Ahmad woke up to sunlight coming in through the window. The warm rays shook him from his cold dreams that he was already starting to forget. He lifted his head and smacked it hard against the wooden beam above him. With a loud 'CRACK' he was instantly wide awake and regretting giving up the top bunk so easily. A window faced down and out into the backyard of Renko's grandma's house. Renko and a couple of other people were down there but Ahmad couldn't make out what they were doing.
He slid out of bed rubbing his head as he did so. Putting on his wingsuit he thought about last night when he planted a kiss right on Renko's lips. It was certainly not the way that he wanted to kiss the young Avatar. Shaking his head, he looked out the window again. Renko was sitting crisscross on the grass.
Ahmad made his way down and stood just within the doorway to the yard. The air was colder than it had been and most of the leaves on the trees were red and yellow. Now it was clear that Tiulo and Pāru stood by Renko as he sat there with his fists together. Was he meditating? The wind began to pick up and pull at the trees around them. The air turned colder and dryer. A sphere of rotating air slowly formed around the Avatar as he sat there meditating. Dust and grass spun around him making Ahmad's view of him hazy. The sphere of air was formless and distorted, like a raindrop falling from the sky. Then, Renko's eyes opened. Instead of the dark grays that Ahmad had grown to appreciate they were pure white and glowing. The sphere of air took a solid form and spun faster pulling leaves and small rocks along with it.
"I didn't tell him to do this!" Pāru found that she had to shout to be heard over the wind.
"Something must be trying to contact his Avatar spirit," Tiulo shouted back looking calm. "Maybe it's a past Avatar? Maybe he's having a vision."
"Can we snap him out of it?"
"I don't think it's a good idea to try."
But, as soon as it started it stopped. The vortex that swirled around Renko calmed down and the air became still. Renko closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were their regular gray color. He blinked and looked around confused.
Ahmad started to chuckle a little. Anytime Renko accidentally found himself in the Avatar State, he always would seem to wake up like he were in a trance. Ahmad thought it was cute.
"Well, well," Renko's grandma appeared at Ahmad's shoulder. "It is astonishing to see such a sight. And from my own grandson too!"
"Yeah," Ahmad replied. "It still surprises me too."
"Would you like any breakfast dear? I have sausages, steaks, eggs, already on the table."
"Oh, no thank you," Ahmad hurriedly said. "We Air Nomads are all vegetarian."
"Have some toast them," she replied. She started to poke his ribs and squeeze his arms. "You're too skinny to skip breakfast."
"I'd love some toast then."
She smiled and shuffled off into the kitchen.
Ahmad turned back to Renko and the others and saw them begin to chat with each other. Renko's uncle had walked out and was joining in. Apparently, President Ridhya was arriving that day ahead of the other world leaders. He and Renko were going to welcome them from the steps of the palace in the center of the city. I guess the Dark Hand is going to have to wait then, Ahmad thought to himself. Someone poked him to get his attention. Renko's grandma smiled and handed him a plate stacked high with buttered toast. He knew he was skinny but was he that skinny? Apparently, he thought to himself. Renko motioned him to come over. Ahmad gulped.
"Ahmad," Renko said. "We were just going over the plan for today."
"Are you hungry?" Pāru asked looked at the plate of toast Ahmad was carrying.
"Uh, well," he said awkwardly.
"You and I are going to split up and fly around the city," she continued without waiting for an answer. "We don't know if the Dark Hand is active in the city. By flying around, we may be able to spot something suspicious. Since you're more familiar with the city, you'll fly out to the outskirts and I'll stay near the center."
"I'll check in with the White Lotus headquarters here in the city," Tiulo said. "They've been active since General Iroh took the city back from Fire Nation control over two hundred years ago."
"And I'll stay here and wait for my dad to arrive," Renko said. "With the world leaders arriving tomorrow, I think it'll be a good idea to be prepared."
"Alright, we'll meet back here at lunch," Pāru said.
Everyone turned away to do their respective jobs. Renko lagged behind.
"Ahmad?" he said.
Ahmad could feel his cheeks turn red.
"There's going to be a dinner in the palace for the world leaders and their assemblies. I don't really have an assembly but I was hoping you and the others would come."
"Oh that sounds great," Ahmad said. "I'd love to go."
"Thanks and about last night..."
"We don't have to talk about it," Ahmad interrupted. "Let's just focus on today."
"Right, good idea."
Ahmad looked down at his plate of stacked toast and awkwardly handed it to Renko. He then unclipped the flaps on his wingsuit and flew off into the air.
The wind blew through his hair and made his eyes water a little as he soared over the massive expanse of the city. He flew high enough for no one to notice him but he could still make out the tiny people below him. Police cars and military vehicles were blocking parts of the city, probably for security reasons. He landed on top of a steeple of what looked like a temple with people praying inside. He grabbed the top of the spire to lean out and view his surroundings.
All around him was the unending sea of Ba Seng Sei. A thin line was just visible on the horizon. That must be the outer wall he thought. With a kick of air from his feet, he launched back into the sky and soared towards it. He stopped when he saw what looked like shady men down below. He landed on a nearby house to get a closer look. It turned out to be two burly men arguing in front of a butcher shop with one of them holding a squawking chicken. People had begun to step out of their doors to see what the commotion was all about.
"Nothing out of the ordinary there," Ahmad said to himself. He flew off.
As he flew he couldn't stop his mind from wandering. He still couldn't believe that he actually kissed Renko last night. What was he thinking? Renko had said himself that he wasn't sure if he still had feelings for the Fire Nation prince and what if he didn't even see Ahmad in that way?
The short answer to his question was, that he wasn't thinking. Clearly, something had come over him. He had made it pretty close to what looked like the inner wall when he landed again. This time, he landed in the middle of a wide road that led to the inner wall gate. One thing he always hated about this city was how poor the people nearest to the wall were. Instead of large neat houses that Renko's family grew up in, there were cold concrete apartment blocks sloppily put together. This part of the city had gotten better since he was here last but the living conditions were still poor.
In spite of that, kids were running around barefoot while their mothers hung up laundry to dry or chatted with their neighbors. A burnt meat smell made him wrinkle his nose. Several street vendors were cooking meat in their woks on the street. They were selling it to people as they walked by. Life continued as usual seemingly unbothered by the events taking place in their own city.
He took off walking down the road and away from the smell of cooking meat. He was stopped by a little old woman selling roses.
"Buy a rose for your sweetheart?" she asked him in an old lady voice.
"Oh," Ahmad blushed a little. "I don't have a sweetheart."
"But surely a boy as handsome as you has someone special."
"Maybe," he said. "How much?"
"1 yuan," she said. "But for you, I'll sell you two for one."
He handed her the money and she wrapped the stems of two beautiful roses in cloth. He took them and sniffed them. The sweet scent helped to overpower the dank smell of the meat. They waved each other off.
Carefully tucking the roses into his pocket, he kicked off the ground and into the air. He had just spread the flaps of his wingsuit when something sharp flew through the air and sliced across his right side tearing a jagged hole in his suit. He banked to his left as he tumbled back to the ground. Just before he crashed he threw his hands out forcing air to strike the ground to cushion his fall. He rolled onto the ground and got back up in a fighting stance but not before grabbing his side which stung. Then, he felt something heavy hit his head and he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw was the roses he bought falling to the ground beside him.