He looked around at his surroundings; it was pitch black. He didn't know where he was. Was he dreaming? Was he dead? What was this strange place.
"Trial one is complete." He heard someone say. He didn't recognize the voice.
"How do we know he's the one, sir? What if the same thing happens to him as did his father?"
"There's no way to be sure," the first voice replied in a slow, calming voice. "All we can conclude is he completed trial one with bravery."
"As did his father," the second voice, a woman's voice, replied, "and remember how that turned out?"
"Have faith, young one," said the first voice. "The prophecy says an airbender. Is he not an airbender?"
"Yes... but so was his father," the other voice retorted. "Look at the mess we did seven years ago, and think about the mess of what's to come when we're wrong with this boy."
"You know as well as I that he shares so many characteristics with his father: smart, kind, and loyal to his friends."
"But how do we know he's the one?"
"We don't, my dear child," said the first voice in a soft tone of hope. "Only fate can decide his destiny and only he can prove he is worthy for the job."
"..Um.. Hello?" The boy manage to speak. "Can you tell me where I am, please?"
"Come now, let him have peaceful dreams," the first voice spoke. "We've disrupted his rest."
"..Hello.."
There was a whooshing sound pounding in his ears and suddenly it had gone silent again. Then he started shaking. He opened his eyes wide.
"I finally got you up," said Moa with a smile. "I've been trying for the past few minutes-King's orders. I thought you were dead until you started muttering "hello" in your sleep."
"I had the strangest dream," the boy replied. "I think it was a dream."
"Well, I suppose your mind thinks of the craziest things when you're sleeping for nearly seventeen hours!"
"Seventeen hours? I'm so sorry..."
"No need to apologize, child." Moa announced as she led the boy to the bathroom. "You needed the sleep... I woke you just the right time to get you ready for your party."
"I slept the whole day away?"
"You did," nodded Moa. "Now go bathe... I'll have a nice suit laying out for you to wear. I'll be back in an hour to lead you to the ball room. Quickly now! Come on!"
He wanted to say thanks, but she pushed him in the bathroom, slammed the door shut, and continued with her business.
So he bathed quickly, trying not to think about his strange dream. Moa was right, it was only a strange dream because he slept for so long. He wished someone had woken him up at the appropriate time so he could help set up the party. It was all in the act of kindness, he supposed, when they let him sleep in.
He had just put on his clothes when Moa knocked on his door, inviting herself into his room.
"Come, sir," she said, grabbing his arm lightly and leading him to two large doors. "Go on, sir, open the door. Enjoy your party."
"Are you not welcome to come?" He asked Moa, confused on the situation. She had probably set up most of the party, why wouldn't she be coming?
"I have work to get done, young master," she smiled at him. He frowned at her, she gave him a kiss on the forehead that told him he shouldn't worry and enjoy his party.
He gave her a nod and opened one of the doors with force, suddenly his ears filled with laughter and voices of strangers. He looked around and saw people chatting away, young children running around the large, echoing room, and the smiling faces of people he never knew before beaming up at him like he was worth something. A few of the White Lotus members stood beside the walls around the room, guarding the place, making sure nothing's out of place.
"Ah, Xenos! I suspect you slept well," said a familiar voice. The boy turned to his left and saw the king smiling at him.
"I did, sir." The boy, embarrassed, said as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Thank you for letting me sleep in."
The king nodded sincerely as the princess came running up to them.
"Wonderful party, isn't it?" Princess Aiko spoke.
"Yes, thank you," said the boy.
"I'll introduce you to everybody I know," she announced, grabbing his arm and dragging him into the center of the party. "The White Lotus, you already know," she pointed to a White Lotus member. "See that man talking to my mother," she pointed in the direction her mother was, "you should stay away from him. He's trouble, he claims he's the rightful ruler of our beloved kingdom. He acts nice, but be careful what you say to him. He'll use it against you. I don't even think he was invited, I think he just showed up."
"Wannabe king," he muttered, "got it!"
"Okay, and most of these people," she waved her hand in the direction of a group of people, "they're the rich people of our kingdom who donate a lot of money, or something like that."
"Rich people or something," the boy muttered, "got it!"
"And some people, I can't point them all out because they're all around the room, are friends of my parents," she finally finished.
"Friends of parents," he muttered once more, "got it!"
"And that's the party guests! Want to dance?"
"I'm afraid I don't know how to dance," he replied with a frown. "And there's no music to dance to, either."
Suddenly the room filled with music, and everyone began to clap. The two children turned to one corner of the room and saw a whole orchestra of people playing instruments.
"You were saying?" Said the princess with a smile.
"I still don't know how to dance, sorry."
"I'll teach you," she announced, about to drag him to the dance floor.
"Everyone! Everyone can I have your attention," the king spoke, making the music stop and everyone look at him. "Xenos, can you come here, please?"
The boy walked awkwardly to the king as the party guests stared at him.
The king put his hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled up at his guests. "Everyone, this is our new house guest, Xenos. I decided to put together this little party to celebrate his arrival. I expect you all to treat him like he were my own son. Please, enjoy the party. Waiters will be around with drinks and food, so help yourselves."
Everyone clapped, then the music started up again and they all continued with what they had done before the king had made his speech.
"Have fun, Xenos," the king smiled at the boy. Then the queen came and dragged him off to greet other guests, leaving behind the boy and the princess.
"How 'bout that dance?" She spoke to him kindly. He nodded his head and they walked to the dance floor.
The boy had an amazing night. And because he had slept so long, he was full of energy; the later the night, the more energy he got. He danced with all types of people, the princess, some other children, even a few old ladies who thought he was a lovely dancer, though he never danced a day in his life up until now. The food the waiters had served was amazing. Everything was perfect in the boy's eyes.
The later the night got, the tired the guests and the waiters became. Who wouldn't be tired after a long night of partying and waitering? One waiter in particular, a tall, slender man, seemed to get slower and slower. In the boy's eyes, he was definitely over worked. And it didn't help that the wannabe king kept ordering, more like commanding, him to get him more drinks.
The man had ordered his sixteenth drink and the young waiter kindly brought to him. But before he could hand the man the drink, he slipped. The drink was up in the air, so the boy, without thinking, ran up near it, and before it hit the ground and smashed into pieces, he caught it.
The boy was proud of himself, but when he looked around the room the smile he had on his face quickly faded as he saw the party guests looking at him in shock. Even the waiter seemed more terrified than grateful. The White Lotus seemed to have no reaction, the boy did think he saw a few of them curl their lips slightly.
He looked down at the glass he had caught, and his heart skipped a beat. He hadn't caught it with his hands. He used airbending. The boy was looking down at a glass that was floating in mid air, one hand below the glass and one hand above it, only air keeping his hands from touching the glass.
He slowly removed his hands away from the glass, letting it drop to the floor, and awkwardly stood there as he pretended to not hear the whispers around him.
Then, someone began to clap behind him. He, and everybody else, looked to see who was clapping. It was the king.
"He told me about his magic tricks... I guess I should have believed him," the king spoke happily, still clapping his hands together.
The people's faces of shock soon turned into smiles and they joined in the applause. Still, the boy just stood there, looking at the king, who gave the boy a wink. Why did the king lie like that? The boy hadn't told him he did magic, he's never done magic in his life. It wasn't until the king walked out of the room that the boy realized what the king had done for him.
He ran after the king, ignoring the cheers and compliments people gave him about his "magic" tricks.
"Excuse me, sir," the boy called out.
The king stopped walking and turned to the boy. "Yes, Xenos?"
He looked at the kind face of the king. He wanted to tell him everything, about how his colony had got attacked, about his blind friend's death, about everything. But something told him that the king already knew and was just being patient until he was ready to talk.
The newspaper that the king hid from him, he was sure that the woman was the blind woman. And he knew that he just airbent, the king knows he's an airbender. The king knows who he is. The king is protecting the boy. That's why the White Lotus are here... because of him. But why?
The boy didn't dare ask why. He knew it wasn't the time to ask, even the old woman, who he knew and loved, knew how precious time was and the boy was far from being ready to know his fate. When the time was right, the king will tell him everything. And today was not that day.
"Thank you."
