Chronicles Of Ba Sing Se (Deathbender Book 3)

4

The next day Kuzon and I left the house early morning, planning to spend the whole day out together. I left Adria with Jia for the day, not wanting to be interrupted by the needs of the baby dragon.

Kuzon took my out to breakfast in a small, local shop. We ate rice and eggs, a simple but good first meal, with tea that didn't compare to Iroh's, but was still good.

After breakfast, Kuzon promised he had planned the whole day out, but wouldnt tell me where we were going.  We walked around town for a while before arriving at a large building patterned with air nation symbols.

"What is this place?" I asked, amazed by the markings all too familiar to me. It was colored like home. Every detail was carefully crafted, just like everything made by the monks. It was a circular building, which reminded me of the class buildings back home. Most of our lessons were outdoors, but there were times when we would sit down in a building to listen to a monk talk.

"A memorial, of sorts." Kuzon said sheepishly. "The earth benders of this city made it right after the air bender's fall. Its the only thing in the whole city where the war is allowed to be mentioned. I found it the other day and wanted to bring you here immediately, but you were busy."

"Does Aang-"

"I haven't told him. I wanted you to see it first. I haven't gone inside yet, so I can't tell you what to expect."

My hand grazed the door to the building and I pushed it opened, leading the way inside.

It was obvious the place was popular. Several people already walked around, though still it was early morning. There were people dressed in the colors of the air nation, although the style of the clothes was more modern. Air nation artifacts covered the walls, along with books about the air nation and paintings of what people think it must have looked like.

One of the people who worked their approached us as we entered. Her eyes widened when she saw me. "You're the air bender people say is traveling with the Avatar!"

"Um, yeah." I said. "My name is Kila. This is Kuzon."

"Fire nation." The girl said, frowning slightly.

"Relax, he's a good guy." I said in the voice I would use talking to a child. "You shouldn't judge people based on their heritage."

"I'm sorry, miss." The girl said, bowing her head in apology. "But, you are and air bender! What do you think of this place?"

I looked around again. "It's certainly something."

"Please, as an official air bender, would you look around and tell us if anything at all is off? Color, design, the angles of the glider wings. Anything."

"Okay, okay." I grinned. Kuzon mouthed sorry to me, but I shook my head at him, indicating that I wanted to.

There were a few corrections I made to the museum, but other then those it was surprisingly accurate.  The hardest part was talking about the sky bison.

"So, if every air nomad got their own' don't you have one as well?"

I bite my lip. "Yes, both me and the Avatar own sky bison."

"Where are they? I'd love to meet one and take some real measurements on it."

"Actually, that's why we came to Ba Sing Se." I said, deciding on the truth. "Someone stole our bison in the desert and we got a lead saying they were taken to Ba Sing Se. So here we came."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry about that." The girl said, amd she meant it. "I'll ask anyone who comes through here if they know anything. Help spread the word in case someone around here knows anything."

"Thank you." I said.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you really just sit on their backs?"

"Or on their head, depends if you're stearing or riding." Pausing to understand what she said, I continued, "Oh, well, they have saddles. Not for their heads of course, but still."

"Cool! And how far could they take you in a single day?"

"Depends on their age, the weather, and how many breaks you take." I said, smiling. "But fun fact, all of the air temples were built at perfect distances so you could travel between them in a single day. Of course, you cant push your bison further then they can go."

"Of course. So relationships between bender and bison were as important as we thought?"

"And more so."

We talked a bit furthue before she asked me "Would you mind contributing to the museum?" .

"Er, I can't live here, if that's what you mean."

"No no! Just, I was thinking, if you could write down what you remember about the air nomads, we would all love that. And maybe we could raise funds to rebuild the air nation after the war."

"That would be great! I'd love to help!" I said, genuinely happy.

"Thank you so much! I just know this will help the people of this city accept the fact that there is a war." Ada (the girl) said.

"Right, well, it's about time we got some lunch." Kuzon interrupted. "Sorry to cut this short, but I've got more stuff planned for today."

I promised to return often and get started writting as soon as possible, and then Kuzon pulled me from the building.

"So where are we going next?" I asked.

He gave me a grin. "You'll see."

A/N

So so so so! This chapter isn't exactly completed, sure, they'll be a part two soon. I just wanted to get something out for you, as its nearly been a month. Or maybe its been a bit over... I don't know.

Anyway, take it while you can. You guys should know by now that no matter what I promise, updates are always slow. Sorry.

About that book Kila mentioned she'd write, do you want me to actually write it? Of course, updates will be even slower then they are here, and this one will always take priority, but if you  think it'd be something you'd be interested in, let me know.

Okay see you later good luck with school and your jobs and life in general bye-!

-Julie