Lindon followed the crowd out of the station and into the streets below. Keeping an eye out for any more sacred artists as he made his way closer to the center of the city. It was taking a long time, but he didn't want to draw any undue attention to himself by using a body enforcer technique or opening a portal. Walking also provided another benefit, he could listen to the people he passed on the street.
Picking up snippets of conversations, he eventually picked up a few helpful bits of information. They were in the city Ba Sing Se. There was apparently a ruler called the Earth King [Who has a pet bear]. Refugees were pouring into the city, but, either no one knew why or they weren't saying. One man mentioned Earthbenders, apparently his son was one, he was very proud. [That must be a local word for Sacred Artist]
Lindon didn't agree with Dross, he was hesitant to compare them to Sacred Artists at all, they were too different. Lindon passed by a large ornate compound, people flocking from building to building in small groups. Many carried books and scrolls, one of the louder and more rambunctious groups complained loudly about a professor. This must be a school of some kind, but Lindon didn't see anyone 'earthbending'. Not that he had any way to tell who practiced such arts and who didn't.
The further into the city they went, the more apparent the wealth of each area was. It reminded Lindon of how everything in the Blackflame Empire was ranked. Only, in this place, raising in rank also allowed you to move closer and closer to the center of the city. It was strange to Lindon; but, every new place Lindon had been to since leaving Sacred Valley was strange at first. The wall separating the middle ring and upper ring loomed over them as they got closer.
Before they made it to the gate, Lindon found an alleyway between two shops that was hard to look into from the street. Once far enough in, he opened his void key. A door opened in thin air, a small villa sat on the other side, Lindon mostly used it for storage. He scooped Little Blue up out of his robes and set her inside. She, of course, protested. As always, she sounded like the ringing of bells when she talked; Lindon caught the jist of what she was saying. She didn't want to leave, she was worried that he would need her help and she didn't want to be locked up alone.
"I'm sorry Blue, we don't know how the local leaders will react. They may be enemies of the Akura or Arelius families. I won't let you be hurt, and don't worry, I'll be carefull"
[He means 'we'] Dross said.
Lindon nodded "Yes, we will be careful. Please wait here for now."
She crossed her arms and made a few ringing peeps. Lindon sighed, then forged a scale for her. She grabbed it from him and marched farther in the void space. Lindon used a flicker of soulfire to control the wind aura, a pair of gloves floated into his awaiting hand. The doorway shut, and Lindon went back out to the road, tugging on the gloves and walked towards the gate.
The line was much shorter at this one, but it moved slower. Each person had their passports inspected and stamped. If the person had any bags, they also had to be inspected. Eventually it was Lindon's turn and he stepped up to the table. There were two guards at the table itself, two standing at either side of the gate and a small guardhouse housing four more guards; or at least it felt like four to Lindon's spiritual sense.
"Paperwork" the guard at the left side of the table said, while holding up an upturned palm.
Lindon pressed his fists together and bowed "Forgiveness, I have no passport, I am a representative of the Akura clan, I was hoping…" The guard held his hand up for Lindon to stop.
"Listen, no papers, no entrance. Now scram, you're holding up the line." The man motioned at the next person in line. Lindon forced himself not to cycle black flame.
"Pardon, is there someone I can speak to? To get the proper paperwork" The guard's eyes snapped back to Lindon.
"If you were important enough to receive a passport, you would have gotten one when entering the city. Shoo!"
Lindon didn't want to make enemies in this strange land, but his patience was wavering. "Surely Ba Sing Se recognizes the standing of a Sage?" Lindon tried to sound as authoritative as he could while placing his wintersteel badge upright on the table. The guard scrunched his eyebrows together, looking suspiciously at the badge.
"Sages are few and far between, ancient masters and scholars of their nations. He picked the badge up to inspect it, while also putting his other hand behind the chair, more than likely signaling someone. "You must be in a realm above to reach such a rank so young."
[Multiple enemies; here, here, here and here] Dross marked the men readying themselves to attack.
Two stood on either side of the entrance to the upper ring. Another stood off to the right, in a small alcove that blended into the wall. The last was directly behind Lindon, Dross was only able to tell where he was when aura began to gather in the man's lowest core. Time slowed.
[I'll need time to build a model on these strange sacred arts, try to draw as much out of them before you kill them]
"We aren't killing anyone Dross, but…I am interested to see more of what this "bending" can do." Lindon made a small bow, plucking his badge from the guards hand "The heavens have truly blessed me"
Lindon had enough time to slip the badge back around his neck before the fight began. The enemy to his back made a reaching motion, and a collection of stone in the shape of a hand flew out at Lindon's neck.
[See how pure madra affects their attack]
Lindon cycled twin stars and pushed unformed madra out behind him. The stone hand lost its power and shape, but the rocks were still flying at the back of Lindon's head. With expert precision, Lindon spun into a kick, deflecting the stone to the right where it sailed into the wall with a crash. Two more stone hands were flying, they were homing in on Lindon's hands.
"This is more like a ruler technique than a striker technique" Lindon mused
[Yes, they are able to retain control the aura around in the stone even after it leaves their hand, just for fun, let one land]
"...for fun?" Lindon asked.
[Come on, aren't you curious what will happen?]
Lindon was curious, he hated that he was curious enough to grab one stone hand out of the air with his remnant hand and activate the hunger binding while allowing the other stone hand to wrap itself around his flesh wrist. The hunger binding quickly sucked the aura from the stone, leaving it to crumble to the ground. The stone hand around his wrist tightened fully, even now, the "earthbender" could control the hand.
It pulled on Lindon's wrist, attempting to pin his arm to the ground. Lindon, of course, could not be moved so easily. He simply pulled his arm free, breaking the stone in the process. It was surprising, the strength exhibited from this attack felt like it was at the cusp between Trugold and Underlord. This must be a strong nation indeed, to have enough high level Truegolds to spare four to watch a single gate.
Apparently, shrugging off their attacks so easily alarmed the guards, now five stone hands flew at Lindon, one for each limb and his neck. As the Hollow Domain extended around Lindon, the guards changed attack patterns. They lowered in their stances and pushed their fists from down low into the sky. Walls forced their way up around Lindon, they slanted inward to make a pyramid shape at the top. Inside, the Hollow Domain disrupted the ruler techniques and the stone hand fell, unpowered.
[Wow, they really like ruler techniques, that's two in a row, three if you count the train movers, maybe that's all they know what to do] Dross commented.
Lindon wanted to agree, but something in his gut worried him; the multiple cores, aura being affected directly. Something was wrong, he didn't get the feeling that he was facing sacred artists, it was all to foreign.
[Well, I think I have a decent start to an earthbender combat model, it's hard to tell, these people are weird.]
"Let's just finish this up" Lindon said as he activated the soul cloak and punched one of the walls to rubble.
The guards attacks' may have been around Truegold, but without enforcer techniques, they may as well have been Coppers in hand to hand combat. Lindon was a blur as he incapacitated the guards, the first three hadn't even hit the ground before the last one's neck was securely in Lindon's remnant hand. Being as careful as he could be, Lindon activated the hunger binding with a whisper of mardra...and immediately had to cut the technique off. As they suspected, these people didn't keep any madra in their system. The hunger binding affected the man's cores directly, faint cracks showed on the core at the top of his skull. Lindon threw the man to the side.
"That could have ended badly" he thought.
[Eh, it wouldn't have killed him...I think] Dross added.
The street was almost entirely empty at this point, the two guards at the table had fled into the upper ring and were in the process of closing the gate.
[We can take 'em] said Dross [then it's onward to the castle!]
Lindon just sighed "I don't think that will work anymore, let's back off."
Lindon was sure that whoever was in charge would get a report of the fight. They would either respond with more force, or, recognizing him as an actual Sage, send a capable messenger. Either way, pushing now wouldn't help. Lindon used the Soul Cloak to quickly move away, moving through the back alleys until he was sure no one was following him. Then he found a secluded spot and changed clothes.
Little Blue practically flew out of the void key, she looked him over and made sure he wasn't hurt. He apologized for getting into a fight without her, and listened to her chatter as he changed. He put on the most simple clothes he had in his void key, soulsmithing robes. Out of all of his extra clothes, they most matched what the foreigners wore. They were just simple tan robes with a tied-on smock, which Lindon removed. He also took out a spare pack, stocked it with food and supplies. He also made sure there was enough room for Little Blue to fit in, he knew she didn't want to stay in the void key any longer. She, of course, didn't want to go in the bag either, she wanted to ride on his shoulder. But he haggled with her; she would stay put in the bag, and he would build a small cloud fortress for her when they got back home. She had a list of things it had to include; apparently she had been planning this for some time it seemed.
[Ah yes, she planned it, all alone, no help at all]
Lindon responded with a sigh. "Before anything, we have to make it back, to do that we need to know where we are. Honestly, it doesn't seem like we'll find any help here. Let's just move onto the next town."
[We could do that, it might not be much, much worse somewhere else]
It was an unknown, but it was worth the risk. They had already been attacked once here, to Lindon, it was a sign of things to come if they stayed here.
"Let's just move to the outer wall, gather more information, and if we don't like what we find, we break out" Lindon closed the void key, slung the bag around his shoulders and walked in the direction of the outer wall.