A/N: It's back! Sorry to all of you for the wait- senior year is crazy! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next installment. I'll do my best to update frequently. In this chapter, there are two references to characters Aang met in season one. Can you spot them?
During music class, Kuzon marched almost playfully, seeming to take joy in pushing the limits of his allowed self expression. Mr. Shou could sense something in the air, a kind of restless tension. His pupils were performing the Lord's Lullaby worse than they had when they started learning it three months ago. And, just as yesterday, colonial Kuzon seemed to be the source of everyone's distraction. The boy seemed a million miles away, utterly consumed by his own thoughts. Mr. Shou sighed. Whatever intrigue the boy held to his own curious mind, he couldn't let Kuzon get away with disrupting the entire class again. There could be dire repercussions if the students no longer took his control of the classroom seriously.
The only problem was, Kuzon wasn't doing anything technically wrong. He wasn't dancing exactly, and despite his inattentiveness somehow he was still playing his sunghi horn to the correct part. Today was just one of those days when it was simply more prudent to call it quits and attempt to regain the attention and skill of his musicians another time.
Mr. Shou raised his hands as the stanza closed. "That will be all for today, class. You have ten minutes to spare, but keep the volume to a minimum. Strings, practice the key change for tomorrow. Brass, make sure to watch for that coda and the decrescendo. And percussion, please stay on beat during the bridge into verse three. That is all."
As soon as Mr. Shou turned his back and began to pack his things, the whole class erupted into whispers. A crowd of students immediately surrounded Kuzon, whose face took on a guarded and mysterious expression. A minute later, he turned and retrieved a piece of paper from his backpack and the heads moved in even closer, trying to look at it clearly. Against his own will, Mr. Shou found himself striding over to discover at last just what was going on in his students' interactions that made them so inattentive in class.
The children, upon noticing his presence, scattered away as he made a beeline for the boy with the headband. "What do you have there, Kuzon?" Dutifully, Kuzon handed him the piece of paper revealed to be a rather detailed sketch. As he examined it more closely, Mr. Shou nearly dropped the drawing in shock. This was what all of his students were thinking about. Mr. Shou was aware of the new curriculum requirement regarding the Avatar having heard colleagues discussing the merits of it at length in the staff room. But this depiction was... unreal.
There was something in the expressions on the young Avatar's and girl's faces that spoke to him in a very deep way. The detail was unbelievable. Mr. Shou returned his gaze to Kuzon's passive face. The boy was thirteen, but any boy who could draw something like this had seen things beyond his years... Silently, Mr. Shou handed the parchment back to his young pupil, thoughts racing. "Kuzon, can I see you for a few minutes when class ends?" Kuzon shrugged and nodded casually.
As Mr. Shou walked back over to his conducting stand, a slender teen with some kind of string instrument approached the boy with the headband while other conversations resumed. "Hey Kuzon, where'd you learn to dance? You know, I've always wanted to try it. Do you listen to special music or something?"
Kuzon grinned mysteriously. "The key to dancing is having music with a beat or rhythm. Something your body just wants to move to. Not like the stuff we play in here."
The youth lowered his voice. "Could you maybe teach me? Listen, I have a really big secret. Some of my friends and I like to play our instruments together out in the woods- but it's not music that we're supposed to play. We listen to the sounds out there and make up our own songs. Maybe we could play for you and you could teach us to dance. I'm sure the rest of the group would love it too. But you can't tell anyone. If my father ever found out, I'd be sent to the coal mines. Please? Will you help me?"
Kuzon's eyes went unfocused for a moment as he pondered the request. Then a little grin creased the corners of his mouth. "Absolutely. Meet me after school just outside of town. I've got an idea for your music. By the way, what do you guys call yourselves? You know, as a musical group?"
The teen looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Kuzon laughed. "Don't worry. We'll think of something totally flamin'."
The bell rang and all of the students proceeded to file out of Mr. Shou's class. All of them that was except for Kuzon, who dutifully followed Mr. Shou into his office. Mr. Shou closed the door and offered Kuzon a seat. Once both were comfortable. Mr. Shou began his inquiry. "Kuzon, in light of your... unusual behavior in my class, I would like to ask you a few questions." Kuzon nodded, face carefully emotionless.
"Where did you live before moving here recently?"
"A Fire Nation Colony in the southern part of the Earth Kingdom."
"I see. And is that where you learned the self expression of dancing that you demonstrated in my class yesterday."
"Back home, dancing is a part of culture. But honestly, it just comes naturally to me.
"Hmmm... be that as it may, you are no longer in the colonies and must respect the societal conventions of the Homeland. If I see any more of it, there shall be grave consequences. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir."
Throughout the whole interrogation, Kuzon's tone and expression showed not a hint of emotion. It was almost as if he were afraid of losing his face if he moved it. Mr. Shou couldn't resist indulging his curiosity.
"That drawing was of the Avatar, correct? How did you acquire that understanding of his appearance?"
Kuzon paused for a moment. Then his voice came out smooth and inflectionless.
"He was on the run in the Earth Kingdom for a while, so there were wanted posters all over my small town with his picture on them. The paper showed a kid in yellow and orange with a blue arrow on his bald head carrying a staff."
Mr. Shou frowned. Something was off here. The boy was almost creepily calm, and what he'd said did not explain the emotion on the drawn Avatar's face, the bending, or most of all the young woman drawn holding him at the waist. But nothing would be gained by harrying a youth who simply gave vague answers with a stone face. Sighing in defeat, Mr. Shou ended the conversation.
"You are dismissed. Hurry along to your next class."
"Thank you, sir."
Kuzon gathered his bag and headed out of the office. He paused, turned around, and appraised Mr. Shou with a mad gleam in his eye. "Mr. Shou, if I were you, I'd keep an open mind to the possibilities." Grinning, he dashed off.
Mr. Shou sat in his chair, blinking slowly for a good minute. Just what was that supposed to mean? This student was just one shock after another. In only two days he'd raised doubts and questions in the man's mind that had been dormant for eons. Mr. Shou shook his head and refocused, preparing for the incoming students. For now, he could do nothing but wait. Perhaps, with time, he'd come to understand some of what was going on behind that headband.