Chapter Text
He wasn’t sure why but he really hated water. Well, not water in general, but the ocean definitely. Something about that much water and that much power really intimidated him. He stared over it, as uneasy as when anyone asked about the burn mark over his eye. It wasn’t like he had an answer for that.
Not to say he had many answers about much, really.
“Li, you lazy boy!” Meimi called from the cart. “The day’s getting away from us!”
“Coming!” Li climbed down from the rocky overlook and hurried to the cart to climb up next to her. Meimi muttered something about youngsters and their daydreaming but Li ignored it. Most of what she mumbled wasn’t worth listening to, he’d learned.
The ride into town was boring but Li had gotten used to that. Every week, he and Meili loaded up the cart with whatever weavings and pottery she’d finished or things that hadn’t sold last week. Li’d tried his hand at pottery but his clumsiness finally ruled it out as an occupation. He wasn’t much better at being a shop keep, but at least he didn’t screw up counting all that often. Actually, he was still trying to figure out what he was good at, rather than just passable. The search continued.
Wheeling through Market Square was a nightmare, as usual. Li hopped down and led the ostrichhorse by hand to keep the dumb thing from spooking. People bumped into and past him but it wasn’t as bad as midday. Things were still quiet in pre-dawn while everyone got set up. They found their spot and Li helped Meimi get down while she complained about her old bones.
Most of the heavy lifting was his job of course, being a strapping lad of young age. They weren’t quite sure how old he was, but Meimi finally settled on somewhere around fifteen by her reckoning. Why didn’t he know? Well… Had to do with that not having much in the way of answers thing.
“Which ones out front?” Li asked as he lugged differently sized pots and water jugs off the cart.
“Oh, mix ‘em up, boy,” Meimi muttered back as she peered down the street towards the only other weaver that brought wares here. She’d assured Li that her rugs and things were of superior quality but he couldn’t really tell the difference. “Just put that blue mat right in the middle. Make ‘em double take.”
Li grunted assent and got down the small foot mat before he placed anything. Then he arranged it as best he could. He’d gotten used to Meimi’s particular sense of aesthetics in the last two years he’d been staying with her. She wasn’t exactly kind but she did have consistency on her side.
“Oh, tie up that damn hair proper,” Meimi grumbled and Li kind of ignored it. One of her favorite past times was to huff at his hair, despite the fact that anytime he mentioned cutting it she would give him the cold shoulder for the rest of the day. It had been short when he came here but he hadn’t bothered with it since except to tug it into a quick tail once it was long enough. But Meimi had certain notions on being presentable. Had they lived in a palace, he might understand that. Still, when she shuffled over and dragged on one arm, Li let her fuss until she was happy with his topknot and the hair she let fall in an apparently artful manner over his scar. Then he got back to arranging her damn pots.
The morning went smoothly enough. After Li had rearranged the pots twice to meet Meimi’s specifications, got the rugs hung on their holders, and swept out the immediate area ( “Tidiness, Li. That is what brings them back!”,) the two of them settled into the rather sedate flow of customers. Meimi did most of the talking and Li daydreamed about great battles and furious foes between hauling pots or rugs to carts. Sometimes, he daydreamed about being a prince in a sprawling palace but those weren’t as pleasant as he’d have liked. They always included a cruel, smirking girl trying to usurp his place. Li pretty much hated her.
“You ever think of leaving?”
Li blinked out of his current daydream (he’d been flying on a huge dragon over the sea) and gave the old woman a confused glance. “Everyone thinks about leaving at some point.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Meimi mused as she messed with her pipe. “You got something out there to find, though.”
“I’m fine here.” Li sat down beside the rickety chair she wouldn’t let him repair.
Meimi fixed a shrewd look on him. “Are you? Seems to me there’s more reason for you to be in this world than just to cater to an old relic’s wishes. Get some ambition, boy! There’s a whole world out there.”
“Are you kicking me out?” Li wasn’t quite sure why the idea made him feel like his ribs were being shoved into his lungs. It was a feeling that shouldn’t have been familiar but somehow was. But Meimi just snorted and quickly debased him of the idea.
“And lose a free errand boy? There’s no jester in the world as funny as you, Li.”
Li felt the pressure in his chest lessen. It wasn’t that he’d never thought of leaving Meimi’s home and the village behind, going out to find his fortune… or at least some clue to who he was. Coming of age type stuff. But that didn’t mean he wanted to leave now. How would he support himself? He still hadn’t figured out a trade he was at least good enough in to market. And… Well. Meimi was old. She might not have that many years left in her, especially with the way the world was. All the Fire Nation raids…
Meimi babbled to an old man who kept giving the blue mat sideways glances. Li got up, dusting off his pants as he looked over the thriving market. It wasn’t exactly boring. It was… well. Somehow, Li thought maybe he was meant for something more than this. Like once he’d had something more, but it was lost to him now. Maybe someday he would go find that something... just not today.
There were a group of kids hanging around one stall of food. It looked like they were haggling, or at least the oldest one was. He seemed about Li’s age, maybe a little older, and had a strange air about him that drew Li’s eye. The guy was scruffy and dressed with a few pieces of light armor and odd, hooked weapons that people kept giving shifty looks to. Li touched his belt and felt bereft, as if he expected something to be there. A weapon - he didn’t know. One short companion glanced his way. His lip curled (at least Li thought it was a boy. His gender was a bit vague,) so Li bristled. And did not look away. No way was he letting some kid scare him off. He watched until the kid lost interest and the group of them went on.
“Ruffians,” Meimi muttered near by. “Don’t you mind that kind, Li, they’re drifters and they mean trouble.”
“Right.” But Li continued to watch them move through market street. It was obvious that their camaraderie was strong and he… well. Maybe he missed being around other kids. He wondered if he had friends back from where he came from but something told him he didn’t. Vague notions of loneliness. Something…
It was while he wondered about this that a sudden wave of heat shot down the center of the street. A wave of fire. And then all Hell broke loose. Li jerked around and grabbed Meimi, shoving her under the cart without a thought. People screamed all around him and fire roared and ate away at carts and goods. Li ignored Meimi coughing from a plume of smoke sent their way. His wide eyes were instead locked on the spectacle further down the street.
Those kids… Those kids were fighting Fire Nation soldiers! Li was frozen still, watching as the oldest boy wielded his hook swords with true mastery that was beautiful to watch. And Li knew the names for what the boy was doing, the movements of his body, the precise parries and throws of the swords, the defensive positions, angled dodging… Li knew this. He knew fighting. And he knew he’d been good at it. At least passably so.
Li was moving before he even realized it. He picked up the first thing he came upon and then swung at the closest soldier’s head as hard as he could. The dull thunk that wood plank made against flesh should have disgusted him, as well as the way the soldier just crumpled, but Li was already moving to his next target. The plank was too bulky so he dropped it and went after the next one with his bare hands. He didn’t know why but he knew the way firebenders fought and every move they made betrayed their strategies. Li dodged and spun around fire blasts, got up close and personal to put them down.
He’d never felt so alive.
Li didn’t know when he got them but he realized there was a short sword in each hand and… It felt so right. The weight was off, they weren’t just the same nor had been made for his particular balance and body type, but he was supposed to be like this. He was supposed to be fighting as if nothing else mattered. Cutting through his enemies as if they were nothing. This was what he’d been searching for. His purpose. Something he was good at, suited for.
The last firebender fell under his blade. Li panted for breath in the smoke filled air and lifted his eyes. The boy from before stared back at him and then smirked around a bit of wheat between his teeth. But the euphoria of the fight quickly drained out of Li. All around him, the market was burning. The village…
Meimi.
Li dropped the swords and went off at a dead run. He pushed past a few crying, confused people, leapt over bodies and dodged around debris…
The cart was burning. Meimi’s cart was burning.
Li screamed her name as he dug through debris and half burned weavings. And when he finally knocked the last of the debris away and found her… She’d been gone a while. Li fell to his knees as a sudden weakness struck through him. He touched her hand, staring at her still face. She wasn’t burned and she didn’t seem to have suffered. Her aged features were calm and serene.
He didn’t know just how long he sat there staring at her. Then a hand settled on his shoulder and he looked up at the boy with the hook swords.
“Come on,” the boy said solemnly. There was understanding in his dark eyes. “There’s nothing left here.”
And there wasn’t. Not really. Li looked back at Meimi. He slowly got to his feet and wiped his face on his sleeve. The boy and his friends helped him bury the villagers along with the few singed survivers. It took a very long time and by the time they finished, Li felt only numbness and anger inside. He would punish the ones that did this.
He would destroy the Fire Nation.