"Anju! Anju!" A panicked voice called out.
'If I ignore him perhaps he will leave,' thought the woman being called. Anju continued to hide in the tree, uncaring, after all the world was in utter chaos around them, so she couldn't fathom why Kanan was always so stressed.
"Anju!" He yelled again. He paused under the tree she was sitting in and as he was about to yell again she jumped down from her perch and glared.
"Kanan I thought I said to leave me be," she snapped, her green eyes drilling a hole in his.
"But Anju," he said quickly, "The Red Lotus is coming to Ba Seng Sei, they think the Avatar is here. We have to hide. You know how they are."
Anju looked at the small man and chuckled.
"Good thing neither of us are the Avatar, let's go. We have nothing to hide ad running will do is little good."
Ba Seng Sei was becoming more ruined daily. The walls that had separated the districts, long gone, and all looking as if it were lower. After Zaheer had killed the Earth Queen(may she rest in peace) total anarchy had insued. Women and children, openly sold as slaves, men spending their days in brothels, people killing each other in the streets, it was truly a town where only the strong survived, a town where only the strong were free.
Anju knew that she would only be good for this life, it had been all she knew for her entire twenty six years, but she constantly worried about Kanan. At twenty nine, he too had been born and raised here, however he was soft, both in stature and behavior, and short. Anju knew she was short for an earthbender, only reching five feet tall, but Kanan was under five feet , part of the reason she was so protective of the man.
It was customary for the Red Lotus to wait at the Jade Dragon when they came, the local tea shop/slave area kept them occupied and those Zaheer sent often forgot to check for the Avatar, but as Anju and Kanan arrived, it wasn't a low ranked member, it was Zaheer himself.
Kanan pulled at her arm, "Anju" he whispered urgently, "its Zaheer." But he got no response.
Zaheer waited for the group to settle before he spoke up.
"Twenty-six years ago I killed Avatar Korra," he started, "and the world entered a time of true freedom. However I knew another Avatar would be born. An Earth Kingdom Avatar, but until the Avatar showed signs of existence we would be unable to elemenate the threat. Year after year, we travel the earth kingdom, going as far as to infiltrating Republic City, but we found no Avatar. But today we believe the Avatar is here, in Ba Sent Sei!"
'The Avatar in Ba Seng Sei?' Anju mused thoughtfully, 'that's ironic'.
"So today I have come to see for myself. I have to ask that all not twenty-six years of age leave the shop."
Kanan stiffened and Anju sighed.
"Go on," she urged her friend, "I will see you tonight eh?"
Others were already filing out but Kanan shook his head and stayed by Anju's side. Anju rolled her eyes and waited for the show to continue, Zaheer would find that neither of them were the Avatar and leave as empty handed as he came.
Soon it was just the two of them in the Jade Dragon and Zaheer motioned for them to sit across from him, but there was only one chair.
"I will stand Anju."
Anju nodded and took the chair as Zaheer smiled at her. Then he spoke up, " you young man may want to leave."
A flash of metal came from nowhere and shackles were binding Anju's hands and feet to the chair. Kanan shouted as a metal Bender came from the shadows and shot a metal cable around him.
"Zaheer,"Anju yelled as she struggled, "what is the meaning of this! The Avatar isn't here."
Zaheer gave her struggling form a once over and motioned to the metal bender, the man nodded and suddenly Anju found herself spread eagled against the wall, unable to move, the shackles still holding her. Zaheer walked over to her cupped her face.
"I'm afraid you are the Avatar," he said with a slow smile, "but who says I have to kill you yet. This does double as a brothel"
Anju desperately tried to bend the earth, but to no avail. Zaheers gentle touches seemed out of place as he started to rid her of her simple garment.
"Relax Avatar, enjoy, your last act alive."
Anju struggled harder after her shirt was ripped off and she was just in her bindings and trousers. As Zaheer started to remove her trousers, something snapped and he was blown across the Jade Dragon. Anju didn't have time to register the fact that see just air bended, but on the ground she was able to earth bend once more. Earth covered the shackles and they broke.
Zaheer whistled and more of the Red Lotu were swarmimg the brothel, she looked back at Kanan and tried to bend rock around the metal cable, but instead a fire ball melted it.
Kanan starred in shock, but she grabbed his arm, "no time!" And pulled him to run.
They had to escape the city.
Yay ooc Zaheer. It has been 26 years though,maybe men get gross as they age? Idk I'm no man. Anyway accepting OCS, just leave in a review.
