. A shard of earth juts out from the ground and almost impales Sheil. He rolls back just in time before it could reach him. Sheil is panting heavy now as sweat drips down from his temples. He can't keep going like this, he needs to finish Uri off quickly if stands any chance of winning. Uri curves his hands together and a thick dust rises from the ground, clouding Sheil's vision. Suddenly a boulder twice his size flies in from the left and slams into his shoulder. Sheil grunts against the impact but is able to stand his ground. At that moment one of the large rock insignias rolls forward, barrelling towards Sheil with amazing speed. This is it, Sheil thinks. He puts his palms together, forming a 'V' with his fingertips and closes his eyes. Well, he had a good fourteen years, some might even say great. Goodbye cruel world. He feels the crushing weight of the rock splinter as it touches his fingertips. It disintegrates before his eyes and falls in a heap on the ground in front of him. He's alive. Holy crap, he's alive! He hears Uri's prematurely celebrating outside the clouding dust and he takes his chance. Sheil lifts three of the tiny shards of rock at his feet and fires them forward. They shoot across the air like arrows. Two of them hit Uri in the arm and he is knocked back a few steps. He grabs onto his arm in pain and screams, "You little- " but his angry shrieks are silence by the third shard, which whacks him right between the eyes. Uri blinks hard, swaying unsteadily on his feet and then collapses.
"KNOCK OUT! AVATAR WINS!" roars the arbiter and Sheil's mouth falls open. Vidya runs and wraps her arms around his neck.
"You were amazing!" she cheers. Sheil looks over to Master Fong, worried that he was angry with him for hurting his son. To Sheil's surprise Master Fong had a great big smile on his face and was applauding.
"Now that's what I wanted to see, Avatar!" he says proudly. "I commend you for that thrilling match!"
As Sheil soaks up the win, several servants cart off an unconscious Uri from the grounds. "Who's the Avatar? I'm the Avatar!" chants Sheil, doing a little victory dance.
"Well aren't you just the embodiment of modesty" smirks Vidya. For the first time, Sheil felt confident in his abilities. He just passed his first test. Hell, he just performed techniques that haven't even been taught to him. Imagine what he could do with the teachings of a real earth-bending master.
That night, for some reason his bed either felt too soft or his mind was just too awake. He got up and walked onto the balcony that looked out onto the inner gardens. The night air was warm and a soft breeze blew through the trees and dishevelled his hair.
Vidya was walking around the inner gardens, quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the guards stationed at the doors. She had seen a beautiful pond with three koi fish dancing around under the water from her balcony. When she found it, she realized she was not alone. In the dim light of the moon, she could make out a shape by the edge of the water. As she moved closer, she could see it was Khan. She was about to turn around and make a break for it but then he spoke.
"Where are you going, non-bender?" he asks.
"I didn't mean to disturb you" she replies.
"I can't be disturbed or taken by surprise" he says with a smirk and she rolls her eyes.
"And why is that?" she asks.
"I can feel your footsteps like tremors in the soil" he answers, patting the ground. "You'd be able to do that to if you weren't a non-bender"
"Hey! I can do plenty!" Vidya retorts. "I don't need fancy rock tricks"
He chuckles to her surprise and says, "I do not doubt it. Your brother did well today. You must be proud"
"I am. How's Uri?" she asks and Khan shrugs.
"Awake, slightly dazed" he replies with a witty smile. "Luckily we don't have to worry about any permanent brain damage"
"I don't get it" she says and he sighs.
"He's dumb, that's the joke" he explains and she nods.
"Its not funny" she replies coolly and he frowns.
"Well obviously it won't be if I have to explain it!" Khan retorts in annoyance.
Vidya shrugs and does a fake high-pitched laugh. "Feel better?"
He laughs and nods.
"See, I'm the funny one" she says, indifferently.
"Sir Khan?" calls a distant voice and Khan rolls his eyes.
"The cavalry is coming" he murmurs sarcastically and the voice calls his name again. "Good night, Vidya"
"Good night" she replies and he gets up from the pond and nods as he passes her. She sits by the lonely pond for a few moments, watching the koi swim as the moon reflects light off the water. "I can't be disturbed or taken by surprise, non-bender" she mocks in a deep voice and then laughs. Yep, she was the funny one.