Haha! Another chapter! I'm quite proud of how this is going and the new storylines in my head. ^-^ I'm going on vacation the day after tomorrow and I was determined to update before I left, and I succeeded!
I can't promise any updates as soon as I get back, but I plan to at least have a start on the mext chapter. (Which I'm very excited to write.)
This is going to seem a little deja vu-ish despite my best efforts to make it different from the last one. Just hang in there it'll get more interesting soon.
And with that, Enjoy!
The Interloper
Avaa's heart continued to pound away at the inside of her chest as the air calmed from the lightning bolt. Her hair settled back down on her head, and the stars faded from her eyes. She let out a long, but quiet breath. The static was slowly disappearing and she could see and hear clearly again. Eventually, her heart began to slow as well. Her body and her environment had calmed down, but Avaa's mind was still a little startled.
Avaa continued to watch the two men only a few feet away from her. It seemed that they had needed a moment to recover as well. Or maybe it just seemed longer to Avaa.
Prince Zuko turned to the old man and said,
"I'm ready to try it!" Avaa was again, confused. It seemed the world decided to stop making sense and obeying the laws of reality Avaa had learned.
The old man rubbed his bandaged shoulder and rotated it a little.
"Remember," he said, "once you separate the energy you do not command it. You are simply its humble guide. Breathe first." With that, the old man backed away a few steps.
Prince Zuko turned to the edge of the mesa and took a deep breath. He mimicked the motions that the old man had made just a few moments before. Avaa was still incredibly confused, but she prepared herself for another bolt of lightning. She held her breath as Prince Zuko completed the final motion, ready for the explosion. There was an explosion, but not the one that the old man had made.
The fiery explosion threw the prince backward, and dangerously close to Avaa's hiding spot. She dared not move, as Prince Zuko picked himself off the ground. She briefly saw his determined expression as he walked forward and tried again, with the same results.
Okay. Let's think through this straight and logically. Thinking in circles won't do you any good. Avaa mentally said as she observed Prince Zuko.
That old man over there can create lightning, and he's trying to teach Prince Zuko how to do it. But he's not succeeding, and from the look that the old man has, he should be. This thought was punctuated by another explosion and a growl of anger.
Does this have something to do with bending? Can fire benders make lightning?
Prince Zuko stood back up with his fists clenched in anger and frustration.
"Why can't I do it? Instead of lightning, it keeps exploding in my face! Like everything always does!"
Avaa was slightly confused by this statement, and his behavior. She had never seen him act like this before.
The old man walked back over to Prince Zuko.
"I was afraid this might happen. You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you." He said calmly.
"What turmoil?" Prince Zuko snapped.
"Zuko, you must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away," the old man told him.
"But I don't feel any shame at all!" Prince Zuko said, "I'm as proud as ever!"
"Prince Zuko, pride is not the object of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame."
"Well…my life has been nothing but humbling lately." He said rather sadly. The old man seemed to think for a moment before turning back to Zuko with a smile on his face.
"I have another idea," he said, "I will teach you a firebending move that even Azula doesn't know, because I made it up myself!"
I guess I was right. Firebenders can create lightning. So that old man is a firebender, and also a fugitive by the looks of it. Avaa thought. Now what was puzzling is the familiarity the two firebenders shared. She shifted her weight slightly and grimaced at the stiffness. She didn't know why she continued to kneel here behind bushes, spying on firebenders. Probably because she was too curious for her own good.
After carefully shifting positions, she watched as the old man motioned for Zuko to sit. He obeyed and the old man drew on the ground in front of him. Avaa couldn't see what he was drawing, but from what he said, she could make guesses.
"Fire is the element of power," he explained first, "The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want. Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring. Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom. Also, they apparently had good senses of humor!" At this the old man grinned. Zuko's expression didn't change, and he continued to look up at the older man. Seeing that his joke failed, he continued the lesson.
"Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything."
Prince Zuko looked at the drawings in the dirt for a moment before asking,
"Why are you telling me these things?"
"It is important to draw wisdom from many places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding the other elements, the other nations will help you become whole. "
"All this element talk is sounding like Avatar stuff," Zuko pointed out. Avaa gave a small start at this. Her grandmother told her stories about past Avatars, and how the current one disappeared. But she also remembered the day the village found out that he had returned. Everyone had danced for days.
"It is the combination of the four elements in one person that makes the Avatar so powerful. But it can make you more powerful too," the old man said, poking Zuko in the chest with his stick, "You see, the technique I'm about to teach you is one I learned by studying the waterbenders."
At this, Zuko looked just as intrigued as Avaa was. Avaa laid her head down on the ground for a moment to let everything sink in. Honestly, this was a lot to take in, in one day.
She didn't mind that the reddish dirt was sticking to her forehead, she was filthy anyway. Avaa determined that the two men knew each other well, which explained why she saw Zuko tending to the old man's wounds. Also, Zuko was trying to learn how to create lightning, or at least become stronger. Why? Avaa thought she remembered a name being mentioned earlier.
Azula. She concluded, Zuko must be trying to be better than this Azula girl. And this new technique that was derived from waterbenders will help Zuko be better than Azula. Makes sense to me.
It all finally made sense, but it didn't change the fact this was a lot of information to process. And the fact that she had been laying under bushes for the entire day wasn't helping the fact that she was tired. She could crawl back to camp, but she wasn't finished watching.
Just a little longer, she thought.
Avaa raised her head to find Zuko and the old man practicing fluid motions that could only be waterbending.
"Waterbenders deal with the flow of energy," the old man explained," A waterbender lets their defense become their offense, turning their enemy's energy against them. I learned a way to do this with lightning."
Zuko stopped in mid-move.
"You can teach me to redirect lightning?" he asked excitedly. The old man nodded.
"If you let the energy in your body flow, the lightning will follow it." He raised his right arm into the air and pointed with the opposite.
"You must create a pathway from your fingertips up your arm to your shoulder, and down to your stomach. The stomach is the source of energy in your body. It is called the Sea of Chi. Only in my case it is more like a vast ocean." The old man laughed at this and Avaa, who had begun dozing off, also giggled quietly.
"You direct it up again, and out the other arm. The stomach detour is critical. You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, or the damage could be deadly. You may wish to try a physical motion to get a feel for the pathway's flow."
Avaa looked up, sleepily to watch. The old man pointed to the left with both arms, took his right arm down his body, then up to the other side. Zuko also did these motions.
"Now are you focusing your energy? Can you feel your own chi flowing in, down, up and out?" the old man asked, again repeating the motion.
"I think so." Zuko replied. He continued to mimic the old man's motion, but rather stiffly.
"Come on, you've got to feel the flow," the man said making wave motions with his arms. Avaa smiled and giggled again.
The motions were repeated until Zuko could make them as fluidly as the old man. Once he achieved this, the old man stopped and smiled at Zuko.
"Excellent! You've got it!" he said happily. Zuko also stopped and bowed to the old man.
"Great! I'm ready to try it with real lightning!" Zuko said, smiling. The old man, furrowed his brow at this and gave the prince a questioning look.
"What? Are you crazy? Lightning is very dangerous!" Zuko also frowned and looked very annoyed.
"I thought that was the point. You teaching me how to protect myself from it." He countered.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to shoot lightning at you!" the old man said as he waved his arms defensively, "If you're lucky you will never have to use this technique at all." He turned away from Zuko.
Zuko scowled and turned his gaze to the dark clouds on the horizon. Avaa could see the white-blue flashes the lightning created.
"Well, if you won't help me I'll find my own lightning." He said. The old man trembled a little as he heard Zuko ride away towards the storm.
The next morning the sky was steel gray where it wasn't covered by even darker clouds. It would have been possible to sleep through the whole day if the rain and thunder didn't make their presence known. The rain pelted the ground mercilessly, and thunder made the ground shake.
Avaa woke up to a heavy beating rain on her back. She groaned quietly and sat up. She had gone back to her camp and to bed after Zuko went after the storm. Apparently it had followed him back home.
She pushed her soaking black hair away from her face, and realized something. She looked to the tree where her ostrich horse should've been tied up. The branches were absent of any rope or ostrich horse for that matter.
Avaa cursed as she quickly stood up. How would she be able to get around now?
I'll never get anywhere on foot! She looked all around her in a frenzy for the missing animal. She was in such a panic that she almost missed it.
When Avaa turned back toward the abandoned house she saw her ostrich horse happily nudging a second one, both under the overhang of the house. Avaa sighed in relief and was about to walk over there to fetch her, but she noticed that the ostrich horses weren't the only ones over there.
Zuko and the old man stood beside her ostrich horse and eyed it suspiciously. The old man started scanning the groves of trees with narrowed eyes, and said something to Zuko. Avaa's eyes widened in fear and she quickly lay back on the ground, hoping that she wouldn't be found.
Avaa cursed continuously in her head as she hid. She had no way of knowing if they were coming this way or not because of the rain drowning out every other possible sound. But she still listened and watched for movement in the bushes around her.
Everything was making her jump. From the raindrops hitting the bushes, to the thunder and lightning that seemed to threaten to break the sky. Avaa forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down. If she kept this up she would be seen in no time. If she hadn't been already.
For a while everything seemed calm. The rain pattered on the ground with only a few rumbles of thunder accompanying it. Avaa didn't see or hear anything suspicious, and she almost believed they had stopped looking for her. But at the same time, she could feel the tension of waiting in the air felt by both parties. The waiting to be discovered or the waiting to discover made her heart race in her chest. Everything seemed like it was just waiting.
Until Avaa heard a distinct rustle come from the bushes beside her. She quickly turned to it, but didn't see anything. An animal maybe? Avaa doubted it. They had almost found her, she knew it. It was just a matter of time before they sprung on her.
Suddenly, Avaa saw flames come from the bush beside her. Without thinking she gasped and sat up to get away from the fire. Before she realized they were gone, she felt a hand grab her wrist. Avaa quickly turned to her captor, who had previously been scowling. Now, Zuko furrowed his brow in confusion and looked at Avaa incredulously.
Avaa wasted no time and quickly threw Zuko on the ground by pressing on his wrist. She heard him cry out as she ran as fast as she could. When she looked behind her to see if she was being followed, she was stopped by a rather large stomach. The owner seemed prepared for this, and made her bounce backward and onto the ground.
Before she could jump back up and start running again, Avaa was again captured in Zuko's grip. She desperately tried to shake him off, but to no avail.
"Why did you follow me? " Zuko asked her. Avaa stopped struggling and looked at the prince from over her shoulder, with a glare.
"I didn't," she spat.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"You two know each other?" Avaa heard the old man ask. She looked up at him and saw him with a puzzled expression on his face.
"We've met," Zuko mumbled.
"And you lied to me!" Avaa snapped.
"I never said anything that wasn't true!" Zuko shouted back.
"You still deceived us!"
Before Zuko could shout anything back, the old man interrupted.
"Fighting like this will get us nowhere," he said, "Let's all sit down and have some tea."
Avaa scowled and again tried to jerk her arm away from Zuko. She winced at the pressure he now put on it.
"I don't need the company of firebenders!" Avaa said harshly, "Especially not their Prince!"
She cried out when she was suddenly thrown to the ground. She hit the packed but wet red earth with a painful thump. When she looked back to Zuko he was standing over her, scowling. His golden eyes bright despite the day's darkness.
"Who says we want Earth Kingdom peasants around?" Zuko spat back at her as she picked herself up out of the mud.
"How dare you? I-"Avaa started as she approached Zuko, but the old man gently but firmly grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him.
"That's enough! Both of you!" he snapped," Now we are all going to go into the house, have some tea, and act peaceably."
Zuko continued to frown as the man spoke. When he was done he looked at Avaa, who was shielded by him. Avaa frowned back at him.
Honestly, Avaa wasn't that hostile towards Zuko at all. This was defense, pure and simple. She was very prepared to fight her way out of the situation, and she was still mistrusting of Zuko as well. She wouldn't fall for any tricks again.
Finally, Zuko looked away and began walking back to the house. Avaa also turned and began walking to the shelter. The old man followed closely behind, probably to keep any more fights from breaking out.
Soon enough they were all seated around a small fire in the abandoned house. The old man sat between Zuko and Avaa, and poured cups of tea for all of them. Avaa picked hers up carefully and took a small sip. She was surprised it tasted so good.
"Now," the old man said calmly," Let's introduce ourselves like civilized people." He turned to Avaa and bowed unusually deeply for someone of his age, addressing someone of Avaa's age.
"I am Iroh, formerly known as the Dragon of the West and Fire Lord Ozai's brother," he said.
Avaa set down her cup and bowed so that her nose grazed the old floorboards.
"I'm Avaa," she replied," I'm not really anyone special."
"And it would seem you already know my nephew, Prince Zuko." Avaa's face hardened a little as she sat back up.
"We stayed with the same family for a night," she said. She turned away," And he fooled us into thinking we could trust him."
"Well, despite our Nation's actions over the last hundred years, I can assure that both Prince Zuko and I can be trusted." Iroh said gently before Zuko could say anything.
Avaa turned back to him with a question on her face. One that she had been wondering about for quite some time.
"Speaking of the Fire Nation," she said," Why aren't you guys there? I mean you are part of the royal family."
At her question, Iroh's face fell from a kind smile to a troubled frown. Beside him, Zuko scowled and walked away from them. He stopped at the door and gazed outside at the rain. Both of them were silent for a very long time. Avaa looked between the two, afraid she had said something wrong.
"We both have made choices that the people of the Fire Nation wouldn't approve of. Especially our relatives," Iroh said simply.
Avaa raised an eyebrow and looked between the two firebenders. What kind of choices? What could be so horrible that the Fire Lord would exile you from the Fire Nation?
They're traitors. Avaa realized with a jolt. Both of them.
She looked at Zuko who was still standing motionless at the doorway. The only movement he made was to clench his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. Other than that he didn't seem to acknowledge the fact his uncle had spoken.
"So what would make a young woman like yourself travel on her own?" Iroh asked kindly, and once again smiling.
Avaa's eyes fell to her lap as she felt her heart drop into her stomach.
"My family was attacked by firebenders," she said, "My grandmother was able to smuggle me out of the village before I could get hurt."
Iroh's expression fell a second time.
"Your mistrust of us is understandable," he said sadly. Avaa smiled bitterly, thinking of her father.
"Somewhat," she murmured.
"So what now?" Zuko asked, turning back around," I mean we found you. And you already know who we are. So now what?" He addressed this question to both Avaa and Iroh.
Avaa didn't want to think about what they had previously planned to do with her, but she was grateful they weren't planning it anymore. Although she couldn't help feeling like Zuko was addressing her as a stray animal.
She looked at Iroh with a questioning expression. He looked at her, and then at Zuko, who was giving him a similar look.
"Why don't we travel together?" he said finally. Both teenagers reeled back at this response.
"Huh?" Avaa questioned.
"What?" Zuko asked a little more harshly. Iroh held up his hands defensively against Zuko.
"There's no reason not to," he said," and it's dangerous for a young woman to be traveling alone."
Avaa's expression was caught between surprise and disgust and Zuko seemed to be in a similar state.
After quite a few minutes of arguing between Avaa and Zuko it was decided that Avaa would in fact be traveling with the firebenders. Much to the dislike of Zuko and Avaa who now refused to speak to each other.
Now that it had stopped raining, they planned on moving on immediately despite Iroh's injuries. Avaa repacked her bags on her ostrich-horse and noticed him rubbing his shoulder. She frowned at this .
"Are you sure you'll be okay to go?" she asked. Iroh smiled and waved it off.
"Yes, yes, I'll be fine. I've had quite a while to rest anyway. But thank you for your concern." He said. Before Avaa could insist they stay longer, Zuko walked his ostrich-horse to them.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes." Iroh said, mounting the animal as well. Avaa sighed and followed suit.
They began riding down the mesa on a gently sloping trail covered with trees. With the clouds still hanging in the sky, it was quite dark under the canopy of leaves. Water still dripped from the plants, occasionally hitting a passerby on the head.
Avaa jumped slightly as a particularly large drop fell on her. She attempted to brush it off and sighed. She wasn't having much fun. Iroh was a nice enough man, but he and Zuko were much too quiet for Avaa's liking. At least when she was alone the silence wasn't awkward.
"So…" she said, "Where are we going?"
"We are not sure," Iroh answered.
"We can't stay in one place too long or Azula will find us," Zuko said.
"Who's Azula?" Avaa asked.
"My sister," Zuko answered grimly.
"If she finds us we'll be sent to the Fire Nation to be imprisoned, " Iroh added, "Or worse."
Worse? Avaa thought. She imagined Zuko and Iroh being lead to the executioner's block and shivered. She hated the thought of anyone dying that kind of death.
Before her thoughts could turn anymore gruesome, Avaa noticed Zuko and Iroh had stopped. She also stopped her ostrich-horse and regarded the figure in standing in their path.
Avaa couldn't see much of the figure, but she could distinguish a few features. He held his huge ostrich-horse in one hand as if he was getting ready to mount it. He was quite tall and had very shaggy and long raven black hair to his shoulders. He had a mildly surprised expression on his face. As if he hadn't expected to run into anyone else on this path.
Avaa noticed Zuko and Iroh tense up. Of course, they had just been talking about how they were Fire Nation. But this man didn't seem to have heard. In fact, he smiled.
He stepped more into Avaa's vision and almost made her gasp. Across the man's neck was a very, very painful looking scar. The burn spread onto his jaw line, but seemed to be most concentrated on his shoulder, considering it was mostly on his right side.
"Well hello there!" he said in a low, husky voice.
Avaa felt her heart jump when he spoke. She knew that voice she was certain of it. But she couldn't remember where she had heard it from.
And the new plot-bunnies swarm with a vengence! It's probably not very hard to guess who this mystery man is, but I'll let you guys do it anyway.
Review and post your guesses!
