Chapter 12 – Dead Rock
Disclaimer: I own a cup of tea
"I can get used to the food here", said Sokka as they and the boys walked back to their dorms, teasing slivers of food to dislodge from between his teeth with a toothpick. So inappropriate. "Sokka likey."
Zuko lagged around when the others went to have a shower. He pulled out his luggage and thought he should unload his books and equipments. The cabinet at the foot of the table was intended to be where students store their books. He was unpacking his books and he found a square pack wrapped in newspaper and ribbons. Curious, he picked it up and unwrapped it.
He saw his seven-year-old self grinning widely with a missing tooth, holding a homework paper, wrapped in the embrace of his Uncle Noren and Aunt Noriko. Uncle Noren was caught mid-laugh and Aunt Noriko planted her kiss on the back of his head. Zuko knew this photograph; it was taken when he got his first A+ at school. Only, this could not be the photograph that should be sitting on the Kai's living room.
This photograph was definitely magic; picture-Zuko occasionally waved from the photograph, Uncle Noren coughed a bit and resumed his laughing, and Aunt Noriko paused her kisses a bit to ruffled picture-Zuko's hair. A small note was tucked on the corner of the frame and he picked it up. On one side it said 'For Zuko' and on the other side Aunt Noriko had written 'Your first A seems appropriate for the occasion. The second picture is the only one of your mother's I have. Love, Uncle and Aunt'.
Zuko's mouth parted open. He quickly moved his family picture and under it, a wooden frame held the smiling photograph of his mother. Ursa was sitting regally on a stool, draped in wine red robe, her dark brown hair held in an elegant top-knot, with the majority of the silky mass flowing freely on her back. Her smile was kind and soft. Zuko felt his eyes grow warm.
He had her jaw and cheekbones; his own hair was raven and shaggy, darker and not as smooth as hers, his eyes slightly darker shade of amber, and her mother's skin was a tint paler. He set the two photographs on his nightstand and, with a last sad smile at them, he retrieved his towel and went to the bathroom, all the way thinking about how he could make a phone call home to his aunt and uncle.
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The next two days of orientation brought more objects to study for the students. Most of the objects were magic-made, like enchanted wooden sculptures and ceramic figurines molded with magic. Some even had active Elements trapped in it. Some were pure magic, like the flames on a candle that were manifested from pure Fire Element. Headmaster Iroh had also randomly thrown in regular non-magical items, like a pile dirt that Pong energetically thought to be pure Earth Element. The task might be monotonous, but it was fun.
Zuko and his friends had also taken to exploring the surrounding floating islands. They found a cluster of five islands that was dedicated to Herbal Lore Department. Madame Taku, a rather insane but kind ancient diminutive witch who taught the class, gave the kids a tour and let them play with her snow white cat, Miyuki.
The middle island held a giant greenhouse that was filled with various plants and flowers. The other four islands that surrounded it, she explained, were enchanted with powerful Season Spells; each island had a different permanent seasonal climate so she can grow certain seasonal plants all year round. Asami had asked why she did not do that in the greenhouse; Madame Taku cackled in response, which kinda scared the kids. She then explained that some of the most powerful herbs could not adapt to the constant artificial climate that greenhouses provide. They needed to experience both natural constancy and change, and the Season Spell worked better for that. When the kids were about to leave, she gave them each a peach and sent them off with her witchy cackle. The kids only dared to eat those peaches after Sokka finished his and he did not suddenly throw up or something.
On their third day, they stumbled on the School Menagerie. The entire island was a cleverly terrained spaces; several natural landscape separated by natural-looking forests and tall rock formations like a giant maze. They were not allowed to enter the Menagerie for safety reason but there was a small island next to it on an elevated position where they could view it from a far.
The Menagerie was occupied by numerous impressive magical creatures. Zuko noticed a band of flame-tailed red monkeys playing on a grove, a pack of giant hounds running across their private plain, and a group of pure white rhinoceroses grazing on a meadow. Another round of exploration brought them to an island where the third years were doing a practical class of Defensive and Exorcism Magics. Master Kunyo allowed them to watch from the side, but only after he cast a protective barrier to shield them from stray spells. The third years were having a freeform duel as a warm-up. Mako was called first. When he moved to the center of the arena, the number of the students who groaned almost equaled those who cheered. Most of those who cheered were girls though.
A boy of Air House was called next to be his first opponent. Mako and the boy nodded at each other and whipped their wands to the side like swords. Their other hand patted their Book of Shadow and the scrolls unfurled themselves, floated up in front of their chests. At Master Kunyo's mark, the two started. Zuko did not bother asking if anyone saw the Sigils that leaped out of the books and settled at the tip of the duelists' wands; he had accepted the fact that, for some unknown reason, he could see Sigils, at least non-active ones, without even trying.
The duelists summoned the non-active Sigils from their Books of Shadows, plain outline of the knot works with no aura in it, and they traced the Sigils with the tip of their wands, filling in the empty Sigils with the gold Aura of raw magic. Done with that, they spoke the Words and the Sigils turned into spells.
The Air boy's hasty spellwork was evaded easily. Mako's red spell hit the Air boy square on the chest. The Air boy dropped his wand and did a weird funny dance as he clawed his chest as if he had fire ants swarming his body. The other students laughed. Master Kunyo declared Mako the winner and dispelled Mako's charm with a lazy flick of his wand. Zuko saw only a flicker of gold Aura from the Master's wand.
Mako clearly outclassed his peers. He defeated four more opponents with his fast wandwork before Master Kunyo allowed him to retire to give other students a chance. After the warm-up, Master Kunyo delivered a strict warning to the freshmen to not attempt the spell he was going to teach the class; not that they needed such warning. The spell he taught was a protective spell with Water Element weaved into the Sigil that Master Kunyo tested the integrity of by shooting fireballs at them.
When the class ended, Mako walked them back to the school. Zuko asked him about methods of communication available for the students. Mako gave him directions to the Mirrors Room in the castle and the Post Tower that sat on its own island next to the Menagerie.
Zuko mulled them over and thought using enchanted mirrors to contact his family would be risky; if Kiyi was around when that happened, things could get ugly. Sending bird messengers might yield similar problem. To his surprise, Mako fished out a cell phone from his pocket and thrust it to Zuko's hand with no hesitation.
"There's a small island we call Dead Rock", he said. "The story goes, long ago a bunch of seventh graders experimented with some strong dispelling charms on an enchanted apple and ended up nullifying the enchantment that kept the island they were practicing on floating in the air. That island crashed on another island under it, thankfully a much bigger one, and they left it there. The dispelling charms still work and they cancel out magic around that island. You can climb on the dead island and make a phone call."
Before Zuko could politely refuse, Mako gave him the directions to the Dead Rock and hurried away to his next class. With no other choice, Zuko decided to make the call. The girls decided to part with the boys as Asami and Suki wanted to visit the library again. Aang said something about feeding Momo and headed back to their dorm. So, Zuko, Sokka, and Haru ended up trekking through the small cluster of islands on the east side, treading on connecting clouds, and passing through what looked like the more undeveloped side of the whole cluster of islands.
The western side where the Herbal Islands, training arenas, and Broom Balls Stadium were looked less forest-like. Zuko had a suspicion that the infamous Forbidden Forest would be located somewhere here on the east. They took the path along south of the Menagerie, hopping through a bridge that was the chain of small cushion-sized islands chained together by the enchanted cloud, then up and further east.
Along the way, they ran into Madame Hama who was too busy inspecting a tree that grew on the outskirt of a thick forest to notice them. There was a straw doll nailed to the trunk of the tree and the old witch was murmuring something, pointing her wand at it. That was reason enough for the boys to refrain from greeting her and quickly quicken their pace. There was a rundown old cabin at the edge of the woods next to her and Zuko wondered if Madame Hama lived there.
After a few more minutes of waking, they found it. The island was right on the outskirt, as Mako had said, and the Dead Rock, no bigger than a dorm room, sat on top of it, taking up space around a quarter size of the bigger base island. It was cracked but still held. It looked like an asteroid that fell on the island beneath but failed to do damage. The ground beneath the Rock was smooth and untarnished. The dead Rock itself was big enough for a dozen kids to sit around on, for a half a dozen to play tag on, maybe.
At some point, people had carved steps on the side of the Dead Rock to ease access to the top of it. Curiously, Zuko accessed his Sight. Indeed, the island they were on emanated faint but pure gold Aura. The Dead Rock had no Aura but it did have a faint, nearly invisible bubble of clarity around it. Zuko guessed that must be the dispelling charm range.
When Zuko was a kid, his homeroom teacher made him and his classmates memorize their home addresses and phone numbers, and would quiz them about it randomly. Being a belligerent little bastard that he had been, Zuko had thought it was stupid. Now, he was grateful. True to Mako's words, as soon as he climbed up the Dead Rock, he got full bar. He punched in the numbers with shaky hands. The cold breeze up there in the cloud made him shiver even more.
He reached Uncle Noren's voicemail, which was kind of a bummer, but hearing his uncle's voice again was a balm to the ache Zuko had not realized was there. "Uncle, it's Zuko. Sorry I couldn't call earlier. Still learning the ropes here. Anyway, everything's fine, so don't worry about anything. Um…" so much he had planned to say, yet none came to mind now he got his chance. "I'll call again as soon as I can. I'm borrowing friend's phone now. So… yeah… bye. And I love you guys."
Sokka and Haru tactfully did not notice Zuko rubbing his eyes as he stored the phone back to his pocket. Sokka sat down on the edge of Dead Rock and sighed. "Ya know, for all the weirdness Norms came up with, they really got some ingenious things", he said, leaning back on his hands. "That 'phone' thing is almost magic."
Zuko snickered and leaped down from the Dead Rock. "Should we go back? Almost dinner time."
"Aww, yeah!" Sokka pushed himself off. Sadly, he must have unbalanced himself somehow. He pitched down face first to the ground below.
"Sokka!" Haru jumped down. Zuko leaped to Sokka's side.
"Dude, you okay?" Zuko asked, panic in his voice.
"Urgh… yeah…"
They helped him out and his face was a mess. There was blood in his teeth, his nose was clearly broken, and his lips was swollen and cut badly. The bloody splat zone where his face met the ground was now surrounded by spots of blood drizzling from his face. "Argh… that hurt…"
"Don't speak, man. Lemme see", said Haru.
"What is going on here?"
They boys froze and turned to the source of the voice. Madame Hama was walking towards them. Though the woman was ancient and hunched, she walked with no apparent impairment to her agility, which actually made her look even more creepy. "You boys are not fighting, I hope", she frowned as she glided the few steps between them. "Two against one is hardly fair."
"No, he fell", Zuko said quickly, pointing at the bloody spot where Sokka's face met the ground. "It looks bad."
"Don't move", Madame Hama took out her wand. Upon close inspection, her wand was not cream-colored wood as Zuko had originally suspected when they saw her at the edge of the woods; the knobby part at the base was small but it was there and it could only mean that her wand was made of bone. A Water Tribe wand, probably so old the color had faded and yellowed, and the knob, which might have been bigger originally, was rubbed small with decades of handling. "Hmm… how many fingers am I holding?"
"Three", replied Sokka through bloody mouth.
Madame Hama drew a fast Sigil and muttered a quick Word, too fast for Zuko to catch. She nodded. "Falling from that height yet not a single crack on your skull. You're lucky (told you Zuko would learn that Sokka had a thick skull)", Madame Hama cast another fast spell. The cut on Sokka's lips knitted and his nose mended itself. "There, how do you feel?"
"Huh… much better", Sokka sniffed and exhaled. "Thank you, ma'am."
"You are very welcome, boy", Madame Hama smiled kindly. "Still, it's safer if you would go to the Infirmary and have your injury looked at. Run along now, boys."
