I do not own Avatar nor its concepts or themes
Chapter one
Reyam sat up on his sleeping pallet. The sun had just began to rise, its yellow rays penetrating the thin canvas walls of Reyam's small tent.
Stretching his arms he picked up a dark red ribbon that lay on the floor, and used it to tie his shoulder length black hair up in a high ponytail. Getting up Reyam stepped over to the small chest that held his few pieces of clothing. He absently grabbed a light brown tunic, yawning as he pulled it on. Walking back over to his cot, he neatly arranged the light woolen blanket, Incase mother decides to have a peek he thought to himself.
That done, Reyam left the tent, and was greeted by the cold crisp air of late winter. In the southern part of the Earth kingdom the first warm drafts of spring could probably already be felt, but this far north, spring was still a distant dream. Snow still covered most of the ground, except where the circus members had painstakingly cleared paths over the last few days since pitching their camp here. Maran had made a wise financial choice to get the circus moving north before spring set in, in order to get an edge on the other traveling performers. These north western earths' men had a hard winter, and were all but begging to throw their coin at Maran's feet, hungry for entertainment. The circus performers were more than happy to oblige. The night before had been very successful, judging solely by the number of people who had come.
Noticing that a new layer of frost had set in covering the cleared paths, Reyam frowned. Taking a deep breath of frigid air in through his mouth, he let in warm in his belly using firebending. Allowing his chi to fuse with the air, warming it, Reyam then let the hot breath out slowly through his nose. The effect was instantaneous. All around him the frost began to melt. Continuing this as he strode along the paths, Reyam noticed someone standing near the clay water barrels with a small icepick, looking thoroughly frustrated. As he got closer, Reyam recognized Toanna, one of the waterbender performers.
Toanna was about Reyam's age, somewhere in the middle of her second decade. She had short blond hair and a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Reyam assumed that most boys would consider her to be cute, but he had trouble looking at her as anything other than a childhood friend.
"Is everything alright?" asked Reyam, as he reached the water barrels.
"No!" said Toanna, through gritted teeth, "everything is not 'Alright'!" she gave an exasperated groan and angrily threw the icepick into a nearby pile of snow.
"The stupid water barrels froze over last night. I have been trying now for the last twenty minutes to get enough water for me to shower." Toanna said, pointing to a bucket holding barely a single centimeter of water.
"Uh… I don't want to point out the obvious, but I don't think your efforts are yielding much of a profit" said Reyam, trying in vain to conceal the wolfish grin that sprang onto his face as he said that.
"Argh!" yelled Toanna, bending the little bit of water she had managed to collect, and splashing it in Reyam's surprised face.
Toanna started laughing hysterically. "That seemed to wipe the grin off your face pretty quickly!" she said, giggling.
"Yeah, well… great" said Reyam lamely, trying to retain what little pride he had left. Quickly deciding to change the subject he said "why didn't you just bend the ice back into water?"
Toanna stopped giggling at that. "Well, I tried" she said, "but it's not so easy. I mean, freezing water I can do, no problem, but I still haven't managed the reverse technique, though Pikka has been trying to help me get it"
Pikka was the oldest of the waterbenders in the circus. He used to be a warrior in the Northern Water tribe army, but he was let go due to a severe injury. He joined the circus a year later, after it had mostly healed, though he claimed his waterbending never returned to what it once was.
"Well, In order to spare the whole camp your unwashed scent until you do manage to get a hang of the technique, why don't I melt the water for you now?"
Toanna brightened "Yes please!" she said, pointing to the large clay water barrel.
Reyam brought his hands up to his chest, elbows out, fist pressed against palm, and took a deep breath. He then lashed out, punching in the direction of the barrel. From his fist shot a large fireball, instantly melting the ice in the barrel.
This was precisely the reason the circus used clay barrels instead of wooden ones: so that the firebenders could heat the water this way without fear of burning up the barrel.
Toanna happily streamed a large snake of water from the barrel and into her bucket, using water bending. She also bended the water out of Reyam's hair and tunic, leaving them nice and dry, though Reyam didn't feel very grateful for that, seeing as it was her fault he was wet to begin with.
"Thanks a lot ReyRey!" she said, happily striding off with the bucket full of steaming water towards the wooden structure the women used for showering.
"Don't call me that!" Reyam yelled after her, brandishing his fist angrily.
...
"Ugh" he muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Girls!"
"Yeah, tell me about it"
Reyam jumped, spinning around and going right into a fighter stance.
"A little jumpy this morning, aren't we Reyam?" said Kai, sitting on one of the barrels and twirling one of his arrows between his fingers.
"Oh, it's just you Kai" said Reyam, relaxing.
Kai was Reyam's closest friend in the world. Ever since they were young, when six year old Kai had wondered into the circus alone, having been the only one in his village to have survived a Water tribe raid, they were like brothers to each other.
The fact of the matter was that almost all the performers in "The White Lotus Circus" had somehow been effected by the war and left stranded by the world. Reyam's own father had been executed for refusing to join the Northern Fleet.
"What do you mean 'just Kai'? Hey, I'm plenty dangerous even if I can't do all your fancy fireworks." Kai said in mock offence.
"I don't doubt that. I know firsthand how skilled you are with that bow of yours" said Reyam, smirking sarcastically, looking down at his left arm meaningfully.
Kai rolled his eyes in annoyance. "It was one time! Can't you let anything go? I have gotten much better since then, honest. Haven't impaled anyone by accident in ages!"
In truth, Reyam knew just how skilled Kai had become with his bow. He doubted he would ever encounter another archer as skilled as Kai.
Shrugging, Reyam hopped up on to a second barrel. "Hear anything new last night?" he asked.
Reyam and Kai had a fondness for listening to all the gossip the villagers told while attending the circus. If there was one thing all villagers around the world seemed to have in common, it was their love for sharing rumors of the outside world. Early on Reyam and Kai had made a habit of listening to as many rumors as possible, and filling each other in the next day. They both new that at best these rumors were distorted truths (at worst outright lies), but they figured the more widespread a rumor, the more likely it was to hold a grain of truth.
Kai scoffed. "In a secluded place like this? We are probably the first travelers they have seen in months! They were just circulating all the usual nonsense, mostly speculation about the Avatar." He shook his head disappointedly. "Did you hear anything?"
"Actually, I did" said Reyam, who was rewarded with a surprised look from Kai. "Don't get me wrong, I also heard all the usual mumbo jumbo about the Avatar and such, but there was one piece of new information I think you will like."
He paused dramatically before saying: "The Council of the Four Winds is gathering in the western Air temple."
Kai snorted dismissively "That's ridiculous! Even if it happened to be true, why would some northern earth tribesmen know about such a thing? There is nothing else lending any credit-"
"Wait! Just hear me out a second" cut in Reyam.
"You're absolutely right, this village is too far north to have gotten any travelers during winter. But that doesn't mean they didn't get any visitors at all."
Comprehension dawned on Kai. "The northern air temple" he whispered.
"Exactly! The northern air temple is less than a day's ride from here. There must be some form of contact, if not with the monks then at least with the Air villagers at the foot of the mountain."
"Alright" conceded Kai, "I'll admit this rumor has more merit to it then I believed at first, but that still doesn't mean we should take it as truth."
Reyam smiled, "When do we ever?" he asked rhetorically.
Glancing up at the sun, Reyam's heart dropped. "Damn, damn, damn!" he swore, jumping down from the barrel. "I'm late! Grandfather isn't going to be pleased with me at all!" dashing off he called a goodbye to Kai, who remained sitting, mulling over what Reyam had just told him.
...
A few minutes later Reyam made it to the designated training ground. Meditating in the center of the field was an old man in deep red robes. His long white hair and a short pointed beard made him look quite intimidating, a trait many found only too true about the man himself.
"Grandfather Zhuirro" said Reyam breathlessly, "I'm sorry that I am-"
"Late?" interjected Zhuirro forcefully, eye popping open to reveal an intense stare.
"Tell me boy, how many years have I been training you?" he asked.
"Around nine" mumbled Reyam, not sure where this was going.
"Speak up boy! And look at me when I am talking to you." Zhuirro's stern gaze was unrelenting.
Reyam stared his grandfather right back in the eyes defiantly. "Nine years, master grandfather." He said confidently, knowing that showing more weakness would only further anger his grandfather.
Zhuirro frowned pensively as he continued to assess the boy before him. Finally, standing up, he said "We are done training boy. Come to my tent tonight after dark, and we will talk." With that, the master firebender walked off the field.
Reyam recovered from his shock just in time to blurt out "is this because I was late?", but he got no answer, for his grandfather had already disappeared behind a group of tents.
Hot frustration boiled up from deep within himself. "Argh!" he yelled, punching the air and letting out a slew of fireballs which dissipated in the cold late morning air. Just for being a little late?! His grandfather was the only one who still seemed to treat Reyam like a child, the only one who still called him boy. Reyam tried to ignore it, but now it seemed as if grandfather was going to discipline him like a child too! Reyam let out another frustrated yell along with some additional angry firebending, trying to calm himself down.
"Reyam relax!" came the command from behind.
Spinning around, Reyam was startled to find Ayana sitting high up in a leafless tree.
Immediately Reyam's anger was replaced with burning hot embarrassment, and he blushed a deep red. Ayana was another one of the circus members who were Reyam's age. She happened to be an airbender, which was part of the reason she was such a talented acrobat. She had long brown hair and deep green eyes which seemed to ensnare Reyam every time they spoke.
Needless to say, Reyam was hopelessly in love with Ayana. The fact that she had just witnessed Reyam's temper tantrum made him want to bury himself.
"A…Ayana, Hi. I…I didn't see you there" stammered Reyam.
If Kai was here he would be pissing with laughter thought Reyam dejectedly.
Jumping down from the tree, and using airbending to slow her fall, Ayana smiled, causing Reyam's heart to skip a beat or six.
Walking over to him, she said "I don't think master Zhuirro left because you were late".
"Oh… you saw tha- what?" asked Reyam, cutting himself off and forgetting to be embarrassed.
"Well, it's just that your grandfather didn't start his own routine like he usually does when a student is late. In fact, as soon as he showed up at the field he sat down and started meditating. I think he didn't mean to have a training session today to begin with."
Ayana tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Reyam absorbed what she just told him.
"Well… then I guess I should…probably get going…" said Reyam, his embarrassment returning.
"I guess… unless you still want to do some training… I wouldn't mind sparring for a bit" she said. Reyam was so shocked to hear uncertainty in her voice that he accepted before he realized what he was doing.
"Great!" she said brightly, "let's begin!"
Ayana sent a blast of air right at the unprepared Reyam who was knocked a full six feet backwards onto his butt. "Oh!" she said apologetically "were you not ready for that?"
"No, no that was fine" replied Reyam, a mischievous glint in his eye. Instead of getting up, he quickly spun on his hands, kicking his feet out and creating a wave of fire that Ayana barely managed to slice through with a ribbon of air.
"Hey!" she cried.
Grinning as he jumped back onto his feet Reyam said "now let's begin!"
...
A few hours later Reyam sat with his mother and younger sister around one of the cooking fires, eating beef stew. The sun was just beginning to set over the low hills to the west.
"Are you sure grandfather didn't make any mention of why he wants you to go to his tent tonight?" asked his mother for the third time.
"No mother, I'm certain." Reyam rolled his eyes at his sister Nyata, who shrugged.
"He probably just wants to reprimand you for being late. It's no big deal." She said.
"I don't know" said Reyam, "I just don't think that's the reason." He thought back to what Ayana had said maybe she is wrong? Maybe grandfather really is going to reprimand me? But Reyam didn't think so… something about what Ayana said just felt…right. There is something else going on here… something far more concerning than a simple punishment he thought.
"Well whatever it is, you better get going" said his mother, setting down her empty bowl "otherwise you're going to be late to this as well."
"You're right" said Reyam, setting down his bowl and getting up from the log he was sitting on. "I don't know what time I will finish by grandfather, so I'll see you tomorrow" he said, kissing his mother goodnight.
As he turned to leave, his mother called out to him "Reyam". He turned back "yeah?"
"I just want you to know I'm proud of you, and your father is too". She often spoke of his dad like that, as if he were still here, with them.
"I know mother, thanks".
As he walked away from the campfire Reyam felt as if something were amiss, as if someone were calling for him from really far away, and yet really near…
Reyam jumped around, right into fighter stance, just as he had when Kai snuck up on him earlier in the morning.
Nothing was there. Reyam chided himself for jumping at ghosts, though if he were truthful with himself, he was sure someone had been right behind him.
Thoroughly spooked, Reyam made it to his grandfather's large tent. He took one calming breath before he moved aside the entrance flap and walked in.
Reyam got one quick look at his grandfather, throat slashed, blood everywhere, before something hit him hard in the back of the head, causing everything to go dark.