Categories > Cartoons > Avatar: The Last Airbender > Magma
Magma
Eruption 56: Innocent Curiosity
"What is it?" One of the royal guards stationed at the back gate leading to the palace gardens looked alarmed for a moment, the gesture not going unnoticed by his comrade standing at the opposite side of the gate, wearing a matching red uniform.
The guard shook his head, "it's nothing," he thought he saw someone sneaking towards them, but assumed it to be his imagination. Unlike the streets at the front of the palace, the streets at the back were rarely transited, save for the residents, since there was no real commerce in that direction. However, he did notice something else that was unusual and had no doubts that it was indeed there, though he did not know when it got there, "is that someone's wallet on the street?"
"I think it is," the other guard agreed, "but I didn't see anyone drop it, or even walk by, when did that get there?" It was puzzling, though not truly alarming. "We might as well investigate," he headed over to pick up the lost wallet, it was the most interesting even that had happened so far in his boring back gate guard job. When he picked it up, the contents felt odd and the black leathery wallet suddenly went aflame, as if his hand squeezing its contents together when he grasped it had caused a chain reaction within it. "Ah!" The guard immediately dropped the burning item and proceeded to stomp on it with his heavy black boot until the fire was out.
The other guard had rushed over seeing the sudden burst of flames, confusion written all over his face, "what in the world was that? Are you alright?"
"A bad joke," he frowned. "I'm okay, I dropped it fast enough." The two guards returned to their duties and the rest of their watch went without incident.
xoxox xox xoxox
While Iroh was districted practicing his tea recipes and completely lost track of time, Tenzuh took his unofficial recess by himself, feeding bread pieces to the turtle-ducks.
"Hello young prince," the female voice was sudden; Tenzuh had not heard her footsteps approaching and dropped the rest of the loaf of bread into the pond startled. The turtle-ducks did not rush to it before it sank, but instead went away and hastily hid; it was odd that the soft splash of the fallen loaf of bread would frighten them that much.
"Hi," Tenzuh looked curiously at the lady who had just arrived and sat down next to him.
"I didn't mean to scare you," she wore common red clothing, not rare among the town people, though no color was really rare anymore, her skirt was long, touching the floor, her shoes not visible. A black clock was draped over her arm, as if she had just removed it. She had long hair in an unusual shade of dark blond and golden eyes; she seemed to be close in age to his father.
"I'm not scared, I just wasn't expecting anyone, but it's good to see you again," remembering what he saw at the market place the other day and was yet to mention to anyone, Tenzuh took the opportunity to establish a conversation with the mysterious lady and hopefully ask her a few questions about her abilities.
"Did you tell anyone about me?" There was something in her tone that hinted she already knew the answer.
"I didn't, was it a secret?" That was how the prince interpreted her sign of silence.
"Oh yes, a secret, I heard rumors you see, I heard that the crown prince did not know how to produce lightning yet," the lady smiled kindly and casually tugged her long hair behind her ear appearing relax and familiar.
"Yeah..." Tenzuh sounded a little disappointed with himself. He might have been told he was good at fire bending, but he couldn't make lightning at all. "Dad said he'll teach me when I'm older."
"I'm sure he would, but wouldn't you want to surprise him instead? That's why I'm here. To show my appreciation for the royal family I thought I should offer you my help as a lightning bending teacher, but you must keep it a secret, that way your parents will be that much more proud of you when you show them how much you've learned." The lady's voice was soothing and sweet, though her eyes were still fierce; Tenzuh interpreted it as a sign of power rather than malice.
"Really? You would teach me? Thank you!" This was a wonderful opportunity and Tenzuh was truly grateful for the lady's generosity. "You're so kind but I don't even know your name yet. I'm Tenzuh, nice to meet you!" He guessed she already knew that, but he might as well do his part of the introduction since he had requested her name, it only seemed fair.
"You may call me Angel," the lady replied, with a nearly unperceivable hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"That's a pretty name," Tenzuh, held no suspicions what so ever of the danger right next to him.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Your teacher told me that when you ran off today you weren't at the usual spot, where did you go?" The displeasure and worry were evident in Zuko's voice that evening when the royal family, the Fire Lord and Lady, their head adviser and the prince, were having dinner. He had already confirmed that Tenzuh had not been going out to town with Iroh as Zuko initially assumed, thus leading the prince's secret training to run smoothly for a few days, hidden in some remote corner of the palace or courtyard, with the excuse of concentrating better without interruptions.
"Um..." Tenzuh shifted uncomfortably, though the action was initially unconscious, he caught himself, knowing very well his mother sensed the light motion. She could always tell if anyone was lying, not that Tenzuh ever really lied, albeit like any other child he sometimes got into mischief and came up with truthful, carefully phrased excuses that were so tactful, it made it sound as if he had caused no mischief at all, without directly changing the truth. "I'm not doing anything bad."
That much was truth and Toph knew it. She sometimes let her son get away with a little mischief, though she was fairly certain he realized he was being allowed some fun, instead of truly hiding it from her. This time her husband's worry was too apparent, though Toph deemed it unnecessary as things had been very peaceful for years and the Avatar himself was reduced to be the judge of minor quarrels, not even serious enough to be judged by the law. "Then why don't you tell us more?"
Seeing Toph's serene expression Zuko calmed down, if Tenzuh was in some kind of trouble or doing something dangerous, she should be able to feel him hiding it from her. She had a unique gift, more so since this was the case of her own son. Although alternatively, the young prince had developed the unique gift of being quite tricky, because any child, however good natured and honest, enjoys the trill of mischief every now and then. It helped that he was aware of his mother's abilities and knew when she was only letting him off easy. This was not the case, she was convinced by his words and there was no reason for it to be otherwise, since he really wasn't doing anything he thought of as bad.
"It's a surprise," Tenzuh moved his spoon in circles in his lava soup, which had only the appearance of lava but was ironically served at atmosphere temperature. He caught a carrot and red sauce on his silver spoon with a soft 'cling' of the utensil against the fine golden lined white china. He brought the spoon to his mouth, for once chewing thirty-two times, simply to give himself more time to think of the proper phasing to the next part of his reply, or for someone to change the subject. He considered asking grandpa Iroh something about tea or Pai-Sho to get him talking, but decided against it since it would be too much of an obvious escape.
"What kind of surprise?" Iroh inquired with a very casual and relaxed tone, "is it edible or maybe something you can play with, like a new Pai-Sho tile?" He smiled at the thought, and truly hoped his guess was correct.
Tenzuh relaxed, he liked where the conversation was going and he had an idea. "It's something you will all like," he truly believed it would be, "it's something to be proud of, something special. You don't need to worry, I'm being good," that was also true, as the prince was convince this was good for him and for the nation, the more skills he gained, the better he may serve his country. "I'll show you when it's ready, I'll do all my homework and study too."
Zuko didn't need to search for answers on Toph's expression; he could see it all clearly on his son's face. He too was like that, wanting to do a little extra work to impress his parents and help his nation. Ozai was never impressed, but Zuko was always supportive of his son. "In that case, I'll look forward to the surprise," he smiled.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Angel, it still won't work," Tenzuh pouted in frustration, they were training in the royal gardens today and they had been seen, but Angel insisted that it was nothing, the guards paid them little mind anyway.
The palace guards had no idea who the she was, but she seemed harmless enough and the prince socialized with everyone in the palace, so seeing an unknown lady teaching him some stances and motions was not strange. Sure she was unidentified, but if she was this deep in the palace without any alarms going off, she must have been allowed inside and thus would be automatically assumed to be a trust worthy person by the guards. They lived in times of peace and their queen could sense everything all around her, it didn't get any safer than that.
"Don't worry, and don't try it for real now," the lady spoke softly, but with sharp insistence, her cloak was folded out of the way on the ground where no one really noticed it, and her long hair was flowing down to her mid back.
"I know; movements only," Tenzuh nodded, he didn't want to ruin the surprise, thus he only tried to produce lightning in private.
"Just keep practicing," she demonstrated another form, setting her feet apart, with her right a step ahead of her left and mover her right arm sharply forward with her index and middle fingers extended together.
"Angel, can I see your shoes?" Tenzuh was a little distracted that morning, a fact which annoyed his trainer.
She forced herself to smile, the expression very much false, and spoke between her clenched teeth, "little boys who don't pay attention will never learn anything."
"Sorry, it's just that they looked shiny," Tenzuh instinctively backed away.
Sighing impatiently, and knowing there would be no end to the distraction until he satisfied his curiosity, Angel lifted her long dark red robes off the ground to show her shoes, she was wearing heavy looking boots with metal soles. "They are helpful to exercise with," it was an excuse, but not a lie.
Tenzuh's face brightened with fascination, he thought he saw a blue glow in the metal of the boots when Angel set her foot down, "can I-?"
"No, they don't make them in your size," they didn't really make them at all, she customized the boots herself, that particular metal was quite good at conducting electricity and static created very unique vibrations, a scrambler signal to the special abilities of the Fire Lady, who would not be able to accurately perceive her true form well enough to identify her. With her sharpened senses, Toph would be able to tell the person was a woman, and her average size, but little more than that, as if one looked at a figure that was completely masked, from head to toe with no face to show, seeing nothing beyond a silhouette without a name.
"Oh..." with his curiosity satisfied for the time being, Tenzuh continued his training with the sharp motions of his instructor.
"This isn't working," Angel concluded, besides, even if he did by a miracle produce a little lightning, with his limited understanding of he world at such a tender age, pride only meant so much, thus he would produce little more than sparks, harmless sparks that would merely sting at worse. Angel herself had temporarily lost her abilities once but regained them fueled by a strange sort of pride based on anger, red, hatred and the belief that only she was worthy of what was stolen from her. "We'll have to do some special training," it was time for Plan B, stirring some trouble with Plan A before proceeding would have been fun, but she was growing impatient, forget the convenient accident with lightning, it was time for vengeance.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Avatar.
Eruption 56: Innocent Curiosity
"What is it?" One of the royal guards stationed at the back gate leading to the palace gardens looked alarmed for a moment, the gesture not going unnoticed by his comrade standing at the opposite side of the gate, wearing a matching red uniform.
The guard shook his head, "it's nothing," he thought he saw someone sneaking towards them, but assumed it to be his imagination. Unlike the streets at the front of the palace, the streets at the back were rarely transited, save for the residents, since there was no real commerce in that direction. However, he did notice something else that was unusual and had no doubts that it was indeed there, though he did not know when it got there, "is that someone's wallet on the street?"
"I think it is," the other guard agreed, "but I didn't see anyone drop it, or even walk by, when did that get there?" It was puzzling, though not truly alarming. "We might as well investigate," he headed over to pick up the lost wallet, it was the most interesting even that had happened so far in his boring back gate guard job. When he picked it up, the contents felt odd and the black leathery wallet suddenly went aflame, as if his hand squeezing its contents together when he grasped it had caused a chain reaction within it. "Ah!" The guard immediately dropped the burning item and proceeded to stomp on it with his heavy black boot until the fire was out.
The other guard had rushed over seeing the sudden burst of flames, confusion written all over his face, "what in the world was that? Are you alright?"
"A bad joke," he frowned. "I'm okay, I dropped it fast enough." The two guards returned to their duties and the rest of their watch went without incident.
xoxox xox xoxox
While Iroh was districted practicing his tea recipes and completely lost track of time, Tenzuh took his unofficial recess by himself, feeding bread pieces to the turtle-ducks.
"Hello young prince," the female voice was sudden; Tenzuh had not heard her footsteps approaching and dropped the rest of the loaf of bread into the pond startled. The turtle-ducks did not rush to it before it sank, but instead went away and hastily hid; it was odd that the soft splash of the fallen loaf of bread would frighten them that much.
"Hi," Tenzuh looked curiously at the lady who had just arrived and sat down next to him.
"I didn't mean to scare you," she wore common red clothing, not rare among the town people, though no color was really rare anymore, her skirt was long, touching the floor, her shoes not visible. A black clock was draped over her arm, as if she had just removed it. She had long hair in an unusual shade of dark blond and golden eyes; she seemed to be close in age to his father.
"I'm not scared, I just wasn't expecting anyone, but it's good to see you again," remembering what he saw at the market place the other day and was yet to mention to anyone, Tenzuh took the opportunity to establish a conversation with the mysterious lady and hopefully ask her a few questions about her abilities.
"Did you tell anyone about me?" There was something in her tone that hinted she already knew the answer.
"I didn't, was it a secret?" That was how the prince interpreted her sign of silence.
"Oh yes, a secret, I heard rumors you see, I heard that the crown prince did not know how to produce lightning yet," the lady smiled kindly and casually tugged her long hair behind her ear appearing relax and familiar.
"Yeah..." Tenzuh sounded a little disappointed with himself. He might have been told he was good at fire bending, but he couldn't make lightning at all. "Dad said he'll teach me when I'm older."
"I'm sure he would, but wouldn't you want to surprise him instead? That's why I'm here. To show my appreciation for the royal family I thought I should offer you my help as a lightning bending teacher, but you must keep it a secret, that way your parents will be that much more proud of you when you show them how much you've learned." The lady's voice was soothing and sweet, though her eyes were still fierce; Tenzuh interpreted it as a sign of power rather than malice.
"Really? You would teach me? Thank you!" This was a wonderful opportunity and Tenzuh was truly grateful for the lady's generosity. "You're so kind but I don't even know your name yet. I'm Tenzuh, nice to meet you!" He guessed she already knew that, but he might as well do his part of the introduction since he had requested her name, it only seemed fair.
"You may call me Angel," the lady replied, with a nearly unperceivable hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"That's a pretty name," Tenzuh, held no suspicions what so ever of the danger right next to him.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Your teacher told me that when you ran off today you weren't at the usual spot, where did you go?" The displeasure and worry were evident in Zuko's voice that evening when the royal family, the Fire Lord and Lady, their head adviser and the prince, were having dinner. He had already confirmed that Tenzuh had not been going out to town with Iroh as Zuko initially assumed, thus leading the prince's secret training to run smoothly for a few days, hidden in some remote corner of the palace or courtyard, with the excuse of concentrating better without interruptions.
"Um..." Tenzuh shifted uncomfortably, though the action was initially unconscious, he caught himself, knowing very well his mother sensed the light motion. She could always tell if anyone was lying, not that Tenzuh ever really lied, albeit like any other child he sometimes got into mischief and came up with truthful, carefully phrased excuses that were so tactful, it made it sound as if he had caused no mischief at all, without directly changing the truth. "I'm not doing anything bad."
That much was truth and Toph knew it. She sometimes let her son get away with a little mischief, though she was fairly certain he realized he was being allowed some fun, instead of truly hiding it from her. This time her husband's worry was too apparent, though Toph deemed it unnecessary as things had been very peaceful for years and the Avatar himself was reduced to be the judge of minor quarrels, not even serious enough to be judged by the law. "Then why don't you tell us more?"
Seeing Toph's serene expression Zuko calmed down, if Tenzuh was in some kind of trouble or doing something dangerous, she should be able to feel him hiding it from her. She had a unique gift, more so since this was the case of her own son. Although alternatively, the young prince had developed the unique gift of being quite tricky, because any child, however good natured and honest, enjoys the trill of mischief every now and then. It helped that he was aware of his mother's abilities and knew when she was only letting him off easy. This was not the case, she was convinced by his words and there was no reason for it to be otherwise, since he really wasn't doing anything he thought of as bad.
"It's a surprise," Tenzuh moved his spoon in circles in his lava soup, which had only the appearance of lava but was ironically served at atmosphere temperature. He caught a carrot and red sauce on his silver spoon with a soft 'cling' of the utensil against the fine golden lined white china. He brought the spoon to his mouth, for once chewing thirty-two times, simply to give himself more time to think of the proper phasing to the next part of his reply, or for someone to change the subject. He considered asking grandpa Iroh something about tea or Pai-Sho to get him talking, but decided against it since it would be too much of an obvious escape.
"What kind of surprise?" Iroh inquired with a very casual and relaxed tone, "is it edible or maybe something you can play with, like a new Pai-Sho tile?" He smiled at the thought, and truly hoped his guess was correct.
Tenzuh relaxed, he liked where the conversation was going and he had an idea. "It's something you will all like," he truly believed it would be, "it's something to be proud of, something special. You don't need to worry, I'm being good," that was also true, as the prince was convince this was good for him and for the nation, the more skills he gained, the better he may serve his country. "I'll show you when it's ready, I'll do all my homework and study too."
Zuko didn't need to search for answers on Toph's expression; he could see it all clearly on his son's face. He too was like that, wanting to do a little extra work to impress his parents and help his nation. Ozai was never impressed, but Zuko was always supportive of his son. "In that case, I'll look forward to the surprise," he smiled.
xoxox xox xoxox
"Angel, it still won't work," Tenzuh pouted in frustration, they were training in the royal gardens today and they had been seen, but Angel insisted that it was nothing, the guards paid them little mind anyway.
The palace guards had no idea who the she was, but she seemed harmless enough and the prince socialized with everyone in the palace, so seeing an unknown lady teaching him some stances and motions was not strange. Sure she was unidentified, but if she was this deep in the palace without any alarms going off, she must have been allowed inside and thus would be automatically assumed to be a trust worthy person by the guards. They lived in times of peace and their queen could sense everything all around her, it didn't get any safer than that.
"Don't worry, and don't try it for real now," the lady spoke softly, but with sharp insistence, her cloak was folded out of the way on the ground where no one really noticed it, and her long hair was flowing down to her mid back.
"I know; movements only," Tenzuh nodded, he didn't want to ruin the surprise, thus he only tried to produce lightning in private.
"Just keep practicing," she demonstrated another form, setting her feet apart, with her right a step ahead of her left and mover her right arm sharply forward with her index and middle fingers extended together.
"Angel, can I see your shoes?" Tenzuh was a little distracted that morning, a fact which annoyed his trainer.
She forced herself to smile, the expression very much false, and spoke between her clenched teeth, "little boys who don't pay attention will never learn anything."
"Sorry, it's just that they looked shiny," Tenzuh instinctively backed away.
Sighing impatiently, and knowing there would be no end to the distraction until he satisfied his curiosity, Angel lifted her long dark red robes off the ground to show her shoes, she was wearing heavy looking boots with metal soles. "They are helpful to exercise with," it was an excuse, but not a lie.
Tenzuh's face brightened with fascination, he thought he saw a blue glow in the metal of the boots when Angel set her foot down, "can I-?"
"No, they don't make them in your size," they didn't really make them at all, she customized the boots herself, that particular metal was quite good at conducting electricity and static created very unique vibrations, a scrambler signal to the special abilities of the Fire Lady, who would not be able to accurately perceive her true form well enough to identify her. With her sharpened senses, Toph would be able to tell the person was a woman, and her average size, but little more than that, as if one looked at a figure that was completely masked, from head to toe with no face to show, seeing nothing beyond a silhouette without a name.
"Oh..." with his curiosity satisfied for the time being, Tenzuh continued his training with the sharp motions of his instructor.
"This isn't working," Angel concluded, besides, even if he did by a miracle produce a little lightning, with his limited understanding of he world at such a tender age, pride only meant so much, thus he would produce little more than sparks, harmless sparks that would merely sting at worse. Angel herself had temporarily lost her abilities once but regained them fueled by a strange sort of pride based on anger, red, hatred and the belief that only she was worthy of what was stolen from her. "We'll have to do some special training," it was time for Plan B, stirring some trouble with Plan A before proceeding would have been fun, but she was growing impatient, forget the convenient accident with lightning, it was time for vengeance.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Avatar.
Sign up to rate and review this story