[CLOSED- Terra, John, and Juno] The Revealing...

Today was the day.

Ryo woke early - or at least earlier than when her mother usually woke her so she could go work with her father in the shop. She sat up in bed and looked outside her open window. It was still dark out, but light peeked from over the horizon, and that's when it hit her.

I'm sixteen today...

She smiled at the thought, swung her legs onto the floor, and stood up. With a stretch and a yawn, she pulled on her clothes and walked over to the wash basin in the corner. She took the cloth she used as a towel and dipped it in the cool water, wiping her face and washing her hands. When she was done, she raked her fingers through her thick black hair and expertly curled it around her fingers until it was a tight bun on the top of her head. She secured it with a ribbon, pulled at it a little because it was too tight, and then grabbed her hook swords from the shelf she stored them on. She stuck one on either side of her belt and tiptoed out her room and their house.

Once she was outside, she marched down the path to the waterfalls. In the early morning light, rainbows of light filtered through the mist. It was a beautiful sight to behold, but Ryo did not pay any attention to it. She made her way to a rock outcropping over one of the falls, one marked with a sad stump of what was a tree. The stump was rather tall - just a few inches taller than Ryo - and clung desperately to the rock with a tangle of old roots. She carefully pulled her swords from her belt and got in a ready stance. She stood lightly on the balls of her feet with her knees bent, swords raised in front of her. With a short yell (which was drowned out by the sound of the rushing water), she took a step toward the stump and struck it with a few swipes. With a spin, she attacked again. Again and again she practiced each stance, honing what skills she had with her weapons.

The rock was wet with dew and from the mist of the waterfalls, making it slippery. With one wrong move, Ryo overstepped and her feet slipped out from under her. With a gasp, she felt herself slipping over the edge of the rock - toward the waterfall below. Desperately, she reached out a sword and managed to hook it into the soft wood of the stump. She hung there, body dangling from one sword. Her breathing was shallow and labored as she tried to keep calm. I'm going to die on my birthday... She repeated in her head. She felt hot tears stream down her face as she held on agonizingly, her arm burning and her fingers slipping. With a groan, the stump's wood cracked from her weight, and the sword pulled a chuck of wood from it. With a scream, she started to fall. She let go of her swords, which tumbled down into the water below. She shut her eyes tightly, but found that she wasn't falling at all. Reluctantly, she opened one eye. To her astonishment, she was floating - in a ball of air!

Ryo's heart was pounding a mile a minute. "I'm... I'm airbending!" She shouted, her fear turning into joy. She clumsily steered herself back to the ledge and set down, the air dissipating. She clutched both sides of her face and paced back to solid ground, trying to get a hold of what just happened. The only evidence of it ever happening was the deep gash in the stump, her wet clothes, and her missing swords. This last thought hit her hard. With a groan, she flopped back onto the grass. She'd lost her most prized possessions. She'd have to reforge them and everything...

"Ryo."

She looked up and saw her mother's face looking down at her.

"Uhh... hey Mom..." She thought about telling her about her near-death experience and the fact she could airbend, but she wasn't sure she'd want to worry her mother.

"Happy birthday, dear," her mother said with a soft smile. The corners of her eyes crinkled, just like Ryo's did.

Ryo sat up, smiling sheepishly back. "Thanks..." Her mother offered her a hand up, and she took it.

"Your father is waiting for you in the forge."

"Okay... I'd better get to work," She said, tromping back to the house and the adjoining smithy in the back.

"Ryo?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Where are your swords?"

She panicked. "Umm... I left them inside. I'm gonna be late, see you!"

Before her mother could say anything else, Ryo turned and ran for the forge. Her mother didn't stop her, but she wasn't convinced with her daughter's lie.

As she ran, Ryo could hear the steady "CLANG... CLANG... CLANG..." of her father's hammer on metal. She ran into the open-air smithy and pulled her black apron off the hook on the wall. As she tied it around her waist, the clanging stopped and her father turned toward her. She pressed her palms together and bowed respectfully. As she raised her head again, she saw her father grin.

"Really, Ryo? You aren't going to hug your father on your birthday?"

She grinned back and hurried forward to wrap her arms around him. Though he had a larger-than-normal belly, his arms were strong and safe around her, which reminded her of a bear giving her a hug. She didn't voice this thought, but it brought a smile to her face.

"Now, let's get to work. Old Man Fa put in an order for more sickles for harvesting season, we need to get them shaped and sharpened."

With that, they started working. They were quiet, but that was one of the things Ryo liked most about working in the forge. Silence was comfortable. Raising her hand, she used her firebending to keep the fire going on the forge. She then began hammering a rod of iron until it was flat and thin, and thought of that morning's discoveries.



While her husband and daughter were working in the forge, Mei-Xing was preparing lunch for them when she heard a knock at the door. She wiped her hands in a cloth and walked over, thinking it was her mother-in-law with Ryo's birthday present. She opened it and her eyes grew wide with surprise. It was the Fire Sages. She bowed low, her heart heavy with dread. She felt as if this were a bad omen.

"C-Can I help you?" She asked Head Sage Joyo, who seemed to be the leader among them.

Xin grins as he finishes up chopping wood. Today was the day. It was Ryo's 16th Birthday and the first one he had managed to actually save something for. It took months of random labor but he finally managed to afford a little cake from one of the pastry shops in town. It wasn't easy, in fact most of the work he had to do was downright discouraging at times, but today was when he'd finally be able to give Ryo something, instead of her shaking her head and saying everything was fine and that she didn't need a gift.


Pastry delicately in hand (in a bag) Xin makes his way to the river where he's seen Ryo training with those funny little hooked swords she seems to love so much. On a normal day she'd be out here for a little while her dad started work on the forge, nothing fancy, but he'd stood in awe as she wacked at that log. He could use daggers but because of his injury...he just wasn't a fighter. As he walks up stream he sees an odd sight. Two blades that look suspiciously like Ryo's floating down stream. A puzzled look on his face Xin looks at them from the shore. "What are those doing here?" He mutters to himself with a puzzled look on his face. They were pretty far downstream from where Ryo normally practices, so he's not exactly sure how they got here.

Wading into the water, Xin almost falls into the shallows a few times because his leg isn't co-operating. It seems today wasn't going to be a good day. He could tell by the feeling in his lef how co-operative his injury was going to be, today doing much was ending up to be frustrating. Not as bad as some of the rigid pain attacks he'd had in the past, but annoying nontheless. After a few minutes of inching he manages to get the pair of blades back to the shore. He grins again, while not sure how they got here it made the second and in his eyes less important gift much easier to do. He had managed to get a good deal on the cake, it was going to go bad in a few days so the owner wanted it gone. With the extra bit of coin he picked up some sword polish, at least that's what the vendor had told him. With a determined look on his face he got to work.


About an hour of elbow grease and determined labor he got the swords to shine like nothing he'd seen before. Taking a cloth he stores them as carefully and as best he can. After a quick look Ryo would only see he had a bundle alongside his little cake. Another genuine smile grows on his face as he stands up and makes the (for him) somewhat long journey to the smithy. He figures by now there's no way she wouldn't be in the forge by now so the front door seems a bit pointless.


About half an hour after that he sees the forge ahead. Walking faster then he normally can due to excitement he closes the final distance with a huge smile on his face. He hadn't told Ryo what his plan was for her Birthday, in fact the only clue that she would have had that it was any different was that he had been a bit thinner as of late because he was saving up more then he had for food.

Xin breaks the quiet nature of the forge as soon as he enters, his own energetic attitude filling it rather quickly. "Hey Ryo! Happy Birthday!" He looks a bit sneakier then normal, something Ryo would pick up on, but the reason for this is soon given away in hsi excitement. "Ryo! I know I normally don't get anything but I tried really hard and saved up for months!" He holds up the cake. A small round cake good for 5 people tops, it barely has any icing but it looks great, and when you take a second to realize that even this would cost more then Xin could afford after months of work. "I managed to get you this!" He figures he'd save the swords until later, can't give it all away at once!


After Ryo takes the cake, (And whatever conversation they may have.) Xin does what he normally does when he comes to the forge, whatever he can to help. This tends to end up keeping the belows going rather then anything exciting. But when he does this Ryo or her father doesn't have to keep lighting it, or do the upkeep himself. Over the few years he's known Ryo it's become something he's alright at, and the fire normally doesn't get too hot or too cold.

Joyo bows to her as he steps into the house, he smiles as the journey comes to an end, it was finally time to announce; He took a few looks around the humble home stroking his beard lightly with his free hand, his other behind his back as he studies the room. He looks over to the family as they step into the room, he smiles once more as he studies the group. He looks over to them a studies each; A wife and father humble, he thinks to himself. He peers his sight over to Ryo and the little boy and thinks for a moment; She is humble, a good sign.

As she steps into the room, he adjusts his robes, straightening them out almost as if puppets, the rest follow his movement to the point as he fixes his robes and hat, making himself more presentable. Swiftly he turns and speaks “We have came here from the capital, in order to announce the identity of the Avatar. The Identity, in which i saw 16 years ago in our flames.” He moves to his knees in front of Ryo, leaving a fair amount of room. “It is our honour to serve you..” He says adjusting down on all fours “Avatar Ryo.”

Joyo rises to his feet, then bowing his head the sages behind him following his actions. He then coughs, trying to clear his throat, age not being a friend of Joyo.

“We Fire Sages are the loyal servants of the Fire Nation Cyle Avatar.” He says weakly starting to speak again “It is our job to find the identity of the Avatar and guard that information until they came of age. “ He looks up at Ryo for a moment, before starting to speak again; “We Fire Sages have a strong connection spiritually to the Avatar, When the next cycle is born, we see it in our flames. The past Avatar statues also light up with blue light as well.” He says with a strong nod and then clears his throat again “We are here to answer anything you may ask of us.”

Joyo looks over to her and thinks for a moment, how do you reveal something so large ? He then clears his throat and speaks again "The Avatar serves to preserve balance in the world. It is the duty of the Avatar to serve not one nation, but all of them to preserve balance." He reaches his hands into his robe sleeves "The Avatar is blessed, as you may already know, the skill to bend all of the elements, because of this we Sages have been working to find you teachers to aid you in your journey, for example Mong Huang is in town, in the inn wishing to meet you." He motions behind him.