Chapter 3 - Zhengren Alley
Disclaimer: I do not own a wand, which is sad.
"No, really… this is a trick, right?"
Aunt Noriko sighed, already wishing her husband was here with them. It was already the last half of August and she had taken Zuko to shop for his school books and equipment. But, someone had to stay with Kiyi, their five-year-old daughter, and the last time Noren came with Noriko to Zhengren Alley, things had not gone so well. Noriko had a nagging suspicion that that group of bounty hunters still distributed Noren's wanted posters and she did not want to find out the hard way.
Zuko had been quite alarmed when Aunt Noriko parked the car in the lot in the city and took him to this bar. Zuko had just turned eleven last July and Republic City had a strict no-children-allowed rule for bars and places that serve alcohol. But, Aunt Noriko took him in, nonetheless.
The bar was much cozier than Zuko had expected. It looked more like a diner than a bar, safe for the fact that they did have a bar and the walls were covered by posters of beverages ads, rock bands, and sports team; only, one of the ads posters advertized 'Xiang Guo Celestial Apple Juice (freshly squeezed, just like mom used to make)', one of the bands called the Chong and the Magic Nomads, and the largest sports poster featured men wearing red jerseys, riding flying broomsticks. Oh, and the pictures were moving: the Xiang Guo poster had the picture of a hand squeezing a golden apple, the golden apple produced a drop of amber liquid that dropped through the mouth of a bottle below over and over again; Chong and the Nomads, a group of strangely-dressed people were soundlessly jamming on their equipment on stage; and the broom-riding sportsmen were zipping in and out of the frame.
"Noriko", called a short, plump middle-aged lady in a loose airy dress of fabric that Zuko thought resembled gauze, laden with so many colorful beads on her wrists and neck, even sewn onto her dress, that she made clicking sound when she moved. "It has been so long."
"I hope you're doing well, Baba", Aunt Noriko smiled and grasped hands with the woman. Her other hand still clutched Zuko's tightly and a good thing too. Zuko was already tempted to bolt from the sheer strangeness of... well, everything.
"And this must be Zuko", the old woman, Baba, smiled kindly to Zuko. "Well, dear, you know the way. I'll not see you out, dear. So busy today!"
"Of course", Aunt Noriko smiled and led Zuko to the back of the bar, where the back exit was. Aunt Noriko pushed the door and they walked out to the narrow alley that spanned to their sides. In front of them was an old graffitied brick wall that would belong to the boutique next door.
"You're awfully quiet", Aunt Noriko said to Zuko while she rummaged her handbag.
Zuko only managed a squeaking sound.
Aunt Noriko chuckled. She took from her purse a thin smooth stick. "Pay attention, Zuko", she said. "See the dragon?"
Zuko turned to the wall and nearly flinched. Among the many indistinct graffities, big and small, there was a drawing of green dragon. The drawing looked childish and the dragon spanned over five bricks across. The dragon was facing the viewer and, to Zuko, it looked like a squashed lizard. He did notice how other graffiti seemed to have been painted over it, but somehow the dragon remained intact. It was as if others had tried to paint over the dragon's green body and red ridges and yellow wings, but failed. Still, for some reason, Zuko did not like dragons. He never did. Never could.
"Now", Aunt Noriko tapped her stick while she recited. "Dragon, dragon, fly in the sky…" tap, tap on the dragon head. "…with wings, strong and wide…" a tap on each wing. "…dragon eat a cow and cat…" tap on the snout and then the middle section. "…hence dragon burps flame…" tap the snout. "…and drop the scat", and the tail. "You remember that?"
Zuko produced another squeaking sound.
"You don't have to say the rhyme", Aunt Noriko said. "It's just something children came up with to remember the sequence", she said, ignoring the fact that the bricks on the wall in front of them had folded into themselves, revealing a path behind the wall. "Welcome, to Zhengren Alley."
Zuko made another squeaking sound.
It was impossible!
This wall definitely belonged the side of the boutique next door. And yet, it opened up to this wondrous place under the open sky. On the right and left were rows of stores and businesses, and the most colorful collection of people littered the street. Aunt Noriko pulled Zuko through men and women wearing strange robes. He suddenly felt self-conscious but felt slightly better when he realized that Aunt Noriko was wearing her blouse and jeans, perfectly normal clothing. Yep, they were normal; those numerous people were the weird ones. Their superior number meant nothing.
The stores on the right and left were just as strange, if not stranger. The architecture were clearly old, with slanted tile roofs and the noted absence of electric poles. The merchandises were even more so. They walked past a store selling animals like crows, owls, and cats, a store with rows of broomsticks on the window stand, and rounded around a store that sold scales of many different colors, shapes, and sizes, and origins from the look of it, from small specks of individual fish scales to scales the size of a dinner plate.
There was bustle and energy in the air that was simply so full of life. Despite his nervousness, Zuko felt his spirit lifting up and he caught himself grinning as he looked around, taking in as much as he could.
Magic is real!
They ducked as a flock of origami birds came swooping down.
"Hey, careful there!" yelled a random man. Aunt Noriko and Zuko were rushed to the side as a group of laughing children came running down the street, going after the flocks of paper birds.
"Flying carpet! New model, just out! Anti-tear, anti-flame! Flying carpet", hawked a man to their left. The man had a piece of rug suspended in the air and he pointed a piece of stick like the one Aunt Noriko had at it; a gout of flame shot out from the tip of the stick.
"Whoa!" Zuko grinned.
"Zuko, come on!" Aunt Noriko tugged on his hand. "I don't want to lose you in this crowd. I wouldn't be able to find you until Christmas."
-0-0-0-0-0-
Aunt Noriko took Zuko to what appeared to be the center of the whole place. Zuko had been too busy looking around the Alley still to notice that Aunt Noriko had pulled him in. Next thing he knew, they were sitting in a waiting area in the lobby of the vast circular room. Along the circular wall, a half circle of dark marble counter had been set up and manned by strange creatures that sent Zuko's mouth wide opened.
From neck down, they looked like normal men and women in formal suit, despite the tuff of fur poking out from the cuffs of their long sleeves. Their heads though were that of a deer with some human-ish quality to them; flatter snouts and more pronounced nose bridge that allowed some of them to wear glasses. And they had antlers.
"Don't stare", Aunt Noriko said, not looking up from the piece of paper she was reading. "The Lu's are naturally kind, but they have limits to their tolerance. They might gore you with their antlers if you are rude to them."
"What are they?" Zuko asked in a hiss.
"The Lu's. You know, the deer-folks. I read you bedtime stories about them; they are the bringer of wealth in mythologies. That's why they run the Gold Tower, the only wizarding bank in Four Nations."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
Aunt Noriko chuckled and went back to the paper. "Hmm, they haven't really added many new books since my time. You'll also need three sets of robes, equipment for potion making, bones sorcery… talismans… but, those you won't need until second year… oh, a wand, of course. And you'd need new underwear. Lots of them."
"Why would I need new underwear?"
"Well, for spares, really. Socks, too. I won't be there to do your laundry everyday."
"What? Why?"
"Well, the Academy is a boarding school."
Zuko felt stunned yet again. A boarding school and they were in a bank. That knot that made his stomach uncomfortable whenever his uncle and aunt had to spent a large sum of money on him returned. They had never been rich.
His Uncle Noren loved acting. He had made quite a sum of money when he was younger; he had been a child TV star and then a teen heartthrob until he took a break from acting and went to college. There, as he would often put it, he discovered his love for cheeseburgers (and, coincidentally, for Aunt Noriko who was an excellent cook). He had gained so much weight that his agent had to let him go. Uncle Noren had been living as a drama teacher ever since and Aunt Noriko, who was a stay-at-home housewife, had no real income. According to Uncle Noren, they had been mostly living off the fumes of the money had made acting.
And now Zuko would need a bunch of new books and fees for a boarding school that would most definitely not be cheap.
"How are we going to afford all that?" Zuko asked quietly.
Aunt Noren smiled. "Your mother left you some fortune."
A disembodied sound announcing 'Noriko Kai, counter 5', came out of nowhere. Zuko looked around and saw no one. In fact, it seemed like nobody else but him and Aunt Noriko heard it. Zuko had just begun to entertain the idea that the sound came from the chairs they were sitting on when Aunt Noriko pulled him up and walked with him towards Counter 5.
Manning Counter 5 was a Lu that must be elderly; snowy white fuzz framed the sides of his face, sat on the top of his head, and streaked among his light brown fur. The Lu smiled warmly and adjusted his glassed professionally as they approached the Counter. "Mrs. Kai, a very good morning to you, on behalf of Gold Tower Bank", he said kindly. "How may I help you today?"
Zuko saw Aunt Noriko's eyes fleeted swiftly to the Lu's large nametag before she said, also with a friendly smile. "Good morning, Mr. Grant. Withdrawal, please, Mr. Grant, Mrs. Ursa Kai's vault."
"Certainly!" Mr. Grant smiled very broadly. "Now, I must ask you to present the key to the vault, Mrs. Kai. Standard procedure, as you know."
Aunt Noriko pulled from her pocket a small golden key. Mr. Grant took the key and examined it for a few seconds. "All seems to be in order."
"And I would like to register my nephew", Aunt Noriko pulled Zuko by the shoulder closer though not averting her face from Mr. Grant. "Zuko Kai, the rightful heir to the vault we are about to access, Mr. Grant."
"Ah, yes", Mr. Grant peered down over the counter at Zuko and smiled fatherly. "What is your name again, little one?"
"Um… Zuko", said Zuko. Aunt Noriko nudged him a little. "Z-zuko Kai, uh… Mr. Grant."
"How wonderful!" Mr. Grant smiled so broadly that his big brown eyes curved. "Now, if you would follow me", Mr. Grant motioned them to follow him from their side as he circled around the counter. As he left his station, another Lu took over for him.
Mr. Grant took them to a grand eight feet tall artistically ornate wooden door at the side of the building. He touched the door and it opened by itself, revealing an unbelievable space on the other side. Zuko had to admit, he had not been paying attention when Aunt Noriko took him into this bank, but he was sure this was the tall pagoda in the middle of the Alley that was surrounded on all sides by a road. Zuko was also sure that they did not ascend any stairs or get in any elevator, and they were still on the ground floor. The door, however, opened up to the sky.
Clear orange sky of bright twilight littered by flocks of cloud opened up to them. Zuko's mouth fell open and, before he could say anything, he heard something that sounded like old fashioned train bells. A wide but short rowboat arrived. It was wooden and had two short paddles fixed on the sides. There was a driver seat on the bow and, on the side, a lever. In the middle and the back, two wooden pews were set for passengers, each could easily house two adults with wide buttocks.
Aunt Noriko whimpered ever so slightly as Mr. Grant and his wide smile gestured them to board first. Her grip on Zuko's hand had become almost too painful as she stepped onto the boat. Zuko himself, despite his lingering strong amazement of the whole situation, felt a fun kind of thrill as he sat on the boat, also despite the fact that the seat was only a few inches lower than the railing of the boat and there was absolutely no seatbelt. One sharp enough lurch to any direction and he was sure they would be flung overboard.
"On we go, dear customers", Mr. Grant announced enthusiastically after he seated himself on the front. He pushed the lever and the boat lurched like a crazy rollercoaster cart.
They moved at breakneck speed across the sky, seemingly on an invisible track. Mr. Grant was not steering and enjoyed the ride quite openly. As they were about to ride though a particularly thick mass of cloud, he threw his arms out and yelled. "Wheeeee!"
Aunt Noriko made some sort of whimper and gasped every time they made a turn or every time the boat rattled like they had just run over invisible sky pothole. She had taken to embracing Zuko tightly, which Zuko was not very happy about. He was beginning to have trouble breathing under his Aunt's grip. Finally, they ascended through the roof of fluffy cloud above. As they pierced through the cloud, they found themselves flying on a space that was littered quite randomly by what looked like floating stone double doors around the same size as the one connecting this (awesome!) private sky of the bank to the bank itself. All around them, other boats were zooming around. Watching them, Zuko suddenly realized that they had slowed down to a more comfortable velocity.
Their boat moved forward for a few minutes then the nose tipped up and they lurched up, made a left while still going up, then straight up, leveled down and began a series of turns that finally brought them to a specific floating door. The boat parked itself and Mr. Grant stood up and stepped out first on a strip of stone pavement in front of the door. He held out a hand to help Aunt Noriko up from the boat, all the while stifling a mischievous smile; he winked conspiratorially at Zuko when Aunt Noriko was too busy gasping for air. Aunt Noriko was never fond of heights.
"Private vault of one Mrs. Ursa Kai, henceforth belongs to Mr. Zuko Kai", Mr. Grant said, standing up straighter respectfully. "Please insert your key and open it."
Zuko accepted the key from Mr. Grant. Aunt Noriko, pale and looking queasy, nodded reassuringly. Zuko pushed the key into the keyhole and twisted it. The door clicked and Zuko pulled out the key. Then, the double doors swung open and revealed the interior of a dimly lit cellar-like space the size of a garage. The content of the vault was more shocking than anything Zuko had experienced so far.
On the far wall was a honeycomb of small square lockers with opened doors, all filled with precious gemstones, pearls, and metals glinting under the dim lantern light. Propped against the side walls were a collection of items that, though bizarre, must have been valuable enough to be stored in a vault. Zuko saw a stand housing spears and halberds, several mannequins with various robes of exquisite fabrics, a broken electric guitar, a drum set, a standing display board that housed a collection of colorful masks, and a bicycle with bent front wheel among many. Piled in the middle of the room were mounds of gold, silver, and copper coins.
"Whoa…" Zuko gulped. He noticed that those coins were of antiquities; Fire Nation rectangular gold coins, Water Tribe icy silver coins, and Earth Kingdom copper coins with a hole in the middle.
"All yours, Zuko", Aunt Noriko managed a smile. "Your mom never mentioned your dad, but I'm sure these were actually his. Now, these are all yours."
-0-0-0-0-0-
They visited the bookstore, the magical equipment store, the tailor, and the herbalist. Now, laden with shopping bags that contained books and scrolls, clothes, and herbs and bones, Aunt Noriko, who kept nervously checking the list, muttering to herself, brought Zuko to Piandao's Wand Emporium. Aunt Noriko looked especially giddy in front of the small shop.
"Well, I thought we might splurge a bit with your wand", she said. "Mr. Piandao is the best wandmaker in the Four Nations."
For the store of the best wandmaker, Piandao's Wand Emporium was completely deserted. The interior was wooden, from the hardwood floor to the beams, the simple furniture, to the counter at the end of the small space. The windows on the sides, despite the fact that the store, from the outside, was wedged between two other stores, let in a shower of sunlight that lit up the whole place.
"I remember when I first came here", Aunt Noriko said, smiling. "My mom and dad saved up for months just so they could afford to get me one of Mr. Piandao's wands."
Mr. Piandao appeared from behind the door behind the counter. He was a tall man with tanned skin, calm hazel eyes, well trimmed beard and well-combed hair. He wore a cassock-like robe with long sleeves, fastened with frogs on the left side, and he inclined his head slightly at them.
"Noriko Kai", he greeted with a slight smile. "May I?"
Aunt Noriko fished out her wand from her bag with a slightly trembling hand. Mr. Piandao took it and squinted at it as he inspected the wand. "I remember. Oak and stone monkey molar tooth. It's in good condition", he glanced at Aunt Noriko a little. "A little bored since it's been doing nothing but household chores for the last few years, and so little of it, too."
Aunt Noriko grinned guiltily. "I did marry a Norm", she said.
"Still, better sneak a complicated spell or two every week, at least. Stone monkeys are playful and full of energy. I suggest Transfiguration and Animation", he said as he returned the wand. He turned to Zuko and, naturally, his eyes held at the large burn scar that Zuko's hair could not completely cover. "Zuko Kai", he said. "Your mother left something for you."
Zuko frowned. "What?" he turned to Aunt Noriko. From the look of her face, this was news to her too.
"A wand, of course", Mr. Piandao snapped his fingers and a long thin box flew from the left side of the room that Zuko now realized had shelves stuffed with similar boxes. The box lightly plopped on the counter between them. Mr. Piandao looked at Zuko as if waiting for some kind of reaction. Zuko looked back, completely clueless. Then Mr. Piandao turned to Aunt Noriko. "You raised him as a Norm then?"
"Yes", Aunt Noriko practically squeaked, like a child caught stealing candies. "I have a young daughter. She's a Norm, so…"
"You don't have to look so guilty. There is nothing wrong with that", Mr. Piandao sighed. "This child will need you to educate him on the ways of our world, of his world. You can't afford to be so timid now."
"Yes, sir", Aunt Noriko squeaked again.
"Now, Zuko", Mr. Piandao put a hand on the box. "Young wizards usually acquire their own wands. There is an unbreakable bond between a wizard and a wand that is as strong as those of blood, if not stronger, for it is the bond of souls. You must understand that receiving a wand as an heirloom is a great honor in our world. The wand will carry with it its loyalty to its previous master over to its new charge. It's symbolic and, often times, the wand proves to be more formidable than a newly acquired one, especially if the old wizard and the wand were bonded for a lifetime. Now, this wand here, this was your father's."
"M-my father's?" Zuko's throat felt constricted. He turned to Aunt Noriko who looked just as stunned as he was.
"This wand isn't one of my creations. It bears the mark of my master's handiwork and it's quite old. I wouldn't be surprised if your father was not the original owner and he inherited this from one of his parents", Mr. Piandao opened the box and took out a wand of wine red, almost dark wood, with thickened handle part of dark ivory, bearing the carving of twin coiling dragons, and the base were jagged as the tip of the dragons' tails jutted out. The tails coiled around each other slightly, forming something like a flower bud and it held a dark amber bead in it.
Mr. Piandao offered it to Zuko handle first. Zuko gripped the handle and the moment Mr. Piandao let go, he felt warm breeze on his face and coiling red light that looked like the outline of the coiling dragons on the hilt appeared from the wand right beneath Zuko's grip. He yelped as the light dragons moved and coiled around his forearm and disappeared. Zuko's reflex was to drop the wand and he felt his fingers straining to let go, but he did not. He could not. It felt like a much stronger hand was grasping his hand in place.
"That wasn't normal, was it?" he gulped.
"No, it's perfectly normal", Mr. Piandao smiled. "When the bond is formed, the wand will do something like that. It differs from wizard to wizard though. As I recall, your wand sprout a confetti of cherry blossom petals", he said to Aunt Noriko. "All over the shop, and I mean all over; I swallowed quite a few. Ursa's was more bombastic. Her wand started whistling the chorus of the Republic Anthem for a full minute, though not as bad as some others. Why, just a few days ago, I sold one that summoned a gale with the new owner right at the center, unharmed. I, however, was unpleasantly buffeted by dusty wind."
While Mr. Piandao wrapped the box, Zuko asked curiously. "What is my wand made of?"
"Tiger wood with ebony ivory handle, and…" his eyes glanced at Zuko's scar briefly. "…curiously, dragon blood amber as core."
Zuko looked at him blankly. Mr. Piandao turned to Aunt Noriko who suddenly was very interested on the counter. "Good luck, Zuko. May this wand serve you well. Your aunt has a lot to tell you."