Chapter 4

LOK

#49

Bolin groaned as he awoke on the stone floor and his muscles screaming at him as he slowly sat up. This was a feeling worse than anything he's ever felt, even after training. What had they done to him? That guard activated some sort of device... the shackles! Bolin tried to pull the metal straps off his wrists but was met with a stinging pain. Not only were they securely bolted, they seemed to have dug some sort of spike into his skin. Then he tried to bend, and he could not again. What the hell did they do to him?

Sighing in defeat, Bolin looked around. He was in a small stone room that had a doorway that was open to brightly lit chamber. He relaxed a little, more than happy to be out of the pits and into a well lit area.

"Ah, you are awake." Oda's voice came to him and a frame came into view in the doorway. With the new light, Bolin noticed the guy was more muscular and much taller than he was.

"Oda?"

"Are you hungry, friend?" A pair of hands passed a wooden bowl of what looked like grey goop to Oda.

"Oda, what happened? And now that you mention it... I am pretty hungry." Bolin eagerly patted his stomach.

Oda's expression turned grimm "You were punished by one of the more... malevolent of the guards. There was nothing I could do to stop him, you are only lucky the work hours were coming to an end." He passed Bolin the bowl.

When Bolin recieved the bowl he was fairly disappointed and poked his finger at the grey glob; his eye twitched slightly when it jiggled. "Uh... what is this?"

"It has all the necessary supplements, protiens, and vitamins a growing Earthbender needs." Oda answered very quickly and casually, raising an eyebrow at Bolin's disliking for the substance.

Bolin looked up at him. "And you have this everyday?"

"Yes." Oda answered in a matter-of-fact way.

"That explains a lot..." Bolin had stuck his finger into the goop and attempted to scoop it. He supposed he would have to get used to it too... only for a little while til he can come up with a plan or have the opportunity to escape. He would then come back and save Oda from the horrors of eating this slop. "You wouldn't happen to have a spoon would you?"

"They limit us on metal objects, they are wary of us concealing them to use as weapons." Oda explained. "There have been... incidents..."

"Of Metalbending?"

"Something like that..."

"So people have tried to escape?" Bolin managed to scoop with his fingers a bit of slop into his mouth, but then it spills back out into the bowl. The goop tasted as horrible as it looked.

"Or start riots. But the Warden quickly brings them under control... It helps if you close your eyes and think of something else." Oda chuckled. "And when you are done you should come join us for the circle. Are you able to walk?"

"I think so..." Bolin flexed his toes. "What is the circle?"

"A gathering of all who are here." Oda held a small smile. "We've prepared a small welcome for those who've arrived."

"Oh... um... sure I'll be there." Bolin looked back to the bowl. He was unsure he wanted to be welcomed to a place he did not want to be. Oda had done a lot in kindness towards him, but it did not change the fact that he missed his brother and Pabu, he missed training and hanging out with Korra, he missed his home in the attic of the Pro-Bending arena.

He swirled the slop around on his finger and sucked on it thoughtfully. Oda was right, if you were thinking of other things the goop did not taste so bad... though he could swear it tasted of salty tears.

As he ate, Bolin felt an unusual sense of elation overcome him, he felt really relaxed and the food started not to taste half bad.

Bolin finished the bowl and though he was still hungry, he wasn't so eager to ask for seconds. He dragged himself so his back was against the wall, using it as leverage as he used his legs to push himself up. Leaning on the wall, he struggled to stand as his nerves were stinging like a bunch of needle points. He inhaled as the pain lessened and soon he could stand on his own. Gripping both sides of the doorway, Bolin stuck his head out into the light.

His mouth hung open a little as he realized he was in the larger cavern where he saw those dwellings before... and it looked like he was in one of them. He turned his head to look around, noticing the collar no longer inhibited his movements as much as it did when it was first put on. His attention is then grabbed by people walking past him, they seemed worn out and tired but walked as though where they were going now was the most important thing in the world to them.

He follows them, coming to a large circle clearing in the center of the underground town. The others sat around the smoothed stone center that had a diameter of at least 30 feet in Bolin's estimation; with a tall man in the middle who he recognized quickly as Oda.

"My brothers and sisters, my friends, the time has come to welcome those who've just arrived into our family." Oda's voice, though gruff, had the vibrance that made Bolin realize this was a very important moment, and he was apart of it. His fingers began to fidget nervously. He did not want to disappoint Oda even though they had just met, the older man had done a lot to make him feel welcome. He just wanted to go home...

"Gaiko... Bolin... Please enter the circle."

Suddenly, Bolin felt himself stumble forwards; he was pushed from behind into the circle. He careened into another person in the circle, a young man who looked a little older than him and was also missing a shirt. In fact most of the men around the circle were shirtless just like Bolin, the only people who wore any upper clothing were either women or looked even oder than Oda.

Bolin raised his hand to the young man, appologeticly, "Uhm... Hey."

"H-Hey..." the guy sounded scared and just as nervous as Bolin, "You're the guy that they... they punished... earlier. What was it they did to you... Bolin is it?"

Bolin glanced to the side, trying to recall what went on as he was being tortured by the guard, "I'm not sure what they did... but it hurt like hell."

The other guy, Gaiko, looked like he had gone pale in the light. Oda leaned over Gaiko's shoulder and said a few words to him, then raised his right hand over the guy. Bolin wondered if Oda was some sort of leader here...

Suddenly, Bolin felt a firm hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to meet Oda's prideful face.

"Welcome to the family, Bolin." He grinned at the younger man as he raised his left hand over Bolin's head.

Oda then spoke to the crowd again, "Let these two be welcome in our circle!"

Then the cave errupted with cheers, and to Bolin they seemed happy for being prisoners... and he could not understand why...

A sound of drumming could be heard and then people started to clap as many of the younger people started to dance. Beside him, Gaiko moved away to sit on the side. It was obvious he was just as confused as Bolin.

"I am also proud to annouce my daughter's engagement!" Oda's voice boomed over the noise and the crowd cheered louder. No wonder his face was beaming when Bolin saw him. The more of the crowd seemed to dance. It seemed primal, the dancing, just letting loose Bolin supposed. The faces of the people caught glimpses of were grinning from ear to ear.

A little too happy as prisoners in Bolin's opinion.

End chapter 4

You know what to do!

(note: this had not been beta read so there may be some spelling errors)