Part – 1

Chapter – 8

"So, what's the plan?"

Hiyori asked this question while sitting upright on her bed with Tark sitting next to her and eating a bowl of flavoured rice. Naomi and I sat together on the adjoining empty bed in the room while everybody else was outside eating their meals. I could see Dev and Kova sitting together outside and talking while Dev was eating.

"Be specific." Said Naomi.

"What's the plan with the Avatar? Which elements will he learn in what order?" she asked, properly.

"He'll finish Firebending training from me. After high school, you guys can take your pick." I said, while folding my arms.

"I'll take him next." Naomi decided.

"Who do you have in mind to train him?" I asked.

"Me. Nobody else is to be trusted." She replied.

Wow, she'll train him herself? That's amazing.

"The Air nation can take him after you, then. The monks will train him with the rest of us. He can master his Avatar State there." She said, while keeping her empty bowl on her bedside table.

"I guess, we're last. I'm sure the Chief will train him." said Tark.

Everyone was surprised. The Chief hasn't taught for over twenty years because of how busy he is.

"How are you so sure that he will?" I asked.

"It's obvious. If the Avatar wishes to be trained then he'll be trained by the best." Tark replied.

"That's quite generous of him." said Hiyori, with a small smile.

He smiled back at her. Okay…

"What should we do about the banished Princess?" asked Naomi.

"I honestly don't know. She's banished from my territory and I cannot undo the order of the previous Fire Lord." I said, while crossing my arms and brooding.

"She should be in prison." Said Naomi.

There was a pause. We all were thinking about different places to imprison her in but just then, a knock came on the door.

"Yes?" I called out.

"Dinner has been prepared, my lord!" called out a Guardian.

"We're coming." I said, while getting down from the bed. "Let's discuss this after eating."

"Yeah, let's go. We'll be back, Hiyori." Said Naomi and went out the door with me.

Tark also slightly squeezed her shoulder reassuringly then went out after us. We grabbed our plates and I noticed Dev and Kova having a friendly chat with the rest of the spirits of the delegates. He came over after putting his plate away and I told him of our decision.

"Great. That's…wow, I don't know what to say." He said.

"Anything for the Avatar, right?" I replied.

A guardian, one of the two who could speak, had just approached us and slightly bowed. I beckoned him to sit down with us and he did.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"I think we can help you, My Lord." He replied.

"With what?" I asked.

"With the prisoners…" he said, in a low tone so that only we could hear.

"What kind of help? I cannot take them back to my nation." I stated.

"We can transport them to a prison in Guatemala, if you wish." He said.

"Are you sure they can be held there?" I asked.

"Yes, my lord. It functions for that purpose." He replied.

"Then it's settled." I said and he got up.

"We will move out as soon as you all leave, my lord." He said, bowed and left.

Dev noticed him go towards the square where Sakhi was still bound and weakened with a few others then looked back at me. I noticed it and tried to continue eating but I was slightly annoyed.

"What happened?" I asked.

"How can you not take responsibility for Fire Nation criminals?" he asked.

I was taken aback slightly and I looked around to check if nobody heard that. What the heck? How can you say that out loud, Dev?! You'll make me look bad.

"Seriously?" I slowly asked.

"You heard me. Why can't we take them and keep them in our prisons? They are Fire Nation citizens, right?" he said.

"They are banished, Dev. This order came from my Mother, the Previous Fire Lord. It was unfortunately her last." I said.

"I don't get it." he said. "Aren't you the Fire Lord now?"

"Yes, but if my clan gets to know then it won't be good. Plus, I don't even have the space and security to keep her, okay? Didn't I tell you that my Family is disbanded?" I said, slightly annoyed.

Dev became silent at that because the rest of the delegates just came and joined us. The rest of the night went on quickly and within another hour everybody went to their rooms.

The next morning, I and Kova woke up early and left the campsite towards another side of the ruins and into a building with no ceiling. We sat down cross-legged with two lit candles in front of us, closed our eyes, and began to meditate. Confused as to why I, a Firebender, am meditating? A practice used by mostly Avatars and Airbenders?

To be honest, I'm not too sure myself.

"You aren't missing a single day, Kova. I still don't understand why we should be doing it." I said.

"It's for your own good." He replied, without opening his eyes.

"Kova, what is going on?" I asked, sternly.

"Sakhi is growing more powerful. It doesn't look like it on the outside but I could feel it when she fought the Earth Kingdom Princess. I want you to grow more powerful so that you won't need me in an emergency." He explained.

"Why are you saying this as if you won't be there?" I asked.

"Of course, I'll be there. But the situation now is risky. The Avatar is here and will be known to the whole world anytime so- "he started.

"Get to the point." I said, raising my hand to stop him.

"What if Sakhi attempts to kill him? Or others?" he asked.

"Are you saying I cannot stop her?" I asked.

"You can if you do this. We have to be prepared so enough talking. Let's begin." He said.

I closed my eyes and we both took deep breaths until we synced. After a few minutes, the two candle flames decreased in size as we breathed in and went back to normal as we breathed out. This specific exercise helped me connect with my element more and I've only learnt this when I visited the Air temples in south east Asia in my childhood.

Suddenly, one of the candles extinguished by a quick breeze and we opened our eyes. Tark had creaked open the door wide.

"I was busy, Tark." I said.

"My bad. Hiyori's sleeping and Naomi and the Avatar went for a trek together. So, I thought I'd find you." He said, entering and sitting down in front of me as Kova left outside.

"Okay." – extinguishing the other flame as well – "How's life at home?" I ask.

"Nothing much. Mostly patrolling after school and the occasional foreign trip. I carry a spear there." He replied.

"That's nice. I don't carry anything." I said.

There was a short pause. Why is he here, man?

"All right, you want to say something important now?" I asked, directly.

"Yes." He said and suddenly shifted his feet and got on his knees. "I wanted to apologize for bloodbending on the Avatar. It won't happen again. Please forgive me."

"How did you learn it? Isn't it banned?" I asked, confused.

"It's under consideration. I've learnt it from the oldest bloodbender. He's alive and well." he said.

Under consideration? Seriously? How can bloodbending be under consideration? It's too dangerous for anybody to know.

"Honestly, to use that in such a petty situation is unforgiveable. I thought we all knew each other well enough to be patient for an explanation. Anyway, you should ask forgiveness from the one you did it on." I said, sternly.

I cannot possibly be secure around this guy. How can he just reveal this to us when this type of bending is still considered illegal? It's scary, once you think about it. I can't imagine how Dev felt just completely immobilised in the air and all I could do was just…watch. Tark could have crushed his organs too! And that would just end it.

"Well, go! Now." I instructed to which he immediately got up, turned around and left out the door.

He passed Hiyori in a hurry and didn't even notice her. She peeked inside and entered then sat down where Tark did.

"Were you meditating?" she asked, while pointing at the candles.

"Yeah, it's-Kova wants me to do it." I said.

"I won't ask why but if you want a few more techniques then I can help you. Maybe after training Dev you can come to our abode." She said.

"Really? Thanks." I said. "How are you feeling now?"

"Tark said to take it easy but I feel fine." She said.

"He cares about you." I said.

"He cares about you too." She said.

I didn't reply to that statement. I care about only one person: The Avatar. I can't think about anything else. I did notice Tark's concern for Hiyori. But it's not so different than for me. Maybe he behaves like this with everybody.

After some time, we all got together for lunch and the Guardians also ate with us.

"What did you say to that Water Nation Delegate?" asked Dev, while eating near me.

"Nothing much…why?" I asked.

"He said sorry about the bloodbending he did. It was weird because ever since we got here, he's disliked me to a huge degree." He said.

"He's weird anyway." I said, fending off any enquiry.

"Do you think I can learn that, though?" he asked.

"It's illegal, Dev." I said, slowly.

"Then how did he learn it?" he asked while glancing over at Tark eating with Hiyori and their spirits.

"I don't know." I said and looked over towards the same direction as well.

It doesn't make any sense to me. Tark is quite calm about the fact that we know about this. Does that mean Bloodbending will be legal? But that must be discussed with the rest of the nations. Why has it garnered more interest now? What changed their minds because I'm not convinced? Dev clearly wants to learn so he doesn't get beat down like that again.

The next morning, we packed up all our things and started trekking up the mountain from which we came down from with our stuff. After a couple of hours, we rested for a while and ate lunch. A few minutes later, we resumed going down the mountain and reached the bottom by late evening. We walked for some more time and found the same driver who had brought us and this time, he was waiting with a minivan so that we all could fit in with our bags together.

I gave one last look towards the mountain and waved 'Bye' to the few Guardians who had escorted us then boarded the van. Without stopping in between, we drove all the way to the Airport in Lima and got down at the Departures area grabbing our bags carefully as our spirits were in them.

"I guess, this is good bye for now, guys!" I said, before we all entered.

Hiyori hugged me tightly then hugged Dev as well.

"Not for long, Asin! Keep in touch!" she said.

She gave a hug to Naomi and Tark next. Naomi gave me a hug as well and put her hand on Dev's shoulder and shook his hand.

"It's an honour to have met you. I'm looking forward to your training with me." She said.

She gave a formal hug to Tark then Tark hugged me too.

"I hope to see you again." He said.

"You'll see him definitely." I replied.

He shook hands with Dev as well.

"An honour, Avatar. Train well." he said.

He hugged Hiyori again and Naomi hugged me again then we all entered the airport and split up towards our different gates and boarded our flights. The flight was mostly going silently till Dev broke it.

"Where are we going in the next holidays?" he asked.

"Andaman and Nicobar. The ancestral Sun warriors live there. They can help enhance your fire production." I replied.

"How?" he asked.

"If you are worthy to the masters, then you'll receive the knowledge." I said, being cryptic about it.

"Seems like they have a lot of pride." He said.

"You seem to have a lot as well, if you think you can easily obtain things because of your status." I said.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"You'd better control that in front of them." I warned.

"Fine."

After many hours, we finally reached Hyderabad again and we were even more tired as we reached home that we went straight to bed.

In the morning, I unpacked my bag and went downstairs to the kitchen to see Dev adding two spoons full of sugar into two cups of coffee. He turned around and gave one to me after stirring them. This is the first time he's done this ever since he started living in my home. I took a small sip.

"Wow. This is good." I said.

"My dad worked in a coffee shop so…" Dev said slowly.

Oh…no wonder he didn't.

After a few minutes, Dev went upstairs to meditate with Kova and I was downstairs drinking the rest of my coffee as Shailaja worked in the kitchen.

Sakhi was taken to the prison that the Guardians had told me about, as far as I know. But Kova is still worried. How did she fight Naomi? She didn't have a spirit with her. Did she buy one from the black market? I've only heard of things like that happening. How is she trying to achieve a high level of power?