As they rounded the low, forested hill they looked on and breathed a sigh of relief. A sprawling city was revealed in the distance.
"Yu Dao," said David with a sigh. "Finally, we made it."
"Despite your sub-par navigation skills."
"Hey! So I got us lost one time," said David, exasperated. He was beginning to think he'd never hear the end of it.
Looking over at Mei Kun he saw her eyes twinkling mischievously. They were a very interesting shade of green. A sort of mix of brown and green, actually. What was that called? Hazel? And the patterns in her iris were very…
David shook himself out of his reverie. What was he doing?
Trying to disguise his lapse, he cleared his throat and looked down at the map. "It's getting late. According to this map, we won't be able to reach Yu Dao before nightfall. I suggest we find a place to make camp.
"Yes sir, navigator extraordinaire!" Mei Kun said giving David a mock salute.
She was always ready with a quip of some kind. Not that David was complaining. It kept the mood light.
David set off after her, inordinately glad that she had chosen to accompany him.
David and Mei Kun had worked out a list of duties for each other for setting up camp: David would search for wood and kindling and tend to the fire, along with preparing dinner while Mei Kun would gather water and generally clean up the campsite. They had tried to take turns cooking, but Mei Kun had quickly proven that her culinary skills left a lot to be desired.
As they spent more time together, chatting over their meals and on the road, there was one topic they mutually avoided mentioning: their pasts. Besides some vague idea about where the other came from, the two remained ignorant to each other's actual background.
"So, what fascinating topic should we discuss on this fine evening?" Mei Kun's voice, like always, held a gentle tone of mockery.
"Now that you mention it, I was thinking about something."
"What would that be?"
"It's kind of a personal question."
"Oh… juicy!" she said, leaning forward. "Now I'm curious."
David began hesitantly. "What… what would you do if there was some… hypothetical person that you cared about." He stopped for a moment and licked his lips nervously. "And you had to… withhold certain information about yourself for their own safety?"
Mei Kun's smile faded somewhat. "Lying to them?"
"Well, no, not exactly lying… sort of lying, but… argh! I'm no good at this!"
For once, Mei Kun's face was entirely serious. "I think I know what you mean, actually."
"Really?" David's heartrate spiked. Did she know what he was talking about?
"Yes. I may have been in your position recently, or, at least, something like it."
"Oh." David forced himself to calm down. She didn't know anything. "What did you do about it?"
She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. "I didn't really do anything," she said, avoiding his gaze. "I just let it slide, I guess."
Silence grew between them like ice spreading across the surface of a pond.
They finished their dinner and, after a few half-hearted attempts at conversation, they went to bed.
In the dead of night, when the world is the quietest and the cold earth begins to yearn for the sun's warm glow, the silence was shattered by a low, repetitive sound.
David cracked an eye open, wondering for a moment what woke him up. He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. It could be anything. He was a light sleeper. When he cast his eye around the camp, however, his fears were confirmed. Mei Kun was crying again.
Her stifled sobs were quiet, but the night was quieter still. They carried over to David with ease.
This wasn't the first time it had happened; David woke up every few days to the heartbreaking sound. She cried like only someone who thinks they are alone can. David never got up, never tried to help. If she knew that he could hear her it would be embarrassing to both of them. She wouldn't appreciate him prying into her business. If she wanted to talk to him about it, she would… right?
These rationalizations did nothing to ease the knob in his throat, though.
He hoped with all his being that this night, finally, Mei Kun would get up and talk to him. Listening silently to such raw torment was almost more than he could take.
Eventually, though, she seemed to get her hitching sobs under control and fell silent.
The night's shattered quiet began to slowly reassemble itself, but it was different. Another silence joined the first, hard and sharp. Faint echoes of the unbridled sadness felt moments ago seemed to temper it, forming a silence that was almost more cutting than the sobs had been.
It tore at David's soul to listen to it.
The next morning Mei Kun was the first one up. As always she gave no indication of her condition the night before.
"Wake up, sleepy head! I know you're an earthbender, but you don't have to show me what rocks look like. I'm pretty sure I already know."
David rolled over, groaning. "How is it you always manage to get up at this spirits-forsaken hour every single day?"
"Well, every time I do I get to annoy you and hear you gripe and moan all morning, so that's one reason."
David forced himself upright and tottered towards the small brook near the camp to get a drink.
"I think we're almost there," Mei Kun called after him. "I can already hear the city.
"How can you hear a city?"
"You know, shouting, yelling, general mayhem."
David listened closely and, sure enough, he thought he could hear a busy, bustling sound in the distance. "You have good ears."
"One of my many fine attributes," she said, smiling. However, it was slightly strained, lacking its characteristic spark.
"Is everything all right?" David asked.
"Um…well," Mei Kun began uncertainly. "I was just wondering what you planned to do about this…arrangement now that we're finally here."
"You mean the two of us?"
She nodded.
"Well, if- and only if- you want to…I think it shouldn't be too much of a problem to stick around for a while."
Mei Kun broke out into a wide smile. "I think that sounds great."
David returned the smile, relieved. It seemed that he was quite a bit happier than he felt he should be at the moment.
They set off toward the distant sounds of the city waking up.
The marketplace was loud, labyrinthine and confusing.
"Papaya! Squash! Fresh produce for great prices!"
"Cloth! Linens! Some lace for the wife, sir?
"Spices!"
The hubbub around the two travelers was almost unbearable. David's ear's felt like they were about to burst. To add insult to injury, they were now hopelessly lost.
"I told you we should have taken that left turn."
"No, I told you, it would have taken us back to where we started."
"Well, at least then we'd know where we were."
Mei Kun seemed more prickly than usual. Maybe it was the noise. Or the smell. Yes, probably the smell. To David's nose, accustomed as it was to the clean scent of the outdoors, the eye-watering odors of rotting fruit, unwashed bodies and livestock were overwhelming.
"Don't worry, we'll find it."
"How about we just ask someone?" Mei Kun walked up to an elderly fruit vendor on the side of the street. "Excuse me, sir?"
"What can I get for the fair miss?" he asked, his voice whistling through a gap in his teeth.
"Would you happen to know where the Metalbending Academy would be?" said Mei Kun, picking up and examining a large orange.
"Well, well. The academy, you say, hmm." The man rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know, I'm almost certain I know where it is. I'm sure I could remember if you give me a minute. Maybe look around at some more of this fine fruit while you're waiting. Highest quality in Yu Dao."
Not missing the implication in his voice, Mei Kun fished out a couple coins from her travelsack. "These are quite fresh. I'll take some of these pears, they look nice."
"A fine taste you have, miss. A fine taste indeed." His face brightened suddenly. "Aha! I've remembered the whereabouts of the academy. It is right outside the city to the north. You go down that road until you get to a crossroads, then you-"
"They're a bunch of thieves!" A young man with jet-black hair and proud features strode toward them. "Uncle, why are you sending people to them? Those criminals don't belong anywhere near our city! If we stop giving them support maybe they'll go away."
"Hong!" The old man's voice grew sharp. "Have some respect, boy. I doesn't matter what you think in the privacy of your own home, but don't go about spreading lies about respectable Earth Kingdom citizens!"
"You know it's true, uncle," Hong said, slamming his fist into his palm to emphasize his point. "Those miscreants stole from innocent colonists! We can't let them get away with it."
"Hong! What did I just say?"
The young man trudged away, grumbling under his breath.
"I apologize for that." He gave a smile that he obviously meant to be disarming, but the effect was ruined slightly by the gap in his teeth. "Hong seems to pick up gossip like a pig-chicken picks up worms."
"What gossip?" David asked, joining the conversation for the first time.
"Oh, I wouldn't bother myself with it, young sir. I don't believe it for a second."
"I insist. What do they say about the academy here? I'm going to join them and I would like to know what I'm getting myself into."
"Well," the vendor said reluctantly. "There is a small, but vocal, minority in the city that claim that the academy and the land it stands on were stolen by Sifu Toph Beifong from a small local firebending school." He gave a quick bark of laughter. "I've never heard anything more ridiculous in my life! The Beifong family is an old lineage and well respected. You can rest assured that the rumors you hear about that school are nothing more than hot-headed youngsters stirring up trouble for trouble's sake."
"Of course," said David. He had heard all about Toph from Katara, his former master. She might have been a bit reckless and impetuous, but she would never rob someone, would she?
Two hours later the two companions, weary from their long travel, approached the low building on the hillside.
Toph Beifong's dojo.
They wandered around, looking for someone in charge. Eventually, a student directed them towards a small offshoot of the main building. Entering, they found a heavy-set woman with red cheeks and a warm smile.
"Yes, how can I help you, dears?"
"Hello," David began uncertainly. "My name is Ping and I am hoping to gain entry to this prestigious-"
"Oh, newcomers!" the woman said, smiling. "Why didn't you just say so?"
"I…just did-"
"Welcome, welcome." She cut him off. "The two of you can find yourselves rooms in the dormitories at the other side of the complex. Your examination will begin tomorrow at dawn."
David cleared his throat. "Examination?"
"Of course, dear. Your entrance examination. We don't let just anybody come learn here, that would be silly!" She laughed at her joke.
"Speaking of which," Mei Kun interjected. "I'm not here to learn, I'm just…traveling with him."
"Oh." The woman was taken aback for a moment. "Well we have lodging for families of the students under construction at the moment. Apparently it's becoming quite popular for relatives to live near the training grounds. Until they are completed, I suppose you could stay in one of the temporary huts."
"Why can't I just stay with the students?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, but Sifu Toph is quite adamant on the subject. Students and- ahem- commoners must be kept separate." Here she lowered her gaze slightly, avoiding their eyes.
"Oh."
"Well, Ping, you know where you ought to be. Get to it!" The woman's voice gained back much of her previous enthusiasm. "You should get a lot of rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."
A/N- So...um... I owe you guys a bit of an apology. It's been a while since I updated and I'm sorry about that. I think that we bit off a bit more than we could chew with the weekly schedule. From now on, we'll just upload when we can and hope for the best.
If you guys aren't following our profile then you should know that my friend Beast has begun to post his story in this world. It's set several decades after David's time with a new main character. We just uploaded a new chapter of his, you should check it out! Also, since he gets a cool pen name, it's only fair that I get one too. I'm going to go with "Here Be Dragonsteel". If any of you get that reference, then consider yourself my friend instantly.
I'd also really like to have some feedback from you guys. What do you think? Is this the greatest thing ever? Is it a giant, steaming pile of unmentionable matter? Somewhere in the middle? Reviews will really help me improve my writing and generally also give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. They might also encourage me to update more often!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
~Here Be Dragonsteel
Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon