Fool and A Half
For #60:
"Rest assured that when I start to make you nervous and I'm going to extremes tomorrow I will change and today won't mean a thing" –I'm a Bitch by Alanis Morisette
---
"You know you're a fool and a half, Avatar," the young boy, or girl he wasn't quite sure, called out. Roku rolled his eyes and started moving through the steps again.
Working through the relaxing set, the young avatar let his mind drift off. It hadn't been too long ago that he found out he was the avatar. Barely two months, if he remembered correctly. It may have been longer than that. Life had started moving at a much faster pace since he found out. Days that once stretched into weeks seemed like minutes. Training sessions that used to bore him to tears due to their longevity were now gone before he could blink.
So, he wasn't particularly sure how long ago he'd began his journey to the Southern Air Temple, or how long it'd been since his arrival. All he knew anymore was the currents of the air, and the rush that filled him as he began his newfound bending. He'd blocked all other things out. Time, space, and any individual other than his teachers were long forgotten the moment he stepped foot on the temple grounds.
Yet, somehow, one individual managed to slip under the radar. A young boy, or girl, had managed to break into his head and mess with his concentration. This was mainly caused by his inability to decide whether this individual was male or female. They'd not introduced themselves properly, but instead opted for observing and criticizing every move the Avatar made. He'd been forced to ask his instructor of the child's name, which he learned was Hurin.
He knew it should've been a boy by the current location and the child's name alone, but something made him think otherwise. Either way, the kid was always there when he began to practice his more complex maneuvers. Maneuvers in which he found himself to be failing miserably.
"Told ya, fool and a half," the kid mocked after Roku failed at one of airbendings far more complicated techniques. He truly didn't expect to get it, knowing how long it had taken the elder monks to master the technique, but to have someone criticize him when they themselves couldn't do it only added to his frustration.
"And who are you to call me that?" the avatar finally erupted. "You stay here day by day, hour after hour watching me practice. You never offer the slightest of help, although I'm sure you're not half as skilled as I am, yet you never miss at a chance to criticize me. So please Hurin, do me the highest honors of showing me just how that technique is done." He finished of sarcastically.
Much to his dismay, the child seemed unaffected. He, or she, simply smirked at the flustered avatar and bowed with an overpowering grace. "As you wish, oh Great Avatar." In no more than three brief, but effective, movements the child had both begun and completed the technique that had frustrated the older bender with a perfect mastery of the element.
"Like I said, fool and a half," Hurin announced smugly while walking off, leaving behind a very addled Avatar. "And it's not Hurin," the child added with a smirk, "It's Mayu."
---
Inspired by Isaia's depiction of young Avatar Roku. Mayu, according to Behind the Name, can mean "true reason" in Japanese. Hurin is Quenya, or Elvish, for "concealed." A good friend of mine, who dabbles in Elvish, offered up the name Hurin and I just liked it.
I know I said a few chapters back that updates may be taking slow, but if I want to finish these prompts off by New Years, expect somewhat fast updates from me. I'm not promising it, but hopefully they'll be up and out of the way by New Years Eve, or day. :P Love ya'll, and God Bless!
If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch.
-Matthew 15:14
mcl