Chapter 4:

Twin Shadows

"Reiatsu" 金塔罗 蕾亚子

"I can't stay here in Kotai!" Reiatsu uttered. His body was still shaking from the incident with Avani.

"I know."

"When Zeke hears about this he won't stop till I'm dead."

"Yeah."

"You don't understand! I mean, I can't even risk seeing him to try and reason with him! I know he won't hesitate once he gets the chance!" Reia continued. He shivered despite it being midday in the middle of a desert.

"Are you even listening to me?!" Keito let out, annoyed. "I agreed with you the first time, so sit back and quit babbling like your head's about to be cut off."

"Oh." Reia cut off, perplexed. Though he could not suppress his thoughts. "So…now what?"

"Well we need to go back to Dimm Rosè Palace and take what we can," his brother stated. "Hm—Then…I suppose we need to stop at the bank and get some money. Other than that, we leave Kotai immediately—the sooner the better."

"Wait, 'we'?" Reia asked, befuddled. "Are you saying you're coming with me?"

"Of course I am! What did you think, I'd drop you off on the streets after learning you're the Avatar?! Oh come on, Reiatsu! Do you really think I'm that cold?" Keito said, seeming almost wounded by the assumption.

"I don't know it's just… we aren't exactly best buds," Reia said awkwardly.

"You're judgement of people sucks," Keito answered, flatly.

Reiatsu looked out the window for a brief moment. He was not about to try and have an argument with the person who just saved his life twenty minutes ago. "How did you know what happened in my school anyway?" he asked, skeptical.

"The school called Kuji and Kuji called me. It didn't seem like they went into details with him because I was expecting some kind of detention or something from his tone. To be honest I thought it was some sort of joke for the first ten minutes or so. I mean you…the Avatar…it's just so… ridiculous. You aren't really the Avatar, right?"

It nagged at Reia that his brother doubted he was capable of being the Avatar. It was strange considering through all this trouble and how much he loathed having the title. "Why? Am I too weak to be it?!" he said, curtly, glaring at the back of Keito's head.

"Uh—well yeah." Keito answered, completely indifferent. "You can't bend, you're soft, and you're pretty frail. Isn't the Avatar supposed to be some infamous enforcer of nature's laws or something? Hate to break it to you, Reiatsu, but you don't really fit the job application."

Why did I ever want to be friends with this guy?

As Keito said, they went to their home within a half an hour of weary driving.

The sight of the great spiraling staircase surrounding the glimmering chandelier greeted them.

"Home so soon? Master Keito and Reiatsu?" Kuji said curiously. Walking down the hall with a broom in one hand and a feather duster in the other.

"We won't be long. We just need to get a few things." Keito responded.

"I hope he hasn't gotten into any trouble." The butler said, glancing at Reia.

"I'm right here you know!" Reia growled.

"Nah. It's nothing like that." Keito reassured, ignoring his brother's bad temper.

Kuji nodded and went back to his excessive cleaning. The twins walked upstairs, swiftly.

"Keep it light." Keito ordered before they split apart towards their own rooms across the hallway.

Reia kept quiet and stepped inside his own room. As he looked around his messy room, racking his brain for any important things to bring with him, he felt a sudden emptiness. I don't think weight will be a problem. Do I really have nothing special in my life that I can bring?

Murasaki… He knew it couldn't happen. The pain in his head resurfaced for another brief minute.

I need to leave her something. It's the last time I'll ever get to speak to her. Reia grabbed a piece of paper and found a pen in one of his cabinets before sitting down and looking blankly at the blank page. His thoughts clogged up as soon as he held the pen to the paper. What can I say? How can I possibly condense everything that happened in the past three hours in something like a letter…

A single drop of water fell onto the paper. He sniffled and noticed he was crying. It felt like nothing else in the entire world existed. That the only thing that mattered in the universe was being separated from Murasaki.

Murasaki,

I hope I'm the first to tell you this…I am the Avatar. I was hoping I'd get to say this to you in person along with one last goodbye, but I can't. I don't want to alarm you, but I'm afraid. I feel more lost than I've ever let you in on and I know that once I finish this letter, I will be on my own. You taught me more than I could ever hope to learn by myself, though. It is for that I am eternally grateful. You taught me how to care when it seemed like no one else would. Like a beacon, you gave me direction and shined in the otherwise treacherous and dark landscape. I hope that while I am gone you will continue to shine, and that someday, I will find my way back to the beacon. Back here with you.

I love you,

~Reia

Reia finished packing a simple, small bag of bare necessities before folding the letter in two and going downstairs. He walked down the polished floorboards on the second floor. The master bedroom was on the far left of the mansion. It was very strange, being in Murasaki's room. He had rarely ever been inside it before.

There was a large, fluffy bed in the middle of the room with red covers and at least six neatly stacked pillows. The large blue carpet was exposed for almost all of the room as if no one lived here. There was a grand fireplace facing the bed and a caramel, wooden bureau against the right wall. He slipped the paper in the middle of the empty desk.

"There you are! What's taking you so long?" Keito called, impatiently, from the hallway, poking his head in the doorway.

Reia paused for several moments, looking at the piece of paper. I wish I wrote more… "Nothing." He started. "Let's go." He walked past his brother, feeling a sudden numbness spread across his body.

This is the last time I will ever see the Dimm Rosè Palace. I've wanted to leave this place all my life but now…it feels all wrong.

Against Keito's wishes, Reia did extend their departure unnecessarily. He tried to take in all the familiar rooms and the usual smell of smoky wood and air fresheners combined with cleaning products.

Qinna pushed Keito's birthday cake off this table a few years back! What was it three years ago? He smiled faintly at the face that Zeke and Murasaki had made after they noticed. They were the last ones to notice the incident.

And Kenji always complained about the shirshu sculpture in the dining room. He never could admit he was scared. Hah—Even when he broke out in tears during the feast of Independence Day! I wonder where that thing went anyway…

"I thought you hated our place," Keito said, noticing Reia's pained expression once they finally exited through the large doors.

"I do," Reia said, undoubtedly. "But even so, it's the only place I've ever called home. Not that you'd understand, though." To his surprise, Keito kept silent. It was the closest thing to an agreement Reiatsu had ever received from his brother.

The trip to the bank was a lot shorter than the trip to Dimm Rosè Palace. Reia knew some of it had to be that his nerves had calmed down from the chaos of the morning. Avani… He thought anguishly. The event suddenly came back to him as if from a long, lost dream.

The car came to an abrupt, stop and fortunately interrupted his confined distress.

"Stay in the car. I'll be out in a minute." Keito asserted, opening his own door.

"Wait—Why do I have to wait outside?" Reia responded, frustrated.

"Oh I don't know—Cause your red eyes and white hair is more distinct than the crazy tattoos on your arms. I'm sure no one will recognize you, though," Keito hissed.

Reia opened his mouth but could not muster a counter. He almost forgot about the markings because of how hectic everything has been. They stung, achingly all across his body once again after Keito reminded him about them. His face reddened foolishly as he looked away from Keito in resignation.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

He heard the door shut behind him before Keito's tall, muscular back came into view and walked down the courtyard and through the huge, double doors of what must've been the bank.

High Kotai looked very more conserved compared to the rest of the city. Most people that could live here lived very inactive lives outside of their jobs and maybe their families. There were far less businesses being held in High Kotai, but the few that did, were extremely grand and had enormous budgets put into the architecture and size of their buildings.

Reia tapped his fingers on the base of the car window's frame, occasionally following a pedestrian walking down the street. It was far less dense in this part of the city. Reia rarely ever explored much of High Kotai in general.

There was two strange figures cloaked in the same silly, green cloak that suddenly made his heart beat heavily. It was two of the Earth Sages from the school.

He ducked as low as the seat would allow, feeling some of the previous panic creep back up under his skin. How do they know?! No—They can't know! They're just part of a search. It's just a coincidence…

They walked along the street, surveying their surroundings and asking something to every person that they encountered. Each of the bystanders seemed to have the same confused expression and short answer. Even despite their casual behavior, Reia felt his breathing intensify. It seemed like the walls around him were closing in and compressing his entire body into a tight box. Keito, hurry up…

The Earth Sages came past the car on the other side of the road but seemed uninterested by it, thankfully. Once they took a turn into the alleyway ahead of Reiatsu, he let out a deep breath and planted a soothing hand on his racing heart. They're gone…

The door to the bank opened again and several people seeped out of the building, gradually dispersing. He noticed Keito was heading back to the car through the grass of the courtyard. He had a large bag in his hand.

They're gone…

"Nilak" 尼罗河

A cold breeze crept into the bright street. Nilak took another large bite of the seaweed noodles he was given. They were far less salty than he was used to at home. His head stung, heavily, with the flashy lights of the police cars and a dozen officials talking amongst themselves. He swallowed the all too familiar crunchy noodles with a long gulp of water. His mouth felt like sandpaper from the alcohol.

"You're looking better!" Anno's voice came out before he was visible across the street. "I'm so glad you and Taige are alright! When I got the call I was so nervous."

Nilak stressfully pulled back the black hair in his face. He painfully squinted up at the broad, tan man again. Despite feeling very disoriented and confused, he could not bother to ask what was going on or where his voice was.

"Here…" Anno dug deep inside his brown trenchcoat and pulled out a small notepad with a pencil in the spiral of it.

Finishing the last of the kelp noodles, Nilak took the small notebook from his hand and reluctantly scribbled in it.

[Where is Taige?]

"We took her home, she seemed a bit traumatized from the whole ordeal so we figured it'd be best for her to get some rest." Annovi sat next to Nilak on the curb. They looked at the populated street in silence for several minutes. Nilak sipped his water.

"I noticed she seemed pretty tipsy. It's not like it's any of my business, but why were you guys drinking so much together?" Anno asked, suspiciously.

[It's nothing like that… We just met each other at the bar. I was really nervous about the whole incident with the council so I decided I needed to loosen up a bit.]

"Right," he said, still unconvinced. Could he make it more obvious?

Nilak hated to admit he was in no position to be angry at Anno, considering what he did. [I'm sorry about earlier. That was very childish of me.]

"That's quite all right," Anno answered. "We kind of rambled on, automatically. The council has never had a mute member before, so we didn't take enough consideration for compensating for your—er—needs. Your reaction was perfectly reasonable after such foul treatment. I hope that you'll forgive us and be patient while we learn how to adjust to this foreign format of communication."

[Do you want me to be honest with you?]

He seemed relieved at the sentence. "Yes, of course!"

[Writing things down like this feels really degrading.]

"Oh…" Annovi let out awkwardly. "I'm sorry about that. Without Taige we don't really have any other way…"

[I understand. I just thought you should know for future reference. Is that what you want?]

"Yes—anything that helps us improve communication with each other!" he said, relieved. "If you don't mind me asking, why exactly is it degrading to right down your thoughts?"

Nilak thought a while on how to explain it. [Because a word on its own is flat and dull. You don't notice this much because you can speak and therefore can express your thoughts better through tone and volume. However, for me, I express my feelings through body language. Words are a very poor means of expression. Our bodies fill that hole in the language. Not lead pencils.]

The councilman studied Nilak's face for a while with a slight smirk. "You're a very interesting person, Nilak."

Nilak returned the grin, feeling a sudden rush through his body. He bowed his head slightly.

"What exactly happened here, anyway?" Anno asked, casually. "I've been at the crime scene for a little over an hour now and the only two direct witnesses were a bit too drunk to be considered reliable witnesses."

Nilak blushed before he rubbed his aching head, soothingly. He started to conduct his response. [We were just walking down the street and they surrounded us. They tried to steal anything valuable we had on ourselves. I just bent the nearby sewer water and caught them off guard. There's not much else to it.]

"I see…" Anno said. It looked like he was pondering over something.

[Is there something that I'm missing here?]

"Probably not," he concluded. "The way these guys dressed—it looked a lot more organized than the common street thugs. But I doubt Charisma is a part of this."

That name again.

[What exactly is this "Charisma" you keep bringing up?]

"Well you see that's the thing—we don't know a whole lot about him." His tone was suddenly grim "He's some cloaked figure who's been wreaking havoc on Republic City. He's some sort of crime lord that is standing against most of the political state of the city. It's like the resistance all over again. Whoever this freak is, he isn't too happy with us it seems. He's been sabotaging speeches, dinner parties… any events hosted by a political figure. We're debating about starting a task force to pursue him, fearful he may try and singlehandedly overthrow the government."

Nilak's eyes widened with awe. Annovi nodded as if confirming Nilak's thoughts. The head councilman planted his hands on his thighs and proceeded to stand up. "Anyways, I need you to verify that we have the right guys. It shouldn't take too long."

The pair of them walked back into the crowd and went to a line of four people who were sitting next to a large police van with legs crossed and hands behind their backs. The red and blue police lights were spinning extra brightly in the midnight sky.

"Well?" All the criminals' masks were removed and the only thing Nilak saw otherwise was their outfits. They all looked different but three of them looked younger than Nilak and one was rather elderly. The old man shamefully looked at the ground while the other three looked at him fearfully. It did not sit well with Nilak.

They did not seem anything like how they were acting when trying to rob him; but there was no mistaking that they were the four. He felt like something was stuck in his throat. Slowly, Nilak managed a stiff nod.

"Avani" 阿瓦尼

Dust slowly drifted in the air above the arena. The glaring spotlights all face in the direction of the ring. It made the environment harsh for beginners, however, Avani was no rookie. She spent all her free time living and breathing in this ring.

Thung. The three meter high, fifteen centimeters in diameter, metal poles sank deep into the solid rock in the blink of an eye. The force puffed out a thick cloud of dust that covered the vision inside the entire arena.

Avani felt her way towards the inner circle of the arena. All vision was blocked from the foggy dirt. A soft hum came from the poles as she passed. She had done this very thing almost every day and had practically perfected her thick, sturdy form as well as her bending techniques. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the vibrations of the metal tubes.

"Wait, you've never played Redemption before?" Avani asked, gazing at him like he was a ghost.

Reiatsu chuckled. His red eyes studied the large stadium. "Well I'm not an earthbender so I guess I kinda missed out on it. My siblings love it, though. They never shut up about it to be honest."

"Hah—you gotta introduce me to them someday." Avani exclaimed. Reia smiled, though it was hollow. So stupid…I shouldn't've said that. "So—what is your element. I could've sworn you looked like an earthbender."

"Well, I'm actually—er—a nonbender." he answered, bashfully. He walked over to one of the copper poles. "So how exactly do you play this, anyway?"

"Okay, so the copper and iron poles you see in the ground are normally held above the arena until the two players are in the small, chalk boxes on either side of the circle. When they drop it blocks all vision temporarily—but nothing ever happens until the dust cloud clears anyway."

"Er—okay."

"When the poles hit the ground, it signals the start of the game." Avani continued, enthusiastically. "They are spread out around a meter and a half apart from one another on all sides and half are copper and the other half are iron. The copper is placed the furthest out; the iron ones are at the edge of the midring all the way to the core. You see the center circle over there?" She pointed at the rusty circle.

"Well, yeah." Reia answered after following her finger.

"That's the center ring. It's metal and has no poles within the twelve meter diameter of the circles. It's the best place to be and at the same time—the worst. You gain firm ground that makes it very difficult for your opponent to knock you off which is the whole goal of the game by the way. However you are a sitting duck in the center. No poles for artillery and barely any metal to work with on the ground. The middle ring is the safest spot to be in a normal situation. It's fifteen meters thick all around and you have the most resources to work with. The outer zone is the most risky. It's made out of sand to make sure players are punished heavily for being in it. If you are propelled into the outer layer, it's unlikely you can save yourself from falling out of the ring and well—losing. It's nine meters wide and the copper poles are weaker and are more prone to breakage than the iron ones. It's very hard to utilize this zone yourself. The only way you normally want to use it is by drilling your opponent inside."

A large rock pelted at Avani's stomach and shot her back right into a pole, knocking her back into the game. What are you doing? Focus, idiot. She shoved the rock away, trying her best to ignore the extreme nauseous from the blow. When Avani got up, her head spun, painfully. She shook off the disorientation as best she could. She wiped the saliva off her mouth with the back of her hand and spat on the ground.

Xue was standing only twenty six meters away and continued to attack, without hesitation. Avani broke two of the nearby poles that creaked sharply once severed and held them against both her forearms. She smacked them together in front of her and heard the familiar screech of metal colliding with earth. Several little pellets hit her face, however they did very little except leave an echoing sting.

Once the barrage had ended, Avani separated the two poles and struck them through the surface of the hard rock. A thunderous quake bellowed from the ground and cracked upward in a straight line as if a badgermole was digging below.

Her foe shot his hands upwards, lifting himself almost nine meters above the ground on a thick pillar. The crevice crashed into the thick pillar and broke apart the outside of the support for the towering baluster. It shook violently, but in the end remained balanced.

Avani groaned. Really? How lucky can you get?!

Xue slammed his fists on the rock and the pillar pelted immediately back down to the level of the rest of the ring. A large, seismic wave formulated from the impact and rushed towards Avani.

It's low enough I can do it. She frantically thought, readying herself. She sprinted forward, prepared to meet the wave rather than evade it. The wind rushed through her face for a couple seconds before she timed her jump into the dust, flawlessly avoiding the gathered wall of rock that drove toward her.

Landing on her knees, Avani propelled her arms in an uppercut immediately. "Huph!" Xue cried out as a huge tube of rock shot straight out of the ground and knocked him high into the air. He fell out of sight after sinking behind the ring. A small crash sounded a second later.

Avani put her arms on her knees. She was dizzy, her heart was pounding in her chest and every breath hurt her longs.

"There you are! Are you seriously still practicing?" A voice echoed in the hollow stadium. Avani looked behind her shoulder to find a somewhat blurry Jakyri walking up onto the ring. "Don't you need some rest?"

"No!" she said, baffled. "The preliminary matches are only a couple weeks away! I can't lighten up now! Not to mention I still don't even have the proper equipment…"

"I like your enthusiasm—I really do, but seriously?" Jakyri persisted. "If you put too much weight into it beforehand, your body will be in far worse shape. Working more doesn't equate to doing better. You have to bal—"

"It's none of your business!" Avani snapped, irritated.

"I'm making it my business!" Jakyri retorted hotly. "You're pushing yourself way too hard. At this rate you're going to crack! Why are you doing this, anyway? Is there something wrong?"

"The only thing that's bothering me is your complete lack of respect for my own privacy!" Avani raised her voice to a yell.

Jakyri's eyes widened from her response. "This is about Reiatsu, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Avani barked, nonplussed.

"Oh—come on! Reiatsu leaves the school for whatever reason and you just happened to be more focused on the tournament now? Get real, Avani."

"Shut up!" she barked. "What do you care what happened to Reia?"

"I care what it's doing to you." Jakyri shouted back. "You and Reia are a lot closer than you give credit for. I don't know what happened but at least admit it to yourself! Quit trying to back away from the problem!"

"Hey! I've never backed away from anything in my life!" Avani retaliated, offended.

"Then tell me what happened, because you're hiding from it behind training! And that's having some adverse effects on your body!" Jakyri demanded, his green eyes suddenly extremely dense.

Avani had to resist the urge to punch Jakyri's face for several moments. Somehow she found the desire fade and she felt more irritated than angry. She sighed. "Reia's the avatar."

"What?"

"Reia is the avatar." She repeated, clearly. Her hands made a fist, causing her knuckles to whiten.

"Oh." Jakyri grimaced with a flinch. He looked out into the stands, before screwing up his face in frustration.

"He betrayed me!" Avani shrieked, wrathfully. "I trusted him and he betrayed me! Curse the spirits! Why would he side with them? All they do is bring death and destruction! My mom's home was decimated by those savage beasts! What does Reia want to gain with something so evil? "
"I told you, highborns don't care about us. They only look out for themselves." Jakyri explained, grimacing.

Avani's eyebrows tightened at his comment. "How does him being highborn have anything to do with this?" she snarled.

"I don't know. I was just saying that—"

"What exactly?! That you were right?!" she snarled, feeling the wave of fury return even higher than before. "Well congratulations, Jakyri. You were right." She shoved him to the ground with as much force as she could before storming off the arena and into the stands. Unbelievable…

She marched through the hallway before she heard a soft clutter of steps behind her. Oh, for the love of—

"WHAT?!" Avani turned around, unhinged. It wasn't Jakyri that was behind her, however, it was a small girl. She had straight, shoulder length hair, tan, bony skin, and brown eyes lurking on the verge of tears. Real smooth, Avani. "Uh—oh—I'm sorry." She muttered, sheepishly. "I was… expecting someone else. What's your name, kid?"

"Qi—Qinna." The girl stuttered violently. That sounds strangely familiar.

Her stammering gave Avani an idea. "That's an awesome name—do you mind if I call you Qi?" Qinna shook her head with a timid smile. Her face seemed like it was clearing up a little bit. "So what's up?"

"Are you a redeemer?!" She blurted out, looking up at her. A light shined in her eyes that made Avani grin.

"Yup." she answered, leaning against the wall. "How'd you know?"

"Qinna! There you are! I said stay by my side!" a woman interrupted. She approached down the hallway, rushing towards Qinna as best as she could while in heels. "I'm so sorry!" She flustered, noticing Avani.

"It's no problem." Avani said, having about half her questions answered in just that second.

"Are you sure?" the woman asked nervously. She had black, curly hair almost extending to her waist and a sharp, pale face. Around her small nose was a pair of magnificent, red eyes. Avani's heart quickly sped up.

"Yeah it's fine," she said, trying to mimic her indifferent tone. "Are you by any chance Murasaki?"

"How did you know?" Murasaki asked, looking both impressed and surprised. "Are you Avani?" Qinna curtly sighed, starting to wander around the hall in boredom.

"You know me?" Avani answered, somewhat unexpected.

Reia's mother smiled, warmly. "Reia told me all about you!"

"Oh—uh—he did?" Avani suddenly felt the pain in her stomach again.

"Yeah. I was looking for you because he—well…hasn't been around lately and I was hoping you might know where he went." She suddenly noticed that Murasaki's eyes were red and somewhat puffy. So he ran away, then?

"Er—ever since the scuffle in the school, I haven't. Sorry." The staff had spent several days talking to the whole school lecturing them about how 'absolutely unacceptable their behavior was'. It's gotten annoying, really.

It was clear Murasaki was put down by the news but she was trying way too hard not to come off as rude. "That's all right. Thank you, anyways. Come on, Qinna." Avani was taken aback by Murasaki's genuine courtesy. She half expected her to scream at her or demand some bit of information. She didn't even accuse me of lying… She felt a stab of pity as she looked at Murasaki walk away with her daughter.

"Hey—uh—wait." Avani called out. "For what it's worth, I did catch a glimpse of him riding off with his brother in the front of the school."

Murasaki exhaled, relieved. "Thank you!" she praised. "At least I know he's safe!" She looked at her with a look that punctured Avani's heart: The hopeful eyes of a distraught mother.

Feeling strangely exhausted, Avani went home early, despite not doing her entire workout routine. She compensated her laziness by jogging on the way back home. The sun was still up for at least another hour judging by the beautiful blend of red and yellow just above the horizon. Though the wind for today seemed to be dead, she felt the force of it in her face from her jogging.

When Avani finally arrived back at the Second District, her body jittered impatiently. I just want to be home, already. Though it seemed to take longer to get to the 74th building in the pocket of houses.

At her door, however, she saw several packages stacked against the wall. Must be for Dad… She one by one carried them inside. They were a lot heavier than she expected. Based on the shuffling of the boxes it sounded like some metal was inside. I hope they didn't put it at the wrong door. Slightly confused, she looked at the labels. "Avani Yao?" She read aloud. "I didn't order anything."

Avani opened one of the six boxes and dug under the foam noodles to find a shiny, weighted knee guard. It was made of stainless steel and had a second, layer painted black in the pattern. This is really expensive! She gasped, noticing the quality. It was obvious that this was no mistake, however.

After piecing together the thigh pads with the knee guard, she placed the left leg of the uniform against the wall and cut open the biggest of the boxes. It was a large chestplate with the same pattern. Judging by the size it looked like a perfect fit. It was then that Avani noticed a small, folded note in the ribcage.

Avani,

I know you didn't want me to go all out for your upcoming birthday, but the opportunity was just too perfect, since you needed some equipment. I asked Jakyri for your sizes, so if anything doesn't fit blame him! But seriously, let me know if anything's wrong, I'll return it. I hope you like it! Looking forward to seeing you kick some serious butt in the tourney.

~Reia

Tears swelled in Avani's eyes as she stared at the name for several moments. It was too much for her; she sank her head onto the metal chestplate, clinging heavily to it, and started to cry.