Rei awaited for news about the unknown ship approaching the harbor. Her neck stopped stinging for the time being which was a temporary relief. The burn already began to blister and was still emitting heat, which still hurt to some degree. Zhao really did do a number on her, but she hopes that the burn will heal completely. She used her bending to listen attentively to every conversation in the vicinity close to her. Not much has come up from those conversations, but Rei still stayed vigilant. Most of the conversations she did overhear were just general banter. It was strange how normal the fire nation soldiers seemed by their conversation topics. They were almost the same as the conversations people at home would have. It was somewhat eerie in fact, but they weren't like the people at home. They were the ones who burned down her village. These soldiers were evil, eager to destroy everything in their path. She shook her head in dismissal, and focused on the sounds around her.
Rei focused in on an approaching group. It didn't sound like many people, maybe only two or three. Only one person seemed to be carrying a conversation with himself while two others walked with him. The man sounded older, talking about tea of all things. He seemed pretty cheerful talking about it though. She could make out the tail-end of his ramblings, which were pretty amusing in itself.
"…ginseng tea is my favourite after all. Although any tea is a gift in itself, along with a nice hot, meal." The man said matter-of-factly.
"It is an honor to host the great General Iroh, hero of our nation." Zhao's voice replied. It appears that he went to greet the newcomers himself. "Would Prince Zuko like any refreshments?" He said that last part a bit derisively, indicating a slight contempt for whomever he was talking to.
"No." Another voice replied, assumingly this Zuko guy. His voice was cold and hard, and also sounded around the same age as Rei which was a bit exciting.
The trio continued walking closer, but more towards Zhao's tent. Rei heard the rough tent flap next door fold over. She also heard chairs scratching on a hard surface and the clinks of various dishes.
"You'll have to excuse my nephew, Commander. The ship's repairs have been an unexpected hindrance." The man assumed to be Iroh said.
"Oh yes, the boy's quest must be very tiring…" Zhao replied dismissively. "The fire nation however has made significant progress in the war. By year's end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be in our rule."
Rei heard a scoff. "If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool." Said Zuko.
"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue." Zuko retorted. "So, how is your search for the Avatar going?"
A loud crash sounded, making Rei jump in surprise. The crash was loud and elongated, with metallic ringing sounding far and wide. There was a moment of silence when the crash finally ended, followed by Iroh's voice.
"Uhm…my fault, entirely."
"We haven't found him yet." Zuko uttered.
Zhao scoffs. "Did you really expect to? The Avatar died a hundred years ago…along with the rest of the airbenders."
Oh smooth, Rei mocked. Nice little addition there, pretend that I don't exist.
There was an uneasy pause. "Unless you found some evidence that the Avatar is alive." Zhao pried, his voice dripping with malice.
The Avatar? Rei thought. No, there was no way that there was any evidence that the Avatar is actually still alive. Or is there? If an airbender like her could be found, then perhaps the Avatar could in theory be alive. Rei was greatly intrigued by the dramatic turn of the conversation.
"No. Nothing." Zuko replied weakly. It's like you said, the Avatar probably died a long time ago."
Rei heard the scratching noises of chairs being moved. "Come on uncle, we're leaving."
Huh, I'm guessing Iroh is his uncle, Rei thought. Zuko only took a few paces before there was a sheer sound of metal being scratched, probably spear heads pushing together to bar the path.
"Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed." An unknown voice uttered. "They confirmed Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but let him escape."
"So remind me," Zhao sneered. "How exactly was your ship damaged?"
Oh shit, Rei gasped. The Avatar is alive.
Rei listened in on the entire conversation that followed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Apparently while this Zuko guy was in the South Pole, the Avatar shot a bright light into the sky which signaled his position with a nearby water tribe. Not only that, but he was a child! No older than 12, the boy was a gifted airbender that managed to escape Zuko's grip with the help of two of the water tribe members. While escaping, the Avatar wiped everyone out with some epic water bending and flew away on a giant flying bison. Last time she checked, bison couldn't fly but what did she know. Rei wouldn't have believed it if she wasn't hearing it from the source. Maybe she could find a way to find this Avatar. The last two airbenders on the planet are bound to meet at some point, right? When the story was finished, it was clear that Zhao was just as intrigued as Rei.
"So, a twelve-year old boy bested you and your firebenders?" Zhao spat. "You're more pathetic than I thought."
"…I've been hunting the Avatar for two years and I…"
"And you failed!"
Rei jumped back at the loud voice, hitting her head against her pole. Zhao's voice boomed and echoed from the tent, sending little vibrations in the air. She could clearly tell that he wasn't at all pleased. Then again, when has she ever seen him in a good mood?
"Capturing the avatar is too important to leave in a teenager's hands. He's mine now."
Rei heard footsteps leading away as another loud crash sounded from the tent. Zhao was marching out of the tent, and spoke to the guards outside. He told them to organize a search party, and to spare no expense. He wanted the finest ships to be put together for the search party, to get the best soldiers to man them and to be all prepared as quickly as possible. She heard the soldiers run off into the distance to fulfil their Commander's orders, as Zhao paced off in another direction.
Rei was dumbstruck. The Avatar was alive. She didn't know whether to jump for joy, or to punch a wall. After 100 years of war, the Avatar suddenly decides to show up now? Where the hell was he all this time? And how could he be a boy of 12, even though the Avatar is supposed to be over 100 years old? Rei's mind buzzed with questions, desperate for answers she knew she wouldn't get tied to a pole. A certain thought flashed in her mind. If the Avatar is really back, what will happen to me? She shivered. From what she could understand, she was only alive to serve as a decoy Avatar to be brought to the Fire Nation as a trophy. With the real Avatar making waves in the world, that plan would be pointless. What would be her fate now? Would she be killed off? Would Zhao leave her alone? Or worse, take her with him? She couldn't stand to think of being in his presence again after her previous encounter with the beastly man. To be quite honest, a trip to the Fire Nation would probably be preferable to another moment with Zhao. Now with the Avatar being alive, this changes everything. Her fate now hangs in the balance of the events to come. She knows she needs to leave, and she needs to leave now.
Rei switched her focus to the rock hidden in the waistband of her pants. She twisted her hands against her bindings, inching her fingers towards the top end of her pants. She pulled the back of the pants up, trying to shift the pressure from the waistband away from the rock at the front end of her pants. It took a few tries, but eventually she managed to loosen the grip on the rock which sent it tumbling down her pant leg and to the ground. Now was the difficult task of picking it up and transferring it to her hand.
Rei kicked off one of her shoes and took the rock in-between her first two toes. She then bends her leg backward towards her bound hands. She scrunched her fingers open and closed, desperately trying to grab at the rock. Unfortunately, her leg started to cramp up, which forced her to drop the rock behind her. She cursed, and searched for the rock with her foot. It took a few moments for her to find the rock once more, and tried more cautiously to bring the rock to her bound hands. Finally, she has some success and grabbed the rock with her hands. She rubs the rock quickly against the rope bindings on her hands, quick to cut the ropes. The rope fell to the ground, releasing her arms from the pole. Rei groaned in satisfaction, cracking as she stretched out. It must have taken her longer than she thought to get free because she heard a voice coming from Zhao's tent once more.
"My search party is ready. Once I'm out to sea, my guards will escort you back to your ship and you'll be free to go."
Rei's heart skipped a beat. That's how I'm going to get out of here! She thought to herself. All she had to do was sneak out of her tent, and then she could stow away on this boy's ship! But only if Zhao doesn't take me along with him, she shuddered. She had hoped that with the prospect of capturing the real avatar, he would steer his gaze away from her, which would be a great relief. He's been staring at her strangely for a while, and she didn't like it one bit. But now that she thought about it, how could she sneak out of a soldier-infested camp without being seen? She wasn't exactly a master of stealth coming from a village of loud earthbenders. Only a miracle could save her now.
"…Don't underestimate me Zhao. I will capture the avatar before you."
She's got to hand it to that Zuko guy, he has a lot of guts to stand up to a man such as Zhao. Probably pretty stupid to do it too.
"You can't compete with me, boy. You're just a banished prince. No home; no allies. Your own father doesn't even want you."
Now that was cruel! Rei couldn't believe he said that! Well actually, yes she could believe he said that. But that doesn't make the statement any less shocking!
"If your father really wanted you home," He continued. "…He would've let you return by now. Avatar or no avatar. But in his eyes, you are a failure and a disgrace to the fire nation."
"That's not true." Zuko spat.
"You've got the scar to prove it." Zhao sneered.
That must've been the turning point because she heard a chair crash onto the floor and more yelling.
"Maybe you'd like one to match! Agni Kai, at sunset!" Zuko yelled out.
Zhao chuckled menacingly. "Very well. Too bad your father won't be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your uncle will do."
Rei heard footsteps retreating from the tent, clearly indicating the group leaving. An Agni Kai? This was exactly what she was waiting for; a distraction big enough for her to escape. This was her chance to go home. Rei looked around the tent for a possible escape route. Unfortunately, the only entrance was guarded, which meant that she has to physically pull up a corner of the tent as inconspicuously as possible. She listened closely to her surroundings to indicate where she should leave. The front was loud with activity, so that was a no-go. The sides were too exposed to escape from, she could tell. Thus, the best place to escape was at the back. She needed to come up with a cover however to avert as much attention as she could.
Rei concentrated on the wind she heard outside. The rustling of tents and flags in the wind made it an excellent cover for her escape. She thought back to the stances she saw her father and her brother take when preparing to bend, so she tried to assume that stance. She breathed in and out decisively, and waves her arms as fluidly as she could back and forth with the wind. She could hear the wind begin to pick up outside as the guards starting complaining. She heard the flags and tents flap more fervently as the wind picked up, giving her the ultimate disguise. She could see the lower part of the tent flutter, letting in slight traces of light. She quickly tucked and rolled underneath the tent, stumbling out into the camp.
There were hundreds of tents spanning the entire camp. The camp itself was enormous! Red tents stood high in the sky, which were all squeezed close together except for Zhao's tent to the side. Rei peeked behind the corner of her tent, seeing the group she assumed to be Zhao and Zuko heading down the hill. She followed discretely behind, trying to be as stealthy as possible. Sure, she could have went straight towards the ships, but her curiosity got the better of her. She's never seen an Agni Kai, plus if there was an opportunity to see Zhao possibly get his ass kicked, she wasn't going to miss it. She knew that she couldn't risk being seen still in her green Earth Kingdom garments on, so she decided to snag a fire nation shirt and dark pants off a nearby clothesline on her way.
The Agni kai arena was located in the middle of the camp. It was rectangular in shape, and had braziers at each corner. All the soldiers' and officers' tents were scattered around the arena, making it uncomfortably open for her liking, but Rei had to take this opportunity. She also wanted to see how the Agni kai will progress, but that was for her own curiosity. She's never seen an Agni kai before, but she's heard of their brutal ends. She remembered earth benders throwing rocks and sludge at each other when she was younger, but this seemed to be more of a formal event. The area was quiet, and the air was charged with tension. Rei managed to climb up to a decent vantage point behind one of the braziers just beyond their line of sight. It was the perfect place to spy on their duel.
Rei saw the teenager she assumed to be Prince Zuko in the southern side of the arena. He was crouched down with his face hidden from her, with an old man next to him giving some last-minute advice. She remembered Zuko mentioning that the man was his uncle, but he must also be a mentor of some sort be someone this Zuko guy respected enough to listen to. Rei finally got a good view of Zuko when he turned and stood up to his full height. His chest was bare and well-toned, she noticed. His ponytail swayed in the breeze, which was a very foreign hairstyle to Rei. She was shocked to see the scar that dominated the left side of his face. Almost the entire left side of his face was blistered and charred beyond recognition of once being human flesh. She had heard Zhao mention the scar in one of the heated discussions she's overheard, but she didn't expect it to be this severe. And it was his father who gave him that scar? She thought.
Zhao stood up soon after, across the arena and also bare-chested. Rei noticed that he was a taller than Zuko, which gave him a distinct height advantage. He wasn't much more toned than Zuko, but then again it wasn't strength that was being tested here. Please let Zuko win, Rei prayed. It didn't really matter who would win, she just really wanted to see Zhao knocked down a peg.
The surprisingly loud gong sounded suddenly, initiating the start of the Agni Kai. The two men stood their ground, as still as they could possibly be. Zuko made the first move, with the build-up of a streak of fire and a fire punch. Zhao smirked and dodged the blaze with ease, as he did with the other fire punches that followed. This did not bode well with Zuko, as he raged on with increasing amounts of attacks. Don't just attack blindly, she thought to herself. You're going wear yourself out without landing a hit on Zhao. It was clear that Zuko was losing stamina fast, huffing and puffing as he released attacks one after the other. Zuko incorporated his feet with his firebending, sending streams of fire flying in Zhao's direction. Zhao blocked the fire with ease, breaking the stream of fire into spitting streams when it collides with his form. Rei could hear the older man on the sidelines cheering Zuko on.
"Basics, Zuko! Break his root!"
But Zuko didn't have the chance to heed his mentor's advice for Zhao started piling on powerful shots of fire dead-on at him. Zhao stomped forward with confidence, spraying fire towards the boy. Zuko blocked every attack, but he was being pushed backwards by the sheer force of the blows. Finally, it proved to be too much for the young boy as Zhao launched a huge wave of fire that led the boy to topple to the ground. Zhao jumped up towards him and prepared to deal a final blow. Rei's hands jumped up to her mouth in anticipation. Come on, Zuko, She prayed. Get up.
Zuko's legs suddenly sprung out from underneath Zhao, making the man lose his delicate balance. Zuko jumped up to his feet, with a look of sheer determination and smug satisfaction. He proceeded to spray fire with his feet, inching it towards the Zhao's legs. Zhao tripped backwards, dancing awkwardly to try to stay on his own two feet. This proved to be too difficult when he finally succumbed to gravity and fell flat onto his back. Rei let out a quick yelp and clapped with joy, but quickly contained her enthusiasm realizing she was still out in the open. Zuko stood over Zhao, arms outstretched in an offensive position. Zhao and Zuko were locked in a death stare, each anticipating the other's movement.
"Do it!" Zhao yelled.
Zuko cried out and struck his arm forward. Rei covered her eyes and looked away instinctively. It doesn't matter who was being hit with fire, she didn't want to see someone's flesh being melted off the bone, or something near that experience. But when she didn't hear a scream of pain, she parted her hands open just a crack. She saw Zhao still laying on the ground and Zuko standing above him, with a smoking scorch mark just inches from Zhao's head. Rei lowered her hands to her side, in awe at Zuko's actions. She saw Zhao and Zuko exchange words, or possibly threats, but those words passed through her ears. Zuko showed some surprising restraint, even against a bastard like Zhao. She didn't understand why, but whatever the reason, she gained a level of respect for the boy. Zuko turned on his heel and walked away from Zhao, who still lay on the ground.
Suddenly, Zhao jumped up and kicked a stream of fire hurdling towards Zuko. Rei stifled a scream, instinctively wanting to warn the boy. But before she could think otherwise, the elderly man stepped forward and caught Zhao's foot, who sent him flying backwards onto his back like a little rag doll. Rei creeped closer towards the edge of the wall in front of the brazier, wanting to experience more.
"So this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat?" The man questioned. "Disgraceful. Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you."
Rei giggled. She was loving this, seeing Zhao get his ass handed to him.
"Thank you for the tea, it was delicious." The man finished, bowing and turning away.
Rei saw Zhao quickly glance up in Rei's direction, who quickly ducked down to avoid being seen. Rei sunk down to the stone flooring of the wall-walk, and crawled to the side of the wall which she climbed up in the first place. She quickly climbed down and ran towards the only boat that fit the description of the boy's ship; a small fire nation vessel bearing the royal banner. She whipped her head around, always checking to see if anyone can see her. She slowed down when she reached the ship, ducking behind a pillar. She saw a few men carrying crates onto the ship, and quickly followed suit. She picked up the last crate from the dock and followed the row of men carrying them into the bowels of the ship. As she entered the storeroom of the ship, she bumps into one of the sailors. She quickly excused herself, with her head facing downwards as she continued to march forward. He looked back at her for a brief moment, but shakes his head and continues on his route to the main deck.
The storeroom was small and cramped with crates and barrels of supplies. The room was dark, with lanterns hanging above from the ceiling. The air stunk of wood and moisture, witch filled her lungs with a weird heaviness. Rei put the crate down adjacent to the others in the room, and looked around for a good place to hide. She spied a decently-sized barrel that didn't seem to be too cramped for her size. She snuggled inside with the fruit that lay on the bottom. She put the lid back onto the barrel, sealing her into her new resting place. The barrel smelled extremely sweet, almost disgustingly so from the fruit juices inside. She picked up a piece of fruit from amongst the layer of mushy produce beneath her and bit into it eagerly. She forgot how long it has been since she's eaten last, so it was quite a treat to actually get food. The fruit's juices exploded in her mouth, sending a sticky, sweet taste to her senses. She munched on the fruit, grateful for the sustenance. She finished the piece of fruit quickly, but decided to hold off on eating more until after she knows that the ship is away from the harbor.
She waiting silently in the barrel, getting antsy with anticipation to leave these wretched docks. She couldn't leave soon enough in her mind. She heard people marching and men barking orders overhead. Only when she heard the chugging from the ship's engines did she begin to relax. She let out a sigh of relief and let herself lean completely on the side of the barrel as the ship began to move. She was finally getting away from the encampment, and away from Commander Zhao. She didn't know if she just jumped from one frying pan to the next so-to-speak, but whatever situation she finds herself in here would be better than the previous one. She hoped that this ship will be going back to the Earth Kingdom, but she couldn't be certain. Wherever the ship stops next will be her official point to debark the ship, that's for sure. She just had to be sneaky, and keep out of sight until such a time. She gripped her boulder opal necklace tightly and whispered a silent prayer that the next steps will get her closer to home and back to the life she knew.
Hey guys! Here is another LOOONNGG chapter. I hope you all are pleased, because I did put a lot of effort into this one! This is the longest chapter yet I do believe, so it won't be too bad if it's a bit shorter during exam season starting next week, right guys? I will still post, don't worry! Just might be a bit shorter with the last bits of work to be done with my classes. Please give me your thoughts in reviews because every comment helps me and Rei's adventures, and be sure to follow if you like what you see! Have a good week, my lovelies! X
