It's that time again!
Fanfic time!
CAUSE SOME TROUBLE
Chapter 4-- Aqila
BTW, I've made a minor change to Chapter 1. I went back and edited the siblings’ tribal affiliation, to fix a small canonical error I’d made. They’re no longer Hammi Tribesmen. I’ve decided to call their tribe the Janan Tribe. For the record, I’m also assuming for the purposes of this fic that Ghashiun, his father, and the other Sandbenders present in “The Desert” are also Janan Tribesmen. Their tribe’s name is never mentioned, but the dialogue of “Appa’s Lost Days” makes it clear that they aren’t Hammi Tribe, as I had previously assumed. Therefore, in order for the siblings to have witnessed Aang’s rage-fest at Si Wong Rock, like I said they did in Chapter 1, they can’t be Hammi Tribe either. Buuut enough with the boring details, and on with the fanfic!
Many many thanks to quantumreality and Kitty East (on FFN) for betaing.
A slender woman with hawk-like features stepped forward. She looked to be in her forties or fifties, perhaps, and moved with an unmistakable air of authority. The woman lifted her hands to the disheveled trio and started to speak in a high, soft voice.
“We welcome Zafirah and Basam of our sister tribe,” she proclaimed. Kuei recognized the smooth intonations of ritual speech. He’d heard it often enough in the Royal Court. Now it was the twins’ turn: they both moved forward and lifted their hands in return.
“We thank you, Qamar of our sister tribe,” said Basam. “We bring news from the Misty Palms Oasis.”
“Two nights ago, the Fire Nation attacked the oasis. All were taken prisoner, except us. We carry this message: the desert has fallen,” Zafirah said flatly. A shocked murmur raced through the crowd, but they fell silent at a gesture from Qamar. Kuei’s forehead creased in a frown at the deadened tone of Zafirah’s voice. Is she all right…? Qamar drew in a sharp breath and nodded stiffly.
“I understand,” she said quietly. Then her attention turned to Kuei. “And who is the outsider you’ve brought here?” she asked, wariness etched into her weathered face. Zafirah had an answer ready for her.
“This is Kuei of Ba Sing Se. He has proven himself trustworthy. He fought bravely alongside us against the Fire Nation.” Here she hesitated, and Kuei saw her eyes dart sideways towards him. “I owe him my life.” This got another reaction from the crowd. They weren’t the only ones surprised-did she really see herself as being indebted to him? That certainly hadn’t been his intention!
Qamar nodded, satisfied with this explanation. “Very well. We welcome you, Kuei of Ba Sing Se, ally of the Janan Tribe.”
“I thank you, Qamar of the Aqila Tribe,” Kuei replied, bowing deeply. If there was one thing Kuei understood, it was courtly rituals. The rites were done and the rest of the tribe surged forward, chattering excitedly, to greet their kinsmen. The young man named Shai was at Zafirah’s side in an instant, gently lifting her chin with one hand and peering at her.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” was Zafirah’s half-hearted answer.
“You sure?”
“Just a little shaken up. I’m fine.” She gave him a thin-lipped smile and lifted one of her hands to grasp his, squeezing softly. You don’t seem fine, Kuei thought. He didn’t have time to ponder it, though, because he abruptly found himself surrounded. A group of the Sandbenders sidled up to him, as if he were a wild animal to be approached with the utmost caution.
“Did Ba Sing Se really fall to the Fire Nation?” one of them asked hesitantly.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Kuei confirmed. Another Sandbender appeared beside him then, seemingly materializing out of thin air. She was fairly short, the top of her head barely reaching Kuei’s shoulder, with a round face and shining brown eyes.
“That must’ve been awful,” she said softly. “I can’t even imagine-“
“What about the Avatar?” another one interjected. “I heard he died there.”
“I-I’m sorry, I wouldn’t know anything about that,” he said, forcing the lie past the guilt that suddenly constricted his lungs. The Sandbenders exchanged worried looks and whispered to each other. The girl scowled at them and crossed her arms.
“Quit crowding the guy, c’mon. He probably doesn’t want to talk about that stuff,” she chided them. She turned to Kuei and tugged at his sleeve. “Let’s go help your friends scavenge stuff from your glider.” Sure enough, the siblings and several of the Aqila Sandbenders had surrounded the buried glider and were carefully excavating it, removing supplies as they uncovered them. Shai shouted a warning as the glider groaned and settled beneath the sand. The workers halted and stepped back. Finally, the overburdened wood caved, collapsing in on itself.
Shai whistled quietly. “You three are damn lucky we found you so soon.”
“We certainly are,” Kuei murmured. There were many ways to die in the Si Wong, none of them pleasant, but being buried alive sounded like a particularly nasty way to go. The short woman patted his arm sympathetically.
“Don’t worry, nobody navigates the desert like the Aqila Tribe,” she said confidently. “Oh, and I’m Amaris.”
“It’s, um, nice to meet you,” Kuei replied. He bowed slightly, earning a small giggle from Amaris. “I’m-well, I suppose you already know,” he added, remembering Zafirah’s introduction.
“I sure do. You’re the brave hero who saved our Zafi from getting scorched.” She smiled sweetly at him, then took a Bending stance and set to work with a flourish of her arms. Kuei felt his cheeks heat up and hurriedly knelt down to start scooping the sand away by hand. He heard Zafirah snort off to his left; when he looked up at her, she glanced back down at her work while fighting a knowing smirk off of her face. Bosco, curious about the humans’ actions, came over and pawed at the sand. “That’s a funny-looking pet you got there,” Amaris commented, chuckling at the animal’s industrious digging.
“He’s a bear. His name’s Bosco,” Kuei told her.
“Just ‘bear’, huh? Not ‘platypus-bear’, or…?”
“No, just a bear.”
“Wow, that’s weird. Do lots of people have bears in Ba Sing Se?”
Kuei couldn’t help but smile at the mental image of bears running amok in the capitol city. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Y’know, we don’t get many Ba Sing Se folks way out here. Not much reason for them to visit the open desert, I guess,” she continued, rambling away as they worked side-by-side.
“Amaris, are you bugging the tourist?” Zafirah teased airily as she passed by with a stack of recovered crates.
“No!” the young woman said swiftly, then she shot an anxious look at Kuei. “I’m not, right?”
“Not at all,” he assured her. Zafirah shook her head and smirked again, although there was something strained about the expression. She retook her position among the workers, and her entire face darkened as she looked upon the buried glider. He looked around the circle to find her brother, and saw Basam stationed close by. He was Bending sand away very slowly, with a contemplative frown on his face.
The work went slowly, the group carefully digging around the jagged, broken planks sticking out of the wreckage. When they were finally finished, they loaded the last of the salvaged goods onto the tribes’ gliders and sailed off for the Aqila camp.
The sun sank in the west as they traveled, and the stiflingly heavy afternoon heat that beat down upon them like a furnace began to fade as a cool breeze kicked up. Finally, as the sun settled below the horizon, they crested a final sand dune and slowed to a halt, giving Kuei time to take in the sight of the settlement nestled in the dune’s shadow.
The sheer size of the tribe astonished Kuei. No one outside of the Si Wong knew exactly how many Sandbenders lived there; finding researchers from the University to conduct a formal census was challenging at best, and actually carrying out a census was next to impossible. But none of the estimates he’d seen came close to accounting for the population of the Aqila Tribe.
“So, what d’you think?” Basam asked from beside him.
“It’s… unbelievable. I had no idea that any of the Sandbender tribes were this large,” Kuei said quietly.
“Frightening, isn’t it?” the other man joked wryly.
Kuei felt himself smiling widely. “It’s fantastic.”
He counted forty dwellings, comprised of the same type of glider-tent that he and the siblings had set up during their voyage. These gliders were larger, though, clearly meant for families. Their inhabitants emerged from the shade of their homes as the foraging party-the group that had found the buried glider-filed into the camp. Children abandoned their games and raced to their parents with squeals of joy, friends and family embraced and greeted one another. Jovial voices filled the air.
The newcomers soon found themselves the center of attention again. Bosco reveled in it, contentedly licking the faces of the children who jostled forward to get a better look at the unfamiliar animal. Their parents were less enthused, ushering the young ones away from the bear while stealing guarded glances at Kuei.
The exiled Earth King felt another pang of guilt as he looked around at this thriving town of desert nomads. I had no idea… There is so much I don’t know…
///////////////////////////////////
Zafirah sat at the edge of the camp, watching the stars appear in the rapidly darkening sky. Qamar had recruited the three travelers to help with the tribe’s communal dinner, but she’d soon told the younger woman to take a walk. Zafirah was distracted, her thoughts all over the place, and she’d nearly burned her fingers-twice. So she’d been sent off to sort her mind out, safely away from cooking fires.
Hesitant footsteps crunching on the sand behind her dragged her thoughts out of their wandering. “May I… sit with you?” asked Kuei.
“Yeah, sure, knock yourself out,” she muttered. The outsider sank down next to her and folded his hands in his lap, following her line of sight out over the dunes. Neither of them spoke for a minute or two, and then Kuei drew a breath like he was trying to force some words out, but he didn’t. “What?”
“Hmm?”
“You were gonna say somethin’, right?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a stray thought. Foolish, really.”
Zafirah shot a sidelong look at him. You certainly are a strange one. “So? Say it anyway,” she told him with a shrug.
“I was just thinking… the desert is quite pretty at this time of day.”
“Yeah, it’s real pretty when it’s not trying to kill you.”
“Fair point,” he agreed with a faint smile. He turned back to the view in front of them, but she could sense his eyes flickering back towards her.
“What?” she repeated, folding her arms across her chest. He waved one hand vaguely, like he couldn’t find the right phrase and hoped to grab it out of the air.
“Well, um, I hope I’m not being too forward in mentioning this, but you and your brother seem, er… I suppose ‘withdrawn’ would be a good word for it,” he said carefully. She sat up from the slouched position she’d been in and paid her full attention to him. First he’d saved her life, and now… Kuei had just broken another rule.
“You’re worried about us,” she declared, arching her eyebrows at him. She felt a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, despite her glum mood. Of all the tourists in the world, I just happen to get the weirdest one of the bunch, she thought dryly. He took her response in exactly the wrong way and winced.
“Sorry, that was presumptuous-I-it’s none of my business-“ he stuttered. She held up a hand to stop him before he could embarrass himself any more.
“Shut it. Quit apologizing.” She took a shaky breath and glanced down at her feet. “Our parents died in a sandstorm four years back. We nearly met the same end they did, just now.”
“Oh,” he murmured. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It was just a shock, is all. We’ll be fine.” And this time, she realized, she meant it. “We’ll all be fine,” she added softly. “See, that’s the thing about the desert-it might kill you tomorrow, so you find something that’s worth living for today, something to be happy about. If you don’t, you end up a few feathers short of a buzzard-wasp,” she joked, twirling her fingertip next to her temple.
The tourist smiled faintly, then spoke again after a few more minutes of silence. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent. My father passed away when I was a child,” he said. Zafirah whistled in sympathy.
“What about the rest of your family? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“My mother is gone as well.” Something flashed in his deep green eyes and she suspected there was more to the story, but she didn’t feel like prying. Well, not that much, anyway.
“There had to have been somebody else, though, right?” she insisted. “Wife? Girlfriend?”
“No,” he answered, sounding almost wistful.
“Boyfriend?” she tried. “It’s okay, you can admit it. There’s nothin’ wrong with that, y’know-“
“N-no, no, it’s nothing like that,” he insisted quickly, face turning bright red. “The thing is, my life in Ba Sing Se didn’t really leave me many opportunities to meet young ladies.”
“Ah, gotcha.” So he’s a student, probably the son of some nobleman, and can’t talk to girls. Heh. There’s three pieces of the riddle. “So it was just you and Bosco, then?” Before Kuei could answer, Basam bounded up and dropped into a crouch behind them.
“Hey, dinner’s ready! Quit your chitchat and get some food before we eat it all,” he announced brightly. He Bent a swirl of sand that hoisted him to his feet and dashed off again. Zafirah chuckled and lightly jabbed Kuei in the arm with her knuckles.
“C’mon, tourist. I think we’ve done enough whining for one night,” she teased.
////////////////////////////////
They returned to the center of the Aqila camp to find the tribe congregated around the cooking fire, lined up with metal bowls in their hands. Amaris was waiting for them at the end of the line. She handed each of them a bowl, winking prettily at Kuei as she did so and making him blush for the third time that day. He heard Zafirah snicker beside him, but the moment he turned to look at her, she’d schooled her face into the very picture of innocence.
The communal meal that night was very much like the stew Zafirah had made on his first night in the desert-which, as it turned out, was very much like the same thing she and her brother ate nearly every day.
He sat down between the siblings and looked down at the meager portions in their bowls, and Kuei felt another surge of that ever-present guilt. Zafirah cleared her throat, drawing his attention.
“Okay, now it’s my turn to ask you what’s up,” she said, arching her eyebrows at him again.
“’What’s up’?” he echoed uneasily. She nodded vigorously, leveling a stern finger at him.
“I see that look. What’s the problem?” she prompted. He hesitated, finding it difficult to keep his thoughts organized under the piercing gaze of her brown eyes.
“Well… you’ve all been so kind to me, even though you have so little… and I have no way of repaying that generosity,” he said quietly. And I’m not even certain that I deserve it, he added silently. Zafirah cocked her head at him, and then the same mystified smile he’d first seen back in the oasis crept over her features.
“Kuei, you know what they call it when somebody freely gives you something? It’s called a gift. You don’t have to repay a gift, so quit worryin’ about it. I helped you out ‘cause I felt like it,” she told him frankly. “Besides, we don’t have much, but it’s not like we’re suffering.” She gestured with her bowl, and he followed the movement of her arm over the Sandbenders crowded nearby. “It’s like I just told you-we find something to be happy about. The Fire Nation could be coming after us this very minute, but right now? We’re all here together, we have good food, and we’ll be damned if we’re gonna let some ash-brained Firebenders or a sandstorm ruin that.”
Her eyes shone as if daring him to disagree. He just smiled, feeling the warmth and the vibrancy of the community all around him.
“All right, but I can still try to repay you,” he decided, taking a mouthful of stew.
“Y’mean besides saving my sister’s life and helping us find the Aqila?” Basam asked off-handedly. Once again, Kuei didn’t have time to reply; Qamar stood and whistled loudly, clapping her hands to get the tribe’s attention. Once she had it, she turned to the siblings.
“Zafirah, Basam-I want you to tell us everything you can remember about the Fire Nation raid at the oasis,” she said calmly. The twins looked at each other with sudden unease.
“There’s not much to tell,” Basam began, speaking slowly and carefully. “They attacked us in the middle of the night-“
“-They caught us off-guard,” Zafirah interjected, her voice harsh.
“We were outnumbered pretty bad, and they had these flying things…”
“Big red machines, floating in the air over the oasis.”
“It was all over by sunrise,” Zafirah finished. Kuei saw in her expression the same listlessness that he’d observed earlier that day. “They said ‘The desert has fallen’. I’m sure they’ll be back to round up the rest of us soon, and with even more troops.” Qamar nodded, frowning as she contemplated this information.
“And tell me, how did you three escape?” she asked. Zafirah stiffened and stared at the ground.
“We hid,” she grumbled. “I got scared. I ran and hid, and I dragged these two with me.” She jerked her thumbs at the two men beside her. Qamar’s eyes softened, seeing the younger woman’s shame, and she walked over to place her hand on Zafirah’s shoulder.
“Don’t blame yourself, girl. In protecting yourselves, you survived to bring us this information. By running and hiding, girl, you may have saved us.” Zafirah looked up at the Aqila Tribe’s leader through eyes that glistened with unshed tears, confusion plain on her face. Qamar smiled boldly and moved away to stride amongst her people, looking at each of their faces as she passed them. “I’ve been mulling this plan over in my head ever since you first delivered this news to us, when we dug you out of that wreck. These things you’ve told me have only convinced me more-we must take a stand against the Fire Nation!”
Kuei inhaled sharply and felt a chill run up his spine. No one in the crowd spoke, or even moved a muscle.
Qamar waited for a second, and then went on. “Tomorrow at first light, we’ll send scouts to rally the other tribes. With all of the tribes gathered around us-- with the full strength of the desert on our side-- the Fire Nation won't find us to be such a weak target, after all.” She paused as a wild light filled her dark brown eyes. “Let them come with their flying things. A Sandbender in the open desert is as powerful as a Waterbender on the high seas. We’re no easy prey!” The Aqila Tribe roared their approval.
“They’ll never catch us off-guard again!” Zafirah exclaimed, thrusting her fist high above her had. The shame in her expression gave way to burning pride, her mood seemingly buoyed by the spark of fierce elation that seemed to ignite the very air. The tribe cheered, their upraised fists joining hers.
Kuei stared about himself, feeling oddly as though he’d missed a step on a flight of stairs. I think I just landed myself in the middle of a battlefield, he thought dazedly. Oh Spirits… they’re going to war against the Fire Nation! He choked down the panic that writhed in his stomach like a live eelfish. Surely this was a fight doomed to failure?
Then again… the Sandbenders would go into this fight with both eyes open. They wouldn’t be blinded, as he himself had been. Perhaps these Sandbenders could succeed where the Earth King and his armies had failed. Maybe, just maybe, they could drive the Fire Nation out of their home. Somewhere, deep in his chest, a glimmer of hope came alive.
The rest of the meal passed by in a haze of excited chatter, and then he and the siblings were enlisted to help with cleaning up. As they were scrubbing the last of the dishes, a rowdy cheer from the center of camp echoed through the warm, humid night. Zafirah nudged Kuei with her elbow and pointed. Most of the tribe had formed a loose ring around two young men circling each other. He recognized one of them as Shai.
“A fight?” Kuei wondered.
“Nope, a sparring match!” Zafirah replied happily.
“This is basically what we do for fun out here,” Basam said at Kuei’s puzzled expression. “Sparring teaches us new Sandbending forms, keeps us in shape, that kind of thing. And, y’know, with the Fire Nation out to get us…” He grinned as he let the sentence trail off.
“Yep. You city people are spoiled, with your fancy Bending schools,” Zafirah added lightly. “A few rounds in a good sparring circle and you’ll learn everything you ever need to know.”
Kuei, caught up in the Aqila Tribe’s infectiously high spirits, decided to be bold. “I’m sure Basam and I could finish cleaning that, if you’d like to go and cheer for your boyfriend,” he suggested jokingly, gesturing with the scrubbing cloth he held to the massive cauldron she was Sandbending into. She stared at him as though he’d suddenly started Waterbending.
“Boyfriend?” she repeated. “Who, Shai? He’s not my boyfriend.”
Well, so much for bold joke-telling, Kuei thought sheepishly. “S-sorry. I saw the two of you together earlier, and I thought, um…”
“Nah, it’s okay. He used to be.” She smiled fondly as she looked over at the impromptu sparring ring.
The dish-scrubbers finished their chores and migrated over to watch the match just as Shai’s opponent hit the ground and skidded out of the ring. A deafening roar went up from the onlookers as the victor walked to his defeated opponent and stretched his hand down, laughing easily. The other man snorted, but then he too was chuckling. Shai helped him to his feet and they bowed to one another.
Shai noticed the three of them standing at the edge of the ring and beamed proudly at Zafirah, fists on his hips. She rolled her eyes and waved. The young man puffed up like a peacock-duck, completely oblivious to the tall, wiry girl who charged into the ring with her fists drawn back. He was oblivious no more as a pillar of sand found its mark squarely between his shoulder blades, and the fight was on!
The girl swiftly sent Shai and her next two opponents flying, but then she, too, met with defeat. Match after match went by, and soon Qamar stood in the ring, seeking out a worthy foe. She pointed straight at Zafirah.
“Come on, Janan girl. Let’s see what you’ve been learning!” the older woman goaded. Zafirah scoffed and hopped upright, striding into the ring with an irrepressible grin stretched across her face.
The two women circled each other along the edges of the space, eyes locked on one another. Quick as lightning, Zafirah feinted left and surged forward, suddenly twisting and sliding to a halt with her right foot outthrust, sending a crest of sand racing towards Qamar. The Aqila woman spun, arms tucked up against her torso, dropped into a half-crouch-and thrust her arms out and down, cutting the crest in half to fall uselessly on either side of her. She spun again, dropping further and slamming her fists into the ground. A pillar of sand erupted from the spot where Zafirah had stood mere seconds ago, coming close enough to graze her side as she leaped out of its path.
Kuei realized that he was leaning forward, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet as he watched with bated breath while the fight went on and on.
Zafirah and Qamar sprang towards each other, and Zafirah shot sideways, swinging her arms up as she jumped into the air. She landed and lunged at her foe, slicing her fingertips through the sand. A trench opened beneath Qamar’s feet, and the crowd gasped as she nearly went down. Then the older woman regained her footing and sent the trench hurtling right back, but her opponent dodged almost effortlessly.
Zafirah pressed her attack forward, throwing her arms wide and bringing her palms together with a resounding smack. Sand rushed up to surround Qamar, blocking her from view for several nerve-wracking seconds. Then the sand exploded outward, making the onlookers duck as it flew past their heads.
The two women were close to arm’s reach from each other now. Qamar raised a wave of sand that swept beneath Zafirah’s feet, bringing the younger woman to her knees. But then she was up again, charging ahead. She leaped high above Qamar’s second attack and rolled as she struck the ground, thrusting her fingers deep into the sand as she righted herself. She brought her arms up sharply, lifted them above her head, then flung them down and punched her fists outwards. A massive coil of sand sprang to life out of the ground, swirling around Qamar like a cobra-viper. Undaunted, she stomped her left foot against the ground and swung her arms in a circle, bringing down the sand-cobra. As Zafirah came to her feet, Qamar spun once more and swiped her left hand out as she lunged sideways. The ground itself reared up beneath the younger woman’s feet, putting her even further off-balance and Zafirah toppled backwards.
Zafirah hit the sand and her opponent crouched above her, one hand at her throat. The crowd held its breath for a long, tense moment, and then another wide grin split Zafirah’s face. Qamar smiled back, her bell-like laugh drifting out from the ring. She stood and offered a hand to her defeated friend, pulling her upright.
“Not bad, girl,” Qamar declared. The women bowed to each other, to the raucous cheers of the audience. Zafirah jogged back and slumped to the ground at Kuei’s feet while Qamar sought out a fresh challenger.
“Haha, whew, that was bracing!” she panted cheerfully. He looked curiously at her as he sat down beside her; standing above her just seemed far too rude.
“I would have thought you’d be upset at losing,” he mused. She paused, considering, then shrugged carelessly.
“Sure, winning would’ve been nice. But hey, that was the most fun I’ve had in weeks,” she said with a contented sigh.
“Something to be happy about?” he suggested, echoing her words from earlier.
“Exactly,” she agreed, waggling a slender finger at him and still beaming from ear to ear. This smile was a far cry from the smirks and sardonic grins he’d seen from her thus far. It lit up her whole face, making her warm brown eyes blaze. He smiled back as his breath caught in his chest.
////////////////////////////////////////////
Oh dear, something’s happening there at the end, huh? :D
Playlist!
1) The Reprimand [The Prince of Egypt]: Meeting the Aqila Tribe.
2) Through Heaven’s Eyes [The Prince of Egypt]: Chapter Four theme.
3) Rap is a Man's Soul! The Man Who Believes in Himself and Surges at Heaven! Open Your Ears Wide and Listen to the Great Kamina's Theme! (a.k.a. “Row Row Fight The Power”) [Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]: Qamar announces her plan to lead the Sandbender tribes into battle against the Fire Nation.
4) This Is Berk [How To Train Your Dragon]: Zafirah’s sparring match.
CAUSE SOME TROUBLE
Chapter 4-- Aqila
BTW, I've made a minor change to Chapter 1. I went back and edited the siblings’ tribal affiliation, to fix a small canonical error I’d made. They’re no longer Hammi Tribesmen. I’ve decided to call their tribe the Janan Tribe. For the record, I’m also assuming for the purposes of this fic that Ghashiun, his father, and the other Sandbenders present in “The Desert” are also Janan Tribesmen. Their tribe’s name is never mentioned, but the dialogue of “Appa’s Lost Days” makes it clear that they aren’t Hammi Tribe, as I had previously assumed. Therefore, in order for the siblings to have witnessed Aang’s rage-fest at Si Wong Rock, like I said they did in Chapter 1, they can’t be Hammi Tribe either. Buuut enough with the boring details, and on with the fanfic!
Many many thanks to quantumreality and Kitty East (on FFN) for betaing.
A slender woman with hawk-like features stepped forward. She looked to be in her forties or fifties, perhaps, and moved with an unmistakable air of authority. The woman lifted her hands to the disheveled trio and started to speak in a high, soft voice.
“We welcome Zafirah and Basam of our sister tribe,” she proclaimed. Kuei recognized the smooth intonations of ritual speech. He’d heard it often enough in the Royal Court. Now it was the twins’ turn: they both moved forward and lifted their hands in return.
“We thank you, Qamar of our sister tribe,” said Basam. “We bring news from the Misty Palms Oasis.”
“Two nights ago, the Fire Nation attacked the oasis. All were taken prisoner, except us. We carry this message: the desert has fallen,” Zafirah said flatly. A shocked murmur raced through the crowd, but they fell silent at a gesture from Qamar. Kuei’s forehead creased in a frown at the deadened tone of Zafirah’s voice. Is she all right…? Qamar drew in a sharp breath and nodded stiffly.
“I understand,” she said quietly. Then her attention turned to Kuei. “And who is the outsider you’ve brought here?” she asked, wariness etched into her weathered face. Zafirah had an answer ready for her.
“This is Kuei of Ba Sing Se. He has proven himself trustworthy. He fought bravely alongside us against the Fire Nation.” Here she hesitated, and Kuei saw her eyes dart sideways towards him. “I owe him my life.” This got another reaction from the crowd. They weren’t the only ones surprised-did she really see herself as being indebted to him? That certainly hadn’t been his intention!
Qamar nodded, satisfied with this explanation. “Very well. We welcome you, Kuei of Ba Sing Se, ally of the Janan Tribe.”
“I thank you, Qamar of the Aqila Tribe,” Kuei replied, bowing deeply. If there was one thing Kuei understood, it was courtly rituals. The rites were done and the rest of the tribe surged forward, chattering excitedly, to greet their kinsmen. The young man named Shai was at Zafirah’s side in an instant, gently lifting her chin with one hand and peering at her.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” was Zafirah’s half-hearted answer.
“You sure?”
“Just a little shaken up. I’m fine.” She gave him a thin-lipped smile and lifted one of her hands to grasp his, squeezing softly. You don’t seem fine, Kuei thought. He didn’t have time to ponder it, though, because he abruptly found himself surrounded. A group of the Sandbenders sidled up to him, as if he were a wild animal to be approached with the utmost caution.
“Did Ba Sing Se really fall to the Fire Nation?” one of them asked hesitantly.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Kuei confirmed. Another Sandbender appeared beside him then, seemingly materializing out of thin air. She was fairly short, the top of her head barely reaching Kuei’s shoulder, with a round face and shining brown eyes.
“That must’ve been awful,” she said softly. “I can’t even imagine-“
“What about the Avatar?” another one interjected. “I heard he died there.”
“I-I’m sorry, I wouldn’t know anything about that,” he said, forcing the lie past the guilt that suddenly constricted his lungs. The Sandbenders exchanged worried looks and whispered to each other. The girl scowled at them and crossed her arms.
“Quit crowding the guy, c’mon. He probably doesn’t want to talk about that stuff,” she chided them. She turned to Kuei and tugged at his sleeve. “Let’s go help your friends scavenge stuff from your glider.” Sure enough, the siblings and several of the Aqila Sandbenders had surrounded the buried glider and were carefully excavating it, removing supplies as they uncovered them. Shai shouted a warning as the glider groaned and settled beneath the sand. The workers halted and stepped back. Finally, the overburdened wood caved, collapsing in on itself.
Shai whistled quietly. “You three are damn lucky we found you so soon.”
“We certainly are,” Kuei murmured. There were many ways to die in the Si Wong, none of them pleasant, but being buried alive sounded like a particularly nasty way to go. The short woman patted his arm sympathetically.
“Don’t worry, nobody navigates the desert like the Aqila Tribe,” she said confidently. “Oh, and I’m Amaris.”
“It’s, um, nice to meet you,” Kuei replied. He bowed slightly, earning a small giggle from Amaris. “I’m-well, I suppose you already know,” he added, remembering Zafirah’s introduction.
“I sure do. You’re the brave hero who saved our Zafi from getting scorched.” She smiled sweetly at him, then took a Bending stance and set to work with a flourish of her arms. Kuei felt his cheeks heat up and hurriedly knelt down to start scooping the sand away by hand. He heard Zafirah snort off to his left; when he looked up at her, she glanced back down at her work while fighting a knowing smirk off of her face. Bosco, curious about the humans’ actions, came over and pawed at the sand. “That’s a funny-looking pet you got there,” Amaris commented, chuckling at the animal’s industrious digging.
“He’s a bear. His name’s Bosco,” Kuei told her.
“Just ‘bear’, huh? Not ‘platypus-bear’, or…?”
“No, just a bear.”
“Wow, that’s weird. Do lots of people have bears in Ba Sing Se?”
Kuei couldn’t help but smile at the mental image of bears running amok in the capitol city. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Y’know, we don’t get many Ba Sing Se folks way out here. Not much reason for them to visit the open desert, I guess,” she continued, rambling away as they worked side-by-side.
“Amaris, are you bugging the tourist?” Zafirah teased airily as she passed by with a stack of recovered crates.
“No!” the young woman said swiftly, then she shot an anxious look at Kuei. “I’m not, right?”
“Not at all,” he assured her. Zafirah shook her head and smirked again, although there was something strained about the expression. She retook her position among the workers, and her entire face darkened as she looked upon the buried glider. He looked around the circle to find her brother, and saw Basam stationed close by. He was Bending sand away very slowly, with a contemplative frown on his face.
The work went slowly, the group carefully digging around the jagged, broken planks sticking out of the wreckage. When they were finally finished, they loaded the last of the salvaged goods onto the tribes’ gliders and sailed off for the Aqila camp.
The sun sank in the west as they traveled, and the stiflingly heavy afternoon heat that beat down upon them like a furnace began to fade as a cool breeze kicked up. Finally, as the sun settled below the horizon, they crested a final sand dune and slowed to a halt, giving Kuei time to take in the sight of the settlement nestled in the dune’s shadow.
The sheer size of the tribe astonished Kuei. No one outside of the Si Wong knew exactly how many Sandbenders lived there; finding researchers from the University to conduct a formal census was challenging at best, and actually carrying out a census was next to impossible. But none of the estimates he’d seen came close to accounting for the population of the Aqila Tribe.
“So, what d’you think?” Basam asked from beside him.
“It’s… unbelievable. I had no idea that any of the Sandbender tribes were this large,” Kuei said quietly.
“Frightening, isn’t it?” the other man joked wryly.
Kuei felt himself smiling widely. “It’s fantastic.”
He counted forty dwellings, comprised of the same type of glider-tent that he and the siblings had set up during their voyage. These gliders were larger, though, clearly meant for families. Their inhabitants emerged from the shade of their homes as the foraging party-the group that had found the buried glider-filed into the camp. Children abandoned their games and raced to their parents with squeals of joy, friends and family embraced and greeted one another. Jovial voices filled the air.
The newcomers soon found themselves the center of attention again. Bosco reveled in it, contentedly licking the faces of the children who jostled forward to get a better look at the unfamiliar animal. Their parents were less enthused, ushering the young ones away from the bear while stealing guarded glances at Kuei.
The exiled Earth King felt another pang of guilt as he looked around at this thriving town of desert nomads. I had no idea… There is so much I don’t know…
///////////////////////////////////
Zafirah sat at the edge of the camp, watching the stars appear in the rapidly darkening sky. Qamar had recruited the three travelers to help with the tribe’s communal dinner, but she’d soon told the younger woman to take a walk. Zafirah was distracted, her thoughts all over the place, and she’d nearly burned her fingers-twice. So she’d been sent off to sort her mind out, safely away from cooking fires.
Hesitant footsteps crunching on the sand behind her dragged her thoughts out of their wandering. “May I… sit with you?” asked Kuei.
“Yeah, sure, knock yourself out,” she muttered. The outsider sank down next to her and folded his hands in his lap, following her line of sight out over the dunes. Neither of them spoke for a minute or two, and then Kuei drew a breath like he was trying to force some words out, but he didn’t. “What?”
“Hmm?”
“You were gonna say somethin’, right?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a stray thought. Foolish, really.”
Zafirah shot a sidelong look at him. You certainly are a strange one. “So? Say it anyway,” she told him with a shrug.
“I was just thinking… the desert is quite pretty at this time of day.”
“Yeah, it’s real pretty when it’s not trying to kill you.”
“Fair point,” he agreed with a faint smile. He turned back to the view in front of them, but she could sense his eyes flickering back towards her.
“What?” she repeated, folding her arms across her chest. He waved one hand vaguely, like he couldn’t find the right phrase and hoped to grab it out of the air.
“Well, um, I hope I’m not being too forward in mentioning this, but you and your brother seem, er… I suppose ‘withdrawn’ would be a good word for it,” he said carefully. She sat up from the slouched position she’d been in and paid her full attention to him. First he’d saved her life, and now… Kuei had just broken another rule.
“You’re worried about us,” she declared, arching her eyebrows at him. She felt a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, despite her glum mood. Of all the tourists in the world, I just happen to get the weirdest one of the bunch, she thought dryly. He took her response in exactly the wrong way and winced.
“Sorry, that was presumptuous-I-it’s none of my business-“ he stuttered. She held up a hand to stop him before he could embarrass himself any more.
“Shut it. Quit apologizing.” She took a shaky breath and glanced down at her feet. “Our parents died in a sandstorm four years back. We nearly met the same end they did, just now.”
“Oh,” he murmured. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It was just a shock, is all. We’ll be fine.” And this time, she realized, she meant it. “We’ll all be fine,” she added softly. “See, that’s the thing about the desert-it might kill you tomorrow, so you find something that’s worth living for today, something to be happy about. If you don’t, you end up a few feathers short of a buzzard-wasp,” she joked, twirling her fingertip next to her temple.
The tourist smiled faintly, then spoke again after a few more minutes of silence. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent. My father passed away when I was a child,” he said. Zafirah whistled in sympathy.
“What about the rest of your family? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“My mother is gone as well.” Something flashed in his deep green eyes and she suspected there was more to the story, but she didn’t feel like prying. Well, not that much, anyway.
“There had to have been somebody else, though, right?” she insisted. “Wife? Girlfriend?”
“No,” he answered, sounding almost wistful.
“Boyfriend?” she tried. “It’s okay, you can admit it. There’s nothin’ wrong with that, y’know-“
“N-no, no, it’s nothing like that,” he insisted quickly, face turning bright red. “The thing is, my life in Ba Sing Se didn’t really leave me many opportunities to meet young ladies.”
“Ah, gotcha.” So he’s a student, probably the son of some nobleman, and can’t talk to girls. Heh. There’s three pieces of the riddle. “So it was just you and Bosco, then?” Before Kuei could answer, Basam bounded up and dropped into a crouch behind them.
“Hey, dinner’s ready! Quit your chitchat and get some food before we eat it all,” he announced brightly. He Bent a swirl of sand that hoisted him to his feet and dashed off again. Zafirah chuckled and lightly jabbed Kuei in the arm with her knuckles.
“C’mon, tourist. I think we’ve done enough whining for one night,” she teased.
////////////////////////////////
They returned to the center of the Aqila camp to find the tribe congregated around the cooking fire, lined up with metal bowls in their hands. Amaris was waiting for them at the end of the line. She handed each of them a bowl, winking prettily at Kuei as she did so and making him blush for the third time that day. He heard Zafirah snicker beside him, but the moment he turned to look at her, she’d schooled her face into the very picture of innocence.
The communal meal that night was very much like the stew Zafirah had made on his first night in the desert-which, as it turned out, was very much like the same thing she and her brother ate nearly every day.
He sat down between the siblings and looked down at the meager portions in their bowls, and Kuei felt another surge of that ever-present guilt. Zafirah cleared her throat, drawing his attention.
“Okay, now it’s my turn to ask you what’s up,” she said, arching her eyebrows at him again.
“’What’s up’?” he echoed uneasily. She nodded vigorously, leveling a stern finger at him.
“I see that look. What’s the problem?” she prompted. He hesitated, finding it difficult to keep his thoughts organized under the piercing gaze of her brown eyes.
“Well… you’ve all been so kind to me, even though you have so little… and I have no way of repaying that generosity,” he said quietly. And I’m not even certain that I deserve it, he added silently. Zafirah cocked her head at him, and then the same mystified smile he’d first seen back in the oasis crept over her features.
“Kuei, you know what they call it when somebody freely gives you something? It’s called a gift. You don’t have to repay a gift, so quit worryin’ about it. I helped you out ‘cause I felt like it,” she told him frankly. “Besides, we don’t have much, but it’s not like we’re suffering.” She gestured with her bowl, and he followed the movement of her arm over the Sandbenders crowded nearby. “It’s like I just told you-we find something to be happy about. The Fire Nation could be coming after us this very minute, but right now? We’re all here together, we have good food, and we’ll be damned if we’re gonna let some ash-brained Firebenders or a sandstorm ruin that.”
Her eyes shone as if daring him to disagree. He just smiled, feeling the warmth and the vibrancy of the community all around him.
“All right, but I can still try to repay you,” he decided, taking a mouthful of stew.
“Y’mean besides saving my sister’s life and helping us find the Aqila?” Basam asked off-handedly. Once again, Kuei didn’t have time to reply; Qamar stood and whistled loudly, clapping her hands to get the tribe’s attention. Once she had it, she turned to the siblings.
“Zafirah, Basam-I want you to tell us everything you can remember about the Fire Nation raid at the oasis,” she said calmly. The twins looked at each other with sudden unease.
“There’s not much to tell,” Basam began, speaking slowly and carefully. “They attacked us in the middle of the night-“
“-They caught us off-guard,” Zafirah interjected, her voice harsh.
“We were outnumbered pretty bad, and they had these flying things…”
“Big red machines, floating in the air over the oasis.”
“It was all over by sunrise,” Zafirah finished. Kuei saw in her expression the same listlessness that he’d observed earlier that day. “They said ‘The desert has fallen’. I’m sure they’ll be back to round up the rest of us soon, and with even more troops.” Qamar nodded, frowning as she contemplated this information.
“And tell me, how did you three escape?” she asked. Zafirah stiffened and stared at the ground.
“We hid,” she grumbled. “I got scared. I ran and hid, and I dragged these two with me.” She jerked her thumbs at the two men beside her. Qamar’s eyes softened, seeing the younger woman’s shame, and she walked over to place her hand on Zafirah’s shoulder.
“Don’t blame yourself, girl. In protecting yourselves, you survived to bring us this information. By running and hiding, girl, you may have saved us.” Zafirah looked up at the Aqila Tribe’s leader through eyes that glistened with unshed tears, confusion plain on her face. Qamar smiled boldly and moved away to stride amongst her people, looking at each of their faces as she passed them. “I’ve been mulling this plan over in my head ever since you first delivered this news to us, when we dug you out of that wreck. These things you’ve told me have only convinced me more-we must take a stand against the Fire Nation!”
Kuei inhaled sharply and felt a chill run up his spine. No one in the crowd spoke, or even moved a muscle.
Qamar waited for a second, and then went on. “Tomorrow at first light, we’ll send scouts to rally the other tribes. With all of the tribes gathered around us-- with the full strength of the desert on our side-- the Fire Nation won't find us to be such a weak target, after all.” She paused as a wild light filled her dark brown eyes. “Let them come with their flying things. A Sandbender in the open desert is as powerful as a Waterbender on the high seas. We’re no easy prey!” The Aqila Tribe roared their approval.
“They’ll never catch us off-guard again!” Zafirah exclaimed, thrusting her fist high above her had. The shame in her expression gave way to burning pride, her mood seemingly buoyed by the spark of fierce elation that seemed to ignite the very air. The tribe cheered, their upraised fists joining hers.
Kuei stared about himself, feeling oddly as though he’d missed a step on a flight of stairs. I think I just landed myself in the middle of a battlefield, he thought dazedly. Oh Spirits… they’re going to war against the Fire Nation! He choked down the panic that writhed in his stomach like a live eelfish. Surely this was a fight doomed to failure?
Then again… the Sandbenders would go into this fight with both eyes open. They wouldn’t be blinded, as he himself had been. Perhaps these Sandbenders could succeed where the Earth King and his armies had failed. Maybe, just maybe, they could drive the Fire Nation out of their home. Somewhere, deep in his chest, a glimmer of hope came alive.
The rest of the meal passed by in a haze of excited chatter, and then he and the siblings were enlisted to help with cleaning up. As they were scrubbing the last of the dishes, a rowdy cheer from the center of camp echoed through the warm, humid night. Zafirah nudged Kuei with her elbow and pointed. Most of the tribe had formed a loose ring around two young men circling each other. He recognized one of them as Shai.
“A fight?” Kuei wondered.
“Nope, a sparring match!” Zafirah replied happily.
“This is basically what we do for fun out here,” Basam said at Kuei’s puzzled expression. “Sparring teaches us new Sandbending forms, keeps us in shape, that kind of thing. And, y’know, with the Fire Nation out to get us…” He grinned as he let the sentence trail off.
“Yep. You city people are spoiled, with your fancy Bending schools,” Zafirah added lightly. “A few rounds in a good sparring circle and you’ll learn everything you ever need to know.”
Kuei, caught up in the Aqila Tribe’s infectiously high spirits, decided to be bold. “I’m sure Basam and I could finish cleaning that, if you’d like to go and cheer for your boyfriend,” he suggested jokingly, gesturing with the scrubbing cloth he held to the massive cauldron she was Sandbending into. She stared at him as though he’d suddenly started Waterbending.
“Boyfriend?” she repeated. “Who, Shai? He’s not my boyfriend.”
Well, so much for bold joke-telling, Kuei thought sheepishly. “S-sorry. I saw the two of you together earlier, and I thought, um…”
“Nah, it’s okay. He used to be.” She smiled fondly as she looked over at the impromptu sparring ring.
The dish-scrubbers finished their chores and migrated over to watch the match just as Shai’s opponent hit the ground and skidded out of the ring. A deafening roar went up from the onlookers as the victor walked to his defeated opponent and stretched his hand down, laughing easily. The other man snorted, but then he too was chuckling. Shai helped him to his feet and they bowed to one another.
Shai noticed the three of them standing at the edge of the ring and beamed proudly at Zafirah, fists on his hips. She rolled her eyes and waved. The young man puffed up like a peacock-duck, completely oblivious to the tall, wiry girl who charged into the ring with her fists drawn back. He was oblivious no more as a pillar of sand found its mark squarely between his shoulder blades, and the fight was on!
The girl swiftly sent Shai and her next two opponents flying, but then she, too, met with defeat. Match after match went by, and soon Qamar stood in the ring, seeking out a worthy foe. She pointed straight at Zafirah.
“Come on, Janan girl. Let’s see what you’ve been learning!” the older woman goaded. Zafirah scoffed and hopped upright, striding into the ring with an irrepressible grin stretched across her face.
The two women circled each other along the edges of the space, eyes locked on one another. Quick as lightning, Zafirah feinted left and surged forward, suddenly twisting and sliding to a halt with her right foot outthrust, sending a crest of sand racing towards Qamar. The Aqila woman spun, arms tucked up against her torso, dropped into a half-crouch-and thrust her arms out and down, cutting the crest in half to fall uselessly on either side of her. She spun again, dropping further and slamming her fists into the ground. A pillar of sand erupted from the spot where Zafirah had stood mere seconds ago, coming close enough to graze her side as she leaped out of its path.
Kuei realized that he was leaning forward, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet as he watched with bated breath while the fight went on and on.
Zafirah and Qamar sprang towards each other, and Zafirah shot sideways, swinging her arms up as she jumped into the air. She landed and lunged at her foe, slicing her fingertips through the sand. A trench opened beneath Qamar’s feet, and the crowd gasped as she nearly went down. Then the older woman regained her footing and sent the trench hurtling right back, but her opponent dodged almost effortlessly.
Zafirah pressed her attack forward, throwing her arms wide and bringing her palms together with a resounding smack. Sand rushed up to surround Qamar, blocking her from view for several nerve-wracking seconds. Then the sand exploded outward, making the onlookers duck as it flew past their heads.
The two women were close to arm’s reach from each other now. Qamar raised a wave of sand that swept beneath Zafirah’s feet, bringing the younger woman to her knees. But then she was up again, charging ahead. She leaped high above Qamar’s second attack and rolled as she struck the ground, thrusting her fingers deep into the sand as she righted herself. She brought her arms up sharply, lifted them above her head, then flung them down and punched her fists outwards. A massive coil of sand sprang to life out of the ground, swirling around Qamar like a cobra-viper. Undaunted, she stomped her left foot against the ground and swung her arms in a circle, bringing down the sand-cobra. As Zafirah came to her feet, Qamar spun once more and swiped her left hand out as she lunged sideways. The ground itself reared up beneath the younger woman’s feet, putting her even further off-balance and Zafirah toppled backwards.
Zafirah hit the sand and her opponent crouched above her, one hand at her throat. The crowd held its breath for a long, tense moment, and then another wide grin split Zafirah’s face. Qamar smiled back, her bell-like laugh drifting out from the ring. She stood and offered a hand to her defeated friend, pulling her upright.
“Not bad, girl,” Qamar declared. The women bowed to each other, to the raucous cheers of the audience. Zafirah jogged back and slumped to the ground at Kuei’s feet while Qamar sought out a fresh challenger.
“Haha, whew, that was bracing!” she panted cheerfully. He looked curiously at her as he sat down beside her; standing above her just seemed far too rude.
“I would have thought you’d be upset at losing,” he mused. She paused, considering, then shrugged carelessly.
“Sure, winning would’ve been nice. But hey, that was the most fun I’ve had in weeks,” she said with a contented sigh.
“Something to be happy about?” he suggested, echoing her words from earlier.
“Exactly,” she agreed, waggling a slender finger at him and still beaming from ear to ear. This smile was a far cry from the smirks and sardonic grins he’d seen from her thus far. It lit up her whole face, making her warm brown eyes blaze. He smiled back as his breath caught in his chest.
////////////////////////////////////////////
Oh dear, something’s happening there at the end, huh? :D
Playlist!
1) The Reprimand [The Prince of Egypt]: Meeting the Aqila Tribe.
2) Through Heaven’s Eyes [The Prince of Egypt]: Chapter Four theme.
3) Rap is a Man's Soul! The Man Who Believes in Himself and Surges at Heaven! Open Your Ears Wide and Listen to the Great Kamina's Theme! (a.k.a. “Row Row Fight The Power”) [Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]: Qamar announces her plan to lead the Sandbender tribes into battle against the Fire Nation.
4) This Is Berk [How To Train Your Dragon]: Zafirah’s sparring match.