Chapter information
Series	Tales of Their World
Book	New Beginnings
Chapter	The Old Life
Written by	Snip101
Editor(s)	Snip101
Release date	9/22/2012
Chronology
Next chapter	Guilt Peaches

Overview Edit

In this chapter you learn about the Pong-Jai's life back in Mingyun.

Chapter Edit

Mingyun Village, Summer of 98 ASC

The sun was setting upon the coastal Earth Kingdom village. Its glare upon the sea caused an eruption of shades of red, orange, and yellow. The waves pulled back and forth at a slow, steady pace, calming the villagers as they headed home for dinner. Little did they know that is wasn't the only red they would see that night. This red would bring upon a different emotion kindling noises of fear, noises of pain.

"Meimei! It's time to come home!" called Joo Dee surveying the village.

Mingyun was part of the Tri-Ming group that consisted of two other villages. Their motto was "Land, sea, sun". Mingyun was the sea aspect of it. They supplied fish and other marine-like goods. Sho was the governor of the village and also Joo Dee's husband.

Sho was at the governmental office with the other village's mayors discussing the security issues.

"I don't see the need for it." Chit-Seng said. He was Mingsei's leader which is about half a kilometer southwest of Mingyun.

Mingsei supplies everything agricultural to the villages. With Tri-Ming's excellent irrigation system and fertile soil, miles of farms have been produced making trade overseas great. Also, the abundance of crops has made even the lowest of beggers full every night.

"Please tell him building a wall around the cities is useful, Sho." asked the chief of Mingcho, Soro

Mingcho was five miles east of the two villages. It had hot summers, cold winters, and lots of rainfall. They contributed to the villages clothes, furniture, lumber and did lots of mining. It's crime rate was the highest which isn't saying much for the Mings. Small villages have been recently attacking Mingcho but have failed to do much damage although they made Mingcho afraid that worse attacks may come.

"I'm sorry Chit-Seng-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I know what you're going to say." Chit-Seng rudely interrupted. "How much is this going to cost us?"

"Well we have a thousand gold pieces left for the month so if we hire 300 workers at one gold piece a month we can have it finished next week." Soro explained

"I guess we have a wall men." Sho said while standing up and shaking the men's hands

Sho left the building and rode his rhinoceros beetle to the remembering that Joo Dee wanted him to buy some groceries for tonight's dinner.

"Hello Cheif Pong-Jai what can I getcha? I just got a new shipment of papayas." the merchant woman asked

"Thanks Lin. I'll take two papayas, a bag of Leechi nuts, and three plum blossoms. How much will it come out to?" Sho asked before putting his hands in his pocket looking for change.

"For you? I'll give a special discount." she said then handing him the bag of food.

Sho handed her a gold coin knowing that she was struggling financially and walked away feeling more peaceful than normal.

"Come on Lee! Do it! Do it!" a group of children chanted in unison

Lee was looking down at the sea on top of a cliff as high as Mt. Makapu. Lee never said no to a challenge no matter the consequences. Just last week he took Ms. Song Fein's rabaroo for a joyride all the way to Mingchu. He was still coughing up chunks of the rabaroo's fur.

Although he lived in the village of sea, his overprotective mother never let him learn to swim. Lee had only to choices- jump to his potential death or be called a wimp at school for the next week and there was no way he was going to lose his daredevil reputation. Lee chose his only option. Jump.

"Ok everyone, move back." Lee said motioning the children away

The peer-pressured daredevil jumped off the ledge. I did it! I jumped! Wait, I jumped knowing I can't swim? He thought before landing into the cold water.

Suddenly something grabbed his arm. Was it a se tu getting ready to have its dinner? No, it was a fisherman that became Lee's lifesaver. A man who Lee later thought was sent by the spirits to give him a "second chance".

"Thank you." Lee said before bowing and running home to await his punishment.

The well-sized house door slowly opened as the famliy impatiently waited for their final member to arrive.

"Hi guys." Lee said scratching the back of his head. "I see you haven't started eating yet. How nice of you."

He was drenched and smelt like fish. As he walked to the kitchen he tracked mud through the house. Luckily, the floor was tile making the mud easy to get rid of.

"I don't want to know. Just go clean up." Sho said rubbing his head with confusion.

By the time he had cleaned up the food had already became cold.

"Great, Lee. Now the food's cold." Meimei cried almost in tears. This was her favorite meal that she'd been waiting for all week.

"I don't suppose anyone knows a firebender that can heat up our food?" Lee asked trying to get out of trouble

"Don't mention the Fire Nation! Are you trying to curse us?" Joo Dee yelled at her son

"We've stayed out of the war all of these years and we'd like to keep way. Especially with that thirty foot high wall we're biulding have better protection. Sometimes you need to learn when not to speak." Sho said angrily

"Yeah Lee!" screeched

"Fine then! If annoying I might as well leave!"

Lee picked up the nuts and papaya, put it in a bag, and left.

He ran into the forest, crying. With the tears blurring up vision, he tripped on a rock and scraped his leg on a tree. Looking up he saw the red blur that would change his life for good.

To be continued...

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