The History of Renko: Book 2 Voyager (Avatar, BoyxBoy)

Chapter 11: A Cluttered Mind

 "You're doing great!" Pāru screamed these encouraging words to Renko over the loud wind.

Renko hung suspended in the air with his arms outstretched. A huge sphere of air swirled around him and he was at its center. The ball of wind blew angrily and Renko had his eyes squeezed shut to keep his concentration. Dust and bits of rock flew around and around with the churning wind. Pāru, Baoshi, and Ahmad stood back and watched. Ahmad had his arm blocking his face to prevent any dust from getting his eyes. Baoshi's robes were whipped madly with the wind.

"Just keep your focus a little longer!" Baoshi screamed.

Renko tightened his grip on the wind and beads of sweat dripped from his brow. He clenched his hands. The sphere of air grew and shrank and started to lose its form.

"You're losing focus!" Ahmad chimed in. That was a mistake. The ball of air grew bigger and bigger and almost swallowed up the three onlookers. Then, Renko broke and he fell to the ground. The air around him stopped swirling and all that was pulled along with wind crashed to the ground. Renko rolled over on his back and took deep breaths. Ahmad ran over to see how he was doing.

"Mom," Pāru said. She turned to face Baoshi. "Why are you pushing him so hard? I didn't attempt this technique until I was far more advanced."

"Pāru," Baoshi looked at her daughter. "You had the luxury of time. Our young Avatar does not. I fear that the dreams he has been having are signs of something much worse yet to come."

"Then let us take a mission," Pāru said. "Let him use what he has learned."

"I will think about." They both turned to watch the two boys interact. Ahmad had helped Renko up and was giving him words of encouragement. Renko put his hand on Ahmad's arm and gave a small smile.

"Take Renko through the spinning gates," Baoshi said. "Let's let him off with something a little easier today."

"Alright Renko," Pāru said. "You know the drill. Move through the gates without touching them."

The two of them were in a cavern dug into the side of the mountain. On a raised dais stood dozens of bamboo planks with the swirling insignia of the Air Nomads. The planks spun weakly with the breeze in the cave. Renko spun his hands in a circle and flicked them out towards the gates. A strong gust of wind sprung forward causing the gates to spin rapidly.

Renko took a breath and dove into the gates. He smoothly weaved his way past the planks by spinning along with them. With each turn taken by the gates, Renko would turn with them. He made it almost to the end with a perfect counterclockwise turn until he smacked face-first into an incoming gate. With a 'Smack' he was flat on his back. He looked up at the roof of the cavern. Pāru poked her head in his line of sight.

"What's wrong with you? This is easy."

"I know," Renko said. "I just...have a lot on my mind."

"Well," she said. "Clear your mind. You have to master air bending. We can't settle with you kinda sorta being able to."

"You're right," Renko sighed. "Let's do it again."

And so, he tried again. Then, he tried again. Again, he made an attempt. Each time he would come close to finishing but would miss his final step. On his final attempt, he ended up on his back and had decided that he was done for the day. He sat up and held his head. A headache was coming, he could feel it.

"Renko," Pāru said. "What's wrong? Really."

"Kuzo," Renko said. "It's been, what, a month and a half since I left the Fire Nation and I miss him. A lot."

"Oh," Pāru sat down next to him. She took a deep breath. "Listen, I was in a relationship too. I thought I loved him and we had made plans to be together."

"What happened?"

"He uh," she took a pause. "I had planned to leave the Air Nomads and settle down with him in Republic City. The night before we were supposed to leave, he broke it off. He said that he wasn't ready for such a commitment."

"What did you do?"

"I dove headfirst into my air bending training. I decided to follow my mom's footsteps and become a teacher."

"Wow," Renko said. "I'm sorry for complaining. I should be grateful that my situation is so different."

"Don't apologize," Pāru said. "You can make it up to me by mastering air bending."

"Deal," Renko smiled. "Well, I guess I should go through the gates again."

After night fell, Renko was back in his tiny room he shared with his tiger cat. He stripped off his clothes and was hanging them up in his wardrobe. As he reached up to the top shelf to set his boots down he felt a paper wrapper under his fingers. He picked it up. It was the package Kuzo left for him the morning that he left. After a month and a half, he decided to open it.

He unwrapped it slowly. It was as he figured, a stone. It was a blue cerulean stone that matched Kuzo's eyes exactly. It hung from a silver chain that glinted in the light. The stone was wrapped in a photograph of the two of them. They stood in front of a tower in Kyatu. Kuzo was beaming his goofy smile. Renko remembered that they had gotten into a fight shortly after taking that photo. At the time, they were extremely angry with each other. Renko had gotten really sick and vomited profusely at the hotel. Kuzo, instead of comforting him, was nowhere to be found and didn't even apologize when he finally showed back up. He had been on the phone with the hospital his father was in but that night he didn't say so. As such, the two went to bed angry.

"Even then," Renko said to himself. "I couldn't imagine sleeping next to anyone else."

He took the blue necklace and fastened it around the neck. In the mirror, he could see that it really didn't look good on him. It clashed with every one of his facial features. But, when he looked at the blue, Kuzo wasn't far from his mind. There was a knock on the door and it opened slowly. Ahmad poked his head in and blushed when he saw Renko standing his underwear.

"Uh, hi," he awkwardly said.

"Hey Ahmad, is everything alright?"

"Yeah yeah, everything is great," he said. "I have good news. You've been cleared for your first mission. We get briefed tomorrow morning."

"That is good news," Renko replied. "Where are we getting sent?"

"I don't know yet, but it's somewhere in the Earth States."

"We're going back home then."

"Yep," Ahmad. "Well, we should get some sleep."

"Night Ahmad."

"Night Renko," Ahmad turned to walk away but turned back. "And I thought you did very well today. I'm impressed that you're advancing so quickly."

"Haha thanks, Pāru gave me a pretty good pep talk today."

"Well, it worked."

Ahmad closed the door and his footsteps could be heard walking away. Renko laid in his bed with the picture of him and Kuzo on his chest. Even a bad memory is worth remembering when it's about someone you love.

Author's Note: Yes, I know what you're thinking. Why doesn't he just post every week if he's going to post two chapters? Well, you're not wrong. I just had Kuzo on my mind and I wanted to give him the space he needed without being overshadowed by Renko. With that said, I do hope that you enjoyed both chapters and come back two weeks from now with a new update :)