Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Avatar: New Century's Dawning ❯ Chapter 4: The Meeting ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

the large central hall of the first floor two parallel lines made up of 20 palace guards marched toward enormous double doors, their synchronized footsteps echoing about. Upon arriving at the end of the hallway two guards from the beginning of each line pushed open the doors, leading into the Earth King’s throne room.

The column of sentinels continued onward into the much wider, more decorative throne room. The center carpet from the hallway extended across the room outlined by a series of large ornamented pillars which reached all the way the other end where Earth King Huang-Tu himself was seated. He wore the tradition garments: the green-yellow pants, shirt with the dark green cape, his tall Manchu hat with the sign of the Earth Kingdom, and his long necklace of priceless pearls. On the left of the Earth King sat his beloved wife, the Earth Queen. Her shimmering jewelry and multicolored dress stood out beautifully within the plain green surroundings.
On the right of the Earth ring stood the royal anchor; the man’s voice was so powerful, it’s rumored that the man can earthbend by simply speaking. Standing in solid stance were eight guards on each side of the royal couple. The arriving group of guards continued marching forward until the leaders reached the edge of the small stairs which rose up to the thrones. When the two lines halted the guards then simultaneously turned 90 degrees to face toward the middle. Among these guards was Hanara, sixth of the row left of the Earth King’s throne. Once the guards were in place, the royal anchor took in a deep breath and, “The Secretariat Alpha - General Juo!”

The introduction rumbled through the hall loud and clear. Entering the throne room was a large man in uniform. General Juo had a very long silver moustache, and a face as powerful as his position. The Secretariat Alpha is the leader of the Counsel of Five. The Counsel of Five consisted of three military generals, including Juo, the head of Ba Sing Se Public Safety and Law Enforcement, and the Head of Special Forces and Secret Service. A wise old man who served the Earth Kingdom military all his life. He had even fought in the last years of the great war against the Fire nation under Oazi’s rule. He had knowledge and experience way beyond his many years. Once the General reached proximity of the King and Queen at the base of the stairs he gave a bow. That was the anchor’s cue, “The Secretariat Beta - Minister Ki Nai!”

Walking to the front of the room, was middle-aged woman, in her forties. A fan at hand, her dress wasn’t anything extravagant; she looked more corporate administrator than of nobility, which was fairly accurate. The Queen of Economy, the Mistress of Marketing, Minister Ki Nai was business and financial genius. She held the title of Head of Finance and Urban Development. She supervised all forms of business and trade as well as civil engineering projects. In her field, she’s not only a mastermind but a warrior. Her bark is just as bad as her bite. With her vicious persona, she’s force to be reckoned with. Most don’t dare oppose her and when someone does attempt to antagonize her proposals, they are left defeated (unless it’s the Earth King). But it’s nothing to complain about; Ki Nai has kept the city’s economy flourishing more than ever. Hanara was probably one of the very few to understand that it was most likely Ki Nai’s strong assertion that got her to be the first woman secretariat. Pacing passed the guards, Ki Nai did not seem happy about being here, then again, she never seemed happy. When she arrived at the King’s presence standing to the left of Juo, she bowed, fairly noticeable it was force of habit more than of courtesy.

The anchor called out again, “The Secretariat Gamma - Doctor Yeng Fo!” A thin man about in his fifties strolled into the throne room. Doctor Yeng Fo wore large bifocals and was completely bald. His arms crossed under the wide sleeves of his robes. Yeng Fo was the head of health and education in Ba Sing Se. The man with the heart of gold, for the past twenty years his influence and leadership has been responsible for establishing localized hospitals and an efficient public school system that spans throughout every sector in the city. Currently his most attentive issues are promoting more recreational areas and limiting the growth of industrial development (the most difficult part for him is coordinating the blueprints and schemes with Ki Nai). His expression was pleasant and once he stood on the right of General Juo he a humble greeting to King and Queen, “Your Majesty, I am most pleased to know your safe and sound after such a startling event.”

The Earth King nodded his head with a smile. He would have continued but the anchor had already began the meeting. As the anchor stomped his foot heavily onto the floor, three stone podiums emerged from the ground each positioned in front of the three secretariats. These are the three sub powers of Ba Sing Se. By law, no matter what the subject is, whenever an emergency meeting is taken place by the Earth King, all three secretariats must be present. General Juo was going to properly start the meeting Ki Nai rudely insisted, “General Juo, whatever useful information you have to deal with this matter, I ask you please get to the point.” She waved her fan at her face spastically.

General Juo gave Ki Nai a brief glare, “I assure you I will minister,” he then faced the King, “Your majesty, I know you have been informed of the incident that took place last night.”

The King nodded, “Yes, and I am very concerned that such an incident has managed to go about so successfully, for the intruder that is. Weren’t the guards patrolling the palace as efficiently.”

The General responded, “I assume you your majesty, the royal guards were not idling on their eminent duty.”

Minister Ki Nai butted in, “It was claimed that one man had managed to successfully infiltrate the ‘guarded’ palace, then successfully infiltrate the guarded archives. And then! This man successfully escaped. What do you have to say to that, General?” But before she even let him reply she continued, “Oh and by the way, I’ll give this guards the benefit of the doubt as I personally believe it was more than one man.”

“Minister Ki Nai. Please,” The Earth King enunciated clearly. General Juo was then addressed, but this time by the Earth Queen. “General Juo, I would have to affirm what that disturbs me most of the situation is that this robbery was conducted by a single man. Is this true?”

The General looked straight at the Queen, “Your highness, based on the reports gathered, it is believed this was a single man, but this was no common thief. It’s suspected it to be the Nightbender, but more accurately known, the man was in fact an airbender.”

The Queen put her hand over her mouth as she gasped while the Earth asked, “An airbender you say? But that would make this the second criminal airbender in the Earth Kingdom.”

“That would be correct your majesty, but based on the collected data we have of the Firestorm and the Nightbender, the Council of Five, myself included, believe the two to be one person.”

“Ha!” Minister Ki Nai snapped her fan closed peering at Juo, “You don’t think your giving this criminal a little too much credit?”

Doctor Yeng Fo cleared his throat aloud as he joined in the discussion, “As a matter of fact it doesn’t sound too farfetched. A single airbender can travel great distances and accomplish many feats in short amount of time. So it’s possible for this man to have several identities. Even if it isn’t one person, the Firestorm and Nightbender have proven to possess a high level of skill.”

Ki Nai flashed opened her fan and started fluttering it, “Well doctor, I’ll take your word for it.”

The Earth King spoke out, “So then, General. Do you have any information of this man’s whereabouts?”

“No, your majesty. It’s likely he’s still in the city in fact. I’m displeased to admit it, but there are more places to hide in the city than the barren region outside of it.”

“Well as long as he’s outside the palace, I don’t think it’s much to worry about,” Ki Nai opened her mouth again, “From what I know this ‘Nightbender’ has never hit the same place twice. This is the actually the first event by the Nightbender in the city. So far his goals have not been anything lethal.” She looked to the King with a bow, “Your majesty I don’t mean to speak of such blasphemy but seeing how he managed to get into the palace, we can all agree that he could have done much worse. And this is why I propose once more of my palace designs I made. Aside from reducing cost and the need for so many guards, the blueprints display a tighter security system. Tonight was proof that the current palace security arrangement is breakable. This also calls for drastic measures to forcefully loom over the leading Air Monks.”

“What?!” The Doctor reacted aloud, “What do the Air Monks have to do with this?”

Ki Nai kept her focus to the Earth King, “Your majesty, with the information stating both the Nightbender and the Firestorm are in fact airbenders, it is only sensible that we put our suspicion to the monks.”

The doctor retaliated, “You dare put such irreverence onto the Air Nomads, to accuse them of being involved in any crimes such as this.”

“Doctor,” Ki Nai visually addressed to him as she clamped her fan shut, “You said it yourself. Whether this is one person or two, Nightbender and Firestorm are very skilled air benders. Where else could an airbender obtain such high level of proficiency? They must have some strong relations with the air monks.”

The Earth King leaned forward, “Ki Nai does have a point. The high monks as the first group of airbending masters for over a century. There is no other place for such a person to obtain such skill.”

“With all do respect your majesty,” Yeng Fo pleaded, “We really have to think carefully of this. To accuse the air monks of such crimes is profane towards the very legacy of Avatar Aang. There nation is still recovering and have just started living their sacred age-old cultures.”

Kin Nai rolled her eyes, “Doctor, it’s enough that we have to deal with the Fire Nation taking their civil war onto our turf. All we need is another nation to get out of hand. And as far as I know airbenders are people too, no more enlightened than any of us.”

The Earth King finally decided to put his foot down, “Minister Ki Nai, I believe you’ve said enough,” and with that said, Ki Nai hushed as she snapped her fan open fluttering it to her face. The King shifted his gaze onto Yeng Fo, “Doctor, I verify that I don’t at all suspect the Monks themselves behind these crimes, but I do have a firm belief this criminal had to have some affiliation with them. What concerns me is that we’re dealing with an expert criminal airbender. And by the bizarre assaults reported by the criminal, we don’t know what a airbender is truly capable of by taking such an offense, an approach completely alien to the air monk’s lifestyle. The Monks know more than we do about those capabilities can may even aid us in seizing this convict. General Juo, I want you to personally trace the High Monks and send them my pressing invitation. And For the time being, General, I want the most experienced men to take place of any novice guards in the palace, whether they are part of the legion or of the army. Send the neophytes on patrol to the outer wall while I consider and take a look at Minister Ki Nai’s schematics...”

The voices of the king and the three secretariats began to muffle as Hanara sank into deep thought. [i]The outer wall? You’ve got to be kidding. What the heck am I going to do at the outer wall. Most probably be on duty at the outer monorail stations. But damn it, I worked my butt off to be part of the royal guard and protect the palace. Sigh, I guess it might be more be as boring but then again,[/i] She wasn’t looking forward to have to guard in the at a public place where the populace is still a bit new the whole female law enforcers, [i]it’ll be something different.[/i] Hanara tried to lean to the positive side.

She focused her attention back to the meeting. The Earth King sat back on his throne folding his hands, “Ah and one last thing, General Juo. What exactly was it that the Nightbender stole from the archives last night?”

The General answered, “The only thing that appeared missing were two scrolls - both about the details and where about of the ancient Library of Wan Shi Tong, which is most baffling. The library had disappeared centuries ago in the desert.”

“May I suggest,” Ki Nai was speaking under her fan, “That you double…no, triple check the archives. If you’re going to over-credit this criminal with having multiple identities, you might as well stay consistent and assume keeping you baffled is exactly what he wants…no.”

The King eyed Ki Nai, “That isn’t a bad idea Minister.” He looked back to Juo, “And Juo, you wouldn’t happen to have any idea who this criminal could be working for or if this even an act of a larger organized crime?”

The General shook his head, “No sir. I’m afraid not. But assuming that the Nightbender is or at least has some connection with the Firestorm, the only possible group we could think of are the Rebel Firebenders, which leaves another paradox. If the rebel Firebenders are as ethnocentric as they claim to be, it’s quite inexplicable for an airbender to lead an army.”

Yeng Fo commented aloud, “When a group of close-minded extremists are as desperate as those rebels, hypocrisy isn’t a big surprise. History repeats itself.”

The King sighed, “Alright then…that‘ll be all for now.” He gave a quick glance to the anchor.

The anchor stepped forward and called out, “This meeting is adjourned!” And with the stomp of his foot, the three podiums in front of the secretariats retreated back into the ground. Secretariats Alpha, Beta, and Gamma gave their bows to the King and Queen and departed the throne room as a trio. Once they had left the room, the guards nearest to the doors stomped down to give the signal for the lines to start marching out.