Chapter 3- Conflicts, Large and Small
A moment of silence had followed after Hotaru had left until someone spoke. "Are we going to let a child talk to us like that?" Small spats stared immediately about the Academy endorsing a student with such an attitude, and whether the school would have been better off without her. Others argued in favor of keeping Hotaru at the school if she took a year of etiquette. Only the occasional voice suggesting that they should have just graduated the girl in the first place. Several witnesses would later agree that the final suggestion was just Surt's failed attempt at throwing his voice.
"Enough!" the voice of Hotaru's grandfather cut across the room like an arrow in flight. An almost deafening silence Zai Si Long stood and turned around to face the witnesses. "Here you are arguing about manners as one of the nations talented Firebenders is ready to return to the Freestates with every advanced Firebending technique that the Academy has to offer. Hotaru is my granddaughter and a minor. In the absence of her parents I am her legal guardian. This is a matter of family now."
"You know its not that simple," someone argued. Zai Si's look silenced any further protests.
"It is unless you want the World Summit hearing about Hotaru's out break. As far as everyone outside of this room is concerned Hotaru suffered from hysterics and a mental break down over her failure to graduate. She has decided to come to my home in the country to gather her mind, rest, and relax before returning to school in the fall," Zai Si announced and walked off.
Surt blew smoke from his nose, and Garuda sighed in a less obvious attempt diffuse her stress.
As Zai Si left the room he was quickly joined by his personal assistant. "Contact the captain of the City Guard and the captain of the Firelady's Wardens. We will need their best fire benders to subdue Hotaru as quickly and silently as possible."
***
"So your just leaving?" Ji Nu asked as Hotaru packed her stuff. Hotaru looked at the single bag she was returning home with. It contained a beloved childhood toy, a portrait of her family, an extra change of clothes, and a small coin purse.
"Just like that. I've lived like a monk, haven't I?" Hotaru asked as she slung the bag over her shoulder. She starred at the wall for a moment, her gaze focusing on sword and its rather simple sheaf. The oddly black sword had been a gift from her grandfather, who stated it had a history and shouldn't be used in combat. Hotaru felt that leaving the weapon behind would have been like willingly severing a limb. She hung the sword over her opposite shoulder.
"Don't change the subject. Why are you leaving?" Ji Nu asked as Hotaru rummaged around there shared closet and found another shorter blade which she tied to her hip.
"There's nothing holding me here. No one really likes me expect for you and possibly Surt," Hotaru tried to explain herself. "All I have to do is get a ferry from the port to the southern tip of the main island. After than all I can get a job with some traders and work my way home."
"That could take months!"
"I don't have enough coin to afford a sky ship ticket or even a ferry. Besides I'll be sixteen by the time I convince my parents to let me come home if I argue through letters. Surprising them is really the best way!"
"But I need you!"
"You did fine before I arrived. At least I won't be holding you back any longer!"
"But I like that you hold me back. Face it Hotaru, before you arrived I was a stuffy noble with a stick up my butt like every other girl here. If you hadn't chased off suitors over the past year I would have been engaged by now if not married. I won't have the excuse of an intolerable roommate anymore, and my father will have me married by the end of the season."
"Your engagement is between you and your father. I know I am a pain in the rear but even I couldn't scare your suitors away forever."
"What else can I do?"
"I don't know. Maybe actually talk to your father."
"I could never do that."
"What do you expect me to do? I can't stay."
"I could go with you."
"Are you nuts? Your father would have all of his personal guard and half the city guard chasing us down."
"Enjoy your freedom."
"You can always come visit me after I get home," Hotaru tried to grab Ji Nu's shoulder but the older girl pushed her away. Hotaru sighed and walked out of the dorm for the final time
***
Hotaru made her way quickly through the streets of the palace city, simply another nameless face in the crowd until she reached the city's only entrance. She crossed the threshold of the giant door, and stepped into the shadow of a guard's doorway to avoid fast paced carts and the contradictory slow foot traffic. In that moment someone grabbed her arm and pulled her inside the guard's room.
A minor scuffle ensured as Hotaru was forced to the ground and held by her wrists. A masked guard bent over to get a closer look at her face. "This is the one," he said.
"All this for one girl?" her captor asked. Hotaru's identifier didn't have time to respond to his companion's comment as Hotaru escaped from her captor hold by a performing complex roll that also aloud her to strike him square in the private parts. Hotaru proceeded to knock the second guard off his feet as she stood.
Three more guards blocked Hotaru's route so she performed the largest fire bending technique that she knew. The move caused the guards to block Hotaru's attack so it wouldn't strike the civilians outside. In that moment Hotaru escaped through the flames and into the panicking crowd.
***
Hotaru walked through the city's market place, staying in the most populated area she could find. After the initial attack and half an hour of hiding she had tried to escape through the entrance again only to find that the patrol had tripled. She had considered scaling the mountainside until she noticed that guards were also patrolling its rim.
During initial survey of the city's natural walls in a desolate area of the city, at least by the standards of the Fire Nation capital, she had been attacked again, and only managed to escape after running into a large group. Those same guards were still trailing Hotaru.
Apparently they didn't want witnesses.
"Excuse me, miss?" Hotaru's thoughts were disrupted as a voice called through the noise and masses of the market. A firecracker salesmen was trying to get Hotaru's attention. "May I interest you in some of my wares. The Summer Solstice is coming in a week, its always good to be prepared for the holidays. Perhaps you would be interested in a set of sparklers you can share with friends or maybe a special someone?"
"May I see one lit, please?" Hotaru asked.
"Sure, just be careful little lady," the salesmen said and lit sparkler for Hotaru. The girl grabbed it and watched it intently until it almost burned out.
"Hot," she screeched and threw the ember into a near by bin of fire crackers. Hotaru disappeared in the resulting chaos as the fire cracker salesmen gave the citizens of the palace city a free show.
***
Ji Nu sighed as she sat in the shade of a tree, in one of the Academy's public gardens. She quickly grabbed the attention of the occasional passer by, mostly young men, whose advances she rejected after giving them a few minutes of her time. "You are so predictable," a voice said.
Ji Nu's bored expression quickly turned to shock. "Hotaru?"
"Go back to the way you were before. Your being watched!" Hotaru ordered.
The bored appearance took place with the slightest flick of Ji Nu's fan as she used it to hide her mouth. "What are you doing here?"
"The guards are after me."
"Why?"
"I don't know. You think its because I was rude to the witnesses?"
"As much as many of the teachers and school's governors would want that I don't think the city guard would go after you for rudeness."
"Well apparently they did? What's happened since I was gone?"
"Its only been a couple of hours."
"A couple of hours that I have been hiding."
"Apparently a firebending thief who was going to be sent to the Boiling Rock escaped from jail. The thief attacked innocent people at the city's entrance and set off a bomb in the market place."
"The guards attacked me first, and it wasn't my fault some idiot decided to set fire around his wares."
"So what are you going to do?"
"Don't worry, I have a plan."
***
Later that night, Ji Nu fanned herself in the interior of a private coach. In spite of the heat the shades were drawn closed. "Excuse me, sir?" a guard asked as the coach prepared to leave the city.
"Is something wrong?" the driver asked.
"Could you please pull to the side for a second. We would like to speak to Miss. Yuan," the guard state.
Ji Nu didn't give the driver the chance to respond as she pushed her door open and looked out. "Is something wrong?" Ji Nu's normally perfect appearance looked devastated. Her long hair was tangled and pulled into a sloppy bun, and her running make up didn't help.
"We would just like to ask you some questions about Hotaru Long. Reports say she was your roommate," the guard stated.
"You are right about the room mate part and the former," Ji Nu said.
"We just wanted to know if you knew anything about that girl's location," the guard said.
"All I know is that she disappeared earlier today. Good riddance. Sharing a room with that mutt for four years was completely horribly," Ji Nu fanned herself as she spoke. "Now if you will excuse me, I am returning to my father's for personal time and reasons."
"If you could just give us a few moments of your time?" the guard pleaded.
"I already gave some of your cohorts moments of my time earlier today. I would like to be on my way," Ji Nu stated.
"Now miss whatever happened between you and Miss. Long is no business of mine. Our priority is Miss Long's safety. Her grandfather states she was stressed out by graduation and that she was mentally fatigued," the guard stated.
"Safety, safety, if there is anyone who's safety you should be worried about it is the safety of my own mentality. For four years I took that mutt into my embrace. I protected her when others harassed her because of her Earth Kingdom blood, and do you know how she thanks me? By running off with one of my suitors! Now if you will excuse me I have my own mental fatigue to deal with," Ji Nu finished her speech and returned to her coach. "Good day to you sir. Driver please continue."
"Yes ma'am," the driver announced.
"But miss-" the guard began.
"I said good day," the coach lurched as Ji Nu slammed the door of the coach.
"Just let her go. The last thing we need to deal with is another noble's overly hormonal teenager," one of the guards companions said. The guard watched as the coach meandered its way down the palace city's single road and disappeared into the night.
***
Hotaru fell from the coach's ceiling as Ji Nu slammed the coach's door. She rubbed her shoulders and cracked spine before speaking "Did you have to take so long?" Hotaru whispered so that the driver wouldn't hear the coach's extra occupant.
"I had to make it convincing. Can we open the drapes now. I'm sweating."
"Now until we're out in the country, and you have to make sure the driver goes all night. It will be easier sneaking out in the morning if he's dead tired."
***
"I'm sorry sir, but there has been no sign of your granddaughter since she set those fireworks off in the marker place," a guard informed Zai Si Long of the current situation.
"Continue the search as discreetly as possible. Now just go," Zai Si sighed as the guard saluted before walking off.
"Maybe more guards involved in the search could help, sir?" Zai Si's manservant suggested.
"The only thing that will help is a house by house search which we couldn't do anyway and knowing Hotaru wouldn't necessarily work," Zai Si said. "Get me some whine, paper, the bison hair brush, and an ink stone. I'll write the letter to my son announcing that his daughter the Avatar is returning home."...
Author's Note: Yes, the sword she has once belonged to Sokka. How she got a hold of it will be explained later.