This chapter is a bit long, but only because there was way too much to explain and I wasn't going to split this into two chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to review when you're finished so I know how I did!
I don't think I've ever seen my family so dressed up before. All of them looked beautiful. Yes, even the twins. Tai and Zai wore similar tuxedos, the only difference was that Tai wore a gold shirt under his tux and Zai wore a red shirt under his. Jules wore a long, high-waisted red skirt that poofed at her hips and dragged a bit on the ground as she walked. As for her top, she wore a crop top that had only strap to it, which hung on her left shoulder. Was it then that I noticed her gold Fire Nation emblem belly ring. Decorating her neck was a black choker with a small, golden Fire Nation emblem charm hanging off of it. As for me, I wore a long sleeved, off-the-shoulder red dress that reached over my feet. Decorating the dress were small, golden beads, and around my hips, was a large, golden sash with the elemental emblems hidden in the inside of it. Since I'm the Avatar, I find it is my duty to portray - even if it is in secrecy - who I really am. And as for my neck, Dad had given me a golden necklace that went perfect with the dress. It's been a long time since I've done my hair, or actually had the decency to cut it. So, now my hair was past my rear end, and Mom found that unacceptable.
"You need a hair cut," Mom said in the middle of me trying to put on my necklace without it getting caught in my hair. "Come," she ushered. "This'll only take a minute." Actually, it took a solid thirty minutes for her to cut and style my hair. She cut my hair to the length of Jules', and curled it in a half-updo style. Mom had really outdone herself. "There," Mom said. "Let's go to the ball!"
As soon as we entered the ball, guards handed us golden masks. Without instruction, we put them on and tied the little red ribbons in the back to secure them in place. Classical music was playing, and my brothers split up to dance with random girls. Jules stayed by my side, looking for someone. I was walking aimlessly around the dance floor, subconsciously looking for someone. Bruce. I snapped out of it once I saw him stepping out from a room upstairs, and looking over the crowd below him. He didn't know I was there, nor could he tell it was me, given that I was wearing a mask. He glanced over me. Then, came his wife. I still hadn't figured out her name. Nor did I care.
"Meria."
Whoever that was, I wasn't paying attention to them.
"Meria!" Someone tugged on my arm and I turned around. It was Jules. She looked down at my hand. It was balled up in a fist, and it was on fire. I shook my head at myself and watched as my flame died down.
"Sorry," I said to her. "I'm just still upset."
"It's okay. But . . . come get some punch with me. Maybe something to drink will calm your nerves." I went to get some punch with her. And, as I suspected, it was alcoholic punch. I took the cup from Jules.
"You're not drinking this," I told her.
"Mom and Dad don't care. They know I drink."
"They do? You're only sixteen years old. When I was sixteen, I was struggling to drink water."
"I'm taking advantage of what I have," she said, taking the cup back and chugging the strong, alcoholic juice. "I'd rather be rich and happy than poor and sad all the time. I'm sorry, but what ever you didn't have when you were my age, I get to have. It's a party, Meria. Have some fun." So much has changed. My little sister, Jules, who was once so small and frail, I was afraid to touch her. She was such a kind, giving child, and now she's doing things for adults. And - my parents don't care? What went wrong? My brothers are hard heads and cuss likes sailors. From the looks of things, our parents haven't been teaching them the sacred and fine art of fire bending. What happened?
I handed Jules my cup, said, "I need a breather. Don't follow me." I turned on my heel and walked. No where in particular. I just walked. Before I knew it, I was down some hallway that seemed kind of familiar to me. I turned a corner, and it became too clear. I remembered it. Ten years ago, when I battled Karina. I remember sneaking down this hallway with Bruce when he was taking me out of his home and back to my own. My stomach tightened up, curling up to the size of a kiwi, and I felt my heart in my throat. Before I knew it, I was in the Zen garden, where an old, yet tall and majestic cherry blossom tree grew, and it was blossoming beautifully. There were two benches on either side of the tree, where the long branches gave shade to whomever sat there. Walking to one of the benches, I untied my mask and set it on my lap, staring intensely into the eye holes of the mask. What I was looking at - or looking for - I'm not sure. Maybe it were answers to the questions I've been asking myself.
Slowly, a handful of people scattered throughout the once-peaceful garden, and laughed wholeheartedly at some stupid joke the drunk guests were making. I didn't look up from where I was looking. Nor did I have any intention to. Until the sun went down and the drunk guests let out a holler, letting everyone around the world know how terrifying the night was. Irritated by their screams, I stood up and walked over to the light post in the middle of the garden. At the very top of the post, was a glass case, and in that glass case was an oil lamp. Around the garden were multiple oil lamp posts. It was like a clock, the way the posts were set up. Individually, and staying by the middle post. I shot a fireball to every single post, one by one, without missing, lighting up the garden with the soft, heavenly glow of fire. With a sigh, I walked back to the bench I was sitting on. I heard a clunk behind me and I realized I had dropped my mask. As I turned around, I saw a young man kneeling down, retrieving my mask and standing up. Wow, he was tall.
"Excuse me, my lady, you dropped this," he said. His voice was like silk.
"My lady?" I asked. "I'm loving the classical vocabulary." With a grin, I retrieved my mask from his hand. "Thank you."
"My pleasure." I couldn't see his face because of the mask he was wearing. All I could see were his eyes. Green, like fresh spring grass. "Would you mind if I walked with you?"
"S-sure," I stuttered. I cleared my throat. "Sorry. This is my first ball, so I'm nervous." Lies. What I really meant to say was: I'm really upset at a lot of things and I don't know how to put it in words so I'm just making crap up in hopes that you leave so you don't have to deal with my problems.
"It is? Well, why aren't you inside? It's a lot more fun in there. You get to dance and drink and if you're lucky enough, you get to speak to the royal family."
Oh, how I wanted to laugh. "Trust me," I spat. "The last thing I need is to speak to them."
"I'm guessing you and them don't get along?"
"Yeah, something like that."
He offered his arm to me. "Would you like to come inside and dance with me?"
"I'd like to know what your name is before I dance with you."
"How rude of me!" he grabbed my hand. "My name is Cabel Kjiin, and it's a pleasure meeting you." He kissed my hand and I fought back a smile. "And you are?"
There was a lump in my throat that I struggled to swallow. "I'm . . . Meria Wallis."
"What a beautiful name." He offered me his arm again, and I took it. We entered the ballroom, and I put my mask on as fast as I could. The music was livelier and louder. People danced happily to the music, and some were already way too drunk to even remember how to walk. Soon enough, Cabel and I began to dance. Wow, it's been a while since I danced like this. Arm to arm, we twirled and skipped, eventually stopping to catch our breaths, and then came a softer song, which wasn't made for slow dancing nor fast dancing, but somewhere in between. Soon, Cabel and I switched partners, since it was part of the dance, and I danced with strangers. After the sixth dancer, I was dancing with someone who's presence was far too familiar. I balled up my fists and tried to distance myself. But he wouldn't let me.
"Let me go," I said to Bruce.
"How'd you know it was me?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I saw you come in when you first came back to the Fire Nation. I didn't have the gut to speak to you, but now I do. And -"
"Now? At a masked party? If you're that embarrassed by me, do me a favor and let go of me so I can leave."
"That's not the case at all, Meria!" he spat. It was time for us to change partners, but he ushered my next dancer away. "Let me explain. I know you're upset with me and I know you saw my wife."
"Yeah I did. Why didn't you tell me you were married instead of cutting off all contact with me? I was excited to come back and tell you all the things I learned and experienced while I was out there. But it was made me real happy to come back home and find out the guy, who I was in love with for over four years since I left, is now married. But I was a damned fool to believe to you would ever cut me the slack and accepting that this is my fate. I'm the Avatar and I was going to be gone for a very, very long time. You told me you'd wait for me, Bruce. And the worst part? I believed you."
"I thought you'd be over me by now."
"I thought so, too. But a part of me still had that little sliver of hope. You could've just told me that you were getting married. I'd back off immediately. Better late than never, right?" With that, I pried myself off of him and exited the front doors of the ballroom. I heard his footsteps.
"Dammit, Meria!" He exclaimed. "Just wait a second!" He grabbed my hand, hard. I wined and turned around. I saw Cabel walking fast towards us. He was a few yards away.
"Ouch!" I spat. "Bruce, you're hurting me!" Without thinking, I slammed a foot on the ground, causing it to shake. Violently. Before I could stop it, I fumbled and fell on my rear end. My mask came off. Bruce was trying hard to keep his balance. And then there was a heavy, dull crack heard from behind Bruce. A statue of his father had cracked at the ankles and was now falling towards us. With one swift push, I made a powerful gust of wind manifest from my hands, pushing Bruce with my wind. He hit the side of the ballroom building softly. Was it then that I managed to stop the earth form shaking. And then I realized - the statue was still falling. Towards me. Before I could push the statue with my wind, someone threw themselves on top of me, holding me with one arm and bending a massive earth tee-pee above us with the other. All I knew is that I was holding onto that person with more strength than I had. I opened my eyes, and saw a young man with strikingly beautiful green eyes. Cabel. His mask had fallen off. He was even more beautiful than I imagined.
"Are you okay?" he asked me, lowering his bending arm and helping me sit. "You're not hurt, are you?" He checked my face, neck, and arms for any physical injuries.
"I'm fine," I said, half-smiling. "Thank you. I don't think I would've caught that in time." He smiled and helped me sit up, then undid the earth tee pee, revealing a crowd of worried, drunk guests. That's when Jules came out from behind the crowd and threw herself onto me. I looked around to find my parents, and I found Bruce, instead. Looking at me with an expression I couldn't put my finger on. He looked . . . sorry. If it wasn't for me pushing him out of the way, he'd be dead.
I walked back inside with everyone, and saw Bruce walking towards me again. Cabel put an arm in front of me, blocking me from him. "Last time I checked, she doesn't want to speak to you," Cabel spat.
"And last time I checked, I'm the prince of the Fire Nation. Unless you want me to cut that arm off, I suggest you remove it from in front of her." With hesitation, and approval from me nodding my head, Cabel removed his arm from in front of me and whispered, "I'll be back soon," and walked off.
"I want to thank you for -" Bruce started, but I cut him off.
"For saving your life? Your welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to your garden to meditate."
"Let me say it. I want to thank you for saving my life. I wouldn't be standing in front of you if you hadn't done what you did."
"Don't mention it. Really. Do not mention it."
"Why'd you do it?" He asked. "I mean, you must really hate me for breaking your heart like that."
"I'm not answering that question."
"Regardless of you answering that, I still want to explain to you why I didn't write to you for so long."
"You have a minute. Go."
Bruce took a breath. "I did it for my people. My father is really sick, and is going through chemo right now. Which meant either I or Karina had to get married and take the thrown. Otherwise, it would be decided through the old-fashioned way: Agni Kai. And I wasn't going to burn my sister. My father found a princess from the western fire nation and after two months of dating, we married. It was fast, but we didn't want to waste time. If my father died, we were the next family to the thrown."
"That still doesn't explain why you could write to me and say, hey, guess what? I'm forcing myself to marry some girl I've only known for two months because my father is dying and I don't want to burn my sister. Good luck with that Avatar business!"
"Because my father was furious when he found out I was still writing to you when I was married to Yuki." Okay, so his wife's name is Yuki. "He said it was disgraceful. I tried sneaking a later here and there but he always managed to catch me."
"Nice to know." I checked my watch. "You passed your minute by twenty seconds. I'm going home. Tell your father I said happy birthday." Without a goodbye said to Bruce, I walked home, while my family took their limousine. They offered me a ride but I was more than happy just walking home. So, I did. I walked home. The night was getting chillier and I knew I had a lot more to go if I wanted to get home before midnight, and it was already 11:20 p.m.
"Meria!" I recognized that voice. It was Cabel. "God, you walk fast!" He stopped to catch his breath. "You forgot . . this." He extended his hand and held out my mask.
"I didn't need that, you know," I said to him.
He laughed. "Yeah, I know, I just needed an excuse to talk to you." Cabel extended his hand and I took back my mask. He walked with me all the way home, still making sure I wasn't injured when he pushed me on the ground. "I didn't know you were the Avatar until you air bended that snobby prince away from you. I'm guessing you and him don't get along?"
I chuckled. "Long story for another time." The air picked up and it got chillier, and Cabel took off his coat and put it around me. "Thanks," I said, trying my hardest not to blush. "I didn't know you were an earth bender. Well, I kind of guessed because of your eyes, but I didn't know for sure."
"Yeah, I'm the only earth bender within my siblings. My dad's a fire bender and my mom's an earth bender. I'm the baby of the family. Mom was trying so hard to have a child that earth bends but they all came out fire benders. Until I - the late baby - was born. My parents are old. Really old." I told him how I'm the oldest, and we're all fire benders.
Until we got to my house, and I felt that something didn't feel right. The lights were still out, and I knew that my family doesn't go to sleep until really late at night, so this was odd. I opened my front door and saw chairs broken into pieces, tables knocked over, papers burned to ashes and torn apart.
"MOM?" I screamed into the house. "DAD? JULES?" I ran upstairs. "ZAI? TAI? DAD? MOM!?" I ran throughout the house screaming for them. Until I ran downstairs with tears running down my face. "They're not here!"
"Calm down," Cabel said, rubbing my shoulders. "Maybe they got delayed in traffic."
"The dress that my sister wore is on her bed! My brothers' clothes are in the laundry basket in their rooms. They were here!" I thought I was going crazy. "Someone came in here and took my family." My tears of despair were now tears of anger. I was furious. I entered my room for the first time that night. It was untouched. Except for the crimson-red note stuck onto my mirror. Come find your family, half way across the world. Good lucky, Avatar.
Please review so I know how I did!
