Yuan woke at the crack of dawn, the first time he had done so without a roostercrow. He couldn't help; today was the big day. After nonstop drive from their last adventure they had arrived in a small town, only a few miles outside of Republic City. They'd crossed into the Republics proper borders the night before, but the border guards had all been moved to the outer reaches of their controlled territories, so there was no real process to get into the city. That would not be the case with the city itself.
During the earlier years of The United Republics intervention in The Earth States, terrorist attacks had been prevalent in Republic City, with casualties in the hundreds. The city reacted with a major security overhaul, instituting increasingly draconian policies, to catch any would be terrorists before they even came close to the city. And in about an hour, it would be Yuan's turn to test the system.
He felt an odd serenity pass over him as he awoke this morning, which was a welcome change from his stomach doing backflips every time they went over a bump. He supposed he'd just come to accept that this was going to happen. Ironically, the best luck he'd had recently was Kunchen beating the tar out of him in the basement. His face was still fairly bruised and swollen, making it even harder to recognize him from his wanted poster. Or it would just make them scrutinize him harder, and then they would definitely recognize him. 50-50 really. He shook the thoughts out of his mind. If he just remained calm, he would get through this. "I've just got to keep it together for another few hours, and I'm in the clear. We'll be at the White Lotus Temple by tonight," he reassured himself.
Kunchen and Nerrivik woke up shortly after him. They'd been holding up surprisingly well since their night in the basement. Nerrivik had calmed down considerably since that night, with neither her nor Yuan breathing a word about how they knocked their captor out to Kunchen. The airbender had been doing way better than Yuan had expected, but he couldn't tell if this was because he was genuinely nonplused by it or if he'd finally been pushed past his breaking point and had stopped caring altogether. Either way, Yuan was glad he was so calm, because they'd need him and his Beifong credentials to enter the city.
After a quick breakfast the three hit the road, and in half an hour they were upon the city. The first thing they saw beyond the surrounding mountains, was the beam of yellow light reaching towards the sky that was the Republic Spirit Portal. As they closed in on the city, they saw skyscrapers beginning to peak over the hills and trees. It wasn't until they were right at the gates that they noticed the massive 20 foot concrete wall that surrounded the city. They pulled the jeep up to a small gate, similar to the one they had seen when entering United Republic territory. They joined a huge line of traffic as they were slowly examined and passed through the gates. After about an hour of tense waiting, it was there turn at the front.
An angry looking older man in United Republic military attire approached the car, "Do you three have any papers?" he asked, in a flat and serious tone.
Kunchen pulled a small booklet out of the glove compartment of the jeep. "Here's my international pass. It's a gold level diplomatic pass, so it should include my two guests."
"Maybe a few years ago. Regulations have tightened. We'll have to conduct interviews for both the entrants, and grant them temporary week long passes. While we're doing that for them, we'll also have to inspect your vehicle for contraband." The man ushered Yuan and Nerrivik into two side offices, similar to the ones they had previously been through.
"Just relax," Yuan told himself. "I've just got to play it cool like last time, and it'll be alright." He sat down across from another man, this one slightly younger, but equally angry looking.
"Wow," Yuan said, putting on his fakest friendliest smile. "I just did one of these a week ago when I crossed into the territories. You guys sure do take your security seriously."
The man responded with an annoyed look and a small grunt, before he began to grill Yuan, with the same set of questions he'd been asked before. Yuan parroted his fake credentials, but ran into trouble when the questions branched off to talk about his history.
"So you said you were from Omashu?" the man asked.
"Uh, yeah," Yuan confirmed in a puzzled voice.
"Well there's been a lot of terrorist activity in that area for the past several years now..." continued the man.
"I'm well aware," replied Yuan, starting to get a little annoyed.
"My point being, are you at all involved with these acts, or have you ever been affected by them?" The man was matching Yuan's annoyance with his own.
"No, I haven't been a part of any terrorist activities. I've seen my fair share of bombings, but everyone in the city has," Yuan crossed his arms.
The man let out a small sigh and stared straight at him, now clearly angry. "Look I've seen this thousands of times before, so just come out and say it; you're a refugee, right?"
"What?"
"Don't play dumb with me. You people do this all the time. Clayeaters that try to skip …"
"Clayeater?" Yuan was completely indignant at this point.
"Yes, clayeaters. People like you that try to game the system, get a week long pass, and then stay in the city and live off of welfare." Most people tried to hide their racism and use euphemisms, but this guy was going right for it.
Yuan's trepidations about being recognized were completely forgotten, replaced by a searing rage. "I'm so sorry. The United Republic did such a great job of stabilizing Omashu, I guess I should be a little more grateful for all you do for us." Phen would have been proud.
The man smiled at this, "So I guess I'm right, you are just like the rest." He pressed a small button on the underside of his desk, and suddenly two soldiers burst into the office, and grabbed Yuan.
The Avatar began to struggle until one of the soldiers calmly spoke, "Please remain calm sir. We're transferring you to a secure detention facility. You'll stay there until we have completely assessed your security risk." Memories of his wanted poster came flooding back and Yuan immediately stopped resisting.
They lead him down a short hallway and deposited him in a completely empty room, sans one bench on the back wall. There was a large mirror on the opposite side of the room, that was almost definitely a one way window. This was the room he spent the next 4 hours in, alternating between sitting and pacing back in forth. All the while, paranoid thoughts raced in his head. "They definitely have to know by now. What are they waiting for? Do they have something planned for me? Do they know I'm the Avatar? What about Kunchen and Nerrivik, what are they doing with them?"
This continued until the door opened again, this time it was the original soldier from the gate walking in. "My deepest apologies for what has happened sir. My subordinates acted rashly and I can assure you they will be strictly punished." Yuan raised a his eyebrow slightly, but was quickly ushered out of the room and back outside. There he saw Kunchen and Nerrivik waiting by the jeep. The two ran up to him, and embraced him in a large group hug. Kunchen made a quick glance at the lead soldier, before the group walked back to the jeep.
"I thought they recognized me, why are they releasing me?" Yuan asked as they settled back into the vehicle.
"They threw you in there because they thought you were a refugee trying to sneak in and skip the queue." said Nerrivik.
"Oh," said Yuan, "That's better than what I thought, I guess." On the one hand he was glad they didn't know he was the Avatar, but the idea that they arrested him just because he was poorer citizen of the Earth Kingdom didn't sit right with him.
Nerrivik continued , "Kunchen raised a huge storm about it, and made his case to one of the higher ups. The began apologizing immediately once he showed he was a Beifong, and went to release you."
Yuan gave Kunchen a genuinely touched look. "Kunchen, I can't even begin to thank you. If they had kept me there too long, well..."
The airbender brushed it aside with a smile. "It was nothing. Now come on, the days half over already. Let's get ourselves to Air Temple Island and the White Lotus Temple." Yuan and Nerrivik gave a small cheer as they sped off in the direction of the waterfront.
It took them almost an hour to reach the docks where they hoped to find a ferry. Yuan had relaxed greatly since his release and decided to enjoy the drive, even participating with Nerrivik and Kunchen as they pointed out famous landmarks within the city. Their entire drive could have served as a decent travelogue for the city.
"Hey look, it's Avatar Korra Park. We definitely have to spend a day there and checkout the statue."
"Oh I've heard of this place. It's the new presidential manor that they built after the Battle of Republic City."
"Holy crap, look at how big Varrick Towers is!"
Kunchen and Nerrivik were clearly in heaven seeing all the sights, and their good vibes were rubbing off. Yuan was actually interested to see some of these sights himself. The new train system that had been installed in the city was particularly impressive to him, as it weaved both in and out of the ground, long bridges and tunnels. Sadly, one place he had been particularly interested in visiting looked to be closed off.
The Spirit Wilds that had sprouted up in the city after Harmonic Convergence had only grown larger and larger with the opening of the new spirit portal. It completely dominated the former downtown, and was under heavy guard from United Republic Forces. Kunchen explained that there had been a lot of problems with people crossing over to the spirit world and disrupting things, so the guards and fences had been put in place to stop people from going in. There didn't seem like there could be anything done about spirits coming out, however. Yuan had seen a few spirits before, mostly small ones that wandered into Urumqi and immediately wandered out. He'd never seen anything on the scale of Republic City though, where spirits were on every street corner, floated by overhead, and even perched themselves on top of moving cars. He wasn't the only one captivated, even Kunchen and Nerrivik, who'd both been to places with heavy spiritual presence, gave pause at just the volume of spirits around them.
All of this took a backseat, however, when they reached the docks of the city, and found a ferry service. They parked the car, and Yuan approached the ticket booth. "Hi there, I was wondering, do any of your ferry's happen to go to Air Temple Island?"
The young woman working the booth gave a small laugh at this, "Yeah sure. What are you doing when you get there? I mean besides getting arrested."
Yuan shot her a puzzled look. "We were hoping to visit the White Lotus Temple on the island. Why? Is something up?"
"Ummm yeah. Namely there hasn't been a temple on the island in like a decade. The government seized it, and there's a travel ban on it now," the woman explained.
"Yeah …. ok. Thank you." Yuan hung his head and slunk back to the jeep. This should have felt like a kick in the teeth after all they had been through to get here, but the anger just wasn't coming to him. Instead it was just this horrible wave of sadness and defeat. "Hey guy's this ones closed down too." Nerrivik and Kunchen both gave saddened and dejected looks, as Yuan sunk into the back seat.
"I'm so sorry Yuan," Nerrivik placed a hand on his shoulder. "We knew this was a long shot, but …"
"It's ok," the Avatar looked up and gave a weak smile. "I'm sure we'll think of something. It's not the end of the world."
Kunchen had been keeping his head down through this conversation, suddenly looked up. "Why don't we find a place to stay for the night. We'll get ourselves sorted there."
"That sounds like a good idea," replied a shockingly positive Yuan.
They managed to find a cheap hotel relatively quickly. After a small argument between Yuan and Kunchen about sleeping arrangements, they decided on a two bed room, with a small bathroom to the side. They took an elevator, another new invention that Yuan marveled at, to the 8th floor and entered their room. All three collapsed on their beds, and opened up their sacks to eat what remained of their food. In the middle of their makeshift dinner, the three looked up and noticed what was positioned at the front of their room. It was a small metal box, with what looked like a blacked out window facing them.
"What's that thing?" asked a curious Yuan. "Is this one of those things that everyone knows about, except me?"
"No actually, I've got no idea what this thing is," replied Nerrivik.
Kunchen turned his head a little as he stared at it, when suddenly a flash of understanding crossed his face. "Wait, I've actually heard of these things before. They're called Telescreens. They were made by Varrick Inc. They're supposed to be able to receive radio signals and play movers and stuff on the screen. They only have them in Republic City because that's as far as they can broadcast."
Yuan and Nerrivik both looked at him with shocked looks on their face. "Wait there's actually something like this that's been invented?" asked an incredulous Nerrivik.
"Oh yeah, just watch." Kunchen got up and flipped a switch at the front of the box, and suddenly a moving black and white image flashed on the screen and sound began to come out. Everyones jaws went slack as they slowly watched the screen. It was playing an old mover about an underdog pro-bending team that ended up winning the championships. Kunchen got up and turned a dial and suddenly they were watching an older man behind a desk slowly explain the news of the day. More specifically about United Republic Forces in The Earth States.
Kunchen was about to turn the dial again when Yuan spoke up, "Wait a minute, I want to see this." The airbender dropped his hand down and sat back down on the side of the bed. Soon everyone was as focused on the screen as Yuan was.
"... the damage was mostly held to those blocks, although further threats of violence have been issued in the area. There has also been a rise in violence in the south-eastern portion of The Former Earth Kingdom. There has been a series of skirmishes within the region between The Rising Earth terrorist organization and the United Republic Forces. There has been no confirmed death toll, however, the studio has received a list of areas affected, including the villages of Turpan, Kashgar, Hotan, and Urm-key. We have been unable to get any further …"
Yuan walked up to the telescreen and shut it off. He stood there for a moment, looking down with one hand on the screen. Kunchen spoke up, "Yuan are you alright?"
"It's pronounced Urumqi."
"What?"
"I said it's pronounced URUMQI!" the Avatar roared back at his two companions. The anger that had failed to manifest earlier today was consuming every part of him now. "But they don't care about that. Nobody in this city cares anything about what's happening in The Earth States! No, we're just a bunch of dirt-pounding, clayeating, terrorists trying to leech off of the oh so generous Republic!"
"Yuan I know it's been a rough day, but you really need to calm …" Nerrivik began to protest.
"I don't need to do anything! I'm just some fugitive stuck in a city that hates him, while his family and friends are dying half a continent away!"
"You're the Avatar."
"Am I? I honestly forget sometimes. I can only bend one element with any skill, I've never been told what my duties are, and clearly I suck at defending people. I ran from home, left everyone behind to suffer and die, and for what? To get told I'm too late twice?" Yuans voice was getting as desperate as it was angry.
It was Kunchen who spoke up this time, "We'll think of something."
"Think of what? There's no White Lotus left to train me, and clearly no where else in the world wants me. I can't even go home! What am I supposed to do, because honestly I don't know!"
The three sat in silence for a few moments after this. Yuan was breathing heavy from all of the shouting he'd been doing, while Kunchen and Nerrivik averted their eyes, trying to think of something to say. Finally it was Kunchen that looked up with a grin and the twinkle of an idea in his eyes.
"Yuan, I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow, but I actually know something we can do right now. Come on," he gestured to follow as he walked to the far side of the room, and opened a sliding door to a small balcony. All three of them stepped out on to the balcony, and marveled at the view for a moment. From the 8th story they actually got an stunning view of the surrounding city blocks, currently bathed in the bright lights and spiritual glow of night time Republic City. They saw car's speed by on the street, while spirits lazily floated along in the sky. Hundreds of people passed each other on the street, each set about on their own paths. The trio took a beat to marvel at the urban vista, before Kunchen assumed a crosslegged position on the floor.
"What are you doing?" asked Yuan.
"We're going to meditate. You said you don't know what the Avatar is supposed to do. Well my grandpa, if you can imagine, loves telling stories about the Avatar Korra, so I actually have a pretty good idea of what some of you're duties should be. And one of the things he always mentioned was that Korra would meditate in times of crisis and they didn't know what to do. So that's what we're going to do right now," the airbender explained.
"I've never meditated before," said a doubtful Yuan.
"Well no time like the present. You said it yourself, it's not like we have any other ideas." Kunchen was standing, well sitting, firm on the issue.
With a small sigh Yuan assumed the crosslegged position, shortly followed by Nerrivik. Kunchen cleared his throat, "Ok, we're gonna start by closing our eyes, and doing some breathing. I'll tell you when to breathe in and out so we can get a rhythm going. Alright in ….. and out … in ….. and out ….."
Yuan and Nerrivik followed his instructions and began following his inhale and exhale commands. Soon Kunchen dropped the commands entirely and it was just the three breathing silently in unison. Yuan focused hard on the breathing, but the roar of the city below them kept interrupting his train of thought. "I can't focus at all, the city is way too loud," he complained.
"No the noise is good," Kunchen assured. "Focus on it. Listen to it's hum and rhythm. Soon it will be no different than an insect beating it's wings, or the beating of your own heart."
Yuan took the advice, and began to focus entirely on the ambient noises around him. He heard the sharp revving of engines as the traffic light turned green. He heard the thousands of people chattering on the street level and even though none of it was distinct to him, he felt like he began to hear the flow to some conversations. In fact he began to hear the flow of all the noises as they slowly blended together into one perfectly distinct droning noise. It was unlike anything Yuan had heard before in his life, but it had this oddly calming effect on him. The way it's tempo moved, how the volume rose and faded, Yuan was completely transfixed.
Minutes passed in the real world, but they felt like only seconds to the Avatar. He was hypnotized by the droning. Actually, as time passed, it began to sound less and less like droning. The sound was morphing into something different, an almost popping noise. No, crackling, definitely crackling. This new sound soon overtook the previous droning, and as it came into focus Yuan recognized it as that of a roaring fire.
It wasn't just the noise that was changing, Yuan felt the environment around him change. The temperate air of Republic City was being replaced. At his front he felt a chill, one powerful enough to cut through his clothes and strike him deep in his bones. Behind him, however, a burning breeze brushed against his back, enough to cause a small sweat to break out. It wasn't just the air feeling different, but his clothes too, with his sleeves or his boots feeling as though they'd vanished.
The curiosity was soon too much to bear, and Yuan opened his eyes. Sure enough he was dressed in nothing, but a blue tank top and some light gray pants. He looked around to try and take in his surroundings. He was in a small room, with pure white walls that he soon recognized as ice. Behind him was a small fire that he had heard and felt before. He sat up to get a better look around, but his elevation barely changed as he did was barely two feet tall. Now that he looked at it, his skin tone was a bit darker then he remembered it being.
All this observation soon took a backseat as he heard voices begin to talk in the room behind the wall. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but one of them sounded like an older man, while the other was a younger woman. It didn't sound right, but Yuan soon heard his name being called. Acting on instinct, as if he wasn't even in control of his body, his fist shot forward and blasted a large hole through the ice wall.
"I'm the Avatar, you gotta deal with it!" a small child yelled. It took him a moment to realize that he was the small child yelling, but by then he had launched into an elaborate demonstration of earth, fire, and water bending. Three adults in purple robes backed up as Yuan chased them around the room with his bending.
After a little while Yuan began to calm down, and one of the adults approached him, "This is really impressive Avatar, but it's time to wake up now."
"What?" asked Yuan, but it was no longer the child's voice, it was his own.
"I said wake up!"
The Avatar's eyes shot open and he found himself again sitting on the balcony over Republic City. Above him stood a concerned looking Nerrivik and a grinning Kunchen. "You were out for like an hour! I didn't think meditation would be that effective."
"I've been here for an hour?" Yuan was skeptical of this, but the stiffness in his knees as he began to stand up seemed to confirm this.
"Yeah, what was happening with you?" asked a still concerned Nerrivik.
"I don't know. One minute I was listening to traffic, the next you two were shaking me awake. I think I fell asleep because it felt like I was dreaming." Truth be told he wasn't sure if it wasn't like any dream he'd had before, but it was the closest experience he could think of.
Kunchen gave a slightly disappointed look at this. "Oh. Well it's not uncommon for people to fall asleep when they meditate, plenty of the monks at the air temple do it. I've even done it a few times. I actually dreamed I was the Avatar once. What were you dreaming of?"
"No clue. It kind of rushed by, but I think I was a little kid or something," Yuan was thinking hard about it, but the details were beginning to escape him.
"Eh it's no big deal. We can try again in the morning." The airbender opened the door to their room again.
"Actually if it's alright with you two, I want to take an extra minute out here," requested Yuan. "Just so I can stretch out a little."
Kunchen was already in the room, but Nerrivik was still there to respond. "Sure thing. Just don't stay out too late." She shot him a small smile.
"No problem," he responded with his own grin. Nerrivik stepped through the door, closing both it and the blinds to give him some privacy. Yuan turned his attention back to the city, and found himself pondering his dream. "That was way more intense than any dream I've ever had before. I think I was the Avatar there too. Why was I a kid though? Was that still a dream, or are Avatar's supposed to get visions or something? I don't know I guess I'll think about it more in the…"
His thought was interrupted by a small prick on the back of neck. His hand instinctively slapped at the pain, and he plucked out a small needle. "What's this thing? Where did it come from? Why am I so calm, and why are my eyelids so …" Yuan was again interrupted mid-thought, this time by himself slouching over and falling asleep. A long metal wire was fed from above and wrapped itself around the Avatar. Once he was sufficiently wrapped, his unconscious body was dragged from the balcony, onto the roof of the hotel, and off into the night.
Coming Soon: Chapter 8 - Darkness Down Below
Here's the new chapter guys. I've got nothing else backlogged so this is it, until I've finished the next chapter, which'll probably be done sometime next week. Until then let me know what you think of the story so far, your feedback is always helpful