Chapter 2:
Natural Selection
"Ryung Jae" ईबहलु ऱोा
"How many times have I had to tell you? No!" Ryung hooted, impatiently.
The wrinkles on Chief of Police, Zander Bingwen, tightened from the frustrated expression he gave Ryung Jae. "But Ryung, you must understand we need your help right now. The council keeps bugging me every chance they get. It's gotten intolerable." The old man pleaded, wearily. His moustache and head were a mix of grey and black. The homburg that he always wore blocked the worst of his balding head and matched his suit.
"I don't care what they have to say on the matter," Ryung retorted firmly. "I wanted to settle down with Yuna and help—"
"'—help raise your kids.' Yes, yes, I know!" Chief Bingwen recited, impatiently. "But times have gotten hectic; what with the war going on and Charisma… I can empathize with them, being down a member of the council during all of this simply won't do." He took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
"Then find another council member!" Ryung Jae retorted, angrily. "This is Republic City, I'm sure there's plenty of candidates who are more able and more willing."
"You know as well as I that we can't just—just pick someone off the streets…" Zander resisted. "The council needs to have one member from each nation. You're the only Airbenders who live in Republic City. There isn't anyone else."
Ryung sighed and looked out the window for several moments. I thought once I left the council my troubles would vanish… Heh, what a foolish notion. He looked back at the polished, wooden desk with papers neatly organized in the small office.
"You can't run away from these problems," Zander started, uncannily. "Whether you're here or on Air Temple Island, people are going to keep hating the spirits and those who follow them unless you give them a reason to respect your ancestors and their beliefs."
"I'm not 'running away' from anything!" Ryung's face contorted with rage. "And I surely don't know what you are talking about with people disrespecting my family or the spirits!" He sprang out of his seat and stormed to the door.
"Oh come on, Ryung. You may be proud, but you sure aren't blind!" he retorted, standing up as well. "If everything is so great, then why haven't you worn any monk robes ever since Jinora passed away?!"
Outrage bursted from his already overflowing chest. "That's got nothing to do with my mom's—"
"Of course it doesn't!" Zander cried, voice still rising. "It opened your eyes! You know things are progressively getting worse in the Earthen Empire altogether! The things people are saying about the spirits now—you'd think they're demons."
"SHUT UP!" Ryung bellowed, before quickly slamming the door close behind him and leaving Zander to his own thoughts.
Outside the office, he noticed a few disapproving looks shoot at him, but he could never please them, no matter what he did. While I was in the council, they wanted me off and now they are mad because I refuse to rejoin? It was hard to cool down, but he managed to focus only on the sound of his footsteps as he neared the massive doors of City Hall.
He went too far. Talking of the spirits like that… Instinctually, he attempted to justify his reaction. The spirits mean the most to my family line—it was out of line for Zander to be so insensitive about it.
Though he couldn't shake the fact that Zander was right about Republic City antagonizing all things spiritual. Ryung could barely admit it to himself let alone to others.
The door opened for him and once outside, he saw a strange woman with brown eyes and sleek, ginger hair holding it open on the other end. Reluctantly her tall companion followed and backed away from the opening. Ryung couldn't help but feel the man's long, shaggy hair and confused, blue eyes looked foreign to the city. "Thanks." He muttered, nevertheless. The small girl nodded abruptly before he left.
It was always a long and inconvenient trip back to Air Temple Island. As the name suggests, the island was in the middle of the Yue Bay, which required a boat or an airship to reach from the coastline of the city. I never knew how much preparation it took as a kid… Everything seemed so much easier—so much simpler—as a kid…
"Well I be darned," a raspy voice interrupted his thoughts. "If it isn't Mista' Jae! Haven't seen you 'round in a while. What brings ya off the island? Need a breather from the kids?" He laughed, heartily, and roughly pat Ryung on the back.
"No, no, it's nothing like that, Chen," he replied, letting a little smile crack on his face. "Just another meeting with Zander, begging me on the council again. I honestly don't know why I still reach out to his continuous pleas."
Ryung got himself situated on the small motor boat as he had done countless times before in his life. Chen wasn't an Air Acolyte like most of his mother's friends, but he always lent a hand with transportation, being a well-versed captain across every stretch of the Yue Bay.
"Well, I wouldn't worry 'bout it." The engine coughed up, abruptly. Ryung glanced at his wrinkled, bony face. He had white, short, and thinning hair above ocean, blue eyes, and dark, tan skin. He wore a white, sleeveless shirt covered in sweat and baggy, green pants that were ripped in many places. Though Ryung found his most prominent feature to be his salty scent.
"These here things tend to work themselves out…" The boat quickly left the dock with a roar, before quieting down once it reached a certain speed. The wind hollered in his ears and pushed his hair back. It felt refreshing, being outside with the sound of waves crashing around the outskirts of the tiny boat.
"I suppose," Ryung Jae muttered to himself.
He stared ahead at the ebony rocks and large, scenic hills that were visible on the faded Air Temple Island. Despite living here for thirty-six years, the view never quite lost its appeal to him. He silently watched the distant island until finally, it engulfed their surroundings.
"Well, here we are: Air Temple Island!" Chen exclaimed lively.
Ryung cautiously stepped out of the swaying boat and firmly planted his feet on the white sand. He stretched his arms and legs leisurely and looked back behind him. "I can't thank you enough, Chen."
"It's no bother!" he responded with a swipe of his hand. "Tell Yuna I said hi… and Aerika and Lavanya as well," he added as an afterthought.
"Will do." Ryung waved his hand and marched up toward the tall temple which marked the center of the island.
The usual sound of chaos greeted him once he entered the temple. He assumed Yuna and his kids were probably having lunch, but he ignored it for a short while. Ryung couldn't piece it all out in his head, yet, but his mind was set on something Zander had mentioned during their short meeting.
He slid open a dusty closet, opened a large bag and tentatively took out the contents.
Cupped in his hand was one of the many Airbending Robes that he had ceased to wear after he mastered airbending. It was a brown, thick, and layered robe that felt soft and loose. Could I ever walk around in this again? Without getting killed? Ryung Jae wondered. How'd Mom react if she knew that I've shunned away our ancestry in a closet? The thought alone made him grimace.
Please…forgive me, Mother.
"Nilak" 尼罗河
Despite being in Republic City for half a week already, every day seemed bizarre to Nilak. Although the initial chaos of the first few days had pulled over, the jam-packed city was still a harsh adjustment to the spacious, peaceful home in the Northern Water Tribe Nilak had lived in for the past 29 years of his life. Though he wouldn't dare imagine how much worse it might have been had Taige not been around to help. He felt like he was developing somewhat of a routine already thanks to her.
Taige was by his side for a vast majority of each day, despite not working as of yet. Nilak didn't realise how much more Republic City operated on oral communication. I suppose having stores and restaurants are the reason for that… It was only clear to him while he was buying chairs for his apartment in a busy warehouse. At the time he felt guilty, all too aware it took probably twice as long for him to finish paying compared to those who were in front of him. Needing Taige to direct everything turned out to be quite time consuming for transactions. Being a mute never felt so blatantly disruptive while he was growing up.
Luckily, being around Taige so much has made Nilak really appreciate her. She was awfully energetic, positive, and prone to rambling. Though, admittedly, some may find her annoying, it fit very well with Nilak since he could not really chime in on a conversation smoothly without a voice. It was pretty easy to figure out why it was so hard for him to make many friends before…
Nilak plopped down onto the further of the two booths at their table. He took a deep breath as the atmosphere calmed down significantly now that they were indoors.
"Okay!" Taige exclaimed, rubbing her hands together. "Well we have a little under two hours to eat and City Hall is on the other side of the street at the end of the block." She pointed towards the window at a spectacular building painted white that was hard to miss despite only having half the right of the wall in plain site at this angle.
Nilak stiffly nodded. A waitress came by the table soon after.
"Hi, welcome to Wei Odakim! My name's Tylda; can I start you out with something to drink?" She smiled, glossing over the pair of them.
Taige turned to Nilak and he instinctively tugged down over the table, like he was holding a cloth. "Um…" Taige let out. "Oh, right! Sorry… He'd like milk please and…. I guess I'll have some water."
The waitress's smile changed as if she was trying to play along with a joke they were doing. "All right…I'll be back in a minute." For whatever reason, the gesture nagged at Nilak once she left.
"What's up?" Taige asked him. It must've shown on his face.
Nilak decided to come straight out with it. 'Am I funny to you?' He signed, looking quizzical.
"Well yeah, you're pretty funny," Taige answered brightly.
Nilak's heart sunk and he felt distraught at the unexpectedly blunt response.
"Wait—what exactly did you mean?" Taige retracted, surprised at the dismal reaction she received.
'It's just when I'm talking with outside people, they always seem to be holding back laughter or speaking to me like I'm a child. It feels really degrading, sometimes.'
"It's not their fault," she answered. "Most folks just aren't used to different kinds of people so they don't know how to treat them when they are in the situation. In the end they think too much about it and it comes off as unnatural."
'You sound like you have some personal experience with these kinds of things.' Nilak fingered, curious.
"Yeah…" Taige said, distantly. "My mother—er—went through some hearing loss over the past fifteen years or so. She was deaf within the first five years. It was obvious her family treated her differently at reunions ever since. To this day it really annoys her."
'Oh, I'm sorry.' Nilak didn't expect anything serious to come up from the topic.
"It's fine," Taige murmured, indifferently. "It was her being deaf that prompted me to become a linguist in the first place." She smiled, broadly. "I didn't want to feel like there was something that separated us like that. I wanted to still be able to relate with her in the natural and open manner I've been comfortable with my whole life. "
After a few moments of silence, the waitress returned with their beverages. They decided to have a small lunch, consisting mostly of rice, shrimp, dumplings, and a large bowl of fried noodles they shared. It was a quiet, yet comfortable meal. Neither one seemed very interested in discussions as the meeting for the council was drawing near. A half hour before it started, Taige eventually got up and led Nilak back out in Downtown Republic City.
As the building straightened itself out in Nilak's view, his stomach swirled, uncomfortably. Looking to the side of the building made it look beautiful and elegant; however at its front, it appeared intimidating and strangely menacing.
It had blank, white walls with some shiny, brass peaks on the corners of the building and another plate looming over the entrance. On the center of the roof was a great, green skylight in the shape of a dome. Even in his anxious state, Nilak was impressed by the ornate building.
"We still have some time before the meeting starts so I guess we can check out your office!" Taige said excited as they started to climb the marble steps of the front entrance. She opened one of the large doors but quickly backed up and let a tall man through. He had short, ebony hair that was well groomed. On a long, crooked nose he had small spectacles. It was clear he was flustered about something from his gaunt expression.
However he muttered "Thanks" and glanced first at Taige, then Nilak. She nodded curtly in response and the man quickly left them.
Once they were inside, Nilak lightly tapped Taige on the right shoulder to get her attention. She was all but used to it by now.
"Hm?" She abruptly stopped.
'Who was that?' he asked.
"You don't know Ryung Jae?" she asked, mildly surprised. "He's a former council member and pretty much the only public face of the Air Family. You know since all the other ones relatives are in hiding…"
Nilak gawked. 'He's an airbender?!'
"Yup," Taige nodded. She started off again.
Nilak's befuddlement made him follow, sluggishly, after a few seconds.
The spacious interior of the City Hall had a unique style of decorations. The iron panes and aluminum tiles alongside many other assortments of metal made the historical monument seem like an complex fortress.
Most of the offices were on the fifth floor of the building; including his own. Taige had pointed this out while they went up the stairs. It was fairly easy to confirm after Nilak had surveyed most of the lower floors without seeing any offices.
"Excuse me! Pardon me!" Nilak caught a distant voice call from behind. He tapped Taige's shoulder again and they both stopped and turned around.
A large, muscular man in a khaki trench coat came up to them. "Taige is it?" he asked as he entered hearing distance.
"Yes…?" she asked, confused.
"My name is Annovi Bao Yu; we talked earlier on the phone?" Now that Annovi was close to them, Nilak noticed he had a brown handlebar moustache, but otherwise didn't have any hair on his head. His bald head made his extraordinarily tan skin so prominent to Nilak, he felt like Annovi was emitting a strange glow.
"Ah, it's nice to finally meet you in person, Councilman Annovi," she said with a bow.
"Just call me Anno. Annovi's a bit of a mouthful," Annovi said, heartily. "So is this Nilak?" It seemed like he just noticed Nilak.
"Yup! Nilak, this is the head councilman representing the Earthen Empire."
Anno extended a bulky hand in front of him. Nilak instinctively took it, but regretted doing so immediately. Anno's firm grip felt like it was crushing the bones of his hands.
"Sorry to interrupt your—er—exploration around City Hall, but the rest of the council members arrived early; so we figured we'd start early. If you would follow me, I'll take you to the council room…" He started off back towards the staircase.
Taige glimpsed at Nilak at a second, dumbfounded. He rattled his shaken hand and mouthed an "Ow!" with his mouth. Taige giggled uncontrollably as they both followed behind Councilman Anno.
Nilak felt certain he would've collapsed from the anxiety he faced, going into the council room, had it not been for the long introduction of the other members who were all sitting down when they arrived.
The pale and bony man on the far right of the table was Karcsi Jurou, representing the Fire Nation. His black, long hair and goatee gave off a dark and daring demeanor. much unlike Anno,who sat beside Karcsi. Passed an open chair that no doubt was the spot for the Air Nation, a beautiful, young woman named Cecilia Molina, sat in place of the Southern Water Tribe. Her glamorous, black hair was short and tied tightly behind her. Anno had placed a small chair between Cecilia and Nilak's for Taige.
"Well!" Anno called with a clap of his hands after everyone was seated and situated with a large glass of water. "Let's get started then, shall we?"
Karcsi cleared his throat. "You wanted me to keep you posted on Rohan's case?" His voice was smooth, yet indescribably slyful.
Anno nodded in response. "Well he's been convicted by the jury. The punishment is still being argued over. Fifteen years, most likely…" Karcsi continued, grimly.
The head councilman grimaced, devastated. He sighed and rubbed his face in his hand, irritable. "This is not good… Ryung will not take this lightly."
"Well, maybe if he was on the council, he could have done something about it," Cecilia retorted hotly.
'What is this about?' Nilak signed, curious. However the words he expected to hear moments later were not spoken.
"Don't be ridiculous," Karcsi snapped, impatiently. "You know perfectly well, councilman or not, Ryung would have no say in his own Uncle's case! No doubt he will go ballistic when he hears of this. He is far too… impetuous with personal matters." Cecilia glared at the firebender with pure malice.
Nilak looked over towards Taige, confused. She was fixated on the discussion in front of her. It was too far away for him to tap her like usual without getting up and disrupting everyone. He stared at her face, momentarily. Come on…. Look at me!
"Everyone, please," Anno interrupted, calmly. "I know it is frustrating not having Ryung with us anymore but there's no need to hold it against him." Nilak failed to keep his attention, frustrated at Taige's unresponsive behavior. What's the point if I don't have my voice?! He started to shake his right hand near his head in hopes she would eventually notice.
"Hold it against him? Hold it against him?!" Cecilia looked baffled. "The council of Republic City cannot function with only three members and he's keeping idle for what? Babysitting?"
Anger was now fuming from Nilak now. So I'm just invisible?! He rubbed the side of his chin obnoxiously, knowing no one would notice. This is embarrassing…
"I'll figure something out…" Anno assured, defensively. "All that's important is that in the meantime we just—"
A loud shatter split across the room and abruptly cut off the conversation. Nilak had furiously thrown his glass at the wall with all his strength. The entire council as well as Taige gaped at him, bewildered beyond comprehensive thought.
Oh sure, now they notice me. He continued to clench his fist as he stood up with only the creak of his chair uttering inside the room. After scanning the entire room with a glare as fierce as the sun, he gave them a mocking bow and headed out through the room without a single glance behind him.
"Reiatsu" 金塔罗 蕾亚子
The chilly breeze hit his cheeks hard. He shivered violently and gloomily exited TǔGuǐ station. It was never a pleasant experience, being at the beginning point of the daily rotation.
Let's just get this over with.
He sluggishly dragged his way along the usual path past the Northern Market and through Zhēnx's Triangle. Sooner than he hoped, the academy slowly came into sight and with it, another wave of misery.
"HEY Reia!" a deep voice shouted out from behind. Confused, Reia turned his head towards the voice.
He felt something drive straight into his back and felt his body shoot upwards. The cold wind was now only a prop for his plummeting body as he smacked down onto the ground. He groaned, nauseated from the harsh spinning in the air. Reiatsu laid on the floor of the courtyard for several moments in silent pain. The distant laughter of a few seemed to glue him to the ground.
"Aha—catch you later, man!" After popping his head up, he found the face he saw only a hint of beforehand walking along with a small group who laughed hysterically as they entered Kotai Academy.
"Oh come on!" Reia yelled at their backs. "I've never even met you!"
He grumpily found his classroom, prepared to situate himself in the back, when he noticed the room was empty. Great! Now what?
Reiatsu looked around at the surrounding crowd before seeing a familiar face to his dismay.
"Jakyri! What's going on? My classroom's empty," he said angrily.
A large, muscular man faced him, reluctantly. He had short, wavy hair and large, green eyes.
"Ugh—Don't you pay attention to, like, anyone?" he asked, irritable. "Today there is some kind of ceremony or something that every class is going to this morning. It's being held in the Redemption Ring."
"For someone lecturing me about paying attention, you seem to know very little about this ceremony as well." Reia muttered instinctively, glaring up at Jakyri.
"Oh shut up," Jakyri snapped. "If Avani didn't specifically ask me to be easy on you I swear you'd already be in your grave."
Reia soundlessly went off towards the Redemption stadium, remembering Avani's earlier discussion of Jakyri a couple weeks ago:
"Reia?" Avani said with her naturally hardened, unconcerned tone. "You know Jakyri isn't all that bad once you get to know him." She took another bite from what had to be her third moon peach.
Reia exhaled, after a large sip of the warm, soothing taste of jasmine tea still fresh in his mouth. "To be honest, I don't know what you see in him; he's just like any other jock in the school." He placed his cup down, feeling full with the food he already ate.
"I don't 'see' anything in him," Avani snapped, eyes cold with anger. It was pretty obvious she was blushing but Reia did not wish to be thrown out of the restaurant's window, so he kept quiet. "We're just friends and I admit he's a cool guy. Is that so difficult to grasp." she said, exasperated.
"Okay, okay!" Reia answered defensively.
The waitress' return stopped any further bombardment Avani was undoubtedly about to give him, luckily.
"Is everything all right?" she asked, merrily.
"Yeah," Reia spoke, automatically. Avani droned in her glass in agreeance to Reia.
"Do you two lovers need anything else? I'd be happy to—" She cut off, alarmed. Avani coughed violently, choking on her drink.
"Love—ahem—ers?!" Her face heated up, livid at the misconception.
Reia saw the large doors of what must be the stadium, he only had been around this part of the school once before. They were a beautiful, polished mahogany encased in stainless steel with circular windows in each door. Well I see now why people call them the daunting doors…
Grabbing onto one of the cold, steel doors he opened it before getting pushed into the wall by a firm arm.
"Reia!" an excited Avani said, pinning him to the wall. "Earth sages are here today!" She triumphantly raised her fists, letting him free.
"Would you—would you stop doing that!" Reia barked, rubbing his aching shoulders tenderly.
"Oh don't be such a wimp." Avani waved him off indifferently.
"Why do you care about a bunch of earth sages anyway?" Reia asked, strained still by the stinging pain in his back.
"Because, I can get some support from one of them in the Cu-Fe tournament and be able to pay for all the equipment I need," she stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
I hope that doesn't happen. Reia had nabbed some of his father's money in order to secretly buy Avani some decent equipment as a present for her upcoming birthday. Not likely Zeke would ever notice, anyway.
"Anyway let's go!" She practically dragged him into the stadium with her bulky hands. Only a few meters in, Reia knocked against her now stationary back. "Uhm—What is this?"
Once Reia recomposed himself, he too was puzzled by the strange, archaic chair that sat in the middle of the arena. A giant circle was carved in the tan rock, surrounding the chair. It was separated into four sections with water, rocks, and a small fire in three different ones, and the last one was left baron. Overall, Reia felt like the chair was animated, and studying him head-to-toe.
"Would everyone please find a seat within the stadium!" a booming voice called out, emerging from the below the stands in a small, metal door. He was dressed in strange, green robes that ran down to his ankles, concealing his entire body. "My name is Cheng and as you might've already noticed," Cheng continued to announce as several other figures cloaked in the same green robes as him came out behind him. "we are Earth Sages."
Reia sat down after Avani plopped down, heavily, peering at the chair suspiciously.
"Now then," he stated almost casually once everyone was seated. "If you're wondering why exactly we are here, it is because we—along with many others— were sent out to discover who the next Avatar is." Several groans escaped the audience at the mention of the new Avatar. Cheng seemed not to have heard it. "If you could all be patient for about half an hour, we can go through all of you in no time. I'll go alphabetically by last name. Please come up and sit down in this chair when I call your name. The spirits will do the rest. Hmm—" He pulled out a long list that unraveled once he conjured it from an inner coat pocket. "Suya Ai. We'll start with you."
"Yeah—let the loving spirits handle it," a senior whispered to his two friends. They smiled, gauntly. It seemed they were afraid of the chair now that Cheng had explained what it is for.
"I can't believe the school is letting the Earth Sages use that—that demon chair…" Avani said with a shudder.
"Why do you hate the spirits so much?" Reia asked, somewhat amused. This sure wasn't the first time she had complained about them.
"They destroy villages, ruin people's lives, sometimes even kill people just because they see us like ants—isn't that reason enough?" Avani questioned, baffled by the lack of support she was receiving.
Reiatsu sat silently. It felt like there was more history Avani had with the spirits than she was letting on. He soon found himself staring at the chair with a sense of anxious wonder. For some reason his eyes were glued to the antiquated piece of furniture for some time. She does have a point.
The process was tedious and, at times, at a standstill from some people protesting once their names were called. Avani backed up all objections, fiercely; however, they all eventually caved in.
"They'll have to bind me into that chair before I do so willingly. Well… that is if they can bind me into that chair. Hah!" She gave a mischievous smirk.
"Well then it's a good thing your last, or we'd be waiting quite awhile." Reia smiled. She didn't seem convinced the humor was appropriate. "Look," he tried again, turning towards her, "everyone who has sat there has turned out perfectly fine—nothing's happened. It's just some ancient chair that's used for the sake of tradition or something." Avani still remained uncomfortably stiff; but she did manage to keep quiet through the rest of the process.
"Reiatsu Kintaro," Cheng finally called out.
He felt his blood rush to his head. What? There's got to be some sort of mistake, I'm—
The sudden amassed attention made him cut off and attempt to remember what acting normal was like. He walked down the stairs, making the only noise in the entire stadium. This silence felt far more rigid than it did when he was sitting. His heart was pounding in his chest, trying to keep a far more casual posture than he was feeling.
After climbing the stairs and walking along the sturdy rocks into the center, he finally spoke. "Er—sir? I believe you made a mistake. You see…I'm a nonbender and I—"
"We decided to include everyone within the age credential, just in case," Cheng answered with his abnormally boisterous tone.
Reia made no further argument before sitting in the uncomfortable obstinate chair. The many spotlights pierced mercilessly at him. It's so bright up here. He felt his nerves rising at the staring eyes of his audience in what now seems like dark seats.
Never mind them, just try to relax.
Reiatsu closed his eyes.
His muscles began to slackened as he felt his arms warm up from the rising sun.
Wait a minute… Something wasn't right. The stadium's underground! As if hearing his thoughts, the heat continued to get hotter and hotter until it felt like his insides were burning. His muscles instinctively tightened all across his body as pain started to surface. Once it reached a breaking point, it felt like the fire broke free and rushed straight through all four of his limbs. Yet the agony was minuscule compared to when the fire raged up through his neck and around his scalp. It sat, centralized in his temple for several moments. The intensity made his continuous screams seem ghostly. It was like nothing else in the world existed except the suffering of the most intense migraine he ever experienced. The anguish in his head soon began to fog up his vision and dizziness swept in as he swayed in and out of consciousness. Reia was falling…falling endlessly.