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Hei-Ran was sitting at her desk, her small five year old, Rangi, was playing on her lap. The little girl bound a little toy soldier down the length of the wood, careful not to nudge Hei-Ran’s arm or knock over an ink bottle. She was rambling various battle commands and strategies she had picked up on from when she accompanied her mother to various army and naval meetings.
Not the best place for a child, sure, but Hei-Ran couldn’t bear to be separated from her little girl for more than a few moments. Which meant bringing her along to far away meetings to discuss things with other Fire Nation delegates and Navy personnel. Thankfully, Rangi didn’t seem to mind.
Every so often, she would address the ground at Hei-Ran’s feet, as if asking a friend a question. Hei-Ran didn’t pay too much attention to it, her daughter was always good at playing by herself. Ever since she was a small babe she was always running-well crawling - around with an imaginary friend.
Children grow out of that type of behavior, she’d done the same as a child, and so far her daughter was just like any other child.
Hei-Ran had more important things on her mind. Such as the letter that was in front of her.
Her old companions from when she traveled with Avatar Kuruk, Jianzhu and Kelsang, had written her. It was an update on their search for the next Avatar. With Kuruk being the Water Avatar, the next one in the cycle would be Earth.
However, it seemed that it wasn’t going well….. Five years strong, and they still couldn’t find the poor thing.
Apparently the Earth Kingdom way of finding the Earth Avatar wasn’t working, it was directional geomancy if she recalled correctly. Some ritual that would help narrow down where the child would be on a map. However, it kept backfiring, it kept taking them to random places. Originally it was all over the Earth Kingdom, then in the seas, then by the Air Temples. It even took them to a glacier in the North Pole for spirits sake! After that it flitted between the Earth Kingdom and the seas again. It apparently pointed towards the Fire Nation once, but as soon as that happened they gave up.
Jianzhu and Kelsang wrote how they were going to try to convince their respected elders to attempt the Air Nomad way of finding the Avatar, but it might take awhile.
Hei-Ran closed her eyes, her brow furrowing in frustration, and then sighed. It had been Kuruk’s dying wish for them to find the next Avatar and do right by them. But so far they’d completely mucked it up.
Hei-Ran hadn't been able to help with the initial search, considering she was pregnant with Rangi at the time. Then she had to deal with a newborn….. And now with Junsik…. Well now that Rangi was older, perhaps she could help them out? Just take some time off? She still didn’t want to leave her daughter, nor her ailing husband.
She felt the crease in her forehead deepen as she weighed the possibilities, but then opened her eyes when she felt a small hand rubbing at her forehead. Rangi was massassing Hei-Ran’s creased brow with a worried look.
Hei-Ran took the young girl’s hand and gave it a gentle kiss, followed by a grateful smile. Showing her there was nothing to worry about.
Rangi returned the smile tenfold, and upon seeing her task complete, went back to playing with her toys.
I can’t leave her. She sighed inwardly. Perhaps Jianzhu and Kelsang wouldn’t mind her tagging along? Kelsang surely wouldn’t mind, he’d probably be the one playing with her the most, if she was being honest.
She sipped the last of her tea and looked at the tea leaves, hoping not to see a dire reading, and also wondering if she should pour another cup. What she saw at the bottom of her cup made her narrow her eyes.
It looked like a dragon, who bore a crown and had a cross laying at its feet. It had not been the first time she saw such a strange reading. Today would make it the third time it had appeared before her.
Bad things come in threes. She thought, superstitiously.
The first time was when Kuruk was on his deathbed. She had abstained from most teas due to her pregnancy, but in a moment of weakness brewed a pot. Possibly hoping for a sign from the spirits that Kuruk may recover. He did not, and he died not long after.
At the time, the meaning of the teas more or less made sense. The dragon? Signified a great and sudden change. What’s more great and sudden than an Avatar dying at thirty-three?
However, the crown and the cross had tripped her up. It signified good fortune resulting from death. The death part made sense, but not the fortune. At the time it was like a spit in the face, as if the world was glad to be rid of Kuruk. As much as he fooled around and even indirectly hurt his companions…..he didn’t deserve the fate he was dealt.
The second time she saw the shape was not long after Rangi was born, which was around three months after Kuruk’s death. It gave her a fright when she first saw it. She feared that something would happen to Rangi, or at least, she’d hear of a death of someone that was close to her.
But it never came. Other than the fact she was blessed with her daughter, the greatest fortune and change that could ever happen to her; the death part of the reading eluded her. Because of that, it still felt like a dark foreboding that never stopped gnawing at her.
And now it’s appeared again. Acting as a haunting reminder. Have you forgotten us? We haven’t forgotten you.
Hei-Ran grimaced, snatching the kettle from her desk, and carefully poured more tea into her cup. Superstitions were phantoms one shouldn’t pay mind to. So she would ignore it.
The more pressing matter was what she could do . How could she help her friends? Could she help her friends?
Hei-Ran put the newly poured tea to her lips, and took a swig. She frowned, it was cold. No matter, she could just warm it up with her firebending.
She put energy in her left hand, slowly warming up the cup. She took her right hand and patted her daughter’s head lovingly before moving it to rest on her desk. She tapped her desk while she looked over the letter for the hundredth time. She was going to need to give them an answer.
Perhaps she could pull some strings? See if the Fire Military could spare more bodies? Perhaps the Fire Sages could use their divine wisdom and help? Assuming their methods could work for an Earth Avatar.
She sighed for the umpteenth time that night. She was going to be busy for a good while. Many letters awaited her in the future.
Satisfied with the amount of time she allotted for her tea, she stopped heating it up and brought it to her lips. But nothing met them. She tilted the cup a tad bit more. Perhaps she wasn’t paying attention and filled the cup more shallow than intended? But no tea met her lips still.
She looked at the cup, it was empty.
I know I filled it-. Her eyes widened at the tea leaves at the bottom. Wavy lines. It stood for difficult journeys. But what stressed Hei-Ran out the most was the fact, the way her cup was angled, it looked like the lines were pointing downward. Right at her daughter. Rangi!
She moved the cup to look at her daughter on her lap, she was looking up at Hei-Ran, giggling. Her arms moved in strange, but familiar, and long flowing motions.
A plip plip sound next to her left ear, caused her to turn her head, and for a brief second, she saw a shaky orb of tea floating right next to her head.
And then it slapped her right in the face.
The tea whip broke on impact, and soaked both her and Rangi. Luckily, it was still cold, most likely having been bent out of the cup before Hei-Ran started reheating it.
Rangi looked at her mother shocked for just a moment, then upon realizing she wasn’t about to face fiery retribution, laughed. As any child would do when they've harmlessly, and successfully pranked a parent.
Hei-Ran just stared wide-eyed at Rangi, the sound of her laughter slowly being drowned out by her own thrumming heartbeat. Her mind was going a mile a minute. What had she just witnessed?!
The water….floated. Thoughts finally bubbled up into her mind. The water was floating. It was being bent. Someone in this room just bent water. There’s a waterbender in this room. My firebending daughter…..just……bent…. water.
There was a sound of something shattering followed by a small voice, “Mother?”
Hei-Ran looked down, Rangi was no longer laughing, she only stared up at her mother with giant concerned eyes. Hei-Ran looked down and saw the shattered teacup on the floor, she must’ve dropped it in her shock.
“Mother, I’m sorry….” Rangi whispered.
Hei-Ran’s only response was to draw her daughter close to her, in the tightest hug she could. Hei-Ran realized, for the first time, without being clouded by her own motherly perspective, that her daughter was more than just any other ordinary child.
“Mother, what’s wrong?” Heavy concern was showing in Rangi’s voice. No doubt she could hear Hei-Ran’s erratic heartbeat. Hei-Ran’s body started to shake, which also shook Rangi.
“It’s ok, you didn’t do anything wrong,” she just barely whispered out. It took all her strength to comfort her child. She somehow found the strength to defy earth’s gravity, to get up from her chair, and book it out of her study with Rangi in her arms.
So many emotions and thoughts stormed through Hei-Ran. Any elation she felt was drowned out by horror, fear, and anxiety.
Her thoughts flitted from needing to contact Jianzhu and Kelsang, to tell them they could call off their search. To what terrible trials her daughter would face. Informing the Fire Sages. And briefly, after doing the math, the horrible fate that may have fallen the newborn Earth Avatar.
The fear inside Hei-Ran grew, as she clutched Rangi tighter to her chest. She feared whatever befell the Earth Avatar, might do the same to Rangi.
“JUNSIK!” She cried out to her husband as she ran to his room. She would need his strength, as much as he could give.