Chapter 7:

Stark Fields Among Us

"Nilak" 尼罗河

Nilak quickly jogged through the open street across City Hall, getting drenched by the downpour of rain. The storm had been going strong for at least thirty-six hours now, yet it still showed no signs of lighting up. The wind occasionally drowned out the sirens of the emergency vehicles, but the strobe lights shined through the heavy droplets of rain. What on earth happened here? He wondered, stopping in the middle of the road for a split second to study the surrounding area.

There was half a dozen ambulances, and an entire perimeter encompassing City Hall in a giant circle. Most of the police had stayed on the lawn of City Hall, just past the 'DO NOT CROSS' tape of the crime scene. A crowd of civilians were standing around the cop cars, demanding something from the officials behind the yellow tape.

He had received voice mail from Anno half an hour ago to come down to City Hall as soon as possible. Anno had only mentioned they desperately needed his help. He didn't explain anything else.

It took a lot of effort and patience to get past the begrudging crowd; for whatever reason, they were stubbornly adamant about staying as close to the crime scene as they were allowed. It was also frightening seeing them up close. No individual seemed particularly happy about the circumstances and Nilak had a sneaking suspicion that one small thing could set off a catastrophic chain reaction.

"Councilman Nilak!" An officer exclaimed with a sigh of relief. He lifted the tape for the councilman to duck under. Once Nilak was through he smiled and gave a slight bow to the policeman and continued on to the front of City Hall. I assume they're inside. He glanced around the outside of the building just to be certain they weren't in sight.

If he thought the outside was crowded, then the inside was absolutely congested. After leaving the haven of the double doors, there was little room to breath in let alone work in. There were several desks set up with hundreds of small bags as well as a whole pool of people who were in line for what looked like an interrogation. Even with the floor being wet with all the soaked shoes walking around the floor, many detectives were jogging around from place to place in the utmost urgency. Nilak had gotten used to City Hall pretty quickly, however, this place was nothing like it. Alongside the general low but distracting murmur of the mass of people Nilak was engulfed in, there was the loud squeak of a damp shoe hitting the slippery, marble floor.

Overall, it seemed most of the brunt of this investigation was stemmed from a doorway (with no door oddly enough) that went downwards into underground. To his relief, he saw Taige was standing alongside Cecilia just outside. Without a second thought, he steered his way towards the pair of them.

"Nilak!" Taige exclaimed, going up to hug him as soon as she noticed him. She looks a lot better today. It looked as though she had returned back to her usual, peppy self. Nilak smiled, embracing her for a short while. Taige's smooth body flourished a wave of warmth to his own.

Nilak was soon brought back to his senses, noticing Cecilia was rolling her eyes from behind them. He broke apart.

"Er—sorry," Taige said, sheepishly. "Guess you kinda feel a bit lost."

'That's okay, random hugs are cool.'

She chuckled. "After I left the council meeting and everything, I noticed I never got around to thanking you for—well… you know. Anyways, I felt bad for being so inconsiderate! If it weren't for you, I would've lost my necklace that night. I can't believe I was so selfish!"

'We were threatened with our lives, nearly robbed, and (not to mention) drunk. I think it was okay to freak out a little bit,' Nilak motioned, concealing his amusement. It's quite strange how these kinds of things bug her.

"I know," Taige answered. "but I should've gotten around to doing it at the meeting. Somehow I knew you didn't take offense to it. I just felt guilty and really needed to get that off my chest, regardless."

'By the way, what's going on around here?' Nilak asked, confused. 'What exactly happened?'

"I don't know, to be honest," Taige responded with a frown. "I've only been here with Cecilia for a few minutes. No one's told me anything, either."

"We'd find out in less than a minutes if you two knuckleheads would quit chitchatting," Cecilia suddenly called out, kicking her body off the wall and walking towards where they stood. "Anno said to come down to the prison cells once we're all here so no one is lost. And here we are: all here. Your little reunion is cute and all to watch, but I'd like to know what's going on."

She casually led the way back to the doorway and went down the stairs, without a second glance. Nilak and Taige froze. They looked at one another for a split second before looking away, abashed. Nilak's head felt like the surface of the sun for a few moments as they somewhat reluctantly followed after the distant footsteps down below.

He always felt content with labeling Taige as a friend. It was hard to believe it had been just shy of two months since they had first met. So much had happened since he got off the Shànlián. He learned so much about urban life—so much about other people. The only people he had ever been in direct contact with in the Northern Water Tribe were his brother, Rivik, and his mother. No one else had ever reached out to him the way Taige did. He thought that made them close friends but Cecilia's words had made him doubt himself. Am I falling for her? Nilak sneaked a quick glance at Taige as if expecting the answer to be written on her face.

Each step they made on the black, cast iron spiral staircase sounded a low, metallic, ring. It was a hollow cave filled with only a steel floor, cells, and plating that stood about two hundred and forty-three centimeters high against the rock walls. Almost no one was here except for Anno, peering at what looked like a completely desolate cell door, and another officer that was leaning loosely in the far corner, observing Anno's progress from afar.

"Where's Karcsi?" Cecilia asked once her feet had touched the floor.

"He's too busy for this matter. He's a part of Supreme People's Council, after all," Anno reminded her.

"Why are you even bothering, Anno?" the officer asked, absentmindedly. "It's pretty obvious who did it."

"Who did what?" Taige asked.

"Rohan broke out of prison last night," Anno panted, constrained by his arched back and his knees bent close to the ground. "His appeal finished yesterday…it didn't work out too well for him. By the way, this is Zander Bingwen, the Chief of Police. Zander this is pretty much the entire council."

Zander Bingwen gave a slight wave of his hand. The expression on his wrinkly face seemed somewhat guilty and he didn't keep eye contact with any of them for long. "Anyways, you see the markings on the bars? Yeah, those ones on the right. That's clearly airbending marks. That alone makes it obvious. Ryung felt desperate for his uncle's freedom after witnessing the appeal and took him and fled the city. Case closed."

"Don't you think you're being a little too hasty on drawing conclusions? Shouldn't you of all people be giving Ryung Jae the benefit of the doubt?" Anno said, irritated.

"The evidence of airbending makes it plain and clear!" Zander argued. "Not to mention he was here during Rohan's appeal, dozens of people can attest to that. Unless you happen to know about any other airbender that live in this city, it's obvious. Is there even any other suspects to take into consideration?"

Anno stayed silent for several moments, choosing his next words carefully. "All I know is that nothing is certain. Ryung could be completely irrelevant to this for all we know. The point is it's a possibility."

"I have police forces investigating the Island as we speak," Zander said, shaking a walkie-talkie that was cupped in his hand. "From what they've already searched, it's safe to say that no one's home."

"What if Rohan just busted himself out?" Taige considered. "Isn't he also an airbender?"

"It's impossible. Prisoners are given a daily pill that blocks their chi energy if they're benders. He would have to've faked swallowing several weeks worth of pills under three guards' eyes. Even after that his bending would be too weak to cut paper, let alone metal," Anno explained. "It's safe to assume that he received outside help that hints to an airbender. That is all."

A grating voice said from the walkie-talkie. "Chief Bingwen, there's a corpse of a young women on the island. Judging by the body she looks to be dead for at least twenty-four hours." The sound was slightly muffled.

"What?! Give me details, Detective!" Zander demanded. His sullen, bitter face immediately transformed, horror-struck.

"Black hair—gold eyes…roughly a hundred seventy centimeters tall."

"Yuna…" Zander whispered, looking away from everyone. "NO!" He slammed both his fists into the nearby cell that shrieked a deep bang on contact. For a split second, Nilak noticed that Zander Bingwen's face was contorted with rage and grief before he covered his head in his arms. It took several, long minutes for the Chief of Police to recover from the news and talk into the walkie-talkie again. "Ch-check for survivors. I want to know exactly what happened by noon, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm terribly sorry about my outburst." Zander turned to the council. "I—I must go…" He left them alone in the cellar as fast as he could casually walk.

Anno had stopped what he was doing and was sitting on the floor with a grim expression. A lengthy, enduring silence held onto the room for a short while. Nilak kept his eyes to the black ditch under his feet.

"What did you send us for?" Cecilia broke the stiff silence. "Do you want us to help at the chaos upstairs or…?"

"No." Anno jolted. He hadn't moved a single muscle during the quiet. "Karcsi has gotten around with the President. Things are worse than even he had feared." Nilak found it hard to imagine that Karcsi was capable of feeling such emotions.

"One of us needs to go to Beijia and resolve this issue," Anno said sadly. "It is our top priority now."

'Why does it have to be one of us? What about the Supreme People's Court?' Nilak looked at him, feeling uneasy.

"Why a council member?" Taige recited. "Why not the URN Court?"

"The URN is being stubborn about it. Just as willful as Beijia at the moment. They've been at odds with each other for months. We need a fresh perspective for them. We'll be able to handle negotiations better since we have no direct peeves with them.

"We've been considering who would best fit for this, however, it's been a tough decision. Karcsi is too busy with Republic City and URN problems under his belt, I have some… personal afflictions with Beijia in the past, and you, Cecilia are too blunt and argumentative for negotiations."

"I am not!" Cecilia baffled, offended.

"I believe you just proved my point." Anno gave an experimental smile. Cecilia glared at him wordlessly for the remainder of their short discussion. "I believe you know who's left." Annovi looked at Nilak, refining a more confident smile.

Nilak grinned at the head councilman with a silent fit of laughter. Though the man's face only straightened out from his clear reaction. 'You're serious?!'

"Nilak—er—is possibly the worst person for the job, sir," Taige admitted, not finding any way to soften her words.

"How would he even be taken seriously?" Cecilia asked, peering at Anno with an expression appropriate for someone who's lost their mind.

"Karcsi's told me that Beijia's National Assembly has plenty of people who are perfectly fluent in sign language. It'll be just as easy for Nilak as it would be for the rest of us. Can you do this for us, Nilak?"

Nilak felt the several pairs of eyes on him as heavy as if they were trucks. It felt like there was no other option in such a dire situation.

'All right, I'll do it.'

"Avani" 阿瓦尼

Avani had arrived at Ekta more than two weeks ago. It was at least three times the size of her home city and clustered with tourists.

It was easy to see why. Though Kotai was built a lot more for practical living space for average people, the capital was the "souvenir city of Adryan" as Avani would call it. It was made more for exceptional business than affordable residence. This caused living in Ekta to be extremely expensive, even short term. If Avani didn't make it to fourth place, she would go home with less than nothing; she would be in debt for the all the expenses that she had needed to bypass presently to get where she was.

Though she felt confident in her ability now that she made it into the group stage. She was working harder than she had ever put herself up to in Kotai. With school out of the way (as well as other distractions), she could spend twelve to fifteen hours a day training her body for the upcoming matches.

I'm going to need it. The last match was way too close—and that was just the first round.

Over time, each individual day became blur from the harsh routine. It was putting quite a toll on her mind that only worsened when her scheduled matchup neared to less than a week away. Her body ached even in the morning, when she was just starting conditioning.

All too soon came the day of her matches. Avani woke at three in the morning today so she could still fit her entire workout in the half day that was given to her. She felt nervous, but thankfully, at the top of her game. Her head was clear and her muscles seemed to understand the significance of this day and worked extra hard without as much exhaustion.

The distance to the stadium was far enough that, for the first time in her life, she had to take a taxi to get there. It was on the northern coast of the Mo Ce Sea's river which made the sight of it only that much more magnificent.

The enormous stadium was covered in a perfect circle from the white wall. Several gold patterns of pipes ran through the pure white exterior in a series of sophisticated pipelines. Eventually, they surfaced above the roof in nine huge exhaust pipes that looked much like the ones on trucks. They left an accumulative, thick smoke cloud that slowly went southwards with the wind. Just below them, on the roof themselves was a meter station that extended through the available area. It too was painted a mix of brass and gold.

This is it. Avani thought, stretching her neck as she approached the tinted glass doors.

Inside was a crowd-infested lobby. Most of the people were piled up in a sloppy line towards the only opening inside. There were at least five different ticket booths running of the five that were built in the gaping doorway.

A big, red sign hung from the ceiling that read "今晚的比賽：與 " (Tonight's Match: Rouna vs. Bracer). Avani felt a sudden surge of warmth at looking at the sign, before shaking her head, trying to focus. Where did the letter say I was suppose to go again? She rubbed her forehead fervently. I should've brought it with me… She was in a rush after finishing her workout this morning so she couldn't return to her apartment afterwards to grab it.

After looking around the lobby several times as best as she could in the crowd, she saw a small door to the far left corner. "只有人才" said a sign in the middle of the door. Personnel only… Avani thought, uncertain. Maybe…?

She tried her hand on the doorknob to find no resistance as she turned it.

The crowd's alacrity allayed to a soft buzz with the closing of the metal door. She could hear a distant, occasional drop of water from a loose pipe. In front of her was a long, bright hallway that was far plainer than the rest of the decorative stadium she had noticed thus far. As she was still making up her mind whether to continue down the path or not, a sudden crack of a door to her right blew her thoughts away.

A man dressed in a simple yet fancy suit had come out with a few more men dressed a little more casually. "Rouna?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He had short, curly hair that was as slick as silk.

"Er—yeah." Avani nodded, cautiously.

"Your locker room's down the hall, third door to the right of the circular bend." The leader smiled. For some reason, Avani got the impression that it was merely a mask of his true sinister face. It didn't feel sincere whatsoever.

"Right—thanks." She left the business group to their own discussions, following the instructions she was told of.

"This is mine!?" Avani baffled. Surely someone's pulling my leg.

This locker room had to be twice the size of Kotai's stadium; and that one was occupy at least thirty different people, while this one was built only for one or two redeemers. There was two, closet-sized lockers on each wall as well as a television in the back that was on the channel broadcasting this match. There were two commentators who were currently relaying bracket information and then highlights of games that occurred within the week.

Avani dropped the bag on the solid, marble floor. I wish I came here a bit earlier! It was already 11:45 according to the bottom right of the screen.

"Oh! There you are—er—Rouna is it?" A man exclaimed, behind Avani. She jumped, startled by the intrusion.

"Yeah." Avani answered, sheepishly. Real smooth…

"Well your best of three match is at twelve on the nose, so make sure you're ready when that happens. The light in the walkway will shine up a bright green when we want you to go out, got it?" Being in the group stage now meant that everything was a best of three or, if she made it to at least the semifinals, a best of five.

"Will do." She nodded, noticing the small beacon in the opening for the first time.

"All righty, then. Good luck today!" and with that the employee shut the door. His footsteps slowly diminished from the gathering distance.

After rushing a small warm-up period, Avani put on all the gear from her bag and paced around the room until an obnoxious buzzer stung in her ears. She looked towards the opening and, sure enough, the light had flashed on, rotating in a circular direction that mimicked a police strobe light.

Going down the walkway made the muffled rumble of the audience clear up into the familiar roar from Kotai. Though this crowd was blown completely out of proportions. There was no less than six times as much people in the crowd and there was still several sections where more and more tiny figures were pouring in from open doorways neatly organized in the stands.

The surround trench that she began to cross was absurdly long. Honestly, is this real necessary? For a moment she looked ahead at the steep, beige wall, with a rising wave of panic. Where's the steps?

There was nothing but a flat wall until she was six meters from the base and there, off to the side, was a barred suspension platform. It began to ascend immediately after her two feet were firmly planted on the metal floor.

Avani came back to her usual dome once she got off the platform. The overly congested shouts from all around her steadily muffled out like she was back in the locker room. Her neck turned to iron once she locked her eyes on the figure that knelt on the other side of the enormous ring. A blinding light boiled the new-found sweat on her raven-armored back. The crowd was now nothing but a buzzing wasp, quickly fleeing from earshot.

Slow and placid, she took large breaths in the dead silence. Her heavy heart that was racing before seemed to have fled from her chest, as weightless as air under the intimidating spotlight.

On cue, the jagged buzzer zapped through the near tranquil atmosphere at once. A half second later, the sturdy metal poles drilled the ground faster than her eyes could fathom. The dust from the impact covered her surroundings again. The amount of times she had gone through this in the past week had really dampened the impact that it usually gave.

As she went through her practiced scouting, she progressively started feeling anxious at the lack of knowledge that was received for it. Where would he have gone? To the outer ring?!

Though it did not seemed to be the case as she took a rock square into the chest. It was unlike any blow she had taken before. The amount of recoil outweighed the force like Bracer was still bending the rock as Rouna unwillingly slid into the sandy back layer of the ring. Only then, could did a switch suddenly turn on in her head and she crushed the thirty centimeter squared bolder into pebbles in her two, thick hands. She dug her short, stubby fingers into the ground in desperation for recovery. Even with her efforts, Rouna's back ankle kissed the unmistakable steel edge of the arena.

How did he do that? She thought, awestruck. Never had she met anyone who could keep a hold on the rock they earthbent while still gathering momentum. It wasn't the only unwelcomed surprise Bracer had up his sleeve. When she looked back up, Rouna saw a small fort of roughly bent poles that encased the center ring as well as her foe.

That's a dirty trick. She smiled mischievously. That makes things fair game, I think!

Avani sprinted through the outer zone and met the bombardment that Bracer promptly started with little problem once in the middle ring. He wasn't going to catch Avani off guard again in this round.

Bracer made two wild, simultaneous slices with his hands. Rouna spun her head around, stopping herself in her tracks. No less than ten peaks of each metal tube had broken off and shot at her like bullets. Without hesitation, she tumbled off to the side, narrowly avoiding the worst of the projectiles. The cloud of grime that coughed up from the area swiftly engulfed her person, allowing for several seconds of recoil to re-establish her bearings.

For the first time in the match, she exited the thick shroud on the offensive. Avani made several horizontal slices parallel to her breasts as she sprinted sideways. Several thin, yet deadly disks chipped off the ground and went at her enemy. The steel, pole forts withstood the initial burst of attacks, however, they had bought her the time to wind up a far more powerful punch with breaking off the nearest two poles at the base and throwing them like javelins.

The first of the two had put a major dent into Bracer's defenses, only worthwhile since the second way came in for the final blow. The man was compelled to forsake his shelter. Not a moment too soon had he jumped into the air, jumping on top of the second pole that Avani had thrown and erupted into another fury of attacks, midair.

Avani used her forearm to erect a wall from the brittle stone. It survived maybe two boulders before giving way. The two second delay was all Rouna needed to build a second, thicker layer that still had cracked a few lines across the shield, dangerously close to —

Clink.

The noise frightened Avani more than she would ever care to admit later. It was a very subtle, almost negligible sound if it were not behind her, where her open back was left unguarded.

Wha—? She turned, losing all concentration in that one moment. A pole had crunched together much like an empty can.

The wall, she left unattended once she turned away immediately blasted forward in her millisecond of weakness. The force sent her propelling in the air at least three meters, completely delirious. The last thing she could remember was her falling into the engulfing abyss.

Avani opened her heavy lids with eyes completely unfocused. A swarm of people had surrounded her, all doing one thing or another. For a several minutes, she laid there, covered in a rubble of the wall of her own creating, in a sort of dreamed state. Then when someone managed to move one of the bigger pieces of rock that was crushing her leg, her body jump started alongside her mind. A white-hot pain escaped down her entire shin, once it was given air to breath.

"Wha—wait." Rouna gurgled, shaken from the experience. "No… I need to go—I need to get back out there!" She shot herself up as fast as she could manage. It was a stupid move that she regretted quickly with a wave of anguish that screamed from her, mangled leg. It stopped her rash mind as she wildly looked at her right leg. The thick, shiny armor had dented inwards and she could feel the hot moist liquid that was unmistakably her blood streaming down the leg. Even to the unpracticed eye like hers, it was more than obvious her leg was broken.

She pivoted herself forward, regardless, pushing many aghast people to the side. Only a few steps could she go before she had planted the side of her body against the metal outlining of the ring.

A sturdy hand stopped her limping progress. A man with black, curly hair looked at her with brown eyes full of pity. "Please don't do this. It won't accomplish anything; you've already lost." He was tall and skinny, wore spectacles over his brown eyes. It was a futile attempt, however sincere. He only put fuel in her already raging fire.

"Get your hands off ME!" Avani shoved the slender man to ground with all her weight behind it. No… I still can come back—I still have a chance! This a best of three if I can just get to the stupid square…

The suspension platform itself seemed to hesitate with her current state but it soon obeyed her wishes and sent her up to the ring for round two.

With the growing pain that hindered her body, everything extended twice as long as usual. She swayed, dangerously with an audible grimace before the buzzer had finally gone off once more and new poles had fallen from the ceiling. The entire arena had no doubt been cleaned during her time knocked out. The shroud that concealed her from the rest of the crowd seemed to weigh her entire body down. Avani put both her hands against one of the poles, trying her best to regain her strength and balance. I just need to knock him off—and then I can rest. Don't throw away months of training because of a simple wound!

Rouna pressed on again, as best as her legs could manage. Another dangerous rocking tested her endurance. Her head shook almost to the point of blinding pain overcame her for another brief episode.

No… Avani gripped another pole to her left and crushed it in seconds as she tried to keep herself from falling. No…. "AHHH!" Avani shrieked after accidentally putting weight on her left leg again. It made her entire lower body go numb. Neither her nor Rouna could move the lifeless limb anymore.

Clenched beyond the breaking point, the pole made a painful shrill and split into two. Avani collapsed to the ground with the pole, watching as the dust faded and the crowd made deafening noise of outrage as they saw the pitiful Rouna, fractured helplessly on the arena—weak as glass.

No…