Chapter 9:
Devilry
"Reiatsu" 金塔罗 蕾亚子
"Are you sure about this?" Reiatsu looked down in the bottomless pit that Keito had spawned into the earth in a fraction of a second. It's so dark… he thought glumly.
"Yeah," Keito breathed. "We've got everything we need, right?"
"Let me check for the fifteenth time today." Reia rummaged through the large bag at his feet. "First aid kit, three flashlight, two gallons of water, sleeping bags, batteries, spare clothes, blankets…—er—do we really need the tent now?"
"Well, yeah. We probably will have a long walk to the nearest town we come across in the URN."
"Right…" He sighed. "Well, you first. I don't like long drops—or darkness now that I think about it. Whoever said two negatives make a positive I'd like to slap on the face."
Keito frowned. "You're the Avatar now, Reia, you really need to harden up."
"So what, because I'm the Avatar I can't be afraid of anything?" Reia replied.
"It's not about having no fear, it's about not letting those fears control your actions. Everyone has fears, Reia. Without fear you can't ever be brave."
"Er—no thanks." Reia looked back down at the gaping hole. There was no end in sight and nothing to hold onto on the way down. The story of my life. "I rather like being a weakling, it helps with the whole dying factor that bravery doesn't really cover in its insurance."
"You are such a wimp, sheesh." Keito casually jumped into the black hole with his own bag and was immediately consumed by the thick darkness. A soft plop echoed off the walls of the crater before his voice called back up. "See? It's not that big of a deal; just let gravity do the magic for you."
"Oh that's reassuring, Keito! Very reassuring…"
"Will you quit complaining and just get your butt down here already, you big baby?" his voice called inside the darkness.
Reia's stomach lurched from the depth of the hole. He snapped his head away from the pit and clenched his mouth shut with a hand over it. The burning sensation slowly declined back down his esophagus. "Keito, I—I don't think I can do this!" His voice was suddenly austere from the anxiety that was taking over his trembling bones. He was as still as a statue. There was a long silence that followed.
"Reia, listen to me, your mind is playing tricks on you," Keito said gently. Reiatsu was expecting another crack of a joke, or some other form of mockery. It was the first time Keito was actually trying to comfort him, that alone made him feel a little better—a little bolder.
"Oh—all right… but if I break any bones I swear to every spirit that exists, I will kill you!"
His legs sprang forward, in a blind faith. He was swallowed by the darkness in a split second. The wind rushed into his face for only about thrice that before he, rather clumsily, hit the bottom of the pit. His abdomen scrunched together with the pain that seared from the horrific landing.
"You were suppose to land on your feet…your back's good too, I guess," Keito stated next to him. With the sun out of view, Reia could only see the silhouette of his brother's body. It's this dark already?! We don't even have rocks above us, yet!
"Maybe if I had some light to show me where the bottom actually was," Reiatsu muttered, appeasing his stomach with both his arms as he knelt on the earth. "So we're actually going through with this? There's no turning back now…"
"Not exactly," Keito said. He punched the nearby wall with a stiff, tremendous motion and the walls caved in behind them, rumbling with a sound that drowned out all other sounds. Once the dust had faded, a near-natural looking wall of boulders had cut off their entrance. "Now there's no turning back."
"Jeez, Keito—were you trying to wake up the Northern Water Tribe with that noise?!" Reia hissed at the darkness that Keito's shadow stood just before the ruckus. He honestly thought it couldn't get any darker than it was before the ruckus—never have I been so wrong…
"Calm down, it's not nearly as loud on the surface as it is from underground," Keito's voice emitted behind Reia. He jumped at just how impaired his senses were down in this tunnel.
"Can't we use the flashlights already? I can see more with my eyes shut than open down here!"
"No," he answered, bluntly. "This is a long journey to go under the entire river. There's no reason to burn some of the batteries already. Right now, there's nothing to see but rocks surrounding us from all sides but if we need to do some first aids, or get essentials out of the bag, then we will need it.
"Anyway, I already started to branch the tunnel in the right direction before I caved the hole in. So long as I dig deep enough and we stayed under long enough, we will be safely on the other side: in the URN."
Haha—'safely'—that's a good one, Keito.
The rocks growled towards Reia's left and the earth around him shook treacherously. What insane notion convinced me to do this? Oh, we're dead—we're so dead… He made an audible gulp before following his brother further into the dark depths of the hazardous terrain.
His shoulder bumped into what could only be his brother's stationary back.
"Hey! Can't you watch where you're—"
"No."
"Right—sorry. Just keep a hand on your wall, would you? I don't really want to—uh—what are you doing?"
"Holding your hand." Reia said sheepishly.
"Well, I know that—"
"Then why bother asking?" He tugged it a little towards him. It was obvious they would be seeing little and hearing less throughout the painfully protracted journey and feeling a cold, rough stone would slowly drive him mad. It seemed Keito had folded as they continued on down the pitch-black passageway in a content silence.
They slowly developed a systematic loop of taking roughly nine meters forward before Keito would temporarily break apart and bend another nine meters of open walkway for them to continue on. As time slowly passed, Keito's steep angle slowly deteriorated until it felt like they weren't descending whatsoever.
"Um—Keito? We need to go deeper."
"Don't worry, we're still some distance from the river, although I can feel it now. I hope it stays that way…"
They managed to just barely pass under what Keito insisted was the water by the end of their first day. I guess it's not really a day without light. Without light, time seemed to be very approximate and surreal.
They had decided to call it out once Keito's bending had become sloppy and too narrow for both of them to fit abreast. Reia's legs were killing him with how stiff and aching they had gotten after maybe an hour or so into the dig. He tried his best to keep them together, for he didn't feel like he had a right to complain since Keito's task was twenty times more vigorous than his trivial walk. Despite this, he found that it was very hard not to complain. Complaining inexplicably made things easier to bear and alleviated the pain he struggled with. He felt a faint sense of pride for being able to abstain from it for his brother's sake, though.
They kept the flashlight on only when they were unpacking the essential gear and during the time they ate the pitiful excuse of a meal. Reiatsu took a deep pleasure in being able to see his brother's face again. The darkness that he walked in for countless hours had come awfully close to stealing the memories he had of his family's faces.
Reia wanted to confine with Keito about it—he wanted to admit what was happening in his head when they laid next to each other in the blackness again. It was easy enough to tell that Keito was still awake by his troubled breathing, but Reia abstained from the guilty pleasure. Let him be…he needs rest. Why can't I be more helpful? This is my doing in the first place.
Out of a mixture of self-pity and self-mourning, Reia soon closed his heavy eyes and found himself cheating this evil tunnel. He watched the first layers of dawn emerge over the horizon. They peaked through the shallow trees that he weightlessly treaded around on all four of his paws. The—the sun! It's light today is more spectacular than I'd ever witnessed before.
Reia raised his neck and instinctively called with a soft, elegant howl. Nature really is the essence of all beauty…
"Reia, get up. We must get moving," Keito mumbled, tapping Reia with his foot.
His eyes opened back to the darkness he had left only for a few, precious seconds. In that time, an entire night had gone by and his body was as rejuvenated as he could hope for down here. They quietly packed the remaining things in their large backpacks before reluctantly turning off the flashlight once again.
It was only when his mind could wander again did Reia notice that his eyes were wet with dream still burning vividly in his mind. Thank you, Irya. It gave him a lot more strength and confidence than he had felt ever since they left Kotai.
The next few days were a lot easier for Reia to endure, despite the excruciating repetition of it all. For the first time, he was considering this only as a temporary experience—there were better days on their way.
"So…who's is that one girl you were always talking to at night? I've always wondered…what was her name again? Lien?"
"That's—that's none of your business," Keito gasped after breaking away another segment of their path.
"Oh, come on—don't be so stiff!" Reiatsu cried out. "We're close at least sixty kilometers under the ground with an unfathomable amount of water above our heads; who am I gonna tell?"
"That's not why I'm not telling you," Keito said, "it's because I want to keep my friends to myself. Why can't you understand that?"
"I do," Reia insisted. "but I wanted to strike a conversation to keep us busy. It'll keep you focused on the destination. Also, I'm flat-out curious. But seriously, trust me—it makes everything a lot easier."
Keito sighed.
"Fine. Lien's a good friend of mine. We had a lot of classes together and got along well with each other…"
"What did you guys do together?"
"I don't know…we hung out a lot, helped each other through homework, complained about crappy teachers and workloads occasionally—you know, stupid stuff."
"Do you have a crush on her? You sounded like a completely different person on the phone."
Keito paused. "I—I'm not sure." Reia felt the resistance of their locked hands and recoiled back to where his brother stood. "It's just, I've never been in love before, so I didn't exactly have anything to compare it to. I guess I did looking back on it. I wish I had the chance to say goodbye."
Reia's heart plummeted. "I'm—I'm sorry, Keito. This is all my fault…"
"Don't be so hard on yourself," his brother replied. "It's not exactly like you could've done anything about it. There's no reason to blame anyone."
"Even so, I haven't exactly made it easy for you. I've been too selfish to even consider the toll everything has taken on you. I've been such a jerk."
"Thanks, Reia. It—means a lot," a far gentler voice answered.
A tug on his wrist indicated that Keito had silently started moving again. He took a few wide steps to catch up with him and then adjusted to his brother's walking speed. "I'm also sorry; I shouldn't've treated you the way I did when we were growing up. In fact, if you never became the Avatar, I reckon I'd never would've known anything about you. I was a terrible brother to you. I hope Qinna will be all right with Kenji, at least."
"I was just thinking about that for the first time a couple nights ago while down here," Reia admitted. "If you don't mind me asking why exactly did you hate me before?"
"I wanted to impress Dad." Keito explained. "He always hated weakness and nonbenders. I tried so hard for his approval that I didn't consider for myself if his beliefs were right—if I agreed with them. I guess having a nonbender in his family ended up shattering the household, haha."
Reiatsu didn't know how to respond to his comment.
"I'm sorry, that was…stupid. I didn't mean it like that."
"It's okay," Reia reassured him. "It was an honest statement. That's all I ever wanted from you: to be honest."
"Reia…"
He couldn't conjure any words into his head and his brother also didn't usher anything more. The hollow steps of their feet was all that continued in the dark. Keito sighed and returned to wordlessly bend the path ahead of them.
"Did you hear that?" Keito suddenly spoke.
Reia jumped at the sudden noise after such a long period of quiet.
"What do you—"
"Quiet, Reia!" Keito shot him down. There was a slow, gentle drip every few seconds towards the left. Is that water?! Reia thought, aghast.
"Quick, Reia, get the flash lights!"
He didn't need to be told twice. He dropped the bag on the floor and rummaged hastily through its contents, feeling his hand wrap around the cold cylinder.
The light irritated his eyes for several moments as he shone it around all the walls before pinpointing the source of the leak. There was already a tiny puddle below.
"It can't be," Keito whispered with disbelief. "I've been so careful…There's been no sign of water ever since the second day!"
"What's the big deal? Just patch it up and let's move on, before it get's any worse."
"You don't get it, Reia. This means we've been carving too close to the ocean floor, which also means—"
The ceiling could give way at any moment! Reiatsu looked at his brother's face, horrified.
"Don't panic!" Keito urged, desperately. "I'll just dig deep and we'll close this bit off from the rest of the path."
He tore a gaping hole into the ground at their feet, but regretted it immediately. A deafening crack sounded above them and water sank over them, as heavy as lead. The light died out immediately after being swiped from Reia's hand by the freezing water.
"NO!" He instinctively held his hands up to protect from the tidal wave that had already filled to his kneecaps in the split second of incapacitation. The roar of the running water halted and a strange, blue glow lit up the cave. His arms, which were outstretched in front of him, were emitting a bright, white-blue glow where the navy blue tattoos were. A rush of energy pulsed through his entire body and funneled its way into both of his hands. The water kept still as if from outside forces.
Am I—am I bending?! How is this possible?!
"REIA! HOLD ON!" Keito shouted as he surfaced from the pool inside his pit. The weight was tremendous, to Reia's dismay. "If you can keep it still for a little bit, I can—"
Reiatsu's arms felt like they had dozens of weights wrapped around them in less than ten seconds and his arms fell too low. The water hit him like an explosion. His body was quickly slammed into the rock wall behind and he was completely submerged within a heartbeat.
Reia clutched his throat, desperately trying to claw out any air his lungs would take. They screamed in protest as he wildly struggled in the tight tank of water. When he was convinced it would never end—when it seemed too much to endure, his brain fogged up and he couldn't think nor feel any longer.
The heavy lids of Reiatsu slowly closed. A faint glimmer of red lights shined through the water just on the corner of his eyes as Reiatsu Kintaro sank to the floor, unconscious.
The deepest breath of air Reia had ever inhaled brought him back to his sense and he found himself on both his knees under a stretch of beautiful, beige sand. The sun, oxygen, vision, everything he had been deprived of so harshly had returned to him. His red tattoos were gleaming as he stared at his surroundings. He laid next to him, body and mind too weak to wonder what had happened. His chest was slowly expanding and contracting with each slow, broad breath. The red glow of Reia's began to diminish now that he knew he was safe—safe with his brother.
We made it…we're in the URN…
This is our final haven… His body gave way to exhaustion and passed out even before his head hit the sand on the beach.
"Avani" 阿瓦尼
"…It's looking like Avani'll be all right. She's getting lots of sleep, dozing in and out of consciousness occasionally, and last time I check, she's running a high fever.
"Don't worry, it may not sound like it, but this is great news, it means her body is healing well. All that it will take now is time and rest. I expect she'll be good to go by the end of the month."
A far more familiar voice pierced her groggy mind. "Thank—thank you, doctor." Where…am…I? She turned her stiff neck towards the conversation that went right through her ear.
The bright lights glared down her sensitive eyes within a couple seconds. She rubbed them in irritation of the new-found light. The glass window cleared into its proper place before long to show a lean figure wearing his white coat that stood less than forty centimeters from the white, marble floor. Behind the doctor was a short, blurry body that even Avani's crappy eyes could tell was trembling with apprehension. At least Reia's here…
Avani's eyes split open up once again to the bright room. No matter how well it was lit, however, the cold, gloomy walls always filled her with despair. As if this sickly stench was enough to put up with, how on earth are people supposed to get healthy here?
The door clicked with the first noise she honestly understood after however long she had been in this awful place. She could remember the doctor that she had seen not too long ago with—with…
Mom…
Her mother's pale, face was cured of it's weariness at the sight of her daughter, wide awake.
"Avani! I'm so glad you're all right! You had your father and I were worried sick when we got the phone call." She wrapped her small, gentle arms around Avani's chest and squeezed tightly.
"I swear, the next person I hear the word 'sick' from I'm going to rip apart, limb-from—"
"What's with all the fuss?" someone called behind the two of them. Reia?! Avani thought for a wild moment, feeling light as air for the first time since she left Kotai. But it wasn't him…it was her father, Guiren, carrying a bag that wafted a powerful, fresh smell of beef chow fun. The carefree smile faded from her lips. "Why didn't you tell me Avani was awake?! Sorry I didn't get you anything, Avani, I thought you were still out."
Avani felt a bit ashamed for being so disappointed at seeing her father again. It had been almost a month since she had last seen his fat, wrinkled face, but his arrival had given a painful reminder of how things were now.
"What are you—what are you all doing out here? Don't you two need to work?" Avani backtracked, reprehensive. "Why did you come all the way out here? Buying last-minute train tickets is extremely pricey!"
"Avani!" her mother cried, bemused. "You broke a leg, an arm, and two ribs in the middle of Ekta: where no family is around! You think we could possibly leave you to sit in the Capital all alone to recover from all that?"
"I'm fine…" Avani gruffled, embarrassed. She started to sit up but immediately sank back down into the mattress, biting her lips to keep from screaming. She met a cataclysmic wave of burning pain in her ribs. Involuntarily, she brought her hand to the source and ascertained that there was another searing source around her elbow as well. "Argh!" She couldn't abstain any longer. Quit being such a baby! Pull it together, you're making an even bigger fool of yourself!
"Avani!" Guiren called out, aghast. His face showed every bit of concern which Avani loathed beyond articulation.
"I'll get you some painkillers," the skinny young doctor said before he dug his face in the cabinets off to the side wall. A few moments went by where only the occasional rummaging of the lower cabinet could be heard.
"Aha! here it is…" The doctor re-emerged from behind the open storage door. He had an orange, transparent pill bottle in his hand and was unscrewing it as he walked back to Avani's side. He handed her two white pills with a small glass of water. "You may want to wash it down with some water."
Avani ignored him. She brushed aside the glass of water and threw the two in her mouth. The plain, powdery taste was disgusting in her throat, but she tried to keep the taste out of her thoughts.
"Er—you also need to eat something with it."
"Guiren!" Xia barked at her husband. He was standing aloof from the other three, mouth wide open only a dozen centimeters away from the first bite of his meal. "Don't be so cruel—give her your dish!"
"Muh—mine?" Guiren stuttered, adversely. He kept his hungry eyes pinned to the mouthful that was neatly wrapped around his wooden chopsticks. "But dear, I went twenty blocks to get this dinner…and—and twenty more to get back to the hospital! Surely, you don't mean me to—"
"To be a good father? Of course I don't," she finished with a malevolent smile. "I want you to give our daughter: the person who's been in bed for a week something other than the plastic hospital food they serve here. No offense, Uri."
"None taken. It is indeed quite dreadful, I have to admit." The doctor grinned. "But don't tell anyone I said that."
Guiren reluctantly placed his hard-earned meal on the glass bedside next to Avani's head. "I guess we'll talk later tonight, Avani. I'll be back in a bit…" He winced as his hands left the edges of the tin-foil plate and left the room, staring at the floor where he dragged his heavy feet. He sighed on his way out.
Avani extended a trembling arm to the bedside table and picked up the chopsticks. She tried to ignore the two pairs of eyes on her as she scooped up a bit of the food and raised it to her mouth. She glanced up at them for half a second. They both looked at her as if she was kind of wounded puppy abandoned in the rain.
"Ugh! Will you guys cut it out! I can't even eat with your stupid faces! I mean seriously, give me a break!" Sheesh, is it so much to ask?!
Xia's lips shook violently at the remark and she quickly averted her eyes.
"I think Avani is just a bit stressed and needs some time alone," Uri interjected, putting a protective arm around Xia's shoulder. He led her out of the doorway with a decrying glare back at Avani before they were out of sight. Oh come on! You're made of stronger stuff than that! She felt even more irritated than she had before she had before speaking up.
"Ow!" She grimaced. Her ribs tormented her once again and she slumped back down on her mattress and grumpily started to eat her dinner, not at all getting the "peaceful alone time" she had imagined. It took a couple hours for her to be allayed completely, but once she did feel the spark die out, her dense stomach and still muscles made her feel drowsy despite how slothful she felt in this crappy bed.
"Avani…Avani…Avani!"
"Mm, shut up Jakyri!"
"I—What?"
"You'll ruin the moment if you don't—if you don't—uh…" Her senseless rambling faltered once her eyes sprang open to see the doctor her mother had called Uri standing next to her, gently prodding her awake. "Er—nevermind." Her face heated like a fire at noticing what she was saying as well as to whom.
"You have a new visitor. Strange looking fellow to be honest." His voice was genuinely indifferent now. It seemed he had gotten over her resentful behavior.
The sun's light felt like a warm blanket that distracted her other thoughts. It was bright…very bright. Avani gasped.
"What time is it?!" she asked, leaning towards the window.
"About 13:30, I believe."
She looked at him, horrified. "I've been asleep for fifteen hours?!" In the corner of her eyes, she saw the visitor peaking tentatively through the door. "You!" She snarled with as much venom as her wounded muscles could exert. She snapped her arms inward and the borders of the glass panes around the massive man curled inward. The entire wall of glass around him shattered in a blink of an eye. The metal sash wrapped around his entire body in an instant and a jagged piece that had snapped hovered menacingly at his throat. Never had Avani felt such a rush of energy in her entire life. There was no mistaking it, her triumphant opponent, Bracer, had the nerve to show his ugly face to her after what he'd done.
"Avani no!" Uri yelled, aghast. "What are you doing?" She completely ignored his perplexed outburst, however.
"Give me one reason I shouldn't crush you right now!" Avani shouted across the room. The harsh, thunderous tone she strived for was short-lived. The force she put on her fatigued lungs made her wince in pain. Her grasp on the spiraling metal weakened, inadvertently.
"You have every right to be angry with me," the man finally spoke up.
"Angry?! That's putting it pretty freakin' lightly!"
"Okay, okay! Livid with me—and I won't deny that I deserve everything you decide to do to me—but I needed to apologize to you, face-to-face."
"Apologize?!" she howled in disbelief. "I don't want your stupid, meaningless apology! "I'm sorry" doesn't mend my bones! "I'm sorry" doesn't undo the embarrassment you made me suffer through! "I'm sorry" doesn't get me back into the tournament!"
"I—I know." He lowered his gaze, shameful. "I know it doesn't undo anything, but it's all I can do now." He shifted his arms in the cage as best as he could and revealed that he was holding a baroque bouquet, filled with red roses, yellow-orange sunflowers, a mixture of purple and white lilacs, and a brilliant, pink set of scattered carnations. The mixture of these colors made it look like the flowers, even now, were still flourishing to an even more beautiful state than ever before.
The sight flabbergasted Avani beyond all thoughts or words. She simply gaped at him for an extended amount of time, forgetting, for a brief moment, how to use her voice.
Her arched muscles slumped back into their sockets and soon the rest of her tense muscles followed after. The coiled sash finally gave in to gravity and the remainder of the contorted metal fell on the floor all together with a sloppy, boisterous clatter.
Bracer hesitantly moved out of the pile of scattered scraps of metal and glass and looked at her in the eyes for the first time. He had hazel eyes below a mat of brown hair and a trimmed, amber goatee. His facial hair was far more elegant compared to his disheveled hair above his eyes. The only flaw within sight was his crooked nose that had clearly been broken two or three times before in his life, though the flaw seemed to make him even more suave.
"I'm incredibly sorry, Avani," he said in a far more formal manner. His low, smooth tone alone was almost enough for to assuage her, but she stubbornly held onto her anger with him. He walked up and placed the bouquet on her lap, gently. "I get it, I'll go." He must've noticed something that showed on her face.
"Thank you for listening to me." He started to move towards the door. "Oh, and just so you know," Bracer turned back to face Avani once again, "you're a spectacular earthbender. I haven't faced anyone quite like you before."
For the second time in their conversation Avani didn't know what to say. She had done everything she could manage to get on his bad side, to hate him, yet he willfully passed through it and kept a polite, calm, and sincere tone—even as he was being practically thrown out the door. She felt the need to say something, but her brain was frozen with a mixture of guilt and befuddlement. Despite having the entire wall torn from its roots in the floor, Bracer still went through the unscathed door. At the last second, when the it had creaked open to its widest point, Avani raise her hand desperately and made an inaudible, unintelligible sound, but no one heard. Her thoughts were trapped in the middle of her feeble throat. It took longer than she would ever realize to lower her outstretched arm.
The next few days were long and tedious for her, it was increasingly difficult to keep track of day of week, much less time of the day. Everything was so unsystematic and ambiguous in consistency. Her parents visited every day but at sporadic time intervals and her "food" didn't really vary depending on what meal it was. It took two days for her to even realize that she was moved during her sleep to a different room. It was hard to believe something so prominent as the encounter she had with Bracer was forgotten so easily after some heavy sleeping. The only thing that stuck in her head was that she was tied down to the bed ever since the "incident" and it was only because it restricted her arm movement so much during meal times that this was such an exception.
"So you're Avani? I've heard quite a lot about you."
She groggily moved her neck to the voice after a long pause. A man with sleek, black hair gelled back emerged from the wall. Even at this distance, he had visible strands of hair that made up the immaculate side burns that ran across his jawline. He wore a plain, black and white suit with black dressing shoes and cufflinks that had the Earthen Empire emblem with the the black characters "自由" on it. The word meant freedom and it was a common—but not official—national emblem for Adrian.
"Who are you?" Avani asked, repulsed by how fancy the man was dressed.
"I believe you've heard of me, my name is Zeke Kintaro."
Her eyes widened as far as they could as she stared at the man Reia had so openly scorned all the time they had spent together. She suddenly felt short on breath and intimidated.
"What do you want?" she asked rather strained. Her palms were sweating like mad, suddenly. She had never felt so intimidated by any man before.
"You knew my son, didn't you? From what Murasaki said, you were closer than anyone to him." She blushed uncontrollably at the statement.
"Maybe I was, what does it matter?" she replied, irritable.
"Because my son is the Avatar. He left Kotai—and probably Adrian I'd imagine—in a foolish panic." Zeke said, curling his long, delicate lips. "I need him locked up in the deepest cell of Ekta. Who knows what he's going to do if he escapes completely from me. I imagine Adrian will be in serious peril if the Avatar decides to assail our armies."
"Reia wouldn't do anything like that!" Avani cried, indignantly. "Why would he? He only left so you wouldn't kill him."
"Ah, so you do know something about this." Zeke smiled. "Though you're logic is flawed. Reiatsu never bore any love for Adrian, Kotai, or his family; what is to stop him from deciding to come back any time he feels powerful enough and wiping out one of three? Perhaps all three if he wishes to."
"I—I…"
"You don't know," he concluded, firmly. "I can't leave him be with who knows how much power stored inside him. He's a threat greater than all three nations that continue to assault us from all four corners."
"Why are you telling me this?" Avani asked. "Why are you here?"
"Right now, he is at the weakest point in his life. I can't afford to wait to capture him so, tell me, Avani, where is he going?"
"I don't know, the last time I saw him, we got into a fight. His brother intervened and they fled the school together. That's the last time I even bothered thinking about him." The last bit was a blatant lie, but she kept it stuffed as far down from her mind as possible.
"Very well, then. I must get going, I'm on a tight schedule." He handed her his business card. "Call me if you have any more information to tell me."
He swiftly turned on his heel and strode out the door without another word.
I have to admit, I never imagined Reia's father to be anything like that…
"Nilak" 尼罗河
The waves crashed into the bow of the ship continuously despite how easily the steel remained unhindered. Nilak wiped his running nose with the back of his hand as he looked out to see the few icebergs that calmly drifted in the dark blue-and-black water that stretched as far as the eye could see. He found it quite a magnificent sight to see throughout their week-long journey to the Beijia Kingdom. Something about ice, below-freezing temperatures, and the charcoal sky that slowly eased into a dense black was assuaging this otherwise formal and extravagant trip. The brilliant blend of the northern skies covered the darkest blues of winter, to the radiant greens of summer across the midnight sky. It was quite the spectacle, no matter how many times he saw it above his head in the Northern Water Tribe. That was one of the best things about home.
He exhaled a great sigh of frigid water vapor that slowly fainted as it drifted upwards.
"Nilak? Ah! There you are!" Taige called from behind. Nilak was too absorbed by the alluring beauty across the endless waters to turn away.
A soft hand adhered onto his arched shoulder and he started. "There you are! I was wondering where you were…you know you missed dinner, right?"
He turned to face her as a pungent breeze picked up, blowing her auburn hair over the majority of her face. She shivered violently from its nasty bite. "Gah! H-how can you s-st-stand it out here?"
Nilak chuckled with his usual quiet laugh. 'The view makes it worthwhile. Here.' He undid his heavy, navy blue fur coat and helped fasten it around Taige's body.
"Are you sure this is okay? You can't possibly be all right with just that on!" She shifted her brown eyes down at the slim, black thermal that tightly wrapped around his slim torso.
He grinned at her. 'I'm from the North Pole, remember? This is nothing compared to winter months! Besides, the cold never bothered me anyway.'
"Right…remind me to never visit," she let out, facetiously.
"By the way, have you heard? We'll be docking really late into the night so as soon as we wake up tomorrow I think we should—hey, are you all right, Nilak?" She cut off, noticing his face. "I was joking, you know—I'd love to see the Northern Water Tribe with you sometime."
'No, it's not that, I'm just feeling a bit…lost at the moment,' he motioned.
"Lost? What do you mean?" She moved over to lean on the open railing next to him, keeping her eyes locked on him.
'No…it's not like that. I shouldn't be the one assigned to do this…I mean, a lot is weighing on these negotiations going well and this is one of—if not the single most important job imaginable in the URN! I'm way in over my head!'
"Don't you think you're being a little bit hard on yourself?" Taige frowned. "Don't psych yourself out about it; some things appear a lot harder to tackle from a distance than they really are once you reach them. I know you, Nilak. You've never let not having a voice of your own take away your thoughts as well. You have a way with words unlike any other person I've met."
'Even if you're right, I still can't quite push the feeling out of my mind. Every time I make a decision with or for the council, I feel like I'm making a stupid decision no matter which side I choose…. If I'm this indecisive, how am I supposed to help govern the capital of Republic City? I just don't feel like I'm cut out for this.'
Taige couldn't find the proper words to reassure him; she kept quiet, gazing at the sky with a slightly troubled expression. Nilak glanced at her, noticing her face was a milky pale save the a flush of red on the cheek he that was facing him. At the sight, his breath caught in his throat so brutally that he was overcome with a fit of rugged coughing for several moments.
Startled by the outbreak, Taige tentatively hit his back, clearly not quite sure of herself.
"You—er—good?" she asked after he resurfaced, breathing deeply.
'Yeah…' he knocked, sheepish. Well done, idiot… He turned back towards the water, hoping the moment resentment of his foolishness would pass. Well done, Nilak. Well done…
"Ok, good," she replied. "Anyway…I don't think it has anything to do with how capable you are, you just are being tasked with an extraordinarily stressful job. I don't think anyone else would feel any different in your shoes, no matter how qualified or prepared they may be for it." She smiled warmly at him.
Nilak's stomach tingled strangely. She looked more beautiful now than he had ever noticed before and, for some reason, looking at her under this new light felt a lot harder to act naturally under than normal.
'Okay, thanks Taige.'
"Don't mention it." She moved away from the railing of the ship. "Hey, Nilak, I'm gonna go head back inside—it's a bit too chilly for my taste. You should come back in as well; there's still food in the dining halls."
'I think I'll order some later tonight,' he fingered. 'I'm not really too hungry as of yet. I'm going to stay up here for a little longer…I'll come by to your room once I get back down. I doubt I'll be out too much longer.'
"Sounds good," she said, fingering her bare hands around the buttons of Nilak's heavy coat. He placed a gentle hand over hers and she looked up at him, confused.
'You can keep it for the rest of the trip.' he insisted. 'You didn't really pack thick enough clothing for the weather anyway, and I have an abundance of my own, currently.' Throughout the past couple of days, she had goosebumps every time he'd seen her while on the ship. He felt a sting of guilt for not lending her anything earlier but, to be perfectly honest, the idea never came into his mind.
"Really? All right, then. Thanks! I'll catch you later tonight, Nilak!" Taige started off towards the stairs with a slight skip in her step.
'Wait, Taige!' He jump-started after having a spur-of-the-moment thought left unsaid. But it was too late. She didn't notice his movements and went down into the lower decks of Aurora. Nilak watched the last bit of her figure sink from his sight, strangely content. I have to tell her… He grimaced, already blushing a furious red at the thought of confronting her. I need to do it after I go back inside.
But how? he thought anxiously. "Hey Taige it's great to see you again in less than an hour, but I need to tell you something that should've been said up on the deck. I'm in lo—I…
He exhaled, impatiently. I can't even articulate it well within my own head! He turned back towards the tranquil waters some thirty-two meters below him. He leaned on the railing again, far more slumped than he was before the whole ordeal. Why is this so difficult?
"If you want time to go by faster, I suggest you stop gazing at it," another voice called from behind him after a while of solitude.
The speaker was none other than Captain Ulva, who he had only seen during the first night when she personally directed him to his extravagantly ornate room. Nilak had completely forgot about her during the moment.
He fumbled through the pockets of his pants to grab his hand-held notepad and then motioned into his coat pocket where his pencil was. Only he had given the coat to Taige! He felt around his thermal long-sleeve shirt as if expecting it to be hidden inside the thin layer.
"Wait a second." Ulva said. She dug her hand into her own pockets and pulled out a jagged, dark pencil with the pink eraser completely absent on the far end.
[Thank you he scribbled on the page.] The Captain gruffly nodded in response and studied him diligently, as if pondering something in her head.
[Are we really that close to the dock? He held up the note to her.]
"Yeah—you haven't noticed?"
[Noticed what?]
"Over there." She pointed off towards the peak of the bow and the distant light of a sleepless city shined as their destination. "Exactly how long were you looking around on this dock? It's been visible for well over an hour by now."
[I haven't really been looking around, I've been looking over here throughout the whole time.]
Ulva looked over towards the brilliant streams of northern lights with eyes as unimpressed as the sight of the banal waters. It was as if she was expecting something to evolve—something to happen from looking at it.
"Oh…all right, then." Ulva turned her back on the scene with devastating ease. Nilak's grip on the pencil loosened. He stood there, taking her indifference to be a direct affront to him. He thought no words in neither his paper nor his brain. A somber weight gradually sank his insides like the metal he stood on.
"I hope I'm not being rude, Councilman, but I've been wondering about something after you came to the bridge for assistance," Ulva started, slowly. Her blank eyes showed a flicker of curiousity. "Why exactly can't you talk? I've never met a mute in my entire life and I've seen a lot of people in my life." She caught her flagrant, eager behavior and abruptly distanced herself for a few moments, trying to collect herself.
Confusion felt like it was depriving Nilak's brain of all oxygen. He could not hope to accomplish anything more than an honest expression of utter bewilderment.
"Do you mind that I'm asking this? It's pretty rare when I'm face with something or someone I haven't seen before—well, at least nowadays," Ulva asked, now unsure of herself.
[Not at all. I just…] He paused for a moment, lifting the point just above the pink margin. He crossed out the "I just" and took a different approach. [I'm surprised you asked. I've never been asked why before. When I was a child, I was frostbitten at the cavity of my chest. It was near-fatal, but I was able to be revived. My vocal cords are beyond repair from the incident, though.]
"Oh…I'm terribly sorry," she said awkwardly.
[It's fine. I was only a few months old when it happened so I didn't exactly use it enough to say I miss it. I don't even notice anything but a few minor scars that were left behind on my chest and at to the side of my neck.]
When Ulva handed him back the notebook, he stretched the left side of his neck to expose his lower neck where the bright, pinkish-red slits were. It was hardly noticeable, to Nilak on a day-to-day basis. The scars were small in both his neck and chest and he never could see them with his own eyes. It was like they weren't even there. That was the main reason he didn't really speak about it to Taige or anyone who didn't specifically ask. It wasn't a big deal to him.
"No offense, but I didn't take you as someone who lived in the Northern Water Tribe," she admitted.
He cracked a smile for the first time in their bizarre conversation. To his surprise, she returned it with a grin, as short-lived as it was. "I've met my fair share of strange people and most of them were brilliant in a weird way. What exactly is it like—being mute?"
Nilak contemplated on the question for a little while. It seemed so natural and engraved in his everyday life that there wasn't an easy nor proper way to convey it.
[I don't know, I'm just…me] he eventually put together in defeat.
"Oh…okay," she said, slightly disappointed. She dug into her inside coat for a small, silver, and battered pocket watch. The odd chain that hung on her general service cap was pushed behind her shoulder, absentmindedly as she looked first at the time then out at the stars as if to calibrate her pocket watch by just using the sky. To his astonishment, Nilak was right. She delicately wound the stem of her rugged pocket watch.
A sweet, though distant odor reached his nose and his body froze as stiff and cold as ice. Something's burning! He spun around finding nothing but the empty deck that he had seen for hours. Although he couldn't see the stern, there should've been something that gave a hint to the cause. Ulva and Nilak were the only two people who were resilient enough to be outside, on the main deck so casually in this below-freezing weather.
"What is it?" Ulva asked, alert from his sudden change of behavior. A soft hum came off from the back side of the ship. A motorboat fleeing from the ship. It can't be…
His system jolted as the confirmation of his fear had started to come in. Without even a second's time to catch up with his subconscious perception, he turned back around, sprinted up to Ulva, and tackled her over the railing of Aurora. Any scream she may've ushered was drowned out by the roar of the wind. Nilak's stomach felt weightless and his heart raced as they sped nearer and nearer to the blackish-blue water, still picking up speed from the drop.
As he plunged into the water, a box of daggers, filled to the brim, encased his timid body. The water actually felt like it was burning him. He desperately swam back up to the surface and gasped for breath. It was drowned out by the earsplitting explosion that came roughly thirty-two meters above. In several quick, consecutive booms, Aurora had combusted and within ten seconds, the entire surface of the ship was aflame, illuminating the cloudy, onyx sea.
A bountiful pile of debris was blasted off the edge of the ship and came crashing down where Nilak treaded water, just barely keeping his head up in the air. After seeing this, he repelled his body with a burst of energy and plummeted down under the water with a lot of help from his water bending. All the deafening noise above immediately distorted and a hollow, drifting sound escaped as a large piece of metal hit the water with profound force that was stopped in its tracks. The silhouette of the tubular object closed in on Nilak, now sinking much slower than it had fallen. He kept the end that was over his own head still for a few moments with an artificial current he procured as he pumped his legs as vigorously as they would budge through the thick water. With difficulty, he managed to escape the wreckage and it's fatal hold on him.
Nilak swam up again, resurfacing for another heavy, jagged breath. He coughed violently from the dive. He had been submerged for more than three minutes and he barely noticed until now. After recuperating himself, he turned his body wildly around everywhere, unable to find anything but the monstrous waves that arbitrarily swallowed his head every now and again.
Where is she? I was holding her not a minute ago! How could I've lost her!
He dove back under the water despite every inch of his body screaming in protest. The fire on the massive ship behind him was the only reliable source of light that pierced the ocean. However, it wasn't very helpful, only the most shallow portion of the water was clear enough to accept the radiance.
Reluctantly, he swam feebly upwards for the third time, coughing up the cold water that had sneaked into his mouth. His limbs uncontrollable shivering was making the fourth dive a lot messier and he came back up once again, feeling a sense of panic jitter through his body, numb with pain. PULL IT TOGETHER! SHE IS DIEING IN THERE! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HER! Yet another dive came in and, this time, he pulled back his arms with a sudden burst of energy he didn't think his weary limbs were capable of at the moment. The water bent at his dominant will and he propelled into the pitch blackness deep in the sea.
There was no way he could see anything in this veil; it was so dark that, if it weren't for the gradual sinking he had to counteract, he wouldn't even know which way was up or down. Come on, Nilak! Think! THINK!
He closed his eyes, trying to shut out all the mayhem that was happening around him and within him. The stinging cold, the shivering of his arms and legs, the cloud that fogged all his thinking: it all eventually subsided for one brief moment of time.
He sloshed his arms inward in a circular motion, feeling as if he was completely out-of-body for the tranquil moments he concentrated all his stamina on. The currents piled inward to mimic his motion. No, not the water…blood. he told himself, refusing to succumb to the piling fear. The odd current stopped and he could feel his chi energy wrapping around something strange…something different.
After a lifetime of doing this, he saw a quick glimpse of a silhouette less than a meter from him. He stopped his motions abruptly and immediately swam down to catch the figure. The wool texture and raw weight of the figure made it unmistakable: this was Captain Ulva.
His hope rekindled as he frantically ascended. Though it was at least six times more difficult with their combined weight being solely on Nilak's own unremarkable strength. His brain quickly became foggier than ever and all the pains he had pushed back in his one moment of concentration had broken through his barriers with strength amassed. Every inch he rose his body retaliated with anguish more extreme than ever before. We're…we're almost…there… he thought, trying his best to abate his struggle.
The did indeed reach the surface after Nilak had thought his vitality had all but vanished. Though it was crumbled to dust as his sore, searing lungs finally were able to function once again. He bent the water inside of Ulva's lungs out through her esophagus. To Nilak's suspenseful relief, she had gagged as the long stream of water left her mouth.
Without wasting another breath of what was no doubt the last of his strength, Nilak steered the pair of them to put their backs towards the coastline. He took his right arm pushed out with all the force he could muster and they propelled away from the ship at top speed. His dense blanked through the rest of there travel until they hit the single most beautiful thing that either of them could hope for: land.
They pitifully, first dragged, then crawled their way out of the devilish water and Ulva slumped onto the first bit of dry sand she felt, exasperated. Her deep swelling and contracting of breath was in unison with Nilak's own sore lungs.
He plumped his knees next to Ulva and looked dully past the shore and straight to the ball of fire that was Aurora. He stretched a weak, shivering arm out towards it. Taige…No…
His feeble body finally gave out and he laid on top of Ulva, unable to move another muscle.
"Avani" 阿瓦尼
The screeching of the brakes on wheels ceased and with a last, abrupt jolt forward, the train had come to a complete stop at TǔGuǐ Station. Avani was finally back in Kotai—finally back home. A natural flux of passengers piled up from each of the four doors in each compartment. After a moment she too stood up, still unable to move away from her seat with how packed the car was.
She looked out through the window she was pressed against and saw Mt. Ignas towering over the south portion of Lake Bayani. All those times we spent together, at Lake Bayani…did it mean anything to you? Did I mean anything to you, Reia? She sighed and extended her legs onto the fourteenth platform. The crowd had was now dispersing; it was time that she went her own way.
The open market to her right was nothing more than a great, big, gloomy gathering. The liveliness of the city was always compacted in the heart of Kotai, which was mostly the Northern Market, TǔGuǐ Station, and, of course, Zhēnx's Triangle: just south of the two. She went through all three on her lenient way back to the crappy apartment she once so pathetically called home; but none of them had the same spark that they used to have before Reiatsu had shown his true colors to her. Even as densely populated as Kotai had become; and how alacritous the crowds were, it all seemed barren and depressing to Avani for the first time in her life.
She went down the Hea Road for some time, paying no attention to where exactly her legs took her. She sulked her way through the trip from Hea Road to the all too familiar slums where her apartment was put amongst many in the large pocket of buildings. The same second district she had walked along for all of the nineteen years of her life now made her hollow inside. She had lost. Her dream was over. She had put all of her time—no—all of her life into making her dream happen and when the chance arose, she completely blew it.
Avani passed the third parking lot on her right and just ahead was building number seventy-four. She followed up the same four, cement stairs into the building and then went through the cramped, somewhat crooked hallway to the back where the stairs were. The usual old, auburn door greeted her that required way too much effort to open for most people. Not Avani, though, she was strong. Not strong enough, apparently…
With a soft plop, her body dropped onto the couch. She considered watching TV beforehand, but now that she laid on the couch so limp, she neither did nor thought of doing anything. Xia and Guiren were both out in some bank in High Kotai in hopes they could pay for the immediate debt that had stockpiled all because of their daughter. It was obvious they needed to finance a loan in order to even hope of paying off the cost of the trip.
Avani buried her face into a nearby pillow, as pitiful as a child. Why am I so weak all the time now? Ever since Reia had left her it seemed like that's all she could be: weak, sensitive, fragile, pathetic.
Unaware of how long she actually stayed on the couch in her beat down state, Avani eventually managed to break apart from it to a sitting position and then reach for the remote of the the television in front of her.
"—quite a storm. Meteorologists are expecting to last throughout the last weeks of April and into the first week or two of May. It's quite a bizarre weather that will be on and off; however, when the storm is on, it will be a devastating downpour. Winds are going to pick up over the next week from forty kilometers an hour to a whopping eighty-five kilometers per hour! Citizens of Adrian are advised to keep small children indoors as much as possible until further notice. Now back to the news with Fulla."
Ugh, how do people watch this crap?
"Thank you, as always, Bato. During last night's rush hour, a dreadful car accident clogged up Chita Boulevard for well over three hours. The downtime was catastrophic and—"
The TV cut off as soon as Avani had pressed the button on the remote. She impatiently shifted her weight on the couch and her hand brushed against the thick, paper card in the left pocket of her pants. She hovered over the pocket hesitantly for several seconds before pulling it out and copying the number on the card to the only rotary phone in the house.
"Zeke Kintaro, Chief Advisory of His Majesty speaking," the same voice from the hospital stated, even more uncolloquial than before.
"Er—Mr. Kintaro?" Avani asked, tentatively.
"Who is this?"
"It's me, Avani. You came to me at the hospital a few days ago," she answered tersely.
"Ah, yes!" Zeke let out, merrily. "Avani! I'm so glad you called!"
"You—er—said earlier that you wanted Reiatsu locked in the deepest cell of Ekta."
"I did." he agreed, slightly lost. "Why?"
"I can help you with that," Avani's voice shook with a mixture of compressed fear and rage. She clenched her fists as tight as she could, completely resolved. "But only if I'm the one who drags him down there."