Chap. 8
Things Go Horribly Wrong Part 1
"So where's the welcoming committee?" Sokka asked as Appa landed.
"The ceremony takes place at my uncle's farm; it overlooks the main farming area." Jin explained as she dismounted. "But my cousin always comes to meet us."
"Then I'm guessing that's him now." Aire said, pointing to the small figure that was running towards them from a distance. Turning, Jin looked at the approaching figure, smiled, and then motioned to her family to turn and face the boy. Moving out, Jin stood with her arms wide, just as the figure ran into her.
"Nice try!" Jin said with a laugh, as she grabbed the figure and spun him around. Laughing, the figure accepted the ride and once Jin stopped, hugged his cousin.
"Good to see you again, Cousin Lee." Jin said as the young boy moved away from her.
"You too." The young boy replied. "But who are they?" he asked, pointing to the group behind his cousin, as well as Appa.
"Lee, you know better then to point." Aia said.
"Sorry Aunt Aia, but who are they?" he asked again.
At that, Aang came forward and said, "My name's Aang. I'm…"
"Aang?! You're the Avatar!" Lee cried in amazement. "Oh man, the Avatar is right here in my hometown! But wait, if you're here, then those guys.." he said, looking over at the Knights.
"The Elementals, at your service." Agua said, with a bow.
"Ohmanohmanohman!" Lee said, with the pure excitement that only a ten-year-old boy can muster, as he jumped around in pure excitement. "And, and, that's Katara! And Toph! And Appa and Momo! And….." the boy paused now, as he looked at Sokka in puzzlement.
"I know it ends with an 'okka.'" He muttered. "Um, Kotkka, No, Totakka."
"Sokka." Sokka finally blurted out.
"No, that's not it." Lee said, as Sokka groaned and slapped his forehead.
"It is Sokka, Lee." Kinjo said. "And you'll have plenty of time to talk with them once we get to your father's farm."
"But Uncle Kinjo, you can't just bring people like this here and then not tell me why!" Lee said. "Come on, at least tell how you brought them here."
"Actually, they brought us." Hita said. "Jin's boyfriend is friends with the Avatar and he got us the ride."
"He is not my boyfriend!" Jin snapped at her brother. But a second later, she looked around and realized the group was one short. "Where is Li?" she asked, not seeing him or Oscuridad.
"They were following us a second ago." Iroh said, looking around in worry. But everyone's fear was put to rest a second later when Oscuridad and Zuko came walking up through the entrance a moment later.
"Sorry about that. Something got caught in my armor and we had to stop and get it out." The bat said as he and Zuko rejoined the group.
"Just make sure you tell us next time." Iroh scolded.
"It's ok. Anyway, I'd like you both to meet my cousin… Lee." Jin said with a shrug as she introduced the young boy.
"Don't worry. We had this same problem with his father." Iroh said. "Just call him Junior until we leave here." Zuko grimaced at his uncle, but said nothing.
Ignoring the name issue altogether, Lee moved over to Osc, and started asking a million questions. "Can you really walk through walls? Can you raise the dead? I heard you can make black fire! Can you do it now? Can you, huh?"
"Whoa dude, one at a time." The bat said, putting up his hands. "I'll see what I can do."
"Great!" Lee said. Moving over to Zuko, he calmly shook the boy's hand and said, "Nice to meet you."
"You too." Zuko replied.
"Well, we'd better get moving." Kinjo said. "The ceremony's at noon, and it'll take most of the morning to get everything set up."
Nodding, the group began to move forward, with Lee and Kinjo leading the way. But Zuko and Oscuridad stayed in the back of the group, and after a moment, the bat whispered, "That was the same kid wasn't it?"
"Yes. And he didn't recognize me at all." Zuko whispered back.
"I'd be ashamed if he did. Remember, that shadow-disguise I cast over you will make you look and sound different to everyone in the village. Good thing shadow makes excellent disguises. I was able to make it so that Jin and the others won't see any changes, but we'll have to tell them so there are no slip-ups. But remember, and I feel stupid for saying this, but under no circumstances can you bend now. Bending, despite what people may tell you, is a form of elemental magic; the same kind that we Knights draw our power from. Using your power will interfere with the magic of my shadow and undo the disguise."
"Believe me, I'm not about to get myself thrown out of the village again." Zuko replied, as he and the bat walked on.
The group walked through most of the village on the way to Lee's farm. Once there, they were greeted by all manner of squeals from the variety of pig/animal mixtures.
"We always know when someone's coming." Lee said with a grin.
"No kidding." Sokka said. Behind him, Zuko shook his head in a sad kind of nostalgia. But he didn't have much time to think about it, as Kinjo suddenly cried out in happiness as his brother (Lee's father) emerged from the house, with his wife. Once again, greetings took place between the group and the family. Zuko kept to the back as much as he could, but when he was forced to meet the family, he did so quickly and quietly, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. The family took it as shyness and Jin just shrugged it off, which Zuko was exceptionally grateful for.
"So how does this all get started?" Toph asked, impatient to get the ceremony over with.
"Well, we have to get the platform finished first." Kinjo said, pointing to a large pile of timber that sat next to an incomplete platform. "Plus, we need to make the ceremonial firepit for the sacrifices. But that should be it until the monk gets here." He added.
At that, Bosque, Toph, Hierro, and Aang looked at each other and smiled. Moving over to the incomplete platform, Bosque moved into a stance, positioning his hands out to the pile of timber. Lifting his hands, he used his power over woods to lift up the timber. As it floated in the air, Bosque then moved them over to the incomplete framework. Moving his hands around, the squirrel positioned each piece of timber into its correct place on the platform.
As his brother held them in place, Hierro moved to the timber and held out his six arms. As the group watched, the spider's fingers began to lengthen, until there were twenty-four long metal spikes coming forth from the spider's hand. A second later, the fingers shot out, directing themselves right into the appropriate spots on the wood, locking it into place.
"That.. that, usually takes three days. They just did in three minutes!" Lee's father gaped as he stared at the completed platform.
"Great, now about that firepit?" Toph asked from the side, where she and Aang stood. "What are we looking at here?"
"Um, well, it's usually a large hollow circular column, about seven feet high right next to the platform. Both Earthbenders nodded, and with a stomp of her feet, Toph brought a column fitting those exact descriptions up next to the platform. Aang then leapt on top of the column and slammed his fist down, creating a large hole that shot down to the bottom of the platform.
"So, do you have any tea then?" Iroh asked, as the family stared in amazement.
Lee's family didn't have tea, but they did have some food, which the group enjoyed while they waited for the ceremony to begin. They didn't have long to wait. Soon people began arriving from all corners of the village bringing their offerings. Kinjo and his brother took each of them with a nod, and placed them onto the platform near the fire pit (they would have to be blessed before they could be burned). After some time, an elderly Earth Sage appeared, and the ceremony was begun.
As everyone crowded around the platform, the Sage climbed up and said, "We have gathered here, at the mid-point of spring, to ask the Earth-God Chirron to bless our offering. We ask you, great Chirron, to hear the voice of your people, and continue to protect them from the monster that out ancestors imprisoned all those centuries ago."
With that, the Sage reached into the folds of his robe and brought out what looked like a strange golden globe, on which was imprinted the various phases of the sun and moon.
"What is that?" Iroh whispered to Jin.
"It's called the Ra-ketah." Jin answered. "It's supposed to represent the prison that the demon remains in, held by all the forces of earth and time."
"Very nice." Iroh said, as he watched. The Sage took the Ra-Ketah and held it over the pile of offerings the village had made. Bowing his head, he began to quietly pray over them. The crowd followed suit, as did the Avatar gang and the Knights. In the near-silence that followed, the sound of every person's prayers could be heard with a little effort. But that wasn't what Oscuridad heard. The bat's ears twitched, as a new sound began to fill his sensitive ears. Straining them a bit, he tried to discern what it was he was hearing. It sounded like something creeping along on the ground, something big, which was moving very fast….
But before he could figure that out, he heard a sharp intake of breath from Tierra. Glancing over at his brother, he saw the dog's face contort into an expression of fear. A second later, he heard a gasp from Toph, who's face was filled with equal fear at something she'd felt in the ground. All three of them turned towards the sound and scent, until they saw what it was. Gasping in shock at the sight of it, they did the only thing possible they could- yell "EVERYBODY RUN!! NOW!!"
Everyone naturally stopped and turned at the sound of this, but before anyone could move, two huge blast of blue fire suddenly shot out from either side of the crowd, setting fires that effectively trapped them. The people began to panic, but Aang and the others merely drew their weapons or moved in attack stances, as the Fire Nation tank pulled up and came to a stop. They held those stances as the front of the tank opened, and an all-too-familiar trio of girls walked out. Azula looked over the crowd, smiled evilly and said, "I knew you'd leave the city eventually Avatar. But I hoped you'd pick a better space to die."