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Overview[]

Rong Yan masters firebending and prepares to meet the Fire Lord, while also meeting his new Airbending master, who happens to be an old friend.

Chapter 4: The Fire Lord[]

Book 1: Air

Chapter 4: The Fire Lord

Two Years Later

Fire is being flung around two men are fighting, Fire Sage Xiao is refereeing the match. The two men get into close quarter combat and begin to punch each other and dodge the blows, parrying each attack with their arms, like they've rehearsed this fight. Tall, pretty fit man, shirtless and in tan linen trousers in black leather boots and a small brown goatee was fighting a middle-aged combatant, new wrinkles adorned his face, hair loose, and no facial hair. Takumi had aged quite a bit, two years to be exact. Rong Yan was now eighteen years of age, he had matured quite a bit and has mastered firebending with the help of Sifu Takumi.

Rong Yan kicks with his left, Takumi stops the blast of fire from the kick by stopping Rong Yan's foot with an open palm. Pushing him back, Rong Yan catches Takumi by surprise and sweeping his legs from underneath him and knocking him off balance. Takumi hits the floor back first wincing in pain. Takumi jolts back up onto his feet and in Huoma stance also known as the horse stance. Rong Yan takes a few steps forth and claps his hands together releasing a line of fire towards Takumi, who returns the favor by putting his hands together and splitting the flames and blowing them off to the sides.

Takumi jumps into the air kicking with his left and then twirling around and kicking with his right shooting kicks of fire at Rong Yan. Catching him off guard, Rong Yan ducks under the third kick. Getting ready to finish the Agni Kai, Takumi pushes him back and throws another fire punch. Rong Yan takes the force of it and spreads the energy through his torso and arms and takes a Duanda block and returns into the Duanda stance, crouching legs crossing, arms out and over his head, he kicks upwards with his right leg, fire shooting upwards almost upper cutting Takumi. Takumi backs up and they both return to a Shifa stance. Fire is blasted in between them, it was drawn to signal an end to the duel.

Fire Sage Xiao had seen enough, Takumi turned to look over at Xiao. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I believe Rong Yan, has passed he's ready," Xiao answered. Takumi and Rong Yan shake at the wrist and bow to each other. Xiao bows to Rong Yan, Xiao smiles and nods in approval.

"Get ready for your ceremony, Avatar. Today, we acknowledge you as a master firebender. You are ready to take on the world." Xiao cheered.

Hours have passed, and Rong Yan had arrived to the ceremony in the temple wearing a dark red vest accented with flame designs and black interior and exterior lining. He wore dark red trousers which were held tight by a black belt with a Fire Nation insignia belt buckle. He also wore black leather boots with gold lining and golden soles. His long hair was cut a bit shorter, his hair hung a bit past his ears, although he still held a top knot in place with a ceremonial hairpiece for the occasion.

Sifu Takumi wore white formal attire to the event, white vest and trousers and black leather boots similar to those of Rong Yan. The Fire Sages were in attendance, a few of the guardsmen who Rong Yan had befriended over the two years that he spent in training at the Fire Temple on Crescent Island. Rong Yan walked forth Takumi beside him on his left, and Xiao on his right giving a speech.

"Rong Yan, we came to your village and had found you to be the Avatar incarnate of Ku Tei, at the age of sixteen we took you under our tutelage and have trained you in both firebending and have guided you in spiritual training." Xiao began.

"You have proven yourself worthy and have spent two long years mastering firebending, you have grown and you have matured. Your strength, bravery, humility have grown and they are undoubtedly your strongest attributes." Xiao said.

Sifu Takumi walked forward, "When you were brought to me you were mentally weak, through discipline I have whipped you into shape. In the two years that I was your instructor, I have watched you flourish in front of my very eyes. You have shown that you are honest, powerful, you have the desire to keep the peace in the world, willful, and have shown you have the energy and drive to master your natural element." he praised.

"While you travel the world it is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. I'm sure as you master the other elements you will pick up characteristics of the other nations. Those of which through understanding and living amongst the other nations will make the Avatar whole and powerful. I long to see you grown into an Avatar who's diverse and strong, persistent and enduring, who has found peace and freedom, capability to adapt to anything and have love." Takumi beamed.

Sifu Takumi. Fire Sage Xiao, Li and the other three Fire Sages bow to Rong Yan in unison. "It was truly an honor to teach you firebending, Avatar Rong Yan." Takumi crowed.

"Prepare yourself, in a few hours we leave to Yin La to meet with Fire Lord Yeh Lu," Xiao said.

Rong Yan nodded. He left the temple after his ceremony and walked down the dirt path to Yin La, he wanted a breath of fresh air since he spent the last few months in seclusion within the Fire Temple. He normally liked to go out to the city to socialize mostly at night. The identity of the Avatar wasn't known to the public as of yet, it was mostly known by world leaders and the nobility.

He stayed away from the city life for the last few months to concentrate on his bending exams. The gates of the city were open as merchant carts pulled in to deliver goods to the fair people of the city, imports have arrived by ship from different parts of the world, at the docks. He found himself in the market district of Yin La. Merchants sitting cross-legged near a blanket with their goods strewn about. The ones who could afford a stall stood there reading something waiting for a potential customer to pass by or kept themselves busy by cleaning the dust from the counter. "You there!" a voice calls out.

Rong Yan turns around to face the voice that called him about, a fat man is behind a stall selling snacks, he points at himself, "Yes you, come on over!"

"Try out my new snack I like to call these little cooked and steaming flour flakes covered in a hot spice powder, Fire Flakes!!" the fat man chatted. He grabbed the pouch and ate a few before deciding it was good and throwing the rest in his mouth. His eyes got extremely watery, he looked around for a bucket of water to submerge his face in to keep the heat away. He dumps the bucket full of water in his mouth panting,

Flaming flakes

The Fat Fire Nation vendor, gives Rong Yan a sample.

"One more pouch of Fire Flakes, please!" he requested. The fat man chuckles and rubs his stomach, he slides another pouch to him.

"I'm glad you really enjoyed them, a lot of the school children who pass by here on their way home, have made it a habit to stop by and buy some. I'm usually out by the early afternoon!" the vendor claimed.

Rong Yan continued to move on from that stall and browsed around at other stalls and stores but lost interest. He read a sign of a shop "Yin La Millinery", he understood that a 'millinery' is where hats are sold and walked right in.

There was an older man standing by a counter, writing something down on in his business ledger. "May I assist you, young man?" the old man asked.

"Yes, I'm actually looking for a hat." Rong Yan replied.

"What kind of hat? Color, design, describe and I may have it in-store. If not, I can craft you this hat for extra coin." the milliner offered.

"Fire Nation hat, preferably red." Rong Yan said.

"Can you even afford the products in this store? Away with you looky-loo!" the man shouts.

The man clears his throat, as soon as Rong Yan about to walk away his tone changes, "My apologies, you look familiar. With the clothes you're currently wearing I'm guessing you're a fire sage in training. Please excuse my tone from a few seconds ago, if you'd like a mitre with a unique style please continue to browse and when you see something you like give me shout." the merchant apologized.

Rong Yan looked at the hats displayed on the higher shelves, they looked really fancy looking. With intricate details and designs, vibrant colors adorned most of them and they were woven from expensive materials.

RongYansHat

The hat that Rong Yan saw at the clothing store. Now he wears it as part of his Avatar attire.

Then he looks at another section of shelves and sees a dark red hat, with flaps on each end and points at it, "I'd like the mitre on the left in the middle row, please." he said.

The merchant points at the same hat, "This hat? Oh no, you don't wan-" clearing his throat.

"Yes, of course, this mitre would fit well with any outfit you wear." the merchant agreed.

The merchant continued, "That'll be five silver pieces, please." he stuck out his hand in front of Rong Yan. Reaching into his pocket he pulls out five silvers and hands it to the merchant. Bowing in respect to the merchant he put his new hat on his head and pranced out of the store. At this point, he felt like he had accomplished something today while he didn't really socialize other than with merchants he found a new snack that he enjoyed and satisfied with the investment he made with buying himself a new hat. Now he had something block out the sun from beating down on his neck. The flap that was attached to the bottom side of the hat covered his neck from sunburns. He decided to walk back to the temple.

He walks into his chambers and sits down on his bed, taking off his new hat and sets it on the small wooden table beside his bed. He walks up to several candles on a shelf and places two fingers on the wicks, a small fire sparks on the wicks and the candles then lights up. Rong Yan walks over to another shelf which was decorated with different books, non-fiction, history, poetry and fictional, he had a little bit of everything. Rong Yan looks up and pulls out a book and begins to read it. After about an hour or two, Fire Sage Xiao walks in with Sifu Takumi and four soldiers.

"Come young Avatar, a carriage awaits us outside, the Fire Lord seeks an audience with you." Fire Sage Xiao said.

The group begins to leave the temple, one of the soldiers opens a carriage door for Takumi, Xiao, and Rong Yan, allowing them to get inside the carriage.

"You might have been to Yin La, but you've never seen the inner city of Yin La. It is nicknamed, 'Palace City' since the area surrounding the palace is a city within a city. Sort of like how Ba Sing Se's very own rings are gargantuan enough to be cities themselves. The palace of the Fire Lord was built on top of a dormant volcano." Xiao explained.

"Carriages will normally drop us off near the volcano, but this one has been approved by Yeh Lu to take us straight towards the palace!" Xiao added.

An hour or two passes by in the carriage, Xiao snoring during a small nap, and Takumi began dosing off as well. They had reached the gates of Palace City, an elite guard looks through the window of the carriage and sees Rong Yan, Takumi and Xiao and signals to let them pass through. A breath of awe washes over Rong Yan, as he sticks his head out of the side window of the carriage and sees the tremendous size of the volcano's walls covering a part of the inner city, shadowing only the areas near the walls of the volcano. In the middle of the dormant volcano sat the Fire Lord's palace.

Passing through on the main road leading up to the palace the place is well lit with lanterns everywhere and lanterns on ropes connected from one building to another. Nobles walked up and down the streets here, the only carriages passing through these streets belong the most powerful and influential of nobles. Royal guards dotted the area, they continued to another part on the road, on one side there were training grounds for Fire Nation troops.

At least a few hundred soldiers were seen training with weapons in their hands and others stood in formation repeating the same sets of moves. Eventually several minutes later, the carriage came to halt, the royal guards open the door to the carriage he sat in. Fire Sage Xiao now waking up from his nap, and Takumi being tapped on the shoulder by a guard to wake him from his nap.

Rong Yan walked out first, looking in front of him he saw the large, wide stone steps that led up to the palace. Lavish red flags decorated the walls of the palace, ropes full with lanterns strewn about the palace had it well lit. It was sort of night even during the day, the sunlight mostly hit the center of the palace which is why he understood why the palace was built in that exact spot.

Royal guards saluted the Avatar and led him, his trainer and the head Fire Sage up the steps of the palace and directly to Fire Lord Yeh Lu.

Warden

The elite palace guards, escort the Avatar, his firebending master, and the Fire Sages to the palace.

The hallway leading to the throne room was brightened up with paintings of the previous Fire Lords that ruled the Fire Nation. There was a painting of Fire Nation princess that caught Rong Yan's eye. Every painting was of a Fire Lord except that one which belonged to Fire Nation princess he never knew his country's history other than what the current times had going on. They reached the doors leading to the throne room, several guards near the walls of the hallway. Two guards guarded the doors, and each one grabbed the handle of the door they stood in front of and pulled them open to reveal the throne room.

Two lines of ten guards saluted and bowed down to Rong Yan. A big wall of fire from end to end protected the Fire Lord as a final form of defense. His silhouette could only be seen through the wall of fire, not even features were visible. Rong Yan, Takumi, and Xiao walked up to the throne and knelt before the Fire Lord.

"I am humbled by your presence Fire Lord Yeh Lu." Rong Yan said still on both knees and in bowing position.

"You may rise, young Avatar." Yeh Lu spoke.

"You honor me with you accepting my summons, Avatar. I was notified by our Fire Sages that you have mastered firebending. As a world leader I have been watching you closely, your mastering of the four elements is very important to me and your success as the Avatar is something I care about." Yeh Lu fretted.

"Your past life Avatar Ku Tei has saved you time by finding you bending masters who have agreed to teach you the other elements. World-class teachers of the other nations. I have spoken closely with Hegumen Geetsan of the Southern Air Temple as per requested by your past life. The Hegumen of the Southern and Northern temples has chosen your airbending master. You might recognize him or you might not, but nonetheless he is an old friend of yours." Yeh Lu asserted.

The firewall protecting Fire Lord Yeh Lu had lowered and then extinguished itself revealing the jolly man in extravagant red, black and golden robes. He glanced back and from behind a door a tall, frail-looking elderly man walked through the door. He wore robes of yellow and orange colors, and brown leathered boots, a goatee of white long finely combed hairs on his chin. He used a walking stick to support himself but he was still strong enough to do without. There were times he needed to use the walking stick but he was known to hold his own weight still even at a very old age. The old monk was bald and had light blue and highly detailed arrow tattoos all over his body, he also wore a wooden beads around his neck with a wooden penchant with the Air Nomad insignia carved in the center, a master airbender.

"Avatar this is your airbending master, Novice-Master Yong Ten of the Southern Air Temple." Yeh Lu introduced Yong Ten to Rong Yan, the old man bowed to the Avatar, open palm to a closed fist always meant respect. Yong Ten acknowledged that the Avatar was a powerful physical being and it was his duty to train the new Avatar.

"You may think because I look venerable and fragile that I will not get the job done, believe me when I tell you this. I am a highly-skilled airbending master, I have achieved many goals throughout my life. I am highly respected among the Southern Air Temple and you would have no better teacher." Yong Ten boasted.

"I will also guide you to reach your spiritual goals, after all, you must be taught to master the Avatar State. That remains to be done further in the future though. Have you attempted to speak with any of your past lives, Rong Yan?" asked Yong Ten.

Rong Yan shook his head, "No, not yet. Not sure why."

"Let us go return to the Fire Temple and meditate there, I will guide you into the Spirit World and help you reach Avatar Ku Tei." Yong Ten implied. They left the palace by escort of royal guards, except they weren't led back to the carriage he had arrived in. They were led to the royal stables where the Fire Lord and his family housed their best steeds or mounts.

"Were you expecting to go on a carriage?" Yong Ten chuckled.

Rong Yan heard the mighty roar of a large beast, Yong Ten grabbed the reins of his sky bison and petted the large creature. He bent air under Rong Yan and launched into the saddle of the bison, and then jump into the air and landed cross-legged on the neck of the sky bison grabbing a hold of the reins. "Hold on tight, we'll be at the Air Temple in no time." Yong Ten claimed.

"Yip, yip Jippo!" he commanded his sky bison, with a flap of its tail the creature ascended into the sky, soaring with great speed through the air, the palace had gotten smaller the higher they had flew up. What would take an hour or so, was cut in half in just a matter of minutes, off in the distance he could see the silhouette of the temple. They had arrived and have landed on the ground. Rong Yan then signaled Yong Ten to follow him inside of the temple and to the sanctuary where they could meditate in peace.

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