Book One: Spirits

After returning to the festival and stopping for some porklamb sandwiches, the group began to wander through the crowd. A booming voice pierced straight through the passersby:

“Step right up to sign up for Republic City’s first ever amateur bending tournament!” the man with the bullhorn caught the attention of both Kari and Pong. “The prize money is set at 300 yuans! Same rules as Pro Bending, the newest sport to hit the United Republic! Teams of three benders, one water, one earth and one fire, square off in battle! Any takers? Anyone?” The group had planned to split up once they helped each other find their way back to the Fire Festival, but Karizibi and Pong were suddenly dragging Rikkako toward the man on the crate.

“We’d like to sign up.” Kari told the speaker. The group was waved toward another man holding some parchment. Taking it, Kari began frantically scribbling things down while Pong happily munched on his sandwich.

“What exactly are we doing?” Rikkaku questioned.

“Bending...Things...” Kari replied, clearly distracted.

“What kind of bending?” Rika pressed.

“Killing kinds...” Kari said dismissively.

“Killing?” Rikkako had noticeably paled, but no one was paying any attention. After collecting
Pong’s signature, she turned to hand Rika the paper and quill.

“What’s the matter with you?” Kari questioned.

“I don’t want to kill things.” she mumbled quietly, eliciting an eye roll from Kari.

“I was exaggerating.” she forced the paper into Rika’s hands. “It’s totally safe. You just...Uh...” Kari smiled, attempting to hide the fact that she really didn’t have a clue. Turning to the man signing contestants up, she gave a winning smile. “Look at me, trying to steal your job. Why don’t you go ahead and explain?”

“Oh, it’s simple, really.” he smiled politely. “And completely safe, I assure you. Teams consist of one waterbender, one firebender, and one earthbender. It is the goal of the team to knock the other team’s players as far back in the playing area as possible. The match is completed at the end of three rounds or when all the players of one team have been knocked off the playing area in a round.”

“Yeah...That’s all there is to it.” Kari continued to feign knowledge of the sport.

“Earth Rumble’s way cooler...” Pong could be heard grumbling.

“Ok...Sounds good to me.” Rikkako consented, signing her name next to the others before returning the paper to the man.

“Looks like everything’s in order.” he read over the paper. “Except...You need a team name.”

“Oh!” Kari seemed to perk up. “It needs to be something powerful sounding...Maybe something like-”

“Piglambs!” Pong chimed.

“What? No! I would never-” Kari attempted to protest.

“Piglambs it is!” the man scribbled something down on the paper with a chuckle.

“But-”

“If you want to go check out the arena, it’s two streets down.” the man pointed them in the proper direction and began calling out into the crowd again, not interested in Karizibi’s protests.

“Really?” she turned on Pong, “All the potential team names in the world, and we are now known as the fearsome piglambs?”

“But they’re delicious!” He gleefully retorted, wiping what was left of the porklamb sandwich from his face.

“I’m not dignifying that with a response.” Kari grumbled before storming off in the direction the announcer had pointed.

The arena was contained in a large stone building, only a story or two tall, erected by earthbending alone, nestled in amongst the considerably taller buildings of the surrounding city. The group walked through the grand entrance tunnel and found themselves at the top of tiered stone stands completely surrounding the arena, which was recessed several levels down. The arena itself was a large hexagonal platform of stone raised about three feet off the ground, a pool of water at each end. Narrow troughs of water carved into the stone floor created lines on the arena dividing it into six zones, one end to the other. The play surface was made entirely of earth. Two earthbenders stood on the sidelines to fill in whatever damage was done by the players currently practicing there. Kari decided to take a direct approach and headed straight toward them.

“You guys competing?” she called up to the person closest to her, a female earth bender.

“Yeah.” she responded, taking a break from sparring. “You guys?”

“Yep.” Kari nodded. “But my teammates have never played. Up for a three on three to show them the ropes?”

“Sure!” the earthbender took Kari’s hand, assisting her into the playing area. “We can always use practice. The name’s Toshiko, by the way. Those are my teammates Kyu and Taro. We’re the Mooselions.”

“I’m Kari,” she shook hands with her opponent. “and these are my teammates Rikkako and Pong. We’re the...Piglambs...” she grumbled out the name of the team with some difficulty.

“You all know how the game works?” Toshiko asked, politely attempting to hide her laughter.

“I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if you went over the finer points.” Kari requested. Toshiko kindly took the next ten minutes to explain the rules of the game: how teams gain territory by knocking opponents out of their zone, how the winner of a match was determined, and all the restrictions to bending as well as penalties penalties. Kari, Rika and Pong stood silently, nodding occasionally as they attempted to absorb all this information at once.
The teams stood toe to toe facing their opponents across the centerline. At the whistle, everyone jumped back. A flurry of elements were hurled at each other and the Piglambs quickly lost ground. However, they dug in and held their own, pushing the Mooselions back and managing to knock one player out of the playing area. The exchanges between Rika and Toshiko turned heated as they felt the first round coming quickly to an end. Both girls dealt a decent amount of damage to each other, but the remaining two Mooselions were pushed out of the playing area before the end of the first round. The Piglambs had won their first match!

There was a small amount of cheering and gloating, but both teams were kind when shaking hands in the end. Rikkako and Toshiko both apologized to one another.

“You’re sure you’ve never played before?” Toshiko laughed, “That was some pretty amazing bending back there!”

“Honest!” Rikkako gave the bender her word. “Anyway, thanks for the practice. We’ll be seeing you tomorrow. Good luck!”

“Same to you!” at that, Rika and Kari exited the play area, accidentally leaving Pong behind who appeared to be making strange celebratory poses in the middle of the arena. He was down on one knee, pounding his chest and making muscles at the empty seats. Ignoring this, Kari began to stretch out a little.

“It’s still pretty early” she mentioned to Rikkako. “I think I’m going to hang out here for a while. You?”

“Yeah,” Rika seemed to be formulating a plan. “I’m going to stick around too. Maybe see if there’s any water benders I can learn a few things from.” Kari nodded.

“Well, let’s try to meet up before we leave?” she suggested. Rikkako nodded in approval before the two set off in their own directions, scanning the room for someone to approach. It wasn’t long before both had their sights set on who they wanted to speak to.
Kari fixed her hair and played with her skirt a bit. Not only had she found a firebender her age, but he was quite possibly the most attractive person in the room. Straightening up, she put on her flirtiest smile.

“Hey” she spoke, somewhat startled to hear another voice say the same thing at the same time. Her head snapped to the right to find the source of the voice: Rikkako. As subtly as she could, she shook her head “no”, but Rikkako just grinned. Kari turned back to the firebender whose eyes darted between the girls, confused.

“You look like a pretty capable firebender” Kari spoke before Rika could. “I don’t suppose you’ll be competing tomorrow?”

“Uhhh...Actually, yes, I will” he replied, still a little tense.

“Really?” Kari feigned surprise. “I would have thought for sure you were just here to help out with the event. With how strong you look, I never would have guessed you were only at the amateur level.” At this, the man seemed to relax, a small grin spreading across his face. “Any chance you’d be willing to show another firebender a few moves?” Kari bit her lip, attempting to look as innocent as possible. “I’m new to all this and could really use the extra help.” She finished by batting her eyelashes. Just as it looked like he was about to respond, Rikkako interrupted him.

“You’re a firebender?” she gasped. “That makes you hot. You must be so hot that you could, like, melt things. Because, you know, you’re so hot.” It took all Kari’s strength to keep a straight face. The male firebender stared at Rika for a moment without saying a word before returning to Kari.

“I wouldn’t mind helping you out...” he smirked. “But what do I get in return?”

“Well,” she crossed her arms, smirking back. “My eternal gratitude, but other than that...Did I mention I’m a dancer?” Rikkako rolled her eyes.

“No you didn’t...” he raised an eyebrow, clearly interested. “So would you like to-”

“You’re, like, so hot,” Rika cut him off, eliciting a glare from Kari. “That you burn with the white-hot intensity of a thousand Sozins.”

“Is this your friend?” he addressed Kari who took a breath to center herself.
“We actually just met today” she clarified. “But she is on my team. Now,” she hooked her arm in his. “What do you say we go practice, hmm?” Rika interrupted with a haiku:

“Bender of fires hot.
Look, turn away from me not.
Your face is rull cute.”

Kari and the other firebender simply walked around Rikkako, heading up the stairs to a practice area. “Hey!” Rika called after them. “That haiku actually required thought!” She turned and chuckled, obviously pleased with her minor form of self entertainment - torturing Karizibi.

“I didn’t catch your name back there.” Kari casually mentioned once they reached the top of the stairs.

“I’m Shiro.” he shook her extended hand. “Your name?”

“Kari.” she smiled.

“Glad to meet you.” Shiro seemed to be surveying her. “So! Firebending...For starters, why don’t you show me what you’ve got.”
Back in the arena and realizing that he had been abandoned, Pong frowned. However, it didn’t take him long to find someone to bother.

“Hey mister!” he called to a rather beefy looking earthbender who had started practicing on the arena surface after the practice match. He was a older than pong by about ten years.

“Hunh?” he grumbled, confused. “Leave me alone, kid.”

“But, mister” Pong pressed on, “I want to learn more earthbending so I can compete in Earth Rumble! Can’t you help me?” Without another word, the bender erected an earth wall between the two of them. Determined, Pong lowered the first wall to find another. Then another behind it. Tearing down the last one, he found the earthbender was no longer there, and Pong was only just able to catch a glimpse of him walking down the tunnel out of the arena in a huff. Kicking the dirt, he stomped away, but it wasn’t long before he encountered another earthbender.

“Hey mister!” he waved excitedly. “Can you help me learn some bending?” This bender seemed to be a little kinder than the others. He smiled warmly.

“Aren’t you a little young to be in a bending match?” he teased.

“Am not!” Pong crossed his arms. The man chuckled, ruffling the younger bender’s hair.

“I guess I have a little time”. He conceded. “What’s your name, kid? I’m Wook.”

“Pong.” they shook hands.

“What were you looking to learn?” Wook asked.

“Anything!” Pong seemed to bounce on his feet a little. The man chuckled.

“Alright. Let me see what you can do and we’ll go from there.” He proceeded to help Pong straighten up a few forms before introducing a new concept.

“So,” the man concluded the demonstration. “You break up the earth beneath your opponent, tripping them or even throwing them in the air. Now you try.” Pong made a few attempts but didn’t seem to have enough power behind his attacks. “Don’t worry. You’ll get it kid.” Wook encouraged him. “But I need to get back to practicing. Keep working on that form. You nearly had it. Good luck tomorrow!”

“Thanks!” Pong scurried off to practice leaving Wook shaking his head.
On the other side of the arena, Rikkako seemed to be pleading with a fellow waterbender. “Can’t you tell me anything?” she begged. “I need to know.”

“Why would you ever want to know about something like that” the older waterbender demanded in a whisper, fear etched into her features.

“Because I’m scared.” Rika looked desperate.

“I-I have to go.” the other waterbender stuttered before scurrying off. Rikkako sighed, turning to search for another waterbender.

“Excuse me,” this bender looked to be her age. “Do you know anything about... blood bending?”

“About what?” he seemed oblivious.

“Nevermind.” Rika let out a frustrated sigh before scouring the arena for another waterbender. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful. However, she figured there was one other person who might have a clue. If she interrupted their alone time, even better.

“Kari!” she yelled before hastily moving out of the arena.

“Not bad.” Shiro nodded in approval of Kari’s display of firebending. “Your technique is excellent, but you don’t have a lot of variety. I have a thing or two I can show you if you’d like to take a step back”. Kari crossed her arms, raising a brow in an unspoken challenge. He unleashed a dazzling display of firebending that, in the end, left Kari’s jaw hanging open the slightest bit. In particular, she had taken a liking to a sweeping kick that unleashed a spiral of flames.

“Your turn.” he smirked after he finished showing off.

“Alright.” Kari agreed. “Fair enough. First of all, can you show me to a restroom? I need to freshen up.” Shiro shrugged, leading the way. “I’ll be be out in just a minute” she told him at the door. “I promise it’ll be worth your wait”. With a wink, she slipped inside to change into the one purchase she made as soon as she left home: a beaded entertainer’s outfit. It was entirely red and consisted of a layered skirt, beaded cuffs, and a bra with hanging beads that just barely covered her stomach. She decided to put on some makeup as well to accent the change in outfit. However, while Kari was busy, Shiro heard something he hoped he’d never have to tolerate again.

“Kariiiiiiiiii!” Rikkako seemed to be whining as she came down the hallway. “Karrrrrriiiii!” she paused at Shiro. “Is Kari in there?” she gestured to the restroom.

“Actually,” Shiro kept a straight face. “I think she went that way.” he pointed off behind him.

“Thanks!” Rika rushed off, continuing to holler Kari’s name. Shiro to grimaced. Just as Rikkako could no longer be heard, Kari stepped out of the bathroom. It was Shiro’s turn to look surprised.

“You like?” she laughed, leaning in the door frame.

“Uh...” was all Shiro could manage.

“Come on.” Kari grabbed his arm, unknowingly leading him in the same direction as Rikkako. Before he could warn her, however, Rika ran into them.

“There you are!” she ran up to the pair. “Do you know what blood bending is?” Kari narrowed her eyes at the waterbender and proceeded to walk around her. “Kari!” she began her yelling again as she followed her out the door and outside. “Karrriiiiii!” Several pedestrians sent glares in the direction of the obnoxious yelling. Kari gritted her teeth. Although she knew exactly what Rikkako wanted to know, she wouldn’t be telling her if for no other reason than to spite her.

“No.” came the cold answer.

“I don’t believe you.” Rika countered

“Well, I don’t know anything about it, so go away.”

“No!” Rikkako planted herself in front of the two. “I’m not leaving until I have an answer.” Shiro sighed angrily. Rika hoisted the two into the air with two large streams of water extending from her arms. It was at this time a police officer came to investigate the noise.

“What’s going on here?” He asked Rika.

“This water bender’s attacking me!” Kari yelled childishly.

“Is this true?” the officer demanded.

“I’m really freaking out about something and just wanted to know, but they’re being mean and won’t tell me!” Rika eyes were solid and empty, “What’s bloodbending?”

“Well,” the officer seemed startled at first. “it’s a form of waterbending where you bend the blood in a person’s body, gaining total control. It is highly illegal.”

“Okay, thank you!” Rikkako smiled, lowered Shiro and Kari, and ran off. As she walked in the direction of Pong, her hands began to shake.

“As you were,” the officer said to the firebenders laying on the ground before heading towards the festival on patrol. Both Kari and Shiro thought better than to question why it was she wanted to know. After brushing themselves off, Kari began dragging her companion into an open space. They had found themselves a fairly open area in a corner of the plaza just outside the arena.

“Stand back” she mocked him. Smiling, he obliged. With a sweeping motion, Kari created a whip of flames and began to dance to the music in her head. The bells she wore on her outfit seemed to form their own beat.

“Wow” was all Shiro could say when she finished. “Where did you learn to do that?” Kari shrugged.

“I picked up a few things here and there.” she brushed off the question, leading him back inside.
“Debt repaid?”

“Yes, debt repaid.” he chuckled.

“I’m probably going to head out soon.” Kari began to look around for her companions. “I don’t exactly have a place to stay, though. Is there somewhere nearby you’d recommend?”

“There’s several inns around here.” Shiro offered. “You should be able to find one no matter which direction you walk when you leave here if you keep to the main roads.”

“Thanks.” Kari smiled. “So, think we can meet up tomorrow? I might need a little more practice with that kick you showed me.”

“Yeah!” his face seemed to light up. “Absolutely! Maybe, if our schedules in the tournament allow it, we can grab lunch or something?”

“That would be great” Kari tried to cover up her nerves. She saw what Shiro was capable of and was more than a little worried that the two would be forced to square off in the arena. “I guess I’ll catch you then.” with a wink and a wave, she walked away.
Kari caught up with Rikkako and Pong in a practice area.

“You guys ready to go?” she asked the other two benders. “We can go grab an inn room together if you’re both okay with it.”

“Sure.” they both nodded. Kari led the way, locating an inn quickly as Shiro had said she would. Discovering that the cost per night wasn’t too expensive, three yuans, she decided to pay for the room herself. Rika rolled her eyes but said nothing.

“Does she think we’re that poor?” she grumbled quietly to more herself than anyone else.

Their room was decently sized, containing two full beds and a simple bathroom with running water through the copper pipes. It was decided early on that the girls would get the beds, but after watching Pong attempt to get comfortable on the floor for a while, Rika took pity and invited him to sleep in bed with her.

“Just don’t hog the bed.” she mumbled, rolling over.