The new recruit (open)

Lahija

The girl left and with her left a huge weight on Lahija's heart. Good, now I won't have to care any more if she gets hurt...
Although, she had to admit, she was surprised to see that the girl was a bender. She had known that the girl was a capable young fighter, just as capable as Lahija had been her age, when she joined the Fire Nation Army. But if Curran had noticed in his drunk brain that the girl had been able to help them quite a bit in the fight he might have treated the younger one like an associate of Lahija and Rozan. And that could not be good.

The rattling in her brain stopped as aprubtly as it had started. She was back in the here and now, on a most unlikely, but also quite deadly mission. She had never worked as a deceiver before, but there's a first time for anything and every woman, even Lahija, is an actress inside. More or less.

"Should we go then?" She asked Curran, minimizing her fire whip to a single flame in her left hand, just in case he suddenly attacked her. She forced herself to smile at him, pretend everything was fine, when in fact it was way not. Her heart raced in her chest and she assumed the alcohol in her veins and the heat of the fight had made her flush.

Yet, he somehow did not seem to mistrust her sudden change of heart and mind. He did not even question her motives any further.
He must be more drunk than I realized, Lahija thought, or a far better actor than I gave him credit. One way or the other she intended to be extra carefull around him, as he led her to the door and out on the street with an inviting gesture.

Lahija realized that although Curran walked next to her, his men stayed behind them. One carried the unconscious Rozan, and she assumed the other watched each of her movements with care. Attacking now would be foolish. She had to play along if she wanted to help the rich man.

They plunged into the dark alleys of the lower town, changing their direction at almost every turn. Soon, Lahija realized she had lost her sense of orientation completely. She could no longer have told where to get back to the tavern, or, even worse, how to get home from here or how to bring Rozan to the lower town. This sector of the city was a labyrinth of small, dark streets, most of them not even cobbled, and those that were paved were potholed, curvy alleys full of puddles from the night before, with a ditch in the middle of the way, where according to the stench the sewages were dumped into the sea.

Lahija, of course, had not planned any of this. The further they got, the surer she was that they did not lead her to Curran's place, of course not. They were playing with her just as she intended to play with them, and in this gamble, so far they were winning. Fear rose in her chest, and the nervosity made her palms all sweaty and the heartbeat rise up until she could feel the soft throbbing in her throat.
If they kill me now, no one is going to find me, she thought, but she at once banned those thoughts from her mind and forced herself to stay focused. Not an easy task, she had just realized, when she noticed somethhing else.
The street they had walked into had no exit. It was a blind lane. And blindly indeed she had walked into it. It was a trap.

"Welcome," Curran said as he turned towards her and the two bullies blocked the only escape route Lahija could imagine - backwards - , "to my home."

Rozan

Rozan came round. Or at least some of his senses came round, he was not so sure he was himself at all. He had no idea where he was, but the muddy, filthy, wet, cold ground did not only smell different from the wooden floor in the Burnt Swordsman, it also felt way different.
So did he. His first impulse was to sit up, turn around and puke his intestines out. But his head hurt, throbbing, driving him insane. His second impulse was to groan.
"Welcome to my home."

This could not be true. This had to be a nightmare. Or a feverish dream.

But it was. It was as true as the filth in his hand was cold, as he closed and opened a fist carefully, leaving his eyes closed for the time being. For now, no one knew he was awake. Or so he hoped.

"It's nice. Exactly like I thought it might be."
Wait - whose voice was that? He had never heard it before in his life, as far as his numb head could recall. A female voice, young, but confident. She for sure made no effort to stay quiet, but she also was far from screaming.

Rozan blinked, only for a second, then closed his eyes again. He had not recognized the surroundings. Some dirty back alley or backyard in the lower town, that much was for sure.
How long had he been out? He tried to remember what had happened, but the events were gone, stopping sometime during the brawl.
He gulped down a curse and listened closely to Curran's answer.
"Glad you feel... at home." The woman, that much he had to grant her, was not the least afraid, or she overplayed her fear very well.
"Oh, but I don't." This little stitch made Rozan almost smile, but he suppressed also that and then opened his eyes once more, only halfway, and tried to take in as much of the situation as possible.

He lay leaned to a barrel of some sort, with one of Curran's men halfway over him, but their eyes were turned towards the speakers right now.
Hastily, Rozan returned to seeming unconscious. He dared not move, since he had no desire to spoil his one advantage right away. He was not in a good shape to fight, but of course, he would if he got the chance... As soon as a good chance opened up.

((Sorry it took me so long. You can post now ))

((Sorry it took me so long. You can post now - just in case you did not notice the other post was done a few days past ))

((Okay I'll just rp on some and maybe you come back, or not ^^))

Lahija

"So, I followed you to your... home...", Lahija concluded, "and even more importantly, I was nice to you. Are you going to let that man go now?" She had to admit she was losing her patience and it showed in her voice. There was a little strain there that she had rather not used.
"I said I might let him lay in some dark, cold alley. I never said he would be alife, right?" Lahija gulped silently, and she had the feeling that the tense atmosphere was about to explode into a furious battle.
Why does this happen to me? she asked herself bitterly, as she took a stance, ready to defend herself. "I have been playing nicely the entire evening, but this is finished now. I'm done. Take my warning, and let this man go. Turn around and leave, and I might not need to show you to your places." The menace in her voice was real, and for a moment, Lahija thought she could sense some insecurity in the men before her for a short moment, but then it passed and they faced her, grinning. There were not going to be any more warnings or talks, they had already talked too much.

As they attacked her as one, she was prepared. A lash of fire made them stumble back, half-blind, but Curran was a firebender, too. What they did was dangerous, around them were empty barrels, wooden houses and also, there was too little room for bending fights here. But they thought.

Lahija soon realized that Curran belonged to the benders fuelling their fire with rage rather than using the balance of life to create their own, more powerful fire. She could have taken him on, easily. The only problem were his two associates and the little room she had.

She dared not bend as uninhibited as she would have liked to, and therefore soon fell backwards, being pushed towards the wall that sealed the blind end...

Rozan

The heat grew intensely. Rozan opened his eyes in shock and disbelief, only to find himself in the middle of what seemed to be an dishonourable agni-kai, with three men against one woman. She was doing nicely, but she was still falling back and as Rozan stood up behind the three men, he realized she was not giving the fight everything she had, maybe out of fear because she did not want to risk a wildfire in the middle of town.
These observations seem to be little, but he did not just make them all at once. Rozan stood there, petrified, his brain rattling but not giving him any information. This was his nightmare.
Fire, fire, so close to his body... Rozan stepped back, slowly. He was not a quitter, and fighting in a brawl was exactly his sort of thing. But his fear of fire was greater than his bravery, at least right now.

Then, suddenly, the woman noticed him. She looked him directly in the eye, as he stepped back once more. He had never felt so insignificant, so ashamed of himself. But he did not have it in him to step up and help her. Not with all the fire that was floating around there...

Lahija

What was he doing? Didn't he see she needed help over here? He could at least have attacked the two non-benders, instead of thanking her for saving his skin by leaving her alone in this mess!

Curran's fireballs grew constantly as grew his triumph. All she could do now was part them before they hid her face, split them up and send them against the stone wall she was leaning on by now. There was no where left to retreat to.

With desperate courage, she jumped forward, making body contact with Curran as she pushed him backwards physically instead of bending. For a moment, there was just the two of them, stumbling, falling, dashing onto the street in one knotted bunch. As she tried to absorb the inescapable fall with her hands, she could feel something snap, a low, cracking sound from her wrist and a hot, sharp pain that shot up her arm.
With a shocked cry, she rolled over, holding her right hand in front of her thorax protectively. The pain almost made her sick.

Rozan

Then, the firebending suddenly stopped. What is she doing there? Did she really just...
He heard her scream, and that was enough. With a cry of rage, he entered the fight, using all the strength and anger he had on the two bullies. Shocked because their leader appeared to be unconscious from the hard fall onto the street - he seemingly had hit his head on a single cobblestone - one of them grabbed Curran, lifting the tall man up like a puppet, and they ran. Rozan did not folllow them, but turned around to his saviour - whom he had just saved in return.

"Are you alright?"

Lahija and Rozan

What kind of a stupid question is that? Do I look alright?

Anger flashed through her mind, deafening all sense, even her pain was gone for a moment. She managed to stand up by rolling to the side and sitting up first. She felt dirty all over, and partially it was true. The street had left her clothes ragged, wet and filthy dirty.
The rich man extended one arm and helped her up protectively, but he let go off her as he saw the murderous expression in her eyes. "Are you hurt? I thought I heard something snap..."
He looked at her wrist, which she still helt with her right hand. Protectively, she stepped back. "I'm fine, thank you so much for your tremendous help."

Somehow, her sarcastic tone caught him off his guard, and instinctively, he protected himself. "Hey, nobody asked you for your help! I'm thankful you tried your best, but don't act as if any of that was somehow my fault!"
With an angry hiss, she stepped back. "Says the man whose recklessness almost got me killed tonight!" - "You mean, says the woman whose recklessness almost torched the entire neighbourhood!"

Her eyes glared at him like the burning irids of a cat. "Stay away from me", she snarled, and stormed past him. For a moment, he was going to let her go like that. But his honour would not leave her just like this. She was injured, probably really hurt, and in pain. The spirits alone knew how she would end up without help.

Hastily, he rushed after her, and had to pace quickly in order to stay at her side. "Do you even know where we are?" She did not answer, and so he touched her at her shoulder, forcing her to slow down. "Hey, you can't just storm off like that. Do you even know where you're going?"
Angrily, she whirled around, and armed his hand off her shoulder, using her left hand instinctively. With a painful shriek, she then flinched. "Let me see that," he proposed, and stretched out a hand. Still frowning mistrustingly, she let him take her hand and examine her wrist. Even without sufficient light and a healer's knowledge Rozan could tell by the feeling of the wrist and her painful expression, that the wirst was probably broken, and it was all his fault. "It's broken, through and through."

To his surprise, she got pretty pale as he said this. "It can't be. I'm starting my new assignment tomorrow, I can't be injured, I just can't..."
Rozan nodded. "I know someone who might be able to help you, but you'll have to trust me on this. And we might have to break in somewhere."

Lahija stared at him with an open mouth. "Did you just say, break in?" Rozan grinned. "No worries, it's just my home. Come on, if I'm correct, it's that way." He took the next right, and like he had thought, she staid at his side. "Why would you have to break into your own home?"
Rozan winked at her. "My mother is kind of strict, and well... it's rather complicated. Just trust me."

Trust you? Lahija thought, but she suppressed an answer. She was not going to trust him, but she had little choice. She needed her hand looked after. And if there was the slightest chance she would be able to get to her new assignment tomorrow, she would take it. Besides, that guy owed her. He owed her big time.

Railja

It was late, the silvery light of the moon was painting pale stripes on her blanket. She could see them just fine, since she could not sleep in tonight. The fight with Rozan was too fresh, too hurting, and the turmoil inside her kept her awake. Besides, her mind again and again wandered off to her upcoming future as a good little housewife.
Her mother had told her about a few good candidats they were thinking of. One was Kensei's younger brother, but Railja's blank expression of panic had even alarmed her mother. Another one was one General Cao, the head of the Cao family. She had not seen him yet, and wondered what he'd be like...
And there it was again. What would Rozan say to all of this? Granted he ever spoke to her again?

Deep down inside her stomach, Railja felt sick. Sighing, she stood up, and got over to her table in order to fill her silver cup with some of the water and drink.
Clang.
Railja froze, and turned around slowly to the window.
Clang.
No, it was no imagination. But what else could it be? She shivered in the cool night air, as she stepped over to the window and opened the curtain carefully, peeking down into the garden.
Clang.
This time, she had seen the small stone coming. Hastily, she opened her window, and leaned out. "Who's there?"
The figure broke lose from the deep shadows and stepped in the middle of the lawn, bathed into moonlight, Railja realized who that figure was without him even answering her whisper.

"Get down here, and quietly!"

She nodded, unsure if he could see it from down here, and took her dressing gown, putting it on while she already scurried through the hallway, down the stairs, and through the parlour. She carefully opened the door and got outside. As the cool dew moistened her feet, she realized that she had forgotten to put on some shoes.
"Rozan?"
Suddenly, she was scared. Had it really been him? Why would he come here at the dead of night? "Rozan, is that you?"
"Shush, will you? Over here!"
She followed his voice over the lawn, and found him underneath some trees. And he was not alone. She did not know the second dark figure at his side. "What's the matter, Rozan? It's the middle of the night..."

"I know, sorry for waking you up, sis. I need you to help me with something, and I know mom would not approve of it, so I came here... now."
Railja frowned, but she stepped closer. "What is it?"
"That woman here is injured. I need a healer. Do you think you could help us?"

Railja came closer, and recognized their faces in the soft shine of the full moon. "What happened to you? You both look... you look awfull."
"We kind of ran into some old... or new... friends. Please, Railja, no questions, just fix her up, will you?"
Railja snorted. "From the looks of you, you could both need some fixing up." Rozan grinned at her in the dark. "Knock yourself out."

Railja sighed, but she was just too happy he still talked to her.
"Step over to the pond," she told them, "I'll need some water for this, and it's going to be easier there."

Lahija

She had a really bad feeling about this. They were intruders, and no matter if the girl knew him or no matter if he really was her brother, they were obviously not supposed to be here and would be in real trouble if they were found. To her surprise, the girl prooved a real waterbending healing protege. Lahija's wrist felt better after just three times of water, and she could easily move the hand. She palpated it carefully, and realized the fracture had been mended. What remained felt like a strained wrist, something that could happen in training every day. It would soon pass completely.

Also, her messed up face was looked after, and the girl spend quite some time on her foolish brother.
They were all feeling cold and damp when she was finally finished, and the sky had started to lighten up. "Thank you, Railja." Lahija whispered. "Not a problem,..." - "Oh, it's Lahija. Lahija Zekarion." The girl smiled at her. In the breaking dawn Lahija could see that even in her sleeping outfit, the girl was a blossoming beauty unlike any she had ever seen - small, fragile, and delicate. "Railja Shang," the younger one responded, but before they could say any more, they were interrupted.
"Railja, you better get inside now before someone realizes you have been gone," the man called Rozan told his little sister, and she embraced him closely, before she hushed back to the mansion. Lahija followed her expensive white shimmering, silken nightgown and the indigo coloured dressing gown with her eyes and lifted her hand in greeting, as the girl waved back at them and then slipped through the door. Lahija could not leave her eyes from the shimmering figure, until she had vanised inside.
"Time to leave," Rozan told her and she nodded. Together they rushed away over the wet lawn, jumped up and over the wall, and landed in the alley behind it. "Will you find your way home from here?" - "Yes, I think so." She turned around to leave, and he stopped her with a question. "What, aren't you going to thank me?"
Lahija snorted. "I owe you nothing. You are a spoiled brat that brought me and dozens others in grave danger tonight. I survived but that's no thanks to you. I thanked your sister for getting me back in the shape I would still have if you had not interfered. I am not going to thank you for getting me injured in the first place."
"Well, I should still thank you for saving my life," Rozan told her. "I don't need anything of you. Neither your thanks, nor your wealth. Don't feel oblidged. Thanks to your sister, we are even."

Rozan

Lahija turned around and started to walk away. "Hey," he called after her, not too loud to not wake anyone up, but loud enough that she could not just pretend she had not heard him, "what if I want to see you again?" Snorting, she turned back and looked him directly in the eyes, as she with all the honesty inside her called back: "I don't ever want to see you again. Not in this life, and if that is up to me, not in the next one either."

As she had vanished, Rozan starred after her, with a numb feeling in his stomach. Her ungratefulness made him so boiling angry inside, that he had the wish to punsh something, get back in that tavern and brawl until the sun was high up. Then he remembered that today was the day of the Seven Nation Summit.
Cursing, he turned around and got to his barracks. If he ever saw that impudent woman again, he was going to tell her what he thought of her, and she was not going to like it!

tbc.: Seven Nation Summit: In the Balconies

cf.: Seven Nation Summit: In the Balconies


Rozan

What a waste of time... what a huge waste of time... He could be back home now, or in the balconies, where the Fire Lord's siblings had to be guarded, or in front of the entrance of the summit room, where two other guards had been positioned together with all the other nations' guard-pairs, or, or, or...

But no. He was one of the hundred guards who had been ordered to accompany His Majesty, but he was of no use whatsoever. The camp had been set up according to orders, and now they were all just waiting. Ninety-six guards, some of the luckier ones were cooking rice and spiced chicken in gigantic cauldrons in order to serve dinner later on, some of the least lucky ones were guarding the camp's exits - facing the same boredom he had to deal with, but unable to move during it, with almost a hundred comrades to control if they slipped in their role of silent statues.

There were three exits of the camp, one pointing to the entrance of the Spirit Palace, and two pointing to the sides, where other nations had settled down. Rozan lay in the grass in front of his tent, enjoying the late sun and waiting for something, anything to happen. He felt all itchy and nervous, he needed to do something, anything, get his hands busy. Keep his mind from thinking. Because as soon as he started to think, he was back at last night... Angrily he shook his head and forced himself to count Firelords backwards, maybe get busy that way. His history lessons had been good ones, and he got easily back to Ozai, when he heard a loud shout that disrupted the awfull peace and quiet of the camp.

But no, there was nothing he could do. One of the guards busy with cooking had probably fooled around with a comrade. Their superior had called them back to order. When Rozan sat up and looked around, all had already returned to the peace and quiet.

He had no orders, but the sharp "Dismissed!" most of them had heard earlier. He envied whoever had been chosen to guard the balconies. The two luckiest recruits in this whole guard. They would hear all the discussions and have a meaningful occupation while they did.

"Hey chap, fanceh a spar?" Wezan grinned all over, as he dropped onto the grass right next to his best friend Rozan. "I already tried earlier. We're not supposed to train here. We're not supposed to do anything here."

Rozan was careful to not alarm his superiors as he told Wezan quietly, and the other one rolled his eyes, but nodded. "So, what're ye up to then, if we're no' suppose' ter use our time fer some trainin'? (So, what are you up to then, if we're not supposed to use our time for some training?)" The broad street accent of the Fire Nation Capitol's lower ring made Rozan grin as well, although he had no good answer to his friend's question. "Don't know, Wezan, how about lying here, wasting our time further on."

Wezan shook his head and stood back up. "Nah, tha's ter borin' fer me. I'll be off an' see if we can ge' us some decen' orders. Can' believe we came all this way jus' ter si' aroun' an' look pretteh... (No, that's too boring for me. I'll be off and see if we can get us some decent orders. Can't believe we came all this way just to sit around and look pretty...)" Rozan sighed, as the other one walked away, but he didn't even put in the effort to stand up. Where was the point? Orders were orders, and probably they had just been summoned here in order to, as Wezan called it, "look pretty" or, how Rozan's family might have put it, "make the right impression". They were here in order to show off the strength of the fire nation. It was the silver lining between warning the other nations to not mess with them because they were all-so-powerful and well armed, and show the other six nations respect because they were deemed dangerous enough that a hundred guards were found necessary.

Rozan was not judging. He was simply stating to himself. Although he could understand and even second the idea of bringing a hundred guards, he was still bored, and a little bit annoyed because they were not allowed to at least fight for training. Why bring a hundred people to show them off, and then not let them do something? Hopefully, this would change as soon as the summit was over...

Wezan

BUMM.

The impact of - whatever it was - was so great that Wezan was send flying through the air. For a moment, all the air had been pressed out of his lungs, he lay there numb and deaf, and then the pain set in. His left leg felt as if it had been amputated, or was being amputated right now. Groaning, he forced himself into a sitting position, although the pain put tears in his dark green eyes.

Only twenty feet or so away from his was a crater, right where the cooking spot of their camp had been. The earth was burnt, screaming and groaning recruits were lying around, their glassy eyes turned towards the sky, their voices begging for help, for mercy. Wezan tried to shake off the drowsiness like a dog shakes off the wet from its fur, and he even managed to stand up. His leg had been twitched, he could barely stand on it at first, and felt that he got dizzy the moment he had fought his way up standing, but he kept his stance somehow.

This was bad.

Some of the recruits were trying to help their wounded comrades, others were rushing away towards the palace. Right, the palace.

Wezan tried to make a step towards the Spirit Castle and at once broke back down. The pain was just too much.
"Wezan, thank the spirits... Are you alright?" Rozan rushed towards him, as pale as Wezan had never seen his best friend before. Other than Wezan, Rozan was one of the younger recruits who had joined the Army at times of peace, who had never before been part of a battle.
"I'm fine, I'll be alright." Wezan nodded towards Rozan, who was supporting him, as he staggered. The earthbender could see how his younger friend sighed in relief. Being so upset and panic-stricken was not like Rozan at all, but who could blame him? The shock had been a great one, but there was no time, no time to waste on their fragile little souls. There was a Royal Family to rescue.
"Go, Rozan, go and find the firelord," Wezan motioned Rozan to step away, and when the other one hesitated, attempting to help him, he shouted at him. "That is an order, soldier, understood? Go and make yourself usefull like a man, and stop standing here like a wimp!"
Wezan hated to pull the Lieutenant-First-Class-and-leader-of-our-unit-card on Rozan, but he had no choice this time. There were things more important than the feelings of his friend, no matter if Rozan would forgive him that he had used this tone against him for the first time.

Rozan looked at his best friend in shock for another blink of an eye, then he suddenly seemed to recover his poise. Wezan watched how the firebender ran off, drawing his double-swords as he ran, and then turned around himself to tend to the wounded, as good as he could.

tbc.: The 7 Nation Summit: In the Balconies