Hey everybody, I've been working on this story for a while now and been publishing it on reddit. I've decided to start cross posting it here, to help reach a wider audience. I'll be posting the 6 chapters I've written so far over the next few days/weeks. I welcome any and all feedback.

Chapter 2 - The City

This would have been Yuan's first time waking up after mid-day, in months. He slowly roused himself from the hard canyon floor where he'd spent the night, and apparently morning. He had made his bed in a small crevice, just below the mountains, he had once been able to see from the outskirts of his village. He had rode for most of the night, until exhaustion had overtaken his adrenaline, and he decided to make camp. He hitched the ostrichhorse to a small tree, laid a bed for himself, ate the dinner his mother had made for him, before falling into a hugely needed sleep.

As he woke this day, he checked to make sure the horse was still tied down, before reaching into one of his bags and grabbing two apples for the both of them to have for breakfast. After eating he went to a nearby stream to fill up his water pouch. When he looked down into the water he saw his reflection looking back at him. He immediately realized he looked exactly as he had yesterday, and as such, would be instantly recognizable. After filling his pouch, he went back to his small basecamp and rummaged around in his bags, until he found a small knife he had remembered to bring. He cut off the bun on his head, letting his hair fall every which way. He spent the next several minutes cutting it short, so it wouldn't get into his eyes. The result was a messy head of hair, with a varying number of lengths. "I'll have to find a hat or cloak or something to hide my face," he solemnly thought to himself.

With his appearance and stomach taken care of, he opened the map his mother had given him, and set about plotting his next course of action. He slowly dragged his fingers over the various towns, cities, and regions of the Former Earth Kingdom, trying to remember names he might have heard before. Yuan had only left Urumqi and it's general area once, with Teng to visit the once great city of Omashu. Despite having a functioning government for most of it's history, Kuvira's reunification and the subsequent dissolution of the Earth Empire had plunged the city into chaos. United Republic Forces underneath Avatar Korra had moved into the city trying to restore peace. While they did temporarily restore peace, they also took away much of the cities autonomy, which infuriated most citizens, especially after they had just gained sovereignty from the Earth Empire. They soon began to organize and formed a group which would later be known as The Rising Earth. The Peacekeepers took substantial losses and eventually abandoned the city. Yuan and Teng had visited two years ago, hoping to establish contact with an influential cabbage merchant, in the hopes he would bring his business to Urumqi. When they arrived however, they found no cabbage merchant, only a broken city with corrupt officials and frequent and seemingly senseless terror attacks.

Yuan shuddered as he remembered the sad and hopeless situation he had witnessed. "I definitely can't go there," he thought to himself. This made matters difficult as it was the only name he recognized besides Republic City and Ba Sing Se, both of which were also off limits. Republic City offered nothing but possible imprisonment, and Ba Sing Se was the main city of the Spiritual Church, an organization practically defined by it's anit-Avatar stance. Yuan hadn't even had an idea, and he was already out of options. However just when all seemed lost, he noticed a small name at the top of the map that he thought he recognized. Zaofu.

"That's it!" he thought with glee, "It's perfect, close riding distance, zero United Republic interference, the Church is weak there, and the leaders are as pro-avatar as they come. I think some of the older ones might even had been friends with Avatar Korra." Yuan soon put together a plan of action. He didn't know how ostrichhorse friendly the city was, so he decided to stop in a town outside the city to sell the bird, and use the money to get a train ticket into the city, from there he could try and find a way to contact the cities leaders. With his mind set, he quickly packed his belongings, and saddled the ostrichhorse. After one more sip of water for him and the bird, he mounted his steed and spedoff towards Zaofu.

It took him two days before he finally arrived in the town of Yi. He made as few stops as possible on this journey, with only occasional breaks for food, water, and one 6 hour stop for sleep. Outside of this the journey was entirely uneventful. Yuan saw neither hide nor hair of another human being, and even very little signs of wildlife. He did take some time to appreciate the view he had of the mountains, as this was only his second time outside the village. Despite his awe at their size, he refused to slow down to fully take them in. And once he finally saw the outline of the village, he felt rewarded for this decision. He felt even better when he saw the railroad tracks on the other side of the village.

Upon finally reaching the outside gates of the city, he asked passersby if they knew where he could find a farm or ranch. After being pointed in the right direction, Yuan rode his ostrichhorse to Pow's Ranch, a large settlement, about 10 minutes outside the city. There he looked and saw Pow himself directing two farm hands as they were trying to drive a herd of mooseyaks to the opposite end of an enclosed grazing area. Yuan dismounted and lead the ostrichhorse to Pow, who was standing just outside the fence surrounding the mooseyaks.

"Hi there," greeted Yuan.

"You actually have to lead them, you stupid … oh, sorry about that, I didn't hear you. Hi, I'm Pow, the owner of this ranch," answered the middle aged proprietor.

"Just who I'm looking for. I was hoping to sell this ostrichhorse, and was told that you might be able to give me a fair price," Yuan proposed.

Pow inspected the steed thoroughly, checking it's coat, beak, talons, and every other square inch of the animal. After about five minutes of looking, Pow turned back to Yuan with a smile, "This is a fine beast you have here. Young, healthy, and looks like she would make a great mate for some of my stallions. I'll give you 2,000 yuon's for this bird."

"That sounds perfect," said Yuan, happy to get the money.

Pow went into a nearby home and grabbed the money. When he came back, him and Yuan exchanged the cash and the reins. Yuan turned, about to make his way back to the village when Pow asked, "One final question, you got a name for this brid?"

"Oh," despite having spent the past two days working the creature, Yuan had failed to give it a proper name. "Um … Jeu." he answered after a beat.

"Lovely name," Pow said.

"Yeah, it is," Yuan turned again and began his walk back to the village.

Being on a train was both an exhilarating and terrifying new experience for Yuan. On the one hand, he had never seen such an impressive and modern machine, and even the coach seating that Yuan found himself occupying, was exceptionally comfortable. On the flipside, Yuan had never gone this fast in his entire life, and every time they went around a curve or bend, he said a small prayer underneath his breath, that they wouldn't fly off and splatter. He eventually got used to it, which helped the 8 hour trip pass faster. This experience was only a taste test, with the real awe coming when Yuan eventually saw Zaofu.

He looked out the window and saw the massive petals of the city beginning to close, as dusk slowly overtook the valley it was seated in. Before the closed completely, Yuan caught glimpses of massive skyscrapers, that completely outshone anything he had seen in the dilapidated Omashu. He gulped slightly not sure if he would be ready for the actual city. The train soon entered a tunnel, where it traveled for 5 minutes before entering a massive opening that was Beifong Central Station.

After making his way through the security checkpoints, Yuan and the rest of the passengers were ushered up a staircase, where they exited into the main square of one of Zaofu's many domes. Yuan was completely awestruck, craning his head upwards and gawking at all of the sights. The lights, the towers, the arches, the oddly banana-like sculpture, this city was something Yuan might have dreamed of, if he had any inkling that something like this might have existed. Eventually his gawking got the better of him, as he ran into a passing by citizen.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" yelled the annoyed woman, as she dusted herself off.

"Sorry," Yuan apologized. "Actually, I'm new to the city, would you happen to know where I could find Yin Beifong?" he asked, as if he had been rehearsing the question over and over in his head.

The woman gave him an odd look, as if Yuan had suddenly sprouted a third head. "Umm … yeah, either in the capitol dome, or watching one of those dumb ballet performance at the theatre."

"Thanks," Yuan said. She gave him one final weird look before continuing on her way. Yuan looked at the map and brochure he had grabbed at the station, and found both where the theatre was, and that they would be unveiling a new performance tonight. Wasting no time, he sprinted towards the theatre, making it to the ticket booth 15 minutes before the show began. He spent almost the entirety of his remaining cash on a general admission ticket, before making his way to his seat on the inside.

He found his seat with no problems, sat down, and began to survey the theatre. It was shaped like an elongated oval, with a huge swath of general admission seats surrounding the center stage, which was about 10 feet below the final row of seats. A small wall separated the stage from the audience. Above general admissions were two sets of balcony seats on either side of the arena, and on one of the far ends there was a series of box seats. "Thats where I'll probably find Beifong," Yuan thought to himself. Before he could get up, however the lights began to dim, and everyone else in the audience made their way to their seats. Figuring he could wait until the intermission, Yuan took his seat, and decided he might try to enjoy the spectacle.

Soon music began to play, and from the roof of the theatre, several dancers lowered themselves on metal cables. Once they reached the ground, each of the eight dancers grabbed a triangular sheet of metal and began to spin it around. After a second they stopped, and were no longer holding triangles, but squares. They repeated this process, getting pentagons, hexagons, octagons, and eventually perfect circles. Yuan was initially mesmerized by the performance, having never seen metalbending before. However after a few minutes of the act, he quickly grew bored and began to wonder, if they would actually do anything exciting with this amazing ability. And by his standards, they did nothing of note for another full hour. Intermission came as such a great relief, that Yuan almost forgot why he had originally come.

It did strike him after a minute, as he walked back into the lobby area, and he immediately changed course to the back end of the theatre. There he found two guards standing in front of the staircase. Thinking on his feet, Yuan reached into his pocket and grabbed the remaining 200 yuons he had and scattered them all over the floor. Soon a mob formed, each trying to grab the money for themselves. As things got progressively more aggressive, both guards left their post to try and calm the mass. Yuan quietly as he could bolted up the stairs, and found himself in a back hallway, with just himself and an old man. The man turned to him, squinted a little bit, before asking in a raspy voice, "Hey, wait a minute, are you supposed to be up here?"

"Oh, well I …. uh …." Yuan began.

"Oh I know what you're doing up here," the old man accused. Yuan slid his foot forward, preparing for a fight with this seemingly geriatric man he just encountered, until the man finished, "You must be a huge fan of the Nuktuk movers!"

"Wait, what? I mean, yes I'm a huge fan!" Yuan said, deciding to play along.

"Well, color me impressed. It's not often I get to see fans anymore, especially one under the age of 50!" He pulled out a small photo and pen from underneath the suitcoat he was wearing, and quickly scrawled an autograph on the photo before handing it over. Yuan studied the photo, of a shirtless young man, whom he recognized as Nuktuk of the South from the old movers, as he high-fived a poorly staged polarbeardog and fire ferret, with the name Bolin sloppily scrawled underneath it. "So just how did you end up seeing my old movers?"

"Actually my mom was a huge fan, and took me to see showings at my townhall. She's been a superfan of them ever since she was a girl. She evened named our mooseyaks Nuktuk and Ginger." explained Yuan, to Bolin's complete delight.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, that is so exciting to hear! Is your mother here? I would love to meet her," he began to exclaim.

Yuan's expression darkened a little bit, but he tried to force a smile as much as possible. "She actually couldn't come tonight, but she wanted me to try and get an autograph."

"Awww, that's a shame. Tell you what, you wanna watch the rest of this ballet from the best seats in the house. I'm bored to death up there, and would love to spend some time with one of my adoring fans."

"Umm, sure. That sounds great." Yuan figured he'd have a better chance of catching Beifong after the show, anyways. Despite his age, Bolin pumped his arms in excitement and motioned for Yuan to follow him through the door behind them. They entered into the small box where three other people were sitting, a woman about the same age as Bolin wearing ornate red and yellow robes with a blue arrow tattoo sneaking out underneath her white bangs, a middle aged woman wearing robes similar to those he had seen adorning all Zaofu citizens, and finally a younger boy, about the same age as Yuan, with a messy head of black hair wearing a tight yellow and red suit, with a loose red robe over it.

"Hey I just met another adoring fan, his name is …" Bolin started and soon trailed off, slowly realizing he didn't even know this stranger's name.

"Yuan."

"Right, right, Yuan. Well Yuan, I'd like to introduce to my family. This gorgeous little lady on the left is my wife Opal," the older lady smiled and gave a small wave. "Next up we have my daughter and president Yin," the middle aged woman gave a cold look over, obviously tired from a life time of her fathers theatrics. "Last, but not least we have my grandson and up and coming air acolyte Kunchen," the boy gave an awkward smile trying to be polite.

Yuan gave a quick bewildered look, but quickly shrugged off his amazing luck. He waved politely, "It's nice to meet all of you. It's an especial honor to meet you, President Beifong." He gave a small bow.

The president rolled her eyes at this, and turned to address her father, "Are you seriously harassing random strangers in the hallway about your old films? You can't just enjoy one performance without doing something disruptive?" Yuan took note, and figured it would probably be easier talking to Bolin when the time came.

"Two things: One, Yuan came to see me in the hallway, so I'm not harassing anyone. And second, you hate these ballet's just as much as I do," Bolin shot back, with a mix of indignation, and his strangely omnipresent good humor.

"Well at least I can quietly sit through one of these waste of times without making a big deal about it," replied Yin, keeping her tone even, yet irritated.

"Will both of you please stop fighting when we have guests!" everyone turned their heads to see Opal, barking these orders. "We can't take the two of you anywhere without a fight. I'm sorry for my husband and daughter, Yuan, please have a seat, I think there's an open one next to Kunchen." With the box suddenly silent, Yuan took his seat next to the young airbender. As he sat, the lights dimmed and the performance began anew.

A few minutes into the second act Kunchen whispered to Yuan out of the corner of his mouth, "So have you actually seen the Nuktuk films, or were you just trying to be polite to my grandpa?"

"Actually yeah. They had a showing of them at my townhall when I was a kid," Yuan replied.

"So wait there isn't a mover theatre near you? Where are you from?" Kunchen asked as politely as he could.

"Urumqi," Yuan said, but only got a puzzled look in response. "We're pretty small."

"Oh ok, I haven't been around the Former Earth Kingdom, but I've really wanted to travel and see …"

"Quiet during the performance," Opal scolded the two of them. Both muttered apologies under their breaths, and shifted their focus back to the performance. The second act went on for another hour, with only Opal paying any real attention. Soon enough, however, the dancers were giving their final bows, the audience their applause. After this the lights turned on all around the theatre, and people began to get up and leave.

"Well it was lovely meeting you Yuan, but we should be getting back to our home," Opal gave a small bow and tapped on Bolin's shoulder to signal him towards the exit.

The family all began making their way towards the exit when Yuan panicked and quickly interjected, "Umm actually there was a second reason why I tried sneaking into your section. Well actually it's the only reason, but I …" At this point everyone was giving him a puzzled looked, so he decided to get on with it. "Well I guess it would be easier to just show you." He reached into his pocket he pulled out a pebble, and using his earthbending, he began to levitate it above his palm. Next he extended his other hand forward, and with a concentrated effort formed a small fireball at the center of his palm.

The Beifong family stood shocked and silent for a moment, before Bolin began to stomp his feet on the ground in excitement and repeat the phrase "Oh man," over and over and over. Taking initiative Yin slapped her hand on her fathers mouth and turned to face Yuan with a grim look on her face, "We'll all need to talk in a more private setting."

The family and Yuan all sat in a stately office, inside of the capital dome. Before they had begun talking, they had sent Yuan off to a different corner of the dome to be bathed and groomed, after the his multi-day journey. His face was cleaned, his hair was cut and evened to a neat short buzzcut, and he was given a new set of clothes. Now he wore a loose but comfortable green button-up shirt, with a brown pants and boots, and a brown short-sleeved jacket, that he left unbuttoned and loose on him. After inspecting himself in the mirror and approving of his new look, he followed the directions of the staff to the office they now sat in.

"So you're the Avatar," Yin began. Bolin let out an excited squeal, but was quickly silenced by his daughters glare. "How and why have you come to Zaofu?" Yuan briefly explained the his fateful last day in Urumqi, leaving out the portions about terrorists. The family's cold curious looks quickly warmed and turned sympathetic towards him.

"I'm sorry you had to go through an experience like that," said Opal. "So you came here, because you thought we would be the only place that would accept you?" Yuan gave a solemn nod. "You poor thing. We would gladly love to extend the hospitality of Zaofu towards you."

"We would, but I don't think we would be able to." interrupted Yin. "We have a lot of refugees from the Former Earth Kingdom, none of whom, would be keen on us harboring the Avatar. Also if the United Republic found out it could cause an international catastrophe!"

Bolin didn't care for this notion. "You can't honestly be suggesting that we just kick him back out! Where else would he go?"

"Dad, I know you want to do right by Korra, but you know the risks we would be taking harboring the Avatar. It's not just dangerous for us, but for him and my citizens, and as the president it's my duty to do right by them." The harshness Yuan had come to expect from her voice, had been replaced with a sense of defeat and a grim resolution on her duty to her citizenry.

"Then where would he go?" Bolin questioned, half rhetorical, half genuine.

"I don't know. I'll think about it, but until then we'll have to keep him hidden. I'm going to adjourn to my bed chambers to sleep on the issue. Make sure he interacts with as few people as possible." She gave the orders like they were her underlings, not her close family. She made a quick exit, with a noticeably loud door slam behind her.

"Sigh … I'm sorry for the way she said it Yuan, but my daughter is right, keeping you would put Zaofu in an awkward position." Opal apologized.

"It's no excuse. Korra was our best friend, we can't just turn her successor away like this," Bolin said with an anger at no one in particular.

"So you two were close friends with Avatar Korra?" Yuan inquired.

"Oh yeah, me and Korra were best friends since we were your age. We were always helping her fight bad guys or restore spiritual balance or whatever she was doing. We even helped after it came out as public that she and Asami…" Bolin trailed off. "I'm sorry I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, do you have strong feelings about Korra and her …"

"Not really. I never saw what the big deal about it was, except that the church hated it," Yuan responded.

"That's how we all felt! When they told us and a few other friends about it, everyone was happy for them, even my brother who dated both of them! But during all the troubles with the New Earth States, Korra lost a lot of popularity and started getting a lot of flak from a lot of groups. Then someone took some photos of her and Asami on a date, the churched latched on to it, and suddenly the whole world came down on them."

"That's awful to hear," said Yuan quietly, never having put much thought into the subject.

"Korra took it ok, she was used to the criticism, but Asami … she'd already lost so much before it, and now this. She was even forced to merge and give up control of Future Industries to Varrick industries, to stop the company from crumbling." Bolin continued to rant about all the injustices visited upon his close friends.

"We tried to help as much as we could," Opal began, "They were always welcome in Zaofu. They couldn't go to much of the Former Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, or even the poles, where Korra's family were leaders, because of the influence the church held. They split their time between here, Republic City, and the Air Temples. They had to deal with the hate for the rest of their lives. Two months before you were born, Asami finally got sick and passed, and Korra followed soon after. It's a complete injustice what happened to those two, and we'll make sure nothing like that happens to you."

Yuan sat there in silence slowly soaking in all the terrible ordeals his predecessor had to go through. He'd only ever heard Teng's ravings or the preachers sermons, and had never stopped to think about the actual person they were attacking. The thought sat like a lump in the pit of his stomach. After a moment of silence Bolin perked up with a sudden flash in his eyes, "I know! There's a White Lotus Temple on the other side of the continent that Korra had set up during one of her peace missions! We can send you there! They should have plenty of resources, plus there's no one better equipped to train you in the elements. And no one can get mad for them harboring you, because it's literally their job."

Everyone sat in silence, mulling over the plan, until finally Opal spoke. "It sounds like our best bet. How would we get him there though?"

"I could take him." Everyone turned and saw Kunchen had spoken up for the first time during the entire meeting. "I'm good at driving the jeep, and I should be traveling more anyway, if I want to be a proper air nomad"

Bolin looked overjoyed at the prospect of his grandson going on an adventure with the Avatar, but Opal had a doubtful look, "Kunchen, you've proven that you can be responsible, but this is a big undertaking. Are you sure you're ready?"

"Definetly. I can plot out our course and start packing tonight, I'll clear it with my mom in the morning." Yuan, Opal, and Bolin all cast doubtful looks, at that prospect.

And all cast shocked looks at breakfast the next morning when she immediately agreed with the plan. "You're brothers already at the Air Temple, so it'll be nice having you both out of my hair for a little while. Plus it's not like you haven't been on big journey's before. I'll set you up with a jeep, and you two should be able to leave by this afternoon." Everyone's shocked expressions were matched, by a huge dorky grin on Kunchen's face.

So pack they did, and by the late afternoon all five were standing outside one of Zaofu's gates, with a jeep loaded with some clothes and food ready to go. Kunchen gave hugs to all of his relatives, as they got ready to leave.

"Good luck to the two of you, I know you'll both make me proud." said Bolin. "And radio us when you reach the Temple, you know how Opal worries."

Kunchen and Yuan each gave a determined nod to him, waved their last goodbyes, before getting in the car. Kunchen started the engine, and before they knew it they were off, leaving on a road through a mountain pass behind the city. As they cleared a large ridge, Yuan took one last look at the marvelous city, before it sank below the hills and mountains.

Coming Soon: Chapter 3 - The Shrine