III. Making Conversation
General Si, military head of the Ember Group, hummed softly to himself as he glanced over the layer of maps spread across his desk. He leaned forwards, and, very delicately, drew a cross over the Northern Water Tribe in red pencil. Operation Overthrow was running entirely on schedule. Now, then...
There was a knock at the door. Si didn't even need to look up.
"Come in, Quanli."
"General Si? Sir?"
His adjutant stepped softly through the door, a clipboard clutched tight in one hand. Si didn't even need to look him in the face to hear the bad news.
"I take it something's gone wrong with the assassination of the Fire Lord? Do take a seat, Lieutenant Shou."
Shou sat heavily in the proffered chair, casting another worried glance at the clipboard.
"We've just got the after-action report by message tube from our agents in the Capital. Something went wrong."
Si sighed, massaging his temples.
"Go on."
"The assassination team got into place, but the strike was interrupted by- well, the Attuned observers aren't entirely sure. The general consensus is two Earthbenders, which is corroborated by the observing units."
"Dai Lee? Kiyoshi Warriors? Beyond Toph Bei Fong, Zuko hasn't been known to associate with Earthbenders, especially in a bodyguarding capacity."
Shou frowned and glanced over the paper once more.
"That's where it gets strange, General. The Attuned observing all went into shock at the same time, and several suffered severe cerebral haemorraghing. Whatever they observed just burned them out. On top of that- these two Benders were wearing clothing of an unfamiliar design, and- this is the truly bizarre part- they had yellow hair."
Si cocked an eyebrow. For a few seconds the only noise in the room was the soft strains of lute music and the hissing of the gaslights.
"Yellow. Hair. You're sure they weren't albinos? Or wearing masks? I trust the veracity of our observers implicitly, but this is a bit much."
"They were apparently of an unusually pale skin tone, but not albinos. They intercepted the attack against the Firelord, violently disposed of the entire assassination team and the explosive failsafe, and were transported the the Palace unconscious and under guard. The Avatar, the Waterbender and the Firelord all suffered minor injuries, but they are by all accounts alive and well."
Si sat back, fingers steepled.
"Shit. Ah, well."
"General?"
"I'm just irritated that an unexpected variable- whoever these two Earthbenders are- introduced itself into the equation that is Overthrow."
"But sir, even a failed attempt figured into our planning. As long as public confidence in Zuko as a leader wanes, just for a moment-"
"-It means that the likelihood of the collapse of his rule increases. Yes, I know. Nonetheless, it would be much simpler in the long run if he were dead. I've no doubt that he will soon be receiving news of the destruction of the Northern Tribe. During the resulting confusion, he is to be eliminated. I am permitting minimal subtlety in this matter."
"Understood, sir."
"Is General Iroh still missing?"
"Last we heard, sir, yes."
"Good. The further the White Lotus is from all this, the better. Overthrow will continue, Quanli. The Ember Group will ensure it."
"Very dramatic, sir."
"Your wit is as biting as always, Quanli."
"I do my best, sir."
Aang sat up gingerly, one hand clasped over the bandages wrapped around his head.
"Urgh."
"Aang! You're awake!"
Katara hugged him tight, and they sat in silence for a few moments before she pulled back and sat on the edge of the bed.
"What happened, Katara? The last I remember is that bomber running towards us, and now... now I've got an awful headache."
"They were after Zuko. Or that's what his royal guard thinks. You bumped your head pretty bad. The doctors say you've got a bit of a concussion. They've had you drugged and asleep for a day."
"Is Zuko okay? And Mai? And Sokka?"
She smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"They're fine, Aang. Those two Earthbenders stopped the assassins."
"What was up with those guys? My bending went all, all... explodey. I tried to knock someone over, and he just..."
Katara shuddered, and looked away, gritting her teeth.
"I started Bloodbending during the fight. Without realizing it. One minute I was fighting a person, and the next... It wasn't even a full moon."
There was a long silence, and they both hugged each other tightly. Then Katara stood, offering Aang her hand.
"Come on. They'll want to know that you're awake."
He staggered to his feet, wobbling unsteadily.
"I feel like a badger-mole just whomped me over the back of my head."
There was a whoosh of air, and, chittering with excitement, Momo landed on his shoulder. The Avatar reached up a hand to stroke him under the chin, and he squeaked loudly, making Aang wince.
"A little quieter, Momo? I've got a bit of a headache."
Katara beckoned to him from the door.
"Zuko's waiting in the inner gardens."
They arrived after a short walk through the palatial palace grounds. The inner gardens were free from the hustle and bustle of the government offices in the outer gardens; a place for the Fire Lord and his companions to relax, or, in this case, hold private meetings. Zuko lounged on a low stone bench, Mai leaning against his legs, while Sokka had contented himself with a seat at the base of a spreading cherry tree. Noticing Aang and Katara's approach, he got to his feet, beaming.
"If it isn't the might Avatar himself! How're you doing, Aang?"
Aang grinned wryly, and settled himself in the grass.
"I've been better, Sokka. Hi, Zuko! Hi, Mai."
The Fire Lord gave a relieved smile, and a small wave.
"Glad to hear my doctors are earning their pay. They said you'd be fine in a few days."
The Fire Lady gave a slight nod, and the faintest hint of a smile crossed her pale face.
"You kept us waiting. I thought you'd be awake ages ago."
"Good to see you too, Mai."
It took mere minutes for the rest of the group to bring Aang up to speed. Zuko and Katara had both felt the same change in their bending with the arrival of the two Earthbenders; a vast increase in power, but a disturbing loss in control. The two, knocked out by the bomber's detonation, had been placed, under guard, in one of the suites in the guest wing of the palace. Aside from their peculiar hair and skin colour, and the slight malnutrition of one of them, they both seemed entirely normal human beings. Except...
"A metal leg? Like Combustion Man? Could that mean that someone's making more crazy machine-people with weird bending powers?"
"I called in some engineers from the Ministry of Science. They'd never seen anything like it. Something about how it was built directly into the nerves and bone. The metals, the working, everything. It's even got a manufacturer's stamp on it, they think."
Sokka jumped to his feet, his voice rising to a shriek of hysterical melodrama.
"So someone's totally mass-producing them! Some Fire Nation madman is producing an army of machine people to rule the world!"
"Sokka.", Katara said, her voice a hard, flat warning.
"Can't a guy make a joke once in a while?"
"Let Zuko finish."
Sokka was back on the ground before Katara had finished her sentence.
"...Anyways, they found a manufacturer's stamp, but it's in a language unlike any we've seen before. I ordered a traced copy sent to the languages department at the Capital University, but we've heard nothing back."
"They have a language department?", Aang said, frowning, "What's the point? The Airbenders spoke Common more than a hundred years ago, and everyone's still speaking Common today. All the previous Avatars speak Common, too..."
"Yeah, but the voices in your head," Sokka said, poking Aang at the point of his arrow, "aren't necessarily even using the same language we are. They're spirits, aren't they?"
"Yeah, I guess. Still, it bugs me that someone would speak something other than Common. Or write it, even."
They wiled away the afternoon, bickering and talking like the family that they were. No one wanted to acknowledge the events of the previous day- half a dozen human beings had died, torn apart by bending the likes of which made even the Avatar uneasy. Something had changed- slipped, or been altered. They all knew it, but none of them knew what it was.
Al woke slowly, rolling over a few times. His pillow felt... odd. Like it was stuffed with wooden beads or something. Weird. He'd had an excellent sleep, though. Especially after that guy shot at them, and then the other one... blew h-himself up? He sat up very suddenly. This was not a familiar room. Walls and door made of heavy, expensive-looking wood, hung with red-orange silks. Well-illuminated by several slit windows, very high up on the walls. A door to what might be a bathroom. Everything was a shade of red. Very tasteful, maybe a bit ostentatious. His bed was low to the floor, the mattress stuffed with what felt like straw or reeds. A similar bed on the other side of the room held Ed, sound asleep. Silently, Al stood, and tried the door. Locked, from the outside. Then he looked down at himself. Someone had dressed him in a pajama-like costume of red-brown cloth. A realization hit him like a freight train.
"Mein Gott. The bastards took my wallet."
Then the absurdity of what he'd just said hit him, and he collapsed on the ground, roaring with cathartic laughter. As he slowly forced his breathing to return to normal, he noticed the faint sound of movement outside the door. Ed was sitting up in bed, looking at him with an extremely confused expression.
"Um... Al?"
He picked himself to his feet, wiping tears out of his eyes. Oh, this was so weird.
"Oh, you're awake, Brother. Good. We're locked in."
"Wh-what?"
"I think stopping that explosion knocked us out. I've been awake for a few minutes. It looks fancy, but it's a cell all right."
He waved an arm to indicate the state of the room. Ed nodded slowly, looking just as confused as Al felt.
"Okay, Al. Slow down. And where did your clothes go?"
"We woke up in here," Al said, shrugging, "There's no way out, and I didn't want to wake you up-"
"Okay, relax. I know you're nervous-"
"More confused than nervous, honest."
"-Anyways, it's okay. We've both got... our... alchemy?"
With a gasp, he clapped his palms together, then thumped them against the solid wooden side table. The dark teak surface writhed, a simple cube of wood pulling its way free in a shower of static discharge. Al could only stare in shock. No way...
"Incredible, Brother. Just incredible."
"My alchemy! It's back! So Truth wasn't lying! Something weird really has happened to us!"
Al nodded slightly. This was worrying. And yet oddly familiar.
"These clothes and the furniture almost looks Xingese, but something's off about it. It just feels... foreign. Or something. It's different. It's not Amestris, that's for sure."
Ed gave a slow nod.
"You're right. It's like a sound in the back of your ears... or, or something, yeah. I- huh. I gotta go to the can."
"The door's over there. I haven't checked it out yet."
Ed got to his feet, his automail clanking against the wood flooring.
He was on his way to what Al still sort of thought might be a closet, when there was a click from the main door and a small slot opened on its surface. Al caught a brief glimpse of a pair of startled eyes, then the slot closed and the door swung open on silent hinges. Two armoured figures strode inside, one holding a crossbow, the other with bare fists. Their armour looked to be made of painted metal and cloth, following the same colour scheme as the room, but Ed saw no indication of any firearms. The crossbow-armed guard gestured to the door, and said something completely unintelligible in staccato tones. Al stared at him, fixing a look of polite confusion on his face. Re-learning how to use most of your facial muscles carried with it certain perks. Ed's approach was far more direct.
"What."
The statement was repeated, and the guard gestured to the door. The second guard raised his fists; it wasn't an actual martial stance, but it was clearly a threat.
"I can't understand you. And I have to go to the bathroom."
The statement was repeated a third time, and this time the crossbow was raised.
"Ed, I think we should go with them. Really."
"Al..."
" Fine, Brother."
Al took a step forward, raising his hands placatingly. As he spoke, he mimed accordingly.
"You want us", he said, pointing at himself and Ed, "to go with you?" He indicated the guards, then the door. They didn't appear to understand his words, but did nod.
"Wait, please," he held his hand up again, "Ed needs to pee." He gestured towards his brother, then the bathroom, and then mimed fumbling with the crotch of his pants. There was a long awkward silence as Ed tried very, very hard not to laugh. Then the lead guard nodded, slowly.
"Back in a sec.", Ed said. The soundproofing of the bathroom wasn't very good. It was- it was extremely awkward.
"Fire Lord? The two Earthbenders are awake."
"Really? Bring them here. I'd like to speak with them."
"They're already on their way, milord. But it would appear that, they, uh, can't speak Common."
"What? Are they mutes? Don't we have a translator who can sign?"
"No, milord. It's not that they can't hear or speak, it's that they don't seem to speak or understand Common. At all. They can talk, but it's definitely not Common."
"Huh. Okay, that'll be all."
"Yes, Fire Lord."
The guard sergeant withdrew, only to be replaced by five other members of the Royal Guard, leading the two Earthbenders.
"Guards, you can leave."
"Fire Lord, your safety must be preserved."
"I have the Avatar, a knife expert, and the two greatest warriors of the Southern Water tribe with me. It'll be all right."
"Yes. Sir."
The guards retreated, leaving only the two yellow-haired teenagers, standing awkwardly in the bright sunlight.
Al observed the five people in front of him, his mind automatically forming images of them. Trying to figure people out was a habit he'd picked up working with Mustang. You had to be able to read people. Just in case they weren't, in fact, people at all. Now he was reading. First, the King. Or Fuhrer. Or General. The one who was in charge. Late teenaged. Messy topknot. Fancy robes. Messy hair, facial scar. Very old burn. Remarkable that his eye was still there, really. Held himself somewhat awkwardly- trying to make himself look bigger than he actually was. So. New to command, then? His woman. Correction, he was her man. Difficult to read. Obviously as well-trained at keeping her emotions in check as Al. Unusually pale- not make up. Held herself as if she was probably armed. Also a fighter. The man- boy, reakky, in blue. Well-built, dark skin. Lots of minor scars. Stains on his hands- maybe working with ink or machines? Some kind of machete or large knife at his waist. Unfamiliar blue-tinged bone or horn. Stood as if used to carrying a sword. Inquisitive expression. Obviously intelligent. Pretty bad at hiding his feelings. Girl in blue. Judging from her posture, close to the youngest, the boy in orange. She looked slightly less hardened than the rest. Emotionally open. Whatever was in the bag around her waist was fairly heavy- it could almost be water. Lastly, the little boy. Peculiar. Fighter's build, as they all had. Bald, blue arrow tattoos- that must have hurt. Recovering from a head injury of some kind. Slightly odd posture, as if he'd suffered a back injury in the past and was still getting over it. Something strange about his eyes. Looked far older than the rest of him. Had a serene, somewhat peaceful air about him. Occupied some important position, almost certainly spiritual. Why were they all so young?
"Al?"
He blinked. Ed had just elbowed him in the side, none too gently.
"Sorry, what?"
"I lost you there. Should we, y'know say something?"
He shook himself. A bird sang in the tree. Everything was still, an expectant silence filling the air. Al shrugged.
"Go ahead, brother."
Ed stepped forwards, his bare feet snapping into a rough at-arms stance.
"I am State Alchemist Edward Elric, designated Full Metal, in service to Fuhrer Mustang of the Amestrian State Military! This is my brother and partner, Alchemist Alphonse Elric! We are pleased to meet you."
There was another ringing silence.
"A bit much, maybe? I don't even know if they understood you."
"Did any of you catch any of that? Zuko? Aang? Katara? Mai? Anyone?", the boy in blue said, utterly bewildered.
"Nope.", the girl in red responded, her tone drawling and, Al thought, probably deadpan. The nuances of the language utterly evaded him.
"Chatty as always, Mai.", the boy retorted. The girl cocked an eyebrow.
"Yup."
Al sighed, grinning apologetically at the five in front of him and shrugging again. That, at least, seemed to be a universal gesture. The girl in blue smiled a little, and there was a general relaxing of tension.
"Okay. Let's try something a little simpler. Um..."
He pointed at himself.
"Alphonse Elric."
Ed, catching on, did the same to himself.
"Edward Elric."
"What kind of a name is Alu Fon Ze? And is Eluric a title, or what?", the boy in Blue huffed, crossing his arms. The little bald boy sighed and rolled his eyes, then did his best to look friendly.
"Sokka, buddy, please? Okay. I'm Aang."
"U- Ung?"
"Aang."
"Eng?"
"Good enough.", he said in an encouraging tone. Okay. Al had a name. Eng. Whatever the hell that meant. Al grinned, more enthusiastically this time, as they named themselves. The scarred one in red was Zhuko. His girlfriend was May. The girl in blue was Katala. Or Katara. It was hard to tell. Their 'r' and 'l' noises were almost, but not quite, the same sound. The chatty boy in blue, who, come to think of it looked related to the girl, was Sohka. The younger one in orange was Eng.
"Hey, Al..."
"What, Brother?"
"I've realized something. The language they're speaking, it sounds kind of like Xingese, doesn't it?"
Al nodded slowly. Ed had a point.
"Yes. Yes it does... The names too. May- our May, not this May..."
The pale-skinned girl cocked an eyebrow.
"They've mentioned my name three times now. Should I be worried, Zuzu?"
"She taught me a bit of Xingese while I was still in hospital. Apparently a way to introduce myself."
"Heck, it's worth a shot. Go for it."
"Um, okay. Here goes nothing."
He cleared his throat, trying to remember what May had taught him. As he spoke, the expressions on the faces of his audience told him that he probably wasn't remembering it correctly.
"[Polite greeting. I am d-dashingly handsome armoured alchim-damn- alchemist Elric Alphonse. It is an honour to be acquainted with you.]"
There was a beat of awkward silence, whereupon the teenager in blue and the boy in orange began to roar with laughter. May's cocked eyebrow rose even further, Zhuko suppressed a chuckle, and Katala frowned disapprovingly.
"Al, what did you do? What did you say?"
"I- I- Brother, I swear it was just a greeting! But, come to think of it..."
"Oh no. What happened?"
"Ling visited me for lunch one day, and I said it to him, and he choked on his spaghetti, and he wouldn't stop laughing, and he said something to May in Xingese, and she started blushing, and... oh, dammit."
"Guys..."
"Katara, you've got to admit it was pretty funny. Mai, back me up mere!"
"No. What your sister isn't saying is right. You're an idiot. Glad we could reach an agreement, Katara."
Sohka pushed himself into a half-sitting position, taking great gulps of air.
"D-did he j-just say he was a p-pretty l-little teap-"
He made eye contact with Eng, uttered a choking sound, and collapsed in a heap, still guffawing uproariously. The bald boy made an equally valiant attempt to control himself, but failed just as quickly. Katala huffed, then lifted a small orb of water out of a nearby pond and, with a wave of her hand, sprayed it across her- brother? Close relative? Definitely related- and Eng. Al gasped. No way. Did she just-
"Agpth! Katara! Was that really necessary? C'mon!"
"Did you see that, Brother?"
"That was not alchemy. She doesn't have arrays attached to her fingers, she didn't touch her palms, there was no static effect... I've seen water alchemy, and it's never so, so..."
"So controlled."
"I was gonna say smooth, but yeah."
Ed gestured at her, the spun his hand in a circle, motioning for her to do it again.
"Katara, I think he wants you to Waterbend again."
"Huh. They act like they've never seen it before."
"Honestly, given the way they look and talk, I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't."
Katala smiled encouragingly, and then got to her feet. She settled into a simple, flexible stance, and, taking a deep breath, lifted a melon-sized orb of water from the pond, sending it orbiting around her as she swayed with its movement.
"Aang! Catch!"
She threw it towards Eng, and he redirected it with another smooth motion, sending it hissing back. She slowed its movement, and then made an inward motion. With a crackle, the orb of water collapsed into a smaller volume of solid, shining ice. Al's mind was racing. How had she done that? You could manipulate water like that alchemically, but you'd need a lot of small or one very large array, and it would require tremendous amounts of energy to keep it aloft like that. And then there was the problem of heat transfer- if she was using tattoed arrays or the like, she would sear her own skin off every time she froze anything.
"Okay. Definitely not alchemy. Or alkahestry either. Al, we're a long, long way from home."
"How. How?"
"Wait, if they don't know about waterbending, does that mean that they might not be earthbenders, either? I'm gonna try some earthbending. That's a language we can understand."
"Go for it, Aang. Pity Toph isn't here. She'd sort them out."
"Or beat them up, Zuko. You know how she is around strange earthbenders."
Eng stood slowly, apparently still feeling the aftereffects of his head wound. Then, breathing thjrough his nostrils, he dropped into a low, extremely stable-looking combat stance. He stomped one foot, and a column of earth lifted free from the lawn with a tearing noise before dropping back level with the rest of the lawn.
"Sorry about the lawn, Zuko."
"No worries. The gardeners will get it."
"Okay, that looked more like alchemy, but still, no transmutation arrays, no static, and no clapping of hands. Any idea, Al?"
Al scratched his chin. The Truth inside his mind was flinging up all kinds of outlandish ideas- arrays designed for the manipulation of fluids and solids, some kind of static-assisted gravity nullification setup- all of it complicated and unwieldy compared to what these children were doing.
"It could be a different form of alchemy. Maybe. I really don't know. It's obviously related to breathing and posture- notice how those water-control stances were a lot lighter, whereas the earth stance was planted? It's obviously systematic and regulated somehow. Should we do a demonstration, Brother?"
"I guess so. Nothing flashy, though."
Ed nodded, then clapped his palms together. The air rustled with static buildup. He hit the soil with one hand, then stepped back as he drew a pillar of what Al was fairly sure was solid granite out of the soil. As soon as the static had cleared, Al clapped his palms, placing them both against the slightly warm stone. A moment's concentrationAl formed a circle with his hands, then hit the pillar a second time, crumbling it back into soil. There was another long silence as the electricity in the air crackled away.
"That was not earthbending.", Sokka said, having scraped his jaw off the floor.
"I-I dunno. We've got to experiment. To see how this works."
Aang raised a clump of dirt, then lobbed it slowly towards the yellow-haired teenagers. The shorter one- Ed Va Dhe, if he recalled, clapped his hands once more, and batted it back to him. As his hands made contact, the earth contracted, becoming a perfect sphere of stone. Aang moved to catch it with Earthbending, but his breath caught in his throat as his vision sharpened again.
Spirits, not again!"
The earth beneath him shook, and he winced as sharp spikes seemed to drive themselves into his ankles. He staggered, coming out of his bending stance, and everything rumbled to a halt.
"What just happened?", he said, massaging his legs. They were fine, now, but it had feltl ike the bones were being pulled apart.
Any further discussion was interrupted by a kerfuffle on the deck of the nearest building. Several guards were restraining an elderly man clutching an armful of scrolls, who was desperately struggling to get to the Fire Lord.
"My liege! Please! I must speak with you! It's- it's unprecedented! Fire Lord Zuko!"
Zuko stood rapidly, gesturing to the guards as he stepped past the Elurics.
"Guards, let him pass. Who are you, old man?"
"I am Professor Jenxiang from the Capital University Department of Language Studies! Please, you must allow me to speak with these two men!"
The old man was nearing hysteria, his thin frame quivering as his eyes darted from the Fire Lord, to the guards, to the Elurics, and back to the Fire Lord. He started as Zuko placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Professor. Calm down. What is this about? You think you can speak with them? We've tried and... it didn't work."
He dropped the scrolls unceremoniously, then took off his glasses and began to polish them with an unsteady hand.
"It's not that I can understand them, or speak their language. I just needed to hear it. We took a look at that text sample you sent us. It's, well, it's unearthly."
"What, so they're speaking some kind of space language?", Sokka said, as if daring the professor to question him. "Moon speak? I happen to know the Moon, buddy, and she speaks perfect Common."
"What are you-? No. We couldn't decipher their written text, if it is even in the same language, because it literally has no basis in any language that exists or existed on this Earth."
"What do you mean, no basis? I thought every language was linked in some way to another language.", Zuko said, examining one of the scrolls.
"Not this one. I speak seven languages and three dialects, and can read half a dozen more, and can confirm that this written language," here he grabbed a scroll marked with a series of simple, blocky characters, "is in every way unlike our own. Please, I need to hear them talk. If I can get an idea of their spoken language, then I can get an idea of its possible relation to their written language, and then..."
Zuko nodded firmly.
"All right. I understand."
He made an imploring gesture to the Elurics, and mimed talking. There was a brief moment of confusion, until the taller one made an affirmative noise, nodded, and began speaking. Jenxiang listened closely, occasionally nodding. Then, abruptly, he sat down on the grass, pulled a stick of charcoal and a battered notebook from his back pocket, and began scribbling furiously.
"Um. Talking. Right. Well, as I've said previously my name is Alphonse Elric. Until not long ago, I was a walking talking suit of armour. That's right. A bloody pentagram in a suit of armour. Literally bloody. As in made of blood. It was pretty awful, to be honest. Although immunity to pain and fatigue was nice. So yeah."
"Wow. That was informative. Hell, if I'd done that, I would have just sweared at them for a while."
"Diplomatic as always, Brother."
"Hmmm. Many plosives, no fricatives. World length is longer than ours. Probably. I'm noticing less reliance on tone and pitch than in Common. Some of the words seem to be assemblies of other, simpler root words. There's heavy use of what I think might be verb prefixes, too. Interesting. Very interesting."
"So, can you understand it?"
"No, and I won't unless I get regular access to them for several months, possibly years, and can record a complete syntax. You must understand, Fire Lord. I am literally working from the ground up. I am trying to create a simple lexicon from nothing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to a library, and quickly. I'll be back."
He stood suddenly, gathered up the scrolls, and hobbled away with surprising speed.
"Well that was weird.", Sokka said, sitting back.
"Good to know we've got an entire university to fall back on if we can't solve the language barrier."
"Or at least one crazy professor."
There was yet another awkward silence as Alu Fon Ze stopped talking. One of the Eluric's stomachs rumbled noisily.
Si closed the report.
"Always a miracle how well the 'nutty professor' routine works, Quanli. Truly."
"Well, General, it does help when the, um, nutty professor has been acting as a sleeper agent in the top circles of Fire Nation academia for thirty-odd years . And I think he's right- these, these Elurics are truly a mystery."
"What was that term they used back during the Schism for threats that could only be understood by the Spirits?"
"An extra-contextual difficulty? Something so beyond the realm of normal problems that it occupies a class all of its own?"
"Precisely. Tell the watchers to keep watching. As far as I'm concerned, gathering further data on these two is our top priority."
The meal went surprisingly well. Both of the strange teenagers were awkward with chopsticks, but persevered, getting the trick quickly. They were, however, surprised by the spicy Fire Nation food, and consumed prodigious amounts of water and fruit juice in between bouts of panting, gasping, and nose-wiping. Zuko shrugged, nonplussed.
"They act like they've never had chillies before."
Sokka, who was consuming almost as much water as the Elurics, rolled his eyes.
"...Said the man who's been eating them from birth. Y'know, sometimes I crave just plain 'ol bland 'ol whale jerky pemmican. Food so deliciously unflavourful that it makes rice taste like a fine steak."
"Aang, what's up? You're not eating?"
Aang frowned, staring into the bottom of his bowl of soup as if it contained the mysteries of the universe.
"I've had an idea. A way we can talk without knowing their language. Energybending."
"You're gonna take away their not-bending?"
"Not really, no. When I used the Avatar State on Ozai, I broke into his mind just as he broke into mine. For a few seconds I could read his thoughts. It was like our minds, our souls were, were mixed. I think I could do the same to these two. Then at least we'd know who they are, and why they're here."
"Do you really think you can do that at will? I mean last time you almost died, so..."
"Pathik's training really did help. And since my fight with Ozai started my chi flow back up again, I should be able to use his meditation to access the State at will. I think."
Katara put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Well, it's worth a try. But be careful, Aang."
-~0X0~-
This chapter's a bit (okay, very, very) dialogue-heavy. Consider it a breather from the events of last chapter. We're gonna see a lot more linguistic awkwardness between the Elrics and the Gaang before this story's over. For convencience's sake, I am assuming that Amestrian is German, or comparable to German, while Common is similar to Cantonese or Mandarin. Now, I speak neither German nor Cantonese or Mandarin, so if i screw up with trying to give a rough idea of what they sound like, forgive me. And correct me, if you are so inclined and know how. I could use the help. I'm also assuming that the language spoken by the residents of the Avatarverse is fairly homogenous; that, barring accents and regional quirks, everyone speaks roughly the same language. I might go about examining how something like that could happen. Then again, I might not.
Many thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited and alerted! It's your positivity that keeps me motivated! (I wonder how many times a variant on the previous two sentences has been included in authour's notes at the end of stories. Probably millions. But I digress.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I should have gone to sleep several hours ago, so I will bid you adieu, and again thanks a bunch! New chapter next month!
[Edit Feb. 5th, 2011: Fixed a bunch of grammar/spelling errors, made some minor rewrites.]
[Edit July 1st, 2012: Massive rewrite. Toning down number of POV characters, improving flow of dialogue, rewriting several scenes to fix continuity]