Finding a Master (Open)

[shadnicth]

It had been a pleasant time in Ba Sing Se, since Dartan had arrived about 2 weeks ago, the help of a young Firebender named Yukiko managing to hook him up with a free ferry ride into the city, as well as a place to stay and work. The old woman Dartan had been staying with was a nice person, however she tended to be a little on the cranky side. Especially at work, which she was the owner of. Dartan had never baked before in his life, so she seemed frustrated that he didn't get some of the loaves of bread right. However she saw that he was trying, and while it wasn't perfect, he was slowly making improvements.

While he had time, Dartan took some time to see the city. The first place he visited was the legendary Zoo which had been created by the bending of Avatar Aang all those years ago. He also went to visit Lake Laogai, which the tour guide informed was at one point in the Sozin Wars, the hold for the Dai Lai, when they were under the command of corrupt Long Feng. All this information, and this history really interested Dartan and he wanted to learn more about the culture of the city.

However that was not the reason he was here. He was here to further his Earthbending training and make a name of himself. He was skilled in the basics, but was all everyone in his village knew. No one was capable of teaching the young man more, and it seemed no one here wanted to teach Dartan either. Earthbending Schools were filled up for the semester and weren't taking students, especially at Dartan's age. Masters had pupils of their own. It seemed like this trip was turning out to be a bit of a waste of time.

It was when Dartan was returning home from work, the old woman he was staying with had asked him to stay behind to clean up. He walked down the dark streets, the candles flickering in the light breeze as he heard footsteps behind him. He looked behind him to see a pair of men walking towards him, they seemed tipsy from the way they swayed when they walked.

"Hey! Boy!" One called out to Dartan as he kept walking.
"HEY! I'm talking to yous!" The man said, stomping his foot into the ground and raising a fist up high, a wall of earth being raised in front of Dartan. He stopped and turned around.
"Just leave me alone. Please." Dartan as he took a defensive stance against the men.

"Hey look, He's a bender! Let's see how good he is!" The other man said with a glee, punching a fist and sending a moderately sized stone to Dartan. Dartan swept and extended his left leg forward, crouching down on his right leg and thrusted a hand out, the other by his side. He raised a small slab of stone which blocked the stone, but also broke apart itself.

"Hehe... He's only a beginner... Let's get him..." One man said as the pair took a stance. Dartan was in trouble now.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

From what Erity had heard the travelers say there was no city in the world quite like Ba Sing Se. Once the Fire Nation capital city had nearly matched its grandeur, and of course the Northern Water Tribe's central city was a wonder of ice, snow and rivers, but the stony face of this land was different than any other she could have imagined. The buildings were of course right-side up, unlike the ones of her temple which hung like stalactites from a ledge over a canyon, and there wasn't much consideration to optimal air flow- but air always got in. Much like the Air Nomads themselves there wasn't a place you wouldn't find some form of the breath of life and joy.

Erity's face held a faint, mysterious smile as she looked up at the buildings she passed, stepping nimbly around those whose paths she crossed, her dear Cai making small, warbling sounds as she looked around and tried to grasp a fruit from the occasional passing tray, the lemur's small arms not quite long enough to reach her favorite treats. Her other travelings companion Kaoru had decided to go to the inn and get some rest; it seemed that Yui had been louder within his mind and something about that had saddened and frightened her friend. Worse yet he was starting to withdraw from the way they'd been as children together after his rescue and she couldn't quite understand why. Somehow that same thing had changed in her too, but rather than pushing him away she hoped to find more closeness. Perhaps it's only his traveling has made him look at me differently, and that's alright. Now we're traveling together and I'll understand more.

The part of the city she'd wandered into was the major market square, and from the side alley she'd been on these new masses of people seemed stifling and too warm. Almost without realizing how uncomfortable the crowds made her she turned on her heel and walked back into the alley, then opened the sails on her carved cherry-wood staff with a small, graceful swing. A chirping giggle left Cai's throat as she jumped and opened her arms, then glided to the nearest rooftop; smiling a bit more widely Erity jumped and let the glider and her Bending to the rest, carrying her to rest beside the furry creature. Another swing closed her staff and she raised her arms over her head to feel the breeze across her fingertips. This was how she should have been seeing the city all along.

Her light steps and gliding carried her from rooftop to rooftop, taking in the sights in the street as she passed over it and drew more than a few shouts and some pointing- but that barely penetrated her thought processes while they took in everything that fell under her gaze. For a time she let the currents guide her, uncaring which way she flew- and they Cai darted in front of her face, waving her arms and pointing. Twisting her glider she dropped to the nearest rooftop and heard the vague sound of shouting; looking over she saw a boy perhaps a bit younger than herself and a pair of larger people that seemed to be tormenting him. Though a pacifist by nature and unwilling to hurt others without the most drastic circumstances she also couldn't let something like that happen. Protecting others was as important as protecting yourself.

As she watched one of the men berated the boy and then took what looked like a bending stance- and that probably meant that they were serious, since they seemed to be swaying on their feet and drunk. It wasn't a state she was personally familiar with but it didn't seem to make people any more pleasant. Swinging her staff from the rooftop she blew up a strong gust of wind between the boy and his attackers. "You're being rude, maybe you should go home and get to bed," she suggested in a dreamy, distant tone though her eyes showed hints of curiosity and focus in their silvery depths.

For some reason they found this funny and laughed too loudly, their voices echoing off of the stone as they scoffed; Erity took the moment of distraction to glide to the ground and landed easily, flicking her staff closed again as she glanced back at the boy she now stood to the right of. The other man took a step forward and she swung her staff again, blowing another gust of wind at the men. It wasn't going to be strong enough to blow them over, considering that she was only a beginner herself, but that wasn't her goal as she watched the scattered bits of dust and dirt blow toward the mens eyes.

[shadnicth]

Dartan watched as the men took another stance, ready to attack. He took a defensive one, ready to defend him, by sliding a foot back so he was facing them side on, bending his knees into a horse riding stance. It was then out of nowhere a giant gust of wind just blew into the area, kicking up some dust between the men and Dartan. Dartan reached for his eyes, covering them to protect them. When it settled, Dartan heard a voice from above and looked up. A woman was speaking to the men and she held a staff in her hand. Dartan's eyes widened.

Airbender... Dartan immediately thought to himself as he watched the men laugh at her. She glided down and landed in front of Dartan, looking back to him before flicking dust at the men's eyes. It landed perfectly as the men screamed, wiping at their eyes with their hands to get the dust and dirt off their face. Dartan took this as an opportunity to attack. He got into his horse stance and stomped the ground with a foot, 2 moderately sized stone shooting out of the ground. He punched with his right, and then his left, sending the two stones flying to the men, hitting them both in their chests.

The men hurled over, gasping for breath as the attack winded them, looking at the airbender and earthbender in front of them.
"You... You's ain't gonna... gonna... gonna get aways with this'," One of the men said as they began to scamper off. Dartan looked at the airbender and smiled.
"Thank you..." He simply said.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

It seemed that these rude men were a bit easier to scare off than she'd thought it would be; maybe they weren't as interested in a fight as they'd seemed. Curious. Then again that may have had to do with the fact they couldn't see very well and had gotten hit in the chest with rather large stones. Erity wasn't vain enough to think that her Airbending had been the biggest deterrent, and oftentimes it was more of a defensive style than an offensive one, so she was quite grateful to the Earthbender for his final blow in the fight. He'd even shown some restraint and hadn't hit the attackers in the head.

With her head cocked slightly sideways she watched the pair of thugs make for the main street at a quick pace with only the smallest bit of interest before she turned toward the boy and gave him a faint smile. "Oh, you're welcome," Erity replied politely but with real cheerfulness behind the quietly lilting tones of her voice. "Your Earthbending was very nice, I haven't really seen any before." With an easy motion she planted the end of her staff lightly against the stone of the alley as Cai glided down beside her, landing easily on her shoulder to settle there with a chittering complaint, shaking her tiny hand at the street where the thugs had disappeared.

Raising her free hand lightly Erity patted her lemur's head and then turned her attention back to the boy- he must have been close to her age and seemed nice enough, and generally her instincts on people's character was good. After all she could tell Kaoru and Yui apart easily. "I'm Erity Lien," she told him she'd remembered where she as and her manners. "What's your name?" From the looks of things he was working here in the city and that meant he probably knew more about finding his way around than he did. That would be helpful since she was a bit lost at this point. "Do you know where the inn is from here?"

Of course she had no idea how many there were in Ba Sing Se.

[shadnicth]

Dartan just smiled as the young Airbender commented on his own bending, saying that he had very nice Earthbending. If that was nice, she had to see how a master would perform. She would be gob-smacked. So was he for a matter of a fact when her pet flew down to her shoulder, his eyes widening a little. He'd never seen a flying lemur before. He was about to ask about it, before the girl introduced herself as Erity Lien. That was a nice name. A unique one, but nice.

"Dartan." Dartan replied to her question about his name, bowing to the Airbender. She then asked about whether he knew if there was an inn around here. Dartan gave her a lost look. He had no idea himself.
"Um... I'm actually new to town myself, only been here a couple of weeks, so I have no idea... If you like, we could walk around, try to find one?" He asked her.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

Dartan's eyes grew wide with surprised as he looked at Cai, who noticed his attention and preened under it, giving a quick jump and gliding around him before she landed near his feet and held up her hands while batting her lashes. "Cai, it's rude to beg," Erity reminded her pet absently as she looked around the alley again, still trying to get at least some hint of her bearings. "Especially to a new person who doesn't understand your bottomless stomach." There wasn't any anger or real irritation in her tone and she knew the lemur couldn't fight her nature any more than anyone else, and at least she had enough sense not to beg from people who would be angered by it.

Dartan's suggestion drew a wider smile to her and she nodded, pushing her hair back into the hood on the back of her gown and thinking. "Well, I really need to find the inn Kaoru's in, or maybe the one Yui's in. I think it's somewhere near the gates we came in, but I was traveling by rooftop when I noticed the market was crowded and there's not many landmarks up there." She'd been told before that her words tended to wander over whatever topic she found herself on but she wasn't quite sure what those people had meant. All she was doing was giving the details on the situation, since those are what she usually found most helpful. "But I would like the help. The temple wasn't laid out in this spread-out kind of way and I get lost easily."

[shadnicth]

Dartan looked up at the creature Erity had on her shoulder, watching her speak with it as though it were human. Well pets did seem to have that sort of effect on their master. Especially ones that were as close as these two seemed to be. Dartan figured this would be as good as time as any to ask.
"Um, sorry if I seem a bit dim in asking this... but what is that?" He asked her, the question finally off his chest and conscious.

When he offered to escort her around, she began to mention of an inn somewhere near gates. Luckily that was close to where Dartan was staying as well, so he knew of the inn she meant.
"Oh you mean the Lucky Dragon Inn? That's just a couple of blocks from where I live." He replied to her comments, unsure if they were a question of sorts, or merely the girl thinking aloud.

So when the girl commented on the layout of her air temple, compared to the city and how she tended to get lost easily, Dartan just smiled.
"Well it's a good thing you found me then. And I suppose it was good for me too." He said with a smile.
"So when you're ready, let's go." He added.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

She'd almost forgotten how rare winged lemurs were, even among some of the Air Nomads, especially since she'd rescued her friend as a a baby when she'd gotten exhausted in a family flight. "I don't think you seem dim at all," Erity replied in a friendly fashion, already loyal to the boy who was offering his help and being so nice. "She's a winged lemur. A lot of people don't know what they are, but they're really very nice. I helped her get well after her family flew away without her when she was a baby."

Finally realizing that Dartan wasn't about to slip her any treats Cai gave a sigh and jumped back up onto the Airbender's shoulder and the girl patted her fuzzy head in commiseration while handing her a couple small slices of leechi nut. Hopefully the treats would keep Cai occupied long enough to not annoy anyone else- or take any of the passing fruit on the odd trays the shopkeepers carried around. People in cities and the world outside of the Temple in general were very concerned with getting the right amount of money for things; Erity was far more used to a sort of communal living where greed was almost unknown.

"Oh, I'm ready when you are, Dartan," she told him after a moment, the look of mental abstraction in her eyes fading as she focused again on the real world rather than her own thoughts. "The Lucky Dragon does sound familiar, checking there first might be a good idea. And I suppose it's a good thing we found each other." Her smile remained bright if ethereal and she reached out to absently brush a bit of extra dust from Dartan's shoulder from where the gust of her Airbending had blown it back. "Which way should we go first?"

[shadnicth]

"Oh... Why thank you..." Dartan simply replied as Erity commented on him not seeming dim at all. He begged to differ, as he didn't go to school as a child, and he had mainly working in a mine with his father for a majority of his life.
"Oh wow! I've never seen on those before..." Dartan said, watching the lemur looking at him with begging eyes, before it flew back to Erity's shoulder. Dartan wished to travel a little and see the world, so once he had mastered Earthbending, he would surely have the skills necessary to travel the world.

When she mentioned she was ready to get going, he simply nodded at her. He was about to begin walking in the direction, before she began to dust him off.
"Thank you..." He said, turning a little red as he turned around quickly, listening as she asked which way they would be going.
"Um... Just straight down ahead this way..." He said, turning to sound as normal as possible. He was a bit shy when it came to girls. Especially ones who were from other nations, such as this one here. Yukiko was fine because she was older and seemed much more mature than Dartan was. But this one just made him blush a bit.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

Cai continued to look around, her ears up and alert as she listened to their voices bounce off of the alley walls just before they stepped out closer to the street where the sounds had more space to fade. Was the lemurs acute hearing what made it hard for her to concentrate sometimes? "The lemurs like to stay up high; maybe if you look at the sky enough you'll see some of them pass by," Erity offered in a helpful but distracted tone as one part of her mind still wondered over exactly how flying lemurs heard with their large ears. She had the sort of thought process that allowed her to ponder multiple subjects at once but others who were less used to her ways often thought she was simply a bit spacey or daft.

There was only a moment of hesitation before Dartan answered her question on the direction they'd be traveling, but his voice had an odd sound, like he couldn't catch his breath for a moment while his cheeks flushed and he continued walking. She'd sometimes seen Kaoru in the same state but more often and much more strongly. It must have meant something, but exactly what she wasn't sure. Generally flushing meant a fever, but he didn't seem ill any more than Kaoru did- but she'd also learned that if she brought that fact up people were offended. It took these travels to the outside world for Erity to understand exactly how much the absolute truth bothered some people. Rather than speak a lie and feel guilt or speak the truth and offend she'd rather say nothing.

With her features relaxed and her staff resting relaxedly in her hand she walked after Dartan, speeding up a bit to catch up and then matching his pace steadily as they stepped into the street and the noise of the city grew a bit. Cai's ears went back as she adjusted to the volume before perking up again, her tail twitching slightly in excitement; to keep her calm Erity handed her another portion of leechi nut. "The inn is rather far from here, isn't it?" she asked Dartan curiously, interested in how far she'd come more than how long it would take to get there. "Distances are different in the air and all of the rooftops look alike."

[shadnicth]

Dartan smiled as Erity commented on the flying lemurs, saying that if you looked enough at the sky, you'd see them fly past.
"Well... It doesn't really make much sense for an Earthbender to be looking to the skies too often. We often have our eyes, and feet, on the ground. Although flying must be something amazing..." Dartan said as he walked down the street. Well it was true after all. Why would an Earthbender need to look up at the skies, when it was quite clear that their power rooted from the ground.

As they walked down the street, Erity had asked if the inn was far for their current location, and that distances compared to the air and ground were two very different things. Dartan just turned around and smiled.
"Well the good news is the Inn isn't that far from here. Bad news is that with construction going on the the street ahead, we have to take the long way around." Dartan said as the pair reached the construction site that Dartan had been speaking of.

"Ok, we'll just take a left here. It'll be about 20 minutes of walking, if you're ok with that." Dartan said with a smile as he began to walk down the street, looking back to see if Erity was following.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

Erity had never really seen the separation between the points of view of the different elements as clearly as she did with Dartan's statement. She knew that Earth and Air were considered opposites, like most people viewed water and fire, but since she'd been raised in the Temple and almost none of the visitors were Earthbenders it hadn't been that evident. Fire and Water were more alike in some ways than people thought though- so maybe that was the case for Earth and Air as well. Smiling a bit more sweetly she glanced at Dartan before looking up at the clear blue over her. "Sometimes I think it's alright to keep your feet on the ground and still watch the sky- just like I watch the ground when I fly. If there was no Earth there wouldn't be any leaves for the Air to blow, and without Air there wouldn't be breeze to bring fresh air," she supposed, her tone vaguely dreamy as she considered numerous possibilities and simply let her thoughts on that one subject leave her aloud.

When he mentioned the walking she withdrew a bit more of herself from her swirling thoughts to pat Cai as the lemur mumbled to herself. "I'm quite used to walking so I don't mind," the girl assured him cheerfully and without hesitation. "Flying's nice of course, but if we were always in the air it would get lonely. The entire world is important." The sounds of people on the street were growing easier to ignore and Erity felt more comfortable for it. She didn't really mind large amounts of noise but the walls seemed to keep it all in one place rather than letting it spread out and be free. It was an interesting effect with the echoes though. "Walking with you will be nice, and time doesn't really matter," she told the boy confidently. "There's a lot to see. That means the trip will seem fast no matter what." With that she walked at his pace, keeping in step so they could speak more easily and never considering he might have liked things a tiny bit quieter.

[shadnicth]

Dartan just smiled as Erity commented on how it seemed ok to look up at the sky whilst having your feet firmly on the ground. It seemed like something that a kid with his head in the clouds would seem capable of doing. Dartan however was not like that. He had been taught that four elements were just that. Four. And that as a member of the Earth Element, he had to focus on the ground. He thought it was wrong, but once something is constantly shoved in your face, sometimes you just give up and let it in.

"Yeah... I suppose..." Dartan simply replied to the comment as they walked down the street. Erity soon replied to his comment about walking, saying that while flying was nice, it did tend to get lonely. Dartan just nodded.
"Well it can get lonely here on the ground too. Especially if you were like me, who travelled from Chameleon Bay to get here." He said with a smile as they walked down still.

Erity comment that it was nice to walk with Dartan and Dartan just smiled and nodded at her.
"You too. It's nice to have some company." He said with a smile. This Airbender was growing on him a little. So he decided to find out a little more about her.
"So which Air temple are you from?" He asked her. He wondered if she part of the Militia, although she didn't seem like it.

[\Mai-Dee/ *Erity* ~Kenzi~]

Dartan seemed like the more quiet kind of boy but Erity was used to that; it seemed a common trait among most of the people, both male and female, outside of the Temple. Even Kaoru, who she'd known since they were very young, had his moments where he just seemed not to know what to say to her. The idea that she was the odd one hadn't quite fallen into place yet and was unlikely to. Other people didn't necessarily have to always be honest, but that was the way she was the most comfortable and she knew that she didn't mean anything cruel in what she said. Unfortunately not everyone was as perceptive as she was.

"Chameleon Bay does seem like it would be a long way to travel to come here," the girl agreed absently, drawn out of her thoughts after a long moment by Cai's climbing; the lemur was now sitting on top of her head and playing with Erity's long hair. "I'm from the Western Air Temple, it's rather nice there. The buildings are all upside down and hang from the cliffs, so it's very easy to get into the air." A slightly wider smile came to her face as she remembered her home and all of the people still waiting for her there, never judging her for her decision to leave with her childhood friend and travel the world. She was a Nomad, and everywhere that she hadn't been was a place she wanted to see. "What is Chameleon Bay like? Is that where the giant koi live?"

[shadnicth]

When Erity commented on how Chameleon Bay was a long way to travel, Dartan just shrugged with a dis-concerning look on his face.
"Not really. If I'd gone through the Serpent's Pass, it would've been a lot more dangerous than by ferry." He said with a smile. He couldn't help but notice how her lemur was playing with her hair, before being distracted from that by her voice once again.

She said she was from the Western Air Temple, which Dartan had no idea where or what it was about. She then commented on the buildings being upside down and than it was easy to fly around there. Dartan just smiled widely at the prospect of basically living in the air.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Dartan said with a huge grin on his face.

Erity then commented on how Chameleon Bay was, and asked if it was indeed home to the Giant Koi. Dartan simply shrugged as a response.
"I honestly don't know. My village is about a two day walk from the Bay, so I've never actually seen the Bay in detail." He said with a mild tone of sadness in his voice. After coming to Ba Sing Se, he really did understand what he had been missing out in the world. How years spent in the mines could've easily been spent traveling. It was heartbreaking in a way.

"So... What brings you to Ba Sing Se?" Dartan asked, wondering what an Airbender would be doing here.