The siblings laid on haystacks in the barn, Yinling was sound asleep while Kunwei and Gang Chao stayed awake, unaware that they were both still not asleep.
Finally, a small voice spoke up in the darkness of the barn, "Brother, are you still awake?"
Gang Chao turned his head to the voice, "Yeah, I am," he said as he settled into the hay more, "Anything wrong?"
"No, I'm just wondering," Kunwei said as he looked over at his brother, "why did that soldier attack Lee? I mean, Lee's just a kid, right? Why did he do that?"
"I don't know," Gang Chao responded truthfully as he turned to face the ceiling, lost in thought, "Maybe he just felt the need to bully someone."
"But it's wrong," Kunwei protested, and his voice rose, "I feel like we've got to do something, like get rid of that Gow guy."
"We already handled Gow," Gang Chao responded, "We shouldn't be getting too involved, you do remember that we're refugees. We hold no power in any town, everyone will look down on us or pity us. We can't change the world, Kunwei."
"You seemed to want to change the world," Kunwei shot back, he felt his blood pressure rising and his heart rate quicken. He was angry, he wanted to lash out at something, anything to make the pain of leaving his whole world behind go away.
Gang Chao sighed, "He was hurting a kid, I couldn't let that happen," he said evenly and turned on his side, "Not in front of me like that."
Suddenly, the two heard Yinling stir in her sleep, "I heard arguing, what's wrong?" she asked as she yawned.
"Nothing LingLing," Gang Chao said, using her nickname for the first time in days, "Go back to sleep."
The barn was silent after that, Gang Chao stayed wide awake though, thinking over what his brother had said to him, 'What should I do? Should I get involved with this town's affairs? What power do I have, I can't bend and I can barely fight. For goodness sakes, I'm not the Avatar!'
He closed his eyes as tears threatened to spill over, 'I wish father were here, he'd tell me what to do,' his thoughts stayed silent for a long time as he listened to his siblings' steady breathing, 'No matter what though, I'll protect my family, like father told me to.'
Gang Chao stayed awake a little while longer, not thinking or doing anything other than listening to the relaxed breathing that filled the small barn, slowly his eye lids slid shut. He floated in the moments between the conscious world and the subconscious before he slipped into a deep sleep, dreaming of the family he once had, and the family he has now.
Whack!
Whack!
"So what ever happened to your parents?"
Crack! Gang Chao's hammer came down hard on the fence post he was helping install, it wasn't totally his fault, the question caught him off guard. He quickly checked to make sure he didn't make any lasting damage to the post before turning to the kid that asked that.
"Uhh," he said to Lee as the little kid waited expectantly, "It's a long story," he finished lamely as he leaned on the newly installed fence post, he looked over the farm land, "It's a nice place you got here," he said, quickly changing the subject.
Lee nodded, "Yeah, it's pretty big," he said and looked suspiciously at Gang Chao, "Hey, you switched the subject on me."
"Yeah," Gang Chao replied a little sheepishly, "Guess I did," he said as he returned to the fence, pounding in another post, "It's not really polite to ask about a person's family," he said as he finished up the next segment of fence. He looked down at the ground and noticed there was no more wood to build the fence with.
He looked annoyed as he noticed that Kunwei wasn't back from his lumber run. He had asked his brother to buy more wood from the town so they could finish the job. Installing a new pigster pen was the least the older brother could do to repay Lee's family for allowing them to stay for a few days.
Yinling was getting along great with Lee's mother, and Lee seemed to be taking a shining to Gang Chao and Kunwei, probably because they were replacements for the brother and father he had lost.
Lee now looked at the horizon as well, "I'm pretty sure he's trying out earthbending or something," the kid said assuredly as he noticed Gang Chao's expression.
"Yeah, probably," Gang Chao replied as his stomach gave a loud grumble, he picked up the tools off the ground, "I could go for some lunch right now," he said with a small smile to Lee.
Kunwei hadn't meant to take so long to get the necessary supplies to build the fence, he had been sidetracked by a trader. A kindly man who happened to be selling scrolls on earthbending, obviously nothing was better than a master to teach the art, but scrolls were the next best thing. Kunwei couldn't afford the scrolls, they were much too expensive (the intended buyers were most likely nobles), but he could look at the pictures and read the corresponding movements.
So he asked the trader, "I'd like to look at the scroll, please," he said politely, "I want to be a great earthbender one day, but since I don't have a master . . ."
The trader chuckled, "Of course," he said as he reached into the saddle bag attached the ostrich horse and pulled out a scroll. The man obviously had a soft spot for curious children, "Let's take a look," he unraveled the parchment and held it so that he and Kunwei could see it.
Kunwei saw some moves that he recognized, and others that were completely alien to him. He saw the move that Gow had used to hurt his brother. Scrutinizing the series of movements closer, he saw that the move was meant to launch a column of earth, either to launch oneself airborne or to launch others. He unconsciously mimicked the steps, encoding them into his memory.
"I have to go," the trader said suddenly, snapping Kunwei out of his thoughts, he nodded.
He smiled, "Thanks for showing me the scroll mister," he said to the trader who smiled at him. Kunwei watched as the man left the town, going up the road, the young earthbender picked up the lumber and left down the other street, towards Lee's farm.
As he got out of sight of the town, he heard rustles in the bushes, the child stopped and glanced around warily, "Who's there?" he asked tensely as two men stepped out onto the road directly behind him, he turned around quickly, dropping the lumber save for one piece which he brandished like a stick.
"I wouldn't if I were you," another voice spoke up from behind the terrified child, a familiar voice that belonged to a corrupt Earth Kingdom soldier.
Kunwei glared as he turned around, staring at Gow, who had a nasty bruise and scrapes down one side of his face, "Leave me alone!" he yelled at Gow, who only sneered.
"Now why would I want to do that?" the bully asked, pointing towards his bruised temple, "This is what I got from you. You have to pay for assaulting a soldier of the Earth Kingdom."
Gow moved faster than Kunwei could follow, his hammers hitting the ground and sending up a wave of earth, which hit the child and launched him into the air, breaking the piece of wood in the process. Kunwei landed a few yards away, he felt bruises forming on his stomach, "Ugh," he groaned as he gripped at his injured torso.
There was movement, and out of the corner of his eye, Kunwei saw one of Gow's goons moving towards the floored child, Kunwei gripped the piece of wood still in his hand. The man moved closer and Kunwei lifted his arm and swung, the wood catching the man in the knee. The goon collapsed to the ground with a very unmanly shriek of pain. Kunwei stood up, using the wood as a crutch, he wasn't going down without a fight.
A column of dirt suddenly shot forward from underneath Kunwei, the twelve year old didn't think, he just reacted. He rolled out of the way of the column, missing it entirely as he executed the moves he saw on the scroll almost perfectly, sending a fairly respectable chunk of earth out of the ground and into Gow, who was obviously not expecting the sudden turn of events.
Gow whimpered on the ground as Kunwei seemed to tower over the corrupt soldier, glaring at him with cold eyes. Footsteps sounded behind the earthbender, but he didn't seem to notice as he was locked in a one-sided staring contest with the cowardly soldier.
"Kunwei," Gang Chao said seriously from behind him, "What happened?"
Kunwei turned to Gang Chao, "They jumped me," he said harshly, glaring at Gow, "The guy jumped me!" he shouted angrily as he aimed a kick at the groveling soldier.
A hand on the kid's shoulder stopped him, Kunwei looked up to see Gang Chao staring coldly at him, "No," the teen said as he pulled his brother back roughly, "Kick a man while he's down, and you'll be as low as he is," he said as he guided Kunwei back towards the farm, where Lee stood.
"But," Kunwei started to protest, looking incredibly confused at how Gang Chao was acting.
The older brother shook his head, "No," he said, interrupting the child before he could even protest, he looked at Lee, "I'm afraid we've outstayed our welcome here," he said stoically, "We're leaving."
Lee looked downcast, "You can't leave," he said sadly, "I'll miss you guys," he finished as he looked up at them.
"Sorry," Gang Chao said as he knelt down so he was at eye level with Lee, "Be strong for your family," he said as he placed a firm hand on Lee's shoulder, "Don't ever lose hope."
And with that, Gang Chao was off once more, arriving at the farm and explaining the situation to the mother.
"Thank you for your hospitality," Gang Chao said as he bowed deeply to Lee's mother, "I wish you and your son luck."
"I wish you three luck too," the mother said as she handed them a few water skins and some food and supplies for their journey. Gang Chao smiled a little and nodded, packing the skins and food into his pack.
And with that, the three siblings left, walking on the road towards Ba Sing Se once more.