Despite her apology and the approximation of kindness that Xia had showed her, Aoki still seemed nervous before her...which the Avatar thought only right and proper, considering their stations. The scribe had not been without courage when she'd first approached her, but that had all melted in the face of flames as easily as the ice her eyes resembled...but those same eyes held something else, as well, a glimmer of hope.
Unlike so many other supplicants in the crowd that bore nothing but worthless gifts and empty words, the Water Tribe girl brought something that Xia saw some true value in...her scrolls, of course, but also her experiences. Here was someone who had witnessed the...unpleasantness...that had taken place in the North with her own eyes. Xia could not easily forget that pang of regret she had felt when she first laid eyes on the girl, and Avatar Feng knew in her manifold soul it was her duty to set that land to rights where her predecessor Song had failed. This girl may prove instrumental to fulfilling that duty.
The other, the Earthbender, was another matter. The Avatar ignored most of his words, but paid close attention to his display of talent, in which he change not only the shape of the stone around them, but it's texture...turning the mundane into something not only functional, but also beautiful. Without a word, Xia reached up to run her calloused fingers along one of the whorls he had incised into the stone, finding it smooth and flawless...she doubted even the most skilled stone-carver could achieve such a result with the usual tools. Even some of the guards and nobles seemed impressed, with the exception of the Senescal, who Xia suspected wouldn't have been impressed if the man had moved the world itself.
The Avatar took note as he named himself as Caius Mercator...that last name caused Xia to raise an eyebrow, but she said nothing yet, looking the man over again, more thoroughly. His features were no less plain that she had seen at first glance, nose small and puggish, mouth large and smiling, same as his eyes. He was a large one, to be sure, weighing at least three of Xia and likely four of Aoki, with broad, muscular shoulders and arms that she could almost admire if not for his equally bulging belly half-hid under and green vest.
Such a retainer might prove useful, pitted as she always was against men who thought her weak for her size, her sex, or both...a strong guard might dissuade them some without forcing her to do so with fire. Better if I could teach him how to scowl, that smile makes him look harmless as a puppy. She thought idly, as Sunset finally calmed enough to return to them, flying in through the gap Cai had made in the barrier and rather than returning to her shoulders, the dragon landed his golden self right atop the big man's head. That made up her mind, and Xia favored him with one of her rare half-smiles.
"Your courtesies coud use some work, to be sure, but you skills speak for themselves, and my dragon speaks louder You may attend me into the city, Cai..." She trailed off, setting the nobles watching this all play out to frantic sputtering that was music to her ears, and that she raised a hand to silence. "...and bear my luggage. No doubt you have the strength for it." She added in a tone that was somehow both playful and condescending at once, gesturing back to where some crewmen from the ship were unloading her scant possessions. A pack of travel supplies, two cases of books and scrolls, and heaviest of all, a fine rosewood chest, decorated with her family emblem, containing her assorted arms and armor. That dismissal seemed to mollify the highborn...some. Then she turned Aoki, beaconing her closer. "You as well, Aoki. I still mean to see those scrolls you spoke of....most of them, anyway, and you and I have much to discuss. Over tea, perhaps?" She offered in a much kinder tone than Cai had gotten.
Beside her, Tsen knew better than to say anything, given his recent chastisement of him, only offering up a puzzled glance, first to his Avatar, then towards the strays she had picked up within less than an hour of arriving on the mainland. Aoki, at least, he could understand. A girl roughly her own age, clever and well-traveled...and hailing from the Northern Water Tribe. He knew her mind on that nearly as well as Feng herself. But whatever game she was playing with this Earthbender, the Nomad could not unravel...but for the suspicion that it went deeper than whatever showed on the surface.
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