The bell rang for the end of class as Hsiang sat quietly on the outskirts of the school grounds. He liked that spot, high up above the buildings of modern academia, where he could see across the town toward the palace. Often he fantasized that Ursa would be staring back at him from her chambers, but today his gaze did not linger in that direction.
In the sand Hsiang drew four symbols idly, the signs for the four nations. He contemplated the question Mee had raised in class, the teacher had not answered the question at all. Four elements, and only one Avatar. The teacher had failed to answer why there could not be more Avatars, why not everyone?
"Remedial art I see, I didn't know you were struggling this much." Chirped the familiar voice of Mee, he hadn't noticed her approach.
"Go away."
"How come you never play with us other kids Hsiang? Nobody likes the poor boy I take it?" Mee snagged a tree and swung around on the limb into an crouching position halfway up the trees height.
"I don't seek the company of others, your games are dumb."
"Oh, the hurt, the pain… Smoke is all you can blow boy." Mee mocked Hsiang openly whenever the teaching staff wasn't in sight. She could have probably done it in plain view, Hsiang hadn't tested the theory yet.
"You get the answer to your question?" Hsiang wiped the symbols from the sand and turned to face his tormentor, his question showed only sincerity and interest.
"Nope, not that the other babies noticed. Teacher never answers the spicier stuff, oh well." Mee hung her head sideways like a rag doll, it was almost endearing.
"The way the teacher spoke, the Avatar hordes spirit energy for himself. Without an Avatar everyone could bend."
"Herself. Perhaps without the other benders around we would be more powerful, Air nation is wiped out I hear, I might feel a little stronger." Mee ignited her hand in flame and willed it to turn green, it was a trick that only the senior students were beginning to master.
"I know, I was there. Where were you Mee?" For the first time since the conversation began an outside observer could detect the buried resentment that Hsiang held for his college .
"I was engaged in other activities, you know they only send the fodder into battle. You're expendable, no-one would miss you if you died at war."
Mee's answer hurt Hsiang because at some level he supposed that it could be true. He looked out over the campus and imagined the princess doing her routine without any awareness of his existence, it was a mistake he quickly regretted.
"That's right, she won't miss you either. You think I haven't seen the pictures of her on your parchments, you think I don't know why you come up here every day?" Mee dropped from the tree and landed nimbly onto the soft earth.
"Let me be Mee, I'm nothing to you." Hsiang's voice developed a huskiness to it and Mee knew she had hit a sore note.
"Don't forget it boy, you're nothing to anybody."
Mee didn't stay to see the results of her words, she waltzed away toward the play area where the others ran happily. Hsiang sobbed quietly until the pain subsided.