Chapter Six: A Feast
The guards brought them to the top of the mountain, heading toward the castle. Ceres gazed up at it in amazement at the size of it. There were pillars and balconies everywhere. It was an amazing sight to somebody who'd never been there before. And she wasn't the only one, the girl and boy from the water tribes were amazed as well.
They were brought through many hallways and up stair cases that seemed to go on forever until they were brought to a single room. A throne was at the end of the room. An old man was sitting in it. He had a weird hat on that was adorned with feathers. Ceres knew who this was itmediately. It was the king of Omashu. 'Dad's gonna kill me' Ceres thought.
"And why have you brought these four children that before me?" he asked. His voice was high had funny sounding, but Ceres knew not to laugh.
"They are charged with vandalism, treason, and malicious destruction of cabbages." said the guard.
"Off with their heads! One of each head of cabbage!" hollered Horu. Ceres felt her neck and gulped.
"Silence! Only the king can pass judgment. What is your judgment sire?" said the guard.
The king scratched his chin for a moment and looked at the four kids in front of him. The boy from the water tribe was looking away- whimpering, the girl was trying to look really innocent, and the boy with the strange tattoos was looking away. He didn't look like he cared. Ceres was staring at the ground in a heap, shaking horribly. She was terrified.
"Throw them…" he paused, "A feast!" The four kids looked surprised. Ceres sighed in relief.
A few minutes later they were sitting at a table. Food was all over the table on platters decorated with engravings of dragons and pandas and all other kinds of animals. There were vegetables and fruits and meats and some other things that Ceres couldn't identify.
The king was standing behind him. He had a hand on the boy with arrow tattoos shoulder and one hand on Ceres' head. "So, we're all friends here." He said. He picked up a piece of chicken and held it near the boy with arrow tattoos. "Want some chicken?" he asked.
"I don't eat meat." he said.
"What about you? I'm sure you like meat." he said, shoving the chicken into the other boy's mouth. He then went to go sit down again.
"So, where are you all from?" the king asked them.
"We're from the south pole." said the boy who was stuffing his face. He was indicating to his sister and himself.
"I'm from two day's travel away." Ceres said quietly. She handed Leslie a piece of fish. Leslie ate it happily on Ceres' lap. The lemur on the boy with arrow tattoos looked at Leslie and made quiet grumbling noises. Ceres looked at it and smiled. She gave it an apple and it jumped onto the floor to eat it.
"And what about you?" the king asked the boy with the arrow tattoos.
The boy hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm from Kangaroo Island."
"Kangaroo Island, eh? I hear that place is really hopping!" he said. A few moments of silence before the boy from the water tribe burst out laughing. Ceres and the two others looked at him strangely.
"What? I thought it was pretty funny!" he said.
"All these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay!" he then shot a piece of chicken at the boy with arrow tattoos.
The piece of chicken stopped in midair in front of the boy. A ball of air was holding it there, and the boy's hands were moving around it. He was creating it.
"There's an air bender in our presence, and not just any air bender. The avatar" the king said. The boy quickly hid his hands under the table.
The boy stood up. "Yeah, you caught me. I'm the avatar. Doing my avatar things, and Keeping the world safe, too," his two friends stood up and huddled next to him, "No fire benders here! Good work everybody, and we'll see you next time!" They started to back out the door, fake smiles on their faces. Two guards put their spears in the way of the door and put their hands on their shoulders.
Ceres stayed in her chair. She knew that they weren't going to get to leave anytime soon. Leslie jumped back onto Ceres' head and hissed at the king. Ceres grabbed her and held her down.
"Let us leave!" the boy from the water tribe demanded.
The king lifted a lettuce leaf. "Lettuce leaf? He said, biting it. Ceres slapped her forehead. He then looked at the boy with arrow tattoos. "You will go through dangerous trials, tomorrow"
"What? Why should I?" asked the kid.
"You'll find out soon enough. Take them to their chamber!"
A guard leaned down to him. "Which chamber sire?"
"The newly refurbished one." the king said.
"Is that the good one or bad one?"
"The bad one that was newly refurbished and isn't bad anymore."
"Alright sire." The guard said. The other guards took the kids' hands at led them through the castle once again.
They took them up a few staircases that were in what seemed to be a tower. They stopped at a wall that had nothing on it.
"Where's the chamber?" asked the girl. One of the guards moved his hand and the wall disappeared. There was a room behind it. He pushed them in and moved the wall back up.
Ceres stumbled and stood up. She looked around. The room was nice looking. It had four beds in it and a few canopies hanging on the ceilings. She sat down on a bed as Leslie ran around the room.
"This is a prison cell?" asked the boy from the water tribe.
"He did say it was newly refurbished." Said the air bender.
The girl glanced at Ceres. She hadn't really noticed her until now. She'd been so quiet. She walked over to her. "Hi, I'm Katara." She said to her with a smile.
Ceres looked up at her. "I'm Ceres." She said.
The air bender looked over to them. "I'm Aang, and he's Sokka." He said this with a cheery smile. Ceres smiled back at him.
Leslie jumped onto the bed and looked at Katara and made a squeak. Katara gave her a pat on the head. The lemur jumped off of Aang's shoulder and went near Leslie and gave her a sniff. Leslie licked him and he jumped.
"I guess you've met Momo." Aang said with a smile.
Ceres smiled. "We should get some sleep." She suggested.
"You're right. With these trials tomorrow I'll need some rest." Aang said and jumped into his bed. Sokka and Katara did the same.
Ceres lay down in the bed she was sitting on and stared at the ceiling. Leslie curled up on the pillow and fell asleep. Ceres knew that her dad would be worried sick by now. She hoped that he would be okay.
Wow, that's the longest chapter that I've ever written! An astounding three pages! Plus, most of this was written from memory. I don't have a transcript or anything to use. Took me a few hours to write all that at once! Whew!