Chapter 3:

Li Rong found herself sitting at a large table in her Uncle's office. The table was extraordinary. It was carved entirely of a large emerald. A large snake was engraved around the edge of the table. Its scales were carved in a way that caught the faint blue light and refracted it, causing a rainbow of colors to dance across its body.

This table alone had to be worth millions. The thought of being next to something so expensive made her uncomfortable. Li Rong shifted nervously and gazed around the office.

Immediately she noticed that the table wasn't the only extravagant thing. One entire wall of the office was covered from floor to ceiling with hexagonal spaces bent into the crystal. Each cubby held multiple scrolls inside. She could tell which ones her uncle had been in recently on the account that some of the scrolls had been carelessly jammed inside.

On the other side of the room were statues carved out of various precious stones. She saw animals, powerful people posing in armor, and even a small replica of Ba Sing Se. But there was one statue that caught her eye.

Standing on a pedestal, directly in the center of the other statues, was a bust of a man. It was made entirely out of clay and clumps of dried dirt. The head was lopsided and one side of its face smashed where it had obviously been dropped on. Truly it was hideous. She would have never even guessed it was a bust if she hadn't seen it before.

"No way. You kept that?" She asked aloud.

Sitting at the table across from her, Commander Yu followed her gaze then chuckled.

"Of course. It is the masterpiece of my collection!" He said proudly.

Li Rong shook her head. It was something she had made for her uncle when she was younger. She could have sworn that she threw it out after accidentally dropping it.

"Out of everything here. This piece is truly priceless." Commander Yu continued.

Li Rong's face flushed and she looked down at the table again. She was thankful when XueYang placed a steaming cup of tea before her. She thanked her and grabbed the earthenware cup, glad to give her hands something to do.

After placing another cup for her uncle, XueYang stood silently next to him. Commander Yu picked up the cup and lifted it to enjoy the tea's smell. The tiny cup looked comical in his massive hands. After taking a long sip he sighed and placed it back on the table.

"Li Rong, I know that this is a bit much to take in and you no doubt have many questions. Unfortunately I cannot give you a tour of the Azure Palace at the moment, so hopefully my answers to your questions can satisfy you until I can show you around." Commander Yu said.

Li Rong did have many questions. She definitely wanted to know more about this place. They had only spent a short time walking through the commons area on their way to his office.

At first she thought this place was some kind of underground city, but everyone she saw wore the Kingdom's Blades uniform. She also saw groups of soldiers escorting large rectangular cubes of crystal down a spiraled slope in the center of the commons area.

As the three of them ascended to his office, she could see that the cubes were barred at the top to allow air inside. Each soldier moved careful, their focus fully on the crystal they escorted. This wasn't just some extravagant garrison.

"What exactly is this place Uncle?" She asked.

"It's just as I said earlier. This is the heart of the Kingdom's Blades-" he paused to take another sip of tea. "-but it has another special purpose."

He gestured behind him to a large window on the back wall. Through it you could see the commons area and the giant hole with the downward spiraling slope.

"I assumed you noticed the large crystals my Blades were carrying down below."

"Yes. They all looked a little tense. Like they were moving something dangerous." She remarked.

Her uncle nodded with a smile.

"Indeed, they were. The person inside could be described as dangerous"

Li Rong's eyebrows shot up.

"Person?"

"Yes. The second purpose of this facility is to secure extremely dangerous criminals of the earth kingdom." Commander Yu confirmed.

Li Rong processed that information. The Earth Kingdom had prisons. But what did you do with extremely powerful benders? It wasn't that hard to believe that there were specialized facilities specifically for them. But if he was talking about earth benders, there were far better locations to secure them than a giant crystal meters underground.

Knowing the Azure Palace's purpose raised even more questions. Why was this place specific to the Kingdom's Blades? How many criminals were down there? Why was this place kept a secret if the Earth Kingdom sent criminals here and why hadn't he told her about this place sooner? Out of the hundred other questions flying through her mind, one stood out.

"What does this place have to do with me and this super important mission you still haven't told me about?" She asked.

Commander Yu placed his cup down then stood up and walked over to the large window.

"This place is very special and has many secrets, many of which are tied directly to our family." Her uncle said as he gazed out of the window.

"At this time I cannot elaborate any further, but what I can tell you is that your mother and I discovered this place when we were kids." He said in a wistful tone.

Li Rong's heart skipped a beat. Her mother had been here before? Since she was so young when her parents died, she didn't really remember her.

Her uncle never talked about his sister. In fact he actively avoided the topic every time she brought it up. Hearing him speak about her now made her all the more interested in what secrets the Azure Palace actually held.

XueYang cleared her throat, pulling Li Rong out of her thoughts.

"The mission, Commander"

Her uncle shook himself then came back to sit at the table.

"Right. How familiar are you in regards to the Avatar?" He asked Li Rong.

"Ah, uh the basics. They are powerful beings able to wield all elements and are also the bridge between the Spirit world and our world. Only one Avatar can be alive at one time and they are always born to nations in a specific order. Water, Earth, Fire and Air. We are on water in the cycle." She recited.

"Good. Then you are also aware that they are to bring balance to the worlds, both spiritual and physical."

Li Rong scoffed. Their current Avatar, Kuruk, was doing a poor job then.

Tensions between the nations were as high as they have ever been. There were also more and more reports of Spirit sightings throughout the world.

So far Kuruk had taken care of a few notable problems, but his actions as of late were another story. He often disappeared for months on end without notice, only to return and lose himself in week-long parties.

"Well, what if there was a way to find out who the next Avatar will be?" Her uncle asked.

"That is impossible. The process is random, completely at the whims of the spirits." Li Rong answered, a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

These questions were elementary at best. She didn't know why he was wasting her time with them.

"What are you getting at?"

Her uncle leaned closer, his face taking a serious expression.

"What if I told you that someone was able to enter the spirit world and that they somehow were able to divine the identity of the next Avatar in line?" He said almost in a whisper.

Li Rong began to laugh. She immediately stopped once she saw that neither her uncle or XueYang had joined her. Both continued to stare at her.

"I would tell you that that person is obviously lying. Even if they were somehow able to survive the trip into the spirit world, there is no way that they could find something like that out." She quickly said.

They couldn't be serious about this. She knew her uncle had his peculiarities, but he knew better than to go chasing after tales. And XueYang didn't look like the type to be swept along in his antics.

XueYang took that moment to place a stack of scrolls before her. Li Rong glanced at them and was surprised to see that a number of them were from the other three nations.

Commander Yu gestured for her to look at them. She opened one and glanced at its contes. She didn't read the whole thing, but it looked like a report of some kind. At the very bottom of the scroll was a symbol she recognized.

The symbol was one of the lotus tile pai sho pieces. They waited as she glanced at a few more scrolls in the stack. Each seemed to be a report of something, but they all had the same lotus tile mark on the bottom.

"These are reports from another organization that we work with. In fact, most of the inmates here were captured by them. They are called the White Lotus and the-" Her uncle began to gush, but was silenced by a nudge from XueYang.

"Erm, let's just say that they take any threat to the Avatar seriously." he concluded.

"Our contact with the White Lotus believes that another organization, called The Order of the Eclipse, not only discovered a way to enter the Spirit World, but they have also found a spirit that has the ability to see into the future." XueYang said.

"These scrolls report their movements around the world. Every place they have been sighted, a spirit attack follows shortly after." She continued.

Li Rong looked between her Uncle, XueYang and then to the scrolls. Shaking her head, she stood up from the table.

"If any of this is true and If these White Lotus are so strong, why are they asking us for help? Why don't they take care of this themselves?" She asked them.

"Our contact within the White Lotus believes that certain members have been turned and that they are actively aiding Eclipse. Multiple members that have helped him have been killed or have disappeared recently." XueYang explained.

"If this is an actual threat to the avatar, why haven't they asked for Kuruk's help?" Li Rong closed her eyes and sighed as soon as the question left her lips. She already knew the answer.

Kuruk had been missing for two months now. No one knew where he went during his disappearances, but every daofei knew that they had time to rear their ugly heads while he was gone. There were multiple reports of rising crime throughout the Earth Kingdom.

Judging by the silence of the two people before her, they understood that she had figured it out.

Li Rong closed her eyes and began to pace along her side of the table, her mind in overdrive trying to make sense of it all.

This couldn't be true, could it?

What they are saying could technically be possible. These other two organizations could be real and they could be doing the things described. Something told her that if she fully read the reports that she could match their events with actual spirit attack incidents.

This contact couldn't go to the nations about this. If any of them found out there would be chaos because they would want the knowledge for themselves. With Kuruk missing and if the White Lotus was indeed compromised, then that explains why her uncle was asked for help. But why was she here?

Suddenly her thoughts fell silent as the answer came to her.

"Your contact requested help, but you can't go because you are a public figurehead. It would raise too many questions. He also knew that you had access to a group of powerful benders. Since you are stuck here, you not only needed someone who you could trust, but they had to have leadership experience." Li Rong rattled out in a single breath.

She opened her eyes and stopped pacing. Turning to face her uncle, she pointed a finger at him.

"It just so happens that you know of someone who fits that criteria perfectly. Someone that you trained from childhood, who recently graduated from the Royal Officer academy." Li Rong finished.

"Correct." Commander Yu confirmed.

Li Rong stepped forward and leaned on the table. She looked her uncle directly into his eyes as she asked him one more question.

"Do you truly believe this threat is real?"

"Yes, with my whole being. You are the only person in the world that I can entrust this task to." He immediately replied.

Li Rong held his gaze in silence for a few tense moments, searching for any shred of doubt. The eyes that looked back were the same that she had seen her entire life. Green pools that radiated trust and love. With a sigh, Li Rong fell back onto the cushion she had been sitting on.

"Fine. I believe you."

Her uncle leaned back and let out a boisterous laugh.

"Ha! I told you she would understand!" He bellowed to XueYang.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, Commander." She apologized as she picked up the scrolls.

As XueYang saved the scrolls in the wall, Li Rong rested her head on the table. She didn't know if any of this was actually true, but if the person who raised her fully believed it then who was she to doubt him. He had never led her wrong before.

"Who will I be working with? I assume you have a team of Blades already chosen." she asked.

Her Uncle nodded vigorously, not even trying in the slightest to hide his excitement. He motioned to XueYang and she came back holding four scrolls. She placed them before Li Rong and stepped back.

"The first scroll from the left is the team list. The other scrolls are their dossiers." She explained.

Li Rong picked up the first scroll and read its contents.

The scroll was written by her uncle. She could recognize his sloppy handwriting anywhere.

The scroll contained at least thirty names, all but four were scratched out. The four that weren't had a little smiley face drawn next to them. Her face paled as she read the names.

Prisoner: 385 Name: Ganaluk

Prisoner: 401 Name: Kiki

Prisoner: 402 Name: Kong

Prisoner: 452 Name: Mitsuo

"Uncle, what is this?" she asked cooly.

"They are your team." Commander Yu replied with a smile.

"No, these are prisoners!" Li Rong exclaimed.

"How do you expect me to complete a dangerous mission and control a group of criminals at the same time?!"

Her uncle waved his hand, as if to dismiss her concerns.

"We have a way for you to control them, but that will be explained later. Just know that they have been hand picked by our contact because of their abilities and one other important fact." He explained.

"They are expendable! If something happens to them then it won't matter, they were just going to rot in their cells anyway."

Li Rong stared at him with disbelief. No way did she just hear a government figurehead say that.

"You did not force this on them did you?" she asked.

Her uncle's eyebrows shot up, his eyes widening.

"Of course not!" He protested. He looked genuinely offended, causing Li Rong to feel a little bad.

"They were given the choice to refuse. If they accepted, they agreed to be integrated into the Kingdom's Blades for a probationary period of ten years. During their service they would undergo rehabilitation so that they may possibly be relocated on the surface at the end of their terms." Commander Yu explained.

"Of course the Blade's would monitor them for the remainder of their lives." He quickly added.

She nodded to herself. At least it was something else she could use to keep them in line. Her uncle gestured toward XueYang and she cleared her throat.

"Allow me to inform you about your new teammates. Their dossiers go into more details, so I advise you to read them later."

Li Rong picked up her now cold tea and readied herself to hear about the trouble she was about to get into.

Next Chapter

4: Meeting the Team