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Overview[]
The Avatar arrives in Zaofu to truly master earth.
Chapter 3: The Earth Below[]
Book 1: Mastery
Chapter 3: The Earth Below
The flight to Zaofu took nearly a day. The lounges were mostly empty, the commercial fliers having largely been cleared out to let the Avatar travel in peace. "Champagne, sir," an air steward offered.
"Uh sure, if I'm allowed," Xiao answered.
"But of course! We're registered in Chameleon Bay, don't you know." Pei rolled her eyes as if that had some significance, as the waiter poured out a glass for both of them.
"Tax evasion. The Republic Reporter ran a story on it back when I was a kid. Half the businesses in the world are officially registered there, because the commercial rate is about... two per cent?" She shook her head. "Oh yeah, and the drinking age is sixteen. Well, you can be served in a restaurant or setting like an airplane, but can't buy it in a liquor store or bar."
Xiao blinked. "How do you know all this?"
"Family vacations to the Federation, way back when. Chameleon Bay's not as nice as Ember Island, but has some pretty nice beaches. Lots of those tax evaders, though. My family has some money, but not enough to go on their yacht rides out on the bay," Pei grinned.
"Enough to go on vacation, though." Xiao didn't mean to come off as overly brooding, but voiced his own experiences. It was true that he'd told too little to Pei these past few months, and he'd let their friendship become too one-sided. Could he have said that he'd pack his bags to follow her around the world? Even if he learned that she was the Avatar? "I'm sorry. It's just weird to have to fly to the other side of the world. Getting from one side of Republic City to another seemed like circumnavigating the globe at times... and when my dad left for Yu Dao all those years ago, it was like he'd dropped off the face of the planet." He exhaled. "Guess that just says something about him, though, not interested even though I'm the Avatar."
Pei just nodded, letting him speak his piece, though her eyes widened when she sensed them descend further and further. "Weird, we're only halfway there."
The pilot let them know of the situation via intercom. "Attention, all passengers. We'll be making a brief fuelling stop at Guiwei Airfield. Thank you."
"Ah," Pei remarked. "Airships. They take twice as long as planes and keep running out of gas," she tsked, as they landed smoothly near a rural outpost. Airships were likely a rare sight round these parts; still, it seemed to be a designated rest stop in the route between the two great cities.
"Attention, all passengers," that same voice called out once more. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, we'll be having to stop for an hour. Feel free to exit the ship temporarily for the next fifteen minutes." Given the sparse population aboard, only a few made their way to the exit.
"Ugh, to pause in such a wasteland. How unpleasant," one passenger complained, as Xiao and Pei took the opportunity to get some fresh air.
When Xiao lay his eyes upon the outside, he was lost for words. They stood at the southern edge of the Great Divide, and inspiration struck his very soul. The airfield at the top and bullet train tracks marred the fully natural beauty of the landscape, but there was something deeply primal in the deep gorge that spoke to his innate connection to the earth below, one that he'd never been given the opportunity to fully master. The city he'd grown up in made him think outside the box as to what he could bend without damaging his surroundings, but being out in the wild was strangely liberating. And while he still had various reservations about how haphazardly the executors had sent him away from his home, he knew that he could fully appreciate the element of earth: here, out on the rugged terrain.
Still, they had another city to get to. "Ugh. How devastatingly dull," the loud complainer from the ship voiced once setting eyes on the landscape. "We're supposed to be served dinner in fifteen minutes; you don't think they'll delay, do you? It ruins the atmosphere to take it down here," the passenger voiced to an acquaintance.
Xiao and Pei made their way to the canyon's edge, just taking in the landscape around them. As Xiao dangled his legs off the drop, he grew concerned for the potential great fall that awaited him. "Hm," he considered, and strained his arms to try and push out a bit of a ledge beneath, to quell his anxieties.
Instead, the cliff's edge became unsteady, and Pei leaped back, grabbing Xiao's arm and yanking him away from the edge before it crumbled beneath them. "Slow down, blockhead. I've just saved the Earth Federation from having to wait another four lifetimes 'til they get a fully realized Avatar." He smiled at her sardonic humor. He'd indulged himself too early, still full of that positive jing from the city. While it was true that his bending already felt enhanced by his natural surroundings... he had a long way to go until he truly waited, listened, and knew when to start.
The ship was ready to fly again in a few minutes, and they ascended once more, heading further south to the home of the Metal Clan. Sunset was already upon them, it was not until morning came that Xiao left his private dormitory and saw the sight of metal shields opening up like a lotus flower from his window.
Apparently, he'd overslept, but the ship wasn't going to turn back to Republic City, given that the Avatar was aboard. The White Lotus had granted him and Pei with the typical light and dark greens, and metal jewelry common to the city, and he changed his outfit and freshened up before being ready to depart.
A small, but very respectable-looking party had gathered to greet them by the airfield. "Young Avatar," a well-built man bowed to him. The man looked to be in his mid-forties, and was marked by a strong, dark beard, and emerald-colored eyes.
His counterpart, a balding, gray-haired man who seemed particularly pressed for time, gave him a quick bow. "On behalf of this great city and state, welcome. Zaofu is honored to have the privilege of having the Avatar here to learn earthbending."
"Thank you, Master Beifong." Xiao wasn't exactly sure who was who, but Beifong was a well-respected man, and presumably would be welcoming him to the city.
Instead, the younger of the two men gave a hearty guffaw. "Ah, forgive me. I know. I'm too young," he grinned. "Avatar, this is Governor Po. He's taken time out of his day to welcome you to the state. I am Wuji Beifong, Patriarch of the Metal Clan."
It seemed like Xiao now had a habit for political misunderstandings, especially when he'd been given a chance to brush up on world affairs the past few weeks. As they were ushered into a speedy streetcar, he thought to voice his uncertainties as they passed a statue of two women in the city's main square. "I'm sorry about the confusion. I've started looking at some of Korra's journals. That's Suyin Beifong, the founder of the clan, and governor... right?"
Master Wuji nodded calmly. "My great-great-grandmother. And it's all right to be confused: it's a common mistake to make that the Metal Clan rules the city."
Governor Po affirmed Wuji's statement. "While Suyin Beifong founded the city and established the Metal Clan, the office of Governor and Hierarch have now been separated. Of course, the city would not be what it is without the Clan. Zaofu is a city that, at its very core, is fundamentally defined by metalbending. But not all citizens are part of the Metal Clan; the governor represents nonbenders, earthbenders who might never get the feel for metal, and even the firebender and waterbender citizens of the state. Even if the governor is a metalbender, Zaofu recognizes that it's one matter to appoint the wisest metalbending master, another to elect the best candidate to oversee the state."
The government district was not too far from the city center. Once they reached the state senate building and the governor's mansion, Po said their goodbyes, and informed Xiao to reach out if he ever needed anything during his stay in the city. Xiao turned to Pei; "I really haven't got the head for this whole ... political offices thing."
Wuji gave a grin. "Ah, that's the problem that a modern Avatar will have. Politics isn't just about good and evil kings or lords, but a bunch of stuffy people sitting in old buildings. 'Course, that's how it was back in the day, but democracy and term limits mean that the stuffy people just keep shaking up every now and then," he grinned.
Pei though to be the one asking about the city, now. "But the Metal Clan. You're all Beifongs, right? An aristocratic family?" It seemed pointed, as if she was trying to make something of Wuji yearning for those good old days before democracy.
Wuji shook his head. "You'll find a lot of aristocratic families still over the Federation, even after the dismantling of the monarchy. I'm sure you'll remember the Sihungs putting all their money in Chameleon Bay," he shook his head. "It's true, the Beifongs essentially ruled Gaoling for centuries. But after Lao Beifong passed on, the House of the Flying Boar's properties were sold to the city of Gaoling, and our noble privileges came to an end," he explained.
The streetcar made its way to the Metal Clan's personal side of town, and Wuji continued. "Suyin set up the clan a self-made woman. And while I'm both a Beifong and head of the Metal Clan, it's not the same thing. Any metalbender can rise through the Clan's ranks. I'll have you know my predecessor was a first-generation immigrant to our city from Shimsom -- that's the whole ethos of Zaofu, young lady. Anyone can reach their highest potential."
They disembarked at the foot of a lavish estate, and Wuji went on. "I'm one of many of Suyin's descendants. There are Beifongs who are benders of all four elements, nonbenders, and those who've lived outside the city for generations. You're not guaranteed a spot on the Metal Clan, and in fact, when one Hierarch retires, all Metal Clan members vote for the next."
To Xiao, the speech was clearly overly long, as if the man was trying to hide the state of nepotism within the clan and city. Suspicion was healthy in moderation, he'd always believed. "Right," Wuji declared: Xiao, one of the guest houses has been made up for you. Miss Pei, you've been allocated a room nearby as one of the Avatar's companions. I'll give you time to unpack and join my family for lunch, and then we simply must begin our training sessions, Avatar. I've a lot to teach you if you can hope to master all four elements in ample time."
Xiao expected that he'd be given a few more days to settle in, but Beifong seemed to want to train him immediately. His 'unpacking' only took a few minutes, given the few possessions he held dear: and the White Lotus had confiscated far too much of him already. He had time to catch his breath and lay down on the comfortable waterbed that had been made up for him.
Everything in the Patriarch of the Metal Clan's estate was state-of-the-art. The city had been ahead of even the United Republic in terms of technology: perhaps because they did not have to build themselves around a portal to the Spirit World, or because of their reliance on metalbending and hard work ethic. Xiao found Beifong's private dining room, where his earthbending master introduced his immediate family and his deputy. There was his wife Shi, who had a managerial position in one of the high-tech corporations based in the city, their eldest daughter Zhi who toyed with a space meteorite, precocious little Kun, and Chen, the baby of the family. He was likewise introduced to Samati, Wuji's second-in-command, a captivating woman with a prosthetic arm.
For the first time since the world was turned upside down for him, the Metal Clan treated Xiao the same as any other person. Indeed, Shi was equally interested in Pei's presence in the city.
"Tell me, Pei. Do you consider yourself the Avatar's companion?"
She paused. "In the traditional sense?"
"In any sense you wish."
"I suppose it's far too early for me to know, to be fully honest," she considered, poking at her twelve-superfood salad. "Xiao's a good friend, but I'm doing this for myself: getting out and seeing the world. I mean, there aren't any evil emperors and great spirits of darkness to be fought any more."
"An interesting perspective of yours, Pei. One I hope to challenge," Wuji grinned. "Or I would, if not being assigned as the Avatar's tutor, alas. Samati, what do you make of it?"
The genial metalbender flashed a smile at Xiao's friend. "Master Beifong and I both agree that even in peacetime there are enemies that you need to weed out. Enemies that you don't expect, or those you do expect but need to stamp out." She paused. "Now in other matters... it appears as if you have little to do personally during your time here."
"I guess so. Even a city like Zaofu has gotta lose the tourist appeal after a couple weeks," Pei considered.
"Well, we pride ourselves on having everyone here meeting real aspirations," Samati gave her a nod. "The Metal Clan can find you a place in something where you truly excel. Personally, I oversee the clan's construction department, but I'd be more than happy to reach out to my contacts."
"Are you kidding?" Pei grinned. "Construction sounds awesome. But I'm not a bender, let alone a metalbender." Xiao didn't think that the job was particularly worthy, but Pei seemed to be contrarian to the sensibilities of her middle-class family, and so a fascination for construction made sense.
"A lot of unbendable materials are used in building. Wood, glass, that's without mentioning the reinforced platinum and refined titanium to prevent vandalism. Nonbenders are crucial for the city's development, and we've started letting workers use power armor."
"No way!" That seemed to have sold Pei on the matter. To use the suits donned by the United Forces and Republic City Police seemed a great selling point to the adept martial artist.
It was nice for her to be the focus of the conversation for once, and reminded him of school life before last month. But then Wuji set things back on track once they finished their light lunch. "Right, Xiao. Let's begin."
Beifong took him out to a grassy plain just outside the official city limits. Xiao managed a traditional demonstration of bending incrementally larger pieces of rock and stone, from pebbles up to small boulders. Wuji considered Xiao's movements. "You've been taught some of the more traditional techniques, but your style would be classified as unorthodox in Ba Sing Se. You raise stone from the ground, but you are not exactly one with the earth. Xiao frowned, and his master clarified: "a common adaption to those from the United Republic, though." That wasn't the first time a teacher had said it. If anything, his firebending-like style might mean that he'd breeze through the element whenever they decided to ship him out to the Fire Nation.
"So I should go back to basics? Relearn?" The Avatar considered what to do. Almost everything about his bending was prescribed by his elders down to the minutiae.
His teacher shook his head. "No. I'm just letting you know. In fact, I don't believe there ought to be one conventional style of earthbending. Indeed, Zaofu has its own style of metalbending: while we rely greatly on seismic sense, our bending is considered... less rigid, due to our reputation as a particularly adaptive people."
That didn't comfort Xiao, but Beifong continued: "Look, when you're learning the element, we're going to toss all Avatar rules out the window. You're the first Avatar to learn bending without being connected to all your past lives," he noted. "The right method will be the right method for Xiao. Kyoshi before you was known for having blockages to mastering her native element, would you know." He did feel somewhat brighter after that: the possibilities of life no longer seemed quite so daunting, with the reassurance that his own bending was not a flaw.
"You're also the immediate reincarnation of the first metalbending Avatar. Some skills are unique to each Avatar, but I have a good feeling that you'll find it a lot easier after Korra managed to master it even after the severance of her predecessors. So, why don't you get a feel for it now?" Wuji handed Xiao his own sleek iron bracelet for practice.
He attempted to focus on the impurities within the metal, reaching out to the flecks of dirt he guessed to be buried deep within the iron. If it was truly the earth he found, the surrounding metal was a rigid prison that prevented him from shaping the jewelry.
He tried again and again, but to no avail. Wuji paused him after a few minutes, approving even in Xiao's failure. "You're a persistent one, all right. That's a brilliant quality in an earthbender. But try not to focus on the individual little pieces of earth. All rock, and stone, and metal, is part of a larger universal whole. Come, Avatar. Let's learn to connect with the earth."
The next few days, they trained from dawn to dusk. Xiao was taught in the esteemed "Beifong style" of imitating the badgermoles as best he could, becoming one with the ground beneath him. Wuji made sure that he honed the decisive style of earthbending common in pro-bending matches, but reminded him that the original source was the best way to fully understand all other techniques.
They paused after the fifth day, and Beifong would instead instruct him in spirituality and theology, political theory and world government, as well as a good deal of Avatar lore. Xiao felt that it was like being back at high school to an extent: still, there were no classmates, and his teacher structured his lessons more as a conversation instead of the didactic lectures he had to listen to back in Republic City.
"What do you know of the Spiritsworn," Beifong queried, halfway through the day.
"They're people who've moved into the Spirit World, I think. I saw a couple near the wilds, once, but hardly ever. People say they're weird... they dress like they're from a completely different time. To me, it seemed like they hated anything modern about the city," Xiao recounted.
Wuji nodded. "They often don't leave the premises of their small settlements, true," he paused. "Which is why I believe a worldly Avatar ought to know more about them. They reside only a few miles from your house, and yet you've laid eyes on them once."
Their existence did strike Xiao as an oddity. "To be honest, it seems pretty weird that they'd want to live there and get along with the spirits. The few I ever saw didn't like much of what they saw in humans."
Wuji laughed. "That's true enough. Soon after the portal was created, its administration was handed over to the Air Nation. Passersby often marveled at seeing the Spirit World in all its glory, especially the spiritually inclined. Earth sages, Bhanti shamans, Air Acolytes and so many more passed through, and in time, worked together to build a small village of humans in the Spirit World: Shenjing," he recounted. "Avatar Korra initially had her doubts about the plans, but the would-be-residents believed that just as Spirit Wilds could be found about the material world once more, a human town in the Spirit World would bring about a similar sense of balance. Most of them were expert theologians, and proposed that the town's residents had to be extremely knowledgeable about how to ensure the least possible damage to the Spirit World. The Avatar believed that the settlement was a true success, and visited the outpost numerous times in the years she was disconnected from the material world."
Xiao nodded, straining to take the information in. It had been easy to understand, but his brain felt worn out from all the minutiae of the Earthen Federal Council.
"And thus, Governor Xiang of Shimsom is due for the presidency by autumn," Wuji explained, producing a detailed infographic about the many states of the Federation.
"A presidency changing every two seasons?" Xiao had frowned. "Why don't the people just vote for one leader; that's no issue in the Republic."
Wuji had grimaced. "I'm afraid it's more complicated than that. The states would resent proportional representation given the population of Ba Sing Se. You could probably fit the people of the Si Wong into a district of the Lower Ring, and yet they govern a vast desert rich in ore and crude oil, and now the Fire Nation's heavily investing in solar power there. The balance of power is one between governments, and not people."
"Then what's the point of the Federal Congress?" The Avatar was exasperated.
"That's already heavily weighted by region, and even moves between Ba Sing Se, Omashu and Gaoling every year so one city doesn't become too powerful. These states get omitted from the presidency so that the smaller states have their local leaders as face of the entire Federation. Gets them involved, and stops little incidents like when Kyoshi Island threatened to leave the union."
"It just seems too ... unfair? Just that it's clearly flawed, and I couldn't be any less knowledgeable about politics."
Another guffaw. "Trust me, kid. Every wannabe politics student has a tiered plan on how they want to reform the union from the ground up. There's no good solution, just one that keeps the very idea of common law for the Earth Nation an actual reality."
Maybe he really was a blockhead. Even though his theory lessons were much shorter than his bending training, he felt more confident each week he honed his skill, one with the earth.
By summer's end, he could lift great slabs of earth blindfolded, hurling them at one precise target. With enough effort, he was surely adapting to the badgermole style. "All you need to work on is refinement, kid. You've already got the makings of a master bender," Wuji complimented him. And this time, when Xiao reached out to the bracelet, earth and metal came together, and he crumpled the ornament to a spiked coil.
"Not bad. Won't be able to piece that back together, but not bad," the Patriarch grinned.
The beginning of autumn was sometimes considered an ill omen for earthbenders by various fortunetellers (if Xiao was ever so bored that he'd glance at the horoscope on his feed while riding the subway to school). That was foolish, he thought: history class taught him the importance of earthbenders in agriculture in the past and even present, and fall was the harvest season.
Still, perhaps there was some merit to that belief. The season's beginning started the same as ever, with the swearing in of a new president in Ba Sing Se, and kids returning to school across the world. Pei wouldn't be going back, though: after a call that turned tearful on her family's end, she informed them that she wouldn't matriculate for her final year, having found the opportunities in Zaofu to be simply revolutionary. But as she watched the plasma television in the Patriarch's manor, she called Xiao over one evening after his training session.
Words flashed on the screen: BREAKING NEWS! He felt somewhat self-conscious to see an image of his own face, but moreso when scathing criticism came down on him. A "leak" that Xiao had known about all along was that the Order of the White Lotus had been housing his mother Hui-Na, and contributing to the legal fees in her efforts to free Maylin. The pit of his stomach churned. He'd distanced himself from his family for months, only permitted a weekly call back home to remind himself of the situation. "The world is waiting for the Avatar's response," the newscaster read aloud.
"Spirits be damned," Xiao muttered. "What am I going to do...?"
"Nothing," Wuji advised, looking in on them.
"Oh, that's a neutral-jing, zen thing, huh," Pei queried.
"No, I mean it's the best action for the Avatar to take. People will find some cause for a scandal if people don't adapt well to newfound fame. Look," Beifong pointed at their exposé on his sister's document forgery. "They're forgetting that they were the ones who stood above the boy who's now the Avatar. Why his family turned to such actions," he shook his head. "Look, Xiao. You're a no-one to them. That's a good thing. Once you prove yourself to the world, nobody will care about your mom's legal fees. Just wait for this to blow over."
Xiao thought on that. In this world, it seemed that the Avatar was only a public figure, where reputation meant everything.
Wuji's tune seemed to change when his mother arrived via commercial jet a few days later, escaping the press hounding her in Republic City. The White Lotus and Metal Clan had no choice but to begrudgingly house her, though when the paparazzi arrived at the Patriarch's Manor, he had a very important announcement to make.
"I'm sorry to part you from your son so soon," Beifong announced to Hui-Na, "but the executors and I have planned a long spiritual journey for Xiao to perfect his bending, and get in touch with his spiritual side."
"A journey? Where to?" His mother was more than frustrated: being parted with Maylin was one thing, and now she couldn't be with Xiao for more than a few days.
"Why, to the south, of course."
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