Finding a Master (Open)

[shadnicth]

As Dartan looked around, he noticed that the lemur had decided to take it upon itself to swoop around his head, screeching at the young Earthbender as he tried to swat it.
"Get it off me! Get it off of me!"Dartan yelled in a panicked tone, jumping back from the lemur as Erity finally called back to him from above, Dartan looking up to see her gliding down. Of course, she was an Airbender. First place to look was up.

After she had landed, Dartan walked over to her, keeping an eye out for the lemur, in case it decided to attack him again. Erity commented that it didn't seem like a good idea to land straight away and if it was safe to come down. Dartan smiled.
"Well if you intend on staying up there, how can I give you a tour? You haven't even seen the main chamber yet." He said with a smile.

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

A moment of near-irritation came to Erity's face as she watched Dartan swat at her friend; after all Cai was only annoyed and worried, and this was her way to say it. She wouldn't really hit him. "I don't think she would be so eager to get her message across if you'd warned her about that long drop. She doesn't understand things quite the way I do," she said in a clear tone. "It would be mean to hit her when she doesn't have any other way to say what's on her mind, don't you think? She didn't hit you."

Equally miffed Cai turned her back on the Earthbender, ignoring him completely and landing on the pale girl's shoulder, petting the long nearly-white hair in concern. Understanding the anxiety that Cai must be under the Airbender patted her lemur friend's head and let her settle herself back down. It didn't seem like any lasting damage had been done, and while Dartan's disregard for Cai was unsettling it wasn't unusual. People didn't seem to find the same value in plants and animals that she did, and trying to convince them of it wasn't likely to really change how they thought.

"I suppose I can come down if you'd like," was her answer after a moment of thought, and with another small movement of her staff she opened its wings again, then grabbed on and glided down at an easy pace so that the lemur wouldn't be alarmed any further. Fortunately Cai's interest in new things would help her quickly forget the previous experience. "If this city was so large and wonderful why doesn't anyone live in it any longer?"

[shadnicth]

Ren looked at Erity as the lemur continued to fly around him, saying that the lemur was only trying to get a point across since he had decided to surprise them with a free fall into the catacombs. He was trying to make it seem dramatic, however it seemed the lemur was not into dramatics much. As he attempted to shoo the lemur away, Erity expressed her concern for the lemur hit his ears. After the lemur had left him alone, he looked at her with a concerned look.

"I wasn't trying to hit it. I was trying to make it go away. And I was only trying to be dramatic... Sorry if I scared it..." He said with a slanted smile, looking up at the Airbender. She said that she could come down if he liked and he nodded.
"That would be nice. Not much to see from up there." He said with a smile. He watched as Erity began to glide down to the ground, simply amazed by how the young Airbender was able to control the air to fly. He wished he could fly. To be free of the ground and it's worries. However he was an Earthbender, and as such, had to be on the earth.

Erity asked when the underground city was abandoned and Dartan simply shrugged.
"I honestly don't know. Ba Sing Se dates back to a very long time ago... I doubt the libraries would have any information on that... But maybe if we look around, we'll find out!" He said with a smile as he began to walk towards a tunnel.
"You ready to come?" He asked Erity, looking back to her with a smile.

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

Well, if it mattered that much to him that she come down it was probably polite to do so since he was trying his best to be a good host and show her around. Her sense of morality and manners may not have been the same as everyone else around her but being polite and compassionate was the most important thing to her. It was simply that Erity was used to looking at the world from above or sideways through her own sense of quiet amazement for the world. "It's really very pretty how the light shines through," she agreed, head slightly cocked as she looked over the sights and silver eyes picking up some of the green of the suffused light.

He didn't seem to know a good deal about this city that had sunken beneath the ground, but that was how things happened at times. Perhaps he'd simply found it by accident and in that case it may not be self-evident. Never adverse to a bit of exploring she followed at an easy pace, holding her glider-staff loosely in her hands as she looked along the walls and let the back of her mind wander over the things that caught her eye. "Yes, I'm coming," she replied belatedly and in something of a distant tone. Almost as though she noticed Erity's distracted state Cai glided into her shoulder and tapped her, bringing the girl back to noticing a bit more of reality.

Now more aware Erity's eyes focused a bit more and she gave Ren a pleasant smile, then looked up at the roof of the cavern and then the entrance of the cave. Kaoru would have liked it here, especially since there was still a scent of water in the air. "Do you think that this city was ever above ground, or always hidden in caves?" she asked calmly but with interest. Being an Earthbender perhaps he would be able to tell.

[shadnicth]

Dartan smiled as Erity commented on how pretty the light shone through the underground through the refraction of the crystals. He looked around at the room which was a translucent green, looking back to Erity.
"You're right, it is really nice. It's a bit more brighter in the daytime, since more light is reflected down here, but for now, I think this will be ok." He said with a smile.

The young Airbender soon afterward replied to Dartan's comment about following him as he began to walk towards the main chamber, by following Dartan. Dartan in actual reality didn't really know the catacombs as well as the locals did, however he had learned a technique that allowed him to use Earthbending as a sort of compass, allowing him to vaguely tell directions such as North and South.

So by using this new technique, he was able to lead them with a bit more clarity than if he didn't have the technique. While walked, Erity had asked if the city was always underground, Dartan looking back to her as they walked.
"Oh yeah... best place for an Earthbender is underground. So an entire city where Earth is readily available, as well as a place that you can effectively climb onto the ceiling and such, provided not only effective attack, but effective defense." He said with a smile.

"It's like how you Airbenders have always lived above the clouds. Safe from danger, as well as surrounded by your element." He added as the pair kept walking.

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

So this city had always been underground, and had once been populated just as the upper one was. While Erity understood Dartan's reasoning and found it completely sound the idea of being so restrained, even by your own element, was a bit of a restrictive idea. Air was always around everyone, and within them- it had to be, because it made up the breath- but there didn't seem to be anything about it that held you back unless you wanted it to. Maybe that was why she had the spirit of an Airbender rather than any of the other elements.

"Yes, I can see why that would make the people of the Earth Kingdom feel more safe- but how would you grow plants or keep animals alive without the sunlight you find above-ground?" she asked in a somewhat more collected tone, following Ren as he continued to walk and trusting that he wasn't going to get them lost. Even so there was probably some way in and out if this place was known enough to have people investigating it from time to time as they were, and if her Earthbending friend could open a hole to get them down he could surely open another one to get out.

Cai was in her usual state of curiosity, gliding from outcropping to outcropping and examining the glowing stones with her fingers, eyes and ears, alternately tapping the rocks and then listening to the tones they made. "I do suppose it would be comforting for them to be so much a part of the Earth, but no one can live just with their element, can they? Even Earthbenders need the Air to breathe, Water to drink and the Fire to keep warm and get light. The difference is which one makes us feel the most safe."

[shadnicth]

Dartan simply smiled as the young Airbender commented on how it would be possible for the people grow crops, and keep animals alive and such without the assistance of sunlight.
"Oh you'll see..." He said as the pair turned around a bend, the sound of rushing water and an omnious green glow at the end of the path. Erity began to speak once again, this time talking about how it would be nice to be surrounded by your element, however the other 3 elements were essential to live as well. Dartan simply nodded as they reached the end of the path, various rocks blocking the pair from getting through, with the glow shining through the cracks.

"Well..." Dartan said, moving back into an attack stance and then stomped his foot on the ground, followed with a sturdy punch and kick combo, the rocks blasted forward, the light shining in through the hole overwhelming Dartan's eyes for a moment before they adjusted.

The main chamber of the Catacombs was lit in a soothing green glow, creeks running through the underground, with a waterfall falling in to supply the water, the lights from the crystals also giving a sense of heat in the room, despite it being the night. Dartan looked back to Erity and smiled.
"Maybe you should have a look first?" He finished.

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

There was something terribly mysterious about these crystals that made them glow- but there was no way for the young Airbender could know exactly what caused it. "If you broke off a bit of the stone would it still glow?" she asked her new friend in a half-aware tone, reaching out to carefully touch one as she peered into its depths. The further in they went the brighter it seemed to get though it must have by now been dark outside, and once they were able to look in at the main area there was even more of a glow, as if it had all funneled into the space and stored itself there. Perhaps this light was like water.

"I can look first if you'd like," she replied after a moment, moving with her awkward sort of grace to the hole amd through it with a few careful steps, then glancing over the surroundings and moving aside a bit so Dartan could step through as well. "Is there supposed to be something frightening in here? I don't see anything that should make you think twice about coming in, so I suppose that means its safe. Are you going to come in now?" The Earthbender had seemed rather eager for her to look on this scene, so that was probably the best course.

So there was water, and that made sense, since it could flow easily through the cracks in the earth- but there was no natural fire and still no real sunlight. "Can this light grow plants, do you think?" Though pretty this place still seemed a bit dank and cold- but Kaoru probably would have enjoyed it a good deal. Perhaps she could bring him in later when Yui decided to let him have his body back.

[shadnicth]

Dartan blinked as Erity asked if the stone would still glow after you had broken it off. He simply shrugged at her, his expression blank.
"I have no idea to perfectly honest with you. I suppose it would, since the light refracts from all the crystals..." He said with a smile. It was nice to be doing stuff like this with a new friend. Dartan didn't have that much friends to speak of, so it seemed like this would be a good opportunity to hopefully make a new one here.

When they reached the main chamber, he had asked Erity to have a look in first, however the young Airbender seemed to think he was scared and had asked her to peer in first. He simply smiled as she peered inside, nodding as she asked for him to come in.
"I wasn't scared to come inside, I was merely asking you to have look. Trying to be dramatic." He said with a smile as he went into the large room.

She had asked if plants could be grown down here and Dartan simply shrugged.
"Again, I have no idea. I suppose they could, since the citizens of Ba Sing Se lived down here for generations before they went overground, so I suppose they could?" He said, looking around the ancient room.