Another update... in less than two weeks? I'm proud of myself.
This chapter is kinda dialogue heavy and I tried to incorporate some ideas about how lavabending works (inspired by RelmA's fabulous fic Runaway) and gotta admit, after reading Scáth's (shadowedstormy) Chaos Theories my image of Ghazan changed for good. I tried my best not to be a copycat in both cases, though, just needed to give credit where it's due. Some hints at backstory, but it'll take time to get there.
Enjoy!
A rock started floating until it reached his waist, just like a start of his regular earthbending practices. Its bland colour grew warmer and brighter and gradually lost any resemblance of clear shape. Ghazan didn't break his focus and urged the molten mass to hold together, but it was harder than it looked.
At this state, earth lost all of its properties he was well used to and his usual moves would only earn him severe degree burns. It took time until he had started to get the hang of it. Skin on his hands and forearms was rough with scars.
Unalaq, before leaving back to North Pole, had once commented that at this state, his bending needed to reflect the change of his element and adapt, become more flowing and less brute… even offered to teach him basic waterbending moves to help him gain a better understanding of it. After the course, Ghazan used up two months worth of his manners to keep his real opinion to himself - tthat it turned out to be absolutely useless and Unalaq probably just wanted to feel smug ordering him around when other times Ghazan would never give him the satisfaction.
Lavabending, an ability so rare even know-it-alls of Red Lotus struggled to find it mentioned once (in regards to Avatar Roku, as a plausible fusion of earth and firebending, making it a skill unique to the Avatar… or maybe not, as he was a living proof of), was left for him only to figure out.
Glowing red spots on the material were quick to fade, turning into shapeless, glassy crust. He flexed his arms closer to the rock to increase pressure. It shone bright yellow, radiating a new wave of heat into his sweaty face. He squinted, resisting the impulse to move it further away from him, like his common sense screamed at him after burning himself countless times. He changed the position of his arms, now compressing the mass from up and above to create a flat, disc-like shape.
One downside of finding out about abilities during a life-or-death situation was to find out what exactly had made it work in that one particular moment. Ghazan wasn't fond of returning to that memory. He didn't fancy living in one huge loop of guilt, unlike some of the order.
Drops of fiery liquid started leaking from the edges. Few almost dropped on his already blistered skin. As his concentration shifted to keep them in place, the rest cooled down rapidly again. Useless. He let it fall down and solidify, already fed up for one day.
Waterbenders had a natural, almost instinctive ability to change temperature and state of their element. He hadn't quite grasped it yet - all he knew how to do was to put the material under pressure until he could feel the individual particles moving, rubbing against one another, creating heat from continuous friction. To maintain it and prevent from cooling down or losing form, that was an entirely different matter. When his frustration reached its peak and he was in danger of losing concentration, he broke it off, worked out his usual forms and took walks. Anything to keep him away from the rest, especially now with Zaheer and Xai Bau back.
He stopped in the middle of his track as a deafening sound of explosion shook through him. Already back in fighting stance, he searched for the possible sourse. Couldn't be far, he was sure.
Great. Just that one day when the guarding falls on me, someone decides to wander close and blow up the place. Somehow, even that ends up being my fault, I'm sure of it.
He ran closer to the hideout, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from. Only silence followed.
No one resists or fight back - are they all dead?
That would put him in an unfavorable situation. While he didn't quite enjoy most of his company in Red Lotus, the enemies of his enemies were his friends. With them, he didn't have to fight for his life daily. All things considered, he was hardly in a position to complain.
Quick footsteps, closing in to him. While his seismic sense needed serious improvements, he easily recognized them as too light to belong to anyone from the group. It must have been the attacker alone.
The person slowed down - did they feel him too? - and stopped. His view was blocked by several large boulders, but they couldn't be out of his sight. Ghazan hid himself completely to not give away his position and waited for them to come closer.
Whoever was there took their sweet time to move, almost like they got lost. Didn't struck him as someone who knew what they were doing. If they were an earthbender, their seismic sense must have sucked even more than Ghazan's and that was something.
Tired of waiting, he lifted his head over the boulder to get a proper look.
About ten metres away from him, obvious to his presence, stood a tall, lanky girl, looking around with worried expression on her face, her chest rising and falling in deep breaths. Her forehead was almost fully covered by a strange tattoo, he didn't recognize the detail from his position. It seemed to be a source of her distress, as she reached out and looked even more anxious when her fingers brushed it. Her eyes started scanning the area, suddenly turning right to his spot.
Ghazan lowered his head, but not fast enough. She must have seen him.
"I know you're in there!" she called, her voice resolute. "Come right out, if you don't want to die this instant!" her voice wavered at that part, so it might have been a bluff, but he didn't feel like risking his luck.
He rose up to his full height, stepped out from behind his boulder - large enough to cause fatal damage if molten into lava, he registered quickly just in case - and headed towards her, bypassing between rocks. As he was closing in, he lifted his arms up to signify no harm. Better be cautious if she was really behind the explosion. On the other hand, she had a perfect opportunity to end him and didn't hurry to do so...
Now there were few metres between them. Her defensive stance lost some of its previous tension, but she was still eyeing him dubiously.
"Like what you see?" he smirked with more indifference than he actually felt. If she didn't appear so out of depth, he wouldn't tease.
She frowned, then asked him abruptly: "Are you Unalaq?"
"What?" her question took him by surprise. "No, no, why would you say such a thing?" how did she know about him in the first place was secondary to the insult.
"Then the only option left is Ghazan. If I remember the name correctly."
"Uh, yes. That would be me. How do you know? And who are you, by the way?"
Now that he confirmed his identity, she seemed relieved. Not okay yet, but better.
"No one important. A nuisance," her gaze shifted away from him as she answered, too brusquely for his liking.
"Is that how you want me to call you, A-Nuisance?" he lifted his eyebrows and exagerrated the pronunciation of her address.
He could tell how strongly she resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him.
"My name's P'Li." Reluctant, but his curiosity only got more fuel.
"See, it didn't even hurt, P'Li. How about answering my first question?"
"Um, what?"
"I asked how do you know my name?" he reminded.
"Ah. Well, Zaheer told me. He mentioned I could meet two people around my age, Unalaq and Ghazan. You were either one or the other. Or an enemy, but I didn't want to consider that possibility."
"Are you a new member, then?" she certainly didn't look like it, but hey, new surroundings, especially one like this, sure didn't help her comfort. People she probably met were also far from reassuring.
"No, I'm not. Xai Bau and Zaheer set me free during their mission," she shrugged. Again she only revealed the most basic facts, Ghazan believed deliberately.
"Didn't you have someplace better to return to?" he doubted anyone not in most desperate of conditions would join them. Red Lotus strived for a better, less cruel world, but that didn't equal to taking care of victims of power imbalance.
"Do you think I would I be here if I did?" her eyes narrowed and all traces of fear in her expression were gone.
Clearly a sensitive topic, he noted. They had something in common already.
"Ah, makes perfect sense, then," it actually didn't because a mere orphan had no place among them, not unless they had some kind of plan with her, but he wanted to steer away from dangerous territoty. She was still glaring at him.
Faint echoes of voices he had been aware of for some time grew clearer - mostly Zhi, Zaheer in the background. They weren't that far from the hideout and Ghazan didn't plan to wait until they brought the two of them into it as well.
"Let's get out of here for a minute. I don't feel like listening to any of them right now," he offered, but didn't expect her to nod firmly, no hesitation, just her eyebrows puckering up in dislike again.
"Me neither. Is there even some nicer place to go?" her sight fell on inhospitable setting around. He completely understood her distaste, even though as an earthbender he didn't find it so bleak as most people would.
"I have something in mind. Hope you enjoy heights," he grinned, then gestured to her to follow him. Considering how tall you are, you kinda don't have any other choice, do you? his tongue practically itched to add, but it might have been a bit too soon for teasing yet.
-o-
They mostly kept quiet during their ascent, but Ghazan didn't mind. His feet carried him automatically to one of his most frequently visited spots and his thoughts were preoccupied by the newest addition to the group. Weighing the matter realistically, he knew she wouldn't be here with them if she had absolutely nothing to offer. The idea certainly rubbed him the wrong way, but right now he refused to bring it up and cause her distress again.
She walked silently, her steps so quiet he would have to turn around and check if she didn't leave if it wasn't for his seismic sense (inadequate but still). He did it anyway, every few minutes of walking. P'Li never paid attention to him, always looking around as if she expected someone to jump at them anytime. Only made him wonder what kind of misery she went through, but knowing his own unwillingness to address his past, he decided to keep quiet about it.
"How long?" she asked.
"A while. We're almost at the top."
He didn't lie. The dusty path under their feet finally flattened as they stepped on a plateau. He liked it best when sun was setting but they didn't have several hours worth of time to wait for it. He recognized a forlorn road in the distance, leading to several small villages, each of them at least a day away on foot. Without a Satomobile, replenishing supplies would take almost as long as some of their missions did.
At least we wouldn't have to always stick to the place with worst possible living conditions. But anything for the sake of laying low, it seems.
"We're here! Feel free to admire the view, it gets old pretty quick," he announced cheerfully as P'Li passed him by to get closer to the edge. He caught up to see her reaction.
Amazement was written all over her slightly gaping mouth, her eyes open wide and her face now showed a person much younger than him, barely more than a child.
He smiled to himself. She definitely needed some sort of nice distraction more often.
"It's beautiful," she spoke after a while. "I don't know what you're complaining about."
"I spent a lot of time here in three weeks. Zaheer always gets annoyed that I keep disappearing and never tell anyone where, but I care too little to say I'm always nearby. If he wants to think the worst of me, not my problem," he shrugged. He personally didn't hate him, but after Xai Bau started paying him special attention, the boy started to have controlling tendencies and tried to lecture him about changing his behaviour. Ghazan quickly became sick of it.
"His opinion of you isn't any better," she answered. "I don't get it, personally. Zaheer can be too much, but also kind, and supportive," her face softened briefly as a shadow of smile pulled at her mouth corners.
"I never said he is bad. We have," he bent a several small pebbles from the ground beneath them, "a rocky relationship, is all," he grinned, anticipating her reaction.
She pierced him with a judgemental look. "That was awful."
"People never appreciate true art," he put those rocks back.
Now that silence ensued again, he mentally searched through possible topics to talk about. He wouldn't pass up the opportuninty to finally have a normal conversation with someone else than the rest of Red Lotus members.
"Cool tattoo, by the way," he lifted his gaze a bit upwards to her forehead. "I've never seen anything like it before. Does it mean anything, except standing for a nice target?"
Her eyes flew open with shock as an obvious indication that he just stepped into another no-no subject. Way to fucking go, Ghazan.
"Oh, shit. Sorry. Just forget I said anything," why did he have to ruin everything like this? To his utter shock, she didn't stand up to walk away. She smiled instead - well, made a weird expression probably similar to a grimace he had pulled that first and only time when he had tasted Unalaq's sea prunes, but who was he to judge? P'Li looked like she wasn't used to it, either.
"It doesn't mean anything. Not right now, at least."
He sensed some kind of second meaning behind her words, but he chose to let it be for now.
"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask... was it you who was responsible for that explosion? Or did Xai Bau pour his disgusting stewed cabbage over Zhi's scripts again?" Man, back then I though she would grill him alive, he smiled as he recalled that moment.
"No," she replied, then chuckled shortly. "Not that I know of. And yes, that was me behind it."
"Wow," he didn't see the extent but was impressed anyway. "What did you do?"
"I needed to get out of that cave. Nothing else would work," she averted her gaze.
Another thing she doesn't want to talk about. He didn't point out she didn't answer his question, but went along with the switch of topic.
"You know, I'm not surprised. As an earthbender, I don't mind living away from sunlight for a bit, but after a while it got on my nerves, too. Now I spend most of my time out and everyone just has to deal with it."
"I'm surprised they tolerate that. They seem obsessed with secretion," she sneered.
"Right now I'm too valuable for them to risk my leave."
"I certainly can't say the same, but living in that hole wouldn't change that."
"You have nothing to lose, then," he smirked. She might be traumatized, but no doubt a nice company. Not that he had much options to choose from. Right now, anyone who didn't spout Air Nomad philosophy every third sentence scored a huge plus point in his book. Not a bad thing she was stuck with them, after all.
P'Li wasn't sure how she imagined Ghazan, but if Zaheer's warnings were anything to go by, he was the last person she expected to get on well with. His respect of her boundaries and attempts to ease the mood and - last but not least - not a word uttered on subject of her combustionbending felt like a much needed fresh air. Ghazan didn't treat her as someone who needs protecting, neither as an unnecesary complication in plans. He spoke to her as his equal.
She wondered what Zaheer would say once they got back. Decision was forming inside her head to keep away from him for some time. She genuinely enjoyed his company, but for now, P'Li hardly saw any better option. It would spare him trouble, too, since he was engaged in the organization's activity more than Ghazan and they would try to keep her away from him anyway. Learning how to deal with her problems and overcome them on her own felt like a crucial step if she ever had to stop feeling like she didn't belong.
Obviously, the confrontation with the rest was inevitable. Zhi reminded her of past too much to make her comfortable, but she wouldn't let anyone step all over her again. New ferocity burning inside her, P'Li was determined to make the best out of this strange new life.
As they approached the hideout, she saw them all waiting close to the hole her combustion had made. She felt a sting on her forehead again, and for a hundreth time considered just burning the mark off for good. She forced herself to think practically - the pain, high possibility of infection and scars meant too much trouble right now. Deep down, she refused to acknowledge her ability could be needed again, like when she saved herself from that cave almost on instinct, something she had wished to do during her captivity almost every day. Thinking like that - searching for a bright side of something meant for death only - made her feel dirty.
Zhi met her halfway first, Zaheer close behind. P'Li didn't know how he managed to look worried and relieved at the same time, but she focused on the woman in front of her instead.
An emotion she couldn't quite specify burned with intensity in her copper irises. It reminded her of Daigo's twisted look when a new punishment came to his mind, but she shook off the memory.
"Back from a walk?" Zhi lifted one eyebrow.
"Yes. So?" she challenged.
"You don't understand the importance of security in this group, do you?" her voice wobbled dangerously close to breaking into yelling, though she had an impressive control over herself.
"I understand only that you, apparently, want to lock me up underground and keep me from everyone's sight," P'Li returned her fiery stare. "I think it's obvious after years of captivity, that's the last thing on my mind. If you force me, I will defend myself, with every means necessary."
Never again.
"We strive towards freedom, not oppression," she smirked with scorn. "However, you're with us now. You won't be an exception to certain rules."
"Like what?" she was about to snap at the cruel woman if she demanded something too close to her past conditions.
"I won't pressure you to be somewhere where you feel uncomfortable. That poses a higher risk to us, though, so that means double the safety when you're staying outside. At least one member has to know your location. Next time," she hardened her tone, "restrain yourself from destroying anything valuable to us. Since you're not an earthbender, you won't have to repair the damages you caused. That can change if something like that repeats again. Understood?"
The last thing P'Li expected was for Zhi to take into account what she wanted. She despised the woman's imperative way of speaking, but for now, she could compromise.
If she doesn't plan to spite me, neither do I. She nodded wordlessly.
"Alright. We have that settled, then." Zhi reached behind her back for something and then threw it at her. Surprised, P'Li recognized the cloth as her bandanna.
"You seemed to prefer to have your tattoo covered. Pity, to hide something of highest honor like a mark of shame, but at least you won't blow up more of our property."
P'Li took it and covered her forehead, almost ecstatic relief flowing through her. Zhi's words lit a spark of curiosity, but she pushed them back .It was just too much for now.
"Ghazan can accompany you. He seems to share you reluctance for staying here," she sneered and her eyes moved on the boy standing few steps behind her.
"No problem, Zhi," he replied with his usual sass. She knew him only few hours and could already picture his lazy smirk.
"Before you do, you can help Kwan out to fix the wall, though."
"As I already said - no problem, Zhi," this time, she clearly caugh his expression as he walked past her towards the hole. It was exactly as she imagined it.
As the group finally scattered, Zaheer didn't miss his opportunity to approach her.
"Are you okay?" his hand brushed her forearm briefly, as if out of his own accord. While she was grateful for his concern, at this moment she wasn't in the mood for any more fussing.
"Never been better," she couldn't keep the biting edge from her voice even if she tried. "Seriously, Zaheer, I'm not going to break. Stop acting like it."
"It looked like that back in the cave," he responded defensively.
"I'm fine now. I'm not a little baby to constantly keep watch over."
"I'm… sorry if it seemed that way," he stepped away from her.
"That came out wrong," she regretted speaking so harshly to her only friend. "I can't tell you how much your help meant. But I can't rely on anyone anymore. I need to do this on my own."
"With Ghazan around doesn't strike me much as on your own," he retorted, bitterness dripping from his tone.
"I don't get what you two have against each other. Have you ever thought that Ghazan isn't like you say he is?"
"You don't know much about him," Zaheer smiled mirthlessly. "Just… be careful, P'Li. Not everyone is like they make themselves out to be."
She wanted to snap back and argue that Ghazan didn't even try to seem better, just had a normal, civil conversation with her and made her feel better after he accidentally stepped into a sensitive topic. But she had little patience for any of that.
"I will. Stop worrying."
-o-
After dinner and receiving some blankets from Zhi - eyeing her as if she was a difficult puzzle to resolve - she found a place surrounded with enough boulders her form wouldn't be immediately noticeable from far away. The surface was anything but comfortable, but better than walls of the hideout falling right into her.
"Hey, P'Li," she heard Ghazan's voice behind her back.
"Yes?"
"I won't be staying here, or anywhere nearby. Not very far, if anything happens. I just need my space, you know?" there was nervousness in his voice she heard for the first time. She wondered why, but he deserved no questions asked after he did the same for her numerous times that day.
"Sure. Go ahead," she also felt it was better that way. Her nightmares subsided, but she couldn't say for sure they disappeared for good. She wanted to deal with them in private.
Her sleep was dreamless and deep, not even distant screams and sounds of frantic running disturbed it.
So, I hope you liked this chapter, I really enjoyed writing from Ghazan's POV. I tried my best to make it distinctive, so feedback is always appreciated. Let's hope I can stay in this tempo a while longer. Your reviews are the best way to help that, heh.
See ya!
Kat
