Chapter II, Winter's End
In which a king is born and the sandbenders plot from Jannah.
"On a misty day nearing the end of the fourth winter of the cycle, inside of a damp cave in the northern mountains was born the 5th chief of the Houtu clan, blessed by the bagermoles." Such is the curt and enigmatic description of the Birth of Abahai as given to us by the contemporary Fao of Makapu after his coronation. Up to this point no historical not had been taken about the Houtu clan. The only things most historians can point out is that the clan was a relatively new cadet branch of the larger and more important Aisin clan. Some, like notated Omashu School scholar Fa Huang, speculate that they are descended from Temu, the bastard son of the Aisin lord Ulan. This was disputed by later accounts from the Ba Sing Se School of thought. However, most of these accounts take place after the founding of Ba Sing Se and the establishment of the Kingdom which could add to a perceived bias. Regardless of ancestry, Abahai was born to Lord Oguz and his concubine Babusha. Lord Oguz was not present in the birthing, instead it is rumored that Babusha gave birth alone in her hiding place in the northern mountain ranges. Weakened from the birthing, Babusha had no way of walking or caring for her new born child, so by providence the spirits sent bagermoles to aid in her work. It is a widely held that the bagermoles were responsible for taking care of the young child for the first 10 years of his life. His mother was present to give suck but most of the credit is given to the bagermoles.
At the age of 11, Abahai set out from the mountains with his mother with route due east, hoping to rejoin his father's army. It was while stopping in the small outpost of Sing that tragedy struck the young boy. "The Lord of Sing, a greedy and gluttonous man named Pin the Fat, had betrayed the tribesman in favor of living comfortably as the leader of a pro-sandebender settlement. One which he ruled with an iron fist and provided him with ample slaves to sell to the merchants of Jannah." (Fao of Makapu) Pin the Fat is described unilaterally as an unpleasant wretch of a man. When the young Abahai and his mother entered the city, he saw them as yet another group of refugees to sell to the Beetle Heads. And as just as he always had, Pin the Fat called forth the visitors of Sing to partake in a welcoming celebration. The rice wine flowed for a day, and the refugees become inebriated beyond remorse. A non-combative target the allowed Pin to capture them without struggle. The Lady Babusha however had refused to touch the drink out of her own piety and maiden glory. What happens next is up to historical debates. Some say it was a guard of Pin who attempted to subdue her and got carried away. Members of the Ba Sing Se School believe that it took a squadron of trained sandbenders to subdue her. There are even some who believe it was Pin himself who was responsible for the tragedy. The outcome however was known. Babusha was slain that night and the young Ababhai fled, vowing from that point on to bring down the Sandbender Consortium and to personally kill Pin the Fat.
On the subject of earthbending: Was the first King an earthbender? We know that the linage of the Earth Kings has contained quite a few nonbenders, such as the Earth King Kuei, and many inactive earthbenders, such has his daughter the Earth Queen Xingzhen. The great majority did possess earthbending abilities, however some time along the reign of the 46th Earth King it fell out of fashion to have the sovereign bend. Earth Kingdom royalty, unlike that of less civil states like the Water Tribes or the Fire Nation, were seen as above the crass demands of warfare. As a result, no matter what ability a royal possesses they are not trained. Instead they are taught how to be proper and enlightened rulers.
Abahai however was an earthbender, and if legend serves, a very powerful one. He would spend the next 7 years wandering the plains of the east where he grew into a tall, formidable lad and passed his time fighting off bandits and sandbenders. It was here that he befriended the entourage that would accompany him for the rest of his life. First know was Qwai the Repentant, a bandit whom Abahai had defeated after he attempted to rob the young lord. Abahai showed mercy to him and took him prisoner. Despite this rough start, Qwai would be the Earth King's closest friend through both the wars and later in the future. "The King and the bandit were blood brothers, a friendship formed not out of mutual affection or interests but out of necessity. Both were alone in the world, left orphaned by the war. It was this that made them strong and that gave them the resolve to go about their own conquest." To quote Jun Hua.
Next to his odd gang was a travelling Air Nomad nun named sister Choden. Choden had reached the age of 17 and had yet to show any skill at airbending. She was then written off as a nonbender and subject to the ancient rules of the temple and exiled, only allowed to return once she had either unlocked her bending or reached enlightenment. Thus she became a true nomad and wandered the Earth Lands. Legend holds she made the acquaintance of the future king and his companion at a tavern. She was drowning away her feelings of failure and spilt a half a cask of rice wine on Abahai. The tavern master was furious ordering that the nun pay him, but Chogan was far too poor to afford the cask. Abahai instead paid for her and asked if she, like the other nuns, had any skill at medicine to heal his prisoner and friend who had gotten deathly sick after eating purple berries. The nun obliged and became close to the pair. It is also of note that this is the same sister Chogan responsible for creating the "Drunken Maiden" style of aribending, now extinct.
Concurrently to the 7 years of exiles served by Abahai on the high plains, far to the south the Sandbender Consortium (led by the Beetle Heads) had reached its zenith of power. Unlike the other nations of the world, ruled by kings, chief or a council of elders, the Sandbenders were ruled by gold. Coin had made the merchants of the Si Wong wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. They elected their rulers from the rich oligarchs that controlled trade, the most powerful of these oligarch clans were the Beetle Heads, who legend hold rose from underground on the backs of Rhinoceros beetles. They were responsible for the construction of Jannah, the Pearl of the Desert. Mo the Wanderer describes Jannah as one of the most beauteous cities in the world, even dwarfing Omashu: "The streets here are wide and top full of verdant greenery. Aqueducts of water follow alongside every road stretching from the great crystal oasis. The towers however are the most brilliant, these slender sandstone fingers reaching up to the sky topped with great domes of gold and jewels. The city is surrounded thrice by walls. One a high dune of sand, one of great red clay and one of sandstone peering up to the heavens. To find the city you must have skill and luck, as the sandbenders use manipulation of sandstorms and mirages to keep the city hidden. Indeed it is the safest place in the world." With so many great wonders, is it a surprise that the sandbenders thought themselves better than the rest of the nation? When the Winter of Endless War broke out the Oligarchs saw it as an opportunity to create a sandbender led Earth Nation. But to conquer Omashu and the south they would need troop and supplies, and where better to procure them than in the bountiful, uncivilized east?