Brothers Avatar

The Legend of Two Avatars

Book 1 – Family

Chapter 16 – The Lotus King

"I lost my cool." Xulo tapped the iron bars, "It's not like you guys can complain; you were the ones who set me off. I don't really have control past that point."

"Don't put this on me, Xulo, I am a sensitive young child!" Lozulia looked as if she was on the edge of tears. "Is it nice in there?"

Xulo looked around, "It's not terrible." He tore up his white lotus robes and was left with an intricate cream tunic and cape, "The constant watch is unnerving." Behind Team Avatar there were five soldiers on watch. "So, Taresc, do you have a plan?" he winked, inferring escape.

"Well… I do…" Taresc said.

Pio butted in, "But we're not doing that." Pio went right up to the bars, "We're meeting with Hintrichi in a little bit to discuss getting you out of here."

Xulo sat down, "But…" he knocked on the stone ground, "Pretty easy, y'know…"

"I think it'd be nice if we didn't have two separate entities out trying to get our heads." Ibera folded his arms, "He didn't kill you on the spot so I have a good feeling about this. Plus, I don't think he'd be daft enough to execute the Avatar." He turned around to the soldiers, "You didn't hear that." One of them grunted.

"Where's Minege?" Xulo noticed her absence.

"You know, her usual routine." Lozulia made her hand talk, "I've got important things to do, I'll meet up with you later, trust me it's soooooo important, and off she flew."

"I believe our meeting time is soon." Pio bounced anxiously, "We'll be sure to tell him how copiously apologetic you are." Pio leaned into the bars, "I'll get you out of here, we'll be back. Try to not go into that disparaging Avatar State, will you?"

"I won't, I promise." Pio blew a kiss, and the team walked out of the dungeon, "Good luck!"

"Your Avatar friend?" Hintrichi stared at the kids in disgust, "He will be executed!"

Lozulia clutched her robes, "EXECUTED!"

Ibera patted her shoulder to calm down, "Calm down, Zules, we don't need any more of us on the chopping block." He said through his teeth, "You're going to have him executed, your honor?"

All of Team Avatar's faces were paler than Hintrichi's white collar, "I see no other option."

"You do comprehend he's the Avatar, correct?" Pio said.

Hintrichi's face instantly tensed, "Do you think I'm stupid, young man?" Pio franticly began shaking his head and Hintrichi slowly steadied himself, "Of course I do. Those were Avatar State eyes, I saw them on Avatar Rinley and on Avatar Chasiyun."

"I wonder who threw them into the Avatar State, huh?" Lozulia whispered to Lozulia, to which Taresc elbowed her.

"His status as Avatar means nothing to me! For those foul words he spewed, I'd kill every Avatar!" He slammed his hand on his throne, "He's no more special than the rest of the peasants."

"But he is." Pio said with Hintrichi growing angry, "Only by definition of course. He's unique and could bring down the Stormbenders; you're greatest adversary."

"Like I need that lunatic to take down The Stormbenders." Hintrichi laughed and the Oligarchy nervously joined, "I've got the Stormbenders plenty under control."

"But just look at the Eastern Air Temple!" Taresc said, "With our combined might—"

Hintrichi laughed even more, "Combined might? I have more might than that boy could possibly even muster with the Avatar State." Hintrichi said waving his frail old arm, "The Avatar gets executed tomorrow, and that is final."

Hintrichi was about to head to his chambers behind his throne when Taresc yelled out, "Please!" He was on his knees, "There must be something we can do."

Ibera lifted him off his knees, "It's fine… we'll just hatch a plan… as usual." They began walking away, thinking that they would have to break Xulo out and have themselves a second enemy.

"Hold it." Hintrichi called out, "There might be one thing you could do to reclaim my pardon." Hintrichi stared them down coldly, "It will be deadly, but if you so desire to keep your friend alive it's the only thing that might save him."

"Yes?" Pio called out.

"My grandson Guil was captured a while back by a group of Earth Kingdom Extremists. He's my last living relative and I want him back. All others have failed, but if you can bring him back, I will release your Avatar friend." Hintrichi slyly stared them up and down.

Taresc didn't hesitate, "Yes sir!"

"Good." Hintrichi coldly smiled and head for his quarters, "One more thing," he stopped, "They might have used torture techniques on him, so there's a chance he could be brainwashed. That's all." He left with a flourish and they were left with the 6 person Oligarchy.

"Now that he is gone," one spoke up, "It's a pleasure making your acquaintance. We are the White Lotus Oligarchy." She went down the line, "Representing the Water Tribes is Abakita." She rose her hand, "Represent the Earth Kingdom are Ojugule, Lee Bau and Gor." They all stood and bowed. "Representing the Air Temples is me, Issala." She bowed, "And representing the Fire Nation is—"

"Roku!" Lozulia yelled out, Roku was not able to recognize Lozulia, "It's me, Lozulia!"

"Ah Lozulia!" The older man instantly realized, "My how you've grown, child… you're doing very good, it seems." Everyone just watched on in confusion.

Lozulia saw it and explained, "Roku was a Fire Sage when I was a kid. When they called for a Fire Nation representative, my dad picked Roku." Lozulia turned back to Roku, "We should meet for tea cakes later!"

Issala interrupted, "If you two are finished, Lee Bau will give you the directions of the Earth King's camp." She bowed her head, "We are very sorry for this turn of events."

"I guess we should have thought more about trying to ally with Mad King Hintrichi." Ibera said. "It would've helped if Xulo didn't tear into your palace… sorry about that by the way."

"It's fine." Gor grumbled, "I always hated those doors anyways."

"Alright team!" Ibera clapped his hands, "We don't have too long to do this. Pio, go update Xulo on the situation. Lozulia, get the directions. And Taresc and I will go find Minege, good?" The team nodded, "Break." They went their separate ways.

"I know that Minege really wanted to ally with Hintrichi, but did we have to?" Taresc said as Ibera and Taresc prowled the streets looking for Minege, "I mean, couldn't we have taken Aurut on our own?"

"Sorry kid, but that's a negatory." Ibera said, "If we went after Aurut first, maybe… but we aren't, we're taking him on second."

"I get it." Taresc said, "They're expecting us now."

"Exactly, Regille just lost one of her main Generals, her Eastern Air Temple and—not to mention—her daughter." Ibera looked around a corner, "She's not going to let that happen again. We're going to need some help if this is going to work." Ibera frowned, "Not that that matters now, we're going to be lucky if we get Xulo alive, let alone his top soldiers."

Taresc spotted Minege, "There she is!"

She was talking to a middle-aged woman, whatever they were talking about, they were keeping it on the down low. Minege fished some coins out of her pocket and gave them to the lady and she was on her way, "Minege!" Ibera called out.

She spotted them and walked over, "Any news on getting Xulo out of prison?"

"Well… a little," Taresc danced around the subject, "But he's kind of going to be executed tomorrow."

"Executed!" Minege was almost out of breath with her yell, "You mean to say that Hintrichi is going to have Xulo be killed. Oh no, we can't have that."

Ibera calmed her worries, "It's okay though, because he gave us a mission and if we do it correctly, he'll release him."

Minege let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you kindly, honey, I nearly fainted there."

"Minege?" Taresc said and Minege perked her ears, "Who was that lady?"

"Huh?" Minege said, nervously tilting her head.

Taresc persisted, "Before we called you, you were talking to an older lady."

"Oh her?" Minege said, "She's no one special. Nothing to worry yourself with, sweetie. She just gave me a little intel that I needed." Before either boy could question her about said intel, she continued, "So I should go grab Tanton then?"

"Please and thank you." Ibera said.

"On it." She ran off into the distance to retrieve her pet.

"Zuli and Pio should be meeting us at the bottom of the Lower Ring, let's go." Ibera said.

Team Avatar trotted up north and to the east, Lozulia led the way to the Earth King Loyalist camp. The team had no idea what was in store for them, will they be attacked on sight or would they hand Guil over for sake of the Avatar's life. "What's your guys' opinions on the Earth King fiasco?" Lozulia sparked the conversation.

"Could you explain the Earth King fiasco?" Taresc said.

"Once the White Lotus came in, they decided that for the sake of unity they would govern the whole world." Lozulia said, "While my nation and a bunch of other nations got to keep their power and just act under the White Lotus name, they kicked all of the Earth Kings out of power because they felt they were a threat." Lozulia concluded, "Any opinion's?"

"Well I think it's silly." Ibera said, "What kind of diva power trip do you need to be on to abolish a nearly 3,000 year old reign? It's like when you were a kid and you were playing airball with your buddies and then one kid wants the ball all for himself so he gets the monks to break up this good time you're all having so he can play by himself." Ibera threw his hands up.

"That felt very personal, Ibera." Pio said.

Ibera looked to the side dejectedly, "Well it was… frickin' ballhoggin' Trinteh…"

"Well, I didn't even know the White Lotus Oligarchy or the Earth Kingdom existed a couple weeks ago, so my opinions are ill-defined." Pio said, "But for Xulo's sake I will say down with the antique earth business and in with the newfangled oligarchy regime." He impassionately said.

"I'm sort of in the same-ish boat as Pio in regard to our ignorance." Taresc said, "But if the White Lotus is bettering the world and uniting us… maybe it's for the better?"

"I'd agree with you..." Lozulia paused, "If—and it's a big if—If the White Lotus wasn't such a self-serving crock of SHIT!"

Ibera said, "Zules, your inner White Lotus enthusiast is showing."

"Enthusiast? I am anything but!" Ibera gave up on his chances of being sarcastic around Lozulia, "The White Lotus is uniting people like animal breeders are uniting parrots and toads." Taresc looked to Woorq, "And if they weren't too busy fondling each other—Except Roku, he's great—and running in fear of Hintrichi maybe they'd be okay, but they aren't!"

After Lozulia finished her screaming rant, people on armored ostrich-horses began running at them from all sides. "Oh look, these must be those Earth King Loyalists."

"Do you think they want to talk?" Minege said, still running forward.

Just then, one of the soldiers picked a spear out of the ostrich-horse's holster and threw it at the team. Ibera swatted it away with air and said, "Definitely, they totally want to have a nice chat. Right after they impale us, that is."

Team Avatar sprang into action, each taking on their own role. Ibera jumped off of Tanton and began sprinting at the different Loyalists. Lozulia and Pio stayed on Tanton and fended off the volley of spears being thrown at them. A soldier tried to get close to Tanton and Lozulia quickly sent off two shots of fire and the soldier fell off of his ride in shock. Lozulia and Taresc jumped onto the steed and began raining carnage on the other soldiers. Lozulia steered the beast close to the other riders, deflecting their attacks and once close, Taresc would bend a rise in the earth to trip them up.

Ibera played the trickster and ran beside the riders and let them throw their spears at him. He danced around, jumped and broke their spears into splinters. Once they were all out of spears, they tried to team up and sandwich him between two ostrich-horses. Once they got close, Ibera jumped up and spin kicked them both off their steeds.

The Loyalist Camp was coming into view and soldier's attacks seemed to slow down and stop as they got near. It appeared as if they were giving up or perhaps they realized something, either way it made no sense to Team Avatar. A young man, dressed like a general, came out of one of the tents and stood strong as Team Avatar came in hot. The team screeched to a halt and the man said, "What is it you want?" His face sharp with anger.

"We've come for Guil!" Pio announced, "The White Lotus King requests him back and we—"

The man began to laugh to himself. "This again…" He put a hand to his chest, "It's nice to meet you people, the boy you are looking for is me. I am Guil."

"Woah!" Lozulia remarked, "These people treat their prisoners nice."

Guil rolled his eyes and invited them to walk with him, "Ah yes, capture… come with me, we shall talk." The team got off their rides and began walking behind, "Might I ask who you people are."

"We are Team Avatar minus the Avatar," Taresc said, "He is currently in jail."

"That's rather unfortunate," Guil said, "Xulo's the name, correct?" Taresc nodded and Guil said, "I've heard a lot about your adventures, you liberated the Eastern Air Temple all by yourselves." He smiled, "I must admit I'm impressed. What are your names?"

"I'm Lozulia!"

"My name is Pio."

"Ibera."

"Uh, Taresc."

Minege was star-struck and could barely respond, "And your name, young lady?" Guil said.

"Oh my, it's Minege." She blushed

He savored the sound, "Minege. What a beautiful name." He led them into a large tent, "This is my tent, why don't we speak in here." In the tent there was a little fire pit with a tea kettle above it.

Lozulia pulled Minege aside before they went in, "What's wrong with you? You never blush when it comes to boys."

"He's the one!" Minege whispered, "You know how in the swamp we all had hallucinations?" Lozulia earnestly nodded, "He was mine! There's something weird happening with me, I think I'm falling, Lozulia." Minege said concerned.

"Are you coming, gal pals?" Ibera said from in the tent.

They spoke no more and went into the tent where Guil was pouring everyone some tea. "So nice of you to join us." He said.

"You're Hintrichi's grandson, right?" Taresc said.

Guil lost the happiness in his face, "That's correct, a fate worse than death." He finished pouring tea and threw the kettle back on the flame, "And as you can guess, I'm not captured."

"If you're not apprehended, then why are you here?" Pio asked.

Guil chuckled, "Have you met my grandfather by any chance?" He took a sip of his tea, "That man is despicable… truly. My whole upbringing was a mix of terrorization and unpleasant dinners spent with him and his oligarchy." His face continued to grow fiercer, just as his grandfather did, "The thing that set me off was back when I was a kid." He looked at himself a chuckled, "Well… more of a kid. I had a girlfriend at the time and she was the kind of girl that said what she wanted, whenever she wanted. I warned her not to talk back in front of Hintrichi, but one day we just happened to bump into him and she made just one little snide remark… just one." He gripped the handle of his teacup fiercely, "The next day she was nowhere to be seen."

"Honey, that's awful, I'm so sorry." Minege put a hand on his shoulder. "That shouldn't have happened, Guil."

"It's fine, it was a long time ago, I'm better now, but I still feel the same about that man." Guil clenched his jaw.

"So what did you do, did you leave a note on your pillow saying you've been captured by the Earth King Loyalists?" Pio said to Guil, while staring Taresc down with the corner of his eyes.

"No, that'd be a little silly."

"It would." Pio said now eying Taresc even harder, "It would be nonsensical." Taresc blushed in as he buried himself in his cup.

"That night while I was crying myself to sleep, I decided that I could live there no longer. So I grabbed one of Hintrichi's most royal steeds and I flew off to the Loyalists and enlisted. Now look where I am, a general."

"Impressive." Minege said, trying her best to flirt. "Do you believe in the cause?"

"Certainly," he threw his hands up, "I'm not here just to spite ol' Trichi, although it does feel good. I've met with King Yi many a time and he's a very nice man and I believe that he and the other Earth Kings deserve to have their kingdoms back."

Lozulia tilted her head, "I still don't understand why Hintrichi thinks you're captured."

"I know not either." His face was quizzical, "A White Lotus Soldier is able to get here once every couple or so months on the same journey as you and I tell them every time that I'm fine." He shrugged, "Perhaps Hintrichi refuses to believe them because they are low-ranking soldiers, I'm sure he'll take your word as the Avatar's consorts."

"I'm assuming you're unwilling to go tell him yourself." Ibera said.

"That's correct, I don't particularly feel like being taken captive by him." He said. "But it was wonderful meeting you all and hopefully we can perhaps team up in the future. Feel free to wander around the camp for as long as you feel like." He bowed, "I have a meeting I need to attend, so I will bid you goodbye." He stood and left them to discuss in the tent.

"What do we do now?" Lozulia said.

Pio said, "We retire to the Capital and tell Hintrichi that his kin is perfectly fine."

Minege said. "Do you think he'll just take our word that his grandson is fine, just fighting against him now?"

"Does not matter." Ibera said, "There isn't a thing we can do about this. Unless we want to stick Guil in a bag and send him back, do you have a plan for that, Taresc?"

Taresc thought for a moment, "No, that's most likely impossible without everyone in the camp coming to stop us."

"Drat…" Ibera sulked, "I guess all we can do is hope for the best. Let's get back."

Hintrichi tapped his fingers on his throne, Team Avatar had finished speaking but all he did was tap his fingers, eye closed, on his ivory throne. The team awaited nervously for his response, with the silence growing longer, their fears grew deeper. "That is your response?" He finally said.

"Yes sir, we met with him and he is doing fine." Ibera said.

"NO!" Hintrichi screamed, "Guil is not fine, he's been brainwashed by those Loyalist pigs and YOU have failed to save him!"

"But—" Lozulia said.

"No you don't get to speak now, because as planned, your Avatar shall be hanged tomorrow." He couldn't even look at his audience with how much disgust ran through his system, "You and every other soldier I sent there, the same excuse."

The team stood there in silence, not completely surprised by his response, but more shocked by his anger. "You may go now," Lee Bau said.

A White Lotus soldier shifted uncomfortably and it caught Taresc's eye and something in the back of Taresc's mind went off. He seemed familiar and he had an idea of what might be occurring. There might be a way to come out of this smelling like roses, but it'd be a gamble, Taresc thought to himself. He decided to take the risk, "No, you don't understand!"

"Excuse me?" Hintrichi's face got sharp just like it did when Xulo shouted at him.

Taresc continued his rant, "You can't realize that your grandson absolutely HATES you. No amount of torture brainwashing would be needed to persuade him to get away from you, but you have such a massive ego that you can't realize it!"

"What passion Tare…" Lozulia said, "But let's not right now…"

Taresc didn't listen, "You are just going to have to realize that Guil will never come back to you, because of how awful you are. You killed his girlfriend; you don't get to keep him!" Taresc was huffing, "If you could step out of your fantasy suite, you would be able to see that."

Hintrichi was so enraged, it seemed as if he looped back into calm, "You." He pointed to Taresc, "You look like the Avatar, I assume you are his twin?"

Taresc gulped, "Yes."

"As a punishment for your traitorous tongue," Hintrichi smiled and it was even more threatening than his scowl, "Your brother shall be hung. Right. Now." He motioned to the guards, "Get the Avatar and set up the gallows."

All of Team Avatar looked at Taresc and grimaced, "Are you happy right now?" Pio said.

"Couldn't wait for tomorrow for your brother to die," Ibera sighed, "You got Taresc's plan to Xulo, Pio?"

Pio said, "Slid it right between the bars." Pio pulled on his face, "Does this mean that Minege and I have to get into position?"

Minege sighed, "Of course it does… Let's go…" Pio and Minege walked past Taresc and Minege landed a nice backhand to Taresc's gut.

Ibera folded his arms, "You better be ready to execute your plan before—you know—Hintrichi executes his."

Taresc was still reeling over in pain, "We probably shouldn't have to, it should only be a back-up if what I think is going to happen doesn't happen."

Lozulia looked at him confusedly, "What do you think is going to happen, Tare?"

Before he could answer, the gallows were set up in the throne room. Abakita called for silence in throne room and Taresc, Lozulia and Ibera moved over to the wall to watch the events unfold.

The execution began with Xulo being marched out from the broken throne room door. He looked at his Team Avatar and gave a knowing nod. He walked down the aisle in his torn-up white tunic with fancy lace lotus decorations and flowing cape. He walked with dignity intact as stepped up to the gallows and a soldier fitted a noose around his neck.

Ojugule began to speak. "This boy who stands before you has committed many atrocities against the White Lotus Executive Oligarchy King Hintrichi…"

Ibera noticed that Taresc was beginning to sweat, "Is what you thought was going to happen not happening?"

"Not yet…" Taresc whispered, "But I have faith." Taresc stared on unconfidently; he was sure that it was going to happen, but the question was whether it'd be now or later.

"…Treasonous speak, damage of royal property, slander and general misconduct are just some of the many atrocities committed against our great leader." Ojugule spoke without passion, "It is only fitting that his punishment be death."

Ibera readied himself to send a quick slice of air to cut Xulo's noose, "Looks like what you wanted to happen isn't happening, kid."

"Sorry, Tare." Lozulia prepped herself for the flash of fire that will distract them while they make their escape.

As the executioner was about to pull the lever and Ibera was about to send the blast of air, it was in that moment that the fidgety Lotus soldier yelled, "NOW!"

Out of every corner of the throne room, Earth King Loyalists appeared. Many of the White Lotus Soldiers jumped to action, but these weren't Hintrichi's soldiers, they were King Yi's. It seemed that the majority of the soldiers were undercover. They lunged themselves towards the base of the stairs where Hintrichi was panicking atop on his throne.

Before they could even get there, Xulo whipped off his noose and blasted them all back with a huge blow of air.

Taresc smiled, recognizing that he had seen the Lotus soldier back at the Loyalist camp. He was able to figure that there was going to be an ambush, luckily now was the time. Ibera and Lozulia were going to join in and help but Taresc held out his arm, "Let Xulo take care of this." He smiled, "Don't worry, it's all according to plan."

As the Loyalists rose to their feet, Xulo jumped straight into the fray. Xulo began fighting them off one by one. He quickly took each one down with a mix of earthbending and airbending, absolutely destroying the Loyalists. Every time one would try to get him by surprise, he instantly sensed it and countered with a blast of fire. Eventually he got tired of the throne room blitz and with his air tossed the whole room into the air. He himself flew up too and while the Loyalists were descending he glided over them raining sparks of fire all over them.

Pio and Minege ran in hearing all the commotion, but not seeing their plan going into action. "What's happening here?"

"Taresc did it again! Woo!" Lozulia cheered as they all watched on in awe.

Xulo continued to glide around a bit and picked up some water from the fountain in the corner. He shot pellets of ice at people until they were beat into submission. He seemed to be mowing down most of them when he heard, "A-Avatar!" The voice was Hintrichi's.

A Loyalist seemed to get past Xulo and was now holding a knife to the King's throat. The Loyalist began to make demands and Hintrichi closed his eyes. Suddenly he heard a swoosh and the Loyalist stopped talking, he opened his eyes and saw that the Loyalist behind him was frozen and Xulo had continued his fighting already after his pinpoint shot. Xulo had only a handful of Loyalists left to defeat; he looked them straight in the eyes and summoned two giant boulders out of the ground. Before he could shoot them, they dropped to the ground and put their hands behind their heads. "Good choice." Xulo said dropping his boulders to the ground.

All of the Loyalists lay on the floor, groaning in pain at the beating they just received. Xulo stood there completely out of breath, never before had he taken on such a giant group of enemies, but something within him allowed for him to prevail.

Hintrichi flew down the steps and violently cusped Xulo's hands and shook them, "Avatar Xulo, thank you so much." Hintrichi smiled profusely, "You have saved my life, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Everyone, including the Oligarchy, was surprised at Hintrichi's sudden behavioral change. Except for Taresc, he expected that Hintrichi might lighten up once Xulo suppressed the assassination attempt.

"You wanted to join forces, right?" He was still shaking his hands, his eyes weren't even open, that was how hard he was smiling.

Xulo answered, "Yes, that was our purpose."

"You have my undying support, you want soldiers, you got soldiers." He opened his eyes and Xulo saw unrelenting gratitude, but behind that he saw something else: fear. Hintrichi had seen Avatars display such strength for him before, but when they did there was a difference; their eyes were glowing. Xulo was able to do all of that and he wasn't even in the Avatar State, he instantly realized that he didn't want to make Xulo his enemy.

He looked back and saw his Team Avatar pooling behind him, "We accept your gracious offer gladly." Xulo released his hand from Hintrichi's grasp.

"Wonderful!" Hintrichi nervously rubbed his hands together, "Consider us friends."

Xulo turned to his team, "I'd call this a successful mission." He smiled and his team laughed, including Hintrichi. "Let's get back to the inn, I need a good night's sleep."

"Oh no, you mustn't!" Hintrichi exclaimed, "Gor?" He motioned to his Oligarchy member, "Please escort these honored guests to the royal suites. I simply cannot have them staying at some inn with the peasants! Go! Take them now."

Gor got up and led the team through the halls and before they left they were sure to bow to Hintrichi. "How do we end up in these situations?" Lozulia said.

"You mean almost getting hung and then getting in the middle of an assassination attempt?" Ibera said, "It just comes with being Team Avatar."

"We got our soldiers, are you happy Minege?" Pio said.

"Hm, what?" Minege seemed distracted by something, "Oh yes, of course! We weren't taking on Aurut alone, that's for sure."

"Ah Aurut." Xulo sighed as Pio wrapped an arm around, "I feel like we should do a victory shout. It's been a while and I could use one after spending the day in jail."

Pio said, "Let's go Team Avatar! One, two, three!"

"ONTO AURUT!"