The next few days, I didn't get to see Bruce. Before he left three nights ago, he gave my family more money than we've had in the past year, and asked us to use it wisely. Then, he left. Immediately when he left, I started to miss him. I tried hard to shake off that feeling. Because, even if he would ever feel the same, we wouldn't work out. Just think about it, he's the father of the Fire Lord, and I'm the potential Avatar. His father would be out for my head in a blink of an eye. He's rich, I'm poor. Our lives would never intertwine.
"What's wrong?" six-year-old Jules asked me as I threw pebbles into the pond. "You haven't eaten lunch yet." She sat down next to me.
"Not hungry right now, JuJu. Share it with your brothers. I'll get something else to eat."
"You sure?"
"Of course." I kissed her little forehead and sent her off to the cave, where I heard the twins engaging in a small wrestling match. I threw more pebbles at the water, and watched as the pebbles formed ripples in the calm pond. Seeing no one around me, I extended a hand just shy above my knee, and moved my wrist the way I've seen water benders move their hands on television. Then, the water started moving upwards, towards my palm. Just inches before it touched me, I broke the concentration and stood up quickly. Bruce was right. I'm the Avatar.
Before the sun had set, three middle-aged men with blue-silver robes appeared in front of Fire Lord Zi's home. I watched as the guards refused to let them in, until a loud, manly voice commanded them to enter. It was Zi's voice. The men with robes were in there for hours. They came out around eight at night, and went to a near-by hotel to sleep in. The next morning, there was a horn that sounded, which meant everyone had to be in the courtyard. My parents dressed my siblings in their finest clothing they owned, and I wore a dark-red tank top, jeans with a few rips in them due to my countless times of falling from trees, and black combat boots. Mom made me wear my black leather jacket I stole not long ago. The weather wasn't unbearably cold, but cold enough that I needed this jacket.
In the middle of the courtyard, were the three robed men, Lord Zi, Karina and Bruce. My heart almost dropped when I saw Bruce. Then, my attention went back to the robed men when the tallest one spoke. He had a short salt-and-pepper beard. In my head, I named him Salt.
"We've called you here today for one reason, and one reason only," Salt announced. "It's been seventeen years and five months since the last Avatar died. Yes, there was an Avatar. She was just hiding. But, today, my monk brothers and I have come here to find the new Avatar. May the sixteen and seventeen year olds of this fine city please step up?" At first, no one stepped up, but after a few awkward moments, some actually did it. And then, I walked up. Bruce looked at me intently, shaking his head no. I looked at him, shrugged, and sighed, focusing my attention on Salt. The shortest monk, who I named Shortie, cleared his throat.
"We have set up a room in the Fire Lord's home so we may speak to each individual that has stepped up," Shortie said. "One by one, please line up and follow us." The third monk, who was taller than Shortie and shorter than Salt, said nothing. We did as we were told, and we followed the monks single file to the Zi's home. We sat on chairs that were lined up in front of a stage as if they were going to present us something. But, they didn't present anything to us. They gave us numbers for us to go by when we were called.
There was a good fifty or more sixteen and seventeen year old teenagers sitting around me, and I wondered if any one these people actually thought they were the Avatar and just didn't know. I looked around and saw that most of them were terrified. They knew the responsibility of being the Avatar, and the risks that come with it. I think they were more afraid of the Fire Lord than anything else. One by one, they were called by Shortie, and occasionally Salt. I was number thirty-two, so you can imagine how tired I was - and to mention how bad my rear end was hurting from those plastic seats.
"Please sit," the Quiet One said to me. I could tell that that monk was exhausted already.
"If you would, please tell us your name and age," Salt asked me.
"My name is Meria Wallis and I'm seventeen years old."
Shortie wrote something down on a clipboard, which I'm sure was my name and age. "Do you think you could be the Avatar?" Shortie asked. My stomach had dropped to the floor. How was I supposed to answer that? No? If I said no, would they just let me go? And if I said yes, would they just stop the tests all together? "Just give us your most honest answer, even if you're not one hundred percent sure."
"Yes," I answered without thinking. Shit! What did I just do?
Salt nodded. "A lot of your peers had said the same thing, and all of them failed the tests we're about to give you." He got, picked up a rock that was as big as my head, and put it in front of me. "Try and bend it. It doesn't matter how you do it, just as long as you do so." I looked at Salt for a long time, then looked at the rock. I swallowed a lump in my throat and hovered my hand over what was set in front of me. With a flick of my wrist, I had taken off a chunk of the rock without touching it. Flabbergasted, I immediately put my hand back on my lap. The monks looked at each other, grinning. Salt removed the rock and replaced it with a bowl of water. This was going to be easy. With a slight move of my hand, I bended the water to move towards my hand like I did last time.
"Swift movements," Salt noted. "You're going to be an amazing waterbender." I snapped my fingers, forming a little flame. Earth, fire, and water. Done. Was that enough proof for them?
"No more tests," The Quiet One said. "It's official. We've found the Avatar."
I don't think I've ever seen my mother faint. But, she did. Salt had announced to the whole city that they've found the Avatar, and they presented me. After a moment of murmurs and whispers, the city got on one knee and bowed. They actually bowed. At me. At some poor, homeless girl who was announced the Avatar. After the announcement, I was led back to the Fire Lord's home and there, the monks had explained to me the following:
I was leaving to the Northern Water Tribe to learn water bending. Also, I wouldn't be able to come back home until I mastered all four elements, which could take a decade. I would be in training from day one and would only get weekends to rest. Even though I was anxious and nervous about leaving my family, I was more than excited to leave the Fire Nation, to explore the outside world. I haven't gone farther than the city I was born and raised in, so the outside world will be more than foreign to me.
The next morning, I packed what ever belonged to me, and went to board the monk's jet. There, Fire Lord Zi, Karina, and Bruce said goodbye. Zi looked like he could care less, Karina matched her father's expression, and Bruce wouldn't look me in the eye.
"The royal family wishes you the best of luck," Fire Lord Zi said, grabbing my hand and kissing the back of it. Zi has always been a charming man, from what my mother tells me. Even now, when he's in his mid-forties - even though he looks younger than he is - he looks handsome. I guess I can tell where Karina and Bruce's looks come from. Especially Karina. The only thing Bruce has that makes him look like his father is his nose and eyes, the rest is from his mother, I'm guessing.
"Good luck out there, kiddo," Karina said to me. "Don't get hit my lightning." She smirked, and Bruce nudged her. "Ouch! What? I was just making a joke!" Karina and her father turned on their heel and stepped into their dark-red limousine. They were waiting on Bruce.
"You're going to be gone for a long, long time," Bruce said.
"I know. But, hey . . you'll be able to write to me, and maybe you'll see me on TV, right?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Please, Meria, be safe. Don't trust anyone." He hugged me. He. hugged. me. He smelled so good, like fresh soap and cologne. "What ever you do, do not come back to this place. Stay wherever you are, have a new life there, stay far, far away from the Fire Nation." He pulled away and walked back to the limousine. He didn't say goodbye.
I boarded the jet, and looked out the window. Bruce hadn't gone into the limousine. He was waiting for the jet to take off. And then, for the first time, I really looked at Bruce. I mean, really looked at him. I never noticed how long his hair was - it was down to his chest, but today he kept it up in a slick-back pony tail with the Fire Nation emblem hair piece clipped onto it. I hadn't noticed how tall he was, almost taller than his own father, and how golden his eyes were. For a split second, I felt a piece of me hurt so bad. He's been in my life for years, and I had never noticed him until now. And today, I'm leaving to master the elements, and won't be back for a long, long time. I know my family will miss me, and a part of me hopes that he'll miss me, too.
I slipped my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket, and felt something metal and cold in my right pocket. Whatever it was, I pulled it out and saw what it was:
a Fire Nation emblem pendant. One that resembled Bruce's hair piece. I put it on the silver chain I was already wearing and let it dangle over my chest. Then, the jet purred as it took off, and I mentally said goodbye to my family and Bruce, the people I care about dearly that I left behind.
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